Ok. I know nothing about Arthur and his legend, so I have a question. May it be possible that Merlin's prophecy predicted that a dark haired man with blue eyes would be the one to get the sword out of the stone, and so it could explain why OUAT cast someone who looked like Colin to play Arthur? Because both would fit the description? And that would explain why Killian is the one with his name on Excalibur? Idk...
OUAT canon looks to have put an interesting spin on the Sword in the Stone prophecy. Merlin speaks to Arthur and tells him he will be King of Camelot. THAT’S IT. Kay comes along and says Arthur thinks he is the ORPHAN king. That makes me wonder if there is a story of an orphan king that is the rightful heir to Camelot.
Now, there is SO MUCH legend behind Arthur and Excalibur that I still use a cheat sheet. There is some legend that says Merlin put a sword in a stone to show the people of Camelot that Arthur would be a strong king and the true king of Logres (Britain). This was ONLY because the knight of Uther would not put their faith in a 16 yr old boy. That sword IS NOT Excalibur. Excalibur was given to Arthur by the FIRST Lady of Lake when Merlin took him to her. This isn’t even until later that this legend came because one legend says it was a gift from Avalon. The original sword in the stone broke during a fight with Pellinor. Arthur was given Excalibur as a gift and he was to RETURN the sword to the Lady of the Lake when time came. It does go back to the lake at the time of Arthur’s death.
I know this a lot of legend in 2 minutes but like the Sword in the Stone was not the true Excalibur who is to say that Arthur is the King to reunite the broken kingdom. He is just a king of Camelot. Excalibur (Sword in the Stone) is said to only be for the man that is the true king either as an heir or appointed king.
In legend Merlin knows Arthur will be a great king because of a prophecy he made. He foretold that a king would be born of a dragon, Uther Pendragon, and would bring a renaissance to the kingdom. This was true throughout legend.
Let’s piece this all together. Arthur did as his prophecy foretold. He pulled the sword from the stone and became king. Nowhere did it say in his prophecy that he was meant to unite the sword or Camelot. Kay mention an orphan king so I am presuming that the orphan king is the one that is meant to unite Camelot. Arthur think it is him because in OUAT canon legend he has no parents. Could this apply to Killian? Yes. It could apply to him in the sense that he is HEIR of the Orphan King. We are automatically assuming that HE IS the orphan king, it could be true but we need to look at an alternative meaning. In the legend of The Sword in the Stone, the sword is pulled by the appointed king or heir. Heir is a very important word here. It doesn’t have to mean son of a father but of blood relation further from the original person.
One of the thing I find so interesting is we have a BROKEN sword and a BROKEN Camelot. We know there is another piece to Excalibur, the dagger but is there another piece to Camelot. Camelot can be broken in terms of no King to rule the people or there is actually a piece missing of the land that can only return when the sword is whole and by the one that is meant to reforge it.The idea of of these two pieces, especially after seeing Excalibur whole makes me think of two opposites that go hand in hand. Light and Dark, Good and Evil, Heaven and Hell, Camelot and Avalon, Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke. With Killian being the one who’s name on Excalibur, alongside, Emma’s on the dagger, it would appear that he is the one meant to reunite and wield Excalibur. Like I said before this doesn’t mean he is the Orphan King or even King of Camelot. Just that he plays a HUGE role in what it all means and possible the HEIR. Killian knows about the darkness and the only way to understand true power and light is to have fought the darkness within.
I mentioned Storybrooke and the Enchanted Forest before because of the idea of the Broken Kingdom. Arthur wanted to build a new Camelot in Storybrooke, just like Pan wanted to make it a New Neverland and Ingrid her own person Winter Wonderland with Emma and Elsa. Storybrooke seems to be the perfect other half. Storybrooke is just a broken extension of the Enchanted Forest in the Land without Magic. Maybe Killian is just part of a piece that is meant to help Emma unite both the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke so that can coexist and not disappear when they go back to the Enchanted Forest. It is possible that Killian is the instrument that will guide Emma into creating a kingdom and realm bigger and better. The one thing Arthur wanted to do with the support of Guinevere but couldn’t.
I think they may have picked an actor for Arthur who looked like Killian to show they are just instruments to a bigger plan. Arthur was meant to pull the sword from the stone while Killian is meant to wield it and possibly reforge it.
