obsessionrepression

[obsessionrepression]

This can happen! Traumatic brain injuries, especially repeated traumatic brain injuries, can greatly increase aggression and can increase the likelihood someone becomes a serial killer. She has all the background necessary, too. She was raised in an abusive home with an absent mother. Considering her father was Uther, it’s possible she’s carrying the low-activity Monoamine Oxidase-A (MAOA) gene, which is involved in regulating emotions and behavior. This gene is involved with coding the enzyme that breaks down serotonin, norepinephrine, etc. However, this gene is X-linked, so Morgana would have had to get it from her mother as well. If this is the case, Arthur likely did not inherit this gene, since fathers can’t pass it to their sons. Having the low-activity variant is linked with increased aggression and impulsivity and is commonly called the “serial killer” gene. And guess what? The low-activity variant is also commonly linked with having difficulty sleeping and night terrors! While we know her nightmares were from her being a Seer, it’s interesting that there’s a link there. So she has all the background and makings to become a killer, besides the whole “antisocial personality disorder” part.

I think I posted this previously, but I'll say it again: Morgana Pendragon was not destined to be evil, she just had so much untreated head trauma combined with wanting to please Morgause that she kinda went batshit. Moral of the story, if you think you're possibly concussed, get it checked out.

Edit: Also, prolonged exposure to Uther would drive anyone insane, so that didn't help

[obsessionrepression]

Reminder that Merlin is still waiting.

Forever.

[obsessionrepression]

I’ve always thought Uther was an interesting character. It would be so easy to write him as just the super evil guy who kills magic users for fun, but he’s more complex than that. I think they did him dirty in the episode where he came back as a ghost, because that was almost a blind evil rampage. I would think excusing that in-canon would maybe be saying that it was because he was a spirit, and so all his worst traits were exaggerated. However, in his life, he really did care about Morgana and Arthur. Did he treat them terribly? Sure. Was he a terrible person? Obviously. But he was still human, he wasn’t all terrible. There are some scenes where he’ll risk his life for Arthur or just show some of his humanity. His relationship with his wife is a bit confusing, because on one hand, he cheated on her. However, he also went a little insane when she died and definitely lost most of his morality after that.

Morgana and Merlin both exhibit traits of Uther, depending on what you believe his relationship with Ygraine was. Morgana is blinded by her hatred and she kills innocent people in her twisted conception of revenge. However, Merlin also loses a lot of his morality and humanity at the thought of the one he loved (Arthur) dying. He killed many of his own kind to ensure his safety, even going so far as to advocate for the continued ban against magic despite knowing of its potential for good. Even Uther could have claimed ignorance to this point. It’s not super clear, but it seems that magical communities were always more secretive, even before the Purge. Gaius had magic, but wasn’t extremely skilled. It’s possible that after Ygraine died, Uther’s grieving, no longer fully sane mind reasoned that magic truly was evil. His logical reconciliation with people like Gaius was that maybe magic just corrupted over time. However, we still see Uther turning to magic when things get very desperate. This could be because (1) he just got very desperate and was willing to do whatever it took to keep his family alive, (2) his opinion on magic got less radicalized with time, or (3) he never believed in the first place. I’m leaning toward option 1, just because we also see him risking his own life at times to save his family. Again, Uther is NOT a good person, but he does seem to love Arthur and Morgana.

Merlin didn’t have this ignorance of magic, and was fully knowledgeable of what he was doing when he told Arthur that there could be no place for magic in Camelot. Like Uther, his loved one dying caused him to lose his humanity. Not to the full extent of Uther, but it was there. The difference between Uther and Merlin was that Uther reacted after Ygraine died, and Merlin was trying to prevent Arthur’s death. I could see the potential of a much darker Merlin once Arthur died.

Or, y’know, Uther could have just been a “bad guy ™️” who hated everyone. But even though I hate him, I do like to think of him as a more complex character. I’d like to think that in a really weird, twisted way, he did actually love Arthur and Morgana, and maybe Ygraine??? (but that was complicated). He was evil, but I would love to have seen more of his backstory.

[obsessionrepression]

What if post Battle of Camlaan, the only way for Merlin to save Arthur would be for their two halves to become one whole? So I’m thinking maybe they’re both two halves of one soul, and using Merlin’s magic, they become one again, like one single person. Maybe Merlin was trying to give away his immortality and did this accidentally, or maybe he knew what he was doing. Not sure, but I wonder what they would be like as a single entity.

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Kind of want a fic of Arthur being sent on a quest to kill Magic itself, the god of magic, the most powerful sorcerer to walk the Earth, Emrys, and Merlin is just standing in the background sweating

Ok, so maybe Uther hears from some captive druids about Emrys and how he’s magic itself, god of magic, so on so forth. So obviously, to get rid of magic in the world, this Emrys guy has to be killed! So Uther sends Arthur on a quest to get rid of magic once and for all, and of course, Merlin is along for the ride. This could be a pretty cool concept and magic reveal I think. I’m no good at writing though so please someone write this