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why-what-no · 2 years ago

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Between Dreams And Realities

Pairing: Morpheus x Fem!Magic!Reader

Notes: This gif had nothing to do with the fic, I just think he looks pretty in it. Also, this was originally requested to be three parts, but since all my fics are pretty short and a lot of the writers on here write like, thousands of words per fic, I felt like I could save everybody’s time and just have one part separated into three sections.

Summary: Morpheus falls in love with a magic user feared by small-minded humans. But after his ego and a cruel warlock separate them, he goes to get his lover back. Even if she had changed in his absence.

Requested by: @milfodyssey

***

Birth

***

Throughout humanity's existence, people have wished for futures that they knew they would not have. They pleaded with gods, searched for lucky items, throwing their life away for one that will never exist.

That was where (Y/N) came in, with magic-imbued abilities to pass through realities and timelines. She tried to use it to help, tried to make the humans happy. She had the ability to show humans different timelines in which they had what they wanted. Where their lives were perfect.

But it was just like humans to despise what they had been given. Just like humans to not be able to accept a glimpse of that they wanted.

They wanted it all, wanted to live that life instead of seeing it. But she couldn't give them that. It wasn't in her power.

And so they despised her.

Resentment clouded their opinion of her. She became an outcast to them, a villain. All because she could not give him what they wanted. She was a false person, giving them false hope, manipulating them with realities they could never have.

That's what they believed of her.

The one person who thought differently was the King of the Dreaming.

His curiosity of her abilities is what brought them to meet. Wanting to know how her powers differed from his.

"I have heard about you." He had visited her one night, tall and powerful. "Tricking mortals with visions of a better life."

But to his surprise, she looked hurt by that statement. "I'm not... that's not what I was doing."

He soon realized that his earlier assumption had been wrong. She hadn't been trying to hurt them, she had been trying to show them something that would make them happy.

Morpheus felt pity for (Y/N) as he absorbed this new knowledge. Knowing just how much the humans she wanted to help, despised her.

He understood her. For the first time in a very long time, someone understood her. It was a wonderful feeling for the powerful girl.

They became friends after that original meetings, and (Y/N) got to visit the Dreaming. For the first time, she was somewhere where she was accepted. As time went on, they became closer. Finally falling in love.

A love was born between them that was strong enough to last for eternities. Safe in the place between dreams and realities.

Someone once asked the question if it would be better to be loved, or to be understood. With Morpheus, (Y/N) had both. There was now someone in her life that she could be completely herself and completely honest with.

"And Death told me that... what are you looking at?" She had been telling him some story and her and his sister, when she got distracted by his eyes on her. A loving gaze in his eyes

"You." Morpheus responded with a small smile. They were lying on his bed, (Y/N)) curled up against him as he drew patterns on her back.

She grinned softly against his chest, not used to the love she was given by him. "You're so good to me."

"Only because you are to me."

But while basking in Morpheus's love, (Y/N) could not hide her fear that something would ruin them. So much of her life was lived alone, being hated by so many that she encountered. Would she have to go back to that?

"I'll never understand why you love these humans so much." Morpheus mused on some different day. "The way they treated you..."

"I only want to give them what they want." She shrugged. He leaned over to kiss her, not sharing her sentiment but adoring her kindness despite that. He liked how different she was to him.

However, her love for those humans would occasionally cause strife between them. He wanted to keep her safe from their cruelty, but she refused to stop sacrificing her own happiness for theirs.

"Would you rather I become cold like you?" (Y/N) said during an argument about that exact subject. He could see she regretted saying that as soon as it left her mouth, knew that she didn't really think that about him. After all, she knew how much he loved her.

But he couldn't stop himself from feeling hurt at her words, and hiding that hurt with anger. "If it would stop you from pathetically lowering yourself to act as a servant for those who despite you, yes."

In that moment, he had wanted to hurt her like she just hurt him. But what he didn't expect was the heartbroken and furious look she gave him, before storming off to Earth.

Looking back, he knew he should have gone after her immediately. But the Corinthian had been causing trouble a few countries away from where she had gone and he had to stop his nightmare from committing any more injustices.

He didn't expect to be imprisoned before he could get his love back. Certainly didn't expected being locked away for over a century.

***

Life

***

When Morpheus was finally released, one of his first thoughts was (Y/N). But despite his best efforts, even after his tools and powers were returned, he could not get her to reveal her location to him.

It was only when he asked Death for help that he learned where (Y/N) was.

After all, Death and (Y/N) had been wonderful friends when she had been with Morpheus. And, as Death told him when he visited her, the two powerful women still spent a good about of time together.

However, and Death's face fell as she told him the news, she wasn't the same person he had left. She had taken his cruel words to heart, as well as the cruel words as the humans that despised her. Life had hardened her, and she had become unforgiving.

She had always just wanted to give them what they wanted. So when they wanted her to fear her, she gave them that. Her new chosen purpose was punishing those who had done wrongs.

He went after her as soon as he learned that. All he could thinking about as making things right.

When he found her, she was in a alleyway. A man had tried to attack a women going home from a bar, and now she had his mind trapped him a reality when he was the woman being attacked. The woman had run away as soon as the man had started blindly whimpering, and (Y/N) looked down with disgust at him.

"(Y/N)!" Morpheus called out, pulling her attention towards him.

"Morpheus?"

In her distraction, the criminal man managed to escape her powers, running away from the alley at breakneck speed. "Shit." She swore, about to go after him, but Morpheus caught her arm.

"Wait." He told her, slight desperation in his eyes. "Please."

(Y/N) hesitated, looking him up and down. There was a contemptuous look on her face that broke his heart. He knew she would hate him, but he didn't realize how painful it would be to see. "What are you doing here?" She asked him, crossing her arms.

"I... I had to apologize to you for the words I spoke when you left. I didn't mean anything I said. I am so sorry that I hurt you."

The anger on her face turned to suspicion, but it gave him hope that there was still had a chance for her to love him again. "Then why do you say it."

"When you implied that I didn't care, I just to the conclusion that you thought I didn't care for you. That the love I felt for you wasn't enough."

"I didn't mean that."

"I know." He reassured her. "I know you didn't meant that. I wish I hadn't said what I said. I wish I had come after you immediately."

The anger reappeared on her face. "But you never came for me. For over a century."

"I was imprisoned." His words were rushed as he explained to her why he hadn't search for her. The idea that she thought he had abandoned her was horrifying to him. "A warlock by the name of Rodrick Burgess. I would have found you and begged you to return with me."

"Beg?" She scoffed. "With your ego?"

He stepped closer to her, taking her hand in his. "Please, (Y/N)." The look he gave her took her breath away, sending a jolt of electricity running through her body. "I will do whatever you desire, as long as you're mine again."

"I...." Stuttered (Y/N). "I'm not the same person who you loved. I doubt you want the person I am now."

His eyebrow was raised, but there was a small smile on his face. "Oh? I highly disagree. You may be less forgiving, but you are still just as loving. A protector of the innocent, aren't you now?"

"The humans I wanted to make happy didn't want my good visions. But the humans that hurt others deserve my bad visions."

"You should be proud." A small smile appeared on her face at his words. He was so close to her, deeply desiring to lean in and kiss her.

But he held back, knowing that she had to make the first move.

"So, will you accept my companionship once again?" He asked, feeling utter relief when she slowly nodded.

His sand swirled around them, transporting them home to the dreaming. As they left earth, she reached up to bury her hands in his hand and pulling him into a loving kiss.

***

Death

***

(Y/N) was now at peace, having take her place as Queen and devoted her time to the Dreaming. As far as the humans knew, the powerful trickster that they had known was dead. And the vengeful spirit they knew was dead also.

But whenever they would arrive in the Dreaming and give them a glimpse of their most wished for realities, they would now thank her. Because if it was while they were sleeping, they would chalk it up to a good dream. They’d wake up with a bounce in their step and go about their life.

“I don’t know how I would have done all this without you.” Morpheus whispered to her, placing a gentle kiss against head.

The two lovers lay on their bed, just like they had all those years ago. And indeed, it had been ages since they had last gotten the love they had come to depend on from each other.

She turned to him, hand on his chest. “I could say the same.” The King smiled, pulling her closer so that he could kiss her. They stayed pressed together like that for as long as they could before someone came to knock on their door.

Neither of them were going to let anything take one of them away from the other again.

#the sandman x reader #The Sandman #morpheus x reader #morpheus #dream of the endless x reader #dream of the endless #death of the endless #my fics

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minnesotadruids · 3 years ago

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Hello there! If it s not too much trouble, how do you feel about media/pop-culture portrayal of druids?

Since the word “Druid” is used a lot to mean “Nature Wizard” would you prefer if people used/make up their own different words for their stories or find it ok to use the term as long as they’re respectful or accurate to Druidism to some degree?

In terms of the "best" media depiction of druids, I think the BBC series Merlin with Colin Morgan is probably the closest we can get to a positive portrayal of the Celtic priestly caste. I still hesitate to describe it as accurate, but at the very least I wasn't balking at the show as much as I did when watching an episode of The Librarians. We'll get to them in a moment.

There's also the fun Australian miniseries Roar that starred a young Heath Ledger. It was full of historical inaccuracies (the premise being about a Roman-occupied Ireland for one thing). But it portrayed the druids in a positive light despite being at a time when they were in decline.

In the TV show The Librarians: And the Rise of Chaos (season 3 episode 1) they have a very brief (2-3 minute) run-in with some angry druids. The mob only shouts and growls but don't seem to speak, all while wearing tattered robes and brandishing wooden farm implements of various functions. They were also wearing cringey cast-resin masks of animal skulls that miraculously fit perfectly on their faces and just looked fake. I should point out this show takes place in the present.

The librarians have to climb a wicker man and solve a puzzle to steal a rune-covered stone artifact. The puzzle is based on a Celtic board game gwyddbwyll AKA fidchell. In the episode, the game pieces are Norse runes (Elder Futhark). Historically, the Iron Age Celts would not have used those runes. The game pieces should be carved figures of warriors instead. Then things get a bit personal with the tree stump inscription.

One librarian translates the markings on the stump which he says are "ancient Gaulish mixed with third century astrological symbols," and somehow reads "when the king reaches the north, the light will reveal itself."

*FACEPALM*

Well the three symbols on the left side are more Norse Elder Futhark (i.e. not even Celtic), the symbol cluster in the upper right corner looks like it could be vaguely Lepontic script (i.e. yes, “ancient Gaulish”) but that specific one is not in the Lepontic alphabet at all. Just for fun they have the symbol for Aries (the aforementioned (but singular) Greek astrological symbol). The Celtic triskele is in the upper middle of the stump and variations of it go back thousands of years, but it doesn't really have a universally accepted meaning.

What upset me the most was the incorporation of the Druid Sigil (bottom center of the stump). It is the official symbol of the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA). The RDNA invented the Druid Sigil in 1963 to be a geometrically simple symbol, yet at the same time - unique. They went through books of symbols to make sure it didn't already exist. The RDNA founders described the Druid Sigil as a symbol for the Earth-Mother, but it is truly devoid of a specific meaning or powers.

In the RDNA, the individual imparts their own meaning into the Sigil, and whatever powers they want it to have if need be. To me the Druid Sigil is a sun wheel, and the two vertical lines represent the Two Tenets of Reformed Druidism. It means something different to everyone, and it is neither ancient Gaulish nor third century anything. The show producers obviously googled “Druid symbols” and that was the extent of their research.

I guess if someone was to make a new show, movie, or other media about druids, I would prefer that it would at least clearly be in the high-fantasy genre if they're going to make them all fanciful magic users, and especially if they're going to be portrayed as bad guys. If the show is trying to be more historically accurate, I'd much prefer that they stick to what's verifiable (though admittedly that's not much). Otherwise yeah, it would be nice sometimes if they used a different term, like sorcerers or warlocks if they're bad guys.

Oh gosh, Warlock! That was a 1989 supernatural horror movie that started a trilogy of gory films. The warlock was a bad guy, and a secret bloodline of druids were the only ones who had a chance of stopping him. The depiction of druids was okay I suppose, and on the plus side they wore plain everyday clothes in the 20th century, 'cause you know it's important to blend in.

See Also:

History of the Druid Sigil

Common Symbols in Druidry

#druids #media #depiction #portrayal #Merlin #Colin Morgan #Heath Ledger #Roar #Lepontic #Runes #Gaulish #Librarians #Symbols #Futhark #Druid Sigil #Triskele #Warlock #Sourcerer

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gthreepio · 4 years ago

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i’ve been thinking about the future of the mcu and realized there’s a LOT that i didn’t know/didn’t remember in terms of where things are going so i figured i’d sum it up incase anyone else was in the same boat!!

quick recap of (unresolved) mid-credit scenes:

doctor strange: mordo (a sorcerer that is one of strange’s mentors, who by the end of the movie becomes disillusioned with magic/the ancient one and quits) confronts pangborn (the paraplegic who healed himself with the mystic arts, who tells strange about mystic arts in the first place) and steals his magic because according to mordo, there are “too many sorcerers." of note, this guy is typically a villain in the comics but hasn’t been thus far...

gotg2: ayesha (leader of the sovereign, a golden skinned alien race obsessed with genetic purity), after spending most of the movie chasing the guardians for stealing some stuff, is revealed to have created an artificial being named “adam” which is presumably, adam warlock. (other stuff that is less relevant: kraglin appears to take up yondu’s mantle; the ravagers regroup and several old and obscure comic book characters are introduced [charlie-27, aleta, martinex, mainframe]; the watchers are watching things.)

far from home: j jonah jameson basically tells the whole world spider-man’s secret identity, and frames him for what happened with mysterio....making him public enemy #1. ALSO, turns out nick fury and maria hill in the movie were ACTUALLY the two skrulls from captain marvel (talos and soren) attempting to do their job, while the real fury (and presumably hill) is ... up in space on some spaceship!!!

wandavision: monica (who we can assume is photon) is called by “an old friend of [her] mother’s,” up in space, which presumably means fury, talos, or carol. ALSO, wanda sits in the middle of nowhere reading the darkhold and hears the voices of her children who.. by all accounts, should not exist.

aaaaand what we know about future movies (i’m not even going into the tv series.....):

black widow:

takes place after civil war

nat confronts a “dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past,” likely has to do with taskmaster who has apparently taken over the red room where nat was trained as an assassin

prominent new characters: yelena belova, who will take over the mantle of black widow after this; alexei shostakov aka red guardian, an ollllld marvel hero analogous to captain america except for the soviet union.

tony stark will make an appearance... SOBS

shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings:

shang-chi has never been seen in the mcu before, but he is, essentially, a superhero that is a master martial artist, and in some adaptations can also create duplicate (fake) versions of himself to confuse opponents

main villain will be the the mandarin who we have *sort of* seen before... he is the leader of a terrorist organization called “ten rings” whose main goal is to destroy world peace. brief history -- in iron man 1: one ten rings cell kidnaps tony stark and tries to force him to make weapons (he of course, makes his suit instead). stark and ten rings become enemies and fight a bunch. nat and nick fury fight them too. in iron man 3, the villain aldrich killian hires a dude to pretend to be the mandarin and claim responsibility for a bunch of stuff, but its not the ten rings or the mandarin at all. this makes the mandarin v mad and he has a dude kidnap the faker to punish him. they also briefly show up in ant-man, when a ten rings agent tries to buy the yellowjacket suit that darren cross is selling. BUT IN SHANG-CHI....... looks like we are FINALLY going to see the real mandarin after over a decade!!

the villain razor fist will also show up, he is lesser known... he has no superhuman powers but he has surgically replaced his hands (1 or 2, depending on the version) with a steel blade, and is highly skilled at hand to hand combat.

besides the presence of these characters, the only bit of plot we know is “shang-chi is drawn into the ten rings organization and forced to confront his past.” so... yeah. we don’t know much at all.

eternals:

quick explanation: the eternals are an immortal alien race who have been secretly living on earth for thousands of years. they were created by the celestials, who are most prominently in gotg2.

more entirely new characters!!! their names are: thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy; gilgamesh, who can make a super strong exoskeleton out of cosmic energy; ikaris, who has superhuman strength, flies, and can project cosmic energy out his eyes; kingo, who can shoot cosmic energy projectiles from his hands; makkari, who creates sonic booms, has super speed, and is deaf; phastos, who has enhanced intelligence, and is also gay (and married with a kid!); ajak, who has healing powers; sprite, who can project illusions; sersi, who can manipulate matter; druig, who can mind control; and dane whitman (black knight), a human with a mystical sword.

regarding the plot... it seems the eternals have kind of dispersed, but have to come together again to fight the deviants, who are their “evil counterparts�� (also created by the celestials, though i’m unclear on why). thena and gilgamesh have apparently been in exile, unclear why; sersi, who is posing as a museum curator, has apparently been in love with ikaris for centuries and it seems as if their love story may be central to the film; and kingo is a bollywood film star in his spare time. aaaaand that’s pretty much all we know.

directed by chloé zhao of nomadland fame!

spider-man no way home:

based on the post-credits scene in far from home, peter parker will now be known as spider-man to everyone. unclear if he’s going to be seen as a bad guy due to mysterio framing him, but i guess we’ll see!

jamie foxx is electro, and alfred molina is doctor octopus; which is VERY interesting considering they played these roles in other spider-man franchises, once again stirring up excitement for possible multiverse.

there have been *multiple* reports that andrew garfield, kirsten dunst, tobey maguire, and emma stone will be in the movie but tom holland has repeatedly denied this... so... who knows.

there are also rumors that matt murdock / daredevil (from netflix) will be in several scenes! not confirmed though.

MJ is still his girlfriend and i hope it stays that way!!

doctor strange will be featured in the movie, taking on the mentor role now that tony stark is gone :( this will be interesting as i.. haven’t really seen them interact much before. because of this inclusion some people speculate that the film may draw inspo from some comic storylines where peter’s secret identity is restored with magic.

doctor strange in the multiverse of madness:

scarlet witch is essentially co-starring!!! it’s going to be really interesting to see if they bring vision or the twins into this at all, though i’m not counting on it.

seems like mordo will be the main villain -- recall the ds1 post credits scene where he is apparently running around trying to steal people’s magic.

america chavez will make her debut!!!!!! i have no idea how this plays into anything but i am so excited!!

regarding the plot, all we really know is that strange has been researching the time stone, mordo messes with him, and this results in him accidentally unleashing “unspeakable evil.” presumably there will also be heavy involvement of the multiverse, and who knows what kind of craziness that will bring!!

initially was going to be directed by scott derrickson who did ds1; however he stepped down to being just EP due to “creative differences.” i am presuming this is because derrickson really wanted to make this more gothic and horror than disney was comfortable with. i REALLY hope they keep some of those elements though and don’t erase the idea entirely! anyway, it will be directed by sam raimi now (of evil dead and spiderman 2002 fame).

the film also reportedly ties in with the loki series (will loki show up!?) and spiderman 3 (which is obvious enough, given that strange is in that movie and those curious electro and doctor octopus castings...)

thor: love and thunder

directed by taika waititi again, hell yeah!!! and he has stated, the film will be “so over the top now in the very best way" and would make ragnarok look like a "run of the mill, very safe film" .... so.... oh god

so many great returning players!!! including.... valkyrie (now the king of new asgard), jane foster, lady sif, korg, star-lord, mantis, drax, nebula, and kraglin (takes up yondu’s mantle after he dies in gotg2)

in this movie, thor isn’t thor anymore.... it’s JANE!!! she gets cancer :( and is undergoing treatment while simultaneously being thor. i’m a little nervous how this will be handled, but i’m excited. (it’s based off an amazing comic series by jason aaron)

the big bad: gorr the god butcher, played by christian bale! the gist of it is, this dude HATES gods because nobody helped when his family was dying and in need. his weapon is “all-black the necrosword,” forged from the head of a celestial, and allows the user to create wings and fly at extreme speeds. honestly, he sounds cool as fuck.

valkyrie is going to be made canonically bisexual!!!

it will explore more of korg’s backstory, and also include... space sharks!?!?! an alien race from the comics.

taika has called the script “very romantic” so take that as you will

black panther 2

will again be directed by ryan coogler

not much is known at this point, does not have an official name

t’challa will NOT be recast (which i’m happy about) so..... honestly no idea what to expect for this one. i think we can probably expect shuri to have an expanded role. all we know so far is they will be “exploring the world of wakanda.” not clear to me how this is different from the upcoming wakanda D+ series.

tenoch huerta has reportedly been cast as a villain, but no one has any idea who. there’s also rumors that donald glover is in “informal talks” to play a role. note all of this is unconfirmed.

captain marvel 2

will be directed by nia da costa (candyman!) and written by megan mcdonnell, who is one of wandavision’s best writers!

will take place in the present day

will feature kamala khan / ms. marvel, monica rambeau / photon!!! this will be so interesting.... kamala is a huge fan of carol’s in the comics, she is her mentor/idol. the ms. marvel series will also resportedly lead into cm2. and monica, well, monica knew her when she was a little kid. wandavision implies that there’s some bad blood between carol and monica though, not sure why. maybe because carol left and never came back? (until endgame)

post-credits scene of wandavision appears to tie into this, having monica go up into space at the reqeust of her “mom’s old friend.” again, not clear who that is. this could also be a tie in to secret invasion though, so we’ll see. or both.

zawe ashton has been cast as an unknown villain... a lot of people are actually speculating that she may play rogue? which would be fascinating, as there’s a comic arc where rogue steals her powers and memories. BUT there’s still no confirmation that X-men exist in the MCU so for now i remain skeptical.

they are looking to cast a ‘john boyega’ or ‘michael b jordan’ type which makes me wonder if they are going to create a new character, a “younger” war machine to be her love interest? (note: carol and rhodey are a huge thing in comics!) carol obviously does not look her age but her and don cheadle.... that just doesn’t work. which is why i wonder.

ant-man and the wasp: quantumania

in addition to scott and hope, pretty much all the major players are returning including: luis, hank pym, janet van dyne

cassie lang has been recast with an actress 5 years older, which is really making me wonder if they are going to make her stinger in this movie! (aka one of the main young avengers)

the villain: kang the conqueror! this dude time travels. original name nate richards. in the comics, kang travels back in time to rescue his younger self (nate) from an attack that would help shape him towards a life of villainy. kang also gives him some fancy armor. his younger self actually is like, what the fuck dude? and renounces his destiny, becoming a hero. and he makes his armor look like iron man, calling himself iron lad. who is a young avenger. which also makes me wonder about cassie lang.

otherwise not much is known!

guardians of the galaxy vol. 3

james gunn is returning, i’m mixed about this...he really does *get* the guardians though.

based on the gotg2 post credits scene, i think we can assume adam warlock will be a HUGE part of this. there are multiple versions of him, some villainous and some heroic, but no idea how this is gonna turn out.

no word yet on whether thor will be involved, or if those ravagers they introduced will be involved.

fantastic four

will be directed by the spiderman guy, john watts.

otherwise we know literally nothing.

aaaaand that’s the roundup!

#mcu #marvel #black widow #shang chi and the legend of the ten rings #eternals #smnwh #spiderman: no way home #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #dsitmom #thor: love and thunder #tlat #black panther 2 #captain marvel 2 #ant man and the wasp: quantumania #amatwq #guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 #gotg3 #fantastic four #mcu thoughts

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merlinssaggyyfronts · 4 years ago

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BBC Merlin Rewatch:

01x01: The Dragon’s Call

—

FIRSTLY THE FUCKING DESCRIPTION LMAO “Merlin, a young country boy” COUNTRY BOY AHAHDHSNDH IF ONLY YOU KNEW!!! ITS LIKE SETTING SOMEONE UP FOR DISASTER BUT THEN AGAIN THEY WERE SO LIKE I MEAN-

aw look at merlin all happy and smily, walking into camelot like he isnt going to witness the death of his best friend/king and basically everyone he loves

LOOK AT HIM HES SO HAPPY!!! HE DOESNT KNOW YET

“like everyone, he must live and learn” yo shut ur bitchass up lizard man u literally tried to murder everyone in camelot that one time

“his name: traumatised 😍😍”

AH YES THE OPENING!!1!1!-!-! AHHH THE AMOUNT OF HAPPINESS I FEEL HEARING THE OPENING

fuck ur bitchass uther no one likes u

“i pride myself as a fair and just king” sir didnt u like basically kill ur wife... and thousands of peo- OH MY GOD MORGANA BB ILY

oh jesus okay hes dead um chile-

“when i came to this land” wait i thought he was raised kn camelot brb i forgot im an idiot wait,,, does this mean before this it was the du bois family on the throne of camelot?? also, mired in chaos? u mean like.... before ur wife died and everyone was living peacefully? ....okay

“merlin, seeing a person who's been stated had been studying magic get beheaded: [a magical being himself] ah,, welcoming.” -my gf

“since the great dragon was captured” ....so did no one think about where they put a dragon?? a captured one at that. ud think he’d be more smart but nah he just left a random ass dragon under his castle like THAT is going to end well

YUHH MARY COLLJNS HATE HIM!!! YELL BABEY YELL!!! “you took my son!” YES MURDER HIM OMG I CAN FEEL HER PAIN

“a son for a son!” omg why couldnt u have killed uther bb ur the perfect villain i love u ur literally just a loving mother i-

OOOOO GAIUS

.....why is there a bunny mask in there

why is thERE A BUNNY MASK-

why didnt merlins eyes glow when he dragged the bed to gaius to save him

also whats this slomo magic why didnt he do this after this why did season one haveso much magic and like every other season was just everyone throwing it back

like i get instinctual magic but like.... if its instinctual wouldnt it happen more especially when his powers get stronger-

gaius: what did you just do?!

also gaius, five seconds later: i know what it was!! i just wanted to know where you learned it

merlin: 😐

merlin, about his magic: i was born like this

gaius, who knows full well warlocks exist: impossible!

(are warlocks naturally born knowing how to use magic without learning? i mean if u have to learn magic like a sorcerer then whats the difference between a warlock and a sorcerer cuz wouldnt sorcerers atleast have to have some magic in them to actually cast spells? am i dumb or do i just not get it)

wait so merlin arrived in camelot on a wednesday

merlin, walking into camelot: it is wednesday my dudes

merlin: [witnesses an execution] aaaAAAAAA-

“someone that might help him find a purpose of his gifts” oh honey he’ll get something mUCH LARGER THAN THAT-

—

oH MORGANA

SHUT UR BITCHASS UTHER SHE WILL KILL YOU-

“the more brutal you are, the more enemies you’ll create” oh the waY SHE PREDICTED THEIR FUTURE OO

ah bless u lady helen/mary collins we love them spicy villains

...why do you have a dressing table in a tent

[watches mary collins murder lady helen] i never snitch on dadd- ...someone pls delete me

merlin, about his instinctual magic: i just do it!

gaius: ...lord have mercy what did i just sign myself up to

what ever happened to sir olwen did he die from accidentally overdosing

—

oHHH THERE HE IS THERE HE IS THERES MY BOY!!! MY LIL PRAT MAN!!!!

merlin looks so offended, oh god i could watch this whole scene for HOURS

oooOOOO YES MERLIN FUCK HIM UP!!! SHOW HIM WHOS BOSS

“do i know you?” “im merlin” “so i dont know you” ugh theres already sexual tension

“i would never have a friend who could be such an ass” “or i one so stupid”

also them, ten years later: “i use my magic for you arthur, only you” “just hold me” “i cant lose him! hes my friend!” “thank you..”

“tell me merlin, do you know how to walk on your knees?” OOOOH THE BOYS ARE FLIRTING

NOT THE “would you like me to help you?” SIR YOU ARE FLIRTING SO INTENSELY AND DONT EVEN REALISE IT SIR DO YOU KNOW YOURE FALLING IN LOVE

im convinced atleast half the knights with arthur were like “ayo thas kinda sus bro 😳😳 ayo 😳😳”

arthur: tell me merlin, do you know how to walk on your knees? would you like me to help you?

merlin: ....i really dont know how to answer that

imagine being paid to throw fruits at colin morgan omg id be so thrilled

OOOH HERE COMES OUR QUEEN GWEN!!! MY LOVE MY EVERYTHING YES ILY

gwen: well, arthur looks like one of those, save the world kinda men... and you dont

merlin, 1500 years later, having failed his destiny: well i mean you’re not wrong

—

gaius: uther banned magic a long time ago

merlin, flabbergasted as if he wasnt raised on tales of the death of his kind every day in the kingdom right next to his: why?!?!?

gaius: the dragon is imprisoned where nobody can free him

merlin:

(that is the face of someone knowing full well hes going to free that dragon. look at him. he’s already made up his mind.)

—

[sees merlin and arthur in the marketplace] oh heres he is again heres the lil bitxh ooo theyre about to FIGHT

god hes flirting so hard without even realising it, oh my god

“i could take you apart with one blow” “i could take you apart with less” um sirs this is a mcdonalds drive thru 😃

arthur: ahah, you’re in trouble now~ 😏😏

i had to pause cuz wHAT THE HELL WHY DOES HE SOUND LIKE THAT-

—

....yall are yelling very loudly, um, arent there guards near yall? people passing by? please relax

“im just a nobody, and i always will be” OH IF ONLY YOU KNEWWW

“if i cant use magic, i might as well die” ....well, ive got a surprise for you-

“maybe theres someone with more magic than me?” like... a whole dragon? i mean if you say so 👀

merlin about why he was born like this: if you cant tell me, no one can!

a fucking dragon, basically every magical creature and the druids: WELL-

the camelot guards are so stupid how the hell is this kingdom still standing

how does kilgharrah know merlins name? in prophecy hes known as emrys (and we see basically every magical being call him emrys and not merlin,, i think). so how does he know? did he stretch his neck long enough that he could somehow hear merlin? is it cuz theyre kin? is it cuz merlin and gaius were yelling so loudly that kilgharrah could hear them all the way in his cave? ig we’ll never know 🖐

merlin: where are you?!

kilgharrah:

kilgharrah: without you, arthur will never succeed.

merlin: ....oh look, im already paranoid

the amount of sadness i feel hearing kilgharrah say “none of us can choose our destiny, merlin. and none of us can escape it” is INSANE cuz in season one you can SEE merlin trying to escape it. hes doing his damned best trying to have some control over his life. and then in later seasons you can see the light slowly drain from his eyes as he becomes just another toy for the gods to be entertained by. he realises he cant control a single thing about his life so he does the one thing he can: protect arthur. and he loses SO MUCH because of it! its not fair, he deserved so much, and when he finally got everything he could ever ask for, it was taken away from him by his own mistakes.

arthur, seeing morgana in a beautiful dress: god have mercy 😍

uther: .....um

the way they set arthur and morgana up as if they arent gonna make them siblings i- what the fawk 😄

person A, who knows arthurian lore: oh no! arthur is going to have an affair with morgan(a) and have mordred! oh no!!

person B, whos seen merlin: oh no in this show its worse

person B, knowing full well theyre siblings: much worse....

gwen: who’d wanna marry arthur? 🙄

gwen, getting crowned queen of camelot: well fuck

hhhnghnh yes queen sing them to sleep yes murder his bitchass (and fail but like its the thought that counts)

on a sidenote tho this is such a fun way to murder someone, id try this

the absolutely OFFENDED “FATHER!” and the horrified look in arthurs eyss when uther announced merlin would be his manservant is PRICELESS OMG

oh the way uther unintentionally plants the first seed of his sons love story omg 😍😍

Conclusion: this episode is a 10/10 greatest episode with so many iconic scenes omg. mary collins u will forever have my heart for unintentionally kickstarting merlin and arthurs relationship destiny. i loved the whole thing and oh GOD does it already hurt knowing full well how the show ends

#this was a RIDE #eli’s merlin rewatch #yes i have to say everything that happens in the episode pls leave me alone #01x01: the dragon’s call #merlin #arthur pendragon #uther pendragon #morgana le fay #morgana pendragon #guinevere #guinevere pendragon #gwen #gaius #kilgharrah #lady helen #mary collins #bbc merlin

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a-small-batch-of-dragons · 4 years ago

Text

It’s Not That Bad, Right?

Prompt: Feel free to write this prompt (or not)- Merlin is cursed and turned into a dragon/wyvern. Arthur commands him to stay in the forest until they figure out how to change him back, but when Merlin senses that Arthur is in danger during a tournament in the City arena, he flies in front of everyone to rescue him, proving how willing he is to protect Arthur even if it means putting his life at the mercy of a shocked Camelot and angry Uther. Also Merlin breaths fire and is BAMF as a dragon.

Thanks for the prompt, babe!

Read on Ao3 Part 2!

Pairings: Merthur, can be platonic or romantic you decide

Warnings: none. Merlin’s a little shit but what did we expect

Word Count: 3511

Okay, Merlin’s gonna take the blame this time. This one’s on him. Definitely. No two ways about it. He’s big enough to admit he screwed up. He is! This one’s definitely on him. Absolutely not a question about it.

In his defense, what was he supposed to do when he saw a sorcerer with a magic circle around a dragon’s egg chanting ominously as a bunch of storm clouds formed overhead, not run into the middle and push it out?

Yeah, as if.

“Merlin!”

Well, it sure hurt like hell, that’s for damn sure. Merlin can feel his teeth chattering against themselves as energy courses through his body, into through his fingertips and out through the top of his head, sending bolts into the ground, through his legs, through his chest. Something reaches deep beneath him and pulls, stretching him like putty. His throat screams in a soundless roar until he registers that, oh wait, that deafening noise is coming from him. Huh.

“M-Merlin?”

Why does Arthur sound unsure? Merlin’s fine. Merlin’s so fine right now. Everything is so fine and good right now, what’s wrong? Merlin turns around to say that, yeah, it’s alright, prat, he’s fine, no need to sound so nervous, only his head seems really really heavy right now and since when has his neck been that long?

“Sire, stay back! I don’t know what’s happened!”

“Stay low to the ground.”

“One of these buggers wasn’t enough, huh?”

Oh, are there more sorcerers? Merlin turns his—why the hell is his head so heavy?—head to look, scanning the trees for more sorcerers.

…that’s funny, why is he suddenly higher? And where are his arms? Or his legs? Or…

…oh, bollocks.

Merlin sighs, only to realize that hey, you guys remember that dragons can breathe fire, right?

“Get back!” Oh, there’s Leon. Merlin wondered where he got off to. “I don’t know where you come from, beast, but you must leave immediately.”

“Beast,” Merlin mutters, “how rude.”

It’s worth it for the way Leon’s arm drops dead to his side. The knight’s mouth gapes up at him. “Merlin?”

Merlin’s gotta get used to this freaking head. He looks around at himself, tests his four feet—claws? Paws? He doesn’t know—and flaps his wings experimentally. “Pretty sure. Just, er, a little different?”

“A little different, he says,” Gwaine mutters from Arthur’s other side, “Merlin what the hell have you done now?”

“I think,” Merlin says, testing out the words in his new mouth—so many teeth—“I’ve been turned into a dragon.”

“Stellar observations there.”

“How is this possible,” Lancelot murmurs, the only one of the knights who dares step closer, close enough to rest his hand on Merlin’s flank. Wow, he’s tiny. “Merlin, did—did you do this?”

“Why would I do this?”

“You are dramatic,” Lancelot says, winking up at him.

“Hey!”

“He’s not wrong.”

“Thanks, Gwaine.”

“Alright, alright.” Arthur sways on his feet, looking every bit about to faint, except he grits his teeth and puts his sword decidedly at his side. “Merlin’s a dragon. Sure.”

“In the flesh!”

“I think you mean in the scale,” Elyan adds helpfully.

Arthur glares at him, only to glance around and see Lancelot happily petting Merlin’s scales, Leon looking him over like he does the new armor, and Gwaine sauntering over to a stump and sitting down. He cocks his head and looks at Merlin, before shrugging and pulling out a waterskin. Even Percival and Elyan look a little nonplussed.

“Are all of you just—fine with this?”

Gwaine shrugs. “Hardly the weirdest thing to ever happen to us, is it?”

“Merlin is a dragon!”

“And not too long ago Gaius was possessed by a goblin.”

“Don’t forget the manticore,” Percival supplies.

“Oh,” Lancelot calls, “and the immortal army!”

“And,” Leon says, “let us also not forget, Sire, that Uther once was married to a troll.”

“Wait, he was what?�� Gwaine leaps up indignantly. “Why have you not told us this story?”

“Enough!”

Merlin doesn’t sigh, but he does exhale noisily through his nostrils. While Arthur prattles on about respecting the king or some such nonsense that he’s sure only Leon is really listening to—and then it’s only out of politeness and because he’s heard it a thousand times—Merlin fidgets.

Scales itch, did you know that? It feels like he’s wearing scratchy clothes that don’t fit right on his skin. He huffs, trying to keep the smoke to a minimum, scrubbing his legs and arms along the ground to try and get some relief. When it doesn’t work, he flops his head down with a resounding thump, out of the way of any of the knights. Wow, his head is the size of Lancelot.

Lancelot, of course, because this man is the definition of unflappable unless it comes to Gwen, simply smiles and reaches out to gently stroke the ridge between Merlin’s eyes. Merlin rumbles gratefully and nudges Lancelot with the tip of his nose.

“Right there, hmm?” Lancelot pats him a few more times.

“He’s not a horse, Lancelot,” Leon says with a smile.

“No, he’s a dragon.”

“He is sitting right here,” Merlin grumbles, “thank you very much.”

“So you can still talk.” Gwaine downs the waterskin and saunters over. “Can you fly?”

Percival glances at his back. “He’s got wings, doesn’t he?”

“Can we ride him?”

“Gwaine!”

“What? You lot were thinking it too!”

“I’m going mad,” Merlin hears Arthur say faintly, “I’m going mad because my manservant is a dragon and none of my knights seem to care.”

“Oh, we care,” Gwaine says, “this is the most interesting thing that’s happened in a while.”

“Merlin appears to have his wits about him still,” Leon murmurs in an effort to soothe Arthur’s nerves which, honestly, Merlin’s a dragon, so that’s fair, “and I do not believe Merlin is likely to attack us.”

“Merlin trips over his own two feet when he’s only got two and he’s the size of a string bean,” Arthur mutters, not taking his eyes off of him.

“Oi!”

“It’s true and you know it.”

Merlin hides a smile, partly because he doesn’t want Arthur to see he’s happy, and partly because he has no idea what dragon smiles look like. Kilgharrah didn’t really smile. But the banter seems to have calmed Arthur down a little, at least enough to walk up to Merlin and look at him. Properly.

Merlin lifts his head, just so they’re eye level, and waits.

Arthur hesitantly reaches a hand out.

Merlin holds his breath.

Arthur’s hand clenches into a fist and he turns away.

“We’ll have to find a way to fix this,” Arthur mutters, stalking back toward his horse. “Back to Camelot. We speak of this to no one except Gaius.”

“You just want to leave him here?”

“If we brought a dragon back to Camelot, my father would have all of our heads. And Merlin would be killed. Or chained up.” Arthur shakes his head firmly, already back on his horse. “We tell no one.”

“So what do we do then,” Gwaine yells, “just abandon him out here?”

“He’s a dragon,” Arthur says, “I’m sure he can fend for himself.”

Something pinches inside Merlin’s chest as Arthur turns away. He growls, ignoring Lancelot’s concerned look as he straightens, his head turning to look down at his massive chest. It aches, like something in him is reaching for the end of a rubber band that just won’t snap back.

“Merlin?”

“I’m fine,” he manages, testing out his body again. He’s definitely not used to having six limbs, let alone wings. “I’ll figure it out.”

“We will find a way to change you back, old friend,” Leon promises, “you will not be stuck like this forever.”

“Might not be the worst thing in the world to be stuck as.”

“All the same, we will try.”

“Thanks, Leon.”

Leon nods deeply, mounting his horse and setting off after Arthur. The other knights do the same, each bidding Merlin farewell. Lancelot is the last to leave.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to stay?”

As tempting as it is, Merlin shakes his massive head. “You might get hurt. And Camelot might, er—“

“Since when have I listened to Camelot over listening to you?”

In response, Merlin nudges him—gently!—with his nose back over to his horse.

“Alright, alright,” Lancelot laughs, “I’m going.”

Still, Merlin can’t help the dull ache of loneliness from settling in his chest as Lancelot disappears into the trees. He looks around. This clearing is nice. It’s just large enough to fit him comfortably. He can lie down—which he does—and curl up with his tail tucked around his legs. He has a tail, does that mean he has seven limbs now? Does a tail count as a limb?

Oh, the ground feels really nice on his sides. Can he—he can roll to his other side too. Oh yeah, that’s fun.

Merlin spends several minutes just rolling around on the ground, letting his wings splay out a little and flap to the sides, stirring up little storms of dust and dirt. He ends up on his back, his wings splayed out, looking up at the dark sky. His eyes drift closed and he rumbles happily.

He isn’t sure how much time passes but his wings are starting to get a little sore. He grunts and rolls.

…only to rock right back.

He tries again. No luck.

Maybe if he flaps his wings, he can—nope. The other side maybe? Oh, nope. Nope, that’s not it either.

He’s stuck.

How undignified. Good thing there’s no one around to—

“Young warlock?”

“No,” Merlin groans, shutting his eyes and instinctively going to cover his face only to remember that he’s got dragon legs and that’s not going to work. “Go away.”

“No, young warlock,” comes the voice that is definitely laughing at him, “I don’t think I will.”

Merlin opens his eyes. Sure enough, there’s Kilgharrah, who looks way too happy. Merlin gives up and lets his limbs hang uselessly. “I’m stuck.”

“I can see that.”

“…how do I get unstuck?”

“You roll, young warlock.”

“I’ve tried that!”

“Well, then you must not’ve tried hard enough.”

Trying to roll over and failing miserably in front of the Great Dragon is possibly one of the most humiliating things you can do. Especially when you’re exerting yourself because you’ve never had a dragon body before and you’re making all sorts of embarrassing grunts and squeals. Merlin doesn’t recommend it.

Eventually, Merlin stops, panting and looking back at Kilgharrah who looks all too pleased with himself. “Are you just going to stand there?”

“Did you need something?”

“Help me!”

“All you had to do was ask, young warlock.”

Merlin wisely bites back the many insults on his tongue and rolls again. This time, Kilgharrah sticks his nose under the flap of Merlin’s wing and pushes him over with a graceless thump. Merlin shakes himself.

“Thanks.”

“But of course. You know I live to serve you.”

“Have you gotten more sarcastic or have we not spoken in a while?”

“That is an answer you must seek for yourself.”

“You’re still as vague, good, I was beginning to think you were some other dragon.”

“There are no other dragons,” Kilgharrah says softly, suddenly growing serious, “at least…there were no other dragons.”

He inclines his head, moving with a grace that shows unlike Merlin, Kilgharrah understands his body.

“What happened, Merlin?”

Merlin explains.

“That was very brave, young warlock.”

“You can say stupid.”

“That was very stupid, Merlin.”

“Yeah, well.” Merlin kicks a rock next to him. “What else is new?”

“I must say,” Kilgharrah muses, looking him over, “you are not an unhealthy dragon.”

“That is…a compliment? I think?”

“Well, typically when it comes to anamorphic magic, it does not perform…nearly this successfully.” Kilgharrah nudges Merlin’s wing with the tip of his snout. “I suspect it is because you are magic that you have transformed so completely.”

“And also why I’m still able to talk?”

“Precisely.”

“Great.” Merlin snuffles a little. Wow, he can smell a whole lot more. “So how do we fix it?”

“Unfortunately, anamorphic magic is…temperamental.”

“Okay, so I can still speak normally, which means it’s not a dragon thing to speak in vague stupid cryptic sentences. Speak normally.”

“Your tongue is still as sharp as ever.”

“Well, now that I’m not a tiny human anymore—“

“Most humans are tiny.”

“Kilgharrah.”

Kilgharrah sighs. Ooh, he’s gotta show Merlin how to do that so he can still sigh. He misses that. “It will take time. From what you described, the spell was not completed, which means it will only last as long as the magic holds.”

“And how long is that?”

“Perhaps until the next full moon.” That’s only a week and a bit away. That’s not so bad.

“So what do I do until then?”

“You never did learn how to hunt with Arthur, did you?”

If you told Merlin he would be spending a week with Kilgharrah learning how to be a dragon and actually enjoying himself while doing it, he would have laughed, slammed the door in your face, and muttered some spell to make you trip as you walked away.

And yet, here we are.

Merlin does always insist that they stay close to the clearing. If someone comes back, he doesn’t want them to worry. Kilgharrah just shakes his head and tosses him another deer. Merlin can sigh now! That’s nice. His body doesn’t feel so itchy all the time either. His head doesn’t feel like a ridiculous weight anymore. His wings feel right. It’s not bad, this whole being-a-dragon business.

There’s still something wrong though.

That pain he had in his chest when the knights first left hasn’t gone away. It feels like he’s missing something. Sometimes when he lies down he rests his head on the ground too, tries to press his chest to the earth as much as possible. See if there’s something he can slot back into place. Nothing ever works.

Kilgharrah, for once, isn’t being cryptic when he says he genuinely doesn’t know what’s wrong. But he does rest his head on Merlin’s back. That feels nice and warm.

He doesn’t trust himself enough to try and breathe fire.

Two days before the spell is supposed to wear off, the pain spikes. In an instant, Merlin crumbles to the ground and whines. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.

“Merlin,” Kilgharrah rumbles, at his side in an instant, “Merlin, what is wrong?”

“M-my chest, I can’t, I—it hurts—“

“Where is it coming from, young warlock?”

“I just told you—!”

“No,” Kilgharrah says sharply, “where?”

Merlin opens his mouth to snap back when he feels a line in his chest yank taut.

Oh.

With two flaps of his wings, Merlin is airborne. The line pulls him over the trees, out of the forest, toward the castle in the distance. Camelot.

Arthur.

Of bloody course it’s Arthur. What else could it be? As he flies, Merlin racks his brain trying to think of what’s happening, what could be hurting Arthur, what’s going on—

Right. There’s a bloody tournament going on.

What is it about tournaments that make every single magic-user with a grudge against Uther come out of the woodwork?

…well…

There’s the arena. People are fleeing in droves. Merlin tucks his wings and dives, thankful to the lessons Kilgharrah gave him. He spots Arthur, he spots Uther—

He spots a wave of soldiers in black armor surrounding Arthur on all sides. Their blades gleam in the light. Magic crackles around them. Arthur is bleeding.

Not on his watch.

Merlin opens his mouth.

A dozen soldiers melt away like dew as he bathes them in fire, the black armor vanishing. Another dozen vanish as torrents of flame spill from his throat, mouth open in a righteous scream. Arthur whirls around to look. His cry of surprise is lost in the roar of the dragon’s wings. Uther’s face is pale. Another jet of fire incinerates the knights as Merlin lands with a thud in front of Arthur.

A knight charges him. Merlin whips his tail around and swipes four of them off their feet. Another one launches a spear at him and lodges itself in his wing. Merlin cries out and lunges forward. The armor tastes salty. The other knight is torched before he has a chance to throw the spear.

At his side, Arthur seems to snap out of his stupor, brandishing his sword and fighting off one of the last remaining knights. Merlin gets his snout underneath another and throws him into the distance. He swings his head around like a hammer and slams two more into the arena wall.

The last one—well, he just screams at the last one.

It seems to do the trick; the armor falls apart in a series of heavy clanks.

Merlin stops, panting heavily. There’s still a spear lodged in his side and it burns. Arthur is safe. That’s all that matters. Arthur is safe.

“…Merlin?”

Merlin turns his head, his head hanging low. Arthur stands there, covered in blood, but alive, and holds out his hand.

Merlin lays his head on the ground and closes his eyes.

Arthur reaches out.

A soft glove lands on Merlin’s cheek. Rubs his scales softy. Merlin purrs.

“Hello, Merlin,” Arthur murmurs, too quiet for anyone else to hear, “welcome back.”

“Kill it!”

Ah, yes, right. Uther.

“No!”

Arthur’s cry forces Merlin’s eyes open, spotting Gwaine, Lancelot, Leon, Percival, Elyan, all writing spears and javelins away from other knights. A sharp pain comes from his side and he turns to see Arthur trying to pull the spear out. He has to brace his foot against Merlin’s side to get out. Arthur tosses it away and holds his hand over the wound. Thankfully it seems like it just lodged in between two scales, Merlin’s not bleeding too much.

“Father,” Arthur pants, “Father we can’t kill it.”

“It’s a dragon, Arthur!”

“And it just saved our lives!”

“It’s nothing but a beast,” Uther snarls, seemingly regaining some of his composure as he spews his hateful speech from his comfortable box, “mindless and hungry. It will kill us all!”

“Does it look like it’s about to kill us?”

No, no it most certainly does not, thank you very much.

Arthur glances between the two of them, before leaning in close to Merlin.

“Fly back to the clearing, we’ll meet you there.”

Merlin turns his head. Arthur stares at him insistently.

“Go!”

He takes off, hearing Arthur’s long, fake cries about how they will chase after him, slay him, for the good of Camelot. He smiles and lands in the clearing. Kilgharrah is gone. Well, that’s kind of to be expected, isn’t it? He thinks a message of gratitude, hoping it will reach him, wherever he is. He doesn’t get a verbal reply, but a warm spark of magic spreads over his damaged scales and he smiles.

Sure enough, the knights crash through the brush a few moments later, Arthur scrambling off his horse and up to Merlin.

“You,” he says, grinning breathlessly, “are an idiot.”

“Idiot dragon,” Merlin corrects, “who just saved your arse.”

“That was so cool,” Gwaine crows, “you—“

“Yes, yes,” Percival mutters, “you’ve been saying that since we left.”

“They’re a bit excited, Merlin,” Lancelot chuckles, “forgive them.”

“…it is pretty cool,” Merlin admits.

“Are you hurt?” Arthur glances over at his side. “You were hit.”

“I think it’s healed up pretty well.”

“We, er, weren’t able to find a way to fix you.”

“I think it’ll wear off by the next full moon.”

“How would you know?”

Merlin gives Arthur a look that’s definitely just a rip off of Kilgharrah’s. “I know many things, young king.”

“You stop that right now.”

“So,” Elyan muses, “two days?”

Merlin nods.

“Camping trip, boys!”

Gwaine’s holler makes the rest of them laugh and they quickly go about setting up camp. Merlin bows his head to carefully light the fire as the knights make themselves comfortable. It’s not so bad, actually, out here in the clearing with them. Arthur leaning up against his chest, Lancelot by his side. Leon tosses him a large chunk of meat as Percival watches. Elyan double-checks his side and pronounces him all clear.

Yeah. Being a dragon isn’t so bad.

“I get a ride before you turn back, right?”

“Gwaine!”

#merlin #bbc merlin #merlin bbc #merthur #merthur fic #arthur 'disaster bi' pendragon #dragonbabbles #fic

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uniasus · 4 years ago

Text

While technically a very delayed day 12 for summer of whump, the ‘reliving your death’ part turned into something much bigger.

BBC Merlin, Mordred POV. Read here or the whole 2K on Ao3.

-----

Mordred remembered it all. They all do, obviously, even if the memories didn’t kick back into place until they all sat around the new round table. He could tell by how the other knights – could he even call himself a knight? - shot him shy glances.

The worse was the small looks Leon or Guinevere gave him. Every time their eyes slide his way Mordred remembered locking eyes with Arthur and sliding his sword through the king's gut. Arthur had been too stunned to see him he hadn't brought up his sword to defend. And Mordred, too stunned at actually running his old liege lord through, had similarly put up no defense with Arthur returned the favor.

Arthur might acknowledge the complicated situation that led them to Camlann, saw the path that led Morgana there, Mordred there, Arthur and all the knights, but it was Mordred that essentially prevented Arthur’s Golden Age. Worse, as Mordred watched Merlin serve them all lemonade, saw his flinch, learned that the other man had the same justification for violence as Mordred and didn't take it, Mordred knew he could have chosen not to wield that dragon-forged sword.

Even knighted, he was still a child, wasn't he? Acting on impulses, putting his needs and wants first despite the oath he'd taken. Once, he had sat at Arthur's Round Table. Had been so proud to be among such renowned men. Now, he felt ashamed. Unworthy.

Arthur sat tall in his seat, a man more understanding and compassionate than Mordred could ever be, completely unbothered by sharing a table with his killer.

And worse, behind him stood Merlin, Emrys, the man Mordred had wanted to impress above all others, the man who had faced the same trials and chose the opposite choice every single time.

I shouldn't be here, Mordred ran a finger along the edge of this new, modern table. Yet, he didn't know where else to go.

Mordred stayed close to the group, but out of the way for the rest of the day. The new knight, or new to him would be a better term for Lancelot, and Mordred absorbed the stories the other told, completing each other's histories. In explaining Camlann to Lancelot and Elyan, Arthur made no effort to hide the fact that he died on Mordred's sword. But the king – ex-king? – glossed over the event and Leon took over, explaining how an aggressive Essetir had forced the druids into Camelot, Camelot's alliance with the druids, and the ensuing war that united Essetir and Camelot into a single kingdom.

Leon spoke of Merlin fighting with the knights, of marrying Guinevere, and Percival took up the tale of Merlin's kingship and how Camelot flowered.

Guinevere, by that point, had disappeared, but Mordred could tell Arthur wished desperately to find her.

Mordred, for his part, sat silently on the floor of the room and listened to what sounded like a truly Golden Age for Albion. A sorcerer-king. Magic helping the kingdom grow. Acceptance, or progress toward it.

It wasn’t anything like the prophecies had led him to believe it would be like.

It was better.

He hated himself so much for having missed it and dreamed of how it could have been with the Once and Future King at the helm.

Mordred woke with the sun, the magic of the Earth waking in the light and stirring his own mind. He blinked, not understanding the ceiling above him before his memories caught up.

Arthur’s knights, Mordred included, had risen again to aid with an unknown threat.

Groaning, he sat up. His sleep hadn’t been peaceful between thoughts and dreams and the unfamiliar bed, but he was up and there was nothing for it. Might as well go outside and enjoy a bit of peace.

Merlin’s house was larger, a castle in its own right, though it seemed to be made of less sturdy material. No stone here, but he appreciated the smoothness of the walls and floor.

Downstairs, he wondered trying to find the door that opened to the garden with the table in it. Thankfully, the first floor was smaller than the second one. He found the strange clear door that let outside, but he found his attention caught by Merlin.

He stood in the strange modern kitchen, leaning against the center island and looking out the window into the nearby woods. His fingers played with a coin and it was obvious he wasn’t thinking about what he was doing, yet items move through the kitchen guided by his magic.

On the counter beside Merlin, a large bag of herbs was tipped into a small metal strainer. The strainer then gently inserted itself into the mouth of a teapot, which itself silently floated out of a cabinet to land on the center island.

It was such an effortless use of magic, maintaining several spells at once, and Merlin – no, Emrys, he really was Emrys in this moment – didn't seem to know he was doing it. How had he looked in Camelot, as its sorcerer-king? Even as Mordred thought it, a stray sunbeam brushed Merlin’s brow through the window, making his skin glow to match the steady glow in his eyes.

Instantly, Mordred dropped to his knee. The desire was instinctual, automatic. Before him was a warlock in command of more power than anyone else would have, who ruled Camelot for forty years. This man, with his sharp face, wise eyes, and deep magic, could rule the world if he wanted. And because he didn’t, people had loved and trusted him.

“I’m sorry,” Mordred choked out.

Emrys started, turning to see Mordred kneeling on the floor, kitchen items frozen where they were. Mordred couldn’t see his face, eyes on the floor.

“What are you sorry for?”

“For killing your king.”

“Are you really sorry for that? Would you have done anything different that day?” Emrys’s voice was dry, flat.

Mordred cast his mind back and found the answer. Yet even as he did, he knew it wouldn’t make a difference. For him, the murder of Arthur had been days ago. For Emrys, over a thousand years had passed.

Emrys seemed to think the same. He gave a deep sigh and Mordred looked up at him. He looked tired, worn. The pressure of figuring out what had called the knights back? The return of knights? The glances Arthur had sent his way all last night, watching Gwen and Emrys interact? Did he even sleep last night?

“You can stand, Mordred. You never did anything else in Camelot anyway, no need to change it. I was going to have tea outside. Join me?” As he said it, the magic in the room faded and the royal aura that had filled the kitchen drained away. Merlin physically moved around the space, pulling out mugs to place on a tray along with several other items. Mordred watched, the man before him now no more than a physician's assistant or servant preparing something for his master. It grated in a way seeing the same thing in Camelot never did.

Probably because, Mordred thought, he now knew how high Merlin could climb.

Mordred hurried to open the door to the back garden. Merlin nodded in thanks as he led the way, heading not to the large stone table he’d anchored his spell to but a small table surrounded by a bountiful herb garden. He took one chair, Mordred the other, and Mordred hurried to pour the tea before Merlin could. Merlin rolled his eyes, but let him.

“The answer is no, isn’t it?” Merlin asked, stirring honey in his mug.

“Yes. I... am sorry. I’m sorry I never got to see the Golden Age. I’m sorry things happened the way they did. But if I was thrust back to that day, I think I would still do it. I don’t... I don’t understand why you didn’t.”

“Didn’t do what?”

“Kill him yourself. Arthur killed Kara. And he killed someone you love too.”

Merlin stared into his tea, face blank. He’d been fairly easy to read in Camelot, but Mordred had also seen him pretend nothing was a miss more than once. His years as king must have given him a lot of opportunities to practice controlling his emotions and how to display them.

“Arthur was involved in the death of several people I loved, but as I love him too and understood his choices, I couldn’t hurt him in return. I was made aware of the prophecies soon after my arrival to Camelot, and it didn’t take me long to learn how strong those prophecies are.”

He sighed and locked eyes with Mordred. “I tried to stop several prophecies and failed each time. They can perhaps be delayed, but they will happen. I came to terms long ago that Camlann was supposed to happen, that nothing I could have done would have stopped that. You can’t apologize for that, Mordred. You would have always done it, whether you wanted to or not. Destiny is not something you can escape. Weirdly enough, that has given me a sense of comfort.”

"Because they said you’d see Arthur again,” Mordred guessed.

“Yes. While it didn’t happen the way anyone expected, Arthur shepherded in the Golden Age. He had stopped prosecuting magic, he’d set Camelot on the path to accept it again. He had allies, shaped Gwen and Leon and me into who we needed to be. We built Camelot with Arthur in mind, always imagining what he would want, what he would say or do. And -” here Merlin winced, “I don’t think that Golden Age would have happened if Arthur had lived. There are things Gwen and I did he would have not.

“I’m not offering you forgiveness, Mordred, if that’s what you’re looking for. This morning. But I don’t think I can blame you either, any more than I blame Arthur for a number of things. Especially considering you’re here. You hate it.”

Mordred grimaced. He did hate it. Hated knowing what he missed, knowing that Arthur had thought highly of him up to the end, hated that he didn’t deserve any of what the two kings of Camelot offered yet desired all the same.

“There are no prophecies now though,” Merlin continued. “I have heard nothing spoken of since before Camlann, and crystals or pools that might give me a vision have not. Do you know what that means?”

Mordred shook his head.

“It means Destiny is not guiding our actions. Your path might have been pre-ordained in Camelot, but they’re not in Britain. I will a hundred percent blame, judge, and punish you for things that happen from here on out."

“I understand, Emrys.”

“Good.”

“And Arthur?”

“What about him?”

“If Arthur was destined to die at Camlann, if he was never supposed to helm the Golden Age of his kingdom, never be a champion of magic, you can’t fully blame him for his actions then. But now that he knows things? Knows better? Are you going to hold him accountable?”

Merlin froze, mug an inch from his mouth, before setting it down on the table between them. “I’ll teach him, I suspect I won’t be the only one. But I’m not going to judge him until he makes a choice. I can’t hold him accountable for the past, Mordred. But yes, like you, his fresh start began yesterday.”

Mordred frowned, thinking of what he learned in Camelot, what he learned last night. “I can’t follow him, not like he used to. Maybe it was Destiny, maybe it wasn’t, but it still hurts. But Merlin, Emrys, knowing what you have done, knowing what you can do -”

“Arthur’s the Once and Future King, Mordred.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s why he rose.”

His tone was final, but Mordred had never heard the actual words of the prophecy. Had Arthur risen because of Albion’s need? Or had something else triggered Merlin’s spell? Was the one who rose the Once and Future King, or was that title separate from Arthur’s destiny? Was now even the ‘future’ of the Once and Future King? Maybe in another five hundred years, Merlin would wear another crown.

In his past life, Mordred had followed Arthur because of the hope he stood for, because he had Emrys at his back. In this life, why not follow Emrys himself? He had the track record Arthur lacked.

#bbc merlin #fic rec #summerofwhump #summerofwhump12 #death #add a seat to the table #my fanfiction #mordred #merlin emrys

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somelazyassartist · 3 years ago

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Is there a single leader, multiple, or are decisions made by the people? If the former, how are the leaders chosen? If the latter, how are decisions made?

Okay okay okay look okay this. This is probably the thing I worked on most so far so I'm. VERY excited. But also I wrote half of this when I was like half-asleep and the other half right after I woke up so if it doesn't make any sense, feel free to ask for clarification and I can elaborate. Also I'm gonna name drop like a LOT of characters so if you wanna hear more about any of them feel free to ask. Okay okay okay.

So basically, most Fey follow an Archfey of sorts, but they still have their own civilizations and kingdoms with rulers- they just are always one rank below the Faerie Queens. But yeah yeah yeah, okay there are definitely some places in the Feywild where decisions are made by the people, but we're specifically talking about "The Three Kingdoms" so like. They're kingdoms lmao.

Okay so first of all, you need some backstory,,, The Three Kingdoms used to be one Kingdom, ruled by Zacria Xulaphani. Zacria is a LeShay, a powerful and immortal Elf-Like Fey creature of extraordinary power. Back thousands of years ago, the Forces of Darkness (I haven't come up with a better name for it yet that's just a placeholder, but it's an army of evil Fey, demons, Fomorians, and other such things that were trying to make a second(?) attempt at taking over the Feywild) banded together to try to take down one of the most prominent kingdoms within the Feywild to show their power and to scare other smaller rulers to just give in, because if Zacria's army couldn't stop them then nobody could. Zacria was vastly outnumbered, so she sent recruiters out to the Material Plane to try to see if anyone would volunteer to help with their plight (which is when Evalur and Keanan came to the Feywild, they willingly volunteered when they were only kids not understanding how serious it really was), and split the Kingdom into three separate ones so that she could have ⅔ more time to focus on fighting the war. She took over the section she called Shylha Dorthore, appointed the head of her royal guard, Briarloch Von Birus III, as the King of Arran Thalas, and appointed her royal advisor, Morsandoral Telloxia, as the Ruler of Maethveserine.

Long, long, VERY long story short, Zacria and her armies won and drove back their attackers into the Feydark, but it was a pretty close call, and Zacria didn't get out of the fight unscathed. During a confrontation with one of the more powerful demons they were up against, she was cursed (though she never told the public what exactly the details of said curse were to try to avoid causing a panic). When the war ended she decided to step down from ruling altogether, though the people weren't happy with that for a number of reasons, so she came up with a compromise of sorts. She'd still step down from being Queen, and somebody else would take her place to rule, but she set up a system to make sure there was extra protection put in place to keep the people safe from if there ever was an attack against the kingdom again. She set up a court of mages, twelve extremely powerful individuals with a rank only below that of their ruler themselves, who would each guard one of the twelve factions of Shylha Dorthore. The members have changed many times over the thousands of years it's been since it was established (only Zacria can remember who her original eleven partners were, it's been so long even Evalur can't remember them fully), but it always stays in the same pattern: 3 Bards, 2 Clerics, 1 Druid, 1 Paladin, 3 Sorcerers, and 2 Wizards. Zacria still has some power over one of the factions, as she is one of the three Bards in the court, but she is no longer a Queen and has much less influence than she did during the war.

Okay okay so that's like. The history of how Sylha Dorthore, Arran Thalas, and Maethveserine came to be. I already had a lot of stuff written down in a Google Doc so here's just a copy and paste of how the court of mages functions:

"Shylha Dorthore's court of mages are a group of twelve extremely powerful magic users, always consisting of 3 Bards, 2 Clerics, 1 Druid, 1 Paladin, 3 Sorcerers, and 2 Wizards, regardless of how often the individual members change. They act as advisors to the rulers, and help with any magic-related issues in the Kingdom. Each one lives in and protects one of the twelve factions of Shylha Dorthore, though all answer to the ruler and must be willing to drop everything to go to the castle at a moments notice if the need arises. They answer only to the ruler and each other, and to the common folk they may as well be rulers themselves. While some more corrupt individuals may try to get this title to abuse its power, the other members can step in and stop them if they truly must, and if the people don't like the current mage in charge they're more likely to try to replace them with someone else, so corrupt individuals never seem to stick around for long. The members can all be individually replaced whenever someone proves that they are more powerful than them by beating them in a magic duel; however the new person trying to get the role must be the same class as the current member they are fighting, to keep order. However, trials aren't too common as long as the people like the mage protecting them, and the current twelve members have never lost a fight to anyone outside their own court and may arguably be the most powerful magic users (that are not Archfey) within any of The Three Kingdoms. The current mages that are present today are: Fensira Rosebrush (Bard), Zacria Xulaphani (Bard), Falias Crimsoncrest (Bard), Tavmendi Dawnheart (Cleric), Quicksilver Dazzledance (Cleric), Dos'run Oakenpelt (Druid), Araquiel (Paladin), Stargazer Bluebeauty (Sorcerer), Urirel Starbrook (Sorcerer), Perlamin Wosantavir (Sorcerer), Enrona Eysiith (Wizard), and Xichikh Reetshe (Wizard)"

And here's a copy and paste of how determining new rulers works:

"Arran Thalas, Maethveserine, and Shylha Dorthore all have very different ways of determining new rulers when one is no longer fit. In Arran Thalas, the title is passed down by the current ruler to somebody they see fit, regardless of whether or not they have a familial connection (though it can often be their own family members if that's who they truly see fit to rule), and they start preparing as soon as they are coronated in case anything happens to them, and it's normal for the chosen person to change many times (the one currently listed at the time of the current ruler's death is the one that takes over). Maethveserine has a very similar way of doing things as Arran Thalas, but assassinations are a lot more common so rulers change incredibly frequently, though some do manage to rule for quite a while. In Shylha Dorthore, if a ruler is dying of old age, the title will go to the strongest in their guard so that they can protect their Kingdom if need be- but that is fairly rare; a ruler will be forced to step down on the 100 year anniversary of their coronation and will celebrate with a public viewing of the fight for the new ruler; the court of mages that the ruler has will all battle each other with wondrous feats of magic, and the winner (or possibly only survivor, if the others are so desperate for the throne they resort to murder, though typically the games are treated more like a friendly sparring match. The smaller fights that happen when a new commonfolk tries to overthrow a single member of the order to take their place are far more likely to end in bloodshed) will inherit the throne until it's time for the next ruler to be crowned. Any mages that do not wish to rule/risk their life for the chance may step aside before the games even start and let the others fight for the title, though it is usually very rare for them to do so and more likely that they will be forced to step aside mid-fight if they realize they will lose or if they become too tired/injured to keep fighting. If the other members survive they will be healed, but anyone who dies during these trials will not be resurrected as necromancy is heavily frowned upon within the kingdom due to old superstitions left from the war."

I haven't quite come up with all the details for Maethveserine's current Queen, but the current King of Arran Thalas should be Evalur Braveheart (I'm pretty sure the timeline works out? I have to double check but as far as I can tell he's still ruling after all those thousands of years. Only Zacria knows he's cursed/a Warlock, and she helps him cover it up by having convinced the people that he's descended from LeShay so his long lifespan just comes from that- instead of the truth that he gets it from his Warlock patron). The current ruler of Sylha Dorthore is a very very young Fey Eladrin named Kaivara Ravennight.

#asks #worldbuilding #the three kingdoms #hallows #hallows nightbreeze #(i know she's not mentioned but it's her story so I'm tagging her anyways)

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merelliahallewell · 4 years ago

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An Order of Embers Roleplay Primer

Hello, friends. A while back I wrote a not-so-brief guide to Order of Embers roleplay that seemed to help a few people. MG’s Kul Tiras community has been growing lately and I’ve also founded a new guild and RP project set in Drustvar, and so I figured I would update this for clarity and ease of reading. In other words? I... am back on my bullshit.

This primer will be headcanon/fanon free, and only reference quest text or other information that can be found in-game in Drustvar. If headcanons are your thing, I’ll be releasing an in-character guide to Kul Tiras’s monsters and dark magic soon. I hope. It is the endless writing project.

Drustvar’s Woes

On Kul Tiras’ western side lies the mountainous region of Drustvar. It provides most of the island kingdom’s ore, some food, and some of their strongest warriors.

In recent times, a civil war raged across Kul Tiras. A secessionist, N’zoth-aligned faction run by Lord Stormsong in the north and an attempted coup led by Lady Ashvane in Boralus itself nearly toppled the Proudmoore Admiralty, but were stopped by brave souls. Drustvar was strangely absent from these conflicts, and many refugees spilled out into the rest of Kul Tiras telling frightening tales of “wooden demons” who had driven them from their homes.

Most of the land west of the mountains had fallen to a group of terrifying magic-users who enslaved the minds of all they came into contact with... if they didn’t kill them for sport or use them as reagent for foul and perverse rituals. The land east of the mountains was on the brink, as well. Corrupted wildlife roamed the woods freely and witches practiced their dark spellcraft freely, driving the remaining desperate souls into worship of the wickermen or into frenzied attempts to prosecute innocents for the crimes of the terrifying Heartsbane Coven. All of this happens before the player even arrives in Drustvar.

The Order of Embers

During the zone’s storyline, the player and Lucille Waycrest discover that the magic being used against the people of Drustvar is that of the ancient Drust, who were defeated thousands of years earlier by a group known as the Order of Embers. The Drust were a seafaring clan of Vrykul that eventually settled on Kul Tiras sometime after the Sundering. They developed druidic ways that brought them in tune with the land and even earned them the blessing of nature spirits, but those ways were perverted by a sorcerer-king who set the Drust upon the path of death and domination.

The old Order were comprised of those who took up arms against their far more powerful foes, exploiting weaknesses in Drust magic uncovered by scholars. The Waycrests were members of the ancient order, and it was Arom Waycrest himself who led the charge to defeat the Drust king Gorak Tul. In the cavern Gol Var, once a Drust stronghold, they recover an ancient tome known as the Tome of Silver and Ash, a treatise which contained all the old Order’s knowledge on combatting their magic.

In the town of Arom’s Stand, some of the Waycrest Guard’s finest remaining soldiers were recruited to become the reborn Order’s first Inquisitors. The newly-anointed inquisitors brought the fight to the Heartsbane from there.

The Order’s battles with the Heartsbane Coven play out over the latter half of the Drustvar questing experience and also the zone’s world quests. They add new members to their ranks, create new weapons for use against the Coven, and push back against them on all sides. Eventually, they storm Waycrest Manor, cutting off the head of the snake and defeating the Coven’s leadership. Gorak Tul was forced back into the death-realm of Thros, prevented from returning for the time being. (Tul was later killed in Thros during the Pride of Kul Tiras questline.)

It’s unclear how long it took to purge the Heartsbane from Drustvar- if the task was truly completed at all. Blizzard rarely addresses zone stories after the fact, which means the plot thread has been left hanging and was not addressed in any subsequent patches in BfA. The Order of Embers also assisted with the fight against the Horde during the Drustvar invasion.

It may be a reasonable inference that Drustvar is being repaired and de-cursed in the aftermath of the war, but that is not an easy task.

Who leads the Order of Embers? Does it have a hierarchy?

Lucille Waycrest- now the ruling Lady of Drustvar, and the last of her house, is in charge of the Order. All inquisitors are raised to their stations by the authority of House Waycrest. Other important figures are the remaining original inquisitors (Sterntide, Mace, Notley, and Yorrick), the quartermaster Alcorn, and Marshal Joan Cleardawn, a former inquisitor that was given new leadership over the Waycrest Guard.

The Order seems to lack much of a formal hierarchy- most of the named NPCs are simply titled with inquisitor, working together as a team rather than issuing commands to one another. They also seem to be adept at handling missions alone and on their own or with the aid of local allies.

Can I roleplay an inquisitor or other member of the Order of Embers? Is it lore-abiding to do so?

Sure! The Order didn’t stop at five inquisitors- a world quest boss for the Horde during the invasions has them facing off against a new Inquisitor named Erik. They also have a quartermaster and a cleric, which means there may be support staff involved that do not bear the big title but are still part of the group. The Order is probably not handing out inquisitor garb like candy, but there’s no reason to assume that a worthy and trusted individual wouldn’t be made an inquisitor.

However, it is worth mentioning that the Order of Embers might not be too trusting of those wielding or even infused with darker powers, given the devastation of their homeland by spellcasters wielding terrifying magic. That is just a guess on my part, but an educated one. Drustvar as a whole has a very low-magic culture.

Could a non-human join the order?

I don’t see why not, but there are no non-human methods ingame. I would never say that it is lore-breaking to roleplay a nonhuman as an Inquisitor, just that there’s no real in-game basis to make this judgement on either way. If you want to roleplay an inquisitor that’s not human and you think you have solid IC reasoning: go for it!

Obviously, the Order of Embers may be more hesitant to accept, say, a void-infused elf with tentacle hair or a worgen warlock as an inquisitor than a race they’re more familiar with such as a sturdy dwarf or genius gnome. Ability to serve House Waycrest and being of aid against the Heartsbane are likely strong factors in joining up- they may not make a person an inquisitor if they’re a night elf sorcerer that’s been in Kul Tiras for two weeks and hasn’t ever seen a witch in his life.

Initiation Ceremony

To become a member of the Order of Embers, the initiate undergoes a short ritual where they are presented with their garb.

Brothers and Sisters, today you become the searing fire that burns away the darkness.

Today you become the shining blade that cuts through the wicked.

Today you become the beacon of hope against the endless foe.

By the authority of House Waycrest, I name you inquisitors of the Order of Embers!

Clothing and Armor

Upon being appointed to their new stations, inquisitors are offered a set of garb inspired by drawings in the Tome of Silver and Ash of what the ancient inquisitors wore. This armor seems to be dark brown leather gear and also has a feathered cap involved- though only one of the inquisitors seems to have chosen to wear that accessory. The specific in-game set is the “Armor of the Dashing Scoundrel,” which comes from Antorus. It drops from the heroic difficulty of the raid. It should be noted you don’t need the whole set- each inquisitor wears different pieces of it and matches them with other clothing or armor pieces. The hat also has a chance to drop from the Commodore Calhoun rare in Vol’dun. Not sure if it would drop for non leather users, so be careful.

Don’t feel like you have to be a rogue to play an Inquisitor- going for tones of brown with some silver or grey mixed in will likely net you a pretty good-looking set. There are Kul Tiran questing and dungeon plate sets that look fantastic and are worn by Waycrest Guard/Marshal NPCs that would work great as an inquisitor’s battle armor.

The Order also has a tabard, which is worn by the quartermaster who sells it. While no inquisitors actually seem to wear it, it’s one of the better-looking tabards added that expansion and has a distinctive look. It matches well with just about any gear that has brown or tones of silver/grey.

If you’re looking for some transmog ideas, this is a link to the Order of Embers mogs on /r/transmogrification. There is a super sweet plate set OoE set on there that actually won Best Dressed of 2018 for that armor class.

If you’re looking for a great Order of Embers-type transmog, the Leather PvP set from Shadowlands’ first season really hits those vibes. It has a very witch hunter theme to it, is colored largely brown, and the belt has fucking potions and silver spikes on it for use on... enemies. I cannot understate how badass this set is. The best part? It is not class locked, meaning that this armor is available to anybody that can wear leather gear, if you toggle the vendor pane to show “all classes.” However, it does cost Conquest points (and a lot of them), so you may want to be picky with what you grab unless you don’t intend to gear through PVP this season. We don’t know if it will be available after the season ends, so you may want to pick that up soon if it’s your thing. Also, it’s just a nice-looking coat and we don’t have a lot of those in-game.

Weaponry

The inquisitors of the Order of Embers wield a number of different weapons, taken from their prior occupation as members of the Waycrest Guard. Everything from two-handed swords to crossbows are used by them- and that’s just primary weapons. Their armor features throwing knives as well. Inquisitor Mace even carries a trio of daggers sheathed at her belt- it seems they have no shortage of tools for dispatching foes with.

Players who have completed the zone’s Bleak Hills Mine quests also have a buff called Silvered Weapons. Silver can disrupt the magics of the Drust, and stun abberations, elementals, and undead in the zone. This is an inference, but it may be because all of those monster types in Drustvar are powered by this magic. The silver recovered from one of the region’s mines was used to begin producing weapons for the Order such as the silver-plated hand cannon Witchrend, which seems to shoot silver shrapnel to great effect against the Heartsbane.

It should be pointed out that silver is a shitty metal to make a weapon out of. It is not half as strong as steel or whatever else they make weapons out of in Azeroth. The original Order of Embers got around this fact by making weapons with a steel core and covering them with a layer of pure silver- you find one of their long-abandoned knives out in the world.

Other universes have done similar things with silver weapons- D&D has a ruling about silvered weapons, and The Witcher series has a whole class of silver swords created with special forging techniques. It may be wise to take a page from the latter universe, as Witchers face the same issue regarding silver’s weakness as a weapon. They get around that by carrying two swords- one for men, the other for monsters. I’m not telling you that you should roleplay a Witcher but I am saying that’s kind of half the reason we’re here, so it might be okay to borrow that idea since they face that very legitimate problem with a smart solution.

Storm Silver is a metal found abundantly in Kul Tiras, and is used for building ships, making armor light enough to swim in, and consecrating for various uses by Tidesages. It is likely not the same as pure silver, but we don’t have explicit confirmation either way.

Alchemical fire is also a potent weapon against witches and Drust alike, crafted by Master Ashton. The original text specifically says it was used to “burn away the Drust.” This concoction is tricky to make, requiring the reagents Heartbloom, Saltpeter, volatile sap, and Sulfur. The fire is carried in a reinforced flask that is made to withstand the test of time, able to hold the volatile components without igniting. Inquisitors use alchemical fire to pour over dangerous objects or to shift into more breakable containers for throwing. This is seen in the Gorak Tul fight, when alchemical fire is put into flasks which are shattered over the corpses of his minions to prevent them from rising again.

It isn’t addressed whether magical fire has the same effect as this alchemical concoction. A fire mage, destruction warlock, or priest wielding holy fire might be a neat character concept to bring to the table for an order that doesn’t have a lot of magic.

Rowan wood is also useful against Drust magic. However, it is not specified how exactly it is helpful. Rowan trees don’t grow in Kul Tiras, so an inquisitor seeking that wood would need to travel overseas for such a reagent. It could, however, be extremely helpful and far cheaper than making a silver weapon.

Non-inquisitor Roles

If you find the Order of Embers cool, but don’t think you like the idea of hunting witches all day, they have more than just inquisitors. The witch hunters rely on specialists to help them get the tools they need to beat back the Heartsbane, and even simply through the questing experience they gather new allies. The blacksmith Angus Ballaster and the alchemist Master Ashton both are essentials. As mentioned before, they are also joined by a cleric, Loriette. A skilled smith or alchemist could find work alongside the Order of Embers, perhaps helping to craft more weapons for them or concocting potions for use in the field.

Allies

The witch hunters are not the only ones out to defend their homes- they are joined by a plethora of others trying to protect the region. Whether you believe the Coven is still an active threat or not, these are still the most common friends an Inquisitor may find in the field.

Waycrest Guard - The Waycrest Guard are Drustvar’s chief protectors, but lost many of their members to the mind-enslaving curse of the Heartsbane. They work alongside the Order of Embers in the Drustvar quests. The original inquisitors are all drawn from the Waycrest Guard, so the Order has deep ties with them. It appears largely as if the Guard protect the settlements, and the inquisitors are the ones striking deep into enemy territory. They could be called to do heavier lifting when the Order alone cannot do the job.

Town Militia - With much of the Waycrest Guard falling under the control of the Coven, the towns of Drustvar were forced to look to their own defenses, such as in Falconhurst and Fletcher’s Hollow. Ordinary citizens have bravely taken up arms in defense of their homes, and the aid of a skilled inquisitor would likely be welcomed. Even with the witches defeated, it’s likely some militia still protect their towns.

Thornspeakers - The Thornspeakers are a faction of Drust and human druids that live out in Drustvar’s woods and mountains. They are led by Ulfar, the last living Drust and the leader of the faction that sided with the humans against their own kind. The Thornspeakers seem to congregate at Ulfar’s Den along the eastern side of the mountains, but watch over all of Drustvar and Tiragarde. They work hard to maintain the balance in nature, and have allies in the mysterious pair of stags that roam the forests...

Drustvar Rangers - Though they only appeared in a few brief quests supporting the Thornspeakers, Drustvar seems to have a number of woodsmen trying to do their part to protect their home. They do not seem to be magical or anything, just some normal folks

Notes, RP hooks, Excess Lore, etc

The Order of Embers is based out of Arom’s Stand in central Drustvar. The building Lucille occupies is possibly their headquarters. They also may use Gol Koval as a base of operations.

Onions seem to be anathema to the witches and their servants.

Witches have been observed to call upon Drust magic without the Coven’s assent- once by a rejected witch in Drustvar, and again in Tiragarde at the Algerson Yard. This could open up the possibility of inquisitors venturing outside Drustvar to battle new threats. Additionally, it seems as if there may be some witches left as of the Shadowlands quests that take you back to Drustvar, so the hunt may not be over.

The Drust themselves have invaded Ardenweald from Thros. Whether it’s Drust artifacts/contraband making their way into Azeroth of the Drust themselves trying a full-on invasion through the yawning portal into Thros that was left unresolved in BfA, there’s a ton of possible plot threads that can be picked up related to them. A journey into the afterlife wouldn’t even be out of the question, since common citizens make it to Oribos and there is talk of mortals being able to join covenants. The Night Fae would be in dire need of a bold soul bearing flame and silver to drive back their foes and protect the cycle of life and death.

The Holy Light may be used by some members of the Order of Embers. Inquisitor Erik uses holy spells for his attacks when engaged by Horde players, and Cleric Loriette casts a fiery blessing on players who have unlocked her, a spell type usually reserved for priests. She’s also a cleric which usually implies the Light in this universe. A Light-wielding inquisitor is not out of the question, it seems, especially since Drustvar seems to have some ties to the Light if you look into it.

Despite the possibility of Drustvari Light-wielding inquisitors, this is not the same situation as the Scarlet Crusade. The Order of Embers is not a holy or religious order. It owes allegiance to House Waycrest. Religious zealotry is not on their menu. Per the faction description, the Order of Embers fights with knowledge guiding their blades.

It’s unlikely the Order would be suspicious of magic-users such as druids or shamans, given that they share a continent with Thornspeakers, Tidesages, and even mages (even if those are offscreen). They would have to be a pretty poor inquisitor to confuse the magics of their allies with that of Drust magic, so don’t go inquisitioning random magic users.

This isn’t really anything to do with canon, but please don’t use the Order of Embers to live out really fringe stuff with purging ‘heretics’ or being racist at elves or what have you. The community has a history with seeing that sort of stuff in inquisitor characters and it is unlikely to earn you a super great reception if you choose to roleplay that.

Further Reading (Fanon and out-of-WoW information)

This blog post goes over some potential processes for silvering and what happens when these weapons are used on creatures averse to silver.

Matt Mercer has created an interesting Dungeons & Dragons class called the Blood Hunter (which used to be called Witch Hunter.) It provides some interesting ideas that could be brought into an inquisitor character, especially one that might be interested in wielding darker magics to counter evil powers. You can view the class on D&D Beyond, or read the old Witch Hunter PDF which is a prior draft.

I recently did a huge series of writeups on the Drust, the Order of Embers’ perennial foe. If you’re wanting something to face off against or just want to know your lore, you can give these a read!

The Drust Background - - The Drust in BfA - - The Drust in Ardenweald

Night Fae Campaign (1) - - Night Fae Campaign (2)

- - - - - -

I hope this post was helpful to anybody who’s feeling like trying out this sort of roleplay! It’s terribly long-winded but I wanted to do my best to cover all of the information out there. If you’d like to reach out to me about this topic or roleplay with an inquisitor, I play the character “Inquisitrix” mainly on both Moon Guard and sometimes “Merciella” on Wyrmrest Accord.

If you’re looking for Order of Embers-themed roleplay and you play on Moon Guard, the guild <Silver and Ash> might be what you’re looking for, as they roleplay a group of inquisitors! On Wyrmrest Accord, there is a small interguild community called the Hex Hunter’s Society that I believe may be active still. If you’re looking for other Kul Tiran-type roleplay or want to put an inquisitor in a different environment, there are a few other guilds out there that utilize Kul Tiras on both Wyrmrest and Moon Guard. Happy hunting!

#Drustvar #Order of Embers #Roleplay Guide #Lore Dump #Please come roleplay in Drustvar #Join Autumnhearth too #Kul Tiras #Drust #Heartsbane Coven

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rosemaidenvixen · 4 years ago

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In the Fullness of Time

Chapter 1: Today

When a fight leads to unintentional magical consequences, Douxie has a painful secret exposed. Prompting him to share part of his past to his friends.

Or, the tale of how Merlin and Douxie first met.

Ao3

Halfway through watching Wizards for the first time, I came up with an idea for how Merlin and Douxie met. I liked it so much that it stuck with me even after I saw their canon meeting, so here we are. For the sake of this story Merlin didn't die, and they were able to defeat Bellroc and Skrael by locking them in the Darklands (and while I'm at it Draal is alive and is spending his honeymoon with Nomura wrestling alligators in the New Jersey sewers).

Shout out to @yellowmagicalgirl for giving me the kick in the pants to get this story off the ground and @archaeopter-ace for the title.

Douxie ducked to the side to avoid the fireblast “Jim, on your right!”

Jim nimbly doged another fireblast and used Excalibur to vault over a fallen tree, continuing pursuit of their quarry without missing a beat.

The Warlock swore and tried to turn and retreat. Only to come face to face with Toby, Steve, and Claire. The boys wielding their hammer and axe while shadows flickered at Claire’s fingertips.

“Going somewhere Buttsnack?”

The Warlock made a mad dash in the opposite direction, but was instantly blocked by Krel’s serrator.

They all closed the gap on the increasingly anxious looking Warlock. Douxie summoning his staff as they moved in “It’s over, there’s nowhere for you to run. Surrender and we’ll go easy on you,”

The Warlock narrowed his eyes and growled “I will not yield my power to that blasted coward Merlin. Not in this life, or the next,”

Douxie’s eyes widened as he realized what the Warlock was about to do.

“ Everyone get back! ”

He slammed the end of his staff on the ground, forming a shield around the Warlock just as he started to chant.

Less than a second later the Warlock was consumed in a ball of white fire, the shield around him swelling and straining as Douxie struggled to contain the blaze.

Thinking quickly, Claire summoned a portal on the ground inside Douxie’s shield, siphoning some of the white hot energy away.

Their combined efforts had an impressive effect but it wasn’t enough.

Douxie’s shield shattered, the Warlock erupted with a blinding flash of light and a concussive wave. Blasting them all into the trees like leaves in a gale.

Head swimming, Douxie blinked to clear his vision, slowly managing to detangle himself from the roots and shrubbery. It didn’t feel like he’d been injured too badly, but something felt...off. At first he thought he was just recovering from the blast, but upon standing he immediately knew something was seriously wrong. And when he raised a hand to pull a loose twig out of his hair, Douxie froze when he saw that his shirt was practically falling off his arm. A quick glance up and down revealed the rest of his clothes now fit in the same baggy manner.

But it wasn’t so much that his clothes had gone from small to extra large, more like Douxie himself had gone from nine hundred and nineteen to four or five.

“Oh fuzzbuckets,”

Even as he spoke he cringed at his higher, lisping voice. From around the clearing he saw everyone else groan and get to their feet. It soon became apparent that Douxie wasn’t alone in his predicament.

“Guys, guys! The Warlock dude made everything bigger!” a much smaller Steve wailed, trying and failing to lift his axe.

Rather than bother to try and move his now oversized hammer, Toby opted for the simpler option of shrinking it down and tucking it into his pocket “Actually I think we got smaller,”

Krel sat on the ground, blinking at his four stubby, childish limbs “Kleb,”

Douxie had never heard the Akiridion word before, but based on the context he could give a pretty good guess as to its meaning.

Once she finished helping Jim up, Claire turned towards Douxie “What happened, why are we all fun-sized now?”

“Our friend here,” Douxie gestured to the smoking crater in the ground, all that was left of the Warlock “Rather than get taken to Merlin and have their contraband magic stripped away, chose to unleash it all at once and try to take us all out,”

He picked up his staff from where it had fallen “We were able to dampen it, which is why we’re not ash right now, but I have no idea what they were juicing themselves with, or how to undo it,”

The blue stone in the head of his staff flickered as he tried to summon his magic, only to have it elude him. With a sigh he lowered it “And being tiny like this, I don’t have much power,”

“What! Are we stuck like this?! I can’t win Spring King again if I’m all shrimpy, they won’t even let me be a duke!”

“For once I agree with the oaf. I will not be small again, and I refuse to let Aja see me like this,”

“Calm down guys,” Douxie knitted his brows and tried to tuck his staff away, a normally easy task made monumentally difficult by his lack of size and power “We just need to get back to Merlin and he can help us figure this out,”

He allowed himself a small grin as the staff finally reduced back into his cuff, with no small amount of effort on his part, only to swear when the cuff nearly slipped off his arm. Douxie glanced at both wrists before sighing and slipped both the cuff and bracelets off, stuffing them into his pocket. Better to take them off now than to have them fall off later and get lost. But still he almost felt naked without them.

Jim tugged at Excalibur’s hilt with a frown “But what about our weapons? We can’t carry them back like this, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave them out here,”

“I’ll do it,” Claire’s sclera darkened as two small portals formed beneath Excalibur and Toothache, ferrying them away. Less than a second after the weapons vanished Claire’s eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed to the ground.

“That...that took a lot out of me,” she panted as Toby and Jim helped her to her feet.

Douxie hurried up to check on her. Much to his relief while she was sweating with exhaustion, her eyes were focused and clear and her nose wasn’t bleeding “Ok, no more magic. Our bodies just aren’t up to it right now,”

“Wait, does that mean we have to go back on foot?” Steve said incredulously.

“Unfortunately yes,”

“Aww man,”

“Double kleb,”

“C’mon guys,” Jim said while heading to the front of the group with Douxie “The sooner we start the sooner we get back, and the sooner we get back the sooner we get back to normal,”

With only minimal grumbling, the group set out through the woods. Jim and Douxie in the lead.

They stumbled their way home through the roots and undergrowth, struggling with shorter, weaker limbs. As they went, Douxie tried to come up with a likely explanation for their condition. It couldn’t be a de-aging spell, greater Wizards than that Warlock had tried and failed to obtain eternal youth. What if it was a spell intended to do something else entirely but had gone wrong? Maybe the Warlock had tried to cast a spell to strip them of all their abilities but it went haywire when--

“Hey Doux,” Claire spoke up, shattering his train of thought “What’s that, on your wrists?”

Douxie stopped in his tracks, hands unconsciously going to cover his wrists; his heart plummeting like a stone down into the bottom of his stomach.

How could he have been so careless? He didn’t have the bracelets or cuff to cover them any more, and he’d forgotten that they’d been a lot more noticeable at this age.

The rest of the group stopped to, perturbed by his reaction.

Krel squinted “Are those...scars?”

Douxie bit his lip, tightening the grip on his wrists.

Jim’s expression went from curious to soft “Hey it’s cool, you don’t have to tell us,”

“Yeah,” Steve piped up “If you say it’s none of our business, it’s none of our business,”

Claire’s face flushed “Sorry, forget I asked,”

Krel and Toby chimed in with similar reassurances.

Hearing them all try to comfort him, the subject of the marks on his wrists willing to be dropped as quickly as it was brought up; heavy, not unpleasant, emotion settled in Douxie’s chest.

These were his comrades, more than that his friends. They’d fought side by side and he trusted them with his life.

He could trust them with this to.

“No….it’s...it’s ok,” he pried his fingers away from his wrists, wincing as the marks underneath were exposed “It’s just….a hard story to tell,”

Empathy washed over Jim’s face “You don’t have to tell us if you--”

“It’s ok,” Douxie cut him off “I want to tell you,”

He took a deep breath as they all looked at him, expectantly but patiently.

“I got these,” Douxie started slowly “I got these when I was the age I appear to be now…..”

Notes: (Content warning for mentions of cannibalism)

For the magic system I'm setting up in this story there are functional differences between a Wizard and a Warlock. A Witch/Wizard is someone with innate magical abilities, whether they came naturally, like Douxie, or developed after contact with the magical world, like Claire. A person without magic of their own that still uses magical tools and objects would be referred to as an Alchemist.

Warlocks occupy a dark middle ground between the two. Warlocks are those that lack intrinsic magical abilities of their own, but consume or inject themselves with the essence of other magical creatures in order to gain their powers. These artificially gained magical abilities fade over time, so Warlocks constantly need to replenish themselves with outside magical sources. There are literally thousands of ways for a Warlock to accomplish this, but the most common method is by directly cannibalizing a Witch or Wizard. So while the words Warlock and Cannibal are not synonymous within magical communities, they share all of the same negative connotations.

The main point is that while being a Warlock doesn't make one inherently 'evil', the steps and ethical choices a person has to make to become a Warlock and to maintain that status informs a lot about their willingness to harm others for their own gain.

This won't come up in the rest of the story, I just wanted to elaborate on some of the worldbuilding.

#tales of arcadia #toawizards #douxie #hisirdoux casperan #jim lake jr #steve palchuk #toby domzalski #claire nuñez #krel tarron #rmvwrites #fanfic #in the fullness of time

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obeyme-and-you · 4 years ago

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So... Why is Luke Ten?

Mod Gabriel is in PURPLE

Mod Kimimela is in BLUE

Verses are in Green

So every character in the game is named after somebody. And in the entire NASB and KJV Bibles there is only 1 Luke, so we can assume that they used that name for a reason.

Also why does an Angel, who’s been alive for (presumably) thousands of years look and act like a ten year old child? Why is it that he’s the only character that is aged so young, while everyone else is an adult?(and i believe the devs have said that is what his age he looks like is)

In the search for info about Simeon he is first mentioned in Luke 2:25, and in a fit of inspiration we decided to look at Luke 10. And OHHHH Boy

*MAJOR SPOILERS FOR OBEY ME CHAPTERS 1-22 AHEAD*

(Bible spoilers >.<)

We will put the verse first and then try to explain how they may relate to inspiration for the game.

NASB Luke 10

“1) Now after the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.”

For the exchange program that Diavolo had created, everyone was sent in pairs to study abroad in the different worlds. (Two humans and two Angels to the Devildom,and we can assume that this happened for all the realms)

“2) And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

3) Go; behold, I sent you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.”

The MC is sent to a place that is home to demons, with two angels who greatly out power them, and the only other human is a powerful warlock. The MC’s icon at the start of the game is also a lamb. The MC is a lamb, who was thrown into a pack of wolves.

“4) Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.”

When the MC is teleported to the Devildom, they weren’t given a warning before getting there, so they were unprepared, unaware of where they were and why they were there, and therefore, wouldn’t have been able to properly pack for this trip.(All the Dialogue options when you arrive show confusion or disbelief on how you even got there)

“5) Whatever house you enter, first say ‘Peace be to this house.’

6) If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.”

When MC first arrives at the Devildom Diavolo and Lucifer welcomes them to the Devildom. All the brothers (including Lucifer), seem to not particularly care about MC when they first meet them and are not necessarily welcoming either.

When MC comes back to the Devildom with Solomon, (OB chapter 21)all of the brothers are happy to see them and admit that they all missed MC when they left.

“7) Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.”

The MC stays at the House of Lamentations, eating breakfast and dinner with the brothers that reside there, and the MC doesn’t leave to live in a different dorm room.(Even when MC’s room gets destroyed 0w0)

“8) Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you;”

MC is welcomed into the Devildom, and is fed food from the Devildom while they live there.(MC gets fed some weird stuff)

“9) and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you’”

Even though the demon brothers aren’t physically sick, the MC does help heal the brothers' relationships with each other.

Verses 10-16 explain that the destruction of the cities that turned them away will be worse off than the cities of Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon.

(No real connection just a summary)

(Something important to keep in mind because it does explain what would happen if MC and the other exchange students were not accepted there, but doesn’t have any proper connections to the story itself at this point)

“17) The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject in your name’

Right as the first year ends, MC makes a pact with all seven brothers, which allows them some control over them.

“18) And He said to them, ‘I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

19) Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

20) Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

When MC gets trapped in the maze under Diavolo’s castle, Henry(the first), Levi’s giant serpent, is unable to injure MC because they summon Asmo (who’s symbol happens to be the scorpion) and he stops it from hurting MC. MC has power over all the demon brothers because of the pacts that have been made, which not only means that they can’t hurt MC because MC can stop them, but because the brothers care about MC, they wouldn’t let anything happen to them to begin with. Verse 20 could be argued that because MC is the descendant of Lilith, therefore part angel turned human, if and when MC’s powers awaken, MC would have a place in the celestial realm.

“21) At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

22) All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal to Him.”

Diavolo, knowing that Lilith 1) was reincarnated as a human and 2) had descendants, decided to keep this hidden from the brothers. He hid this information from the brothers, who are all wise and intelligent to an extent, but in time had it so that it would be revealed to MC, who, in comparison to a bunch of demons that are thousands of years old, an infant. This was a good call on his side considering the brothers' relationships with each other (especially with Lucifer who knew about Lilith becoming a human) , and the fact that they had no reason to care about MC until that point.

No one knew who MC was except Diavolo and Lilith (not including Barabatos), and then later MC, and then after that the brothers were only told because MC decided to tell them (to help resolve the conflict with Belphie). Who the “Father” is in reference to Obey Me, could be argued for and against both Diavolo and Lilith.

“23) Turning to the disciples, He said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see things you see,

24) for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them”

MC was able to see visions of Lilith when she fell, and was able to witness what exactly went down between her, Diavolo, and Lucifer, after they grabbed the grimoire. Later, after the attic scene, MC was able to talk with Lilith and find out they’re the descendant of her. Considering the fact there has yet to be a mention of Henry in TSL being the descendant of an angel, we can assume that Simeon, a prophet, was unable to witness that.(Cause there is no way that's all a coincidence ,But we’ll get to that ;) ) The fact that Diavolo, the prince of the Devildom, takes such an interest in MC and is using them for some unspecified goal enough to change timelines in his favor, hints that he wants them for something only they can do.

It should also be noted that Solomon takes an interest in MC throughout the game, and later calls himself King Solomon the Wise.

Verses 25-29 is a discussion about a lawyer asking Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks him what he thinks the answer is and he responds with “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all our mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (v27) he then asks jesus what he means by your neighbor. (More summary not really anything to relate for now)

“30) Jesus replied and said, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.

31) And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32) Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33) But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,

34) and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

35) On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’

36) Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?’

37) And he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’”

While this parable doesn’t have strong ties to the game as of yet, it’s important to keep in mind for future updates.

Some connections can be made though, when talking about how much the MC has helped the brothers with their relationships. The MC can be compared to the Samaritan because the MC never had to necessarily help them in anyway. The MC was on their own journey, having to navigate the devildom, school, and the House of Lamentations. The MC came upon Belphie in the attic, and even though there was nothing for MC to gain by helping, they did so anyway. MC also helped the other brothers throughout the story, E.g. helped Levi get back at Mammon, protected Beel and Luke from Lucifer, helped Lucifer and Satan when they switched bodies, helped Mammon prove he didn’t kill anyone on the train, to list a few.

With the information given so far in the game in comparison to this passage, we can infer that MC is the neighbor that the brothers should love as much as they love themselves. (MC really was fixing one problem after another)

Verses 38-42 talk about Jesus being welcomed into the home of Martha and Mary of Bethany, and while Martha prepares for them Mary listens to him teach. Martha asks him why he doesn’t care that Mary isn’t helping, and he tells her that Mary is doing right by listening to his teachings.

These verses don’t seem to have a significance in terms of Obey Me as of yet.

In short there are a lot of details in Luke Chapter Ten that seem to have provided inspiration for the game.(is it really that deep? >.<) This could be all coincidence? But who knows not us!

*insert some slutty, slutty details about how brilliant i am in every way for figuring this out, jk plz dont uwu. Blah, blah, blah, luke is 10 because luke chapter 10, and holy shit is there a lot of connections between luke 10 and obey me like when i first read it i was like ooo like at these few deets who woulda thought, and jesus christ who put this much work into this game cause damn i wanna meet this guy. MC is somehow [REDACTED],[REDACTED], and [REDACTED] all rolled up into one nosy babe. Something about mc is a lamb amongst wolves, something about diavolo prob, diavolo or lilith is mc’s daddio and they [REDACTED], demons, symbolism, idk how a summary works bu like, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯* (professionalism at its finest)

We will next be taking a look at our lovely angel Simeon!

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sam-i-am-27 · 6 years ago

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Roman Mattius

- Human Fighter

- Lvl. 1

Roman was born a royal, son of Marcus and Laurelin. As a child, he loved learning about being a prince, being the ally of the people, and just being able to help those who couldn’t be helped. But then his Uncle Jacob returned from a quest for the Lost Gems with thousands of stories about his adventures and travels. At that moment, Roman became obsessed with becoming a hero, beginning sword training almost immediately.

Years later, when he was finally old enough to be coronated, his parents knew that while he would be a great king, his heart would never be full enough to rule a kingdom. He needed to go on an adventure if he ever wanted to be a better king. So they made him a deal: he could go on as many adventures as he wanted to, but in return, he must return home a better man and with a man he wished to rule with. They hired seven companions to guide him on his journies and they set off into the wilderness.

Virgil “Fear” Skaron

- Tiefling Artificer

- Lvl. 1

Virgil was born to a single mother tiefling, but this was in the middle of a clan war. He was raised to live in the shadows, never accept help, and to always be on alert. In his times living in the alleyways, he learned a lot about magic from the witches and warlocks who had been shunned back here. While he was never able to perfect casting magic, he was able to study it and begin tinkering with it, imbuing different inventions with magic and teaching himself how to be an artificer.

One day, a guard finds him with what looks like a dangerous weapon, so they take him to the dungeons. As he’s there, he’s visited by Roman and his father, who are learning about the new changes that are coming. Roman sees Virgil and asks him what it is, to which Virgil activates the thing. Turns out that it’s what he calls an octopus pen, which sprays ink into the face of whoever it’s pointed at, something that Roman finds annoying but his father finds hilarious and ingenious. Virgil still did technically ‘attack’ the crown prince, so as punishment and to pay off for his crimes, he was sent on the adventure with Roman and the others.

So this is my DnD AU! I’ve got all the art done and will be posting all of them in increments of two, linking back to the previous. But I hope you guys enjoy this and if you have any questions, I am more than happy to answer them!

Logan and Patton Declan and Thomas Emile and Remy

#Sanders Sides #Sanders Sides AU #Roman Sanders #Virgil Sanders #alternate universe #dungeons and dragons #dungeons and dragons au #roman sanders fan art #virgil sanders fan art #sanders sides fan art #fan art #rogue draws #dnd

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breadknight-likes-things · 4 years ago

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Bread’s Game Journal 06/28/20: Through The Dark Portal, An Outland Retrospective, Part 7: Shadowmoon Valley

Shadowmoon Valley is the eventual fate of any world where Fel Magic gets out of hand, and probably a preview of Azeroth as long as I keep maining my Warlock! There’s a lot of places in Outland that are dead, or filled with weird chaos that’s tearing the land apart, but Shadowmoon Valley feels different. Shadowmoon Valley feels like the source of all of Outland’s, and frankly most of Azeroth’s, misery. Notably, Shadowmoon was also the final zone where players would encounter Illidan, hiding away in the Black Temple doing.....something evil we guess? It was never quite clear what his story in this expansion was supposed to be, and it was only ever resolved five expansions later in Legion!

To call Shadowmoon Valley “bleak” would probably end up a compliment, considering the hellish state the region is in, calling it anything other than a nightmare would be a positive statement. Shadowmoon got to this terrible state due to the actions of two orcs, two extremely famous in the lore orcs at that! Gul’Dan is one, his reckless use of Fel Magic twisting the landscape, poisoning all the creatures of the land, and even raising up a huge hellfire volcano as a show of his power. The other orc is far better known for his life after he died, Ner’Zhul, who’s desperation to escape punishment at the hands of the burning legion post the second war caused both his imprisonment as one half of The Lich King, and the events that led to Dreanor quite literally exploding and becoming Outland to begin with!

The Skettis set up a small settlement here for.....some reason, seems like a bad idea to set up shop here of all places but alright.

The legacies of both of those orcs weigh heavily on the land of Shadowmoon. Fel Magic has blackened the land itself and twisted all the wildlife into demonic beasts. The Volcano “The Hand of Gul’Dan” spews fire and death out of itself at a constant clip. There’s nothing here that’s of any value to anyone anymore, and yet it’s also here we see the culmination of a lot of storylines in the Burning Crusade expansion! Illidan, hiding in what was one known as The Temple of Karabor, now known simply as “The Black Temple” leads his forced from this zone. As does Lady Vasj and her Coilscar Naga. The Burning Legion also has a large presence here, as would be expected given the state it’s in!

From a non environmental perspective though, this zone was also a huge deal for any players back during Burning Crusade, for one big reason: Flying Mounts. At the respective Alliance or Horde town in this zone (both of which are somewhat disappointingly bland copies of the towns in Hellfire Peniunsula) you could find both your flight trainer and your flying mount vendor, ready to set you off into the sky....for a thousand gold! That’s chump change now of course, but back in these days that price just about wiped out every cent you had made questing in Outland, and it was worth it. The initial feeling you got when you realized all the things you could do and all the places you could go with a Flying Mount, it was huge! Of course we know now that Blizzard has pretty absurdly soured on the idea of Flying Mounts, but man was it a thrill back in the day!

There’s lots of fun little lore touches here too. Not just the aforementioned evidence of Gul’Dan and Ner’Zhuls meddling in powers greater than them! You used to be able to find and visit Maeiv Shadowsong in her prison cell below a garrison near the Black Temple, though she’s since been removed given that it would’t make much sense for her to still be in there at this point. The Ashtounge Dreanei are all over the place, the very same clan we saw swear allegiance to Illidan in The Frozen Throne, and before BC came out, the only real experience we had with The Dreanei as a race to begin with! It’s weird to think of this dead and burned zone as one to explore and find fun Easter eggs in, but it is! There’s lots to find a do in Shadowmoon valley, despite what the Fel would have you think!

Best Refuge In A Broken Land Award: The Black Temple

Alright, so I’m breaking the rules here as The Black Temple isn’t a town meant for players, but an iconic 40 person raid! That said, it does serve as Illidans refuge! And I think that counts for something. The temple of Karabor has fallen on some....hard times, to say the least, and though Illidan tries to keep order, it’s clear that this is mostly a place of chaos and despair....damn is it cool to look at though!

Random Screenshot of The Day:

Speaking of Easter eggs and looking cool, you can find this weird old hallucination of Gul’Dan performing the ritual that created his Volcano namesake, it doesn’t really have anything to with anything, but hey, lore nerds will get a kick out of it!

Stray Notes:

- I was gonna do my Last of Us 2 spoiler post tonight, but I’m holding off a bit, I want some more time to ruminate on that games story, it’s a lot!

- I finished Streets of Rage 4 today! Hadn’t played it since Last of Us Part 2 hit, what a refreshingly simple game! Lots of fun old school brawler action!

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dlkardenal · 5 years ago

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Of witches and magicians - The types and history of magic users

Hey there, traveler!

Our journey through time and space continues exploring the various elements of magic, moving on to the experts, the humble craftsmen of the mystic art: the magicians. Or wizards. Or enchanters. Too many names? Don’t be afraid, I was just as confused as you are. But today we will look at all the types, the real-life inspiration, and some literary representation. So strap on, put on your “Hide Helmet of Resist Magic” because the show is on.

First, let’s lay down some basic. As we discussed in last week’s Dissecting Literature, the English word “magic” and consequently “magician” comes from ancient Greek and Persian languages. The original mages, or “magi” were most likely Persian noblemen with supposed magical power, but the meaning of the word dissipated over the many centuries.

As far as I could research, there’s no solid consensus among roleplayers and fantasy geeks about what word used to describe a magic-user actually means and each piece of fiction takes its own twist on it, but here are the most common labels.

A mage is an experienced magic-user. You could call them the groundwork for every other type, they are specialized, trained people who wield magic as a profession. The word “mage” is the anglicized version of the Greek “magi”, so this is the purest surviving meaning of the old concept. A magician, however, is wildly believed to be a botch, a barely skilled caster who uses magic for tricks and entertainment. They are the street performers getting people’s attention with really flashy illusions but in most fiction, they don’t really wield serious powers. Wizards differ from mages mostly in reputation. A wizard in most literature is held as a wise leader and a powerful mage, giving you either good advice or a magical ass-whooping, depending on their allegiance. The oldest example is possibly Merlin, the great wizard aiding King Arthur in his endeavors, but you can think of Dumbledore or Gandalf for a more familiar representation. Witches were originally the female counterparts of wizards, however because of characters like the Baba Yaga, Morgan le Fay, and the general rejection of magic by Christianity, the witch transformed into a malicious spellcaster hell-bent on screwing with people, casting curses and creating poisons. Enchanters and enchantresses are mages primarily focusing their effort on enchanting (duh), seducing pure of heart heroes, and deterring them from their quest. An enchantress is nearly always a beautiful woman living in a far-off location trying to get the hero to stay with them. One great example of this trope is from the Greek epic Odyssey, namely the goddess Circe.

Other then these, there are more specialized magic-users, like warlocks, necromancers, druids, and such, but we would be sitting here all day talking about the various versions. I’d recommend hitting up a few DnD resources or fantasy games and you can get a fairly good idea of how many colors the magician spectrum has. Now that we went over what we exactly mean as a magician, where did this come from? Let’s talk history. Don’t worry, I’ll be brief.

During mankind’s social evolution, there was always a representation of Raistlin and Karamon’s duo of wizard-barbarian. Our cave-dwelling ancestors realized that although clobbering a sabertooth tiger over the head was a great feat of strength, even the mightiest warrior couldn’t survive infection or a lightning strike, and as such, there was a market gap for a wiser role in society – that was the shaman.

At first, shaman were both spiritual leaders, magic-users, and medicine-men. They knew about the beneficial herbs, the weather and such, but they were also a connection to the invisible forces like spirits and gods. They used rituals to communicate with the magic world, which they believed was as real as the ground they were walking on. At this point in time, religion and magic intertwined and were inseparable. For many millennia, priests were believed to wield magical power gifted by the gods, and people attributed many inexplicable feats to this power. That’s how Imhotep, the chief architect and main healer of the Egyptian Pharaoh Djoser ended up from a craftsman to a magician and in the end, a god.

This supportive role stayed for many of our history, although it faded and magic sometimes fell out of the equation. In ancient Greece, philosophy was born and science started flourishing, so scientists took the role of wise men from the priesthoods. There was even a competition in medical schools, some following the rational ways of Hippocrates, others sticking to the more divine and magical ways of Asclepios, god of healing and son of Apollon. This slow but steady shift from magic to science almost eradicated the magicians from society. So why does it have such a huge fandom nowadays? Why are there books like Harry Potter, Dragonlance and the rest?

In my theory, it is a power fantasy. In teenage society, physical prowess means popularity – excelling in sports, looking dashing and dousing three liters of vodka without pushing your liver to suicide. The physically less fit boys and girls find it hard to win over their stronger, more attractive, or more outgoing classmates, so at least in fantasy, they need something that can lift them above the crowd. And here comes magic, a powerful force only usable with sharp mind and creativity that can shred a thousand jocks to pieces and save the world. No matter how strong someone is, magic doesn’t care for physique. Sometimes this parallel is more obvious, like in Harry Potter where the setting is literally a high school, sometimes a bit more hidden like in sword & sorcery fantasy stories with a magic-user lead character. I think that’s it for now. Sorry if it was a bit digressive and confusing, my exam period is taking a toll on me. Next week we’ll move onto some of my favorite magic systems, including books, TV shows and games, and I might even pitch an original idea for it, so stay tuned! In the meantime, why don’t you tell me what is your favorite mage subtype? Is it a warlock making pacts with evil entities? Is it a seductive witch? Is it a cynical necromancer, raising a family?

Take care, traveler!

Cheers, Dar

#writing #writing tropes #magic #magicians #history #writerblr #writeblr #writing community #book #bookblr #creative writing #writers of tumblr #dissecting literature

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kallypsowrites · 6 years ago

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Daenerys Targaryen vs Light Yagami

A long while back, I made a post about the different readings of Daenerys Targaryen and how one could make an argument for a light, bittersweet and dark version of her storylines. And I knew that if she ever went dark, I was going to make this post. The version of Dark Daenerys that I think they were set up to write is not the version they wrote at all, which is part of reason her ultimate arc falls so flat. But, shoddy execution aside, I do think this is the direction George is going with the books. No doubt he’ll do it better and more gradually but he has not come out in any way saying that the MAJOR beats of the plot are different. Just the side characters and the execution.

This is the point to turn back now if you don’t like Dany criticism or mentions of Dark dany. I understand that people in the Dany fandom are grieving right now and I get you. So, for all of my pro-dany followers, please don’t read this post! You will not enjoy it, and I REALLY don’t want to fight!

But, for the rest of you, I’m going to talk about Daenerys arc and how it is awfully similar to that of Deathnote’s Light Yagami--or it would have been if the writers were like...smart and good at character development and framing.

For the non-anime watchers of the fandom, Deathnote is the story of Light Yagami, a privledged, attractive, genius student who comes across a notebook which grants him the power to kill anyone with just the stroke of a pen-so long as he knows their name and face. If the victim’s name is written in the notebook, they will die of a heart attack less than a minute later. But the user of the death note can also specify HOW the person will die (though they must stay within the realms of reality). Once Light finds out that, yes, the Deathnote is real, he sets out on a quest to rid the world of evil doers by taking justice into his own hands. He wants to create a new world--one of only innocent people who follow the law--and he will be it’s savior.

And Light Yagami, despite being the main character, is the villain of this story.

Because while yes, Light’s vision of the world SEEMS great at first, he has effectively made himself judge, jury and executioner for the entire population. He doesn’t investigate to see if anyone is wrongly convicted, he often kills criminals who are already serving their time and jail, and he also has no problem killing innocent people if they happen to threaten him or get in the way of his grand plan. Light’s main problem, you see, is his ego. A vision of a better world with no evil is all well and good, but LIGHT is the one who wants to make it happen and he has a grand vision of himself as some sort of divine, just God. Its not enough for the world to BE better. No. He needs to be the one pulling all of the strings. His vision is useless to him if he is not the one at the top.

Daenerys Targaryen, likewise, is bestowed three dragon eggs which she hatches into dragons, giving her a powerful weapon unlike any the world has seen in centuries. She sets out to change the world into a place where there is no more sorrow. Only laughter and happiness. She wants to break the wheel. She wants to end slavery. These are all great things. But, like Light, her desire for this new world is tied with her own ego. She wants to be the queen behind it all. She needs the throne. She needs people to love and bow down to her. And she has no trouble with killing or punishing people if they happen to threaten that. She believes the ends justify the means and is willing to slaughter millions...if it will help her to build her new world.

Now, its not a one to one comparison. Light lives in the modern day, Dany lives in medieval times. Dany’s story, as a woman in a sexist world, is gonna be different. Dany has way more advisors and people actually know her face, while Light keeps his secret from nearly everyone and acts covertly. Dany faced a lot of hardship in her younger years and Light is relatively privledged. Dany has a name that makes her think she has a divine right to rule and Light has no such ‘divine right’. They aren’t the same people and neither are their circumstances. But I would like to delve a bit into their similarities here.

1. A Sense of Divine Purpose

Let’s play a game. Who said it? Daenerys Targaryen or Light Yagami?

“This world is rotten, and those who are making it rot deserve to die. Someone has to do it, so why not me?”

“I am justice”

“In all things, one cannot win with defense alone. To win, you must attack.”

"Look around you, and all you will see are people the world would be better off without."

"I must protect my fledging Utopia."

"No matter what the world is, the god of that world creates the rules. In truth, you have been defeated by the rules I created. And as punishment for defying the God of the new world, you will die..."

"But you know the saying, "play with fire, and you'll get burned". I'll make you regret underestimating me."

“There was no other way! The world had to be fixed! A purpose given to me! Only I could do it. Who else could have done it, and come this far? Would they have kept going? The only one who can create a new world is me."

"I am Justice! I protect the innocent and those who fear evil. I'm the one that will become the god of a new world that every one desires!”

"Our battle will be concluded, and I will begin my reign from the summit of victory!"

“I was chosen to renew this rotten world, to bring about true peace."

"He was someone who deserved to die."

Its a trick question. They’re ALL Light Yagami. But some of these quotes are just a few words off being Danerys Targaryen quotes like:

“I will answer injustice with justice.”

“They can live in my old world or they can die in their old one.”

“They’re all just spokes on a wheel. This one’s on top then that one’s on top and on and on it goes, crushing those on the bottom. I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.”

“We’re going to leave the world better than we found it.”

“You are small men. None of you are fit to lead the Dothraki. But I am. And I will.”

“My reign has just begun.”

“I will do what queens do. I will rule.”

“If it comes to that they will have died for good reason.”

“Because I know what is good.”

“They don’t get to choose [what is good]”

In all of these quotes, Dany and Light have a strong sense of justice, a desire to protect their new world, and an inflated sense of self. But I think the best quote that sums up Light’s state of mind is this one:

"This world is rotten and those who are making it rot deserve to die. Someone has to do it, so why not me? Even if it means sacrificing my own mind and soul, it's worth it. Because the world... can't go on like this. I wonder... what if someone else had picked up this notebook? Is there anyone out there other than me who'd be willing to eliminate the vermin from the world? If I don't do it, then who will? That's just it: there's no one, but I can do it. In fact, I'm the only one who can. I'll do it. Using the death note, I'll change the world."

You can start picking up Light vibes from Daenerys as early as season two with the “but I’m no ordinary girl. My dreams come true”/”I will take what is mine. With fire and blood, I will take it” monologue, but the similarities REALLY make themselves clear in season 4 and 5 when Dany talked about the breaking the wheel and ‘answering injustice with justice’. As Barristan said, her father also believed in his own form of justice. It made him feel powerful and right.

But this type of talk shows, from the beginning, that it is more about who THEY are (their claim/purpose/skills/divine right) than saving the world itself. This is not a selfless, ‘I want to make the world a better place’ motive. This is a “I want the world to see me as its savior” mentality. Very different things. Dany and Light both want to be powerful. And they both want to be right.

2. The Power to Kill

At it’s core, Deathnote is an exploration about how the power to kill corrupts. No matter what the intention. No matter how it is used. Whenever one has the power to kill indiscrimately and on a massive level, that power will corrupt them the more they use it. Light’s father straight up states that at one point in the show. Light has a weapon that almost NO ONE else has. A notebook that can kill anyone with just a stroke of a pen. He uses it for what some of us might deem a “good” purpose. But it doesn’t matter. It’s still death on a massive scale.

Daenerys, likewise, has dragons, which are weapons of mass destruction unlike any that have been seen in centuries. They can burn whole cities to the ground and melt stone. They are very difficult to kill unless you yourself have a dragon (they went down too easy in the show but I digress). With them, she has the power to kill and she uses it often. It starts small with the warlock in Quarth. And then it grows until the season 8 massacre of King’s Landing.

And many of Dany’s victims are bad people, which Tyrion acknowledges in his 8x06 monologue. Early on in the show she kills slavers and murderers and people who have wronged her. But she often does so without fair trial which also results in some innocents being killed as well. She battles against this. She even locks her dragons away at one point for killing a child, knowing that this could poison her. But ultimately, she is unable to turn away.

Now, many people say that Dany isn’t the only person in Game of Thrones to commit acts of murder. And you would be right. Ramsay, Joffrey, Tywin, Euron, Cersei...they’ve all got war crimes to speak of. But none of them--thank god--had dragons. None of them had the power to kill on the same scale that Dany does. The message, in this case, isn’t just ‘murder is bad’. Rather, it is that the power to kill on such a massive scale corrupts, no matter how noble the intentions, and it eventually leads Dany to kill hundreds of thousands of innocents in King’s Landing.

3. Charisma and Love Interests

Both Light and Daenerys are extremely charasmatic people and generally well liked by those who surround them. They, in particular, attract several suitors from the opposite sex, many of whom they have no true feelings for, but some of whom can be useful to their interests. Daenerys, in the show, is of course given a genuine love in Jon, while Light only barely seems to tolerate his main love interest Misa, so there are some differences.

Both of them draw followers as well, particularly based on their cult of personality. Light takes up the persona of ‘Kira’ a just god who punishes evil doers and many people around the world vehemently defend his actions because he has made the world safer. Daenerys, likewise, becomes ‘Mhysa’ to many of the slaves she has freed. They are both very concerned with maintaining this image. Light, for instance, gets very angry when a second Kira starts pretending to be him and operating outside the bounds of what he wants. Daenerys often thinks of herself as a mhysa, because she likes to think of herself as a savior, and many of her good actions stem from not wanting to fall from that pedestal.

Naturally, they both attract a great deal of enemies too because of their severe policies. In some cases, we could say that we don’t care about those enemies because, well, they’re bad people. Criminals. Slavers. Who cares right? It seems like good people support them and bad people are against them. This is a prescedent that Light upsets MUCH EARLIER in Deathnote when a private investigator is hired to tail him. The guy hasn’t done anything wrong according to the law, but Light gladly kills him since he could reveal his secret. The ends justify the means, right?

Daenerys, on the other hand, has the benefit of her enemies being mostly awful people. The majority of her enemies, well, we don’t care about them. That doesn’t change until she actually starts clashing with other characters we know and love, starting with season seven but especially season eight. In the book we do see the RESULT of her conquest all across Essos. Many of the cities she has visited turned into a living hell for many innocent people. But this is ignored in the show. Most of Essos is ignored in the show.

This is because of a problem with framing. Light, despite being similar in many ways to Dany, is framed as problematic from the beginning. We still want him to win in the beginning because, lets face it, he’s fun to watch, but we get the sense that he is sinister and its not surprising when he does bad things later. Daenerys darkness, however, was mostly hidden and misdirected and overshadowed so that it could be a plot twist. We’ll circle back to that later.

Regardless of framing, both Light and Dany have a similar effect on their AUDIENCE. Because you can bet your ass that there were SEVERAL fans defending Light to the death in the fandom, saying that he ultimately had good intentions and the ends DO justify the means. He fooled the audience. He won many of them over with his charm and charisma. And Daenerys has done the same on a much wider scale. There’s a reason that people are saying that it ‘wasn’t foreshadowed at all’. Sure, the execution of the writing wasn’t the best, but not at all? Then why were so many people able to predict this turn? Dany is a likable person on the surface. She’s someone to root for. To get behind and cheer on as she burns her enemies. But a good villain is able to convince you (and themselves) that they are not really villanous

4. Lost Potential/Goodness

One of the most common defenses I’ve seen of Dany in the past week is people posting a bunch of gifs in which she was nice and kind to people as ‘refutations’ that she would ever go bad. But sympathetic and good traits only make a more three dimensional villain. Part of the tragedy of Light and Dany is that they COULD have been great. They COULD have been good...if the power to kill had not corrupted them.

The story starts with Light getting the Deathnote and he moves pretty quickly into dubious morality territory. But halfway through the show, he ends up losing his memory (its all part of his one hundred step plan) when he gives up the Deathnote. He then joins the task force trying to find Kira. Light is clearly a hard worker who cares about justice. He’s smart and capable. He would have made a brilliant detective. And throughout the arc he wonders, what would HE do with the Deathnote? Would he become Kira? No, surely not. He’s overthinking it. He would never do such a thing.

Daenerys starts out the story with no dragons, and she’s a very sympathetic character. As a victim of abuse, we see her rise above her circumstances with only her wits and raw determination. Then she gets the dragons and its a much more gradual descent. She frees slaves after all! She wants to make the world a better place. And when one of her dragons kills a child she willingly locks them away (I.E. gives up her power to kill) in order to try to be better. Throughout this arc in the book, Daenerys often thinks about whether she is a monster or a mhysa, just as Light contemplates his own morality. Self reflection does not automatically equal “good”, after all. But in both cases, we see two bright young souls who could have been wonderful...and that makes their arc even more tragic.

In the end, Light gets his hands back on the Deathnote and his memories and, rather than letting his time without the Deathnote change his ways, he returns to his original plan. And Daenerys rides away from the dragon pit on Drogon and (in the show) releases her other children from the keep, fully embracing the dragon. They tried to give up the power and set it aside (though Light with his memoires never really intended to give it up, it was just part of his plan to throw the investigators off the trail), and they ultimately chose violence in the end.

5. The Ultimate Result

Daenerys and Light both die at the end of the story, killed by someone they trusted--someone who believed in them until they realized the truth behind their supposed goodness. And they both die doubling down on their misdeeds. They do not have regret. They are still overflowing with their divine purpose. They want to do MORE (”It’s not enough. The world is still rotten”/”We will not stop until we have liberated everyone in the world”) and they would willingly kill anyone who stands in their way. Above all, neither of them see anything wrong with their actions. The ends justify the means. They must. If they look back, they are lost.

Their deaths have different framing of course. Light’s is filmed as a mental break down of sorts as he finally reveals just how violent and delusional he is beneath the charismatic facade. At that point we WANT him dead. He’s clearly gone nuts. The angles show as much.

Daenerys’ death is filmed more...empathetically. She’s not frothing at the mouth. She’s smiling. She still so fully BELIEVES in what she has done, and it quite frankly hurts to see. She dies quietly and quickly and gets tragic music in the background while Jon sobs over her body. Light dies alone on some stares after desperately running away until he’s too weak to move anymore.

It’s a similar conclusion. But the framing is the problem. Which is why we have to talk about...

Why Daenerys’ arc fails to deliver

I’m not wild about how they ultimately executed Dany’s arc. Because don’t get me wrong I would LOVE a villainess who fulfills the Light Yagami role. I’ve never seen a female Light Yagami before and Light is one of my favorite characters of all time. But remember when I said earlier that Light is always framed as morally dubious from day one? Daenerys’ framing is ALL the FUCK over the place.

Is she good? Is she bad? We’re not going to tell you because we want it to be a TWIST. Gotta give several scenes that don’t jive with her arc in order to throw everyone off the trail. Can’t make it too obvious where this is heading right? Can’t even tell the goddamn actress until the last season so she can use that info to inform her performance. Make the framing topsy turvy!

Framing is how a film communicates how we are supposed to feel about a character and there is a REASON Daenerys is so divisive in the Game of Thrones audience. Because the directors just didn’t know what the hell they were doing during the scenes, so it didn’t ultimately build in a satisfying way. In the end, there was foreshadowing but her turn was rushed and sudden and not that well written.

There are other problems that make Daenerys fall short of the Light Yagami brand, including:

1. Premeditated vs ‘crazy woman’ evil

This kind of villain is most effective when they think through their decisions and carry them out while they are of sound mind. Light Yagami rarely acted on impulse (except at the beginning and toward the end) and he was never ‘crazy’. Narcisisstic and psychopathic, yes, but not ‘crazy’. But they ultimately choose to make Dany’s turn be this sudden, emotional break down. Like, whoops! My friend was killed. Guess I gotta genocide because I’m SO emotionally unstable. The catalyst for this kind of character’s villain decent can NOT be revenge or an emotional loss of some sort. Because this kind of villain is characterized by being obsessed with themselves in their own vision.

2. Losing supporters to death vs losing them to your own growing ego

In the end of Deathnote, all of Light’s supporters and friends have turned against him as they realize what he has become. This is more effective than killing off all of a character’s greatest supporters so that you don’t have to deal with them. Missandei shouldn’t have died. If they wanted to have a good villain arc, they should have had Missandei realize Dany’s growing darkness and start to have doubts. Maybe they could have had her and Greyworm try to leave for Naath and have Daenerys get snappy and annoyed because she needs her supporters to believe in her.

But by killing her dragon and two of her closest companions, we only feel sorry for her, and it makes it much harder to turn against her in the next episode. If you’re going to make her go villain you HAVE to make the audience turn on the character. Why give them a sympathetic motivation?

3. An earlier turn

Light graduates to full villain about 2/3 of the way through the series which means we actually have time to deal with the aftermath and spend time with the character on his descent. Its the worst written part of the series but, no one’s perfect.

Dany goes dark and gets killed in like...seconds. So there’s no time to actually explore her as a villain. Its just a twist. That’s all it is. A twisty twist.

4. Targaryen madness

I don’t think D&D actually understand what Targaryen madness is or how it works. Like the fact that Aerys deteriorated slowly over the course of many years but Dany had a complete mental break in the span of a couple of days. Also, not all Targaryens are mad, and blaming Dany’s genetics is just one more way to say ‘but its not her fault. It’s just a blood thing’.

Light has no history of ‘madness’ in his family. His father is actually a detective. He’s a normal kid who comes across a powerful tool of death and it corrupts him. That’s it. So Light has more agency in his villain narrative than Daenerys.

5. Legitimate love vs Fake Love

Jon x dany is what ultimately kills the villain arc, because it make Daenerys look like she turned evil because “Jon wouldn’t love her”. Dumb. Very dumb. Stupid and dumb. The writers got caught in between doing a ‘tragic love story’ and a ‘villain decent’ that they decided to write both characters terribly in the final episodes.

Light never cared genuinely about his main love interest and his fall ultimately comes because of his own ego and his death comes not from a love interest he genuinely cares about, but from someone who supported him who he used. Dany’s fall comes from...love. And that makes her potential villain arc so much less powerful. She could have been this strong, amazing character. A great female villain for the ages. But you just HAD to make her a woman scorned/tragic love interest didn’t you. You had to make it about Jon’s man pain didn’t you? How very feminist. How progressive. Groundbreaking.

So Dany could have been a great Light Yagami style villain, and I’m holding out hope for that execution in the books. But the show did not nail it. Not even a little.

In Conclusion

Daenerys and Light’s goals and dialogue and sense of self worth are practically identical in nature, and so is their ability to drawn in the audience. But whereas Light’s story has direction, proper framing, and never tries to trick it’s audience for a cheap twist, Daenerys’ writing is ultimately confused and that’s why very few people like this ending for her.

Both of their stories are about how the absolute power to kill corrupts even the most promising souls. But Deathnote stuck the landing and Game of thrones stumbled and went out with a confused whimper.

#game of thrones #got spoilers #anti-daenerys #dark-daenerys #dark daenerys #anti daenerys

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