Merlin! and thoughts about Uther and heroes

[darlingfox]

I didn't have much to do this evening so I've watched four episodes of Merlin. To quote chatona, it's "very pretty and witty and gay": even the dragon ships Arthur/Merlin. As long as I don't pay too much attention to little things like historical accuracy (windows! clothes! the castle! people reading all around!), I can watch it just fine. It's shiny and fantasy and man, Arthur sure is pretty.

I was very surprised to find myself liking Uther Pendragon, and not only because he's played by Giles Anthony Head. They do really clever things with him and I hope it's intentional. We're supposed to assume that he's evil-ish and the point of view of the show only strengthens that belief. The POV characters are Merlin, Arthur and the other young people who pretty much try to rebel against the older ones. Not always intentionally and not really in the sense of rebelling, but still. Uther is portrayed as a serious and occasinally somewhat ruthless man, and as the one who tries to stop the heroes from doing their heroic deeds.

The thing is, Uther is absolutely right. He has every reason to stop Arthur, his only heir, from sacrificing himself for a mere servant. Apart from Merlin and Gaius, all the witches (and why are only women using evil magic?) are hurting people. So far the only reason we should think that banning magic and killing witches is evil, is that Merlin is a wizard and we obviously don't want him to die.

I hope that Uther doesn't turn out to be a complete bastard (only four episodes: he has plenty of time to start kicking puppies) because I really like the character. He's doing what I always think when the heroes are idiots and narrow-sighted: it just isn't right for the only prince/ss to run around challenging dangerous monsters. Fine, you may save a friend/innocent child/a small town, but what if you get killed? Who's going to inherit the throne then?

...Actually, I'm always annoyed when there's only one heir. Couldn't the parents have a spare child or two just in case? If I'll ever write a story using a royal hero, s/he'll damn well have several siblings.

Comments

[fujiko1601.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an interesting interpretation of the legends. You are absolutely right about the only heir doing stupid things. Now if only the storytellers could see the point... my royal princess (and I've kind of lost hope that I ever really write the damn story) has only one younger sister, but once you look back a generation or two, you find a lot of royal relatives ready to claim the throne when needed (and when not needed, but that's besides the point.

Lately I've craved for less morally righteous heroes. I know you have to be careful what you show to people as it can lead to them taking it the wrong way, but always having such ridiculously noble ones is starting to get on my nerves. Things don't work that way.