PS When I say Morgana takes the brunt of the flak because of her philosophical differences with Merlin, I’m talking about on a textual level and the audience response to that level. Ie, there are a bunch of aspects in the show that insist that Merlin is being moral while Morgana is being evil, and most of the responses to their respective actions have reinforced this. Merlin and Gaius both believe Merlin’s way to the the morally superior one and one can only assumed the rest of the characters would agree if they were informed. On the other hand, everyone but Morgana herself believes that she’s evil. Refutation of this in fandom, if any, is so sparse as to be negligible.

But on a meta-level, I’m sure it’s about 95% misogyny, not because of a desire to be consistent with the metaphor. Morgana’s storyline is atrophied compared to Merlin’s, which makes any justification or explanation of her behavior impossible. Why is it atrophied? Because she’s a woman and her story isn’t as important as the men’s. Even with the tiny amount of screen time, her actions could be cast in a much more favorable light through other characters’ support, a more sympathetic characterization of Morgana herself, etc. The dichotomy of good!Merlin and evil!Morgana is unnecessary; it’s the easier path, though, and the lack of any need to be fair to female characters is both apparent and what makes it acceptable for her to be shown to be ~objectively evil~.

I think I discovered today why Merlin’s moralizing behavior with respect to Uther and Morgana bothered me so much.

Merlin and Morgana are both born with inherent magic, which Uther has arbitrated is Wrong because he is ignorant and vengeful. Uther’s word is law, so magic is illegal. Merlin and Morgana both could be shunned, banished, or killed if they disclosed their secret or if it were found out. This leaves them feeling isolated and unsafe.

Morgana takes the only path she sees available to her: she joins with her sister and fellow magic-user, Morgause. She lashes out at the power structure that is persecuting her and she is willing to fight for her freedom. She is willing to kill Uther because Uther would have no trouble killing her, and has killed countless of her kin in the past.

Merlin, on the other hand, takes what he sees to the morally superior way, deciding to wait and ingratiate himself within the existing hierarchy. If he shows Arthur that magic users aren’t evil, maybe Arthur will change his mind and help Merlin out. This way is much better, Morgana, says Merlin, because no one has to be hurt.

Do I even need to say it at this point? METAPHOR FOR QUEERNESS. I’m not saying it was intended that way, but it’s crystal fucking clear.

Uther represents tradition and the oppressor, Arthur the open-minded successor who might be convinced to bury the hatchet. Morgana is the angry rad-queer who can see the system built to fuck her over but knows she can’t change it by herself, or maybe at all—not that this’ll stop her from fighting. And Merlin’s the cis gay white boy who says everything will Get Better if we show them that We’re All the Same Inside, who says that his way is the only way.

No one can say for sure which way is better, but the latter is most definitely nicer to the oppressors than the former. And just as in the queer rights movement, Morgana takes the brunt of the flak.

I keep hearing this noise that sounds exactly like the sword “schwing!” that plays in Merlin after commercial breaks. I can’t tell if one of my neighbors is actually watching Merlin or if I’m hearing something else and imagining the similarities.

So I watched four seasons of Merlin in less than two weeks. Whoops. Anyway, now I need fic. Recs/links/communities, anyone?

oh god someone please tell me there is a gif of the moment in s04e12 where arthur walks out with no pants on, grabs merlin by the shoulders, and spins him around

“first casualty is the black dude” trope

good job, merlin

well done

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series one: gwen’s a servant she probably wouldn’t have her boobs out all the time

series two-present: lol fuck that get all the low-cut dresses and tight waists gwen should have more cleavage don’t you think

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I like that they changed “young boy” to “young man” in the opening sequence for season 4. While Merlin was both young and a boy, he was not a young boy.