#anti arthur

[arguablysomaya]

please, elaborate on merlin bbc propaganda and stuff

okay basically:

bbc merlin is a show taking place during a genocide

camelot for 20 years has been genociding and ethnically cleansing everyone who can use magic, including magical creatures. They were all either exiled, fled, live in refugee camps or in hiding, and a great many were executed and slaughtered. Generally speaking, life is inhospitable in camelot for magic users.

And the show makes no attempt to hide this fact, either. We see multiple times over the death and destruction this genocide has wraught, and how radicalized most of the remaining magic population is because of it. For the past few decades, camelot has essentially been doing 2 things: persecuting magic users, and defending itself from vengeful/liberationist magic users

the king (uther) believes that magic users are (stop me if you've heard this one) corruptive, shifty, and evil. he's always paranoid that a magic user will take their revenge on him. and in a way, he's right: there are in fact a lot of magic users eager to kill him, but given the whole Great Purge and literally drowning children thing, you'd thing the show would be a bit more sympathetic to their plight. Nope.

in come merlin and gaius, our two main magic users. merlin is the protagonist, and gaius his benevolent mentor, so the audience is primed to be on their side. only one problem: from bascially the beginning of the series, these two are nothing more than agents for the very state carrying out the genocide. they devote their time to wholeheartedly defending camelot, especially from magic users, something they are rightfully called traitors for. they actively intervene to prolong the lives (and therefore regimes) of both arthur and uther, despite neither king showing any real interest in freeing their people. gauis represents the "diversity" of a genocidaire state; as someone uther only keeps around so long as he shuns any involvement with magic except what helps uther carry put his genocide, gaius hides and rejects every marginalized part of himself that threatens his access to power. even as a member of the oppressed class, he aids and abets the oppressors every step of the way. merlin, as an extremely powerful agic user in hiding, follows suit. the thing is, like so many other minority collaborators, this doesn't actually buy them safety, since they are Other, they still have to walk around on eggshells knowing one wrong move could get their heads chopped off. but this action of defending a regime that would kill you without a second's hesitation is presented as noble and heroic in the show, when in reality it's stupid at best and evil at worst. merlin and gaius might save a token kid from being brutally murdered, but they will never let anyone take action, let alone take action themselves, to proactively stop the brutality.

merlin is literally the most powerful sorcerer alive. if he wanted to, he could create a more fair, more just, better world in a blink. instead, he spends his time pretending to be a hapless servent, messing around with his war criminal friends, and killing any freedom fighter who dares to even look at the prince or king. why? well, he believes in the institutions (and a prophecy that never comes true... lol). ultimately, merlin and gauis hold the same prejudices and stereotypes about magic users that uther does: that they're untrustworthy, dangerous, and that it would be better for everyone if all but themselves (the good ones) just died or left.

and all the people they're defending the empire against... are other oppressed magic users. the VAST majority of antagonists are either magicians or magic sympathizers. even in the context of a genocide, the show takes the firm stance that the architects of genocide (the literal kings who order it to happen) are just flawed human beings who still don't deserve to be killed, while when the people they seek to wipe out fight back, our protagonists will happily mow them down. the show has no problem with killing people,and even killing innocents is only worthy of a fingerwag. it's fighting for liberation that the show makes the real problem. even when uther finally dies the show plays it like something sad, as if anyone is supposed to feel anything but joy that this old tyrant genocidaire finally kicked the bucket after having been saved a million times over from getting his comeuppance. Every magic user that has genuinely good reasons to want to tear down the kingdom are all painted with the "crazy evil person" brush.

another thing is that this show likes to get ~quirky~ with their agents of the state. along with arthur and merlin come a colorful cast of characters like the knights that you can laugh and cry with. the only problem is that despite how lovable these people are, they're still actively carrying out and enforcing a genocide. it's a bit like those tiktoks of IDF soldiers dancing or proposing. i can't feel for these people because despite seeming like relatable people, they're still engaging in something horrific. you can't escape the fact that these people can only exist in the relatively easy capacity that they do because the empire they work for is brutally repressing and eliminating entire cultures.

but the thing is, this strategy actually works. the fandom is often so taken in by fun character interactions and shipping moments that you can often witness people literally look past, or even praise their acts of genocide. these characters are so charming with each other that you can look past how awfully they treat oppressed people. yay! the prevalence of merthur brings up too many idf pinkwashing parallels it's actually insufferable. i had hoped we left oppressor/oppressed person ships behind in the 2010s but guess it's still around

by the time he takes over as king, the "great, kind" arthur is essentially an IDF soldier who only realized that Killing Is Bad Actually when he's got crosshairs on a random kid. now Reformed (TM), he takes the brave stance that he should only kill the angry bad magic users who try to exact their revenge for the whole genocide thing on him, and the peaceful (more often than not, harmless) magic users should accept the merciful counterplan of ethnically cleansing themselves from the region, or continuing to live in refugee camps, but this time with less threat of massacre. in this show, the only acceptable answer to being genocided is to either lay down and die, hide forever, or displace yourself hoping the empire doesn't come and kill you anyway. fighting back, getting revenge, defending oneself, trying to change things: these are all reserved only for the genocidal state.

in other words, bbc merlin is the exact type of genocide obfuscation that most modern genocides engage in. the suffering of oppressed peoples, even innocents, is a footnote. when they suffer, sometimes it's presented as sad, and other times it's presented as deserved. meanwhile, the suffering of the oppressors, no matter how justifyable, is always landmark and deserves our full attention and sympathies, because the thing about the oppressors is that it's always their story.

(the last thing is a common fantasy problem, which is that when you create stories where different classes have actual, material, biological distinctions, it can end up justifying the oppression. in the real world, there is a very limited range of innate human abilities, and people from across the world are largely evenly matched. but in merlin, a sorcerer actually does pose an increased threat to those around them. in terms of allegory... kinda not the best thing to so without any real refutation to the idea that magic corrupts)

so yeah. that's why i don't fuck with this show even though it's enjoyable to watch.

#shut up somaya #bbc merlin #adventures of merlin #bbc arthur #bbc gaius #anti arthur #anti merlin #anti merthur #merlin crit #merlin critical #arthur crit #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #uther pendragon

[punkxcalibur]

the logic of bbc merlin is kind of just 

“arthur good. someone is against arthur? they bad.”

#merlin #bbc merlin #merlin critical #merlin commentary #arthur pendragon #anti arthur #merlin crit

[tiodolma]

Gaius and Merlin were the most powerful class traitors of magic who were complicit in the actions of their genocidal bigot bosses just because they believe in one big dumb prophecy.

Gaius taught Merlin to distrust other magic users, to not help them, to hide himself and just devote himself to the crown.

Tbf to merlin he was just 16-18 when all these just started. He was too young. He wasn’t ready. He was sent to the most dangerous place for people like him. He was impressionable. His heart was too good. He was too moldable.

He took “I will not fall into anger and rage like Morgana” too far to the point where he couldn’t even find his voice against Arthur who was still relentlessly chasing down and killing his people anymore. He put all his eggs into the biggest bigot in their universe because the magic world told him that the guy was the hottest sht. Merlin was so broken down, so brainwashed, so indoctrinated that he still continued to forgive even after years of getting dismissed, insulted, derided and abused and only shown rare bouts of kindness by his supposed best friend in the universe.

Arthur didn’t deserve any of that devotion. As king he still persecuted and treated magic folk like shit. He blamed them for their own oppression, never accepted his father’s actions as wrong, showed no remorse in arresting and killing their women and children (shut up he only made promises to a frkn ghost), refused to learn more about their ways despite having the biggest knowledge base in albion, continued to imprisoned them for existing, calling them the most disgusting slurs, using their magic techniques recklessly for himself and still called magic “evil” when they don’t work.....and then played victim when he got called out by the oppressed magic folk.

It’s such a shame that Merlin hoped and believed in his potential after everything. Merlin could never truly relate to magic folk after all. The only people left alive who truly loved him made sure of that. His mother raised him to fear and hide himself. His mentor taught him how to be the judge and be the arbiter of life and death not only over the kingdom but also the magic folk. He was overworked and pressured to the point that he had no free time for himself. He was supposed to be the strongest warlock but he only had enough time to receive education from the dude who hasnt practiced sorcery for 20 years when he should have beenseeking out other magic users and learning from them. His life was constantly dictated by the big magic institutions who never give him the tools to actually start their liberation, only empty promises.

Merlin’s sense of self died gradually throughout the span of the whole series every time he lost a loved one and every time Gaius/Kilgharrah/Hunith asked him to forget himself and serve the crown. The kid who wanted to be seen and recognized for his talent, kindness and potential turned into a biggest self-sacrificing royalist who truly believed that his life was valued lesser than a king.

It’s a monarchist story. It’s a divine right of kings story. It’s a fascist story. It’s an anti-radicalism story, it’s a defender-of-the-status-quo story.

It is NOT a story of acceptance, of positive change, of equality, of democracy.

I thought we learned from Diogenes for fuck’s sake.

#adventures of merlin #bbc merlin #bbc arthur #bbc gaius #anti arthur #bbc hunith #anti merthur #merlin crit #merlin critical #arthur crit #doomed hero merlin #there i said it #hot takes #thots #aom is democracy bait

[dramioneasks]

Hi! I'm searching for a fic, and I hope I'm not mixing multiple fics 🤞 Draco was a curse breaker? I vaguely remember there was an artifact he was tasked to fix. Then one of the plots: Arthur was a bad guy, like he's controlling Molly (I think he sorta manipulated Bellatrix also?) 🥺 Sorry, I can only remember bits of it. TIA!

This:

Title: A reluctant return Author: Laura 001 Rating: M Genre(s):Mystery Chapters:35 Word Count:65,392 Summary:It is four years after the war and a married Hermione and Draco are forced to return to England from their home in France. How will everyone react when they see the two? Will friendships survive, strengthen, or will they be torn asunder?

- Lisa

#anonymous #anti arthur #draco: curse breaker

[destielmemenews]

source 1

source 2

source 3

#destiel meme news #destiel meme #news #united states #us news #us politics #donald trump #fuck trump #trump organization #anti trump #trump family #trump fraud #trump civil fraud trial #fraud trial #new york #judge engoron #arthur engoron #judge arthur engoron #get fucked idiot

[genericpuff]

how LO has been feeling lately-

#thanks ULO for finding this hilarious arthur fist meme panel #yes that is a real panel #from S1 #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical

[urstarlitharlot]

no bc why are all of the harry antis just dumb and lack media literacy 😭

"he was disappointed when ron was made a prefect" BECAUSE VOLDEMORT WAS IN HIS HEAD??? AFFECTING HIS THOUGHTS??? HARRY LITERALLY FELT GUILTY??? HES LITERALLY JUST HAVING MAGICAL INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS???

"he never gave the weasleys money" yes he did? its said multiple times throughout the series the weasleys were proud people who wouldn't accept his money. instead of giving it straight out to molly and arthur he bought their kids things and literally gave 1,000 galleons to fred and george?? that they only took after they were threatened?? because they're proud people??

the fact that yall are misunderstanding a CHILDRENS book this much is wild

#harry james potter #pro harry james potter #anti hjp bashers #ron weasley #ginny weasley #molly weasley #arthur weasley #fred weasley #george weasley

[l3irdl3rain]

How is my best friend Arthur has he helped you baldur any gates

He’s been good! My washing machine broke last week and I hauled it out the other day in preparation for the new one and he’s been loving his new Top Secret Hiding Spot.

We are taking a little bit of a Baldur’s Gate break right now just because I was getting burnt out. We’re slowly making our way through Mass Effect Andromeda for the second time. I’m very excited to get back to BG3 tho.

I left off right at the start of Act 2. I’m playing a Githyanki monk named Ez’rai and spent way too much time coming up with a backstory for them. I’m going to be romancing Wyll this time. I think Ez’rai growing up in such a harsh culture that didn’t have room for soft romance will go together in such a fun and cute way with Wyll. A noble’s son who is just so sweet and romantic and good.

#been too busy to play much vidya games the past week or two #I spent SO much time on DND wiki #and I feel like it’s plausible with the already set lore. which obviously doesn’t really matter bc it’s just for fun #but it’s important to me that it feels plausible lol #their crèche went rogue. anti Vlaakith teachings as well as teaching that the githzerai and githyanki should reunite #to have a better chance of defeating the mindflayers #for obvious reasons Vlaakith was NOT a fan of this #Vlaakith sent people to destroy the crèche and Ez’rai was one of the only ones who survived #all the survivors eventually either died or ended up split up somehow #makes for an extra interesting dynamic with Lae’zel and also Orpheus (even tho I have to imagine it all in my head lol) #anyways BG3 was my first introduction to DND lore so if you’re a seasoned pro and this seems so far fetched to you I’m sorry #I’m just having fun with my blorbos #my post #Arthur #ask

[kittyboybraginsky]

ive had this account for like two days and i already have art block ☠️

#hetalia #hetalia axis powers #ivan braginsky #alfred f jones #arthur kirkland #hws russia #hws america #hws england #rusame #amerus #hes the number one amerus anti

[luck-of-the-drawings]

"I think this is the most inhuman; and human, that I've ever felt.." MUCH CAN HAPPEN IN A YEAR. IN FIVE YEARS. A DECADE. imagine how much can happen in a century. just ONE (1). How will you grow? what phases do you find? even in 5 years, you will find patterns.

#jrwi fanart #jrwi show #jrwi suckening #jrwi suckening spoilers #jrwi the suckening #arthur bennett #HEY SO THE REALLY FUNNY THING THAT THE CHARACTER DID THAT SEEMED RLY SILLY N GOOFY IN THE MOMENT? #LIKE THE WHIPLASH BETWEEN SERIOUS N SILLY ALMOST PISSED YOU OFF? WHAT IF I FOUND A WAY TO MAKE YOU SAD ABOUT IT #this was meant to be a scribble that would be a bigger part of a bigger page.might leave it on that page. #but still. bc o that i nearly posted it onto my wacky side blog.BUT NAYY I SPENT TOO MUCH TIME N ENERGY N YOU GOTTA SEE IT #ARTHUR BENNETT DRIVES ME CRAZY. I FEEL LIKE ITS ODD FOR HIM TO BE SO TECHNOLOGICALLY OUT OF TOUCH #WHERE HAS HE BEEN. HAS HE BEEN IN WAR? IS THAT WHERE MAGNUS CAME FROM? WHERE WAS HE WHEN HE WAS WITH EDWARDS CREW? #ARTHURRR I HAVE QUESTIONS ARTTHUUURR!! HEY CAN I ALSO ASK; WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BECOME #DO YOU THINK HE HAD ANY IDEA HE WOULD VEER CLOSER AND CLOSER TO THE MONSTER HE DESPISES. ALL BC HE DESERVES IT. OR WATEVER #HE FASCINATES ME SO MUCH. TO LOOK AT THE STONE COLD STOIC FOOL FROM THE START OF THE SHOW #AND TO FIND OUT THAT HE USED TO BE A BAD BOY.. A DELINQUENT... A LIL PRANKSTER.... MY GODDD THATS ADORABLE #I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW MORE.... BUT I DOUBT THE LAST EPISODE IS GONNA ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS..i love arthur bennett so much.... #AS FOR THE ART!! i mostly used the fire alpaca watercolor brush. tbh im not a brush guy. anti aliased default pen tends to be my main game #but LATELY IM SQQQUIRMIN OUT OF AN ARTBLOCK so expirimenting like this is helping #DONT LOOK TOO HARD AT IT!! im still proud tho. colors are fun :3 im also very proud of the backgrounds #I LOVE THE CARTOON THING where the background looks all fancy n painted but the characters are solid colors #what else can i ramble abt. OH YEAH. i looked up the bikes to make sure they were time accurate tehehehe. 1913 to 2012. #almost a century apart!! isnt that neat? ALSO FUUUCK CAN I JUST MAKE A QUICK CONFESSION. DOWN HERE IN MY TAGS. #only the strongest can read my tags anwyay. SO I REALIZED WHY I LOVE ARTHUR SO MUCH. TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE #while arthur is a Stoic and Cool vampire w a knack for being playful/silly; who alsos been alive fora century thus witnessing HORRORs #THERE HAPPENS TO BE A ROBOT FROM A BAND W A TITANIUM ALLOY SPINAL COLLUMN #WHOS A Stoic and Cool ROBOT w a knack for being playful/silly; who alsos been alive fora century thus witnessing HORRORS #the fuckkkiiinnngggnn The Spine from steam powered giraffe. WHATEVER. i cant escape from my heart. i guess. #i think The Spine and Arthur could be friends. Arthur saw the band perform back when they were the Steam Man Band #EDIT: WOOPS I DIDNT REALIZE THIS WOULD END UP IN THE SPG TAG. HI GUYS DIDNT KNOW U WERE STILL ALIVE SORREE 4 THE CROSS CONTAMINATION

[firinniee]

Albus Rubeus Potter should be a thing. AT LEAST Albus Rubeus Potter because I can still understand why Harry wanted to honor Dumbledore. But Snape? It annoys me on every possible surface. 

#harry potter #Albus Dumbledore #Albus Severus Potter #I understand that Harry saw a father figure in Dumbledore #But had he forgotten how Snape had treated him in the other books??? #Dobby Arthur Potter on the way tho #my thoughts #firinnie #firinniee #rubeus hagrid #harry potter next gen #harry potter next generation #anti severus snape #sorry not sorry

[controversialhpmemes]

#anti weasley bashing #pro weasley family #molly weasley #arthur weasley #harry potter #bill weasley #ron weasley #ginny weasley #fred weasley #george weasley #percy weasley #charlie weasley #the weasley family

[tiodolma]

s3 Arthur: everyone on this table is equal. no man is more important than other. Merlin: im on the table yay Everybody: pledges loyalty Arthur: merlin. Merlin: no thanks Arthur: u have no choice Merlin: aw ok Merlin: but remember I am on the table. ..... Arthur: You see these dirty boots? Go clean them. Merlin: so about that equality stuff. i was wondering- Arthur: LOL SIKE Merlin: the round table?? a few days ago?? Arthur: I CAN'T READ Merlin: quiet ouch ..... s4 Arthur: dont sacrifice urself ur just a servant, ur not a knight Merlin: (ahahahahaha dont i know that. i was booted off that table the moment we got back) Merlin: my life is lesser than yours lol .......... Lancelot: bruh he should've knighted you Merlin: *remembers how he was shot down with the equality talk* Merlin: nah im just his servant. Lancelot: quiet ouch Lancelot: I will protect you with my life ........ s5 Arthur: AW SHT YOU HAVE MAGIC Arthur: WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE A SERVANT Merlin: You kept me your servant. Arthur: it's my fault? Merlin: You are also my friend. So like i dont want u to die. Arthur: fine. .......... Arthur: *sees Merlin do cool magic stuff* Artuhr: I SHOULDVE RESPECTED YOU Arthur: I AM SO SORRY Merlin: well. okay. Arthur: WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME? Merlin: (reviews entirety of s1-s5) WHY INDEED Arthur: that is fair. i didnt know what i'd do tbh. Merlin: didnt want to put u in that position. Merlin: anyway. dont worry my life aint worth shit. Happy to serve you. Born to serve you. Arthur: *entire life flashes before his eyes* Arthur: (fck i didnt treat him well) Arthur: I want you to be always be you. Merlin: idk what that means but i cant lose you. Kilgharrah: lol sike.

#bbc merlin #bbc arthur #anti merthur #anti arthur #anti merlin #arthur crit #merlin crit #arthur critical #adventures of merlin #arthurs carrot and stick treatment of merlin is just horrible #this was the shttiest thing to happen #merlin was proactive #he immediately called arthur out #but arthur doesnt wanna be called out #especially by merlin #now u realize why merlin was never good enough for a council seat #you cannot tell me in my face that merlin wouldnt want to be his equal #u really think merlin didnt suffer a really bad blow to his psyche after this #everyone on the table became kind of an equal to arthur except for him #im prety sure we know now how bad his downward spiral of IM JUST HIS SERVANT #u dont hype someone like that in public and then tear them down in private #that is NOT ROMANTIC

[hitchell-mope]

Gwen: why is my husband unconscious?

Gwaine: he took the piss out of Merlin way too much.

Lancelot: and then he fell off his horse.

Gwen (knowing full well that Gwaine and Lancelot knocked her husband out): carry on then.

#merlin bbc #merlin emrys #sir gwaine #merwaine #lancelot du lac #mercelot #merwaincelot #guinevere pendragon #arthur pendragon #gwenthur #anti merthur #(just to be safe)

[claratyler]

No i mean its actually so so so funny that they never tried for a second to push for or even lightly imply a merlin/morgana romance (which would be the formulaic thing to do, given that the other two leads were already paired up). They just couldnt do it. They had to be like ok we have to be real here.. not only is he gay and not only is she a lesbian, but they absolutely despise each other. Obsessed with their dynamic

#like even if theywere both in anyway shown to maybe possibly have a man/woman relationship it STILL WOULDNT WORK LMAO #merlin #morgana pendragon #bbc merlin #merlin emrys #imean yea i know theywere friends in season 1-2 dont get me wrong #BUT EVEN THEN #EVEN WHEN THEY WERE FRIENDS. they had to be like yea..thers no way this is going to work #theyre not a NOTP #theyre like the anti-otp #cause like in the first season theres some implied potential for merlin and gwen #and also morgana and arthur (before they were ahem siblings) #so its like. maybe the writers were exploring these dynamics and their potential? but never morgana and merlin #the farthest we got was when arthur thought for a second that merlin had a crush on her i think bc of something he saw taken out if context #anyway merlin is such a funny show #Magical Microagressions for Merlin #thats what its aaaalll about

[maskedhatter]

Merlin is the No.1 Arwen shipper and no, you cannot change my mind.

#bbc merlin #merlin #arwen #arthur x gwen #arthur pendragon #guinevere #anti merthur? #not really #merlin is the captain of the ship #and we love him for it