Info Post!
Jan. 1st, 2009 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bitchprinceMerlin is a 2008 BBC family show that takes little bits and pieces of different interpretations of Arthurian legend. They don't take Malory for a guideline but rather borrow stuff from all over the place, so a lot of it winds up looking like sloppy mything when it's really just a patchwork. The main points from this version are 1) Arthur and Merlin are contemporaries of the same age, 2) Uther is alive and raising Arthur at Camelot, 3) Morgana is Uther's ward and lives in the castle, 4) Guinevere is a blacksmith's daughter who works as Morgana's handmaiden and most importantly, 5) Merlin is Arthur's manservant who has to keep his magic under wraps under fear of death.
The show is pretty formulaic but taps a lot of famous bits of Arthurian lore (Excalibur, Tristan, etc) and gives them their own spin. Magic is forbidden in Merlin's Camelot, and Uther will kill just about anyone to keep it from being used. Lancelot can't join the knights of Camelot yet because he isn't of noble blood. Questing Beasts, Gryffins and other horrible creatures stalk the land, Nimueh is a sorceress scorned trying to get back at Uther, and there's a big cryptic dragon chained to a cave underneath Camelot.
To sum it up in just a few words, it's Arthurian Legend, the High School AU.
Merlin's Arthur grew up knowing he was a prince, and you can tell. He's noble, brave, a great warrior, and cares greatly for his people. He'll be a great king one day. And right now, he's an arrogant asshole (Nothing Arthur says should be seen as the opinion of the player, omg). He's an ass only just growing out of being a total bully. His duty and his honour are his life, but that's not going to stop him from being a prat, drinking, and going out hunting, because rampantly killing things is Smashing Good Fun. We solemnly swear he's not going to kill any teal deer.
Luckily, he has Merlin to keep him out of trouble most of the time. Both of them are very aware that Merlin is Arthur's servant (and if Merlin wasn't, Arthur would make sure he was) and act accordingly. Merlin will be over a lot to clean Arthur's room, dress him, and make his dinner. When Arthur gets in trouble, they'll get into an argument who gets to sacrifice his life for the other guy's. It's that kind of relationship.
Because Arthur grew up with his father's psychotic hatred of magic, he's going to be a little funny about a) technology and b) magic users. He's not his father and will probably see sense after a while if he finds out someone uses magic, but his first reaction to that kind of thing is not going to be good. I totally understand if you don't want to deal with that, so that's why I'm putting it out there. He's a fair guy at heart, I swear.
He'll be coming into Fandom on a horse with his arm still in a sling from getting
So yes. Jackass. Prince. Twitchy of magic. Knight. Show-off. A good guy underneath. Merlin says he's 'naturally rude and insensitive'. Guinevere says he's a 'rough, tough, save the world kind of man'. That about covers him.
I know Arthurian legend is one of those things that goes un-meta'd in Fandom, and I'm totally okay with that as well (I'd like it if it doesn't come up too much, but some stuff you can't avoid. I don't particularly mind it that much either). From Arthur's point of view, most of these legends make no sense at all because the details aren't right. If someone brings up his resemblance to the legends he'll treat them as if they're bringing him bad AU fanfic of his life. Technically they would be, and he's not about to deal with that in any way that doesn't involve people getting ridiculed for spouting nonsense.
Especially if they mention the Merlin being a wizard part. Please, who would believe that idiot could do magic?
Which I think is everything! Any questions? Comments? Wanna throw a pie in his face where he can't fight back?
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Date: 2009-01-01 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-01-01 09:50 pm (UTC)Also! There were just a bunch of Merlin icons posted over in
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Date: 2009-01-02 05:43 am (UTC)