Hello everyone! I (finally) finished the next chapter of "What to Do When an Eldritch God Decides that You're Friend-Shaped: A Guide by Sir Leon the Long-Suffering"! I've given Leon lots of pain and character development, so check it out if you're interested! I hope you all enjoy this new chapter! :D
Also, I saw that part 2 of the "Merlin accidentally conquers Camelot" au won the continuation poll, so I'll be working on that soon! Until next time!
Me, a Merlin fan, seeing the gnomes/wizards vs knights trend on instagram:
Ah damn, you figured it out!
This is actually what I look like when I write stories in which I put my favorite characters through lots of pain:
(Someone did tell me once that they imagined me IRL as a talking Kermit puppet telling stories, so this is apparently a common theme lol!)
... Now I kind of want to do a Merlin commentary as Kermit! 🤣
In Kermit voice: "Yeah Leon, I'm sure they're just reciting some poetry in there! You know, my buddy Aldric even wrote some poetry himself once! I think he called it something like Beowulf. Don't worry though, I don't think that there are any actual wolves in it."
I don't know why, but I kind of get the vibe that you're a person who has a lot of pets!
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I've been reading your work lately, and I really love it.
They manage to bring tears and laughter to my eyes at the right times. Really cute when they're right and they're definitely my shot of happiness for the day.
So, I don't know, but I got to thinking, because I think you might be one of the people who can elaborate more on the idea I had in mind.
Idea:
Basically… Mordred meets Merlin before canon - Mordred for this story is younger, almost 3 years old -, and decides to simply self-adopt. Because he's a determined toodler.
Only because the druids who were taking care of him, after telling him high praises about Emrys and such, fell asleep. Leaving a little baby Modred completely fascinated and literally wishing to always be with Emrys.
That, without counting that he had heard from other druids that the boy Merlin of Camelot was the young man of the prophecies.
It wasn't much science, he put the pieces together and knew where he had to go… he just had to close his eyes, the magic basically spat him out in the castle courtyard.
Literally.
One day, out of nowhere, he came out from somewhere in the castle with his sleeping blanket, he kindly asked one of the servants to take him to his father Merlin, and he didn't stop insisting until someone took him to Merlin. Who was attending to Arthur.
Merlin, who literally doesn't know when he had a child, because he definitely knows that he was never with anyone, but that child looks so determined that he even begins to doubt his virginity.
"Can babies be created by magic? Gaius!!! Stop laughing at that!!"
The fact that Mordred is a half-breed version of Merlin physically speaking doesn't help much either. Everyone in the castle really takes it as a reality, even more so after the innkeeper came to the castle to collect some bills and publicly said that Merlin had never set foot in his establishment.
He was even surprised to see him saying that he had never seen him in his life.
So, that confession, the physical resemblance and a completely determined baby were enough for everyone in the palace, including Uther, to put two and two together and create the crazy idea that Merlin's escapades were to be with the baby's mother.
Now Merlin, who doesn't know when, finds himself in the need to take care of a baby who is his complete shadow. Who looks at him with such adoration that he follows him everywhere, and it seems that he has magic because strange things happen when Mordred is around.
I love the image of little baby Mordred deciding that he's Merlin's son now and no one can stop him! This prompt has a lot of crack humor energy, but what might make it angsty was if Mordred, after being accepted as Merlin's son for several years, suddenly had his magic revealed. Now Arthur is faced with the decision between his father's laws or his best friend's son, and that would force Arthur to think critically and ask "wait, if no one taught him magic (because who on earth be stupid enough to do that in Camelot?), then how can this little boy do magic?" This could lead to Arthur realizing that magic isn't always a choice, forcing him to reevaluate the magic ban.
I also absolutely loved Merlin's own doubt of "well maybe he is my son, I have no clue how my own magic works!" 🤣
Sillies
Hello everyone! I've seen a lot of people wanting me to continue my last post, and while I am happy to do so, I did have another au idea half-written and planned to post tonight. So, I figured I should put it to a vote!
I can either write more about my "Arthur as Merlin's familiar" au and post it tonight and post my new au idea tomorrow, or I can finish my half-written au idea (which features Arthur getting his hands on a certain magical object and having to deal with his repressed emotions because of it) and post more about the familiar au tomorrow. So...
PLEASE NOTE: While the poll duration is 1 day (since that's the lowest I could set it), I will be checking the poll at 8 pm EST and will consider whichever option has the most votes at that time as the winner so that I can have the post up on time.
Happy voting and I'll see you all later! :D
Holy shit I am looking!! Am I looking respectfully? Hell no, I'm looking at him like this:
Okay, here's a hot and wet Merlin for your enjoyment. 😏
(Just forget about the context of the actual scene...😅)
A random thought on the ending of Merlin (since it haunts me all the time): there are many species of butterflies that are known to feed on corpses for nutrients. Merlin's main symbol in the finale, the symbol of his own self-acceptance and reclaiming himself from the claws of destiny, was a bright blue butterfly, a symbol of death and rebirth.
The image of it is striking for me: Merlin, symbolized by the butterfly, finally accepting himself, only for those same butterflies to turn around and feed on Arthur's corpse while waiting for Arthur himself to be reborn.
I'm insane about this show, if you couldn't already tell.
Just occurred to me that from Arthur's perspective yes Merlin seems really brave and stupidly loyal but also like someone with a death wish. Not necessarily wanting to die in the straight forward sense but reckless with his wellbeing in a way similar to characters like Lockwood from Lockwood & Co. Arthur doesn't know Merlin has magic so he has no reason to think Merlin is anything other than a defenceless servant who is reckless with his life to a concerning amount.
I've seen discussion and fan fics exploring how it should have been obvious to Arthur that Merlin was in love with him because of how devoted to him he was in such a self sacrificing way but I think you can justify Arthur not assuming Merlin's behaviour was born out of love for him because from Arthur's perspective it seems far more likely that Merlin just doesn't value his own safety and life to a concerning level. He's always joking that Merlin has a mental affliction, doesn't question truly strange behaviour because oh that's just Merlin being Merlin he's an unstable weirdo. Arthur counting the days since he saw Merlin smile because gods forbid Merlin's reckless lack of care for his own life developed into something with more intent.
Basically I think Arthur believes Merlin is legit just mentally ill in some way. Because frankly without the contact of Merlin's magic and the prophecy his behaviour is really concerning (frankly even with context it's pretty concerning by the final few seasons, that boy is not okay) and because to Arthur that is a much more logical explanation for Merlin's behaviour than Merlin actually loving him (platonically or romantically, doesn't matter) because Arthur can't comprehend someone loving him like that.
Also makes his reaction to the magic reveal make some painful sense because he's never factored Merlin's love for him into his understanding of Merlin's behaviour so when the weird behaviour he'd assumed was a mental affliction seems to be revealed as just a lie to hide his magic Arthur has no basis of Merlin's devotion to him to fall back on and use to make sense of why Merlin would be loyal to him despite having magic.
Arthur doesn't see Merlin's self sacrifice as the result of love from him but as a result of lack of love for himself.
A great selection of my incoherent thoughts!AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral01/pseuds/ChaoticNeutral01
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