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Do you think they realize how much cooler that makes it sound?

Like. I'm not even an apotheosis type of guy. But you do know that makes it sound so much cooler right?

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sitting in my childhood bedroom waiting for ao3 to come back up. feeling nostalgic.

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Merlin: I have been building Mordred’s trust for months with high-fives. Today I’m going to hit him with a ‘too slow’.

Merlin: Welcome to the real world, son.

Mordred, crying after being humiliated in front of all knights in Camelot by the too slow high-five: EMRYS CALLED ME SON. THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.

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Bbc's merlin having a horribly sad ending? Everybody dying except for Merlin, who is condemned to a live of eternal loneliness? What are you talking about?

As far as I'm concerned Merlin showed Morgana how to use her Magic, she and Gwen got married, adopted Mordred and returned magic to camelot, Merlin and Arthur live on a farm like Arthur wanted, they have adopted Aithusa, all the knights are a big happy family-

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merlin convincing morgana to remain in camelot and bonding over magic. uther dies and arthur becomes king and merlin and morgana are eager for arthur to repeal the ban but it never happens. then arthur and gwen are courting and morgana and merlin are a bit upset but are happy for them (sorta) but mainly they’re waiting for the ban to be repealed. it never happens. then gwen and arthur get married and morgana and gwen (+ lancelot) are devastated but hanging on by a thread for the magic ban to be repealed. it never happens. morgana is growing angrier and angrier while merlin is growing more and more reckless. morgana picks fights with arthur while merlin sticks to the shadows and protects arthur from unseen threats like always but he stops putting up much of a fight. he keeps coming back beaten black and blue, bloodied, on the brink of death.

morgana finally snaps at merlin and is like “i’ve been waiting for the ban to be lifted like you promised it would be and nothings changed. i cannot stay in this kingdom and watch the love of my life be happy with my brother while hiding myself away! you can be fine with the lying and hiding but i’m done! i’ll make my own damn happy ending” and storms off to flee camelot. lancelot finds merlin and they talk about it and lancelot is like “honestly, she has a point. i’m in love with gwen and that’ll never change. it pains me to see them so happy even though i wish nothing but the best for them. the only reason i’m still in camelot is you, merlin. if you want to stay, i’ll stay with you. if you want to go, then we’ll go.” merlin unsure and lance goes “it was you and me in the beginning, it can be you and me again” and merlin tears up but is still unsure and lance compromises with “we don’t have to leave forever. just a month or two, a year or five. however long you need.”

merlin finally agrees and lancelot goes to pack while merlin finds gwaine and tells him his plan bc if he doesn’t tell gwaine then the man will hunt him down like a bloodhound. gwaine ofc immediately agrees to go with him and they all pack their things. merlin shuffles into arthur’s chambers and turns in his resignation from his service and arthur starts freaking out like “wait what?? what’s wrong?? what happened??? let me fix it. was it a nobleman? a knight? was it me?? please tell me it wasn’t me. what happened??” and merlin can’t handle it so he just restates that he’s resigning, bows and says it was somewhat of an honor, and then turns and leaves. he finds lance and gwaine in gaius’s chambers with mordred. merlin rolls his eyes but is also kinda grateful for his friends. arthur storms in and finds three of his knights also packed at they’re like “oh shoot we were gonna tell you in the morning but since you’re here, we’re resigning too”

now arthur is faced with three less knights and one less manservant than an hour ago (he has yet to find out about his sister’s fleeing). he questions them again and the room gives merlin and arthur some privacy for merlin to tell arthur that nothing is wrong but that they just need some time away. it probably won’t be permanent but they have to leave. arthur isn’t begging because kings don’t beg but he’s doing a damn good impression and merlin is on the verge of tears again and is begging arthur not to make things harder than it needs to be. arthur grows angrier now and is like “then tell me why. why are you leaving? why are my knights leaving? tell me.” and merlin can’t think of an excuse bc he doesn’t want to push his troubles of unreciprocated love onto arthur so he just stands there and arthur is like “i thought you were one of the bravest men i ever met. turns our you’re nothing more than a coward.” anyways they split on bad terms.

merlin, lancelot, gwaine, and mordred leave camelot and have their own little adventures and run into morgana again and they form their own little band of travelers. arthur, gwen, leon, elyan, and percival are still in camelot with gwen and arthur completely in the dark while the rest of the knights Know. it’s like a few months after merlin and them left and arthur and them are drunk and he brings merlin and them up and asks what happened. the knights are quiet and gwen sits up and asks elyan and her voice is desperate enough that elyan breaks and goes “morgana and lancelot were in love with you” and they all just stare at each other and elyan rushes to fill the silence with stuff like how they wanted gwen to be happy but couldn’t bear watching gwen and arthur be so in love all the time, he explains that morgana left on her own but lancelot followed merlin. arthur asks if merlin was in love with gwen too and the knights shift before percival goes “no, he was in love with you” and leon sighs before explaining the rest.

“morgana and lancelot were in love with gwen while merlin was in love with arthur. morgana left on her own and merlin was influenced by her choice to leave and lancelot and gwaine followed him. mordred followed both morgana and merlin, i’m not sure what he would’ve done had merlin stayed and morgana left. gwaine followed merlin bc he’s in love with him.” he rubs his eye bc he can’t believe the mess things are even though it’s been this way for years “morgana couldn’t stand it. lancelot was loyal to merlin. gwaine was loyal to merlin. mordred was loyal to merlin and morgana. and merlin…merlin has been protecting you for years, arthur. he’s charged into battle against the threats you can’t see, the ones in the shadows. i’ve kept an eye on him since he got here but he’s had it handled. but recently, after your wedding, he grew reckless. he came back from every fight beaten like a pulp. he stopped trying. not to let you die, but to let them get the upper hand over him. he was dancing with death. it wasn’t healthy for any of them. that’s why they left.”

the knights leave arthur and gwen in their chambers to stew in silence, drunk and guilty and missing their friends and wondering how they could’ve missed the signs. merlin and them on the other hand are traveling from town to town, village to village, kingdom to kingdom and protecting villages from raiders, protecting druids from raids, stepping in on executions and freeing sorcerers.

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big baddie actually just misunderstood little guy

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Arthur: Why are you so paranoid about Mordred? He’s a good kid.

Merlin: It’s not paranoia if he’s really out to get you.

Mordred: Emrys! I made you a flower crown!

Merlin: Out of what, poison ivy?

Mordred: Wildflowers. They’re medicinal too, so you can use them with Gaius and they won’t go to waste! :D

Arthur: Literally how? How is he out to get you?!

Merlin, begrudgingly wearing the flower crown and patting Mordred on the head: He’s bidding his time.

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I wish we got a scene where Morgana tried to out Mordred as a sorcerer/druid to Arthur and he just didn’t care.

Specifically I want Arthur to say the line “Magic didn’t make you evil, Morgana. You did that all on your own.” While going full protective older brother mode on Mordred and being ready to commit war crimes to keep the kid safe.

I want Mordred to try and apologise to Arthur and Arthur to be completely fine with it, or even happy at the realisation of “THATS where I know you from! You’re the druid boy!”

I just think that it would be a little bit heartbreaking for Morgana to have to see Mordred having magic, being accepted and loved by Arthur in the way she could’ve had, and then needing to confront that she isn’t actually that good from an objective moral standpoint.

Meanwhile, Merlin’s in the background like “Shit, now I gotta save Mordred or Arthur’s gonna get himself killed. Damn it, that prat is too noble for his own good.”

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i'm genuinely having so much fun writing a jock protagonist. can't believe i never tried this before. all these years i've been limiting myself needlessly

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I know it's not people's faults for not knowing, but I still get extremely annoyed at people saying stuff like "why are ghosts always represented by sheets? I guess people used to just be scared of sheets."

They aren't ghosts because they're covered in a sheet, they're covered in a sheet because back in the day, they wrapped dead bodies in sheets when they buried them. The ghosts are wrapped in burial shrouds because that's what they were buried in.

People weren't scared of sheets, they were scared of the corpse UNDER the sheet.

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It pains me that Fire on Fire by Sam Smith is so underrated. I love that song so much, it touches my soul in ways most music cannot. I just listened to it again and I literally started crying. Like the main chorus hits me hard every single time, it almost kills me--

Fire on fire would normally kill us But this much desire, together, we're winners They say that we're out of control and some say we're sinners But don't let them ruin our beautiful rhythms

But like the rest of the song? Spectacular as well! Literally this song is perfection. This part is so soothing, I love it:

I don't say a word But still, you take my breath and steal the things I know There you go, saving me from out of the cold

Don't get me fucking started on "You are perfection, my only direction," or I will SCREAM! Literally this song has grasped a part of my soul. I love it so much!

It's EVERYTHING, the words, the music, their voice -- the song is a masterpiece and I just wish it was more popular.

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man there’s something bout narnia that just burrows it’s way into your soul and never leaves

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it’s so funny how they try to portray merlin as this embarrassing loser fool who brings chaos wherever he goes as if he didnt have like. a genuine harem. like all the knights of the round table are so unashamed of how they prefer him over arthur. gwen basically had a brief crush on him. morgana literally said “you’re not like merlin. he’s a lover” everyone who knows him is constantly talking about how pure and brave and selfless he is. lancelot knew he had magic and was js like okay with the idea of constantly lying, placing his own life in danger for him cuz that’s his little buddy. gwaine was LITERALLY in love with him. i don’t know what merwaine had going on but they probably hooked up the night they first met and don’t even get me STARTED on arthur pendragon

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had to make my own version of this (the original template was uhh… questionable)

blank template under the cut!