#Spoilers merlin

[drag0nalias0]

Finished the last two episodes of merlin today and wow i started september 9th and finished today, 14th october. Still the same year at least. Tbh it took me that long bc i usually watch anime and stuff and thats got 20-25 minute episodes unlike merlin with around double that at 40-50 minutes, plus iv been busy and i also didnt know it was on disney+ untill i got to the last season, but whem that happened it only took me under a week to finish it as i had finished season 4 ep 13 monday the 9th and finished season 5 ep 13 today which is saturday the 14th.

But i have so many questions

So warning spoilers below

Why is there no season 6? It seems quite popular so i dont get why it didnt get another season, unless it wasnt as popular as i thought. What happened to the baby dragon? Why did it like morgana so much. What was with the old man from the episode where the crystal caves were introduced. And what about the bridge guarded form the episode where the see the fisher king. What about alice? And the boy who used magic at the tournament? Why kill lancelot. And why kill gwain and arthur. Why the fuck does percival not have a backstory? Where is he from who is he, we never find out. What the fuck is up with the ending. Why does it end like that and how the fuck old is he and how is he that old. That is merlin in the ending right? What happened to merlins mum? Is she ok? So many questions. A season 6 isnt impossible it just would work as well as they would either have to get new actors which would look weird or they would have to do a time skip which ehhh. Actually maybe it could work a 10 timeskip actually doesnt sound that bad. Also the tention between merlina nd arthur near the end????HELLO??What was that? "MERLIN: I can. I'm not going to lose you." "ARTHUR: Just, just hold me. Please." "[Arthur turns his head more and looks at Merlin.] Thank you.[Arthur reaches up and touches Merlin on the back of the head. His hand falls.]" "Merlin manages to get out from underneath Arthur. He presses his forehead against Arthur's." ????i am frothing at the mouth rn bc. What. The . Fuck. Is with that tension. Hoooo boy. I genuinely thought for a few momwnt in some scenes that they were gonna kiss or something bc that tensions. Wow.it was just so.argh.also the hand cathing the sword at the end?!?!?

Anyway yeha

Oh also why does there also seem to be someone dying every fucking episode

[magicomens]

Happy Merlin finale anniversary to those who celebrate :)

I'm taking a small break from the comic for the holidays, see you in late January with Part 8 and a new story arc!

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[xgermankittycatx--commsopen]

I'm suddenly very, very sad about them again, so you all have to suffer with meeee muhahahaaa

have a reeeeally quick sketch of the cause of all of our pain and tears :]

[thephweddingphring]

!MERLIN S5 SPOILERS!

Gwaine isn't dead. He's alive. Eoin Macken said so. REJOICE!

[thenightshadowqueen]

I think one of the things I will always love most about Merthur is that I adore loyalty taken to the extreme. I love someone abandoning all their morals and reframing their entire belief system around one person. I love someone willing to do absolutely anything for someone, no matter how horrendous it is. I love someone who would let their love kill them if they wanted to.

I adore loyalty taken to the extreme, and Merthur, specifically from Merlin’s perspective, is exactly that.

[ggukalaxy]

just finished my rewatch of all five seasons of bbc's merlin, and my sister and i decided it would be fun to keep count of how many times merlin saved arthur's life throughout the show, so here is an accumulated list:

(disclaimer: it is absolutey possible that we weren't always watching attentively and that we might have missed a case or two, but i like to believe that it is kinda accurate)

times arthur would have died if merlin hadn't saved him

• 1x01: dagger thrown at arthur ⟶ merlin slowed down time to pull arthur out of the way

• 1x02: snakes supposed to poison arthur ⟶ merlin exposes the snakes and arthur kills them

• 1x04: poisoned cup ⟶ merlin drinks from it instead

• 1x05: a griffin attacks them ⟶ lancelot fights it, and merlin enchants his sword/spear so that it’ll work

• 1x07: arthur is to be sacrificed to the sidhe ⟶ merlin saves him

• 1x10: ealdor gets attacked, including arthur, and they’re doomed ⟶ merlin creates a huge wind gust to save everyone

• 1x13: questing beast attacks arthur ⟶ merlin kills it

• 1x13: questing beast bites arthur, the poison is fatal ⟶ merlin gets water from the cup of life to save him

• 2x01: arthur gets attacked by a huge boar (?) ⟶ merlin uses magic on a crossbow to save him 

• 2x01: camelot gets attack by living stone statues ⟶ merlin destroys them

• 2x02: assassin tries to kill arthur during a tournament on horses ⟶ merlin uses magic to make the assassin fall off his horse

• 2x12: dead stone statue thingies attack arthur and his knights ⟶ merlin uses magic to make the ceiling cave in and pulls arthur to his side, separating them from the statue thingies

• 2x13: arthur's wounds are getting worse ⟶ merlin finds balinor in time and has him help him (HONORARY MENTION)

• 3x04: arthur gets attacked (again) ⟶ merlin uses magic to save him (again)

• 3x07: morgause tries to kill arthur with a fire beam ⟶ merlin uses magic to make the fire beam explode before it reaches arthur

• 3x08: arthur gets attacked by wyverns ⟶ merlin uses his dragonlordness to stop them

• 3x08: arthur wears the eye of the phoenix bracelet (sucking life-force out of someone) ⟶ merlin takes it off him

• 3x12: arthur gets shot by a poisoned arrow ⟶ merlin uses magic to help him, then brings him to gaius

• 3x13: an army of immortal deads attacks camelot ⟶ merlin empties the cup of life of their blood to “kill” them all

• 4x01: dorochas attack arthur ⟶ merlin pushes arthur out of the way to get attacked instead

• 4x04: their food gets poisoned ⟶ merlin uses magic to save them

• 4x05: arthur fights in a duel and is about to be striked down ⟶ merlin makes the opponent’s sword fall out of his hands with magic

• 5x01: arthur and their men get attacked by morgana’s men ⟶ merlin saves arthur and gets them away from the battle

• 5x04: arthur almost got beheaded by odin ⟶ merlin created an earthquake with magic to stop that

• 5x06: dark tower traps ⟶ merlin parries an arrow with magic

• 5x07: arthur gets poisoned ⟶ merlin saves him with magic

• 5x08: someone wants to shoot an arrow at arthur ⟶ merlin attacks the shooter and saves arthur

• 5x11: kara tried to stab arthur ⟶ merlin uses magic to save him

and the one time he fails: 5x13, mordred stabs arthur with a sword forged on a dragon’s breath — merlin doesn’t get him to avalon in time

which brings us to a total of 27.5 times that merlin has saved arthur's life throughout the show

we also kept track of all the times arthur saved merlin's life, so here is that list:

• 1x03: merlin tells uther he is a sorcerer to save gwen (which would’ve gotten him a death sentence) ⟶ arthur convinces his father that merlin is lying out of love for gwen

• 1x04: merlin drank from a poisoned cup ⟶ arthur gets the antidote for him

• 1x11: arthur drinks poison so that merlin won’t have to ⟶ it was actually a sleeping draft though (HONORARY MENTION)

• 1x13: questing beast attacks ⟶ arthur pulled merlin out of the way

• 2x12: dead stone statue thingy attacks merlin ⟶ arthur strikes it down

• 4x01: a dorocha flies towards merlin ⟶ arthur pushes him out of the way

• 4x08: the lamia was about to kill merlin ⟶ arthur comes in at just the right time

which brings us to a total of 6.5 times that arthur saved merlin's life

it's kind of crazy to me to compare it like this, because on the one hand 27 near-death experiences across 65 episodes doesn't really sound like a lot. but at the same time i can't believe that arthur would have died 27 times if it hadn't been for merlin. and to think that arthur only saved merlin's life 6 times though?? oof

on my next rewatch, my sister and i want to make a list of all the moments that contributed to arthur's death (a so-called "doom list" with moments like merlin poisoning morgana in 2x13 etc), but that one is definitely going to be more subjective, since it'll be based on things that we think could've prevented arthur's death if they had gone any different

very excited to debate all the things that could go on that one!

[lochlot-moved]

this man is fun to draw

[lesbicosmos]

me: :)

*remembers both lancelot and arthur's last words to merlin were "thank you"*

me: :(

[nightninjaboy]

Lolololololololol

[tossawary]

One of the more amusing narrative constructions in "Merlin" to me is how explicitly magic is tied to medicine from the very beginning of the show, with the healer Gaius as Merlin's mentor in both medicine and (secretly) in magic.

The third episode deals with a magically created plague in Camelot (which frankly seems like it should have killed WAY more people than they show dying, if it was in the water and as deadly as they suggest) and from the beginning, Merlin is like, "I can use magic to fix this. Let me use magic to help. I can save all of these people's lives." And Gaius stops him because he fears Uther will find out somehow. (You can also suppose that magic usually requires greater training than Merlin has, and fighting/curing a malevolent plague would burn most sorcerers out very quickly, and Gaius has no real concept yet of just how badly Merlin's gifts break the curve.)

Later in the episode, Merlin ignores Gaius in order to secretly cure Gwen's father. This quickly becomes a disaster because Arthur notices this quick recovery and finds the physical charm used, Gwen is blamed, and Uther decides to go straight to an execution about it because he sucks. But Merlin was RIGHT that he could cure the plague! Apparently with relatively little effort on his part! (Possibly because he's a freak of nature among sorcerers, admittedly!) It is a magical plague, potentially more of a curse than a virus, presumably working on different rules, but still!

It really underlines that all of these people are dying JUST because of Uther and Nimueh's conflict. Firstly because Nimueh is trying to get her revenge against Uther in the worst way possible, a plague, and secondly because Uther won't let anyone use magic to fight back.

In the next episode (4), it's all about Arthur getting a (magic?) flower to cure the (magic?) poison that Merlin drank. Episode 6, which I haven't rewatched yet, features another magical healer, come to take revenge against Uther for the death of his healer parents. In many of these cases, it's magical remedy versus magic cause, but it seems not unreasonable to assume that magic could still be very useful when dealing with non-magical ailments.

In fantasy worlds, I personally tend towards the idea that magic would just be another form of technology, and in many cases would be integrated with all other human technology in society. (Cooking! Humans LOVE cooking! Not starving is the #1 societal concern throughout much of history! Magic, if practical, would be used for a LOT of food-related stuff.) Obviously, there are fantasy worlds where magic is new in the world or sourced from evil demons or whatever, or there may be some anti-magic ideology for another reason, so people in those worlds wouldn't use magic casually. Magic, its origins and its cost, is different in every fantasy world, of course!

But in pre-Purge Camelot here, it very much seems that magic was a practical skill that would have been useful during daily life, even just to boil water or have a light in the dark. Maybe the gifts are relatively rare and the training is difficult for most people, but it seems like most people who work in medicine would want to have as much knowledge about magic as possible, even if they themselves can't really do any spells, and do not become druids or priestesses or anything like that. There seem to be a significant amount of magical plants and animals here, which would be crucial to the work.

So, uh, it looks like Uther's Purge would have primarily targeted anyone with medical knowledge. The equivalent of this society's doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Healers, midwives, alchemists, and anyone else who refused to give up a useful tool that could save lives. Also anyone who made their living selling protective charms or magical herbs or any small thing that could have helped during a plague. Uther's Purge presumably wiped out Camelot's ENTIRE existing medical infrastructure.

Camelot has SEWERS somehow. And why wouldn't magic have been used in the construction and maintenance of a sewer system? If magic is a practical tool, it would have absolutely been used in waste disposal* and water filtration.

*EDIT: Yes, I know that the shown sewers aren't used for waste, obviously. I phrased this poorly. These sewers ARE directly connected to drinking water in the show, however, and the human waste that is generated by a city (which is a lot) getting into this system somehow would be a serious concern. SEPARATELY, I do think magic would have uses in regards to waste disposal. I don't think that these specific sewers are for waste, just that magic could be a tool for their cleanliness.

(Mulling over the potential headcanon that the only reason Nimueh's plague wasn't worse is because Camelot still has hidden layers of various magical protections holding over, even 20 years later. No one has been recasting the old Circles of Protections on the castle lately because very smart CEO Uther Pendragon has also killed most of the custodial and IT departments. "It's fine," he says, "there is no measurable difference," when Camelot is teetering on the edge of catastrophic failure several times a season.)

Like, uh, no wonder Uther can't get a single huzzah even when he announces a festival. It's the anniversary of this shitty king killing nearly all the doctors and outlawing Camelot's equivalent of vaccines and antibiotics. I'd hate his guts. Infant mortality probably skyrocketed. Do you think that people who live near the borders of Camelot regularly sneak one kingdom over to visit the nearest healer? I do. I'm imagining that some noblewoman in Camelot gets pregnant and then immediately goes to stay with her sister for a little while in the neighboring kingdom, because that king over there didn't kill all of the damn midwives. Fucking hell.

[mokadevs]

someone who cares about me

[xgermankittycatx--commsopen]

can someone please tell me why Eugene's 'death' in Tangled is so much like Arthur's death? BECAUSE I'M ABOUT TO EXPLODE. I DREW ARTHUR AND MERLIN IN THE EXACT POSITION RAPUNZEL AND EUGENE WERE IN WITHOUT EVEN REALIZING IT

there's NO WAY rewatching tangled IMMEDIATELY reminded me of Merlin and Arthur

LOOK, LOOOOOOOKKK EVEN THE STAB WOUND IS basically AT THE SAME PLACE

I'm going to gnaw at my pencils

JUST. LOOK AT THEM. look how Rapunzel is holding Eugene, and then LOOK AT HOW MERLIN IS HOLDING ARTHUR. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE. they are so in love. romantic, platonic, i don't care, you can't deny that Merlin and Arthur loved each other so, so much. SO MUCH THAT THE ENDING COULD'VE BEEN SO SIMILAR TO A LOVE STORY, LIKE TANGLED'S ENDING.

gawwddd, why couldn't Arthur and Merlin have what Rapunzel and Eugene had? :'[[

I guess we can only dream... AND DRAW MORE FANART AND WRITE MORE FANFICS SO WE CAN LIVE IN OUR OWN FANTASY WHERE MERLIN AND ARTHUR HAD THEIR HAPPY ENDINGGGG RAHHHH

[regulusrules]

MERLIN (2012) | RED, WHITE, AND ROYAL BLUE (2023)

history, huh? bet we could repeat some ( 1 / 2 )

[thenightshadowqueen]

“What happened to the young boy who came into my chambers just a few years ago?”

Well, I mean, everyone he’s ever loved is either dead or about to die, so I’d wager on that. I mean, I could be wrong, but.

[3kidsinacoat]

Bbc's merlin having a horribly sad ending? Everybody dying except for Merlin, who is condemned to a live of eternal loneliness? What are you talking about?

As far as I'm concerned Merlin showed Morgana how to use her Magic, she and Gwen got married, adopted Mordred and returned magic to camelot, Merlin and Arthur live on a farm like Arthur wanted, they have adopted Aithusa, all the knights are a big happy family-

[whamber]

Gender fluid Merlin can be something so personal.