chimerafeathers’ old main

1954-2026

Gwen letting the nooks and crannies of her chambers fill with enchanted trinkets, floating furniture, charms and all manner of bits and bobs that clearly point an intimacy with magic, long before it became publicly acceptable to flout it

Gwen allowing weird and strangely fearsome creatures to roost on her shoulders, and peek out from beneath her skirts while visiting kings and queens stutter in dismay, because if they’re meant to be her allies, they should get comfortable with the lived experience of her people, and quick!

Gwen forgoing the crown for circlets that dance with stars, and letting maidservants paint her mouth gold, so the entire world sees how she kisses her sorcerer, and lets the magic kiss her back

Learning how to give reports with Uncle Leon (For the Anon who asked for a Leon and Aithusa interaction!)

me and my girlfriend started to rewatch merlin again... i fear i developed an unhealthy obsession??

(season 2 spoilers under cut! (is it even possible to spoil a show that ended 10+ years ago?)

the pover of a king fucking hinges on political relationships with feudal lords. you know. the guys who have the land? there's not gonna be a kingdom if too many lords decide the current king sucks and that swearing loyalty to the next king over is gonna benefit them better.

it's not a democracy in the sense that common people have a say in it, but it kinda is in that the king's power hinges on the mandate of his vassals

uther would have no doubt needed the support of his lords to do what he did, for his kingdom to be relatively stable for twenty years afterwards - that shows he was probably good as hell at juggling politics and keeping everyone equally scared and appeased

especially as we know from the show that most of the noble families in camelot had supported uther when he has taken over camelot. thats kinda also the thing about his knights code - the institution of knighthood itself in uther's kingdom is an inner politics thing more than it is about military power even, but that's a talk for another time

so arthur is left with a kingdom of uther's old wartime buddies in positions of power and likely not so many supporters of his own (it was really smart of uther btw to preoccupy his son with fights and quests and things like fucking patrols. he was essentially keeping arthur out of inner politics as his own independent figure). we can see arthur's position in court improve as he makes allies that are *his* and not inherited from uther, like queen annis and princess mithian.

No matter what government system you have, your power only lasts so long as the people who gave it to you want you to have it. For a monarchy like Camelot this would be the noble families, the ones with influence and sway over the lands, resources, and public opinion. They own the land that grows crops to feed the kingdom. They supply the military with ore from their mines to arm the knights and fill it's ranks with their own sons and brothers. They influence the opinions of the people who live in their lands by the information and propaganda they spread. These are the people you have to appease if you don't want an uprising on your hands because you decided to change the law in a way that goes against their interests. And it would be so easy for them to do it too. Withdraw the food supply from the palace until the king gives in to your demands, use force with the countless men in the knights' ranks who are members of the nobility and share your interest, turn the public opinion against the king with lies and propaganda and let the outraged peasants do it for you.

The system that Uther set up by only giving power, influence, and military rank to the people who swore fealty to him is great when you have their support and are working in their favour but is a nightmare when you don't. Arthur repealing the ban that the nobles supported for over 20 years and in many cases is probably the reason they have their rank in the first place is exactly the kind of thing that would put him in that nightmare scenario if it's not handled carefully. That's not even touching on the fear-mongering and the anti-magic propaganda that Uther's been pumping out that these nobles were either influenced by, contributed to, or both.

We see in the show the leader of a small village ready and willing to burn a woman at the stake with the king himself in front of him telling him to cut her down. The only reason he doesn't set the pire alight is because Arthur draws a sword on him. This is not a kingdom that would allow a repeal on the magic ban without issues just because the king said so. Public opinion on magic users needs to be changed from the nobles to the peasants. The nobility needs to be kept in support of the king and his decisions, whether that's through respect, fear, or just throwing out anyone who disagrees and replacing them with people who do.