#in general the worst feeling is not knowing how to help and this is a subsection of that… I care so much too much

[better-than-sleeping]

A part of Richard's isolation from the group that I would like to put forward is this:

I truly do believe the group care for Richard as a friend, even when their relationships start to spiral out of control near the end. But that care isn't always present throughout their lives, the same way most people aren't constantly obsessing over their friend's feelings 24/7, and he cannot understand it.

It's not just the stuff you would typically think of that proves this to me, like the twins going out of their way to include him, companionable rambles with Bunny, making food with Francis. The most obvious instance of this is Richard being excluded from the Bacchanalia, and yes, this obviously sucks as someone trying so desperately to be included and a part of the group, but also makes so much sense from their perspective.

If Richard had been normal, he would have been so weirded out! This could be a convenient excuse, but it could just as easily be the group showing their own desires to be accepted by HIM, in a kind of reverse of roles that Richard naturally doesn't want to pick up on, because that would be seeing them human, and fallible, and SIMILAR TO HIMSELF. Unthinkable!

Something I've not seen discussed is the little aside when he first falls in with the group proper and relates that they had found him just as aloof as he had found them. Their inviting him to Francis's house was simply an urge to impress him, and I can't see any other way of reading it than that. If they had simply wanted to include him, but didn't care about how he saw them, they could have simply kept inviting him to their houses and out for lunch.

But, it's the moments that also double as little instances of ostracism that really interest me: Camilla saying Henry didn't want to do another pig ritual because he thought it would upset Richard, the group telling him they've already involved him enough and that he shouldn't participate in Bunny's murder. The general reading of this (that I've seen so far) seems to be that Henry did these things purposefully to keep Richard apart from the group, he didn't know him as well as the others, an unknown quantity, someone he didn't care for as much since he hadn't known him as long. But there's a lot of ambiguity there as well, and I think what makes things so compelling is that uncertainty. It could be purposeful, or unintentional, or some inextricable combination of the two.

(As an aside- ironically, I believe Henry may care about Richard the most out of anyone in the group. Helping him while he was sick, worried about seeing Richard drunk during the day, it's all rather sweet, and I don't believe it was entirely some machievellian scheme.)

However, I like to see the isolation as mostly, if not entirely unintentional, because that makes it so much more cutting to me. It's subtle. They don't put any special thought into doing it, they just…don't even think how these things could make him feel.

The worst part is, as far as I remember, Richard never fully engages with his feelings about this, but they are felt so much through the story and his actions within them. They are moments that sunk deep within his psyche like a stone that's dropped into water and swallowed immediately without a trace. It sits very still inside him, unmoveable.

His acceptance of these moments as they are happening to him is likely a result of his history of loneliness and being apart from others. There is nothing unusual to him about this, that it would require further thought from him within his narrative.

A large part of Richard's isolation is due to his glorification of the people he deems worthy, which continues even after he begins to see their flaws. Despite them, he still can't bear to see them torn down to his level, people he can relate to instead of glorify or look down upon. I think there is an element of self destruction to this, not wanting to understand so he has an excuse to punish himself for self perceived deficiencies.

It's very intriguing, this uncertainty of how much of Richard's isolation from the group is imagined, or perhaps even self imposed in a kind of feedback loop, where he feels pushed away and so pulls himself away from them, to anonymous parties with people he professes not to care about, takes pills and sleeps for days, to numb himself from the pain of their rejection.

And in the process, this feeling of isolation is enforced, becomes more a reality through the concrete evidence he has produced by himself. Maybe the group see his behaviour and think he needs space, they give it to him. He feels lonely, he says nothing. Because he would rather freeze to death than ask for help.

[quinn-of-aebradore]

the blame falls on jayce's shoulders because he's the one that combined viktor with the hexcore at the beginning of season 2! and then when he comes and then tells jayve he's going to leave, jayce is going to say "i never asked for this" YOU were the one that combined the hexcore with viktor. i know they're both victims but the way people try and act like viktor wasn't being manipulated by the hexcore this entire time annoy me so bad, especially the comments about it i see on tiktok.

Alright anon, I generally agree with you and I am very exasperated with Jayce for blowing a hole in Viktor’s chest, but as with all things. Nuance.

Firstly, regarding Jayce combing Viktor with the Hexcore; there is no way in hell Jayce could’ve known what was going to come of that. Which, obviously, means maybe he shouldn’t have done it if he didn’t know the outcome, but also the second the Hexcore registered that Viktor was in the room, it started gravitating towards him. Jayce tried to hold it back with those tongs and it was stronger than him. I give him grace for that whole situation because desperation and adrenaline are some insane fucking drugs and also because the moment Viktor was back in that lab, his fate was sealed, regardless of Jayce coming into contact with the Hexcore or not. Firmly believe that even if Jayce had set him there and left to go find help, he would’ve come back to find that the Hexcore had merged with Viktor anyway. I think it’s also worth noting that Viktor started this process on his own in Season 1. Viktor was the one who chose to feed the Hexcore his blood and Shimmer, though yes, he was doing so out of desperation. But still, that was his choice, not Jayce’s.

Secondly, about Viktor being manipulated by the Hexcore; absolutely! I 1000% agree with that. I do not think that whatever is appearing to him as Sky is actually Sky, that is Something Else, in a way that’s very parallel to the fake Kino we saw with Mel in episode 5! Viktor does not have the full picture of what he’s been doing with the Arcane and we only have a handful more tiny pieces than he does!

And third, on whatever Jayce saw in his missing time; I am getting the feeling that he witnessed/lived through multiple alternate timelines in which things went Very Wrong, likely at the hands of a heavily corrupted and possessed Viktor, who Jayce could not bring himself to kill. That’s why he’s so adamant about not failing again. I don’t think this perception is 100% accurate to the state of things in the core timeline, but I also don’t think Jayce’s perception of the Arcane as whole is entirely accurate. He’s been exposed to the worst of it, the mind-rending and reality-shredding horrifying potential it contains, whereas Viktor has only been exposed to the best parts of it, the good it can do (even if that’s not exactly what’s happening with him in reality). We don’t know exactly how long is between Act 1 and Act 2 this time around, probably a handful of months, but I am very much willing to bet that Jayce was gone for a lot longer than that from his perspective and came back not only with run-of-the-mill PTSD (as to be expected) but also some seriously magically inflicted psychic damage. I don’t think Salo!Viktor was being metaphorical when he said that the Arcane took Jayce’s mind. His perception of reality has been irreparably altered and I wonder if it’s part due to the lack of this alteration that led to him potentially sparing alternate timeline Viktors who otherwise should’ve died. He almost killed a child, again. Something isn’t right when it comes to both him and Viktor.

Jayce is to blame for a whole lot—the entire end of episode 6, obviously—but I don’t blame him for Viktor’s initial transformation. Whatever comes next, however, does fall on his shoulders. That I won’t dispute for a second, though there is without a doubt more going on there and I am SO excited to see what’s going on behind the curtain with all the weird magic shit.

[gd-dollopole]

Let’s take into consideration:

Arthur would rather waste precious time before an important council meeting to run around the entire castle and search for Merlin, who, in his very honest opinion, is the worst servant of the entire kingdom or that he had ever known, than to call literally anyone else to help him dress (as if there wouldn’t be anyone ready to assist Arthur, their king, with clothes);

Arthur, and therefore Agravaine (which makes it all the more hilarious) knows every single place where Merlin could be, at that precise moment, or during that day in general;

The guards nod to Agravaine without asking anything, which only means that it is canon that everyone in Camelot knows Merlin by name;

The aforementioned point implies that everyone knows how Merlin looks like, that also means Merlin is known to never leave Arthur’s side, even during council meetings;

Arthur is running around the castle in what today we would call a pyjama, just because Merlin didn’t wake him up with, “Rise and Shine”. And he’s barefoot. That’s right. The king of Camelot, everyone, has just walked barefoot in Merlin’s chambers, in the armoury, where other knights probably are, and in the bloody stables (yes, the ones where the horses and their dungs both are), without boots on, just to look for Merlin;

Arthur is more distressed in this scene than in the one where Morgana declares war in season five. He’s fretting like a mother hen. Not only he is without breath, which means he was just coming back from his checking around, but he is red in the face and almost yelling in desperation. “Does he expect me to dress myself?!” Because apparently, Arthur literally cannot do anything without Merlin by his side. The way he says, “No sign of him” to Agravaine is so endearing, and he shouldn’t be this adorable. Unfair, Arthur. Really unfair.

Arthur just yells, (and distressingly looks around) in hope that Merlin will come back to him, because he always does. *sounds of my heart breaking into millions of pieces*

And last but not least, Arthur shouts, “Last night!”, which means the actual reason he’s going around searching for Merlin, it’s because he’s worried his world will end without his quirky and clumsy servant by his side (and the love of his life). Merlin is currently out on a quest with Gwaine to look for Gaius, since he has been kidnapped, but the problem is that Arthur doesn’t know this. What he knows is that he has fought with Merlin the day before about Gaius in the council chambers, and believes Merlin is gone for good, this time, and solely for the fight they had. Arthur feels more than guilty that he can’t make it up to his best friend, the love of his life (Agravaine helped Morgana kidnap Gaius, and it explains the ending of the scene, where he understands where Merlin is.) Now Arthur is worried that his last words to Merlin were harsh. He had last seen him when he was done with his duties the night before, and then Merlin disappeared.

No wonder they deleted this scene.