#it's what merlin deserves!

[thesaintofnevergettingitright]

It’s time for….

✨Niche Content With Suzy!✨

I’m so sorry, this is about to be the least relatable thing I’ve ever said, but…

I just saw a Hanahaki fic with the title “Mop Up What Is Left of My Lungs” and I CANNOT BELIEVE that this is the first time I’ve seen that lyric applied to that trope! It works SO insanely well! Like. To the extent that I’m not going to be able to listen to Blossoms the same way anymore lmao

#tad #mine #the amazing devil #hanahaki #so sorry everyone I know this is DEEPLY niche content lmao #but it just gave me such an intense moment of 'Eureka!' that I had to share #like! yeah man!!! that's EXACTLY how that lyric should be used! You are correct! #also love that it was specifically a merlin fanfic #cuz that means someone is out there writing hanahaki fanfic of bbc's merlin in the year 2022 and i LOVE that #it's what merlin deserves! #in other news..... my most toxic trait? how much I enjoy hanahaki fics #I know it's a kinda inherently coersive trope #I know that it raises romantic love WAY above any other kind of love in a way that's kinda toxic #but also??? #I crave that good good mutual pining/angst with a happy ending/idiots in love vibe #and hanahaki does it so well! #and it's fun to play with flower meanings! #leave me alone! #bbc merlin #blossoms #merlin #man idk if it’s the meds or WHAT but… #I s2g the last few days it’s like my brain is CRAVING #the mortifying ordeal of being known #I just feel the need to share every damn thought in my head and I have no clue how to shut up #help

[chronicowboy]

we as a collective do Not talk about this line delivery nearly enough and for good fucking reason, i'll kill bradley james for this one line alone. he's just a little boy :'((

#sami rambles #like. he's still the same little kid who didn't really know what it was to be looked after/cared for/doted on #at the heart of him he's still just that lonely young boy who always had to earn people's attention #or just take whatever he got for the simple fact of being the king's son :/ #even after so long he's still not used to merlin's love. and now. now he can't see what he's ever done to deserve it #seeing everything all at once and he just. he needs answers before he goes. #he's just a little boy asking 'why' to prolong his bedtime a few moments more #oh fuck. just caused irreparable damage to myself with that last one ahaha #merlin #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #merthur #bradley james

[pomidorfriend]

God, the queer shipping has gotten its wins recently.

Funny that those aren't even the top of the iceberg of my ships, so I had to exclude all media marketed as gay (Heartstopper), all non anglo-american media (like the Untamed), all WLW (Xena), all cartoons (Yuri on Ice), and everything else I forgot. Ah the shipping life is so rich.

#good omens #shipping #our flag means death #what we do in the shadows #supernatural deserves its own category for the fuckery they performed #merlin #bagginshield #master and commander #hannibal

[kr-yoongi]

Arthur Pendragon voice: Merlin

#smash #wait what was the game? smash or pass? #would lay down my life for this man #deserved so much better !! #oh the sorrow of it all #anyway I finally drew Merlin! #hopefully I can find more time to do it again before this fixation runs out !! #Merlin #Merlin Fanart #bbc merlin #Colin Morgan #Colin Morgan Fanart #digital art #kr_yoongi

[tiredcowboyy]

ah the average Kilgharrah experience

#fuck kilgharrah #kilgharrah deserves hell #kilgharrah #just for once can he tell merlin what he actually needs to hear #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #merlin #merthur #merlin emrys #merlin bbc

[georgies-ftts]

What? Is? Going? On?

My heart is pumping, racing, hammering, stuttering, palpitating, murmuring- can’t deal with it- kill me-

do something else- move, post something, follow someone-

i’ll cry i swear i’ll do it

#bbc merlin #bbc merlin arthur #arthur pendragon #merlin #bbc merthur #merthur #bbc mordred #bbc gwen #bbc gwaine #bbc morgana #bbc lancelot #bbc arthur #bbc percival #bbc leon #bbc elyan #bbc gaius #merlin reboot???? #give the people what they want #what they deserve #colin morgan #bradley james

[pendragonsclotpole]

help, i just got slapped in the face with the existence of WILL. be still my beating heart as i write an essay on this man, will of ealdor

firstly, i adore the silent and implicit trust hidden in the first joke that introduces will’s character. like merlin’s been aware his whole life that if his secret is ever found out, he will be hunted down and persecuted, but here comes will with a jab that they both inherently understand is a joke in the macabre style only true friends can lovingly master. the smile they share almost immediately gives me ned stark and robert baratheon meeting again in the courtyard of winterfell in season one of got. there’s also something so normal in their interaction that speaks of a familiarity borne from their equal status and years of friendship. i know merlin’s friends in camelot tend to skew to the non-royal/non-noble, but when you tally it up, those closest to merlin often hold some title that’s greater than merlin’s role as arthur’s servant. gwaine is a knight implied to be of noble blood; lancelot, percival, and elyan are also knighted and esteemed members of arthur’s court; gwen is the lady morgana’s maid and close companion long before she is ever queen; gaius is a physician and long time member of camelot’s court; morgana before her betrayal is literally uther’s ward. i feel like when placed among them all, merlin has a tendency to fade into the background offscreen. obviously the audience knows how important merlin is to the overall story given how much of the storyline focuses on him, and the characters regularly acknowledge merlin’s importance to them or arthur, but all of them still regard merlin as merlin the servant from camelot and few of them are privy to the plots we as the audience see firsthand. and even when they acknowledge him for his merits, his role as arthur’s close friend and confidante takes precedence. look at leon’s reaction in the later seasons when merlin is bewitched by morgana. merlin literally makes a comment about plotting to kill arthur and leon barely even blinks before quipping back, “driving you mad isn’t he?” or something along those lines. except for a few instances with even fewer characters, they never get a chance to know him as merlin the sorcerer from ealdor.

will does! and more than that, he got to know merlin as he is without arthur. we all hype up their status as magical soulmates but damn if i wasnt living for how jealous of arthur will seemed to be in this episode. call me crazy, but it makes me desperately headcanon a realistic past in ealdor for merlin, full of hardship and strife, but never without it’s moments of happiness. furthermore, will’s lone appearance in season one shines some real light on the unfairness of the fate that has been bestowed on meelin. the moment that will points out why he’s been so obstinate with arthur really strikes a deep chord. sure it could be just jealousy, but more compellingly, i choose to read it as a deep sense of care for merlin. everyone merlin has met within camelot, (or reunited with in the case of his own mother) has continually pushed him closer and closer to arthur. will presents a crucial exception. he knows exactly who merlin was before camelot, and who merlin is completely separate from arthur.

will is staunchly in merlin’s corner, and that position allows him to identify a key characteristic of merlin’s series’ long arc: his complete devotion to arthur. will even points it out himself: merlin could singlehandedly defend their home if he just used the full extent of his power. merlin doesn’t, and actively chooses not to because of his desire to stay close to arthur. it’s such a small moment, but i think it demonstrates how much of merlin’s decisions become motivated by his desire to stay close to arthur and to always put arthur first, even at a detrimental cost to himself. merlin understands and readily accepts arthur as his destiny, but this acceptance does not come about independently, instantly, or of merlin’s own volition. it does so eventually, but initially merlin sticks by arthur’s side because of the encouragement of everyone around him. “arthur needs you, merlin” or “arthur is your destiny, merlin” or “arthur is a good man, merlin. he has the potential to be a great king, he just needs the right people, merlin.” its codependent as hell.

sure, merlin originally does not tell arthur about his magic because they do not know each other and as far as merlin knows revealing his magic would lead to his death, but eventually the reasoning changes and becomes so focused on doing what’s best for arthur. merlin can’t tell arthur because then arthur would have to kill him and then who would look after arthur or ensure his fate? merlin can’t tell arthur because if arthur chooses to defy uther’s law, merlin is then forcing arthur to turn against his father and how could he look after arthur then? merlin can’t tell arthur because another betrayal from magic would ruin everything and truthfully, he wonders how would arthur react? merlin comes to fear what his magic might do to arthur and what it’s reveal might mean for his place in camelot more than the laws of camelot and their verdicts.

by this logic, merlin is a magical solar system orbiting entirely around the celestial body known as arthur pendragon. eventually merlin cared more about his relationship with arthur and what arthur thought about him than his own life. in retrospect, it’s so sad that will died so early on, because it strips merlin of a person solely in his corner. will’s death is the first in the series’ long pattern of loss that merlin endures and that eventually comes to define him because people either find out about his magic and their knowledge is directly tested against his loyalty to arthur, or he cannot allow them to know about his magic because it will unravel his relationship with arthur.

will, freya, balinor, morgana, mordred, arthur.

also the fact that will covered for merlin’s use of magic in his last moments just adds to the tragedy AND the growing pile of moments merlin could have told arthur about his magic but didnt. and also the fact that will literally died to save arthur. like tell me that just doesn’t prove my point. tell me. will never stood a chance. tell me every aspect of merlin’s life does not get consumed by arthur pendragon.

i’m all for merthur being soulmates, but god the original series is rife with the unbalanced mess of merlin being wholeheartedly aware of arthur’s great potential and destiny leading to some intense devotion and faith that yes, arthur earns and pays back in full measure but can never fully reciprocate because he just does not know anything. by the triple goddess, it can get so toxic. i wish will had lived if just for that. and like the jealousy arthur gets whenever merlin has other people. because i 100% live for possessive arthur and protective merlin dynamics.

#will of ealdor #merlin #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #merlin bbc #merthur #king arthur #merlin emrys #bbc merthur #merlin deserves nice things #someone give merlin a friend pls #merlin deserves people solely devoted to him #where is the merlin defense gang #hmm #headcanon #show analysis #merlin season 1 #merlin rewatch #gendry waters played will and i unironically adore that no matter what merlin is surrounded by the sons of kings #arthur and merlin #arthur/merlin #prince arthur

[thefabledpheasant]

Gwen’s story is extremely tragic for so many reasons. But the worst is how alone she is after she becomes queen. When she was a servant, she had Merlin, Morgana, and definitely neighbors, fellow servants, and townsfolk to talk to and keep her company.

But when she becomes queen, she cannot have that anymore. People will either treat her as superior because of her status or treat her with resentment because of her humble upbringing. Not to mention, the safety of the entire kingdom is on the line if she trusts the wrong person. Merlin and Arthur had it rough, but at least they had each other through it all.

Yes, both Merlin and Arthur are still there, but they’re always off risking their lives and they’re always together. She’s left to rule and dine alone every time. Her husband doesn’t even notice she’s enchanted and trying to kill him, he has to be told by Merlin.

I think the most evident proof of her loneliness is in 5x01 when Arthur is off risking his life for the billionth time and she can’t eat the food her servant places in front of her. Instead, she says, “if you could just sit with me?” She is so desperate for someone to talk to. For someone to be her version of Merlin. But of course, this servant turns out to be a traitor and reinforces the truth that she cannot befriend anyone. She must be alone.

And her reward for all of this sacrifice, everything she’s lost? To lose her king and have the entirety of Camelot placed on her shoulders for the rest of her life.

Gwen didn’t ask to become queen. She just fell in love with the wrong person.

#long live the queen #she didn’t deserve it #but I guess none of the mains deserved what happened to them #bbc merlin #merlin #merlin bbc #gwen bbc #guinevere #Merlin gwen #guinevere pendragon #gwen pendragon #queen gwen #queen guinevere #servant gwen #arthur pendragon #bbc gwen #mine

[hope-i-dont-choke]

BBC’s Merlin really missed an opportunity, not with Merthur, with Gwencelot. It is written in history as the affair of all time, they were written as soulmates, and this show decided just not to let them have it as part of their story?

And I get why, they didn’t want us to think badly of Gwen, but the thing is, we couldn’t have. She was literally established in the first episode as a saint, as was Lancelot, there was literally no way an affair would have made the audience hate them. Or made Arthur hate them.

They could have done this two ways; they could have written the marriage between Arthur and Gwen as an arrangement of friendship, marry a woman of the people who he knew would make an excellent queen, and he could have been fully aware the whole time that she and Lancelot were together and been rooting for them. They could have made jokes about it, “hey you have my wife back by morning or I’ll have your head!”, that sort of thing, it would have been sweet. But they also could have still written Arthur’s affections for Gwen as sincere, and Gwen and Lancelot’s love for Arthur as sincere, while still making it obvious that Gwen and Lance just belonged together, that they were each others other half (like Merthur), and even though it might have hurt Arthur a little bit, he could have been aware of it and accepting of it because he loved them both so much, and it would have been an amazing arc for his growth as a man.

I know this show dropped the ball on a lot, but this seems to me like the greatest tragedy of it all, at the very least Gwen and Lance had each other, that was what the two of them had when they had nothing else, when Arthur had to be separate from them because he was king and couldn’t be the best friend or husband either of them needed, they had each other, that is the story we all know. And in this show, it could’ve played harder on the fact that his literal destiny, is Merlin, he can’t belong to Gwen and Lance the way they can belong to each other, because he belongs to Merlin. They had such an opportunity, it’s a shame they wasted it.

#Merthur #Gwencelot #the thing that’s haunting me is that Merlin and Arthur sort of weirdly get to be immortal? And come back to each other? #What about Gwen And Lance?!?!? #Where is their coming back to one another #They deserve it

[ladyofthelake]

Okay court sorceror this should have had a happy ending that blah blah but what we were TRULY robbed of was seeing Arthur with his dog. Arthur Pendragon, puppy, playing with a puppy JUST IMAGINE

#merlin #arthur pendragon #lots of opportunites for cute merthur too #also no I don't like torturing merlin of course he deserves happiness #but angst is my jam and I love the tragedy we got so <3 #wow a happy sad post all in one #what merlin does best

[kairennart]

assassin

for @merlinbingo prompt #2E294E

#i heard the girlies like it when knife throat knife throat knife #u know what i mean #arlance #merlin #bbc merlin #bbc lancelot #bbc arthur #bbc arthur pendragon #lancelot #arthur pendragon #bbc merlin fanart #merlin fanart #merlin bbc #fanart #my art #shout out to mona for the idea. literally i said in the gc 'i wanna draw arlance but idk what' #and mona brought to me the most biggest brainest prompt god bless #a pity i dont have time to render it #god where did march go #edit: just a quick note this is arlance and theyre in love bc arthur deserves love #and also dont reblog this just to say u think arthur deserves to be killed ''bc of what hes done'' i dont want to hear it xoxo

[alex-the-bringer-of-chaos]

Sorry, but this song is making me think of merthur due to the ending of the show, and I am in so much pain. Whyyyy?!?

Come cry with me, come

#what has this show done to me #what did i do to deserve this #merthur #merlin x arthur #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #bbc merlin #the loneliest #måneskin #Spotify #song recs

[honeylemonntea]

He and Gwaine’s deaths were disrespectful

#bbc merlin #merlin bbc #lancelot du lac #lancelot deserves better #gwaine #sir gwaine #knights of the round table #death? what death? they never died. they lived happily ever after with merlin #merlin emrys #mercelot #merlance #merwaine

[illhaveyouforbreakfast]

Morgana confronts Arthur's army, saying they have no hope of defeating her.

"I am a high priestess of the old religion!" She snarls, casting a spell that sends a wave of destruction at the knights. It's stopped in its tracks against a shimmering wall of energy. Merlin steps forward, eyes glowing gold, hands raised.

"And I am your god."

#Emrys #listen I love Morgana she deserved so much better #but she makes a great villain bc evil woman sexy #also I just love god!merlin #esp reluctant god merlin #he tells the druids that's dumb he protests the title every time #but in the darkest hour he claims it #not for himself but for Arthur #he defeats her army #sends them scattering #turns and kneels in front of Arthur #head bowed #ready to accept whatever judgement comes his way #Arthur is currently bluescreened bc Merlin with gold eyes taking charge and being mega powerful was apparently exactly what he was into #who knew? #(the entire kingdom) #Merlin #bbc Merlin

[repmet]

Everyone talking about the 10 year anniversary of the end of BBC's Merlin like there was some sort of fifth season when I know for a fact it ended after Arthur and Gwen got married and everyone lived and magic was legalized and nothing bad ever happened

#bbc merlin #merlin #arthur pendragon #guinevere pendragon #also lancelot was there too #in their bed 👀 #arthur/gwen/lancelot supremacy #its what she deserves

[assorted-aesthetics]

bbc merlin [monarchist propaganda] has so many cool themes completely by accident. i can't get it out of my head that merlin spends the whole show protecting arthur above all else under the premise that he was prophesized to free his people when all along the only thing arthur did to bring this about was to make gwen queen. alas!

#merlin #bbc merlin #im aware that in the end it was a point of obsession and arthur himself moreso #but that's part of what makes it so good! #arthur is cool and all but what did he do to deserve that devotion from merlin that gwen didn't do first #it's about the distraction idk I'm not phrasing it well