the finale of bbc's merlin feels very romantic to me. it feels like a confession.
arthur finally finds out who merlin really is — that he's a sorcerer, has magic, has been aiding arthur the whole time without his knowing. and it's not that arthur feels betrayed because of the very fact merlin has magic, on the surface that's what his initial reaction is. the pushing away of something he had known as evil most of his life.
but arthur felt hurt and betrayed because of the fact that merlin never told him. because somehow arthur had never been able to tell. 'you are not a sorcerer, i would know' that was what devastated him the most. that merlin was able to hide it from him so well. that arthur hadn't been able to see it.
arthur thought he knew merlin best. in his eyes, merlin was the closest person to him, and he to merlin. there was nothing, no secrets, between them. he couldn't hide anything from merlin even if he wanted to because he always knew anyway. and arthur thought he had merlin just as figured out. it wasn't that he only found out merlin had magic, or that merlin kept it from him — it was him realising he had missed a very vital, important part of his closest friend.
what hurt arthur was what he saw as his own lack of real care, lack of paying attention enough to see it. he says it himself 'i'm sorry about how i treated you'. he spent years telling merlin how awful magic was while his closest friend saved him everyday with it. and he didn't even notice.
but that's the thing. arthur may have not noticed all that merlin truly did for him — but he loved, cherished, and deeply cared for merlin anyway. risked his life multiple times for him.
in the end, arthur cared for merlin just as much as merlin did for arthur, without even knowing it was merlin's destiny to save him. he always cared for merlin just as he was, whether he knew him fully or not.
— 'i don't want you to change. i want you to always be you.'
