![]() ![]() morgana isn’t in formal attendance - but she’s watching, spying in from the window. ![]() There is something so key about arthur not being present in the first scene of the show. Instead of fighting for a girl, he de-escalates the situation.Īnd that, for a male protagonist in an adventure fantasy story, is really unusual. But in The Lady of the Lake, Merlin is nurturing, gentle and caring, and he helps Freya calm down in her bastet form and prevents her from killing more people. Sure, male love interests are often portrayed as romantic and caring in movies catering to women (mostly romantic comedies) - but it’s not something we expect in an adventure story. But I also wonder if some of this doesn’t also tie to the fact that we’re not used to romance being portrayed that way - at least not in films that are catered to men. And I agree, it’s sudden and it’s very teenager-y, and much of Merlin’s love is tied to the fact that he can share magic with Freya freely. ![]() I’ve heard some opinions in fandom that Freylin in canon doesn’t feel like it’s really love, but more as if Merlin has found kinship. ![]() Merlin doesn’t lose any of his ambiguity, but he still gains love, at least temporarily. But in The Lady of the Lake episode, Merlin wins his love by being caring and nurturing - and the same episode makes those dress jokes! It’s a rather unusual situation for modern TV. Very often, when we have a story about an underdog, a nerdy, less popular guy who finally manages to obtain a female love interest, stories are written so that he has to 'man up’ to gain the love (fight for her in a very macho way, make big gestures etc.). It’s very interesting with Freya, though. Sometimes it’s very stereotypical (like with all those jokes of 'haha, Merlin wears a dress’).Īnd he doesn’t get a female love interest except for Freya. They just show him being overjoyed by beauty.Īnd yeah, he’s queercoded. In that, he’s almost like an artist protagonist, except many movies about male artists still strive to show them as ‘manly’, where BBCM doesn’t. He has a ruthless Emrys side, but his most instinctual magic is about creating beauty. It’s often emphasized that being gentle is in Merlin’s nature. He gives shelter to Gwen when her father is imprisoned. He helps people not like a shiny hero-knight type would, but as a healer, friend, and a listener. He takes on nurturing roles: he listens to people’s plights, he comforts them. He cries, and not just shedding one manly tear he ugly-cries, and not only in extreme situations. The fighter.īut he also fits into roles that are not often portrayed as masculine in TV. The chosen hero, the powerful sorcerer in a body of an unassuming boy, the counselor. Sure, many age-old tropes pertain to Merlin. It’s like the creators of the show used all the appealing-to-the-male-audience hero points on Arthur (although he isn’t stereotypical either, but that’s a matter for another post) and there just wasn’t anything left for Merlin. Tyalangand: Hi, don’t mind me, I’m just thinking about how Merlin isn’t your typical male protagonistįrom the very beginning, Merlin’s character was so appealing to me - not just because of his situation and how it could be relatable in so many ways, but also because of the model of masculinity he represented something not often portrayed on screen (apart from LOTR). ![]()
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