#Arthur deserved so much better

[rnmidnm]

Good fathers do not leave their children in dungeons for a week.

Good fathers do not train their children to kill since birth.

Good fathers do not make their children watch executions.

Good fathers do not hit their children for mere disagreement.

Good fathers let their children learn of their mother, if she is dead.

Good fathers do not choose power over their children.

Uther Pendragon is NOT a good father.

[star-streaks]

Drawings plus game snapshots. I am still simply obsessed

[holyratrimony]

#1 Mary Linton hater

[vole-mon-amour]

"I gave you all I had. I did."

[rnmidnm]

And the thing about it is that you can write a whole ton of hurt/comfort Arthur. He is the perfect character for it.

Merlin was raised by loving and gentle mother. Arthur?? Uther.

Merlin was taught kindness since he was little. Arthur? Trained to kill since birth.

Merlin hurt/comfort makes sense after season 1-2 when Merlin had seen and had done enough. (Don't get me wrong I love Merlin)

But Arthur hurt/comfort?? In the 2nd episode with Valiant the way he said "I can't!" when Merlin said to him to withdraw bc he was in danger. The amount of responsibility on his shoulders, uther, the was everyone expects him to be perfect. This. This is what people should write about. There are a lot of examples about how hard everything was for Arthur and how Merlin helped him to get through most of it

I will never forgive fandom how unfair it is about Arthur

Dark Merlin It's usually good angst. You know, Merlin had had enough. Dark Arthur? Arthur is a fucking rapist, a monster.

Merlin guilty? Merlin feeling guilty and comforted by the entire cast. Arthur guilty? Arthur doing the worst things possible and someone razing him to the ground

Merlin always gets these nice things. always flowers, courtship, everything. Found family? Everyone comforts Merlin because big bad Arthur. (literally almost every Merlin "found family" is everyone loves Merlin and treats Arthur like shit)

Merlin gets an apology. Arthur? My parents will love me faster than someone will apologize to Arthur in fanfiction.

"suicidal, self-harming Merlin" but Arthur has no right to have mental problems (a whole lot of people have wanted him dead since he was born)

Protectivr knights? Always about Merlin.

Even the fucking omegaverse. Alpha Merlin is a nice calm creature who pretends to be a beta. Alpha Arthur... wild animal, keep Merlin in a cage.

No. Just no.

(forever grateful to those stupid British people that arthur never told merlin he was fat. because the fandom understands that something is a comedy if merlin says it. if arthur it would be ,,abuse")

[gldnstrngs]

it’s wild to think that the two times arthur gives a ring to gwen in case he dies, he doesn’t actually give it to her himself

in s4 ep 5, he gives ygraine’s ring—his mother’s ring—to merlin, so he could hand it off to gwen. even though it was because gwen hadn’t actually been there, arthur knew what they were getting into before they left for the battle. he had every opportunity to give it to her before that, but instead gave merlin the responsibility with a “tell her i’m sorry”

and then in the series finale, when arthur knows that the chances of him making it are slim, he gives gaius to the royal seal to give to gwen. arthur knew how high stakes the battle against morgana was and gwen had even been there, so he could’ve actually given it to her himself because of that very risk. also, the fact that they never even really got a proper goodbye, despite everything…

then we have the s4 ep1 deleted scene of arthur giving merlin ygraine’s sigil, explicitly telling him to “just… take it.” nothing else was said, but there was nothing else actually needed to be said between the both of them. arthur’s actions said enough, which is not something gwen had the privilege of seeing herself

arthur knew the risks when he was going to confront the dorocha, so he gave merlin his mother’s sigil. but when it came to gwen, he couldn’t be the one to actually give his rings to her

also, the fact that arthur thought that merlin was meant to have his sigil, despite knowing the weight in doing that??? it’s not just a symbol that represents the de bois house, but it’s a seal for royalty, which means he inadvertently made merlin the heir to the throne. and that was before he entertained the idea of giving gwen his rings

that in itself is enough to prove that arthur looked at merlin as something more than just king and manservant or friends. in his mind, merlin and gwen paralleled each other, hence his actions. but it turned out that, in the end, merlin was the only one who really mattered to arthur when his life was at risk. and he actually got to say goodbye to merlin before he died, even telling him thank you—which we all know was coded for “i love you” (platonic or romantic)

and people can argue that because the deleted scene is, in fact, deleted, then that means it wouldn’t actually mean anything. i would argue against that— i think it actually means way more that the scene was not only deleted, but replaced with a more “platonic” feel to it. because the showrunners knew what they were doing

they. knew. i CANNOT emphasize that enough. it’s likely that they came up with the original scene, proceeded to film it, and then decided to cut it out because of The Implications

honestly, this little rant isn’t necessarily me trying to invalidate arwen. i may not ship them, but i definitely do think they deserved better treatment as the main ship (like not having arthur properly say goodbye to gwen was actually Diabolical). i do think arthur loved her, but his love for merlin superseded that and those scenes just seem to prove it😭

[thenightshadowqueen]

Anyone else ever notice how Uther is willing to use magic to save Morgana—begs Gaius to do it, even—but never once considers it for Arthur? Like, we knew he had a favourite, but fucking hell.

[hallaburger]

my biggest dracula movie/tv adaptation gripe is that they never. Ever. get jack seward right. and they seldom get arthur and quincey right. but nobody does jack the way he should be: young, handsome, charming, smart, deeply observant, driven by curiosity, and devoted to a fault.

the hero boys commonly feel like an afterthought by directors and screenwriters - like they're interchangeable, easily omitted or substituted, swallowed up by abraham van helsing's significance. it's really unfortunate, especially since they each feel, in the book, so lovingly created and characterized. they each have importance and i wish more people understood that.

[phantom-of-the-501st]

I've fallen back down the RDR2 rabbit hole and the Charthur brainrot is real 😵‍💫

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Sometimes I remember the fact that Stanley Zbornak spent 38 years lying to, cheating on, and being a horrible husband to this:

Personally if this woman even looked at me I would kiss the very ground she walked on

[ranna-alga]

"Black" - Pearl Jam

[illhaveyouforbreakfast]

Morgana confronts Arthur's army, saying they have no hope of defeating her.

"I am a high priestess of the old religion!" She snarls, casting a spell that sends a wave of destruction at the knights. It's stopped in its tracks against a shimmering wall of energy. Merlin steps forward, eyes glowing gold, hands raised.

"And I am your god."

[pyjamacryptid]

I'm currently rewatching the dark tower for reasons (fic reasons), and when Gwen said "Morgana's enchanted it to protect me," it rang an alarm bell, this time 'round.

"[...]to protect me."

hm. huh. you don't say. interesting. As in, the knights are the enemy not the rescuers? hm. curious.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it (i mean, hey, that's the fun of it), but that choice of language stood out to me.

[ismyteadoneyet]

" 'You are angry, my Scion. In pain.' 'Yes' 'Good. Then I will show you why dragons never die.' " - 'ʙʟᴏᴏᴅᴍᴀʀᴋᴇᴅ' ʙʏ ᴛʀᴀᴄʏ ᴅᴇᴏɴɴ, ᴘᴀɢᴇ 372

drawn as per request by our lovely Legendborn anon <3 there are no demons in this one but I'll make sure to include them next time lol

[gldnstrngs]

sighs guess its time to officially add jayvik to my “merthur in every universe” list

[tangents-within-tangents]

Arthur at Lucy's death bed à la Branson and Sybil

idk it just happened, I'm sorry

Also what is with Stoker pulling a Hamlet on us in these chapters? Like Lucy's mom, Arthur's father, Mina and Jonathan's father figure, and then Lucy, all dead within the same few days. Bro chill