#dark merlin

[mandoriana]

Agravaine: The prince wants to be alone.

Merlin: Unfortunately for him, I’m not a genie in a lamp and I don’t grant wishes. Now, tell me where he is, or I’ll start a massive slaughter in this damn castle.

Agravaine: You’re threatening the king’s people?

Merlin: I’m threatening the entire world. If Arthur isn’t whole when I find him, I’ll destroy this entire planet. Now tell me where the king is, or I’ll start carrying out my threats.

[andromaex]

merlin does not possess moral integrity, and the insistence on reading him as an uncomplicatedly “good” character requires a selective engagement with the text that the narrative itself does not support. what he has, instead, is an increasingly rigid teleology: a belief that arthur’s survival and ascension justify almost any action.

when confronted with multiple opportunities to allow uther to die—or to actively facilitate that outcome—merlin consistently intervenes to preserve him. this cannot be dismissed as mere aversion to killing. merlin does not simply refrain; he acts, repeatedly, to save a man engaged in the systematic persecution and execution of magic users. notably, the prophetic framework does not clearly prohibit uther’s early death. on the contrary, figures such as Kilgarrah explicitly advocate for it. merlin’s refusal, therefore, is not obedience to destiny but a choice to maintain a political order that is actively harmful to his own people.

the prophecy itself is articulated as a shared destiny: arthur and merlin, together, are meant to restore magic to albion. yet merlin systematically reconfigures this partnership into a unilateral arc in which arthur appears as the sole agent of restoration. this is not simply the byproduct of fear, though fear is certainly operative. it is also an exercise in control. by withholding his identity and suppressing his role, merlin ensures that the burden of revelation—and the attendant risks—never materialize. in doing so, he fundamentally alters the structure of the prophecy, converting a reciprocal relationship into a hierarchical one in which he operates invisibly, orchestrating outcomes without accountability.

his treatment of other magic users further complicates any claim to moral consistency. merlin does not merely defend camelot against clear antagonists; he adopts a preemptive logic in which potential or hypothetical threats to arthur justify intervention. this frequently manifests as sabotage, manipulation, or lethal force directed at individuals whose primary “crime” is existing outside the narrow parameters merlin deems safe. the ethical framework here is stark: the value of a life is contingent upon its relationship to arthur’s well-being. in effect, merlin reproduces the exclusionary logic of uther’s regime, albeit in a more selective and individualized form.

this logic extends into the curation of arthur’s public and private identity. merlin repeatedly interferes in contests, conflicts, and political situations to secure favorable outcomes for arthur, thereby constructing the image of an infallible and divinely favored king. these interventions are not neutral acts of assistance; they shape the narrative through which arthur is perceived, both by others and by himself. consequently, arthur’s legitimacy becomes, in part, an artifact of merlin’s unseen labor. merlin is not merely supporting the future king; he is actively producing the conditions under which that kingship appears natural and deserved.

deception is central to this process. merlin’s secrecy exceeds what is necessary for survival and becomes structural, governing his relationships with virtually every significant figure in his life. by monopolizing knowledge of the prophecy, of magic, and of the true stakes of various conflicts, he positions himself as the sole arbiter of action. others are denied the capacity to make informed decisions, including arthur, whose ignorance is both protected and enforced. this asymmetry of knowledge consolidates merlin’s power, even as it isolates him, and ensures that alternative courses of action are never meaningfully considered.

over time, there is a discernible shift in merlin’s ethical sensibility. early hesitation gives way to increasing decisiveness; moral conflict is not resolved so much as it is bypassed. actions that once required justification become routine. this is not character development in the sense of moral growth, but rather a narrowing of perspective. the horizon of acceptable action contracts until it aligns almost perfectly with arthur’s preservation. the question is no longer whether something is right, but whether it is necessary.

in tandem with this, merlin effectively limits arthur’s agency by controlling the information available to him. the possibility that arthur, if fully informed, might make different or more just decisions is consistently foreclosed. merlin’s silence is not passive; it is an active constraint on arthur’s moral and political development. by denying him the truth, merlin ensures compliance with a future that arthur himself has not freely chosen, thereby undermining the very ideal of a just and enlightened ruler.

finally, it is significant that merlin’s actions rarely coalesce into a broader effort to challenge systemic injustice. despite his power and proximity to the throne, he does not organize, advocate, or build alliances on behalf of magic users as a collective. his interventions remain episodic and selective, oriented toward immediate threats rather than structural change. the liberation of magic is deferred to a future moment that never fully arrives, perpetually subordinated to the more urgent task of safeguarding arthur.

what emerges, then, is not a figure lacking in feeling or conviction, but one whose convictions have been entirely subsumed by a single objective. merlin’s tragedy lies not in moral failure alone, but in the extent to which that failure is rationalized, systematized, and sustained. he does not abandon ethics; he replaces them with a calculus in which the ends are fixed and the means are infinitely adjustable.

[indulgeininterests]

I need more serial killer Merlin fics.

Arthur: "Merlin? The killer? He's more likely to kill himself tripping over his own feet than he is to kill a fly."

Knight: "I'm serious, sire, I saw--"

Arthur: "I'm sure you thought you saw something, but Merlin has been by my side for years. He'd cry if he stepped on a butterfly. He's not built for such gruesome things."

*cut to Merlin hacking someone away*

[merlinmylove]

What if Arthur witnessed Merlin in his element?

Hiding behind a pillar, Arthur sees him stand off with a would he assailant.

Merlin, in his usual servant rags, dirty knees and sweaty fringe, is commanding the person to leave Camelot at once, or else die at his hands.

The man laughs, and Arthur fears for Merlin’s life. He’s about to enter the room to help him when a shouting match begins, and before he can comprehend what had happened, Merlin has snapped the man’s neck with a swift flick of his wrist.

Merlin didn’t even blink, let alone utter a spell, but his eyes glowed like fire in the night.

The man lies dead on the floor, as Merlin leans over him and whispers dangerously into the dead man’s ear “no one harms my king”

Merlin flees the scene, but not before expertly creating the illusion of an accident. The poor man must’ve fallen of a ladder, certainly it could not be murder.

Arthur is too stunned to speak. He stays still, hiding, while tears burn in his eyes, chest heaving.

Merlin. A murderer. Merlin. A sorcerer.

Merlin. The most loyal man he’s ever known.

Arthur runs.

[safety-data-sheet]

“Oh! Well if you have a problem with the court sorcerer I’m sure you can just bring it up to The King.”

“…”

[novivi]

You put your love inside the metal

You build the metal for your house

You bleed the night without a sound

[the-king-and-the-druidess]

Morgana is never alone, even here deep in the dark forest. Even in this poor secluded hovel, she cannot escape from Emrys. He plagues her mind. The unseen enemy knows everything, even her hidden thoughts; he foresees every step she takes. Her hands shake when Morgana inscribes protective runes on the doorstep and nearby trees, over and over again, but she begins to lose faith in her own magic; for how spells can help against the one who walks in your nightmares?..

[raraenn]

i miss merthur, and now im just thinking of how arthur still isn't back and merlin is waiting by the lake, wasting away, holding on for someone that seems to be never coming back. i think sometimes on how desperate merlin would've become over the years of waiting. will he, like us, think that with so few left of albion, there's limited reasons/persons to be in greatest need. and there's lots of fics that make it that merlin is really the only thing left of albion, and its when his need is greatest that arthur comes back. but what if, in merlin's desperation, and consequent realization of this same scenario happening, he just starts killing of all the people and creatures and about just every remnants of albion over the years so it will only, truly be him that can be considered albion, and thus it will be up to him, it will be due to him, that arthur rises again. with all the years of waiting weighing down on him, and desperation and loneliness clouding his mind, and let's all be honest, his already dubious morality, its not out of question for him to just snap and go on a murder spree that eventually leads to a genocide. i dont think he will stop even if it's brought up that the albion he's destroying is the one arthur loved and died protecting the idea and the start of it. he won't care about that, bcs maybe for arthur it was his kingdom that he was fighting for, but for merlin, it was for arthur, not the once and future king, not this golden age of albion, but arthur.