#no one gave a fuck bc i was TOO LATE to the fandom haah

[moth-time]

THIS THOUGH seizes this chance to ramble about the dragon with both of my grubby little hands

Look, my not-so-pet theory is that the dragon is gleefully lying through his teeth the entire show, not even that well, and that Merlin falls for it hook, line and sinker because he is desperate for guidance and then, at some point, in too deep to go back. I both love it and hate it, because it reframes a LOT of the story drastically and also uuuh doesn't give you much hope for Arthur's return, but also it makes so much sense.

The dragon, over the course of the entire show, paints himself as the mouthpiece of destiny. Destiny, destiny, destiny, that's his whole thing, that Arthur will save Albion and return magic to the land, that Merlin will be his guide and his servant, etc etc. Merlin just has to do… all the things the dragon says, and trust him, and not trust… basically anyone who would have been his friend. He alienates Merlin from people who also have magic, keeps him isolated, feeds his paranoia, and generally guides Merlin down a path of self-destruction and severe dependency on Arthur, who becomes his entire everything but also so great and big and untouchable that Merlin ends up self-sabotaging because he cares more about Arthur than about magic.

Many, many of the things that where 'destined to happen', especially in regards to magic (Uther's death, Morgana's betrayal, Mordred's betrayal) happen because the dragon fed Merlin's paranoia and prevented him from connecting to people. Many of the things the dragon said would happen only happen because he put them in motion. They happen because Merlin knows of them and tries to prevent them.

We don't know what the dragon's actual long-term goal is, and seeing as he is an extremely long-lived magical fae creature we can only guess. Humans are pretty insignificant to him, in the grand scheme of things, though they are fun to play with. He seems quite happy with the outcome, which he had a very active role in, so it seems things went the way he wanted.

It's not the way Merlin wanted. It was never what Merlin wanted. But the dragon doesn't care about that.

(in all fairness, he's not even particularly subtle about it. Merlin is just really desperate for guidance, and put his trust in the wrong lizard.)

the dragon really pulled one last "my job here is done" "but you didn't do anything" here. classic dragon