#merlin critical

[arguablysomaya]

please, elaborate on merlin bbc propaganda and stuff

okay basically:

bbc merlin is a show taking place during a genocide

camelot for 20 years has been genociding and ethnically cleansing everyone who can use magic, including magical creatures. They were all either exiled, fled, live in refugee camps or in hiding, and a great many were executed and slaughtered. Generally speaking, life is inhospitable in camelot for magic users.

And the show makes no attempt to hide this fact, either. We see multiple times over the death and destruction this genocide has wraught, and how radicalized most of the remaining magic population is because of it. For the past few decades, camelot has essentially been doing 2 things: persecuting magic users, and defending itself from vengeful/liberationist magic users

the king (uther) believes that magic users are (stop me if you've heard this one) corruptive, shifty, and evil. he's always paranoid that a magic user will take their revenge on him. and in a way, he's right: there are in fact a lot of magic users eager to kill him, but given the whole Great Purge and literally drowning children thing, you'd thing the show would be a bit more sympathetic to their plight. Nope.

in come merlin and gaius, our two main magic users. merlin is the protagonist, and gaius his benevolent mentor, so the audience is primed to be on their side. only one problem: from bascially the beginning of the series, these two are nothing more than agents for the very state carrying out the genocide. they devote their time to wholeheartedly defending camelot, especially from magic users, something they are rightfully called traitors for. they actively intervene to prolong the lives (and therefore regimes) of both arthur and uther, despite neither king showing any real interest in freeing their people. gauis represents the "diversity" of a genocidaire state; as someone uther only keeps around so long as he shuns any involvement with magic except what helps uther carry put his genocide, gaius hides and rejects every marginalized part of himself that threatens his access to power. even as a member of the oppressed class, he aids and abets the oppressors every step of the way. merlin, as an extremely powerful agic user in hiding, follows suit. the thing is, like so many other minority collaborators, this doesn't actually buy them safety, since they are Other, they still have to walk around on eggshells knowing one wrong move could get their heads chopped off. but this action of defending a regime that would kill you without a second's hesitation is presented as noble and heroic in the show, when in reality it's stupid at best and evil at worst. merlin and gaius might save a token kid from being brutally murdered, but they will never let anyone take action, let alone take action themselves, to proactively stop the brutality.

merlin is literally the most powerful sorcerer alive. if he wanted to, he could create a more fair, more just, better world in a blink. instead, he spends his time pretending to be a hapless servent, messing around with his war criminal friends, and killing any freedom fighter who dares to even look at the prince or king. why? well, he believes in the institutions (and a prophecy that never comes true... lol). ultimately, merlin and gauis hold the same prejudices and stereotypes about magic users that uther does: that they're untrustworthy, dangerous, and that it would be better for everyone if all but themselves (the good ones) just died or left.

and all the people they're defending the empire against... are other oppressed magic users. the VAST majority of antagonists are either magicians or magic sympathizers. even in the context of a genocide, the show takes the firm stance that the architects of genocide (the literal kings who order it to happen) are just flawed human beings who still don't deserve to be killed, while when the people they seek to wipe out fight back, our protagonists will happily mow them down. the show has no problem with killing people,and even killing innocents is only worthy of a fingerwag. it's fighting for liberation that the show makes the real problem. even when uther finally dies the show plays it like something sad, as if anyone is supposed to feel anything but joy that this old tyrant genocidaire finally kicked the bucket after having been saved a million times over from getting his comeuppance. Every magic user that has genuinely good reasons to want to tear down the kingdom are all painted with the "crazy evil person" brush.

another thing is that this show likes to get ~quirky~ with their agents of the state. along with arthur and merlin come a colorful cast of characters like the knights that you can laugh and cry with. the only problem is that despite how lovable these people are, they're still actively carrying out and enforcing a genocide. it's a bit like those tiktoks of IDF soldiers dancing or proposing. i can't feel for these people because despite seeming like relatable people, they're still engaging in something horrific. you can't escape the fact that these people can only exist in the relatively easy capacity that they do because the empire they work for is brutally repressing and eliminating entire cultures.

but the thing is, this strategy actually works. the fandom is often so taken in by fun character interactions and shipping moments that you can often witness people literally look past, or even praise their acts of genocide. these characters are so charming with each other that you can look past how awfully they treat oppressed people. yay! the prevalence of merthur brings up too many idf pinkwashing parallels it's actually insufferable. i had hoped we left oppressor/oppressed person ships behind in the 2010s but guess it's still around

by the time he takes over as king, the "great, kind" arthur is essentially an IDF soldier who only realized that Killing Is Bad Actually when he's got crosshairs on a random kid. now Reformed (TM), he takes the brave stance that he should only kill the angry bad magic users who try to exact their revenge for the whole genocide thing on him, and the peaceful (more often than not, harmless) magic users should accept the merciful counterplan of ethnically cleansing themselves from the region, or continuing to live in refugee camps, but this time with less threat of massacre. in this show, the only acceptable answer to being genocided is to either lay down and die, hide forever, or displace yourself hoping the empire doesn't come and kill you anyway. fighting back, getting revenge, defending oneself, trying to change things: these are all reserved only for the genocidal state.

in other words, bbc merlin is the exact type of genocide obfuscation that most modern genocides engage in. the suffering of oppressed peoples, even innocents, is a footnote. when they suffer, sometimes it's presented as sad, and other times it's presented as deserved. meanwhile, the suffering of the oppressors, no matter how justifyable, is always landmark and deserves our full attention and sympathies, because the thing about the oppressors is that it's always their story.

(the last thing is a common fantasy problem, which is that when you create stories where different classes have actual, material, biological distinctions, it can end up justifying the oppression. in the real world, there is a very limited range of innate human abilities, and people from across the world are largely evenly matched. but in merlin, a sorcerer actually does pose an increased threat to those around them. in terms of allegory... kinda not the best thing to so without any real refutation to the idea that magic corrupts)

so yeah. that's why i don't fuck with this show even though it's enjoyable to watch.

#shut up somaya #bbc merlin #adventures of merlin #bbc arthur #bbc gaius #anti arthur #anti merlin #anti merthur #merlin crit #merlin critical #arthur crit #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #uther pendragon

[functionalasfuck]

Me: BBC Merlin is my favorite show of all time. Longest standing fandom I have ever been in. I am borderline obsessed. These are my emotional support characters

Also me:

“Arthur is just Ken”

“it genuinely angers me that the only people Merlin has killed are sorcerers or sorcerer accomplices driven to ‘evil’ by systemic oppression and genocide but has never really killed any of the people in power perpetrating such a genocide”

AKAB “All Knights Are Bad” sure y’all get to not oppress the poor but you’re also upholding a genocide so FUCK that

Arthur, I love you, but you could have been replaced with literally any of the knights and the prophecy would probably have come sooner. The only reason you’re the once and future king is because you are next in line for the throne so you becoming king wouldn’t cause a war and you have the “super rare” attribute of being convinced maybe genocide and starving people is bad. But only with a decade of convincing

Merlin why aren’t you using your powers to create a Camelot Underground Railroad, my dude

Kilgharagh, I know you are just a plot device the writers used to allow for there to be more seasons than necessary, but I would wear your skin for my boots if I could.

Merlin the revolutionary WHEN???? How DARE you take that from me. How DARE you make Merlin be passive to a genocide and just play bodyguard for 5 seasons and then kill off his fucking charge before any TRUE systemic change could happen. I will NEVER get over this

#the fact that I have so many complaints is high praise #can you tell I think about this show all the time #also the knights are my favorite and I love them but if I was a real person in universe I would be strongly AKAB #merlin #bbc merlin #merlin bbc #merlin critical

[tiodolma]

what merlin brings to the magic forum -s2

#bbc morgana #bbc merlin #merlin critical #bbc mordred #mergana #merlin x magic #mergana shtpost #merlin shtpost #shtposting 4 lyf

[the-king-and-the-druidess]

...

Every time I see the ugly Arthur's death gif in the Diamond of the day, as Merlin, his face distorted, clumsily drags Arthur across the ground I think: go away, Merlin, don't touch him, it's not for you. You are supposed to wander round the woods drunk and lament your fails, leave Arthur alone at last, leave him to someone who was meant to take care of him: the High Priestess of the Triple Goddess and his Sister, Morgan Le Fay. She would transfer him to Avalon's shores with the help of magic that you don't even have a clue about, she wouldn't drag him like a heavy helpless sack. She would gently lay him down in a boat and guide him through the mists of Avalon, she would farewell his last breath, his last glance, and in this they would forgive each other, forget the fight that had begun with them and ended with them, and obtain, maybe just a shard of, but still, peace; you was never able to gain even that.

#arthur x morgana #merlin negativity #merlin critical

[punkxcalibur]

the logic of bbc merlin is kind of just 

“arthur good. someone is against arthur? they bad.”

#merlin #bbc merlin #merlin critical #merlin commentary #arthur pendragon #anti arthur #merlin crit

[miasmultifandomdump]

One of the biggest mistakes Merlin ever made was convincing Arthur that Morgause was lying.

It was obviously a mistake for magical people. Arthur was finally open-minded and Merlin made them look like liars.

But it was also kinda awful to the very person he was trying to protect — Arthur. Arthur had spent his whole life blaming himself for his mother's death. He spent his whole life longing for any amount of time with her. And now he got the truth, that he was not to blame, that his father was selfish. And more than that — he got a moment with his mother, sweet and magical, however fleeting.

And Merlin took that from him.

I know he was trying to protect Arthur, but so often his attempts to protect Arthur did the exact opposite.

#i love merlin. but he messed up freaking big time on this one #everyones insistence on protecting uther was so damaging to arthur #uther made his decisions he could damn well face the consequences for them #arthur pendragon #merlin critical #bbc merlin #bbc merlin spoilers #all queued up with nowhere to go

[bijuice]

i will regret saying this but guys...bbc merlin is very poorly written. i feel like most of the theories and analyzes are way too deep. i still enjoy the show but screenwriters really not that smart. they can’t even have consistent character development for most of the leads

#anti merlin #bbc merlin critical #anti bbc merlin #merlin critical #that's not really anti but just in case

[lo-andbehold]

A callout post (it’s me I’m calling myself out)

#writing #oc #original character #Merlin #the Magnus archives #the penumbra podcast #(we don’t even have visuals for those two you Motherfuckers just decided (you’re right)) #critical role #there are so many others I can’t think of them #marvel #dc comics

[merlevum]

Caleb needs his books!

#critical role #cr2 #critical role 2 fanart #caleb widogast #caleb #merlin draws #new sticker design #it will go up in the shop after my convention at the end of the month

[echoesofcamelot]

Hear me out I enjoy this 'Gwaine calls Arthur princess and is loyal to Merlin first' fanfic thing just as much as everyone else but please can we not forget what canon Gwaine is really like?

Let me elaborate.

Gwaine does call Arthur princess once and likes to tease him but that is before he becomes his knight. His attitude towards him changes radically from this moment on:

As Arthur knights him, his carefree demeanour shifts abruptly. Look how serious he is, how solemn. He even closes his eyes, barely containing his emotions. This is Gwaine accepting the knighthood he had never wanted because it was being given to him by a man who didn't know he was actually a noble. With this gesture Arthur was giving him something he had always been looking for: a purpose, a meaning to his life. And he finally finds it in serving and protecting that man who believed in equality above all things and who had found Gwaine, a supposedly nobody, worthy of bestowing upon him the greatest honour he was capable of.

In that moment Arthur gave him a home, a family and something to fight for.

And in exchange Gwaine took his oath of allegiance to heart and became fiercely loyal and protective of Arthur.

This is his reaction when Dragoon threatens his king's life:

This is how he responds when Merlin asks him to look after Arthur because he fears that he may be in danger:

In the Disir's cave, of all the people present, it is Gwaine who gets super angry and jumps in front of Arthur the moment the Disir start attackig him.

And when Arthur is poisoned and Gaius tells them that it's deadly, there he is, on the front line, clutching his chest, utterly devastated.

So, yes, of course Merlin was Gwaine's first friend, of course he'd always remain loyal to him no matter what. But he loved and respected Arthur just the same.

And the fact that he dies thinking he has failed him will haunt me until the day I die.

#leon and gwaine hold the title of arthur's most loyal knights #no i will not take criticism #gwaine loved arthur so much #and that’s a fact #gwaine #arthur pendragon #merlin #bbc merlin #sir gwaine #meta #merlin meta

[arguablysomaya]

Exposing merlin bbc as a genocide monarchist propaganda thAt it actually is such a taboo topic that gets one blacklisted and dogpiled in the general fandom. You are brave for doing so. Thank you for voicing out these concerns tbh. Kudos to you.

yeah and it's honestly sad because simply trying to ignore the messenges present in media doesn't make them any less present or harmful. people shouldn't be afraid of consuming, enjoying, or breaking down problematic media, because content consumption is not activism. it's always best to acknowledge the real harmful parts of what you're consuming, otherwise communities formed around these things become hostile and reproduce the same marginalizations that went unaddressed in the canon :/

#shut up somaya #bbc merlin #merlin critical #adventures of merlin #anti merlin #merlin crit

[sneakyboymerlin]

Magic did not “kill Gwen’s father.” Uther killed Gwen’s father. There was a whole episode about this. Tom had no involvement with sorcery, but worked with a man who was wanted for it, and then imprisoned for consorting with a sorcerer. Uther killed him during his escape attempt without a fair trial. Magic did not kill Gwen’s father. Uther did.

So, when we’re writing fics, let’s remember how Gwen explicitly says “Uther killed my father” in 3x13. She blamed Uther for it when it happened in 1x12, and called him a murderer. Gwen is the most evidently pro-magic character who is from Camelot and doesn’t have magic themself (aside from Lancelot of course). Having Gwen blame magic for her father’s death is inconsistent with her onscreen characterization. Not only that, but it completely rewrites the event to make Uther’s crime look “complicated” and ease his culpability.

Yes, there is a deleted scene where Gwen’s established characterization is erased so she can serve as a static brick wall for Arthur to bounce ideas off of, in which she makes implications against magic. But have we considered that:

It is full of apparent retcons.

We watched 1x12 and there’s no way Gwen left that episode believing Uther, not magic, to have killed her father, and then just… forgot what happened?

This scene can rot in Hell for debasing Gwen’s character just to boost Arthur’s.

Case in point: it doesn’t “add depth” to ignore Gwen’s canon issues with Uther. Tom was killed by Uther’s genocidal regime, not by the group on defense. If Gwen isn’t “complex enough” of a character for you without making her inexplicably pro-Uther, or if the portrayal of the unfair criminalization of magic isn’t “complex enough” for you, then maybe you’re just not that creative without having to rely on “what if the victims deserve it though?” as a source of tension.

#queen guinevere #bbc merlin #fandom critical #merlin meta #my meta

[tiodolma]

The Protagonists

Uther = uses extremist methods to impose his laws

Arthur = implements the extremist laws of Uther in his own right

Merlin = protects Uther and Arthur in his own extremist way

................

The Antagonists

Morgana and Others: fights back using different methods, among them extremist ones.

#mergana #bbc merlin #bbc uther #bbc morgana #bbc arthur #merlin critical #merlin bbc #thots #its an extremist vs extremist game #who is the monster and who is the man ring the bells of notre dame

[the-king-and-the-druidess]

The way BBC made Gwencelot uninfluential, un-impactful. Gwen was banished, Lance died and...nothing changed. Arthur was sad for a while, and that's all. Whereas a classic Gwencelot is a reason for Camelot's downfall; their love, their absence were destroying Camelot from within. Arthur and Merlin had to be left alone together against these consequences.

#gwencelot #merlin critical

[punkxcalibur]

the magic users in bbc merlin couldn't afford to wait for Arthur to grow into a better person, since they were fearing for their life since day 1.

Mordred did what had to be done, killing the one person whose death would end the suffering, without commiting mass genocide like morgana.

#bbc merlin #merlin meta #merlin #bbc mordred #sir mordred #morgana #merlin critical

[aprill-99]

The best fictional friend groups are at their core comprised of:

1. A determined trauma bunny surviving on an unknowably proportioned mixture of heart eyes and denial/repressed trauma.

2. An unquestionable ride or die bestie operating on a never ending rollercoaster of total fear and unfounded optimism.

3. One anxiety riddled sarcasm wielding third party the other two tricked into holding the brain cell.

*****Optional Bonus Content******

4. A beam of sunshine who doesn’t know any better whom friend #3 is trying to lure in so they can catch a five minute break.

5. A streetwise genius bestie who should have known better. (Who followed one of the others with only mild, though constant, complaining).

6. A part-time/former antagonist who swears they are there against their will.

****LAST ADD ON*****

7. A side character with immense cosmic power and knowledge (who is not present for at least 40% of the plot because Reasons Tm).

8. A guy who can drive.

Sometimes some combination ends up dating each other. A lot of the time, it looks like a questionably platonic polycule

#fight me #i will not be taking criticism #i will not elaborate #friends #tropes #all the good tropes #lockwood and co #teen wolf #julie and the phantoms #bbc merlin #bbc musketeers #the marvelous mrs. maisel #percy jackson #grishaverse #six of crows #the vampire diaries #doctor who #the good place #add your own #shadowhunters #the mortal instruments #leverage #avengers #artemis fowl #arrow #a series of unfortunate events #star trek #star trek picard #star wars