Something else that gets me about Lostbelt 6 is reaffirming and denying one simple fact.
Vortigern hates.
He hates. Hates humans, hates Arthur, hates Uther, hates Merlin. He hates that the Age of Gods which he feels genuinely and completely is better for the planet is being thrown away for the benefit of humans who do nothing but squander the world.
He’s summoned into Lostbelt 6 to end it. Definitively, because what other purpose does he have as an avatar of destruction? As an Avenger incarnate?
He’s just like Morgan; he’s a human, he’s a fae, he’s the will of Britain itself to die which is why he hates so much and so viciously.
But even that hate is dipped in love, as miniscule as it is. His hate in LB6 gives way to love, through the Welsh fairies that name him Oberon. He loves them, and he twists to want to destroy Panhuman History because his love twists his hate.
But above all else, what proves Vortigern is human and worth respect?
He saw a lonely fae girl, freezing in a stable, and wanted to help her. She wanted to be warm, so he pretended to be Merlin- his hated enemy- so that he could learn magic and then to teach her.
There is nothing hateful in that gesture, absolutely nothing. No matter how much Vortigern would lie to himself, he cannot deny that kindness and that that girl sincerely appreciates the presence ‘Merlin’ had in her life.
Vortigern hates, but to say that all he is is to deny he is capable of kindness and love too. Even if he had a false identity pushed onto him, at the very end he accepts it as part of himself.
He is Oberon. He is Vortigern. He is hateful, but he also loves and he loves with an intensity that only hate can bring with it.
