Merlin Journal Entry #1
Just wanting to write down some of my opinions on some things regarding BBC’s Merlin and Merlin fic in general, feel free to ignore if it’s not your thing :D Thoughts below the cut:
Sooo... I’m not in love with fics where Arthur Already Knows About Merlin’s Magic.
There. I said it. XD
There are pretty much only two main reasons why:
1. In many fics I’ve read, it comes out as a bit of a cop-out, like, oh looky here what a convenient way to get out of having to go in depth into the fallout of a Great Magic Reveal in which Arthur’s trust has been severely damaged and Merlin has to do some serious reasoning and explaining of his own as to why he’d never told Arthur in the first place. That’s not to say fics don’t ever get into this, it just seems to me that most would rather have a quick, clean, all-is-mostly-forgiven wrap-up, haha. I am probably a hypocrite of this myself, though, lol so I cannot really judge the authors that do this, I can just say that I tend to enjoy a fic that goes into more detail of what a Magic Reveal would mean, than one that doesn’t. That said, I understand not all fic want to get into this because the plot might be focused somewhere else, so can’t complain :)
2. I think my biggest issue with this way of going about a Magic Reveal is, I guess, Arthur’s part in the whole thing. Merlin clearly struggles and agonizes about his magic and what it means in regard to Arthur, the kingdom, and their destiny throughout not only almost the entirety of the series, but in a lot of fic as well. I am made uncomfortable in fics where something or other lead to Merlin accidentally or purposely revealing his magic, clearly (probably) terrified - for his life, his place by Arthur’s side, the trust Arthur holds in him, you name it - only for Arthur to come out with a grand statement of apparently knowing all along... (What, and you only mention this now? Really Arthur?) As I mentioned before, Merlin obviously is conflicted about the Magic Thing for the majority of the show, and so if Arthur noticed the magic, surely he must’ve noticed that too? Right? And yet, he said nothing??? Why? Out of (not entirely unreasonable) spite? Because ‘he wanted Merlin to tell him himself’? Okay, sure, fine, but fic writers don’t tend to go deeper into this from what I’ve seen, and it brings up some questions. Was Merlin not upset by this at all? Does he not ever think to question Arthur’s decision to leave him in such an affliction? What does that say about Arthur? And what does that say about Merlin? I think this certainly has the potential to be an interesting turn of events, but I rarely see the Arthur Knows idea taken in a direction that I can fully relish, which is too bad. But that’s just my thoughts, and again, not all fics with this approach to the Magic Reveal are the same or are even unenjoyable. Sometimes I, too, would rather keep a particular plot going than go into another Magic Reveal, even if I never really do get tired of them completely. :D
(Sorry for any mistakes, I’m not really looking to have a pristine journal entry as to just have a place to jot down my thoughts. If anyone reading this has something to add though, feel free :).)
Sooo... I’m not in love with fics where Arthur Already Knows About Merlin’s Magic.
There. I said it. XD
There are pretty much only two main reasons why:
1. In many fics I’ve read, it comes out as a bit of a cop-out, like, oh looky here what a convenient way to get out of having to go in depth into the fallout of a Great Magic Reveal in which Arthur’s trust has been severely damaged and Merlin has to do some serious reasoning and explaining of his own as to why he’d never told Arthur in the first place. That’s not to say fics don’t ever get into this, it just seems to me that most would rather have a quick, clean, all-is-mostly-forgiven wrap-up, haha. I am probably a hypocrite of this myself, though, lol so I cannot really judge the authors that do this, I can just say that I tend to enjoy a fic that goes into more detail of what a Magic Reveal would mean, than one that doesn’t. That said, I understand not all fic want to get into this because the plot might be focused somewhere else, so can’t complain :)
2. I think my biggest issue with this way of going about a Magic Reveal is, I guess, Arthur’s part in the whole thing. Merlin clearly struggles and agonizes about his magic and what it means in regard to Arthur, the kingdom, and their destiny throughout not only almost the entirety of the series, but in a lot of fic as well. I am made uncomfortable in fics where something or other lead to Merlin accidentally or purposely revealing his magic, clearly (probably) terrified - for his life, his place by Arthur’s side, the trust Arthur holds in him, you name it - only for Arthur to come out with a grand statement of apparently knowing all along... (What, and you only mention this now? Really Arthur?) As I mentioned before, Merlin obviously is conflicted about the Magic Thing for the majority of the show, and so if Arthur noticed the magic, surely he must’ve noticed that too? Right? And yet, he said nothing??? Why? Out of (not entirely unreasonable) spite? Because ‘he wanted Merlin to tell him himself’? Okay, sure, fine, but fic writers don’t tend to go deeper into this from what I’ve seen, and it brings up some questions. Was Merlin not upset by this at all? Does he not ever think to question Arthur’s decision to leave him in such an affliction? What does that say about Arthur? And what does that say about Merlin? I think this certainly has the potential to be an interesting turn of events, but I rarely see the Arthur Knows idea taken in a direction that I can fully relish, which is too bad. But that’s just my thoughts, and again, not all fics with this approach to the Magic Reveal are the same or are even unenjoyable. Sometimes I, too, would rather keep a particular plot going than go into another Magic Reveal, even if I never really do get tired of them completely. :D
(Sorry for any mistakes, I’m not really looking to have a pristine journal entry as to just have a place to jot down my thoughts. If anyone reading this has something to add though, feel free :).)