Merlin (TV miniseries): Difference between revisions

* [[Blood Oath]]: Merlin swears not to use his powers except to defeat Queen Mab. To ratchet up the significance, he cuts his hand and lets the blood drip to the ground, in front of Ambrosia's grave, while swearing, “On Ambrosia's grave, and on the grave of my mother.” It takes several years, but eventually Mab figures out a way to make him break his oath...

* [[Body to Jewel]]: Mab's crystal tear.

* [[Brought Down to Normal]]: {{spoiler|Frik.}}

* [[The Chessmaster]]: Mab is a brilliant one; always two steps ahead right till the very end.

* [[Enemy Mine]]: When Vortigern allies with Mab, Merlin figures that the enemy of the friend of his enemy is his friend, and thus allies himself with Uther, admitting up-front to Uther that this is his reason for joining him.

* [[Enfant Terrible]]: Mordred, as a young boy, attempts to throw a knife at Merlin. According to Morgan, it's his way of demanding attention.

* [[Evil Matriarch]]: Mab.

* [[Evil Twin]]: Miranda Richardson is [[Acting for Two]] as both Queen Mab and her sister, the Lady of the Lake,

* [[For the Evulz]]: The only time Mab does something for this reason is when she shows Elaine that Lancelot is committing adultery against her with Guinevere. Frik comments on it.

* [[Fountain of Youth]]: One of Merlin's explicit powers.

* [[Functional Magic]]: Explained quite a bit more in the novelizations than in the movie.

* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Merlin.

* [[Green Thumb]]: The first magic that Merlin uses, to pull Nimue out of a mud hole. He later uses the same power again to {{spoiler|defeat a dragon!}}

* [[Guile Hero]]: Merlin. Nimue also gets into it, managing to convince Vortigern to release Merlin, while being kept as a hostage herself.

* [[Has Two Mommies]]: Merlin. Three, counting Ambrosia.

* [[The Hecate Sisters]]: Though not mentioned in the series, the novelization repeatedly brings up the triple nature of the Celtic goddesses, going so far as to mention that Mab is the only remaining aspect of a triad that was made up of Maiden, Mother, and Warrior.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Merlin, after he {{spoiler|loses Nimue and Arthur}}. He gets better shortly after.

* [[Hot Blooded]]: Mordred.

* [[Humans Are Bastards]]: When Merlin asks the Rock of Ages to hold Excalibur “until a good man comes to take it from you,” the Mountain King says, “Then I will be holding it forever . . . if not longer.”

* [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]]: As Vortigern kills King Constant and takes his crown in the prologue, Merlin makes some commentary to this general meaning. “One tyrant smoothly passed the crown to another, even worse.”

* [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]]: Subverted, as no one is without their faults and entirely pure. When the Lady of the Lake tells Merlin that he needs to find “a man pure in heart,” to protect the throne from Mordred, he quips, “I've tried to find him before. He doesn't exist.”

** It turns out this was Galahad, who had no part in the movie whatsoever. The novelesation says he led the rebuilding after the war and found the Grail.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: King Constance is introduced with the line "Kill the prisoners!", emphasizing his madness. Uther utters the same line after becoming corrupt and losing Merlin's trust and aid.

* [[Just Ignore It]]: {{spoiler|How Mab is defeated.}}

* [[Love Hurts]]: Merlin says it best: “Oh, they hurt, memories. Memories of love, they hurt.”

* [[Love Triangle]]: The traditional one between Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere also involves Elaine, who is in a relationship with Lancelot when he is first introduced and eventually dies of heartbreak as a result of his relationship with Guinevere.

* [[Lust]]: Uther's lust for Igraine is a rather extreme case. Merlin puts it best. “Hundreds are dead because you have an itch.”

* [[Magical Gesture]]: Used by intermediate wizards, called hand wizards.

** Although she ''does'' use {{spoiler|his love for her to entrap him.}} At the duress of Mab, yeah, but it's the thought that counts.

* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]

* [[Named Weapons]]: Excalibur, obviously.

* [[Necessarily Evil]]: Mab claims, “With evil all around me, I can do nothing but evil, to survive.” Nimue shortly after tells her, “That's too easy.”

* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: {{spoiler|Mab's spells slowly lose their power after she vanishes, and eventually fail.}}

* [[Not So Different]]: Mab tells Merlin that she is fighting and causing evil because she must save her people, and the ends justify the means. Merlin later gives the same excuse after helping Uther seduce Igraine, causing Sir Rupert to grumble, “Now, where have I heard that before?”

* [[Pet the Dog]]: It's buried deep, but Mab seems to have legitimate feelings for both Merlin and Mordred.

** Likewise for Mordred toward "Auntie Mab".

* [[Pride]]: Vortigern's [[Fatal Flaw]], noted by both Mab and Merlin. {{spoiler|“Only one tear was shed for Vortigern, and his pride had cast it away. He paid for it with his life.}}

* [[Prophecies Are Always Right]]

* [[Prophecy Twist]]: Merlin takes what the Lady of the Lake says about finding the right man on a certain island a bit too literally.

* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: Merlin gets an ''epic'' rant against Mab after [[You Killed My Father|the deaths of his mother and Ambrosia]] and {{spoiler|[[Beauty Is Never Tarnished|the scarring of Nimue]]}}, and then again right after {{spoiler|Arthur is born.}} Though he's addressing Mab, the feel of both scenes, on the beach with the tide coming in the first time and on a rocky bluff in the middle of a rainstorm the second time, seems to specifically invoke this. Of course, given that Mab is a [[The Fair Folk|Fey]] ''[[Physical God|Goddess]]'' and Merlin very much hopes to destroy her religion and utterly erase her from existence, it's pretty literal as well.

* [[Religion of Evil]]: By the time the story starts, the Old Ways have been reduced to this, thanks to Mab's desperation and loss of touch with the world; it's pretty outright stated by Ambrosia that even Mab used to be kinder when she was more prosperous.

* [[Rescue Romance]]: Merlin and Nimue.

** Frik's favourite trick, by the way.

* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]

* [[Wizard Beard]]: Merlin, in the present when he is old. Averted through most of the series.

* [[Wizard Duel]]: {{spoiler|The climactic final battle between Merlin and Mab.}}