I was born to lose

This has lead to several periods where the two of them are not together. When Arthur and Mera are on the outs, you can typically see a distinct decline in Arthur’s temperament; he gets more violent, easily agitated, and he often avoids any self reflection. He also consistently closes off parts of his emotions that cause him distress causing him to become non-communicative. This means shutting Mera out emotionally, and not telling people important things about himself i.e. the existence of his wife and dead child.

Due to the instability he often feels, he can become very fixated on things he thinks he can or should control. This includes the people in his life.

As a result, his friends and even an ex girlfriend have made comments about him needing Mera to balance him out.

He has shown periods of learning from his mistakes and reflecting back on his faults such as in Justice League of America #242 and Aquaman (1991) but he often forgets those lessons when the next writer takes over.

Importantly, Arthur never gets particularly controlling over his wife. He can disagree with her but when she says she does not want to be with him, or if she decides she is needed elsewhere, he will bow to her wishes.

Furthermore, it is not just when they are together that he becomes a little calmer, it can often just having her in his life that will positively influence him. While he was uncomfortable with the idea of her possibly starting a relationship with another man, he still respected her choices, and went so far as to make jokes about her crush just to make her laugh. Even when he is in a bad mood, Mera is the one person that can remind him to be playful, something that does continue into new52 and onward (even if most of his more negative traits have been sanded away).

Arthur's tendency to be self absorbed is most blatant in his relationships with women who aren't Mera. The primary women he begins romantic relationships with outside of his wife are Dolphin and Esther. As shown above, his dynamic with Dolphin was unhealthy in a number of ways. In addition to those, the second he found out that Mera was alive, it did not even occur to him that his current girlfriend wouldn't be as pleased to get her back as he was. In Esther's case, he stood her up on their first official date because he found out Mera needed help.

Luckily outside of some strong emotions when they first meet each other, the women are all shown to be quite gracious when the shock wears off, and Mera is able to form friendships with both.

Ultimately, while Arthur does struggle to be a perfect husband, it is always very clear that Mera is the only person he ever really wants to be with. Despite everything that has happened and the many ways they have hurt each other, they will always forgive one another and find it in themselves to try again.

TLDR: I really love Arthur but whenever Mera tries to kill that man this is my general reaction

This has lead to several periods where the two of them are not together. When Arthur and Mera are on the outs, you can typically see a distinct decline in Arthur’s temperament; he gets more violent, easily agitated, and he often avoids any self reflection. He also consistently closes off parts of his emotions that cause him distress causing him to become non-communicative. This means shutting Mera out emotionally, and not telling people important things about himself i.e. the existence of his wife and dead child.

Due to the instability he often feels, he can become very fixated on things he thinks he can or should control. This includes the people in his life.

As a result, his friends and even an ex girlfriend have made comments about him needing Mera to balance him out.

He has shown periods of learning from his mistakes and reflecting back on his faults such as in Justice League of America #242 and Aquaman (1991) but he often forgets those lessons when the next writer takes over.

Importantly, Arthur never gets particularly controlling over his wife. He can disagree with her but when she says she does not want to be with him, or if she decides she is needed elsewhere, he will bow to her wishes.

Furthermore, it is not just when they are together that he becomes a little calmer, it can often just having her in his life that will positively influence him. While he was uncomfortable with the idea of her possibly starting a relationship with another man, he still respected her choices, and went so far as to make jokes about her crush just to make her laugh. Even when he is in a bad mood, Mera is the one person that can remind him to be playful, something that does continue into new52 and onward (even if most of his more negative traits have been sanded away).

Arthur's tendency to be self absorbed is most blatant in his relationships with women who aren't Mera. The primary women he begins romantic relationships with outside of his wife are Dolphin and Esther. As shown above, his dynamic with Dolphin was unhealthy in a number of ways. In addition to those, the second he found out that Mera was alive, it did not even occur to him that his current girlfriend wouldn't be as pleased to get her back as he was. In Esther's case, he stood her up on their first official date because he found out Mera needed help.

Luckily outside of some strong emotions when they first meet each other, the women are all shown to be quite gracious when the shock wears off, and Mera is able to form friendships with both.

Ultimately, while Arthur does struggle to be a perfect husband, it is always very clear that Mera is the only person he ever really wants to be with. Despite everything that has happened and the many ways they have hurt each other, they will always forgive one another and find it in themselves to try again.

TLDR: I really love Arthur but whenever Mera tries to kill that man this is my general reaction