#arthur crit

[wumiings]

You know, it sure is interesting how Arthur never throws anything harder than a pillow or a generic insult at Merlin when Gwen is in the room. As far as I can remember, she’s never seen her best friend being actually struck or threatened by her romantic interest — almost as if Arthur/the writers are aware that abuse isn’t cute and Gwen would be measurably less interested in a man who treated her best friend like that 🤔

[arguablysomaya]

please, elaborate on merlin bbc propaganda and stuff

okay basically:

bbc merlin is a show taking place during a genocide

camelot for 20 years has been genociding and ethnically cleansing everyone who can use magic, including magical creatures. They were all either exiled, fled, live in refugee camps or in hiding, and a great many were executed and slaughtered. Generally speaking, life is inhospitable in camelot for magic users.

And the show makes no attempt to hide this fact, either. We see multiple times over the death and destruction this genocide has wraught, and how radicalized most of the remaining magic population is because of it. For the past few decades, camelot has essentially been doing 2 things: persecuting magic users, and defending itself from vengeful/liberationist magic users

the king (uther) believes that magic users are (stop me if you've heard this one) corruptive, shifty, and evil. he's always paranoid that a magic user will take their revenge on him. and in a way, he's right: there are in fact a lot of magic users eager to kill him, but given the whole Great Purge and literally drowning children thing, you'd thing the show would be a bit more sympathetic to their plight. Nope.

in come merlin and gaius, our two main magic users. merlin is the protagonist, and gaius his benevolent mentor, so the audience is primed to be on their side. only one problem: from bascially the beginning of the series, these two are nothing more than agents for the very state carrying out the genocide. they devote their time to wholeheartedly defending camelot, especially from magic users, something they are rightfully called traitors for. they actively intervene to prolong the lives (and therefore regimes) of both arthur and uther, despite neither king showing any real interest in freeing their people. gauis represents the "diversity" of a genocidaire state; as someone uther only keeps around so long as he shuns any involvement with magic except what helps uther carry put his genocide, gaius hides and rejects every marginalized part of himself that threatens his access to power. even as a member of the oppressed class, he aids and abets the oppressors every step of the way. merlin, as an extremely powerful agic user in hiding, follows suit. the thing is, like so many other minority collaborators, this doesn't actually buy them safety, since they are Other, they still have to walk around on eggshells knowing one wrong move could get their heads chopped off. but this action of defending a regime that would kill you without a second's hesitation is presented as noble and heroic in the show, when in reality it's stupid at best and evil at worst. merlin and gaius might save a token kid from being brutally murdered, but they will never let anyone take action, let alone take action themselves, to proactively stop the brutality.

merlin is literally the most powerful sorcerer alive. if he wanted to, he could create a more fair, more just, better world in a blink. instead, he spends his time pretending to be a hapless servent, messing around with his war criminal friends, and killing any freedom fighter who dares to even look at the prince or king. why? well, he believes in the institutions (and a prophecy that never comes true... lol). ultimately, merlin and gauis hold the same prejudices and stereotypes about magic users that uther does: that they're untrustworthy, dangerous, and that it would be better for everyone if all but themselves (the good ones) just died or left.

and all the people they're defending the empire against... are other oppressed magic users. the VAST majority of antagonists are either magicians or magic sympathizers. even in the context of a genocide, the show takes the firm stance that the architects of genocide (the literal kings who order it to happen) are just flawed human beings who still don't deserve to be killed, while when the people they seek to wipe out fight back, our protagonists will happily mow them down. the show has no problem with killing people,and even killing innocents is only worthy of a fingerwag. it's fighting for liberation that the show makes the real problem. even when uther finally dies the show plays it like something sad, as if anyone is supposed to feel anything but joy that this old tyrant genocidaire finally kicked the bucket after having been saved a million times over from getting his comeuppance. Every magic user that has genuinely good reasons to want to tear down the kingdom are all painted with the "crazy evil person" brush.

another thing is that this show likes to get ~quirky~ with their agents of the state. along with arthur and merlin come a colorful cast of characters like the knights that you can laugh and cry with. the only problem is that despite how lovable these people are, they're still actively carrying out and enforcing a genocide. it's a bit like those tiktoks of IDF soldiers dancing or proposing. i can't feel for these people because despite seeming like relatable people, they're still engaging in something horrific. you can't escape the fact that these people can only exist in the relatively easy capacity that they do because the empire they work for is brutally repressing and eliminating entire cultures.

but the thing is, this strategy actually works. the fandom is often so taken in by fun character interactions and shipping moments that you can often witness people literally look past, or even praise their acts of genocide. these characters are so charming with each other that you can look past how awfully they treat oppressed people. yay! the prevalence of merthur brings up too many idf pinkwashing parallels it's actually insufferable. i had hoped we left oppressor/oppressed person ships behind in the 2010s but guess it's still around

by the time he takes over as king, the "great, kind" arthur is essentially an IDF soldier who only realized that Killing Is Bad Actually when he's got crosshairs on a random kid. now Reformed (TM), he takes the brave stance that he should only kill the angry bad magic users who try to exact their revenge for the whole genocide thing on him, and the peaceful (more often than not, harmless) magic users should accept the merciful counterplan of ethnically cleansing themselves from the region, or continuing to live in refugee camps, but this time with less threat of massacre. in this show, the only acceptable answer to being genocided is to either lay down and die, hide forever, or displace yourself hoping the empire doesn't come and kill you anyway. fighting back, getting revenge, defending oneself, trying to change things: these are all reserved only for the genocidal state.

in other words, bbc merlin is the exact type of genocide obfuscation that most modern genocides engage in. the suffering of oppressed peoples, even innocents, is a footnote. when they suffer, sometimes it's presented as sad, and other times it's presented as deserved. meanwhile, the suffering of the oppressors, no matter how justifyable, is always landmark and deserves our full attention and sympathies, because the thing about the oppressors is that it's always their story.

(the last thing is a common fantasy problem, which is that when you create stories where different classes have actual, material, biological distinctions, it can end up justifying the oppression. in the real world, there is a very limited range of innate human abilities, and people from across the world are largely evenly matched. but in merlin, a sorcerer actually does pose an increased threat to those around them. in terms of allegory... kinda not the best thing to so without any real refutation to the idea that magic corrupts)

so yeah. that's why i don't fuck with this show even though it's enjoyable to watch.

[tiodolma]

Gaius and Merlin were the most powerful class traitors of magic who were complicit in the actions of their genocidal bigot bosses just because they believe in one big dumb prophecy.

Gaius taught Merlin to distrust other magic users, to not help them, to hide himself and just devote himself to the crown.

Tbf to merlin he was just 16-18 when all these just started. He was too young. He wasn’t ready. He was sent to the most dangerous place for people like him. He was impressionable. His heart was too good. He was too moldable.

He took “I will not fall into anger and rage like Morgana” too far to the point where he couldn’t even find his voice against Arthur who was still relentlessly chasing down and killing his people anymore. He put all his eggs into the biggest bigot in their universe because the magic world told him that the guy was the hottest sht. Merlin was so broken down, so brainwashed, so indoctrinated that he still continued to forgive even after years of getting dismissed, insulted, derided and abused and only shown rare bouts of kindness by his supposed best friend in the universe.

Arthur didn’t deserve any of that devotion. As king he still persecuted and treated magic folk like shit. He blamed them for their own oppression, never accepted his father’s actions as wrong, showed no remorse in arresting and killing their women and children (shut up he only made promises to a frkn ghost), refused to learn more about their ways despite having the biggest knowledge base in albion, continued to imprisoned them for existing, calling them the most disgusting slurs, using their magic techniques recklessly for himself and still called magic “evil” when they don’t work.....and then played victim when he got called out by the oppressed magic folk.

It’s such a shame that Merlin hoped and believed in his potential after everything. Merlin could never truly relate to magic folk after all. The only people left alive who truly loved him made sure of that. His mother raised him to fear and hide himself. His mentor taught him how to be the judge and be the arbiter of life and death not only over the kingdom but also the magic folk. He was overworked and pressured to the point that he had no free time for himself. He was supposed to be the strongest warlock but he only had enough time to receive education from the dude who hasnt practiced sorcery for 20 years when he should have beenseeking out other magic users and learning from them. His life was constantly dictated by the big magic institutions who never give him the tools to actually start their liberation, only empty promises.

Merlin’s sense of self died gradually throughout the span of the whole series every time he lost a loved one and every time Gaius/Kilgharrah/Hunith asked him to forget himself and serve the crown. The kid who wanted to be seen and recognized for his talent, kindness and potential turned into a biggest self-sacrificing royalist who truly believed that his life was valued lesser than a king.

It’s a monarchist story. It’s a divine right of kings story. It’s a fascist story. It’s an anti-radicalism story, it’s a defender-of-the-status-quo story.

It is NOT a story of acceptance, of positive change, of equality, of democracy.

I thought we learned from Diogenes for fuck’s sake.

[ramblingmerlin]

arthur is such an arse in 4x11 my boy merlin needs an apology

[merlinmeta]

Arthur had SO MUCH fucking potential and I'm STILL angry about it!!!!!!!

oof, tell me about it!! so many incredible moments for his character that made us all fall in love with who he was and who he could become, with the promise that he would right Uther’s wrongs and build a kingdom where Merlin and everyone like him could feel safe, and we didn’t get to see any of that potential realized...all of us, merlin and arthur himself included, really were robbed of something great.

[tiodolma]

s3 Arthur: everyone on this table is equal. no man is more important than other. Merlin: im on the table yay Everybody: pledges loyalty Arthur: merlin. Merlin: no thanks Arthur: u have no choice Merlin: aw ok Merlin: but remember I am on the table. ..... Arthur: You see these dirty boots? Go clean them. Merlin: so about that equality stuff. i was wondering- Arthur: LOL SIKE Merlin: the round table?? a few days ago?? Arthur: I CAN'T READ Merlin: quiet ouch ..... s4 Arthur: dont sacrifice urself ur just a servant, ur not a knight Merlin: (ahahahahaha dont i know that. i was booted off that table the moment we got back) Merlin: my life is lesser than yours lol .......... Lancelot: bruh he should've knighted you Merlin: *remembers how he was shot down with the equality talk* Merlin: nah im just his servant. Lancelot: quiet ouch Lancelot: I will protect you with my life ........ s5 Arthur: AW SHT YOU HAVE MAGIC Arthur: WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE A SERVANT Merlin: You kept me your servant. Arthur: it's my fault? Merlin: You are also my friend. So like i dont want u to die. Arthur: fine. .......... Arthur: *sees Merlin do cool magic stuff* Artuhr: I SHOULDVE RESPECTED YOU Arthur: I AM SO SORRY Merlin: well. okay. Arthur: WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME? Merlin: (reviews entirety of s1-s5) WHY INDEED Arthur: that is fair. i didnt know what i'd do tbh. Merlin: didnt want to put u in that position. Merlin: anyway. dont worry my life aint worth shit. Happy to serve you. Born to serve you. Arthur: *entire life flashes before his eyes* Arthur: (fck i didnt treat him well) Arthur: I want you to be always be you. Merlin: idk what that means but i cant lose you. Kilgharrah: lol sike.

[tiodolma]

I think a king who consistently dangles “equality” and “friendship” and “trust” over his manservant and then takes it all back whenever he pleases, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, is Not Worthy of Anything. At the core of it an abuser is an abuser is an abuser.

[tiodolma]

S1

Will - got killed when he took an arrow in arthur’s place. Will takes Merlin’s secret to the grave when he told arthur that he was the sorcerer instead of outting Merlin. Arthur gets mad at Merlin for consorting with a sorcerer and that magic is dangerous in front of Will’s funeral pyre. Hunith persuades Merlin that Arthur needs him more.

Hunith - temporarily die when Cup of Life chooses her as payment for Merlins bargain to save Arthur’s life. Is saved by Gaius.

Gaius - temporarily die when Gaius bargains his life for Hunith and Merlin. Merlin saves his life by killing Nimueh.

S2

Freya - got fatally stabbed by Arthur when she was in Bastet form. Arthur and knights had been trying to capture and destroy the bastet. Gaius actually told Uther about the bastet/freya and thus the alarm was sounded. Merlin grieves alone. Gaius tells him it is for the best.

Morgana - got poisoned by Merlin and he used her as bargain to save Camelot. Repeatedly encouraged by the dragon to kill the only magic friend he had aside from Gaius. Merlin feels remorse after what he had done. Gaius kept telling him it was the right thing. Merlin had to endure everyone's grief the following year in their desperate attempts to find Morgana and bring her back. Only Gaius knows what he did.

Balinor - died when he tried to protect Merlin from bandits. Merlin and Arthur had concvinced him to come out from hiding to save at least Gaius. Merlin keeps himself from weeping openly so as not to arouse Arthur’s suspicions. Arthur tells him “no man is worth your tears.”

S4

Lancelot - Steps into the veil between living and death in Merlin’s place. Merlin had been trying to sacrifice himself for Arthur who had been trying to sacrifice himself for Camelot. Merlin grieves.

S5

Alator - Morgana kills him for hiding who Emrys is. Merlim doesn’t know

Finna - kills herself with Merlin’s sword so that Morgana and Arthur’s forces wont be able to get anything from her (who emrys is). Merlin is rescued by Kilgharrah.

Daegal - a druid that died when he took a stray arrow that was meant to assasinate Arthur while Arthur was signing another anti-magic treaty. Merlin allowed to grieve this time

....bruh

2 of Merlin’s friends died when they took arrows meant for Arthur (Will and Daegal)

1 was killed by him personally in exchange for the kingdom (Morgana)

1 almost died when fate choose them instead of merlin as bargain to save Arthur’s life (Hunith)

1 literally died by Arthur’s hand (Freya)

3 willingly walked to their deaths to stop Merlin from sacrifiing/revealing himself (Gaius, Lancelot, Finna)

2 died while actively protecting Merlin (Balinor, Alator)

And Merlin was barely allowed to openly grieve for many of these. He had to hide showing his emotions coz it was dangerous to reveal his connections. He had been told right after their deaths that Arthur and Camelot were more important and that magic was inherently evil

Merlin is not alright.