It wasn't Arthur

A knight clashes with a ferocious beast dozens of times over the years, only to finally be bested. “It is done, foul beast! Eat me and begone!” The beast tilts its head quizzically. Why would it eat its best friend?

no like season 1 merlin rocks up to camelot and every magic user he meets is burnt out, bitter, or both. in season 5 mordred rocks up to camelot and the senior magic user that’s burned out and bitter is merlin. it’s merlin that’s perpetuating the cycle of hurt now and that’s crazy and they never get into it!

in s3 when gilli (I think?) comes to camelot and wants to use magic enhancing ring to defend himself and kill their oppressor and merlin tells him it's not what magic is for, it's for good (that he can't do because magic is outlawed) and he tells merlin that he has pretended for so long he forgot who he really is. it has been a theme since the beginning

#merlin goes through perfect indoctrination I think they actually nailed his character perfectly #you can see the shifts #he's hopeful in s1 #in s2 he believes it's necessary that he suffers at arthur's hand because it just has to be. doesn't trust morgana and poisons her #in s3 he's full of guilt over releasing kilgarrah and poisoning morgana. seems to fully believe arthur will never know about his magic #in s4 lancelots death and evil resurrection breaks him. his relationships with other people are detoriating. he is becoming emrys #s5 bitter obsessed merlin is obvious #just amazing progression (via @lovebotomy)

as a rule it's always more interesting when two people who know each other outlive a third person that they both loved and then their relationship becomes So Much Weirder and more emotionally fraught, entangled, and charged when that third person dies

dude honestly shout out to my guards i told them to seize this guy and before i could even finish my sentence they soze him. My goats

@freenarnian

“nobody is making you do this” i am driven by unnatural forces you will never even begin to comprehend

they call me the endurer the way i endure and endure and endure and endure and well u get it

I know this has good intentions, so I will just add the "how you treat them, even as objects of fiction, can speak about your own character, be careful out there"

King Arthur had prophetic dreams about everything BUT the affair. OR! He was having dreams about Guinevere fucking Lancelot’s brains out the whole time but he kept assuming they were just wet dreams and not prophetic in the slightest.

King Arthur waking up from a vivid dream where Guinevere pegged Lancelot within an inch of his life: I need to get right with God.

I don't think we as a fandom talk enough about how arthur actually desperately didn't want to be a prince

#“I’d sacrifice my place on the throne for her to see another sunrise” #“We can leave Camelot and never come back” #“If I wasn’t a prince I think we’d probably get on” #“Sometimes I dream of leaving Camelot. Become a farmer.” #if a guy threatens to leave the throne for you once he loves you #if he threatens to leave the throne a hundred times he loves leaving the throne #he wanted his destiny probably less than merlin wanted his own that's insane #he just wanted a farm. and his mom. :(( (via @rosemarytales)

the other day in the groupchat we were talking about how historical fiction will often try to code aristocrat characters as more sympathetic by only having them have a single servant instead of a whole household of staff but instead this just makes them look like an exploitative employer who’s so cheap he would rather pile impossible amounts of labor upon a single guy than hire enough help to actually run his house

average small business owner