Merlin Meta. (Mirrors and Circles.) Spoilers for 5.11

[elisi]

So... I have never written meta for this show before. Haven't seen most of it, to be honest. Yet there are CIRCLES and MIRRORS and I can't not do this. As I have no idea where the Merlin fandom hangs out, please link to this post & spread the word? *has no clue what kind of meta Merlin fen are into*

Also I might just have something for things that are doomed. Like Romeo & Juliet. Or Watchmen. There's a stark beauty to it.

I shall begin with the circles. Because this leapt out at me to such a degree that there is no way it wasn't intentional. The very first scene of the show - and the final one of the latest episode [more or less]. Everything is the same/everything has changed...







Circles
- It begins and ends with the execution of a sorcerer. A sorcerer beloved by someone whose fury and grief cannot be contained. And the king watches.

- Arthur might be pensive, but he still followed the rules laid down by his father.

The differences are interesting, though.

- Merlin, in that first scene, is an onlooker, one of the crowd, shocked and saddened. But in the latter he is watching from the castle, the king's servant/adviser, someone who has tried to change the king's mind... and failed.

- Morgana has gone from someone on the sidelines, a spectator, to the king's powerful enemy.

- Mordred, of course, didn't appear in that first episode, but I used him as he is what everything turns around. He is the symbol; the physical manifestation; the avatar of magic. Mordred has crossed back and forth, has held many roles. He has been outlaw, prisoner, the loyal soldier on both sides. Mordred is the king's judge, far more so than the Disir. Mordred is Magic. He (appropriately) first turns up in the episode 'The Beginning of the End', which involved the execution of the druid Mordred was apprenticed to in that very same square (see - all the circles!). Again, Mordred knowing that the execution is going on, sequestered away, screaming/breaking things as it happens. But Mordred isn't a victim - Mordred grows, and Mordred learns, and Mordred will use deadly force is necessary. (The cap of little!Mordred is from when he has just killed the two Knights using magic to throw the spears, and then looks up at Merlin telepathically saying: "I shall never forgive this, Emrys, and I shall never forget.") Yet he doesn't turn evil like Morgana - he appreciates love, honour, respect. He can see Arthur's good qualities, but it's not enough... Because Arthur is too much like his father (I know he ends up helping. But - it's a sign of things to come):

Morgana: I can't believe you'd let an innocent child die!
Arthur: It's too late! He's been caught. I have no choice.
Morgana: And this is how you will rule when you are king! You're not like your father . . .
The Beginning of the End

And thus, it has always been too late. (Yes, that's a Watchmen quote.)

The following is promethia_tenk's, but I wanted to use it:

Also noticing that there was a season one episode called The Gates of Avalon in which some nasty fairies attempted to sacrifice Arthur in order to regain an immortal life in Avalon. They were going to feed his soul to the elders of Avalon, which involved him drowning in the lake (do they ever give the lake a name?). Anyway, this will have a nice symmetry if they choose to follow the stories that have it that Arthur was taken to Avalon after his death, so that he might return when he is needed. It's like . . . Arthur was always meant for the lake. And I'm sure one could do something too with the fact that Morgana foresaw Arthur's drowning and tried to prevent it and that Merlin was actually the one to pull Arthur out of the lake. Which fits nicely with the idea that Arthur was a product of magic and thus will need to be "returned"--which is why he must be doomed. And since Arthur, the circumstances of his birth, and Uther's reaction to it are the seed around which this whole complex grew, it makes a certain amount of poetic sense that he must be the key to undoing it as well.

Mirrors
So, here's where I defend this season's Gwen storyline. Turning her 'evil' wasn't pointless at all - it was there to serve as a very potent mirror. The only way of getting her to that point was to use 'brute force' as it were (meaning the way Morgana took over her mind), but it was necessary, I think, because it showed the lengths Arthur was willing to go to in order to save her: He broke his own decrees, to the point of using magic to get her back. And Mordred witnessed it!

And so we get Gwen's mirror: Kara. Except Kara isn't a brainwashed puppet. Kara knows who and what she is, and refuses to take the way out she is given. Oh, she's ready to kill, and has obviously been influenced by Morgana, but she tells Arthur in no uncertain terms exactly where he is at. (Arthur: "I have no quarrels with the druids"/Kara: "I've been on the run my whole life.")

In one of the early episodes of the season, Arthur worries about people not understanding him, and Gwen comforts him, saying that they simply don't know him the way she does - if they did, they would love him too. But Mordred knows Arthur at his best - and then discovers that when push comes to shove, it's one rule for Arthur, and another for him/ordinary people. And Arthur doesn't even see the problem ("Knew he'd come round").

Incidentally I love Merlin's 'And what about the bond between knights?", because damn, Arthur is seriously letting him down too. Not just in how Arthur is creating his own downfall, but in being insensitive and oblivious and following rules without thinking. Either Merlin has been failing in his task - or Arthur isn't listening.

Kara's other mirror is Merlin. They're on opposite sides of the war, both of them devoted to their cause, and we see their battle played out in Mordred. Except they use very different tactics. Merlin uses subterfuge, cunning, lies (as he always has). Kara was cunning and deadly, but she also refused to back down from who she was, being ready to pay with her life.

To paraphrase Heroes: 'Win the druid boy, win the war.'

I think we all know the outcome...

Comments

[kathyh]

it's one rule for Arthur, and another for him/ordinary people.

But for Arthur Kara's actions aren't about magic at all. He explicitly says so. It's her *deeds* that have condemned her. She attempted to kill him, had been responsible for the deaths of Camelot knights and killed a guard. Arthur believes in the *law* and Kara had broken it. Now you could say he could change the anti-magic laws, but he has seen no reason why he should as most of the threats to Camelot come from magic users and Merlin has actually done nothing to persuade him that magic is benevolent.

I don't think "Merlin" circles so much as spirals. Things change and twist as the characters get older, though I do agree that Arthur has been doomed by his father's actions in bringing about his own birth.

[elisi]

But for Arthur Kara's actions aren't about magic at all. He explicitly says so. It's her *deeds* that have condemned her.
Oh yes. But Kara makes it about her magic. She refuses to separate the two, even though she is given the opportunity time and again. Her crimes, to her, are linked directly to her fight for freedom - like a terrorist, I suppose. She believes her actions are justified because of the cause she is fighting for. (ETA: Or rather, the way she sees it, she has been driven to these actions by the way society has made it impossible for her to be herself without living in fear.) She's like... a Palestinian suicide bomber, or a member of the ANC. Arthur focusses on the crimes she's committed, she talks about the *reason* behind them. Which means they're talking past each other, to a certain extent.

As for the anti-magic laws... Well. I can certainly see why he upholds them, and Merlin has failed there. But he is also exhibiting a good deal of double think, and will use magic himself if necessary - whilst upholding a law that kills people for the same thing.

I don't think "Merlin" circles so much as spirals.
Yes, this is a good point.

(OK, am going to go have my tea now. LOOOOOOONG day, and I am famished.)