Merlin: The Road to Camelot (Fandom Overview)

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone! This month I'm taking you on a magical mystery tour to the fair castle of Camelot, hot on the trail of the hottest new fandom around, Merlin.

Merlin is the newest, gayest incarnation of the Arthurian Cycle (and that's saying something, as the medieval versions are pretty darn gay, with all those "jousting" knights, thrusting swords, and long, long quests with nary a woman to be seen). The first season is just about to finish its run of thirteen episodes on the BBC. It's made for a general audience (think kids adventure show), so it's one of those fandoms you can share with anyone, from non-fans to friendshippers, to full-on slashers and het shippers.

The Premise

Merlin is almost a highschool-AU-style adaptation of the Arthurian Cycle (which I'm assuming everyone knows the basics of: King Arthur, Holy Grail, Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur, etc), and it contains many of the elements you'll already know from the Arthurian mythos, but sets the story whilst the protagonists are still young adults.

In this version of the story, Arthur is not yet king, and is bound by the decrees of his rather strict and bigotted father, Uther Pendragon. Merlin is newly arrived at Camelot to train with the court physician, Gaius. After acting to save Arthur's life, Merlin becomes the Prince's green and hapless young manservant, much to Arthur's dismay.

Despite a rather rocky start, Arthur and Merlin quickly forge a close friendship and together they manage to save Camelot from evil.

But there's a twist -- Uther is decidedly anti-magic, and punishes magic users with death; which means Merlin must keep his powers secret from everyone, including Arthur. This is made rather difficult by the weekly arrival of a magical monster/baddie.

Oh, there's one final ingredient you need to know about: The Gay. It's not only slashers who can see it -- even the critics are talking about the show's slashy subtext. So expect a lot of Merlin/Arthur friendship, snark and sex in the upcoming rec set; add in a dragon and some court intrigue, and you have the basic recipe of the show.

The Characters

Merlin (Colin Morgan)



Meet Merlin. (Hi, Merlin, hi!) Something that this photo doesn't clearly show you, but that you need to know, is that Merlin has rather, shall we say, unique ears. Within fic, Merlin's ears have not yet reached the iconic status of John Sheppard's elf ears, but mark my words: verily shall Merlin and his ears be known throughout the land.

Another important thing you need to know is that Merlin is a yuppy. He started out as a village boy from humble origins, but now has two jobs: training to be a healer with Gaius, the court physician, and working as Prince Arthur's manservant. Merlin is a terrible manservant, it turns out, but luckily for Arthur, he's a fantastic friend. Arthur doesn't have enough of those who aren't prats. In his spare time, Merlin is learning how to use his magic; he does this mainly by magicking away household chores, and saving Arthur's life.

In other news, Merlin has been known to flirt with Gwen, with various knights (such as Lancelot) and old boyhood friends (Will), and also with the Great Dragon locked up underneath the castle.


Prince Arthur (Bradley James)



This is Arthur. Pretty, isn't he? The other important thing you need to know about him is that he's a bully and a prat. Fortunately, Merlin has his number, and doesn't let him get away with it. To give Arthur his due, he seems to recognise that this is a good thing, and as a result he's only sacked Merlin a little bit for his cheek; Arthur is rapidly turning into the kind of man who will make a much better king than his father. He's already a knight of some prowess, and is in charge of a large party of knights who protect the kingdom.

As for Uther and Arthur -- they have a rather fraught relationship. Arthur wants his father's respect, but is also starting to disagree with Uther's policies.

When it comes to pairings other than Arthur/Merlin, the main ship so far is Arthur/Morgana, due to some UST between the characters.


Guinevere -- Gwen (Angel Coulby)



Guinevere (Gwen) is also a servant in this incarnation of the story, working as a maid for Morgana. There's no hint of how she will transform into Queen Guinevere, but I for one can't wait to see her in some fancy clothes.

So far, Gwen is the little black dress of the fandom, as she's been paired with Merlin (for the flirting), Morgana (for the girl friendship), and Arthur (for the mythos).


Morgana (Katie McGrath)



There are three important things you need to know about Morgana: 1) she has the magical powers of a seer; 2) she's Uther's ward; and 3) the mythos suggests she will not stay one of the good guys, although it depends on which version you read. So, gorgeous and potentially an enemy of Arthur and Merlin if things go tragically wrong. Mmmmm. A winning combination.


Uther Pendragon (Anthony Head)



The big bad king of Camelot. Uther is a strict father and merciless king. He's got the last Great Dragon locked up in the celler, and he lops off heads left and right for the merest whiff of magic. He seems to care about Arthur, in a fairly ruthless, you-shall-be-a-great-king-like-it-or-not sort of way. But hey, this is bad daddy played by Giles, so the fandom kind of loves to hate him already, and he gets more sympathy than you'd otherwise expect.


Gaius (Richard Wilson)



The healer training Merlin, and the one person at court who canonically knows Merlin has magic. Gaius is a trusted confidante of the king, and generally plays the wise old man role.


The Great Dragon (John Hurt)



And then there is the Great Dragon, who gives out fortune cookie advice, just to make things extra mystical. The Dragon's advice to Merlin is always cryptic, and usually contains the word "destiny" (ie. Merlin and Arthur are destined to be together forever). The Dragon has a kind of boring life, though, locked up underneath the castle and all, with the only highlight being the dispensation of advice to a gormless wizard. So who can blame him for being a bit of a drama queen about it and yanking on Merlin's chain in the process?


Nimueh (Michelle Ryan)



Nimueh is the show's arch-villian. We don't know a lot about her yet, except that she's a sorceress. There's some kind of history between Nimueh and Uther, and the implication is that she's a big part of the reason for the anti-magic law.

Fandom Resources

Alternative Introductory Guides:
(kindly provided by wistfuljane)

• The Guide: Merlin (BBC) by burntcopper @ merlin_ljguide.
  
• my shame (and accompanying picspam of gay): an introduction of Merlin by sweetestdrain.
  
• Here be dragons: a picspam and intro to Merlin by aleathiel.
  
• An introduction of Merlin in pispam format by lexandros.
  
• Merlin: Massive Post of Pimpage by 20thcenturyvole @ volehole
  
• Merlin Pimping Post by mklutz (this is in to-read folder, but it's a massive picspam intro)
  
• So... Merlin: a pondering on Merlin (BBC) and its slash factor by stillane.

General Information and Guides:
The Merlin Wiki
Fanlore's entry
merlin_ljguide
bbc_merlin_news: the daily newsletter

The fiction:
Merlin Fanfiction Archive
merlinfic
merlin_flashfic
merlinslash
merlinrpf

Specific Pairings:
merlinxarthur
gwenmorganabbc
camelot_tree: rare pairings

Songvids:
merlin_vids

ETA: There's some discussion of canon and the legends, and more links to resources in the comments. Because fandom is awesome like that. :)

Comments

[wistfuljane.livejournal.com]

\o/! I don't know what you were worried about. This is an excellent write-up of the series, especially given that this is still a very much emerging *new* fandom. So many yays!

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

What can I say, my google-fu is a thing of awesomeness. :)

I'm really looking forward to getting into the reccing; that's always my favourite part. Thanks again for all your help.

[solar-cat.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I was just wondering not two hours ago whether someone was writing Merlin up for this comm yet. Very awesome, and a great overview! (Though you may want to add in a warning that the Dragon is probably more widely known as the Slash Dragon than the Great Dragon, at this point in the fandom. XDDD )

I can't wait to read the recs! *is sure she must have missed some good ones along the way when the fandom... um... exploded like it did* XD

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked the overview, and I hope you like the recs just as much.

The Slash Dragon is such a great name for him -- the new LJ is priceless. :)

[yasaman.livejournal.com]

Great overview without being spoilery! And thanks especially for the links to the picspams as well. I will definitely be pimping people with those!

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The more people getting pimped into the fandom the better. :)

[stinglikeabee.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I've only just discovered the show, and will mem this. Thanks!

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I hope you enjoy the recs too.

[pargoletta.livejournal.com]

High-school AU of the Arthurian legends? Having checked out some of the other guides you listed, I have to say that this show sounds weirdly tempting, potentially crack-a-licious.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

It totally is crackalicious, although there's some lovely stuff that riffs on the more tragic aspects of the Arthurian Cycle too. It's turning out to be quite a diverse fandom.

[skywise012000.livejournal.com]

It's fab!!!

Although I do spend half my time screaming "That's not right you numpties" at the screen and the rest of my time giggling at the oh-so-unsubtle slashyness.

Hmmm - I feel plot bunnies biting my bum . . . . . .

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The slashiness on screen is pretty awesome, isn't it? ;)

[hardticket.livejournal.com]

Nimueh is another name for Vivienne or The Lady of the Lake in case you didn't know.

She is potentially a good character and I think is going to be very interesting in this series.

[phantmchic.livejournal.com]

Also sometimes Nynaeve. Nimue traditionally is the one who traps Merlin.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info; I did know, but I was in two minds about including much from the actual legends (I didn't want to risk being too specific about possible future canon plot turns). It's nice that the info is here in comments though, if people are interested in knowing more.

[magic-beans.livejournal.com]

They went into why Nimueh and Uther hate each other actually :) Episode nine, I think. Basically Nimueh used to be a friend of Uther way back. Uther and his wife wanted a child but she couldn't have one or some such. He asked Nimueh to help and she did, not realising that to bring something to life (baby Arthur) healthy life would have to be sacrificed. Thus Uther's wife died in childbirth and his hatred of her was born. She hates him because he started hunting down and killing magic users after that incident and got some of her family/friends.

ETA: Woops, totally forgot to say that I'm really looking forward to these recs!

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool. Thanks for that. I'm really looking forward to #9 now.

Hope you enjoy the recs. :)

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

oh, and if you want to include a 'trailer' for it, I'd recommend 10,000 nights of thunder (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NaDvWxa4WhE) for 'boys interacting in the first few eps'.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

I love that songvid! I have a shortlist, actually, of about three songvids I can't pick between, so I might rec them all. :)

merlin

[laceymcbain.livejournal.com]

Excellent overview, and it's so nice to see lots of Smallville and SGA writers in the fandom. I just posted a Merlin vs Smallville post today of all things - let's hope it's not going to be the heartbreaker that SV was.

Re: merlin

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

It is nice to see all the familiar faces, isn't it? I have high hopes for the fandom! :)

[acari.livejournal.com]

Yay! I didn't know it was Merlin you were talking about when you mentioned writing a small fandom crack_van overview.

more resources: (feel free to ignore)

pairing comms:
herchampion - Arthur/Morgana
kingandward - Uther/Morgana
infide_manentia - Merlin/Morgana
merlingwen - Gwen/Merlin
camelot_love - Arthur/Gwen

scrying_bowl - writing resources
merlin_meta - meta
camelot_recs - recs
merlin_santa - secret santa
merlin_drabbles - drabbles
merlin_las - last author standing
merlin_finders - fic finder
arthurs_chamber - adult Arthur fic

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for these!

[twigged.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :)

[ldhenson.livejournal.com]

I stumbled across this post and thought, ehhh...I'm not in the market for new fandoms, having just picked up quite a few in the past months. But that cap of Arthur was nice. I figured I'd check out one episode just for curiosity;s sake and leave it at that.

Five episodes later...

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was kind of like that for me too. :)

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

Yay, so excited for the Merlin recs! Great recap- I hope it sucks more people in!

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I hope so too -- the more the merrier. :)

[porntestpilot.livejournal.com]

Gay Yenta Dragon really doesn't have access to a lot of other hobbies, I agree.

Good write up! Hopefully this will bring more people to the yard.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Here's hoping. :)

[johnnypurple.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I forget that the dragon being a huge shipper is not necessarily cannon. Though he does say that Merlin and Arthur are like two sides of the same coin, so who's to say he doesn't also write slash about them?

You appear to have forgotten two of the best communities in the Merlin fandom (and by best, I do mean crackiest): capslock_merlin and face_of_bradley! :D

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of the dragon being a huge shipper, and it would totally write slash. :)

Thanks for the info about the comms.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Fab intro! And it's got Victor Meldrew in it! Is he slashed at all? With anyone? Gaius/Merlin is so obvious. "Hello, my young magical ward. I don't believe it!" (Do you even know One Foot in the Grave??)

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! There's some Gaius/Uther slash out there, but I don't think I've seen him slashed with anyone else (yet). (And I know OFITG just a little :)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey there, I'm coming straight from my Arthurian Literature class. People in the Merlin fandom tend to say that BBC's Merlin ignores the legend. This is not true! There is more than one legend for starters and many interpretations of said legend.

This misunderstanding must be cleared up. I've made a start at it here: Negotiating The Boundaries of Legend (http://icarusancalion.livejournal.com/824859.html)

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Yay for a guide! I studied the Arthurian legends at uni too. It was fascinating seeing the way the characters and situations morphed and changed over time -- even the grail isn't the same in each tale!

[worldwouldend.livejournal.com]

It's been a couple months since I got sucked into this fandom, and I wanted to come back and blame thank you in particular! You won me over with almost a highschool-AU-style adaptation of the Arthurian Cycle and then recced an astonishing set of stories and vids. Thank you!

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

\o/

My job here is done. ;)