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ALTI had an epiphany whilst brushing my teeth.
ooh ooh this is something we've talked about in the server!! i'm very happy i'm not the only one who sees it!!
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#morgana critical #merlin meta #my meta #bbc merlinMore you might like
I think there is a lot of common ground between “subtext” and “possible interpretation” because of the indirect nature of subtext — it often lends multiple possible interpretations — but when unintentional or merely possible messages are automatically classified as “subtext,” you get the common fandom phenomenon in shipper circles where fans believe they are being deliberately “led on” because they were simply able to see something they wanted to see.
It diminishes the credibility of actual analyses of subtext because of the sheer volume of misuse (a “boy who cried wolf” effect). It also diminishes the meaning of subtext itself until it is conflated with “a non-canon interpretation,” even though subtext often relays canon material without denial. Of course, fans then make demands to be *baited (often because they weren’t being baited, and they want their interpretation to be validated) and then follow these with demands for baiting to be followed through on (i.e. making a fanon ship canon).
*Baiting exists, to be clear, but if you have to ask to be baited, then you aren’t being baited. Even if they do bait you after you ask them to, it is not baiting in the true sense of the term. You begged for it, and they compromised. Baiting is specifically a cash grab aimed at luring in LGBTQ+ fans, but a lot of the famous examples of “baiting” are simple fan service.
For example, fans can interpret Merlin’s feelings for Arthur as romantic, but this is not an undeniable message of the text itself, whether stated directly or indirectly. It is not deliberately hinted at, especially not by writers who lean towards homophobic conservatism. There are no deliberate implications that are only overlooked due to plausible deniability.
However, because fans can interpret it this way, it is considered “subtext” when it would more accurately be described as a possible interpretation. Fans then conflate this “subtext” with deliberate baiting, for which they believe they are entitled to a ship canonization. Show writers often respond to this by heavily focusing on the two characters’ dynamic — not wholly unreasonable, as supply then meets demand — at the expense of organic storytelling. Now, other wider-reaching stories that may have been told are sacrificed to make room for more of this popular pair.
In regards to the Merlin & Arthur fan service, we see a narrow focus on this dynamic as per the popular (read: loudest) demand, despite an extensive unexplored cast in waiting. There are hardly any episodes that delve into the Knights of the Round Table or Gwen and Morgana’s stories, despite a strong character presence. While the writers of course have no intention of canonizing the pair that fans ask them to center, they do give as much as they feel is reasonable: many scenes, oftentimes in an empty or exaggerated repetitive formula, of the characters together, deep but platonic.
For those of the gay persuasion (me), this is annoying. Fandom effectively queerbaited me on merthur, when there wasn’t real subtext :/ Many such cases.
That said, when there is indeed gay subtext between two characters, especially without fan demand out of confirmation bias, I find myself quite pleased. Quite pleased, indeed. This is the case for Merlin and Gwaine in 5x12.
Parallels are not often the proof people claim them to be, as again there are usually many ways for them to be interpreted (e.g. love comes in many forms, themes like grief may be the main topic as opposed to romance, there is individual character juxtaposition, etc.). In 5x12, however, the significance of Gwaine saving Eira is implicitly stated to be his romantic/sexual motivation. He was interested in her and so chose to abandon the battle to get her to safety first. Our attention is deliberately drawn to the romantic/sexual implications of Gwaine saving her from the Saxons and taking her in — they are established as one and the same meaning.
Only after having firmly established this meaning, Merlin is attacked by none other than Saxons, from which Gwaine steps in to save him. The meaning is established seconds before the rescue scene it is meant to be reapplied to. We are led by subtext to one obvious conclusion here. It may be stated in the silence, but it is no less canon for that.
What makes this wild is that there was no extraordinary fan demand for Merlin/Gwaine to go canon — in fact, it’s in direct opposition to the popular demand for Merlin/Arthur — but the writers chose to imply this because they felt it was an effective and fitting end to Merlin and Gwaine’s story (as far as it’s relevant to the plot). This was included not because it was asked for, but because they felt it was right.
The point is, subtext and possible interpretations are different things. Subtext can lead to possible interpretations, or it might have just one solid meaning. What it can imply may be canon or may be up for interpretation. “Subtext” is not a substitute for “possible.” The way these words are used is, in gentler terms, a bad miscommunication that has a negative effect on critical analysis by fans. But when properly applied, that distinction can reveal interesting and meaningful patterns. This particular pattern is gay. Happy pride.
Maybe that one’s worth dying for.
for @halfacoin
Finally, a gifset that demonstrates just how much the writers really did not care and forgot about Gwaine’s backstory. Not to mention the overbearing monarchism propaganda that Arthur (every character, really) becomes nothing but a representation of in s5.
“Enough! You speak of the king!”
These are not the words of Gwaine: they’re the words of unnamed background knight #4. It would’ve been more fitting and respectful to give these lines to Leon, a man who is functionally Gwaine’s polar opposite foil.
Anyone who knows anything about Gwaine knows this: Gwaine would never use “this person is a noble” as a reason for someone to respect said noble. Gwaine respects Arthur despite the fact that he is a noble, not because of it. Gwaine famously hates nobles by default and only makes exceptions for Arthur, Gwen, and maybe Leon (lol). In fact, the quote in this set, “Maybe that one’s worth dying for,” fully contradicts Gwaine’s 5x05 line.
It’s no coincidence that this mischaracterization comes at a time when Gwaine’s presence is not only granted less significance by the narrative (i.e. the fact that Gwaine, a non-believer type, respects Arthur to any degree is taken for granted), and when Gwaine’s character has been dimmed down to something just short of comic relief with only surface level critical thinking abilities. He interrupts a tense moment by apparently being incapable of any seriousness, until they need him to be angry and a skilled attacker. It’s only in private scenes between him and Merlin that he recovers any depth.
The Gwaine we were introduced to in s3 is a troubled young man who cares deeply about any perceived injustice and takes notice of the overlooked. He has fun, he has his reckless alcoholic persona that he wears like a mask, but he is a serious man who stands for and shows dignity in the presence of Arthur and Uther. In fact, in 3x08 it’s Merlin who ends up deflecting Gwaine’s intensity with a joke.
The inconsistencies don’t end with the characterization. The knights never saw Dragoon in the first place, so they wouldn’t know what he looks like. There would be no reason for a group of knights like this to menacingly apprehend a random old man in the woods (not shown in the gifset). Given the kindness they’ve shown to others, you would expect them to offer him a hand with no evidence to confirm any suspicions. The lead-up to this moment has very little basis and only succeeds in making the knights look cruel. (Maybe it is cruel to be a knight.)
For any fan of Gwaine, these are some of the most insulting moments to play out onscreen.
This x100.
Merlin righting one of Uther’s most egregious wrongs by releasing someone who was wrongly imprisoned after being lured in on false pretenses of peacemaking? GOOD.
Now, Kilgharrah using his newfound freedom to get revenge by killing a bunch of random uninvolved people just to make Uther feel powerless? BAD. And not Merlin’s fault. This is how Kilgharrah chose to use his power. There existed a path where Kilgharrah simply chose to leave without hurting anyone, and that scenario where no one is killed does not change because of Merlin’s actions but Kilgharrah’s. Merlin should be able to do this correct thing without having to somehow micromanage Kilgharrah’s hidden plans.
Likewise, Morgause stole the mortal lives of all of Cenred’s soldiers when she had them put their blood in the Cup of Life. She knew the outcome and did it anyways for her own ends. These soldiers did not understand what they were signing on for. And then she went on to use them as tools of further death/destruction.
You might argue that Merlin killed a lot of enemy soldiers at the Battle of Camlann, but he did not do this single-handedly — just evened out the odds — and honestly, that much does not compare to Arthur’s lifetime of killing people in battle.
And not just in battle. The raids against defenseless Druids, the executions he personally directed, the ones he arrested and approved the death penalty for… As a leader, just like with Morgause, all of the killings that he uses his soldiers to carry out are of his own devise, just as much as the soldiers’ own. Arthur killed a lot of people with intentionality, both directly and indirectly. The show just grazes over it in an attempt to sugarcoat it.
It’s a shame that the core four’s ages are never confirmed in canon. Arthur’s age is the best we get, and even then, it’s not that simple.
The dragon was captured exactly 20 years before Merlin came to Camelot. This means that Arthur is certainly over the age of 20 in 1x01. I’d argue that he should be over the age of 21 if the Purge had not only been going on for some time, but had already progressed into Kilgharrah’s capture by that point 20yrs prior.
If we take each episode as ~1 month (making each season ~1 year long), then Arthur’s birthday being in 1x09 would indicate about 9 months’ difference from 1x01, meaning that — if Arthur is 20 here — he was born only 3 months prior to the dragon’s capture.
This would mean that it only took 3 months for Uther to 1) wage his war, 2) escalate it so severely that Balinor summoned Kilgharrah to make peace with Uther, and 3) manage to capture Kilgharrah in chains specially designed to keep a dragon. This is incredibly unlikely.
I propose that Arthur is actually 21 in 1x01, giving Uther ~1 year and 3 months to wage war and orchestrate Kilgharrah’s capture.
From there, we can guesstimate Merlin’s age, since his birth is a direct result of this event. 20 years prior to 1x01 is when the dragon was captured, and so too was Merlin’s father. Then, he would have spent a period of at least a few months or 1+ years in Ealdor (long enough for him to fall in love with Hunith, and enough to never love another woman like that ever again). Then, he left Ealdor before he could discover Hunith’s pregnancy (i.e. she was not showing).
Accounting for the time Balinor spent in captivity, then the time spent in Ealdor, and of course the 9 months of pregnancy (which would have had some overlap, but small enough that Hunith was not showing), we get a period of at least one year, possibly even 2 years, after the dragon’s capture (again, exactly 20 years before the events of 1x01).
Subtracting 1 year, or 2, or whichever number we decide is most realistic from that 20 year figure, Merlin could be any of a wide range of ages in 1x01. At the oldest, he is a little over 1 year younger than Arthur (21 - 1.5 = 19.5). The youngest he could be is ~16 (based on appearances and relative age, since the numbers alone don’t place a limit on his minimum age) but it’s safe to say he’s at least 17 when he leaves Ealdor. So, 18 or 18 and a half would make for a functional average.
There is little to go off of for the Smiths, but Gwen is likely to be somewhere right between Merlin and Arthur’s ages since she has romantic plot-lines with both. She is likely ~19 in 1x01, older or younger depending on which figures we’re using. Elyan is implied to be younger than Gwen in 5x06 (when he says that Gwen “practically raised [him]”), so he may be Merlin’s age or younger. Only tangentially related, but Gwen says in 3x07 that it’s been 4 years since Elyan left. This places his departure ~6 months prior to 1x01.
As for Morgana, her age is dependent on when Uther slept with Morgana’s mother. Gorlois was off in battle when this happened, so it may have been post-Purge. However, because Morgana’s magic is an inherited trait (as it is with her sister, Morgause) and she and Morgause have the same mother but not the same father, this makes the magic a matrilineal trait in their family. It is highly unlikely that Morgana’s mother — a woman with innate magic — would have slept with Uther during the Purge. It was likely pre-Purge, and at least a year before Arthur’s birth.
Furthering the latter possibility, Uther having a child out of wedlock would be the evidence he needs to confirm the reason he has no child with his own wife (only his best friend’s wife): Ygraine is the infertile one. (Uther, on the other hand, is a little too fertile for his own good).
Compiling the timelines of these events, with enough time passing for the conception of Morgana to be realized, enough time for Gaius to persuade Nimueh to help Uther and Ygraine conceive, and enough time for Ygraine to complete a full 9 month pregnancy, we’re looking at a minimum of ~1 year and a half, but probably 2+ years if Uther and Ygraine looked into other (ineffective but time-consuming) fertility options first (via Gaius?).
Therefore, Arthur and Morgana might have a good 2 years between them. If Arthur is 21 in 1x01, then Morgana is probably ~23.
So my best guesses for 1x01 ages are:
- Morgana: 22-23
- Arthur: 21
- Gwen: 19-20
- Merlin: 18-19
- Elyan: 16-18
The people have spoken.
There’s not much to go off of for Gwaine’s age, but given that he was introduced in an episode that aired in 2010, Eoin would have been around 26 while filming. However, Eoin’s age does not necessarily match Gwaine’s age (given that Bradley, Colin, Angel, and Katie are all definitely different ages from their characters). Evidently, the series is prone to casting older actors as younger characters.
If we knew at what age Gwaine went off on his own, we would have a better figure for his age, but as things are, we can only make an educated guess. Mine is that he left in his late teens, though that’s a statistical estimate.
Gwaine never knew his father, so from this we can infer that he was too young at the time of his father’s death to recognize him as such — most likely an infant. Likewise, Gwaine’s recollection of Caerleon’s refusal to aid his mother financially would also be secondhand information, as this would have occurred within years of his father’s death. Therefore, Gwaine did not up and leave the moment that his father died, or upon Caerleon’s refusal: presumably, he lived in poverty up until (and, lbr, after) he left his remaining family.
This gives Gwaine a very wide potential age range. Assuming that he left in his late teens, he would have been grown enough to fend for himself in the wider world in order to survive into adulthood as a lone wanderer. This would also allow him the years of experience it would have taken to develop his distinctive fighting style and become used to a life on the road. If he left at, say, 17 and met Merlin at the age of 24, this would mean that Gwaine has been on the road for 7 years. And that is a conservative time frame. He could have left at 16 and met Merlin at the age of 26 — 10 years a rogue.
Any estimate within that range is realistic enough. Personally, I place him at around 25 in 3x04 (therefore 22 in 1x01) to keep in line with the age group he chooses to associate with/is included in most. Gwen would be about 22 or 23 when Gwaine flirts with her in the marketplace, which serves to say that he needs to be near enough to that age range to have any realistic expectation of reciprocation.
So, yeah, maybe 1 year older than Arthur. And he probably uses that to claim authority/experience over him when it’s convenient.
Anonymous asked:
Any thoughts on s5 merwaine strained relationship (Merlin not wanting to save him in ep1/2,not hugging him in ep4, Gwaine not speaking up for Merlin when Gwen accused him of Arthur’s murder, Eira (ep12).
sneakyboymerlin answered:
First off, I’m going to start with the obvious: season 5 eps 1 & 2 are painfully out of character, poorly written imposter episodes. The sole purpose of Merlin’s hesitance to ride out is to uplift Arthur’s character, making him appear more heroic and matured than Merlin, and by comparison to where we saw him in s4, without having to actually develop his character. It’s cheap, lazy writing, to put it bluntly.
But, if it helps… Merlin wasn’t just ~abandoning~ Gwaine. He thought Gwaine was dead and that Arthur was going on a fool’s errand to join him in an early grave. Regardless of the fact that Gwaine was very much still kickin’, this is the place that Merlin was coming from. If the writers really needed to take the route they did, they should have given us a scene of Merlin mourning Gwaine to make this clearer, but since the writers only care about Arthur, they only show us this information through Merlin’s concern for Arthur. But it is present in the text.
In 5x04, we can see that Merlin is frantic to get to Arthur because Arthur is walking into a trap. It’s a time-sensitive mission. The purpose of writing a scene where Merlin shoves off Gwaine’s hug is simply to express this urgency. It comes across worse because, again, the writers do not find it important to show Merlin and Gwaine after they save the battle. They only care about how these events fuel Arthur’s reputation (not to be mistaken with development… he does not truly develop).
The belief that Gwaine simply let Merlin be arrested in 5x07 is a fanon pet peeve of mine. We don’t actually see any of the knights’ reactions in the immediate aftermath— only that Merlin did indeed get thrown in the dungeons. Later, we see that Leon believes the accusation and fully supports Gwen. We also see Gwaine pursuing what he believes to be an intruder in the citadel and, later, releasing Merlin from the dungeons himself with a massive smile on his face. We can pretty easily infer from this that 1) Gwaine did not believe that Merlin did it; 2) He may have been attempting to find the real culprit; and 3) He was outnumbered by the knights who did believe Gwen/follow her orders (such as Leon). After all, if Gwaine had arrested Merlin or believed the accusation for a second, he would have shown guilt upon releasing him from the dungeons. And why have Gwaine specifically be the only knight to release Merlin otherwise?
Gwaine sleeping with Eira is not evidence of a strained friendship between Merlin and Gwaine. Rather, it ends up proving where Gwaine’s loyalties truly lay— and it showcases Merlin’s friendship with Gwaine, which has indeed been ignored in s5. The reason for this is because it is their last episode together, and the writers are aware that fans care enough about their friendship that it needed the attention promised from Gwaine’s intro ep.
Gwaine rescues a cute girl (and gets rescued in return) and takes a special interest in her because he’s attracted to her. Merlin does Gwaine a personal favor by tending to her wounds. Later, Merlin asks Gwaine to escort him into the Valley of the Fallen Kings and does not provide an explanation for why, because he trusts Gwaine to protect him. Gwaine acquiesces, leaving Eira behind even though she asks him to stay. Gwaine makes it clear to Merlin that he’s doing this for Merlin because he wants to and does not expect anything in return— in fact, he feels he’s gotten more than enough in return. Merlin trusts Gwaine enough to admit he’s lying to him, even if he won’t tell Gwaine what about. And Gwaine trusts Merlin enough to leave him to it, then leaves Merlin with his sword since he won’t accept Gwaine’s protection any further.
Offscreen, Gaius reveals to Gwaine that Merlin believes Eira to be the traitor in the court, and provides Merlin’s evidence. Gwaine takes Merlin’s word for it and sets Eira up, sending her to her execution. So, really, the whole Eira situation is functionally meant to boost our view of their selfless friendship… but a bit too late, since the writers have neglected them quite literally all season long. It’s very much a last minute “shit we forgot to care” project.
When they do give Merlin and Gwaine’s dynamic attention, though, the writers make sure to present how close they are, but they ignore this for the most part to focus on Arthur. Essentially, it’s not that Merlin doesn’t still care about Gwaine… it’s that the writers don’t. The writers literally do not care about anyone besides Arthur— not even Merlin, the titular character. Not only did they neglect to give Merlin any character consistency in s5, but they did so (and framed events in a specific way) to ensure that Arthur’s reputation would remain unstained, as he is a personified fantasy of avoiding accountability and being coddled for one’s own wrongdoings.
Fans, of course, buy into this and argue that Arthur can do no wrong because he’s “too ignorant” to know any better, instead placing blame on characters like Morgana for “proving the stereotypes right” or onto Gwen and Merlin for “coddling” him. Thus, these fans coddle Arthur, despite claiming the opposite.
The truth is that Arthur is responsible for his own actions and beliefs. Those actions and beliefs are the mass slaughter of innocent people simply because they have magic. He’s already seen more than enough evidence that magical peoples are not inherently evil or harmful, and applied this same logic to other areas of life (such as nobles vs. commoners), and found that no one is inherently superior or inferior for their birth circumstances. It is only in the topics of magic (and gender…) that Arthur believes this. But even after the Dolma saves Gwen, he still refuses to lift the ban… so, yeah, all in all you can blame the lack of Merlin and Gwaine content in s5 on the writers not wanting Arthur to either develop or be held accountable for his actions. Instead, they wanted to present a character to be lauded above all others no matter what he does. This tells you a lot about the morals of the people writing the story… and maybe some of the things they don’t want to be held responsible for. After all, 35% of all BBCM episodes come with a message of, “If you try to stop this oppressive bigot, you’re just as bad as he is!”
TL;DR: they shoved Merlin and Gwaine aside to make more room for monarchy propaganda.
ALT@golden-age-ruler Exactly exactly, they just cast everyone and everything aside to center Arthur more. But we did NOT want that and we did not NEED that! Especially in the final season! There were so many characters and relationships that should have been given the same attention and importance as Arthur(’s) but instead we got “Arthur this, Arthur that.” Where is GWEN where is GWAINE where is ELYAN and hell where even is MERLIN now? ‘Cause this isn’t him! He has friendships and a life outside of Arthur, prophecies or not! Show us what he is trying to PROTECT through his devotion to Arthur! The MAGIC, his KING, all of ALBION, his FRIENDS and FAMILY! Write a fucking plotline that isn’t about someone trying to assassinate Arthur for a change! You have the knights of the round table and not one story that’s ABOUT them for the whole season! You have Guinevere rising to the role of QUEEN but no exploration of how this might affect her friendship with Merlin (still her husband’s servant) or how she reacts to the changes in her life! There is only ONE scene where she is shown actually being friends with all the knights! At a certain point, the writers had to have realized that making the plot “ahh, someone wants to assassinate Arthur” every episode and treating everyone else like they’re not as important as he is… is a boring story.
does merlin hate hunting because his magic allows him to feel the fear and death of the animals or because he hates hunting the innocent creatures simply for being born as they are? does he relate it to camelots hunting of sorcerers? does he feel like a knight chasing after a woman who only wished to grow food to feed her family or a child who didn't know any better and only wished to watch his toys dance in the air?
“… because he hates hunting the innocent creatures simply for being born as they are?”
This is touched on in 1x11 with the unicorn.
1x11:
Merlin: I don’t understand how Arthur can have taken any pleasure from killing the unicorn.
Gaius: Arthur is a hunter. It’s in his blood. Whereas you are something entirely different.
Merlin: It was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.
//
Merlin: I don’t think you should have killed it.
Arthur: Oh, really? And why is that
Merlin: It was… It was doing no harm. What purpose did you serve by killing it?
Arthur: We were hunting. It’s what you do.
The unicorn is a transparent representation of Merlin, as both are innocent, “pure of heart” creatures of magic hunted for the simple fact that they were born as something unfavorable.
Merlin cannot comprehend how Arthur could have enjoyed killing the unicorn — a creature which Merlin sees the beauty in, as he does in magic — but he shows no awareness that the unicorn is a mirror image of himself. Gaius, as a wisened mentor and narrative mouthpiece, hints at this subtextual element himself by drawing a parallel between Merlin and the unicorn: Arthur enjoys killing the unicorn because it’s “in his blood,” while Merlin adores it because he is “something entirely different.” Arthur is the hunter, while Merlin (textually aligned with the unicorn) is the hunted. It’s a near variation of The Fox & the Hound.
On that note, there are two important fragments of the plot being set up here:
- Merlin is the unicorn.
- Arthur is his father’s son.
So, when Arthur kills the unicorn, this is not only akin to him killing Merlin despite his innocence and thereby dooming Camelot through his corrupt reign. It hints that this is one possible future that Arthur can create, depending on whether he sheds the faults he has inherited from Uther or leans into them.
Diving deeper into this, as we watch Arthur condemn Camelot by his own thoughtless actions, we see Merlin again in the position of the unicorn. For Arthur’s third test, Merlin is used as a replica of the unicorn in the original scenario, creating the ultimate test that this episode has been leading up to: if it was Merlin in the unicorn’s place, what would Arthur do?
Fans (and Arthur himself) often criticize this test because it seems irrelevant to the issue at hand. How does this relate to Arthur killing the unicorn? If Arthur doesn’t know about Merlin’s magic, then how is it comparable? But Anhora is not necessarily asking if Arthur is willing to die to save Merlin, someone who Arthur already deigns an innocent — a perception which is not afforded to the unicorn. He is asking whether or not Arthur will kill an innocent for his own personal gain, as, taken to its logical conclusion, this is the common theme in hunting unicorns as a trophy. It is also the core of the test that Arthur did fail, wherein he killed a man not because he was a thief, but primarily because “He insulted [Arthur’s] honor!” It’s the one he must redeem himself from to prevent Camelot’s downfall.
Arthur proves that his heart contains more purity from his learned humility and acceptance of the truth/this instance of magic than it does the willful ignorance from his pride, his inability to confront his wrongdoings, and the corruption of his upbringing.
In the end, Arthur buries the horn — the very prize that he took to begin with — and thereby buries a portion of Uther’s legacy through him. He buries a physical representation of his pride and bigotry. In doing so, the unicorn is resurrected — as is Merlin’s faith.
Merlin’s faith in Arthur has been challenged on repeat throughout this episode, whether he’s sending Merlin into danger without a thought, killing the unicorn for fun/pride, ignoring Anhora’s message, condemning all sorcerers, or being physically rough, Merlin is struggling to uphold his faith in Arthur. But, extending his good graces, he doesn’t give up on Arthur and asks Anhora to offer him a second chance, which is what gives Arthur the opportunity to not only prove his potential and save Camelot, but shows an instance of magic saving Camelot while the magic ban harms it.
All of this is to say, there is some very deliberate cinematography in the scene where Arthur buries the horn. It’s in the seconds after he buries it that Merlin is revealed, standing at the head of the grave like a ghost watching over him. The unicorn is revealed shortly after.
Slightly less direct, but similarly relevant, is Merlin’s expressed motive in 2x09. When Freya asks why Merlin saved her from the bounty hunter who kidnapped her, he replies, “It could’ve been me in that cage,” an answer which is both genuine and realistic enough to quell her suspicions of any ulterior motives. Regardless of its effect, it’s clear how deeply influenced Merlin is from being hunted (by bounty or otherwise) under Uther’s regime. “But she’s just a girl!” is the same essential logic that Merlin uses to defend the unicorn.
But Merlin only ever explicitly expresses his dislike of hunting in one episode.
4x11:
Merlin: I have to go hunting. I hate hunting.
//
Mithian: You’re not a fan of hunting?
Merlin: What sport is it when one side has dogs and spears and crossbows and the other nothing?
Merlin ultimately sees hunting for sport (not out of necessity, which he himself has done) as unfair and, to some degree, sadistic. Whether this is significantly influenced by how much of himself he sees in the prey is not certain, but he clearly treats the animals with the same sympathy as he offers people and the unicorn.
Can Merlin directly feel what the animals do? Perhaps only in certain situations, where he may get his “funny (read: psychic) feelings” or otherwise react to his surroundings with the same intuition that an animal might. His speech on how he feels “every tree, every leaf, every insect” reacting to the magic of the sacred grounds of the Disir comes to mind. He is also strangely attentive towards the “deer” that Arthur and Mithian hunt, before he realizes that there’s magic involved. Either he is able to discern the difference between a deer and a human enchanted to become one, or it is simply another case where he’s drawn in by magic. Regardless, this is the same episode where he makes clear his hatred of hunting and overall sympathy for the prey animals, again in juxtaposition to Arthur the Hunter.
So, both narratively and literally, Merlin is put into the position of the unicorn, a creature which is wrongly hunted just as he is. Merlin thinks any animal that’s hunted primarily for sport is wrongly hunted and given an unfair disadvantage. This is the reasoning given for Freya’s capture as a bounty (she’s treated as nothing more than a hunting trophy to be sold as a prize), which of course sickens Merlin. It’s also a position that Merlin can see himself in, especially so soon after the Witchfinder incident, where an identical cage was dragged into Camelot to imprison Merlin specifically.
To Merlin’s bleeding heart, it’s all injustice, and it’s all wrong for the same reasons. So, to answer your question: yes, he does.
Anonymous asked:
Adding to the Morgana and self loyalty always being there- when Gwen’s father dies, she makes it all about her.
Arthur actively helps Gwen, assuring her that her job and house are safe. What does Morgana do to actively help Gwen? Nothing. She “supports” Gwen and wants to be there for her but is more focused on her revenge rather than actually help her friend out. She was always like that.
I always skip this episode because of how bad it is, but as far as I remember, that checks out. Also, the fact that the writers made the episode where Gwen’s father dies about Morgana feels like a double hit there. Gwen is the only one of the core four who doesn’t get an episode in s1 that’s centered primarily on her, unless you wanna count 1x03… but eh.
queenofthearchipelago asked:
Can I ask for you to talk more about what you said in the tags of this post? Morgana went evil because she was classist and not because she was hurt? Can you go more into depth on that? I feel like Morgana's arc and her motivations are really hard to decipher because of the way she was written. Like one episode it seems like she just wants Uther dead, and then the next she wants Arthur dead too and she wants the crown and she's going after Emrys and that shift always confused me a little.
I always thought the interpretation that Merlin could have helped her more was valid. Like, yes I am completely in agreement that the entire point of 2x03 is that Merlin helped her when no one else would. But he also took back that help as the season went on, and betrayed her when he poisoned her. There WAS more he could have done, I think. He could have been honest about himself, but he wasn't. He could have simply told her that he suspected that maybe she was the center of the sleeping spell in the Fires of Idirsholas, but he didn't. He could have tried convincing Gauis to help her on his own, without bringing Merlin into it, but he didn't. (Even Katie McGrath said that she blamed Merlin for what became of Morgana.)
And yes, I know why these things didn't happen. Because the dragon told him not to and Gauis told him not to. But in the end these WERE Merlin's choices. And maybe if he had chosen differently, so would have Morgana.
Like, yes I agree that Morgana's choices were her own. But I don't think she made those choices in a vacuum.
As to the bit of her being classist, I think I understand what you mean? But I'm still confused because I wouldn't exactly call Morgana from season 1-2 or even season 3 a classist person. She was good back then, shared values with Arthur about what a better world would look like.
I'm just so intrigued by what you might mean, and I'm always looking for new ways to look at this story. It's lovely that after all this time there's still more to discuss.
Lot to unpack here.
For one thing, Morgana feeling hurt didn’t encourage her to kill or allow the killing of random uninvolved people, but especially the Druids + their sympathizers who were arrested in 2x03. She ignored her kin’s plight in favor of her own comfort, even though she is granted protections that those people couldn’t dream of. She’s very much a class traitor from the start, because she tends to be thinking more about how she feels than how others do. She’s more blatant in her self-loyalty later on, but it’s always been a theme with her.
As for Merlin, 2x12 was a mutual betrayal between him and Morgana. Morgana betrays him first in this episode by endorsing the fever spell that Morgause casts on Camelot. While she’s not fully informed at first, 1) Merlin has no way of knowing that (especially since she has formed similar alliances in 1x12 and 2x11), and 2) Morgana embraces the fever spell plan after the fact (explicitly so in 3x01/2). Merlin then poisons Morgana in order to end the fever spell on Camelot, choosing the greater good over her as an individual. To clarify point 2 here, Morgana is aware long before 3x01 that Merlin poisoned her because everyone in Camelot was slowly dying, but she makes it clear that she understands this in 3x01.
I also fail to see how Merlin revealing his own magic would have changed anything. Morgana already knows that Merlin is pro-magic (also discussed in 3x01), they simply have different methods by which they aim to achieve that goal. Both are flawed, as Merlin’s relies on tyrants like Uther changing their minds, and he places blame on the oppressed group (even if he’s a part of it) for not demonstrating that magic can be good, when it doesn’t matter how well this is demonstrated, since magic is not banned for any logical reason.
Morgana’s plan is also flawed because she prioritizes herself over anyone else, meeting Uther’s tyranny with more tyranny. This is where the classism comes in. Morgana’s sense of entitlement is rooted in her status as a noblewoman. As 2x03 demonstrates, she values her own safety above the safety of her people, and when her descent is portrayed more openly, the first changes we see are in her mistreatment of Gwen, her maidservant. In 3x01/2, she also finds the townspeople to be disposable (including the Druids & sympathizers she knows live among them) and blackmails Merlin using her status as a noble. She also tries to kill Gwen because she can’t stand the thought of a “mere servant” taking the throne. She’s good to Gwen as long as Gwen functions as her underling, but as soon as Gwen is set to outrank her, everything that makes her appear distinctly better than other nobles disappears.
But ultimately, it’s Morgana’s actions that tell us this. These actions aren’t bad because she was hurt, or because she has magic. Every bad thing she does is bad because it is classist. The harm she does comes from a place of entitlement and inflated self-importance. While she may justify these actions with the hurt she’s suffered, being hurt did not make her do those things. Classism is the reason she becomes a tyrant, and it’s the reason she mistreats the “commoner” class. Again, her dismissing random civilians, especially the Druids & sympathizers, as disposable to preserve her own comfort? Comes from a place of classism. Her getting Gwen arrested on false charges and blackmailing Merlin using her power as a noble? Acts that are motivated by classism.
But back to what Merlin could or didn’t do. Morgana knew that Merlin was pro-magic, but she would never have agreed to his methods, as we see in 3x02, because she did not have faith in Uther or Arthur changing for the better (understandably so, and she’s proven correct). Whether Merlin is just pro-magic or has magic himself does not change this outcome, because it is about methods, not identity. Even when she finds out that Merlin is a sorcerer in 5x12, this does not change her mind.
And again, as far as Merlin knew in 2x12, Morgana was very much in on the plan with Morgause. He even tests this by asking Morgana why she reacted the way she did about Morgause and catches her in a lie. If he tells Morgana that he suspects her involvement, with the information he has (that she is allied with Morgause), then what? It makes no sense to bring it up. He never tells Agravaine that he suspects the man’s involvement with Morgana, either, because he doesn’t suspect that Agravaine could somehow be innocently/unwittingly doing these things. One could argue that Morgana could have confided in Merlin about her earlier interaction with Morgause (when the curse was cast) since she trusted him so much, but alas, she did not. And that’s understandable, too.
Also, if you’ll recall, Merlin did try to get Gaius to help Morgana. They had a whole argument about it. Gaius concluded that gaslighting her about her powers was helping her. Merlin had to give up and go to Kilgharrah, and then when Kilgharrah wouldn’t help, either, he searched out the location of the Druids on his own and sent Morgana to their encampment. What Katie McGrath thinks about it means very little since she is just one (1) opinion against the visible canon facts. Merlin too blames himself for what Morgana became, but that doesn’t make him right.
The fact is that Morgana is her own person and her mind isn’t going to be passively swayed. She’s always been fiercely independent, opinionated, and actionable. Morgause only grants her the confidence that she can make a difference to create the world she wants to see. The desire to blame everyone but Morgana for her own actions also has a lot to do with her being a rich white woman. People assign a ~delicate, passive~ demeanor onto her, even when she shows her ruthlessness (whether that is simply standing up for her beliefs or torturing people). Morgana did not just get passed around and manipulated by everyone. If anything, 2x12 seeks to establish that it is Morgana herself who can make these decisions and change the future, rather than sitting around passively watching it happen. And by choosing to join with Morgause, she changes everything. The rest of the series is a chain reaction to this one crucial moment when she makes up her mind.
so how many times do we think Merlin died in the show?
Merlin Death Counter
- Poisoned chalice 1x04
- Sidhe staff blast 1x08
- Redirected Sidhe staff blast 1x12
- Sigan possession 2x01
- Serket sting 3x01/02
- Dorocha’s touch 4x01/02
- Head wound 5x02
- Poisoning/fall from cliff 5x08
- Fall from cliff 5x09
- Arrow wound in flank 5x10
- Injuries from rockfall 5x12
Honorable Mentions
- Fireball 1x13
- Thrown into wall by Morgana 3x05
- Cailleach’s visit 4x01
- Mace/flail hit 4x06
- Head wound/strangulation 5x04
- Magic-siphoning attack 5x12
Further reading
Worst most tragic quote of any show ever:
“Some men are born to be kings… I was born to serve you, Arthur.”
How everyone else isn’t horribly unsettled by that line of words fuckin’ astounds me.
HE DOESN’T SEE HIMSELF AS A PERSON!
And he tries to twist it into a positive thing!
It’s the fact that he suddenly believes that anyone is born to be lesser or greater than anyone else. The equality he hoped for at the original round table? No sign of that here. He’s been so socially abused that he’s resigned himself to being “less than.” It’s been impressed upon him again and again that he’s predestined to be Arthur’s inferior.
He doesn’t realize anymore that Arthur wasn’t born superior to him, with a grand entitlement to the monarchy’s hoarded wealth. He doesn’t realize that the scraps he has to his own name are disproportionate compensation for the work he does! He doesn’t seem to recognize that leadership should be divorced from concepts of unlimited power and greater wealth, that a leader should not be “above” their subjects, except when it comes to his own power and leadership. Then, he’s stopping people from bowing to him, and speaking to his followers as equals. But when Arthur expects and enforces the rule that he is treated with greater respect than anyone else, treated to greater luxuries, and that his work is ~more important~ so others (like his servants) don’t deserve their share of the wealth, that’s seen as completely normal and uncorrupt. Arthur’s an over-glorified CEO, and Merlin is placed on the lowest tier. And no one sees anything wrong with this political model?
He genuinely believes that he is Arthur’s inferior, morally and spiritually, and that the position he was born into (as a poor farmer, then servant, and “monster”) was intended to reflect that, as some sort of payment for his ~innate flaws~. He believes that Arthur specifically was born king because he is superior, that he was born into his insurmountable political/social power & wealth because he is somehow more deserving of it, when Arthur is just like any other person ever.
And it’s even wilder because he doesn’t think this about Uther or Morgana! It’s like Stockholm Syndrome. And what’s worse is that the narrative glorifies this perspective, doesn’t treat it as the horror that it really is, doesn’t engage with it as an idea that needs to be challenged.
It’s so different from how he approached his destiny in seasons 1-4, it’s arguably just out of character, plain and simple. He used to have some fight in him, he had a sense of self (even if he was lacking in self-worth, which is why he was so susceptible to this). He knew that he deserved to be seen as a person, as capable, as dignified. This negative development in his character, that he believes he doesn’t get to simply exist as a human being, that he only exists to serve the needs of others, while everyone else gets to just be a person without their very existence needing to be justified… it’s disturbing! How do people romanticize this? He’s an immortal martyr. When he can’t die for his cause, he gives up his life.
Merlin is more than a weapon, more than a shield, more than a thing. He wasn’t born to be used! He’s just a person, he deserves to simply be. Everyone does.
I hope he learned to after Arthur and Gaius died.
Merlin thinks the sole purpose of his existence is to serve another human, because he has to justify his existence somehow. He believes that Arthur is born to be served. Arthur believes himself to be entitled to the servitude of others because he was born a king. This is not equality. Key words such as “accepting his role” and “no longer fights against the unavoidable end” are pretty indicative that he’s been merely beaten into submission.