#oh a woman with daddy issues and a brother she hates?? SIGN ME TF UP!

[nimrism]

hello! daily morgana pendragon deserves the world. also, i'm very curious to see what you think a morgana and lena interaction would look like! i feel like the universe would break. oh! this is me realizing they both have something against their brothers. what a nice realization to have! anyway, just wondering what you think that might look like :)

DAILY REMINDER THAT MORGANA PENDRAGON DESERVES THE WORLD!

i'm so sorry it took me THIS LONG to get to replying to this but i wanted to do it JUSTICE cause i love this ask with all my heart it speaks to my very soul :)) (i do apologize for this getting really really long, though)

lena and morgana!! they're so similar and yet so different at the same time it's so awesome to delve into their characters and try to dissect what's happening in those brilliant heads of theirs like i could write thesis papers analyzing their characters without ever getting bored. they're just so special to me :,)

what would an interaction between them look like, though? hmmmm i guess it depends on the context of the interaction like why would they be in the same room in the first place? has morgana been reincarnated? what is she doing in national city? or is lena the one who crossed the pond and went to england? are we talking canon s6 lena who has magic? has she gone to england to get closer to her witch ancestors? IS MORGANA HER WITCH ANCESTOR? DID SHE ACCIDENTALLY/ON PURPOSE RAISE HER FROM THE DEAD? i think the concept of morgana being lena's ancestor is super interesting cause it would influence lena's opinion on arthur and merlin and camelot in general. so, if we consider the connection between them ancestral, i think their interactions would be reverent (at least on lena's end) and morgana would (maybe after initial reluctance or hostility) sort of accept lena as her descendant and her protégé and teach her all sorts of magic. lena's part in helping morgana adjust to the modern world would also be a huge aspect i feel like cause morgana would be so confused with modern technology and the fact that technically there are no more "kingdoms" and camelot is no more so what exactly is her purpose in this modern world? lena helping her through that (or at least trying to) would form a huge part of their relationship i think.

buuuuuut if the context is different like maybe lena has discovered a way to time travel and she finds herself in camelot or in the woods around morgana's s4 cabin and morgana happens to stumble upon her there, it would be different. because WHY is there a woman in morgana's image in the STRANGEST clothes walking around with glowing objects (technology) that aren't inherently magical (morgana can't feel the magic in them) but MUST be because this isn't just something anyone can conjure up?? no matter the time we're talking (s1/2/3/4) i feel like morgana would react very negatively until lena can earn her trust or at least convince her she's not a sick joke merlin/emrys is playing on morgana. i also think lena would be wayyy out of her depth in medieval england like yeah she's a genius but she eats salads and fast food and has a bajillion-dollar penthouse equipped with all the latest technologies so living without the luxuries of the modern world would be a CHALLENGE even for her so i think it'd be fun to see morgana's reaction to lena absolutely STRUGGLING to get through her day.

once we're past the logistics of the interaction and the awkward introductions and general initial animosity phase and they FINALLY get to talking, they'll have lots of things in common. like you mentioned, they both have this innate hatred for their brothers, but with lena, lex has caused her unimaginable trauma and pain and despite all of that she's managed to get back up and say to his face that yeah she hates him but she loves herself more and that she's finally letting go of that hatred to go live her life. with morgana, however, that hatred for arthur has become all-consuming, even though it only stemmed from uther sort of unknowingly pitting them against each other forever by acknowledging arthur as his son and heir but never morgana. morgana's hatred for uther extended to arthur and when uther died, arthur became the sole recipient of that hatred. unlike lena, morgana doesn't have anyone to pull her out of the darkness, to show her that even when family fails to understand you and/or accept you, there are friends who will. she doesn't have that support system, and so she succumbs to the darkness and the hate and lets it eat away at her soul. this is where they differ, in my opinion, lena had a support system and the innate strength to stop the generational trauma cycle, while morgana had neither (doomed by the narrative from the start maybe i'll just cry).

this part's a bit controversial cause it depends on your headcanons and who you ship and stuff but another thing i feel was detrimental is UNREQUITED LOVE. lena's half-hearted "villain" arc only happened when she found out that her best friend had been keeping such a huge part of her identity from her (which isn't something you would do to someone you love) so she was like fuck it i'm going to fix humanity cause you guys SUCK. but when she eventually realized that wait, maybe kara does actually love her and care about her and she didn't entirely mean to hurt her (whether you read it as platonic or romantic, her love was requited) she went back and apologized and everything (even though she didn't need to apologize she's never done anything wrong in her life). morgana's brand might as well just be unrequited love, on the other hand. it goes as far back as her biological father (bro didn't even acknowledge her as his daughter), and extends to pretty much everyone she may or may not have been in love with (whether you ship her with gwen (the only right answer) or merlin or even the dumbass alvarr guy). she's been made to feel unlovable her whole life and at some point she believes it and takes it at face-value as the truth, and that's part of what pushes her to extremes like the ones she goes to in the show. ("if i can't have love, i want power"). with both gwen and merlin they're both so devotedly loyal to arthur that even if i were in her shoes i'd get pissed off, so, since she doesn't believe that they'll ever be loyal to her just because, she tortures and brainwashes merlin to get him to do her bidding, and she kidnaps gwen and brainwashes her to get her "old friend" back, because, in the state that she's in by s5, she doesn't believe that anyone will ever be devoted to her for HER, so she forces them to be. this concept of never having love requited voluntarily plays such a huge part in shaping morgana's character and making her that much different from lena, in my opinion.

i could go on and on about the implications of the dark tower episode and every word morgana said to gwen, but that's a story for another post because this one is already getting waaay too long.

ANYWAY i may have strayed from the point a few times BUT I JUST HAVE A LOT TO SAY ABOUT THEM, OKAY? thank you so much for this ask it was so much fun to answer and AS ALWAYS if you want to further discuss morgana or lena or both and speculate on how they would meet/interact i'm always up for a fun discussion 😼