#yes I'm aware that I overused the word fuck in this post to a worrying degree i can't help it

[queerofthedagger]

The Wicked Day is such glaring proof that Arthur isn't like Uther at all, like... There's this sorcerer who he knows fuck all about and who promises to cure his father. Arthur promises in return to free his whole kind once he's king. Considering he expected Uther to be saved, that's a BIG FUCKING PROMISE. And it's not as if Arthur just jumps and agrees in a "anything, anything you want" kind of manner; no, he actually thinks about it and recognises Dragoon's (Merlin's) suffering. There's this sorcerer that makes Arthur carry him on his back through Camelot and he puts all his damned pride aside because he just, he's so fucking hopeful. He's so fucking trusting.

And then? Then, to Arthur, it looks as if Dragoon still killed his father anyway. Despite that huge fucking promise. Despite everything between that, despite how glaringly desperate Arthur allowed himself to be. I mean—did it require one of the most important people in his life to almost die for him to go to this extreme? Yes. Could there be a point be made for how he "turns to magic for his own sake, like Uther did." Hmm. I'm sceptical because there's much more depth to it and for all that Arthur was the prince, for as long as Uther lived, he held rather little power especially on anything concerning magic, but probably, yes, you could make one. It wouldn't be a good one, but it would... certainly be one.

Anyway. And then, from his perspective, Dragoon actually, still, kills his father. Like, you genuinely cannot blame him for not buying Dragoon's expression of shock. And Arthur just—he fucking. He orders a search, yes. But that's it. That's the bare fucking minimum. And my point is not, "look how great Arthur is for not starting another purge over this!!" because while, yes, I could make that point and I'd be right, it's a ridiculously low bar and not what I'm about tbh. My freaking point is that Arthur's main objective, not at any point in time, was revenge. Justice? Yes, maybe, and rightly so from his point of view. Revenge though? Not at any point in time did that even occur to him.

Not at any point in time did it occur to him to blame anyone but—most of all—himself, and then Dragoon. It wasn't even his fucking fault. Of course, it wasn't Merlin's either and let's not get into Merlin's guilt because I will sob, but this is such a pivotal key difference to Uther at the very foundation of Arthur's character; that he never, not at any point in canon, thirsts for revenge on any of the people who—seemed to have—wronged him. He always blamed himself first and foremost up to a truly worryingly degree, and it's the direct opposite of how Uther dealt with his grief and guilt.

Like seriously, I'm by no means saying Arthur would've been justified in seeking revenge or god help us, start another purge. Doesn't mean there weren't enough prompts for him to follow in Uther's footsteps though, the one constant "role model/example" he's ever had.

And yet he didn't, he did the direct opposite, and I think people genuinely sleep on how very much this says about his character.

(Also don't fucking @ me, Gaius and Merlin not telling him about the necklace made sense at that point in time because it wasn't even established to Arthur yet that there was a traitor, but that's a post for another time.)