Like every sane person I hate every part of the Merlin finale,and yes Arthur's death is the worst of the bad. But it wasn't the fact that he 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 that pissed me off. No no no .
It was the fact that he got the easy way out.
For reference, Arthur is a character whose entire arc is rooted in his potential for growth. Arthur at the beginning,to be frank, fucking sucks. Our introduction is to him using his servant as target practice and then he legit tries to kill Merlin in the middle of the square for insulting him. He's an asshole. Not an irredeemable one,but an asshole nonetheless. The whole point is not about what Arthur 𝘪𝘴. It's about what he 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦. Arthur isn't someone who is this great king of prophecy when we meet him, isn't someone worthy of uniting Albion and bringing peace to the land,but with Merlin's protection—he will one day -allegedly- become that man. Fullfill the prophecy and become a king that makes the world a better place.
Arthur is a dick all the time Except for when he isn't. Moments where his true potential shines through.And...I can't believe I'm saying this,but as much as I rightfully shit on him...I don't hate Arthur. Because as Lana del ray once said "when you're good, it's 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙"
Underneath all the assholery,you can see the seeds of something 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. See why Destiny looked at this man and decided that he was going to fix it. The show asks you,asks 𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯 ,to believe that these seeds will bear fruit. That this will all be worth it one day when magic is free. And that's why I stayed. Merlin swallows every indignity handed to him and puts up with all of Arthur's bullshit,and I kept watching even though I wanted to reach through the screen and bash his head in at least once an episode, because we both believed that Arthur could make it to that finish line.
Imagine the surprise and sheer disappointment when he 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 .
Another thing you need to know about Arthur Pendragon is that he's someone that avoids discomfort.
Hear me out, whenever Arthur is confronted with something that challenges his -very wrong- world view, specifically in regards to his belief that magic and sorcerers are evil. He has this moment where he's in pain and is guilty about it...and then he proceeds to 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 on said world view and pretend that it never happened.
Instead of confronting the painful truth that he is just 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨,that his father was wrong,he retreats in what is comfortable(aka the idea that magic corrupts even though deep down he knows better) and hurts 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 doing so.
He holds into a world view that's been cracked from the beginning and keeps the pieces together uncaring who they make bleed.
Like when Will not only saves Arthur's life and dies doing so,but also saves the whole of ealdor and "reveals" that he's a sorcerer and Arthur decides to rag Merlin for not telling him and going "sorcerers are dangerous" Infront of 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭'𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦. He couldn't even wait until the funeral is over to bash the guy who just died saving his life and the entire community Arthur almost led to a slaughter to his grieving best friend's face. I wasn't exaggerating when I said he sucked ass alright.
Or when he meets ygraine's ghost,learns the truth about what happened to her,comes to the correct conclusion that Uther commited a genocide for his own mistakes,then proceeds to drop it even though Uther never actually 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 his role in ygraine's death,he dodges the question. Even though this one act doesn't actually justify slaughtering an entire kind. But the idea that Uther actually killed ygraine,the idea that Uther is terrible is too painful for Arthur so he drops it. Takes the easy explanation.
Or when he doesn't believe that agravaine is a traitor, proceeding to declare gaius-who had been loyal to him all his life - a traitor, threatens to banish Merlin despite his loyalty and refuses to hear him out regarding this whole situation. And then never thinks about it again post ep 10 even though by then agravaine being the traitor is the only logical conclusion to draw. Because the idea of his last remaining family member betraying him is just too painful for Arthur,so he irrovacably hurts two of the people that are actually loyal to him and have never given him a reason to doubt them.
It's why he forces Kara to either apologise for defending herself and her people or die for trying to fix Arthur's mistakes instead of just acknowledging that she's right.
And you're telling me after ALL THAT,he gets to just say a measly thank you to the best friend he's treated like garbage for years and then peace out? NO. That's not fair. That's not 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩.
Merlin deserved better than that. Morgana and Mordred deserved better than that. Kara deserved better than that. The ghost of the druid boy deserved better than that. The entire magical community deserved better than that.
They deserved 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦. They deserved 𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. They deserved 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. They deserved for Arthur to man up and become the king the show 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 us he would be.
That's what I mean by Arthur getting the easy way out. He never has to actually put in the work. He never to acknowledge that he had opressed a group of his people. He never has to actually make an effort to atone for his actions and right his wrongs.
As another post on here mentioned, Arthur should have 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥 . Crawled through the mud of his corrupt world view and bigotry. Crawled to make it up to Merlin. Crawled to reach Mordred. Crawled through coming to terms with the fact that Uther wasn't just a 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘦𝘥 person,he was a literal monster. Crawled to look at the unforgivable (the thousands of crimes Camelot has committed upon the magical community) and try his damnest to make amends for it 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺. Crawled to build Kara a marked grave and then kneel before it begging for forgiveness. Crawled to confront his own role in Morgana's alienation. Crawled to become the great king he was supposed to be.
Because that's the thing, Arthur could have gotten there!! I think he 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 have gotten there-if not for his own sake then for everyone else's!! I wouldnt have kept watching if I didn't genuinely believe that Arthur could make it.I think he would have made it had the writers not decided to abandon whatever story they've been telling for 63 episodes in favour of a last minute tragic ending.
Okay let's talk about the elephant in the room. Arthur's dip in character development in season 4 and 5.
The best way I could describe how I felt about this is" disappointed but not surprised" this is the one time that Arthur has a character regression that isn't bad writing.
Because it makes sense. It makes perfect sense for me to have Arthur fall into the pit of his father's hypocrisy. To fall into "what would my father do?" After becoming king. To put Uther on this insane pedestal because confronting a loved one's faults is much harder when they're dead.
So yeah I fully expected Arthur to fall into the hole of uther's hypocrisy,.... HOWEVER,𝗜 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗯 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁.
That was the point. That was the 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 between Uther and Arthur. That Arthur exhibited a capacity for growth,for change that Uther never did.
Arthur was in the darkest part of a dark tunnel,but there was STILL light at the end of that tunnel!!! There was!! And Arthur could have made it!! Would have made it had they not decided to make the ground fall out from beneath him. the darkest hour before dawn!! WHERE THE FUCK WAS DAWN? Why would I have made it past season 1? Why would I have gotten this invested if I truly thought there was no hope for him? But I did. I did have hope. I had hoped he would make it out of the mud of his blind bigotry.
Arthur dies before his redemption arc could even begin and the show tries to gaslight you into thinking he never needed one to begin with.
And then he just never does. Arthur dies a mildly toned down version of Uther. Far from a good,let alone great king he was supposed to be.
Kilgarrah at the end says that all Merlin had built had come to pass. Bitch where??
Arthur's reign is a whopping 3 to 4 years long. In which he accomplishes NOTHING. Much less the one thing actually prohecised for him. He doesn't change the status quo. He doesn't start treating commoners who remain commoners instead of getting promoted better. He doesn't bring Albion together. He doesn't free magic.
The show deadass drops both of its major plotlines at the end. Because Arthur was 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 of uniting Albion. Seasons 4 and 5 were dedicated to that. When he forms an alliance with annis. When he saves mithian's father. When he makes peace with Carleon. Albion was happening!! And magic was returning. Kara was supposed to be the catalyst. The first time the show actually has Arthur execute a magic user. Really confronts the idea of where Merlin helping his people by protecting Arthur so can fullfil the prophecy overlaps to where he's actually hurting them by doing so.that was another focal point in season 5.it asks the question of "How can Merlin justify what he's doing in the name of accomplishing his destiny if it's actually hurting the people that he's trying to help?"This was it!! The last straw. Mordred and Kara and Merlin. What it would take to get Arthur on that path.
....And it ends. just like that. Utterly anticlimactic.The kingdoms apparently vanish into thin air never to be seen again. Mordred is just cartoonishly evil now and then taken out like trash. And Arthur never gets around to seeing sorcerers as people. Magic users never get their freedom on screen.
How the fuck do you create a character whose ENTIRE purpose is growth and then NOT. HAVE. HIM. GROW?? how do you spin your entire narrative around these two things happening (a united Albion, freedom of magic) and then not have them happen?
That's just not good writing. It isn't. We don't hear a peep of the show's two main plotlines in the fucking finale. They never get a resolution on screen.
The prophecy was fulfilled my ass. The only thing that actually came true was Mordred killing Arthur? All the other important bits? Yeah they don't matter.
Ironic isn't it? That Arthur gets a decade where he doesn't accomplish much and all he needed at the end was still more time.
I am aware this puts me in the minority,but I would have been fine with Arthur dying at the end of story had it happened 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 he'd reached his character arc. After he'd completed his development and moved to right his wrongs.
Then his death would have actually had the impact it was meant to and I wouldn't be rolling my eyes at lines like"there will never be another like him" bitch yes there will be and better because he fucking sucked!!
As it stands,all I'm mourning is the amount of sacrifices Merlin (and other characters I care about)made and time wasted for a man who never grew to be worthy of any of it
