"He cannot empathize with people. He has, can, and will fuck with people just for his amusement. He planned Artoria's life from her birth to her death and his one only real regret is that he made a kingdom collapse along with her."
I totally do not see it this way. Hopefully, with the release of Babylonia anime, the perception of Merlin will improve within the community.
Regarding Arthur and the fall of Britain:
Uther Pendragon secured Merlin's assistance in winning Igraine's - the wife of Duke Cornwall - love at the price of leaving his child in Merlin's care. Merlin told Uther a prophecy about his child, who would become his appointed successor during their war-torn times. This child was Arthur, the King that succeeded Uther and received Excalibur from Merlin. Merlin arranged the advent of Arthur to the throne (the sword in the stone), the founding of Camelot, and guided Arthur to establish the Knights of the Round Table. His knights ventured forth completing fanciful adventures involving mythical creatures with supernatural happenings at every turn. The wise wizard guided and protected Arthur and his court by using his magic to wondrous effect. It was Merlin that brought about this golden age. For years, the world came to Camelot to learn from Arthur and Merlin alike. . . . However, this is where our tale turns sour. Merlin disappeared (he fled to Avalon to evade the witch who wanted to kill him). Seemingly as a result, Arthur and his knights fractured. Camelot was in disarray. An evil reared its ugly head. Mordred now challenged Arthur for the throne. Arthur's Court was in shambles, and when King Arthur needed Merlin the most, Merlin was nowhere to be found. Soon, a battle ensued and in the aftermath, Arthur was mortally wounded, Excalibur was lost, and Camelot has fallen. The reign of the great King Arthur has ended. Britain had been fractured and wars over the crown were plentiful.
- In Fate, Arthuria wanted to become a king of her own volition. When Merlin asked if she was sure about her decision to pull the sword from the stone, she did not hesitate. So, nobody forced her to be king. It's in her blood.
- "A foolish man, who playfully meddled with the fate of a single girl" -- this is assuming that Arthuria would have been happy living as a normal woman, which I doubt she would.
- Arthuria wasn't the ideal King. This is the cold hard truth that Merlin realized too late into her kingship. She wanted to save only the people but not lead the country as a whole, which is evident through her wish to go back and change the past just to save "her people" regardless of how that would change world history. She failed to win the hearts of the people mostly because she believed that being King meant being a rigid/inflexible ruler. While the people needed a king, Arthuria's intention was to coddle the people, not to lead them.
- The series is called "Fate" for a reason.
- Morgan le Fay played a big role in turning many important figures against Arthur; she's also the reason that Arthur died in the last battle because she stole Avalon. If there was someone to blame for the fall, it's Morgan. It's ridiculous how she gets a pass while Merlin gets all the blames.
- Merlin can predict the future with his Mystic Eyes so he knew what would happen to Arthur. On the other hand, he also saw an alternative future where every Briton was enslaved and an age of darkness was ushered in. Britain was doomed from the start. The King of Britain would drive the Saxons out of their country but inevitably, the Saxons would overcome the Britons and ruled over Britain. The fall was delayed for at least a few decades by the ascent of Arthur to the throne.
- Merlin did try to tell Arthur about the future that he saw. Remember that Merlin once tried to cue a talk about the future only to be dismissed by her stubbornness. As a demigod, Merlin's policy is to not be biased toward individuals but only be concerned with the fate of humanity as a whole.
- Merlin deeply regrets Arthur's fate to the point that he secludes himself in a tower out of guilt. For he who claims to not possess human emotions, this is a big deal.
- Some people hate on Merlin for giving Arthuria a magic penis, oblivious to the fact that it was Arthuria who asked for it in order to have a child with Guinevere. She possessed both Excalibur and Avalon but didn't have any intention to become an immortal ruler and still needed an heir.
"性別を偽っての王宮生活は気苦労の連続であったろう。 なかでも困ったのが世継ぎの問題だが、マーリンの魔術で事なきを得られたそうだ" [ "It must be tough to live in a palace while disguising her gender. The greatest problem was probably producing an heir, but that was solved by Merlin through magecraft." ] ~ Fate/Material pages 63-64
From "Garden of Avalon" CD Novel:
> With a joyful smile on her face, she said, "Yes. I have faith that I'm doing well in that regard. Please watch me, Merlin. I can't say it will be soon, but I will definitely turn this island into a prosperous country. One that can even measure up to the utopia spoken of in the legends, Avalon." As if feeling happy from the bottom of her heart, she puffed out her chest in pride.
> “—————————” It was at this moment that the mage realised his mistake. [...] If she continued on this path, she would face nothing but regrets. "Avalon might be a little too grand. Even I have never been there before."
At this moment, Merlin realized that Artoria wouldn't be able to handle the fall of her kingdom. He constantly reminded her that Camelot would fall.
> "Arthur, no matter how hard you try, all must come to an end. Nothing lasts forever. Everything is constantly transforming into something new. Therefore, it isn't the future that you should be protecting."
... to which she responded with:
> "Jeez, what is it this time? You're being awfully talkative today."
Regarding empathy/emotions:
- While Merlin claims he isn't human, his actions prove that he is among the most humane, having a real sense of kindness that few other heroes possess.
- In Babylonia, everyone and their grandmother loves to bully Merlin but that doesn't change the fact that his heart is big enough to take all that crap upon himself while still continuing to help and guide them to victory, saving them as he's been doing since the beginning.
- Merlin thinks that he's unable to understand emotions but he found enjoyment in human activities. "I love to see reveries of hope and joy".
- He sees people's stories through empathy and offers wisdom to whoever needs it. "Go, Cath Palug, I’m fine here. With your freedom, you will play into something really beautiful."
- When he saw the burdens that Arthuria was carrying, he realized that she would regret her kingship regardless of the outcome. In another instance, he sees through the truth of what's really troubling Ana about humans.
- In Garden of Avalon CD, Merlin muses on the irony that neither he nor Arthur understood love. Merlin might not understand what love is, but he seems to have a lot of love even when he doesn't realize it (eg, he seemed to have developed real bonds with Arthur, Guda et al, and found that he cared for them more than he thought).
- "Go, Cath Palug, I’m fine here. With your freedom, you will play into something really beautiful."
Relation to humanity
- In My Room Lines, Merlin says that "humans" are one of the things he likes. He doesn't like individual humans but loves the stories we create. He risks his life to save our ass in Babylonia, helps out in America and Camelot and has been supplying Chaldea with mana all this time.
- Like Gilgamesh, Merlin does not like/care about individual humans. They both simply love the stories and the progress that humanity creates. That is a good thing, is it not? The difference between them is that Gilgamesh is more active in pushing humanity forward while "Merlin takes a laidback approach of letting humans handle their own business and only interferes when necessary. Merlin shall believe in the Master, the hope of human history; he shall lend his power to the utmost, and then he shall entertain himself relaxingly. Merlin's desire is to carve open a path for the protagonist's destiny, to watch him off as he walks towards the future, to gaze at that kind of "beautiful view".
- Merlin is constantly learning about humans despite stating that he does not understand them. For example, he wants to try out Master-Servant relationships to experience them = he's learning to be human.
To me who has been a longtime fan of Disney's Merlin, Dumbledore and Gandalf, Fate's Merlin quickly caught my attention. I didn't like him at first because of his youthful design that is very different from the fairy-tale archetype. But, his presentation in Babylonia is absolutely delightful! His Room Lines are the definition of "cuteness". His stage play version came across adorable. Nothing fazes him in any situations. He's cool, tempered, wise and playful - like I imagined. 80% of Merlin already comes from already existed legends; Fate simply adds 20% to it. Reasons this character is one of my top favorites are the above plus the following:
- Merlin the Wise. He's a kind soul who's willing to impart his wisdom and magic teaching on anybody who asks for it. Look at how well he brought Arthur up! I love how he served as a Court Mage and a mentor for both Arthur and Gilgamesh. His leadership in Babylonia plays a huge part in the battle's success. Gilgamesh gives orders from the throne while Merlin leads the squad. Merlin never loses his calmness - he's staying calm to make sure that the Master of Chaldea feels assured that everything is okay.
- THE Merlin. Merlin is accepted as one of the wisest, most powerful wizards of all time. But he has no interest in power-tripping or world domination. He mostly keeps to himself and occasionally interferes with human affairs to push humanity forward.
- Super chillax and funny. Merlin doesn't bother with formalities and treats people as equals from the get-go. His antics may bother some people but to me it's fun and lively. When I'm old, I wish I'd be as cool as him :D
- As powerful as he is, he is not embarrassed to ask others to protect him when necessary [ eg, when faced with Gorgon's Mystic Eye of Petrification, Merlin shouted out to his comrades, "Protect me, whatever it takes, defeeeeend meeeee." ] :D
- Strong sense of self-awareness. Merlin understands his own flaws more than most people understand themselves.
- White magic. The first time I saw his Noble Phantasm "Garden of Avalon", I immediately knew that he's on the side of goodness. Flowers bloom around his feet when he walks. He can make flowers bloom in the darkest of places. Someone who possesses such pure, beautiful magic cannot be a bad person.
- "Generally, he is the Mage of Flowers who retorts at most things with a refreshing smile and a calm expression such as 'now, now.'” Overall, Merlin's personality makes it impossible not to like him.
Other criticisms of Merlin from other Fate fans include: "Merlin came up with even weirder things than penis:
- "Insists that you call him Big Brother Merlin (Merlin onii-san)"
- Okay, this is a criticism that I agree with. Merlin's character design looks very cool and I don't mind his young-looking face since Fate tends to make Servants young for the sake of appeal, but his voice sounds too young. I imagine that his voice should sound a bit warmer. They gave him the same voice as Proto Arthur, too, which I think is unnecessary =.= Plus, the way he acts in the Babylonia stage play: telling the MC to call him "onii-san" + a teensy dance, which make me go - in the words of another fan: "This Merlin gives off the feel of a hooligan".. LOL! Merlin isn't an "onii-san" in any sense. I don't mind deviating from the original myth, but this kind of change is out of place / awkward for his character and feels very fanservice-y. The stage actor who played him is pretty good; his voice is warm and his Merlin is adorable but I don't think he's supposed to act like a teen, especially not an "onii-san".
- "Trolled Quetzalcoatl so hard she got struck by divine punishment and lost half of her Divinity."
- Rebuttal: Quetz had the possibility and reasons to turn her back on humanity; she could become an Avenger due to how her civilization had crumbled and abandoned her. While Quetz didn't agree with Tiamat's plan, she didn't want to protect Uruk, either. She chose to protect some people, get rid of others and repeat because she felt it's fun to mess with humans and their struggles. In the war against the almighty gods, Merlin was able to disarm a powerful goddess without a physical fight!
- "He doesn't use incantations because he bites his tongue while chanting".
- Okay, this is one way that Fate nerfs Merlin because the series can't afford to have a too-powerful character, otherwise he would win every battle and the MCs would have nothing left to do. Same reason for him being stuck in the Tower and can't participate in the Solomon Arc finale.
- "Lazy as fuck. Him: "Why need to use spells when you can just hit it with a sword?" (He fights like Gandalf, with Excalibur).
- This is actually something I really like about his character. Merlin is like Sun Wukong in this aspect: enjoying trolling people / making them do the work just because it's fun AND having the power to get away with it. The Mage of Mages doesn't bother with "trivial" stuff but when push comes to shove, he will always be one step ahead when possible.
"Only the sinless may pass."
Why would Merlin judge himself as a sinner, if by his whimsical nature, he does not sin?
Why would Merlin, who carried out the future that he saw, feel any guilt over guiding the king down his path?
… Humanity is a strange thing.
Not all who are of its species are humane in their thinking, while many beings that humans shun and fear would be, in fact, the most humane of us all.
