#uther and merlin solidarity

[theroundbartable]

Uther: magic is pure evil, it invades the heart of men and -

Merlin: pure evil? PURE EVIL? you wanna know what's pure evil and corrupting souls and what not? Love!!!! And destiny!!! You fall in love ONE time and suddenly you have a stupid dragon on your back, telling you to give up everything you are to follow them to the depth of hell and back, and all you need in return, and by need I mean crave, is a punch to the arm and maybe a laugh on a very daring day. You'll rip out your own heart for them, damn entire kingdoms for a stupid smile! THAT'S EVIL!

Uther: damn

Uther: fuck, you're right. It was never magic it was those blasted feelings! I should ban couples from Camelot!

Merlin: oh my god, same. I'm gonna help you. Just gonna forbid marriages

Uther: you're so right! I mean, love made me marry a troll!

Merlin: I KNOW!

Arthur: Gwen, I need your help. My father and Merlin found the Bourbon

[animucrystal]

do people really look at arthur and just go “yeah hes allistic” like that is the most autistic man ive ever seen (half joking). arthur is so driven and steadfast in his ideals so when something shakes him it shakes him Hard. its hard for him to regulate emotions well (trauma + autism). he trusts easily, which is funny because he says he doesnt when he so clearly does. hes “dense” at times and doesnt pick up on a lot of subtleties, and when he does he finds it hard to express what he wants to say (again this is both a trauma thing and an autism thing). he fidgets, especially with his mothers ring. theres alot more i could name but thats all i could think of right now

some hcs: he likes routine and this is mostly the reason why he gets annoyed at merlin whenever he unknowingly derails it, i got this one from a fic actually but i think one of his special interests is just like cataloguing and organizing things and when he was younger he liked doing that with bugs and as he grew older he had to focus his attention to more “practical” things (because of uthers insistence) so he does this with weapons as well as like utilizes this skill in directions as well, this guy hates so many textures i feel and all day everyday hes seconds away from a meltdown (which manifests into snappy anger) but he grits through it because he cares more about duty than his “weird brain problem”

i think itd be funny (and sad) to imagine arthur thinking he was probably cursed as a child, then a magic a reveal happens, then after all of that arthur asks merlin if he Is cursed and merlin is like “i think youre just. Like That. but thats okay im also kind of Like That” and arthur realizes that his manservant truly was just a little weirdo and that wasnt just his magic talking and maybe HES also a little weirdo. solidarity

[cinnabons-treasure-trove]

Having dinner at the Pendragon estate.

Morgana: Daddy—

Both Uther and Gwaine: Yes?

Everyone stares at Gwaine. Uther is aghast and his wife Ygraine is unsure whether to be amused or drink more wine. Morgana is slightly horrified she said that out loud. Gwaine as expected had a smug look on his face.

Arthur of course wishes he didn't hear that, he could live the rest of life without knowing what his sister calls one of his best mates.

Merlin on the other hand decided to add his own two cents in.

Merlin: [patting Morgana's shoulder in solidarity] It's okay, it's happened to me as well. I once called Arthur daddy in front of my family too. I also call him master whenever he punishes me for being his naughty baby girl—

Arthur: [face palms] Merlin.

Merlin: [nnocently looking back at Arthur] Yes?

Arthur: [growls] Shut. Up.

Merlin shrugs his shoulders and does the gesture of zipping his mouth closed, you can hear Gwaine chortling in the background with Uther's face even more aghast. Ygraine decides drinking(a lot of) wine is the way to go. Arthur knew they should've stayed home.

[all-chickens-are-trans]

the fun thing about bbc merlin s1 is so many of the writing decisions (accidentally?) allow for the queerest readings possible. aside from magic as a metaphor for queerness (magic reveal = coming out, anti-magic laws = queerphobia etc.) and aside the fact that there's just this off the charts chemistry between all the main cast, the way these relationships are written is just so friggin' funny to me. like:

morgana and gwen? sure gwen works for morgana, but they're just genuinely good friends and really close. and the writers show this by??? gwen bringing morgana flowers?? morgana going against uther and going to jail for gwen more than once?? gwen doing everything in her power to save morgana's life?? seems like they wanted to go for "they're friends!" and "morgana is a good royal because she doesn't care about hierarchies or social standing" and where they got to is an epic tale of love, up there with all the greatest lesbian fantasy and period dramas!

arthur and merlin. i do not need to elaborate on that do i? we all see it. we enjoy it. "do you know how to walk on your knees"? please arthur you just met this boy and this is a kids show.

merlin and morgana? clearly they were trying to show that merlin has a bit of a crush on morgana because he mentions once or twice that he finds her beautiful. which is ridiculous because while merlin is the pov character, we don't need anybody to tell us that morgana is beautiful. hello??? they cast katie mcgrath and we all have eyes. yet every time those two get close to each other and bond, it's got something to do with magic. and since we've already established that magic = queerness, their dynamic is just 'self recognition through the other'. queer people being drawn to each other even before they know they're queer. especially because they almost completely forget about merlin's "crush" in the later seasons in favor of them being somewhere between gay/lesbian hostility and solidarity instead.

merlin and gwen? left this for last because this is my favorite. remember how merlin mentions he thinks morgana is beautiful? he does so because he's prompted by gwen, who asks something like "isn't she beautiful?" and only then merlin agrees and they both sigh longingly. and the funny thing is, that happens multiple times! constantly, gwen asks merlin about a woman she thinks is beautiful and only then merlin weighs in on it. what??? is it that the writers wanna tell us that gwen wants to be like these rich and powerful women? do they want to show us that merlin is into girls without making him be creepy about it? because what I see is a sapphic girl in the closet signaling to a friend that she likes girls, and merlin comphet-ly agreeing that these girls are beautiful. and the angle that gwen has a crush on merlin and she's just jealous/envious of these women doesn't really work either because it's always her who brings it up first.

honestly what were these writers THINKING. bless them all, this is such good shit. just a bunch of queer kids in the closet trying to signal to each other that they're queer and in love with each other to various degrees.

[lemissingmask]

3. Midas - Beauty/Greed

There's a bit of a time skip from the previous, since these are drabbles to be linked up. Merlin and Lancelot have followed Nimueh's trail to the gate to the underworld, where they encounter the gatekeeper who presides over it.

Next post

-

"What are you doing here, Merlin?"

Arthur, gatekeeper to the underworld, folded his arms, glaring at the god and sheep before him.

"None of your business, Arthur."

Merlin copied Arthur's stance and glared - admittedly less intimidatingly - back at him.

At his side, Lancelot glared in solidarity with his new friend...more or less...  Some might have thought it just an ordinary stare from a sheep, but Merlin was morally certain it was a glare.

"It is my business when you're this close to my father's domain," Arthur eyed the sheep suspiciously, "You have no reason to be here.  We do not have revelry in the underworld...we also don't have sheep."

"Then you are missing out, my friend."

Arthur arched an eyebrow, "Friend?"

Merlin really wished he'd stop putting unnecessary emphasis on everything.

"Sorry, my mistake," Merlin smiled sweetly, "I'd never have a friend who can be such an ass."

"Or I one who could be so stupid."

Silence.

Glaring.

A stand off.

And then a sheep.

Walking right past Arthur and towards the steps leading to the tunnel to the underworld.

Arthur stared, frozen in bemusement, his head following the motion of the small creature as it adopted a leisurely pace down the uneven and cold stairs.

"Whyyyy is your sheep going down there?" Arthur asked, still looking after the gradually disappearing form of the sheep.

"We're on a mission," Merlin started to walk after, and past Arthur, following Lancelot into the darkness, "Your father is trying to steal Gaius' well."

Arthur rolled his eyes, or at least his tone when he spoke suggested he probably had.

"Of course he is," Arthur was now walking in step with Merlin down the stairs, "That man will go to any length for power."

"He has power," Merlin objected, "He has an entire realm at his disposal."

"He wants more.  He wants to wipe out all mortal beings and possess both worlds."

Below them, Lancelot bleated, ambling up the stairs a bit and bleating again.

"What's the sheep saying?"

"No idea," Merlin picked up the pace, "And the sheep has a name.  He's Lancelot."

"You named your sheep after the god of beauty?"

Lancelot bleated again and came to join them, nudging merlin in the leg.

"No, the sheep is the god of beauty."

Arthur shifted across the staircase to stare at the sheep more closely, "You can't be serious."

"I never joke."

"Joking is quite literally yout primary reason for existing."

"Joking and wine," Merlin corrected, "And dancing, and drunken idiocy."

Lancelot nudged him again.

"Right, anyway," Merlin returned to the point, "Your greedy father sent Nimueh to steal the well from Gaius.  We need to get it from her before she gets it to Uther, and..."

"And my father decides to take all the realms for himself," Arthur finished, "Right.  And Lancelot..."

"Is helping."

Arthur snorted a laugh, "Good luck to you.  A sheep and the one drunkards worship against Nimueh?  You had just hope she and Uther aren't in the mood for killing either gods or sheep at the moment."

"I have a plan."

Lancelot stopped, turned, bleated.

"I do!"

"Lancelot doesn't seem to agree."

"Lancelot's a sheep."

The sound that followed was definitely indignant.  And, it turned out, indignant noises were very incongruous with something as utterly adorable as the fluffy creature a few steps below them.

"So," Arthur smirked, folding his arms and leaning against a wall, giving up walking and allowing his lower half to turn to black smoke so he could drift level with Merlin, "What is this master plan of yours?"

"You're Uther's son.  I'm not telling you."

Arthur was Uther's son.

He was also nothing like Uther.  For one, he could leave the underworld.  He and the collector of souls, Leon, were the only ones from that realm who could.  And, for another, he was a good man, if a bit of a prat.  And, then, just to complete a story much like the tragic plays the mortals wrote, he was besotted with the goddess of the sun.  Every sunrise he stood just beyond the threshold to the underworld and watched the gold she gifted to the lands below, smiling as the warmth fell on his permanently cold skin.

Arthur loved Guinevere, but rarely did they meet.  Uther was greedy, and that extended to keeping a tight rein on his son, never allowing him to stray far enough to meet with the radiant sun goddess.

"By which you mean," Arthur corrected, "You don't have a plan."

Lancelot chimed in his agreement or disagreement or indifference.  Or perhaps a comment on the drop in temperature the farther they went.

"I have something that could be loosely described as a plan," Merlin glared, "Happy?"

Arthur's teasing smirk fell, "I won't be if my father gains yet more power."

-

[larrikin-is-a-himbo]

My friend watches Merlin: Part I

Oh god what have i started

Who's this blonde motherfucker

Also witch lady murdered some woman and took her form to get revenge, which I whole heartedly support

Gwen is so pretty

When will Arthur stop being a jackass I'm just curious

Enemies to Lovers?

Also imagine having such bad luck that your mom sends you to the one place where magic is strictly forbidden, when your one quality is having magic

WOAH Talking dragon Cool

Oh good Merlin has to play nanny to Arthur, cool

PLS Merlin boi what are you doing

Just because the chick is good you don't have to risk it

You'd think when your one weakness is a mirror you'd get rid of the big ass one in your room

PLS ARTHUR ARE YOU BLIND THIS BEAUTY IS RIGHT THERE HITTING ON YOU [*MERLIN]

Witch is really nailing the abandoned attic aesthetic

A W K W A R D

I looove the snake shield

I'm so sick of fortune cookie smart people

Or in this case reptiles

Morgana is also so pretty

Oh my god Morgana, you should just leave this place

You deserve better than everybody here

Hello there beautiful 👀

Mysterious magic woman

Is this show MLM WLW solidarity?

I really don't see why we shouldn't let the magic people take charge of the kingdom and push this moTHERFUCKER off a cliff

This fucking dragon is pissing me off

I love Morgana so much already

Oh this guy is so clueless I love him

FUCK WHY SPIDERS

Wow the king is a real asshole

Can't wait till he dies

HELLO SAILOR 👀👀👀

I'm getting real tired of the king

I'm legit so tired of this guy

Already

And this is only the first season

Seriously, the amount of problem that could be avoided if they just got rid of the king

And so of the dragon

But mainly the guy

He straight up wants to kill a fucking child

I never wanted to kill off a series character so bad in my life

Honestly if I were Morgana I would just leave

Just pack my stuff and sneak out

HOLY PLOT TWIST

It's so weird that I'm 100% on the opposite of the main character's side

Excuse me

You can't just drug your son

This isn't going to end well I can see it

I'm digging this series honestly

LMAO I like how the girls are coming to the rescue

Like, of course they are helping Merlin cause he helped them

But I can't help but see the "If we're not going he's not even going to survive the journey, let alone the bandits" In their looks

NAW Arthur just shot an unicorn

Not sure I can forgive him this one fam

Yeah fuck your grain

You know who the true victim of the series is? The water supply

And Gaius' nerves

At least Arthur is trying to be a good ruler

LMAO not the rat stew

This entire family is fucking killing me

Both father and son

And I don't know who the holy spirit is

[Me: Arthur's mum

Him: That was fucking foul 💀]

Yaaay, the unicorn lived

NA AH, I DRAW THE LINE AT THREATENING THE LIFE OF BEST GIRL'S DAD

NOOOOOOOOOOO

"Yeah your dad is dead, but you can keep your house" CAN NO ONE IN THIS HOUSEHOLD COMMUNICATE

I am 100% on Morgana's side in the situation

And so are on everybody's side who's against Uther

Gwen is so much better than me as a person

Oh...they made up

Morgana is also a better person than me

Season finale time

Did I just watch the entire season in one day

WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING FUCK IS THAT

"It's just a myth"

"It's just a story"

"It's just made up"

Bitch have you been PAYING ATTENTION to the past months? Or however long this season is spawned in

So far Nimue gave some water, Merlin's mom is dying, the dragon outed himself and Merlin is saying goodbyes

noooOOO

Wow, why do they severely underuse the best antagonists in every series I like

This was not nearly enough Nimue

I'm low-key disappointed

[teddyoverthinks]

freedom of speech & community heals the effects of fascism

“Treason,” Merlin ignored him, “is but a king’s word. What we’re doing here, maybe it’s treason, but mostly, it’s just dealing with our grief and anger. There’s nothing wrong about that.” 

All of a sudden, the conversation’s tone had shifted to a much more serious note, and Merlin could see, from the look in Arthur’s eyes, that he had noticed that as well. Good. 

“All the people around us – well, not all, but a good portion of them –, they’ve chosen this, this path, instead of perpetuating the cycle of violence. They’ve chosen to express themselves, and you’re damn lucky they have, because in a kingdom where people are forced to keep quiet, well, inevitably, at some point, things will break. People will break, because that’s what they do. And blood, blood will be shed. Yours, theirs. If you don’t allow people to speak, Arthur, then they’ll find other ways to make themselves heard. This way, trust me, is much better. What is wrong with what we’re doing, exactly? We’re writing a few poems. Saying a few words. Throwing a few apples. Sorry, Gwaine.” 

The knight was not listening, though, which was good, because otherwise he would have quickly guessed Aria’s true identity. 

“My point is, we’re not doing anything wrong. What we’re doing, here – it is nothing in comparison to what Morgana is planning to do, to what Morgana has done. Not to mention Uther’s own wrongdoings.” 

He sighed. 

“These are your people, Arthur, and you might not approve of what they’re doing, but I – I’m proud. Proud of what the Uther Hate Group has managed to achieve: unify people originally linked by their common hatred, and invite them into a group where – a group where there’s love. Compassion. Solidarity. Humanity. Did you see how compassionate those people were towards Leon? How kind their gazes were? What we’re doing here may seem like nothing to you, pure provocation, but I assure you, it’s not. Do you – do you know what Lancelot and Gwen are doing right now? Yes, they’re planting flowers, but not for any reason. They’re doing it for all those who’ve lost their lives or their loved ones to Uther’s tyranny. And I don’t know about you, Arthur, but this is the kind of kingdom that I would love to live in. A kingdom whose people are united by feelings such as compassion, and empathy, and peaceful sadness. A land where people communicate instead of threatening each other. It’s not perfect, and sure, it’s not very respectful, and yes, the circumstances aren’t great and I’d much rather live in a kingdom with no such bloody history. But things are what they are, and given what Uther’s put them through, given what Uther’s put us all through… well, I think it’s the best we can do, and I think we’re doing damn well, too.”

—Naelyn, How to kill a king

[microcroft]

Speaking of Merlin fics, if you don't mind, do you have any recommendations? I'd really appreciate it since Big ADHD means I have little patience for finding good ones -.-'

okay this was sent back in april but tumblr is garbage and i didn't see i had any new messages until right now?? im so sorry Anyway i fuckin get that my dude, except like my adhd does the opposite specifically with merlin fanfiction for the past year which has been my hyperfixation and i have been using to cope with a multitude of issues so you are in luck (if you still want recommendations) because i created a collection of my favorite fics that i am adding to a lot because i read a, quite frankly, concerning amount of merlin fics (there are some non merlin/arthur in it but its mostly merlin/arthur fics)

https://archiveofourown.org/collections/bestfunnylittlemagictwinkfics but more specifically, the ones that immediately come to mind are the long but very good ones that live rent free in my mind, in no particular order, there are a bunch in the collection which are just as good but I am really tired right now and dont want to make this post extremely long so I just want to make sure you (and whoever else may be reading this) know about these ones:

Born of Magic - "Set after 1x13. When Arthur learns he is of magic, he decides it's time to grow out of Uther's shadows. Secrets are revealed, and Arthur comes to learn just how far his father is willing to go in his war against magic. With Merlin on his side, can Arthur build the kingdom he was destined to create?" Arthur has his own cool special brand of Once and Future King magic, merlin also he is adopted by a unicorn.

Para Bellum - "After Merlin goes missing, Arthur forges new alliances to repel a deadly threat to Camelot. Nothing will stop Arthur from finding Merlin, and nothing will stop Merlin from protecting Arthur -- no matter the cost." I will never get enough married Merlin and Arthur fics and this is

The Care and Keeping of Camelot - "With Arthur dead, Camelot's destiny has soured--if it was ever any good to begin with. Gwen is fed up with grief and mediocrity and takes matters into her own hands, returning to the start to make a better Camelot or break history trying. Knighthood, rekindling her first love, and Merlin's silly almanac are all just byproducts." Post Canon Gwen is sent back in time by Merlin fix Camelot using what they learned. Featuring Morgana and Gwen having homoerotic sword fighting lessons and Merlin and Gwen's mlm/wlw solidarity.

For Want of A Nail- "Fleeing from Essetir in the bloody beginnings of the Purge, Hunith finds herself on the doorstep of old friends. That's all it takes to untangle the skeins of destiny and weave a new tapestry." Canon rewrite set in an alternate universe where Merlin grows up with Leon as his adoptive big brother, he has a very good dog, he and Leon give morgana a puppy for her birthday (very important to me), there's a whole lot of pagan rituals (which i fucking love), and merlin is a badass with a staff and throwing knives.

pretty much every CaffeinatedFlumadiddle merlin fic I have read, they are genuine comedic gold and so fucking well written it blows my mind. but out of all of their fics my faves are: Calling the Middle Man (Lancelot's characterization in my head is now entirely based upon this fic) and Thick as Sorcerers (the cat scene had me dying, and also gwen and elyan's dynamic in this fic is so fucking good)

Next to You (It's The Rule) - In which Merlin and Arthur are pining for each other and basically married, and everyone knows it, Merlin is a little shit, and all of Camelot and other kingdoms love him and see him as their ruler because he is honestly running half the kindom. Merlin and Arthur cant cope with being separated from each other, and when they get into a fight the whole kingdom goes into a panic.

(how do i do a secondary bullet???) (i really do love this fic so much, i love reading merlin and arthur being dumbasses together and co-running camelot and the majority of this fic is so unique, funny and like exactly what i look for in fics, so please dont brush it off just based off of this but i want to state that im not a fan of the genuinely-calling-merlin-queen bit. it was funny at the beginning but it did get taken a bit too far at the end in my opinion. i get that it is fantasy medieval times and it makes sense that people probably dont quite grasp that there can be two kings, i could write a whole essay on this topic but in the end it does make me feel uncomfortable, a bit like forcing heteronormativity when you dont have to because its fantasy medieval times not actual medieval times, and misgendering- it honestly did trigger my dysphoria a bit at the end but there is so much in this fic that is so good I can't not recommend it.)

okay there we go im cutting myself off now. if you want any more fics or to talk about merlin at all hmu i mostly just send shit to my friend who has never watched the show but probably has an extensive knowledge on it just from the shit i have been sending her like every day for the past year lmao.

[briefly-enchanting-coffee]

If I see anymore Mordred slander, I will be committing arson. Leave him alone.

Mordred was never evil. Mordred is who you guys treat Morgana like she is. Mordred was a child soldier, essentially, he was being used for a bigger purpose bc of his power and since he was a child he didn't get to actually decide if he wanted to do that. After the camp raid to "save" Morgana, we don't see Mordred again until he is, yet again, being used. I find it Incredibly interesting that Mordred isn't seen again until he is North with the traders. Like. He went from being told he was going to save magic itself to,,,what?? And then you know, he saves Arthur and merlin again, repay the debt, gets to see Morgana again and he sees her. He sees her hate and her anger, he knows that she is beyond saving. Mordred also see Arthur, he sees Arthur leadership and his honor, he sees hope for the future. And he expresses that Constantly, but merlin just Can't trust him (which im not,,Faulting him on buuuut) and that is a rock thrown at Mordred, Merlins distrust.

To Mordred, merlin is Emrys, and Emrys is a powerful sorcerer, he is someone Mordred looks up too and he seeks friendship with him. He wants that magic solidarity (that Merlin denied Morgana). And he doesn't understand why merlin doesn't trust him, that hurts him deeply.

Now we get into the obvious descent but I still want to talk about it. First off, I want to make it clear so we are on the same page. Kara was not convicted off being a magic user. Kara was convicted of being a murderer and enemy of Camelot bc of the raid. This needs to be restated I feel bc Karas entire argument was that "magic is not a crime". Okay, good, great, that isn't what you are being convicted of. I entirely blame this on rushed writing, I feel like they wanted Mordred to turn evil bc of, what mordred would view as, a lack of change from Uther to Arthur(?) But they had developed arthurs character enough that it would be very left field for Arthur to punish Kara with death for magic so. Yeah. Anyway.

I dont believe Mordred hated Arthur if im being super honest. I think he hates Merlin, sure, but not Arthur. I know, I know, he literally kills him lmao, but like. It happens. Okay, but seriously, mordred 100% hates merlin, but not Arthur bc I genuinely think that mordred understood that Arthur had very little choice but to sentence Kara, mordred knew she was dangerous but he was convinced he could change her. Also, i feel like mordred wouldn't have ever gone to Morgana had he been in the room when Arthur offered Kara a chance to repent, but tomato tamoto. I think that the reason mordred kills Arthur is, yes, a sense of justice but he is also following Morgana lead As Well As The Fact, that sure, mordred might have been able to kill Merlin, maybe. But way try to kill someone you hate (who is also significantly more powerful than you) when you can take away their entire reason for being, they're best friend and they're king. Hmm.

Anyway, I just wanted to rant about Mordred bc he was a sweetheart who's idol killed his love.

TL:DR: mordred should be who you treat like Morgana and im tired of the mordred slander and ignoring.

[bennedict]

I just thought Of an alternate magic reveal for bbc Merlin. Because I think both Merlin and Arthur deserved better.

Okay so in “the death song of Uther Pendragon” I feel like this is when it should of happened. When Merlin and Arthur were hunting Ghost Uther, Arthur was already beginning to change his opinions of his father. Arthur knew that knighting common folk wasn’t evil. Uther tried to tell him otherwise. A seed of doubt was planted in his mind about Uther. Because he knew, he KNEW in his heart that he did the right thing. But he was conflicted, because he loved his father. He was definitely beginning to realize that his opinion of his father was never entirely accurate, in death and life. So when he was about to blow the horn and send Uther back to the spirit world, Uther says “Merlin has Magic” before he could blow the horn. He pauses looks at Uther looks at Merlin, and his terrified eyes then looks back at Uther and says “I know” and blows the horn. Because you cannot tell me that Arthur was THAT dense. He may not know the extent of his magic but he knew for certain that Merlin was not evil, magic or no. So he kept it to himself. Until Merlin wanted to tell him.

Idk, this was just an idea. But I really wish we would have got more Merlin and Arthur solidarity pertaining to his magic.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk😘

[donttouchtheneednoggle]

For the ask game: Uther

.......

If I say I hate you so much I trust you won't be too offended

Alright we're doing this

Otp: Uthus... search your heart you know it makes way too much sense

Brotp: Ok i know it's terrible obviously but his and Merlin's accidental solidarity is hilarious

Ot3: *takes deep breaths* ummm how about Uther x Vivienne x Gorlois

Notp: Ygraine x Uther for obvious reasons also troll lady you know thay shit wasn't ok

I'm not saying thank you for this ask

Send me characters!

[tessasocs]

what’s neveah’s closest relationships? what are their dynamics like?

Ooooh okay, so she has a lot, so I'm gonna go with her top five.

1. Neveah&Lancelot

Ugh my darlings, the loves of my life. Neveah actually knows Lancelot before he arrives in Camelot but they really grow close when she helps him and Merlin try to pull off the ruse of him being a noble.

From then the two keep in touch and Lancelot personally dubs himself Neveah's guard whenever he's in Camelot and promises to protect her no matter what. Also they have mutual crushes on each other but the other doesn't know that. Neveah in turn, would do anything for Lancelot because she knows that he is a true knight and believes in him before anyone else does.

2. Neveah&Arthur

Oooooh baby!

It takes a while for Neveah and Arthur to warm up to each other. Neveah sees him as stuck up and arrogant and Arthur doesn't see her at all. He recognizes her as she starts to help out more with the shenanigans of Camelot, but it isn't until like season 2 that they really start to become friends.

HOWEVER, even before that, Neveah and Arthur defend each other and save each other because they are both idealistic with good hearts who want to see a better Camelot and once Neveah realizes that Arthur would make a better king than Uther, she warms up to him a little bit more. Their romance is a different story but OMG my heart.

3. Neveah and Merlin

UGHHHHH THE ANGST WITH THESE TWO

They start out as literal best friends because they both have the same secret and the same reason for being in Camelot. But uh oh as the series progresses they become more and more on opposite sides. I haven't really figured out the specifics of their relationship.

In season one they're pretty close and Neveah helps Merlin out of his more awful scrapes and a lot of people assume they're siblings or related because of how close they are.

4. Neveah and Gwen

God I love these two. They're just the best girlfriends. I can't say anything else except that. They just support each other regardless and love each other unconditionally. Not even when Arthur gets involved.

They're sisters to the very end.

5. Neveah and Ignatius

They're the epitome of Distinguished Gay and Disaster Bi. Wlw/Mlm solidarity.

So much friendship and unconditional love. Ignatius is the first person Neveah meets when she enters Camelot and they remain friends until the very end. My favorite thing is that a lot of people think they're dating, so often times Ignatius has to be like "Ah yes, girls, definitely interested in women" and Neveah has to pretend to see Ignatius as like a romantic prospect which leads to some hilarious scenes.

Ignatius is really the brother that Neveah never had.

[panharmonium]

Hey! Loving the Merlin takes on ur blog, and I wanted to ask—what are your opinions on Morgana? Haven’t seen a lot of talk abt her. I loved her, esp in season 1, which is also my fav season cuz after that I feel like things started to make less and less sense, lmao. I understand her descent into villainy (mostly, but why does she start to hate Gwen so quickly? feel like that could’ve been handled better) but I would’ve loved to see some solidarity between her and merlin!!!!!

hi there! :D

so, i LOVE morgana.  most of what i’ve said about her has been in the tags of gifsets that are now scattered haphazardly around my blog; i don’t think there are larger pieces yet besides my finale round-up (urgh lol), and most of that is just a function of time - i can’t possibly write expansive tracts of meta about every single merlin thing i love, because i love the whole show; i’d never leave my computer again.  i generally sit down to write long essays about whatever grabs my mind at a particular moment, even though there are a bazillion other things out there i love just as much. XD

but with morgana, i also feel like part of the reason i haven’t written much about her is because up until three and a half weeks ago (....oh my god, was it THREE AND A HALF WEEKs???  IT FEELS LIKE A YEAR) i hadn’t even finished the series yet, and the whole time i was watching this show i was sort of...waiting to see whether they would finally tie her arc together.  i didn’t feel like i could say too much about what was happening with her, because my evaluation of her arc was going to depend on where the writers finally chose to take it and whether they brought it to the place i thought it needed to go.

and...they didn’t, obviously, which is what i sort of suspected would happen, though i was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt all the way up until the end, because i don’t believe they ever wrote themselves into a corner with her.  there were things they could have handled with more depth, definitely, but i do not believe that they ever dug themselves into a hole they couldn’t climb out of.

i. what happened to you, morgana

essentially my opinion (just mine; nobody else is obligated to share it) of morgana is this: that the series ended before her arc was over.  

to me, season 5 was the nadir in our characters’ journeys.  they had reached their lowest point, their...“darkest hour,” to quote the show itself.  and in many familiar storytelling formats (the ones that have the most in common with bbc merlin, at least), we take our characters to a moment where they hit rock bottom, where everything is going wrong and things seem hopeless, and then we light a spark under their butts that starts the process where they fight their way out of it.  the nadir isn’t the endpoint of the curve; it’s the point where characters start climbing their long, slow way out of the pit.  it’s what they have to overcome in order to earn their eventual triumphant ending.

to me, season 5 was that nadir, for morgana and everyone else.  i never would have imagined season 5 to be the final season of the show, if i hadn’t known it was beforehand. i would have read season 5 as the show’s ‘empire strikes back’ moment.  the episode that ends with our team losing, but with a whole other episode remaining where they can fight to Make It Right.

i view merlin bbc as tantamount to a cancelled tv show, to be honest.  i know that’s not necessarily what happened (though it does feel pretty weird that they officially announced S5 would be the final season only four weeks before the finale was about to air??  very bizarre), but regardless of the actual behind-the-scenes-whatever, the fact of the matter is that for me, the series doesn’t end.  it stops.  and those two things are not the same.

this is particularly relevant to morgana because, as you said, there are aspects of her character arc that weren’t handled as deftly as they could have been, but if the show had brought morgana’s arc to the place where it felt like they were going in 5.09, they could have rescued so much of what came before.

to get into more detail -

i think the biggest issue with morgana’s arc for me isn’t so much what she does, it’s what we’re not shown as she does it.  

i fully believe that morgana would eventually start working to ensure uther’s downfall.  (obviously.  she’s been presented as the voice of moral authority on this show since episode one, and there’s no reason to believe that she wouldn’t ultimately start rebelling against the king’s oppressive policies.)  i believe that she would reject arthur, eventually.  and i believe that she would reject gwen, too.  but i don’t believe the show illustrates enough how painful this would be for her, or how conflicted it would make her feel.  

and again, as i said, there are my own personal opinions, couched in...some personal experience with certain kinds of family conflict - but i do understand where morgana’s bitterness toward arthur and gwen comes from.  arthur, for all that he’s “a better man than [his] father,” never fully breaks with uther the way morgana does.  he has his own little rebellions, yes, but ultimately he always falls in line.  he tolerates his father’s actions even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with them, and he continues to support uther even after uther is revealed to have lied about being morgana’s illegitimate father.  and because of this tacit acceptance of uther’s poor behavior, arthur reaps benefits and privileges galore.  morgana is cast out with nothing, whereas arthur, who didn’t even take a stand for justice, wants for nothing.  arthur is sitting pretty on the throne of camelot because he continued to bestow his honor and respect upon a man who deserved neither of those things, because he chose the villain of the series over his sister, even knowing what uther did to her.  and that’s gutting, for her.  he betrayed her.

(and there are things to be said on arthur’s end of this, too, of course - morgana doesn’t ever confide in him; she doesn’t come to him for help or give him a chance to even be informed about what happened to her before she jumps into invading camelot and dethroning uther - so for arthur, her sudden turnaround comes as a total shock, and HE feels betrayed, like he has no choice but to fight her - i mean, it’s just a big mess.)

but i understand why she hates him.  he continues to stand with a man who did demonstrable evil, despite the harm that was specifically done to morgana herself.  and by shutting up and letting atrocities be committed in front of him, arthur escapes the harm that morgana suffers for speaking up.  i understand why morgana is so bitter about it.

and gwen is a very similar situation - from morgana’s point of view, gwen is playing the arthur to arthur’s uther.  gwen sides with arthur over morgana, despite knowing full well that arthur’s policies harm people with magic.  gwen abandons morgana for her love interest, and for morgana that’s just like - “why would you do that?  i was your friend before he ever cared about you, i loved you before he ever did - don’t you see the evil he’s perpetuating?  don’t you care what he does to people like me?”  

that’s why morgana tells merlin, “don’t think i don’t understand loyalty just because i’ve got no one left to be loyal to.”  she feels like everybody who supposedly cared for her ultimately dumped her because her situation interfered with their comfortable, morally uncomplicated lives.  they weren’t willing to acknowledge what was done to her, and they stuck by the man responsible for it, and it seems incomprehensible to her, that they would make that choice, when his misdeeds are known and out in the open.  i can’t blame her for wanting to raze the city to the ground.

HOWEVER.

while i believe that all these things are completely plausible, i don’t believe that the series shows us appropriately how these things would be tearing morgana apart inside, underneath the rage and the armored front of  ‘you brought this on yourself, so burn in hell, i don’t care.’  

there are moments where the show gets it right.  when morgana wakes up after uther dies and says that she felt his pain - it’s not presented as gloating; she’s - almost confused.  uncertain.  like she doesn’t know what she feels.  when she confronts arthur at the end of season 4 (i thought we were friends/as did i) there’s real pain under the surface there.  when they confront each other at the beginning of season 5, too (what happened to you, morgana/i grew up) - you can feel the undercurrent of something deeper there, too.  and that moment with mordred in 5.09, when he appeals to her humanity (i hope one day you will find the love and compassion which used to fill your heart) - that is an amazing scene.  the show absolutely nails that moment.  morgana hesitates.  you can see the grief and the - the conflict written all over her face.  it’s perfect.  it’s exactly the turn i would have expected morgana’s arc to be taking, at that time in the series.

but then the show just stopped.  and without taking morgana’s arc further - without following it through all the way to its conclusion - there’s never any resolution to all the ways the show dropped the ball earlier.  all the moments where morgana appears to be just...evil-smirking her way through her revenge, the way she suddenly seems to have no feelings for gwen whatsoever, the utterly lost opportunity that was the “enchanted gwen” arc (which could have been such a powerful exploration of their broken relationship) - all those could have eventually made sense and fit into a narrative where morgana’s conflicted feelings finally begin to escape the stranglehold in which she has them choked, where we start to see the pain of these destroyed relationships rising to the surface.  

i can understand how morgana would just - shut off her feelings about these people.  she had to close her heart to them - the alternative would have been too painful.  but underneath - we know it wouldn’t be that easy.  we know it eats at her.  and it’s just - so incredibly frustrating that the series was starting to go there - the moment with mordred in 5.09 feels like the beginning of morgana’s big crisis of faith - and then the show just Stops.

so the thing about morgana for me is that, like you said, the show does drop the ball on illustrating her quick descent into evil-villain territory, and they especially drop the ball on her break with gwen, but all of it could have been salvaged, if they had committed to following her arc all the way through to its conclusion.  instead they chose to kill her (and everybody else, lol) just as her deep-rooted internal conflicts were finally starting to rise to the surface.

ii. we can find another way/there is no other way (aka the merlin problem)

i’ll say right up front that anything i say here is, as always, just my personal interpretation of things.  this is not necessarily the One True Way this show is meant to be understood; it’s just my own preferred read.

i have definitely seen some things in my brief foray into internet fandom that are sort of...piling on merlin for abandoning morgana or “gaslighting” her, most of which seem to be centered around the beginning of episode 2.03, which is weird to me, because the whole point of that episode is that merlin does help morgana, in the end - he’s the one who doesn’t gaslight her.  he defies gaius and takes her to the druids, specifically so they can tell her yes, she does have magic.  he tries to distract the attacking knights in order to enable morgana to escape with the druids permanently, like she wants.  and when the attempt fails, and they’re brought back to camelot, he comes to morgana’s chambers specifically to check on her and to assure her that he won’t reveal her secret to anyone, and she’s grateful for this - she thanks him, she’s appreciative of everything he did for her, she feels comforted to know the truth and to know that someone else knows it, too.  this episode ends with their relationship at a high point - it’s overwhelmingly positive, and it doesn’t take a nosedive until 1.12, when morgana gets in way over her head and merlin thinks she’s trying to murder them all.  (and even in that episode, it’s worth it to note, merlin is still covering for her magic in front of arthur, giving her chances.)

(and obviously also, of course, the end of that particular situation gets Real Bad Real Fast, which could be a whole post in and of itself, so let’s stay focused on the earlier eps, for now.)

the criticism of merlin in those earlier episodes seems to stem solely from the fact that he doesn’t out himself to morgana, which i can understand - i mean, i like the idea of a ‘merlin+morgana secret magic squad’ AU as much as anyone - but i’ll be honest and say that nowadays, i’m not quite as willing to condemn him for it as i might have been on my first viewing.

i’m not willing to condemn him for it at all, actually.

(and again - as i said, these are my own opinions!  everybody else is welcome to have different opinions!  we all engage with media differently, and there isn’t a right or wrong way to approach this situation, just whichever way feels best to you.)

so, for me, i’m not interested anymore in telling merlin that he should have revealed himself to anyone, at that point in the story.  it would be different if he had been like - continuing to tell morgana ‘oh, no, you don’t have magic, don’t be crazy,’ or if he had been pretending to hate magic like everyone else so he could blend in, but he doesn’t do that, at the end of the episode.  he sends her to the druids.  he chases after her when he realizes she's in danger.  he openly acknowledges her magic, he supports her in having it, he makes sure she knows she has nothing to fear from him.  by the end of 2.03, he’s gone to great lengths to help her; he’s already made certain that she knows he’s on her side and that she can trust him.  she clearly knows that he accepts her and that he supports her - those are his responsibilities to her as a fellow human and as a friend, and those are exactly the responsibilities he makes sure to fulfill.  she knows her secret is safe with him.  

now - whether or not merlin feels safe enough to out himself, after making sure morgana knows he accepts and supports her, is his own business.

i think there are a number of reasons why it wouldn’t be fair for me to criticize merlin for continuing to conceal his secret, the first of which is something i already mentioned in another piece - that a marginalized person’s first responsibility is to their own safety, when forced into hiding under oppressive social conditions.  merlin isn’t obligated to reveal himself for anybody.  he’s not obligated to put himself in danger out of some kind of...responsibility to the community.  (not at this point, anyway.  it gets more complicated later, as merlin becomes more powerful, which i also address in that other piece, but that’s all in the future for him and not relevant at this moment.)

i think it would be easy for me to forget that merlin isn’t safe, in the early seasons.  we’re so used to thinking of merlin as ‘the greatest sorcerer to ever walk the earth,’ because that’s what we keep being told he’s going to become, but again, that’s all so far in the future for him.  merlin in the early seasons can do some things with his abilities, but not consistently, and not to the level where we can reasonably expect him to resist the entirety of camelot’s army, if they were to come for him.  merlin is in real danger, and he’s not evil for being unwilling to share a secret about himself that would ensure his death, if it somehow got back to the wrong people.

second - i don’t think it would be fair for me to discount merlin’s personal history, either.  merlin’s life didn’t start in camelot, and he hasn’t even been in camelot for all that long, comparatively, by the time we get to S2.  season one takes place over a few months, starting in either spring or summer and ending in the fall (after the referenced harvest in 1.10/1.11, but before winter sets in).  the weather is nice by time season 2 starts, so we can probably assume that S2 takes place once winter has passed (although, it’s technically possible that S2 takes place over the same autumn as S1, I guess...but it’s not made clear to us, timeline-wise.)  either way, we just really have to remember that merlin’s stay in camelot by the time we reach 2.03 is still this blip compared to the rest of his life.  

it would be very easy for me to say that merlin should have told morgana, that there’s no way she would ever have given him up - and i probably would have said that very thing, after the first time i watched the show - but like - nowadays, i really think i have to step back from that certainty and be a little more gentle.  we say we “know” that morgana wouldn’t have willingly betrayed merlin’s secret at that point, and sure, i agree, that’s probably true - but does merlin know that?  

of course not!

i think he hopes that.  i think he would dearly like to believe that.  i also think merlin grew up in a situation where he couldn’t fully trust even the people he’d known all his life, with two (vital!!!) exceptions, and he has been in camelot with a bunch of brand-new people for less than a year, and he can’t be certain of them, however much he wants to be.  (and that’s not even considering the possibility of accidental betrayals, or coerced ones - remember, the witchfinder shows up in S2 also, as just one example.)

remember that exchange merlin has with freya, later this season?

“you can’t always trust people.”

“i know.  that’s why i left home.”  

merlin is not used to showing himself to people.  he has been taught all his life to NEVER, EVER show himself to anybody.  everyone in camelot who finds out about his magic finds out either by accident (like gaius or lancelot), or necessity (like freya and gilli - though gilli is interesting, because i think merlin’s decisions there are motivated precisely by the choices he didn’t make with morgana - which i’ll go into more later).  

in twenty-odd years, merlin has only ever told one person about his magic.  and even that generous assumption requires a little bit of inferencing for us to determine, though i think it’s likely enough, if not confirmable.

(i am, in case it’s unclear, referencing 1.10, when merlin is explaining to will why hunith sent him away to camelot: “when she found out you knew - she was so angry.”  that, to me, has always been a signifier that merlin told will about his magic, as opposed to will finding out by coincidence.  i know there are a lot of headcanons floating around out there about various...accidental situations that may have occurred which forced merlin to reveal his magic in front of will, and those are all obviously totally fun to play with, but after hearing this particular line - i never understood that to be the case, to be honest.  we’ve seen hunith enough to have a pretty solid understanding of her character.  she and merlin are always easy and gentle together, she’s so kind and calm and thoughtful - i can’t imagine that she wouldn’t have understood, if there had been some kind of accident that forced merlin’s hand.  she’d be just as afraid for his future safety, of course, and she would have wished he’d told her right away, but she wouldn’t have been “so angry.”  

...she might, however, have been “so angry” if she’d found out that merlin had specifically undermined every sacrifice she’d ever made to keep him safe/ignored every single one of her warnings/rejected every cautious thing she’d been telling him for his entire life and TOLD somebody about his magic when it wasn’t remotely necessary.  that’s the only scenario i can imagine that would prompt merlin to say “she was SO angry” in that half-awed, half-intimidated tone, with that little headshake, like it was such a singular event, like it’s still formidable for him to remember.)

so anyway, that said - it’s too easy for me to say ‘he should have told morgana/gwaine/gwen etc; they would never have turned on him,’ as if it would have been such a simple thing for him to do, as if there were no dangers associated with their knowledge even if they would never have willingly given him up, as if he was refusing to do it because he didn’t want to, or because his fears were overblown, or because he was foolish for thinking they would ever hate him for his gifts.  i think that really minimizes the reality of his struggle, and the danger of his situation.  without the pressure of some crisis to force his hand, merlin has only ever willingly revealed himself to one person.  that person is dead.  that person died specifically ensuring that merlin could stay safe and hidden from the rest of the world, morgana included - merlin’s continued secrecy is a gift that was bought at an impossibly high price, and it’s not simple for him to contemplate squandering it, especially with no guarantee that things will turn out okay.

because there IS no guarantee that things will turn out okay!  a lot of the “merlin should have told morgana” online talk centers around the idea that knowing about merlin’s magic would have kept morgana from feeling alone/betrayed, thus preventing her from turning to the “evil” methods she uses later, but again, i don’t think we actually know that at all.  solidarity between merlin and morgana would have been a nice thing, definitely; i’d like to see that too, but i don’t think the fact that she and merlin are both magic-users would have guaranteed harmony between them.  merlin and gilli are both magic-users, too, and merlin expects this to be enough to convince gilli to “see the light,” but the fact of the matter is that merlin and gilli just have very different ideas about what it means to do the right thing.  merlin thinks it means biding his time and waiting for change to come from the top (because he’s been TOLD by greater powers that this is the right course of action, of course; let’s note again that merlin’s situation is extremely complicated) whereas gilli thinks that doing things merlin’s way makes merlin complicit with an unjust regime.  gilli says ‘i shouldn’t haven’t to wait for someone else to give me my rights.  i’m going to take them myself.’

the fact that merlin and gilli share a bond as magic-users doesn’t protect them from an ideological divide that puts them on different sides of the same struggle.  i’m not sure that merlin and morgana wouldn’t have still ended up in the same situation, eventually, if merlin had chosen to out himself to her - but doing so would certainly have made him a thousand times more vulnerable to attack.

third - it’s also important to remember that if we’re going to hold merlin to this rigid ‘he should have told morgana everything/confided in her/trusted her at the expense of possibly his own life despite the fact that she exists at the completely opposite end of a rigid social hierarchy as him and he’s known her for less than a year’ then maybe we ought to raise the bar for morgana, as well.  morgana is very clearly shown to trust and appreciate merlin at the end of 2.03, but by 2.11, when alvarr and mordred show up and convince her to steal the crystal of neahtid, she doesn’t hesitate or come to merlin at all, despite the fact that we never see him do anything to lose her trust between then and now.  she never asks him for help, even when she’s uncertain about alvarr’s methods, and that leaves merlin in the dark, only privy to confusing images of her sneaking around and acting suspicious.  and even with that, merlin doesn’t condemn her for what she does, the same way he doesn’t blame her when she tries to kill uther in 1.12 - he helps arthur retrieve the crystal, but he doesn’t give morgana up.  and he doesn’t hold any kind of grudge, either - in the next episode, merlin doesn’t even suspect her, at first - he thinks it must be her magic protecting her; he doesn’t even consider the idea that she has anything to do with the illness, not until kilgharrah tells him.  

and even after that, he STILL covers for her in front of arthur, and he gives her a chance to come clean to him - but she doesn’t take it.  

i’m not condemning her for that - i get why she would be afraid to admit to such a big mess - she was in way over her head and didn’t know what to do.  but if we’re going to cut morgana this much slack and accept her fears as a valid enough reason to block a potential moment of connection, then we have to accept that merlin’s fears were valid, too - morgana’s descent into “villainy” was not something we can pin solely on merlin’s already overburdened shoulders.  the end of season 2 was not some kind of one-way failure.

in summary: merlin and morgana were trapped in an impossible situation.  they were both victims of the same oppressive regime, and both of them had very real, very dangerous obstacles to letting themselves trust in and reach out to others, and i think pitting them against each other while forgetting who the real villain was is unfair to them both.

also, a brief postscript: circling back to the first section of this piece, where i talked about how season 5 just stopped before anyone’s arc was finished - merlin and morgana could have had so much more, if we’d gotten another season.  their relationship is really in the pits, by season 5, but there is this deleted scene where arthur is reflecting on what happened to morgana and blaming himself, and merlin says arthur shouldn’t take the blame, that “there were others better placed to help morgana” (implicating, of course, himself) and that was SUCH a jumping off point for their story to have continued.  merlin wanted to do better by her.  he blamed himself for what happened to her.  and morgana, for her part, was starting to question herself, as we saw during her confrontation with mordred in 5.09.

there were places for this relationship to go.  it wasn’t a lost cause.  but the writers decided that it made more sense to just...eliminate everybody at the exact moment when things were poised to possibly change.

the story wasn’t over at the end of season 5.  but the show was, and i am always going to regret those many lost opportunities.

[twoohugs]

BBC Merlin 1x08 The Beginning of the End

[Click here for a full list of my BBC Merlin commentary]

First of all, they don’t.

Second of all… well… following that logic… doesn’t that tells you something..? Like, the two isn’t exactly mutually exclusive?

Sometimes there are moments where you just go… ooooooh Arthur is gonna make a great king! and this is one of them

You can see they both crave this kind of solidarity. *cue fix-it fic where they both know each other has magic and learn together and become badass together and nobody becomes crazy or dies and everyone is happy and Arthur legalizes magic*

I really am pro-merlin-tells-morgana, and I’m still bitter about Gaius thinking that ignoring the problem would make it go away (I’m sure there’ll be another chance to talk about this later)

But my point is, both Merlin and Morgana just need someone to tell them “yeah i believe magic can be good” and I just wish they could’ve given it to each other.

Another thing about this episode is after this the merlin-morgana-arthur trio should have established that all four of them don’t believe magic is all bad and Uther is Wrong and they should have each other to rely on and at least rant to. But then next time anything happens they are all suddenly alone-and-have-nobody-to-talk-to again and I’m like, what? I mean, I know they  kept them that way to push the plot the way they want but you can’t just make the characters experience something like this together and then pretend it didn’t happen!

*sighs happily* I just love watching people banter.

and also: # siblings

I think it’s pretty impressive how sure of himself Arthur is. Not in a cocky way, more like… confidence? When somebody hears some weird noise and other people don’t, most people would dismiss it (“maybe it’s just the wind”) or doubt themselves (“shit am I going crazy?”), but Arthur firmly believes in himself and just knows that he has really heard something.

There is really no reason for him to drop the keys into the soup. Arthur was looking away from him and the keys when he did that, so honestly he could’ve just grabbed the keys, or hid them behind his back. But no, he chooses to drop them in the soup. Why???? And it’s not even the more inconspicuous option, ‘cause there was a loud splash! Even if he drops the keys in the bed it would’ve been more subtle. Why? Merlin, why?

You can see how Uther doesn’t say the druids would “destroy the city”, or “kill everyone in the council”, but instead puts a direct cause-effect relationship between “I die” with “the kingdom will turn to anarchy”, like he is the only one of any importance in his government.

I mean, hello? There is still Arthur? Or even Morgana? Or the many advisers and knights and lords? Yet Uther seems to think that he is the only one capable of being a king, as if there would not be any other king, and the kingdom will fall without him. How egotistic is that?

Another way to see this is that he sees himself as the kingdom, and takes the personal threats to him as threats to the kingdom. That’s the whole problem, isn’t it? Many of these “evil” sorcerers only hate him and want him dead, and even those who target Arthur only does that to punish Uther, not because they actually have anything against Arthur. Edwin only wanted to kill Uther and Uther alone (even though he hates Gaius he just drives him away, not kill him, until he tries to stop Edwin killing Uther). The fake lady Helen only wanted to kill Arthur to take revenge on Uther for killing her son. These are personal! Yet Uther makes it sound like these people want Camelot destroyed! No, you absolute fuck, they just hate YOU!

Says the man currently strangling his adopted daughter. urgh. I can’t even.

[avatar-style]

the most frustrating thing about Merlin is how different things could have been had Merlin been less afraid of discovery

the solidarity that could have existed between Merlin and Morgana, that was hinted at even in the second episode, would have been so powerful and changed the whole dynamic of the show

but instead the culture of secrecy that surrounded magic that Merlin internalised and lived by forced him to always be defensive, it stopped him opening up when he most needed to

like imagine Merlin and Morgana keeping each other’s secret, working in secret together by candlelight practicing spells, there being not one but two powerful sorcerers keeping Arthur and the kingdom safe, imagine the secret looks that would have passed between the two of them as Arthur boasts about how he took down an entire company of knights and wasn’t it lucky that their cart caught on fire when it did, and imagine when it all got too much, when the secrecy became too much to bear, Merlin goes to Morgana and they talk, and they reassure, yes one day we will be able to come out of the shadows, no Uther’s dogma is not fair or just, one day it will get better, like imagine what a powerful story that would have been about solidarity in the face of bigotry

but instead what we got was one brilliant woman who became twisted by isolation and bigotry, and a sweet man who was never able to reconcile who he was with his place in the world and the fact that we never got to see the other possibility kills me

[mx-bright-sky]

Me rewatching Merlin: you know what, the dragon causes 99% of their problems. Its cause hes so dead certain that Morgana will be bad that eventually leads to her becoming bad because Merlin listened to the dragon and didnt trust her. Things would have worked out so much better if they were just NICE to Morgana. Who gives a shit about Uther anyway, that guy's an indecisive bitch. Same with Mordred (I mean being nice to him like Morgana)

I just want magic pals Morgana and Merlin ok. mlm and wlw solidarity.