User blog comment:MerlinUSA/Merlin -- The Big Picture/@comment-5102537-20130120143649/@comment-5102537-20130123111017

The only thing that's upsetting me is when users who disagree are being offended, in your case when they are accused of being homophobic. It's the same as if someone accused another user of being a racist because they are not interested in a character that incidentally has a different skin colour. But I think you actually know this ;-)

Where you think that I'm denying that there are possibilities to interprete the characters and situations in various ways, I'm saying that there were indeed situations that seemed to be aiming at a gay relationship or interest.I 've never denied it. I even said that they did it especially in the last season (most of all the final epsiodes) but that it was done that way subsequently, later... and that a gay interest was not intended in the previous seasons. I also said numerous times that the show runners did this intentionally to keep the homosexual fans or the fans who would have loved a gay relationship in line. It's a shame that  can't find the article again in which the show runners said that there is no homosexual relationship but that they are playing with it as a favour to the particular fanbase that likes it that way.

I've found an interview from 2008 (and I've said many times that the focus on the bromance, let alone on a gay relationship wasn't intended in the first seasons but that an intense friendship was part of the show). Bradley James, Julian Murphy and Colin Morgan:

" 01:30 ' JC   : these epic tales are you know there is a certain homoeroticism to them because y'know { 01:35 Colin chuckles} these are men fighting with swords with desperate things you know you're you're always going to get those kind of questions.   01:42 BJ   : Believe it or not, I actually take it as quite a compliment/No!/erm because...myself and Colin have erm...y'know from the start y'know we discussed the relationship and how we wanted it to develop and erm yeh I sort of take it as a compliment that the audiences are seeing something there that they can use erm and y'know bring it to a complete extreme in my opinion. erm but eh yeh its, its/  02:06   Mq  : but it is a very very intense friendship isn't it?  {murmurs of agreement all round}  02:09  ' CM   : hmmm  02:09  ' BJ   : yes  02:10  ' CM  ' : life and death  02:11   Mq  : you could be ah gay icons then?  02:14  JC   : they're already gay icons! { 02:16 Colin chuckles}

Here is an article about the crew being offended by some slash stuff:

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/arthur-and-gwen/articles/140827/title/merlin-crew-offended-some-fanfic-drawings-pics

It seems to be a common tactic to call people homophobic when they disagree on some things (and here on FICTIONAL characters), as you can see in this article.

I guess our debate would have been much more relaxed if you had just accepted that there were intentional situations that pointed into the direction of a same sex-interest but that it was to please those fans who wanted it. Arthur's one and only love was Gwen, as was evident when only her kiss could break a mighty spell. Whether people think that Arthur could have had a sexual interest in Merlin or not, it's just the wishful thinking of those who were teased by the showrunners. The intention, according to what the show presented us and according to the clear statements of the showrunners in regard to this was a strong, intense bond between Merlin and Arthur, a brotherly and platonic love, not a gay relationship. nd even if it was, i wouldn't have cared if the show hadn't treated everything else as a side-effect and if they hadn't dropped the storylines that were so fascinating for the sake of a mere relationship.

Furthermore, in regard to the finale and the overall plotline, I wouldn't have watched the show for so long if it had only been about Arthur and Merlin like it was in the final season, whether in a gay or straight relationship. I was interested in the plot about bringing back magic, the characters (all of them!) developing and interacting with each other, the question if those who became enemies will make peace with each other. I was interested in the story of Uther, Gwen, Morgana, Gaius, the dragon. I wanted to know HOW Merlin reaches his goal, how people would react, what was going on with the Old Religion and so on... A story only about the friendship and/or sexual relationship of two protagonsists would have bored me to death (like it did in the final season) because all what I've listed above is a thousand times more interesting than the question if two people can finally have sex with each other or if they finally fall in love with each other. I'm not impressed by soap operas about the love of two people when there are so many intersteing and fascinating stories that broach ethics, philosophy, methaphysics and social questions. They had such brilliant stories at hand, some of them similar to Greek tragedies, to Shakespearean plots - and then they simply dropped it all and turned it into a shallow (platonic) love story of two people surrounded by comic-strip evil villains. Shame.

That's the reason why the final season and the finale annoyed me because it was all reduced to Merlin and Arthur only when there were tons of questions and other plotlines being left behind and being unanswered. And, as I said before, it would have been the same if it had only been about Gwen and Arthur and even about Uther and Igraine, even though Uther was my favourite character. It's simply not enough to concentrate on only two people.

Your imgaination is understandable (except for the Deagal-situation, in my opinion). However, there are countless fans outside who are convinced that Uther loved Morgana as a woman and not as a daughter. They are using the intense scenes between the two of them (Uther being fanatic about finding Morgana and finally being destroyed by her hatred) to justify their opinion that it was actually a sexual relationship. You can use almost every single situation to create relationships that actually weren't intended that way.