User blog comment:Adelina Le Morte March/Fanfiction Pains: annoying things I've noticed related to Merlin fanfics/@comment-5939645-20130127021135/@comment-5995315-20130127220727

Hi Ivyteainn --

''No man would have accepted Arthur's treatment without quitting unless there was more than meets the eye. [...]  I can't say for sure what the Arthur-Merlin relationship was about, but it's very nature opens itself to many interesting questions.''

I agree. I take it from the episodes that there has to be  same-sex attraction holding the two together in some way, but lots of people don't see it that way.

''I never said whether it was platonic or romantic love. I do know that the producers called it a love story themselves.''

I've been confused many times over how people use the word "platonic." The opposite of platonic is sexual or sensual, but in a lot of posts people use the word as the opposite of "romantic." For my part, I don't think the bond was romantic, but I do think it may have gotten sexual. So I myself am not sure how to use this word.

All the same, everyone, especially after the Katie and Julian audio commentary, knows  the finale is meant as the culmination of a love story. I was expecting something like it, but so many were caught off guard and felt blindsided. And even knowing this, it's hard to say what that love comes to; so many interpretations are possible. But the slash out there gets under my skin.

So beyond  the word love, it get hard to find words that describe the bond more specifically. That just shows how inadequate our language is, and I hope everyone sees this difficulty. I suggest that when posters talk about Merlin and Arthur, we use a phrase or even a sentence or two to specify what we mean in terms of their relationship, and that we not rely on single words too much. Nobody is at fault. Our very language, unfortunately, doesn't have a word for the what the finale made explicit.