#ATHUR NEEDED A DRAGON WE ALL KNOW THIS

[julesblackthorns]

#EXCELLENTLY PUT #i would argue that morgana was just as wrong and that by that point she no longer really cared about bringing magic back #she just wanted to bring everything crashing down and inflict pain upon those who had hurt her #but many of her followers eg kara mordred believed in the cause #and were very much right #either way arthur and his entire regime by that point were very much wrong #i kinda hate s5 but at the same time i LOVE talking about it #it's easily the most intersting season to analyse #bbc merlin tags via @donttouchtheneednoggle

i don’t think morgana is ‘just as wrong in the sense’ that she IS actively fighting for an oppressed group against our heroes (????) who are actively oppressing said group (yeah arthur is better than uther BUT we’ve been waiting seasons for arthur to bring magic back and- oh look his evil sister is trying harder than him) BUT i agree that morgana is no longer motivated by this. like she wants power at this point. and this is an interesting part of her development bc the morgana who couldn’t watch a sorcerer be executed in episode 1, who couldn’t go thru w the plan to kill uther in the s1 finale, who tentatively suggests that magic itself isn’t evil just that in the hands of bad people it does bad things would NEVER have killed innocent villagers who have literally no say in how the country is run or tortured people  

but we do see this change happen. when she has her prophetic vision of gwen being crowned queen in s3, gwen her FRIEND who has loved her and stood by her and been thru so much w her, and morgana turns on her INSTANTLY the second gwen is a threat to the power she covets. and what does she do? she frames gwen for witchcraft so she will be burnt at the stake. the very same execution that she’s against, after being framed as one the very people she’s claiming to stand for. and after this morgana’s liberation quest holds water like as well as a colander bc her morals are so corruptible, whereas arthur’s morals are often misguided but always measured, and he values kindness and compassion above anything and these will always take priority over what he ‘thought was right’ (which is why it makes literally no sense that arthur is able to foster positive relationships w the druids/mordred and yet not accept magic, like s2 arthur was closer to doing that just by using his brain than s5 arthur was after seeing magic used positively over and over again)

i don’t think it’s as simple as morgana is on a vengeance quest but ur right that it’s a huge part of what’s motivating her and like. the SECOND we introduce arthur as tolerating and promising to bring magic back the conflict becomes 100% more interesting and fulfilling. and THAT is why arthur needed to have a dragon!

one day i’m gonna sit down and write the meta ab why s5 of merlin didn’t work at its core bc morgana, the antagonist, was in the right and even tho we root for arthur bc he’s brave and kind and like. not killing innocents and bc we were promised he was going to bring magic back to camelot he never actually DOES so what could have been a complex conflict between siblings who BOTH have a right to the throne and who BOTH want to bring magic back we have the antagonist force be attempting to liberate an oppressed group and the good guys. not doing that

[honestlyandrogynousnightmare]

magic reveal

So ive been thinking about the magic reveal we did get and also the different magic reveals we COULD have gotten so i thought id project all my thoughts into another massive tumblr rant:

personally, i dont think the magic reveal was bad at all. yes, i wouldve done it slightly differently, i think it was done way too late in the show and left little time to explore how that reveal affected merlin and arthurs relationship, and obviously we never actually ended up seeing if magic was legalised and all. but i dont hate the magic reveal we got. the key part i really love is that it was done on Merlins own terms, he could have just lied, but instead he finally told Arthur the truth and i think that there were many reasons for that decision being made. 

firstly, Merlin definitely felt guilty and blamed himself for Arthur being stabbed, he must have at least partly blamed himself because everything he did directly led to Mordred turning into a little shit. Part of him might have just felt as if he owes Arthur that explanation yknow. secondly, i feel like by that point he was tired of lying in general, he needed to get that secret off his chest. those two things combined with the fact that Arthur was dying may have pushed him to telling the truth,  because deep down he did know that it was probably the last chance to tell Arthur the truth. 

i liked how they presented Arthurs reaction too, the clear message there was that Athur was angry at the lying, thats the part he saw as betrayal, not the magic itself. he didnt want to believe that Merlin was a liar, when he always saw him as the one person that was entirely honest with him. hell, he still trusted him enough to send him back to Camelot and Gwen so he knew Merlin wasnt evil. If the writers actually did a good job at developing Arthurs character, i feel like itd be more obvious that Arthurs stance on magic was different from his fathers, but yknow bbc and their shoddy writing. I love that moment of acceptance as well, when he tells Merlin that he doesnt want him to change. He doesnt even now about all the things Merlin sacrificed and lost in order to protect Arthur and Camelot but he still accepts him. I think that when he first fund out it was all like “holy crap i dont even know him” but after spending a few hours with Merlin he realises that its still the exact same person he knew the week before. 

anddddd as much as i like the way they did that magic reveal, the ending of the show left me with no closure and a lot of tears. my ideal magic reveal wouldve happened earlier, either at the start of season 5 or near the end of season 4. It would give us a chance to see them talk it out, and god we know that there would be arguing, and if arthur wasnt dying he would probbaly be shouting but the key part here is that arthur wouldnt hurt merlin. i think he culd consider sending him away if his father was still king just to protect him but we all know merlin would reply with “no <3″. but since i cant see the reveal happening when uther is king, i will be ignoring that scenario. and again, theres many ways this could play out.

the one way that ive always found interesting was arthur figuring it out on his own, because he may be an idiot, but hes not stupid. *if you like this sort of thing read “so close and im halfway to it  on ao3, its a merthur fic and the magic reveal in that one makes me cry so much and the fic is so well written* I feel like at one point, he would just put the pieces together, and it would all make so much sense to him? Merlins random disappearances and scars would make sense, the luck he had when it came to fights, Merlins weird reactions when someone mentioned magic, how on earth merlin of all people managed to survive every battle and fight arthur was in when some of his best knights didnt. 

then theres the very cliche “merlin using magic mid battle to save everyone” reveal. because its mid battle, i really cant picture them talking it out there lol,  i picture a lot of ignoring but also if other people saw him using magic, we all know the first thing arthur would do is give the knights a good old “if you kill him i will kill you and then myself”, it wouldnt be until later that they would actually talk. 

and then like the canon magic reveal, theres Merlin doing it on his own terms. i personally really like thhis one because it gives him so much more control over the situation and over his words. *another fic rec here if you like this sorta thing, its called “to the world that let you by” and its really beautiful and made me cry at 1am so there you go, and as you guessed it, its another merthur*. i love this reveal because it gives merlin a chance to explain, and arthur a chance to listen and try to understand. 

now there are loads of different sub categories that could go into those, like Arthur finding merlin creating butterflies out of thin air lol, but i wont go into those. whatever reveal would happen, i feel like “the talk” after would usually end up in a similar way. Arthurs reaction would be similar to what we got in the canon reveal, because the actual magic isnt what would hurt most.  it would be the lies. Arthur has been lied to and betrayed by so many people you cant really expect him not to react badly to being lied to. the magic sure would confuse him and put him in a difficult position, because you have to keep in mind that his entire life he has been told that magic is pure evil, and to him, merlin is the polar opposite of that. i think it would just make him question everything, like does he even know this man? has he won any of his battles or has it always been merlin? why is he in camelot? why would a sorcerer be serving him? but he wouldnt hurt him. he wouldnt even consider that imo, sure, he will demand an explanation, but he wouldnt actually thin about hurting him. 

and merlin would understand why hes angry about the lying, that much is obvious. and he would be reluctant to tell arthur about the things that were happening behind his back all those years, but he would be honest. and go that conversation would be hard for both of them, i cant really imagine them having it without a lot of crying, shouting and even more wine tbh. arthur isnt good at listening which is why this would be so hard for him too, but merlin has to be honest, completely honest with arthur for the first time in his life and thatd be difficult. 

and i think merlin would handle arthurs reactions well, even if arthur decided to lose his temper lol. but i can still imagine him being a bit bitter if arthur judged his choices and stuff when it came to poisoning morgana and freeing the dragon, asking what on earth HE would do in that situation. where the only choices he sees are bad ones, and he has to pick the one thats least evil. 

arthur would probably be most pissed off at the thing about his mother tbh, because merlin outright lied there, usually its just deflecting but he made that deliberate choice to lie. but i really do think he would understand all of this, while not every choice merlin did was good, he did it with good intention. 

and then arthur would remove the ban on magic and they would kiss and get married amd live happily ever aft-

thanks bbc.

anyway if you want any more magic reveal fics (or links to the ones i mentioned, ao3 can be bloody annoying sometimes) feel free to comment or message me or anything, i have a couple more in my bookmarks. 

thanks for reading this rant, scuse the bad grammar, id love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this and magic reveals in general so feel free to comment! have a great day<3