Hi honey I just wanted to tell you that my theme song for Arthur/Gwen is: Stupid by Sarah McLachlan. Now here is my reason/take.

The song is hauntingly beautiful of course so there is nothing to discuss there but the reason why I chose it is because of the video clip Sarah had directed for it. I am not sure if you have seen it but it shows a woman and two men who meet each other every time they are reborn. She meets these two men in every lifetime. She marries one but she is really in love with the other man so they carry out an affair. Unfortunately this woman is doomed to repeat this every life she is born into. Never to freely be with the one she loves.

Of course you can see the similarity here with Gwen, Arthur and dare I say it Lancelot. But I defy the legend and say that our dear handmaiden Gwen suffers from a mistaken Identity of being the Queen of the legends. She truly loves Arthur but people pair her with Lancelot. So whenever I hear this song I think if her struggle to defy the legend and make others realize that her one true love and ONLY love will always and forever more be Arthur Pendragon.

I actually didn't watch it; partly because I wanted to keep my mind free of other influences while writing, but I'll take a look now before I respond to you :]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me, I appreciate it. I guess I would say that in other legends, when Guinevere's love for Lancelot becomes greater than her love of Arthur, the video applies really well; whether by choice or arrangement, any Guinevere (except the vindictive harpy in a couple of retellings) would easily be able to see Arthur's goodness, but some connections can't be ignored and when Lancelot comes along, her heart cries out for him. The tragedy in those retellings is that Guinevere is not evil or malicious; she loves two men. And simply by nature of being human, one of the men takes precedence, and that's Lancelot.

In the context of what Merlin tells us, that Gwen is stalwart and true to her principles, I agree with your assessment: that Gwen defies conventional legend. I think she'll struggle, whether briefly or for her life, with feelings regarding Lancelot. I don't know that the feelings will necessarily be love, but I think there's a draw between them; particularly in that it's clear Lancelot is entirely smitten with her, even if I'm not convinced Gwen was ready to reciprocate those feelings in his episode. If Gwen's lucky, they'll channel their affections into a devout friendship, leaving them both entirely unfettered to love and serve Arthur and Camelot. Since the show has decided to include Lancelot in the picture, I suppose that's my ideal situation for the lot.

I hope you don't mind my essay in response to your comment, I tend to get carried away discussing these characters :]

Oh I am glad you watched it! It eerily fits doesn’t it! I wonder if Sarah was channeling Guinevere? I guess the tragedy in this triangle is that all of them are good people. Lancelot is a good person, Arthur is a good person and Guinevere is a good person. I guess good is an understatement! These are the kind of people who would give up their lives for the greater good. I completely agree with you that what Guinevere feels for Lancelot is nothing but pure innocent love and visa versa. There is nothing selfish about this love. Lancelot and Guinevere both love Arthur as well. I guess that is why this all ends in tragedy. Now for the series take on these three I hope your statement is correct. That it is a growing friendship. I would usually be on Lancelot’s side…..I always have been on his side in the past but this time I hope she stays with Arthur..

I love your essay type answers 

PS. I also think that this is a little strange for us shippers because we know before hand that our Gwen and Arthur get together but then we have a third element that not many shipper fans have to deal with. We know in the legend that Gwen truly loves Lancelot. Lancelot is not the 'bad guy' either he is also a very good person. So Arwen shippers are very special shippers because we have to deal with a lot!