December Talking Meme: Guinevere and her relationships with Merlin and Arthur
Despite having considerable ISSUES with season 5 of Merlin, its ending for Gwen, Arthur and Merlin was something that felt right to me regarding the rest of the show entire, and one that allowed me to keep my love for the characters, who just might be my favourite incarnations of their mythical counterparts. With the possible exception of Parke Godwin's Firelord and the Arthur and Guenevere therein. (There is no real Merlin character in the novel.) (My favourite Morgana used to be the one from The Mists of Avalon because when I read that novel at age 13, it had a major, major impact on me, but I've been shying away from rereading the book as an adult, as I'm afraid it could be a case of disenchantment with a teenage experience, so I can't be sure anymore.) (Favourite Merlin as a tricksy old man is probably the T.H. White version.)
Anyway, one reason why I only rarely read Merlin fanfiction is that you either get Arthur/Merlin OTPness, with Gwen either handed over to Lancelot (or Morgana) or entirely ignored, or you get Gwen/Morgana (ignoring anything Morgana does to Gwen post season 2) and no positive or at least mixed mention of either of the boys. Whereas for me, one of the charms of the show was how these characters were interconnected from the start.
As in this version, Guinevere is a servant (as is Merlin) and Merlin's first friend in Camelot, it means she and he share a perspective that Arthur, due to his completely different upbringing and social status, simply can't. On the other hand Gwen is from Camelot, grew up there, and is emotionally connected to the kingdom in a way Merlin, who arrives as an outsider and whose main reason for staying is first the promise of his shared destiny with Arthur and then his relationship with him, is not - but Arthur is. They are all necessary to another. Gaius and the dragon Kilgarrah are both in different ways mentors to Merlin (with their own agendas) when he arrives in Camelot; Gwen, however, is the one who makes Camelot human to him, by helping out with every day details (explaining armour and weaponry), customs and mutual teasing during feasts. For Gwen, Merlin is someone who impresses her first by speaking up for a servant to Arthur. He's also pretty, and Gwen does have a crush on him in the first few eps, without angsting or resenting the fact he doesn't return it. The two of them navigate their friendship around this potential cliff (which ends when Lancelot shows up) pretty easily. It's Arthur's loyalty to Merlin in The Moment of Truth (and willingness to fight for the villagers) that first shows Gwen that there could be more to him than the arrogant prince she's used to, and it's Gwen's courage and willingness to tell Arthur in the same episode that he's behaving wrongly towards the villagers which first makes him notice her as a person as opposed to "Morgana's maid". Gwen, of course, is at the village to begin with because like Arthur himself, she wants to help Merlin. Merlin forms the first bridge between them, the first emotional ground they have in common.
Gwen and Arthur aren't lovers at first, or even second sight, and I always liked that about them. They're not strangers to each other, or first loves. The episode in which they start to fall in love, 2.02, doesn't ignore the difference in power but makes it a plot point, and also Gwen's insight as well as Arthur's willingness to listen. Several show years and seasons later, in the fourth season, when he tells his uncle Agrivaine why he wants to marry her he specifies that Gwen will be a great queen (as opposed to an arm decoration), and it's significant that the vision haunting Morgana that turns her against Gwen isn't showing Gwen's and Arthur's wedding, it's showing Gwen's coronation as queen. Merlin, who uses Gwen as a moral barometer as early as 1.08 (when he asks her whether or not she'd kill Uther if she'd have the power to do so), is rooting for Gwen as a potential queen as soon as he gets Arthur to admit Arthur is in love with her (2.04), and behaves as partisan as any shipper towards other potential queens. As one of them, Mithian, is entirely likeable, decidedly not evil and makes a point of winning him over, he has to admit the behaviour is not warranted, but Gwen is his friend, and the same episode has him recognizing her in an enchanted form - a deer - and subsequently looking for her and saving her life. The fact that Gwen in the end is able to figure out on her own that Merlin has magic (as opposed to being told or finding out by accident, which is what happens with virtually every other character who learns the secret) is to me a counterpoint to that recognition, of the observation and human knowledge that has been Gwen's strength and made her and Merlin now and then Camelot's Amazing Detective Duo, while Arthur at the end of the show making her his successor is the right culmination (and farewell) of the Arthur/Gwen relationship. Merlin, who for good or ill always became connected to Arthur the person more than to the kingdom Arthur ruled, is with him when he dies (and will wait for his return); Gwen, who fell in love with Arthur partly for the king he could be, and he with her for the queen she could be, is the one who makes it possible Arthur dies in the knowledge the kingdom he's even at his most arrogant been living for more than anything else will be save and thrive.
The show didn't always do right by them, true. But it did create this three way structure and balance, and to me, this is what makes Guinevere, Merlin and Arthur one of my OT3.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/948604.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Anyway, one reason why I only rarely read Merlin fanfiction is that you either get Arthur/Merlin OTPness, with Gwen either handed over to Lancelot (or Morgana) or entirely ignored, or you get Gwen/Morgana (ignoring anything Morgana does to Gwen post season 2) and no positive or at least mixed mention of either of the boys. Whereas for me, one of the charms of the show was how these characters were interconnected from the start.
As in this version, Guinevere is a servant (as is Merlin) and Merlin's first friend in Camelot, it means she and he share a perspective that Arthur, due to his completely different upbringing and social status, simply can't. On the other hand Gwen is from Camelot, grew up there, and is emotionally connected to the kingdom in a way Merlin, who arrives as an outsider and whose main reason for staying is first the promise of his shared destiny with Arthur and then his relationship with him, is not - but Arthur is. They are all necessary to another. Gaius and the dragon Kilgarrah are both in different ways mentors to Merlin (with their own agendas) when he arrives in Camelot; Gwen, however, is the one who makes Camelot human to him, by helping out with every day details (explaining armour and weaponry), customs and mutual teasing during feasts. For Gwen, Merlin is someone who impresses her first by speaking up for a servant to Arthur. He's also pretty, and Gwen does have a crush on him in the first few eps, without angsting or resenting the fact he doesn't return it. The two of them navigate their friendship around this potential cliff (which ends when Lancelot shows up) pretty easily. It's Arthur's loyalty to Merlin in The Moment of Truth (and willingness to fight for the villagers) that first shows Gwen that there could be more to him than the arrogant prince she's used to, and it's Gwen's courage and willingness to tell Arthur in the same episode that he's behaving wrongly towards the villagers which first makes him notice her as a person as opposed to "Morgana's maid". Gwen, of course, is at the village to begin with because like Arthur himself, she wants to help Merlin. Merlin forms the first bridge between them, the first emotional ground they have in common.
Gwen and Arthur aren't lovers at first, or even second sight, and I always liked that about them. They're not strangers to each other, or first loves. The episode in which they start to fall in love, 2.02, doesn't ignore the difference in power but makes it a plot point, and also Gwen's insight as well as Arthur's willingness to listen. Several show years and seasons later, in the fourth season, when he tells his uncle Agrivaine why he wants to marry her he specifies that Gwen will be a great queen (as opposed to an arm decoration), and it's significant that the vision haunting Morgana that turns her against Gwen isn't showing Gwen's and Arthur's wedding, it's showing Gwen's coronation as queen. Merlin, who uses Gwen as a moral barometer as early as 1.08 (when he asks her whether or not she'd kill Uther if she'd have the power to do so), is rooting for Gwen as a potential queen as soon as he gets Arthur to admit Arthur is in love with her (2.04), and behaves as partisan as any shipper towards other potential queens. As one of them, Mithian, is entirely likeable, decidedly not evil and makes a point of winning him over, he has to admit the behaviour is not warranted, but Gwen is his friend, and the same episode has him recognizing her in an enchanted form - a deer - and subsequently looking for her and saving her life. The fact that Gwen in the end is able to figure out on her own that Merlin has magic (as opposed to being told or finding out by accident, which is what happens with virtually every other character who learns the secret) is to me a counterpoint to that recognition, of the observation and human knowledge that has been Gwen's strength and made her and Merlin now and then Camelot's Amazing Detective Duo, while Arthur at the end of the show making her his successor is the right culmination (and farewell) of the Arthur/Gwen relationship. Merlin, who for good or ill always became connected to Arthur the person more than to the kingdom Arthur ruled, is with him when he dies (and will wait for his return); Gwen, who fell in love with Arthur partly for the king he could be, and he with her for the queen she could be, is the one who makes it possible Arthur dies in the knowledge the kingdom he's even at his most arrogant been living for more than anything else will be save and thrive.
The show didn't always do right by them, true. But it did create this three way structure and balance, and to me, this is what makes Guinevere, Merlin and Arthur one of my OT3.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/948604.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.