#not to mention the sense of betrayal in my own beliefs ... i vowed to never enooy this show long ago ....

[sentientobjects]

its been a min since ive posted in the osc for a minute . and this is bc ive been sooo so busy. but good god. im on my knees here man. maybe its cus im on the tail end of covid but i finally caught up on ii and im sooo mad. bc im gonna be so honest here ive been a big ii hater for years. and im so mad bc i actually really enjoyed the last few eps. like dont get me wrong. there are problems. ii is a series full of issues and the last eps are no exception. but there was enough that i genuinely liked in the last eps that i dont know what to do about it. im gonna lose it. i have fallen from grace

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Watching Merlin The Death Song of Uther Pendragon once again, and feeling more and more justified in my analysis of the episode, available here.

Above, we see Merlin’s expression go hard when Arthur mentions Uther’s disapproval of his decisions. He says, “You mean, your kingdom.” When Arthur shrugs at this fact, Merlin’s expression turns even more stony:

As I explained in my analysis of 5x03, this episode demonstrates that Merlin is the only real family that Arthur has. Upon rewatching the scene where Arthur sits morosely during his birthday celebrations, and rereading my post, I was struck by the inescapable conclusion that despite everything, Arthur is lonely. 

Why? Because he has no family. For the first time, I also added his lack of children to the reasons for his loneliness. I suppose this was obvious from the episode, but only through rewatching several episodes have I learned that BBC Merlin’s central theme is not magic, but friendship and family. 

Arthur Pendragon is actually one of the most tragic characters on the show. Setting aside the irony of his future being marred by destiny, I also thought about how long it had taken Merlin chiefly to build up his self-belief. Yet with just a few words, Uther could ruin that same self-belief, even if Arthur knew Uther was wrong. 

This is what angers Merlin: the fact that Uther still has the power to destroy his son’s confidence. As I said beforehand, Merlin’s deepest problem with Uther is that he doesn’t deserve to be Arthur’s father. 

However, I now have something to add. Whereas before, I thought that Arthur had subconsciously adopted Merlin as a brother, perhaps sometime between late Season 4 and early Season 5, I did not realise that Merlin would have done the same. 

After all, Merlin had watched the devastating impact that family betrayal had caused to Arthur. So I am now thinking that this motivates Merlin’s deeper sense of defensiveness and protectiveness over the King. This isn’t just about destiny.

Otherwise, Arthur would be totally alone. 

Remember: Arthur has no mother. In 4x12, Merlin allows the fugitive King to stay at his mother’s house, and we now see the once proud Arthur eating Hunith’s food. Arthur has no father. But in 4x07, Gaius speaks of taking care of Arthur since boyhood. Most importantly, Arthur has no siblings. Merlin steps into this role himself, and not just by vowing to protect the King, which his Knights also do. 

I think the most important thing that Merlin does is to behave like Arthur’s family ought to have behaved. It seems to me that he challenges himself to prove that he can show himself better than Uther, Morgana, and Agravaine. Those 3 in particular. All blood members of Arthur’s family, all traitors in some way, and all people whose mind control Merlin wishes to undo. 

Another point is Merlin’s own family situation. Though I would like to think that he kept in contact with Hunith more frequently than was shown, the truth is that he lives a totally separate life. The mother admits as much in 4x12, though she tellingly refers to Ealdor as “home” for Merlin, rather than Camelot. 

On top of this, Merlin has no siblings. We know that, despite friends like Will, the time he spent before arriving in Camelot was incredibly lonely, as he told Gaius. I do not know whether Merlin initially wanted siblings, but he certainly wanted a family, which is why he clung to the hope of reuniting Balinor with Hunith in Ealdor. Could he have dreamt of a different life, where he had siblings? 

I don’t know. However, even though Merlin shared the pain of losing his father with Gwaine, I think he has the stronger connection with Arthur on this topic. I base this on 5x03 and 5x04, where Arthur twice appeals to Merlin’s fatherlessness in a bid for support. In those cases, he effectively says that they understand the same loss, because they are alike. This is particularly true when, in 5x04, Merlin admits that if someone had murdered his father, he too would have sought vengeance. 

And we know that Merlin hates vengeance. In that moment, Merlin reveals that he is more like Arthur than perhaps he even knows. 

Fascinating stuff! 

PS-- I also finished watching 5x01 and 5x02 again, which make me more and more at peace with the Sir Mordred storyline and Arthur’s eventual death. Indeed, it is Merlin’s dogged insistence that Arthur should not die which is unrealistic. On top of that, I am now convinced the idea of a Golden Age was a false goal. I never really hear this vision being fleshed out, because it is an ideal. Merlin’s great undoing was his idealism, and when he failed to reach those heights, he became jaded. Had he appreciated what he had in real life, perhaps he would not have been so quick to submit himself to prophecies, fate, and paranoia.