#damn it if only the writers didnāt fUCKING SUCKĀ #i want to know what Bradley was thinking during that scene #how he was playing itĀ #because you can SEE on his face that he NOTICESĀ #and that heās WONDERINGĀ #it doesnāt exactly escape his notice that Merlinās devastatedĀ #that he doesnāt want to answer the questionĀ #that heās fucking crying over itĀ #he SEESĀ #and he knows something is upĀ #Arthurās not stupid no matter how hard the writers try to make him seem like itĀ #if ever there was a time for Arthur to put 2 and 2 togetherĀ #this would have been itĀ #fucking hell manĀ #i want more fix it fics of this scene where Arthur figures it outĀ #there are plenty of Merlin making a different decisionĀ #but very few of Arthur actually making the connection himselfĀ #and there need to be more damn itĀ #please (via @clotpolesonlyā)
Arthurās not stupid no matter how hard the writers try to make him seem like itĀ
if ever there was a time for Arthur to put 2 and 2 together,Ā this would have been itĀ
PRECISELY. and 100% agreed about more fix-its of that scene where Arthur is the one who makes a choice. One that isnāt made for him.
Thereās an awful lot of responsibility placed on Merlin to make the decision, come forward, reveal himself, when he has the most to lose by doing so: his home, his family, his friends, his entire life. Not his physical existence per se (hello, immortality), but his livelihood and everything that heās been working for and sacrificed everything to accomplish.Ā
Merlin had more information than Arthur, and thatās often used as a way to put the full responsibility of the fate of magic on his shoulders. Itās up to him to show Arthur that magic can be good! He knows about their destiny and Mordredās betrayal!!Ā
But if Arthur is the great man and king of prophecy, shouldnāt he be able to discover the truth on his own because of the person he is at heart? Why isnāt it Arthurās responsibility to find the right path by following his own morality, rather than Merlinās responsibility to tell him that magic users are people? His people, innocent people, people he has stood by and seen executed for existing, people who are hurt and scared and angry and desperate enough to lash out in the hopes that something, anything, will change?
The series gives Arthur everything he needs to ~solve the puzzle of Merlin,~ in moments like this where thereās so clearly something wrong, that doesnāt add up based on what he knows. In canon, he stays willfully blind to all of it, and heās forgiven for ignoring what is, at times, literally waved in front of his face. Even though ignoring that means ignoring the humanity of an entire group of people, ignoring his complicity in the genocide his father led, and ignoring his responsibility to finally end it.Ā
The only thing Arthur had to lose from acknowledging the truthāof Merlinās magic, of magicās neutrality, of his fatherās crimesāis his own sense of self-righteousness, which we know heād be willing to give up in a second if it meant saving innocent peopleās lives.Ā
Heās faced with his closest friend in obvious pain as the direct result of a question about whether to accept or deny magicās place in the kingdom, heās trying to make an extremely delicate choice that could save or condemn his people, heās againĀ confronted with the morality or immorality of his fatherās beliefs and laws, and he has everything he has experienced of magic in the past, good and bad and ambivalent, including his own uses of it,Ā to remind him that itās more complex than the good-vs-evil situation his father led him to believe it was.Ā
Innocent lives, Mordredās life, his entire kingdom is at stake. He needs to make the right choice. Itās the perfect moment for him to push forward, ask questions, and put the pieces together himself.Ā
And thatās why his silence here is such goddamn out-of-character bullshit.