stupid show but stan gwen

Onest (1st) of all, people are essentially using “twink” as a slur these days because they can’t openly express their true feelings about gay men who do not meet artificial gendered standards. Merlin being a twink is not a source of comedy, people just believe that “effeminate” men are a safe target to degrade (since they subconsciously believe women are less-than, and have classed him closer to woman than man). Men are not defined by physical strength, and women are not defined by weakness. Women can be very muscular, and men can be very lacking in musculature, so we understand that these standards are artificial expectations for women and men, and that we judge people harshly when these expectations are not met as assigned. This is a major contributing factor in fandom’s (mis)treatment of Merlin.

Twoth (2th), the show would have no conflict if Merlin was not conflicted about these choices. And we see that conflict arise in each and every situation where fandom reduces Merlin down to his final choice.

Merlin very notably does not have the heart (or rather, lack the heart) to kill Mordred by his own hand, because Mordred is still an innocent in his eyes, and one who has yet to do anything where Merlin must act purely in defense. Merlin states outright that he likes Mordred, but simply cannot ignore the prophetic vision he was shown by the Druid seer (or Kilgharrah’s warnings, though these seem to take on a secondary supportive role in season 5). Merlin, again, cannot summon the strength to kill Mordred by his own hand and instead leaves him to the mercy of the Disir and even Morgana.

I personally believe this is a flawed rationale on Merlin’s part, as we have seen a Druid boy’s ghost return specifically with the intent to kill Arthur to avenge the Druids wrongfully killed in a raid on his village (himself included). Killing Mordred would not actually prevent the prophecy from unfolding, but I digress. The futility of changing what is foretold is ultimately the main theme when it comes to Merlin’s storyline.

Merlin denies the demands made of him (namely letting Mordred and Morgana die) for as long as he can. It is only when Morgana’s involvement in the fever curse (or, rather, its reliance on her life force) is revealed in 2x12 that Merlin feels he has no other option but to kill her. Even then, he attempts to avoid doing so by his own hand by leaving her to the Knights of Medhir (an act of self-preservation, arguably self-centered but still stands as proof of his moral dilemma) and only resigns himself to poisoning her when he runs out of time to find another way to end the curse. Even after he poisons her, he finds another way to both end the curse and spare Morgana’s life by negotiating with Morgause.

These two events alone are substantial characterizing moments that show explicitly, if not outright verbally and textually, that Merlin’s decisions are born of conflict. He does not kill unrepentantly as Uther, Arthur, and Morgana (all classist royals) often do: he takes all action into deep consideration, placing him firmly in the indecisive tragic hero archetype (think Hamlet). And it is not only in regard to Mordred and Morgana that Merlin shows this hesitation. It is a consistent trait of his portrayed in nearly every episode of the show (65 total), and especially so in season 1, where his moral dilemmas present the conflict of the main plot. Take 1x10 as a prime example of Merlin trying to discern which good to prioritize: the greater good of all of Albion via the prophecy of Arthur’s reign, or the “lesser” good of saving his home village? Merlin’s character is defined by hesitation as much as he’s defined by his impulses.

And thirst (3st) of all, Merlin does not actually place Arthur himself above the greater good. Rather, he conflates Arthur with the greater good. This is made explicit in the prophecies as told by Kilgharrah in 1x01, and throughout the series. The matter is complicated by Merlin’s desire for a friendship with Arthur, but at the heart of it all is Merlin’s belief that Arthur will bring about this greater good for all people across Albion. To romanticize the idea of Merlin being a class traitor to his core in the midst of a genocide targeting his people, and to interpret and portray this concept as a beautiful act of love instead of a horribly debilitating flaw, is a symptom of apathy among fans towards the oppressed. Many fans do indeed value Arthur himself above the greater good and project these values onto Merlin himself, when we know for a fact that Merlin is willing to lose a friend (see: Morgana) for the greater good. If the prophecies had presented Arthur as the threat to the greater good, then Merlin would have had to summon the strength to depose of him, too. The only reason the prophecies did not portray Arthur in the way they portrayed Morgana is because he placed Guinevere on the throne, and she was able to build peace between the five kingdoms and magical peoples/creatures after Arthur’s death. Her acceptance of Merlin in 5x13 stands as an acceptance of all magical peoples, which is exactly why Kilgharrah states that Merlin did not fail. The prophecies did come to pass, and through Arthur’s ascension to king, but it was not by Arthur’s hand alone that the Golden Age was fulfilled. It was Guinevere all along.

merlin meme

your honor, i miss these two’s bond.

Ahmed and his family are only trying to survive against the starvation that has taken all of Gaza by storm. Ahmed’s sister needs milk to feed her two small children, and Ahmed himself has even fainted from the hunger. Ahmed’s beloved cat has now died of hunger.

There is not enough food to go around. Those with food sell it at prices too steep for people in need to afford. Ahmed does not have much time. He and his family are already in critical condition from starvation and lack of shelter. He has already lost his cat, he cannot lose his family. He cannot lose his life.

Ahmed is able to accept donations at both of the below accounts. PayPal is more direct and will take fewer fees altogether, but if PayPal is not available to you we ask that you please donate to the GFM. It will get to him regardless of payment method. For other options, you can DM me or send an ask and I will make sure that the money gets to him.

𖤓 the sunshine of camelot 𖤓

Second funniest part of BBCM is that Arthur is measurably not pure of heart.

He failed the second test that Anhora gave him. He failed the test on his pride, mirroring the event that leads to his own bane: forcing Kara to either apologize or die for trying to protect her people and right Arthur’s wrongs, instead of just admitting that she was right.

Anhora had to cheat the rules in order to give Arthur a test that did not challenge his pride. This means that Arthur is only about 2/3rds pure of heart, maybe even 1/2 considering the final test was designed to be more passable.

I mean. If smb tried to stab me with the intent to kill. For approaching. I would feel justified in killing them? Cause that's self defence (except my pick would be doing so on the spot without waiting for the threat to find another knife. That's the part I honestly don't get in the show - Arthur killed bandits all the time when they attacked, why not the girl? Because she is a girl? What does it matter what's between her legs if she wants him dead and made an attempt to turn that into reality? Like, he only took prisoners that one time with queen Annis hubby... at least from what I recall)

Also idk about pride... with the number of scenes where Arthur kneels in front of his enemies basically begging to be killed leave his kingdom alone. Like, sure, he has pride when it comes to daily things like when he was all "Merlin, why do they think I'm a simpletone" but when it comes to important stuff? Gurl, he kneels so often, I'm expecting him to wear specially made kneepads for comfort - perhaps ordered by Merlin who gets sick of the complaints after.

Arthur is not “acting in self-defense” by executing revolutionaries. The revolutionaries are the ones acting in self-defense. The governmental authority is the aggressor, whereas the oppressed group is the one victimized. Abuse (in this case, social abuse) is about power imbalance, and the power is ultimately all Arthur’s. Magic or not, Kara carries no social power as an oppressed woman. Arthur, on the other hand, decides what will be law and chooses to maintain the same unjust, genocidal rulings as his father before him. Kara acts in self-defense and in defense of others, as a martyr, in her assassination attempt against Arthur, who is a tyrant against her people.

Arthur is prideful in the most significant sense: he cannot and will not admit to his wrongdoings against magical peoples, and in fact never meaningfully develops beyond his initial classist evaluations of the people in his life. He is only willing to consider lifting the ban on magic so long as he has a personal stake in it, never once considering that what may be maligned to the monarchy is exactly what would benefit the people he is responsible for. To do this, he would need to truly comprehend that he is not more worthy than any other person of insurmountable power and hoarded wealth. As for the latter, when he deems a commoner worthy, he simply promotes them to a higher status. This implies that all who are deemed commoners are seen as less worthy by his estimation. Merlin remains a commoner despite his invaluable contributions because Arthur lacks true respect for him as an intelligent, dignified individual.

Uther is frequently cited as an excuse for Arthur’s behavior, but if Arthur’s behavior needs excusing by this method, then you are deliberately omitting the fact that he is undeniably comparable to Uther in his continued oppression of those he deems inferior to him based on class, religion/ethnicity, and gender. You unintentionally acknowledge that he maintains the same systems that Uther put into place, but with slightly less aggression. This isn’t “not bad with Uther as a father,” this is a direct result of glorifying Uther’s tyrannical rulings out of monarchist pride.

Most interestingly, you say that you can’t even call Merlin “good,” as you claim this is a misconception based upon his extreme devotion to Arthur. This is quite an assumption, as it is this very devotion to Arthur that threatens his moral standing. It is even more telling that you hold Arthur to such a low standard by comparison to Merlin. Arthur’s moral ambiguity can surely be excused by the fact that he was raised to be immoral, yet Merlin was raised under the same social norms, only as a peasant farmer rather than royalty. Arthur is coddled to remove his accountability in his own actions and beliefs, while Merlin’s autonomy is acknowledged only to convict him. Merlin’s comparative lack of autonomy compared to Arthur, who holds the highest social and political power in the land, is methodically omitted.

Morals are not secondary to Merlin — they are in fact his primary quandary. Because his morals are often challenged and he feels, at times, forced to compromise on morals he would rather not, some fans are under the illusion that he simply does not struggle with morality and is always willing to forgo his morals to achieve his end-goals. In reality, these events show that the exact opposite is true: Merlin’s primary struggle is in maintaining his morals when the destiny he has been landed in challenges the breadth of his autonomy. Whenever possible, he attempts to find another way — such as lifting the fever curse on Camelot and saving Morgana’s life, or saving Camelot and sparing Kilgharrah, when these were set as mutually exclusive goals — but as a poor commoner and servant who is forced into hiding as part of an oppressed class suffering genocide, he is wholly unable to wield the same social and political power that Arthur does. That is the goal of kingship: to withhold power from other people and permit it to oneself.

Merlin’s “purity” comes from an absence of moral “contaminants,” these being arrogance, selfishness, cruelty, and indifference, among other things. Arthur did not kill the unicorn for any moral failing of the unicorn — he killed it because it is a magical creature and killing it would boost his reputation. The combined factors of pride and cruelty on display disqualify Arthur from the same comparison to the unicorn that Merlin is subject to, especially given Merlin’s status as an oppressed creature of magic under Arthur’s authority. The unicorn represents Merlin because both would be killed for their mere existence, not any true crime they committed, and both show a certain moral purity in their absence of cruelty.