#anti uther

[yourfavecharacterisqueer]

Morgana: Uh, I think I got your lunch. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘I am very proud of you. Love, Dad.’*

Arthur: Oh yeah. I didn’t think this was for me. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘Be good. For the love of God, Please be good.’*

[loosethreadsofyoursoul]

the degree to which magic in bbc merlin is an allegory for queerness is insane. what do you mean people with magic hide in fear for their lives because it’s illegal. what do you mean merlin’s mother sent him away to the big city bc she was afraid of what would happen if their small town found out he had magic. what do you mean merlin is taken in by an unmarried old man who used to practice magic but can’t anymore. what do you mean morgana was morally on uther’s side until she realized who she was and that he was wrong for wanting people like her dead. what do you mean anti-magical propaganda spreads misinformation that all magic is evil and everyone who practices it is also evil and should be killed. what do you mean there’s a recurring underlying theme of magical being solidarity

[justaz]

like i’ve said time and time again, i haven’t watched bbc merlin in years but i was just wondering when the first time merlin called arthur by his name to his face and im scrolling thru the transcripts on the fandom wiki (supposedly it was s1ep4 btw) and im skimming the script for all these episodes and getting angrier and angrier. gaius was wrong for all that. morgana deserved so much better. edwin muirden was valid as hell (for targeting uther AND gaius. yeah. i said it.). also kilgharrah ate with that one lil line “then turn a blind eye. that is, after all, your talent” okay lizard brain pop offff.

[quanblovk]

OHOHOH, GUESS IT'S ALMOST STARTING! TIME FOR SOME QUALITY PROPA-

-RECORD SCRATCH-

Sir Mordred: Oh come on, you're sturdy. You'll be fine.

Sir Uther: I'M NOT A MARKETABLE PUNCHING BAG!!! MORDRED! PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME WITH HER!!!

Sir Mordred: Have fun.

Sir Uther: SIR MORDRED!!! MORDRED!!! PLEASE! COME BAAAACCCCKKKKKK!!!

(Sir Uther's paralysis demon- Valfrey belongs to @gethoce !!)

Looks like he'll be having loads of fun in the @kirbyoctournament!

[NEXT]

[wlwarhammer]

Crimes BBC Merlin characters have committed

1) Uther

- no drip

- no bitches

- invented fascism and police states

- killed his wife for being hotter than him

2) Gaius

- learnt magic just to end up working for Uther

- the reason Merlin is like that

- payed to go to Lizzies platinum jubilee

3) Merlin

- his peoples biggest opp

- gay scarf

4) Morgana

- made me have a sexuality crisis at 8

- didn’t fire bomb Camelot

4) Gwaine

- in love with Merlin

- too funny and sexy

- medieval cop

- died homoeroticly

5) Lancelot

- died

- didn’t whack Arthur when given the chance

5) Arthur

- medieval Liz Truss

- room temp IQ

- annoying

- he’s who right wingers think Jesus is

- too old to be bisexual ����

- stole my gf (Gwen)

6) Gwen

- Married Arthur

- in love with her husbands sister (awkward)

[rosiegardenlove]

First batch of tourney propaganda! Not only for my boi but for other contestants for @kirbyoctournament !!!

GO VOTE FOR THESE GUYS!

Listen, themed armor is fun to make! Wave 2 of armor will begin soon(ish)!

Life: @shippyo

Sir Uther: @quanblovk

Prince Artemis: @isaackkkbunn

Anti: @boa35

[arguablysomaya]

please, elaborate on merlin bbc propaganda and stuff

okay basically:

bbc merlin is a show taking place during a genocide

camelot for 20 years has been genociding and ethnically cleansing everyone who can use magic, including magical creatures. They were all either exiled, fled, live in refugee camps or in hiding, and a great many were executed and slaughtered. Generally speaking, life is inhospitable in camelot for magic users.

And the show makes no attempt to hide this fact, either. We see multiple times over the death and destruction this genocide has wraught, and how radicalized most of the remaining magic population is because of it. For the past few decades, camelot has essentially been doing 2 things: persecuting magic users, and defending itself from vengeful/liberationist magic users

the king (uther) believes that magic users are (stop me if you've heard this one) corruptive, shifty, and evil. he's always paranoid that a magic user will take their revenge on him. and in a way, he's right: there are in fact a lot of magic users eager to kill him, but given the whole Great Purge and literally drowning children thing, you'd thing the show would be a bit more sympathetic to their plight. Nope.

in come merlin and gaius, our two main magic users. merlin is the protagonist, and gaius his benevolent mentor, so the audience is primed to be on their side. only one problem: from bascially the beginning of the series, these two are nothing more than agents for the very state carrying out the genocide. they devote their time to wholeheartedly defending camelot, especially from magic users, something they are rightfully called traitors for. they actively intervene to prolong the lives (and therefore regimes) of both arthur and uther, despite neither king showing any real interest in freeing their people. gauis represents the "diversity" of a genocidaire state; as someone uther only keeps around so long as he shuns any involvement with magic except what helps uther carry put his genocide, gaius hides and rejects every marginalized part of himself that threatens his access to power. even as a member of the oppressed class, he aids and abets the oppressors every step of the way. merlin, as an extremely powerful agic user in hiding, follows suit. the thing is, like so many other minority collaborators, this doesn't actually buy them safety, since they are Other, they still have to walk around on eggshells knowing one wrong move could get their heads chopped off. but this action of defending a regime that would kill you without a second's hesitation is presented as noble and heroic in the show, when in reality it's stupid at best and evil at worst. merlin and gaius might save a token kid from being brutally murdered, but they will never let anyone take action, let alone take action themselves, to proactively stop the brutality.

merlin is literally the most powerful sorcerer alive. if he wanted to, he could create a more fair, more just, better world in a blink. instead, he spends his time pretending to be a hapless servent, messing around with his war criminal friends, and killing any freedom fighter who dares to even look at the prince or king. why? well, he believes in the institutions (and a prophecy that never comes true... lol). ultimately, merlin and gauis hold the same prejudices and stereotypes about magic users that uther does: that they're untrustworthy, dangerous, and that it would be better for everyone if all but themselves (the good ones) just died or left.

and all the people they're defending the empire against... are other oppressed magic users. the VAST majority of antagonists are either magicians or magic sympathizers. even in the context of a genocide, the show takes the firm stance that the architects of genocide (the literal kings who order it to happen) are just flawed human beings who still don't deserve to be killed, while when the people they seek to wipe out fight back, our protagonists will happily mow them down. the show has no problem with killing people,and even killing innocents is only worthy of a fingerwag. it's fighting for liberation that the show makes the real problem. even when uther finally dies the show plays it like something sad, as if anyone is supposed to feel anything but joy that this old tyrant genocidaire finally kicked the bucket after having been saved a million times over from getting his comeuppance. Every magic user that has genuinely good reasons to want to tear down the kingdom are all painted with the "crazy evil person" brush.

another thing is that this show likes to get ~quirky~ with their agents of the state. along with arthur and merlin come a colorful cast of characters like the knights that you can laugh and cry with. the only problem is that despite how lovable these people are, they're still actively carrying out and enforcing a genocide. it's a bit like those tiktoks of IDF soldiers dancing or proposing. i can't feel for these people because despite seeming like relatable people, they're still engaging in something horrific. you can't escape the fact that these people can only exist in the relatively easy capacity that they do because the empire they work for is brutally repressing and eliminating entire cultures.

but the thing is, this strategy actually works. the fandom is often so taken in by fun character interactions and shipping moments that you can often witness people literally look past, or even praise their acts of genocide. these characters are so charming with each other that you can look past how awfully they treat oppressed people. yay! the prevalence of merthur brings up too many idf pinkwashing parallels it's actually insufferable. i had hoped we left oppressor/oppressed person ships behind in the 2010s but guess it's still around

by the time he takes over as king, the "great, kind" arthur is essentially an IDF soldier who only realized that Killing Is Bad Actually when he's got crosshairs on a random kid. now Reformed (TM), he takes the brave stance that he should only kill the angry bad magic users who try to exact their revenge for the whole genocide thing on him, and the peaceful (more often than not, harmless) magic users should accept the merciful counterplan of ethnically cleansing themselves from the region, or continuing to live in refugee camps, but this time with less threat of massacre. in this show, the only acceptable answer to being genocided is to either lay down and die, hide forever, or displace yourself hoping the empire doesn't come and kill you anyway. fighting back, getting revenge, defending oneself, trying to change things: these are all reserved only for the genocidal state.

in other words, bbc merlin is the exact type of genocide obfuscation that most modern genocides engage in. the suffering of oppressed peoples, even innocents, is a footnote. when they suffer, sometimes it's presented as sad, and other times it's presented as deserved. meanwhile, the suffering of the oppressors, no matter how justifyable, is always landmark and deserves our full attention and sympathies, because the thing about the oppressors is that it's always their story.

(the last thing is a common fantasy problem, which is that when you create stories where different classes have actual, material, biological distinctions, it can end up justifying the oppression. in the real world, there is a very limited range of innate human abilities, and people from across the world are largely evenly matched. but in merlin, a sorcerer actually does pose an increased threat to those around them. in terms of allegory... kinda not the best thing to so without any real refutation to the idea that magic corrupts)

so yeah. that's why i don't fuck with this show even though it's enjoyable to watch.

[mossmx]

Because I see routinely posts of the "we all hate Uther of course" variety:

I very much LOVE Uther Pendragon from bbc Merlin, yes HIM

I love his character, I enjoy what he does and how he does it, I want to draw him so much and he had AMAZING moments in the show.

I could go on but you get the point I hope 💕

I'm frankly tired of the fandom attitude that "of course every Merlin fan hates Uther" because we are not a hivemind and WE DO NOT.

Not everyone ships Merthur, not everyone hates Uther etc. but everyone deserves to go in the tags and not see constant negativity:

I'd like if haters would leave the tag alone for people who do want to see Uther content 👍 You can tag it uther hate or something else, you are making the tag unusable for other fans.

I am blocking every user that posts hate in the tag, so if you ever liked any of my art and would possibly like to see more of my art in the future it is in your interest to change tag you use if you hate him :)

For Uther fans: you'll always be welcome here 💙🤗

[poyoofthestars]

I present to thee… Anti Uther Propaganda!!

// @quanblovk torture him more

// @gethoce (valfrey is in there)

[miasmultifandomdump]

I saw someone say Arthur was "just Uther but nicer".

Respectfully... no?? Uther made a choice and made everyone suffer for it constantly. Arthur was brainwashed into a certain belief system and had the weight of the world put on his shoulders from a young age.

He was open-minded. He was so open-minded it HURTS because every time he tried to understand those who were different it was twisted and warped and his heart became even more hardened. There were SO MANY times he was trying to understand.

His apology to the Druids, his saving Mordred, his listening to Merlin in disguise when they were trying to save Uther, his anger at Uther for lying and using magic and then tormenting magical people, his willingness to change the law for one of his knights...

OVER and OVER and OVER again he tries.

And every. single. time. it is twisted.

Arthur has problems. He's not perfect.

But he is NOT Uther.

[whenthew1ndblows]

Every couple of months I remember how genuinely fucked the messaging of Merlin BBC was and I get the urge to write another chapter of my anti Camelot fic

[yourfavecharacterisqueer]

“the smallest man who ever lived is about joe alwyn.”

“the smallest man who ever lived is about matty healy.”

WRONG. YOU ARE ALL WRONG. the smallest man who ever lived is uther pendragon and it is now about him.

[theroundbartable]

Visitor: My King, with this device we shall finally be rid of magic!!!

Uther: how so?

Visitor: see this powder? It is anti magic. All that has been touched by magic will be revealed!!! With this, we will be able to find the source of magic itself!!!! Emrys!!! *Throws the powder into the room*

*the entire room starts glowing in fingerprints*

Uther: what?

Arthur: *covered in golden fingerprints* WHAT?

[quanblovk]

"Uther MUST witness his downfall personally, seeing the crushing reality of how dwindling his influence has become throughout all this time. This is for your own good, and my pleasure."

@kirbyoctournament

[justaz]

Young prince Arthur exploring the castle bc his emotionally and mostly physically absent father doesn’t care what he does as long as he gets his studies done. He pretends he’s a brave knight with a small wooden sword in hand and ventures down in the belly of the castle and stumbles upon a cavern under the castle. It’s not long before Kilgharrah lands before him and laughs at the young child before him, a baby really. This is no Once and Future King. But…Arthur does not scream and run, he holds up his wooden sword, shaking with terror as he stares down the ferocious beast, full of courage. And Kilgharrah stares and stares and stares before sighing heavily and going, “Fine. I’ll adopt you. Stop looking at me like that.”

Anyways, Arthur grows up visiting Kilgharrah and hearing about prophecies and destiny. He watches Kilgharrah perform small bits of magic and grows up knowing the truth of what’s happened. By the time merlin arrives in Camelot, Arthur is pro-magic and anti-Uther but holy fuck is he the most arrogant prick of all time. Not only did he grow up a prince to be king, he grew up knowing he was to be a king of legend. Merlin bullies him relentlessly like in canon and everything happens as it did.

But Arthur visits Kilgharrah for advice of magical threats and leaves like right before Merlin visits him for advice. Kilgharrah never says anything bc he likes to watch them be idiots. Arthur and Merlin sneaking behind each other’s back to use/consult magic (users) to help solve their issues and never telling the other. But Arthur keeps failing. He goes to find a powerful enough Druid or Sorcerer to combat magic from a High Priestess and he can’t find anyone. However, as if by magic (ha ha ha), the threat is neutralized without Arthur’s interference. Baby boy is so confused.

This goes on for years and slowly breaks down his confidence as he thought that being the Once and Future King meant conquering all these threats and protecting his people yet…he can’t. He hasn’t properly neutralized a threat in a while, bc I mean sometimes it happens but the other times he’s knocked out for SOME FUCKING REASON. So he’s moping in his room and Merlin’s like “What’s wrong?” In a super soft voice when he sees Arthur’s kicked puppy look.

Arthur barely thinks about it before telling Merlin. He’s wanted to for years but he never wanted to drag Merlin into danger by getting him involved in treason bc while his father would be irate with him, Uther wouldn’t hesitate before chopping off Merlin’s head. But Merlin has always been there for Arthur, and rebuilt his confidence despite the other times where he’s humbling him. So Arthur tells him everything. And Merlin is silent. And quiet. And silent. And quiet. And silent. And quiet. And-

He starts cursing the dragon angrily and drags Arthur down through the castle to Kilgharrah’s cavern. The dragon is already there laughing his ass off. Arthur is confused on how Merlin knew where to go. Merlin is shouting curses up at the dragon. Kilgharrah just looks down at them as he laughs and is like, “Finally, the Once and Future King and Emrys have united.”

Arthur (grew up knowing he had someone out there who was “half of his soul” as Kilgharrah said which he took to mean his soulmate and has been fantasizing about meeting this mysterious and powerful Emrys and…other things… Well, until he met Merlin. Then the fantasies featured all three of them) is…staring at Merlin wide eyed and flustered and a little turned on at how the small human is shouting angrily at the big dragon as if the big dragon couldn’t just stomp the both of the small humans or roast them alive. Arthur’s fantasies merge Merlin and Emrys together and it’s back to just the two of them.

Merlin is grumpy bc he had to hide his magic from Arthur for YEARS only to find out that the clotpole was ON HIS FUCKING SIDE?????? AND THE DAMN LIZARD KNEW ABOUT IT????? Oh, Merlin wants a set of Dragon scale armor and Kilgharrah’s golden scales would suit him nicely, he thinks. He’ll skin the damn beast himself-

[gldnstrngs]

this is definitely not healthy but i feel sadness for arthur. like, so much genuine sadness because it was like he was born to die.

he was never meant to be born. ygraine was not able to have a child, but uther demanded an heir by any means. the boundaries of magic were crossed and arthur was born, but then ygraine’s life was sacrificed.

i can only imagine the burden arthur felt growing up, knowing that his mother passed away giving birth to him. there’s never a word uttered about her; he has no clue if he has her smile or personality. he spends his days with the lingering thought in his head that maybe his father wished he’d never been born, just so ygraine would still be alive. arthur probably began to feel that way eventually.

but there’s nothing he can do to change the past, so we see arthur do everything to make uther proud. yet, somehow, that isn’t enough, despite arthur being the one to go out and fight monsters and magic users while other sits comfortably in his throne and preaching his anti-magic rhetoric.

eventually, arthur is crowned king and learns to rule with his heart rather than with vengeance. then uther’s ghost returns, telling him that he’d failed. arthur was destroying camelot.

“you’ve had your turn… it’s mine now,” is what arthur says before blowing on the horn of cathbhadh, watching his father dissipate into thin air. finally, he doesn’t have to face the burden of his father watching his every move with disapproval.

but then arthur dies. after the constant betrayals from the people he loved and the self-doubt, he dies.