Where is Duty? Where is Sacrifice?

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[gabstriessomethingnew]

The “I’ve slept in Merlin’s bed” squad

[mordredcain]

Ohhh it's my favorite song....

[mordredcain]

BBC Merlin (5x02)//House of the Dragon 1x06

[mordredcain]

[mordredcain]

House of the Dragon 1x06//BBC Merlin 5x10

[eventualwife]

[mordredcain]

the urge to make a fanvid of merlin and alicent hightower parallels is strong...

THE VISION IS SO STRONG like obviously there’s significant differences between the two, Alicent as a woman within a highly restrictive society where she is considered property to her father, husband and son, where whilst Merlin has his own struggles with autonomy as a servant and under the ever-looming presence and threat of destiny which interferes in his life specifically, it’s still not *that*. However there’s so much overlap between their main conflicts that puts them in not dissimilar positions; both of them are people who are increasingly subsumed within these larger social structures whilst the others around them are unable to understand their positions, and then dedicate themselves to the kingdom and duty (Alicent asking ‘where is duty? Where is sacrifice?’ Vs Merlin replying to Gaius that ‘(the young boy he met all those years ago) he grew up and learned the meaning of duty’, Alicent telling Cole, butchering this line but that she ‘had to believe decency and justice will prevail and win out in the end’ whilst Merlin reassures Finna it won’t always be this way) to make something of their extremely difficult positions (and resenting and lashing out at Rhaenyra and Mordred respectively because they threaten everything they’ve worked towards, their frustration at Arthur and Viserys for dismissing them), in hope that their sacrifice and misery will amount to something only for it to not happen!!! It’s so serious…..

[gabstriessomethingnew]

The thing about modern Merlin is that I have no idea what job to give him because he sort of just fell into each position he was given at Camelot. My boy wanted purpose and that was it. There is legit no desire for a certain type of job given other than wanting to do good. Like not even a general direction…

[calefies]

[the-king-and-the-druidess]

Put Merlin in:

Mist prison

Cave

Tree

Tomb

Voting ended onJul 13

[mordredcain]

The argument that the ending was good because the point of Arthurian legend is that Arthur will always die makes no sense because that’s an incomplete statement; Arthur is the past people look back upon, a true golden age lost to time that people wish to return to, and yes there is a layer of fallacy, a romanticised narrative of a more complex and nuanced world, but Camelot is none of that in Merlin, so like why would we care

[mordredcain]

It is a bit funny whenever someone says something along the lines of ‘Merlin always put Camelot and Arthur before magic’, because I do think freeing Kilgharrah despite knowing it would lead to destruction and death, and later showing mercy to him very pointedly disproves that

[mordredcain]

It is interesting to me how differently Morgana and Merlin approach magic and the roles they occupy within the magical world. Merlin’s unaffiliated with any magical faction, he is isolated for most his life and once he learns of magical communities associated with the old religion like the druids, the priestesses or Finna’s group, he doesn’t align with any of them. Which leads back to his position as magic within itself, neutral, however the role of destiny disrupts that, so that he is aligned with Camelot. Which differs from Morgana who finds herself at home with the druids, becomes a high priestess, has her own magical factions. Similarly their very approaches to magic differ. Merlin loves magic within itself whereas for Morgana, magic is a tool for power and autonomy which was previously denied to her. Which is reasonable, I don’t agree with Merlin’s ideas about magic only being used for a narrow definition of that’s good (which he also transgresses, justifying through the idea that it’ll all work out in the end, something he himself knows considering the self-loathing and guilt he feels as product), but it is worth discussing in how magic for Morgana is a tool and weapon, she is never given the chance to learn to magic for itself and her own magic as a part of herself. The closest she comes to this is Aithusa but this soon turns sour as they’re imprisoned together and Morgana incorporates her within her revenge plan, utilising her to make the sword and against her enemies, which hurts Aithusa

[twistedshipper]

Okay, here's some wild Merlin meta that's been on my mind recently thanks to @gehalge and @the-king-and-the-druidess's meta and parallels they found in the show.

We know from canon that Arthur was borne of magic, that Uther went to Nimueh for magical aid in helping his wife Ygraine conceive a child and heir.

We also know from canon that Arthur dies after the Camlann and that as foretold by Kilgharrah when Albion's need is greatest, he will rise again.

This gives us a comparison (that is made in Arthuriana in general) between Arthur and Christ with both being a savior figure with a prophesized second coming.

But what if Merlin as a show goes deeper than that?

Since Arthur is borne of magic, what if Uther isn't truly his father, but magic is?

Thus, Ygraine is likened to the Holy Virgin Mary and Arthur's conception is an immaculate conception.

What's more is that @gehalge has stated that Merlin and Arthur have a parent-child relationship and I think we can add to this Balinor's lines in the finale that Merlin is magic itself, and so if magic can birth life, then in a sense, Merlin is not only an immortal god, in him lies the lifeforce that gave birth to Arthur, cementing their parent-child relationship.

[belovedgamers]

The BEST trope is when a character tells another “let’s run away together, we can leave all of this behind and start a new life somewhere” and gets rejected. And then the rest of the tragedy unfolds

[ilynpilled]

there r some characters that u really love that u do not want to see any opinion or discussion about online ever. u agree with like 2 ppl on earth total about. maybe 3. their haters lovers glazers fuckers shitters pissers whatever pissing u off to equal degrees. just a beautiful kind of torture chamber to find urself in

[ilynpilled]

there r some series that u really love that u do not want to see any opinion or discussion about online ever. u agree with like 2 ppl on earth total about. maybe 3. their haters lovers glazers fuckers shitters pissers whatever pissing u off to equal degrees. just a beautiful kind of torture chamber to find urself in

[mordredcain]

If Merlin had a Kay-esqe figure, he would;

Be really mean to Arthur all the time in a very Kay-esqe fashion

Have an epic rivalry with Merlin because he’s this country bumpkin with no decorum who in a very Kay-esqe fashion he immediately clocks as being suspicious, and also who seems to be monopolising Arthur’s attention, whilst Merlin hates Kay for most of the reasons he hated Arthur except he thinks Kay has no redeeming qualities (not unfairly from his perspective)

Like Guenevere way more than that stupid annoying blond man again in a very Kay-esqe fashion

Would bully Mordred in very Kay-esqe fashion (Kay being infamous for bullying young knights especially with suspicious backgrounds). Possibly one of the only times he and Merlin unite on something

After Arthur dies, he and Merlin definitely having sad shitty grief-induced sex if they hadn’t before

[byjove]

BBC Merlin suffers from a serious lack of Sir Kay and that was part of the reason that Arthur in particular was so stupid. Most of the fool’s plots would have been avoided and the Sir Kay/Merlin/Arthur love triangle would have been so entertaining.

[byjove]

They needed a seneschal so badly. Why was a 19 year old gay peasant boy from the countryside in charge of minding the crown prince 24/7? Saddest most unqualified nepo hire.