#the mark of nimueh commentary

[weakforarwen]

I really like how you can see the progression of Arthur's relationship with Gwen in the episodes she's in danger.

In The Mark of Nimueh, when Gwen is sentenced to death, Arthur clearly disagrees with his father - and really argues with Uther on her behalf - yet, if not for Merlin, he would've obeyed his father's orders anyway (like in The Witchfinder). Contrast that with Queen of Hearts, when Arthur vehemently opposes his father's sentencing and even relinquishes his right to the throne to save Gwen.

Similarly, in Lancelot and Guinevere, when Gwen is in danger and Morgana is pleading with Uther to rescue her, Arthur stays quiet and publicly agrees with his father. He plans to rescue Gwen but pretends her life means nothing in front of Uther. Publicly siding with Morgana wouldn't have helped him, Morgana, or Gwen, but it would've set a positive example and shown commoners that he values their lives. In The Castle of Fyrien, Arthur hides from Uther that he plans to rescue Elyan - he has even less reasons to save a maid's brother than to save the King's ward's maid, and how would he have explained that Elyan was kidnapped because of his relationship with Gwen? - yet when he learns that Gwen is missing, he insists his father send patrols to look for her and doesn't pretend Gwen isn't worth helping, though he has to use the excuse of Gwen being Morgana's maid to win his dad's favor. Fast-forward to Lamia, Arthur makes it clear he will search for Gwen all night if he has to, and so will Agravaine and his knights, and he'll do it because he loves Gwen and for no other reason.

#bbc merlin #merlin #bbc arwen #arwen #argwen #gwen pendragon #guinevere pendragon #arthur pendragon #the mark of nimueh commentary #lancelot and guinevere commentary #queen of hearts commentary #the castle of fyrien commentary #lamia commentary

[twoohugs]

BBC Merlin 1x03 The Mark of Nimueh

[Click here for a full list of my BBC Merlin commentary]

The duality of Merlin - the smartest idiot to ever walk the earth!

Gwen is smart and observant, and Merlin has raised her suspicion many times already, but every time Merlin deflects her question she doesn’t push and just lets the topic slide. So I think she must know Merlin is hiding something, something important even, but she either 1. already knows or 2. trusts Merlin and decides to let him keep his secret.

Either ways, kudos to Gwen for being such a good friend!

oh, boo fucking hoo, are we not going to mention how THEY have suffered at YOUR hand? no, of course not (by now your should probably know I’m a big Uther hater)

If you look at his earlier claims, you can still give him excuses and say he is doing it for his kingdom, that he is delusional but at least has good intentions (to protect his kingdom), but this. This shows that he is simply cruel. that what he does is only out of hate. If it’s just about ridding the kingdom of the “sorceress”, killing her whatever way would suffice. But no, he wants to kill her PAINFULLY. 

And he’s like, ooooh, Arthur, great idea, why not kill her in a more painful way why did I not think of that! Let me ignore the great vision you have of building a fair kingdom and do what would make you two hate me most!

Aka the whole show. Of course, canon is he doesn’t know until the very end, but honestly while Arthur is a bit oblivious he isn’t completely blind or stupid,  which is why I think the “Arthur secretly knows” fics make a lot of sense.

…and he does it for Merlin right the next episode. (after Merlin does it for him!)

Merlin: *Willing to die for Gwen*

Arthur: Ooooh, you love her. Can’t imagine how that feels like.

Merlin: *Willing to die for Arthur*

Arthur: You idiot, I should be dying for you

Poor Merlin, he was so relieved and overjoyed for one moment there

If I wasn’t already spoiled (the problem of jumping on the bandwagon a whole decade late) I honestly would’ve believed that he’s gonna reveal his magic at the end of the season. I mean, he keeps mentioning it almost every episode, and they just seem to be building up to it, don’t they?

#bbc merlin #merlin #1x03 #The Mark of Nimueh #commentary #hugs #merlin commentary

[coinofstone]

1x03 The Mark of Nimueh

A lot has improved by 1x03, the costumes, the hair and make up, the music, the camerawork, Arthur's personality. The burden of proof contrast to the previous episode is just further evidence of THAT episode's shortcomings not this one's. Watching the guards dragging a woc crying and pleading her innocence only to be wrongly convicted is still a difficult thing to watch, especially after how Uther handled Valiant, and given how he and Arthur respond to Merlin's confession. Morgana being the only one who speaks up in Gwen's defense isn't lost on me either. It's uncomfortable, but I'm not convinced it was intended to be.

In episode one there was a moment of Arthur ogling Morgana in her party dress but episode two and three quickly dispel any potential attraction there and show them in a much more sibling-like way. During episode two's commentary Bradley said something that made it clear he didn't think Arthur would be romantically interested in his adoptive sister. These first few episodes are like, 'the four leads are young and pretty let's just throw every possible pairing at the wall and see what sticks'. I get the impression they weren't expecting Merthur to be the one that stuck.

#bbc merlin #merlin spoilers #merlin #merthur #1x03 #bbc Merlin 1x03 #Merlin 1x03 #the mark of nimueh #onceandfuturerewatch

[weakforarwen]

The Mark of Nimueh

One thing that doesn’t make sense about this episode is why Uther seemed so hesitant to kill Gwen, and why she was let go in the end. Even if Merlin, Arthur, and Morgana killing the afanc proved Gwen hadn’t caused the plague (and it didn’t even prove that, because the afanc which caused the illness was raised before she got arrested), it certainly didn’t prove that Gwen hadn’t cured her father using magic. In fact, it seemed like Uther was willing to ignore that she used magic for good, which made absolutely no sense.

Still, I think this episode is one of the few Merlin episodes that handled the topic of magic with nuance, especially the dilemma of practicing magic in a place where it is forbidden. When Gaius told Uther that magic was behind the illness spreading across Camelot, Uther warned Arthur that:

This is the kind of magic that undermines our authority, challenges all we've done. If we cannot control this plague, people will turn to magic for a cure. We have to find this sorcerer, and quickly.

And he was right, of course. People would naturally turn to magic, regardless of the current laws, if science, or the King, failed to save them and their loved ones. This is what Merlin did when Gwen’s father got sick. Merlin had wanted to help those dying of the illness, but was cautioned against doing so by Gaius. Yet he couldn’t stand by and watch Gwen lose her father, so he saved Tom anyway. Doing so proved to be dangerous because Tom making a full recovery from an incurable magical illness raised suspicions and Gwen got arrested for witchcraft and to be executed for causing the plague itself.  

The issue of Merlin using his magic in Camelot is deeper than keeping it a secret. Even if Merlin didn’t get caught using magic to help others, anyone suspicious of magic being used could tell the King, who, in turn, would punish whoever he found more likely of being guilty, proof or not, simply because he wanted someone to punish. Gwen was a victim of this. Arthur and Morgana attempted to make Uther see reason, but he naturally wouldn’t yield. 

I have a responsibility to take care of this kingdom! I take no pleasure in this!

Sometimes, I believed Uther truly did feel guilt or remorse for killing people with little to no evidence, but, other times, it seemed like his hatred wouldn’t allow him to feel any guilt at all.

U: You saw it for yourself. She used enchantments. A: Yes, maybe. But to save her dying father, that doesn't make her guilty of creating a plague. One's the act of, of kindness, of love, the other of evil. I don't believe evil's in this girl's heart.

When did Arthur completely lose sight of this distinction? It would’ve been too easy to return magic to Camelot had King Arthur felt the same as Prince Arthur. But, perhaps that’s not true:

U: I have witnessed what witchcraft can do. [...]  If there is the slightest doubt about this girl, she must die or the whole kingdom may perish. A: I understand that. [...] Witchcraft is an evil, father. So is injustice. Yes, I am yet to be King, and I don't know what kind of king I will be, but I do have a sense of the kind of Camelot I would wish to live in. It would be where the punishment fits the crime.

In the end, witchcraft is an evil, even when used for good... How can something good be evil? Did he feel this way because magic was ever only used for good to undo the evil it had caused in the first place (eg. The Wicked Day, With All My Heart)? But did Arthur truly not see that, if magic could intentionally be used for good, then it was not an evil? The issue is that, unlike Uther, Arthur did not understand magic. He believed it was evil, because that’s what he’d been told and seen many times, so people who used it for good were few in between. Like Gaius said, “Magic corrupts. People use it for their own ends.”. Arthur, being ignorant on the many uses of magic, didn’t know how easily it could be used for good (for example, healing potions).

In Gwen’s case, did Arthur perhaps believe she’d bought a magical poultice from a sorcerer, who took advantage of her desperation to make a profit? Ergo, Gwen wasn’t a sorcerer and magic was evil? Because, otherwise, the episode doesn’t make sense: how did Gwen using a poultice to save her father’s life not made Arthur wonder if they could do the same for others? What did he fear? Trusting a warlock and getting betrayed or enchanted by them? That’s the problem, isn’t it? Trust. Those who don’t have magic know they are powerless against it and their fear makes them distrustful of it. Like Gaius said, though, magic’s “neither good nor bad. It's how you use it.”.

Anyway, the episode’s quite funny in retrospect. Arthur’s wife almost dies before they even notice each other. It’s clear that Arthur didn’t want to arrest Gwen, but felt like his hands were tied. He tried to reason with his father though, and looked quite distraught at the thought of someone he must’ve known for a very long time dying so unfairly. The boy was pacing and everything. 

Is this the first unofficial Arwen episode? Not because anything happens between Arthur and Gwen, but because of the parallels between this episode and Queen of Hearts:

In both episodes, Gwen was accused of witchcraft and sentenced to die, and it was Merlin who saved her by either finding, or making-up, the real culprit. Arthur attempted to reason with the King to save Gwen’s life, but he wouldn’t listen.

When Merlin visited Gwen behind bars, she told him there was no hope for Uther to see reason. Thus, in this episode, Gwen asked the man she liked, Merlin, to remember her, and, in Queen of Hearts, she asked Merlin to look after Arthur, the man she loved, when she died. 

Morgana’s closeness to Arthur played a role in both episodes. In this episode, she wished to save Gwen and, as such, enlisted Arthur’s help: in Queen of Hearts, she wished to kill Gwen, so she encouraged Arthur to leave with Gwen and rebel against Uther; when Arthur abdicated his throne to save Gwen, Uther took that as confirmation that Gwen had enchanted Arthur to love her...

Furthermore, in this episode, when Merlin tried to save Gwen’s life by exposing his magic, Arthur dismissed Merlin’s words as an act of love, leading Uther to suggest that Gwen may have had enchanted Merlin... Uther simply didn’t believe anyone could love a servant that much. 

Also, Merlin got caught using magic in both episodes: one time on purpose, and the other accidental. 

Something I liked about this episode is that it’s a bit tongue-in-cheek. Because some (most?) viewers would’ve known of Gwen and Arthur’s future romance, the writers gave us scenes like these:

Morgana: Poor Merlin. [...] To offer to give up his life to save Gwen's. I certainly can't imagine any man loving me so much. A: No, I certainly can't imagine that either. M: That's because you're not like Merlin. He's a lover. A: Yeah, maybe that's because I haven't found the right person to love.

This dialogue is brilliant on so many levels.

First, Arthur and Morgana are hilarious. They have such a sibling-like chemistry; all their scenes together are gold. To me, they’re two people painfully aware that others expect them to marry, but so repulsed by the very thought of it they can’t even be normal with each other. I love their bickering. And I also love that, whenever Morgana wanted Arthur to do something for her (in this case, help her and Merlin kill the avanc to save Gwen), she just provoked him and attacked his mainly pride. Not even Arthur was stupid enough to fall for it: 

M: Sadly the age of gallantry seems to be dead. You look around and all you see are small men, not big enough to fill their armour. There's not one of them that' s able to stand up for what is right. A: What do you want me to do?

Morgana’s hilarious; she was also Arthur’s “moral compass” in the first season, taking Gwen’s place. In this episode, Morgana told Merlin to leave Arthur to her because she’d talk to him to do the right thing, and that is what Gwen did in The Witchfinder as well. 

The second reason why that scene was great is because Arthur’s “right person to love” was Gwen, not Morgana. Arthur wasn’t a “lover” because he hadn’t found Gwen yet. 

And it’s ironic that Merlin’s love for Gwen was apparently too great for Arthur, of all people, to comprehend. Merlin certainly cared for Gwen, but his actions were largely driven by guilt.

Lastly, let’s give it up to Merlin who saved Gwen and her father and was brave enough to confess to having magic. Sadly, he didn’t count on Arthur, the dumber half of the Merthur coin, thinking Merlin was too dumb to have magic.

#bbc merlin #bbc arwen #gwen pendragon #arthur pendragon #arwen #merlin #morgana #the mark of nimueh commentary #the mark of nimueh