“You look like a startled stoat.” - Arthur Pendragon to Merlin, 3x05: The Crystal Cave

He says it as an insult, and Merlin reacts like it’s an insult. I have to say, it’s a pretty shit insult considering what a stoat is.

This is was a stoat looks like to those who don’t know:

Yes Arthur, you roasted him so good! He’s clearly so ugly and stupid looking for you to compare him to this disgusting creature! Just look at how hideous it is!

ADDITION FROM LOOKING AT REBLOGS/COMMENTS: I have been blessed with the perfect pictures to compare Merlin and the stoat. Behold!

Can you imagine a live action version of the Crystal cave scene though.

If we get graced with this I might cry, this was the start of the original ship for me.

"The Crystal Cave"

Merlin, S3E05

The Merlin Trilogy - Mary Stewart

Inktober 2023 Day 15: Dagger

✨Your destiny awaits/ Do not be afraid/ Trust in what you are/ Trust in what will be ✨

SAXONS ☞ BRITONS Kai, Arthur of the Britons | Cerdic, Merlin of the Crystal Cave | Derfel, The Winter King

Me, reading/watching any medieval fantasy fiction: Wow, getting my period there would suck more than it already does.

source? I accidentally napped so hard a local deity showed me a vision of himself.

Merlin S3E5, “The Crystal Cave”

Okay what’s going on (I love this soundscape)

Feels very “pillars of the two kings”-ish. What’s that music, who’s singing?

Oh that must hurt 

I like Merlin doing medicine. Him talking to Arthur when he’s injured… WHY DID YOU TAKE THE ARROW OUT

Oh. Merlin crying.

…who is that?

So this is a Druid! If he calls Merlin Emrys…

Creeeeeepy. But also not surprised it’s magic. Wait, if it’s in the Valley of the Fallen Kings, does that mean the kings used to be associated with magic?

What’s that light? What is Morgana doing in that crystal?

So now Merlin’s seeing ghosts.

I reaaaaally like this episode and its sound. The heartbeats…

I liiiiiiiiiiiike this episode. (But also, Merlin, last time you chased Morgana…)

I feel like she may have done it on purpose but also no.

Arthur be wary of what you say, it may not fall on deaf ears

Oh wow. Uther suggesting the use of magic? 

THE FUCK WHAT

The conversations, however one-sided, between Uther and Merlin are always so interesting. This one was different.

Merlin, what were you thinking of, asking Kilgharrah?

Merlin what the fuck are you doing.

Didn’t expect Merlin to actually save her.

…how powerful is Merlin?

What game is Morgana playing? Is she trying to be legitimised?

The sound of the bells… of the blood… of the beats… And the thunder, too.

So she leaves Merlin to burn. But leaves the door open…

Merlin…

…would Morgana hurt Arthur?

All in all by far the best episode of the series so far. It’s so good on all counts. Going from Gwaine to this is tonal backlash and also such a good succession. Season 3 is definitely the strongest so far

The evil bitch knows that she’s your bastard you genocidal sunavabitch.

In my own version of Merlin's life, when he was younger, he had difficulty learning magic and learned under a tutor. The Lady Nimue, who was younger too, and an Avalonian elf, was studying in the same class. She helped him catch up/keep up, and they ended up an item over time. They were separated for a while, but found each other again and still had that spark. Nimue chose to travel with Merlin, but soon found herself in more than she'd bargained for when Merlin ended up the guardian of one young Arthur Pendragon. Morgan le Fay, who'd also studied with Merlin and Nimue, made attempts on the young Arthur's life regularly, and this took a toll on Nimue. It seemed that there was no time left for her and him together, so eventually, when Arthur was in his teens, she made the decision to leave. That story is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O28OqQtnXxCGbnDi0yagmrkwm8gAjLB-Bn-7uf3lVfg/edit?usp=sharing

Lyrics are from Send Her My Love by Journey. I will also say that some of the lore I've used was created by Mary Stewart, from her book The Crystal Cave.

thinking hard about Arthur’s ‘I would sacrifice my place on throne for her to see another sunrise’ because that’s exactly how it happened, actually, the once and future king choking on sunlight, empty promises on his tongue, while Morgana’s body lay cooling behind him, just a few feet away-

they were like melting wax to the coming sunrise, a new dawn neither of them would live to see, and Arthur died with well-wishes and deep grievances conjoined, having given up his place on the throne long ago, to dig up the skeletal frames of ‘friendship’ ‘love’ and ‘blood relation’

-delusions he would martyr himself for, ultimately, a final pittance, long before his last breaths were swallowed up by the sun

The Crystal Cave

The episode’s such bullshit I can’t watch it. I despise it. All the Merlin episodes about destiny are total crap. It seems everything that was predicted to happen, did, yet Merlin was told he had a choice. What choice? Why would these seers and the druids tell him certain things and not others? It’s so random. What was the show even trying to do?

Merlin was told Arthur had a great destiny and he protected that destiny with his life, and the lives of others. Yet, each time anyone told him the future, and how to prevent it, he didn’t believe it. He listened to Kilgharrah willingly, but only if his words pleased him. Believing in Arthur’s destiny, and consequently in his own, gave Merlin purpose. Yet, he refused to listen to the dragon if it meant getting his hands dirty - as if they weren’t already. Merlin didn’t trust Kilgharrah’s words about Morgana needing to die, though he knew she was evil. But he trusted the dragon when he said Mordred had to die. Was it because Morgan was rich and beautiful? Mordred was only a poor, orphaned child, yet Merlin almost killed him twice, on purpose, to prevent the future. Merlin believed so blindly that Arthur was destined to become a great King because Kilgharrah said so, so shouldn’t he have followed his advice and killed Morgana and Mordred? Mordred may have been a child, but Morgana wasn’t. She’d already proven to be very dangerous. Merlin doesn’t have the stomach to do what needs to be done. Arthur would’ve been better off under Morgana or Morgause’s protection.

This episode, the dragon again told Merlin to let Morgana die. Morgana’s nearly killed the King and endangered Camelot many times. Yet Merlin still saved her? And he abused his power as Dragonlord. Taking away someone’s agency to save all of Camelot is one thing, but to cure Morgana alone, when she’s made several attempts on other people’s lives? The irony is that he saved her only to realize he hadn’t stopped anything. She still tried to kill Uther. The show could’ve been clever in depicting destiny as a self-fulfilling prophecy, if that fact didn’t negate everything the characters did. Why are we even watching this show then, especially episodes like these? It’s so dissatisfying.  

I can’t understand why Merlin didn’t want to see what the crystals showed him. He was afraid of them, like he always. He never wants to know anything about the future that isn’t Arthur saving Albion. I also can’t understand why the seers would show him anything? If the seer of the old Kings who showed Merlin the Crystal Cave, and The Fisher King, wanted Morgana stopped so badly, why didn’t they just tell Merlin what to do. (But would he have listened?) Why be vague when they were already interfering with the future? Weren’t they deciding the future by showing it to Merlin? They said Merlin was destined to find them, so they were destined to show them whatever, but does that make any sense? 

Why would the old seer of the Kings show Merlin a vision of Morgana killing Uther? Why do they care about Uther? Don’t they want to make Arthur King? Were they protecting Uther because he was a King? If so, they should’ve warned Merlin many times before. It’s utter nonsense, that’s what it is.

And what’s wrong with Gaius? He’s always warning everyone of the old stories and of the Old Ways, but whenever Merlin sees the future, he’s like “Are you sure you aren’t overreacting? The future’s a tricky thing, Merlin.”

Even worse than the plot of this episode is its tone - so absurdly melodramatic. Uther was openly sobbing in front of Merlin and confiding in him. He didn’t shed a single tear after Morgana’s disappearance in season 2! Gwen was crying in Arthur’s embrace, and they looked awkward and ridiculous. She kept squirming in Arthur’s arms for extra effect, but it just looked like she was itchy. Arthur was totally frazzled too, taking his anger out on practice dummies and confiding in Merlin about how he couldn’t stand to lose his sister.

All this fake drama to pressure Merlin into saving Morgana? To make him feel guilty about wanting her dead? I understand killing people is hard, but, like, the reason why Merlin was the one destined to protect Arthur must’ve been because they knew he would for certain let Arthur die in the end. 

This entire episode is cheesy and worthless. Merlin is always at its worst when it comes to prophecies and destiny. The writers don’t have a consistent approach to it, or even know what they’re doing at all; they just like the drama. Destiny is a big deal. They use its concept to hype the show, and its characters, up. Having powerful seers, goddesses, witches, warlocks, etc. willing to die to protect the characters and their destiny only serves to aggrandize them while also giving the appearance that the writers had it all planned from the beginning. It’s all smoke and mirrors, zero substance, to make Merlin look epic. It’s sad because the idea that showing people their future, even an undesirable one, makes it more likely for it to happen is interesting. How would our decisions change if we knew the future? Imagine you hated someone, like Merlin hated Arthur, but were told they would one day save the world? You’d start seeing the good in them and showing them patience and kindness, because you’d believe they could change; in doing so, however, you’d be helping them actually change. Merlin was not without its flashes of brilliance, which is why we love it, but, ultimately, it failed to deliver a consistent message, especially when it came to magic (if magic is not inherently bad, why was it portrayed as such most of the time, and why did Merlin work against it?), and destiny (if you can’t escape destiny why did Merlin have to be told what his destiny was in order to make it happen?)

Anyway, is this the worst episode of the season? Very likely. Its rewatch value is negative. It’s this episode this season and The Sins of the Father in the previous one...Merlin is the real villain and Arthur’s bane.

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

We start this series of Arthurian retellings with Myridden Emrys, aka, Merlin. His childhood, and his meeting of Galapas, who would teach him how to use his special ability to ‘see’, as well as the others who taught him math, engineering, magic, and more.

He does eventually end up in the court of Ambrosius, who is Uther Pendragon’s brother, and is trying to bring the people of Britain together.

It was the same, but different. I have read a bunch of Arthurian legend, and Merlin stories, and so, a lot of this book felt a little familiar. But, Stewart doesn’t hew to the stories exactly, and, so I found myself sucked into her version, and her stories very quickly. And I look forward to reading the rest in the series too.

You may like this book If you Liked: The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty, Battle of Kings by M.K. Hume, or The Fall of Atlantis Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Bradley, Marion Zimmer

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart