Still Gwaine is just a minor friend(remember how he was ok with Merlin imprisoned?) Arthur is his whole life. Series 5 Merlin would sacrifice Gwaine or anything, anyone, himself, for Arthur. You merwaine fans always try to lessen the entire meaning of the show in order for you passive ship to work. Merlin chose Arthur over MAGIC(himself and the entire meaning of his life)! The last scene is Merlin still grieving over Arthur, not Gwaine! Btw, I even think Merlin resents Gwaine and is all bitter about him once he learned that it was Gwaine's fault that Morgana found out where they were going!
How is I am an “anon hater”, if there was no hate? It's just fandom rambles
If it is only rambles, why send it anonymously to a specific person who disagrees with you instead of making your own post? I recognize you as the person who has been sending loads of harassment to my friends, even on anon. Despite the neutrality of your first ask, I already know your true intent. Isn’t that lovely, though? Your reputation literally precedes you! I know you’re a wannabe high school bully before you even try! Now, you do have the writing mannerisms of someone who is relatively young, so perhaps that is all it is. However, I am going to treat this as if an adult sent it, because even a teenager needs to be held accountable for their actions and beliefs, and the sooner the better. Teens still have brains and their actions affect others.
You don’t seem to recognize that I’ve been responding to my friends’ posts regularly with full rebuttals disproving your “points,” which tells me you’re not engaging much (at least, not in-depth or honestly) with opinions outside of your echo chamber. An inflexible mind is a really significant flaw to work on, but that’s an issue, not an isswe. So let’s break this one down, my questionably time-zoned anon (if you’re in the US, please start going to sleep earlier, and if you’re in Europe, maybe start your day with a balanced breakfast instead—I have no doubt you’re in one of the “divine right of kings” countries).
At no point in 5x07 did Gwaine show any indication of being okay with Merlin’s imprisonment. This is pure conjecture on the part of the fanbase. We actually do not see Merlin get arrested, nor do we see any of the round table knights imprison him (interestingly, the footage of Merlin being tossed in the cells is reused from season 2). More to the point, it is Gwaine alongside Gaius who releases Merlin from his cell the following morning! Strange how the writers placed Gwaine specifically here, out of all of the knights, parallel to Gaius in devotion to Merlin. Which could mean nothing. It’s not an apology scene, either, but a celebratory one for all parties involved. This is where that nifty show-don’t-tell/implications writing tactic is good to know about. It’s reasonable to infer that Gwaine did not side with tiene diaga!Gwen on the matter.
Now, onto the real insult: implying that Arthur is the entire meaning of the show? And that this would be a good thing?
Mind you, of course the writers are biased in Arthur’s favor: he is a rich white man after all, and one who is used as a rhetorical tool to excuse their own desires to abuse their power over others. Arthur is allowed to abuse his power because he is “uniquely special,” and the audience is not meant to notice any double standard. Hell, the writers are biased for Uther, too! A similar bias for Arthur is not a good sign, considering their priorities.
All else aside, it’s really quite telling that you view Arthur himself as more important than the themes of genocide and oppression. I don’t believe it is Merlin who views Arthur alone as the priority in these regards, but you. You, as someone who does not care for the plight of the oppressed folks in the show (I’d assume this leaks into real life, too) and who is maddeningly head-over-heels for Arthur, project your feelings onto Merlin.
So let’s talk about Merlin.
Arthur is not Merlin’s whole life. This is a statement that should disturb anyone (especially women, considering it is a parallel statement to the most basic misogynistic debate of ownership). Merlin is Arthur’s servant, and a friend to him (even when Arthur is not a friend back). Merlin at first doubted that his own bully could be the king the prophecies spoke of, but as he got to know him, he realized that Arthur is not as hopeless a figure as he seems. Merlin encourages Arthur to be a better version of himself because he believes in Arthur’s potential. And because he believes in Arthur’s potential, he believes that Arthur will fulfill the prophecies. Merlin’s devotion to Arthur stems from faith that he will be a good king, the one who will end the wars and return magic to the land.
Although Merlin is devoted to him, he not only has a life outside of him, but constantly shows a deep desire to escape his responsibility to Arthur! He is severely overworked and does not get enough days off, which Arthur shows no sympathy for. The only sympathy he shows for Merlin is if Merlin is wounded like a knight. Arthur has no respect for the work his domestic servants do (much of this is work typically assigned to women, which is no coincidence). Arthur’s mistreatment of Merlin is classist to the core; and frankly, there is no excuse to absolve him of this. Bigotry is bigotry.
Moving forward, Merlin actually has a second job as Gaius’ apprentice. In fact, he lands this job before he is forced into servitude by Uther. And he becomes a skilled physician in his own right, despite so much of his time going towards menial labor under Arthur. So, to begin with, even in duty, Merlin does not solely “belong” to Arthur, as he has responsibilities to Gaius and to their patients. Yet, it would be strange to say that Gaius is Merlin’s entire life or that Merlin doesn’t have/want a life outside of him, wouldn’t it? It could even be argued that Gaius has more significant sway in his active relationship to the prophecies compared to Arthur, who knows nothing of them and is expected to fulfill them simply by Being Himself (perhaps this is why Gwen ends up being the true savior).
And, of course, Merlin himself is this foretold savior of his people, which is why fulfilling his own role in the prophecies becomes priority #1. From a purely psychological standpoint, this comes from an ingrained need to be useful. He is told from birth that, because of his magic, he does not get to live as a regular person and needs to apply it to a greater “purpose.” This leaves him susceptible to manipulation and indoctrination when he comes to Camelot, and it’s exactly why he’s so eager to believe Kilgharrah when he tells Merlin of his “purpose” (even if he does immediately redact all interest upon his discovery that Arthur is central to the prophecies). The manipulation and indoctrination does not come from Kilgharrah, however: it comes from Gaius. Gaius is a monarchist class traitor through and through. He seeks to shame Merlin into self-doubt and unquestioning compliance, and although Merlin’s base morals (be kind, help people, everyone is important, the greater good will persevere, etc.) are unchanged, he becomes less self-assured and comes to depend on Gaius as a moral compass.
With Merlin’s indoctrination into Gaius’ own monarchism established, let’s return to the main point. Merlin fully believes that serving and saving Arthur is for the greater good. And because Merlin conflates Arthur with the greater good, he runs into great internal conflict when achieving this greater good via Arthur seems contradictory to his ideals. For example, he worries that in order to save his small village (hamlet, in reality), he can only fight by physical means, because to defeat Kanen’s army with magic would reveal his identity to Arthur and risk the fulfillment of the prophecies. Merlin concludes that if Arthur cannot accept Merlin’s magic, then he’s not the person Merlin thought he was; therefore, perhaps he isn’t this great king of prophecy. This doubt carries into the following episode and is only finally resolved when Arthur admits fault for killing the unicorn.
Similarly, when Merlin is tasked with killing Morgana to release Camelot from the fever curse, he finds it an impossible action to take. He cannot get himself to kill Morgana by his own hand and hopes she will die by passivity, but eventually commits to poisoning her. Even when he does this, he tries to comfort her through it, and upon Morgause’s entrance into the throne room, successfully negotiates to both lift the curse and save Morgana’s life. This is especially fascinating because Merlin is well-aware that, by saving Morgana’s life at this point, he is essentially exchanging his own life for hers, as he expects to be executed at the first opportunity Morgana finds to tell Uther or Arthur the truth. He knowingly exchanges his own life for his anticipated murderer’s life!
So we see that Merlin’s selflessness extends far beyond simple devotion to Arthur. Merlin forces himself through the pain and guilt of poisoning his friend for the greater good, and then makes a bargain at no one’s expense but his own to save the life of someone who will want him dead. This moment is where many fans decide that he prioritizes Arthur himself over Morgana, but in truth, Merlin only proves that he values the lives of his friends over his own. Furthermore, he recognizes that the prophecies are coming to fruition exactly as Kilgharrah foretold and that if Arthur does die here, then he will never bring about the Golden Age. Only through Arthur’s reign is the Golden Age supposed to come about. Arthur dying means Albion remains broken, Camelot falls, and magic is never freed. Merlin believes in this prophecy and thus idolizes Arthur himself, as they are essentially one and the same to him.
In a way, Merlin never truly sees all of Arthur. He sees what he needs to see and believes what he needs to believe in order to cope with his internal conflict and cognitive dissonance regarding Arthur’s fulfillment of the prophecies. He has a similar issue when it comes to acknowledging Gaius’ deep-rooted flaws and offers Morgana the benefit of the doubt until he has no other choice, either. This is the opposite, however, of how Merlin is with Freya and Gwaine.
Merlin meets Freya shortly after a fresh burst of doubt in Arthur’s potential to fulfill the prophecies. Arthur has just fully reinstated his stance against magic and accredits that to Merlin, signaling to Merlin a failure to bring about the desired end. It’s no coincidence that episodes where Merlin loses faith in Arthur are immediately followed by episodes where Merlin focuses on helping magical people/creatures in less grand ways (the unicorn, Freya, the dragon’s egg). Consistently throughout the show, the moment Merlin loses faith in Arthur, heaves moves on to help his people in a more direct manner! This more than anything shows where his priorities truly lay. It also supports the existing evidence that Merlin does not choose Arthur over magic: he chooses Arthur for magic. Again, Merlin conflates Arthur with the greater good (as do Kilgharrah and Gaius), and so Merlin believes he is preserving a secure future for his people in the long-term by saving Arthur’s life, even if he has to make short-term sacrifices that delay this future to do so.
Not long after Merlin meets Freya, he decides to leave Camelot to take care of her instead. He’s abandoned the notion that he can fulfill the prophecies by protecting Arthur and so fulfills the end goal of the prophecies (helping his fellow genocide victim) in another way. Only, Freya dies and Merlin stays in Camelot, is reminded of Arthur’s redeeming qualities, and the initial doubt is soon forgotten.
When it comes to Gwaine, there is no destiny binding his image to the greater good. Merlin is simply interested in Gwaine because his unique personality, demeanor, and principles have caught Merlin’s eye. Although Gwaine saved Arthur’s life, he makes no promise to do so again and corrects Merlin to make it clear that, had he known it was Arthur, he would not have saved him. Merlin remains intrigued by Gwaine despite his stated disloyalty to Arthur. He does not condemn Gwaine for it, but tries to convince him that Arthur is an exception among nobles. Merlin even breaks into Ethan and Oswald’s chambers himself because he doesn’t want Gwaine to take the risk upon himself, even to save Arthur.
Merlin comes to trust in Gwaine’s ability to defend himself and Merlin after the fight, though he still worries for Gwaine’s safety when he does finally leave Camelot. Merlin wants Gwaine to stay in Camelot for his own well-being and suggests he could reveal his nobility to Uther and serve as a knight under Arthur, because even in the knighthood, he’s safer with a stable home and peers to fight alongside him. It’s notable that Merlin does not suggest this because he wants Gwaine to protect Arthur. He only suggests this as a loophole to negate his exile. To begin with, Merlin’s desire for Gwaine to stay in Camelot (more pointedly, in Merlin’s bedroom, lmao) does not stem from anything except Merlin’s own vested interest in Gwaine.
This interest is a major difference between Merlin’s friendship with Arthur and his friendship with Gwaine. Merlin’s faith in Arthur’s goodness is inextricably tied to the prophecy which maintains that Arthur will indeed meet his potential one day, and Merlin’s faith in the prophecy is likewise reliant on Arthur providing proof of his potential, which leads to Merlin being essentially strung along by destiny for ten years like a dog on a leash. On the other hand, Merlin’s interest in Gwaine has nothing to do with his duty to others and everything to do with Gwaine simply being Gwaine. He’s intrigued from the start, and this intrigue soon evolves into a protective, caring adoration.
I don’t see s5 Merlin sacrificing Gwaine for Arthur. When Gwen was under the influence of the tiene diaga, Merlin did not decide to kill her: he tried to save her. This is because Merlin values people and his friends, who are also people. Hell, Merlin couldn’t even get himself to kill Mordred by his own hand, despite being so sure of his betrayal. He tried to let the Disir and Morgana kill him instead, just as he tried to let a Knight of Medhir take care of Morgana. Merlin is only able to commit to killing Morgana because it is a time-sensitive mission and he has run out of options. When another option presents itself, Merlin saves Morgana again, and actively saves her life later in 3x05. Merlin did, in fact, like Mordred (he verbally admits this to Gaius) and did not want to kill him despite everything. He spared Mordred as a child because he was innocent even though he knew that Mordred was Arthur’s Bane. Merlin also makes efforts to save lives besides Arthur’s in s5 (Gwen, Tyr, Daegal and his sister) and states the value of others’ lives (Elyan at his funeral, Daegal when he insists he doesn’t matter, Finna when she tells Merlin to leave her behind), even though this complicates his mission to protect Arthur. Merlin also would not have sacrificed Lancelot or Elyan to save Arthur’s life: they sacrificed themselves (in Elyan’s case, for Gwen), and Merlin would have sacrificed himself in their place. Merlin did not even take Morgana’s life in 2x12, 4x06, or 4x07 when he had the chance because he is an idealist who wants to find another way. It’s the same reason he let Uther live, too. Likewise, before Merlin even met Elyan, he wanted to find a way to save him without risking Arthur or Gwen’s lives.
This is to say, if it came down to choosing between Arthur and Gwaine, it’s likely Merlin would simply refuse and try to find another way. He does this consistently throughout the series, especially when he is not convinced of someone’s guilt. Merlin does not see Gwaine’s life as disposable, or he would have never begged Gwaine to stay in the first place. Merlin doesn’t see lives as disposable to begin with: he is asked to assign higher or lower values to lives based on the purpose they serve to the greater good, and he struggles to do this (except to himself, where he sees himself as the lowest of the low). So, Merlin has not assigned an unequal value to Gwaine’s life. He simply values Gwaine as he would any other person, with the caveat that he has personal feelings to boot.
Would Merlin sacrifice Gwaine for the greater good? Ultimately, if he was left with no choice, then yes. But he would also sacrifice Arthur for the greater good, if Arthur’s position in the prophecies was opposed to it as Morgana and Mordred’s are. And even then, Merlin is hesitant about killing them, even after Morgana goes full evil tyrant. It has little to do with whether Merlin values Arthur or Gwaine more, but how he is asked to weigh greater and lesser goods. Merlin doesn’t see Gwaine’s life as any more or less important than Arthur’s, and Merlin shows from the start that he cares about Gwaine’s safety and well-being even before they’re very close. And Merlin would certainly never sacrifice Gwaine for himself, considering the fact that he puts himself at risk so Gwaine won’t have to as early as 3x04, and then goes on to trust Gwaine to protect him from that point on. Critical thinking time: you don’t ask someone to protect you if you think they’ll die doing it and leave you defenseless. Merlin likewise does not choose Arthur over magic, he chooses Arthur for magic. Arthur is foretold to return magic to Albion and reunite the kingdoms.
The end of the show does not show Merlin mourning Gwaine for several reasons. First off, Merlin does not know what Gwaine has been up to, and he’s still laying Arthur to rest where we leave off. Secondly, the writers value Arthur over Gwaine, so they don’t see Gwaine’s life or death as nearly as important as Arthur’s. The show literally ends with Arthur’s death. Third, it’s not confirmed whether Gwaine actually lived or died in his final scene. The nathair does not kill its victims, and Gwaine did not have any other wounds, so there’s no explanation besides a retcon of the nathair’s effects for Gwaine’s presumed death. It’s equally valid to assume that Gwaine survived the torture just as Elyan and Alator did.
The end scene of the finale, where Merlin’s (1,500 year) longevity is confirmed, does not show Merlin hopelessly yearning for Arthur’s return. He is going about his day when he passes the spot where he laid Arthur to rest, stops in remembrance, and then lifts his chin and carries on with his life. This moment is meant to show that Merlin has found closure and has moved on from everything that happened, but still remembers, still cares, over a thousand years later. He’s not actively grieving Arthur, who he knew for ten years, after living a millennia and a half without him. He’s just off doing Merlin things. Which is okay. We can release him from the torture chamber from time to time.
I also personally don’t blame Gwaine at all for revealing information under torture. Merlin did not blame Gaius when Merlin’s identity was tortured out of him, nor was there any hate between him and Elyan after their location was tortured out of him, so the same would likely apply to Gwaine. It wouldn’t be totally irredeemable if Merlin did wrongly take his grief out on Gwaine, but even then, I’d expect it to be temporary.
Anyways, it’s clear you haven’t done the homework I assigned you after your last ask. I’m starting to get worried about your grades in Merlin class… :/
