Concealed homosexuality in the Merlin series (A silly walk with Merlin, Arthur, and Freud)
Magic and dragons
In popular culture, dragons are often represented as ancient creatures, possessing (forgotten) wisdom that is unattainable to humans.
We can make a division between dragons as something primeval and pertaining to nature on one side, and men as civilization and civilized way of thinking. Human nature against cultural/social conditioning.
To function in modern society, we have learned either to suppress our nature, our instincts, or at least to express them in a sublimate way.
Following instincts without any restraint is dangerous, as it would bring havoc. Therefore, it’s forbidden. Something similar happens in the series, only there instincts (libido in particular), take the shape of magic.
In Merlin’s world, most dragons have been slain. The only surviving dragon is chained in a cave by Uther’s orders.
Uther here acts as the enforcer of social norms or in other words, he symbolizes the external force (parents, …) that instills the rules Arthur and Merlin internalize (Superego).
(I apologize for sometimes treating other characters from the series as part of Merlin’s psychological apparatus, and sometimes as normal characters. I hope it’s not confusing.)
Uther and magic
Uther (society) recognizes practicing magic (acting on impulses) as dangerous behavior, and consequently he tries to eradicate it. Magic (sexual impulses) are part of human nature, however, and regardless of how much Uther tries, he will never be able to eradicate it completely. The best he can do is to chain it.
We could say that Uther is exaggerating in his hunt against magic (sexual impulses), since he ignores its utility. To reach his peace of mind, he uses his destructive impulse (thanatos) to counter his sexual drive (eros).
Repression of Uther’s sexual desires is noticeable in case of Arthur’s conception. To have a son, Uther had to resort to magic. We could hypothesize that Uther was repressing his sexual desires because he thought they were ‘irregular,’ perhaps homosexual in their nature. The use of magic (exploring his need and desires freely) resulted in the (symbolic) death of his wife. Sexual interaction with a female is not even needed anymore after successful procreation.
However, Uther suspected that such behavior would probably not be accepted in society, and fueled by guilt toward his wife, he gave up on his desires and banned them from his consciousness (he banned magic from his kingdom). This allowed him to keep his public image as a ‘real man,’ but the discrepancy between his Id and his Superego made him a neurotic and paranoid person. He’s paranoid to the point where he’s afraid homosexuality is genetic and it might show up in his son as some kind of genetic disease. (Experiments on mice show how sexual orientation is linked to prenatal hormones in the fetus, possibly as the primary cause, but think how unlikely it is that Uther made researches on magic, I mean homosexuality.)
This might be the reason why he wants to keep Arthur’s conception hidden, especially from Arthur himself. (Sounds a bit the type of ‘bees and flowers’ story some parents are feeding to their children to avoid talking about sex.)
Since then, Uther lives a socially acceptable life through and for his son, Arthur. Arthur has to be the proper man, the proper king, tough and unrelenting.
While Uther is showing himself as the typical distant and repressive fatherly figure, he has at the same time channeled all his hopes and emotions on Arthur, almost as if afraid his faults would show in his son’s behavior. To avoid that, he had trained Arthur strictly from early childhood (‘trained to kill since birth’). Nevertheless, his strict education (military training, because military supposedly makes a real man out of a boy) has left his son emotionally impaired and unable to show affection sincerely. No wonder Arthur’s allowed to show only his masculine, aggressive side, while his love for others is expressed silently, with deeds, or through insults. It would be fun to borrow from Jung here and dwell on archetypes, especially how little Arthur’s in touch with his feminine side (Anima) or how he uses his public Persona to hide his vulnerability and protect his Ego. Or on the lack of the ‘Great mother’ (queen) in the series, but let’s go back to Uther for now. (Besides, Jung's archetypes in Merlin have already been covered wonderfully by mint_amaretto here.)
Nimueh is merely a part of Uther, repressed impulses (Nimueh is often seen acting from her cave - Uther’s subconscious) that erupt in destructive form. These eruptions, which occur outside Uther’s will and knowledge are usually masked, because Uther doesn’t wish to acknowledge their true nature. In fact, Nimueh either disguises herself or acts through third parties, for example by resuscitating Igraine’s brother as Uther’s guilt toward his wife.
I could go on and hypothesize how Nimueh represents the anger Uther secretly feels for giving up his desires, and that his beloved ones (Arthur) are at the same time the object of his hatred, because he repressed his lust for their benefit. We know Uther denies himself a mate, and Nimueh’s wish to hurt Merlin is Uther’s jealousy, his unwillingness to allow that privilege to his son. I’ve already mentioned that Uther lives his life through Arthur, and it’s only when Uther decides to fulfill his desires in a sublimate way (again through Arthur), Merlin as Arthur’s lover is finally able to kill Nimueh.
If Nimueh acts as Uther’s Id, the dragon acts as Merlin’s.
Merlin and the dragon
The depths of the dragon’s cave again represent the subconscious, where repressed instincts and desires (the dragon) dwell. When Merlin descends into the dark cave, that equals descending into his preconscious and communicating with his subconscious (more concretely one part of the subconscious - the Id).
Merlin starts hearing the dragon soon after he met Arthur (in the first episode - The dragon’s call). In other words, the encounter with Arthur compels him to search for his sexual identity. The very first time he hears the dragon’s call, Merlin is in the prison, in which he ended because of Arthur. Such a nice metaphor for Merlin’s inner turmoil.
Nevertheless, Merlin manages to reach the dragon only in the middle of the night, woken up from his sleep. We can interpret this as Merlin finally facing his subconscious desires in his dreams. Dreams, if we follow Freud’s (somewhat outdated) explanation, are always a fulfillment of desires. (Later Merlin is able to talk to the dragon also in the middle of the day, fully awake. This means with time he starts to accept his desires and is able to access his preconscious more easily.)
It’s interesting how Merlin had to trick Uther’s guards to get past them and reach the imprisoned dragon. We see this only for the first time, so we can assume later Merlin is not intimidated by Uther’s (society) rules as much anymore.
I said magic is a metaphor for sexual desires, possible homosexual desires in Uther’s case.
The overlapping of magic and homosexual libido is even clearer in Merlin’s case. Merlin hasn’t learned magic; he was born with it. It’s a vital part of himself - without magic, Merlin is nothing, as he told Gaius. Yet while Merlin was already accepting magic as a vital part of himself, even if with a few doubts (he wondered if he’s a monster), he wasn’t fully aware of what his magic actually is.
The dragons tells the truth behind that magic (instincts) and clearly states Merlin’s attraction for Arthur. By saying that Merlin and Arthur are one side of the same coin, the dragon expresses Merlin’s desires for Arthur as his sexual mate as well as the sexual union with him. (Doesn’t that ‘two sides of the same coin’ metaphor make you think lovingly of Plato?)
This unavoidable truth (Merlin’s sexual orientation and attraction to Arthur) is phrased as ‘destiny’ that Merlin cannot fight.
Merlin’s first reaction is denial. The dragon must be wrong. Id, however, doesn’t know about right or wrong (that’s the prerogative of ‘higher planes’), only about needs and the urge to fulfill them as soon as possible. Coincidentally, the dragon insists that there’s no right or wrong, only what is and what isn’t.
For Merlin, finding out what there is and what isn’t still poses some difficulty. Merlin often says he does not understand what the dragon wants him to do, and other times he thinks the dragon demands from him things that are wrong/unethical.
I could say there seem to be several communication problems between Merlin and the dragon, much in the same way messages from the subconscious come distorted into the ‘conscious part’ of the psyche.
We know the dragon’s intent is to be released, to be free, and that he cares of little else, just like instincts don’t care for any moral precept.
Later in the series (episode twelve, To kill the king), the dragon tries to persuade Merlin to kill Uther (all right, to let others kill him) and remove the oppression, but in the end Gaius and Gwen (acting as Superego) convince Merlin otherwise. It’s a nice example of the Ego being torn between the Id and the Superego.
The negative effects of following the instinctive impulses without restraints show again during the last episode of the series (Le morte d’Arthur), where Merlin listens to the dragon and seeks Nimueh’s help in order to save Arthur’s life. He thinks he bargained his own life in return, but as it turns out, he sacrificed his mother’s life instead.
Note again how magic, the old religion, doesn’t care about who lives or dies, doesn’t care about morality. The only important thing is that ‘the balance is restored’, or in other words, that the needs/desires are fulfilled.
Merlin is confronted with the ‘animal’ part of himself: he realizes the dragon knew his mother would die. He is shocked and disappointed, since he considered the dragon a friend, a good counselor.
The dragon’s reply to that is how Merlin and the dragon are more than friends; they are kin. They are the same person, we could say.
Merlin, however, cannot accept the part of himself that is willing to sacrifice his mother in order to save his own life and the life of his (sexual) mate. Therefore, he decides to keep the dragon chained forever and deny it a proper life; he decides to ignore instincts completely.
Instead, Merlin decides to follow Gaius’s example. By wanting to altruistically sacrifice himself, Gaius again acts as Merlin’s Superego; a benign side of the fatherly figure (as opposed to the negative aspect of the father that Uther represents). Note that Merlin’s real father is completely absent from the series, and we know very little of him. We have only the surrogate father(s).
The difference between Merlin’s and Arthur’s attitude toward their feminine side (which is more clearly expressed in Merlin that it is in Arthur), is conditioned by their parents. Symbolically, Arthur’s mother is missing, and the oppressive father is dominating. On Merlin’s side, the father is missing, and the (permissive?) mother is the one who affected Merlin most. Diametrically opposite just like Arthur’s and Merlin’s character.
What Merlin and Arthur have in common is that they’re both forced to hide their true selves (Merlin hides his sexual orientation by hiding magic. Arthur, who is ‘magical’ by conception yet unaware of it, hides his feminine side because under his father’s influence, he subconsciously associates it with homosexuality.)
Another instance where the dragon is the sexual force that drives Merlin toward Arthur is in episode nine (Excalibur). Merlin prepares a sword for Arthur, a magnificent sword, imbued with the power of dragon’s fire. Swords are often seen as symbols of masculinity, or phallic symbols, if you wish. We could interpret that as Merlin’s readiness to be sexually united with the object of his desires (to penetrate Arthur). (If you want to see the sword as Arthur’s masculinity, then we can interpret this instance as Merlin’s desire for Arthur’s phallus. How Freud’s idea that men are afraid to lose their phallus to other men fits this situation, I’m really not sure. ;))
As we know, in the end it’s Uther who wields the sword and not Arthur in this episode, meaning that Uther suppresses both Merlin’s and Arthur’s sexuality. On one side, Arthur is locked in his room - he has even been drugged in order to be kept ‘safe’ and ignorant of his true nature (that he is in a way a magical creature).
On the other side, Merlin’s feelings and desires toward Arthur have been intercepted by Uther. It would be easy to interpret this as Uther abusing Merlin’s sexuality, but that thought honestly gives me the creeps. I prefer thinking that by confronting Uther (the demands of the society) Merlin realizes he must be more careful not to reveal true sexual inclination, since it could be abused. Despite being angry deep inside (the dragon is furious), he sees that for now it’s safer to throw the sword in the lake. By that, Merlin suppresses his needs and postpones the desired sexual act. Water and the bottom of the lake are only a metaphor for subconscious.
Therefore, the sword at the bottom of the lake represents Merlin’s and Arthur’s (homo)sexuality that is yet to be fully awaken.
EDIT: I've just realized that I've missed my chance to dwell on the connection between magic and (deviant) sexual practices throughout human history. From the osculum inafme (kissing of donkey's anuses and kissing the Devil's anus) to witches who were supposedly inserting hallucinogenous mushrooms into their vaginas, and all other things that were comprimed in the perversion of the Medieval mind. And that's speaking of the Middle Ages alone...
Anyway, I think the association magic=instincts (libido) is valid plausible even without that.