“it’s lonely […] to live like a shadow.”

merlin sideblog! you might recognize buffspeak as my general fandom sideblog, but i follow from @starlightswait. runs on a queue. sorta. sometimes. it’s complicated.

[arthemrys]

GUINEVERE

Merlin 4x06 | A Servant of Two Masters

[kara-luthors]

Morgana Pendragon wearing red

[gwainegender]

Do you ever think about the fact that Lancelot's lifelong dreams of being a knight were shattered not only upon finding that the king he was hoping to serve won't accept him due to the circumstances of his birth but also when he realised the reality of what being a knight means when he finds out about merlin's magic and it clicks that a 'true' knight would be expected to kill his friend.

And he then refuses Arthur's offer to help convince Uther to knight him and instead throws himself into a fighting ring that entertains a cruel master and repeatedly needlessly tries to sacrifice himself the next time we see him.

[gwainegender]

#well NOW I am#I just dont think he cares about much when we meet him in s2#the one thing thats kept him going through everything that happened to him with his family#was coming to Camelot and making it as a knight#then not only is that taken away#worse its broken#like he says in s3 to merlin youre the one that should be knighted [ie not me. I dont need it anymore.#but you deserve recognition merlin]#the idea of being a knight is done for him#but its ok he gets something new to live for doesnt he :)) merls and gwen and Arthur and his new brothers :)))  (via @sirwilliamofdeira) 

THIS this this this this this and also, if I may be permitted to ramble on about this, he came back to Camelot NOT because he changed his mind and wanted to be a knight after all but because Merlin asked him to! because his friends were in danger and he always puts others above himself! And the knighting thing wasn’t expected it just sort of happened in between arriving and fighting an undead army and there wasn’t really time to make a thing out of it so he sort of just accepted it but I think by the time he was (re)instated as a official knight he must have felt like such an imposter being called ‘the noblest’ of Camelot’s knights for what he believes are all the wrong reasons... like he’s in the Prince of Camelot’s inner circle and instead of being happy he’s just constantly aware of how different it feels to how he dreamed it to all those years ago and how bitter it is that he landed his dream after he no longer wanted it!!!! Like the difference and the similarities to his first knighting when he technically was an imposter posing as some noble but (at least until he was found out) he was happy, compared to his second knighting where he was recognised as himself but secretly didn’t want to be... Anyway, truly his friends were the only thing keeping this man going in Camelot s2 onwards and they didn’t even know it. 

[sirwilliamofdeira]

TRULY even when he's finally knighted for real, everyone else looks forward towards Arthur and where is Lancelot looking? at all of them....

[unfortunatelymerlin]

a recurring and central theme we see in bbc merlin is the exploration of being dissuaded or kept from one's nature.

merlin is naturally a kind character, with a backbone enough to abide by his own moral code rather than the law (ie. what he is told to do) when necessary. throughout the show, however, we see him constantly battling against — and being persuaded away from — his natural disposition and instincts in order to fulfil the prophecy, and at almost every turn, it is this that leads to his failures.

morgana, in much the same way, starts the series an exceptionally compassionate person whose nature becomes twisted and cruel due to her own pressures and fear, not least including the smothering of her powers

arthur's temperament is one he is constantly battling against, often to appease his father or the pressures of the crown. in particular, he struggles against his natural sense of fairness with regards to magic; time and time again something happens to seemingly push him from this path, which ofc also helps lead him to his death

frequently, plot lines involve people having some part of their fundamental selves changed via force in some way; lancelot's nobility when he is a shade, gwen and merlin's love for arthur when they are enchanted to harm him, the knight's code to protect with the lamia, others being forced to give up information due to threats or torture etc,

and this, of course, ultimately all echoes the way in which the natural order of things is being disrupted by the destruction of magic. magic citizens in camelot have to turn away from their very nature in order to survive, and in turn, their persecution has twisted some of them in ways they never would have been otherwise

[unfortunatelymerlin]

[arthemrys]

MORGANA

Merlin 4x12 | The Sword in the Stone

[thebookluvrr1816]

5x12 // 5x13

[gvaine]

MERLIN 5.11 ⋄ The Drawing of the Dark

[tomorrowillbeyou]

down with found family. UP with FOUND DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tomorrowillbeyou]

getting many questions about FOUND DIVORCE. FOUND DIVORCE is when TWO PEOPLE who were NOT EVEN MARRIED are already DIVORCED. thank you.

[strangeandrandompolls]

Least favourite Merlin character

Uther

Mordred

Morgana

Agravaine

Morgause

Nimueh

Cenred

Kilgharrah

Gaius

Voting ended onOct 3, 2024

Other poll Who is your favourite Merlin character?

[sneakyboymerlin]

Merlin is kind of like a dog to Arthur. I mean this in all of the good and all of the bad ways.

[mergwens]

[thesorcerersshadow]

just leaving this here for Reasons

[nicolasnelson]

ARWEN FEST day six: angst

arwen + freylin parallels

[nimuedulac-deactivated20141219]

1.05 || 4.02

[thesorcerersshadow]

ughh the way he turns back to look at the guards. i’m so curious about whether that was in the script or if that was direction or a Bradley James choice. i think you could interpret it multiple ways, but i tend to read it as him dithering/thinking about letting her go… and i think he even might have, if the guards hadn’t been there to witness it. both because he cares for morgana and because he was already ambivalent about mordred’s execution. which is NOT to say it wasn’t still wrong and a betrayal to morgana (it absolutely was), but it’s suchhhh and interesting little detail.

[thesorcerersshadow]

morgwenlin sweep

[thesorcerersshadow]

this ep is for mergana what the mark of nimueh is for mergwen <333

[thesorcerersshadow]

“i’m good with secret doors and things” JSJSHSHSHHS