#has him wearing Uriens' hairpiece as a necklace

[icharchivist]

I feel like Merlin did the right thing. He knew he wouldn't be able to take care of these kids

Can you imagine?

Arthur would have wilted like a flower and Mordred would have become as unbearably emo as Merlin himself

This man is not fit to raise children

Also what was that about him having a baby face?

honestly? yeah i mean. If he really couldn't take care of the kids, it's probably best that he left them in the care of adults who could, in fact, take care of them.

I also genuinely feel like Merlin probably couldn't have handled them, considering how deep in his grief he was, and how we see him basically ignore Rowley (whom he created), or how he acts mostly on autopilot around his subordonate.

one could argue maybe actually trying to make an effort for the kids could have helped, but considering what we know, with the state his grief left him into, he would have been a terrible father figure.

So, him abandonning the kids into the orphanage was probably the right thing to do.

What i question is why Feendrache when your ultimate goal is to make Feendrache pay for all of this. Wouldn't you just set up the kids to be caught in a crossfire? couldn't you have left them in Dalmore or in Wales? Countries who had beef with Feendrache in the past to start with? Wales also welcomed refugees of wars.

Or did he mistrust Feendrache this much? and consider it was best to hide the kids right under Feendrache's nose? Does he expect Feendrache to come and hunt down the heir of Hibergrief's throne otherwise? Because of it's that, it probably implies that the "sins of Feendrache" wasn't JUST that they failed to come to Hibergrief's help. It is implied that it's a possibility Feendrache actually took advantage of Hibergrief being destabilized by he war to destroy them. If it's the case, i wouldn't particularly blame Merlin for sending them to Feendrache, but ooooh boy it will particularly hurt Siegfried, considering it all happened under Josef's reign and Siegfried had a blind loyalty to his king. (even if i do think Isabela will probably get most of the blame at the end of it all)

But if Feendrache really just failed to answer their demand for help and didn't actually intend to hunt down the heir of Hibergrief, then Merlin really put those kids on the path of his revenge. That said i suppose even if feendrache just abandonned Hibergrief, they would want to tie the loose ends to be sure no one would take revenge on them for that.... or they'd be hunting down the Sheath which would put Mordred in danger. But in that case, i still don't know if putting the kids in Feendrache is wise.

It's especially noteworthy when you see the schemes Merlin had done in the past few years and the way it directly endangered the kids. The skeleton dragon attack in Divergent Knighthood, the attack on the parade in Fire!LanVane, Gunther and Siegfried's rampage in SIEGFRIED, as well as Gunther taking the kids hostage and threatening to kill them while he was working under Merlin's orders (tho Merlin probably didn't order anything about the kids, it was all about destabilizing Siegfried, it's just that Gunther was a loose canon), and Merlin's attempt at triggering wars between Dalmore&Wales and Feendrache at least twice, the second time while the kids had already joined Feendrache's military and would have been directly put on the line if a war broke out. Hell, Mordred and Arthur almost died because of a scheme Merlin put into motion in The Strength to Wield. So much for making sure the kids are safe.

Not to mention that the orphanage he dropped the kids into was always near a border and therefore in instable situation. in SIEGFRIED the kids talk about how they have had a lot of hardship because of the conflicts breaking once in a while in there (Siegfried's flashback about the death of his godson happens nearby the orphanage Mordred and Arthur grew up in while the kids were still there to start with). AND that because of the position of that orphanage, Mordred and Arthur grew up in poverty and actually ended up resulting in petty thieves a lot to get by before they joined knighthood (their introduction in Divergent Knighthood is about that).

So honestly it's not that Merlin abandonned them to the orphanage the problem, he could never take care of those kids.

the problem is that, by this choice of leaving them HERE out of anywhere else, he doomed them to a painful life always at the center of conflict, and Merlin started to make his massive moves against Feendrache the moment the kids joined the knighthood and every single one of his schemes have endangered the kids drastically in some way or another. (even if there is to argue that it's why Cruz is there since in every single of those situations Cruz helped Mordred and Arthur out, however considering Cruz also worked to undo Merlin's schemes, there is a question of how much of Cruz's actions to protect Mordred and Arthur are actually under Merlin's orders and how much of it is him rebelling against it)

so yeah Merlin is not fit to raise children, but he's not fit to even be a distant uncle. This man is a menace.

AS FOR HIS BABY FACE PLEASE LOOK AT HIM

also bonus, Mordred and Arthur's fathers just roasting the hell out of him:

so yeah he's been Going Through.