Get started on the knights please

Since legit one person asked the problem I have with the knights is somehow worse than the problem I have with Arthur. 'Cause when they all interact with Merlin (except for a few rare exceptions) they treat him as lesser just as Arthur does, even coming from the background they have.

Leon I can sort of excuse, having been a knight for longer and also being raised in a noble background. So him taking the pitcher and laughing at what Arthur was forcing Merlin to do in that scene, while it still makes my blood boil, at least makes sense.

BUT ELYAN, BLACKSMITH SON, GWEN'S BROTHER, BROTHER OF A MAID, PEASANT BORN AND BREED, WHO ONLY GOT HIS KNIGHTHOOD THROUGH A CRAZY TWIST OF FATE (Not because he didn't have skill but because of the rules set out in the universe, I'm not fighting that he deserved it, just that his status in the world should have stopped his ascension) DOING THE SAME???? THAT'S INSANE!!! (At least he cheers Merlin on at the end when he proves he can juggle but still)

It's like the show runners forgot the characters they created and the backgrounds they laid out for them. Elyan should not have been cheering on for Merlin to humiliate himself. He should have been pointing out the power imbalance from his position as a knight for not only a peasant but his friend (LIKE WE SEE HIM DO IN THE LAMIA EPISODE)

Now we see the knights playing around with each other all the time, throwing around Mordred’s helmet, drinking all of Elyan’s water, etc. I don’t mind that they tease everyone the problem I have is that they take Arthur’s method of dealing with Merlin and run with it as well.

Yep! We’re talking about the god awful scene where they hide his food from him. I think the worst part of that scene for me is that Merlin doesn’t speak up, he isn’t like ‘hell no I need to eat too’, he accepted the idea that these people weren’t going to allow him to eat. His supposed friends were using their power, not just with their titles but their physical strength, to stop him from having food and instead of standing up for himself he swallowed it with a stoic sort of acceptance, which should have been enough for the knights, especially Gwaine, to give him a sideways look but no, they don't care.

Arthur tells Merlin to feed the horses in that scene and when I tell you I do not know how Merthur people ever deal with that because at that moment Arthur, even in jest, is telling Merlin he is less than an animal and MERLIN ACCEPTS THAT!!! AS IF IT WERE NORMAL!!! WHAT??? And none of the knights are like 'hey that might be a step too far'!!! I can't!!

They are worse than bystanders, they are active participants in it, not once but twice, proving that they do this all the time. And worse Merlin not only allows it but is completely passive to it. Letting them treat him in such a way, showing it's probably not the first time they have done it. He is clearly annoyed and upset, bc he also has a lot going on in that episode with the whole dragon egg issue, but no one stops and is like, 'wait Merlin should be telling us off'. Like most of the time Merlin has no problem with being like 'just because your knights doesn't make you better than me' but in those scenes he doesn't, again bc he has a lot going on, but it's just crazy to me that they are all like, 'welp might as well use this to our advantage to keep teasing him' and maybe they were doing it to try and break Merlin out of his distracted state, maybe it was the best idea they had to acknowledge that Merlin wasn't alright in that episode, but then there is zero follow up when it continually proves ineffective!!! I hate it!!

And when Merlin, clearly over their shit, gets up to walk away (to do more chores Arthur asked of him, god I do not understand Merthur at all) they all laugh behind his back!!! Oooofff

Also can I add that they are at the very least comfortable with Merlin serving them. Which, as we have been presented these characters, should have definitely given at least Gwaine and Elyan some pause. Yet they all are perfectly comfortable with Arthur giving him chores and Merlin cooking and cleaning up after them. Crazy!!! This is what I mean that they lobotomized my boy Gwaine!!!

AND THE SCENE WHERE ELYAN TRAINS WITH MERLIN WHEN HE'S POSSESSED. None of them have a problem using Merlin as a training dummy????? At all????? Bro??????

Merlin is no helpless idiot, nor is he any saint who has never done wrong, he is more than willing to stand up for himself and use his magic for his own will too, I know that. But I also don't think anyone knew of his strength or power in any of these scenes and so the fact they were all willing and able to treat, again the only peasant of the group, like this makes me irrationally angry.

Anyway, before this gets way too long (Probs already has but oh well), I'm sorry for killing the vibe (I'm not) but the bystander effect is real and alive with these characters, encouraging Arthur’s awful behavior and normalizing it, and I just feel like maybe these characters background should have been used more to show their distinguish between the 'noble' knights and the 'peasant' knights (for lack of a better term). To show Arthur had to grow into a more kind king and to put the noble class in their place a time or two. But again, the show wanted to say that the monarchy can never be wrong bc they are up the royals asses so we got knights treating Merlin like shit with a laugh track in the background.

……excuse me?