#Arthur deserves more love

[solo-walker]

Jonathan and Arthur were totally mutually trauma-sharing during that particular trip. Jon just didn't write about it because Arthur forced him to sleep and take rest.

That one time Arthur and Jonathan hung out in front of the furnace of a steam boat

[amariram]

“I failed?”

[chronicowboy]

we as a collective do Not talk about this line delivery nearly enough and for good fucking reason, i'll kill bradley james for this one line alone. he's just a little boy :'((

[gldnstrngs]

pendragon siblings u deserved SO much better.

[cortex-rampage]

I find the way that BBC Merlin set up Merlin's powers in the first episode to be quite funny. I mean, we see this sort of lanky guy and it is established that he is Merlin and (according to our own common knowledge) therefore he is the most powerful warlock ever. Okay, cool. One might assume that he has come to Gaius to develop his powers, that maybe he's only in the beginning of his magical journey. But instead the exposition shows Merlin, in the pilot episode of this 5 series show, stop time and employ levitation to save someone's life with magic, and then it is announced that prince Arthur is essentially his soulmate, and their joint power will create the most glorious age Camelot has ever seen. Quite an exciting set-up. And then for the rest of the entire show this man who we know possesses TIME-ALTERING POWERS mostly uses them on-screen to do common chores and annoy and prank THAT SAME Arthur. Like that one post said, "All of it's destiny and all of it's his fault." :p

[persimmonbread]

i struggled so much with drawing arthur normally that i completely caved and went in the opposite direction. bam. buck pajamas.

[hallaburger]

my biggest dracula movie/tv adaptation gripe is that they never. Ever. get jack seward right. and they seldom get arthur and quincey right. but nobody does jack the way he should be: young, handsome, charming, smart, deeply observant, driven by curiosity, and devoted to a fault.

the hero boys commonly feel like an afterthought by directors and screenwriters - like they're interchangeable, easily omitted or substituted, swallowed up by abraham van helsing's significance. it's really unfortunate, especially since they each feel, in the book, so lovingly created and characterized. they each have importance and i wish more people understood that.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

"I think this is the most inhuman; and human, that I've ever felt.." MUCH CAN HAPPEN IN A YEAR. IN FIVE YEARS. A DECADE. imagine how much can happen in a century. just ONE (1). How will you grow? what phases do you find? even in 5 years, you will find patterns.

[tuppaware-art]

QUEEN GUINEVERE ☀️

[gdn7-dollopole]

Merlin follows Arthur everywhere, but Arthur follows Merlin everywhere too (what I believe was a possible Camelot’s Golden Age)

Do we talk about this enough? I don’t know (obviously we do), so here I am, because I need to get this out of my system.

But before I get straight to the point, you’ll need to bear with me and listen to my ranting about Freya.

I genuinely don’t know why and maybe I just read the wrong fanfictions, but why does there seem to be a collective thinking about how Merlin wouldn’t have gone with Freya because he couldn’t abandon Arthur?

Are we talking about the same Merlin?

Whatever someone believes Merlin and Freya loved each other platonically or romantically, my man was ready to flee:

Merlin didn’t think about it one second, before he went back home to Ealdor to save his mother and the villagers. “Oh, but it’s his mom”, and Freya was a poor, tortured and outcasted girl, traumatised and oppressed by the same system that oppressed Merlin, who had been finally understood by a girl who was ready to love him and live with him. And my babygirl Merlin was ready to have that, ready to live as himself and run away with someone who cared enough about him to wait for him.

Merlin never thought about the consequences of helping someone, especially in the first seasons. I could argue the point that he didn’t care about Freya (much like he didn’t care about a lot of other people) with season four/season five Merlin, but in the second season, Merlin still had the faith and hope of doing what was right, and even if very dangerous, didn’t care about his actions to the point even Gaius didn’t know what he was up to.

The following up seasons are a contradiction to the first two, because Merlin and Arthur had began to finally change. We see them talk back to both Gaius and Uther, siding with Morgana and her plans, and try to do what was right in the best of their capacity (and it makes even more sense that Merlin couldn’t still do much, since he was starting to understand his powers and their extent only then)

And even in season four, with no one by his side, not even Arthur, and barely Gwaine, Merlin didn’t think about it twice to go save Gaius all by himself, against people he didn’t know, Agravaine and Morgana.

So for those who has stayed, here comes my point:

Arthur has a tendency, if we don’t want to name it an homosexual calling towards his manservant, to follow Merlin almost everywhere:

Even if Merlin and Arthur had already tested their limits, and by this, I mean for how long they could stay more than one inch apart from each other, Arthur followed Merlin to Ealdor. My man had two heads, and for a moment longer than what was considered not gay, he thought more with one than the other, and we all know which one I’m referring too. But jokes aside, Merlin had already drank poison for Arthur, and yet, he loved more people than just him, like his mother, and did what he felt was right;

With Freya, Arthur would have resisted two seconds without Merlin, somehow found out that the idiot had had to protect the fourth magical creature of the week, and after rolling his eyes and debating his heterosexuality for the umpteenth time during the last hours, would have packed his things and followed Merlin, to hell with the kingdom (and if we want to be romantic, what’s a kingdom to Arthur without his best friend, court sorcerer, lover, Merlin? Consequently, Arthur would have even followed Freya, and the three would have been followed by Gwen and Morgana, and together start the revolution we deserved to see).

And if it hadn’t been for Agravaine, with his horrid, yet somehow successful manipulation, (I blame this on Arthur’s stupidity and his lack of affection), Arthur would have believed Merlin’s thoughts about Gaius and followed him there, too.

And I’m not even talking about the times where Arthur blindly followed Merlin on quests because of his ‘funny feelings’, didn’t think about it twice to bring Gwaine with them on a quest that was supposed to be a secret, followed Merlin around the castle, because he needed him either for practise or to clean his things, or to polish the bloody armour (it should have been the other way around, Merlin following Arthur around because the chores were literally his job, but fine) and whenever Merlin mysteriously disappeared, Arthur questioned the entire castle about him, following not Merlin, but those who could have seen him. If we were given the show we deserved, now we would have scenes of Arthur walking all the way down the lower town in nothing but breeches, a tunic and bare feet to haul Merlin by the back of his collar and bring him back to the castle, with a grumpy face on, because: “How could you abandon me, Merlin?” (he had been gone away for one hour).

We often talk about how much Merlin goes around Arthur, because he is literally his destiny, but if we are talking about two sides of the same coin, two halfs that cannot hate the other, very heterosexual endearing names they have given each other over the duration of ten years…

Then,

Merlin is Arthur’s destiny.

It’s balanced, even with their relationship:

One is a servant, the other is a prince/king;

One is oppressed, the other oppresses him;

One is rich, the other is poor;

One is awful at fighting (with anything other than his magic), the other is one of the best warriors in all Five Kingdoms;

One is literally magic, the other doesn’t have it, but was born of it;

In the first part of the series, one has a father, the other has a mother;

One is good at and likes hunting, the other isn’t good at and dislikes hunting;

One is an idiot, the other is… Alright, this is fair, at least.

One is gay, the other isn’t.

The differences are there, but Merlin and Arthur have one goal in common:

Bring peace to Camelot, and unite all of Albion.

Aside the obvious fact, which is that they both didn’t achieve the goal, and when trying to do just that, they were both shite at it, the Golden Age they had to bring was literally each other.

Merlin and Arthur are balanced by character and personality, behaviour and station, but there was only one thing they really cared about:

each other.

Merlin had to bring out Arthur’s love and respect for those unlike him, show him that magic was not the fault of people’s crimes, but their actions, help him distance himself from Uther and everything that is Uther, and build a new reign of prosperity and equality, and therefore peace.

Meanwhile, Arthur had to help, by being a king, bring out Merlin’s voice, powers, true self, and by listening to him, following him, and liberating all who were like him and make actual peace.

Okay, both didn’t do shit, but we can say they tried (?)

All of this to say that Arthur and Merlin did things the same, but differently. The story described them as two sides of the same coin, and did show exactly that (even if, at times, poorly).

If they had the chance to truly loved each other, in the right way, the Golden Age would have arrived for everyone.

And the Golden Age was meant to first make Merlin and Arthur see who they really were, show their true feelings, and finally fuck each other’s brains out, and then to bring prosperity to the kingdom of Camelot, and therefore all of Albion.

We can say:

Merlin’s Golden Age was Arthur, and Arthur’s Golden Age was Merlin.

And this implies that Albion’s greatest need is Merlin, and Arthur will rise again when Merlin will need him the most.

[geeky-politics-46]

Kinktober 2023 - Day 1

NSFW Alphabet - Arthur Shelby

Smut - Explicit content - NSFW - 18+ only!

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

He's sweet but a bit oblivious. He will hold you sometimes or talk if you'd rather, but if you want anything special, you are probably gonna have to either ask specifically or get it yourself. He does always tell you how special you are and how much he cares for you after. Especially if he was rougher or had a really shit day, he'll spend time telling you how you make his life better and that he wouldn't know what to do without you. If he's rougher, he'll also check to make sure he didn't go too far either physically or verbally. He's always a little worried he will get too carried away, and he wants you to know that he would never ever hurt you. He generally pretty much down for the count, though now that you've made each other feel good, and you are okay with that.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He loves your lips. How soft they are and how perfect they look, but his favorite thing is all that you do with them. They allow you to talk him off a ledge when he's barely clinging to his sanity. They laugh at his stupid jokes and smile at him first thing in the morning. They whisper both loving and filthy things to him. They do the most sinful things when you kiss him and when you suck his cock. Basically he could lose himself completely in your lips and be totally happy about it.

You love his hands, even though and maybe even partly because he doesn't like them. He has told you that he feels like the devil controls his hands sometimes and that he has done such terrible things with them. You see hands that have worked hard to fight for and protect his country, his family, and everything else he has. You see hands that hold you tight whenever you are feeling low. You see hands that are gifted at drawing and hands that love to play with and hold Ada and John's kids. His long fingers that are so good at touching you exactly how you want and need. Where he sees the negatives of them, you see the positives.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

His two favorite places to cum are in your mouth and in your cunt. He will cum on your face, tits, or pussy if you prefer but he honestly feels like its a bit of a waste. His cum is supposed to be inside you. If your sucking him off he wants to watch you swallow. There's an intimacy about watching you swallow his load, and while it's still not as good as cumming in your cunt, knowing that you love him enough to swallow his cum makes him love you more. If he had to pick one spot, he wants every drop of his cum in your pussy. He loves to sit back on his heels and watch it start to leak out of you afterward. If his breeding kink is keyed up he will definitely push any that has leaked out back into you. Telling you he's gonna keep that pretty little cunt stuffed full until he gives you a baby.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Secretly, he's a big subby boy, but only for you. The first time you see this side of him is after a particularly frustrating day. He pretty much threw himself on the bed, trying not to give in to the demons in his mind telling him he just needed a little bump to make it better. He fought the craving, though, coming right home to you instead of finding some cocaine. You told him how proud you were of him, and he practically started purring. To test the waters, you then called him your good boy. Watching how his eyes clouded with lust at your praise. It led to you riding him as he was whimpering, saying he wanted to be a good boy just for you, only for you. Afterward, you ask him if maybe in the future, when he feels this way again, if he would want you to take care of him again. As he's falling asleep, he nods and whispers a sweet 'yes, please'. His old addictive habits will now get replaced by a new, much less destructive one.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Arthur is definitely experienced, but much of that experience was centered mostly on his own pleasure. That's not to say he didn't know how to please a woman, he just wasn't gonna swing for the fences if he was just with a whore. With you it's different. He wants to make your eyes roll back in your head every single time he touches you. It takes some fine tuning, but luckily you are happy to help guide him and tell him what feels good. He doesn't care how long it takes, he isn't going to stop until he makes you cum even if he already has.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

If he's feeling more rough, Arthur likes to fuck you from behind. His hands on your hips or your shoulders, with you on all fours. Occasionally gripping and pulling your hair as he pounds into you. If he's feeling subby he wants you riding him. That way you are in control. You decide how hard or soft, how fast or slow you fuck him. If he's a really good boy you let him finish by grabbing you tightly to his chest, planting his feet on the bed, and wildly thrusting up into you. If he's feeling more romantic or loving he wants to fuck you in some variation of missionary. He wants to be able to kiss you and look in your eyes as his cock fills you. He wants to feel your legs wrapped tight around him as you're close to cumming. He wants to whisper against your lips 'that's it love. Cum for me. Eh.'

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

If he's just the right amount of drunk, he can get goofy. Specifically, he will get really giggly, think school girl giggles, and it is downright adorable. He almost looks at you, lovesick, like he just can't believe his lucky stars that you are in bed with him. When he's sober, he can still be silly at times. Tickling you with his mustache to make you laugh or telling you little jokes. When he's really drunk, he's always deadly serious. That's usually also when he's roughest during sex. Lots of slurred dirty talk and asks to tell him who you belong to.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

It's usually a bit wild down there. When he's struggling mentally, all that kind of stuff goes untended to. Then, when he starts feeling better, he will usually trim and clean up a bit extra for you. As long as he's feeling normal, he'll keep himself put together and more trimmed. He partly likes it because he thinks it makes his dick look a little bit bigger, and it's a little ego boost. He prefers you to be trimmed, but frankly, as long as you're willing to have sex with him, he isn't gonna complain.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Sex with Arthur is actually rather intimate, even when he's rough and more animalistic. He is just more intense. All his emotions tend to run high, both the good ones and the bad ones. So even if he's not feeling romantic per-say, it is intimate. He will tell you how much he wants and needs you every time you have sex. Sometimes, he feels like he can't really breathe properly when you aren't around. How you make him a better man. When he's feeling romantic, all of his praise is only amplified. He will tell you he loves you over and over. His forehead will be pressed to yours, and afterwards, he will hang onto you like his life depends on it.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

He used to jerk off much more oftem than he does now. He used it as a form of stress relief when he got upset or overwhelmed. It was a healthier way of dealing with his emotions than by drinking, snorting coke, or fighting. Now if he jerks off its mainly because he can't stop thinking about you and you aren't around for him to fuck. Occasionally you will touch yourselves together mainly as a form of foreplay or sometimes as your 2nd round. Telling each other what you fantasize about. It started after you walked in on him in the tub one day. Instead of leaving, you came to sit next to the tub and told Arthur to keep going. He nearly came on the spot.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Definitely has a praise kink. Both giving and receiving praise. He loves telling you exactly how much he loves you, how sexy you are, and how good you are for him. He also adores when you tell him how much you love him and even more when you tell him he's your good boy. He basically melts when you tell him all sorts of sweet things and shower affection on him.

He also has a bit of a breeding kink and a housewife kink. He sees you interact with John's kids, how good you are with them and how much they love you, and he can hardly wait to get you home to try and give you a little one of your own. He would spend all night filling you up over and over if you ask. He knows you would look absolutely incredible pregnant, and he would dote on your every need. His dream paradise would be a little house with you waiting for him to get home, looking perfect making dinner, with a whole slew of kids running around. It would be so normal, and that's what he ultimately wants. He's just not sure he's deserving of it.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Arthur has a few favorite locations, but ultimately, if he wants you, he will find somewhere to have you. Wherever you are. The first place he loves to have sex with you is in your own shared bed. You are both relaxed and have all the time in the world to make each other feel good. Arthur really lets his guard down here, and it is truly one of your favorite things in the world.

His other favorite place is in his office. With you on his desk, either bent over it with him behind you or sitting on his desk with your legs around his waist, or with you riding him in his chair. You have definitely broken at least one chair this way, and Arthur was proud as punch about it. Laughing like an idiot when Tommy and John busted in the door after hearing the loud crash from his office, worried something had happened. Their guns immediately lower when they find you both on the floor, you on top of and straddling Arthur. Your face buried in Arthur's chest in embarrassment. John was practically on the floor himself with how hard he was laughing. Even Tommy gave himself a side stitch giggling.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

His primary motivation is you. Especially when you are doing normal everyday things, like helping with the books or even just hanging out with his family. It's like you don't know how stunning you are and just how many guys you effortlessly make fall all over themselves. Even Tommy was taken by you at first until Arthur practically threw a tantrum, saying that he saw you first. The fact that you seemed to only have eyes for him just put him even more over the moon in love. Seeing you just going about your normal day when you start doing something like innocently biting your finger or swaying your hips side to side immediately makes him want to take you to bed.

He also uses sex with you to help escape all the bad parts of his life and his mind. He knows when he's in bed with you, behind the safety of the locked door, that he's safe and loved. He can seek his solace in your body, knowing it can cure all that ails him. Knowing that you will take care of him exactly as he needs you to.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

First of all, there is not a chance in hell this man would ever even consider sharing you with anyone else. If another man so much as smiles at you for too long, Arthur will have steam coming from his ears. The thought of another man ever kissing or fucking you makes him pretty much homicidal.

Second is really letting himself explore any hard-core BDSM fantasies he has. The idea of some impact play interests him, but he doesn't dare go beyond a few hard spanks on your ass. He accidentally beat a boy to death, and he is secretly afraid that if he let himself start to really let go, he could lose control again. That's a risk he will never take with you.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

At the beginning of your relationship, he definitely prefers receiving to giving. He will never get tired of seeing you on your knees and telling you you're such a good girl for sucking his cock like a whore. His perfect little whore. However after he really falls for you he discovers he really loves going down on you too. Especially after you tell him how good his mustache feels teasing your cunt. Eventually one of his favorite things to do is have you ride his face. He's gotten addicted to your taste and adores how you shamelessly grind down against his mouth. Using his face to bring yourself pleasure. After a while he finds that it's actually a really good way for him to calm down when he's feeling overwhelmed.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

He's usually faster and rough. Patience is not his strong suit, and he just gets so excited to be with you that he can't slow himself down. This is obviously beneficial during quickies, but when he actually gets the opportunity to take his time with you in bed, he does try to slow down. To take his time and give you the absolute most pleasure he can. He wants to show you how much he loves you and really make slow, sensual, passionate love to you. Once he makes you cum he feels better about letting himself go faster and frankly sex with Arthur wouldn't be the same if he didn't end up pounding you silly at least for a few minutes each session.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Yes. Always, yes. Quickies are very much his thing. Especially at his desk in his office. Especially if he's having a rough day. It's a sure-fire way to put him in a better mood. Occasionally, the others in the betting shop will beg for you to go into his office and "distract him" if he's been on a real tear. Although John and Tommy both have a bad habit of walking in on the two of you. You're pretty sure they do it on purpose now. It still has never discouraged Arthur from even a single quickie on his desk, or I'm his chair.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He's risky about some things but not others. He will fuck you basically anywhere he wants with no thought to who might walk in or overhear you. Any position you want and he's generally pretty willing to try new stuff if you ask, even though he himself is a pretty simple man. What he won't take risks with is your safety. If there's a chance you could get hurt it isn't happening. Whether that means making you stay home from a party when business might go wrong, or not indulging in some of his darker fantasies because he would never forgive himself if he actually hurt you.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Normally, he's good for one full round. Maybe two if he's feeling really good, but he's not a spring chicken. He's not gonna be going all night, but he will make sure to get you there. He will make you cum in one way or another. His preference being he gets you to cum at least once before or at the same time he does. He will also make sure to try and give you some extra attention if he knows he isn't feeling top of his game. Making you ride his face before he fucks you. He knows how hard that makes you cum and takes the pressure off of him if he doesn't last longer later.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Obviously, toys weren't a big thing then. In fact vibrators were only just being invented, and that was as a treatment for hysteria. If toys had been around, though, I do feel like Arthur is the kind of guy who wouldn't be into using them or a fan of them at all, really. He is a big ball of insecurity, and I think he would see a sex toy more as a threat than as an ally. He would feel like it was trying to replace him. If you had one, he would not want you to bring it into your bedroom time together and would probably resent it even being used for your solo time. Perhaps you could talk him into using it on you at some point, but it will not be a regular occurrence, and it would take a lot of begging. He may also "accidentally" break it at least a couple of times if he finds it.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

This man barely has any self-restraint on a good day. He may want to tease you. To be all playful and get you all hot and bothered and needy for him, but he usually just ends up getting himself riled up in the process. You know better than to try to tease him either. Not unless you want to have him on top of you in less than five minutes, and your clothes may not make it out in one piece. You now carry several safety pins in your purse just in case he gets too carried away during an office quickie if you even wear a top with a lower neckline. Knowing so much as bending over his shoulder is sometimes enough to distract him.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He groans and growls a lot. In general, the dirty talk starts during foreplay and by the end, he's just making incoherent noises. His dirty talk helps get both of you going, and he'll often start before he even gets you home. It will start with just telling you how pretty you are or how good you are to him. By the time you're walking home, he's whispering how he's getting hard already and how he's gonna have you naked before you even get to the bed. Once you are through the door, the real filth starts. Things like 'gonna fuck that pretty little cunt so good' and at the slightest moan he'll start verbally teasing you. "Oh yeah, love. You like the sound of that, eh? Want my cock nice and deep in you, don't ya?' By the time you are fucking his sentences are significantly shorter, 'fuckin' hell sweetheart. So fuckin' tight.'

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

He likes to role-play that you are a new barmaid hired to work at The Garrison or a dancer at the Eden Club, and you have to ingratiate yourself to him, you new boss, however he decides. This usually leads to you performing some sort of strip tease for him before he has you get on your knees. Sometimes, he wants to watch you touch yourself for him while thinking about him. If you can make yourself cum in the allotted amount of time then maybe you can keep your job. It always ends with him fucking you and saying that if you want to stay on good terms as his employee you have to let him use you however and whenever he wants. It's a role-play that you both quite enjoy.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

It's fairly average. His length is a little bit over average, but his girth is normal. He feels so good that, frankly, you wouldn't have him any other way. He knows how to use what he has well, and it suits the rest of his body perfectly. He's got a few freckles on his shaft that match the ones peppered across his cheeks and shoulders. His tip flushes a dark pink when he's hard with a nice prominent ridge. He's uncircumcised. He has one nice thick vein that runs along the underside of his cock. You love to trace it with your tongue when you blow him and when he's close you can actually feel it throb.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

As mentioned above, he's not exactly a spring chicken anymore, but that doesn't stop him from wanting you all the time. If it were up to him, he would have you in some way at least once every day. Even when he's trying to behave himself, you just do all these things that get his blood pumping and his heart racing. You make him feel like a teenager again. He constantly wants his hands on you in some way, shape, or form. Or he's pulling you into his lap and nuzzling into your shoulder. By default, most of the time, the family doesn't even bother giving you an actual chair to sit in unless it's at dinner. They know Arthur will just pull you out of it anyway to seat you in his lap. What he feels is your perfect place to be.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He's generally pretty relaxed after sex and can drift off much more easily than a normal night. He's still a bit of a restless sleeper, though. You chalk that up to nightmares and memories of the war. He also occasionally talks in his sleep. According to Aunt Polly, Tommy used to talk in his sleep, too. Usually, it's mumbled, somewhat incoherent things, but you have had a couple of good long laughs at some of the things he's said. He has repeatedly asked you if you 'wanna fuck?' several times in his sleep. Including once when he followed it up with 'but I've been good today'. You teased him the next several days about whether he was gonna be good today and earn his fuck. He fucking loved it.

--------------------------------

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[kateis-cakeis]

You know, something something Arthur desperately wanted to see the good in magic at any opportunity he was given.

When Gwen was first accused, when he first met Morgause, when he wanted to save Uther using magic, when he saved the woman from being burnt in that small village, when he was given a choice by the Disir, when he was determined to save Gwen from Morgana's dark magic...

(Honourable mentions include when he saved Mordred and argued with Uther about the Druids being peaceful (they are magic adjacent after all) - and well, given the second honourable mention being his remorse for the raid on the Druid camp when he was young, it's understandable that it comes from some sort of trauma. And of course, the result of that remorse was the promise that he would do everything to prevent it ever happening again, and that he would treat the Druids with respect. Hell, even with Kara he was respectful, even though she committed actual literal treason in the form of an attempted assassination of Camelot's king)

Of course, at every opportunity, Arthur's view that there is good in magic, that not all sorcerers are evil, that perhaps his father was wrong, or that his father had lied, ends up being proven wrong, at least in his eyes.

Time and time again Arthur is shown to consider magic as a more neutral force, like almost as if he's desperate for it to be true. It isn't even necessarily his fault that the opinions about magic and sorcerers that Uther taught him becomes reinforced once again.

The fact that he can even think critically about magic at all is a miracle alone. Like this man who has only ever known sorcerers to use magic for evil purposes, to destroy Camelot, attempt to assassinate him, attempt to assassinate his father, to harm those he cares about - and yet he still he still falls back on, what if magic can be good, what if we're wrong, what if, what if, what if--

And it's only when magic itself reveals himself to Arthur that he can finally see that yes, magic can be good.

Because if Merlin is good, if Merlin is the same person even with magic, then magic is neutral, and sorcerers aren't inherently evil.

Arthur was always going to accept magic, that's the thing, that's hardcoded into his character, he just needed the right push, and that push was always going to be Merlin.

Because as Arthur dies in Merlin's arms, blanketed by magic itself, he accepts that even with all of Merlin's magic, his life cannot be saved, magic cannot save him.

But he accepts it, and accepts Merlin, and he dies having brought about all that Merlin ever dreamt of, truly dreamt of, that Arthur would see him for him, and accept him and his magic. And more than that, what Arthur truly ends up doing is embracing it.

Arthur for whatever reason, perhaps because he was born of magic, perhaps because his soulmate is magic itself, perhaps because he has a heart of gold, wanted to see the good in magic at any given opportunity that presented itself, even though with all that Uther taught him, he never should have seen it that way.

It's just, it's so fascinating, and it's so heartbreaking that when he finally knew, he died. But he'll return, and I'm sure then he can build something better with Merlin, really bring magic back to a time that needs it :)

[pyjamacryptid]

I'm currently rewatching the dark tower for reasons (fic reasons), and when Gwen said "Morgana's enchanted it to protect me," it rang an alarm bell, this time 'round.

"[...]to protect me."

hm. huh. you don't say. interesting. As in, the knights are the enemy not the rescuers? hm. curious.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it (i mean, hey, that's the fun of it), but that choice of language stood out to me.

[tinylittletwig]

Oh, Faroe,,,

[escespace]

Are we sure this fic isn't actually a discarded script from the show? Because I feel this is very canon-y, EVERYONE LOVES MERLIN

Seriously speaking, Thoughts so sober that it is surprising how easy it is to read between the lines. It is admirable how the writer of this fic manages to say something within another something. The What ifs on canon leave a lot to reflect on through the actions or decisions that characters make, in this case, Arthur who sometimes feels like in this fic, saying one thing but Hinting at something else

It is truly a read that touches the reader's sensitive fibers. It satisfies and at the same time leaves you wanting more and more and more.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Merlin (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) Characters: Merlin (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Leon (Merlin), Gwen (Merlin), Morgana (Merlin), Gwaine (Merlin), Gaius (Merlin), Lancelot (Merlin), Hunith (Merlin), Will (Merlin) Additional Tags: Canon Era, King Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Everybody Lives, Everyone Loves Merlin (Merlin), Merlin's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon Finds Out About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Morgana Knows about Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Fluff, Merlin's Neckerchief (Merlin) Summary:

Five times Arthur watches everyone be in love with Merlin and the one time he realises that he isn’t the exception.

[catastrophicninjafish]

I LIVE!

Have some Morgana! As always, credit for the quotes goes to CT from normalhoroscopes, which is sadly now inactive - I believe you can find them over at cryptotheism now.