#gwen deserved better

[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😭

[pendragonsclotpole]

sometimes i just think merlin the show would’ve been so much better if it really clung to the whole re-interpretation of the legend and gave us merlin/arthur and gwen/lancelot or like gwen/morgana instead of being such cowards and depriving us of every happiness

like imagine a fairytale ending where nothing ever goes wrong because merlin confesses to arthur his magic and his love, and then gwen saves herself from the heartbreak of arthur “emotionally traumatized by his father uther “genocide” pendragon” pendragon, and morgana becomes morgana“princess supreme anti hero evil smirk badass sexy queen who should step on all of us and go on magical adventueres” pendragon

like gives us depth, bbc, instead of giving us nothing

[skatesfullofsunshine]

There were so many times that Uther should have died, but if any, the wraith of Tristan Du Bois, would have been the best time, imho.

Gwen and family shouldn't have suffered at Uther’s hand (or anyone else's), for the sake of anybodies character development.

If he had died in Episode 9, then there would have been so much less suffering. There was no need to hammer in the point of how awful he was, truly. Nor was it necessary to continue romanticizing a tyrant.

[iwasbored777]

Me trying to figure out why people are still mad at Gwen for going through Miles' sketchbook without asking but no one is talking about how he turned himself invisible and was spying on her, listening to her conversation with Jessica and following her to another dimension without her approval:

I have no problem with them both being like this but why are the stupid things she does demonized while the stupid things he does are being romanticized?

[piperslovebot]

Back to Nate and Nikki not checking on Gwen in I Can See Clearly Now; aside from the fact that it’s ooc and makes them both look horrible, what was even the point of them ditching her?

They decide to have sex again, and then they don’t even show up till the end of the episode? I’m supposed to believe that not once would they even check on her and just spend the whole day having sex?

There were plenty of opportunities to have them be there for Gwen, and it makes sense for them to be because that’s the kind of people they are. Nate and Gwen fight like all siblings do, but I know for the fact that they do love each other. It was made clear in Summer Storm & Dirty Double Booker just how much.

And Nikki was so hurt about Gwen lying to her about Nate and Leia because they were friends! I’m supposed to believe after she expresses her hurt about Gwen not checking up on her, that she would do the same thing? No fucking way.

In conclusion, I hate the way Nikki and Nate were written in this episode and they were assholes to Gwen.

[quietdormouse]

Once again having feelings about the Lancelot Du Lac episode

[mr-and-mr-pendragon]

Great analysis! Italian chef's kiss level post

I have to add this, as part of Gwen's loyalty to Arthur and generally being lovey dovey with him (which was in the context of this all-or-nothing situation as beautifully laid out above) Gwen also had to care for Uther when Uther was sick! That's the guy who had executed Gwen's father! I find this the worst offence. And not once did Arthur consider how that must feel to Gwen!

This angle is not presented in the show, I think we're just meant to believe that Gwen simply loves Arthur enough (to look past her father's execution? are we meant to forget about it by that episode?), that she's genuinely such a helpful person as to care for Uther.

But all the time I felt that Gwen, as much as she was fond of Arthur, had been cornered into going along with his every whim. Be a secret girlfriend? Ok. Be courted? Ok. Care for sick Uther and pretend that you love doing that? Naturally. Be banished even though you were enchanted? Thank fuck she's at least alive, right? After all that, marry Arthur and pretend to have no residual bitterness about anything? That's what a girl's gotta do in a man's world.

It was interesting to me how in season 5 Gwen did show bitterness and her personality was much hardened compared to her s1 self. It must have been a tremendous pressure to be queen; I don't think people around her forgot her steep status rise from one moment to the other.

And the other side of this love triangle cannot be left unmentioned either. Lancelot just fucks off all the time! He loves her and he loves her a lot which she reciprocates, but he doesn't consider her feelings at all. He doesn't ask Gwen what she wants. He just lets Arthur have her, we're sort of led to believe that he does this out of courtesy, realising that Gwen wants Arthur, not him, so he steps aside but is that true? Based on Gwen's reaction in the morning it's not. It just feels like Gwen is treated as a commodity between these two men and since Lancelot doesn't want to shoulder the commitment he lets the higher ranking man have her. I really wanted to see Gwen's story more from her perspective. Something like the episode where she's captured by Morgana - finally it's addressed that these two women have a really complicated history with each other! I wanted more episodes that delve into how Gwen feels...

On Guinevere and her marriage

This was originally written in response to this post, but turned into a very long rant about why BBC’s Guinevere was as much a victim of contract marriage as the Guinevere of legend is, because BBC Merlin is very, very problematic.

Keep reading

[bisclavret]

like many who have suffered at the hands of bbc merlin before me, i recently indulged in a thought experiment in which i outlined my own version of seasons 3-5 that stay thematically and tonally in line with the show (except they're less fucking stupid). but then i quickly realized that focusing on details is pointless: all you need is to solve the one Big Problem the show has, and the rest will follow. the problem in question? ✨morgana✨

i like the first two seasons. s1 achieves what it sets out to do and has fun while doing it, and s2, while flawed, sets up a ton of potential that the following seasons unfortunately squander, beginning with the insidious season 3. you can only distract me with cute knights and goblins and fart jokes for so long before i start seeing through you, evil, evil season of television.

my hypothesis is that if the writers had crafted s3 morgana into anything more sympathetic than a violent half-alive poltergeist that can never be reasoned with because she's suddenly terminally off her rocker, everything would've fallen into place. a sympathetic morgana would've made real, valid arguments against uther (and arthur) that wouldn't just be the ramblings of a woman possessed. her betrayal of arthur would have stemmed from her feeling increasingly morally superior to him because of his complacency in the face of their father's tyranny. under morgause's guidance she would stop believing that arthur is capable of change, and the whole point would be that she might actually be right. arthur would have to actively try and prove her wrong, instead of getting praised for doing the bare minimum because the bar is on the floor.

furthermore, morgana's prophetic dream about arthur and gwen becoming king and queen and her decision to prevent this however she can is a direct parallel to merlin learning about that same prophecy and making it happen by any means necessary. merlin's desires about his and arthur's futures are subtextually fueled by gay love and devotion, so why couldn't morgana's be? why couldn't she properly express her bitterness that arthur gets to be with gwen in a way she can't "took gwen away" from her, instead of suddenly declaring that gwen is nothing more than a servant, after two seasons of demonstrating again and again that she loves, values, and respects gwen more than anyone else in that godforsaken castle?

following this, an angry and emotionally volatile but still sensible morgana asking gwen to stay by her side during the coup of the castle in the s3 finale and gwen going behind her back to help arthur and the knights would've hurt like a bitch. double-sided betrayal! gwen having a real plot! the proper beginnings of a toxic yuri that would shape a generation!

then there's the utter hubris of having morgana shoot arrows at the same civilians she worried herself sick over for 2 seasons — even morgan, her medieval counterpart that was rooted in every sexist trope in existence, doesn't just go around killing senselessly but instead has (often petty!) personal vendettas against gwen, arthur, and the knights. morgana had every right to be sick of the pretensions around chivalry in camelot (she was always quick to mock it, even in s1), and to lash out at the knights and soldiers after years of feeling powerless in a castle full of armed men that blindly followed her oppressor. the show conveniently forgets that morgana was victimized as a woman as well as a sorcerer those first 2 seasons.

but like i said, this is not just about morgana. allowing her to remain a real and multifaceted character even as she betrays everyone in pursuit of her ambitions would've given the rest of the core four more interesting conflict to work with: merlin because he would have to experience real consequences to his actions, arthur because he would watch his sister go against his father (and his knights, and his birthright) and experience some actual internal dilemmas about it, and gwen because she would be forced to choose between morgana and arthur without the pretense that it's an obvious or easy choice for her to make.

even morgause and gaius would come off more interesting as mentors: neither one inherently evil or inherently good, both jaded by events that happened before our protagonists were even born, both heavily influencing morgana and merlin into fulfilling roles that they think are appropriate, but that morgana and merlin may not have chosen for themselves had they not been under their care.

you get the gist. if the show followed its own setup, morgana's mistakes wouldn't lie in cheap and senseless acts of violence but in alienating the people she loves because she is too hurt and jaded to trust them. meanwhile, everybody else would feel guilt over "failing" her and yet they would be too caught up in their own (sometimes flawed!) beliefs of right and wrong to truly see her point of view.

arthur would convince himself it was sorcery that corrupted her. merlin would know that isn't true but he wouldn't be able to argue without confessing everything, which is the defining conflict between him and morgana and it's cheapened when she's just an evil witch caricature and merlin is framed as inherently virtuous in contrast. gwen, too, would become a more active participant in her own life by choosing arthur over morgana and choosing to rule camelot with him instead of just waiting politely to see where things go.

and, of course, uther's downfall and death would be quick, final, and completely earned — when and why did the show even decide he of all people was the sympathetic villain, anyway?

lastly, and perhaps controversially, i think morgana should've learned merlin's true identity by season 4. her being the first of the main characters to find out makes perfect sense considering their shared history and their interconnected and mirrored arcs. even the show seems to agree, considering she does find out a little before arthur. but the narrative itself tried pointing flashing neon arrows towards this way earlier — there is a whole entire episode in s4 where merlin being emrys is repeatedly spelled out for morgana and she still isn't allowed to see it. that episode makes her look like the stupidest person to ever live, which is pretty funny im not gonna lie, but also another frustrating thing in the endless string of frustrating things that make up this show.

morgana learning that merlin has magic would've transformed the source of merlin's anxiety from a crippling fear of being outed someday to the crippling fear of knowing she could out him at any moment. this would make him want to beat her to the punch (perhaps he'd consider killing her for a minute and decide against it because she isn't a cartoonishly insane evil person in my version of events) and maybe he would even feel some tentative excitement at the idea of coming clean, now that it seems inevitable. after all, he always intended to tell arthur eventually! and i think gaius would have to admit outright that he does not want merlin to tell arthur he has magic because he, gaius, simply cannot risk such a gamble. it would be so interesting to see gaius and merlin clash and disagree once it becomes obvious that it's not merlin that isn't ready for the reveal, it's gaius. delicious!

with morgana's knowledge looming, things would inevitably spiral into a magic reveal by the end of season 4. i picture this season as an absolute mess of miscommunication between everyone at camelot, which is, y'know, canon. growing increasingly cunning and vengeful, morgana would use this tension to her advantage, destabilizing the court from the outside while she creates alliances with other sorcerers outside of camelot (instead of living alone in a hovel for no reason — morgana le fay i'm sorry i'm so sorry they gave you agravaine instead of your all-female entourage oh my god).

and here's where the events would change beyond recognition (aka here's where the meta becomes the fanfic i refuse to write). picture it with me: a militia of sorcerers infiltrates camelot and arthur and gwen have to set aside their differences (assuming gwen kissing lancelot and arthur overreacting happens, which it should) for the good of the kingdom as well as for love. picture high priestess morgana in her element, side by side with a bunch of misfit sorcerers that aren't so easily vilified, chopping down camelot's soldiers and knights and assuredly making their way to the newly-minted king.

then, just as it starts to seem that all hope is lost, in swoops merlin (the actual merlin, not his old fart disguise) on dragonback (kilgharrah hates morgana so much i know his sexist ass would stoop to anything to stop her)!!! imagine merlin showing off the extent of his powers in front of everyone and preventing the sorcerers from getting any further, declaring loud and clear that camelot is protected by him, by emrys. imagine that display of power alone being enough to send everyone home.

imagine the loyalties clearly drawn: merlin on arthur's side, morgana on the sorcerers'. imagine arthur, feeling confused and betrayed by everyone at this point, banishing merlin despite everything he's done for him in the angstiest, most emotionally dysregulated scene the show had ever put to screen. imagine merlin starting season 5 free at last but very lonesome, an embittered dragonlord like his father. imagine the absolute mess camelot would become without him, even with gwen — now queen guinevere — there to pick up the slack. imagine arthur actually earning merlin back, finally growing into his role as king as he does so. imagine the reunion.

all this and more could've been not just possible but inevitable if morgana was allowed to remain a complex character that is neither inherently good nor inherently evil: it was undeniably the biased and one-note treatment of morgana's downfall by the writers that set the precedent for literally everything else that happened after merlin chose to poison her. the show wouldn't have even had to jeopardize its tone or the monster-of-the-week vibe, all it would've had to do is admit that even the "good guys" are capable of mistakes and what makes them good is the ability to feel remorse and change for the better. (as opposed to uther, who was miles beyond redemption since way before the pilot and deserved to lose everything and die alone. OBVIOUSLY???)

in a world where morgana remains multifaceted and sympathetic, mordred would get a better arc as well, so if we really wanted to, we could still end on the same tragic note that the show ended on. with so much harm inflicted onto so many innocent people by the pendragons for so long (including mordred and the many druids and sorcerers that raised him), it could realistically end up being a little too late for anything more than one shining glimpse of king arthur and the sorcerer merlin's short-lived golden age before fate catches up to them. glimpsing that reality just to immediately lose it would've been far more satisfying and far more tragic than whatever the writers thought they were doing with all that pointless carrot-dangling.

and finally, an ending in line with morgana's new and improved arc. in this version, rather than bleeding out on the forest floor alone, she would channel the morgan le fay we know from the legends: sobered up by the reality of her brother dying, she would use her high priestess status (and perhaps also her pendragon status) to be granted passage over to avalon alongside arthur on the boat — a one-way ride — just to make sure he gets there safely. this is her penance for the harm she has caused, the same way arthur's penance is to die and leave the true ruler of camelot (gwen) behind to achieve everything he was too slow and indecisive to build while he still had time.

merlin's penance, then, would be to stay behind and watch them cross over without him, waiting and waiting and waiting until they come back or until he can finally join them. which is a bit fucking harsh if i'm honest, so i'd at least make it slightly more faithful to the legends by having him return as an old man and letting him take a long nap under a tree by the shore, his body slowly enveloped by vines like the cobwebbed fisher king in 3x08, never fully sure if he's dreaming or if there really are strange shapes fading in and out of the fog over the lake. still tragic, but nevertheless a little more open-ended and whimsical than [TRUCK NOISES] THE END!

[gd-dollopole]

Arthur didn’t think about it twice before he jumped off a cliff to follow his “manservant”, because Merlin fell, and the bloody king of Camelot was ready to cut his arm off to save them both.

Ehm, just saying.

*whispers, rather angrily* Platonic, my ass.

[gldnstrngs]

arthur smiling at the two people he loves most 🥺🫶

[screaming-sparrow]

jack harkness loves like a dog

[iwasbored777]

Why's it when Miles accidentally pulls half of Gwen's hair out it's funny cuz he didn't do it on purpose which is the truth but when she opens the packaging of his toy she should burn in hell even though she didn't get the idea why he kept it in the box and wouldn't do it if she knew what was the reason????

[thefabledpheasant]

Something that makes me sad about Gwen is the change in her wardrobe. As a servant, she wears so many beautifully light, bright colors. Once she becomes queen, her colors are so much darker and stark.

To me, it’s a reflection of her mental state. I’ve talked about it before, but I feel she’s so lonely as queen and her life is so void of happiness. When I watched the fifth season for the first time I felt like she just didn’t feel like her or even look like her and I couldn’t figure out why until this.

Don’t get me wrong, she has every reason to not be the same and not dress the same. She’s been through so much. It just pains me. She looks like a queen, but she doesn’t look like Guinevere.

The only dress she ever wore as queen that felt like her was the one on her coronation. Beautiful, bright Guinevere.

[starchaser45]

This is not how Lancelot dies right please tell me this is a joke he can't die now that's too early no please 😭😭😭

[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.

[invisible-pink-toast]

“The woman dies.

She dies to provide a plot twist. She dies to develop the narrative. She dies for cathartic effect. She dies because no one could think of what else to do with her. Dies because there weren’t any better story ideas around. Dies because her death was the very best idea that anyone could come up with.

‘I’ve got it! Let’s kill her off!’

‘Yes! Her death will solve everything!’

‘Okay! Let’s hit the pub!’

And so, the woman dies. The woman dies so the man can be sad about it. The woman dies so the man can suffer. She dies to give him a destiny. Dies so he can fall to the dark side. Dies so he can lament her death. As he stands there, brimming with grief, brimming with life, the woman lies there in silence. The woman dies for him. We watch it happen. We read about it happening. We come to know it well.”

- The Woman Dies by Aoko Matsuda (translated by Polly Barton)