You are very generous to write such detailed comments, I appreciate it :-)

Now that you say so, I do remember reading fics that erased the oppression. I don't read a lot of Merlin fics (limited time, lots of other fandoms to read as well), so I tend to pick a few that look interesting on delicious, and I must have gotten a skewed impression of what sorts of themes Merlin fic typically deals with.

Thank you very much for telling me all this, and I hope you feel better!