User blog comment:Alethia II/Arthur is a dumb blonde (solely opinion of moi)/@comment-5659316-20121028015118

LOL.

About the whole "tavern" thing, I'm seriously considering writing a one-shot humour fanfic where Arthur actually DOES go to the tavern to check on Merlin (maybe even with the knights, in hopes of holding an intervention or something), only to find he's not there. Then, when he's talking to Merlin later, he goes, "I know you weren't in the tavern." And Merlin replies, "How did you know?" To which Arthur would say, "I went to the tavern, and asked around, and they'd never even HEARD of you!" LOL. I don't know when exactly I'll write that story, it's just an idea I've had flopping around in my brain for a long time and your blog here reminded me of, is all.

As for the blows to the head being the reason Arthur's a "dumb blonde", I don't think that's any excuse; Merlin's been hit round the head (often BY Arthur) at least as many times, just not at as critical moments, such as a Dragon talking or a magic reveal, and he's usually on the ball as to what's going on. I think Arthur not knowing, is just Arthur being well, Arthur. Though, to be fair, in some of the legends and novels about King Arthur, he WAS sort of oblivious and passive. Look at The Once and Future King by T.H. White, for example. He had a general idea Lancelot and Gwen ("Jenny") were messing around behind his back and choose to let it slide without conciously admiting it to himself and playing dumb as best he could when anyone brought it up; it was actually his old tutor Merlin who forced him to use his brain and THINK about much of anything. There's even a line in the book where Arthur flat-out SAYS something along the lines of, "Merlin taught me to think. Don't ever let anyone teach you to think, it's terrible." So personally it doesn't bother me too much that BBC Merlin's Arthur can be dim; it's not against the legends quite as much as you might think...