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*
i just finished “sins of the father” and like. every time that episode rips my fucking heart out, every single time, no matter what, but this time
what got me is that, during the sword fight, there are at least two separate instances where uther actually lunges instead of parrying.
uther states he does not wish to fight his son. of course, when arthur attacks, he defends his own life– that is instinct. but uther is, arguably, as good a swordsman as arthur– he is also the king, and knows leon was just outside the doors. within those two parameters, he had every opportunity to either defend himself until arthur’s anger subsided or until he could subdue arthur by other means.
like i said, though. there are two separate instances (possibly more) where uther actively goes to strike his son.
i am not in the headspace right now to rewatch, so i don’t know for certain if they were attacks meant to disarm, but i am fairly sure they were not. if i remember correctly, one of them was a true attack swing. they are not highlighted, they’re super quick, but they’re there.
which brings me to the knowledge– the not surprising knowledge– that uther would have, if he had the chance, killed his own son to preserve not only his life, but his lie.
and i know it’s… a lot to compare the actions of a fictional character with ones of real people, and vice versa. but i know narcissistic abusers well. and i know the lengths they will go to preserve their own narrative– the ones in which they are the victim, in which they are faultless, in which they are right. and, in doing so, anyone standing in their way– including their own children– is merely a casualty of war.
all i am saying is– i have been on the other end of that sword. and god, it fucking hurts.
Ten months ago, an argument started circulating through the BBC Merlin fandom. The claim? That Arthur was the true villain of the piece because he had more than enough positive experiences with magic to know that he should legalize it. That argument didn’t sit right with @anarchycox or myself. It didn’t seem to align with how we remembered the events of the show.
So what did we do? Started collecting data. We created a google form and matching google sheet to track all of Arthur’s interactions with magic throughout the series. It included questions like “Was Arthur aware of magic being used?” and “Was Arthur shown positive aspects of magic?”
We are in the home stretch now with only 3 more episodes to go. As of Saturday night we will have results for all 65 episodes, and we hope to have settled the argument the pettiest way we know how. Through meticulous data collection.
The time has come! We have officially collected all of our data and ran the numbers! If you’re interested in seeing the raw data, it will go under the cut to keep people from having to scroll past this if they don’t care. If you’re interested in our analysis of it, we posted an entire essay about it on AO3. You can find it here. It will also contain links to how we collected our data, as well as the raw spreadsheet and frequency tables we created.
Merlin using a spell on Arthur that took away his free will, took away his mind and personality - that wasn’t just shitty, manipulative, and a profound betrayal of Arthur’s trust in him (beyond lying or breaking the law, it was a violation of his person)
it was downright villainous
and Merlin’s apparent lack of regret or hesitation even more so.
@mermaidgirl34 pointed out that this wasn’t even Merlin’s idea, it was Gaius’s
since I couldn’t remember exactly how it happened i checked the transcript and
MERLIN: We need to get Arthur out of here whether he likes it or not. Give him some kind of potion, something to knock him out?
GAIUS: I don’t have anything strong enough. In my chambers, perhaps, but the Southrons control the palace.
MERLIN: There must be something.
GAIUS: I’m sorry, Merlin. Maybe there’s something you can do. Arthur won’t go willingly. What if he was to lose his will?
MERLIN: Are you suggesting magic?
GAIUS: You’ll do it?
MERLIN: I can try.
damn ok it’s official
gaius pushes Merlin toward such fucked up decisions & actions, and he may have genuinely loved him, but he was just about the Worst Possible Mentor for Merlin
Yes, please share! I also believe he came back after the finale and I’d love to see your take on it!
FDJKFAJKF OMG AMAZING @thegreymoon!! SOO GLLAAD to hear someone else believes that too!! I mean, it makes the MOST sense tbh!!! i will DEFINITELY be sharing it once its done!! Just been picking away at it!!
AWWW THATS SO SWEET @barbitone !!! I DEFINITELY will and will be sharing it!! your guys encouragement means so much!!!
Meanwhile, ‘I’m having a TON of fun writing it!! Especially some dragon symbolism that involves AIthusa!!!! AHH ! I just hope it all comes together to make sense!! hahah! Sometimes my brain works faster than my typing fingers ;)!!
After doing an entire series rewatch of Merlin … I’ve realized that it makes more and more sense for Arthur to have come back after the finale! I started writing meta on it and maybe I’ll be bold enough to share it when its done!! But its definitely something really interesting to analyze and reflect upon!!
