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If Arthur is supposed to create a golden age for magic users, then why the actual fuck are magic users still getting dragged to the execution block in Season 5?

What the fuck was the point?

For FIVE SEASONS we get beaten over the head with this prophecy. Arthur is the Once and Future King. Arthur is the great hope of Albion. Arthur will unite the land. Arthur will usher in an age of peace. Arthur will restore the balance between the Old Religion and the new world. Arthur will create a kingdom where magic users can finally live openly and freely.

Also Arthur:

"RIGHT THEN YOU ARCANE SHITWEASEL, OFF TO THE EXECUTION BLOCK."

LIKE???

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE???

WHAT HAS BEEN THE POINT OF ANY OF THIS???

Five seasons.

Five.

Fucking.

Seasons.

And before anyone starts screaming:

"BUT ARTHUR WAS INDOCTRINATED!!!"

YES.

WE KNOW.

EVERYONE KNOWS.

The writers remind us every six and a half fucking minutes.

Arthur was indoctrinated.

Arthur inherited prejudice.

Arthur inherited fear.

That explains Season 1.

Maybe Season 2.

Maybe even Season 3.

But by Season 5?

FUCK OFF.

By Season 5 Arthur has personally witnessed enough evidence to fill seventeen libraries.

He has met good magic users.

Been saved by magic users.

Protected by magic users.

Helped by magic users.

Rescued by magic users.

Loved by magic users.

His entire fucking existence is being held together with magical duct tape applied by Merlin.

Arthur should be dead.

Like "worms renting his ribcage" dead.

Like "here lies Arthur Pendragon, survived by absolutely nobody because he died in Season 1" dead.

Merlin saves this man so many times it's genuinely hilarious.

Poison. Assassins. Monsters. Curses. Wraiths. Goblins. Dragons. Immortal armies. Murderous priests. Psychotic sorcerers. Bad writing decisions.

Merlin saves him from EVERYTHING.

At some point Arthur should have accidentally tripped over enough magical interventions to start asking questions.

Instead his brain apparently has the memory retention of a concussed turnip.

Every episode follows the same fucking pattern.

Arthur:

"Magic is evil."

Episode Events:

Magic saves Arthur.

Magic saves Camelot.

Magic saves the kingdom.

Magic saves his friends.

Magic saves the economy.

Magic cures cancer.

Magic solves inflation.

Magic personally tucks Arthur into bed.

Arthur at the end:

"Hmmm.

Anyway.

Magic bad."

YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKING WALNUT.

ARE YOU LEARNING?

ARE THE GEARS TURNING?

IS THERE ANYONE HOME?

HELLO?

HELLOOOOO?

Knock knock.

Anybody inside the Chosen One's skull?

Or is it just two exhausted hamsters taking turns falling off a wheel?

The SHOW keeps telling us Arthur is changing.

The SHOW keeps telling us Arthur is becoming the king he was meant to be.

The SHOW keeps telling us we're witnessing growth.

Meanwhile I'm sitting there watching the same lesson get taught for the 493rd time.

It's like watching someone repeatedly touch a stove.

"Ow."

Episode ends.

Next episode.

"What's this?"

Touches stove.

"Ow."

Arthur's character development has the forward momentum of a dead ox being dragged through cement.

And then we get to Merlin.

Oh sweet merciful CHRIST.

MERLIN.

The most gaslit man in television history.

This poor bastard sacrifices EVERYTHING for Arthur.

Everything.

His identity. His freedom. His happiness. His relationships. His future. His emotional stability. His fucking sanity.

Merlin spends a decade walking around like an unpaid magical crisis-management department.

Nobody thanks him. Nobody knows. Nobody appreciates him.

The man is basically Camelot's invisible life-support machine.

And the entire reason he keeps suffering is because everyone keeps telling him:

"Trust the prophecy."

"The future will be worth it."

"Arthur will change."

"Arthur will understand."

"Arthur will bring freedom."

"Arthur will create a golden age."

"Arthur will become the king magic users deserve."

WELL FUCKING WHEN???

WHEN???

WHAT CALENDAR ARE WE USING HERE???

THE PROPHECY KEEPS OPERATING ON THE MOST AGGRESSIVE "COMING SOON" SCREEN IN HUMAN HISTORY.

Five seasons.

TEN YEARS.

And Merlin is still hiding.

Still lying. Still terrified. Still unable to tell his best friend who he really is.

Think about how fucked that is.

The man destined to free magic users cannot even be trusted with the existence of ONE magic user.

His BEST FRIEND.

The guy who washes his socks. The guy who saves his life every Wednesday. The guy who literally drags destiny itself across the finish line by the throat.

Merlin knows Arthur so well that he can predict his moods from breathing patterns.

And he still thinks revealing his magic could get him executed.

WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU?

Because it sure as shit doesn't tell me we're approaching a golden age.

Arthur gets way too much credit for being "better than Uther."

Because congratulations.

He's better than Uther.

Do you know how low that bar is?

Uther's moral compass was a fucking kitchen knife.

Being better than Uther isn't an achievement.

That's the minimum legal requirement for being considered a functioning human being.

If I said:

"This guy only commits HALF as many hate crimes as his father."

You wouldn't throw a parade.

You'd ask why he's still committing hate crimes.

Yet Arthur gets treated like a revolutionary because occasionally he hesitates before sentencing people.

My brother in Christ.

The laws are still there. The executions are still happening. The persecution is still happening. The fear is still happening. The suffering is still happening.

Institutional discrimination and state funded genocide is still operating at full fucking capacity.

Arthur feels bad about it sometimes.

Fantastic.

A gold star.

A sticker.

A juice box.

The magic users being burned alive are surely comforted by that.

Arthur's own story constantly sets up opportunities for change.

The show practically gift-wraps them.

Mordred.

The druids.

Freya.

Countless innocent magical people.

Repeated examples.

Repeated lessons.

Repeated proof.

And every time Arthur gets close to genuine growth, the writers panic and hit the emergency reset button.

Because if Arthur actually changed?

The show would have to evolve.

Merlin's secret would come out.

The relationship would deepen.

The conflict would become more interesting.

The narrative would move forward.

But apparently somebody in the writers' room was guarding the status quo like a rabid fucking bridge troll.

So instead Arthur spends five seasons running on a treadmill.

Lots of movement.

No actual progress.

Then the ending arrives.

And Arthur dies.

And I'm supposed to be satisfied?

Excuse me?

The man dies before accomplishing the single most important thing the prophecy promised.

Magic isn't legalized.

Magic users aren't free.

Merlin isn't accepted.

The golden age doesn't happen.

We're just told it'll happen later.

Eventually.

One day.

Trust us.

Source: dude just trust me.

And then Merlin spends the next fifteen hundred years wandering around looking like a Victorian ghost who lost a custody battle with happiness.

So after all the sacrifices.

After all the prophecies.

After all the deaths.

After all the suffering.

After all the waiting.

After all the "Arthur is destiny" speeches.

The grand payoff is basically:

"Well.

Maybe someday."

Maybe someday???

MAYBE SOMEDAY???

You cosmic fucking scam artists.

You narrative pickpockets.

You prophecy-selling charlatans.

You destiny-flavored fraud merchants.

You absolute council of enchanted dipshits.

You spent five seasons promising a golden age and delivered a delayed shipping notification.

Arthur was supposed to bring freedom.

You spent five seasons making me wait.

I wanted to SEE it.

I wanted Arthur making laws.

I wanted Arthur dismantling Uther's legacy.

I wanted Arthur publicly standing beside magic users.

I wanted Camelot changing.

I wanted proof.

Instead I got five seasons of "trust the process" followed by Arthur dying and Merlin wandering around for 1,500 years looking depressed.

What a fucking return on investment.

andromaex

#poat season 5 crashout core#you are right#but#but but but my friend#have you thought that maybe the show isnt about arthur#merlin continualy fucks with 'destiny' then choses not to act towards it#infact he often directly contradicts his 'destiny'#he refuses magic users#he builds himself an image of morality behind his so called desity#which is twisted#his devotion to arthur is his downfall#which in turn causes arthurs downfall#arthur didnt know of his destiny until merlin told him#granted it was in half truths#but merlin causes arthurs downfall#as a fandom we need to stop acting like merlin was some tragic hero#is it tragic?#yes#was he a hero#no#not even remotely#(thats not directed at you just generally)#arthur was making all the right noises throughout the serieses#but merlin held him back#merlin was so caught up in his destiny that he prevented it from happening#for the record#arthur was making progress#i agree with your post#but i wanted to add#it wasnt all arthurs fault (tags via @lolnothankso)

I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying, and I think this is one of the reasons Merlin is still so fun to discuss years later. It's a tragedy where almost everyone contributes to the disaster in some way.

I absolutely agree that Merlin is not some morally spotless hero. I think fandom sometimes swings too far in the opposite direction and treats him like he's incapable of making bad decisions because "the prophecy made him do it." It didn't.

Merlin lies. He manipulates people. He decides who lives and who dies. He hides information. He actively shapes Arthur's choices by deciding what Arthur does and doesn't know. He puts Arthur above almost everyone else, sometimes to a really disturbing degree. He lets innocent magic users continue suffering because he's convinced Arthur's future matters more than their present. He repeatedly chooses protecting one man over helping an entire persecuted community. Those are flaws—serious ones.

I also agree that Merlin often works against the future he's supposedly trying to create. His fear of disrupting destiny ironically causes him to cling so tightly to one version of it that he stops seeing any alternatives. He becomes reactive instead of proactive. He spends so much time protecting Arthur that he neglects the people Arthur is supposedly destined to protect. There's definitely a reading where Merlin's obsession with preserving the prophecy becomes one of the biggest obstacles to it ever coming true, and I think that's a really interesting interpretation.

Where I disagree is with the idea that this means Arthur isn't responsible, because Arthur is still Arthur. Merlin manipulates him, yes. But he doesn't possess him. He doesn't magically rewrite Arthur's personality. He doesn't cast a spell every time Arthur signs an execution order. He doesn't force Arthur to keep Uther's laws on the books. Arthur is still making those choices.

I think taking all of the responsibility away from Arthur undermines his character. If Arthur is destined to become this legendary king, then his successes have to be his own, but so do his failures. Otherwise he stops being an active participant in his own story and becomes someone everyone else acts upon. At that point, Uther gets the blame, Merlin gets the blame, Morgana gets the blame, destiny gets the blame—but Arthur never actually owns anything. I don't think that's a satisfying reading of his character either.

Ironically, I think that's something the show itself struggles with. Arthur gets treated almost like an object that history happens to rather than someone actively shaping history.

He's the one with legislative power. He's the one with the authority to change the laws. He's the one deciding who gets pardoned and who gets executed. Merlin can influence him, but he cannot make those decisions for him.

I also think there's a difference between saying "Merlin contributed to Arthur's downfall" and saying "Merlin prevented Arthur from fulfilling the prophecy." The first? Absolutely. The second? I'm not convinced.

Because for that argument to work, the show would actually have to let Merlin's mistakes matter in a direct narrative sense. If the writers wanted to tell a story where Merlin's secrecy doomed everything, I actually think that could have been brilliant. Imagine if Merlin had revealed his magic years earlier and Arthur had rejected him, hardening his views on magic forever. Or imagine if Merlin's lies permanently shattered Arthur's trust, making the reforms everyone hoped for impossible. That would be devastating, but at least the story would actually be about Merlin's choices causing the outcome.

Instead, what actually happens is Arthur spends five seasons repeatedly learning the exact same lesson and then forgetting it. That's where my frustration comes from.

Arthur repeatedly meets good magic users. He's saved by them, protected by them, and benefits from magic over and over again. Not just Merlin either—the Druids, Balinor, "Will", Freya, and countless unnamed sorcerers who aren't evil. Repeatedly the narrative says, "Look, Arthur. Here's another example that your worldview is incomplete."

And Arthur does soften. I agree with you there. I genuinely think he becomes kinder than Uther, more compassionate, more willing to question things, and less immediately bloodthirsty. He's clearly progressing as a person.

My problem is that the progress never reaches the point where it fundamentally changes Camelot. By Season 5, magic users are still being arrested. Still executed. Still forced into hiding. Merlin—Arthur's closest friend—is still convinced that revealing his magic could get him killed. And Merlin isn't being paranoid. That's a completely rational fear based on the kingdom Arthur is still ruling.

And that's where I struggle to put the blame primarily on Merlin, because Arthur has had years to begin dismantling that system, even gradually. I'm not expecting him to wake up one morning and announce, "Magic is legal now, everyone have fun." That wouldn't be realistic either. But I wanted to see the beginning. I wanted debates. Political resistance. Nobles objecting. Arthur pushing back against Uther's legacy. Small legal reforms. Public pardons. Protections for Druids. A slow transition. Anything.

Instead, the series kind of freezes Arthur in place until the finale. That's why I always come back to blaming the writing more than either character. I think the writers wanted two contradictory things at once. They wanted Arthur to be developing into the king of prophecy, but they also wanted Merlin's secret to remain hidden until the last possible second. Those two goals eventually became incompatible.

The more Arthur genuinely grew, the harder it became to believe Merlin couldn't trust him. So instead of letting Arthur continue growing, the show repeatedly reset him just enough to preserve the status quo.

So I definitely agree that Merlin's obsession with destiny becomes his downfall. I think that's one of the central tragedies of the show. He sacrifices the present for a promised future that never arrives, and by the time he finally tells Arthur the truth, it's too late.

But I also don't think Arthur gets a free pass because Merlin manipulated him. Arthur is his own person. His virtues belong to him. His failures belong to him too.

And honestly, I think the biggest tragedy is that they're both victims of the same thing: a narrative that keeps insisting tomorrow will finally be the day everything changes. Arthur keeps being told he'll become the Once and Future King. Merlin keeps being told to trust the prophecy. The audience keeps being told the golden age is coming.

Then the show ends before delivering on the very promise it spent five seasons making.

To me, that's why this ending is still so frustrating. Not because Arthur failed. Not because Merlin failed. But because the story kept promising that their choices were building toward something transformative... and then stopped right before the transformation actually happened.

orliththedragon

^^^

Oh wow, well, yeah, all of this except a few points. I agree with 95% of what you wrote except that Arthur continued to execute magic users during his reign? "By Season 5, magic users are still being arrested. Still executed." Did we watch the same Season 5? I really don't recall any magic user being executed apart from that trouble with Kara but she wanted to kill him (the King) and refused to change her mind and/or accept his options to save her life... Arthur was also the one saving that old woman from the pyre (The Death Song of Uther) and in The Disir Arthur was clearly ready to change the laws and bring back the Old Religion only to be stopped by... well, Merlin...

"Merlin is still convinced revealing his magic could get him killed" I don't think so, he was probably more afraid of banishment, i.e. of losing Arthur's trust and Arthur himself...

"Arthur keeps being told he'll become the Once and Future King" and I have to ask WHEN and by whom? He never knew anything about his "Grand Destiny", about that once and future nonsense and Merlin's active and key role in all this (!!) which really ruined the whole series in the end... We deserved to watch them (Might&Magic) fight side by side for that promised Golden Age... We were robbed 😔

One little note to "Merlin lies. Merlin manipulates people" he also didn't hesitate to take away Arthur's free will to force him to do what Merlin thought was "best" for him at that moment and that's one of the darkest, most horrendous kinds of magic if you ask me....