Character Thought: Arthur/Guinevere

Hello Merlinians!
Firstly, I apologise that it has been well over a month since my last post - I'm still having a few problems with the "Merlin Location" post which I was going to put up. Hopefully this issue will have been resolved by the end of the week and I'll be able to put the post up. For now though, I thought I would do another "Character Thought" post, but looking at Arthur and Guinevere as a couple (or, Arwen) rather than individual characters.

I've always found the Arthur/Guinevere relationship intriguing, despite that in the very first legends of Arthur, Guinevere didn't really exist. But when you look at our version of the couple, it's incredible. A lot of people have said that the development of the relationship between the two happened too fast (referencing S2,Ep2) but personally, I think that the relationship they have started to blossom long before that. 'The Moment of Truth' (S1,Ep10) is one of my favourite episodes from series one, and I think Arthur realises what Guinevere is all about in the scene where she takes Arthur a bowl of food and Guinevere speaks her mind to him for the first time, addressing him as a normal person saying what he needs to hear and not what he wants to hear, before hesitating and adding "my lord" as if she'd forgotten that he is royalty.

Food is scarce for these people, you shouldn't turn your  nose up at it

 Furthermore, you then see another snippet of their upcoming relationship in 'Le Morte d'Arthur' (S1,Ep13) when Guinevere is helping look after him and tells him about the man he is inside and how he'll be a great King. The scene a little while later in the episode where Arthur reminds her about what she says is, I think, adorable. It's like she's shocked that he remembered, but doesn't want to admit it and so she passes it off as nothing, but the looks on their faces show otherwise, but because neither of them are looking at each other, only the audience knows. So their feelings had been there for a while, but 'The Once and Future Queen' (S2,Ep2) was the first chance they had to act upon those feelings, so it wasn't rushed, just very subtle. 

For me, there are some small scenes in series 2, 3, and 4 that really highlight the pair's romance.
The first of these is in 'Lancelot and Guinevere' (S2,Ep4) where Morgana and Gwen hug, and as they do, they spin round and Gwen and Arthur look at each other. The look on Arthur's face tells you that he wishes that he was in Morgana's place, but he knows he can't because of how upset Gwen was when Lancelot left. It's like he didn't think it would be appropriate, especially after he told Gwen wrongly that he only went because Morgana begged him to. (Huge congratulations to Bradley James on his acting in that scene!)

I will always love you

In Series 3, my favourite Arwen scene is in 'Queen of Hearts', when Arthur says that he would give up his place on the throne just to be with Guinevere. I also love how he fights the guards off of him, to steal one last kiss of Guinevere before the guards take her to the dungeon. "I will always love you.". It's an even more powerful scene when you think that Uther believes Arthur is being enchanted, but Arthur is actually speaking what he truly believes, publicly announcing his love for Guinevere whether he's taken seriously or not. 

In Series 4, well, where could I really begin. Series 4 shows how much they mean to each other. Guinevere was his wise council, the source of his strength, and despite her betrayal with Lancelot (Which, was a poorly written ending to the episode, in my opinion) they were able to get back what they had. I think the tipping point for this was when Isolde was dying in Tristan's arms. The way that Arthur looks at Guinevere and how she looks back at him is just so incredibly moving. It's seeing what Tristan is losing and realising that neither of them want to lose the other, not like that. I also prefer Arthur's second proposal to the first.  "I just never want to lose you".

I'm really hoping that we see much more of Arwen together in series 5. Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, I have a thing for calling Guinevere "Guinevere" rather than "Gwen", if only for the way that Arthur always says it. I also think that Bradley and Angel are phenomenal actors to portray the chemistry so well - they evidently have a good relationship off screen as well. Thumbs up to the both of them! (Well, that's something I've not said before...)

Until next time my Merlin friends,
Jessie of Camelot 
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