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ALTThree images of Elyan from the first half of "The Coming of Arthur".
hello and welcome to my propaganda campaign.
Just some random modern Merlin and Freya doodles I did in my sketchbook :)
Part one of two drawings inspired by Mordred having to hide his Druid tattoo but this one is so tonally different than the other one that I’ve got planned that I felt like it should probably be posted separately 💀
Anyways, pond time :)
This is probably a controversial Merlin take but I absolutely hate the scene where Queen Annis asks for Merlin to perform for them. Like I'm so sorry that scene belongs in Season 1 NOT Season 5 and it should have been played for showing how much Arthur needed to change not the witty merthur moment that it was shown to be.
Merlin's "I am not a fool" practically begging Arthur not to make him do this. Then Arthur's response of "that's debatable" would work if it was in the privacy of his own chambers or even just around the knights and Gwen since then Merlin would actually be able to fight back. But in a foreign kingdom, where speaking out isn't permitted, absolutely not. He even looks to both Leon and Elyan for help and is granted none. The look they share is not one of annoyed fondness it is Arthur using his power over Merlin in that moment and liking the way Merlin is upset by it.
Merlin is, to Arthur's knowledge, just a servant. Sure, we as an audience know that Merlin is powerful but in this moment, he holds no control. This is shit that belongs before the character growth we were supposed to see and not at the tail end of a series.
The worst part is by far when Merlin rises to the occasion cause we legit see Arthur's face drop. He wanted Merlin to humiliate himself so he could laugh at him. That is bully behavior. Something we are told time and time again that Arthur has moved past, yet his actions speak to the fact that he still treats servants like pawns for his own amusement. Given that at this point in the series, Merlin is the only peasant left in their group of friends and he is constantly belittled for it.
Don't even get me started on the knights.
Anyways this scene came up on my tik tok and now I'm all heated because that shit should have been left in season 1, maybe season 2. And like it's indicative for a much bigger problem in the show, that the writer's think Arthur can do no wrong even when he's being an objectively bad person.
In this essay I will...
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.
tfw you’re some kind of funky eldritch nature spirit and servant of the gods ordered to act as the servant of a mortal king whom you could literally squash like a bug but he doesn’t know that and occasionally he does something incredibly brave and selfless and you’re like oh I Get It Now but mostly he’s kind of an asshole?? and also a bit pathetic which makes you feel kind of bad for him but really This is the guy the fates intend to bring about the promised golden age are we sure???
Chapters:
1/1
Fandom:
Merlin (TV)
Rating:
Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings:
No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships:
Gwaine/Merlin (Merlin)
Characters:
Gwaine (Merlin), Merlin (Merlin), The others are in it but not for very long
Additional Tags:
Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Golden Age (Merlin), Merlin having a mid life crisis in his mid 20s, Gwaine Being Gwaine (Merlin), and by that I mean wanting to help Merlin, Merlin Needs a Hug (Merlin), he gets one, Don’t you worry, slight misuse of alcohol, Self-Worth Issues, finding yourself when the world has told you exactly what you have to be, Gwaine Loves Merlin (Merlin), Merlin Loves Gwaine (Merlin), He’s just super repressed about it, Not in the internalized homophobia way tho, In the way of he had to put everything else aside to try and get a golden age and he didn’t give himself time to marinate on it, Observant Gwaine, i will make that a tag so help me, Maybe some passive suicidal tendencies
Series:
Part 16 of Dialogue I wrote in my notes app
Summary:
He was supposed to be happy. He should be happy. He needed to be happy.
It was everything. An offer of a job he didn’t, couldn’t, even dream he would have carried one day. A hope finally becoming a reality. A future set in gold. A life he never imagined.
A promise told to him in that way Arthur always seemed to. As if it were an inevitability. As if there were no decision to make at all. As if it was an apology not needing words, recognition and so much more.
Court Sorcerer.
i.e Merlin getting everything he thought he wanted and it not being enough
Do you guys want yet another scene interpretation of how this show did, not only Merlin, but Arthur dirty by not allowing Arthur to grow?
Let's go baby!
Y'all remember the scene where Merlin hits Arthur over the head with a glove? Yeah, that scene makes me mad as hell too.
In this scene, Arthur is finally admitting to needing to be more equitable in his approach to people after he sees the pain Uther was willing and able to doll out to all he cares about. And Merlin follows that up with a "Does that mean you're not going to hit me any more?"
Already insane right? That his first thought being this might actually be a ways to stop the physical attacks on him because Arthur is finally seeing just how unlike his father he is. That he has grown for the better, and that he doesn't have to cling so hard to his father's ideals. And so he may just be ready to hear the harm that he's done. A way to stop something that's been bothering him for a while.
And you know how they follow that up? With Arthur dismissing that line of logic entirely. "That's not hitting Merlin; that's merely friendly slaps, it's horseplay"
Ok, so Arthur has been told repeatedly by Merlin across the show how he doesn't like being hit or slapped or manhandled ("how is punching me in the arm meant to cheer me up") and we see that behavior never getting corrected. Only ever doubling down on it, making excuses, running even more wild with it. And so yeah, maybe it was too much to expect a full 180 on it.
But then this chance happens. This moment where Arthur tells him, 'go ahead, hit me back, I don't mind, it's part of our relationship' even if it's said with condescension ("you can certainly try") and you know what Merlin does, he takes that chance.
Only Arthur doesn't respect that. He doesn't allow him to hit back, not really. What he does is threaten Merlin with even more pain if he does it. Showing him that it isn't just play, really, it's a use of power over him that Arthur wants to keep.
And don't tell me that it's because Merlin hit him hard. This is after Arthur had hit Merlin with a spoon so bad that you could hear him screaming in the hallways. Arthur has consistently used excessive force with Merlin, and Merlin has had to put up with it. Not really willing, or able, to fight back with punches. So yeah, him getting to do it back once is probably going to hold years of building resentment that culminated in him hitting too hard. Because that's what he's been taught is ok by Arthur.
So threatening him with even worse 'horseplay' for trying to find equity in this relationship makes me so irrationally mad. Because it's Arthur, not standing on the words that just came out of his mouth. Not looking to upset the balance because it might make him uncomfortable. Never looking inward on how he could do better all because it doesn’t line up with his own ideas of himself.
It makes him a hypocrite. A man not willing to change when someone brings a problem to him because that problem is with himself. Someone who touts equality but doesn’t put in the work to see the bias’s he has inside himself.
I know Merlin isn't sinless. He hurts Arthur with spells and magic in ways that Arthur can't fight against either. I know that the dynamic is much more skewed than Arthur realizes (Both having power over the other that the other can't touch). But Arthur's reaction to Merlin finally playing the same game as him, is to make that game so much harsher. And well, I hate that.
It's kindness and respect being instantly replaced with hurt and pain as soon as the emotions get close to hitting something real. And honestly, that's the majority of their interactions and a major gripe I have with the show.
Let them be on equal ground, so help me!
