#i especially remember that one episode from season two 'what guinevere knew'

[gwenivere]

to the person who just dropped the first nine episode of guinevere jones in french on youtube: le jour où je découvre qui tu es, je vais t'épouser.

[weakforarwen]

The Coming of Arthur (Part 2)

Morgana’s short reign lasted at least a week? That long? Arthur and the others stayed in the cave doing nothing for a week? Let’s give it up for Morgana though. She’s really good at cruelty. Making the noble, all too willing to die, Knights watch as innocent people died instead of them was pretty clever. She really knows how to make people feel utterly hopeless and powerless. Uther, for example, was a mess. When Arthur came from him, he honestly looked disappointed in seeing his once great father so weak. I think Arthur believed Uther had failed him (and not just because he lied about Morgana). 

Did Gwen really believe she was fooling Morgana? As self-absorbed as she is, Morgana knew Gwen well and knew her feelings for Arthur. Gwen was smart to stay alive and live to fight another day, but she was naive in thinking Morgana would believe Gwen could talk Leon into betraying Arthur, even if Morgana was still playing the role of the benevolent ruler. I guess Gwen had no choice but to take a chance and it paid off (but only just). 

This season finale is honestly not the best one, and neither part of the episode is the best episode this season. I find some of Arthur’s speeches a bit too self-aggrandizing, and it took a lot of hail marys for Merlin to triumph. Even with an immortal blade and Lancelot by his side, how can Merlin be a better swordsman than a trained Army, and how can he and Lancelot match the stamina of the undead - especially when they were vastly outnumbered? And what happened to the rest of the immortal Army? They were numbering in the thousands when we saw them in Part 1, but only a few dozens were within the castle walls - where the King, his Knights, and the cup itself were. I also can’t understand how Gaius was able to get to the room where the Cup was. Even if Merlin killed a few immortal soldiers, he did not kill all of them and Gaius had neither advanced magic nor an immortal blade. It’s also hard to believe that Morgana didn’t realize someone had used magic against her sister. How else would someone as powerful as Morgause fall? Did Morgana assume an old man and two commoners could never wield such powerful magic? And it’s interesting that Merlin survived Morgause violently throwing him across the room into a wall, yet Morgause did not...

On the topic of Arthur’s cliche speeches, the scene where the members of the round table stand up one by one to pledge their allegiance to Arthur is kinda, very, cringe. I do like how Gwen just said “You know the answer” and Arthur gazed at her fondly for a while; Merlin didn’t even bother with a real answer yet Arthur already knew what it was, and the two cutely smiled at each other.

Unsurprisingly, Lancelot was the first to rise and talk about the Knight’s code... He’s so unironically serious about the nobility of the Knights, he doesn’t feel human - dude’s a robot. It’s hard to care for his character when his only traits seem to be: “noble”, and “romantic”. There’s nothing else to his character other than an obsession with being a worthy Knight, and Gwen. I noticed Lancelot used Gwen’s own words in his speech, when he mentioned fighting for “all that is good” (Gwen told Lancelot he was all that is good in Lancelot and Guinevere). I gotta say, Lancelot does seem awfully fond of Merlin too. The way he looked at Merlin after he told him his plan. He looked so attracted. And Merlin really remembered to call Lancelot... The show would’ve been so different with Lancelot around to help Merlin and appreciate him the way Arthur can’t (not that Arthur doesn’t appreciate Merlin - he just has a very bad way of showing it and doesn’t know of Merlin’s magic).  

Anyway, the knighting ceremony was a bit tacky as well, what with Arthur saying they should be proud to die for the noblest Army in all the lands... Dude...

At the round table, Arthur personally seated Gwen at his left side - where his heart is - while Merlin was seated at his right side - his strongest side. It couldn’t have happened any other way - Merlin is Arthur’s right hand man, and Arthur is in love with Gwen, so she’s his “heart” - but it’s still a bit cliché. Gwen isn’t just Arthur’s weak spot and love interest - she gives him strength and counsel too. 

I wonder if it’s a coincidence that in both season finales where Arthur is completely devoid of hope - The Coming of Arthur and The Sword in the Stone - Gwen has somehow been taken from him. Obviously, the point of both of these finales is to test Arthur, but for the better part of The Coming of Arthur, Gwen’s (and Uther’s) fate is unclear, and, in The Sword in the Stone, Gwen is around but her and Arthur are in the outs. Gwen is a huge source of strength to Arthur - she gives him hope and encouragement. In The Sword in the Stone, Gwen and Arthur’s broken relationship only served to worsen the blow to Arthur’s already fragile state of mind caused by Agravaine’s betrayal. Arthur was already feeling lost, and Agravaine’s betrayal had the same impact as Morgana’s. I don’t think having Gwen around, and them being okay, would’ve prevented Arthur’s crises, but she would’ve been able to give him strength and get through to him long before Merlin did. It is as Arthur said: if Gwen is alright “then there is still hope”, yet he had to leave Camelot without her; and “If I lose her, I lose everything”, and he did lose her in season 4, even if she was present in the finale.

It’s worthwhile noting that Arthur was genuinely glad to see Lancelot and Percival, and did not, for a second, feel threatened by Lancelot’s presence. Arthur was always certain of his feelings for Gwen and of her feelings for him. He didn’t believe magic had caused them even when Dragoon said so, and he never feared Lancelot’s feelings for Gwen or Gwen’s feelings for Lancelot - not in this episode, nor when Lancelot died and Gwen mourned him, or when he returned in Lancelot Du Lac. And Gwen didn’t express interest in Lancelot at all - she even smiled apologetically at him... 

I think my favorite Arwen kiss might be the one after the round table scene. Gwen’s afraid of the Knights picking up on their relationship, but Arthur doesn’t care anymore and kisses her. The lighting is very beautiful here, and Arthur’s jaw could cut glass. Gwen saying she was so proud of Arthur was cute too.

That kiss represented a shift in Gwen and Arthur’s relationship. At the round table, Arthur made a choice to distance himself from his father and to break from tradition. He pledged to openly support “equality” (in his own elitist definition), and the knighting ceremony and the exposure of his and Gwen’s relationship were consequences of that. There are two scenes which contrast each other for that reason: one before his speech, when Arthur is surprised and happy to see Gwen alive at the cave and they hug heartily, yet Arthur becomes aware of himself and of the Knights watching him hug a servant so he quickly lets go; the other scene, post-equality speech, is when Arthur is waiting for Gwen’s return to the castle. Just as before, Arthur’s face lights up when he sees Gwen, and he quickly makes his way to her, where he helps her off her horse (him, the prince, not the servant standing by); however, this time, he kisses her and embraces her while the Knights watch (in public too). 

Also, it’s cute how happy Merlin is to witness the whole thing - he’s the number 1 Arwen shipper. It’s also cute that it seems like Arthur literally sent all his knights to retrieve one woman. 

However, if these two “opposing” Arwen scenes are proof things have changed with the beginning of Arthur’s reign, his scene with Merlin shows things are still very much the same, with some differences: 

Merlin and Arthur sit side by side in the front steps of the castle - a new development for them already, signifying their “equal” standing - yet Arthur asks (in a joking manner, but he’s not really joking) that Merlin shines his boots. Merlin quickly reminds Arthur that they are all equal now, and Arthur jokes back and cutely shoves him. Sweet as it is, and it’s obvious Arthur adores Merlin, the truth is they’re obviously not equals. - Arthur’s still the Prince/King and Merlin’s only a servant. Even in an “equal” society, a servant and his master can never be equals, especially when Arthur never seems to remember that Merlin has a life of his own. Thus, this mostly sweet scene is a bit bittersweet, and a good representation of Arthur’s reign - full of good intentions, yet too much like Uther’s in the end. 

[wizardouxie]

Evil!Douxie au Team Mom solidarity between Morgana and Dr. Lake

YES, but I would also like to present this: They’re neighbors.

We know Jim doesn’t tell his mother about the whole ‘trolls exist’ affair to begin with. And he tried to keep this secret away until Toby figured it out. Now do you remember that scene where Jim and Toby are testing out Daylight on different things? The episode where Draal trains him? Morgana sees them from her backyard and is startled. That’s the trollhunter amulet. The one she and Merlin made.

How... how does a human child have it?

She doesn’t tell Merlin about it. For the first two seasons of Trollhunters she doesn’t. She can do this, she has 900 years of wisdom and Merlin would only interfere and try to hold her back.

Instead she reaches out to Dr. Lake more, becoming her friend. The mother is pleasantly surprised, and she welcomes the support. On days when she’s working a busy shift, she often sends a quick text to Morgana, asking her whether Jim’s doing okay while she’s gone. Morgana in this time learns to cover for Jim, especially when he’s running out of excuses. Toby finds it to be a convenient coincidence, but Jim? He’s suspicious.

Eventually he confronts her and she admits that she’s been aware of everything that he’s just now getting exposed to. He’s a little hurt that she didn’t tell him earlier, but Morgana assures him that everything she’s done up to this point was to protect and support him.

And she’s not wrong.

Some days Jim struggles to deal with his mom because she doesn’t understand what he’s going through the way Morgana does. Morgana knows this, so when Dr. Lake complains about Jim being difficult all of a sudden, she texts the boy and works things out with him. After that Jim comes down the stairs and voices his frustrations (without giving away his other life) and Dr. Lake is relieved to see her son open up to her. Morgana receives a text two hours later.

Barbara: I know you’ve got something to do with this. I swear it’s like you’re raising this kid with me! Thank you though :)

Other times Morgana is the one patching Jim. He jokes that she’s exactly like his mom, a doctor except magical. She smiles sadly. This was the least she could do since she couldn’t heal Guinevere or Hisirdoux. She scolds him for relying too much on himself. He has allies who can help but he refuses to let them. He groans and tells her that he’s got it handled. And it’s not like she doesn’t believe him. It’s just how long can he hold on for, yknow?

For school Morgana refuses to help him with homework, only because his handwriting is terrible and she simply cannot forge it. But she can help with girls. She notices that he has an eye for Claire, and encourages him to join the Romeo and Juliet play.

“Girls would find that quite romantic in this age,” she teased, enjoying the way Jim stuttered and tripped on his words. Cute. 

Morgana also repeatedly messes around with Strickler because she knows who he really is. Neither Jim nor Strickler know about each other yet and frankly Morgana doesn’t have the heart to tell them that the history teacher turned principal was a changeling and that the student was the trollhunter. She just knew it wouldn’t be long before they would figure it out, and when they did, Strickler would try to exploit Jim’s weakness: his mother.

So she makes up excuses to stop by Barbara’s house, much earlier than Strickler can make time for. And when he does finally arrive, he’s very displeased. Not that Morgana cares.

“I’m sorry but we’re having a lady’s discussion, so if you wouldn’t mind... come back another time?”

Except there usually is no other time and honestly Barbara thinks it’s funny because she’s starting to believe that Morgana is jealous of Strickler. And then it starts to get a little overbearing. She loves her friend, but she deserves to enjoy some freedom after work.

So when Morgana is shouting at Strickler for supposedly spiking their drinks, Barbara politely tells her friend to leave. Morgana is taken aback.

“But he, I saw --”

“I don’t want to hear what you have to say about my boyfriend, Morgana. I know you care but this.... this is too much. Please leave.”

And Morgana is nearly in tears as she watches her friend drink the poison through the window. How was she going to tell Jim about this?

Fast forward to Trollmarket, where Barbara and Strickler are clutching the side of their necks. Morgana is pushing her way in with Jim, demanding to see Vendel. Her heart is racing again; this would be the third person she’s lost to her own mistakes. She can’t let it happen again. She can’t.

Her faith is renewed when Claire throws the page in and wastes no time in preparations. She can save her friend.

Her heart broke upon hearing Barbara’s screams while she uttered the incantation with Vendel, but the satisfaction of Strickler experiencing more pain had somewhat mended it. He deserved every bit of hurt that he’s caused everyone.

Afterwards they head to the hospital. While Jim and his mother are alone in the room, Morgana is discussing with the nurses about the scenario she had made up on the spot. She signs the paper and places the pen on their clipboard.

By the time she enters to check on them, her friend is fast asleep. She looks at Jim expectantly.

“Did you tell her about everything?”

“I... I didn’t get the chance?”

“James Lake Junior!”

“I know I know, I made a promise to her! But please, she’s still recovering and I really don’t want to stress her out right now...”

Morgana sighed. He did have a fair point. Barbara was by nature a very expressive person and too much exertion would only worsen her health.

“You bring up a good point. Very well, but you must tell her soon,” she replied. Jim let out a sigh of relief. Morgana clasped his hands with hers, smiling.

“You’ve come so far, little champion. I’m proud of you. And I’m sure she is too.”

[loki-lover84]

Season 01 Episode 02: “Valiant”

Things in Camelot had become rather hectic recently, everyone was making preparations for the upcoming tournament. All the castle’s staff were in overworking mode to make sure all the rooms were appropriate for the challengers stay and that the halls were decorated in a tasteful fashion. I always looked forward to tournaments it was just something new that was going on in Camelot that brought the kingdom together, plus it took Uther’s mind of executing people for a while he became a whole other person whenever an event like this came around, it makes me wish they took place every week.

Brenna had been teasing me at every given opportunity constantly mentioning Merlin to me whenever she could, to be fair though at this point it was just becoming annoying though sometimes she’d just randomly say his name to see if I was paying attention to her. I’m still not completely sure how or why I’d become infatuated with a guy I hardly knew but I guess that’s life sometimes though. I’d seen him around the castle, never talking to him, just seeing him run around trying to do Arthur’s demands for the day. As for Guinevere I’d hardly spoken to her because if she wasn’t with Morgana she’d be with Merlin, she didn’t talk to Brenna or I since Merlin became Arthur’s manservant. I could hardly be surprised though, the pair of them did have an instant connection.

Brenna and I watched on from a distance as Arthur attempted to train with Merlin, I say attempted to he would’ve found a tree to be more challenging than Merlin. We couldn’t hide our amusement as Arthur essentially played with Merlin occasionally hitting his sword against Merlin’s helmet disorientating the poor lad before we became bored and decided to help the others with the preparations.

Today’s the first day of the tournament, Brenna of course did all she could to make me look as stunning as she was capable of, especially because I’d be on full display seated next to Uther much like my sister. Morgana was of course on Uther’s right accompanied by Guinevere and I was on his left accompanied by Brenna. Because of all the effort Brenna does to make me look the part I could hardly pass up the opportunity to do the same for her, particularly for such an event in front of many bachelors.

We watched as the knight’s came forward into the arena for Uther’s speech.

“Knight’s of the realm, it’s a great honour to welcome you to the tournament in Camelot. Over the next three days, you will come to put your bravery to the test, you skills as warriors and, of course, challenge the reigning champion, my son, Prince Arthur. Only one can have the honour of being crowned champion, and he will receive a prize of 1,000 gold pieces.” The crowd gasps and begins to murmur whilst a knight in yellow eyes up the chest. “It is in combat that we learn a knight’s true nature, whether he is indeed a warrior or a coward. The tournament begins!” Uther declares as he raises his fist and the crowd cheers.

I was as the yellow knight flashes my twin a charming look which she immediately responds to flashing him a smile whilst locking her gorgeous green eyes onto his I think blue ones, I honestly can’t tell from where I’m sitting. The knight’s disband leaving Arthur, Uther and one other knight in the arena Uther clasps on to Arthur and whispers something to him but from Arthur’s reaction he clearly hadn’t wished him luck. Two guards approached and took their capes and handed them their shields as they prepared themselves for the duel. A flash of concern appeared on Uther’s face once they started, he clearly didn’t have enough faith in Arthur, but he’d trained with me and Morgana whilst we grew up, Uther had nothing to fear Arthur was Camelot’s best knight. A few moments later after elbowing the other knight in the face knocking him to the ground the crowd began to cheer as Arthur removed his helmet to bathe in his victory. He’d advanced to the next round. After Arthur’s fight the knight in yellow took on his opponent succeeding greatly without breaking a sweat, he too removed his helmet a cocky grin on his face as he oozed arrogance. The next knight fought against another with two swords and no shield which was intriguing, he was clearly more confident with his blades on offence than having a shield for defence. As the day went on the fights lasted longer, the participants were sloppier in some of their moves I couldn’t blame them they’ve been in armour all day and the weather was rather warm, there was only a couple of rounds left before the first day of the tournament would come to an end.

Now that the fighting was over Uther, Morgana and I needed to prepare to individually congratulate each knight that had advanced to day two of the tournament. We lined up side by side Uther first, my sister in the middle with Gwen behind her and finally myself and Brenna unfortunately Brenna had to actually stand behind me for this part but I honestly don’t think she minded. The knight in yellow was first and Morgana couldn’t fight the flustered grin on her face which caused Gwen, Brenna and I to laugh slightly.

“Knight Valiant of the Western Isles, my Lord.” He introduced to Uther.

Valiant seriously, that’s his actually name? I highly doubt it.

“I saw you fighting today. You have a very aggressive style.”

“As my Lord said, “To lose is to be disgraced.”” Valiant quoted to Uther.

“I couldn’t agree more.” Uther replied causing me to roll my eyes. “Knight Valiant, may I present the Lady Morgana and her sister the Lady Y/n, my wards.”

Valiant’s eyes never left my sister’s as her bowed and kissed her hand which was a little creepy to watch but it happened.

“My Lady.”

“I saw you competing today.” Morgana said adding a more ladylike softness to her voice.

“I saw you watching.” Valiant replied causing a light blush to creep upon my sister’s cheeks.

“I understand the champion escorts my Lady to the feast.” He says glancing at Arthur.

“That’s correct.”

“And I will give everything to win that tournament.” Valiant boldly charmed which again caused me to roll my eyes before he turned to me. “My Lady.” He bowed kissing the back of my hand.

I never liked that tradition I know it’s a display of politeness and respect but, the last thing I actually want is a built up amount of saliva on the back of my hand from various men kissing it. Thankfully Valiant didn’t say anything further to me but he strutted away with a smug smile on his face as my twin eyed him up. Before the next knight approached us it was the same thing over and over again until it was Arthur’s turn.

“Arthur.” Uther said.

“Father.” Arthur replied as he bowed before moving over to my sister and myself.

“They all seem rather impressed by the knight Valiant.” Morgana said a playful smile on her face.

“They’re not the only ones.” Arthur stated clearly irritated.

“Not jealous, are you?” I teased which resulted in me getting a glare from Arthur.

“I don’t see there’s anything to be jealous of.” Arthur replied haughtily to Morgana making her glare at him as he walked away.

“Could Arthur be any more annoying?” Morgana complained to us.

“Oh my dear sister I’m pretty sure we both know from firsthand experience he could.” I replied causing Brenna a Gwen to laugh.

“True.” Morgana replied before saying, “I so hope knight Valiant wins the tournament.”

“You don’t really mean that.” Gwen chimed as Morgana turned her full attention to her.

“Yes.  I do.” She responded.

After dealing with a couple of knights we went our separate ways to retire for the evening.

The second day of the tournament had begun, each battle lasting longer that yesterdays as they were all further driven now that they had advanced and were closer to winning. Valiant was up against a knight in purple, he’d introduced himself to me at the reception but there was so many names to try to remember, their fight was exciting and I was rooting for the purple knight when Valiant tripped him up and got on top of him shield pressing down against his before he punched the knight and won the match. The purple knight lay on the ground almost as if he were lifeless, that was when I saw Gaius staggering into the arena with his satchel of medical supplies. The tournament continued until more challengers were eliminated.

Brenna and I decided that we’d pay a visit to Valiant’s opponent and see if we could help Gaius in any way. We walked through the maze like halls of the castle before reaching the Physician’s Quarters were I once again bumped into a rather determined Merlin.

“Sorry about that my Lady, I had something on my mind and wasn’t watching where I was going.” Merlin said his eyes hard.

“No it’s alright, no harm done.” I replied before Merlin walked away.

“You two are useless.” Brenna laughed before we entered Gaius’s room.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked looking at the unconscious sweating knight.

“I’m afraid I’m not sure, it seems he was bitten by a snake Lady Y/n.”

Gaius, please just call me Y/n I’ve known you my entire life it feels wrong.” I answered. “A snake but there wasn’t any snakes around were there?” I asked getting back to the matter at hand.

“No, Y/n as far as I’m aware.” Gaius responded.

“But he was fine whilst he was fighting Valiant so there must’ve been one.” Brenna chimed.

Valiant, his shield has three snakes on. He couldn’t have used magic could he? I honestly expected more from a sorcerer.

“Sorry Gaius I have to check something.” I dismissed myself as I hurried Valiant’s chambers running straight into a horrified Merlin.

Merlin wasted no time in grabbing my hand and dragging me behind him as we ran and hid Merlin’s hand was on my mouth before I could ask him any questions, moments later an angry Valiant strode in his blade ready as Merlin hid us behind a wall. Eventually Valiant left  and Merlin removed his hand.

“What is going on?” I demanded glaring at Merlin for abducting me for a second time.

“I think Valiant’s using magic to win the tournament, his shield seems to be enchanted.” Merlin spoke urgently.

“What?”

“The snakes on his shield are real, he fed one a live mouse.” Okay that’s a bit gross.

“I knew there was something off about that guy!” I hissed as Merlin began dragging me off again. “Where are we going?”

“We need to tell Gaius.”  With that we made our way back to the Physician.

“I’ve just seen one of the snakes in Valiant’s shield come alive. He’s using magic.” Merlin announced my hand still in his.

“Are you sure?” Gaius asked looking up at us.

“The snake ate a mouse one swallow, straight down.” Merlin insisted. “Ewan was fighting Valiant when he collapsed. It must’ve been one of the snakes from the shield.

“I have to tell Arthur.” I spoke as I turned to leave as Merlin’s hand released mine.

“Is there any chance you might be mistaken? Y/n what did you see?” Gaius asked.

“I didn’t actually see anything but, I suspected it and from Valiant’s response he’s definitely hiding something he doesn’t want anyone to know about.” I deduced.

“Yes Gaius, I know magic when I see it.” Merlin responded.

What does he mean by that?

“Perhaps.”

“Have you any proof?” Brenna finally spoke.

“Don’t you believe me?” Merlin asked.

“I dare say we all believe you.”

“I fear you’ll land yourself in trouble. How would you explain that you were in Valiant’s chambers?” Gaius asked.

“What does that matter?” Merlin snapped. “He’s using magic to cheat in the tournament!”

“You can’t accuse a knight of using magic without proof, the King wouldn’t accept the word of a servant over that of a knight.” Brenna spoke honestly.

“So what I say doesn’t count for anything?”

“It counts for very little as far as the King’s concerned that’s how it is.” I sigh.

An agitated Merlin leaves for his room as Brenna and I too leave Gaius alone for the night.

The next day Arthur’s first opponent is a bear of a man just seeing him instils fear in my sister and I.

“You’re not worried, are you?” I overhear Gwen ask my clearly anxious sister.

“No.” Comes her short reply as she fidgets with her hands.

The crowd let’s out numerous cheers as Arthur dodges all of his challengers attacks before catching him off guard and knocking him to the ground as everyone releases a final cheer for Arthur. Next up was the cheating Valiant that fights dirty and aggressively to get himself a brutal win. The final fight will be between Arthur and Valiant, what if he uses his snakes against him a kills him?

“We have to do something.” I whisper urgently to Brenna, “He can’t fight Arthur tomorrow, he needs to be exposed for using magic.” I hated to say it but this time the magic was being manipulated for evil. Brenna nodded her head agreeing with me, we just weren’t sure of what we could do.

That evening all the knights were set to have drinks with Uther so I knew Valiant’s shield was unattended, maybe if I could get it to Gaius we could figure something out. As I approached his chambers Merlin once again ran into me only this time he had something in one of his hands and yet again his other grabbed mine and we fled from Valiant’s chambers.

“Merlin we’ve got to stop meeting like this.” I laugh slightly out of breath as we run to Gaius.

“At least you can’t say we have dull moments.” He replied as we entered Gaius’s chambers.

Merlin handed the thing to Gaius, it was the head of a green and yellow snake. Not really what I was expecting but it was better than nothing. Gaius extracted some of the snakes venom.

“I’ll get started preparing the antidote.”

“I’m going to tell Arthur.” Merlin declared.

“You’ll need this.” Gaius throws the snake head to Merlin. “And, Merlin, what you did was very brave.”

With a proud smile he left to find Arthur bringing me with him. Together we walked side by side through the castle to get to Arthur’s chambers.

“You know he’ll try to belittle you don’t you? About the snake head.”

“Yeah, something I’ll get used to though I suppose.” Merlin replied there was a comfortable silence before he continued. “When you first introduced yourself to me, why did you lie?”

“I didn’t, my name is Y/n and I do sometimes help around the castle. I like helping with the cooking the washing and the odd jobs, not so much the cleaning though. I like to help out around here I don’t want to be known as Lady Y/n one of King Uther’s wards who floats around and makes the servants and the maids do everything.”

“Seems fair, why did-“ Merlin began.

“Oh look we’re here. Hey Arthur open up!” I called knocking on his chamber doors which he begrudgingly opened.

Merlin explained everything to Arthur.

“You? You chopped its head off?” Arthur asked thinking Merlin was lying as he ate his food.

“Ewan was bitten by a snake from the shield when he was fighting Valiant. Talk to Gaius, you can see the puncture wounds from where it bit him. Ewan was beating him, he had to cheat.” Merlin spoke.

“Valiant wouldn’t dare use magic in Camelot.” Arthur answered.

“Ewan was pinned under Valiant’s shield, no one could see it bite him.”

“I don’t like the guy but, that doesn’t mean he’s cheating.” Arthur said as he stood up.

“Gaius is preparing an antidote to the snake venom. When Ewan’s conscious, he’ll tell you what happened.” I said trying to win Arthur over.

“If you fight Valiant in the final, he’ll use the shield it’s the only way he can beat you. Look at it!” Merlin says picking up the snakes head, “Have you seen any snakes like this in Camelot?”

Arthur takes the head from Merlin and begins to examine it.

“I know I’m just a servant and my word doesn’t count for anything. I wouldn’t lie to you.” Merlin’s sincerity pulls at my heart strings.

“I want you to swear to me, both of you that what you’re telling me is true.” Arthur say seriously as he looks at us.

“I swear it’s true.” Merlin and I say.

“Then I believe you.” Arthur decides, making Merlin smile.

“Thank you Arthur.” I say hugging him which he half-heartedly returns.

I leave Arthur’s chambers and make my way to my own leaving Merlin with him.

The next day Valiant is marched to the throne room accompanied by some guards, my eyes meet Merlin’s and Arthur’s as I wait anxiously for the truth to come out.

“Y/n relax, everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.” Brenna whispered reassuringly to me a comforting smile on her face.

“Why have you summoned the court?” Uther asks unimpressed as he marches past Arthur.

“I believe knight Valiant is using a magic shield to cheat in the tournament.” Arthur sates.

Morgana and Guinevere exchange a worried glance before glancing at me.

“Valiant what do you have to say to this?”

“My Lord this is ridiculous. I would never use magic. Does your son have any evidence to support this outrageous accusation?” Valiant dismisses.

“Do you have evidence?”

“I do.” Arthur turns to Merlin signalling for him to bring forth the snake��s head to Uther.

Uther spends some time examining it.

“Let me see the shield.”

“Don’t let him get too close.” Merlin says to Arthur as the shield is brought forward.

“Be careful my Lord.” Arthur says drawing his sword and aiming it at the shield.

“Merlin.” Gaius whispers capturing Merlin and Arthur’s attention as well as my own.

“We need Ewan. Find out what’s happening.” Arthur says to Merlin.

“As you can see my Lord it’s just an ordinary shield.” Valiant says with fake innocence.

My heart begins to pound, Uther isn’t going to believe us, it’s all going wrong.

“Y/n deep breaths, calm down.” Brenna whispers her striking blue eyes resting on my fearful e/c ones.

“He’s not going to let everyone see the snakes come alive.” Arthur says.

“Then how am I to know that what you say is true?” Uther argues.

“Don’t you trust your own son?” I snap glaring at Uther.

“Silence!” Uther hisses his bone chilling glare landing on me.

“I have a witness.” Arthur says. “Knight Ewan was bitten by one of the snakes from the shield. Its venom made him grievously ill. However, he’s received an antidote. He will confirm that Knight Valiant is using magic.” He continues as Merlin and Gaius exchange worried whispers.

“Where is this witness?” Uther asks clearly unconvinced.

“He…should be here.” Arthur says turning to Merlin causing everyone to look at him, “Where’s Ewan?”

“He’s dead.” Merlin replies.

Oh no, not good this very not good.

“I’m waiting!” Uther yells startling some members of the court, the silence deafening as Arthur solemnly turns back to Uther.

“I’m afraid the witness id dead.” Arthur eventually speaks.

“So you have no proof to support these allegations? Have you seen Valiant using magic?”

“No.” Uther turns away from Arthur in his disappointment. “But my servant fought-“

“Your servant? You make these outrageous accusations against a knight on the word of your servant?” Uther seethes as Valiant shakes his head, a head I wouldn’t mind having the honour of chopping off.

“I believe he’s telling the truth.” Arthur defends.

“As do I!” I say earning a glare from Uther.

“Have you seen Knight Valiant using magic then Y/n?” Uther asks his tone hostile.

“Not exactly but-“I began.

“Then your view does not matter.”

“My Lord, am I really to be judged on hearsay from a boy?” Valiant says moving to stand next to Uther.

“I’ve seen those snakes come alive.” Merlin eagerly states coming forward.

“How dare you interrupt?! Guards.” My heart pounds as the guards come forward to arrest Merlin They force him halfway down the throne room when.

“My Lord…” Valiant speaks.

“Wait.” Uther orders.

“I’m sure he was merely mistaken. I wouldn’t want him punished on my account.” The deceitful two faced snake says.

“You see? This is how a true knight behaves, with gallantry and honour.”

“My Lord, if your son made these accusations because he’s afraid to fight me, then I will graciously accept his withdrawal.” Arthur’s face hardens at Valiant’s insinuation.

“Is this true? Do you wish to withdraw from the tournament?” Uther asks an underlying threat to his voice.

“No!”

“What am I to make of these allegations?” We all stand in silence, I glance around the room my eyes eventually landing on a restrained anxious Merlin, an uncertain Morgana, an agitated Uther before landing upon a broken Arthur.

“Obviously there has been a misunderstanding. I withdraw the allegation against Knight Valiant. Please accept my apology.” Arthur bows his head.

“Accepted.” Valiant replies as Uther frowns at Arthur.

Arthur storms out not wishing to remain any longer as Merlin shrugs the guards off to follow him, he glares at Valiant before his eyes meet Gaius to exchange a look and finally they lock with mine he expresses sympathy in response to my worried look. I wanted to go after them and check on Arthur, I knew his pride would be destroyed as well as his trust and faith in Merlin however one look at Uther and I knew if I were to follow he’d probably lock me up again for the night. I could never quite work out why he hated me so much but doted on my twin I know I defy him when I believe what he’s doing to be wrong but Morgana does too.

After apologizing to Valiant for Arthur’s behaviour the rest of the court left but, I knew I’d be too late Arthur would’ve already fired Merlin and there would be very little I could do to persuade him to reinstate him. Brenna remained by my side through everything she held a weak smile and kept repeating that justice would be served, that Valiant’s secret would be revealed before any harm could come to Arthur, I can’t really believe what she’s saying however there’s so much confidence behind her words it’s very hard to not have faith that the truth will come out. As we stalked the corridors near the courtyard sat with his head down on the steps was Merlin, he looked frustrated, anxious and dejected. Brenna and I made our way across the courtyard but Guinevere got there first she was already sat beside him allowing him to confide in her before he smiled stood up and picked up a decorative statue of a hound before saying something else to Gwen, she nodded and hurried off to get something after a few moments, she came back with a wheel barrow and Merlin placed the statue in it wheeling it off to presumably his room leaving Gwen alone.

“Gwen, are you okay?” I asked approaching her, she looked at me a bewildered like expression on her face.

“Oh yes, I’m perfectly fine but I can’t say the same for Merlin, he’s acting rather weird.”

“He’s always; acting weird he just is weird. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Brenna said a smile on her face.

“Do you need some assistance with some of your chores? We’re free to help, I know that since the tournament some people have fallen behind and I was just wondering-“ I began to offer.

“If it’s not too much hassle, I did fall slightly behind with all the distractions and happenings going on as of recent.”

“We’re more than happy to help out a friend.” I smiled sweetly at her as I all three of us spent the remainder of the day laughing, talking and doing chores together.

Today was the day we’d all been dreading, the day Arthur took on Pompous Prat. I’d met up with my sister who claimed to have had a vicious nightmare showing Valiant triumphing over Arthur and presumably killing him. I knew that such an occurrence must’ve ruined her whereas my feelings for Arthur were purely familial hers were deeper, more passionate. We made our way to Arthur’s chambers the sight of someone else helping Arthur into his armour wasn’t pleasant, it was wrong, it should be Merlin but I knew it wouldn’t be. At a wave of Morgana’s hand the servant dismissed himself and Morgana took his place.

“Let me.” She spoke softly to Arthur as she began to adjust his straps, Arthur gazed at her slightly confused, “We used to help our father with his armour.” She said before he needed to ask.

I grabbed his helmet for him as Morgana made him comfortable and secure before handing it over to him.

“Thanks.” Arthur said as he looked between us and began to leave.

“Arthur.” Morgana called causing him to halt, “Be careful.” There was a couple of seconds of silence as they gazed at one another.

“See you at the feast.” Arthur eventually said before he left.

“He’ll be fine, it’s Arthur after all he’s too stubborn to allow himself to be beaten.” I said as I gave my sister a reassure hug.

Arm in arm we walked out the stands to take our respective seats for the finally battle in the tournament, meeting Brenna and Guinevere on the way. I saw how worried Morgana was and gave her a final hug telling her again how no one could beat Arthur other than us, earning a small smile from her and an encouraging nod before the fight commenced. The duel had begun and thankfully so far each move had be clean as the pair put on a show for all in Camelot to witness. Arthur eventually knocked Valiant’s helmet off and the crowd became uncertain or at least until Arthur removed his own in order to even out their chances causing the crowd to cheer enthusiastically. The excitement soon went once Valiant knocked Arthur to the ground and stepped on his shield to prevent his defence, I wanted nothing more than to get into the arena and help Arthur but Arthur wouldn’t want me to even if I could. Thankfully, Arthur was able to roll out from under Valiant’s strike having to abandon his shield in the process, if he was to fight with honour than Valiant too should’ve discarded his shield but he didn’t and used it to his advantage. He pressed Arthur against one of the walls where my eyes ended up landing on Merlin who was nearby behind the wall near it, next thing I knew Arthur had been able to get them back into the arena but, I watched with curiosity and intrigue as Merlin held out his hand and his mouth moved as if to chant something prior to the crowds shocked gasps as two snakes slithered out of Valiant’s shield.

“He is using magic.” Uther said as he stood up.

“Now they see you for what you really are.” Arthur panted as Valiant let out a breathless chuckle.

“Kill him!” Valiant commanded as the snakes climbed out of the shield hissing and snapping their jaws at Arthur.

“Arthur!” Morgan called grabbing Uther’s sword and chucking it to him so he was no longer defenceless.

Instantly both of the snakes were beheaded as they fell limp and lifeless but Valiant still remained, he charged at Arthur but Arthur quickly got the upper-hand disarming Valiant before stabbing him.

“Looks like I’ll be going to the feast after all.” Arthur whispered as Valiant let out an agonized grunt and falling to the ground.

I saw Morgan, Gwen and Uther all visibly relax Uther actually let out a sigh of relief as Arthur bathed once again in his victory before confidently leaving the arena and pushing on Merlin’s shoulder in a friendly way.

“I told you everything would work out, that justice will be served.” Brenna said a wide smile on her face as we continued our applause.

“Aye, that you did. I glad you never lost faith.” I smile back at my friend, she’d probably never know how much I deeply appreciated her and our friendship but I’ll continue to try to every day.

We all left together Uther overjoyed at Arthur’s success especially against a magic user he was the happiest and proudest I’d seen him in quite some time, it was reassuring seeing him like this it proved he isn’t always completely heartless despite him being like that most of the time he wasn’t fully a monster. Morgana, Gwen, Uther, Brenna and myself walked our separate ways each doing so to prepare for the feast tonight of which Arthur would have the honour of accompanying my twin who’d of course somehow end up looking more stunning than she did daily, in that spirit I too was done up for the occasion so as to look like I belonged and could play my part in this kingdom.

“My honourable guests, I give you Prince Arthur, your champion.” Uther announced as the great hall erupted with an applause upon Arthur’s entrance.

Arthur held his arm out to Morgana as the pair made their way across the room to the head table. Stopping just to the side as they walked up the make shift aisle the pair began to talk before Morgana stormed over to Gwen. Merlin had for once approached me in a formal situation but before he could say anything Arthur came over to us.

“Can you believe Morgana? She says she saved me. Like I needed any help.” He began to rant.

“Yeah well if she hadn’t have passed you that sword I was going to climb into that arena and kill Valiant myself for what he tried to do.” I said honestly to him, in response he playfully glared at me prior to focusing on Merlin.

“I wanted to say I made a mistake. It was unfair to sack you.” Arthur apologized causing Merlin to smile.

“No, don’t worry about it. Buy me a drink and call it even.” Merlin replied making me smile.

“Um…I can’t really be seen to be buying drinks for my servant.” Arthur said making me eye roll and Merlin feel a little embarrassed.

“Your servant?” Merlin chimed, “You sacked me.”

“Now I’m rehiring you. My chambers are a complete mess, my clothes need washing, my armour needs repairing, my boots need cleaning, my dogs need exercising, my fireplace needs sweeping, my bed needs changing and someone needs to muck out my stables.” Arthur finally finishes as Merlin gives him a weak look as Arthur walks away to enjoy the rest of the evening that is in his honour.

“I don’t know why you look so defeated.” I whispered earning confused look from Merlin, “I mean you could always use your magic to speed up the process.”

“Yeah I-wait what!?” Merlin said his eyes widening with shock as he pulled me to a secluded section of the room.

“I saw you, today. See Arthur thinks he was fine by himself, Morgana believes she saved him but, I think you and I both know that you prevented his inevitable fate.” Merlin was silent I think he was trying to come up with a lie but, I know what I saw. “I’d like to thank you, Arthur’s like a brother to me if something happened to him I don’t know what I’d do, I’m glad you’re looking out for him.” I leant up and kissed his cheek before leaving him behind, I had to my cheeks were bright red and my heart was pounding out of my chest I don’t think I could’ve been with him much longer.

[enixamyram]

Otherwise known as:

No. These are not plot holes. Seriously. It’s amazing how many of these are not plot holes. Do you know what a plot hole is? I can get the definition up for you if you’d like.

This is - at most - an unfinished story. Not a plot hole. And if you’re gonna complain about THIS unfinished story, then you need to complain about a whole other unfinished story. And even then, Ruby’s story is much more finished than say: Leroy & Nova’s, Lily’s, Mulan’s, Graham’s, Kathryn’s, Lancelot & Guinevere’s, pretty much most of the cast from Season 1 and so on...

A somewhat arguable plot hole. The writer points out that Regina cloaks the town from others after she has already encountered Owen and his father. The reason I say this is arguable is because this is very true, but there are also two easy explanations at the same time that debunk it as a plot hole.

For example, Storybrooke pretty much appeared on top of Own and his dad and it was only after they left that they could no longer return. Or otherwise - and the stronger argument - we have seen there is a small touch of magic in Storybrooke even if everyone claims otherwise - Regina’s ring of Daniel, her vault of heart’s, Malificent’s dragon form underground, Regina even creates a memory potion to forget who Henry is right after she adopts him. So there’s clearly some magic, just a limited supply of it. Meaning she could have used a chunk of the magic to cloak the town after Owen left.

Agreed. This is either a massive plot hole or a character issue telling us that Regina never really redeemed herself. And since it’s clear the show wants us to believe that Regina is a good person now, it is a major plot hole that she still has her vault of hearts so casually that she even mentions/shows them to WishRobin in Season 6.

Agree and disagree. This is why Uniting the Realms didn’t work because not everyone would be happy to leave their home and live in Storybrooke. However the writers reason doesn’t work for me.

“A few of them might be happier in their original spaces, where at least they wouldn’t have to hide who they are,” They don’t have to hide who they are in Storybrooke? After the protection spell was cast they all went about their normal lives without any fear or hiding? I mean... Did you miss Ruby’s whole episode about how she casually turns into a wolf to go running at night because she knows she can here?

“and wouldn’t have to deal with all of Storybrooke’s drama.” Because the Enchanted Forest was drama free? Dude, it’s literally Fairy Tale stories in that place, with women getting pregnant and having secret babies and witches cursing people and bandits having to fight back against Royal Rampage against the poor citizens. I’m pretty sure Storybrooke is actually LESS dramatic than the Enchanted Forest.

“Although it’s possible that they’ve become attached to sliced bread and flushing toilets, it seems silly that nobody thinks to bring these conveniences back home and make a mint on sandwiches and plumbing.”  So not only did you say it yourself by saying they’ve become attached to their new lives. But those things you listed would most likely eventually run out? Or otherwise they’re not so easily transported without magic? And anyway what’s the point? Why take turn the Enchanted Forest into Storybrooke by taking all the things you love there with you when you can just stay in Storybrooke where it’s already there?

Addressing the one and only example they give of this:

“For example, in season 2, episode 12, she misses the fact that the stranger lied about what he saw prior to the crash. This seems like an easy get for someone who can sense a lie.”

Again. This isn’t necessarily a plot hole. I never believed Emma’s ability to detect lies was actually magical. She had it before she went to Storybrooke (in a land without magic remember) and I think it’s just that, after her hard life, she’s become good at reading people. Which means she’s bound to make one or two mistakes every now and then, especially when she’s nervous and when a lot of things are happening at once (like when Greg came over the town line - right after Belle lost her memory, Hook was captured, they were still dealing with Regina and Cora, as well as adjusting to all the fairy tale characters being here and so on).

The only example of a heart turning truly black was Rumplestiltskin who had been alive and doing bad deeds for HUNDREDS of years. Maybe if Cora lived as long as Rumple then she would have a blacker heart, but as of now, it’s entirely possible that the black in her heart is there and we simply couldn’t see it. I don’t think we ever really saw a complete shot of her heart close up like we did Snow’s.

Another running theory is that the blackness of your heart depends on how much you acknowledge what you’re doing as wrong. Rumple did bad things and he knew full well they were bad. Cora was more the type to always insist she was doing the right thing and probably truly believed it.

I want to agree because “all magic comes with a price” is a very inconsistent detail in the show... But again, the writers reasons don’t quite sit right with me.

“We meet one when our heroes use forbidden magic to save Robin’s life, and the ensuring fracas is something of a big deal. After all that drama, you’d expect a Fury to appear every time someone’s brought back from the brink of death, or especially from death itself.” You said it yourself. The fury came after Robin because “forbidden” magic was used to save his life. How many other times is the Dark One magic used to save a life? Well Emma used it to save Hook, but not quite and even if it is the same, Hook paid the price by becoming the Dark One. Correct me if I’m wrong but how often was a character saved by Dark magic?

“The storybook is a convenient plot point that’s never explained, and thus becomes a plot hole.”

Okay and I know this is the excuse everyone hates and doesn’t like and blah blah blah but...

Magic.

That is literally the answer. I know it’s normally a cop out but in this case it’s actually genuine. Magic made the book appear in Mary Margaret’s closet one day (like she says in the show) and yes, there’s not a reason given. Maybe it was Merlin influence in the world, maybe there’s a natural magic in the world that gives good people happy endings, maybe Henry’s belief brought it to existence and then set it in place to find its way to him.

Again, it’s not a plot hole. More of an unexplained/unfinished plot but it’s very clear the show is using their “Magic” card on this one. And just because it’s not spelled out to you, doesn’t make it a plot hole.

Agreed. This is a plot hole that really made no sense since it was made clear that August was made of wood right now. Maybe if they had it burn him (have the others acknowledge a blackened burn on his chest or something) but we’re supposed to believe he was electrocuted from it???

We’ve seen Storybrooke. It’s a whole town with farms and other buildings and places. So there is obviously more to it than the main sets (aka, Granny’s). It’s a community that basically learned to live off each other.

Otherwise, and I know I keep using this excuse but it’s a legit excuse in this show: Magic!

Magic made the day repeat for 28 years so it’s a safe assumption that once the day restarted, surely magic must have kept/made a certain place for supplies or restocked the homes to keep anyone from suspecting anything. And then after the curse was broken, everyone could plan out the rest either by once again using magic or otherwise by creating their own sources.

I just have a problem with everything they say on this one.

“Aside from the impossibility of importing goods into Storybrooke, there’s no way that everyone in town has a job.” ... But surely if they can’t have goods imported to them, then they need to make do on their own which would GIVE people jobs.

“There are probably four businesses that we see throughout the show, counting a dwarf-run farm.” ... Again, as you just said, this is only what we SEE. This is where the main characters hang out but we know for a fact there’s a pet rescue place, a carpenter, a mechanic, and so many other places we haven’t seen. Like I don’t understand the assumption that there are no other businesses apart from what we are physically shown.

“If Regina’s capable of casting the original curse, then why go to all of this trouble in the first place? Why not stay home and dominate there?” ... This is a troll question right? 1) Casting the curse was an incredibly hard feet that included killing the thing she loved most. 2) She went through all the trouble because she couldn’t hurt David or Snow - the objects of her revenge - in the Enchanted Forest. 3) She tried dominating her home. It didn’t work. That’s the exact point and reason why she cast the curse!

Agreed. It’s pretty obvious the Zarian storyline actually came to them only AFTER they had brought already Marian back.

*Sigh* You know, I’m getting real tired of Mulan and Aurora always appearing on these lists. Because most of them is just whining that they didn’t happen rather than legit points. Case and point:

“The first time Once Upon A Time flirted with the idea of two girls flirting with each other, it was when Aurora and Mulan nearly became girlfriends after Phillip’s passing.” They never nearly became girlfriends at all. They became friends but Aurora showed absolutely NO signs of returning Mulan’s SECRET feelings for her. You people need to drop this idea that this ship would of happened if not for Philip because that’s simply not the case.

“What really doesn’t make sense is that Mulan and Aurora have no more history at all. After the intensity of their nascent feelings, it doesn’t make sense that the show would just forget about them as a couple.” Again, they WEREN’T A COUPLE. They were friends. and ONCE AGAIN. A dropped/unfinished storyline is NOT a plot hole. And I actually think it wrapped up their story nicely (not actually nicely but you know what I mean). Mulan loved Aurora, Aurora didn’t return her feelings. When Mulan went to finally confess, she found out Aurora was pregnant and realised Aurora was happy with her family so Mulan bid her farewells and joined the Merry Men. That is their story! Just because you don’t like the direction it took, doesn’t mean it’s a plot hole! Learn the definition of a plot hole before you make great big lists about them!

I’m gonna leave this one. Just because ages confuse me and so does the timeline so I can’t really judge how accurate the writer is on this one.

I’m gonna agree but for different reasons to the writer. And simply because The Evil Queen is built up to be one of the worst enemies that the heroes have ever faced. But really think: What did she actually do while she was free running around Storybrooke for so long? Having her back was meant to be a great threat but aside from occasionally get in the way/slow other stories down, she really wasn’t all that good at being Evil.

Agreed. Just, agreed.

Well, when I think about it I originally agreed except that it didn’t actually defeat the Dragon. He showed up not long after perfectly fine (which to me, is a bigger plot hole than Tamara’s taser stunning him).

“Imagine how confusing and traumatizing that hospital stay would be for the already confused and traumatized Belle.” Imagine how confusing and traumatizing it would be for Belle to walk down the street and run into Ruby mid transformation? Or imagine how confusing and traumatizing it would be for her to run into Cora on a bad day? Like. They kept her in hospital BECAUSE she was so confused and traumatized and they needed to keep an eye on her until she calmed down and they could trust her to take care of herself. Like... Of all places to freak Belle out right now, I actually think a hospital is the LEAST likely to do so.

Uh, again... This isn’t a plot hole. It’s a character trait. Cora was determined to rise to the top ranks, which meant making her daughter Queen! Not just a Princess, but an actually QUEEN. This is very firmly stated in the show and it is very clear that Cora did not give a shit what Regina wanted anyway. She didn’t care that Regina had an easy life, she wanted her daughter to be Queen because she was determined to be top dog (through her daughter).

Um, just because it’s possible doesn’t mean Rumple should know about it. As far as he was aware, it is impossible to bring back the dead and it is certainly out of his power to do - which was what Regina was asking to learn.

Also, your examples of people brought back: Emma - When was she dead? Do you mean at the end of S6 because, fair enough that was a deus ex machina thing they wanted to throw in for dramatic affect. Phillip - Wasn’t dead, his soul was just trapped in another place Hook - God’s trump Sorcerers. Henry - His heart had only just stopped when Emma used TLK, so that’s kind of like doing CPR. Maleficent - I’ll agree her’s is a plot hole. It’s stated she died several times and yet they bring her back relatively easily, but at least with her you can claim she’s more of a zombie since if she leaves the town she’ll crumple back into dust.

Here is the definition of a Plot Hole:  an inconsistency in the narrative or character development of a book, film, television programme, etc.

An incomplete story is NOT a plot hole. Which is what a lot of these are. Because it wasn’t spelled out for them, they claim plot hole but that isn’t the case. A plot hole is a factual information that was already stated in the show and was then changed without explanation later on (not to be confused with a retcon).

Off the top of my head, an example of two major plot holes are Season 7.

1st - Drizella apparently only needed Regina’s “magic” to cast the curse which is a complete plot hole because it is made very clear at least 3-4 times that you need to sacrifice the heart of the thing you love most to cast it. In fact later, Regina talks about everyone sacrificing a piece of their heart in order to cast the curse again. 2nd - Time travelling should have changed the entire course of history like it did in S3, yet at the end of S7, when they time travel, no one seems to mind talking to their past selves or running through Storybrooke. By any rights, the whole of S7 should have changed completely by the time they were done.

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Not Exactly T.H. White

by Viorica

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Viorica's review of the BBC's cracktastic Merlin.~

After what might be called a bitter breakup with BBC’s Robin Hood, I promised myself that I’d avoid any further TV shows that were more enjoyable for their badness than their quality. So when the majority of my Livejournal friendslist began squeeing over Merlin, I swore I’d avoid the temptation. No matter how shiny and cracky and homoerotic it appeared, I was not going to watch it, because I knew that if I did I’d be sucked into shiny-cracky-homoerotic-bad TV land. But eventually the temptation grew too strong, and I downloaded the first season to watch over Christmas break. I expected bad special effects; I got that. I expected inaccuracy; I got that in droves. I expected mediocre writing and acting, and I got . . . something else.

If you assumed from the title of the show that Merlin is based on Arthurian legends, you’d be better off abandoning that idea right now. The series revolves around a teenage boy named - you guessed it - Merlin who is sent to live at the court of Camelot by his mother, because he’s manifested magical powers, and she has an old friend, Gaius who lives at Camelot and who is better equipped to train Merlin than she is. Unfortunately for Merlin, magic is outlawed in Camelot, and has been since the birth of Prince Arthur about twenty years earlier. Yes, Merlin and Arthur and the same age, and that’s only the beginning of the divergence from the original stories. Merlin manages to land a job as Arthur’s manservant, much to Arthur’s chagrin, as Merlin has a tendency to call Arthur out on his bullshit. From there on in, it’s up to Merlin to protect Arthur from various pissed-off sorcerers (Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon has ordered all magic-users burned at the stake, which has naturally rubbed them up the wrong way) while simultaneously trying to hide his own powers and protect innocent people from Uther’s wrath. He’s helped by Guinevere, aka Gwen, a maid at the castle, and her mistress Morgana, Uther’s ward, who disagrees with his policies. Merlin is also mentored by a dragon being held prisoner under the castle, who has an irritating tendency to intone “Protecting Arthur is your destiny, Merlin!” at least once an episode.

If you think it sounds cheesy, you’re completely right. It’s intended as a kid’s show, and filmed with the audience in mind - despite the rather high amounts of violence (at least one person dies per episode) the camera always cuts away from the nasty stuff. The main conflict is Merlin’s need to hide the fact that he has magical powers, and the fact that this keeps conflicting with his need to protect Arthur, which obviously has no basis whatsoever in Arthurian legend, but then neither does anything else. As the series progresses, Arthur and Merlin’s relationship evolves from that of mutual resentment to comfortable partnership, and eventually friendship (which comes off as very, very very homoerotic, probably due to the fact that it involves a lot of hugging and acts of unwavering devotion. The cynical part of me thinks that the writers are playing to the crowd.) The actors playing Merlin and Arthur are actually quite good, and what they bring to their roles - quiet goodness in Colin Morgan’s case and brash testosterone in Bradley James’s - helps establish the boys as genuinely likeable people, struggling to figure out their place in the world. Angel Coulby is incredibly sweet as shy, blushing Gwen, who spends most of her time trying to make everyone as happy as possible. The weak link in the cast is Katie McGrath, who plays Morgana with a maximum of two facial expressions: smug and perturbed. The older actors are obviously having fun with their roles, and bringing some gravitas to the characters as well - Anthony Stewart Head’s Uther is unlikeable by virtue of his actions (this is, after all, a man who ordered all magicians put to death over a mistake he made) but thanks to Stewart Head’s talent, you can see a bit of humanity shining through from behind the throne. Richard Wilson’s Gaius is your standard mentor/father figure, with a dry sense of humour that managed to make me laugh at least once an episode. John Hurt voiced the Dragon, and there really isn’t much to say about his performance - given the fact that all he gets to do is blather about destiny, there isn’t much room to stretch. The guest stars are touch-and-go - Santiago Cabrera, who played Lancelot, was absolutely awful, while Asa Butterfield was suitably creepy as an eight-year-old Mordred. No one is giving Lawrence Olivier a run for his money, but they’re a very talented bunch, especially considering that most of them haven’t hit thirty yet.

I’m not entirely sure what I expected from the writing. Before watching it, I’d heard the show referred to “crappy tweenager fantasy” so I assumed it’d be a lot of rambling about Destiny and True Love and The Power of Friendship. While that is included (see my note on the Dragon of Destiny) it’s not as wearing as you might expect, mostly because the characters point out the stupidity of doing something because it’s My Destiny at least once an episode. No one wants to watch a show about people who do things because they’re told; most of the struggles come from Merlin and his friends struggling with the expectations they’re being held up to versus their own inherent sense of what’s right. My personal favourite episode revolves around a young boy who Uther wants to execute because he’s a Druid-in-training. Merlin, who obviously takes the stance that killing innocent children is wrong, enlists Morgana’s help to hide the boy, and Arthur’s to smuggle him out of Camelot. For this he is repeatedly chastised by the Dragon, because the boy is eventually going to kill Arthur. Merlin and co say “Screw this” and smuggle the boy away to his own people. At the end of the episode (spoilers, obviously) Arthur asks for his name, and the child replies “Mordred.” It’s a deliciously eerie moment (helped out by Mordred’s creepy stare) and an interesting message about Destiny v. Free Will: the choices of Merlin and his friends will make or break Camelot, but it’s up to them to decide what it’s worth. Fortunately, not all of the destiny-related storylines are that gloomy. For example, one of the show’s most endearing points is the relationship between Merlin and Arthur, which begins with Merlin flat-out chastising Arthur for taunting a servant. Although Merlin is repeatedly pushed towards the prince by the dragon (for this reason, he’s acquired the fandom nickname “Slash Dragon”) their relationship eventually becomes that of friends. When Merlin goes to protect Arthur at the potential expense of his own life, he’s doing it out of affection for the prince rather than a sense of duty, and that - the inherent nobility of the main cast - is a big part of what makes the show so endearing.

There is, of course, the problem of the show’s title, which I’ll have to address or risk this article becoming unadulterated gushing. I’m not especially familiar with Arthurian legend - I know the basics, and I’m about thirty pages into The Once and Future King, but I’m far from an expert - but from what I do know, I honestly can’t understand why they decided to tack the name “Merlin” on it at all. There are references to “canon”, such as it is - in one episode, Arthur is wounded by the Questing Beast - but overall, it plays out like an original story with occasional allusions to Thomas Malory or T.H. White. As I’ve said, it’s good enough to stand on its own, and I think the attempts at labelling it an Arthurian adaptation are going to be detrimental in the long run. Instead of being remembered as a well-written original series, it’s going to end up being dismissed as “that crappy Arthurian adaptation that screwed up the stories”. Actually, the fact that they felt the need to try and slap the name of a pre-existing story on it kind of makes me sad, because it implies that they felt they couldn’t market an original series, and that’s just depressing. Aside from the rage-inducing potential for Arthurian enthusiasts, there’s some holes in the writing - in one episode Morgana says that Gaius has been caring for her since before she can remember, then later claims that she came to live in Camelot when she was ten, implying either than she has long-term memory loss or that someone didn’t proofread closely enough. Still, the small slipups aren’t enough to detract from a genuinely enjoyable show. And if all else fails, you can always hit mute and enjoy the eye candy.Themes:

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Wardog

at 10:16 on 2009-01-14Hello, welcome - and thank you for this wonderful review. I no longer need feel ashamed of my secret love for Merlin. When it first came on, I dismissed it after about 10 ten minutes (Uther's first 'by the way, this is the backplot' speech didn't help) but a few weeks later my LJ friendslist also exploded with squee and joy, so I gave it another go and, lo, it was simultaneously awesome and awful and utterly utterly watchable.

You're absolutely right about Morganna not being quite up to speed on, y'know, this 'acting' thing ... but she is very, very beautiful, so I don't mind. And the dragon is a bit repetative, despite being voiced by John Hurt.

The weird thing is I don't really get any slashy kind of vibe from Arthur and Merlin, despite the fact that these two boys finding friendship and making sacrifices for each other ought to be very homoerotic. I suppose I find it slashy in principle but there isn't much a spark between the actors (I mean in terms of teh gay) to make it stick. Possibly I am just missing.

As you say in your conclusion I do find Merlin's status as an adaption interesting - I actually rather enjoyed the complete lack of respect with which they treated the mythos, once I got over myself about it. The Arthurian background does give it all a familiarity and a resonance that might have been lacking if it was just Generic Fantasy Story About Friendship and Valour. Although it is a bit dodgy I have come to think the Arthurian dimension does add something - there's always something joyous about watching people play in the paddling pool of literature and start a water fight.

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Rami

at 10:49 on 2009-01-14Yay! I somewhat guiltily enjoyed Merlin myself, including the not-quite-aside allusions to actual canon / legend (the court genealogist appears to be Geoffrey of Monmouth ;-)). Arthurian legend, historically, has been pretty flexible and as far as I know there isn't any real canon — so I'm all in favor of going in a new direction with it, and I'm quite willing to forgive the writers for taking advantage of all the gravitas and popular awareness that Arthur's story gives you. As you said, that moment when the little Druid boy tells Arthur his name is eerie -- but it would have been meaningless if it hadn't been Mordred talking to Arthur, and / or you didn't know who Mordred and Arthur were.

About the cast — Anthony Head and Richard Wilson are brilliant, of course, I can't disagree, but I have to admit I don't share your reservations about Katie McGrath. (But maybe that's because of the eye-candy factor.)

Perhaps it's my lack of slash goggles but I don't see the "very, very homoerotic" between Merlin and Arthur? I wonder if it's just 21st-century cynicism that makes "heartfelt and sincere" have to mean "Twu Wuv"?

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Rami

at 10:52 on 2009-01-14Oh God Kyra and I have just posted very nearly the same comment.

Resistance is futile

I mean, no, FerretBrain doesn't have a "Collective Consciousness" feature...

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Wardog

at 12:06 on 2009-01-14You will be assimilated....

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Viorica

at 22:18 on 2009-01-14I suppose the slash question depends on what you go in expecting. I was told repeatedly before ever watching it that the boys were the slashiest slashy things that were ever slashed, so I went in with slash goggles firmly strapped on. And I suppose there's an interesting study to be done on the way men show affection v. the way women do and how it's interpreted by outside observers . . . but as far as fandom's concernd, it's all about the pretty and the gay.

As for Katie McGrath, she is pretty, but there's always this irritating feeling that I'd like the character so much more if she could emote properly. As it is, she tends to grate.

Apropos of nothing, have you watched the video diaries? They're screamingly hilarious, and both Bradley James and Colin Morgan act uncannily like their characters. It's a little creepy . . .

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Wardog

at 11:35 on 2009-01-15That's the thing, although I'm not a slasher myself, I do occasionally find myself on the outskirts of fandom enough to have some slash goggles of my own. I was prepared for slash, I looked for slash, I saw ... the motions of slash ... but I didn't *feel* the slash. Sometimes there's a genuine spark between actors or something about the way a relationship is portrayed that makes me secretly believe something could conceivably be going on between them. I was re-watching DS9 (sad bastard that I am) recently and, despite knowing not a damn thing about the DS9 fandom, I became immediately and increasingly convinced that Sisko and Dukat were having incredibly hot hatesex... (Dan holds out for Dax/Kira girlsex, however, - they are certainly very giggly together).

I watched some of the video diaries - Bradley James is so adorably silly. I mean this in a maternal way, not a sick way. I particularly liked his musing on the cockatrice.

By the way, I meant to ask, what caused things to sour with Robin Hood? I never watched it so...

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Gina Dhawa

at 16:04 on 2009-01-16

Arthurian legend, historically, has been pretty flexible and as far as I know there isn't any real canon — so I'm all in favor of going in a new direction with it ... that moment when the little Druid boy tells Arthur his name is eerie -- but it would have been meaningless if it hadn't been Mordred talking to Arthur, and / or you didn't know who Mordred and Arthur were.

This is my justification for liking

Merlin

the way it is. T.H. White took some pretty big liberties along the way (though if you're thirty pages in, I won't spoil that), as have any of the people who have written the story down over the years. The trouble is convincing people there's not really a canon to be followed, that if you take the earliest versions of the stories and put them to what you might find in a modern collection, there are so many differences that you might think you weren't reading the same story at all.

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Viorica

at 19:51 on 2009-01-16Well, it could be argued that there are some basic plot foundations- Merlin being Arthur's mentor, Guinevere as his wife (though they still have time to do that), Morgana being his half-sister, etc. I think the reason some people don't like it is because they grew up on "The Sword and the Stone", so the show is effectively stomping on their childhood memories. I don't have any such memories to get stomped on, so it doesn't bug me.

Re: Robin Hood. It started out as silly fun, but it as it went on, you realized that the people running the show didn't know or care what they were doing. There were no efforts at making the costumes or scenery look nice, and virtually none of the characters were likeable, or even tolerable. Their Robin is the kind of guy who whines at an ex-girlfriend for "betraying" him when she's forced into marriage with another man. The urge to punch the title character in the face was stronger than any desire to keep watching.

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Sonia Mitchell

at 22:16 on 2009-01-16Great article. I didn't catch all the episodes, but definitely enjoyed the ones I did see. I like your point about the gravitas the older actors bring, particularly Head (in what could have been a pretty thankless role given his character's lack of humour).

Interesting discussion about the appropriate amount of reverence for the source material, too. I quite like the way Merlin did it, with plenty there for people who do know a bit about Arthurian legend but not so much you know for sure what's going to happen. I never saw Smallville, but I think of Merlin in much the same way - you know what happens down the line, but these are the gaps in between. And knowing what lies ahead is an interesting experience, because you're watching for it and everyone involved in the show knows you are (of the ones I saw, Lancelot's episode was the most willing to play with this).

It's also pretty dangerous, of course, because unless they're willing to go down the rejected destiny road the main young characters all have to live. I think they've got a nice balance - there's plenty of peril, but the real danger is more often disgrace than death (though I missed the last few episodes, so for all I know there was a dramatic and bloody finale).

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Viorica

at 01:30 on 2009-01-17There was *almost* a dramatic and bloody finale, but it was averted. You should really watch to see why, though- that episode actually managed to make me tear up a bit.

"Great article."

Thanks!

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Rami

at 12:44 on 2009-01-17I never saw Smallville, but I think of Merlin in much the same way

Yes! It's not all that different in many ways -- Smallville takes a lot of liberties with Superman canon (Lex Luthor and Clark Kent being friends, for instance), and I guess one of the reasons that it's more or less accepted is that Superman canon has been retconned so many times nobody's sure what *is* canon anymore. I think much the same is true for Arthurian legend ;-)

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Arthur B

at 15:05 on 2009-01-17I think in comics continuity Lex Luthor and Clark Kent

were

friends until Clark mistakes a controlled explosion in Lex's lab for an actual fire, and horribly injures Lex as he tries to put it out.

Six nerd points for me.

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Wardog

at 19:39 on 2009-01-17I have come late to the party...

The trouble is convincing people there's not really a canon to be followed...

I think this really nails the issue; perhaps, for a lot of people T.H.White is "canon", although it's Roger Lancelyn Green for me, personally - I have no idea who that guy is but basically every book available for kids about anything vaguely mythic, Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Celtic, was written, semi-turgidly, by this dude. Anyway, what I've got distracted from saying here is: a lot of those things we associate with the Arthur Legend today have very little in common with the early source material. Guinevere is barely in Malory - he just wasn't into chicks - and there's a sense that a lot of her bad press comes from the fact he decided to situate the fall of his macho martial ideal in damn women with their lack of appreciation for war, dammit, war. There's very little actually 'romantic' about Le Morte.

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Wardog

at 19:43 on 2009-01-17Also I am now definitely avoiding Robin Hood. I heard it was rubbish but fun, but that sounds like it's moved into "just plain rubbish" territory.

[thedogsled]

I'm interested in hearing about the Merlin queerbaiting thing because I seem to remember someone saying that this homoerotic subtext was upped after the producers or writers or whoever had been asked whether the queer subtext was intentional or something like that.

tbh the likelihood is you probably heard this from me, but who knows. I think it’s clear to a lot of people in Merlin fandom either way, although maybe not everyone feels that way. I’m going to go riiiight back to the beginning, though, to the very first episode where I was coming off my last fandom (Harry Potter) and had nowhere else to go, and there was this awesome show on TV…

First of all I’m going to drop this here:

So this was my experience, back in 2008, when I got to go to MCM London. The show had been on maybe a few weeks at the time, and not much had been developed back then, but there was no doubt that they were writing the pair of them very well as a strong male/male friendship. Now the subtext was glorious, because as you can hear right here it wasn’t the intention of the writers to put any of it in there, and it came off so naturally as a strong set of bonds forming between two guys. Nobody was aware of it, and then bam there’s all this fanfiction being written. This was the first ever question these guys had been asked on a panel ever. We’re not talking like the pussyfooting into asking those kinds of questions like you see with SPN panels, these guys were fresh and green and had no idea what they were getting into, and the unequivocal downplay from the writer ‘No, this is a story about friendship’, well it should have stopped there. But as you hear the writer go on to say, as they laugh about the idea of people shipping Merthur at all, these sorts of heroes journeys do have a homoerotic subtext. He acknowledges that, but he’s also forthright in saying ‘no, that’s not what this is, end of story’.

So for me, that should have been what it is, i.e. it’s not queerbaiting because there’s absolutely no intention of going there, and they’ve made it clear. Unfortunately that’s not what happened, and the consequence is that it wasn’t made clear to the audience. Sure, that crowd at comic con of a few hundred people, but not the audience (also I’m disappointed there wasn’t more to that clip, because the writers (there was at least one other person, a woman there, backed and forthed briefly on the topic, “is that a thing?” or something like that, but it was ten years ago so I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly. By this time next year people were cosplaying Merlin, it had played in the USA and everything was really taking off, but that first season was in the can at this point, and consequently precious and innocent. The friendship between Arthur and Merlin was as untarnished as you could get, because the writers had no idea what they were doing, and the actors had no idea of what was coming across in those intimate moments, so that was perfect too. Seriously, that first season of Merlin is superb.

But now everyone is self conscious. They know they have this audience and they’ve been exposed to how loud it is, how superbly influential. The feeling of watching Merlin season 2 was therefore entirely different to watching season 1. Bradley and Colin carry themselves differently. The wording choices in the scenes become deliberately nudge nudge wink wink. The scenes themselves are more homoerotic because of this conglomeration of ideas and acting choices. Merlin talks about how he ‘feels’ about Arthur and there’s shitloads more shirtless scenes and long silences and held glances between Merlin and Arthur than Arthur and anyone else. 

I’m saying this as someone who didn’t fall for the queerbaiting, because I knew from that unequivocal “this is a profound friendship” declaration that they were never, ever going there, that Arthur was destined to get with Guinevere (that was the societal wall i.e. class, that he had to jump over) and they weren’t ever going to do anything but straight and hetereosexual on Saturday night on BBC1 (an opinion I changed for Sherlock but very quickly changed back when I saw the same tone and delivery grabbing for and successfully pulling in the audience who so desperately wanted to see what they were being teased at. Merlin and Sherlock really coincided at the sweet spot of queerbaiting (which incidentally is when Cas joins SPN, and coincides with the most queerbaiting seasons of SPN as well.) But I was at ground zero for Merlin, before shipping Merthur was cool, and you can betcha that the writer declaring that there were only straights here put a dead end to that before it could begin. Just imagine a writer saying something like that now. We track all the panels, we record everything. We’d tear them to pieces in a second flat.

The mood in S2 just changes. Here’s a bunch of clips from S2. I’ve stuck it on a late timestamp, but that’s only because that particular scene is a standout example: gay 4 comedy. By the middle of S3 filming, everyone is well briefed on the interest in the ship. The baiting gets really hard and comedic by season 4. I’ve jumped to some of the worst offending moments in this series of clips here. And remember Sherlock’s first season aired just before this, thus my accusations of a queerbaiting heyday. It was all getting into stride about this time, carte blanche to suck in queer viewers with no intention of following through and use ‘they might be gay’ both as an endless mockery, as in these Merlin clips, and as a way to add seriousness to some scenes. My memory of feeling mocked and ridiculed by Merlin is just so strong, and reviewing some of the episodes really nails that down for me. Having known where the writers come from, knowing the sentiment behind their approach to their queer audience…it drives me up the wall even right now.

So season 5 they pull it all together, and - spoilers - Arthur dies in Merlin’s arms, and there’s an unspoken I love you, and Merlin waits for centuries for the return of the Once and Future King. And this, coming back to the strongest part of the story in order to deliver the final emotional punch, the part that carried it through (the relationship which could be misconstrued between the main characters) and offering a flimsy not quite there delivery of yet more subtext (because you have to be in on the queer reading to see it), was a final spit in the eye. It’s why you’ll see a bunch of people in fandoms who are disgusted by the idea of a kiss in the last scene, they die together, or a subtextual drive off into the sunset ending, because it’s such a familiar and heart wrenching and aggravating cop out. It’s not even Thelma and Louise, you know? Because over years and years, you’ve been driven by this show, by what you’re seeing on screen, and your reward is a lacklustre nod in the last few seconds; what you’re there for you never get, and yet at the end of the day you’re supposed to be delighted they gave you even 50% certainty that your ship would end up together. Fuck you.

Merlin could easily have been read as not queerbaiting. That’s the thing. Some people will outright tell you that Sherlock is easily read as not queerbaiting too. Those people will also say ‘why is it that two guys can’t have a relationship without people thinking it’s romantic.’ Well, they can. They can. But I point you to the word ‘bromance’. These shows deliberately either take romantic storylines and apply them to those characters, or play up the gay for laughs. Especially at this sort of 2008-1016 sweet spot, pre The 100 drama, they absolutely did. They didn’t see the harm, and what they got back in return from fandom involvement and viewership and repeat viewing was absolute justification for those choices. Merlin benefits from it’s queer audience, but it also benefits from a storytelling perspective as having been intended as a heterosexual friends only story in the first place, and the first season (and season 3 largely, idk why) play out like that. That’s what lets it off the hook when people are looking for queerbaiting in the show, because it’s absolutely not from the get go. Like with Destiel it establishes naturally, both as a result of the story and because of the vibe the two main actors have with each other. 

Compare to Sherlock, which went for it right out of the gate “Is this a date?” and never backed down, applying the queerbaiting consistently until they were done as though I think to legitimatize the writing choice. “See, it wasn’t queer, that’s just how we wrote it, you’ve all got dirty minds.” That same show will be defended with ‘why can’t guys just be friends’, and implications that any suggestion of physical intimacy doesn’t make it gay and is harmful to guys in general. There may be some truth in that, but there is also truth in the use and manipulation of queer audiences, and there are plenty of touchy feely male/male relationships which aren’t queerbaiting; look at most buddy cop shows (I exclude due South from this), JD and Turk, McGee and DeNozzo, Esposito and Ryan. Well written brotherhood and friendship is out there which does not rely on one character waiting for another to come back from the dead for centuries, or casually delivering that Cas ∴ Cas

I’ve been going on for a while, but I’m going to just make one last swing for it before I conclude. Take in mind that original quote, then. Look at this article. The quotes here are notorious in Merlin fandom, of course, but even from an outsider they leave a bad taste in my mouth. 

“Murphy points to the moment where Arthur finally dies as what the entire series has been building towards. At the “just hold me,” Murphy justifies to a shocked McGrath that, “well, he’s dying, the man he loves is dying, so he’s holding him.””

Maybe it wasn’t queerbaiting to start with, but Merlin knew what it was doing. S1: “Merlin is about a friendship between Merlin and Arthur, and they do care about each other hugely, but um it’s not necessarily, you know, it isn’t a gay love story, no.” vs. S5: “I think you maybe just confirmed what a lot of people thought, and I’m glad that Julian could do it, because he’s probably the only one who could have gotten away with that commentary.”

I don’t know where Merlin fandom stands on this. I know there’s an undercurrent - because I’ve read it - that some people like the ending as it is because they don’t think that all love has to be shown in smooches. But that would be fine if it wasn’t raising a strawman to argue against (I see it a lot in these conversations). Nobody is even talking about kissing. A relationship of any shade which is confirmed and genuine is fine. But queerbaiting specifically is this kind of stringing people along by dancing around the suggestion of something, and then coming back to state that it was there all along, or worse still just go “Maybe~ If that’s the way you see it~”. Nobody is saying they have to bang it out in a clearing in order for it to be legitimized, but that’s a whole other level from ridiculing people who see it that way, playing it as a joke, or stringing those people along right to the very last gasp.

For sure, if you don’t think it was queerbaiting then that’s great, and I’m actually glad for you! I’m sure people disagree with me on a handful of things I’ve said here, but Merlin was a huge disappointment for me as a creative. I wanted to play in that universe, but the seed was planted that every hint of homoerotic subtext was targeting me, or making a mockery of me, and it poisoned that well from the get go. That I’m still harboring those feelings a decade later probably shapes the way I interact with canons now, but it also is an indication of how strongly I feel about Destiel that I can get over it; once burned twice shy usually applies; it harmed my viewing experience of Merlin, Sherlock, and Hannibal, and I won’t deny it affects me when I watch SPN (and some other shows) too. It’s part of why I think this show has such an opportunity to do something different. But there’s still that tugging part of me that insists that because this is a show nurtured in that sweet spot, I have no reason to believe it should do anything outside the norm. Perhaps the situation with The 100 doesn’t affect it, or maybe it will have learned from it? Some things, like the queer hires to the writers room, fill me with hope. But who knows? That’s unfortunately the state of the uneasy relationship I have with it, particularly as a queer person who wants to see those stories on TV. To tell the truth, this uncertainty and unease is the damage that queerbaiting causes in the long term, and we deserve better stories.

This got super duper long, so thanks for sticking with it.