Merlin and women (or, maybe just Mergwen and Freylin)
So my postabout how Merlin isn’t your typical male protagonist seems to be doing quite well, lol. I thought to maybe expand it a little, since I already touched a bit on Merlin’s relationship with Freya.
Let’s look at Merlin’s relationships with women, whether romantic, almost-romantic, or purely platonic.
Merlin and Gwen
Merlin and Gwen’s relationship is absolutely fascinating. At first, just your typical teenager-y misplaced crush on Gwen’s side; then supportive friendship.
At first, the show seems to suggest that maybe Merlin could reciprocate Gwen’s feelings (as obviously s1 ships everyone with everyone lol) - but it goes about it in an… interesting way.
I already established that Merlin doesn’t fit your typical “male protagonist in an adventure story” trope. But he doesn’t fit the “rom-com male love interest” trope either.
He doesn’t give Gwen flowers. Gwen gives himflowers.
He literally looks like a blushing maiden help
He doesn’t make Big Romantic Gestures. Instead, he performs an act of love in secret. (then, granted, he tries to sacrifice himself for Gwen, but this is never discussed between the two of them as a romantic gesture)
When Merlin and Gwen’s relationship firmly moves from the crush territory, Merlin becomes The Supportive Bestie. He tells Gwen she looks gorgeous, he organizes her dates with Arthur.
In rom-coms, that role usually falls to female characters. Or to “gay best friends”.
Merlin and Freya
I already covered it here, but let’s just reiterate - Merlin makes many romantic gestures in that episode, but instead of fighting for a girl,he de-escalates a violent situation and manages to calm Freya down in her bastet form.
One thing I’d like to add - sometimes, in rom-coms, you have this stereotype of a guy who wants what’s best for a woman, but y'know, he’s a man, so he can’t possiblyknow what dress she’d like, or what type of product to buy. Cause he’s a guy, hehe.
Well, Merlin knows exactly what to gift Freya.
It’s just -as much as I love Merthur,and all other Merlin gay ships, soft masculine Merlin with women is just - *the absolute best*
[ID: Sketch of Merlin and Gwen in dark red on pale red background, both wearing modern clothes. Merlin has long hair and a beard, and Gwen is poking his beard with one finger, her other hand on his shoulder, while Merlin retaliates by poking her nose. End ID]
-
Someone (thank you!!!) mentioned Merlin’s lock-down beard in tags from a previous sketch, so here is Gwen and Merlin meeting after lock-down for the first time and Gwen’s reaction to his beard.
I like to think all of Camelot thought Merlin was just the biggest flirt and that everyone was involved with him at some point because like most of them probably thought he had a thing for either Gwen or Morgana at some point, he managed to get Gwaine and Lancelot into his room and is very close with both, the rest of the knights are also very close to him and Arthur let’s him get away with saying anything to him and is protective of him at times.
All of the kingdom think Merlin has the best dating experience of them all and when Arthur finds out about his supposed ‘experience’ from one of his people he’s astounded.
for mi amor. @its-hyperfixation i am sorry i am late with an end of semester gift, but i hope this (very-rare-for-my-brand) wholesome gifset from me makes up for it. maybe we are also connected by our souls, or just a piece of twine…either way, please know i love you to the moon and back and im so, so proud of you. xx
Very nice of the writers to have Arthur throw a jousting tournament for Gwen as an engagement present considering how a jousting tourment was the key factor in why they had had their first kiss.
If you’ve ever watched BBC Merlin and if you’ve also ever studied Macbeth, you will know that prophecies can’t be trusted in the slightest because they seem so beneficial for our protagonists at first at but the further you get along with the story, it turns out shit for them with a lot of blood and death.
oh wow,,, i just realised Mordred stabbed Arthur in his side for a reason… He could’ve easily killed Arthur straight away right then and there in that moment at Camlann yet he stabbed him in side where it wouldn’t kill him instantly. I was just thinking, Mordred had been training as a knight under Arthur I’d be surprised if he didn’t know how to kill someone instantly. And then it hit me that that’s what he wanted, he wanted Arthur to suffer like he had suffered before he died. He could’ve also known that not killing Arthur instantly would awake hope in Merlin that he could maybe save him only knowing that it would inevitably be crushed- I’m assuming Merlin most likely used his magic to keep Arthur alive longer than he should’ve been here. It also adds weight to the smile after Arthur had stabbed him back. Which I may I mentioned was a fatal stab meaning Arthur most likely had no desire to see Mordred suffer before he died because he still felt that profound fondness for a boy who he would’ve thought of like his son.
Elyan literally canonically said that Gwen raised him,,, oh yeah and then the writers killed him off and Gwen was left with no family because there was apparently some reason to do that. I’m not convinced.
Look-
Gwen most likely had to grow up really quickly for reasons we never found (thank you BBC) and take care of Elyan which makes me think what the hell was Tom doing at the time and was their mother anywhere to be seen-?
My god couldn’t the BBC just given us a little more than a smudge i want to know their backstory.
thinking about how maybe gwen immediately went *adopt him* when she saw merlin with his zero preservation skills but obvious good heart, because he reminded gwen of elyan.
her dear brother with his soft but reckless heart… she couldn’t convince him to stay, but she sure would try her best to make merlin feel at home here
Gwen didn’t have kids with Arthur because then she would’ve been a cottagecore mega milf and we could not have handled the sheer power from her as that.
