I don't have any dislike of Gaius, I get why some people do because he is for all intents and purposes a class traitor to those with magic. As Kilgarrah once said to Gauis "turn a blind eye, that's always what you did best" so his inability to stand up for whats right is something not morally condoned by the show.
But I personally dont hold any contempt for him because I see him as a survivalist. We know that nimueh was once a friend of Uther, and he was also friends with Gauis who practiced magic and there were likely others.
But we see that Uther hunts all those who practice magic indiscriminately. It's not hard to understand why Gauis turned sides, not because he agreed with what Uther did but because he wanted to survive.
And thats the perspective he takes when he warns Merlin against being reckless, Its frustrating to witness as a viewer because you want Merlin to come into his own, but Gauis cares for Merlin and wants to protect him the only way he knows how. He doesn't believe Merlin or anyone else inherently deserves to be persecuted for magic, but he's a realist and knows that they will be.
Robert Frost // Hunger, Florence Welch // The Night There, translated Palestinian poem by Mahmoud Darwish // Olivia, Dorothy Bussy // unknown // Let Dead Dogs Lie, Silas Denver Melvin // Gnaw at the Heartbeat, Wenyi Xue // War of the Foxes, Richard Siken // Поэма Конца (Poem of the End), Марина Цветаева // Wild Geese, Mary Oliver // Tribute to Catherine O’Hara, Macaulay Culkin
— Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun // Murder by Death, Brother // Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes // The Crane Wives, Icarus // author unknown // Suzanne Collins, Gregor and the Code of Claw // Lindsey Drager, The Archive of Alternate Endings // Barbara Davis, The Keeper of Happy Endings // Lin-manuel Miranda, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story // Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers // Trista Mateer, Is it Okay to Say This? // Euripides, tr. by Anne Carson, Antigonick
If you think about it, Morgana holding Gwen prisoner in the dark tower is insane for more than just yuri reasons because a large portion of her scheme depended on the idea that Gwen's husband would be the one dying to save her, but it was actually her brother who charged in first. This moment was about Gwen and Elyan, but it can also be about Morgana and Arthur, since it shows very clearly that Morgana simply doesn't recognize the power of a brother's love. To Morgana, Arthur's identity as Uther's son is far more important than his role as her brother. She cannot accept that his affection for her was ever genuine, and yet it's proved time and time again that Arthur wants to be the one catching her when she falls.
Morgana's efforts to destroy him all come down to a fundamental misunderstanding of how he feels about her. In this case, she fails to kill Arthur because she forgets that a brother will be the first to die for his sister. Even though Arthur's love for Morgana was never enough to redeem her, Elyan's love for Gwen was still able to foil her schemes.
Morgana is literally a YA fantasy protagonist but she is the villain cuz BBC Merlin is told from the perspective of the guy who's helping the oppressive government she's trying to take down. Does anyone think about that?
I've been thinking about how this show is told by a biased narrator. Everything we experience is from Merlin's POV and it's a VERY narrow POV. We never know anything that Merlin doesn't find out in the same episode (and if we do, it's probably something that Merlin figures out or infers at some point).
We love Arthur cuz Merlin loves Arthur. We think magic is a beautiful thing because Merlin thinks so too. When a tragedy happens, we blame Merlin, because odds are, Merlin probably blames himself. Do we ever share an opinion separate from Merlin in the entire show?
I think this is most clear when you look at Arthur. He's our clotpole and our lovable prat! He's just... also objectively done some not-that-great-things. Merlin isn't blind to that, so yes, we are aware and we do understand why everyone keeps trying to kill him, but because it's told from Merlin's POV the show can't help but stuff you full of lovable moments. Yeah, a genocide is still happening, but... it's Arthur! Fuck the genocide, let's banter with Arthur a bit more!
Then we get to Morgana. Her whole backstory is literally just a YA protagonist. Sassy, badass, has special powers, is trying to topple an oppressive racist government? We've seen that before. If this story was told from her perspective---and not even that, from a more objective, overall ensemble perspective---she'd be definitely a lot more morally gray badass revolutionary YA protagonist rather than just straight up villain. Furthermore, she's only the villain once she starts threatening Merlin personally.
I actually do excuse the lack of proper Morgana development in the show due to this. This is clearly not Morgana's story. Merlin was absent for most of her villain arc, so naturally we DON'T get most of her villain arc. We only get the parts Merlin is privy to. It's kinda weird for a film to do this because yeah you can easily do that if you switch the POV by giving more Morgana screen time development that Merlin isn't there for, but I kinda like it? It emphasizes just how narrow Merlin's viewpoint is. And the show doesn't reward that, it punishes Merlin's tunnel vision. So I think it does serve the theme by extending that tunnel vision to the audience as well.
For the record, Merlin is not eavesdropping. He just happens to be standing around the corner from where Arthur and Agravaine are arguing. It’s not his fault that Agravaine decided to accost Arthur in the middle of the corridor, after all.
“Sire,” Agravaine is saying imploringly, “you cannot be seen taking counsel from a servant. People will talk.”
It’s all Merlin can do to keep his magic from lashing out and making Agravaine fall flat on his smarmy face. Arthur and Merlin have been Arthur-and-Merlin to the people of the citadel for years; any talk that there ever was about them has long since died out. The fact the Agravaine knows this and is still using his silver tongue to try and drive the two of them apart makes something furious burn in Merlin’s chest– not just because it will make it even harder to make Arthur see sense about his uncle’s treachery, but because losing the intimate, human part of Arthur he’s been trusted with for all these years is unthinkable.
Merlin has given everything to stay by Arthur’s side. He won’t let anyone, much less Agravaine, strip that from him.
Before he can concoct some reason to interrupt, Arthur is responding.
“It surprised me as well, Uncle, but Merlin does give wise counsel,” he says. “He has yet to steer me wrong.”
The praise warms Merlin from the inside out. Agravaine, however, is adamant.
“Nonetheless, it’s hardly proper. What would the people say if they realized how dependent you are upon a farm boy from Cenred’s kingdom? What would Camelot’s enemies and allies think? It pains me to be so blunt, but it makes you look weak, My Lord.”
“Then who might I seek counsel from?” Arthur says, clearly impatient and annoyed.
Agravaine’s tone is horribly logical. “From your advisors, Sire, from your Queen, whenever you find her, and until then— and after, of course— myself.”
“I understand,” Arthur says, clearly considering, and a pit in Merlin’s stomach opens.
He cannot lose Arthur. He won’t. Not after everything he has done to keep him, not after everything they have done together—
“Clearly, there’s only one solution,” Arthur says, not sounding put out in the slightest. “Merlin is Queen now.”
Merlin’s brain comes screeching to a stop. He’s what now?
“Arthur,” Agravaine says, a bit of panic slipping past his incredulity, “this is madness. You can’t simply make Merlin your Queen.”
“I’m the king, I can do what I want.” Arthur waves him off. He’s never that dismissive of Agravaine, which only makes the whole thing more surreal.
It’s not as though Merlin has never thought about being at Arthur’s side as an equal, a partner, a spouse, but he’d always known that while one day, they might be able to be properly friends instead of servant and master, there was no chance of anything more between them. The fact that Arthur is declaring with so much certainty that he wants Merlin as Camelot’s Queen– as his Queen– is dizzying.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Arthur says, like it’s the most natural thing in the world, “I should check on my betrothed.”
You didn’t even propose, you ass! Merlin thinks a bit hysterically.
The corridor goes very very quiet, and abruptly, Merlin realizes that he said that out loud.
“Merlin,” Arthur says, sounding equal parts fond and exasperated, “have you been eavesdropping this whole time?”
There are several things that Merlin should probably say. For instance, you can’t just assume that I’m going to handfast you! or perhaps, are you sure you haven’t been enchanted? or, I love you.
Instead, what comes out is, “I’m not eavesdropping!”
Arthur turns the corner, the expression on his face wordlessly declaring, you’re an idiot, Merlin, inflection and all.
Merlin is sure that he’s flushed bright red. Part of him wants to run away and go live in a hovel somewhere in the woods where he’ll never have to show his face again, but he’s also stubborn, so he continues vehemently, “If you didn’t want to be overheard, you should have chosen to speak with your uncle in private. It’s not my fault that sound carries—“
“Merlin?”
Merlin presses his lips together. “Shut up?”
“You guessed it.”
The corridor is silent. Agravaine must have left, or perhaps is eavesdropping around the corner as Merlin was wasn’t. Quite frankly, Merlin couldn’t care less about the man. He’s more preoccupied by Arthur, whose sardonic smile has become something more genuine, doing nothing to temper the flustered beating of Merlin’s heart. If anything, it’s made the organ’s rhythm worse.
“You don’t have to listen to your uncle, you know,” Merlin says when the silence becomes too much to bear. “You don’t have to make me Queen just to try and please him.” Not that Agravaine would be particularly pleased, what with it being Merlin and all, but still.
“And if I wanted–” Arthur watches him intently, “– to please myself? To please you?”
For a long moment, Merlin can’t do anything but stare. Finally, he manages, only sounding a little strangled, “You’d still have to propose.”
Arthur throws his head back and laughs, because it’s as good as a yes and they both know it.
okay but we need to TALK about how Merlin just casually gives merlin the most insane, compounding trauma and then expects him to go back to polishing boots like nothing happened
like. this is a BOY.
this is a teenager who shows up in camelot and within approximately five minutes is told by Gaius:
“hey so you have world-ending levels of power :) also if anyone finds out you will be executed :) have fun!”
and then Kilgharrah is like:
“your destiny is everything. your feelings are irrelevant.”
???????
so now we have merlin:
cannot tell anyone who he is
cannot be fully known by anyone
cannot even react honestly to the things happening to him
and THEN
Will dies protecting merlin’s secret → merlin learns: people die if they know me
Freya dies in his arms right after he allows himself to love someone → merlin learns: if i love someone, they die
Balinor (his father!!) dies basically immediately → merlin learns: i don’t get to keep family
Lancelot sacrifices himself → merlin learns: good people die for me
Gwaine is tortured and dies → merlin learns: i can’t save everyone, even when i try
and then. THEN.
Arthur Pendragon dies.
after YEARS of merlin:
saving his life in secret
sacrificing everything
shaping his entire existence around this ONE destiny
and what does merlin get?
arthur finding out the truth for like five minutes and then dying in his arms.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME.
and the show just—
ends.
no processing.
no support system.
no “hey maybe this boy has severe survivor’s guilt and complex trauma”
because merlin can’t even GRIEVE properly.
he can’t tell anyone:
why will died
who freya was to him
that balinor was his father
what lancelot actually did
how many times he saved arthur
so all of that grief just sits there. unspoken. unacknowledged. unresolved.
like imagine carrying:
the weight of destiny
the responsibility for a kingdom
the knowledge that your loved ones died for or because of you
and the fact that the ONE person it was all for is gone anyway
Kinda feels like sadness is the open space in a snowy field, and those cobalt blue eyes come from a silent Avalon. Bards are everywhere singing about blue eyes and golden hair, the rivers are wide, and the stars never fade.
