#he blamed arthur for ygraine's death too

[shanastoryteller]

SHANA HAPPY PRIDE U AWESOME LADY! Can I please maybe get some merlin content? Either time travel Ygraine or something else entirely!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4

His mother is here.

Not an illusion, or a ghost, but his actual mother - confirmed by his father and his knights and Gaius.

She looks like him. Or he looks like her, he supposes. He's fruitlessly searched for himself in his father's face enough times that seeing himself so easily in her is almost jarring.

They have the same hair, they same eyes, the same lips. She scrunches her nose and scowls and it's like looking into a mirror, not even necessarily what she looks like but how she moves.

It explains a lot of looks he's gotten from his father over the years over seemingly innocuous gestures and comments.

After ordering Gaius to find some wizards, she insists on going for a walk in the woods, since too many people seeing her could cause a commotion and she insists that if she has to look at his father's face she's going to beat it.

He'd thought his father was the strong willed one between them. In his mind, his mother had always been docile, because that's the only way he thought anyone could manage a life alongside his father. The reality is better, and more entertaining.

Merlin is still here, trailing awkwardly behind them, but Arthur doesn't tell him to leave because a part of him is anxious over being left alone with his mother.

"Sorry about that display in the throne room," she says, as if reading his thoughts. "Sometimes Uther needs some sense knocked into him, for the good the kingdom. And our marriage."

"It's okay," he says, because it's not like she'd given him more than bruises. "Did you - did you mean it? What you said about magic?"

"Oh, Arthur," she sighs, squeezing his arm. "I'm so sorry you grew up without it. You'd understand if you'd been raised how I wanted you raised."

"How was that?" he asks, desperate and clumsy and not caring because he wants to know so badly.

She softens, looking at him with something warm and affectionate that he's only caught glimpses of behind his father's eyes. "I understand that she changed, after my - my death. But Nimueh was my best friend. You would grown up with magic in every facet of your life, it would have been there in kitchen helping the bread rise and on the training grounds to treat your wounds, it would have been - did you know, I was pregnant before?"

He looks at her, wide eyed, then shakes his head. He knows so little about his mother, only what other people have told him, and so few people are willing to speak of her and upset his father.

"A few times, actually," she continues, mouth twisting bitterly. "But this one got rather far along, we thought we were going to finally - but it wasn't to be. But we were so hopeful, already planning, and Nimueh had carved and enchanted these wooden butterflies to fly above the baby's basinet, to keep them entertained. I still have them, because after, she said to keep them, that one day I would have a child and I'd need them." She lets out a watery laugh. "I imagine Uther had them destroyed, so you never got their benefit. But that's what magic is, Arthur. It's just another way for the people around us to love us, even if it's a bit differently."

His throat is dry and he doesn't know what to say, but he licks his lips and forced out, "I probably could have used it. I was a fussy baby. Really - really, just, always crying, never sleeping through the night, I always needed someone's attention. I apparently drove several nursemaids to tears."

"Did you really?" she asks, trying to laugh, but it comes out eager, and he can't blame her for it.

The same reason that he knows nothing about her is why she'll know nothing about him, why the only way she has to know what he was like as a baby is if he tells her.

She dies giving birth to him, after all.

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #anon #merlin

[maplemind]

Ok I’m having thoughts about the Uther / Arthur dynamic…

I think that Arthur was entirely raised by wet nurses / nannies / etc because Uther’s negative feelings were too strong.

I think for most of Arthur’s youth, Uther resented, regretted, and somehow blamed Arthur for the loss of Ygraine. And I think Uther essentially avoided his own son as much as he could get away with.

I think he got so desperate for an heir (and of course the problem couldn’t be with him, it had to be Ygraine’s reproductive system that was faulty), that he didn’t do his research, or didn’t listen to warnings, or somehow believed himself above the potential consequences.

I bet he knew that a life would be taken, but he assumed it would be some peasant of Camelot, maybe a knight, maybe one of his lords, but thought he and his family would be immune and would obviously be spared. Because, y’know, he’s the king of Camelot.

And I think he blamed Arthur for some messed up reason (I mean, ok, grief does weird things to people).

And I think every time he realised Arthur isn’t a carbon copy of him, isn’t the perfect heir (impossibly strong, talented, and stoic) he resents him and regrets that he traded the love of his life for “this disappointment”. Surely magic should have given him the absolute perfect heir? And person so amazing they’re beyond all human comprehension, right? Like Hercules, or Achilles.

Also, the way Uther loses his godamn mind when Morgana is dying in S3, the way he waxes lyrical about how important she is to him, how he can’t live without her… yet Arthur has been dying twice by this point and Uther gets no where near as upset. In fact, he sits with his dying son once, admits that his death is inevitable, then goes about his day without a second glance…

And because of the way his father couldn’t even spare him a glance, let alone a hug, or comfort, or an “I love you, I’m proud of you”, I don’t think Arthur knows what affection really is. I don’t think he truly understands how love feels.

I think that’s why he was so off-balance when he went to save Ealdor with Merlin and saw the way he and his mother interacted. It threw everything he’d ever known into doubt.

Maybe he thought that kind of love, affection, and physical comfort is for poor people, because that’s what his experience told him.

And maybe it made Arthur think - “what if my mother had survived? What if my father’s life had been taken instead?”

And what if Ygraine had lived and Uther had died? I mean, the spell gave Uther an heir to take over when he died, and he got what he wanted, right? So if Uther dies right away… well, you’ve got your heir you wanted, he’ll take your place like he’s supposed to!

Arthur has lived his whole life feeling like he wasn’t wanted - that’s what all the evidence told him. Then he finds out he’s “the reason” his mother is dead and his father is a heartless, emotionless, bitter man?

Holy shinsplints Arthur. No wonder he couldn’t accept the affection Merlin and Guinevere clearly had for him. Maybe that’s why he kept freaking out and throwing it back in their faces, getting angry, pushing them away.

He was scared because he had absolutely no idea how to react to it - no blueprint, no examples, no evidence that his own upbringing and his father’s mentality isn’t normal.

But my god did he try and give out all the love he had stored in his heart, all the love that was wasted on his father and was never reciprocated. My god did he try.

Bless you, Arthur. My heart aches so damn hard for you.

#bbc merlin #merlin bbc #Merthur #bbc Merthur #merthur bbc #Merlin #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #uther pendragon

[fluffypotatey]

God, watched "Sins of the Father" last night and I. Just. Love. How the writers were like, "Ah, yes, let's finish out this episode with the most violent upheaval of Arthur's relationship with Uther. There is no need to mention this again."

Like, yeah, I get it, Merlin lied and stopped Arthur from killing King Cunt, but STILL. It happened. Arthur and Uther have had disagreements before, but those were small potatoes. Arthur challenged his father, the King, to a fight to the death. He was actively trying to kill his father. And that....had no effect on him? Or Uther?

Arthur doesn't always agree with Uther, and he does disobey him when he has to, but I don't think he ever would imagine himself capable of hurting his father, let alone killing him.

And Uther, being the manipulative, abusive piece of shit he is, was probably 100% certain Arthur would never turn on him, the same way any abusive parent is confident in their power over their victim.

But it happened.

And that's just........not important?

bestie.....are you sure you want the open that can of worms with me

------

NO BECAUSE LISTEN I HAVE TOO MANY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THIS

imma holler @nextstopparis because they have bombass posts and meta about exactly this

anyway

yes bestie so true, we have seen in s1 and s2 that arthur is capable of having a little rebellious streak but not enough to truly slight his father because (despite his shitty and abusive uther is) arthur still loves him. arthur has craved uther's approval since day one. all he gets from uther is stunted shoulder pats and "you're my son" kind of affection. which, you know, explains SO MUCH about why arthur is emotionally constipated, compensates his emotions into hyper-masculinity, and a grade A jock.

we know arthur seeks uther's approval and just wants uther to be proud of him. motherfucker (uther) literally in episode 2 of s1 "stops by Arthur on his way to the stands and speaks to him in a low voice" about he "trust [Arthur] will make [him] proud" like bitch???? way to stress out your child.

tips on how to emotionally abuse/keep your child wanting you love

always makes sure you pressure them into making you proud

place conditions on your love (trust = love = pride for son = no longer disappointed = no longer sees arthur as the cause of ygraine's death oop did i type that)

move them away and speak in a low threatening voice because self image matters and your child would never risk that

undermine your child's worth to exterior factors, aka things your child never had a say in (being a captain/high ranking knight at 15, being the son of your dead wife, telling them to grow up when they literally are acting their age)

enforcing patriarcal ideals such as only encouraging stoicism for arthur because feelings are for weaklings and dismissing morgana's opinions for 'outbursts'

howdy folks! welcome to the uther sucks club and why the hell did bbc just ignore arthur's very understandable anger towards uther in s2 ep8

we will not touch arthur's self loathing blame for his mother's death because i will derail from this post

what happened in s2 ep8???? i'm so glad you asked

it is revealed that uther pendragon's reason for committing genocide for over 20 years boils down to a highly dangerous spell that he forced the high priestess nimueh to cast on his wife (who wasn't aware of the spell in the first place) so she could become pregnant and grant him an heir.

uther, the caricature of the british empire himself, caused the death of his queen then turned around and blamed a whole community of innocent people because "magic is evil and shouldn't be trusted" and "when you know one sorcerer, you know them all"

arthur, daddy issues galore, is understandably pissed and enraged. why, you ask? because for years he believed it was his birth that led to his mother's death

ARTHUR I'm so sorry. YGRAINE You have nothing to be sorry for. ARTHUR It was my birth that caused you to die.

ok so we are actually gonna discuss this

FOR 20 YEARS THIS MAN BELIEVED HIS FATHER'S GRIEF WAS HIS FAULT

AND YOU KNOW WHAT

UTHER NEVER CORRECTED HIM! UTHER NEVER SAID ANYTHING TO CONTRADICT ARTHUR'S INTERNAL STRUGGLE!

WHY YOU ASK????

BECAUSE THEN ARTHUR WOULD STAY LOYAL TO HIM, BECAUSE THEN ARTHUR WOULD DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO PROVE THAT HE COULD 'right this old wrong' EVEN THO IT WAS NEVER HIS FAULT!

ahem

and then arthur learns the truth. arthur learns that ygraine's death was never his fault. ygraine's death was all because uther pendragon "was so desperate for an heir". that was all uther cared about.

ARTHUR This is what fuels your hatred for those who practice magic. Rather than blame yourself for what you did, you blame them.

ARTHUR How many hundreds have you condemned to death to ease your guilt?

ARTHUR You speak of honour and nobility! You're nothing but a hypocrite and a liar!

do you think....after arthur learned the truth, he remembered all of morgana's old arguments that went ignored by uther? he could hear her voice, filled with self-righteousness and selfless anger about how uther always placed the blame on others, projected fear and hatred to those who were innocent. do you wonder if arthur thought of morgana as he spewed those words to uther?

and then he is told that morgause lied to him. that the ygraine he saw was actually an illusion meant to divide camelot. arthur is told that the ygraine he saw who told him that holding him was "the most precious" moments of her life was nothing more than a lie.

so, what does mean for arthur? does that mean that it truly was his fault that ygraine died? does he go back to blaming himself?

or

is there still that doubt of his father's ruling that lays restless inside of him? does he watch his father more closely and how he reacts to magic crimes compared to non-magical? does he begin to confide in morgana more because she, too, understand this kind of anger he feels nestled inside of him?

but we don't get that

what we get after this is a week or maybe more of a time skip where gwen is kidnapped and the show tries to further the arwencelot love triangle (and i mean, i'm not against the love triangle, it's just...timing my dude)

it just goes ignored by the show like it wasn't a big deal that arthur was ready to commit regicide (unlike morgana), like it wasn't a big deal that merlin lied to arthur like that and didn't feel conflicted, like it wasn't a big deal that uther's Purge began because of misplaced anger.

no, instead, arthur is back as his snarky and uptight self who never again thinks back to what happened when some big plot is heading his way. and so the show never dives back into that. mentions of arthur's mother don't come back until s4 but that's with agravaine and i do not have the time for that man.

this episode really seemed like it was supposed to lead to a shift in arthur's character, and yet it didn't. it was just...never touched on again and i will never forgive them for that

#long post #excuse me while i go off #i brought receipts (transcipts) #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #uther pendragon #anti uther #we do not stan that man in this household #not to mention that this is the ep where arthur doubts his father's views on magic bc morgause is granting him this chance to see his mom #he has already doubted his father's views on class (lancelot) & duty (going to help merlin even if his presence could cause war w/ Essetir) #and then he learns that his father LIED #uther lied about magic users for 20 fucking years and didn't care #all he cared about was that the spell didn't work the way he wanted and decided that a whole community of ppl deserved to be wiped out #arthur is devasted bc you know what that means?????? #that means that when arthur raided that druid camp all those years ago as a young captain of the knights its purpose was never moral #arthur aided his father and his father LIED ABOUT IT #the sins of the father #s2 ep8 #2.08 #i'm not sorry but also i am sorry that the post is a little long #merlin meta

[camelotsheart]

Ygraine x Nimueh is the superior old gen ship fite me

#uthus what #i know no uthus #im literally so feral over them right now. like. the concept of them pining for each other #and then nimueh accidentally causing ygraine's death - and with that too the death of everyone else she held dear by uther's hands #like. there was no reason for her to revive *specifically* tristan. i can think of 2 reasons why #1) she wanted uther to fear the retribution of magic - that his mistakes will come to haunt him #but then i feel like she made that reason void when she revealed herself to be the one to bring back tristan? #2) she shared in the grief tristan had over ygraine's death and wished to see him get his revenge even if it was in death #and as for why she would want arthur dead had she loved ygraine 1) she knew that it was not arthur's fate to die by her hands #and therefore anything she did would not affect him in the end #because destiny is certain. and 2) agravaine hated arthur despite him being arthur's uncle #he blamed arthur for ygraine's death too #and so it's all a game of blaming in the end #uther blames magic. nimueh blames uther. both sides cannot come to see the issue objectively because of their overwhelming grief #what i would do to have a prequel to merlin #im like. 200% sure nimueh x ygraine would be the new merthur if they did have something like that #uthus just doesn't have the whole merthur tragedy vibe that nimueh x ygraine has #(sorry maria 😔😂) #bbc merlin

[acciofandomlove]

The Weirdly Manipulative Narrative of BBCM Characters

Let's start with the character that is the easiest to explain and whose sympathetic narrative is the easiest to break from:-

----

#1 - Uther

Part 1 - Ygraine

Uther starts off as this big bad villain who every viewer hates. He kills magic users, is a tyrant, emotionally manipulates Arthur, is a narcissist, a natural liar and so forth.

Then we get to know more about his past and realise that he's just a broken man. Someone who lost his wife due to magic and couldn't handle the loss so he chose the only path he understood as a warrior king- violence and bloodshed.

“ She was my heart, my soul. And you took her from me. ”

But here's the thing.

Uther cheated on his wife.

“I loved your mother. There isn't a day that passes where I don't wish that she were still alive. I could never have done anything to hurt her.”

Yeah, sure Uther.

Now, I'm not saying that Uther didn't care for Ygraine. But cheating (and barely showing any guilt over it later) is not the action of a man who "loved" his wife. Considering the fact that Gorlois was clueless about the infidelity, we have to assume that Ygraine was too.

To prove my point further, let's consider the fact how we all know how much Uther valued tradition and arranged marriages. Is it so hard to assume that he would've married Ygraine for her family standing and pedigree rather than "true love"? Especially since he was a new king who had just conquered all of Camelot.

"Your father betrayed me."

So, then why was he so angry at her death? Why did he remember her so fondly? Why did he always call her the one he loved?

The same reason Jane Seymour was the only one Henry VIII truly loved.

Because she gave him a male heir.

"I'm sorry Arthur. Your father has deceived you as he deceived me."

Like I said, this doesn't mean that Uther didn't love her at all. The pain he feels about her death shows that he obviously did.

But a lot of his pain also comes from guilt.

Ygraine probably lived her last moments feeling the fear that she was going to die, sorrow that she would not get to see her son grow up and betrayed over what fate her husband helped write for her.

"Those few seconds I held you were the most precious of my life."

The most precious moment of her life was also the one tinged with the most sadness.

Uther was not some tragic Romeo. Instead, he was the Othello that let himself be his own downfall. But what sets him apart from his Shakespearean counterpart, what truly makes him the villain is what he did next.

“You showed yourself to be a man of honour. You inherited that trait from your mother.”

Uther destroyed Ygraine's life, her friend's life, her legacy, her kingdom.

Ygraine is shown to be sympathetic to magic from the way Nimueh and Morgause describe her. But he turned her death into a cause of war, killing thousands in the process.

He tore down homes for the magic he used to create his own. Kills children for the sake of the one he sired. He not only rages but actively lies and manipulates as he did with Balinor. He spread propagandas and used Ygraine's death as emotional fodder.

He got Gorlois killed in his fight of hatred, Nimueh's life destroyed, Vivianne to have to hide one of her daughters and Gaius to lose his love and watch people he cares for die. These were all people Ygraine knew and was most probably friends with.

Her brother Tristan was killed and Agravaine reduced to a snivelling villain who Uther barely tried to hold any correspondence with as far as we knew. You could say it was because Uther didn't trust him but the very reason that was true was because Uther sacrificed Ygraine and then had the audacity to blame innocent people for it.

He lied about her sacrifice to not only her subjects but also her son, dishonouring her life and cheapening her death.

No matter how much you try, you can never show Uther in any way, shape or form as "sympathetic". The death of the mother during childbirth was quite a common thing during that time, regardless of magic. How that can be used as a reason or justification for literal GENOCIDE is beyond me.

-----

Intro

#1 - Uther Part 1 // Uther Part 2 (coming soon)

#bbcm #bbc merlin #merlin #ygraine #ygraine pendragon #uther #uther pendragon #arthur pendragon #vivianne le fay #gorlois le fay #morgana le fay #nimueh #morgaus le fay #morgana pendragon #gaius #narrative bbcm

[queerofthedagger]

Look I like, talk a lot about how much I love Arthur but I feel like I rarely if ever elaborate, and it's 4 am and I'm running on little sleep but --

The thing about Arthur is, he isn't just inherently good. No, my boy grew up in an environment so fucking toxic, as a social worker I can say with confidence that it's a miracle that he didn't turn out really, really horrible.

Privileged to his teeth, no positive, caring influence in his life apart from -maybe!- some nannies, and a father that makes my pedagogical heart throw bricks. Like. There's absolutely no positive, constant role model whatsoever, the best influence you can argue for is Gaius and well. Let's just say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and leave it at that.

Do you think Arthur got hugged as a child? Told that he was doing great? That whatever he was into at the time was appreciated? That Uther ever took the time to sensibly explain what happened to his mother? That it wasn't his fault? Do you think Uther ever told Arthur that Ygraine's death wasn't his fault? And if you do, do you think it was convincing? Because Uther sure as hell considered it at least partly Arthur's fault and believe me when I say that kids sense this shit.

Arthur might've been cared for on a material level but honestly? I think that's about it and let me tell you that it's not even anywhere close to enough. Not, like, at all. I want to cry just thinking about it and to draw a real-life comparison - kids I work with that come from these kinds of situations struggle so badly because there's a whole axis of guilt to it. Of course, there are loads of kids who have it way worse but we're talking about children and this is not the trauma Olympics.

Anyway. "I've been trained to kill since birth." Ever think about a 6, 7 year old Arthur who gets a wooden sword pressed into his hands, not for fun but for a training that is ingrained in him, will be his whole purpose? Ever think of Uther always finding him lacking and him not having any real friends because again, kids sense this kind of shit? Ever think about a 15-year-old child being forced to murder people? Ever think about how disgustingly ingrained the whole "sense of duty" thing is and where it comes from? That shit doesn't go as deep as making someone who's in their early 20's willing to sacrifice their life if you start telling them at 16. And even that is disgusting but anyway.

Arthur's whole existence, from the moment he could understand it, was always aimed at duty and responsibility and what Uther wanted from him. I'd bet the little money I have in my bank account that Uther made damn well sure there were no outside influences to "tarnish" the mind of his heir; and I'm not only talking about magic.

And yet. And yet, the moment there actually was an outside influence, the second Merlin stumbled into his life, "I know I'm just a servant and my word doesn't mean anything," Arthur fucking Pendragon leapt that shit up. Lancelot, maybe a commoner and forged his sigil but if he can't be a knight, the code is wrong. Let's go save a druid child Uther is turning the castle upside down over because Morgana and Merlin asked (and if this wasn't a recent change, Morgana would've enlisted his help much sooner, fight me.) Ealdor. The unicorn, obviously magic and because Merlin said so. Etc etc I could go on and this is just season one.

This is getting ridiculously rambly and long and is basically just an incoherent version of my extensive Arthur character analysis but what I mean to say is: yeah maybe he didn't legalise magic in the first four years of his damned rule, and there are definitely things he could've handled better or where his character was just inconsistent (though I'm also going to die on the hill that opposed to what tv shows make you believe, actual change of ingrained beliefs and behaviours does take a lot of time and in that regard, Arthur was maybe more realistic than this fandom was ready for. Anyway.) Considering the 100 bad experiences compared to the maybe 3 good ones with magic, Arthur did fucking great and I'm so tired of people shitting on all he did in the context of his reign/the show.

Uther was a tyrant, and he was an abusive, horrible father, and frankly it's a wonder Arthur didn't simply end up worse than him. No one ever really took a leap of faith on him - and I don't blame them, no one is ever required to reveal something about themselves that could put them into danger (unrelated but yes this applies to Merlin telling Morgana too, deal with it) - and there was little to nothing provided that could've prompted him to change his mind in the first place. And yet he kept questioning it. I'm sorry yeah it's not the Golden Age and it's oh-so-easy to find a single culprit to blame it all on but Arthur is not it, it's -imo- never what the show was about, and I'm just about ready to throw hands over this.

Arthur wasn't just inherently good, he fought and worked to be better, constantly, and to be honest that is bloody hard and it eludes me how people can not see this.

#arthur pendragon #meta #look this is half incoherent and I'm tired but i said what i said #arthur pendragon protection squad #merlin meta #mona's rambling

[booksandreadingismylife]

Hello! I love your oh merlin! story, and the way you write. (Sorry if my english has many mistakes). I wanted to share this idea i have. So in S3 episode 11 Uthers said that he conquer Camelot when he was Arthurs age! And that fact got me thinking… did Igrain loved Uther or did he conquer Camelot for himself, destroyed the history of Camelot and killed igrain’s (Agravain’s and Tristan’s) parents. And maid magic the villan so that he could be the hero? What if Arthur find this out. Reira Tendo

Hi Reira!

I love that idea! It’s fantastic! I have so many ideas from that

(I’ll leave my thoughts under the cut because this got very long)

There’s a lot that can be said about war brides and the precarious position that they end up in but a situaton like that also makes everything from s1-3 so much better or worse depending on your perspective. Especially if we keep the canon that Uther used magic so that he and Igrain (Igraine? Ygrain? Ygraine? How do you spell her name????) could conceive Arthur.

Because I can absolutely buy that Uther took one look at the daughter of the king and queen that he just slaughtered and decided that he wanted to marry her and hey! that’s a good thing politically too! And then he either convinced himself that he loved her or he genuinely fell in love with her. But either way, he’s showering her with gifts and flattery and all she can think of is her parents blood on his hands.

Her brothers can’t do anything. His armies are stronger than anything they have, he’s the ruler of Camelot now, and he’s married their sister, making her a hostage for their good behaviour whether he himself is willing to leverage that or not

Except then she dies giving birth to his heir. Ymmv on how Igraine (I’m sticking with Igraine) feels about the child she’s pregnant with and whether or not she knows that the cost of his birth will be a life - hers. (there is a way that you can go here that runs along the lines of depending on what position Igraine was in pre-conquest then she could possibly know enough about medicine to actively consume things that would make it near imposible to conceive/cause early miscarriage so she’s not necessarily barren like Nimueh claims in s1 but instead is intentionally sabotaging her chances of conceiving and carrying Uther’s heir but that doesn’t really change the outcome at all so it’s not super important)

But the main point is: Igraine dies, leaving behind a son who is the heir of the man that killed her parents.

Her death is the final straw for Tristan who tries to use it as a legitimate way to get rid of Uther who has now killed the one person holding him back from seeking revenge (if I remember what happened in s1e9 correctly with the Black Knight then if someone dies in a challenge to the death then it’s legal and no one can do anything to the killer per the knight’s code) except that Uther is still the same man that conquered Camelot in the first place and he didn’t do it by letting his men charge ahead.

Tristan is killed in the combat he initiated - whether Uther is truly as regretful about that as he claims to Arthur is up to you but I reckon that if he actually fell for Igraine then he probably does feel at least a little guilty about killing her brother over her death, whether or not he has the self-awareness to feel bad about killing her parents (who she presumably loved) and pressuring her into a marriage that she would have felt unable to refuse.

Cut to Agravain. He’s now lost both parents and both siblings to the same man, who is blaming anything and everything under the sky except himself for Igraine’s death. She has left behind a son that for all he knows she was forced into conceiving (and that’s probably true if not necessarily in the way he thinks since we don’t know how Nimueh creating a child worked and if sex was in any way involved, well I don’t think we can say that an Igraine that was a war bride is in a position to give any consent that wasn’t in some way coerced) that is now the only tie between him and Uther and coincidentally his only remaining family (since we never see anyone else in canon that Arthur says he’s related to). Agravain cannot afford to get attached to Arthur or he’ll just become another hostage for Agravain’s good behaviour, so he needs to get out of Camelot sharpish.

Agravain runs as fast and far as he can without triggering Uther’s paranoia instincts while Uther is distracted declaring war on magic and executing anyone with so much of a hint of magic in their family tree. Maybe he smuggles some people out - Uther isn’t paying enough attention to know if there’s one or two extra people in his entourage when he leaves. Maybe he even grabs the powerful Court Sorceress on his way out, because he has no problem with magic whatsoever and allies with power can only be a good thing.

The important thing is that Agravain cuts his losses and runs, prepared to bide his time and unwilling to get attached to Arthur.

Arthur grows up with a distant relationship with his maternal uncle at best and surrounded by people who are Uther’s men to the bone. He gets taught about how Uther conquered Camelot when he was a young man. No one tells him about his mother.

Cut to twoish decades later and canon happens! Pretty much exactly the way it does in the show. Because none of this really changes anything that happens in canon, just our perspective of it.

Until Morgause comes along that is.

Here’s the thing: there’s several ways that you can interpret the scene in canon with Arthur and Igraine in ‘Sins of the Father’. Either you can interpret it as Igraine hating Uther and wanting him dead, whether she’s telling the truth as she knows it or lying to manipulate Arthur, either way she’s trying to get Uther killed and Arthur is who she’s using to do it. Or you can interpret it as Morgause controlling an apparition of Arthur’s mother and using that to manipulate Arthur into killing Uther. End result is the same for all three.

But this is where it gets interesting in this scenario. If we’re going with the interpretation that it’s not actually Igraine and just something conjured by Morgause then we can just happily assume that Morgause doesn’t know about the true circumstances surrounding how Uther and Igraine met and ended up married. After all, Morgause didn’t grow up in Camelot and I’m willing to bet that the number of people who both know the details and are willing to risk talking about it (remember in canon bringing up Igraine is basically taboo - Gaius does it once and Uther immediately threatens him with either execution or exile - I can’t remember which) is probably a solid zero. If any of the magical people that escaped the initial Purge in Camelot know about it then they’re probably less focussed on the whole “Igraine was a war bride” thing and more on the “Uther is a massive hypocrite and used our powers to conquer Camelot before turning on us” thing, which means the chances of Morgause knowing the truth is basically zilch. So of course Morgause is going straight for the hypocrisy of Arthur’s birth - she doesn’t know about the rest of it! (Incidentally I’ve always wondered how Morgause knew that, especially since she wasn’t surprised by Igraine’s declaration, which means if it was the real Igraine speaking then Morgause already knew beforehand)

But see that’s just assuming Morgause is pulling all the strings. If we’re going with the interpretation of it actually being Igraine talking to Arthur? That Igraine is the one that wants Uther dead at the hands of his son? (which in this scenario depends on how much she loves Arthur versus how much she hates Uther) Igraine doesn’t have to lie to Arthur, hell she doesn’t even have to bring up his birth at all. All she has to do to get Arthur to turn on Uther is to tell him the truth about how she and Uther ended up married.

And here is where we decide where the divergence is. Because there’s two very obvious choices. Here: during “Sins of the Father” when Arthur speaks to his mother’s ghost (and we’re assuming it’s Igraine and we’re assuming that she doesn’t want to lie to her son), or later, in s3/4 gap, where Agravain returns to Camelot for the first time since he lost his siblings.

If the canon divergence is here, then Igraine is probably honest with Arthur, whether she encourages or discourages his actions depends on how much she loves Arthur. But either way it’s not going to go the way of canon.

Because, see, it’s very easy to dismiss Igraine’s words as an enchantment if it’s about the price of Arthur’s birth. That’s not going to be something that anyone will admit to knowing about unless they’re already an enemy of Camelot. There’s not going to be any records of that - there’s basically no one alive that would know because Uther is very much not the type to confide in his knights or Lords, and in fact barely confides in Gaius when he absolutely has to. But if it’s about Igraine being Uther’s war bride? There’s going to be records of that. There are going to be people alive who remember Camelot before Uther, hell there are probably still knights around that fought alongside Uther when he conquered it.

All Arthur has to do to get confirmation is go to Geoffery in the Library and ask for information on his mother’s family to see whether it was a lie or not. Or he could ask one of Uther’s knights or Lords. None of them are going to deny Arthur information on his father’s great victory in conquering Camelot.

I like to call Arthur an idiot (affectionate) but he’s not stupid. He can put the pieces he’s got together enough to know that regardless of whether his father loved his mother or not, Uther was responsible for the fact that 3/4 of her family is dead and the chances of her being a willing bride are not particularly high. He probably contacts Agravain then. Asks about his mother and whether it’s true that it was the Du Bois family that ruled Camelot before the Pendragons.

We know that Agravain is smart, slick, and politically astute. He can see which way the wind is blowing. He also has an ear to the ground in Camelot, so he knows that the people love Arthur more than they fear Uther, and that the younger knights, those that didn’t ride alongside Uther when he conquered Camelot, will follow Arthur too. Agravain invites Arthur to his castle (is it a castle that he lives in? I don’t remember...) and sits him down and tells him everything he knows.

Arthur rides back to Camelot with his Uncle at his side and deposes his father in a bloodless coup with the accusation of treason against the people of Camelot. He imprisons Uther. He probably tells Morgana the truth about what he’s learnt.

Arthur doesn’t trust magic, but he also learned that mistrust from his father. He remembers the light that saved his life when he went after the Morteus flower, he remembers the druid boy that he helped save and the druids he returned him to. He remembers how unreasonable his father has always been as soon as magic is so much as mentioned. He remembers how Morgause used magic. How without her he never would have met his mother. How he probably never would have learnt the truth.

Arthur tentatively talks to Agravain, who has no quarrel with magic, and Leon who will be loyal to his prince (his King now) no matter what he decides. To Morgana who is hiding magic of her own, to Merlin whose advice he values even if he’ll never admit it, to Gwen who he no longer needs to hide his affection for.

Arthur decides that it’s worth it to try to trust, and wants to speak with the druids who have always been peaceful. Morgana in turn, takes a leap of faith, having not yet let her fear turn her against Arthur, and tells him about her nightmares. About the magic that she struggles to control and still fears. About what really happened with the druids when Uther declared her kidnapped.

They decide to keep this a secret between the two of them and their two personal servants and start to take action to relegalise magic in Camelot and attempt to make amends to all the people that Uther hurt.

Uther catches wind of this where he languishes in his prison (he does still hold the loyalty of more people than Arthur would probably be comfortable with) and in a last ditch attempt to get his throne back, demands to speak to Morgana and tells her the truth about her heritage.

Morgana is horrified. But this Morgana hasn’t spent a year in exile and isn’t willing to attempt to steal the throne from a man who has been nothing but truthful with her and accepted her when she was truthful in turn. This Morgana doesn’t hear “you’re my daughter” and jump to “I’m an heir to the throne” she hears “you’re Arthur’s sister” and jumps to “there is a legitimate tie binding us in a way that the Lords can’t dispute”. Far from turning them against each other like Uther hopes, this only makes their bond stronger.

Merlin eventually confesses to his magic too. Or maybe Morgana catches him when he gets careless and promptly tells on him to Arthur. Either way, Camelot legalises magic under King Arthur and his royal sister, and Albion is one step closer to its Golden Age.

In the other scenario, where the canon divergence is between s3 and s4, we’re going to assume that Agravain only joined Morgana after he came to Camelot.

In this scenario, Agravain still tells Arthur everything he knows. Except Arthur now knows that he has a sister, his father is ill and unlikely to ever recover, he’s already King in all but name, and he has a small but strong group of knights who have already proven they’ll go through hell for him. I’m not really sure how this one will play out if I’m honest.

There’s less motivation for Arthur to relegalise magic, he’s already basically King, no coup required. The only thing that really changes and properly affects the story is that Agravain is on Arthur’s side, not Morgana’s. Because he wants the throne to go back to the Du Bois bloodline. Although actually, Arthur probably changes his name (and possibly his standard) to reflect that.

This could probably have a butterfly effect over s4-5 but fundamentally Arthur’s position isn’t really changed other than not declaring his own war on magic after his father dies but again, not sure how much will change since Morgana’s still out there and hating Arthur’s guts, although if Arthur makes a huge announcemnet about it then she’s probably at least a little infuriated that the claim she has to the throne has just been nullified.

...and now I really want like 60k of fic on either of these scenarios

#merlin #merlin au #sins of the father #canon divergence #arthur #arthur pendragon #uther #agravaine #ask #anon #look at this amazing what if scenario that reira tendo just gave me #like arthur has so many parent related issues #i feel like he really would just go straight for what uther would call treason #basically as soon as he was prompted #(that's pretty much just canon) #arthur just cannot stomach the hypocrisy #or anyone hurting his people #unfortunately in this scenario #uther is the one hurting his people #and even though arthur wants his fathers approval #he cares about his people more

[panharmonium]

Hi! Love your blog l, found it today and inhaled all of your Merlin Meta. All of it just resonated with me. So, I just wanted to ask what your thoughts were on 2x08 when Merlin lied to Arthur about the truth of his birth, and what other ways it could have possibly played out, i.e. do you think it would have been possible for Merlin to have stopped Arthur from killing Uther but without saying that Morgause was lying?

Hi, nice to meet you! :D  So, I’ll admit right up front that the first part of my answer to this is gonna be super boring, because I am totally the worst person to ask about other ways this scene (or any scene, really) could have played out.  I’ve never had much interest in AU scenarios, so I virtually never think about them - I think the only exception is the “Will comes to Camelot” story that a few friends and I are perpetually playing around with, and that’s only interesting to me because it’s Will, and I enjoy pretty much anything where he’s concerned. X) 

But besides that, I don’t typically enjoy thinking about alternate pathways - I really like the way the canon Merlin story plays out up until the finale, so generally all I want to do is think about the canon.  I’ve never wanted to dream up new ways for things to go (I dunno why; I’ve just never gotten much interest out of it).  So unfortunately I don’t have any cool ideas about other ways this could have played out, but I know there are tons of people in this fandom who love making lots of AUs, so maybe if anybody has recommendations they can point you in the right direction in the replies here!

In terms of just general thoughts on 2.08, one of the most interesting things to me about this episode to me is how Morgause actually *is* lying (not completely, but enough.)  She doesn’t tell Arthur the whole truth about what happened with Uther, and she doesn’t even truly summon Ygraine; it’s an illusion of Morgause’s own making.  And we know that because “Ygraine” herself gives it away - earlier in this episode, Arthur says, “I never knew [my mother].  She died before I opened my eyes,” but then when the so-called Ygraine appears, the show specifically makes sure to have her say, “When I last held you, you were a tiny baby.  I remember your eyes.  You were staring up at me.”  Which is the tip-off for us - that’s not her.  

And because of this, Morgause has complete control over the framing of what Arthur hears in this scene.  It’s true that Uther went to Nimueh, and it’s true that he knew a life would have to be taken in return, but he didn’t know whose.  Morgause, though, through her illusion of Ygraine, specifically makes it sound like Uther knew Ygraine herself would die (”He sacrificed my life so the Pendragon dynasty could continue”), and I mean, it’s not that I think Uther’s decision is any better just because he was willing to sacrifice some random person’s life instead of his wife’s, but it’s relevant that Morgause embellishes the truth specifically to engineer a particular reaction from Arthur.

And, given this, it’s also relevant to note that Merlin doesn’t actually lie to Arthur at the end of this episode.  He says, “Morgause is lying.  She’s an enchantress.  She tricked you.  That wasn't your mother.  It was an illusion.  Everything, everything your mother said to you - those were Morgause's words.”  And that’s true.  Arthur makes the assumption that this means that the substance of Morgause’s words was all false - and Merlin allows him to think this - but Merlin never actually says as much.  

And to be honest, it shouldn’t even matter what Merlin says.  Afterwards, when Arthur asks Uther flat-out whether Merlin is right, Uther never actually denies the part he played in Ygraine’s death.  Arthur says, “Swear to me that it isn’t true, that you are not responsible for her death,” but Uther just replies, “I swear on my life, I loved your mother.  There isn't a day that passes that I don't wish she were alive.  I could never have done anything to hurt her.”  It’s a pretty clever bit of maneuvering, but it’s not a denial.  He swears that he loved her.  He doesn’t swear that he didn’t cause her death.  

And the thing is, Arthur is fully capable of realizing this.  Uther’s dodge is painfully obvious to everyone listening.  Arthur knows what he really asked his father, and he hears the evasion his father offers in response, same as everybody else in the room.  Regardless of what Merlin said previously about Morgause (all of which is technically correct!), Arthur is still completely capable of arriving at the truth on his own.  Uther’s own words make it very clear.  If Arthur would just think about it a little harder, or look at it a little deeper, he would see that.  

But he doesn’t want to.  He chooses not to examine it too closely.  It would be too hard to accept, and it would hurt too much, and the only way he can make all his difficult feelings go away is to fall back on a familiar, comfortable, “sorcery is evil” explanation.  It papers over the truth for him.  It allows him to continue on with his life without having to confront pain.

And that’s a problem, as I’ve said many times before.  We can rag on Merlin all we want for having the audacity to stop a friend from committing patricide, and we can blame him for arresting Arthur’s momentum and letting Uther live and sentencing the magical community to further suffering, but the ultimate fact of the matter is that Arthur is the one who ultimately chooses to look away here.  Arthur has all of the information he needs regardless of what Merlin says, and he chooses not to pursue it, because it would cause him too much pain.

And it’s not the first time he’s done this.  I talked about it before, in the tags of this post, when Arthur reacts to a so-called sorcerer who dies saving his life, and it’s the same exact progression - he’s confronted by something that challenges his worldview, and for a second he feels troubled/pained/guilty, and then, to escape those uncomfortable feelings, he retreats back into a framework that makes sense to him.  A framework that is easier for him.  A framework that hurts less, and, most importantly, a framework that doesn’t implicate him in any wrongdoing.

So what I’m saying is, in my opinion, it doesn’t matter if Merlin tells Arthur that Morgause was tricking him or not.  She was!  And Merlin’s acknowledgment of that fact isn’t enough to dissuade Arthur from attacking his father; Arthur is still pressing Uther to swear his innocence after Merlin says it.  It’s Uther’s words that make Arthur back down, but those words are also exactly what make Uther’s guilt apparent.  

Arthur just doesn’t want to acknowledge it yet.

#the once and future slowburn #meta #replies #hope this is at least slightly relevant to what you were asking! #sorry i couldn't help with the first part of this question! au's are way out of my wheelhouse generally XD

[ursus-mari]

Arthur comes from humble beginnings, but when his village is destroyed in a raid and his family slaughtered, he ends up in Camelot, desperate for work. There he meets Merlin, the physician’s apprentice, when Merlin challenges a knight acting like an ass and Arthur jumps in to stop the idiot from getting killed. Uther is still king, Morgana is still the king’s ward, and Gwen is still her maid. Arthur is actually Uther’s kid, but he was smuggled out like Morgause because Uther was outraged and in grief about the whole Ygraine thing and blamed baby Arthur. When Uther looks at Arthur for the first time, it’s like he’s seen a ghost, but of course he thinks Arthur is dead and isn’t too suspicious. (I just... I want Arthur to be king because he’s good at it, not because of his bloodline and right to the throne. This doesn’t really do that, but it helps with Arthur’s arrogance issues, and his Uther given issues in general, and it means he can prove himself outside of the Pendragon legacy and tyranny)

(Once they’re thrown in the cells, Arthur turns to the skinny, pasty twig of a man and slaps him upside the head. “You idiot!”

“Ow!” The boy scowls at him. “What was that for?”

“Challenging knights to a fight! Do you have some sort of death wish?”

The boy pouts at him. “I could’ve taken them,” he sulks, affronted.

“I’m stuck in a jail cell with a suicidal, delusional idiot,” Arthur says faintly.

The boy scowls harder and pokes at Arthur’s chest. “No one said you had to jump in.”

Arthur gives the boy a disbelieving look. “They would have pulverized you.”

“Would not.”

“They were twice your size!” Arthur returns. The boy merely shrugs and crosses his arms. Arthur buries his face in his hands. “Do I want to know why you picked a fight nobles who are also trained to kill?”

“They were picking on a servant,” the boy says, heated. “Throwing spears at him, using him for target practice. I couldn’t just sit there.”

Oh. Arthur is kind of glad he landed a good shot now, even more glad than he was when he noticed the burly men threatening a slip of a boy. But still. “So you get yourself arrested? Possibly killed? Do you have no sense of self preservation?”

The boy snorts at him. “Says the man who stepped into the fight with no context.”

Arthur flushes. “I don’t like bullies.”

“Well, neither do I,” the boy says simply, and collapses cross legged on the floor as if the matter is closed, and also like they’re not sitting in a cell. “I’m Merlin, by the way. Who might you be, sir knight?”

“I’m no knight,” Arthur mutters with a scowl.

“You sure fought like one,” Merlin replies, looking up at him with a goofy grin. “And you certainly acted more honorably than those men did.”

Arthur’s face heats, and he looks to the ground to avoid Merlin’s bright eyes. “Arthur. My name is Arthur.”

“Nice to make your acquaintance, Sir Arthur,” Merlin chirps, taking Arthur’s resulting scowl with a sunny smile.

After some time, in which Merlin chatters easily and Arthur reluctantly opens up a bit about his circumstances, a furious old man wearing tattered robes comes to yell at Merlin and collect him early, which Arthur finds deeply unfair until he learns the alternative punishment is the stocks, at which point he makes peace with the dungeons. At least here he can move and isn’t being pelted with rotten fruit.

Merlin gives Arthur a quick, cheery wave as he’s dragged off, and then he’s left in peace. The cell feels too empty and quiet, all of a sudden.)

Yes I do recognize that there is much irony in Arthur being regarded as honorable and good because he interfered in the very bad thing he did in canon. Shhh, let me have my fun. I am gently poking fun at him.

#bbc merlin #bbc merlin gen #merlin and arthur #not inherently either #coin metaphors #mine #text #mari writes stuff

[and-damntheconsequences]

Thinking about Nimueh and how she honestly deserved better too. I mean she at least deserved to live long enough in the series to become a true villain.

She was considered a good person before the Purge; she must have been to be in the King's Court. In fact she even says that she was Uther's friend. She was respected and cared for.

And then Uther asks her a favour and doesn't understand what the price might be. They both knew a life would need to be taken, but neither of them knew it would be Ygraine. If she had known that, if she had known the terrible retribution Uther would seek, she never would have done it. It was an honest mistake on her part — she never meant it to happen. And while perhaps she COULD have found a way around the whole balance thing, she's a high priestess. She works within the Old Religion, not just using its magic apart from it. The balance is important to her, because she doesn't want the power she has to be taken advantage of.

And for that honest mistake, because she didn't know what might happen, she is thrown from the court. She loses everything. The life she built up is gone. And then Uther massacres her kind. She is forced to watch him take blades and fire to everyone who is like her, including children, including her friends.

She has every reason to hate his guts.

And perhaps she does target the wrong people, but I don't blame her for it. Uther has killed without reason or sense; she needs revenge and she's owed it. It isn't enough to kill the King. She wants him to suffer and she suffered, to watch as his people die at the hands of something out of his control and stronger than he can fight.

She threatens Arthur's life because that is the one person who's death will truly hurt him (except Morgana, but I think she knows of Morgana's magic before she does, or at least she would know of Morgause, and therefore wouldn't hurt her). But still she knows that the power of his life and death isn't truly hers. And when asked to save him, she does.

But, just like Uther, Merlin doesn't know what the price will be and he isn't willing to. pay it. And he kills her.

Do I think she was manipulative, targeted the wrong people, and showed she was willing to be cruel? Yes. But do I think those tendencies were justified and that she deserved so much more, and that she should never have been seen as a true villain? Yes.

But no, the show would have us believe that Nimueh, Morgause, and Morgana are the true villains. And while they aren't good, they could never match up to the evils Uther has done. Twenty years of massacre is pushed under the rug a little bit too much than is comfortable.

#nimueh #bbc merlin #merlin #merlin headcanon #merlin characters

[shanastoryteller]

Happy pride!

Ygraine please?

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5

Ygraine had wanted children. She'd imagined a great big family, raising the prince and princesses of Camelot to be warriors and scholars, entertained the thought that she might even give birth to a sorcerer, someone for Nimueh and Gaius to argue over and train. She imagined a Camelot where the highest offices in the land where held by brothers and sisters, united in the love she would instill in them that the petty fights over power would not tear at the next king like it did Uther.

An optimistic view, perhaps, but she'd grown up so close with her brothers that it had seemed not only possible, but probable. She had chosen Uther and her brothers had groaned and complained and picked up their swords and fought for Uther, fought at her side and at his and had never looked back. Because a choice made by one was a choice made by all, so united and determined they were to be more than the parents that had raised them.

She had not considered how that love could sour, how that devotion could bring ruin rather than salvation.

“Tristan is dead,” she repeats, as if that will make it more real and less horrible. Her own death is sad, and Arthur growing up motherless is its own special kind of grief, but her eldest, beloved brother dead not a week behind her is a hell that she’d hoped to never have to endure.

She blames Uther for much, but she can’t blame him for this. If Tristan had really believed her death his fault, when he’d never liked Uther much himself, he would not have stopped until he had Uther’s head. She believes that Uther tried to calm him, to stay his hand, if for no other reason than their shared love of her. But as terrible as Tristan’s death is, as her death will be, leaving Arthur an orphan would be a far greater crime. He should have known that.

“I’m sorry, your majesty,” Gaius says softly.

She pushes down the pain. She will see Tristan again, of course. She will return to her own time, to have the next king of Camelot, to give birth to a boy with her eyes and hair and her skill with a blade, and she will see her brother alive again.

Changes cannot be made. Must not be made. Have not. What has happened shall happen and any attempt to change that will only mire the last few, short years of her life in misery. She will embrace her brother and kiss Nimueh’s cheek and must say nothing of their devastation that awaits them.

“I must speak to Agravaine,” she says.

Agravaine’s devotion had been quieter, his actions sly and his humor dry, but his love no less powerful.

Gaius hesitates. “Your majesty, that may not be the best idea. Losing you once was difficult for him. To lose you twice-”

“I must speak with him,” she says, sharpening her voice to a tone that Gaius has always known better than to question.

Uther is in danger. Perhaps even Arthur is too.

Tristan believed that Uther was responsible for her death and that his life must be forfeit because of it.

A choice made by one of them is a choice made by all.

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #anon #merlin

[tyrseward]

title: the castle guides  word count: 1446 notes: so a while ago i thought about the idea of like. camelot’s castle being. somewhat sentient? like, according to the curse of cornelius sigan, “legend has it, [cornelius sigan’s] spells helped build camelot itself” & i’m a fan of magic within a structure taking a life of its own so. this was inevitable for me aslhgdgd. i started writing this??? A While ago. a couple years ago, probably. so i’m sharing the first part, here. takes place during excalibur (1.09). summary: In which Camelot was built and forged with magic, and she has a way of ensuring her inhabitants are where they need to be when life-changing secrets are whispered into hidden corners of her halls.

Or, in which no one understands what keeps calling them away to stand in odd places and eavesdrop on the king.

Gwen isn’t sure why she’s standing outside the council chambers, alone in the empty halls in the early night. She is meant to be going home, having been dismissed from Morgana’s service only minutes earlier, and yet, here she is.

A part of her is screaming for her to leave, to run away before she is caught lurking. Another part of her, the one that trusts her instincts more than any logic, is louder.

She stays.

“Gwen?” Merlin’s voice calls out from behind, and she jumps, startled.

“Merlin?” She asks, whirling around to face him. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“I could say the same thing to you,” he responds. Nevertheless, he answers her. “Saw Gaius trying to be sneaky getting here, so I’m here to eavesdrop.”

“Shameless, you are,” she mutters. If she weren’t also here, doing the same thing, she might be disapproving.

“You’re one to talk,” Merlin huffs, a grin splitting his face for an instant, but it falls as Gaius’ voice trails from the chambers.

“Good evening, Sire.”

“Gaius.”

Gwen shifts uneasily, another thought of “I shouldn’t be here” racing through her mind. Beside her, Merlin leans toward her, presses his arm against hers lightly.

“There is a matter of great urgency, which I must discuss with you.”

“Then spit it out.”

“Tristan's tomb is empty. I believe he's been conjured from the dead.”

A noise of confusion escapes her before she can help it, and she shoots Merlin a glare when he shushes her. He winces and shoots her a look promising to explain later.

“How is this possible?” Uther’s voice rings out, tinged with anger and what she would call fear if it were any other person.

“I believe he's a wraith.”

“A spirit?”

“He has come to take vengeance for Ygraine's death.”

Oh, she thinks, I should definitely not be here.

Still, she’s already heard this much, and not knowing what else is said will surely drive her mad.

So, she stays.

“It was magic that killed her, not I.”

Merlin tenses, and Gwen glances at him out of the corner of her eye. He looks as shocked as she is, more so, even. Beyond that, he looks, well, hurt. She grabs his hand, and he grips back tightly.

“Nevertheless, it was you he blamed. You cannot allow Arthur to fight. No weapon forged by man can kill a wraith. It will stop at nothing till it has accomplished what it came for. Arthur cannot win, he will die.”

“He will not listen to me.”

“Then you must tell him who the knight is.”

“No.”

“You cannot hide the truth forever.”

“I am the King. You will not tell me what I can and cannot do.” Uther’s response is cold, dangerous.

Gwen is reminded of how terrifying the king can truly be, and she hates it, hates being here. She wants to leave, wants to run away and take Merlin with her to make sure he’s out of the king’s reach, too.

“That is your choice, Sire. You tell him, or let him go to his death.”

“No one but you or I will ever know the secret of Arthur's birth.”

“The boy is of age, he should know.”

“Never! You made an oath. I warn you not to break it.”

“Very well, Sire.”

“Leave me.”

They are gone before the chamber doors open, Gwen trailing helplessly behind Merlin as her mind reels.

Eventually, Merlin brings them to a stop in an alcove just outside the library.

“Alright, let me explain what I know, and then you ask anything else you want to know,” Merlin starts, already stumbling over his words in classic Merlin fashion, brain moving too fast for his mouth to keep up with.

“Alright,” she agrees, but Merlin is already rushing to explain.

“So, Tristan du Bois is Arthur’s uncle, his mother’s brother. He challenged Uther to a duel after Ygraine died ‘cos he blamed Uther for her death. Uther defeats Tristan, killing him, and Tristan vows to get his revenge. And now he’s back as a wraith, which means someone summoned his spirit, though I’ve no clue who would want to do that.”

Gwen can’t help it. She stares.

One minute drags into two, and Merlin shuffles uncomfortably.

“Okay,” she manages. “Right. So - so, how do we stop it? The wraith?”

Merlin blinks once, twice.

“We?” He asks.

“I know you, Merlin,” she responds. “You’ve already got half a plan, and there’s no way I’m letting you do this on your own.”

Merlin hesitates, but after a moment, he nods, a grin splitting his face.

“Alright,” he says. “First off, we’ve got to break into the library.”

Gwen grabs a book just before it tumbles off the stack piled on Merlin’s arms.

“Merlin,” she scolds, “can we focus, please?”

“Yeah, sure, but - but where - how - you know how to pick a lock?” He drops the books onto the table and they thud loudly, causing both of them to flinch. “And can you show me how?”

Gwen huffs a laugh, then nods. “Yes, Merlin. But I’ll tell you about it later, when there isn’t a wraith to destroy.”

Briefly, Gwen wonders if this is meant to be her new normal, fighting magic late at night, in secret. It should probably disturb her more than it does, but, well, it’s far too late for her to be worrying about much of anything other than the task before her.

Of course, then Geoffrey appears with a scowl, and her trail of thought is lost to panic-guilt-fear and “oh gods, Merlin’s the one coming up with an excuse.” It turns out alright, in the end, she thinks.

“Right,” Merlin begins, once they’ve left the library and Geoffrey’s disapproving frown - and she feels a bit bad, leaving him without so much as a “thank you” or “goodnight” but Merlin was dragging her out before she could protest. “Right, so I’ve got an idea.”

He leaves it there, so Gwen pokes his arm lightly. “And that is?”

“Can you get a sword? One your father made, maybe? It needs to be a good one.”

“Of course, but, Merlin, we’d need a dragon, wouldn’t we? And they’re all dead.”

“Right,” Merlin says again, with a tone Gwen is beginning to dread. “So, about that, you need to promise not to freak out.”

“What, there’s not one living under the castle or anything, is there?”

Merlin doesn’t respond.

“Merlin? Tell me there isn’t.”

“So, you’ll get the sword, then meet me near the dungeons?” Merlin asks. He doesn’t wait for a response. “Great, see you in a bit.”

With that, he dashes off, heedless of Gwen’s stuttered protests.

“I have the sword,” Gwen says in greeting as she walks up to where Merlin lurks. “Now, where you plan to find a dragon, I have decided, for the sake of my sanity, I do not want to know.”

“That’s… probably a good idea,” he mutters, nodding. “Still, thank you, Gwen. You’ve been a big help.”

“Of course, Merlin,” she responds. “You know I’m always here for you.”

“I do.” Merlin grins, takes the sword from her. “Now, time to reforge a sword.”

Then, Merlin, in true Merlin fashion, takes off once more, disappearing around a corner and out of sight.

“Gods,” she murmurs, setting off toward home, finally, “please don’t let there actually be a dragon living under the castle.”

Later, after the rumors and gossip surrounding the Wraith Incident, as Merlin has dubbed it, dies down, Gwen pulls him to the side.

He’s meant to be preparing Arthur for training, and she’s meant to be doing laundry, but she can find no better time for them to speak.

“Merlin,” she says, voice low and hesitant. “What about… what about what Uther said? About Queen Ygraine’s death?”

When Merlin doesn’t respond after a while, she glances up at him briefly. He has a frown on his face, one too somber and tinged with anger for her comfort.

“I don’t know,” he says eventually. “There wasn’t much of an explanation. And besides, we’re sooner to lose our heads than find any answers if we go poking around.”

“You’re right.” Gwen frowns, now, too. “But that doesn’t mean I like it.”

“Neither do I,” Merlin agrees.

It’s the last they mention it for a long time.

#tyrseward writes #bbc merlin #fic: the castle guides

[turnedwicked]

after watching merl.in prequels, i want to make a few things clear in my own portrayal.

uther and ygraine were happily married, so were gorlois and vivienne. they were all friends, gorlois and uther being friends since gorlois joined the knights as a young man and helped uther during his reign.

vivienne was not ygraine’s maid as i’ve seen around. she was of a noble family, otherwise she wouldn’t have married gorlois who was the king’s most trusted knight. she was born with magic but back then, magic was not looked upon.

this leads us to nimueh — as magic was still allowed in the kingdom, it’s only natural that the royal family had a sorceress in their court. that was nimueh, who was also born with magic, and worked alongside with gaius.

morgause is gorlois and vivienne’s first daughter.

when gorlois is sent to battle, vivienne finds herself alone. her relationship with ygraine has fallen when the queen can’t have a heir, unlike vivienne. uther and ygraine’s relationship is at trouble as well, as uther is desperate for the heir he deserves, the heir of the pendragon name and the future of camelot. vivienne doesn’t have her husband by her side for the first time, not sure if he’ll return alive, her friend has abandoned her because she has a daughter. in their loneliness, both uther and vivienne find themselves together — nine months after, morgana is born. gorlois is back in time to see the newborn and accepts her as his own.

one year has passed and ygraine still isn’t able to carry a pregnancy until the end. i highly believe she had miscarriages until uther asks nimueh, his trusted sorceress for help. nimueh advises him that all magic comes with a price but uther is certain of his decision. arthur is born but ygraine dies a week later.

devastated by grief, uther blames nimueh for hiding the truth. a war against all magic begans and the great purge is set into motion.

before arthur’s birth, gorlois is sent again into battle so he is away when the great purge begins and is unaware of what is going on in camelot. uther sentences vivienne and morgause to die and desperate, vivienne asks gaius to save her daughter. gaius smuggles young morgause out of camelot but forges her death for uther’s belief.

morgana is spared as she is a baby, with no display of magic, and unknown to everyone is uther’s biological daughter.

gorlois returns to have both his eldest daughter and wife killed. after trying to change the king’s mind, he decides to leave camelot with morgana, hoping they can find peace. morgana is raised by gorlois alone. over the years, uther reaches out and gorlois is left with a decision — either he returns as a knight of camelot or he’s stripped of his title and needs to leave the kingdom. for morgana’s sake, he stays.

ten years later after the great purge, gorlois leaves again for battle and makes uther promise him that he will take care of morgana if anything happens to him. she has no one else. reinforcements were too late and as many knights, gorlois died.

at eleven years old, morgana moves to camelot’s castle and is entitled as the king’s ward.

#&. * what if magic isn’t something we choose? what if it chooses you? // headcanon. #i'm not sure if all of this makes sense but this is how i'm going with things in canon !! #they never gave us anything on the events prior to canon so i'm making my own #anyway feel free to shoot me a message if you have any question or we can plot in the blanks as well #i also have a verse where morgana isn't uther daughter and that has to be written as well because things are different

[camelotsheart]

Alright. I’m watching 1x11 and trying a new way of liveblogging. Which is just me writing random paragraphs. Enjoy.

A creature of magic mourning the loss of a creature of magic 😭

“Arthur is a hunter. It's in his blood. Whereas you are something entirely different.“ reminds me of “He is a weapon, a killer. Do not forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.“ “You are wrong.” Especially with the way that Arthur then proves what is in his heart by the end of the episode, and how his ‘heart’ is shown to constantly guide him towards the ‘correct’ choice in s5 (e.g. “My heart says do anything I can to save Mordred.“)

“You've got a face like a wounded bear ever since we got back from that hunting trip." Arthur means bear. I have no idea what to do with this information.

The unicorn as a metaphor for those sorcerers who “do no harm” and thus Camelot serves no purpose in killing them. Especially since people like the Disir and Alator describe the purge as a “hunt”.

The drought serving as a parallel to the events that happened before the purge to Uther, in that Arthur sees all the harm that “magic” is doing to the land and his people, just like Uther witnesses Ygraine’s death. Arthur initially refuses to accept that what happens is caused by him, just like Uther does. But unlike Uther, Arthur is able to acknowledge his mistakes given time (it’s interesting how in the book adaptation of 1x02 merlin makes this comparison too)

“If it is magic, it's more powerful magic than I possess.“ So unicorn magic is more powerful than Merlin’s magic. Would dragon magic be more powerful too? Is that why Merlin couldn’t heal Arthur from the poison of Mordred’s sword tha was forged in a dragon’s breath?

Merlin not understanding hand signals is my life 😂💖

Ok I can literally draw so many parallels between Anhora and Arthur’s first conversation, and Nimueh and Uther’s conversation in 1x09. Especially from how both Arthur and Uther seem completely unable to understand how the ‘curse’ that happened to Ygraine and Camelot was technically their fault.

“And could you bear for your children to see you be executed?“ The way in which Arthur says this breaks my heart because he does understand the feeling of blaming himself for the loss of a parent, just like those hypothetical children would. This is highlighted more by the fact that Evan later plays on Arthur’s insecurities about being his father’s son.

“If you're tested again, you have a chance to end your people's suffering. I know you want that more than anything." Reminds me of what Bradley says about Arthur putting Camelot above everything, even his personal relationships. Compare this to Lancelot and Merlin, who’s “something that is more important than anything” is a person (or people, in the case of Lancelot).

I LOVE S1 MORGANA. S1 AND 2 MORGWEN WOULD HAVE MADE A PERFECT QUEEN DUO FIGHT ME.

Merlin’s face when Arthur says he’s going to the forest to seek Anhorra out 🥺 Also the way he looks back like he wants to see the exact moment Arthur figures out that he’s eating rat meat 🤣 Merlin’s sarcastic little nod. Arthur’s shit-eating grin. This is what I mean by sibling dynamics.

AND THEN THEY TURN ON MORGANA ASDJSAJASLDKKLDJSA. MERLIN. ARTHUR. NO 🤣🤣🤣

“The King must wonder if you are even his son.“ I absolutely do not like how Anhora chose to do the test with Evan here. I hate it. But it does prepare Arthur for a lot of things. It prepares him to do things his father normally would not do. It prepares him to ignore when people compare him to his father (not that it worked with Agravaine, but Arthur does eventually come around most of the time with Merlin’s help). I find it like a mini 5x03 in a way. Also the fact that Arthur doesn’t even try to defend himself by saying that the looter would have been executed by the law of the land anyway; because deep down he knows that reasoning is wrong. What needs to be changed currently is Arthur’s arrogance in regards to his honour, not his internal morals. He has already proven his internal morals with saving Mordred, laying down his life in 1x09, as well as rescuing Ealdor and his reaction to finding out Will was a sorcerer in 1x10. Right now, Arthur needs to be able to accept that he is wrong.

“Besides I would rather starve than beg my enemies for help! What of our kingdom's reputation? Have you no pride?” “I cannot think of my pride when our people go hungry. They're all I can think of.” I’m screaming over the fact that what ends up beating sense into Arthur is his love for his people. I want to cry. He loves his people so much that his battle cry is “for the love of Camelot” 😭❤️

“Very well. But if you'd caught the sorcerer, I would not have to. That's your responsibility! One day you will understand what it takes to be King!” One day, Uther, you’ll learn to blame yourself for other people’s suffering.

“My people are starving. Camelot is on the verge of collapse. And it is all my doing.“ IT DIDN’T EVEN TAKE ARTHUR A DAY TO LEARN THIS I WANT TO CRY 😭 FUCK YOU UTHER YOU DON’T DESERVE ARTHUR AT ALL. (also the fact that Arthur fiddles with Ygraine’s ring as he says this 😭❤️)

“I trust Arthur with my life” the fact that arthur proves that trust right both in this episode by drinking the goblet and in the previous episode by admitting that he “of course” would not kill Will despite thinking he was a sorcerer.

Why the hell does Anhora use a sword to cast the vine spell.

“I thought I told you to stay at home.” Every time Arthur calls Camelot ‘home’ for Merlin I 🥺

Are those carvings... horseshoes...? Making the shape of a heart....? I--

(Sorry guys. By this point it’s 200% certain that my shipper brain is going to take over. Please expect a lot of screaming)

“What kind of ridiculous test is that? What does that prove?” “What it proves is for you to decide.” Which means that by the end, Arthur realizes what this test proves. And he proves what is truly in his heart by sacrificing his life for merlin. Remember “To sacrifice his life to save Gwen’s... I can’t imagine any man loving me so much.” “I certainly can’t imagine that either” “That’s because you’re not like Merlin. He’s a lover” “Yeah? Maybe that’s because I haven’t found the right person to love”. Remember how in the book adaptation this episode, it says that Arthur proves that there is love in his heart by giving his life for Merlin? Remember “there was magic at the heart of Camelot”? Remember how in the book version Arthur doesn’t deny having love in his heart when Anhora says so when the Unicorn lives again, and instead turns his head to smile at Merlin--

“I’m glad you’re here, Merlin.” @thebookluvrr1816​ More 1x11-finale parallels to scream about 😭 The book version describes Merlin’s surprise at this statement, and how he thought it was “ironic and unfair” that they understood each other "at the very moment that death was about to tear them apart.”

“No, I will drink it!” “As if I’d let you.” Someone stop these dollopheads from having a domestic about who will die for the other i beg

“You know me, Merlin. I never listen to you.” reminds me of “I’m the king Merlin, you can’t tell me what to do.” “I always have. I’m not going to change now.” Also, in the books Arthur actually says “farewell, Merlin” after this. Book Arthur is way more suave just saying.

HOW ARTHUR LOOKS INTO MERLIN’S EYES IN HIS FINAL MOMENTS UNTIL HE ISN’T PHYSICALLY ABLE TO ANYMORE. SOMEONE HELP ME 😭

“This was Arthur's test, not yours.“ idk but this reminds me of the fisher king saying “For this is not Arthur's quest, it is yours.“

“You've killed him! I was meant to protect him!” This is going to sound harsh but by this point I think Merlin was still putting Arthur’s destiny above Arthur himself. In the books, there’s a distinct difference in how he feels about Arthur’s death in this scene compared to 1x13 (I’m amazed at how fast his feelings changes, actually). Here, I feel like he focuses more on his own failure to protect Arthur as part of his destiny, but in 1x13, he says that the idea of destiny not being fulfilled was nothing compared to the idea of not being by Arthur’s side. I wonder what happens between this and 1x13 for Merlin’s feelings to change so much.

THIS HAS PROBABLY BEEN STATED MULTIPLE TIMES BEFORE BUT “HE HAS PROVEN WHAT IS TRULY IN HIS HEART“ AS THE CAMERA FOCUSES ON MERLIN. PRODUCERS YOU AIN’T SNEAKY.

Merlin’s smile as he looks down at Arthur sleeping 🥺

Arthur looking at Uther’s hand on his shoulder as if he’s trying to identify a foreign object 🙂 I can never say this enough but fuck you Uther.

“When he who kills a unicorn proves himself to be pure of heart, the unicorn will live again.” this is a stretch but it reminds me of “when Albion’s need is greatest, Arthur will rise again.”

And that’s done! I have a small meta that ties the theme of Arthur and magic in this episode to the same themes in 1x10, but I might do it on a separate post since this one is already so long 😂

#bbc merlin #merlin meta #long post #1x11 #merthur? merthur #someone stop me from having 4 spirals every episode #this is why my chronological watches take me so long

[emrysarthurpendragon]

The Broken Son

Arthur had been running as fast as he could since his mother told him to. For the last four years, they had been happy and free together. He knew things were dirty before, when he was a baby … mum often told him not to talk to strangers, or to a man named Uther Pendragon, his father and the one person in all his nightmares. When he had been two, Uther came to their house and tried to knock the door off. He screamed. He scared them both. Mum and him. Since then, Ygraine made sure he remembered the man’s face so he can run if he ever appeared again and … he did. He did just this evening. Mum, Morgana – a friend – and Arthur had been having dinner together when he appeared and screamed scary things to them. He was drunk, mama had said, and pointing a gun in their direction. One minute, they had been laughing, happy like they used to be … the next, he felt Morgana push him off the way just in time. But not fast enough … his mother fell to the ground. He saw her. He saw the blood on her lips, the same lips that kissed him good night every day. He heard her, only her, when she whispered a soft “run” before life left her body. He knew what Death means. Her grandmama passed last year. Death was a long sleep, where you meet all the people you love and never come back. He heard his own terrified scream as he started running. Mama ordered him to go. If the bad man Uther was to come back, he had to run like in school, when they were playing chasing with his friends. Another shot makes him shiver. What if Morgana was dead too? The mere thought made him cry in silent, his vision now blurred with unshed tears. What if they were both gone? What if he was alone? Would the policemen send him with his father, while all his mother even wanted was keeping him away from the bad man?

“Mama…” he sobbed, screaming when he noticed blood on his hand. Was it … does it belong to…? Arthur desperate yelp turned into agony as he scratched his hands against trees, plants, rocks, whatever he saw to clean his mother’s blood from him. It hurt. He knew he cried louder the more he bruised himself. He knew this was bad, but he would rather have his own blood on him than his mum’s. “Mama … you promised…” he sobbed, now walking without a place to stay. Trees were surrounding him from all parts. His loving mother just died. He was an orphan, like in Oliver Twist. Except mum had been rich. Not that it mattered. Does dead people need money…? He wondered, stumbling on his own feet and head first to the ground.

 He did not notice until then, but hours had passed since the attack. He had walked all night; the blood was now dry on his small hands and his eyes fell heavily. Still on the ground with half his face covered with dirt and leaves, he just realised something with blue eyes and black hair was watching him. Even if it looked like a cat – because of its general look – Arthur knew the thing was a child, around his age.

“Are you dead?” the boy asked casually. Arthur cried even more, curling into a ball. Only now did the stranger seemed to notice he had been rude. Or not helping at least. Before he could say a word, the strange boy left, running somewhere else.

Arthur sobbed harder. He thought he was safe, but the only human he met was a strange little boy. One that just left him here for the wolves. Were there wolves here? What if they ate him? What if they wanted an Arthurian’s sandwich? His mind wandered off for what … minutes … hours … days? No. Just minutes, he guessed when he heard voices coming his way, the weird included.

“See dad, I told you! He’s dying just like miss Kitty!” he chirped, clearly proud to show he had been right. Anyhow, the man ordered the boy to run to the house and ask ‘mum’ to call the medics and police. From excited, the child turned to serious. After a last glare, he hurried before them already screaming aloud: “MOMMY! DAD SAID CALL POLICE AND DOCTORS!” Arthur knew no more. He felt darkness claimed him and for once, he did not fight him.

 Merlin knew Death was no fun at all. He did not even know why he asked this so bluntly when he found the other little boy. He just did, and quickly warned his dad. He watched when the medics came and the many questions the policemen asked. He listened to his grandpa Gaius and his mummy, talking about a ‘terrific event’ some distance away, where a woman had been killed, before her former husband was killed by another lady who had been there. Said woman arrived right before the police. She introduced herself as Morgana Blessed and Merlin thought it was a funny name for a liar. Why a liar? He just felt like the lady had many secrets. Just like grandpa Gaius, who now sat with the lady in a corner where he had no luck in spying them. Anytime he walked closer to them, they just stopped talking.

“He’s alone?” Merlin asked after both the blond child and Morgana had left. “Where will he go?”

“A social worker is going to find him a new home,” Hunith explained to her worried son.

“Are you going to die too?” Merlin questioned; fear clear in his voice. “Is dada gonna kill you too and be bad?”

“No, of course not, baby,” they both said, soothing their son’s fears with kind words. “Arthur’s father had … deep issues. He blamed other peoples for his own misery and … and he couldn’t stand the idea of his ex-wife raising their son alone. Even if it were for Arthur’s sake,” Balinor said, even when he wanted nothing more than share what he truly believed. Uther was the biggest piece of shit he ever heard of and he clearly deserved to die. The only thing was that now, a boy ended up orphan because of it.

“I don’t understand, daddy … you love mummy and mummy loves you, right?”

“Yes,” Balinor said, “I love her more every day.”

“Why doesn’t Uther love Ygraine anymore then? Mummies and daddies must love forever.”

“It’s not that easy. Some people are … they just … think you show love by hurting the ones close to you,” Hunith tried to explain, with no good results if Merlin’s face was any indication.

“It’s stupid! If you hurt when you love, you’re doing it wrong!”

Nervous laughers answered him. He was definitely too young for this conversation. The mere notion of abuse in a relationship felt strange and so wrong. After all, Merlin had been surrounded by love since day one. Not only from his parents, but from Gaius too or the ice-cream lady.

 Later that night, Merlin sat anxiously in his bed. They had not heard from Arthur since he had been taken to the hospital. Was he dead or alive? Merlin wondered but chose to hope for the best option. He played nervously with his hands for a couple of minutes, barely moving when his father sat on his bed, a question look asking what he was doing still up.

“Dad, can you adopt Arthur? He deserves to be happy too. Maybe I find him because he must stay with us? Please?”

#whumptober2020 #no.11 #no.12 #broken down #crying #merlin bbc #merlinbbc #fanfic #blood tw #murder tw #self injuries tw #dark thoughts tw #child abuse tw #domestic violences tw

[queerofthedagger]

One thing that I feel like people constantly overlook when comparing Morgana and Arthur (although I don't think we should be comparing them) is that while Uther was obviously a terrible father in general, he still treated Morgana better than Arthur. I mean, even though he refused to acknowledge Morgana as biologically his (cause he's a massive hypocrite), he was still far more openly affectionate with Morgana than he was with Arthur. I mean we see him embrace Morgana several times throughout the series while the ONLY time we see him show any kind of affection towards Arthur was when he was literally dying. Plus, let's not forget that when Morgana went missing he was willing to risk Arthur's life by sending him on constant missions to get her back. Also, S1 E4 suggests that Uther locking Arthur up when he went against him wasn't an uncommon occurrence and there are several hints that he'd done that before throughout the series. Meanwhile, with Morgana, the only time we see that happen is when she allies herself with sorcerers and while Uther is obviously obviously POS for doing it at all, it still shows how lenient he was on Morgana as compared to Arthur. Throughout the series, Arthur exhibits classic signs of an abuse survivor and I just wish that people would understand that when they start comparing the two. At the end of the day, Uther still treated Morgana better than he did Arthur and it is so obvious to me how much that hurt Arthur

Hey! I’m so sorry for how long it’s taking me to get to your asks, I’m completely swamped with work, uni-work, my acbb fic and my rbb fic and the fests I’m modding, and I wanted to put some thought into this so... It took me a while. As usual, this got rather long.

I think one thing you said is really important to start this off, and that’s how we can’t/shouldn’t compare Uther’s treatment of Morgana and Arthur because ultimately, the abuse he piled on them is very different in kind. Yes, he was much more lenient and openly affectionate towards her than he ever was towards Arthur, and especially from Arthur’s perspective, it must’ve truly hurt at times.

The thing is though, I personally think that it has a lot to do with the fact that Uther simply didn’t take Morgana seriously. She has no power—she is his ward, yes, she outranks everyone except for Uther and Arthur, but in the end, she was a woman in medieval times and her biggest hope could be that Uther would marry her off to someone she’d be able to tolerate (especially considering that whatever Arthur and Morgana seemed to think in the early seasons, Uther obviously—hopefully jfc—wouldn’t have let them marry. But even if he did, compared to Arthur she would’ve held little to no actual power.)

Uther could let Morgana defy him and say and do things he never would’ve allowed Arthur to get away with because it posed no threat whatsoever to his authority. He could roll his eyes at her and brush her off, and that was that. To him, it made no difference at all.

To illustrate what I mean—I think he didn’t let Arthur get away with this because Uther was very aware of the loyalty the knights had for Arthur, of how the people saw him. He was very aware that if Arthur had wished to, he would’ve had reasonable chances to turn important figures in court against Uther, or at least make them question Uther’s judgement—something he was never particularly fond of to begin with, not to mention that he wanted Arthur to carry on his legacy in the exact way he wanted him to. Of course, it’s debatable if Morgana couldn’t have turned people against Uther as well, from an objective standpoint, but at least in Uther’s opinion, she wouldn’t have been able to.

I personally think that Morgana was very aware of this. She didn’t grow up in Camelot from the day she was born but was raised by her father who she clearly had very fond memories of. Unlike Arthur, she had a direct comparison to Uther’s treatment of her and she had her issues with him long before she became aware of her magic. His blatant disregard for whatever she had to say, how he didn’t take her seriously and how—from her point of view—she held no power compared to, say, Arthur, is, in my opinion, maybe one of the reasons why she eventually became so obsessed with her own power later on. Whereas Arthur, constantly confronted with Uther’s power-plays and pressure, actually tries to move away from portraying this absolute kind of power, once he becomes king (This is a whole other can of worms that I’m not going to get into here, but I do think it’s kind of important to the topic.)

Now, all this is, of course, not to say that he didn’t treat Arthur horribly. He very much did so, although in a very different manner. His expectations for Arthur were absurd, the way he pressured and disregarded Arthur despisable, and you’re definitely right when you say that to Arthur, it must’ve been incredibly hurtful to see the difference with which Uther treated Morgana.

Not to mention that there’s the whole dimension of Ygraine to Uther and Arthur’s relationship; it’s quite obvious that Uther blamed Arthur at least partly for her death, and that Arthur was painfully aware of this. That Uther’s massive expectations for Arthur were tangled into this, in a sense of “You have to be worth the prize of Ygraine's life,” and that Arthur knew this too, and never thought he was successful.

With Morgana, on the other hand, you have the whole issue of Uther not acknowledging her at all, and finding out would’ve only reinforced her conviction that his “affection” for her was artificial at best—and rightly so.

Neither of them is better nor worse, though. Uther treated them differently, yes, but both were different forms of abuse, and you can’t “rank” abuse. Where what he did to Arthur was more direct and obvious, the harm he did to Morgana was more insidious and subtle. Where his expectations for Arthur were impossible to fulfil, he didn’t have any for Morgana at all.

And the worst of this? The worst is that to both Morgana and Arthur, it must’ve looked as if the other had it better. If on purpose or not, Uther not only treated them both horribly, but also successfully pitched them against each other, and I think it's really interesting how differently they dealed with it.

Because all this being said—how you were treated is never an excuse for how you treat others, and one day I'll write a post about how while Merlin and Morgana are, indeed, mirrored, so are Arthur and Morgana if in different ways.

#arthur pendragon #morgana pendragon #it's uther pendragon is a horrible human being hours #as it is always on this blog #merlin meta #mona's rambling #answered asks #afireice