Morgana Pendragon | Season 3
Morgana's nightmares of Gwen and Emrys were the only ones that got through the powerful enchantments on Morgause's bracelet
They were neither nightmares nor visions, but prophecies. Emrys was prophesied to be Morgana's doom, and Gwen was prophesied to be Queen instead of Morgana.
That’s quite ironic because “evil Morgana” was classist
TWO SERVANTS posed the biggest threat to her. More than Arthur himself, i would say.
“It's... lonely. To be more powerful than any man you know, and have to live like a shadow. To be special, and have to pretend you're a fool. I know how it feels, I... understand.”
The contrast between old Merlin's interactions with his friends and Uther are great (Kudos to Colin Morgan, great acting, as usual).
With Arthur and the Knights he was just trolling. He was... "affectionately" insulting them lol
But with Uther? Oh it was personal
Merlin and Uther's interactions are underrated.
This is the man who made him live in fear. This is the man who made him believe he was a monster. This is the man who oppressed him and others like him.
I really enjoyed Merlin's reveal to Uther in season 5. It was so nice to see him finally get to express his feelings to him after all that time spent biting his tongue while Uther ruled. Merlin finally gets some catharsis in telling Uther to suck it.
I don't understand why so many people still believe that Morgause Dark-Towered Morgana.
She gave up on conquering Camelot to heal Morgana and sacrificed her own life in hopes that Morgana would succeed. Morgause adored Morgana, she would never have done anything to hurt her.
She gave her her bracelet to stop her from having nightmares. She put her on the throne. No way did she torture her :/
For some reason people believe that Morgause's love for Morgana isn’t real just because she's a villain. Yeah, no.
Also, this headcanon is robbing Morgana of any agency.
Gwen finds out Morgana has magic
Gwen finds out Merlin has magic
Let's take a look at the absolute funniest out of context Merlin scene ever :)
The dynamic between Morgana and Merlin/Gwen is so interesting in season 3/4/5.
Morgana enjoys the power play with them. The classism is strong with her. Merlin is a servant. Gwen is a servant. They aren't important or a threat. Well, for a while. That's why their dynamic is interesting.
Morgana doesn't start to see Gwen as a threat until she knows Gwen has a shot at ''her'' throne. She would rise above her in rank and she could not stand it.
In the episode 3x12 she allows Gwen to live not because she still care about her, but because she’s wants herself above Gwen. That’s how she sees her, a lowly servant that is beneath her rank. It was a great "fuck you" to her vision (Gwen on the throne). And that's why she enslaved her in season 5
It’s a power move.
With Merlin, in season 3, she was not threatened by him knowing what she was up to precisely because she knew that nobody would believe him, especially Uther. She did try to kill him when he got in her way directly, but she never considered him important enough to actually scheme specifically against him. He was just a "stupid servant". Until she finds out that Merlin is Emrys.
Emrys is a threat. Emrys is worthy of being her mortal enemy. Emrys is the version of Merlin that can justifiably command her attention. In season 5 she doesn’t even call him Merlin anymore; she only addresses him as Emrys. Merlin is a servant and therefore of no interest.
After she drained Merlin of his powers, she was still scared of him
Merlin the servant was literally dead to her.
I didn’t like how in the show, after Morgana finds out that Merlin is Emrys, she doesn’t properly confront him on it in the caves or in battle, she calls him Emrys and that’s it, and then Merlin just killed her with Excalibur. It’s like they had no history. The writers didn’t remember season 1, 2 and 3?
Morgana and Merlin are linked together in destiny like Arthur and Merlin (just in a different way)
Emrys is her mortal enemy, the one destined to defeat her, the mysterious sorcerer who has thwarted her countless times and threatens to destroy her dreams.
We needed a REAL confrontation. In s5, after discovering who Merlin is, i was expecting something like this
It really could’ve been a moment to bring some good storytelling back into Morgana’s character. Their confrontation also would have given Merlin an excuse for losing track of Mordred and arthur in the chaos of battle til it was too late.
Missed potential, again.
Underrated scene.
You can see from his face that Merlin hates Uther (and Merlin, like Morgana, has many reasons to hate Uther, more than anyone else), but here he's still nice with him, he feel pity for him, not only for Arthur, but because Merlin is a better person than Uther.
I can make a whole rant about how these two friendships deserved so much better.
It's like they were totally forgotten after season 3.
Unpopular opinion:
Gwaine and Merlin didn't push each other away after season 3.
I guess blame it on the writing. I feel like Gwaine in general fell flat after becoming a Knight, like many other characters (Gwaine is not the only victim of the bad writing, sadly). He was still awesome, i freaking love him, but sometimes It felt like he was just the comic relief of the group and stripped of all his other character traits. They completely watered him down when he became a Knight. They just blended him in with the rest of them. It's a shame because he was one of the best characters.
This obviously affected his friendship with Merlin. Gwaine and Merlin got less and less screentime together. But not only them. Even Gwen and Arthur or Gwen and Merlin weren't as good as in the previous seasons. But it's not their fault. Just the bad writing.
But....bad writing or no, Gwaine and Merlin friendship was still there and this beautiful friendship was as strong as always.
When everyone thought Gaius was guilty of using sorcery and ran away, Gwaine went to check on Merlin. He sat, listened and without hesitation helped him out. That is a true friend, it made me love him even more. Or when they were discussing about Gaius and Gwaine's father in a deleted scene. Or when Merlin was injured by Morgana in the episode 5x04, Gwaine was there, with him, and he was deeply concerned about his injuries, growing worried when the Merlin failed to regain consciousness. Or when Merlin enlisted Gwaine to escort him to the Valley of the Fallen Kings, and not another Knight, because he trusted him more than anyone else. Merlin knew he would never abandon him. Or when Gwaine was crying when he basically said goodbye to Merlin. Their last scene together....
Yes, we all know that season 4 and 5 aren't perfect, but Gwaine and Merlin still loved each other.
“Merlin is Emrys. He is the most powerful sorcerer who has ever lived. A man destined for greatness.“
Ok but seriously I live for the concept that in s3 Merlin and Morgana had this big secret that nobody else knew about and that they constantly threw in jabs and murderous innuendos into their conversations while Arthur and Gwen remained completely oblivious. The secret conversations, the stares, the glares — season 3 is Mergana supremacy
For some reason, even though Merlin was an original member of the Round Table in s3, he’s not allowed to sit at it anymore in s5.
Wtf?
Arthur had promoted everyone else, and Merlin’s still cool with keeping his secret from everyone whilst working like a dog with no appreciation. Merlin has been an overworking underappreciated constantly insulted servant for nearly a decade, yet a servant had become queen, commoners had become knights, and literally a stranger gets knighted within a day of knowing him (Mordred). Unless Merlin and Arthur has a much needed important off screen convo about Merlin’s status in the castle due to his bravery and loyalty and refusing promotion, I’m still mad with the writers for they lack of respect for Merlin 😔