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There are plenty of questionable moments throughout Merlin but one thing they did super well is Arthur and Uther's relationship. Uther's an abusive father, but Arthur loves him, and we see Uther's delicate side often enough to understand why.

A moment that really hits hard is in season 3, after Uther discovers Arthur and Gwen together, is when Arthur pleads his case. He scrambles between three different tactics, first sincerity, followed by more princely authoritative force, and then begging and apologizing.

Uther is unpredictable, a trait that makes him so awful as a father. So watching Arthur, who knows him better than anyone, swing wide so fast, within a single conversation, trying to find the right card to play in his father's game, is really heart-wrenching.

It shows a very special emotional intelligence in Arthur, albeit a devastating one.

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I think it's severely overlooked that Arthur was raised by UTHER.

Uther who burned children, Uther who kept Arthur under so much pressure since he was a kid. And despite everything Arthur became the man his father never was. Yes he is a prat, yes he is arrogant, but he is also loyal to a fault and compassionate. He makes mistakes but he tries his best to fix it, Arthur isn't afraid to admit that he'd done something wrong. Which is a huge deal for a king or crown prince.

i can only imagine how difficult his childhood was, because he was growing up without mother. And he is stating repeatedly himself that he was trained to kill since birth. I just love him so fucking much.

Bro is my fav character

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Don't give shippers any ideas Peter. Also, WTF Peter?

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are you fcking kidding me Arthur actually took Merlin to his ANNIVERSARY DATE with his WIFE.

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i am so so glad that this is how we get to say goodbye to the old animation: a heartfelt ladynoir rooftop scene where time stands still and it’s just the two of them, by each other’s side like always. even if everything else seems bleak, even if they don’t yet know how to overcome this new challenge, it’s still them against the world. and that’s what matters

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Neal explaining his family tree (probably):

Yeah well there’s my evil grandfather, Peter Pan… also my evil grandmother, the black fairy… then there’s my dad, the Dark One… oh yeah, my brother, the savior slayer…

…Belle’s okay, though. (Shrug)

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2x14 // 3x09

Rumple and Regina bond with their sons for the first time

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Ash's father can't be any character he interacted with in the show. Ash claims to have not seen his father "in ages", implying that he knew his father at some point, so it already rules out the likes of Oak, Giovanni or Mr.Mime (yes, this was a real theory) since he interacted with all of them and never acknowledged any of those as his dad and they would also recognize Ash as their son. Oak and Mr. Mime are also already around, so they can't be Ash's father as Ash is said to not have seen his father for a long time. Silver from Pokemon Chronicles is also unlikely to be Ash's dad since Ash's dad's goal was said to be to become a Pokemon master, not catch Moltress like Silver. I don't think his identity is relevant but we'll try to gather all canon info to get an overall picture of his character and try to find out why he's absent from his son's life.

We know Ash is deeply affected by his neglect and seems to believe his father doesn't care for him, at least in the beginning (when Delia says Ash is the apple of his father’s eye, Ash replies he's a rotten one, implying they have a strained relationship). Regardless, we can conclusively say from Delia's line that he cares for Ash dearly. So, he likely has very solid reason be such a deadbeat, not even bothering showing up to congratulate his son for winning the Pokemon World Championships. We know from Delia and the storyboard artist that he's still on his journey of becoming a Pokémon Master (and given anime's tropes, we can also safely say that he influenced Ash's dream too). Yet despite being on a Pokemon journey, no one seems to know Ketchum name, which feels odd if he's like this super strong trainer everyone seems to believe for some reason. In fact, there's no evidence hinting that his father is a successful trainer and it would the perfect emotional reason why he refuses to see Ash: his son likely looked up to him and he failed him by not living up to his expectations, so tries to avoid him out of shame, at least until he succeeds and becomes worthy of Ash's respect.

It's worth to mention that this theory is basically canon in Pocket Monsters: The Animation, the anime's novelization by Takeshi Shudo, the chief writer of the original pokemon series. Here, Ash's father is said to have never appeared in any magazine or made it up to top 10 000 trainers list, which heavily suggests that he in fact, sucks really bad. So even if the novelization isn't canon, this interpretation of Ash's father seems to match with Shudo's vision.

I think this theory sounds much more compelling than all other theories even if he's complete nobody (both in-universe and out the universe) and makes for a wonderful message that we're not forced to repeat our parents' failures. Ash's confrontation with his father in this case would also be much more compelling, even if it would never happen now that his journey's over. This theory also suffers the least from plot holes compared to other theories.

This interpretation takes clues from youtuber charusharu's video on the subject, so don't hesitate to check it out.

[poke-maniac]

Here are three eras of Disney.

The Beginning (Snow White), the Renaissance (Mulan) and Modern Times (Asha).

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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 | Official Trailer

Poster

Synopsis

Sonic the Hedgehog returns to the big screen this holiday season in his most thrilling adventure yet. Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before. With their abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance in hopes of stopping Shadow and protecting the planet.

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“Shadow’s story began a lot like your’s Sonic…”

“…But where you found family and friends…Shadow only found pain..and loss”

OOOOUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH SOBBING

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Shadow's story began a lot like yours, Sonic. But where you found family and friends, Shadow found only pain and loss. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 (2024) dir. Jeff Fowler

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THERE THEY ARE

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HE IS BEAUTIFUL!

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They made him do the bike slide this is the movie of the year

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Marvel Comics #1000: We’re Calling Him Ben