#merlin meta

[queerofthedagger]

the thing i feel people don't really take enough into account when it comes to arthur's supposed obliviousness regarding merlin's magic is that merlin is the absolute opposite of what arthur has been raised to believe sorcerers to be. merlin is clumsy and kind and - in the earlier seasons - like walking sunshine. he so obviously has negative desire for actual power, nor any respect for it, and while arthur absolutely knows that merlin isn't stupid, he 100% is an idiot.

and it's not stupid or ignorant on his part! people just do this, whenever they are taught someone who does or believes a certain thing is inherently evil! it's never the friendly guy next door who snacks half of your breakfast and then just grins when you complain, obviously not! arthur trusts merlin even early on, and beyond belief later on. of course merlin can basically do magic in front of him, because there is no part of arthur that actually thinks someone like merlin could have magic. you don't see what you're 100% convinced can't be there. if he ever got there, his already brittle construct of indoctrination and supposed repeated confirmation of said construct would crumble immediately! as it does in dotd after like, a day. it only doesn't in regards to morgana because as far as arthur is concerned, the moment she started using magic she became the cold and ruthless enemy he still couldn't bring himself to actually pursue! like.

it's very easy to think it's startingly oblivious, but one thing i really wish people would keep in mind a little more is that the viewer watches from a different point of view, and operates with a whole other set of information. that arthur operates under a certain worldview in an environment that does not teach to question it at all, and gives little opportunity to do so. it's actually wild arthur questions uther's teachings as often as he does, and considering that every time he does, they, to his knowledge, just get confirmed again (nimueh, morgause, morgana, uther's death, and so on and so forth), it's even wilder that he keeps doing it

#*mine #mona's rambling #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #bbcm #yea yea once again in the arthur trenches but i've been meaning to say this for SO long so yk #merlin meta #like. it's not as if he can go google 'are sorcerers actually evil' #he only has people's words and people's actions for it and his overall experience on that front is. uhm. not good #to put it mildly #it's frankly a lil infuriating but also very on the zeitgeist how this just rarely gets taken into account #but like. let's not go there i've managed to be so nice imma shut up while i'm ahead and all that <3

[theroundbartable]

Arthur: since when can you juggle?

Merlin: I've been juggling three jobs since I came to Camelot, what are you talking about?

#bbc merlin #merlin #merthur #merlin bbc #arthur #concept #canon #merlin meta

[longlivechips]

My favorite Merlin head cannon is that Arthur knew Merlin had a secret that they didn't talk about because it would get him in trouble with the law

but he always just assumed the secret was Merlin that preferred men.

feat: this scene

#merlin #merlin bbc #merlin emrys #merlin meta #arthur pendragon #Merthur #kinda i guess not really #queer Merlin

[regulusrules]

I was minding my own goddamn business only to suddenly remember this scene exists

I don't know how to explain it, but it's addressing something so visceral in me.

Like. Did anyone ever expand on how Arthur literally didn't even blink before getting up to save Merlin from the onslaught he would have faced for his outrage? He just got up immediately and took Merlin away, held and handled his anger, and even gave him the respite (visiting Gaius) that he needed.

Wtf. Like boy no you're not supposed to be this fucking in sync with your manservant's reactions. But it's as if he predicted it even, because he saw in Merlin the exact same reaction he wanted to do, but had the tact not to because he grew up with boundaries. So he goes on to save his boy instead.

Sick of how much these two loved each other

#merlin #bbc merlin #merlin meta #merthur #arthur pendragon #bbcm #merlin bbc #king arthur #merlin x arthur #LJ metas #regulusrules metas

[thefabledpheasant]

I was watching the episode where Merlin disguised himself as the “dolma” and I was feeling frustrated at Arthur’s lack of concern to Merlin’s whereabouts. It goes against everything we’ve ever seen of him. He never forgets Merlin and he’s never calm when Merlin is in potential danger.

So I was thinking to myself, why? Why would Arthur forget Merlin? And I remembered that, despite being an old woman sorceress, he immediately felt like he knew her somehow. She is everything that Merlin is not (to his knowledge), and yet he somehow knows her. Just like he did with “Dragoon”.

“You seem familiar, sorceress” - Arthur

And as the “dolma” points out he’s forgetting something, he jokes with her the exact way he does with Merlin. “Ah, I thought things had gone unusually smoothly” + other lines. Why would he do that?

Because a part of Arthur knows Merlin is standing right in front of him. He’s unable to recognize that he’s forgetting Merlin, because he can feel that he’s standing right there. He bickers with her because that’s Merlin. She has to explicitly point out that it’s Merlin he’s forgetting, in order for his brain to override his feelings.

Arthur always knew the true Merlin. Even if neither of them knew it.

“I would recognize you in total darkness, were you mute and I deaf. I would recognize you in another lifetime entirely, in different bodies, different times. And I would love you in all of this, until the very last star in the sky burnt out into oblivion.” - Recognition

#two sides of the same coin #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #merlin x arthur #merthur #arthur x merlin #merlin bbc #merlin meta #mine

[whenyouhearthedoorcreak]

*merlin walking out of the council chambers while the knights are having a meeting*

mordred aka #1 merthur shipper telepathically: arthur is looking at your ass

#merlin #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #bbcm #bbcmerlin #camelot #merthur #merlin bbc #merlin rewatch #morgana pendragon #merlin meta #merlin emrys #gwen #king arthur #merlin/arthur #gwaine #morgana #mordred #mordred and merlin having telepathy is such a lost opportunity #that boy would be a menace #he can literally just interrupt merlin’s thoughts whenever he feels like it #“merlin gwaine is soliloquising about percival again #it would be so good #he would never leave him alone

[somesortofdeliciosbiscuit]

S4E6 really said that Merlin's his whole worl / scrap of his jacket covering all of camelot? what, he's more important than your entire kingdom? uh gayyy

#merlin #merlin meta

[camelotluteguild]

Something i really like about Merlin is how they didn’t make love a redemptive force. Uther loves both his children very much -- doesn’t make him a good man or even necessarily a good father. Merlin and Arthur love each other so much, but it doesn’t save either of them, nor does it always makes them better --  oftentimes, it makes them worse. It makes the love no less compelling or meaningful -- in my opinion, it only makes it more so, and it’s a more realistic approach to love. Thoughts and feelings!

#bbc merlin #merlin meta #the other thing is that bc of the genre and style and target audience of the show #you EXPECT the love to fix everything #and the characters do too #merlin's always like 'if i am devoted enough to arthur i can prevent his death' #he -- and we -- hold on to this belief until the very end #and then they drop it on you like a brick #even though we've been seeing love being insufficient for the whole show #show of all time

[quotidian-oblivion]

May I just say... Colin Morgan's background stage business is impeccable. There are so many actors who just stand there watching or aimlessly shuffle around, but I've noticed that when Colin Morgan is in-character, he is in-character.

I haven't watched him in anything other than Merlin, but when he's not the focus of the camera, he's still doing things just as Merlin does. Like, trying not to laugh during the feast when Elena was visiting and displaying poor table manners, actually looking deep in-thought and mouthing the name 'Alice' when Gaius was talking to him about her, glaring at Gwen from the bedpost when she was enchanted and was monologuing about who could have possibly poisoned Arthur, polishing or doing a chore or keeping his head down when Uther's talking to Arthur but still watching them with a keen eye-

and so many more instances! His background stage business is just amazing.

#quotidian convos #i am actively taking inspiration from him for my own acting #literally i am learning so much from him #bbc merlin #merlin bbc #merlin #merlin emrys #colin morgan #arthur pendragon #bbc elena #uther penderagon #princess elena #bbc princess elena #bbc gwen #gwen pendragon #guinevere pendragon #bbc gaius #gaius #gaius bbc #merlin meta #merlin fandom

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

thinking about "it's unreasonable to assume that a character knows what genre they're in" and how in series 1-3, Merlin (and the audience) thinks that he's in a fantasy adventure comedy. no one realises that he's in a tragedy until it's too late.

#I do stand by what I said literally a few minutes ago about how calling merlin a tragedy is giving the writers too much credit #but I think you could twist it and say that the writers also think merlin is a comedy and don't realise that it's a tragedy until series 4 #which makes it worse. because so many things that happen in the first half of the show are absolutely tragic but are played as comedy #the end of 'the sins of the father' where uther says that merlin is “a trusted ally in the fight against magic” THATS FUCKING DEVASTATING #but it's played as funny #and it's only when you reframe the genre that you realise how truly heartbreaking it all is #bbc merlin #merlin #merlin meta

[someguyinc]

yknow a take on morgana pendragon's story i see often is that if merlin had told morgana about his magic in that moment where they were in his chambers alone that she wouldn't have turned to become evil,, i disagree,, i think that morgana as a character would have eventually turned to become evil and bitter even with merlin as a mentor if she'd learned his secret early in season 2.

let's not forget merlin himself is NOT the most stable of mentor options (not that gaius or kilgahrah or ANY of the druids were a great help either) but he didn't know what the fuck he was doing,, just trying his best consulting that outdated spell book and had cryptic messages from a conniving dragon who MIND YOU still wanted morgana dead and was manipulating merlin the whole time and gaius was a traitor to most magic people like,, he literally was pro-gaslight morgana

merlin also loved arthur, however you view that love (romantic, platonic, brotherly, whatever) merlin loved arthur more than he did magic. we see this multiple times with merlin choosing what kept arthur safe and happy over him doing what would be best for the old religion (fuck them too but that's another post),, major example being the episode with the disir where he straight up tells him there is no place for magic in camelot (which is crazy considering he IS magic made flesh but anyways)

morgana HATED. uther, she hated everything about him and for awhile she disgusted that hate as righteous fury, raining down terror and pain onto innocents (even other magic users) and justifying it as payback. she hated arthur as an extension of uther because that's what uther raised them both as (again another post for another time) and tried to kill him without even asking what his stance was on magic (i believe arthur would have immediately done some introspection and realized he was wrong but thats imo)

i think that eventually,, their two stances would have come to blows (merlin's love for arthur above his magic/morgana's hatred for uther above all else) and morgana would still go to immeasurable heights to murder uther once more, merlin would have stopped her (or tried) because he knew the pain it would cause arthur even if he hated uther too, and morgana would've hated merlin for getting in her way,, her anger triumphing her love for arthur (see: s1ep12: to kill the king)

i feel like often times i just see morgana painted as someone who just needed a little love and light,, when in reality she's been heavily abused and pit against arthur since she was like 10/11 (however old she came to Camelot) and is now a grown woman who is realizing she hates her abuser and everything he's done and wants to destroy him and everything he loves !!

likewise merlin was manipulated and gaslit and forced to become a compulsive liar and would've NOT !! been good for morgana and eventually everything would've gone to shit !!

they are worsties for better or much much worse

#bbc merlin #some guy talking #merlin #arthur pendragon #morgana pendragon #the worsties #merthur #let women be evil #stop trying to paint them as justified meow meows #she is sinister and that is important to me !! #mergana fiendship #merlin meta

[theroundbartable]

Just thinking about Arthur's love language again.

We often talk about how Merlin is the one who can do physical touch. He's used to hugging his mom, probably Will. It's a give and take, relatively balanced, there are certain people he's not allowed to touch or has to stay away from out of fear for his life. Because he's not allowed to be close to people who would want to hurt him.

And then there is Arthur. Who is used to receive touches but never touching back. Servants do his hair, see him wash up, measure his clothes, knights clap his shoulder in passing. It's always brief, none of it is meaningful, really, except for him because it's the way Uther tells him he's done well. And then he has rarely people he's allowed to touch at all. When Arthur is punished, he's being locked away, and all on his own, back turned to him and not even the barest of touch in sight.

It's almost natural the way they gravitate towards each other. Merlin reaching out and prolonging unnecessary touches because it gives him comfort, while Arthur let's him because it affirms him.

Arthur letting him touch means: you're save.

Merlin touching Arthur means: you're doing well.

I based a fic on it :)

#bbc merlin #merlin #merthur #merlin bbc #arthur #merlin meta #no clue where that give comes from #couldn't find the one i was actually looking for #what is this gif #does anyone know

[longlivechips]

Obsessed with Merlin's reputation in Camelot.

This guy just shows up one day and gets handed one of the most sought after jobs in the castle and then proceeds to be absolutely terrible at it for 10 years.

He goes missing for hours and days at a time, he even has a whole ass nother job.

Arthur takes this guy EVERYWHERE and he doesn't even fight anyone. Doesn't even have a helmet on poor sap.

They are marching off to war and the only two people riding horseback besides Arthur are Merlin and Leon!!

We say it a lot but. Merlin gets mistress treatment AF.

#merlin rewatch #merlin #bbc merlin #merlin meta #arthur pendragon

[pyjamacryptid]

To Kill The King

GWEN & MORGANA (+ Uther)

I’ve been thinking a lot about To Kill The King 1x12 lately and how it established, early on, that Gwen and Morgana were narrative foils.

This would’ve been a fanvid if I had the time or less than 10 Merlin-related wips lol so it gets a meta post instead <3

#bbc merlin #Merlin #merlin meta #meta #to kill the king #Merlin 1x12 #Merlin S1E12 #guinevere pendragon #morgana pendragon #uther pendragon #merlin emrys #bbc gwen #bbc morgana #merlinedit #undescribed #bc it’s almost midnight for me and I’m almost asleep 😭 #ren rambles #kinda?? #morgwen #morgana x gwen

[thefabledpheasant]

The finale to Merlin is devastating, but you know what kills me? The tiny glimpse the episode gives us as to the banter we could’ve gotten if we had an earlier magic reveal:

Arthur is dying. And yet he gets this incredibly fond look on his face when remembering the day they first met.

Arthur is dying. And yet he looks at Merlin, the person who’s only just revealed his decade long lie regarding this thing that Arthur’s been raised to hate, and he jokes that Merlin cheated during their first meeting.

Arthur is dying. And he doesn’t really care that Merlin has magic. Only that he lied to him.

Can you imagine all the other moments of banter we could have had as Arthur found out all the other things Merlin did? How he didn’t really know how to juggle and that Arthur had a donkey voice for a bit because Merlin allowed it?

#do you see the smile Arthur is holding back in the first gif?? #the would bicker and then laugh and then kiss #this whole episode is unbelievably romantic #bbc merlin #merlin bbc #arthur pendragon #merlin #merlin x arthur #merthur #arthur x merlin #merlin meta #merlin emrys #merlin finale #merlin 5x13 #mine #diamon of the day #merlin s5 #5x13

[oswinsdolma]

the bbc merlin writers actually went so hard when they decided "actually no, magic isn't some grotesque perversion of the natural order, it is nature itself" because like. it would have been so easy to write merlin's internal conflict as one between the inherent evil of magic and the good of humanity, to put arthur in the right for his persecution and to turn merlin into some kind of doomed hero within himself, but no. because in the end, magic had very little to do with anything, it was just something that was there. morgana didn't turn evil because she was magic, she did because she was scared and angry and manipulated. merlin doesn't wait for arthur because of the promise of a golden age, at least not really; he does it because he loves arthur and wants him back. in the disiir episode, if it had only ever been about restoring magic to camelot, merlin should have sacrificed arthur in a heartbeat for the promise of magic's legalisation. hell, even mordred didn't kill arthur because of his views on magic, he did so because arthur took away the person he loved. like yeah it's a fantasy show and magic is a massive part of that world, but in the end it was a story about people, and all the hopes and dreams within it are deeply and tragically human, and that's what makes it a good story, what keeps us going apeshit over it even ten years after it ended. in a way, there are two shows in the same way there are two merlins: one about magic, "emrys" and the other about friendship, and like merlin, the audience has to choose which one we should care about most. and every time, we make the same choice as he did: we, however foolishly, choose humanity. we sob at the tragic trajectory and scream as we see destiny gathering traction, but isn't that the point of tragedy?? if we followed logic over emotion, tragedy would never take place, but equally, if we followed logic over emotion, the idea of tragedy itself would become lost to obselescebce. the whole point of the show is to tell us that "no, we can't define things as one or the other, because anything with meaning exists as something more complex, because to give something meaning is to perceive it with a human gaze". magic may be a force of nature, but good and evil are ideas perpetuated by our innate, incurable humanity, and it is here we have a choice. we can't choose our destinies but we can choose from which direction to embrace it, and that's a surprisingly radical, beautiful thing.

#i really am mass posting shit these days huh #terrible midnight analysis #← time to resurrect this iconic tag #bbc merlin #merlin #merlin meta #idek how much of this makes sense but whatever