I Don't Get It

I just don't understand people sometimes.  I really don't. 

I'm a bit of an Arthurian scholar.  And I might be a little bit obsessive about Arthurian Legend right now.  It really doesn't help that the fourth series of Merlin was teased at San Diego Comic-Con recently. 

Anyway.  The thing that is really getting on my nerves is the fact that everyone in the world seems to consider Morgan le Fay to be evil, vengeful, or something of the sort.  She is expected to be this evil queen or evil sorceress that is always out to get Arthur (and Merlin in the television show). 

What people don't understand is that Morgan - Morgana as I prefer to call her - is not evil.  She has become portrayed as evil, but she never was like that.  Not originally.  She was a powerful sorceress from the isle of Avalon.  She was a shapeshifter and a healer.  She was the eldest of nine beautiful sisters.  She was not evil.  Not until she was made to be. 

She was not even Arthur's sister until the time of Chretien de Troyes, who wrote for the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  She was not even vengeful until the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and that was only when Arthur killed her lover.  

Some people have tried to shift her portrayal back to how it should have been, but it never lasts.  She is the victim of so much misportrayal.  It actually makes me a bit sad to see what people are doing to her.  


The way she is being portrayed in Merlin is one of those ways.  In series one, she was amazing.  She was my favorite character.  In series two, her romance with Arthur was dropped inexplicably, even though it was beautifully done before and absolutely wonderful (anyone notice that they decided to make her Arthur's sister after that?  Stupid writers) before that.  She was overlooked and manipulated.  It only gets worse from there, and now even the actress who plays here considers her darker side to be the true Morgana.  Lovely.  


I don't think that's how Morgana is supposed to be.  Maybe that's just me and my love of the legends, but I don't think it's fair for them to do this to her character.  All she ever gets is the blame.  That's just not fair to her.  Would it kill people to treat her character properly?

Off Topic

Okay, so I'm going to go totally off topic tonight and talk about Merlin, the BBC tv show. 

It is amazing. I love the acting in this, even if some of the things they do are a little annoying (such as the fact that I've been told Morgana turns evil, even though she's not really even inclined toward that where I am right now, in the middle of the second season. 

Mind you, my best friend has watched most of the second season already.  She doesn't provide me with spoilers, but she's irritated that Morgana is one of my two favorite characters - the other is Arthur.  And go figure, I like Arthur and Morgana together.  In this particular version, though I've heard some that say that she's Arthur's sister, she is King Uther's ward.  Her father was killed in Uther's service, and he was Uther's closest friend before his death. 

I happen to like Arthur/Morgana still, though they've toned a lot of hints of that down in the second season so far, unfortunately.  I also like Gwen/Lancelot...and Merlin with no one, really...maybe Freya, but I'm not really sure at the moment to be honest.  And she seems like a character of the day.  And the last time I liked a character of the day as the romance of a main character, she died.  Great, right?

So, I have to say, the first season of Merlin was amazing.  The second season is almost as good, but not quite.  They really did find some great actors and actresses to play characters of the day recurring characters.  Like Morgaus, who apparently shows up in season three...I wouldn't know, since I'm only in season two, and there are only like three episodes of that released and online so far.

I like having people put it up, though, when it's only aired in Britain.  It's nice to be able to actually watch it...

And now I'm going to go back to rooting for Arthur/Morgana in the episode I'm watching...