Merlin is so silly and so light, bright and improbable--I don't mean the show, with its obvious flaws, but the idea within the show--these young careless people who love each other without realizing it, and know so little
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It can be curiously heartbreaking to consider what lies ahead.
LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU.
On a more serious note, the things that Merlin makes me think about, and perhaps the one of the main reasons that I love it to itty bitty pieces (some of the others being the awesome Merlin/Arthur Gwen/Morgana and the fact that I am OBSESSED with Bradley James) is that we know, but we don't know what's going to happen.
Like, what you said above, with the traditional endings from Arthurian myth, *might not happen*. Or at least happen differently. When we start out with the premise that we've been given, Uther alive, Merlin and Arthur the same age, Gwen as a servant, it's fascinating to see how closely they're going to hew to tradition and what they're going to change. It definitely keeps me on my toes.
...I might have at one point written a giant post about this. It's dangerous to get me started. I'll just shut up now.
the traditional endings from Arthurian myth, *might not happen*. Or at least happen differently.
You make an excellent point, one that I feel massively conflicted about. It would be so lovely to have them find a happier ending (and, god, when I think of Merlin waiting for Arthur to return as centuries slip by I start fumbling around for a fix-it). But whatever twists they put on the basic Arthur cycle, I'm not sure I'd be entirely satisfied with them simply growing old together in a stable peaceful kingdom. Doesn't Camelot have to fail? Can anything so idealized exist as more than a flash, a brief unsustainable florescence, and still be an ideal?
And the series does include Mordred in a fairly ominous way--though of course everything the dragon said we can now take with a grain of salt.
But, on a more basic level, maybe it's like the choice of Achilles, the hero's dilemma: to live a long, contented but more ordinary life or to die young striving for something higher, more glorious. And I love them both so much as heroes. So
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and, god, when I think of Merlin waiting for Arthur to return as centuries slip by I start fumbling around for a fix-itWell yes, that's a large part of it. Like I really really enjoy watching beloved characters suffer (as is massively evidenced whenever I write something) but at the end everything needs to be ALL RIGHT. Like the situation above is basically UNCOOL
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They've given us the chemicals, all we need now is to wait for them to go boom.
Yes! I love Red, it's an amazing look at Arthur, the burning too bright quality he has but with Merlin saving him in the end, them breaking the surface together. You are so, so right: this is the Best of All Possible Worlds.
And yet the other vid I always think of is Unsteady Ground, the fault lines already forming under their feet, all they now have becoming like a bright reflection floating on the surface of deep dark waters, full of sightless currents and sharp fatal undertows
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LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU.
On a more serious note, the things that Merlin makes me think about, and perhaps the one of the main reasons that I love it to itty bitty pieces (some of the others being the awesome Merlin/Arthur Gwen/Morgana and the fact that I am OBSESSED with Bradley James) is that we know, but we don't know what's going to happen.
Like, what you said above, with the traditional endings from Arthurian myth, *might not happen*. Or at least happen differently. When we start out with the premise that we've been given, Uther alive, Merlin and Arthur the same age, Gwen as a servant, it's fascinating to see how closely they're going to hew to tradition and what they're going to change. It definitely keeps me on my toes.
...I might have at one point written a giant post about this. It's dangerous to get me started. I'll just shut up now.
Reply
You make an excellent point, one that I feel massively conflicted about. It would be so lovely to have them find a happier ending (and, god, when I think of Merlin waiting for Arthur to return as centuries slip by I start fumbling around for a fix-it). But whatever twists they put on the basic Arthur cycle, I'm not sure I'd be entirely satisfied with them simply growing old together in a stable peaceful kingdom. Doesn't Camelot have to fail? Can anything so idealized exist as more than a flash, a brief unsustainable florescence, and still be an ideal?
And the series does include Mordred in a fairly ominous way--though of course everything the dragon said we can now take with a grain of salt.
But, on a more basic level, maybe it's like the choice of Achilles, the hero's dilemma: to live a long, contented but more ordinary life or to die young striving for something higher, more glorious. And I love them both so much as heroes. So ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Yes! I love Red, it's an amazing look at Arthur, the burning too bright quality he has but with Merlin saving him in the end, them breaking the surface together. You are so, so right: this is the Best of All Possible Worlds.
And yet the other vid I always think of is Unsteady Ground, the fault lines already forming under their feet, all they now have becoming like a bright reflection floating on the surface of deep dark waters, full of sightless currents and sharp fatal undertows ( ... )
Reply
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