#that strange convergence of parallel worlds and half finished fables

[oswinsdolma]

no, you don't understand, merlin didn't lie to arthur when he said that it was arthur's destiny to pull the sword from the stone!! no, he wasn't a bad person for letting arthur believe in a version of himself that didn't exist, because it was merlin's construction of that idea within him that allowed him to grow into the legend he was told he embodied!! we assume at first glance that the version of merlin that arthur sees is a lie disguised in bits of truth - hell, even arthur believes it ("you're not an idiot, that was another lie") but i think it's the other way round. obviously merlin isn't fully truthful until the end, but in a way, that's what makes the prophecy come true. between them, merlin and arthur are camelot: two sides of the same coin. soulmates. brothers. lovers. whatever. when arthur first pulls the sword from the stone, he does not manage it, because he does not yet understand why. if he pulled it out with no resistance, he would not believe it was any great accomplishment and that doubt would have eaten away at it, like doubt always does. but merlin recognises that, and holds back. he believes, but arthur does not, and it is not until they are parallel, until their minds converge, that any miracle can truly come to be. similarly, merlin lies about his magic for all those years, and it is not until the end of the road that he allows it to shine through, because arthur wasn't ready to believe that yet, not until his death. but morbidity aside, yes, arthur's pulling the sword drom might not be divinely ordained. and yes, merlin had a chance to save arthur, and he made the wrong decision, of his own free will. but respectfully, that is not the point of the show. merlin is unique as an arthurian retelling because at no point does it ever pedestalise the characters: they are messy, flawed, but most importantly they love and grow. the heart of the show isn't some far off prophecy and immovable, heroic figures, because camelot is not yet a legend. at this point it is unequivocally, heartbreakingly human. and yeah, the story merlin told arthur was bullshit. yeah, he lied, and he made fatal mistakes, but that's. what. people. do!! and the reason arthur was able to pull the sword from the stone was because of merlin, and his fragile, human heart that saw his friend struggling and gave him something to hope for, in his kingdom and in himself. the legend didn't precede them, and the show doesn't act like it does. they're just muddling through, and in the end, the legend they create isn't because of the prophecy, but because of the choices they made along the way. their legacy is one that echoes through the ages because they had the humanity to construct it for themselves, and there is no tragedy, or triumph, greater than the simple act of being alive, because then, and only then, those two things are one and the same.