#merlin rant

[andromaex]

unpopular Merlin opinions that would get me chased out of camelot with pitchforks:

some of yall only hate uther because the narrative tells you to while simultaneously stanning characters who inherited half his worldview

the fandom babies merlin so much that people forget he also lies, manipulates, enables violence, and makes catastrophic decisions constantly

“the ending was good actually because tragedy and true to arthurian myth yada yada bs” no it was rushed and underdeveloped. tragedy still needs payoff.

this fandom will write 40k essays about how tragic arthur is for having daddy issues and then call morgana irrational for developing murderous rage after years of abuse and isolation

arthur’s growth gets insanely overstated because the bar is literally underground next to the old religion

“camelot became better” DID IT??? DID IT REALLY??? WE GOT LIKE TWO EPISODES OF PROGRESS AND THEN EVERYONE DIED

the finale feels like the writers got put into a room with a countdown timer and a vague memory of arthurian legend

some of yall hate gwen for the crime of interrupting your yaoi headcanons and i NEED you to be serious for one second

merthur fandom sometimes acts like gwen personally broke into the writers room and forced the show to be heterosexual at swordpoint

the obsession with “fixing” characters into soft wholesome uwu versions of themselves removes literally all the tension that made them interesting in the first place

“arthur would’ve accepted merlin’s magic eventually” based on WHAT. VIBES??? HE ONLY FORGAVE MERLIN CUZ HE WAS DYING.

this fandom babies the male characters so hard you’d think camelot was a daycare

there are people in this fandom who care more about whether merlin and arthur kissed than about the actual themes of oppression, fear, loyalty, and corruption and honestly i respect the commitment to missing the point entirely

if morgana had been played by a less attractive actress half this fandom would’ve turned on her by season 2 and i stand by that

elyan deserved better but this fandom remembers him once every solar eclipse

gaius spent years enabling an insanely dangerous status quo and the fandom treats him like everyone’s wise grandpa instead of the court’s number one professional secret keeper

mordred was literally a child shaped by prophecy, fear, manipulation, and rejection and the fandom still talks about him like he personally logged into the writers room to ruin merthur

this fandom excuses every terrible thing arthur does because bradley james is good looking

the fandom acts like the knights were this inseparable legendary friend group meanwhile half their bonding happened offscreen in everyone’s imagination

“arthur was trying his best” his best was frequently terrible ❤️

this fandom has a bizarre tendency to interpret every woman’s anger as irrational while treating every man’s rage as heartbreaking and profound

people rewrite merlin into this innocent awkward little guy when canon merlin is fully capable of being passive aggressive, cruel, manipulative, reckless, and terrifyingly devoted

hunith is one of the only people in this entire show with functioning brain cells and nobody talks about her because she isn’t a sad wet man

Kara did not singlehandedly destroy the kingdom oh my GOD

Nimueh had more presence in one season than some characters had in the entire show

the druids as a whole feel less like an actual culture and more like the writers spawning mysterious forest children whenever merlin needed angst

the sidhe plotline genuinely feels like a collective hallucination

[splashstar01]

When you realize that Merlin literally got in the way of everything.

He had so many opportunities to have Uther killed. Each time, he intervened like an idiot.

Like the time Arthur was going to kill Uther, all Merlin had to do was not intervene. Morgause was actually trying to un-ban magic in the least chaotic way she thought possible: truth revealed, tyrant slain (rightfully so--he should pay for his wrongs).

If Merlin hadn't intervened (also taking away Arthur's only true moments with his mother and his agency), he wouldn't have had to kill Morgana or have Mordred kill Arthur.

And Arthur would've gotten over killing Uther, because he now knew the truth. He wouldn't have thought of it as killing his dad, but would have remembered it as killing his mother's killer and also killing the guy who had thousands unfairly slain. That would've been a horrible thing to learn about your dad, but tough. He would've gotten over it, because Arthur is strong.

Of course Merlin wouldn't think that though, because he actually expects the worst reactions from Arthur: he thinks Arthur would be destroyed at killing his mother's killer, he thinks Arthur would kill him for his magic..... Like, Merlin. How do you spend so much time with someone and not truly know them at all?

What a fucking joke with not just that moment, but so many others where he royally fucked up.

It's so frustrating watching how his softness ended up ruining his whole life. This is why he could never be one of my fav characters in that series. He's all good intentions, terrible execution.

[fairedenale]

Headcanon: the Triple Goddess is the real reason Merlin is bad at healing magic (has to actively try and try hard when everything else seems to be oh so natural). She won't let him. We all know if he had that capability, he'd be using it as liberally as he could. He would saved Arthur. Laws don't apply to him (Nimueh gave him the water so it was because of her powers the balance had to be restored; he didn't do that himself. If he was able I have no doubt no one would have died). The Triple Goddess can't have that though. It'd ruin the whole "Future King" part of Arthur's Destiny.

[chaoticvintagelesbian]

I have a few specific merlin rants/complaints/positive analyses

In the witchfinder episode, it's not really tackled that even if everyone he accused was guilty of magic, they wouldn't have deserved the death penalty. Like, he was just as evil & sinister a villain without the lying part. Especially given how actual irl witchfinders were just evil greedy men who killed women. Having the part about the lying is basically like the show saying see hes evil cause he falsely accuses, plants evidence & tortures out fake confessions and not the more accurate & interesting one for the story that he goes around & gets people executed for magic which is not an inherently evil trait.

They could dive a bit into the discrimination part & the historical elements - especially the criminalisation part & how queer people going to prison wasn't wrong because some falsely accused people were punished under that radar but that being queer isn't wrong & shouldn't be punishable. I personally tend to read Merlin's magic system as a trans/non binary allegory for a lot of the characters as well as queerness generally

It kinda ties into why I can't stand canon Gaius (Fanon is cool tho) because his entire backstory is that this guy was not just complicit but actively aided in a genocide of his own people. No amount of friendship or loyalty could convince anyone with even a shred of moral backbone to stay where Gaius did. If he had used his position in Uther's court to smuggle magic users out of Camelot, I'd find him a much more interesting character - even if he was someone morally grey who arbitrarily decided who to save & not to based on his own warped morality of who is a worthy magic user. But, noooooo, he was just a coward & medieval Hitler sympathiser. Common Gaius L honestly. Just started watching the Morgause episode & wtf gaius - a young child escapes execution & you betray that shit sooo quickly when push comes to shove.

I also genuinely think the Morgause's introduction episode is the best written episode in season 1, partially because Gaius & Uther are the VILLAINS of the episode, Arthur & Merlin are young adults trying to find their way in an awful bigoted society, Morgause isn't remotely evil just a bit socially awkward & trying to do the right thing. Its one of the only ones in the early episodes that actually tackles that it was Uther's selfishness is why so many were executed, magic was merely a neutral tool that many were killed for having, including children. The scene where Arthur confronts his father (& the previous scene where he meets his mother) is the best written scene in the entire season, for me possibly the whole show (Arthur's speech about Uther having committed a genocide against magical people while pinning his father to the throne which was the cause for all of this pain with a sword was amazing) (the best acting of the show). The horror from merlin realising he may have doomed his own people with a single lie is a very well written touch. (Also, the tragedy of him following Gaius down the worst of paths, Gaius's pride is a blood soaked thing, with him becoming an actively worse person). Also morgause never finds out Arthur was told it was all a lie so her anger & murderous rage is pretty justified to now include Arthur too.

I love Merlin & rewatch it regularly, but I always find parts that I have to pick apart. This show was both amazingly written & kind of awful at the same time (Merlin rewrite fanfiction is the best)(helps me further my merlance, mergwaine, merthur, morgwen, & platonic merleon agendas)

[yviyvi]

I've never liked someone who has a prettier male name than Merlin

Merlin. Merlin. Merlin. How pretty that sounds

[arctic-division]

the whole writing-merlin-as-submissive-and-helpless-baby really shows how much we as a culture will go out of our way to project our internalised heterosexist imaginary onto everything lmao the whole purpose of the man being alive is to protect. by himself. the whole episode structure depend on that fact. in fact, it works so well they were lazy and kept it for five f seasons!!!!!!! five seasons of merlin leaning towards darker and darker deeds only in the name of arthur's survival (not the other way round). so why in the hell am I seeing people go out of their way to portray merlin's personality as weak and defenseless . its just-

[nekomim1]

When I first watched Merlin, I was entirely convinced that Gwen would find out about Merlin's magic.

Throughout basically all of season 1 and even into season 2, I was just waiting for the moment when Gwen would inevitably either found out by accident, or Merlin would tell her. It genuinely shocked and disappointed me to realize that the show wasn't going in that direction.

Like, obviously I knew that the issue of Arthur himself finding out would be a much bigger point of contention (although i still think it shouldve happened way sooner but I digress). But like... it just seemed so obvious to me that thats what should happen, right? Merlin has two guiding figures who know about his magic and provide him with advice. Hes got that fucking lizard, who is this ancient being with all this knowledge about destinies and magic and shit. Then ofc Gaius, who acts as more of a parental figure, warning Merlin to be cautious and helping him out from time to time. But it seems so clear to me that something is missing from this picture.... that being SOMEONE MERLIN IS ON EQUAL STANDING WITH!

Like hes got the older, more wise guidance figures. But what about a friend?! What about someone who can validate his fresher, more naive perspective while also providing a unique perspective of their own?! Am I going crazy here?!!!! Istg it boggles my mind that they didnt give him SOMEONE to talk to other than those two old ass crusty ass men 😭 and it so clearly felt like it should be Gwen too. She was immediately set up as a compassionate figure and I found it hard to believe she would ever turn merlin in if she found out, and in their season one era they were the besties of all time. I miss it so bad.

God and then they finally gave him a friend who knew about his magic in Lancelot. But then THEY FUCKING GOT RID OF HIM?? EXILED HIS ASS???? LANCELOT WAS SERIOUSLY IN LIKE 4 EPISODES TOTAL AND IN ONE OF THEM IT WASNT EVEN REALLY HIM. FFS. Bbc writers you will get whats coming to you i swear it.

[kosmic-autokrat]

Merlin the cambion Merlin the son of a devil baptised at birth. Merlin who reflects on this and smiles and says 'Ah, this is why I don't feel, see?' but takes a little girl whose birth he caused and toys with her fate-knowing he must but warns her anyway even though he knows the result. But she has to know she has to be given a chance. But she regrets it in the end and he locks himself into the tower, trapping himself though he knew it was a trap. Go see beautiful things, he says. I have seen more than enough. His heart hurts. He wants a happy ending for her. If so, then--

But it's impossible and he mourns that but the impossible is sometimes possible and so she is saved, and he shouts for joy. Only the sinless may pass, and the sinful do so knowing sin exists. The sinful are human.

He passed into that prison knowing his sin, laughing because it hurt, and guiltily imprisoning himself in what was meant to be a punishment 'as though that was the fate of a man who meddled with the fate of a single girl'--

And man he is! Mortal and human and cambion. He feels. He does! And when he witnesses another dream, someone else who makes themselves inhuman and sets themselves up high so they can save all--

Not again.

But what can an observer do but support from the sidelines? Having meddled in one's fate already, he does what he does best. Little things to push everyone along to a happy ending.

Everyone.

(I am not a person, not human, remember that.)