User blog:Merlin artist/Gwaine-from the beginning to the end

OK, so I know all this stuff about the finale is dragging on a bit now, but I just wanted to analyse and give a short-ish biography of the lovely Sir Gwaine and how he changed from his first episode until his death.

In the beginning...

We first met Gwaine in the episode of the same name from Series 3. Arthur and Merlin were outnumbered in a tavern brawl, Gwaine stepped in to help them. Aside from the hair flicking, showing off and smart jokes about wasting ale, pretty much everyone knew that Gwaine would be around for a while and would be a fan favourite too. His courage and bravery to stand up to Dagr came at a price though, and injured leg and being knocked out on a wooden bench, thus meaning he was taken back to Camelot. Upon learning Arthur was the prince, Gwaine changed his mind and wished he hadn't saved him, later on after being drunk, he explained to Merlin why this was. Merlin understood and explained to Gwaine that Arthur wasn't like that, that he was different.

Except then, Merlin found out that 'Sir Oswald' and 'Sir Ethan' were fakes with extremely sharp blades which appeared blunt, Gwaine wondered where Merlin had got to and went to find him, this showed that Gwaine had actually found a friend in Merlin. Gwaine supposedly 'attacked' 'Oswald' and 'Ethan' unprovoked, which he did, but Sir Leon caught him and Gwaine was brought before the King and sentenced to be executed, Arthur insisted Uther lift the sentence and reminding him that Gwaine had saved his life, thus the sentence was changed to banishment, Gwaine started to understand that Merlin told him about Arthur was true, he was different.

Gwaine supposedly left, but in the Mélée, Arthur was outnumbered and faced 'Oswald' and 'Ethan' alone. Another knight who had been injured in the shoulder suddenly intervened and helped Arthur. Everyone wondered who it was, Merlin recognised it was Gwaine when he saw the knight do his flick-sword-out-of-other-knights-hand-and-catch-it signature move. Gwaine killed 'Oswald' and 'Et

han' and faced Arthur, Arthur took of his helmet and said 'The field is yours' Gwaine stabbed his sword in the ground and revealed himself to the furious Uther, Gwaine entered the tournament to help a friend and even though he knew what the consequence would be, he still did it after he said he hated nobility, seems he didn't think that was true about Arthur. Yet still, despite what Arthur said to make Uther change his mind, Gwaine was still banished and said to Merlin that one day they would meet again. Gwaine had found some true friends at last, it was just a shame he couldn't stay for longer, until...

Strength...

Gwaine made a return when Arthur had gone off to the Perilous lands to find the Trident of the Fisher King, but Merlin found out that Morgana had done something to the bracelet she gave him as a good luck gift, except it was an Eye of the Phoenix which sucked the strength out of whoever wore it. Morgana had done this so that Arthur would never return from his quest, Uther would be a broken man because of it and she would take her 'rightful' place on the throne of Camelot.

Merlin set off to follow Arthur, but knew he would need help. So he stopped off at a few taverns until he found Gwaine in the middle of yet another brawl and immediately this required a swift exit. So, here comes my favourite scene of all time, when Merlin and Gwaine are cornered on the edge of a building, the only way down is to jump. Merlin says 'You have got to be joking!' Gwaine  just shrugs and 'encourages' Merlin to jump off the edge, landing in the pile of hay below, Gwaine followed with a much more slick approach to it than Merlin did, they ran off and galloped through the forest on horses.

They reached Grettir's bridge, first Merlin went to see what was going on over there and shortly after, Gwaine arrived 'Ah, the trio is complete!' said Grettir. Gwaine asked 'Who's he?' and dre

w out his sword. Grettir's eyes flashed orange and Gwaine's sword turned into a lily flower. Grettir explained that his sword would return when he reached the other side.

They set up a camp fire in the Perilous lands and Merlin said 'Why are you doing this?' Gwaine says 'To help a  friend.' Merlin: 'Arthur's lucky to have us.' Gwaine: 'Not Arthur.' Merlin: 'I'd do the same thing for you.' This shows that Gwaine is more friends with Merlin than Arthur and that he does these things for Merlin's sake, although he is beginning to trust Arthur.

They reached the Fisher King's castle just in time to see some wyverns about to kill Arthur, Gwaine stabbed it in the back and Merlin took the Eye of the Phoenix bracelet off Arthur's wrist and he awoke to find Merlin staring into his face and exclaimed 'You have completely ruined my quest!' then Merlin stepped back to reveal Gwaine to Arthur, who was completely annoyed as his quest that was suppose to be done 'alon and unaided' had completely not gone to plan.

They carried on into the castle, but when they reached the door to the throne room, only Merlin got through before it slammed down and Gwaine and Arthur were trapped on the other side. In there, Merlin found the Fisher King was still alive and he gave Merlin a vial of water from the Lake of Avalon, Merlin ended his suffering by putting the Eye of the Phoenix on him and then the door was released so that Gwaine and Arthur could get through. Arthur picked up the trident and they headed back to Camelot.

At the border, Gwaine said farewell and left them to journey on. Arthur said that things would be different when he became King. Gwaine nodded and said that they would see each other again.

Morgana's conquest of Camelot...

Gwaine returned yet again when Arthur and Merlin were on a quest to receive the Cup of Life after being captured by Jarl, the infamous slave trader working for King Cenred. They met in his dungeon, where Gwaine said to Merlin and Arthur why he happened to have been captured,  'Wrong place, wrong time, wrong drink". Jarl came along and picked Merlin to fight his champion, but Arthur put forward himself as he told Jarl that he would offer a more interesting fight. Jarl asked his champion if he was ready, Gwaine said 'I am.' Merlin and Arthur were surprised to hear him say this but that also meant that Arthur would have to fight Gwaine and Jarl wanted it to be to the death. They faked their fight but Jarl wanted them to hurry upp and kill one of them, Merlin managed to save them by starting a fire, after which Gwaine joined them on their quest for the the C

up of Life Later, they got it from the Druids but were ambushed by Cenreds men. Gwaine remained with Merlin while Arthur was injured. After Arthur had improved and was healed enough to walk, Gwaine continued on to Camelot with them only to find it captured. Arthur sent Gwaine and Elyan to the woods with Gaius so that he could rescue Uther.

Gwaine, along with the most of the others, lived in a cave for a week until they were joined by Sir Leon and Gwen, who had snuck out of Camelot disguised as two women courtiers, Morgause had made their trail followable so that they would lead them to Arthur though. They were ambushed by Morgana's soldiers, but were saved by Lancelot and Percival. Gwaine went with them to the castle of the ancient kings, promising his allegiance to Arthur in the battle to retake the kingdom. He said that, while he believed they had no chance, he wouldn't miss the fight for the world, and was subsequently knighted by Arthur. Afterwards, Gwaine joined them in their attack on Camelot to save Uther and the other knights. Gwaine, Arthur, and the other knights went to the dungeons to save the king, while Merlin and Lancelot went after the Cup of Life claiming to be disabling the warning bell. During the battle with Cenred's immortal army, Gwaine disappears. The men disappear when Merlin emptied the Cup of Life with the blood it contained. Everyone began to celebrate, then they notice that Gwaine is not there. Elyan looked around and called for Gwaine saying, 'Gwaine...Gwaine? You still alive?' Gwaine's voice replies, 'What do you think?' The knights all smile as Gwaine adds, 'and that's Sir Gwaine to you!' Gwaine is later shown riding into Camelot with the other Knights of the Round Table, now wearing armour and a red Camelot cloak.

Knight of Camelot...

Series 4 Gwaine I didn't like, his hair was too long and had lost it's handsome curls for a start, Gwaine also now wore armour which really didn't suit him as much as his Series 3 costume. Can't be bothered to write about Series 4 Gwaine, this post is getting rather long, you can check his page if you want to find out. The only bit of Series 4 I did like was a) the slightly funny 'Sir Gwaine was slain...with a fishing rod!' scene from Lamia and Gwaine's shirtless fighting scenes for Morgana in The Sword in the Stone.

Morgana's prisoner...

After being captured in Ismere ,Morgana and being forced to work underground mining for this 'key' that Morgana was looking for, at least he had Percival and wasn't alone. Another plus side was that him and Percival were shirtless for Morgana's pleasure once again (see cartoon below, found it on DeviantArt).

Gwaine saw a blue glowing light in a tunnel nearby and asked Percival to cover him whilst he went to see what it was. Whilst there, two  Saxon guards came along and severely injured Gwaine, he awoke to find himself lying on the rocks with the glowing Euchdag standing over him, it explained that he needed to rest while he healed. A few days later, Gwaine was well enough to stand up and heard people coming through the tunnel, he grabbed a flaming torch, out it out and prepared to use it on whoever was coming, saying to the Euchdag 'Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you.' As the people got closer, Gwaine lept out at them to find that Arthur had caught the stick of his burnt out torch and said 'Trust you to not be doing any work.' Arthur and Merlin then went on to get Morgana, blah blah blah this bit has nothing to do with Gwaine, and then they end up making it back to Camelot.

Between the Morgana stuff and death...

Not much really happened to Gwaine next, only his hilarious line about 'I had a dream that I was eating cheese that tasted like apple pie, anyone else had that dream? No? Must have been just me then.'

In the finale, Gwaine met Eira when she and the people of her town were being attacked by Saxons from Morgana's army  in the northern part of Camelot. He rescued her and then took her back to Camelot where Merlin treated her leg wound. Gwaine then told her that she was the only survivor of the area he had saved her from. He then started to fall in love with her and she 'fell in love' with him. Only to discover that she had been using him to get information to Morgana. Betrayed and annoyed, Gwaine watched her as she sent a message, using a raven, to Morgana, telling Morgana where Gwaine had told her the injured King Arthur and Merlin were headed. Gwen then came in and explained to Eira that the location had been false and that it was a trap for her. The next day Gwaine watched Eira's execution from a window in the castle, with only Percival to comfort him.

After Eira's execution, Gwiane and Percival rode off to find and kill Morgana. They killed all her Saxon bodyguards and Percival stabbed Morgana in the back, but she survived and knocked them out using her magic. She tied Gwaine to a tree and tried to extract information of Arthur's whereabouts from him using a Nathair. Gwaine was tortured to the brink of death, but refused to tell Morgana where Arthur was. His screams gave Percival the incentive to break free from his bonds further away, and he rushed to his friend's side immediately. Morgana had already gone by the time he got there, and Gwaine then died in Percival's arms telling him that he had failed.

In conclusion...

Well that was a short  scratch that, long summary of the Greatest Knight That Ever Lived who came to a tragic end and completely unecessary death.

LONG LIVE GWAINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!actually, it should be  more like LONG REMEMBER GWAINE!!!!!!!!!!!

I made this as a tribute for him... (it's not letting me put in videos and photos, that's why it's a gallery further up and a link here, sorry!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQxeqxwCw4g