merlin, nimue, and other things

[Arwen17]

ok does anyone think Merlin had sex with Nimue while they were both being held hostage by Vortigen? They were kissing a lot. But she's a nobelwoman and merlin is some guy from the woods. Even though she's in love with him isn't it improper for her to be kissing any man especially some guy who isn't a nobel(not counting mab's blood). Were ladies allowed to show such obvious personal displays of affection to even their husbands out in public?Since Nimue is a nobelwoman she can't possibly entertain ideas of marrying Merlin. She would be betrothed to a lord. I was thinking again about how Nimue was trapped in the cave thing forever and I wondered whether she had really been a virgin that whole time! Later she's like a nun in the abby, can you be a nun if you're not a virgin?
I would have thought nimue would have been dead or as crazy as gollum for being locked up alone in cave that long, but the book explains merlin and her were slowly falling asleep for longer and longer in the cave. What did Mab plan to do with them if she won the war? Wake Merlin up and say "you have to be on my side, cause my side is the only side now." Did she plan to have him sleep eternally since she couldn't bear to kill him? That would be really weird for Mab to be wondering around in there, looking at a sleeping Merlin. Time in that cave seems to run at the same speed it runs in Mab's realm.
why not leave merlin and nimue awake to reproduce? Would any child of merlin's have magic i wonder.
How long would Mordred have lasted on the throne? What would Mab do if something were to happen to Mordred even though she won? She doesn't have a spare, unless she still thinks she can convince Merlin. And Merlin would eventually die of old age so mab's plan will work for only so long if it had all gone off as she originally planned.

Ok that was really long rambling lol

[Libitine]

'Tis teh topic of most randomnesss.

Um. Maybe they did. I mean, they were often referred to as 'lovers' but hey, it could all me a hoax. No one is sure I suppose. You cannot be a nun and not be a virgin and you cannot kiss anyone like that in public in that time, so . . . maybe the entire flick just wasn't so historically accurate.

As far as Merlin's kids goes . . . Mab was probably sooo fed up with him to begin with that she didn't want to chance it, though that certainly would have juiced up the plot (but ended with a major cliche if it would have ended how I think it might). I think Mab could have killed him eventually but eternal sleep might have sufficed. Although in ledgend it is Nimue who puts Merlin to sleep. Hrmm. I don't know. AND. If he had been put to sleep there wouldnot have been a sequel. Good for us, yes! But people like their sequels (and maybe with a change in ending the sequel would have been better).

The End

[himiko]

Hmmmm, interesting...

1) As far as Merlin and Nimue go, I'm not sure whether they were literally lovers whilst being held hostage by Vortigern. I wouldn't say it was impossible. After all, although Christianity had taken hold in Britain by the time of the film, it wasn't the only religion, the Old Ways were still very much present, at least during the beginning, and, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure the Old Ways weren't quite so stringent when it came to rules about sexual conduct. I don't know how matters of propriety worked back then, if anyone's better informed than me, I daresay they could answer this better than I could. Of course, even if the time was less strict when it came to matters of sex, Nimue WAS a Christian, so on the one hand, was probably a believer in no sex before marriage, and on the other hand, she was also "dating", for lack of a better term, a wizard. And he was hanging around in her chamber at night, LOL. Also, whatever the time period, I'm pretty sure that there have always been illicit affairs, etc. so it's not at all impossible that they were lovers. According the the shooting script, they appeared to be about to have sex once Merlin arrived in the Enchanted Cave, so we can assume that they did sleep together at least once.

2) I'm not really sure what Mab planned to do with Merlin, or, indeed, if she had any plans for him. She started trying to work on Nimue, get her to bring Merlin to the cave, after she said to Frik that she had "given up" on Merlin, so I always got the impression that she wanted him out the way, but didn't want to kill him, so she shut him up in the cave. But I also recall Frik thinking later on (I believe it was after he himself left Mab), though he was unaware of Merlin's cave-situation, that Mab would want Merlin to bow to her. So I'm not sure, maybe she would have woken him up eventually.

As for leaving him awake to let him and Nimue reproduce. Well, on the one hand, if we believe any of what Merlin's Apprentice says, then indeed, Merlin's offspring WILL be able to use magic. On the other hand, looking at MA, I think it's a pretty damn good idea to not allow Merlin to breed.

3) I don't think Mordred would have lasted that long, comparatively speaking. He ages at about twice the normal human rate, so even assuming he lives out his full life, it's not going to be a hugely lengthy reign. Merlin, had the original plan gone ahead, would certainly have survived much longer, but yes, he too would eventually die. I suppose the idea is that by the time the current ruler dies, they would have managed to reinstate the Old Ways to the extent that there would be another suitable pagan to take their place, and so it would continue.