User blog:Sir Dagonet the jester/The father and the dragon - envisioning an expressionist view of Merlin's mindscape

The user Machairodus suggested that "The Last Dragonlord" takes place inside the main character's head. So I thought that the episode should be re-shot for this to work, using characteristics of german expressionist cinema. Expressionism is defined by the protagonist's perception overwritting the objective reality in the sense that everything is distorted from the point of view of the troubled male and anxious hero. One of the earliest films that defined the current was "The cabinet of doctor Caligari" in which the main story is actually the fantasy of   a madman. One of the last and greatest expressionist movies is "Shadows: a night hallucination" which is self-explanatory. In "The cabinet" the buildings are unnaturaly distorted. And the later films changed the way shadows and light affected the plot and atmosphere.

So for example, during the dragon's ramapage the buildings may be distorted, because the world Merlin believes in and strives to create is threatened and unstable. Th tavern he and Arthur visit in search for Balinor is towering the village because of the importance Merlin attaches to the information. The midnight thief, once fulfilled his purpose, giving the said information, sinks into the shadows never to be seen again. Once in the cave, the darkness engulfs the injured Arthur and only the conversing father and son are visible. Later that night, only Merlin is in the light, troubled by his thoughts. In the morning Arthur leaves the cave refreshed and he bathes into the bright light of day and hope. When Balinor dies, for a few brief moments the sky darkens. Later the dragon appears his face in light and part of it obscured by shadows, showing that Merlin's pragmatism is ambivalent.