Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24691863-20140413080351/@comment-24456706-20140428212351

Issy5209 wrote:

''I do have a bit of trouble calling Arthur and Merlin Heroes, however, and I think it's mainly down to the questionable morality we see in the latter part of the series. [...] Because of this dubious morality, everybody else has to be worse than they are.''

I fully agree.

I've always found it difficult, particularly with this show more than most, to draw a line between the writers' intentions and what was actually presented to the viewers. On other shows, or in movies or books, it's easier to reconcile the two. There aren't so many dissimilarities. But with Merlin, they live on two entirely separate poles.

The show is called Merlin, so it's perhaps expected that we regard Merlin as one of the heroes. Anyone who's even slightly aware of Arthurian mythology will most likely consider Arthur a hero as well. In the show, those "fatal flaws" which others have so aptly outlined above were glossed over or portrayed in the most positive way possible. (For my own purposes, I consider those of us who engage in critical discussions of the show and its episodes on the forums here to be something of a minority; I'd imagine that a majority of the show's viewership, past or present, judge it mainly on how entertaining it is. Most will notice blatant errors or inconsistencies, but might not engage with the writing in such an overtly analytical way.) Merlin's blatant obsession with Arthur was defined only as the love of a devoted servant, his callous treatment of other magic-users was considered necessary (even when it wasn't!) and part of his "growing up." Arthur's view on magic was so wishy-washy that the slightest allowance he offered to sorcerers rendered him a "great king" and Christ incarnate.

Except... Arthur never legalised magic? He still persecuted sorcerers well into the fifth series? And Merlin, I mean, Merlin never really learned much of anything, did he? He was still blindly following prophecies and such. He only grew up in the most basic, physical sense. Otherwise, he just became a bit more broody and serious --- and somehow the destiny he'd been working towards since series one completely changed.

Meanwhile, other characters with legitimate motivations for their actions --- such as Uther --- were crucified on-show because those legitimate motivations rendered them complex and interesting and heroic in ways that Arthur and Merlin weren't. Fimber presented tons of evidence proving that Uther consistently professed his love for his children. But the writers and show-runners never intended for us to see Uther as anything but a magic-hating, power-hungry tyrant, who expected his subjects, his friends, and his children to be entirely submissive to his will... which is why, regardless of all the times he'd stated something to the contrary, Arthur and Morgana could never believe that Uther loved them. We were supposed to view Arthur as a greater king than his father... why, because he knighted commoners and married a servant? Fimber said it best: This makes him a better pal, but not a better king. Meanwhile, the several peace conferences we were subjected to during Uther's reign, and his crucial uniting of the Five Kingdoms in series two, were never mentioned again when Arthur came to the throne.

And as for Morgana... well, I certainly don't consider Morgana a hero and I doubt we were ever meant to, but I've always considered her a more interesting character than Arthur or Merlin. The raging psychopathy with which she became afflicted from the third season onwards was unnecessary. She was made gratuitously evil so that Arthur and Merlin's own failings wouldn't seem quite so bad when they were stacked up next to her.

So, where's the line? I'm not the type of person who can blindly subscribe to the writers' intentions, because if I did that, if any of us did that, Merlin would be an entirely different show from the one that actually aired. Entertainment value only gets you so far. We're supposed to see Arthur and Merlin as the heroes, and Uther and Morgana as the villains... but it's not so black and white! All of the characters on this show subscribe to a very grey morality. No one's entirely good, no one's entirely bad (except for people like Hunith, maybe, who falls into the former category). I personally find it difficult to consider any character on this show a "hero."

(Sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent.)