ilpromenade application
PLAYER
✧ NAME: Koke
✧ LJ USERNAME: kokanshu
✧ CONTACT (EMAIL, AIM, MSN, PLURK, ETC.): email: kokanshu@gmail.com; aim: galahadfalling; msn: kokanshu@gmail.com; plurk: amaurosis
✧ CURRENT MUSE LIST: dirt_heart & limu_o_pele
CHARACTER
✧ NAME: Merlin
✧ SERIES: Camelot (2011)
✧ HISTORY: This is really the best I can find for the story told in the show, but it misses a lot out. So I've written a history below. This focusses on Merlin and is still missing some plotlines.
Very little is known about Merlin before the series. His age is unknown - stated once to have "not aged a day" in twenty years. It's implied he was the one who put the Sword of Mars in the waterfall, which had been there 'for centuries' (since before the Roman invasion). When asked directly about his age, Merlin doesn't deny these facts, but implies the people in question are compromised mentally - "Your memory's playing tricks" and "You've had a bump to the head".
He states that he once had a family, but that they're gone now. It's not clear whether this means relatives or a wife and children, and while the implications are that they probably met a violent end, it's never stated. He seems to feel a great amount of guilt for this, and they're an incredibly touchy subject.
Long before the series, Uther summoned him to work some sorcery on him. Uther was obsessed with Igraine, who was at the time married to the Duke of Cornwall, but Uther was unable to defeat Cornwall's armies. Merlin disguised Uther as Cornwall, allowing him to enter Cornwall's castle and sleep with Igraine.
Uther's armies defeated Cornwall that night, and Uther married Igraine. However, Merlin's stipulation for the sorcery he'd performed on Uther was that he would be given the child conceived from the union. When Arthur was born, Merlin took him from Igraine and hid him away with Ector and his wife, to be raised as their own.
While it's stated by Morgan that Merlin worked for Uther - closely enough to have a room in Castle Pendragon - Igraine hadn't seen him since the day he took Arthur. Therefore it's my assumption he worked for Uther up to the point of arranging the tryst with Igraine, and did not return after he'd situated Arthur.
After marrying Igraine, Uther sends Morgan to a nunnery 'across the sea'. Morgan views this as banishment, blames Igraine for it, and spends her years in the nunnery fostering a bitterness towards both of them that's only further encouraged by the nunnery's occult practices and teachings.
At the beginning of the series, Morgan returns home and confronts her father. After being slapped and sent away again, Morgan returns in the evening, disguised as her younger self, and poisons Uther in secret. Merlin runs to be at Uther's bedside, but doesn't make it in time to save the king. He has Uther sign something, takes his ring, and leaves. Morgan, as sole (known) heir, takes over Castle Pendragon, and throws Igraine out.
Merlin goes to find Arthur, who has been living as Sir Ector's son, ignorant to his heritage. He's initially reluctant to believe Merlin or go with him, but eventually agrees. Merlin takes him to Camelot, an abandoned fortress which he plans for them to rebuild and make Arthur's capital. He introduces Arthur to Igraine, and men he has gathered who were previously loyal to Uther.
Morgan is alarmed to hear Merlin has found a male heir, and comes to see him, bringing her new ally, King Lot. She can't refute Arthur's claim to the throne, and in revenge for Arthur killing one of Lot's men on the road, Lot drags his adoptive mother into the hall and kills her in front of him.
After burying Arthur's adoptive mother, Merlin takes him to retrieve the Sword of Mars, a legendary sword stuck in the rockface of a waterfall. The legend states that whoever retrieves it will be the King to truly unify Britain. Merlin hopes to use this legend to help rally the people behind Arthur as King. Arthur successfully climbs up to the sword, and, using a clue Merlin surreptitiously gave him, pulls it free from the stone.
His success sees many people coming to see him, and Merlin decides it's time to crown him, but Morgan arrives with a warning that Lot is coming to attack. Merlin reaches out to stop her leaving, and has a brief vision of her supernatural meetings with an unnamed entity.
They prepare the castle for the attack, and go ahead with the coronation, Arthur crowned while Merlin looks on with pride. But when the castle is later attacked, Ector is killed defeating Lot. Merlin attempts to advise Morgan away from the creature she's been communicating with, but she ignores his warnings.
In a further attempt to heal the rift between them, Arthur accepts an invitation to have dinner with Morgan. Merlin goes with him. While nothing untoward seems to happen at the dinner, Morgan later drugs Merlin and keeps him imprisoned in Castle Pendragon, while Arthur assumes they are having an affair and leaves without him. Merlin goads Morgan into showing him what she can do, and she reveals her ability to transform into a younger version of herself. He finds out that it was her who poisoned Uther. He escapes his bonds and again warns her against her dealings in sorcery, before returning to Camelot.
After Leontes and Guinevere's marriage, Igraine and Merlin witness Arthur looking at her longingly, and Merlin warns Arthur away from Guinevere, telling him his feelings for her could ruin everything. Arthur's sword is broken in a sparring session with Gawain, and Merlin leaves in search of a swordsmith called Caliburn to make him a new one.
While staying with the swordsmith, Merlin has a vision of Arthur being stabbed. He wakes to find Calburn has finished the sword, but the swordsmith requests to give it to Arthur himself. Merlin refuses, suspecting Caliburn to be the one who stabbed Arthur in his vision due to the man's volatile nature. They fight, and a comment from Caliburn hits a sorespot in Merlin, causing him to have a violent outburst with his powers. He explodes the forgefire, killing Caliburn. Caliburn's daughter, Excalibur, comes, witnessing her dead father, and takes the sword, intending to throw it in the lake in revenge. Merlin chases after her, and freezes the surface of the lake. But Excalibur falls in, and doesn't manage to get to the surface before it freezes over, only managing to push the sword through the layer of ice. Merlin attempts to break the ice to rescue her, but fails.
He returns to Camelot with the sword, and tells Arthur and the men that Caliburn was dead when he got there. That he travelled until he found a lake, where a lady emerged from the waters and gave him the sword, saying it was King Arthur's sword, and that it was named Excalibur.
After this, Merlin closes himself up in a room deep in an as-yet uninhabited part of Camelot for several days. He covers the room in papers and drawings. Igraine finds him, but he refuses to talk to her, claiming he needs quiet to think. Igraine tells him Arthur is holding a trial over some men, but Merlin refuses to get involved, saying Arthur started it, he needs to deal with it himself. Igraine keeps visiting him, however, bringing food and talking to him, and he does come out in time to watch proudly as Arthur gives judgement and sentence.
Having had time to gather himself again, Merlin begins pressing forward on his plans, deciding that the men need to ride to Sir Ector's home and take the books there for Camelot's library. On the way the men question him often about his powers and faith, with Gawain challenging the way he refuses to use them. They find the books and return to Camelot.
Morgan invites Arthur and his men to another dinner, a plan to find more out about them. She stages an attack on the castle while they're there, and watches their reactions. Merlin suspects her, but lets it play out. He reveals to Igraine that Morgan poisoned Uther, but tells her not to tell Arthur. After the supposed attack is over, they get ready to leave Pendragon and return to Camelot. However, Morgan captures Igraine and transforms herself to look like her, taking her place on the return journey.
Morgan, disguised as Igraine, takes her place in Camelot, interacting with the people there. She finds out how close Igraine and Merlin are after spending time with him and an orphan Igraine has been looking after called Redwald. Unfortunately, her disguise begins to wear off in the night, and Redwald witnesses it. In an attempt to stop him telling anyone, she accidentally causes him to fall to his death.
Merlin is convinced Redwald has been murdered due to the torn state of his clothes. Morgan (as Igraine) presses on him regarding his feelings for the boy, but Merlin remains taciturn. He comes to her later, however, revealing his grief, and sleeps with her. The next morning, she leaves, encountering the real Igraine (who has escaped) as she's departing. She persuades the other woman she's mad - seeing herself - and leaves, returning to Castle Pendragon.
Igraine goes to her rooms and finds Merlin there. She tells him what happened, and he believes her, already having witnessed Morgan's transformation powers. He calms her down and they attempt to find out what other damage Morgan has done while in Camelot. They find out that she told Leontes about Guinevere and Arthur's affair, causing a potentially irreparable split between the men and the King. Merlin persuades Leontes not to confront Arthur about it, and tells Arthur to try and cover the whole thing up, which Arthur is doubtful over, knowing he's hurt people he cares about.
Before anything more can be done, however, they find out an important trade pass, Bardon Pass, is being attacked. It has to be defended, and Arthur wants to leave at once. Merlin persuades Leontes to go, despite his broken faith in Arthur, and advises Gawain to defend the King should Leontes attack him.
With Arthur and the men gone, Merlin and Igraine travel to Castle Pendragon to confront and arrest Morgan. They find the castle full of people who have flocked to Morgan for protection. Their accusations make them look mad, especially when they find no proof of the room Igraine was held prisoner in, and Morgan turns it on them instead, having them arrested. She leaves for Camelot, under pretence of taking them to see justice under the King. She takes all the people with her, with Merlin and Igraine tied up and forced to walk behind the horses. But Arthur isn't at Camelot, still fighting to defend Bardon Pass. Merlin is put in stocks and Igraine is confined to her rooms until he returns.
One of the men from the group attacking Bardon Pass brings Morgan Arthur's sword, and Morgan takes this as a sign that he's dead, announcing it to the people and accepting when they state she should be Queen. Just before the coronation, she goes to speak with Igraine, and stabs her, leaving her to die slowly. Merlin is chained up nearby to watch the coronation, but just as Morgan's about to be crowned, Arthur returns.
Having captured and questioned one of the men at Bardon Pass, he accuses Morgan of plotting against him. She denies it, and Sybil, one of the nuns from the nunnery she grew up in that has been staying with her and helping her, steps in to take the blame. She is sentenced to be executed. Merlin is freed, and goes to look for Igraine, only to find her dying. He tries to save her using his powers, but it would kill him, and Igraine stops him. She tells him to protect Arthur, and dies in his arms.
Sybil is executed and Morgan banished. Merlin goes to Arthur and tells him he's leaving. Arthur tries to persuade him not to, but Merlin says it's cost him too much. Arthur asks if he'll return, but he doesn't answer, simply telling Arthur "You will be great."
✧ TIMELINE: Post-series, after leaving Camelot.
✧ PERSONALITY:
"Can't predict anything when it comes to Merlin."
As much as Merlin's presence is clear at the centre of everything, he keeps himself very distant. His past and life are a mystery to those around him, no matter how close he seems to be to them. He often avoids answering direct questions about himself, his past or his magic, either by giving evasive answers or bouncing things back at people. It's a deliberate construction on his part, and it makes him a very enigmatic and often frustrating figure.
He also often uses his reputation as a sorcerer to his advantage in this way. While many people he meets may not recognise his face, they have often heard of Merlin as a sorcerer, some of them with further ideas of him being mad or dangerous. While he never confirms any of these rumours, he's happy to play up to them when he needs to - and to pointedly not feed them at other times.
His mysterious nature is amplified by the way he reacts to things on a daily basis. He is almost constantly smiling slightly, and seems to be amused by most people's actions or the things they say. He has a dry and cynical sense of humour, often using sarcasm or deadpan statements. It gives an overall impression of smugness, but also a softer sense of him being jaded, having experienced a lot in the past, even if he never really shares it.
"Plan out all you like, but people, yes. They get in the way."
He often plays the role of silent observer, staying out of the way in many situations, watching closely and only giving advice when he's asked or feels it's necessary. He knows people and behaviour well, can judge motivations behind actions and how things will effect them.
This makes him an expert manipulator, either of people as individuals or as large groups. He wields propaganda and rumours like a seasoned politician, using the legend of the Sword of Mars to rally people behind Arthur as the new king, and also has absolutely no trouble goading two men into anger and violence shortly after Excalibur's death.
He is not flawless in this regard. Despite his obvious experience and expertise, there are several times where he cannot accurately predict someone's behaviour or reactions. While it never seems like he truly wants to do away with human autonomy, there's no denying the frustration he expresses when bad or irrational decisions threaten to ruin his plans.
"He doubts everyone."
Perhaps due to things in his past, or his experience in seeing people's motivations and likely actions, Merlin does not like to let people close. This in large part is what motivates the mysterious air he keeps around himself. He states a few times that this is a matter of keeping others safe, and expresses remorse over the possible death of his family and the work he did under Uther. He shows extreme guilt when after Caliburn and Excalibur's deaths, deliberately getting himself beaten on the journey back and then closing himself away for several days.
It also appears to be a defence for himself, however. While he never explains clearly the events of his past, they obviously pain him, and he evidently does not want to experience that pain again - whether it's direct actions against him, or more guilt to carry. He knows the bad people can do, and is incredibly slow to trust on any level, most especially with himself.
"I had a vision. The darkness of man. I won't let it happen again."
Merlin is incredibly motivated and almost defined by his cause - to make Arthur the king to unite all of Britain peacefully. It's not clear exactly how long he's been working towards it, considering the implication that it may have been him to place the Sword of Mars in the waterfall, but it has been his plan since he first agreed to use sorcery to disguise Uther as Cornwall, making it at least twenty years in the making.
This shows just how patient he can be when he needs to, waiting years and possibly centuries to move on things. This patience applies to his daily interactions, as well. He gathers information constantly in his observing of people, compiling thoughts and altering plans, but he rarely if ever shares these things with others. He will wait for the right moment to tell someone important facts, or perhaps keep them secret from them forever. He doesn't approve of Arthur's continued attempts to foster a relationship with Morgan, but instead of telling Arthur of the fact Morgan poisoned Uther, he waits for Morgan's plans to undo any trust her brother has in her.
He acts as mentor to Arthur, stands by his side every step of the way, protecting and guiding him. He is, in some ways, almost wholly responsible for who Arthur is, having actively shaped him and the course of his life since before his birth. Due to this, or perhaps hope in his goal, he has an almost delusional amount of faith in Arthur, not doubting him the way he usually would others. He often encourages others to believe the same despite more logical or immediate courses of action available.
The importance of his goal also pushes him into extreme pragmatism and often emotionally cold decisions, ignoring the lives or feeling of individuals in order to continue moving on. When Arthur wishes to find some way to heal the damage he's caused with Guinevere and Leontes, Merlin instead sees only a risk to the peoples' trust in Arthur, and tells him to cover the situation up.
"It's cost me too much."
Merlin does care, however. His pragmatic attitude can often be an attempt to ignore his own feelings, covering up emotional reactions with simple action. He has several moments of care and concern for Morgan, even after her machinations begin to effect himself and Arthur, and expresses at one point a wish that she would come and join the efforts at Camelot - and then turns quickly to suggesting she's a problem that should be dealt with in the most direct (and likely bloody) manner possible. After Redwald's death, he refuses to admit care for the boy, even after being prompted for it, and turns instead to finding his murderer.
This emotional denial may perhaps be connected to the guilt he carries, and an issue of control. It was an emotional outburst that caused Caliburn's death, and Merlin speaks of internal darkness and rage with Gawain. In this way it's possible that Merlin views emotions as literal weaknesses, and attempts to create armour to cover them over.
It's Igraine that finally gets through all his layers of mystery and emotional shields. She does it through earning a mutual respect with Merlin, offering him care and patience, and answering his questions about her past, even though they are at times, painful. Though she has a good nature, it's more her honesty that allows him to let her in - that she has her own flaws, but doesn't deny them or try to cover them over. Merlin comes to care for her a great deal, sleeping with her despite his own fears, and attempting to save her with his magic when she's dying, even though the effort would kill him. Perhaps even greater than this is the fact he stops when she asks him.
"Because I loathe this power inside me. Because it terrifies me. Because it pulls me into the dark."
Merlin's relationship with his powers is very important. He actively refuses to use them, most of the time. This is on one side a matter of necessity and logic. He frequently explains that any use of magic has a 'cost', and this is usually displayed as some physical pain or damage caused to the user. When people ask him to prove his magic, he considers this a petty matter, and refuses to do idle magic tricks. There are also things that he believes shouldn't always be effected by magic, such as refusing to save a dying man because "everyone has their time."
On the other side, his view of his powers is closely connected to his guilt over his past. He describes them as an addiction, a darkness, something that he's scared of and hates, like nothing good can possibly come from them. There's an implication that he may have possibly been involved with the same entity Morgan communicates with in the past, and he emphatically warns her away from it. He tells Igraine he's scared of losing control, dislikes how he can see people's secrets when he touches them. There's also a clear emotional link, in that it's an outburst of rage that causes him to explode Caliburn's forgefire and kill him.
Over time his attitude softens somewhat. A conversation with Gawain is really the turning point in this, as the warrior likens his powers - and their link to emotions - to the same need a soldier has to harness rage on the battlefield, rather than letting it control them. He's persuaded to begin seeing them in a different light, as a tool, rather than a burden.
He's also acutely aware of the reputation of magic. Commonly known as a sorcerer, he cannot remove his connection to his powers in the eyes of the people, but he knows how their opinion can easily sway either way. A dying man may beg for him to save him, but a living man might see them as devil's work - with their reaction easily changing events in his plans.
✧ ABILITIES/POWERS: The extent of Merlin's powers is a little nebulous. Below is a list of abilities he has displayed in the series, or stated to be able to do directly.
Merlin usually accesses his magic by muttering inaudible chants into his hands, then gesturing in the direction he desires something to occur. He has runes and other symbols tattooed and scarred onto his body in various places, the most noticeable being the backs of his fingers. These are never explained, but presumed linked to his sorcery. Some of his abilities do not need chants, such as his visions, and there was no prior spellcasting shown before his manipulation of fire at Caliburn's forge.
Merlin does not have absolute control over his magic. His visions of other people's pasts etc. happen whenever he touches them, whether he wants them or not, and he can't choose what it is he sees. His elemental manipulation has been shown to be as delicate as combusting individual leaves as they fall from a tree, and as savage as exploding a forgefire in a violent outburst. When freezing the lake, he attempted to break through the ice to rescue Excalibur, rather than stopping the freezing process or undoing it.
It is stated and shown repeatedly through the series that these powers cost "On the body. The soul. And those around me." This seems to be a very direct version of equivalent exchange. Morgan is frequently shown with nosebleeds or tears of blood when she's overtaxed herself, though this only happens once with Merlin, when he attempts to save Igraine. Whether this is a matter of him having more experience and restraint or simply being more powerful than Morgan is never stated, though it's worth note that he was unable to see through Morgan's disguise as Igraine, despite sleeping with her.
✧ TIME OF ARRIVAL: Night.
✧ MASK DESIGN: Here.
✧ PLACE OF SOLACE: Camelot.
SAMPLES
✧ FIRST PERSON: [The feed's obviously accidental from the start, considering the man it shows has his back to the camera. He's over the other side of the room, looking at the mirror, examining it front and back, smoothing hands down the frame slowly and leaning around to see behind it. After a moment or two, the teneka begins to pick up his thoughts in mid-flow.]
...Morgan. No. What could Morgan gain from this? Bringing me here, taking my voice...
[His thoughts trail into an inaudible murmur, and he stops examining the mirror, stepping back from it and rubbing a hand over his throat thoughtfully. The image in the mirror is of his hands scribbling strange symbols on some parchment, lit in the golden tones of firelight.]
No... No, she doesn't have the power for this. Then who? An enemy of Arthur? Or... an enemy of mine.
[That last thought cuts off coldly, and he's still and silent for a while, frowning. The hands in the mirror keep writing, and after one symbol, Merlin abruptly starts moving again, starting to look at how the mirror's glass is set in the frame, as if he might try to pry it out.]
What is this damned instrument?
✧ THIRD PERSON: Word of Arthur has spread, just as he’d planned it to, far and wide over the land. But it's become a double edged sword, now, as he settles to eat at a ramshackle roadside way station. The patrons at the bench one over from himself are discussing the merits of the boy king's rule, his victory at Bardon Pass, cheering loudly over details that Merlin knows have been added to embellish the story as it travels across the land. They declare a toast to the king's life, long may he rule, and Merlin is reminded all too readily of the men he had incited to violence after Excalibur's death.
He would not do the same for Igraine. She wouldn't have wanted it, and though in many cases that wouldn't have mattered to him, it was not the same with Igraine. He had respected her, just as much as he had loved her. Her blood had fallen on his hands, but it had not been his doing, and she had not wanted him to save her. Not at his own cost.
Her request had been to guard Arthur, instead, and yet here he was, miles from the boy he'd seen crowned, seen grow and harden by bloody loss and betrayal. Arthur was stronger than him, in many ways, that was what he'd learnt, but the lesson had cost him far too much to bear. The corridors and life in Camelot would only echo with reminders of Igraine, of Morgan, of the deeds that had been done and could not be undone. Sacrifices were necessary, he had known that from the start, but they were never meant to be his own. He was never meant to have anything to sacrifice again.
The men call out another toast, tankards of ale lifted high and hit against each other enthusiastically. Merlin lifts his own, more subdued, but not intending the same offence he'd offered the last time he'd witnessed a toast to Arthur. He takes a long drink and considers which road to take in the morning. No destination in mind, only further and further onwards, further and further from Camelot.
✧ NAME: Koke
✧ LJ USERNAME: kokanshu
✧ CONTACT (EMAIL, AIM, MSN, PLURK, ETC.): email: kokanshu@gmail.com; aim: galahadfalling; msn: kokanshu@gmail.com; plurk: amaurosis
✧ CURRENT MUSE LIST: dirt_heart & limu_o_pele
CHARACTER
✧ NAME: Merlin
✧ SERIES: Camelot (2011)
✧ HISTORY: This is really the best I can find for the story told in the show, but it misses a lot out. So I've written a history below. This focusses on Merlin and is still missing some plotlines.
Very little is known about Merlin before the series. His age is unknown - stated once to have "not aged a day" in twenty years. It's implied he was the one who put the Sword of Mars in the waterfall, which had been there 'for centuries' (since before the Roman invasion). When asked directly about his age, Merlin doesn't deny these facts, but implies the people in question are compromised mentally - "Your memory's playing tricks" and "You've had a bump to the head".
He states that he once had a family, but that they're gone now. It's not clear whether this means relatives or a wife and children, and while the implications are that they probably met a violent end, it's never stated. He seems to feel a great amount of guilt for this, and they're an incredibly touchy subject.
Long before the series, Uther summoned him to work some sorcery on him. Uther was obsessed with Igraine, who was at the time married to the Duke of Cornwall, but Uther was unable to defeat Cornwall's armies. Merlin disguised Uther as Cornwall, allowing him to enter Cornwall's castle and sleep with Igraine.
Uther's armies defeated Cornwall that night, and Uther married Igraine. However, Merlin's stipulation for the sorcery he'd performed on Uther was that he would be given the child conceived from the union. When Arthur was born, Merlin took him from Igraine and hid him away with Ector and his wife, to be raised as their own.
While it's stated by Morgan that Merlin worked for Uther - closely enough to have a room in Castle Pendragon - Igraine hadn't seen him since the day he took Arthur. Therefore it's my assumption he worked for Uther up to the point of arranging the tryst with Igraine, and did not return after he'd situated Arthur.
After marrying Igraine, Uther sends Morgan to a nunnery 'across the sea'. Morgan views this as banishment, blames Igraine for it, and spends her years in the nunnery fostering a bitterness towards both of them that's only further encouraged by the nunnery's occult practices and teachings.
At the beginning of the series, Morgan returns home and confronts her father. After being slapped and sent away again, Morgan returns in the evening, disguised as her younger self, and poisons Uther in secret. Merlin runs to be at Uther's bedside, but doesn't make it in time to save the king. He has Uther sign something, takes his ring, and leaves. Morgan, as sole (known) heir, takes over Castle Pendragon, and throws Igraine out.
Merlin goes to find Arthur, who has been living as Sir Ector's son, ignorant to his heritage. He's initially reluctant to believe Merlin or go with him, but eventually agrees. Merlin takes him to Camelot, an abandoned fortress which he plans for them to rebuild and make Arthur's capital. He introduces Arthur to Igraine, and men he has gathered who were previously loyal to Uther.
Morgan is alarmed to hear Merlin has found a male heir, and comes to see him, bringing her new ally, King Lot. She can't refute Arthur's claim to the throne, and in revenge for Arthur killing one of Lot's men on the road, Lot drags his adoptive mother into the hall and kills her in front of him.
After burying Arthur's adoptive mother, Merlin takes him to retrieve the Sword of Mars, a legendary sword stuck in the rockface of a waterfall. The legend states that whoever retrieves it will be the King to truly unify Britain. Merlin hopes to use this legend to help rally the people behind Arthur as King. Arthur successfully climbs up to the sword, and, using a clue Merlin surreptitiously gave him, pulls it free from the stone.
His success sees many people coming to see him, and Merlin decides it's time to crown him, but Morgan arrives with a warning that Lot is coming to attack. Merlin reaches out to stop her leaving, and has a brief vision of her supernatural meetings with an unnamed entity.
They prepare the castle for the attack, and go ahead with the coronation, Arthur crowned while Merlin looks on with pride. But when the castle is later attacked, Ector is killed defeating Lot. Merlin attempts to advise Morgan away from the creature she's been communicating with, but she ignores his warnings.
In a further attempt to heal the rift between them, Arthur accepts an invitation to have dinner with Morgan. Merlin goes with him. While nothing untoward seems to happen at the dinner, Morgan later drugs Merlin and keeps him imprisoned in Castle Pendragon, while Arthur assumes they are having an affair and leaves without him. Merlin goads Morgan into showing him what she can do, and she reveals her ability to transform into a younger version of herself. He finds out that it was her who poisoned Uther. He escapes his bonds and again warns her against her dealings in sorcery, before returning to Camelot.
After Leontes and Guinevere's marriage, Igraine and Merlin witness Arthur looking at her longingly, and Merlin warns Arthur away from Guinevere, telling him his feelings for her could ruin everything. Arthur's sword is broken in a sparring session with Gawain, and Merlin leaves in search of a swordsmith called Caliburn to make him a new one.
While staying with the swordsmith, Merlin has a vision of Arthur being stabbed. He wakes to find Calburn has finished the sword, but the swordsmith requests to give it to Arthur himself. Merlin refuses, suspecting Caliburn to be the one who stabbed Arthur in his vision due to the man's volatile nature. They fight, and a comment from Caliburn hits a sorespot in Merlin, causing him to have a violent outburst with his powers. He explodes the forgefire, killing Caliburn. Caliburn's daughter, Excalibur, comes, witnessing her dead father, and takes the sword, intending to throw it in the lake in revenge. Merlin chases after her, and freezes the surface of the lake. But Excalibur falls in, and doesn't manage to get to the surface before it freezes over, only managing to push the sword through the layer of ice. Merlin attempts to break the ice to rescue her, but fails.
He returns to Camelot with the sword, and tells Arthur and the men that Caliburn was dead when he got there. That he travelled until he found a lake, where a lady emerged from the waters and gave him the sword, saying it was King Arthur's sword, and that it was named Excalibur.
After this, Merlin closes himself up in a room deep in an as-yet uninhabited part of Camelot for several days. He covers the room in papers and drawings. Igraine finds him, but he refuses to talk to her, claiming he needs quiet to think. Igraine tells him Arthur is holding a trial over some men, but Merlin refuses to get involved, saying Arthur started it, he needs to deal with it himself. Igraine keeps visiting him, however, bringing food and talking to him, and he does come out in time to watch proudly as Arthur gives judgement and sentence.
Having had time to gather himself again, Merlin begins pressing forward on his plans, deciding that the men need to ride to Sir Ector's home and take the books there for Camelot's library. On the way the men question him often about his powers and faith, with Gawain challenging the way he refuses to use them. They find the books and return to Camelot.
Morgan invites Arthur and his men to another dinner, a plan to find more out about them. She stages an attack on the castle while they're there, and watches their reactions. Merlin suspects her, but lets it play out. He reveals to Igraine that Morgan poisoned Uther, but tells her not to tell Arthur. After the supposed attack is over, they get ready to leave Pendragon and return to Camelot. However, Morgan captures Igraine and transforms herself to look like her, taking her place on the return journey.
Morgan, disguised as Igraine, takes her place in Camelot, interacting with the people there. She finds out how close Igraine and Merlin are after spending time with him and an orphan Igraine has been looking after called Redwald. Unfortunately, her disguise begins to wear off in the night, and Redwald witnesses it. In an attempt to stop him telling anyone, she accidentally causes him to fall to his death.
Merlin is convinced Redwald has been murdered due to the torn state of his clothes. Morgan (as Igraine) presses on him regarding his feelings for the boy, but Merlin remains taciturn. He comes to her later, however, revealing his grief, and sleeps with her. The next morning, she leaves, encountering the real Igraine (who has escaped) as she's departing. She persuades the other woman she's mad - seeing herself - and leaves, returning to Castle Pendragon.
Igraine goes to her rooms and finds Merlin there. She tells him what happened, and he believes her, already having witnessed Morgan's transformation powers. He calms her down and they attempt to find out what other damage Morgan has done while in Camelot. They find out that she told Leontes about Guinevere and Arthur's affair, causing a potentially irreparable split between the men and the King. Merlin persuades Leontes not to confront Arthur about it, and tells Arthur to try and cover the whole thing up, which Arthur is doubtful over, knowing he's hurt people he cares about.
Before anything more can be done, however, they find out an important trade pass, Bardon Pass, is being attacked. It has to be defended, and Arthur wants to leave at once. Merlin persuades Leontes to go, despite his broken faith in Arthur, and advises Gawain to defend the King should Leontes attack him.
With Arthur and the men gone, Merlin and Igraine travel to Castle Pendragon to confront and arrest Morgan. They find the castle full of people who have flocked to Morgan for protection. Their accusations make them look mad, especially when they find no proof of the room Igraine was held prisoner in, and Morgan turns it on them instead, having them arrested. She leaves for Camelot, under pretence of taking them to see justice under the King. She takes all the people with her, with Merlin and Igraine tied up and forced to walk behind the horses. But Arthur isn't at Camelot, still fighting to defend Bardon Pass. Merlin is put in stocks and Igraine is confined to her rooms until he returns.
One of the men from the group attacking Bardon Pass brings Morgan Arthur's sword, and Morgan takes this as a sign that he's dead, announcing it to the people and accepting when they state she should be Queen. Just before the coronation, she goes to speak with Igraine, and stabs her, leaving her to die slowly. Merlin is chained up nearby to watch the coronation, but just as Morgan's about to be crowned, Arthur returns.
Having captured and questioned one of the men at Bardon Pass, he accuses Morgan of plotting against him. She denies it, and Sybil, one of the nuns from the nunnery she grew up in that has been staying with her and helping her, steps in to take the blame. She is sentenced to be executed. Merlin is freed, and goes to look for Igraine, only to find her dying. He tries to save her using his powers, but it would kill him, and Igraine stops him. She tells him to protect Arthur, and dies in his arms.
Sybil is executed and Morgan banished. Merlin goes to Arthur and tells him he's leaving. Arthur tries to persuade him not to, but Merlin says it's cost him too much. Arthur asks if he'll return, but he doesn't answer, simply telling Arthur "You will be great."
✧ TIMELINE: Post-series, after leaving Camelot.
✧ PERSONALITY:
"Can't predict anything when it comes to Merlin."
As much as Merlin's presence is clear at the centre of everything, he keeps himself very distant. His past and life are a mystery to those around him, no matter how close he seems to be to them. He often avoids answering direct questions about himself, his past or his magic, either by giving evasive answers or bouncing things back at people. It's a deliberate construction on his part, and it makes him a very enigmatic and often frustrating figure.
He also often uses his reputation as a sorcerer to his advantage in this way. While many people he meets may not recognise his face, they have often heard of Merlin as a sorcerer, some of them with further ideas of him being mad or dangerous. While he never confirms any of these rumours, he's happy to play up to them when he needs to - and to pointedly not feed them at other times.
His mysterious nature is amplified by the way he reacts to things on a daily basis. He is almost constantly smiling slightly, and seems to be amused by most people's actions or the things they say. He has a dry and cynical sense of humour, often using sarcasm or deadpan statements. It gives an overall impression of smugness, but also a softer sense of him being jaded, having experienced a lot in the past, even if he never really shares it.
"Plan out all you like, but people, yes. They get in the way."
He often plays the role of silent observer, staying out of the way in many situations, watching closely and only giving advice when he's asked or feels it's necessary. He knows people and behaviour well, can judge motivations behind actions and how things will effect them.
This makes him an expert manipulator, either of people as individuals or as large groups. He wields propaganda and rumours like a seasoned politician, using the legend of the Sword of Mars to rally people behind Arthur as the new king, and also has absolutely no trouble goading two men into anger and violence shortly after Excalibur's death.
He is not flawless in this regard. Despite his obvious experience and expertise, there are several times where he cannot accurately predict someone's behaviour or reactions. While it never seems like he truly wants to do away with human autonomy, there's no denying the frustration he expresses when bad or irrational decisions threaten to ruin his plans.
"He doubts everyone."
Perhaps due to things in his past, or his experience in seeing people's motivations and likely actions, Merlin does not like to let people close. This in large part is what motivates the mysterious air he keeps around himself. He states a few times that this is a matter of keeping others safe, and expresses remorse over the possible death of his family and the work he did under Uther. He shows extreme guilt when after Caliburn and Excalibur's deaths, deliberately getting himself beaten on the journey back and then closing himself away for several days.
It also appears to be a defence for himself, however. While he never explains clearly the events of his past, they obviously pain him, and he evidently does not want to experience that pain again - whether it's direct actions against him, or more guilt to carry. He knows the bad people can do, and is incredibly slow to trust on any level, most especially with himself.
"I had a vision. The darkness of man. I won't let it happen again."
Merlin is incredibly motivated and almost defined by his cause - to make Arthur the king to unite all of Britain peacefully. It's not clear exactly how long he's been working towards it, considering the implication that it may have been him to place the Sword of Mars in the waterfall, but it has been his plan since he first agreed to use sorcery to disguise Uther as Cornwall, making it at least twenty years in the making.
This shows just how patient he can be when he needs to, waiting years and possibly centuries to move on things. This patience applies to his daily interactions, as well. He gathers information constantly in his observing of people, compiling thoughts and altering plans, but he rarely if ever shares these things with others. He will wait for the right moment to tell someone important facts, or perhaps keep them secret from them forever. He doesn't approve of Arthur's continued attempts to foster a relationship with Morgan, but instead of telling Arthur of the fact Morgan poisoned Uther, he waits for Morgan's plans to undo any trust her brother has in her.
He acts as mentor to Arthur, stands by his side every step of the way, protecting and guiding him. He is, in some ways, almost wholly responsible for who Arthur is, having actively shaped him and the course of his life since before his birth. Due to this, or perhaps hope in his goal, he has an almost delusional amount of faith in Arthur, not doubting him the way he usually would others. He often encourages others to believe the same despite more logical or immediate courses of action available.
The importance of his goal also pushes him into extreme pragmatism and often emotionally cold decisions, ignoring the lives or feeling of individuals in order to continue moving on. When Arthur wishes to find some way to heal the damage he's caused with Guinevere and Leontes, Merlin instead sees only a risk to the peoples' trust in Arthur, and tells him to cover the situation up.
"It's cost me too much."
Merlin does care, however. His pragmatic attitude can often be an attempt to ignore his own feelings, covering up emotional reactions with simple action. He has several moments of care and concern for Morgan, even after her machinations begin to effect himself and Arthur, and expresses at one point a wish that she would come and join the efforts at Camelot - and then turns quickly to suggesting she's a problem that should be dealt with in the most direct (and likely bloody) manner possible. After Redwald's death, he refuses to admit care for the boy, even after being prompted for it, and turns instead to finding his murderer.
This emotional denial may perhaps be connected to the guilt he carries, and an issue of control. It was an emotional outburst that caused Caliburn's death, and Merlin speaks of internal darkness and rage with Gawain. In this way it's possible that Merlin views emotions as literal weaknesses, and attempts to create armour to cover them over.
It's Igraine that finally gets through all his layers of mystery and emotional shields. She does it through earning a mutual respect with Merlin, offering him care and patience, and answering his questions about her past, even though they are at times, painful. Though she has a good nature, it's more her honesty that allows him to let her in - that she has her own flaws, but doesn't deny them or try to cover them over. Merlin comes to care for her a great deal, sleeping with her despite his own fears, and attempting to save her with his magic when she's dying, even though the effort would kill him. Perhaps even greater than this is the fact he stops when she asks him.
"Because I loathe this power inside me. Because it terrifies me. Because it pulls me into the dark."
Merlin's relationship with his powers is very important. He actively refuses to use them, most of the time. This is on one side a matter of necessity and logic. He frequently explains that any use of magic has a 'cost', and this is usually displayed as some physical pain or damage caused to the user. When people ask him to prove his magic, he considers this a petty matter, and refuses to do idle magic tricks. There are also things that he believes shouldn't always be effected by magic, such as refusing to save a dying man because "everyone has their time."
On the other side, his view of his powers is closely connected to his guilt over his past. He describes them as an addiction, a darkness, something that he's scared of and hates, like nothing good can possibly come from them. There's an implication that he may have possibly been involved with the same entity Morgan communicates with in the past, and he emphatically warns her away from it. He tells Igraine he's scared of losing control, dislikes how he can see people's secrets when he touches them. There's also a clear emotional link, in that it's an outburst of rage that causes him to explode Caliburn's forgefire and kill him.
Over time his attitude softens somewhat. A conversation with Gawain is really the turning point in this, as the warrior likens his powers - and their link to emotions - to the same need a soldier has to harness rage on the battlefield, rather than letting it control them. He's persuaded to begin seeing them in a different light, as a tool, rather than a burden.
He's also acutely aware of the reputation of magic. Commonly known as a sorcerer, he cannot remove his connection to his powers in the eyes of the people, but he knows how their opinion can easily sway either way. A dying man may beg for him to save him, but a living man might see them as devil's work - with their reaction easily changing events in his plans.
✧ ABILITIES/POWERS: The extent of Merlin's powers is a little nebulous. Below is a list of abilities he has displayed in the series, or stated to be able to do directly.
- Transforming someone to appear as another person
- Creation and manipulation of the classical elements/nature
- Healing
- Breaking bonds
- Precognitive visions
- Looking into another's dreams
- Visions of others people's past/future/traumas/secrets
Merlin usually accesses his magic by muttering inaudible chants into his hands, then gesturing in the direction he desires something to occur. He has runes and other symbols tattooed and scarred onto his body in various places, the most noticeable being the backs of his fingers. These are never explained, but presumed linked to his sorcery. Some of his abilities do not need chants, such as his visions, and there was no prior spellcasting shown before his manipulation of fire at Caliburn's forge.
Merlin does not have absolute control over his magic. His visions of other people's pasts etc. happen whenever he touches them, whether he wants them or not, and he can't choose what it is he sees. His elemental manipulation has been shown to be as delicate as combusting individual leaves as they fall from a tree, and as savage as exploding a forgefire in a violent outburst. When freezing the lake, he attempted to break through the ice to rescue Excalibur, rather than stopping the freezing process or undoing it.
It is stated and shown repeatedly through the series that these powers cost "On the body. The soul. And those around me." This seems to be a very direct version of equivalent exchange. Morgan is frequently shown with nosebleeds or tears of blood when she's overtaxed herself, though this only happens once with Merlin, when he attempts to save Igraine. Whether this is a matter of him having more experience and restraint or simply being more powerful than Morgan is never stated, though it's worth note that he was unable to see through Morgan's disguise as Igraine, despite sleeping with her.
✧ TIME OF ARRIVAL: Night.
✧ MASK DESIGN: Here.
✧ PLACE OF SOLACE: Camelot.
SAMPLES
✧ FIRST PERSON: [The feed's obviously accidental from the start, considering the man it shows has his back to the camera. He's over the other side of the room, looking at the mirror, examining it front and back, smoothing hands down the frame slowly and leaning around to see behind it. After a moment or two, the teneka begins to pick up his thoughts in mid-flow.]
...Morgan. No. What could Morgan gain from this? Bringing me here, taking my voice...
[His thoughts trail into an inaudible murmur, and he stops examining the mirror, stepping back from it and rubbing a hand over his throat thoughtfully. The image in the mirror is of his hands scribbling strange symbols on some parchment, lit in the golden tones of firelight.]
No... No, she doesn't have the power for this. Then who? An enemy of Arthur? Or... an enemy of mine.
[That last thought cuts off coldly, and he's still and silent for a while, frowning. The hands in the mirror keep writing, and after one symbol, Merlin abruptly starts moving again, starting to look at how the mirror's glass is set in the frame, as if he might try to pry it out.]
What is this damned instrument?
✧ THIRD PERSON: Word of Arthur has spread, just as he’d planned it to, far and wide over the land. But it's become a double edged sword, now, as he settles to eat at a ramshackle roadside way station. The patrons at the bench one over from himself are discussing the merits of the boy king's rule, his victory at Bardon Pass, cheering loudly over details that Merlin knows have been added to embellish the story as it travels across the land. They declare a toast to the king's life, long may he rule, and Merlin is reminded all too readily of the men he had incited to violence after Excalibur's death.
He would not do the same for Igraine. She wouldn't have wanted it, and though in many cases that wouldn't have mattered to him, it was not the same with Igraine. He had respected her, just as much as he had loved her. Her blood had fallen on his hands, but it had not been his doing, and she had not wanted him to save her. Not at his own cost.
Her request had been to guard Arthur, instead, and yet here he was, miles from the boy he'd seen crowned, seen grow and harden by bloody loss and betrayal. Arthur was stronger than him, in many ways, that was what he'd learnt, but the lesson had cost him far too much to bear. The corridors and life in Camelot would only echo with reminders of Igraine, of Morgan, of the deeds that had been done and could not be undone. Sacrifices were necessary, he had known that from the start, but they were never meant to be his own. He was never meant to have anything to sacrifice again.
The men call out another toast, tankards of ale lifted high and hit against each other enthusiastically. Merlin lifts his own, more subdued, but not intending the same offence he'd offered the last time he'd witnessed a toast to Arthur. He takes a long drink and considers which road to take in the morning. No destination in mind, only further and further onwards, further and further from Camelot.