How long will merlin last

Speaking as Gaius, I feel I have mentored the young wizard as far as I can — he is much smarter and greater than me now and I am simply exhausted! Battling sad news with humor, Irish actor, Eoin Macken who plays the gallant knight, Gwaine took to twitter to console fans by tweeting: "For the ppl sad about Merlin, it's true this is the end of it, sorry about that Shine and FremantleMedia Enterprises which handles Merlin internationally are in the early stages of developing potential Merlin spinoffs using the universe created in the series — possibly with the further adventures of the Knights of the Round Table.

But that's no reason to get rid of the whole thing, is it? Apparently it is. The only question left is what will happen at Christmas. Will the show stick to the mythology, and climax with Arthur dying at Mordred's hand? Or, if that scuppers the movie plans, will we get a happier ending? Will Merlin ever reveal his secret, or at least learn a second trick? Will Richard Wilson ever look comfortable in that wig? Will Morgana ever buy a hairbrush?

Merlin certainly needs to go out with a bang. It owes us all that much, at least. Merlin has been cancelled, just when it was getting really good. Merlin as we know it will not be returning to our Saturday teatime screens, and I for one am quite upset. Some may argue that point in Titanic , but still: The protagonist, Rose, reached the end of that story with victory and freedom from her previous, oppressive life. We all know that real life has meaningless tragedy. But part of the reason we tell stories is to create meaning.

They did this throughout the series, too — just not in the ending. But none of these things accomplish anything for the plot.

Everything in a story should happen for a reason. Every episode or chapter, every scene, every line of dialog, should either move the plot forward or advance a character arc.

The writers spent all this time over five seasons establishing how excellent Arthur is with a sword. And then, Mordred just comes and… stabs him?

With almost no effort whatsoever? He could have at least used the advantage of magic, which he possessed. In any story, there will be subtle promises that the audience picks up on, often unconsciously.

Whether or not these promises are made intentionally by the writer, they create deeply-held expectations for audience members about how the story will progress, and how it will end.

Making good on these promises is crucial for maintaining an emotionally satisfied audience. While it is, of course, good to surprise your audience with twists and turns, you must never break your promises. By the end of this story, Merlin will be free! Arthur will see him for who he really is! But technically , it happens. And yes, Arthur does see and acknowledge who Merlin is.

The two friends are finally equals as they always should have been , and Arthur has a heart-wrenching moment of gratitude for all Merlin has done. Furthermore, there was another implied promise. It was more subtle than the main one, but no less real. And it went something like this:.

It would have been perfectly satisfying to see Merlin become free, and to know that he and Arthur would continue on their adventures — as equals this time — after the show was over. But the fact that Merlin himself only gets a small taste of this deeply-hoped-for-future is what makes it so painful.

The emotional effect of all this is equivalent to making someone wait, and wait, and wait, and then finally giving them what they long for — only to snatch it away again immediately afterwards. As a reader, viewer, and writer, here is my best, current advice for avoiding The Merlin Problem. In my opinion, this actually makes for the best kind of ending.

Watching a sad, centuries-old Merlin cast a longing but resigned look at the place where his king died and then having the screen fade to black is hardly the ending the characters and the audience deserved. And they have risen to the challenge almost excessively — even today, fan fictions continue to be published and read on all major online platforms, some focusing on relationships between side characters, others corrective and restorative, and still others set in the present after the last shot of the last episode, telling the story of a newly-risen Arthur who is positively agog at modern-day Britain.

Fan art is still distributed and well-loved, illustrating beloved scenes and characters or alternate narratives. The rate at which fans have adopted this well-loved saga into something of their own is incredible.

And some of these works have serious gravity — they have around half a million words and a sincere readership that follows new updates akin to how people once followed serialized stories published in magazines.

Fan fiction gives inspired creators an avenue to put their own spin on a world that the show encouraged us to love and then tragically whisked away from us and the characters. Their adoration for the show is clear in their treatment of the characters.