#not merlin i'm just having thoughts

[oswinsdolma]

not to sound like an old woman shouting from her porch, but it feels like a lot of people, particularly on tiktok seem to be trying to reinventing fandom into this weird dichotomous hybrid of "good" and "bad" fandom?? don't get me wrong, the more widespread acceptance of fandom, with people openly wearing stranger things or mcu merch or whatever is cool, and i love that it's becoming destigmatized to an extent. but there also seems to be a kind of "us and them" attitude that has become attached to fandom. like "oh, i like this thing but i'm not one of THOSE" fans. and i get that this is not a new phonomen, and i think all of us have probably been guilty of saying this at some point over the years, but some of the things i've seen in the last year or so is just abhorrent. like,, there are full grown adults making reactionary tiktoks to children in stranger things cosplay and pointing and laughing at them. there are "marauders" fans who think they're so much better than the bog-standard hp fan just because their fandom isn't directly rooted in the source material. everything has just become so much more factionalised. maybe being predominantly in the merlin fandom for the last couple of years has just lulled me into a false sense of security because things are generally pretty chill over here, but what happened to live and let live? why are you so worried about being dubbed as "cringe" when you're doing basically the same things as other fans, just in a way that society has for some reason dubbed as more socially acceptable. because fandom IS cringe. fandom IS weird. fandom is for the freaks and the queers and the ostricised. it's a community of mutual interest where you don't have to be judged and can write stories and make art or read smut or whatever you want to do with your experience. you don't have to do all of those things, and you certainly don't have to fit into a certain stereotype in order to be considered a true "fan", whatever people might say. but don't you dare make fun of people who do. you're not better than anyone else just because you sneer down your nose at people who are, quote unquote, weirder than you are.

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

1: Magic is a Metaphor < 2: Morgana is a Lesbian < 3: Merlin is Gay < 4: Arthur is Bi

Do you remember when you were bullied in middle school? Because if you're reading this, I think it's fair to assume that you were. And your parents would say to you, 'that boy is just being mean to you because he likes you'. That's what this is.

Arthur is just so repressed. He has really bad daddy issues, and he doesn't know how to express his emotions, and he's really uncomfortable with physical intimacy, especially with other men, especially with Merlin. And this isn't me trying to psychoanalyse away his heterosexuality. It is a very evident part of his character.

And another big part of his character is that he has inherited all of these bigoted ideas about magic from his father that he has to work to overcome. Because, of course, Arthur himself is born of magic, but his dad is so ashamed of it that he hides the true circumstances of his birth from Arthur. Honestly, I don't know exactly how that would fit into this whole metaphor. I do have a half-formed theory that it could be interpreted as an allegory for intersex identity, I know that a lot of people headcanon Arthur as trans, so idk there could be something there. But regardless, it is only through his relationship with Merlin that he is able to overcome this magicphobia, because he realises: how could it be wrong when everything about Merlin is so right. And I just feel like there's a metaphor in there somewhere.

Of course, I have to mention this iconic quote from the audio commentary of the final episode: when the executive producer refers to Arthur taking off his royal seal to give back to Guinevere as passing over "the last vestige of his heterosexu- oh sorry, I mean his marriage." So, they knew exactly what they were doing.

I also thought I would just draw your attention to the fact that at one point Arthur says, "I only care about my men, they're more than friends, more than brothers." Now, I think we can all agree that out of context, that is a very gay thing to say, and yet somehow the context is even gayer, because Arthur is pretending to be talking about the Knights of the Round Table, but he's actually talking about Merlin, how Merlin is the only person he cares about, more than a friend. And then Merlin responds, "I understand. I wish I didn't, but I do." It's barely subtext at that point. This of course, brings me to my final argument:

Arthur risked his life to save Merlin at least eight times. It could be more than that, I genuinely lost count. And you have to keep in mind that Arthur is the King of Camelot and he doesn't have any heirs. It is quite important that he stays alive. And yet anytime that Merlin is in the slightest bit of danger, he will just drop everything to protect him.

And it's really only in those moments where he's faced with the thought of losing Merlin that he shows him genuine emotion. Such as in this scene (which was cut out of 4x02 purely because it was too gay) where Arthur is planning to sacrifice himself to protect Merlin, again, and he gives Merlin his mother's sigil, the only thing he has left of his dead mum and he wants Merlin to have it as something to remember him by. Also, apparently in medieval times giving someone your family crest was basically a marriage proposal, so that's pretty gay.

You know what else is pretty gay? Telepathically communicating with Merlin and then immediately leaving Gwen in the middle of an active war. This is literally the last time that Arthur and Gwen ever see each other. Poor Gwen.

In conclusion, Merlin is the story of gay sorcerers and bisexual knights getting into love triangles. Everyone in this show is queer and you cannot tell me otherwise.

[fluffypotatey]

I find it deeply aesthetically pleasing, character-wise, that Arthur and Merlin are both very much like their mothers, which is especially meaningful in Arthur's case since he's never known his mother beyond a single painfully brief meeting in "Sins of the Father."

Not only does Arthur look like Ygraine (which adds several layers to the clusterfuck of his and Uther's relationship) but it's clear that he takes after her temperament, too. Yes, he sometimes shows his father's temper, and yes, he does stupid things when he's in a temper, but unlike Uther, who literally took his prejudices to his grave and beyond, Arthur never stays mad at people, and he's overall a far more caring and kind person than his father, which is an interesting case of nature vs nurture.

And then on the other hand, we have Hunith, who told a mounted, armed brigand to go fuck himself, later fought another (also armed) brigand with a twig broom, harboured fugitives on multiple occasions, and raised an illegal magic child out of wedlock, and Merlin "Fuck the Police" Ambrosius, who got in a fistfight, got thrown in jail for the fistfight, called the prince a bitch to his face in a public market square, got in a second, armed fight all within his first 48 hours in Camelot, and then committed treason on a daily basis for the next 10+ years, compared to Balinor, who became a weird antisocial hermit that lived in a cave for twenty years.

couldn't have said it better myself bestie

also, there's a reason hunith and ygraine never met in the show. their dynamic duo would outshine everyone, they'd be unstoppable, untouchable, I FEEL ROBBED

[adhd-merlin]

current sexuality: merlin daring morgana to face him in that cave

[jopzer]

sighing so fucking hard i die. i understand why it couldn't happen in the context of bbcmerlin but man. i think arthur pendragon should've gotten to be a daaaad........ tbh if not only for my sick desire to watch him realize in real time that it was never his fault! it is in fact incredibly easy to love your children! even as the king of a nation! even after all that you've lost! it wasn't his fault! it was never his fault and he was never a disappointment!

to follow this train of thought: i don't usually go for "oh, gwen is pregnant at the end of the series; why else would they have made it explicitly clear that she and artie boned down the night before the battle of camlann" but man. Man. what a sick and twisted (/pos) fucking parallel that would be. ygraine had to die for arthur to be born and in turn arthur had to die for his child to exist. he had to die for his child to be made; he had to be killed by a child he once risked his life to save. Man

[alexvacice]

having 1 am merlin thoughts while reading fanfic and ughhhh

I was thinking about Arthur's bane and how someone on here mentioned that it would make more sense for it to be Merlin, not Arthur himself and all the angst possibilities that could come from that. If it really played out I imagine they'd say Emrys was Arthur's bane, so the writers would have to have him figure out that Emrys is Merlin, basically a magic reveal, at basically the start of season 5. They could have a falling out, where Gwen would have the opportunity to be a person and not just wife(tm), yknow help Merlin out, reason with Arthur and whatnot. Then they'd band together again and we'd have time for a Merthur adventure with magic revealed and the ending could still play out the same (I will not be taking any fixings for that, I love how it ended, you can't change the most important part of the legends).

I know Emrys is already Morgana's bane but honestly if you changed it to Arthur not much would change storywise, she'd just have a better reason for turning on Arthur.

And I have a fix for Mordred's arc as well. Instead of Kara, who's addition really bring the emotional impact the writers were going for, we'd built it on a misunderstanding. Merlin can't be with Arthur for a few days because he's helping Gaius gather rare herbs (wowee love that excuse) so Arthur's standing on his own. Some random guy, who's staying with the druids, tries to assassinate Arthur. He takes it surprisingly well and tries to visit the druid camp to discuss it (cause he's being a proper progressive king, can you tell I am not a writer?) but he brings a legion of knights with him just in case. Shit goes nut nut, because druids think they're under attack. Some of them have survived Arthur's last raid and they're terrified of him now so they immediately go into defense. Arthur fights back and because he's a killing machine it quickly truns into an actual raid unintentionally which destroys the entire camp. Mordred, back in Camelot hears about this, and thinks to himself that Arthur isn't reformed at all, that he will still kill innocent people only for having magic, so he realises Morgana was right and goes to her. It's a mmmmm yummy scrummy cycle of terrible decisions and inascapable horrible events, just how I like all my shows.

[lightasthesun]

so if bbc merlin had been filmed in the last few years what do we think might have been changed? Would Arthur and Merlin have kissed on screen? Would Morgana and Gwen have?

Is there anything any of you think would've changed depending on the years it had been made in?? 👀👀

[rotisseries]

rori what do you think of bsd???

it's insane I'm having so much fun things are getting like. serious now though so I'm scared. yosano's backstory is CRAZY that's a fucking horror show. I LOVEEEEE akutagawa and atsushi they're my faves they're my sillies. also hashtag dog motif is everywhere I'm pacing back and forth

[libertarianbean-plz-dont-step-sh]

Extremely niche post ahead

Me, reading BBC Merlin fan theories and fiction, knowing authors are unknowingly making some of the best arguments against gun control that I have ever heard:

[lit-in-thy-heart]

me, for the past week:

[ID: the Adam Driver 'every day I wake up' meme from Marriage Story. The text is edited to read 'every day I wake up and think of more Pirates of the Caribbean/BBC Merlin parallels'. End ID.]

[mercymaker]

every day i come to this site and every day i see something beautiful. the talented gifmakers and graphic creators are the backbone of this site and i feel like more often than not they are taken for granted. you beautiful people creating beautiful things. the hours you spend selecting scenes, blending them together so seamlessly, spending hours upon hours coloring, painting, choosing the right shade. sometimes frame by frame. and unlike all the other social media sites where the majority of content creators are making things in order to monetize them, you do it all for free. out of passion for a show, a movie, a person. out of passion to make beautiful things and fill this space with them. i see fellow creators praising each other in the tags, admiring their choice of color, the hours they put to turn simple footage into a work of art. i see you get inspired by each other. i see you hatching new ideas, sending new waves and ripples that cross fandoms. i see you get thousands of notes and then get only hundreds, and yet you still create, despite diminishing reblogs, you persevere. and make even more beautiful things. and i see you. and i admire you

[purpleelephantsocks]

Merlin Ep 1: So here's Merlin, he's a sweet lil bean with no impulse control and sass that could burn an ice cube. And here's Arthur, he's just a bit of an ass tbh

Merlin Ep 2: Arthur has been placed under immense pressure from a young age to be what his father and the kingdom expect. Any perception of weakness was not to be tolerated. He is ready to die for his duty, and even as a petulant youth is a better person that his father. This is shown by him giving credence to the word of a servant and admitting his wrongdoings.

...Also he's a bit of an ass

[aro-tarot]

I’ve placed the order for the decks! 

I ended up just getting 11 plus the ones that my family and I are getting for ourselves.

With shipping and taxes and all that jazz, I’m not able to get the price down for the copies I’ll sell as low as I wanted them to.

So, instead of the decks coming in boxes. I will be making bags for all of them with the option of getting blue on the outside or red on the outside. 

I was already going to get the fabric anyway to make bags for our decks.

If these 11 end up selling, I’ll look into having more printed. I just can’t afford to have a ton made, ya know. 

[fluffypotatey]

Consider: Arthur keeping his word about making peace with the Druids (*side-eyes BBC*) and the next time they come across one of those small shrines, he's a lil uncomfy still but is doing his best like, "what's this one for? Should we go around or...?" Because this one isn't as subtly creepy as the last one, there are no "def haunted" vibes, it's just a kind of rough cairn of stacked stone and branches, and it's got flowers all over it, candle stubs and incense sticks, little jars of honeycomb, sweetmeats, preserves, etc.

And it's Percival (hc he was raised in a Druid camp, even if he doesn't have magic) is like, "No, it's fine, this one is for Emrys."

Cue Arthur asking about Emrys, and Percival explaining he's supposedly the living son of the Triple Goddess, born to heal the wounds of the Old Religion (he's tactful enough to not mention who made those wounds *coughcough*kingcunt*cough*) and the offerings are made to show kindness and peace, and to aid him in his duty (sure enough, those flowers and herbs are all medicinal).

"Why's it so important to keep him happy?" It's Gwaine who asks, irreverent and curious.

And Percival tells them the story of the High Priestess Nimueh, who tried to turn her power against Emrys's through the magic of life and death. So Emrys created a great storm over the Isle of the Blessed and called down the wrath of rain and lightning to unmake her.

They're all so absorbed in storytelling that nobody notices Merlin sitting off to the side and sweating like a hooker talking to a beat cop.

-

Bonus points if Merlin sneaks over to take some of the offerings, against his better judgement bc he should not be encouraging this but he's got a killer sweet tooth and nobody in Camelot can make decent sweetmeats, apparently, and some of these herbs are pretty rare.

Double bonus if Percival or Elyan sees him do it and are like, "bro you gon be so cursed," and Merlin doesn't know how to explain that no he's not sacrilegious, these are for him, they're offerings, they were offered, and not entirely realising he's being paid the magical equivalent of ye olde protection racket.

*also side-eyes bbc* yeah...this would have been awesome to have...excuse me while i go sharpen my knives, completely unrelated to this ask i assure you

[adhd-merlin]

“After having watched the entire series, I feel like S1 Arthur comes across as more of a noble and good guy than in later seasons? I can't put my finger on why, exactly. Perhaps the way he stands up to Uther with no hesitation. I don’t know.”

I like this. Could you please elaborate? Maybe it's because S1 Arthur had hope and a future ahead?

someone read my ramblings!!

Good question. As I said, I'm not sure I can put my finger on why. S1 Arthur is at times dick-ish and a bit of a spoiled brat, but it's also established pretty quickly that he's a good guy (because we've got to care for him, after all). He's the Jerk with a Heart of Gold. But I feel like later in the series Arthur was, sometimes, just a jerk. The way he treated Merlin was unnecessarily mean and dismissive at times.

I said it's maybe the way he stands up to Uther -- which I know he does at other points in the series. And he does still follow Uther's orders in S1 -- he's the one who has Gwen arrested for sorcery! -- so he's not entirely innocent, but it feels like he was also quicker to point out the faults in Uther's logic and to stand up for his own beliefs?

It might have something to do with the way Arthur changes after he becomes king (first in all but name, when Uther's loses his mind, and then officially). He seems to become more conservative, almost -- which I think is actually realistic. It's easy to stand up to authority when you don't have the responsibility of an entire kingdom on your shoulder. But once Arthur became king, he had to measure up with his father's legacy and to come to terms with own desire for Uther's approval (even after his death). And of course, the way Arthur lost his father also contributed to the souring of his attitude towards magic (the second major blow after his encounter with Morgause, actually).

But yeah, things happen to Arthur in later seasons that make him a bit more conservative and a bit more Uther-like. And perhaps that's why he feels like a "nicer" character in S1.

I don't know though, I'm not sure it's just because of this. It's just an impression I had but I'm afraid I can't explain it any better than this.

[mooremars]

I can't sleep so I'm doing some reading and had a realization.

Now that my media consumption has become dominated by all the Arthurian legend stuff I have managed to avoid up until now, it turns out that more I read and watch, the more I become completely convinced that removing magic is actually the only way to make specifically Arthur's character work in Camelot for me. I already thought it was the right call for story and thematic reasons but turns out it also solves the mystery of why I keep hating this character that by every metric I should really love.