Merlin (TV series)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Abandon Shipping: Interest in Arthur/Morgana had already begun to wane after their dramatic decrease in scenes together during Series 2, but the third series revelation that they were secret half-siblings ended it for a lot of viewers - though there are still some fans out there.
  • Accidental Innuendo: Happens so frequently that even the actors aren't impervious. During Comic Con 2011, Bradley James kept discussing how he liked to get his sword out and wave it around. Either side of him, Anthony Head and Katie McGrath try to stifle their giggles.
  • Actor Shipping: Bradley James gets shipped with all three of his co-stars, especially Colin Morgan. Colin/Bradley's fanbase is almost as big as the Merlin/Arthur one. Also, Colin gets shipped with Katie McGrath (Morgana) quite often, as well.
    • Angel Coulby and Rupert Young, given the two seem to be quite chummy on-set, do a lot of promotional work together, and have been paired up for at least one DVD Commentary.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Cenred.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: Let's face it, Uther's a dick. Hunting down anyone that is magical regardless of their intentions even to the point of trying to destroy a young boy. With the way the series is, I'm not sure this wasn't the original intention though. I'm not sure that Uther is supposed to be a hero with how many horrible atrocities he's committed due to his paranoia and personnal hatred towards magic because of his Freudian Excuse.
    • Morgana is a biggie. Many fans (including Katie McGrath herself) don't consider her evil, but rather anything from a Well-Intentioned Extremist to just plain Axe Crazy. However, given what the writers and directors have her do, it would seem they want the audience to consider her a full-blown villain. Whether or not her significant Freudian Excuse (living in constant terror of Uther, watching his genocide of those who practise magic and Merlin's betrayal) is an adequate justification for her actions (which include the needless deaths of innocent civilians, her horrendous treatment of Gwen and excessive smirking) is a matter of debate.
    • The Guards of Camelot often appear so utterly useless. Its gotten the point where its gone beyond simple passive aggression to looking like they actively let the villains of the week in because they're hoping Uther will be killed.
  • Arc Fatigue: Most would agree that the withholding of Merlin's magical reveal has gone on way too long.
  • Badass Decay: Let's face it, on a show where Status Quo Is God, the character of Morgause was simply too intelligent to avoid getting this treatment for the storylines that the writers wanted. In her debut episode, she storms into Camelot, single-handedly takes down several guards, challenges Prince Arthur to a duel, beats him, drops a bombshell about his mother, makes him chase her across the countryside for answers, shows him what may or may not be a real apparition of his mother who tells him that his father was reponsible for her death, and then watches from a crystal as he goes storming back to Camelot to kill King Uther in a fit of rage. Fast forward to Series 3 and she's a completely ineffectual and one-dimensional villain who plots to overthrow the kingdom with a range of increasingly convoluted plans. She still gets the occasional Badass moments (the pillar of fire), but her IQ has dropped exponentially and she's eventually taken out by Gaius. Gaius. How embarrassing.
  • Base Breaker: Guinevere, to a certain extent.
    • To a much lesser extent, Alvarr. Some found him if not entirely sympathetic, then at least an interesting and charismatic Well-Intentioned Extremist, with intriguing ties to Mordred, Morgana and the Druids. Others just found him manipulative and skeevy.
    • And now Agravaine, for much the same reasons as Alvarr. For some he's an enigmatic wild-card with yet-to-be-revealed motivation, others find his lecherous behaviour around Guinevere and Morgana extremely creepy and disturbing.
  • Big Brother Instinct: There's a good reason this is in the YMMV tab, but Kilgharrah's treatment of Merlin in Series 2 is best described as a come and go fondness. In Series 3, after becoming spiritual brothers, Kilgharrah burns up Serkets trying to kill Merlin, doesn't want him to leave the cave until he's fully recovered, and allows him to ride him despite the fact that the series 3 finale shows he detests being used as a horse. He still occasionally treats him like an idiot, but given that we have only one talking dragon to draw references from, this could have been a normal big brother relationship among dragons.
  • Cargo Ship: You'd be surprised at the amount of fans who have taken to shipping Arthur/Merlin/Hat.
  • Designated Villain: Morgana, Mordred, and Morgause (who doesn't really do anything particularly villainous, and some of her actions even heroic, like putting the entire city to sleep to assassinate Uther without actually killing any innocents).
  • Die for Our Ship: Guinevere and Lancelot get the worst of it, the former from Merthur and Armor shippers, and the latter from Arwen shippers.
    • Mithian was around one episode and is getting this from the Arwen shippers.
    • Likewise, Merlin's One Shot Love Interest Freya took a lot of heat from the Merthur faction.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse:
    • Sir Leon. He is literally too popular to die. At the end of Series 2, it seems like he's been killed. There's even a shot of his apparent corpse. He's alive next season. By the final episode of Series 3, he's become one of the major supporting characters.
    • Gwaine and Princess Elena also qualify.
    • As of the end of Series 3, Percival - even though (thus far) he's been little more than a One-Scene Wonder. Of course, that could be the reason behind his popularity.
    • Mordred has the ability of making any episode he is in awesome.
    • As of Series 4, Lancelot's popularity has sky-rocketed.
  • Esoteric Happy Ending: A fandom example. After the Arthur/Morgana ship was sunk at the start of the second season, the shippers consoled themselves with the fact that these two characters would eventually end up on Avalon together (as per the legendary accounts). If you're not a shipper, the thought of Arthur being stuck on an island for all eternity with his Axe Crazy half-sister may seem a Fate Worse Than Death.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Uther Pendragon is played by Anthony Head, aka Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
    • The first episode has Eve Myles as an evil witch.
    • Lady Catrina... when she's in public, at least.
    • Not to mention Nimueh and Morgause.
    • And as of Series 3, Morgana.
    • And Cenred.
    • After being Brainwashed into twisted versions of their true selves, Lancelot and Guinevere get a sudden increase in sex appeal.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: Arthur/Merlin and how. Many fans watch the show just to see them together. On every youtube video that the two appear together in, almost all the comments are about the homoerotic subtext in their relationship, about how good they look as a couple or how they are secretly boyfriends/married. Not to mention that there's another fanbase almost as large as the Arthur/Merlin one, just for Colin Morgan/Bradley James.
    • Lancelot/Gwen.
  • Foe Yay: Merlin/Nimueh and perhaps a hint of Uther/Nimueh. The theory that they have a child together was Jossed in "Excalibur", which is conversely the episode in which they seem the closest.
    • In Series 3, Merlin and Morgana crank this Up to Eleven, what with all the sweaty sword-fighting, smouldering glances, dragging each other into alcoves, and the fact that they're spending almost every minute obsessing over each other.
    • Arthur/Morgause. After the events of "The Sins of the Father", Arthur sees red every time they cross paths.
    • Inevitably Gwen/Morgana after spending the first two seasons as a Romantic Two-Girl Friendship. During the course of Series 3, as Morgana begins to realize that Arthur and Gwen are an item, several scenes can be construed as Morgana getting jealous, or of her trying to seduce information out of Gwen, what with all the hand-holding and fake hugs.
    • Agravaine and Guinevere. It's mostly one-sided, but Agravaine is acutely aware of Gwen's presence, is deeply interested in her relationship with Arthur, refers to her as a "beautiful woman", has tried to touch her hair without her noticing at least once, and seemed rather intrigued with Morgana's claim that Guinevere would one day be Queen.
    • Morgana spent the end of Series 4 Episode 12 checking out Gwaine, although she was also mocking him and making him fight to the death at the time.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: You'll only get this if you watch with DVD Commentary, but the one of Series 1 Episode 10, had Bradley making a Running Gag that Hunith (Merlin's mum) gets an arrow in the head. A whacky, Non Sequitur Scene at the time, it's a lot less funny when Merlin's father dies in the next season... No, actually it's still pretty funny.
  • Genius Bonus: Aconite, the poison Merlin uses to try and kill Arthur, also has medicinal applications so there's a good reason for Gaius to have some.
    • Also, Geoffrey of Mounmouth is the court historian. In real life, Geoffrey of Mounmouth was a record keeper- why does this mean anything? He's one of the early sources for the King Arthur Mythos.
    • In "The Hunter's Heart", Gwen is transformed into a fallow deer. Fallow doe was a medieval term for young woman.
  • He/She Really Can Act: Bradley James in "The Sins of the Father" and Katie McGrath in "The Fires of Idirsholas".
    • Bradley James, Angel Coulby, Santiago Caberra and Colin Morgan in "Lancelot du Lac". Arguably some of the best acting of the series so far.
    • Asa Butterfield: Mordred is, like, the ultimate Creepy Child, then you see him behind the scenes and he's just freaking adorable.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Giles sure hates magic nowadays.
    • In "Queen of Hearts", Arthur and Guinevere eagerly look forward to the day that Arthur becomes king so that they can finally be together without fear of reprisals. Which means both are looking forward to the day Arthur's dad finally kicks the bucket.
    • In Series 1 Episode 2, the Dragon says of Arthur and Merlin: "The half cannot hate what makes it whole". Fast forward a couple of years, Inception comes and give us this line, from Mal: "Do you know what it's like to be a lover? To be the half of a whole?". Slash fans did not fail to pick up on this.
    • One of Bradley James's first roles on television was in the detective series Lewis in which he played the third point of a Love Triangle. Given his role in the famous Arthurian love triangle, it's rather amusing to see the actor playing the "Lancelot" figure elsewhere.
    • In "The Coming of Arthur", Uther is dragged before the throne, de-crowned, and forced to bow before Morgause. After a few angry words, Morgana steps out from behind the throne and confronts him. Theatrically done, but it does make you wonder just how long she'd been hiding behind that throne waiting for the right time to make her grand appearance.
  • Ho Yay: Lots and lots of it and even to the point where many fans watch the show for the main reason that Colin Morgan (Merlin) and Bradley James (Arthur) look really good together. There's a main page of this.
  • Iron Woobie: Merlin. His normal life consists of having to save the day off-screen because he will most likely be killed for his efforts for no other reason than he's a warlock, something he can't control, is abused by Arthur despite constantly putting his life on the line to protect him, and is considered an idiot despite the fact that he's always right. Once in a while, something good will happen to him, such as finding his father, falling in love, and finally getting a chance to show Arthur magic will be good... no, it's Yank the Dog's Chain. Even so, he keeps pushing on, never even letting on how much he's hurting, taking comfort in that fact that there's one person in Camelot who knows how much he's done, and holding a firm belief that because Arthur is a good man, he will one day be able to see magic for what it is.
  • Large Ham: A number of characters, including Georgia Moffett as Lady Vivian.
    • Nimueh, especially in early episodes where every time she was defeated she would stand over her bubbling cauldron thingy and yell "Merlin!"
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: And how.
  • Les Yay/Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Morgana/Gwen. Morgana/Morgause. To spice things up, Morgana is unaware of Morgause being her half-sister... until Series 3, and the Les Yay still abounds.
  • Magnificent Bitch: Morgause (in the second season, at least).
  • Memetic Molester: Gaius.
  • Memetic Mutation: Morgana's smirk has reach this status.
  • Moral Dissonance: Arthur in Series 3 Episode 12, when he threatens to kill an innocent druid boy who's obviously scared out of his wits unless he answers his questions, and then continues to hold a sword to the kid's throat long after it's clear that he's no threat and the Druids intend to give him what he came for anyway. Seriously, the kid's what, ten? Not cool, buddy.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Uther executing Guinevere's father Tom for witchcraft, or possibly in Series 3, when we learn that he had children drowned because they were the children of magical parents and might have inherited magic.
    • Morgana's arguably came when she not only had Gwen framed for witchcraft, but seemed pleased at the thought of her former best-friend being burnt at the stake. Up until this point, she had plenty of crimes under her belt, but this one seems to have tipped her into Complete Monster territory. If not that, then her orders to Cenred's soldiers to kill innocent people after Camelot's knights refused to be loyal to her might qualify.
  • Most Wonderful Sound: Arthur pronounces Guinevere's name (with an emphasis on the vere) as though it's the most beautiful word he's ever heard. Even non-shippers have been known to admit that the way Bradley delivers those three syllables results in a few tingles.
  • Motive Decay: Morgana initally wanted revenge against Uther for the genocide against her people, as of late she's more interested in offing her half-brother so that she can claim the throne of Camelot.
    • Although she technically gets her revenge in the Series 3 finale, as her betrayal breaks Uther's spirit so it's more of a case of her first objective is completed, onto the next one. She also claims she wants the throne so she can bring magic back to Camelot, rather than just for the power.
  • Narm: Morgana's nightmare in "The Darkest Hour" would have been much more effective if it didn't include the Crowning Moment of Funny from "Queen Of Hearts".
    • The Burger King crown.
  • Narm Charm: Admit it, you laugh every time Gaius says: "Sire, the most likely explanation is... SOSSERY!"
    • Morgana's smirks. It's not that she's always got one on her face, nor that they're always accompanied by an onimous musical cue, but the fact that no one ever notices the king's ward perpetually smirking to herself whenever something bad happens in Camelot.
    • Gaius storms into Camelot in order to help Merlin defeat Morgause. Nothing wrong there, but the word that he yells in order to throw her across the room sounds like: "OATS!"
  • Nausea Fuel: Try watching the Lady Catrina eat her preferred type of food and not feel like barfing...
  • Never Live It Down: Perhaps because of his tendency to take Honor Before Reason Up to Eleven, and with a side helping of Die for Our Ship, Lancelot is considered something of a dolt in the fandom. This is a dubious distinction since he remains the only character to correctly interpret the available evidence and deduce that Merlin has magical powers, something that the Loads and Loads of Characters that Merlin interacts with on a daily basis has yet to figure out.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Igraine appears to Uther as a hallucination in the third season, dripping with water and screaming: "PLEASE!"
    • The Doracha. Their appearance is not that frightening, but the idea of them is: undead, unstoppable spirits that can kill with a touch.
    • "A Herald of the New Age". You'd think that one of the Knights of the Round Table dripping wet would be a turn on. Not so much in this episode.
    • Future-Merlin literally becomes this to Morgana in Series 4.
  • One True Threesome: Merlin/Arthur/Gwen is practically canon. With the three of them destined to rule Camelot together, the writers have created Ho Yay between Merlin/Arthur, established Official Couple status between Arthur/Gwen, and provide plenty of friendship between Platonic Life Partners Merlin and Gwen. A recent dream sequence showed Arthur crowning Guinevere queen whilst Merlin watches with a look of abject adoration on his face.
    • Gwen also originally had a crush on Merlin, who was oblivious, but obiviously admired her and recognized to Lancelot that he found her admirable and very beautiful.
  • Periphery Demographic: It's primarily a family show, but with liberal application of Ho Yay, Ship Tease and Mr. Fanservice, the fandom is largely made up of women who like to write slash fiction.
  • Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • Purity Sue: Lancelot, done very deliberately so, to better highlight his role as a Foil to Arthur.

"Almost too good to be true, Lancelot is loved by all for his compassion, loyalty and sharp skills on the battlefield."

  • Relationship Sue: Freya, quite possibly.
    • Deconstructed with Princess Mithian, who is in every way a completely perfect match for Arthur, except for one tiny problem - he's in love with someone else.
  • Relationship Writing Fumble: As of the revelation that Arthur and Morgana are half-siblings, much of their interactions in Series 1 borders on Brother-Sister Incest. Word of God states that the writers specifically backed off the Arthur/Morgana ship in order to avoid these implications, though it's uncertain whether this latest reveal was thought of as far in advance as Series 1. As it stands, the flirting and lingering glances of the first season now seem rather squicky, and there are sure to be some rather ticked-off shippers.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Aithusa. Don't you dare claim you didn't say "Awwwww," when he hatched.
  • The Scrappy: Agravaine. Reasons include having no coherent backstory or discernable motivation, taking up a disproportionate amount of screentime, making Merlin, Arthur and occasionally Morgana look like idiots, and being Obviously Evil. Furthermore, many fans were squicked by his lecherous behaviour around Morgana and Guinevere, annoyed that he played such a pivotal role in Uther's death, and unimpressed by his death scene.[1]
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: The fandom used to be quite harmonious until Series 2, when the Arthur/Guinevere ship kicked off. The main division in the fandom is now those that love the ship and those that (despite the inevitability of the future Pendragon marriage) wanted Merlin/Arthur or Arthur/Morgana instead. They cite bad writing, lack of chemistry and certain comments made by cast members as their reasons for disliking the ship, while supporters cite the improved writing of the couple in Series 3, the sincere performances of the actors involved, and Arthur/Guinevere's Official Couple status.
  • Ship Mates: The three most popular pairings and their adjacent "ship-mates" work thusly -
    • Those that ship Official Couple Arthur/Guinevere are often just as supportive of Merlin/Morgana.
    • Those that ship Ho-Yay-tasic Merlin/Arthur either support Lancelot/Guinevere or take the Het Is Ew angle and ship Guinevere with Morgana.
    • The Arthur/Morgana lot usually Pair the Spares: Merlin with Freya and Guinevere with Lancelot. Ironically, these couples have the most credence when it comes to Arthurian legends, but have more or less been sunk by canon.
  • Ships That Pass in the Night: Even before their brief interaction at the end of Series 3, there was a surprising number of Morgana/Leon shippers.
  • Ship Tease: Series 1 involves one long Ship Tease between Arthur/Morgana and Merlin/Gwen before the former end up being Like Brother and Sister and the latter become Platonic Life Partners.
  • Squick: Series 2 Episode 6. We did not need to see Uther go to bed with that.
  • Strangled by the Red String: Arthur and Guinevere, at least at the beginning. Most shippers will admit that it happened rather quickly; many non-shippers will concede that by Series 3, it didn't feel quite so forced.
  • Tastes Like Diabetes: Gaius telling Merlin he's like a son to him. Uther telling Arthur he's proud of him.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Nimueh was an interesting character with plenty of mystery and backstory left to be told when she was unceremoniously killed off with a bolt of lightening.
  • Ugly Cute: The Manticore.
  • Uncanny Valley: Gaius' smile in Series 2 Episode 12, when Merlin tries to wake him up. SO. CREEPY.
    • Some viewers felt this way about Isolde, with her strange little smile and her tendency to not blink.
    • Mordred's huge eyes enhance his Creepy Child vibes a lot. The producers mention that they were enlarged with CG in the DVD commentary for his introductory episode.
  • Values Dissonance: Inverted. By today's standards, Uther is a ruthless tyrant. By medieval standards, he would have been positively benevolent (especially compared to the likes of Cenred).
    • He also never punished Gaius for standing up to him. He didn't chastize Gwen for telling him, after he asked her "how Arthur could fall in love with someone like her", that she didn't expect "someone like him" to understand.
  • The Woobie: Merlin in the second series finale learns who his father is, meets him, and then about five minutes later has him die in his arms after taking a sword aimed at Merlin. And this is just piling it on: in the preceding episode, he ended up having to poison Morgana, one of his good friends, and doesn't know if she's alive or dead, and a few episodes before that, he fell in love only to have Arthur unknowingly kill his beloved. Poor guy needs a hug.
    • Morgana throughout Series 2. Her terror at her magic being discovered is palpable, and it takes a heart of stone not to be affected when she begs Merlin for understanding in "The Nightmare Begins".

"I'm scared, Merlin."

    • Also Guinevere and Freya.
    • Princess Mithian ends up being rather fond of Arthur and is genuinely nice. Even to Merlin, despite his obvious dislike, and even he softens up to her a little bit. It's hard not to feel sorry for the poor thing when she becomes a Romantic Runner-Up.
  • Writer Cop Out: Series 2 Episode 8: " The Sins of the Father". Arthur learns the true circumstances of his birth through an entrantress and charges back to Uther, fighting him to the death. Things came so close to changing Status Quo Is God: Arthur was this close to believing that not all magic users are evil, Uther was so close to having to be accountable for his actions. But no, Merlin gives a speech that the sorceress was lying and keeping Status Quo Is God. Colin Morgan give one hell of a performance to sell it though.
    • Though it looks to be receiving an interesting pay-off come Series 4, now that Uther's dead and Arthur is blaming magic for it... and not without some justification for it.
    • Another example would be Morgana's character development. She started off as a more caring person in both Series 1 and 2, who wanted to make life better for people like her in Camelot, and now she is sadistic and cruel who is willing to hurt anyone to get what she wants. It looks like the writers just wanted to create time skips for Series 3 and Series 4 so they could skip the process of character development, and immediately make her a villain.
      • Though there are interesting hints in Series 2 that she treats people depending on how much she cares for them and is versatile in her judgement of concepts and people. Had it been developped progressively, it would have made the developpement much more organic.
  1. ↑ It was meant to demonstrate Merlin's dark side by having him deliberately kill a man in cold blood, but it was hardly any worse than Merlin's previous kills: Mary Collins, Sophia, Aulfric, Nimueh, Morgause, and dozens of other villains that Merlin has cheerfully killed over the last three series.
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