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thealieninhiding · 23 days

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The Katie McGrath Archives (WIP)

A repository of my ongoing digital archeology & archival work please contact me if you have anything to contribute and buy me a coffee if you value my content

message me if you want a link to her complete filmography 🤫

Updates

(last updated 2024-05-24)

2024-05-24

Video:

2017 Katie McGrath interview [CW|KMcGsource]

2017 Supergirl Season 3 Sweet dreams (are made of this) Music Video

2017 CW SDCC Promo Supergirl and Arrow

2019-01-01 The CW Promo Open To All

2021-04-25 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Lena Luthor

2021-09-15 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Reflecting on Supergirl

2024-05-22

Audio:

Interview - 2009-07-17 Katie McGrath Mr Media interview

Interview - 2009-10-15 Geek Syndicate Merlin BTS special

Video:

BTS - 2008-10-08 Blue Peter Merlin BTS

Events - 2009 TV Choice Awards Digital Spy interview

Events - Getty Videos of 2009 TV Choice Awards, 2010 Merlin Series 3 launch, 2011 W.E. premiere, 2017 King Arthur Premiere

2024-05-17

Archived interviews

2008-12-07 Tribune Magazine - What Katie Did

2011-10-14 What's on TV - Merlin's Katie McGrath- 'Bad girls have more fun!'

2012-12-03 Fanhattan Blog - Colin Morgan, Katie McGrath and Bradley James on Season 5 and The Series Finale

2018-08-01 The TV Junkies - Supergirl SDCC 2018 Interviews- Lena’s Impractical Lab Outfits, the Return of Reporter Kara and a More Grounded Season 4

Audio

HHush samples

Interview - 2009-2011 Sci-fi Talk rewind merlin the series specials episode 1

Interview - 2011? Merlin S4 Sci-fi talk byte katie mcgrath on morgana

Interview - 2013 BBC Radio 1xtra part 1 & part 2

Narration - While You Were Dreaming (Un-Likeminded)

Narration - Irish folklore (Trees a crowd podcast)

Magazine scans

2008-09-20 Radio Times

2009-06-08 TV Week (Aus)

2010-09-05 Sunday Express

2010-09-30 Totally Merlin Magazine

2011-12 Total Film

2012-03-14 Sci-Fi Now

2012-10-06 Radio Times

2013-04-06 Irish independent

2013-09-02 Marie-Claire (UK)

2013-12 Instyle

2013-12 Total Film

Video:

Fans - 2012-04-16 Merlin4 [carlospyrrhus]

Fans - 2017-08-30 Supergirl cast together on set [Joyce Law]

Interview - 2009-09-?? Merlin S2 audio interview with Katie McGrath [BJsRealm] part 1

Interview - 2010-09-06 Merlin Series 3 - BBC Radio 1xtra Interview with Angel Coulby & Katie McGrath [BJsrealm]

Interview - 2011-10-14 Merlin S4 Colin Morgan, Eoin Macken Katie McGrath on The Late Late Show

Interview - 2012-07-15 Colin Morgan and Katie McGrath at SDCC 2012 - innerSPACE [merlinnetwork2]

Interview - 2012-07-18 Katie McGrath Talks Merlin At Comic Con 2012 [ThinkHeroTV]

Interview - 2012-10-25 BBC Radio 1 Breakfast - Colin & Katie part 1 & part 2 [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Merlin S5 Katie McGrath interview international press day [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Colin, Bradley, Katie phone interview [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2013-11-09 Katie McGrath on BBC One Saturday Kitchen [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2019-07-22 ENTREVISTA SUPERGIRL Elenco fala sobre a nova temporada [Warner Channel Brasil]

Interview - 2019-07-23 Melissa Benoist Teases Directing An Episode Of 'Supergirl' [ET Canada]

Interview - 2020-02-21 ‘Supergirl’ Celebrates 100th Episode [ET Canada]

Panels - 2011-07-28 Merlin Comic Con 2011 Panel [ThinkHeroTV]

#katie mcgrath #katie mcgrath interview #Katie McGrath archive #Katie McGrath filmography archive #wayback machine #media preservation

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mr-and-mr-pendragon · 7 months

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I’m sorry to ask, but is something happening with the Arthur/Merlin family on tumbler? Each morning I wake up looking for the latest post. Recently, 1 of my most faithful daily sites just disappeared. The rest have reduced from several daily posts to once in a while. I joined someone called ArthurDaily who was posting daily, and they disappeared one week ago. Maybe I’m just too thirsty. Everyone has holidays/work/troubles/life, but I’m running out of options for my happy fix. Any suggestions?

And thank you for continuing to post beautiful images and stories.

We're an old fandom, there's no new content to generate lots of posts. Despite that, from time to time we flare up and the talented gifmakers, ficwriters, meme enjoyers and commenters come together to share our love for bbc merlin. Usually when a new film comes out with one of the lead actors, or there's some insane hellsite reason to make the tag trend.

There's not a lot of purely merlin blogs now, but I recommend following these people, their online presence makes me happy :3 (a few off the top of my head)

@brolinskeep @cabbageheadss @dollopheadsandclotpoles @freylins @merthurapologist @thatgaywizardoverthere

also binge watch the other works of beloved merlin actors. watch damien with bradley & humans with colin, and cry with me over them having been cancelled. especially humans. damn, that was a great series and it had colin moaning on the bed as he was charging or some shit lol

#bbc merlin #cry with me over damien please #sexy sexy antichrist bradley #asks #dzikadog

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sallowhillshq · 2 years

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.✾. ═ welcome to sallow hills. enjoy your stay.

i see we have a new member to our town. welcome, welcome ARTHUR PENDRAGON. we truly hope you enjoy your stay. please feel free to head over to bevin & cecil’s until you’re settled. i know it might be difficult right now and you might be missing your home. Merlin and Guinevere are already here though, so you won’t have to be alone.

══ tiff we’re so excited to have your newest muse in sallow hills! you can re-find the welcome package in the source link & if you are using side blogs, make sure we know where your character is going.

╔═.✾. ═ LOG *** : Arthur Pendragon | cimale, he/him | 32 years old.

Just spotted ARTHUR around town. Our records show that they remember [ everything ] from their source : Merlin, BBC (canon). They were first spotted in month year [July 2022] and our best guess is that their last memory is dying by the lake of Avalon. Archivists watching them state that they still have the defend the helpless, trusting heart, leading with courage, looking to the future vibe about them.

━ from Armes E. Sallow’s personal archives. ═.✾. ═╝ ↳・゜bradley james. ↳・゜tiff (she/her). 21+. est.

↳・゜Arthur is coming to grips with the passing of time and that, while he died, the legend of what he built lives to this day. It's a world so different from what he knows, but he was always a king who looked to the future, who wanted good things for his people and fairness in things that were unheard of in his time. It's a marvel to him, but the future doesn't have the weight of his past and he's wondering if now he can be the most true version of himself, if he can let the shadow of his father go now that there is no crown resting on his brow to hold him to the past. He can still protect and help, even lead in his own way, working in the fire department, and simply be Arthur, not the once and future king. (So he thinks.)

#sallow hills (accepted)#fandom rp #multifandom rp #semi appless rp #town rp

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arthursknight · 2 years

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a small appreciation post--

it's been... a month and some change since i revamped this blog to become my personal arthur pendragon shrine. i used to be a criminal minds blog (pause for judgement) and i abandoned it bc, you know, Life. honestly i wasn't even really that passionate about cm, not in the way i am about merlin. in fact, it's been. Quite A While since i have been as passionate about anything as i am with merlin (we're talking 2019-2020, when i was in DEEP with the magicians).

anyway, that is to say--

i stumbled back on here with no mutual friends that shared my fervour for the funky little wizard twink and his sunshine boyfriend. just me and my brain rot, riding into the unknown. i didn't know what to expect-- it had been over 10 years since i had last engaged in the merlin fandom on tumblr, and back then, it looked a Lot different.

to be honest, i expected very little. i figured the vast majority of people had moved on, and i would find a tiny pocket where some still occasionally lingered, and i would post my dumb little thoughts to a handful of vagrants that might stumble across my blog in nostalgic wonder.

and now?

i have a considerable amount of followers that inexplicably keeps growing. i have people who have tags for me on their blogs. i have a little squad that i terrorise on a daily basis. some of my writing has like... 1.5k notes on it. ridiculous shit. absolutely insane.

and like. you all love this as much as I do. you all look at me and go "wow, this bitch really has it bad for arthur," and you cheer me on, for some reason, against all better judgement. and like.

yeah, it's been 10 years, almost, and bradley james has had a nose job and colin morgan has aged like a fine wine, but like. still here, baby. ain't ever going away.

and I just. thank you. thank you for everyone who calls me a son of a bitch in my tags. thank you for everyone who reads my writing and finds something in it. thank you for everyone who hates my fucking guts bc i truly do never shut the fuck up.

idk what my larger reputation is, nor do i particularly care. i am living my best delusional life and i invite you to join me. and you have. you have joined me. i am so lucky to have you along.

so like. thank gods we've all got this brain rot together. and thank gods you took me in alongside you. for the love of camelot/lancelot, we'll do this shit together.

love you all v much. xoxo arthur(sknight)

#all about cee #cee.txt #i just am emotional #i love my lil crew i love my friends i love the gay people in my phone

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anadorablack · 3 years

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SHIPS

I saw this on another blog ( @iusedtoknowwhatawishwasfor) and thought it was so cool I ought to do it too. 😉

1. Ship you wish had been canon

Merthur (Merlin x Arthur, BBC Merlin)

Their dynamic kills me everytime I rewatch the series; and it’d have been the perfect opportunity to change the expectations of viewers when it comes to the Arthurian Legends. Plus, Colin and Bradley had noooooo trouble making heart eyes at each other!

2. Newest ship

Winterbaron (Bucky Barnes x Helmut Zemo, Marvel)

Thanks to this website, I read Tabula Rasa, and now this is my go-to ship. I know it’s a fucked-up dynamic and that many people like to bash us shippers on the head, but I find so many silver-linings in this relationship, and some things are better when they are complex.

3. Favourite ship

Thoschei (The Doctor x The Master, Doctor Who)

No matter their faces/gender/identity, I ship them like crazy. Get it together already!!!

4. Ship you want to be canon

Jeankob (Jean x Jakob, Sex Education)

They better get back together or I’ll cause a riot!!!

5. First ship you were crazy for

Johnlock (John Watson x Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock)

I lost the plot with these two. I just wanted to bang their heads together and tell them to kiss already!!!

6. Ship you wish had more screen time

Minnie (Mitchell x Annie, Being Human UK)

Cuties. CUTIES!!!

7. First ship

Vaniel (Vala x Daniel Jackson, Stargate SG-1)

Many of my Saturdays were spent screaming at them to get together. I was a precocious kid when it came to doomed ships…

8. Honorable mention

Klaroline (Klaus x Caroline, The Vampire Diaries)

I’m still far too angry to comment too much….

#my ships #feel free to use #stargate sg1 #sherlock #fatws #sex education #merlin bbc #doctor who #being human uk #the vampire diaries

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cilly-murphy · 4 years

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any merlin accs u can recommend me? im trying to find active blogs <3

Hello!! Well i have a big list for you... there are so many blogs out there and i have followed so many new ones this year and follow everyday. I would do them by category.. like fics, gifs, text posts... but i’m too lazy 😂

First of all, follow our sideblog, @merlin-gifs. I’m an admin there and we’re building it again after many years, you will get some good stuff out of us!

All these blogs are about 70% Merlin and more... there are so many blogs out there who post a lot of Merlin but i guess you would like only Merlin ones now. Also all of them are active as of 2020

@fy-merlinxarthur, @brolinskeep, @fy-theladymorgana, @meteorjam, @incorrectmerlinquotes, @merlinpetpraises, @merlinpetpeeves, @merlinoutofcontext, @justarthur, @just-morgana, @justmerlin, @merthurdaily, @paulinegrintt, @bradleycolingifs, @bbcmerlindaily, @colin-bradley, @youngwarlock,@iknownowmerlin, @princearthur, @maryluis, @lao-pendragon, @arthurandmerlin, @merlinshutup, @anti-uther-rights, @caffeinatedflumadiddlebutmerlin, @inalandofmythandmerthur, @tracionn, @clotpolemerlin, @fishoutofcamelot, @ladyofthelake, @dollopheadsandclotpoles, @witchmd13, @merlinemrys, @mr-and-mr-pendragon, @pen-dragonlord, @merlinmyrddin, @splashstorm, @the-once-and-future-love, @the-girl-on-the-other-side, @lauradonnelly, @sneakyboymerlin, @lancelotdeservedbetter, @fuckyeahmorganapendragon, @pendrvgon, @fy-katiemcgrath, @fyeahcolinmorgan, @lighthouse-on-the-sea, @morgwenna, @once-and-future-gay, @shadowinkkk, @and-damntheconsequences, @donttouchtheneednoggle, @highfunctioning-clotpole, @changelink, @thegreymoon, @emrysofealdor, @kingdowager, @dragonlord-emrys, @whatthedruidscallme, @thatone-nerdygirl, @wtfisgoingonanymore, @junemo10, @gwaine-loves-apples, @merlination, @merlinsprat, @iamacolinmorganist, @gayfirebender, @existenceisthis, @once-and-future-dawn, @shut-up-merlin, @gwaines-granny-smiths, @itslynxa, @gwen-cheers-me-up, @annabethmorganagrangereverdeen, @thatgaywizardoverthere, @morgwenna

Wow... i literally looked through all 600 blogs i follow for this, i’m so extra haha. i hope i didn’t forget anyone, i love all these blogs and some of them are amazing friends 😍

#replies #merlin #bbc merlin #blog recs #guineverres

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theyarebothgunshot · 3 years

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Not to rant but in 2012, there was another rps that teenagers had there eyes on manifesting they would come out. I don't know if you have heard about it but BROLIN was the shipper name. For Bradley James and Colin Morgan.

Let me tell you, Bradley was the straighter of them all kind of guy. He is the last person you would think to be queer. But there were...moments. And Colin was the silent guy he was very professional and very private about his life. But they both dated women as far as ppl knew.

The show they appeared together was BBC Merlin. That show took a new look into the myths of King Arthur and Wizard Merlin and twisted it into an unlikely bromance. It was 2012. So no one was ready to admit the relationship was more than what it was. They killed for each other, almost died for each other. And there were those moments where they look into each others eyes and.. well.. it was clearly baiting and by the end of the series everyone anticipated a coming out in the show because the relationship was that intense, but it never happened. Spoiler alert! One of them dies in the other arms while that one is cursed to live forever. It aired on the eve of Christmas so instead of joy it was all sobs. That series finale was nominated as most disappointing series finale. Many fans cried that night. It was a tear fest..

So back to Brolin. I mean as the series ended fans expected a coming out from the actors too. There were too much rumours and none of it was confirmed. But it never happened.. To this very day they are both unmarried as far as I know. And when asked Bradley recently said he and Colin are not in contact anymore but when they meet it is as if nothing changed. So there's that.

The thing is the fandom was frustrated when Merthur didn't happen so they wanted Brolin to happen. To this day no one knows if there was such a thing to begin with. There was another story that Bradley dated his co-star Angel Coulby so they used Colin as a distraction but again..rumours.

These kind of things happen. And trust me Bradley never got a "b" on stage because of Colin, so it is nothing like Cockles. Cockles has more spark and potential. So even tbh things do not happen, doesn't mean they are not there. There are still a few Brolin Tumblr blogs left if you want to dig into the olden goldie. They are mostly silent now.

Also this is the same Bradley James who recently tweeted he was mistaken for Jensen by a very drunken Jared.

nonnie you can always rant in my inbox, i don’t mind whatsoever, but i have read this over a few times and i dont know if you expect me to have a reaction to this? because i kind of just read this and thought ‘huh. okay.’ i have never watched merlin although i do know about it and i know how the guys who play the characters look like. it’s safe to say there are a LOT of rpf shit people believe(d) in over the years. so i am aware that things like this have happened before. i don’t really feel any need to dig into it though, although who knows if i ever get bored i might get curious lmao.

#i am having a hard time reading the tone of this message #was this just a 'here is another example' story #or do you think people will eventually lead jensen and misha to fall out of contact?#or do you think people are seeing things that arent there?#Anonymous

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ladyofthelake · 2 years

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I posted 4,342 times in 2021

417 posts created (10%)

3925 posts reblogged (90%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 9.4 posts.

I added 1,771 tags in 2021

#merlin - 522 posts

#merthur - 404 posts

#samdean - 193 posts

#spn - 171 posts

#jared padalecki - 98 posts

#<3 - 93 posts

#anti destiel - 87 posts

#fanart - 78 posts

#j2 - 66 posts

#colin morgan - 59 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#she knows i love spn and has seen some eps and also knows jared and jensen and knows they’re my heroes. she’s only vaguely aware of some of

My Top Posts in 2021

PSA

We don’t brag that ‘we won’ we uh just watched and loved the actual show and main characters and if you wanna rewrite the entire show (how’s that going) then maybe you should find another show/thing to obsess over because you clearly hate spn

There is no ship war because the only ship that is canon (platonically) is Sam and Dean and there’d be peace if you’d just stay in your lane and just enjoy Destiel as fanon and not take over every tag like Sam’s with posts that have nothing to do with Sam

Us ‘evil bronlies and wincesties’ actually care about and love the characters and show and you despise them

I have never seen the venom and delusion that you all spew from any brothers or J2 fans, never seen them tag actors with utter hate and poison or send horrible cowardly anonymous asks. We are just here trying to love and support our show and characters/actors we love and you all make it SO HARD. Why should we have to defend canon?!

Also the ace erasure and offensive bisexual sterotypes you talk about to convince yourselves Dean is bi is horrible and you have zero respect for Dean or Jensen.

The utter hate and poison directed at Jared makes me feel sick. If you don’t like someone fine but bullying and spending your time hating on them is a horrible thing to do and you need to take a long hard look at yourself and just focus on things you love because otherwise eventually all that hate will turn inward and the only one you’re damaging is yourself.

Jared and Jensen deserve so much better than all this drama and I just hope they see enough love and support sent their way to drown out those hateful voices.

95 notes • Posted 2021-10-07 00:14:21 GMT

Makes me so happy being in the Merlin fandom because hearing how welcoming it is for new and old fans, people who may have just started the show or those who watched years ago and are still blogging or inspired to blog now.

I’m proud of us not only for enduring and being the immortal fandom but for everyone’s kindness and warmth and generosity and talent and sheer magical spirit and energy <3 Drama free for 1500 years.

123 notes • Posted 2021-01-30 00:01:26 GMT

I've (probably) said it before but I'll say it again, If you dislike the relationship between Sam and Dean in Supernatural and put 'dni bibros' in your blog and if you skip the early seasons, the seasons which are the best and most important, you are not a fan of the show in anyway shape of form because the show IS about Sam and Dean, always was, the heart and soul of the show it was always their story.

134 notes • Posted 2021-03-05 15:30:31 GMT

I feel like the Elrond of the Merlin fandom. My blog is ancient. I lived through Bradley’s video diaries, illegally recorded comic con trailers that I stayed up all night waiting for them to drop, screaming over the first BBC trailers, EMBRACE ROCK, biting our fingernails whether Dragoon would be in the finale, the agony of Christmas Eve, when landofmerlin was still here, the NTA’s ‘beaming with pride’ and Colin like a champ winning it all and bonus Merlin casts faces when Downton won (the list goes on) ALL IN REAL TIME. I miss those halycon days.

I was there Gandalf. Three Thousand years ago.

215 notes • Posted 2021-06-08 02:38:01 GMT

See the full post

280 notes • Posted 2021-01-02 03:20:57 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #LMAO THE DRAMA made my year in review xD #I posted 4000 times...#and I have like 10 other sideblogs.....#yeah I live here #also tumblr I ASSURE you thats not my longest tag

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candicewright · 4 years

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Kindly requesting that analysis on wangxian being peak romance and how it compares to queerbaiting please 🙏 🙏 🙏

Hello, anon! I am very genuinely happy that my rambling thoughts interest you in any way (because I have a lot of thoughts) so here is my analysis as promised. It is veeeery long (almost 2k), sorry about that but I’ve really been looking forward to talking about this for a very long time. In the end, it isn’t so much about how Wangxian is peak romance and more about the censorship and how it compares to queerbaiting, I may have to do another post about that later on. Without much further ado, here it is!

The Untamed’s tasteful censorship vs. BBC Merlin’s queerbaiting and why I prefer one over the other.

I know most people follow this blog for Merlin and believe me when I say that I love this show more than I can say because it has quite literally changed my life. But The Untamed has opened my mind to a whole new world (insert Aladdin’s A Whole New World here) and it has given me a lot of perspective on a lot of things.

I often joke with my friends saying that my first consideration when choosing a new show to watch is saying “is it gay?” which is not far from the truth, but it’s also not the complete story. What I mean is that I ask myself “does this show have a relationship that I think is worth getting invested in?”. Yes, t usually happens that those are not heterosexual romances, but what can I say, I’m queer and I like my emotional support fictional characters to be so too. This is the exact reasoning that led me to Merlin. I saw a couple of videos about them on youtube and immediately found their dynamic compelling and their story beautifully tragic. But like with most shows these days, the writers failed (among other things) to make their relationship explicit. This has happened with every show I watched after Merlin too; The Witcher, Sherlock and Good Omens being the most notable ones.

You can argue if they are or are not queerbaiting, I at least think Good Omens isn’t, but again, it is pretty subjective.

But i had grown so accustomed to this type of media that I fully went into The Untamed expecting something similar.

And oh boy was I wrong.

Now, the case of The Untamed is a curious one because it is supposed to be a love story between two men due to being based on a BL novel, but because of censorship, it had to be very toned down. I found this out right before actually watching the show while doing some preliminary research and while it did change my thought on what I was getting into I truly thought they would just erase the entire relationship and try to hide it behind straight relationships like in most other shows I had watched.

But that was absolutely not the case, to my endless relief and joy.

But how? How did they get away with censoring all the explicit aspects of a romantic relationship while still managing to tell a wonderful love story? And how does this compare to the queerbaiting of a show like Merlin?

Warning: I will be using different parts of both shows and probably some of the MDZS novel to illustrate my point, so there will be spoilers.

The initial accidental chemistry + innuendos vs. The establishment of the very clear enemies to friends to lovers trope

I’m going to use Merlin to compare and contrast this because it’s what I know best and the other show I've given a lot of thought to.

Merthur and Wangxian are both similar and different dynamics in the way they’re written and it was one of the things that drew me into The Untamed in the first place. Both stories begin with our main duo meeting and instantly disliking each other, ending up in a fight. And while they both set the story up to lead to a more intimate bond being created between the pairs, there’s something very different from the start.

Merthur is deliberately set up to be a close friendship and all innuendos and chemistry are accidental (in my opinion and only at the start). Let me explain.

The concept for Merlin clearly started with the idea of how the story would change if Merlin was a young boy arriving in Camelot instead of an old powerful sorcerer. Then they made the main plot to be his destiny/friendship with the young and arrogant Prince Arthur. I truly believe that the first innuendos were not what they intended and that all chemistry and sexual tension between the characters comes courtesy of Colin and Bradley and how undeniably good they look on screen together. Fans then started speculating (as we always do) and then the production team decided to run with it, making it almost a recurring joke when it shouldn’t have been. Had they treated that developing relationship seriously like what they were hinting it was, the show would have been very different.

The Untamed on the other hand, is everything but accidental. What they’re doing is deliberately establishing the enemies to friends to lovers trope from the very beginning. It’s not an accident that during their first fight on the roof of the Cloud Recesses Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji that women would find his true character very disappointing and that no one would want to marry him. he says so several times in fact and this is clearly both to highlight the change in their relationship as well as to say that Lan Wangji is not at all interested in the opinion of any female (or anyone besides Wei Wuxian for that matter). This is the same stuff we see in mainstream straight romances: one of the characters saying something to the effect of “who would want to date them?” only to end up involved with the other at the end of the story.

You could argue that Merlin does something similar with the conversation between Merlin and Kilgharrah where Merlin is affronted by the idea of having to help Arthur where he says “There must be another Arthur because this one’s an idiot...If someone wants to kill him, they can go right ahead. In fact, I’ll give them a hand.” but the difference between these two is that Merlin is hiding behind the guise of destiny and friendship to make these parallels while Wangxian is deliberately and clearly in a romantic context.

The deliberate continuation of the subtext vs. The suggestion of something more

The accidental nature of the subtext doesn’t last long and in true BBC fashion, it turns into full-on queerbaiting real fast. Again, you can argue endlessly about when the deliberately suggestive comments start, but by the end of the show, we know for a fact the entire production staff and even the staff were aware of the effect and reception their show was having. This was no longer an innocent mistake on people reading too much into it, it was a very purposeful narrative that they were pushing without ever truly committing to it. This is what got fans going crazy over “poetry” or lines like “you’re the only friend I have and I couldn’t bear to lose you”. These are all very intentional choices they made to keep their devoted fanbase interested and while we’re all very thankful for this material it really keeps us wondering what it could have been if they had taken that extra step.

The Untamed can’t take that step because of the censorship laws, but it’s still much more daring than Merlin ever was. While Merlin keeps the soulmate aspect of the Merthur relationship a suggestion, The Untamed outright says it, which was baffling to me. It even does it at a pint where the first kiss happened in the novel, which you would think makes it less romantic. But that's absolutely not the case because of both the non-consensual nature of that original kiss and because of how heartbreakingly beautiful the replacement scene is. Not only that, but they also keep all the elements you could expect to see in any pre-relationship stage of a developing romance story: endless amounts of mutual pining, not-really-unrequited love, jealousy, panicking at the sight of your crush (yes I’m looking at you 15-year-old Lan Wangji) and even some fun in vino veritas moments. They even have a son together! It doesn’t get more clear than that!

This is all the way the show has of suggesting something more without outright saying (even though it’s a pretty not subtle way of suggesting it).

Merlin, on the other hand, keeps trying to deny the romantic nature of the Merthur dynamic, which brings me to my next point.

The introduction of a female love interest as an excuse vs. The awareness that the audience understands the relationship in the way it's meant to be

Now, this one really bugs me, because of all the ways they could have done this they truly chose the worst and destroyed Gwen’s character in the process.

In my opinion, the writers could have done a few different things. They could have fully developed the Merthur relationship as a romantic one while keeping Gwen’s role as a queen and creating a much more satisfying character arch for her, maybe even getting her together with Morgana or Lancelot. They could have focused on the Awen romance and therefore lowered the suggestions of romance between Merlin and Arthur, once again creating a much more enjoyable subplot for Gwen, though it could have also meant sacrificing the very powerful bond between the main characters. They could have even taken advantage of Gwen’s crush on Merlin in the first season and gone on the full-on polyamory direction! That would have been much better! Instead, they halfassed the romance between Arthur and Gwen and made it just...meh. Not that Angel and Bradley didn’t do a great job, it was more of a writing problem than a them problem.

The Untamed (despite the rumours and possibilities of a Wen Qing/Wei Wuxian relationship) decided to just run with the not really platonic relationship between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, making them the complete focus of the story while still upholding the censorship laws. What I think the biggest difference between the two shows is, is that one runs on assuming the audience is stupid while the other one assumes the audience is smart.

Let me explain once more.

The Merlin writers clearly thought that by introducing Gwen as the love interest to Arthur he would just become what? Magically straight? As if we hadn’t seen the last four seasons of sexual tension between him and Merlin? The audience was not fooled for the most part, but some people did fall for this, coming with the argument “But he’s married to Gwen so he’s straight!” as if being gay or straight are the only two possibilities but oh well.

The Untamed does quite the opposite. It relies on the fact that the audience is going to catch onto the romantic aspect of the narrative without them actively saying anything because we are Not Dumb. It also does something that I think is quite beautiful which is leaving it up for interpretation as far as whether it’s platonic or not and even more touching is the way the story has resonated with the ace community (that is according to what I’ve seen, please do correct me if I’m wrong) by focusing on their emotional and intellectual connection instead of in their physical and sexual one.

This is why, in the end, I prefer what I call The Untamed’s tasteful censorship over Merlin and other shows’ blatant queerbaiting.

I feel the need after all of this to state that Merlin is still my favorite show of all time and that this is not by any means me saying that Merlin is absolute trash or something like that. There’s also a lot more that I think can be said in this conversation, so please feel free to tell me what you think and if you’ve ever encountered something similar to this.

Also, if I made any mistakes or wrong points, please don’t be shy about telling me!

I hope this rant was at least somewhat interesting and that you found it satisfactory, anon!

#mdzs/cql meta #merlin meta #the untamed #cql #wangxian #bbc merlin #merthur #merlin bbc #ask response #i have a lot of feelings #someone stop me #long post

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thegreymoon · 4 years

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5, 6, and 7 for the salty asks <3

Thank you for the ask!! 💜💜

I answered these yesterday, so I will just copy/paste them, if that’s OK! 😄

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

I wouldn’t say fandom has ever ruined a pairing for me, but I did have canon ruin one of my main pairings years ago (which pretty much ended my involvement in that fandom). I was writing a long fic for a manga in progress and then the author went and did something to the characters I was writing for that made me sick to my stomach and I just… couldn’t continue. The poor fic is still on hiatus and I still feel guilty about it.

For Merlin:

I did not have the fandom ruin a pairing, but the Arwen, Morgwen and Merwen side had some really rude, combative and aggressive blogs with some pretty obnoxious takes. It did not ruin these pairings for me because you will take Arwen and Merwen (and especially OT3 Merlin/Arthur/Gwen) from my cold dead hands, but it did stop me from interacting with these people when otherwise I would have followed them, and I also stopped reblogging their content once I became familiar with their user names. These blogs also had a pretty strong overlap with the anti-Bradley blogs, so staying away was for the best.

For The Untamed:

I haven’t been in this fandom for long enough (or deep enough for it to ruin anything), but it is a pretty toxic one overall, so I try not to get too involved, unless it is with people who show signs of being reasonably sane.

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

For Merlin:

Not really. Sometimes, I will come across something in fandom that will pique my interest in a relationship I was indifferent to before, but the big things have remained pretty much a constant. There is one thing marginally related to this, though, and again, hate is too strong a word, indifferent would be better. When it comes to Merthur sexxxy times, I prefer top!Arthur. The rational part of my mind headcanons that they switch, but when it comes to Merthur porn, generally, bottom!Arthur doesn’t do much for me (or anything at all, to be perfectly honest). Of course, this is nowhere near enough to kick me out of the fic (unless it’s a PWP), good fic is good fic and happy Merthur is happy Merthur, it’s just that the horny parts of my brain simply don’t switch on for bottom!Arthur. Except when they do. Granted, this only happened for me in a couple of fics, but, damn, it was 🔥🔥🔥 when it did!

For The Untamed:

Again, hate is too strong a word, but I was confused where people were getting XiCheng from, other than the fact that both Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng end up alone in canon and fandom hates it when pretty people are not paired off. Of course, I still haven’t finished the show, but the further along I get, the more I see how it could work, and the handful of fics I read were not exactly my thing, but they were definitely engaging. Another interesting one is Nie Mingjue and Wen Qing, but again, hate is too strong a word, it just never occurred to me until I saw a fanart of it recently and it was so cute, and the dynamic they could have is so valid, I could totally get behind it!

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

For Merlin:

Okay, I am pretty much over this by now, but Gwaine. He was not only my favourite knight but also one of my favourite characters on that show, then that last episode happened with that mind-bending stupidity, and I was so mad, I was not even sad over his death. I couldn’t stand to look at him for a long time afterwards. I am mostly over it by now, lol, and I love Gwaine again, but I never rewatch DotD and I do my utmost best not to think about what went down with him in the finale. However, he never regained his no. 1 spot among the knights, that goes to Leon now, and he is sitting uncomfortably in no. 2. Sorry, Gwaine, there have to be consequences!

For The Untamed:

Jiang Yanli. I really felt for her in the beginning because all three of the Yunmeng siblings loved each other so very much and after meeting her awful mother, my heart went out to her! Also, I loved the rare occasions where she showed her lovely, shiny spine, so she was, for the most part, a very enjoyable character in spite of being the embodiment of one of my most hated tropes. However, her entire relationship with Jin Zixuan gets on my very last nerve and it totally spoiled her for me. I wouldn’t say that I can’t stand her, that is entirely too extreme, but I no longer find any enjoyment in her at all and there is no chance of that changing, considering that what’s left for her to do at this point is only to have her baby and die so that her death can trigger the final confrontation between her brothers. So, while I don’t hate her (I could never), she has been reduced from a character I empathize with to a plot device, and all my interest in her is just gone.

Salty Asks

#salty asks #merlin #the untamed

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coinofstone · 4 years

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1x08 The Beginning of the End

I've got a cat sleeping on top of me so we're just going to power through another ep.

Young Asa! Fun fact: during a previous rewatch (which I did not live blog) I watched this episode just after watching the first episode of Sex Education S2, which includes a (spoiler alert) montage of (the now young adult) Asa jerking off! So immediately seeing this itty bitty baby Asa after watching that made me kind of sick.

I love the druids. The telepathic conversations are awesome.

Merlin "I'm always careful" yea ok Mister i-revealed-my-magic-to-two-brand-new-dudes-I've-never-seen-before-two-episodes-in-a-row

Honestly I think we can all learn a thing or two from the way these sets are dressed with curtains and screens blocking off little enclaves to make better use of an open space

Why is this show so obsessed with women fetching water

"You have many names!" Really? Like what? Merlin, Emrys, ... um... Arthur's husb-servant! I said servant

I know Uther is a monster but the threat of him executing this child is just SO MUCH it seems almost hard to believe.

Love Merlin holding a mirror to Gaius' hypocrisy.

Keys on a wire, top tier comedy.

Costuming note: I love that this red jacket was in storage for a year after being dirtied at a feast, and now Arthur's wearing it on any random Tuesday and also has a new one in brown.

If anyone's wondering, the cat has left but I'm committed to the episode because I don't trust tumblr to actually save my drafts.

Leave it to a white woman to snitch on a woman sneaking a child out of the castle to avoid execution.

I don't often side with Arthur but really it was stupid of Morgana and Merlin to think Arthur would condone the boy's execution. Things would've gone much smoother if they'd involved him from the beginning.

Bradley has such tiny little baby ears compared to Tony and Colin lol

"If my father asks where I am, I've gone on a hunting trip"

Merlin: Arthur's gone on a hunting trip, and he hasn't been home in a few days

Wait no

Commentary with Angel, Katie, Colin and Jeremy. All natural accents and confusing 😂

I can't believe the boots were an actual person in green tights! That's actually really clever.

Katie keeps going on about her eyebrow and I'm watching this in 1080p and I still can't see what the eff she's talking about. But apparently they were told to stop plucking their eyebrows for authenticity.

Katie: you guys know I'm magical but yet you leave me, so it's really your fault that I become evil

Me: she's not wrong

I KNEW THOSE KEYS WERE ON A FISHING POLE

It's really weird that they have Angel on this commentary when she's barely in the episode and I don't think she says very much on the track either. It's a little hard for me to tell.

"They always seem to have Bradley strip in scenes, it's quite bizarre" yes. Bizarre. Definitely.

They did point out a great little look that Asa gives Merlin when he says he had trouble getting out of the castle, like 'you fuckin liar', which I'd never noticed before. Listening to them all fawning over Asa and knowing he's gone on to do great things since this, it's kinda nice. I like that they clap at the end too😂

#bbc merlin #merlin #bbc merlin spoilers #merlin spoilers #merthur #1x08 #bbc merlin 1x08 #merlin 1x08 #the beginning of the end #onceandfuturerewatch

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zipstick · 4 years

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Pass the happy!💕🌺 When you receive this, list 5 things that make you happy and send this to 10 of the last people in your notifications.

There were 10 things, so I’m gonna list all of them because screw you

10: Drawing. I’ve been doing a lot of drawing lately after discovering that I do, in fact, have the ability to draw people. And as well as people I’m quite good at drawing animals. More specifically, cats and dragons. Why it’s these two I’m not sure, but I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that the only accurate depictions of dragons are the giant scaly winged fire-breathing cats of the How To Train Your Dragon universe.

9: Chocolate, especially mint chocolate. In February I bought some mint chocolates in a sweet shop in Huddersfield, and they’re so nice. My parents got me a dark chocolate egg with some mint chocolates which was very nice. And for my birthday they gave me a bigger bag of nice mint chocolates from the same chocolate place as the egg. Also last year on a trip to Germany with the school I attend I went to the Lindt Shokoladen Museum in Cologne and got free samples of, and bought about €20-25 worth of some of the nicest chocolate I’ve ever had. If you’re ever in Cologne for some reason go there.

8: Studio Ghibli Movies. I’ve loved them since watching Spirited Away when I was young (Maybe 6 or 7) and for a few years my favourite was one called The Cat Returns which has kind of a nonsensical plot but I still really like it. And then they came to Netflix, and oh boy, there could not be a more opportune time for me to be shut in my house. I have watched Ponyo, The Cat Returns, Whisper Of The Heart, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service (twice) and Howl’s Moving Castle, which I watched three times within the course of a week (dear god help me) and there’s still like eight which I am yet to watch.

7: Harry Potter. I have been reading the series and watching the movies and drawing the fan art for nearly 3 years now and I really like these books. My favourite character is Sirius and I am in Hufflepuff and my Patronus is a badger and I can remember all the details of my wand without checking (spruce, 14 1/2 inches, unicorn hair core, quite bendy) and now I have written a chapter in a fanfic based on the Cursed Child. (which I haven’t even come read or watched and was basing the characterisation entirely on how my friend who is the main author of that fic wrote them). I own a Hufflepuff Quidditch T-shirt, a Hufflepuff hat, 2 Hufflepuff pin badges, a Hufflepuff scarf, a Hufflepuff mug, a Golden Snitch bracelet, and a replica of Newt Scamander’s wand. I have been to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour and the Platform 9 3/4 shop at King’s Cross. I own a copy of Quidditch Through The Ages, The Tales of Beedle The Bard, and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

6: Doctor Who. I have been watching Doctor Who my whole life. I own 2 sonic screwdriver toys (the ninth and tenth doctors’ and the thirteenth doctor’s) and a miniature Tardis that makes The Noiseᵀᴹ. I have watched every episode since the revival in 2005 and quite a few of the old ones from the 60s and 80s, most of which were the fourth doctor. In bluetooth settings my phone is called The Oncoming Storm in reference to what the Daleks call the Doctor. My phone’s hotspot it titled: Reference Doctor Who For Pass and the password is yet another doctor who reference. I love jelly babies and I will drop a doctor who reference into the conversation at every opportunity. I have taken a photo in front of the Tardis at Earl’s Court Road in London. I have an 11th Doctor notebook and a notebook which is the Tardis. My phone case is also the Tardis.

5: Animals. Reptiles and especially snakes in particular, though I adore cats and rabbits and birds and other such cute animals as well. I’ve loved all things reptiles for months now, since I believe early November. It began when I found this video by Snake Discovery on YouTube. Great channel, highly recommended. After I watched that I looked through their videos and discovered I believe this video of baby Western Hognose snakes hatching. I instantly fell in love. I stopped watching their videos for a while before re-discovering their channel in November, when I fell in love with reptiles all over again. It has now become my biggest life goal to own a hognose snake (as well as wanting to own about 23 other species of reptiles and amphibians at some point in my life, some to a higher degree than others).

4: Watching TV with my parents. Whenever a new series of Doctor Who is airing, get together in front of the telly to watch it. Recently, my dad dug up a few Beatles DVDs and I spent an evening watching Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years with him.

3: Merlin. More specifically, the fandom. I love looking at gifsets or fan art or fic recs on here. I’ve been watching the show for almost a year now and have technically been in the fandom for longer since I started watching videos of clips from the show on this YouTube channel. I’ve been trapped on Tumblr ever since. Send help. If I have counted correctly, I am on my 4th rewatch of the show. I am in the process of writing a Magic Reveal AU fanfic. I have also tried and failed several times to draw Merlin. I am following every Merlin blog I have found and am subbed to r/merlinbbc and r/bbcmerlinmemes on reddit. I have a sideblog dedicated to All Things Merlinᵀᴹ. Also Colin and Bradley are very wholesome and I love them both.

2: The Beatles. I’ve only been listening to the Beatles’ music for a few months, but I think it’s safe to say that they are my favourite musicians ever. In fact, I’m listening to them right now. There are so many songs that I just really vibe with like I’m Looking Through you or All My Loving or She Loves you or I’m Happy Just To Dance With you or Eight Days A Week, or my personal favourite: Here Comes The Sun, and these are just a few. There’s so many I can’t even name them all. On top of that, interviews with them or little clips of them together are always so much fun to watch because they always have little jokes to make the interviewer laugh and you can tell from the way that they interact in videos that they were such good friends. Also they’re cute so there’s that too. Anyway that’s enough gushing about the Beatles. Moving on.

1: My favourite thing is just to talk to my friends, because I’m lucky enough to have a relatively large group of friends, especially for being the socially awkward teenager that I am. And all of my friends are so nice and they’re always making me laugh or telling me some interesting fact or sharing their interests with me and they’re just overall fun to be around. Once quarantine is over I’m really looking forward to seeing them in person again.

#lovelylenny #ask #ask response #ask game #my ramblings #mine

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rocknvaughn · 4 years

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Hello. I don’t have a tumblr but I’ve been checking your blog every few weeks for the last few years to keep up with Colin Morgan news. I noticed you have suddenly been posting about Bradley James lately. Is he becoming more involved with the Merlin fandom now?

Well, first of all...with the shutdown of the industry due to COVID-19, there's been very little new Colin content to share.

While these days, I've been mostly following Colin's career specifically, years ago I used to be quite active in the Merlin fandom as well.

Some of my friends are still active in that fandom and, while I haven't particularly been following Bradley's career, they still do. So, when I saw that he'd been posting Instagram videos and no one in my feed seemed to have the ability to capture them, I figured I would help out by using my capture abilities to share them for Bradley/Merlin fans.

Edit: I just realised that I might not have answered your question. Yes, it does appear that Bradley has been engaging with the Merlin fandom more in the last few months than I have seen him do prior. The Merlin quiz night that he did for charity was inspired and I was proud to see the Merlin fandom step up and support it in such a massive way

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mvrlance · 5 years

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Hi, in the introduction to your blog you wrote that this tumblr is free of sexism, so why did you post fan art of two naked men having sex? Would you do this with two women? I don't think so. Maybe you should send this to Bradley (on twitter)? You will never send any fan art to him, especially with nakedness and why? Because it shows your lack of respect to an actor. Good day to you

Well, hello! First of all, yes this blog does not tolerate any sexism, but it also says that it doesn’t tolerate any homophobia. There is obviously nothing wrong with two men having sex and I have reblogged many fanart pieces and GIFs of such scenarios, and yes, this definitely includes two women (not sure why there’s a difference), and I will continue to do so as far as tumblr’s new guidelines lets me. If that is something that makes you uncomfortable, then my blog is not a space for you.

Secondly, yes, you’re correct in saying I would never send any of it to Bradley or anyone else on Twitter; besides the fact that it’s not my art to repost, these fanarts are for the fans’ enjoyment on this site, not to be sent to the actors to make them uncomfortable. But more importantly, these fanarts are of Merlin and Arthur, not Bradley and Colin, and that distinction should be pretty clear.

Thirdly, I know exactly who you are and I’m sure you know I’ve blocked you on twitter already, so please don’t take your homophobia and judgmental views to my tumblr now just because I can’t block you if you’re anonymous. Thank you and good day.

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tlcyellow · 6 years

Text

merlin s2 ep10 sweet dreams

holy shit guys it’s been a while. things have been crazy with me. if you want details you could always follow me on twitter and instagram (@tlcyellow) (plug plug plug). the short version is, i finished up my third semester of school, moved to a new apartment, had a two week break where i went home and many adventures, and now i’m back in nyc and starting my fourth semester tomorrow. i want to give a shoutout to my mutual bearwithoutpaws for messaging me and saying they enjoyed my merlin posts and wanted them back. i really appreciate your support and i’m sorry i’ve been away so long!! ALSO some of my posts are missing??????? a lot of my season 2 posts have mysteriously disappeared from my blog? i didn’t delete them and i don’t know where they are lmao. it is a true mystery. if anyone has any ideas on how to recover them please let me know. okay with that ridiculously long intro out of the way, lets get back into it (if i remember how to do this)

- damn bradley james is fine. how could i have ever left him

- they are having some sort of peace conference thing in camelot and there’s this grumpy ass dude whose trying to end the peace talks and he’s going to use lady vivian (a woman we’ve never seen before) as part of his plan. she’s super pretty and arthur helped her off her horse so they’re probably gonna do it by the end of the episode

- okay jk vivian is a spoiled ass bitch and i hate her

- vivian’s dad’s name is olaf. like the snowman. frozen has ruined that name forever.

- arthur is now trying to pretend to merlin that he doesn’t have the hots for gwen which is weird because he only really knows two women and one of them is basically his sister so his options for love are limited

- katie mcgrath???? the queen of my heart

- okay so the evil man’s plan is to make arthur fall in love with vivian through magic. hasn’t this exact thing happened to arthur already?? have they run out of ideas already?

- arthur and merlin are trying to woo vivian and they’re like “um?? feelings??? girls??? i know not the name” and it’s like, we get it, yall are too gay to figure out what to do with women

- ohNO WAIT there has been a classic sitcom-style misunderstanding. arthur is enchanted and talking to merlin about wooing vivian but they don’t mention names so merlin thinks he’s talking about gwen so he brings flowers and a love note to gwen instead of vivian. yikes

- oh my god arthur knocks on vivians door and she’s like “whos there?” and hes like “its destiny my love!!!” which is cringe-y enough and then he looks at what he has in his hands and says “its destiny and chicken”. even under the influence of literal magic arthur doesn’t know how to talk to women

- okay so vivian rejects arthur because shes a brat and the evil man is like “i don’t get it!!! everyone in the world is attracted to this boy. i’m almost attracted to him myself” and then he like has a small orgasm and his jester has no clue what to do

- arthur is full of melancholy and hes leaning his head on his horse in the most dramatic and emo fashion

- vivian has now been enchanted to fall in love with arthur and she has come to his bedroom and is sniffing his pillows and rolling around in his bed like a crazy person

- the jester has told vivians snowman dad that vivian is in arthurs bedroom but merlin has her unconscious and hidden in a closet. so olaf comes in all pissed and is like “I HEARD VIVIANS IN HERE” and arthurs like “damn i wish. shes fine as hell!!!” (im paraphrasing) which is not a thing you say to any girl’s father ever.

- gwen is now sending a love note to arthur which is super awkward since he’s still enchanted and in love with vivian and im afraid she’s going to get her heart broken :(

- OHNO SHE DIDN’T SIGN HER NAME SO ARTHUR THINKS ITS VIVIAN. this is a mess

- arthur has crawled up into vivians window and gwen is waiting in her house and arthur isnt coming ahhh this is so sad

- ohboy olaf walked in on vivian and arthur making out and olaf has challenged arthur to combat and gwen is brokenhearted

- DAMN MORGANA ALWAYS LOOKS SO GOOD

- okay so arthur is all enchanted and olaf breaks one of his ribs and arthurs like “im fine gaius. IM IN LOVE!!!!!!”

- okay merlin visits the unhelpful dragon who is actually relatively helpful in this situation and he tells him merlin has to find the person arthur truly loves and get her to kiss him which is handy bc gwen exists but what if she didn’t? merlin would have to make out with him i guess.

- gwen and arthur are kissing!!!! she broke the enchantment and now arthurs like “where am i?? why is my rib broken??” and gwen’s like “youre in a fight to the death. no time to explain. head on out there buddy good luck”

- so arthur almost kills olaf and then is like “this is no way to achieve peace” and olaf just??? forgives him??? and forgets he was trying to fuck his daughter????

- so after all that gwen is like “we cant be together” B I T C H you were so ready to get with him twenty minutes ago what the heck

- wait wait wait no one unenchanted vivian!!!!!!!! she’s gonna be hung up on arthur for the rest of her goddamn life

next episode: the witch’s quickening

#tylers merlin rewatch #merlin #colin morgan #bradley james #katie mcgrath #angel coulby

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