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I was going to put this under friends lock since I've had... incidences where people didn't respect my request for no show bashing. But I decided against it, for now.
Please, for the love of everything and the sake of my sanity, no show bashing, character bashing or anti-squee. I get that you're not happy with the show but this post is not the place to vent your frustrations. It is a discussion post, not an anti-squee post. I am happy with the show and don't want it being dissed. If all I get are a bunch of anti-show sentiments then I will be posting this under friends lock. I don't mean to make threats but I'm getting tired of my requests for no anti-squee being ignored.
That said, on to the discussion.
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Merlin needs to reveal his magic so why hasn't he done it!
Well, I think Merlin has plenty of reasons for not having revealed his magic, yet. Reasons that, in my opinion, are pretty dang justified. Number one, it's probably a safe bet that Hunith, fearing for her son's life, indoctrinated quite a bit of that same fear into Merlin over using his magic in public, and she had probably started doing so even before he could talk. It was a secret that was a matter of life and death for him, and Hunith made sure he knew it. He grew up having the need for secrecy or else hammered into his head and that's not something he'd going to be able to let go of so easily.
But Merlin didn't even live in Camelot.
No, he didn't, but that didn't mean Camelot was the only place where people feared magic. It's also my theory that, being in Cenred's kingdom (or whoever the king was at the time), Hunith also feared Merlin being discovered and taken to be used by the king in the king's name, which wouldn't have been any better.
But Merlin uses his magic all the time.
Well, yeah, he would, because it's magic and it's awesome, and he has no idea why he has it so he's going to use it when and how he can. But we've seen first hand how good he is at not getting caught. Of all the people living in Ealdor, only his friend Will knew about his magic. So despite the fact that Merlin does seem, and sometimes is, rather reckless with his magic, I do get the feeling that he mostly maintains a good balance of hiding his magic while still being able to use it.
On to number two. Uther, which I think is enough said. And even had Arthur been accepting of Merlin, yeah, I don't think Merlin wanted to burden Arthur with having to choose between Merlin and his father. But now that Uther is dead, what's holding Merlin back? Not knowing how Arthur is going to react, I say. Maybe Arthur will be accepting, but maybe he won't. Maybe he does have Merlin executed, or locked in the dungeons, or banished, putting Merlin in a position where he won't be able to protect Arthur and Albion, and magic's return can't happen. But more than that, I do think Merlin's biggest fear is being rejected by his friend. Which is not a matter of Merlin not trusting or not having faith Arthur. As much as we would like to say we trust someone completely, the thing is we're all still human and we make mistakes. Arthur may be showing a little more kindness toward magic users when compared to his father but Merlin has been keeping this major secret from Arthur for many years, and magic or no magic, the fact that it was such a huge secret alone might be what upsets Arthur more rather than the magic itself. We have no idea how Arthur will react. Merlin has no idea how Arthur will react. So it's just easier for him to keep it a secret rather than to risk so much simply on the hope that it all works out.
Also I'd like to note that I really hate it when people refer to Merlin's secret as him betraying Arthur, because it's not a betrayal. He's not keeping this secret against Arthur, he's keeping his secret just as much for Arthur as for himself. Yes, it means breaking the law, but it's not Arthur's law, it's Uther's law. I do think Arthur will feel like he's been betrayed when Merlin does tell his secret, but it definitely doesn't mean that Arthur has been betrayed, because everything Merlin did was for Arthur. So to call it a betreyal just... doesn't really sit right with me.
If only Merlin had told Morgana that he had magic, then everything would be all right.
You see, I... don't really believe this would have been the case. I think things would have been fine and dandy for a while, but the deal with Morgana is that she's a bit of a hot-head and has always been a bit of a hot-head. She is a Pendragon, after all, and a rebellious one at that. Those times when she had shown kindness – convincing Arthur to save Merlin from the poison, going to help Ealdor, helping the Druid boy, getting Arthur to save Gwen – was always in direct conflict with anything Uther had to say or anything he believed. I'm not saying Morgana wasn't kind and caring, more like she was twice as motivated to be kind and caring whenever Uther said no. Morgana didn't approve of Uther, his methods and his beliefs and she never hid that opinion.
So imagine that Merlin told her he believed she had magic, and told her that he had magic. So they're one big happy family of magic users, so to speak. But then Uther's killing more magic users and Druids left and right or accusing people of witch craft. Morgana wants to do something about it to help their kind. Merlin and Gaius preach patience and caution but Morgana, she's a bit of a hot-head as I said. She wants to do something now. She gets angrier and angrier as these injustices mount, not only angry at Uther but at Merlin as well for not doing something about it. In her attempt to do something about it she does a lot of reckless things, putting Merlin in a position to have to cover for her while still having to cover for himself - clean up both their messes, so to speak, only I think Morgana's would be the bigger mess since her anger would make her a lot less cautious (you're never at your brightest when angry, after all). Enter Morgause, because she still would have shown up. Morgause is still a bad influence on Morgana, still spirits her away and talks her into joining the dark side. So now not only do we have a homicidal Morgana, we have a homicidal Morgana who knows all about Merlin's secret, and heck yeah she's going to use it against him.
So, yeah, I don't really buy into Merlin having been open with Morgana as a fix-it. If anything I think it would have made matters worse. Just my opinion, though.
Kilgarrah is manipulating Merlin by giving him bad advice.
My thoughts on this aren't so much that Kilgarrah is being manipulative. My general impression of Kilgarrah – and perhaps it's the same for all dragon kind, I don't know – is that he's very black and white in his thinking. His solution to a problem isn't going to be to talk matters through (considering the last time he tried to be diplomatic he wound up chained in a cave), his solution is going to be to get rid of the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible. In other words, if it's getting in the way of destiny, kill it. Had Kilgarrah been in Merlin's shoes you know he wouldn't have hesitated to dispose of Morgana and Mordred in a heartbeat. For Kilgarrah, death is the simplest solution, and so that's the advice he gives.
But Merlin isn't like that so of course he's going to balk at Kilgarrah's solutions, and either try to find another way or just not listen. I'm pretty sure that when Kilgarrah tells Merlin he must dispose of the threat, it's under the belief that Merlin will do just that – dispose of the threat. Maybe a knife to the back or a magical accident and it's done. To Kilagarrah, the solutions are simple, and he doesn't understand why Merlin has to make things so difficult. He doesn't get, and probably doesn't really care, what it would do to Merlin. As long as it means reaching the goal of freed magic, then who cares?
So it's not that Kilgarrah is manipulative. More that he's... just cold-blooded ;)
When is the reveal going to happen?
I'm thinking the writers are either going to save it for the season finale or have it happen sometime during the final season. Either way, whenever they have it, I figure it's going to be a “save the best for last” kind of deal. Rumor has it that there hasn't yet been a decision on whether or not there will be a season six, so if that's the case, the way I figure it, we might get the reveal in season five, and if they do have a season six then it will be centered on that reveal. Unless they do some quick episode rewrites, I don't know. But I kind of get the feeling that the reveal is something that they're going to keep under tight wraps. That is, it's a spoiler we're never going to know about because they want it to be a big surprise. But we've had a lot of reveal close calls this season, plus we're seeing Arthur confront magic a lot more. I'm also starting to wonder, like many, if perhaps Arthur suspects that Merlin has magic, and the reason he hasn't confronted Merlin about it is because it's only a suspicion and Arthur wants concrete proof before finally asking Merlin about it. And maybe it's because he suspects Merlin of having magic that he's starting to soften up toward magic, because he realizes that if Merlin were evil he would have had all this time to do something against Arthur and he hasn't. Instead, Arthur has been blessed with nothing but a lot of luck with really awesome timing. Also like Merlin, it may be a secret Arthur fears, because once he knows for sure then it's going to change everything, and I think he's just as wary of that change as Merlin.
Now... discuss! Agree? Disagree? Have your own theories?
Please, for the love of everything and the sake of my sanity, no show bashing, character bashing or anti-squee. I get that you're not happy with the show but this post is not the place to vent your frustrations. It is a discussion post, not an anti-squee post. I am happy with the show and don't want it being dissed. If all I get are a bunch of anti-show sentiments then I will be posting this under friends lock. I don't mean to make threats but I'm getting tired of my requests for no anti-squee being ignored.
That said, on to the discussion.
----------------------
Merlin needs to reveal his magic so why hasn't he done it!
Well, I think Merlin has plenty of reasons for not having revealed his magic, yet. Reasons that, in my opinion, are pretty dang justified. Number one, it's probably a safe bet that Hunith, fearing for her son's life, indoctrinated quite a bit of that same fear into Merlin over using his magic in public, and she had probably started doing so even before he could talk. It was a secret that was a matter of life and death for him, and Hunith made sure he knew it. He grew up having the need for secrecy or else hammered into his head and that's not something he'd going to be able to let go of so easily.
But Merlin didn't even live in Camelot.
No, he didn't, but that didn't mean Camelot was the only place where people feared magic. It's also my theory that, being in Cenred's kingdom (or whoever the king was at the time), Hunith also feared Merlin being discovered and taken to be used by the king in the king's name, which wouldn't have been any better.
But Merlin uses his magic all the time.
Well, yeah, he would, because it's magic and it's awesome, and he has no idea why he has it so he's going to use it when and how he can. But we've seen first hand how good he is at not getting caught. Of all the people living in Ealdor, only his friend Will knew about his magic. So despite the fact that Merlin does seem, and sometimes is, rather reckless with his magic, I do get the feeling that he mostly maintains a good balance of hiding his magic while still being able to use it.
On to number two. Uther, which I think is enough said. And even had Arthur been accepting of Merlin, yeah, I don't think Merlin wanted to burden Arthur with having to choose between Merlin and his father. But now that Uther is dead, what's holding Merlin back? Not knowing how Arthur is going to react, I say. Maybe Arthur will be accepting, but maybe he won't. Maybe he does have Merlin executed, or locked in the dungeons, or banished, putting Merlin in a position where he won't be able to protect Arthur and Albion, and magic's return can't happen. But more than that, I do think Merlin's biggest fear is being rejected by his friend. Which is not a matter of Merlin not trusting or not having faith Arthur. As much as we would like to say we trust someone completely, the thing is we're all still human and we make mistakes. Arthur may be showing a little more kindness toward magic users when compared to his father but Merlin has been keeping this major secret from Arthur for many years, and magic or no magic, the fact that it was such a huge secret alone might be what upsets Arthur more rather than the magic itself. We have no idea how Arthur will react. Merlin has no idea how Arthur will react. So it's just easier for him to keep it a secret rather than to risk so much simply on the hope that it all works out.
Also I'd like to note that I really hate it when people refer to Merlin's secret as him betraying Arthur, because it's not a betrayal. He's not keeping this secret against Arthur, he's keeping his secret just as much for Arthur as for himself. Yes, it means breaking the law, but it's not Arthur's law, it's Uther's law. I do think Arthur will feel like he's been betrayed when Merlin does tell his secret, but it definitely doesn't mean that Arthur has been betrayed, because everything Merlin did was for Arthur. So to call it a betreyal just... doesn't really sit right with me.
If only Merlin had told Morgana that he had magic, then everything would be all right.
You see, I... don't really believe this would have been the case. I think things would have been fine and dandy for a while, but the deal with Morgana is that she's a bit of a hot-head and has always been a bit of a hot-head. She is a Pendragon, after all, and a rebellious one at that. Those times when she had shown kindness – convincing Arthur to save Merlin from the poison, going to help Ealdor, helping the Druid boy, getting Arthur to save Gwen – was always in direct conflict with anything Uther had to say or anything he believed. I'm not saying Morgana wasn't kind and caring, more like she was twice as motivated to be kind and caring whenever Uther said no. Morgana didn't approve of Uther, his methods and his beliefs and she never hid that opinion.
So imagine that Merlin told her he believed she had magic, and told her that he had magic. So they're one big happy family of magic users, so to speak. But then Uther's killing more magic users and Druids left and right or accusing people of witch craft. Morgana wants to do something about it to help their kind. Merlin and Gaius preach patience and caution but Morgana, she's a bit of a hot-head as I said. She wants to do something now. She gets angrier and angrier as these injustices mount, not only angry at Uther but at Merlin as well for not doing something about it. In her attempt to do something about it she does a lot of reckless things, putting Merlin in a position to have to cover for her while still having to cover for himself - clean up both their messes, so to speak, only I think Morgana's would be the bigger mess since her anger would make her a lot less cautious (you're never at your brightest when angry, after all). Enter Morgause, because she still would have shown up. Morgause is still a bad influence on Morgana, still spirits her away and talks her into joining the dark side. So now not only do we have a homicidal Morgana, we have a homicidal Morgana who knows all about Merlin's secret, and heck yeah she's going to use it against him.
So, yeah, I don't really buy into Merlin having been open with Morgana as a fix-it. If anything I think it would have made matters worse. Just my opinion, though.
Kilgarrah is manipulating Merlin by giving him bad advice.
My thoughts on this aren't so much that Kilgarrah is being manipulative. My general impression of Kilgarrah – and perhaps it's the same for all dragon kind, I don't know – is that he's very black and white in his thinking. His solution to a problem isn't going to be to talk matters through (considering the last time he tried to be diplomatic he wound up chained in a cave), his solution is going to be to get rid of the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible. In other words, if it's getting in the way of destiny, kill it. Had Kilgarrah been in Merlin's shoes you know he wouldn't have hesitated to dispose of Morgana and Mordred in a heartbeat. For Kilgarrah, death is the simplest solution, and so that's the advice he gives.
But Merlin isn't like that so of course he's going to balk at Kilgarrah's solutions, and either try to find another way or just not listen. I'm pretty sure that when Kilgarrah tells Merlin he must dispose of the threat, it's under the belief that Merlin will do just that – dispose of the threat. Maybe a knife to the back or a magical accident and it's done. To Kilagarrah, the solutions are simple, and he doesn't understand why Merlin has to make things so difficult. He doesn't get, and probably doesn't really care, what it would do to Merlin. As long as it means reaching the goal of freed magic, then who cares?
So it's not that Kilgarrah is manipulative. More that he's... just cold-blooded ;)
When is the reveal going to happen?
I'm thinking the writers are either going to save it for the season finale or have it happen sometime during the final season. Either way, whenever they have it, I figure it's going to be a “save the best for last” kind of deal. Rumor has it that there hasn't yet been a decision on whether or not there will be a season six, so if that's the case, the way I figure it, we might get the reveal in season five, and if they do have a season six then it will be centered on that reveal. Unless they do some quick episode rewrites, I don't know. But I kind of get the feeling that the reveal is something that they're going to keep under tight wraps. That is, it's a spoiler we're never going to know about because they want it to be a big surprise. But we've had a lot of reveal close calls this season, plus we're seeing Arthur confront magic a lot more. I'm also starting to wonder, like many, if perhaps Arthur suspects that Merlin has magic, and the reason he hasn't confronted Merlin about it is because it's only a suspicion and Arthur wants concrete proof before finally asking Merlin about it. And maybe it's because he suspects Merlin of having magic that he's starting to soften up toward magic, because he realizes that if Merlin were evil he would have had all this time to do something against Arthur and he hasn't. Instead, Arthur has been blessed with nothing but a lot of luck with really awesome timing. Also like Merlin, it may be a secret Arthur fears, because once he knows for sure then it's going to change everything, and I think he's just as wary of that change as Merlin.
Now... discuss! Agree? Disagree? Have your own theories?
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Date: 2012-11-25 05:21 pm (UTC)From:no subject
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Date: 2012-11-26 07:08 pm (UTC)From:I really hope they at least do the movies, as that would be interesting.