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A few days weeks ago I came across this post redrawing the wardrobe of historical and fantasy movie and tv characters in period accurate (insofar as that is possible) clothing. Because I'm an art historian/ archaeologist/illustrator and have terminal campy fantasy show brainrot, here I am hours of research and drawing later to answer the question "What if the wardrobe in BBC Merlin was historically accurate?" (but like also based on my taste *cough*)

Disclaimer: Though I am a professional art historian I am not an expert in Sub-Roman Britain or Arthuriana. I cite my sources, but I wasn't about to spend several months on this, so please be kind. Also I used Clip Studio Paint so sorry if the text is wonky or misspelled, their text tool is awful as is my spelling.

Individual designs after the jump...

As it turns out, it is incredibly hard to know what they would have worn with any certainty. After a cursory search and a good deal of frustration with the unreliability of the internet's sources on the subject, I sat back and had to ask myself: there's a fucking dragon in this show, why should we care?

The answer, of course, is because it's fun and while I don't believe TV shows and movies (particularly high fantasy ones) need to be historically accurate (what reads to an audience, symbolism, faithfulness to a character, and even budget are all arguably far more important for crafting a good story) I'm always in support of picking apart popular culture's, and therefore our society's, view of history. It can also generate some new and creative visions of the same story. So here I am, bibliography in hand and illustrations done.

Problems:

Before I even began researching or drawing, I hit the typical roadblocks with Arthurian stories: When, Where, and Who. Already I was forced to make some subjective choices. I've laid them out below:

When: Arthur and his stories are generally placed in the 5th to 6th century. This places these characters directly between the end of the Roman Era and the beginning of Saxon control of the region. There are certain through-lines in clothing between what we know was worn in Roman Britain and in Germanic/Saxon Britain. These things I've confidently included, like tablet woven trim on garments, glass beads, and dyes that would have been locally available.

Where: The show places Camelot in modern day Wales, while Gloucester is another popular location in modern scholarship. I've looked at grave goods and archaeological objects found in this area during the 5th to 6th century (mostly metal objects), but most extant hints at what clothing of the era looked like exist farther afield. Each outfit retains slightly different geographical references, and, as it seems scholars often do for this era, I am operating on the principal of averages: This is what people around the area were wearing, and there's only so much deviation, so all four of them together might get closer to accuracy.

Who: I mean this historically, as in "Who is Arthur Pendragon based on?" Obviously there is no actual answer to this question, so I've taken some liberties with characters to fit into this particular version of the story and what wardrobe choices might make sense thematically as well as historically. based on what we know of the characters, rather than one historical figure. These outfits jump around a bit, so again, hopefully at least one of them gets somewhere close.

Arthur:

Merlin:

Guinevere:

Morgana:

Additional notes:

I took some liberties based on my inability to find almost anything on what shoes would have been like, aside from "leather".

The column of decoration running up Arthur's tunic might also be inaccurate, but I felt the red needed to be broken up and its not impossible such a style existed. Realistically, the cuffs of the garment would probably have the most elaborate design, and the rest of the woven bands would be simpler. He is a prince/king though, so if anyone is going to be over the top why not him!

I may have gotten a little gold-happy with Morgana's second outfit. I just really like drawing metallics. Gold thread didn't enter the scene until later for the saxons, so just pretend its really over the top brocade like in Morgana's first outfit (which would have been strips of thin gold plate inserted into the band, rather than a solid ribbon of woven gold.)

If I were designing outfits with fantasy rather than history in mind, I would have designed veeery different outfits.

Sources (Most used bolded):

Brown, Katharine Reynolds. Migration art: A.D. 300-800. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995.

Carroll, Maureen, Lucy Creighton, Patrick Gibbs, and James Osborn. “Rediscovering the Dead of Roman York.” YouTube, June 12, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ23upbKBHU.

Dean, Jenny. “Anglo-Saxon Dye Experiments - Part 1.” Jenny Dean’s Wild Colour, February 25, 2013. https://www.jennydean.co.uk/anglo-saxon-dye-experiments-part-1/.

“Disk Brooch: Anglo-Saxon.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/466157.

“Getting Dressed in Roman Britain.” YouTube, August 23, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeqdgZ0QpZE.

Jarrett, Jonathan. “Seminar CLXVII: What about the Women of Post-Roman Britain?” A Corner of Tenth-Century Europe, June 13, 2014. https://tenthmedieval.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/seminar-clxvii-what-about-the-women-of-post-roman-britain/.

Kent, Shane. “How the Irish Dress in the 4th-6th Century.” YouTube, April 27, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njADJ_Jd8Qw.

Klein, Janice B. “The Life and Times of King Arthur.” Expedition Magazine, 1987. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-life-and-times-of-king-arthur/.

Loven, Nicole. “Getting Dressed in 7th Century Britain.” YouTube, July 29, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q877Z5eePVg.

“Merovingian Architectural Ring: French.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/661705.

“Rare Merovingian Gold Ring Found in Jutland.” The history blog, February 20, 2024. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/69517.

Rogers, Penelope Walt. Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-saxon England: AD 450-700. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2007.

Roberts, Mike. “Articles Dyed with Woad.” Woad dyed, December 23, 2023. http://www.woad.org.uk/html/woad_dyed.html.

Siddall, Ruth. “Red Pigments in Roman Britain.” The Pigment Timeline Project Red Pigments in Roman Britain Comments, October 31, 2018. https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/pigment-timeline/2018/10/31/red-pigments-in-roman-britain/.

Snyder, Christopher A. “A Gazetteer of Sub-Roman Britain (AD 400-600): The British Sites.” Internet Archaeology, September 3, 1997. https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue3/snyder/part1.html.

Wild, J. P. “The Textile Industries of Roman Britain.” Britannia 33 (2002): 1–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/1558851.

Marzinzik, Sonja, "Expressions of Power – Luxury textiles from early medieval northern Europe" (2008). Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings. 237. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/237

“Fabrics.” Oxford University Historical Reenactment Society. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://users.ox.ac.uk/~wychwood/costumefabrics.shtml.

“Quoit Brooch: British Museum.” The British Museum. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1893-0601-219.

“Weapons - Antiquity and Early Middle Age.” TEMPL. Accessed April 9, 2024. http://www.templ.net/english/weapons-antiquity_and_early_middle_age.php.

Makin, Alexandra. “Early Medieval (Mostly) Textiles #7.” Dr Alexandra Makin, January 1, 2021. https://alexandramakin.com/2021/01/01/early-medieval-mostly-textiles-7/.

“Belt Buckle with a Griffin: Frankish.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464928?pos=5.

“Celebrating Ivory Bangle Lady .” York Museums Trust. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/blog/celebrating-ivory-bangle-lady/.

Ashby, Steven P. “Grooming the Face in the Early Middle Ages.” Internet Archaeology. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue42/6/9.cfm.

#believe when i tell you this is the most beautiful thing I've seen in so long #gosh the attention to detail is making me feel butterflies #op you're so amazing<3 #love it love it love it #the autistic joy im getting from this careful and dedicated explanation #thank u for leaving the sources I'll be so glad to look into it #bbc merlin #merlin #merlin meta

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livrere-green · 1 day

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ATLA x Omegaverse AU

Part 1 | Part 2

This post is going to revolve mostly around cultural and social perception of alphas, betas and omegas in the Water Tribes and the Fire Nation.

Northern Water Tribe & Southern Water Tribe

First of all, the way gender (conventional) is managed in the SWT/NWT is evident from the begining. There's a certain order about what every person must or mustn't do, so I'm gonna talk about it, but establishing how these two communities beliefs and practices may differ.

Talking about omegaverse's gender divisions, I considered that doing an extrapolation of some of the beliefs from the Inuit culture (main inspiration of the SWT/NWT) is needed. This is, taking as axis that gender roles are demarcated, but there's no sense of inferiority regarding any gender, because the fulfilment of their roles is highly needed for the survival of the community.

Of course, here's where the difference resides. While the STW, as a whole, doesn't establish limitations or prohibitions about what an omega can or cannot do or learn, the NWT does, they also continue with the tradition of arranged marriages as a way to maintain the equilibrium of the community (after puberty, all omegas are considered in marriageable age).

Now, this is important, a young omega is eligible for marriage after their presentation, but an alpha or beta had to prove they are efficient enough to support a family before they could marry.

Why? Because roles are important, but an omega is appreciated only for the fact of being an omega and what that naturally implies. While an alpha or beta had to show that they can fulfill certain expectations (this usually happened through courtship when it came to alphas).

This is a complex issue, because it doesn't mean omegas are equally free, they are valuable because their worth is inherent to their nature (yes, as baby machines) and what that role demands of them (taking care of a household and taking care of children).

History fact here: the SWT separate from the NWT due to their different understandings and ways of living, the South grew detach of some expectations and practices regarding gender, such as prohibiting omegas from carrying out certain activities such as hunting, armed fighting and waterbending to combat. Most of these changes took decades in being completely embrace, but the war and the subsequently limitation of material and human resources forced the community to accept changes faster.

While in the South, being a chronically reduced and scattered population, there were no many options, they couldn't keep up with the demands that came along with gender/sex roles. If became a situation in which, if you can fight, you fight, contrasted with the teachings that the old sages shared with the young kids that were left behind during the war.

In consequence, there was a clear dichotomy between what those children were taught by the elders who refused to let go of the past and the reality they lived in, because there were omegas that left to fight, as much as old alphas and betas that had to stay behind because they couldn't fight anymore.

This difficult context had different effects in characters from the SWT, for example, Sokka and Katara.

While Katara recognized the value in who she was, and embraced the idea that she could do whatever she wanted because her status as an omega wasn't a limitation or a specially relevant factor to it; Sokka learned that there was an order that wasn't being follow, that things were out of place because of the war and maybe when it ended, everything would be normal again.

The reality is that after their journey started, Katara was faced with a harsh world, one in which all her value resided in her sex/gender, or worst, with a society that didn't even see her as a human worthy of respect, because her nature was a inherent sign of inferiorly.

In the other hand, Sokka found his beliefs refuted the hard way. He came to accept that there was not an ideal order, or a place in which an alpha, beta or omega is limited to be; he also outgrew past resentments and conflicts that he had been holding since Kya died and Hakoda left.

Fun Facts:

Avatars born in the SWT/NWT have commonly presented as alphas.

The practice of giving mating marks was discourage during the war to avoid the harming effects of broken bonds.

In both tribes, Alphas are neither obliged to take any kind of suppressants nor prohibited access to them.

In the South, the use of natural suppressants is common between omegas, stronger medications are not recommended if they can be avoided. While in the North, only recently presented omegas are allowed access to light suppressants.

Packs are uncommon in the South due to reduced population. In the North, there's requirements that should be fullfil in order for a pack to be formally recognized.

Fire Nation

The Fire Nation maintains an strict social order when it comes to the understanding of oneself, family and community (the prominent inspiration for this comes from Confucianism). Their values are widespread and forced in people through propaganda, just as part of nationalist beliefs.

They preach that maintaining the hierarchy between alphas, betas and omegas is needed to reach harmony within the Nation and encouraged the fulfilment of the duty of filial pleity. Is important to highlight that the alpha population is almost equally divided between male (+6%) and female alphas, while beta females (+15%) and omega females (+31%) are more common that their male counterparts.

Under this statement, male alphas and betas, as well as female alphas and betas are optimal for training and taking place in the army. Being alphas the ones that are regarded more respect from fellow officers, soldiers and other members from a crew. Usually, only alphas assume positions of power within the army, the only exception could be a beta who is also a powerful firebender.

On the other hand, omegas are not allowed to take part of any military training or operation. They are relegated to stay home, and are usually educated since their presentation in the different knowledge regarding their own nature, the care of a household and raising children. The government provides this type of education aimed at omegas in schools, but they can also be educated at home, in which case, omegas from wealthy families could access a more integral education.

Also, If they happen to be a bender, once presented, all omegas are only allowed to use their abilities for domestic activities and must be inmidiatly retired from any sort of training.

Omegas that had already underwent proper education are eligible for marriage, this is estimated around age 16 to 20, they are usually courted by alphas or betas. Although, it's always preferred to marry an alpha, as it it's believe they're better providers.

Courtship is a mere formality when it comes to arranged marriages, those are common within the upper class of the Fire Nation, and are set in order to reinforced the status and power of the families.

The Royal Family relies on arranged marriages too, being the members commonly alphas, the court assumes the task of finding a proper omega to take place as their partner, they execute an exhaustive evaluation process (it includes, but not limits to: physical condition for procreation, mental state, education and economical status). Most upper class families encourage their omega kids to participate in this selection, despite the humiliation and trauma it implies.

Due to the inequality in access to education, most of the people working as servants at the Royal Palace, are lower class omegas and betas. While trainers, instructors and governesses of the Royal Family children are alphas, betas or middle/upper class omegas, as long as they fulfil the requirements.

Now, talking about Zuko and Azula. It was expected for both of them to present as alphas, but only Azula did.

Ozai was informed that Zuko presented as a beta by Iroh, because during the standard years of presentation (13 to 14), he didn't show any major change. Clearly, this was another thing Ozai added to the list of reasons why his son was a disappointment, but Iroh was aware that he had blatantly lie, because Zuko never show any of the signs or even minor changes common in betas. He presented as an omega almost a year later, and Iroh agreed to help him hide it, because they both were aware of the vulnerable position that put him in, even when it came to his own crew, let aside his father.

Back in the Fire Nation, Azula presented early as an alpha, which was celebrated and granted her respect around the court and military officials. After her presentation, she was taught, mostly by Ozai, to employ her nature as a tool to control others, mostly through her alpha voice, which she started to use, mostly with servants and in occasions, with her friends.

Fun Facts:

Avatar Roku was an Alpha, Fire Lord Sozin was a Beta, but everyone within the Nation and its colonies is taught that both of them were alphas.

Unmated Omegas are allowed access only to light suppressants unless they're older than 50 or have a broken bond, in which cases they can access stronger medication. Mated Omegas can access any kind of suppressants as long as there's a justification for it (I.e. their alpha mate is abroad, serving in the military).

The Fire Nation has its own regulations regarding a packs legal recognition. Also, It's common to find pup packs that are formed for young presented people, but these are not formally recognised. That term is also used in a derogatory tone to refer to a pack that was formed impulsively.

High rank military officials are allowed to use their alpha voice and other actions, such as a throat grab against other alphas. But an alpha can be condemned for using their voice, independent of rank or position, if they end up harming/endangering children and pregnant omegas.

Alphas serving in the military must take suppressants and these are part of the supplies they receive, but it's a rule that's widely ignore by officials of all ranks. Most of them commonly abuse unmated omegas from any nation, this is also common in all prisons or detention centers.

That's all for now! I linked some stuff here for context, and I know some of these stuff is truly raw but I tried to be realistic.

Thank you for reading!

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