Bromance championship: Frodo/Sam vs. Arthur/Merlin

[mollyringle]

I was lately remarking to various people in comments that, by the end of Merlin, Arthur and Merlin "out-Frodo-and-Sam Frodo and Sam." But maybe it's a tie, to be fair. Now my mind won't rest until I've delineated all the items on the bromance checklist that both pairs seem to be using as their guidebook. Let's go!

Master and servant situation: check!

Save each other's lives a whole bunch of times (bonus points if you get soaked): check!

Also make verbal promises about continuing to save each other's lives: check!

Wear armor together even if that isn't usually your thing: check!

Play with ropes together: check!

Occasionally fall under evil magic influence and try to kill your bro: check!

Carry each other in case of unconsciousness: check!

Come around to seeing servant's mighty worth even if you took him for granted at first: check!

Hold your bro tenderly at the end and make us all cry: check!

Tearfully see him off on a boat headed for magical lands: check!

Yeah. I guess it's a tie.

I will go down with these ships. Bromances. Things.

Comments

[kitty_fic]

Very nice comparison! <3

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I don't know how much fandom overlap there is between these two, but I would bet they'd appeal to both in general.

[emrys_mk]

I've never seen Lord of the Rings, but after seeing these comparisons I think it is a must! Arthur and Merlin define bromance for me.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

You're in for a treat! I saw the first Lord of the Rings film without having read the books or anything, and going into it I was skeptical. I thought, "This is for those Tolkien geeks; I won't be able to understand what's going on; it'll be cheesy..." Well, I followed it just fine, and it totally won me over. I ended up spending the next few years fangirling heavily, reading the trilogy, anticipating and gobbling up the next two movies. And yeah, there's tons of shipping potential. Like Merlin, it's a cast full of charismatic men with good hearts (and a couple of kick-ass women too), with plenty of bromances to ponder, not just the Frodo/Sam one, although theirs is the most overt.

Arthur/Merlin may actually be more heartbreaking though, because, gah, that ending. Not fair.

[emrys_mk]

You've convinced me :-) I will read the trilogy then watch the movies. I'm excited--it's been a while since I read a series.

The ending of Merlin just about did me in, and with each subsequent viewing my heart breaks a little more. I wrote a scene last night for my current fic that deals with Arthur's death and Merlin's reactions, and all I could think about was how devastated such a loss would be for anyone to deal with. This is only a SHOW, yet it has had a profound effect on us.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Hurray! Come back and let me know if LOTR works for you. I do love the trilogy, but it can meander, because Tolkien did not give a damn about standard narrative structure. :) The movies keep the heart of the story but apply a more modern sense of pacing, plus everything looks gorgeous. An excellent adaptation all around.

I may very well end up writing Merthur too, or at least something Merthur-inspired, because an ending that sad makes us need to FIX IT. Sigh. Thank goodness all these millions of fellow fans understand each other's pain!

[dean mayes (from livejournal.com)]

Sam was a Goonie. Sam and Frodo for the win.

Merlin however recently turned in a fascinating performance in the British sci-fi series 'Humans', so I have developed something of a grudging man-crush for him.

But Sam still wins.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Sam has such a great underdog-turned-hero arc, it's hard not to love him. Sean Astin should've gotten a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Return of the King.

But yeah, Colin Morgan's acting skills! I haven't seen Humans, aside from a few clips, but he's riveting in whatever he does, it would seem. And so good at changing his accent that it always surprises me a little to hear him in interviews in his native Northern Irish. (Although, yum.)

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

LOL. Great comparison. They do seem to be similar in all the ways that count.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :D Arthur is definitely ruder than Frodo most of the time. But then, Merlin is snarkier in response than Sam is. So, they're both an excellent match for each other.