Nerdy Frik Fan Alert

[Frik'sFriendYasmin]

It seems kinda pointless to introduce myself at this point, but I will anyway. Basically, I love Frik (and Martin Short), I think Queen Mab is not actually all that evil - although she's not exactly good either - and thus a brilliant character, I find Merlin cool but not particularly interesting, and I thoroughly dislike Mordred. And apparently I'm very opinionated too. Hi!

[himiko]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum, great to have a new member around the place!

I agree, I think Mab is very driven and somewhat amoral, likely because she isn't human herself and doesn't entirely understand how they work on an emotional level. "Well, if I put Nimue's life in danger, Merlin will have to use his magic to save her and once he's done that he'll definitely be on side!" "... What do you mean 'You nearly killed the love of my life, I hate you'?!"

Out of interest, have you been a fan of Merlin for a while, or did you encounter it recently? Are you also a fan of Morgan/ her relationship with Frik?

[sleepyqueenie]

Frik understands mortal reasoning much better than his mistress. Probably from being her messenger boy all these years.

[Arwen17]

Well I have to admit, Frik is one of my least favorite characters, although i'm always excited to see new members!! And you don't hate Mab, so that's always a good sign. XD

Why do I dislike Frik so much?
1. He's got all of that magic and faery glamour at his disposable, but he doesn't care about looking handsome except when Morgan le fay comes along. Maybe that's just because he's a bookworm or something. Intellectuals often care less about their appearance.
2. He's annoying at times. I wasn't amused by his character impersonations at the beginning.
3. He doesn't grow a backbone until Morgan dies. I know Mab is wrong for abusing him, but I also can't respect him because of his subservience. Either make her have some respect for you and stop groveling, OR leave her. Groveling is actually a disservice to her, even if Mab herself doesn't realize it. Probably why I liked Ambrosia a lot. She's a bit of a traitor (which I have compassion for because it stems from her feeling like Mab betrayed her first), but at least she was direct and honest.

So I guess Morgan was something of a positive influence on him. He wanted to be handsome and grow a backbone because of her.

[sleepyqueenie]

I understand you dear himiko. To be honest, I like Frik. I will give my reasons as well.

Yeah I know he betrays his principles all the time, smiles and cowers when feeling in trouble. He plays along with Mab’s mood so often he’s long since forgotten to take his own into account. He is a coward and I don’t blame him. Remember he served the most powerful magical being there is. At first I am certain it went very well, but then she changed into someone who, he would loathe to admit it, he cannot follow in his heart. Still he always tries to be the best he can.
I see him above all as tragic. His impressions, I like them, but they don’t make me laugh. Other moments of his are truly amusing. Usually the rare moments he does speak his mind on Mab or Merlin. He is used to waving his own personality away. The impressions, as I see them, is how he can express himself, even if only a bit, even if Mab’s annoyed by them, she won’t take them away from him.
He is unknown to who he really is, it is a comfort to know that even after 100s of years of existence it is possible that he still has to find himself. Which he does, with the help of Morgan.
Frik has it worse than Merlin. Merlin meets Mab, Mab he meets is ‘evil’ and harms his loved ones. He knows okay she is that bad and I won’t follow such a person. That is it. Frik knew her when she was good, Frik follows her loyally through everything. Where the line is drawn has muddled for him over the centuries of abuse. Until the same happens to him as to Merlin, his love gets hurt by Mab and he sees that indeed Mab’s cruelty has no reason, Mab is not the person he wants to help anymore.
He is honest. You can usually read him without difficulty. Appearance is his game but it is not most important to him. He could be handsome all the time, but I doubt he would like it much and it would be a lie. No, he prefers to walk around as himself and only play at being others when the mood takes him. He loves to play and here he found someone to share such a world with, Morgan who sees him as dashing (as is revealed only at the end: )regardless of what shape he is in.

[himiko]

I have mixed feelings about Frik - the somewhat racist Asian impression (the scene when Merlin first arrives at the Land of Magic. It feels jarring and out of place - not just in the film itself, but a scene filmed in the 90s putting a white actor in "Asian looking" prosthetics and putting on a dodgy accent? Nnnnrgh...) puts me off a bit, but I blame that on the writing/production team and not necessarily on the character. He's clearly intended as the comic relief, particularly in the first part, and occasionally that comic relief comes off as a bit over the top, particularly in a film which isn't particularly comedic. It's like the three doctors in the second half, it seems like the scene was put in for a light hearted interlude, but just comes across as a bit of an unnecessary interruption to the actual plot.

That said, Martin Short pulls the character off well for the most part, and as he gets given more to do that goes beyond "Mab's lackey and occasional comic relief", he feels like more of a fleshed out character.

I get the feeling with Frik that he understands human emotion better than Mab, but it doesn't really hit home for him until his relationship with Morgan (and possibly his experiences of Mordred). He's lonely, I think, and terminally unsatisfied with his job. He skivvies around after Mab, who doesn't really care for his opinion and is frequently quite cruel to him. He gets on reasonably well with Merlin, and he shows his dissatisfaction by calling Mab a poor employer and mimicking her behind her back, but despite this he doesn't seem tremendously troubled by what Mab does, and what he does on her orders. He tries to stir the pot with Ambrosia, asking Mab why she lets Ambrosia get away with talking to her like she does. He expresses disgust at Merlin's dungeon surroundings, but seems to have no guilt over leaving him there. He manipulates Morgan as a young child into cursing her brother (though admittedly this isn't followed up very well in the film), and as an adult, using gifts and beauty to gain her trust before "thinking" of the plot to conceive Mordred. He knows that the plan is for Mordred to destroy Arthur and be the end of Merlin's dreams. After continued exposure to Mab and Mordred and Morgan, we see Frik and Morgan growing closer and Mab and Mordred growing increasingly distant from them. It's only at this point that we see Frik start to express actual discomfort with their methods, and it's not until Morgan dies that he breaks with Mab completely. I think partly that's down to a fear of Mab, and not wanting to put himself in harm's way, but there's also a certain hypocrisy there - this was all OK until it started to affect me directly, that sort of thinking. That's a more negative interpretation to yours though, sleepyqueenie- as you say, it may be that it troubles him all along but he stays with Mab out of old loyalty. Either way, when he's given more to do than "comic relief", he's a much more interesting character.

So, overall, an interesting character but not always used well. He's not one of my favourites, but I don't hate him either.

[Arwen17]

I love both of your insights and think they added a lot to my understanding of this character.
And omg, yes himiko! Those comedic scenes that are meant to be funny are really jarring instead!


I guess we can call Frik a "submissive", making him the perfect lackey for someone like Mab who is very dominant. Since I'm much more like Ambrosia and Mab, I'd probably get turned into a toad pretty quick for some smart-ass remark....after the initial awe of meeting Mab had worn off.