A Musical Merlin Thought

Hello my fellow Merlin fans!

I apologise for it being a while since the last post - who knew my summer break would be so busy?
I've made myself a Knight of Camelot costume in the length of time I've been absent, so I'm currently working on a write up on that to post here but it's taking longer than I thought to write and so I thought I'd put this post up.

I think that one of the things that makes the show so successful is it's wonderful soundtrack. I don't know if any of you have the soundtracks that they released for the first two series of the show, but I think they're incredible. Two of my favourite tracks are 'Fighting In The Market' (used in S1.Ep1, S3.Ep8 and S4.Ep8) and 'Lancelot's Heroism' (used in S2.Ep4) but the rest of the music used in the series that hasn't been officially released is outstanding as well.

Sometimes when I have trouble sleeping, I put the soundtracks of the show on using my MP3 player and listen to them until I fall asleep, but a while ago I tried something different.
I put an episode of Merlin on to help me get to sleep, but instead of watching it, I put my headphones into my computer and turned off the computer monitor and listening to the episode as if it was just one long piece of soundtrack. The first episode I tried this with was S2.Ep4, Lancelot and Guinevere and it struck me just to how much of what isn't said in words or actions is spoken through music.
Possibly my favourite example from this episode was when Lancelot and Guinevere first see each other in the Wilddeoren arena. You hear the loud cheering of the spectators and as soon as they lock eyes the cheering becomes almost a background noise, like nothing was important other than the fact they could see each other again for those few seconds until Hengist speaks and brings them back to reality along with the loud cheering. It really shows, for me, how powerful the feeling that Lancelot and Guinevere have for each other are at this point in the series.

There are several more examples I could write about, but I fear this post would get far too long. I would really recommend trying this out sometime. It sounds a little weird to begin with, but choose your favourite episode (that way it might be easier to follow without the visual aspect of the episode) and see what you think. I think it helps you to connect with the characters on a much different level and for me, this helped me to write some of my fanfic that I'm currently working on.

I hope you enjoy this if you try it - why not leave a comment if you have tried it?

Just before I sign off for now, if there is anything that you would like me to write about - like a certain episode or character, then feel free to leave a comment on here, or to send me a tweet! My twitter is @GalifreyGirl

Jessie of Camelot 
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Character Thought: Merlin

Hello my fellow Merlin fans! 
I thought that it was only right that for my first proper post on this blog, I should write about the title character, Merlin, played by the incredible Colin Morgan. 

Merlin

As you should already be aware from my introductory post, I've always had a thing for Arthurian legend, and always have I been intrigued by the wizard Merlin and the relationship that he holds with Arthur. In many versions of the legend that I've seen/read Merlin is merely a trickster, not possessing any real magic. Versions of this include the book "Here lies Arthur" by Philip Reeve and the 1960s TV show The Adventures of Sir Lancelot. However, I've always believed that Merlin did possess magic, a more powerful magic than any warlock before or after him and so we have Merlin - a boy born with magical talents that even Gaius can't explain.


One of my favourite parts about this twist on the character Merlin is that we see him as a young boy when we first meet him, probably about late teens and him being young means that so many young people who watch the show can relate to him. The boy who is different, an outcast who thinks he's a monster, who comes to realise that his talents are unique and make him who he is. 


After this, the next thing that I love about Merlin is his desire to see good in people and to always do the right thing, even if it did mean that Morgana turned out to be a dark witch and that Boredon nearly got hold of the last Dragon egg. This is because even though these lovable traits of Merlin mean that some of his plans can go wrong or disastrous things can happen, Merlin always manages to do the right thing. Showing that even if something appears to be going wrong, you can still turn it around by doing the right thing, such as when Merlin nearly killed Morgana in ‘The Crystal Cave’ when she was going to kill Uther and then saved her to prevent everybody’s grief whilst still managing to save Uther’s life. Without this desire to see the best in people, Merlin wouldn’t have been able to help Freya also, and even though he couldn’t help her to live, he stopped a painful death at the hands of Uther and he made her feel loved and I don’t think that Freya could have asked for more. “The lady of the lake” also showed a much more sensitive side to Merlin, a caring side that you don’t necessarily see in his comical relationship with Arthur. 


Merlin’s powers would be enough to make anybody want to have power over everyone else. As has been shown with the characters of Cenred and Gilli, but Merlin is more than content to keep his magic secret  and be a humble servant to Arthur, fulfilling his destiny. 

“It’s lonely to be more powerful than any man you know and have to live like a shadow. To be special and have to pretend you’re a fool.” 

But as much as this is one of my favourite quotes that Merlin says, I don’t think that Merlin is shown to pretend to be a fool. He’s gained the trust and respect of Arthur even though he is just a servant. He’s wise but reserved, not a fool – even if he does continually ruin the hunt for Arthur! Even Arthur realises that Merlin is special and although he doesn’t know that Merlin has magic he sees that Merlin is probably the truest friend he could ever have, risking his life time after time to save Merlin’s. Merlin is such a beautifully written character and a perfect role model for the younger generation and older Merlin fans alike. 


The costume that Colin wears as Merlin is one of my favourites from the show, and one that I often try to imitate. (I have a brown jacket, blue shirt and a red scarf!) It’s instantly recognisable and iconic, and probably one of the shows selling points for young people and although people complain that Merlin doesn’t have many different costumes, the fandom gets excited whenever we see a new shirt. Tumblr and Twitter alike go absolutely crazy. The same goes for whenever Merlin gets hurt or is happy, it’s infectious on the fans. 


I could go on for a while about Merlin, but I’ll use this last paragraph to sum up why I love Merlin. He’s caring, trustworthy, humble, wise and always does the right thing. Colin, is an incredible actor and honestly deserves a BAFTA, if not an Oscar, for his incredible performance. For someone so young, Colin Morgan is so talented and deserves more recognition than he gets.
And for all you Merlin fans out there, remember, being different is nothing to be scared of.


Jessie of Camelot
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