My hot take is that if Merlin didn’t love Arthur, the Disir episode would have still gone exactly the same.
#he didn’t do it strictly because arthur’s his friend. he believes in the prophecies.#kilgharrah literally instructed him to prevent mordred from killing arthur to fulfill the prophecies (long-term solution vs. easy out)#how many times has merlin tried to interfere only for shit to down spiral? look at 4x03. or even merlin saving morgana’s life in 2x12#but also. most importantly. merlin’s opinion is not the ultimate decider on this. arthur is the one whose opinion actually counts here#and frankly he made his decision here without any convincing from merlin#merlin did not provide any real argument or counterargument to arthur’s points#arthur only did it because he believed it was right (or rather it’s easier for him to believe that magic corrupts people)#like genuinely. rewatch the scene. merlin did not provide any reasons for his stance. he just answers ‘no’ to a ‘yes or no’ question#arthur could have easily acquiesced to the disir#merlin missed an opportunity to attempt to convince arthur otherwise sure but arthur’s shown to ignore merlin if he thinks it’s the right#thing to do (think back to 5x01 for example)#genuinely merlin does not make a difference here. he’s just a witness who has the misfortune of knowing the possible outcomes#both the favorable and destructive#with a penchant for blaming himself#merlin emrys#arthur pendragon#merlin and arthur#merlin meta#my meta#bbc merlin