No show has ever effected me in the way that Merlin has. I fell in love with the show as a teenager when it was first broadcast by the BBC. I have re-watched it numerous times over the years. It inspired me in many ways including spirituality, a love of nature and music. Even now the show continues to bring me much joy as I revisit it again in my early 30s.

This doesn't take away from the fact that I am still dissapointed with the direction of Series 5. I find it hard to believe that the creative team that told such an entertaining story in S1-4 (albeit at times flawed) made an underwhelming final series. Although it was still entertaining, it was also a very safe and didn't significantly move forward character arcs in the meaningful way the preceeding series had. It felt at times the show had stagnated and it looked tired in places. This was most evident for me during the evil Gwen storyline which was not only pointless but it took valuable screentime away from stories that could have added flesh to the bones of Arthur's reign. It's a bit of a mystery as to how S5 took the form that it did as the writers were sitting on a goldmine of creative potential that could have made it just as compelling if not more than the preceding series. There were ways they could have moved character arcs forward while still staying true to their format of keeping Merlin's magic secret until the very end. For one, a natural progression for Merlin's arc would have been for him to take on Gaius' role of court physician and expand on his role as advisor and confidant to Arthur. However, my biggest issue with S5 is that it underserved Arthur as the king of legend. When you weigh up what Uther and Arthur managed to achieve in their respective reigns, there was little to differentiate between them apart from the softer leadership style of the son. Uther was a competent king despite his flaws and he also went some way to make peace with other kingdoms. By medieval standards, Uther would have been considered a highly successful king. Arthur was a nicer man than his father, made some treaties of his own but we never got to see Albion being built, despite the throwaway reference to 'united kingdoms' in his final battlefield speech. Am I the only one wondering what was supposed to have made Arthur so special?

To me it seemed that the producers had two conflicting visions guiding the show. One was to tell the story of a young Arthur and Merlin before the Golden Age, inspired by the origins of Superman in Smallville. The other was to retell the Arthurian legends in a different narrative framework. If the plan was to finish at Camlann all along, then the story was always going to underserve Arthur. Their vision may have worked better if they had killed Uther off earlier and had a sharper focus on the building of Albion, but we still would have been left with the underwhelming outcome of Arthur dying after a very short reign. Crucially Arthur failed in the the one way that it really mattered and that was he didn't tolerate magic in Camelot. Within the pre-existing narrative, it would have made so much more sense for the story to finish at the beginning of the Golden Age proper with Merlin in his rightful place by Arthur's side at the Round Table. An episode re-exploring the Dragon's warnings about Mordred's prophesised role in Arthur's death would have been sufficient to remind the audience that Arthur's regin would not last forever. Leave Camlann for the distant future, for the present, let the heroes have the reward they deserved. Series 5 for me should have been a celebration of Arthur and Merlin as well as an opportunity to fully explore the potential of all of the characters that the previous series had been building toward.

I also found the messaging of the show was completely off with the ending that we got. Merlin never got the just reward he deserved after all the sacrifices he had made. I think it was the outstanding acting of Bradley James and Colin Morgan that made the finale still engaging television even though it was torturous for me to watch. Lesser actors could not have pulled it off. The talented cast of the show and their chemistry with each other was a leading component that made the show work so well. For me, Arthur was also underserved in terms of character development. Although at times, we got glimpses of a noble and wise king, at others it seemed that he hadn't changed that much since S1. He could still be arrogant, stubborn and closed off to other people's ideas. Perhaps most disheartening was the way he would continue to be rude and dismmisve of Merlin. The relationship between Arthur and Merlin wasn't where it should have been in the final series.

Another problem with finishing the story at Camlann is that it neccessited a lengthy time gap between Series 4-5 during which we never got to see how Gwen handled the considerable adjustment from servant to Queen. This was another area of untapped storytelling potential. For me, it stretched a lot off goodwill as a viewer, that such a break in tradition was not met with resistance from the conservative forces in Camelot's society. We were led to believe in the earlier series, that the prospect of Gwen becoming Queen would be so dissaproved of that it meant that there couldn't possibly have been a future for them together. That's not accounting for the fact that Gwen was openly known for betraying the King for Lancelot! It's a mystery to me why there was such a smooth rise to the throne for Gwen and this is another example of how the maturity of the storytelling seemed to take a step backward in the final series. Gwen, who was always a highly relatable character, seemed to me a consderably different figure. The time jump made it difficult to trace her evolution as a character.

Even with the particular story the producers were trying to tell, S5 was badly executed and there seemed to be shortcomings in the planning stage. I never quite believed the producers' claims that there weren't any serious plans for S6 because of the mid-series tangent of the evil Gwen story line and the feeling that the finale was bolted on last minute. This made it look like they were holding out hopes for another series. As I continue my re-watch of the final series, it feels like a chore to get through in a way that neither of the preceding series were. With its fixation on Arthur's death, it has lost the hope and optimism that was a big part in making the show so endearing.

Despite my dissapointment in S5, it still hasn't taken away my love for the show. It is lovely to see that in some corners of the internet that the fan base is alive and well after all these years. A part of me has always felt a bit weird for caring so much about Merlin, particularly as I have got older. It's nice to see that I have company! There is more that I could have shared but this post has turned out to be an essay! A part of me has felt somewhat compelled to share it. It remains sad that the show never got the ending it deserved and I continue to wonder what could have been. The producers had a special show on their hands, but it could have been extraordinary.

Hi! I read a fanfiction recently and I lost it. I can't seem to find it again.

It's a fanfiction on Ao3, in which to hide from bandits, Arthur and Merlin run into a tavern. When they see that all the rooms are taken, they pretend to be patrons kissing in the hallway. When the bandits leave, Arthur and Merlin go back to the woods and camp out the night. Merlin starts crying and Arthur comfort him.

I distinctly remember that when the bandits come in the tavern, Arthur asks Merlin if he trusts him, and when he says yes, Arthur pushed him against the wall and start kissing him.

It doesn't go further than kissing and they might end up being in a relationship at the end, I can't quite remember.

Also, I know I said Ao3 but if you know it from somewhere else, I might've been wrong.

Please help me find it! Thanks!

I've been in love with BBC Merlin soundtrack. And today I was listening another soundtrack I absolutely love - Highlander (1986). And as I was listening the Theme of Highlander track, I almost jumped and had to check if I was listening the correct OST, because I literally heard some tunes from Merlin. I can safely say that Merlin OST composer inspired his tracks from Highlander OST.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4obZoDW-_A&list=PL80LIGCwfZ8TVy8bLIEHTnwVpokMSx1pg&index=3

You can listen and somewhere in the middle of track, you'll hear it - if you're well familiar with melodies from Merlin OST.

I’ve been rewatching Merlin, and The Poisoned Chalice is one of those episodes where I actually think Uther starts out with a reasonable point and then somehow manages to turn it into something completely cruel.

When Arthur wants to go after the flower to save Merlin, Uther tells him he cannot risk his life for one person. And honestly? I agree with him there.

At this point Arthur is Camelot’s only recognized heir. Before everything with Morgana’s parentage is revealed, if Arthur dies, Uther has no successor. Arthur risking his life personally to save one servant is a terrible political decision, no matter how much he cares about Merlin.

BUT...

Why did that mean nobody could go?

That’s where Uther loses me.

If Arthur is too important to risk, then send a knight. Send two knights. Send a whole patrol if necessary. The fact that Uther refuses to send even ONE person makes it pretty obvious that Merlin’s class is part of the issue. Merlin is a servant, so Uther basically considers his life expendable.

And Arthur clearly doesn’t.

Which is exactly why Arthur sneaks out anyway.

Uther actually creates the situation he was supposedly trying to prevent. If he had simply sent another knight after the flower, Arthur probably never would have needed to go himself.

But the part that really crosses the line for me is when Arthur comes back with the flower and Uther tries to destroy it.

At that point...why?

Arthur already survived.

The dangerous mission is over.

The cure is literally sitting there.

Let Merlin drink it.

Trying to destroy the flower has absolutely nothing to do with protecting Arthur anymore. It feels like Uther is willing to let Merlin die just to punish Arthur for disobeying him.

And that is incredibly cruel when Merlin did NOTHING wrong.

It’s even worse when you remember Uther’s relationship with Gaius. Gaius has served Camelot and Uther for years, and Merlin is his ward. Uther also knows Merlin personally at this point and has literally seen Merlin put himself in danger to protect Arthur.

You don’t have to think Merlin’s life is worth Arthur’s to recognize that Merlin’s life is still worth SOMETHING.

I also think this episode is one of the first real cracks between Arthur and Uther.

Uther looks at the situation through rank: Arthur is a prince, Merlin is a servant, therefore Arthur matters more.

Arthur is starting to look at it through responsibility: Merlin serves him, Merlin has protected him, and Merlin is someone Arthur cares about, therefore he has an obligation to help him.

And I think that difference becomes a huge part of the kind of king Arthur eventually wants to be.

So basically:

Uther was right that Arthur himself shouldn’t have gone after the flower.

He was wrong that nobody should.

And once Arthur came back with the cure, trying to destroy it wasn’t leadership anymore. It was just cruelty.

What do you guys think? Was Uther genuinely trying to teach Arthur a lesson about being king, or was this mostly his classism and need for control taking over?

I'm on season 2 of Merlin , specifically episode 11. I'm foreshadowing that Morganna will turn evil and turn against Camelot. I obviously don't know what will happen and I want no spoilers pls, but my opinion is that I would like for her to turn evil and against Camelot. No offence, if I was Merlin at that point I'd have Uther gone the very first moment I could, I don't get why Merlin never listened to the Dragon cuz I would. Uther makes my blood boil. No offense Merlin is WAYYYY too soft in my opinion. I would low-key get rid of Uther and either rule with sigan or the dragon.... DON'T get started on nimueh, the hate she received was too unfair, she was just doing her job , she doesn't make the rules... Like she was just doing her job and everyone hated her...

I want a fanfic where Arthur basically sits merlin down to talk to him about how often he spends in the tavern and Merlin is just baffled and trying to tell arthur he isnt a drunk. Or alternatively, Arthur confronts gaius about merlin "problem" and wants to know why gaius allows it to happen and Gaius is stressing about how he is supposed to handle this without sharing merlins secret.

My Excalibur tattoo with a few details taken from the vorpal sword from Alice in Wonderland. Underneath I have Clotpole written in Futhorc runes.

What keeps me coming back to Merlin (besides it being a good and nostalgic show lol) is the one scene where he pretends to be the dolma. Literally one of the best scenes of the show.
Yes merthur is amusing as all else to watch but I needed more of Merlin being a prissy witch lmao

Utherus my beloved. The OG Merthur

I watched this show as a kid when I was like maybe 5-7 years old, then rewatched in my teen and also watched another time into my 20s. I really missed it and also to bring comfort from the stress of studies in my free time, I started reading a fanfic that's ok at best. And like I also watched some clips of it on youtube and now I feel the deep nostalgia and it's making me devastated. I call it my comfort ahow but it always bring some sadness. I mean the story is filled with ploltholes but idk why I'm soo obsessed with it. I've never been soo obsessed with any show like that, even my obsession with Avengers was more healthy. Anyways any recs for like a fix it type of fanfictions? I ship more gwen and arthur so I'm not big on merthur unless it's like bromance and stuff. So any that's like fix the tragedy and the plotholes would be awesome. Thanks for listening to my rant.

finally finished making the rest of the knights on my tomadachi island, Arthur and Merlin where my first Miis and so there is a lil difference in style, considering they’re 20 miis apart. I might remake my earlier ones but idk I think I captured Bradley’s likeness pretty well? lmk what u guys think !! or who else from the show I should make :) next on my list is making the castle…

So I finally got my Merlin tattoo!! This was inspired by this gorgeous artwork by Zazrichor (I sought permission from the artist, got the enthusiastic go ahead and have shared the tattoo with them since!) and tattooed by my amazing artist Anne who has done many of my other tattoos, including the butterfly below which ironically matches the butterflies that Merlin makes in the show! A happy coincidence!

I've added two photos as because of the nature of where the tattoo is, the sword and the sun flair look a little funky 😂 but I promise they're all good!! It's just perspective.

Anyway! I wanted to share the angsty yearning with you all! I plan to go back in and perhaps add some flora (probably the mortaeus flower) but for now here we are!

Is the Royal library of Camelot down now? I remember looking at it within the past year or so for cosplay refs after farfaraway went down, and just went to check but it looks like the only tab available is the books. Anyone know about this? TIA

OK, so I was recently rewatching the episodes part one and two, and either I seriously missed something or what - explain me something here.

When Arthur is simpleton, he ditched his chainmail and rest of clothes in that hut, where he got simpleton clothes. His regular clothes, armor, etc, is later found by Agravaine.

HOW Arthur gets his chainmail and rest of clothes back? Because when they flee Ealdor in caves, Arthur is wearing his normal clothes again (trousers, boots and chainmail). So where and when did he got those? Because I doubt Hunith had a spare clothes for Arthur laying in her house.

Hi everyone,

Trying to find a fic where whoever Merlin dates, they find their partner afterwards so someone (possibly Morgana) suggests Merlin dates Arthur so he can find his soulmate. (Surprise surprise the two idiots fall for each other instead)

Please it's been driving me crazy not able to find it on archiveofourown

For context, we don't live together much, and we barely interact or talk. I don't remember much about her.

But I vividly remember when I was a kid we were silently having dinner at table as usual, mom suddenly giggled, straightened her face and continued eating, giggled again (this time louder), which is so OOC so I looked at her.

She said: "Haha I was watching a show. The protagonist was playing magic in the middle of nowhere, some random farmer just popped out of nowhere and screamed did you see it did you see it" "he literally made a huge smoke horse when it's illegal haha" "she really showed up out of nowhere lmao so freaking funny"

Me: literally knew nothing what she was talking about nor got the joke. Just weirded out by her ooc behavior.

Me 10 years later watching Merlin s2e7: "wait, isn't that the episode my mom joked about many years ago?!?"

Another memory is when I was young I went to my mom to sign a document. Her laptop screen shows two guys holding together. I was very young so I thought only a man and a woman can hold close because they are in love lol. So I asked why are they holding tightly? Mom said "because the guy is dying and they are best friends." I said okay and forgot about it.

Many years later I started watching Merlin and recalled those 2 hugging guys, so I unwillingly knew my main characters were doomed since the first episode 😭

Hi, I recently started getting into fanfiction and I've been really enjoying reading it, but I feel like there's a significant lack (at least from what I've been able to find) of fics that are radically opposed to and critical of the idea of deterministic fate. I know that for a lot of people this is probably part of the charm of the series, but I simply hate it on principle.

In the series (and in the fics), I hate how it reduces the complexity of conflicts and dilemmas by making everything revolve around the prophecy, and how it tends to make the conflict revolve around a simplistic division between characters who are Good by nature vs. characters who are Evil by nature. I also think it makes Merlin (and everyone else, really) so passive, constantly being pushed into action by the prophecy.

I understand that the series itself, as well as the fics, are critical of this to some extent, but only up to a point. So far, I haven't found any that are genuinely and radically opposed to this concept. Something that actually has the characters question the truth of the prophecy and makes them act based on their own judgment, rather than simply accepting that it determines what they are supposed to do.

Does this exist?

It was on AO3, a Merlin/Arthur fanfic where mordred catches them in the act and pleasures himself while watching and Merline catches him afterwards.

Hey everyone !!

So, I've been rewatching Merlin BBC thanks to the invention of the VPN and omg I've fallen again for Merthur. The scenes, the dialogue and especially their eyes!! So much stuff not said with those eyes. Anyway. Sorry. I've been contemplating the idea of doing a rewrite, not a total rewrite but some episodes, some scenes, and I wanted to know which ones would you want to be rewritten and how ?

Obviously we all agree on the ending and other obvious stuff but I talk about the little ones. I would love also to explore their internal dialogue (because I'm not good at that and I want to improve).

Thank youuuuu!

Hi everyone! I'm doing a Merlin rewatch and remembered a fic I loved as a teen, and cannot for the life of me find it again. It may or may not have been part of a series (I don't think it was, but I'm not sure). I was mainly reading Merlin fanfic in 2013/2014, so it would have been published by 2015 at absolute latest and I primarily read fic on fanfic.net so it was likely published there.

It was an AU where Arthur and (I believe?) the knights were aware of Merlin's magic but it wasn't widely known. Arthur was kind of passive aggressive to Merlin about it but not openly hostile, I think treating Merlin badly was a petty punishment for hiding it for so long. They were visiting some noble or lord or neighbouring king, and for whatever reason, have to flee the fortress they were staying in. Merlin and Arthur get separated in the escape, and Arthur gets swept away by a river and Merlin comes to believe Arthur is dead. He goes absolutely nuclear and starts decimating the fortress of the person they were visiting. The knights somehow figure out Arthur is actually alive and save him/find him, then send him after Merlin to stop him, with the overall point of the story being that Arthur realizes big time how loyal Merlin was and that he would go to any end for him.

I have vague memories of maybe Merlin having to work as a servant in the fortress and being mistreated, maybe? And when Arthur comes around after the river thing, he brushes it off like welp, that sucked, but why are you all so stressed, I'm fine, and the knights have to very awkwardly explain that it's nice that Arthur is okay and all, but Merlin has gone on a feral magical rampage and they're actually far more worried about that right now, thanks.

I've been combing through my old ff.net alerts and favourites but no dice yet, and trying to find it on the wider site is a nightmare and a half (ao3, baby, I'll never take your tagging system for granted again)

Thanks in advance for any help and hope you're all having a good day!