- it's either canon (e.g. mel/jayce arcane, arthur/guinevere bbcmerlin) or entirely plausible (e.g. prism or coupé/robert dispatch)
- fanbase overwhelmingly pairs nb man off with another nb man and disengages from the Black woman character, shunting her into a background wise & sassy caretaker role (for which there is a name) or leaving her out of fanworks entirely
- fans who do this ^ claim it is an expression of love and admiration for the Black woman character, actually, bc the nb man (who may be her canonical partner) "can't handle all that" (he may be perfectly competent and engaged; she may be totally low maintenance; it has no bearing), she's just too wonderful (too much) and out of his league (lacking in flaws and interiority and fan appeal)
have we all observed this and can we see the multiple dimensions in which it is racist ☝️ i'm not bringing it up to make any beautiful fujos feel bad abt shipping this or that, just to ask for some consideration of what ppl are saying abt Black women when they make their excuses to each other. like you can just not make the excuses. yk?
this post is about misogynoir. not which ships u do/don't like.
the post seeks to reopen a discussion (which others have brought up before) about how Black women characters are talked about by shipper communities.
comments about the relative merits of one ship over another can add nothing to that conversation, which is about casual use of racist stereotypes and sexist language.
please stop commenting to tell me you like jayvik.
I wanted to draw some medieval clothes for Merlin and try new rendering tricks. The last sketch took 15 minutes lol but I like this little sorcerer hat and twisted magic staff
currently feeling more than a little unhinged about the secret sharer as a mirror episode to the witchfinder, so let's talk about it in great and unnecessary detail after the cut!!
(also nuance pervert disclaimer up top bc my last few posts about how obsessed i am with the pendragon sibs' shared tragedy being that they never fully escape the claw marks uther left on them ended up wildly misinterpreted: i'm neither wholly arthur critical or uncritical. i like messy complicated sometimes terrible characters with messy complicated flaws and that's my worst best boy arthur pendragon y'know)
starting with the most obvious: external forces who have their own motivations sweeping in to stoke a fire of doubt about gaius' loyalties specifically by invoking his ""former"" ties to sorcery, and uther and arthur both dismissing the possibility. neither can entertain the idea that gaius would betray them and refuse to believe so without any proof - nor do either escape that seed being planted.
that seed is quicker to grow in uther, especially once presented with "evidence," because he's a rash and paranoid man, and arthur's reaction being to let gaius flee without pursuing him highlights important differences between them - yet, because sorcery is at the heart of the accusal, both are convinced of wrongdoing without questioning it any further. despite the fact that it's a person who, prior to that moment, they trusted with their literal lives (as their friend, servant, and physician).
and ofc condemning someone they care about is going to bring up emotions! but the pendragon men Don't Do emotions like that, so they fall back on the things they understand: logic and the law. gaius did wrong and broke the law, and therefore gaius must suffer the consequences. being a king means making hard choices and sacrifices. feeling anything about this is pointless and it’s definitely not a defense mechanism at all shut up
ugh then this whole parallel. arthur is so much like uther in this sense that it's actually painful. he blows up and let's his temper and suspicions (especially the ingrained ones he has about magic) get the better of him time and time again - with the important difference between them being that arthur almost always more readily admits his mistakes and tries to (<- load bearing phrase alert) learn from his actions. but as i love to shout constantly into the void, part of his tragedy is that he does so too slowly and too late for it to make a difference for him in the end.
this scene speaks to that so beautifully, especially the different ways gaius handles them both: the man who was once and sort of still is his friend (but who was always his king) that he watched descend into tyrannical madness until gaius got caught the line of fire, and his king who was and sort of still is the boy he's cared for since he was a babe while harboring the secret hope that he'd be better than his father. gaius knows arthur is trying, but there's also part of him i believe that suspects arthur is running out of time to make the changes that need to be made.
hence this final heartbreaking mirrored moment:
the one gaius knows it's too late for because he stood by while and/or actively aided him in becoming a monster vs the symbol of gaius' hope that there can be a future where the damage he helped cause is undone :( :(
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