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Post by sleepyqueenie on Oct 1, 2012 19:59:42 GMT
Woow I should have known you had. I am so happy for you! It looks just perfectly Mabish
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Post by himiko on Oct 1, 2012 21:30:45 GMT
It was pretty cool, though my legs were a bit dead from all the stairs that are required to move around Tintagel.
And yes- the blessings of having a friend who lives in the South West and is willing to indulge my Merlin fanaticism XD
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Post by Mabforever on Oct 20, 2012 0:42:51 GMT
HIMIKO! Y U SO LUCKY?! That is amazing though, i must say How fortunate you are to live so close Yup my sentiments exactly.
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Post by sleepyqueenie on Feb 4, 2013 8:02:55 GMT
More places to visit: King Arthur's Labyrinth. This is a tourist attraction in Snowdonia, the area where most Merlin film locations are situated. What makes this so appealing is that it described as a“dramatic boat ride through an enormous waterfall deep into a spectacular labyrinth of underground caves.” A boat into the Land of Magic Finally found it. and as a bonus Merlin and Arthur stories are narrated throughout by Merlin himself (the site says) www.kingarthurslabyrinth.co.ukMore stories can be found above ground in a further attraction, Bards' Quest. Another point I would like to address is this rock. It is the Ty-Mawr on Ynys Môn/ Anglesey. To me it looks a lot like the rock Mab steps from at the beginning of the film. The texture is different but the form is amazingly similar.
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Post by himiko on Feb 4, 2013 18:52:02 GMT
I keep meaning to go to King Arthur's Labyrinth when I'm in Wales- alas, I'm always there with my family, and as I have still failed to learn to drive, I am dependent upon the goodwill of my more mobile family members...
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Post by sleepyqueenie on Feb 9, 2013 11:36:51 GMT
It's clear then. Us Mabgirls will have to go together. This might sound like a fantasy, but I seriously want to have a fanday some day. In any case I will visit King Arthur's Labyrinth. Is it only reachable by car? The site mentions busses as well. Is the public transport reliable in Wales? -In Belgium you have to keep a 10 minute delay in mind for trains.-
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Post by himiko on Feb 10, 2013 0:03:09 GMT
That would indeed be AWESOME!
I imagine that you could probably get there by bus, I will have to look into it at some point... Hmmm, I cannot speak for the whole UK, but in Lancaster, where I live, the buses aren't always bang on time, but they're usually reasonably timely (unless there's roadworks holding them up somewhere), so you could probably make reasonable plans based on the bus timetable.
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Post by sleepyqueenie on Feb 11, 2013 16:11:28 GMT
YES!
I will continue online research and turn this into a realistic plan.
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Post by sleepyqueenie on Jul 28, 2014 6:19:21 GMT
I have an observation to make about the Land of Magic. How is its infrastructure? First time we see it Mab arrives on the stairs, Frik looks up with a crystal indicating he is in the crystal room (?). We see him go round the corner giving the strong impression the main entrance gives way to the crystal room. Mab goes up the stairs, Mab and Frik go down the stairs (is it logical to avoid a flat entrance by having two stairs? ) into the crystal room from where there appear to be (as we see in later scenes) no gateways to other rooms, or they are hidden by big crystals. When they are in the library we see two doors and through both these we see huge crystals again. Does Mab have crystals everywhere? Several crystal rooms perhaps? Or is there one huge room at the centre of her power more or less connected to all other rooms as a heart of magic should be? I have always written in fiction from the assumption that all of the (major) rooms in the land of magic are scattered about and you need to know the tunnels very well to find your way.
Another point I would like to make is how well did Lady and Mab get one in the old days? When we see the cave, underneath the castle there is water everywhere. The way leading to the castle again by water and before that her sisters lake (quite a hinderance to have at your front door when you don't like your Puddly sister) Mab built her castle on water? How dependant is she upon her sister's element? Puddles is also clearly present in the tunnels of Mab's palace (see Merlin and Lady 'it slipped out' scene) Though Mab has these stairs at the entrance of her palace once water reaches those it will flood in and probably drown everything (especially the crystal room as we saw that is situated quite low). According to me Mab and Puddles would have been VERY closely related (oh yeah sisters) at the height of their power. Possibly two appearances of the same goddess? (just a suggestion)
Point 3, not so much to do with locations as with magic means of travel. Mab can zap over to the land of magic, she can take people with her to anywhere (see Frik, Nimue). However when she has a champion she makes them do the long route to her realm. With Merlin I understand this, she wants him to be impressed and fall in love with magic. He gets the magic horse and the scenic route. With Mordred time is short. So she decides to sneak out and ride all the way on regular horses to her land? I doubt it is to do with her dwindling powers. What do you think are her reasons for travelling with Mordred instead of just appearing where they need to be?
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Post by himiko on Aug 3, 2014 0:52:55 GMT
For 1), I'm not actually sure. Similarly to you, I kind of assume that the palace as a whole has a lot of scattered rooms and tunnels, but the one indication that we do get from the film is that the crystal room seems to be pretty close to the main entrance- perhaps there are some corridors going off to either side at the top of the stairs that we just don't see, that lead to the rest of the palace, and the crystal room is close to the entrance because it is- for Mab, at least- the focal point of the castle, and the rest is all extras. It's where she seems to perform most of her magic, after all, and where most of her meetings with Frik seem to take place. Other than her scenes in the library/ schoolrooms, where she is there for the purposes of educating Merlin in the Old Ways, I can only think of one scene where she is in the Land of Magic and not in the crystal room/ on her way there- when Frik is writing his fairy stories, and Mab is sitting down and peering into the black stone that Frik later gives Morgan, they appear to be in the library. I imagine there would be a lot of crystals about the palace. The books seem to indicate that the Land of Magic is pretty large- at the very least, there is a bedchamber for Merlin and a vast dining room in addition to the rooms we see on screen, but I'm fairly sure it does specifically mention it being a large palace (don't have the books to hand atm to check)
For 2), I've wondered that myself. Another interesting question is that despite being the Queen of Air, Mab's kingdom is underground, surrounded by rocks, crystals and earth. I suppose you could argue that she's also the Queen of Darkness, so the underground thing could make sense there, but if they wanted to stick strictly to her elements, I would have thought it would make more sense to have her realm be outside in some sort of realm of perpetual night, perhaps? Honestly, I think the explanation for this might be pretty meta, in a sense- I don't think Mab is referred to as the Queen of Air and Darkness in the film at all, to the best of my recollections, only the Queen of the Old Ways and the Mistress of Magic. Now, the Queen of Air and Darkness as a title is linked in with Arthurian stories- it's the title of TH White's second Arthurian book, and refers specifically to Morgause (Mordred's mother, in this version, and also a sorceress, so I imagine that she plays a somewhat Mab-like role). And it's pretty clear that the Lady of the Lake and the Mountain King are very much linked to a certain element, from their appearances and names/ titles given in the film, and of course the Lady and Mab refer to each other as sisters, so it would make sense if Mab was also linked to an element. But I wonder if perhaps it was James Mallory that took the "Queen of Air and Darkness" Arthurian reference, and tied it to Mab and the other elemental kings, and that originally, in the series, Mab was simply meant to be, as stated a Mistress of Magic (more generalised than her sister) rather than be linked to an element, and that is why her realm contains so much in the way of water and earth.
Looking at it from an "in story" perspective, however, it would certainly seem to indicate warmer relationships between the elements at an earlier point in time. Alternatively, assuming that all the elements have their own realms, similar to Mab, perhaps they all have elements from their siblings in their realm, either to allow for ease of communication or because they are in some ways all faces of the same original goddess, as you suggested. I think that the Lady being able to appear in Mab's realm might simply be because they are clearly beings of immense power, and it must be quite hard/ distracting to try and block a magical being from being able to appear in or leave a realm they choose.
For 3)... I'm honestly not sure. Whilst time is running short for Mab, it's probably not a matter of extreme urgency that they get to the Land of Magic right away, so she can afford to take Mordred "the scenic route", so to speak, if she wants to. And she does seem to enjoy being hero-worshipped by Mordred to an extent- the toys when he's a child, the praise and endearments when he's an adult, the satisfied tone in her voice when she tells him about Elaine knowing about Lancelot and Guinevere (in the novelisation, this scene is told from Frik's point of view, and I seem to recall that he compares the moment to being like a child bearing tales out of school. Not a particularly flattering comparison, and it's not meant to be, but it helps to highlight a point here). I think perhaps she wants to impress Mordred with all the glamour and magic, etc, not because she needs to to keep him on side, but because she wants to see his reaction? When I am back with the novelisations I will have a look to see if it goes into any detail about Mordred's arrival in the Land of Magic after he and Mab leave Tintagel- I think it might do, but I can't remember specifics...
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Post by sleepyqueenie on Aug 12, 2014 10:37:56 GMT
Thank you for such a great reply! I didn't have much time when I was typing it up. I wanted to say much more about it. You perfectly picked up on the theories I had and added much more new thoughts. ^^ 1) "perhaps there are some corridors going off to either side at the top of the stairs that we just don't see," Exactly what I thought of as well. " I imagine there would be a lot of crystals about the palace." Yes, I imagine she leaves them anywhere. Like some spoiled child or like me and books randomly discarding them and picked them back up throughout the house. Of course Frik is in charge of cleaning it all up and gets blamed when he moved a crystal she remembered leaving behind for future use at some unlikely place. 2) Yes, Queen of Air and Darkness is a classic title. I didn't buy it referring to Mab. I didn't go with the books' elementals theory at all. Only because of these past few years on the forum have I grown softer towards it. She was always more the rock type to me. If I had to pick an element that is. Apart from magic and darkness and who knows what other powers she has up her sleeve. "I think that the Lady being able to appear in Mab's realm might simply be because they are clearly beings of immense power, and it must be quite hard/ distracting to try and block a magical being from being able to appear in or leave a realm they choose." Excellent point! 3) Again I agree with you. She does revel in the attention Mordred gives her. Scenic route must be good for her to feel worshipped, Mab's ego glowing warm. It's sweet.
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Post by himiko on Oct 4, 2015 23:06:45 GMT
Still nothing forthcoming on the finding of that website I mentioned, but I DID find the name of "Avalon", and a better picture- Tis called Ynys Gifftan. www.geograph.org.uk/photo/142069EDIT: I also found a site about films shot in Wales- it mentions Merlin, and says: " Filmed around Llanberis, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Capel Curig, Ynys Môn, Betws Garmon" Another site lists: Location: Llanberis; Blaenau Ffestiniog; Capel Curig; Eisingrug; Llynau Cregennen; Dyffryn Ardudwy; Ffynnon Lligwy; Betws Garmon; Snowdonia; Anglesey; Martins Haven, Pembrokeshire Further on from this rather old post, I was googling some of these locations just to see if we could put any place names to film scenes. Looking at a google image search for Martins Heaven, Pembrokeshire (and THIS image in particular), it looks like this might have been where the approach to Tintagel was filmed (when Uther's laying siege to the headland, and later when Merlin rides to visit Morgan and Mordred). I couldn't find an image to confirm it, but looking at some of the other pictures of this area of coast, I suspect this is also where they filmed the face off between Merlin and Mab at the end of the first part/ during Arthur's birth.
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