#all the tales that you remember of camelot.

[keitorin3]

So here is a strange idea I had,

So Merlin is Immortal, he can't stay dead, but he does get killed throughout the show in his bid to protect Arthur.

Here's my AU idea:

Every time Merlin dies, a piece of his memories dies with him.

This doesn't affect him much, as he doesn't die often in the beginning, but as time goes on and he gets more desperate to protect Arthur, he becomes more reckless, not realising his lucky escapes after being knocked out was due to him being dead and the perpetrators leaving his corpse.

After all, dead men tell no tales, usually.

With each death, he loses a memory and he wouldn't have noticed, but Arthur does.

Arthur would mention at one point or another about this or that and Merlin wouldn't be able to recall it.

It at first annoys him and makes him point out about Merlin's low intelligence. But as time goes on, he gets concerned when Merlin can't remember certain people or events.

He brings up the time Merlin cried for the Dragonlord.

Merlin: Who?

Arthur: The last Dragonlord? Balinor? You cried over him when he died protecting you?

Merlin: Huh... I don't remember him, but if he did save my life, then I'm grateful, but why did I cry? Did I know him well?

Arthur: ... No, but you helped to convince him to help Camelot. He was a good man in the end.

Merlin: I see. Well, it's strange how I don't remember that.

Arthur: *Concerned*

It happens occasionally as time goes on and Arthur starts to consult Gaius about Merlin's memories.

Then I can see Merlin being outed as a sorcerer to Uther when Arthur is gone on some diplomatic mission. Uther wouldn't think twice before sentencing Merlin to death. Only he won't die.

He dies and dies in many different ways. Uther desperate to get rid of Merlin who he sees as the embodiment of his fears (if only he knew 😅).

Merlins deaths happen so many times, that by the time Arthur returns 2 weeks later, and storms the dungeons angry and confused, he was met with a sight he'll never forget.

Arthur: Merlin! *Rushes to the jail bars and demands answers to his questions*

Merlin: *Stares blankly*

Arthur: 😠 Merlin! Answer me!

Merlin: Do I know you?

It hits him harder than any fist or magic ever could.

And that's all I've got. Tell me what you think, what happens next?

Till next time fellow dreamers~! ✨

[the-kingshound]

This is 'missing-my-siblings-hours' . So, here you go, Emyr's (Tried my best not to be ooc) (Which I think I am, and I'm sincerely sorry) if MC and Saraah really succeed in bringing him to Camelot:

When Emyr woke up, he didn't expected to have sliced cucumbers along his face, nor did he expect to seeing his older and younger brothers whisking some sort of a gooey mix, while excitedly muttering how much skin care they'd get to work on him after all these years.

And so, when Ghaven walked up to him and applying the mixture on him, Emyr did what others mostly seen on him. He doesn't move at all, too numb to fight back even within a dream that feels like long ago.

Until Saraah, with his own beauty mask still on, eyes stand out among the sliced cucumbers and awkward little braids that somehow reminds Emyr of the one MC used to do with his eyes, look at him with a blank expression, poked his daydreams.

"...Are you seriously thinking you're still just dreaming, my dearest brother who keeps him away from us?"

Saraah's always managed to poke on others nerves, and they're never been easy to get it away.

Instantly, Emyr crawls out his bed, pushing away both his brothers as he flings himself to the nearest window and opens it.

And that's when he knew there's no way back now.

Emyr looks down along the window. He watches as his oldest sister, Adrei, keeps tight hold of Mordred, the only young child he can think so living with the Queen, and there's Radel, his youngest brother, who seems to be in better and healthier states as before, given how he can heard the latter go out his way teaching flowers to their little nephew.

But what holds most is when he saw — the one and last of them all, the youngest one, his little sister who's been trying to get hold of him, who's still reach out despite his distance — appears among the garden.

Emyr always know she'd been beautiful. But nothing can't stop him from worrying back when Adrei's letters come through about her going on battlefields. He'd remember what's like back then for him, his mind goes through those eyes resembling of the purest pearl that always soothe him, when he's still young, and could get a firm hold of his little sibling in his arms.

Ghaven weren't surprised at all. When Emyr's stunned. They kept silence as Saraah sneaks back up to Emyr and offer painful but nonetheless comforting touches, "Yeah, yeah, I know too." His next words, though, ouch. "After all these times... Can't belive we're all together again, huh? Except for Osi—— OCEANA! I mean that boring kingdom in the old mermaid tale! OCEANA! Emyr, stop hitting me! Ah! Ouch!"

If isn't the fact Emyr's still too timid (they'd change it, given now where they are) to even commit a murder, Ghavem would've step in to stop them from a supposedly crime scene. Still, they moves up between both their brothers, and cast away Saraah who's now running off to join in the rest in garden.

He didn't spoke anything. Waiting patiently for Emyr.

"I... H-how did... Is the King——" How did I got here? Is the King aware of this? "W-What will... I can't... They'd got... Of me... S..." What will happen to them? What will happen to you and Saraah? I can't be here! They'd get me! You'd get killed because of me! Sent me back! "I... I... Ah——..."

Emyr crumbles at last. Luckily, Ghaven's there to make sure their knees wouldn't hurt much as they catch him as they gradually fall to the ground. Ah, Adrei'd lecture them on this, definitely. Being too harsh on the joke.

"To answer your questions." They pulls him up back to the bed and throws up every warm blankets from the one mother hen knight closed to their little one. "MC'd been plotting to get you here since the last time we all met. Ironically, your... former house, got some issues."

Emyr don't need to hear anymore to know what's been going around. So he decided to do the thing he's been good at. He closes his eyes, nodding off soundly in his found peace as Ghaven lights up a few candles.

Osia can screw off. Emyr thinks. She can't do no harm to him now that he's faraway than she'll ever think.

A-And... He'd like to hug everyone when he's awake.

(Sorry for grammatic mistakes =+

Aww omg that's so adorable... bestest of ways to start my day❤ Thank you so much for sending it, anon, I actually think Emyr was quite in character! Having all the siblings together is very nostalgic and makes me want to hurry and get them all to Camelot...

[sizebrained]

New Year, New You, New York - Part 3

CW: Adult themes, language, sexually suggestive, fluff, angst. *** Ben couldn't wait to get off the train. Hazel had done her best job distracting him. It had worked. It had worked extremely well. Afterwards he fell asleep for the rest of the train ride, surprising Hazel. She actually had to wake him as they neared the city.

As Ben came around to the living again, Hazel went back to staring out of their cabin's big window. She was blown away by the skyline coming into view. It looked so different from what she remembered. The buildings were somehow even higher. It had been over 60 years, but still they seemed impossibly tall then. She looked over her shoulder at Ben and had the same thought.

Hazel wondered what London would look like now. She watched Ben getting anxious again, overfilling their little cabin. He quietly held out his hand to help her get positioned in his headphones.

As soon as Hazel was safely secured, Ben rushed out of the cabin and stood at the train doors ready to burst out like a spring. It was even more cramped for him in the main cabin but he seemed very intent on escape.

Then in an instant they were out of the train and in Grand Central Terminal. She could feel Ben's relief even though she couldn't see him.

She marveled at the sights and sounds of it all. Some things she recognized as they made their way through the station. But most of it was all new and simply wondrous.

Glass, metal, and stone seemed to be everywhere she was used to seeing wood and plaster. Modern human buildings really were so much more inhospitable to her kind now than they used to be. She wondered how other small creatures made due.

She thought about rats but stopped herself. She hated rats.

She was soon distracted again by the scenery outside of Ben's headphone hideaway. She looked harder through her peephole wishing she could be on his shoulder or hand instead.

"This is so..." Hazel started to say out loud to herself rather than Ben.

Ben was clearly planning on walking everywhere. As they got onto the street he asked to the seemingly open air.

"I don't suppose you remember your way around do you?" Ben asked as he looked left then right.

"Well even if I did know my way around this human city, it has been quite a long time...I am afraid I cannot be much help. Sorry," Hazel replied. Ben took out his phone and followed the directions feeling like an idiot as he did. It took longer than he expected because he kept getting turned around. Eventually, he walked the right way and the tell tale signs of the theater district came Hazel's small view. They passed by show poster after show poster.

Everything was so busy. There were people all over. She was thankful for the headphones, this really would be too risky otherwise.

It reminded Hazel of the last time she was here and of London. She realized how much she missed cities like this. "Here it is," Ben said triumphantly as he stood in front of the theater where Camelot was showing. Ben took it in and decided he'd buy a poster at the gift shop to bring home for Hazel. He hoped Hazel would like that and wondered if he could get it without her noticing as an added surprise. "We are going straight there?!" Hazel asked excited. "Well yea but no...our tickets are for tonight. It's only 2 o'clock. I thought we could stop here though since it's on the way to the hotel. And then maybe relax and have dinner and..." Ben started explaining.

"A hotel and dinner and a musical?" Hazel asked pressing into the foam of his ear speaking directly into it. She said musical like Ben and it didn't seem right.

"Ben is this gift...a date?" Hazel asked grinning.

"NO!" He shouted making the headphones on him rattle and shake.

It made Hazel fall backwards away from the peephole but she caught herself with her hands, a little dazed.

"Sorry...I mean...no...well...uh...well....I guess..." Ben kept going shifting in place. He still standing in front of the theater like a misplaced lamp post.

Rather than wonder at the overgrown body in the middle of the sidewalk, most of the city natives looked annoyed if they noticed him at all. However, tourists started to think Ben was there on purpose like some kind of attraction.

A group of Japanese girls soon stood near him posing for several photos followed by a few awkward moving gawkers with selfie sticks.

Ben was oblivious to it. A costumed performer who actually was heading towards Times Square for tourist selfies did a double take. They were on stilts but seemed surprised that Ben was still taller.

Ben raised his hand and cupped it over the headphone can where Hazel hid inside. She noticed the few rays of light from outside disappear and was in total darkness. She felt her pulse quicken for a moment out of instinct. Her brain reminded her it was only Ben and felt immediately calmer.

It was like she was friends with the sky itself.

"I guess...yeah. It is sort of like a date. Is that...ok?" Ben asked hopefully, his eyes were tilted to the side towards his ear.

He really wished he could see Hazel's face at the moment to gauge her reaction. He fiddled with his lips nervously.

With his headphones broken, Ben could hear the sounds of New York all around him. Everything was just a little muffled and he was straining to hear Hazel's answer. Her silence seemed to last forever.

Hazel's hesitation wasn't over whether she wanted to go on a date with Ben. She now felt foolish for pointing it out. Before her blundering observation, they at least had some pretense behind their arrangement.

Now that pretense was gone and it was now in the open between one another. What Ben was to Hazel, and what Hazel was to him, was so glaringly obvious and inescapable.

Even what they had done on the train ride could be excused as an extreme measure by Hazel to keep him from having a panic attack in a public, inescapable place.

It certainly did keep his mind off anything else and it was quite an experience for both of them. A rather pleasurable one, Hazel thought. And she was glad he fell asleep for so long afterwards, she needed some time to recover and collect herself again.

But a formal, outright date was going past a point of no return.

As she remained silent, the exaggerated outcomes of a "Yes" or "No" played out in Hazel's mind, pondering her response to Ben's question.

If the date went well, Hazel would be with Ben as he lived out his short human life. When he died before her, like all humans she knew did, she'd be wrecked. Like she had been with Mary. Or even more wrecked than she had been after Mary died. Everything with Ben seemed to be amplified and she wasn't sure if it was because of his size or her feelings for him.

She'd enjoyed herself more with Ben this past year than decades with Mary. She didn't think Ben had ever said a harsh word or even made a crossed look at her. Ben and Mary couldn't have been more different. She loved that...and she knew she loved him.

That was the other problem.

If the date went badly, Hazel couldn't possibly stay with him like they were. She'd have to leave and being without him seemed just as bad. She wanted him, she needed him, and not in any particular way. She just needed him in her days and nights. She needed to talk to him and know what he was thinking and watch how he changed through time. And if it did go badly, she'd get the added sorrow of knowing that she hurt his feelings. She couldn't stand to hurt him.

She realized in that long moment of silence just how much she loved him. She loved him desperately.

This made Hazel realize that there wouldn't be a good ending for her either way. Her suffering was unavoidable. She just got to choose the flavor. It didn't seem like much of a choice at all.

"Yes it is okay...A proper date with you would be lovely..." Hazel finally replied.

Suddenly Hazel's whole body lifted up then fell back down awkwardly fast in the hollowed out headphone. Ben had jumped off his feet in excited triumph. She tried to catch herself but it was hard in the dark and strange space.

"Could you please not do whatever you just did?!" Hazel pleaded clutching her chest and rubbing a freshly sore spot on her body.

"Oh sorry!!! Umm....I mean Great! Let's get to the hotel. We can change and..." "Change?" Hazel asked confused.

After a short walk, at least short for Ben's stride, they were at the hotel. Hazel thought it looked a lot like Ben's building. Everything was beautiful, clean, and modern.

She couldn't help the involuntary memories from rushing back. It made her think of the much more old fashioned, far more economical hotel that her and Mary had stayed at so many decades ago.

This was turning out to be so different in so many ways. And yet somehow still so similar.

Ben was taken up to what Hazel was expecting to be a room. Instead the concierge, not a bellhop, led them to a suite that was bigger than Ben's home. Hazel gasped.

She didn't quite fully appreciate how human money worked but she had a general idea. This suite must have cost a fortune.

"Ben! We didn't need all of this! I don't even need a bed," Hazel exclaimed once the concierge left and they were alone together.

Hazel felt Ben's hand wrap around the headphone again as he warned her.

"I'm going to lift this up. Do you want me to catch you or do you want to just land on my shoulder?" He whispered, mindful of his voice after messing up several times.

Hazel thought for a moment before answering.

"Catch me..."

Without another word, Hazel felt the world open up under her and she barely fell before her feet touched Ben's ready fingers.

His hand closed around her lightly and brought her around from the side of his head in his grasp. As soon as his hand was in front of his face, his hand opened flat to reveal Hazel sitting back on her own hands, knees bent in front of her.

Hazel looked up at him from his palm.

It was the first time they'd really gotten to see each other since the train. Ben suddenly looked bashful.

Hazel grinned at his reaction.

"Uh..hey," He finally said through his reddening cheeks and flustered look.

"Hey yourself," said through a chuckle. She scooted to the edge of his palm and let her legs dangle over. She only ever did this with humans who she truly trusted felt safe with, and she enjoyed doing it with Ben.

"Ben this is truly a wonderful hotel suite but it's so wasteful we don't need all of this..." Hazel looked at her surroundings from her vantage point in Ben's hand.

It very well may have been the nicest space that Hazel had ever seen in hundreds of years of being alive.

He still look flustered and she recognized the signs of him wanting to ask something he was having trouble saying.

"Yes?" Hazel prodded, "Something on your mind?"

Ben cleared his throat and paused. Then he turn his head to look straight at her. It was Hazel's turn to feel flustered. He suddenly looked very determined. Nervous. But determined.

"I want...would it..." Ben started and sighed.

"Can I kiss you? I mean would it be ok if I..." Ben kept going before Hazel interrupted him.

"Yes...kiss me you big dummy," Hazel said softly.

Ben puckered his lips and his enormous face moved closer before he pulled back and readjusted to try again. Hazel wanted to laugh but stopped herself. He was trying his best. "Ben bring your hand closer to your lips for me..." Hazel instructed. He did and Hazel leaned forward and planted a kiss on his upper lip as hard as she could so she'd know he would feel it. "Is that alright or did you want more?" Hazel asked. Ben's hand pulled back and she got a clearer view of him. He looked even more flustered than before. "No...I mean....yes...I...uh..." Ben started before finally deciding on, "Mmn." Hazel laughed out loud.

"You mentioned something about changing?" Hazel asked standing up from the edge of his hand and taking a step backwards.

"Uh yeah it's uh another surprise? Gift?" Ben explained while walking over to a large dining table in their suite.

Hazel guessed one reason he picked this hotel suite was for the high ceilings.

Ben slipped the duffel bag slinged over his shoulder down onto the table and unzipped it with one hand. He preferred to keep Hazel in his palm and struggle to do it with his free hand. Hazel wondered if their experience on the train ride was making him even more sentimental and protective towards her.

Ben's hand searched for something inside, and then very slowly removed his hand. In between two pinched fingers was a Hazel sized dress made of silk and black sequins.

Hazel was stunned into silence as he held it in the air just beyond her standing in the middle of his palm.

"Cob helped. It was for a bigger doll and it took them forever. They said they weren't as good at needlework as you but I think they did pretty good." Ben explained while secretly trying to eyeball the dress compared to Hazel to imagine how well it would fit.

Hazel was still in stunned silence.

"Ben...that is incredibly thoughtful of you..." Hazel said through halted breaths.

Mary had never done anything like this for Hazel. She had just gotten so used to being mistreated, especially towards the end, that Ben's generosity now was overwhelming. Hazel started to sob, hunching over a bit to try and hide her feelings getting out of hand.

Ben suddenly looked horrified.

"Oh god you hate it don't you? You hate it? I told Cob you don't like black unless you're doing your ninja thing..." He said, misunderstanding her reaction.

Without warning, Hazel leapt from Ben's palm to his neck. She held onto him, or rather as much of him as she could.

It caught Ben off guard and he tumbled backwards like he'd walked into a spider's web in a haunted house.

Thankfully a nearby couch broke his fall and he landed with a loud thud and grunt. It took a second to recover from his tumble, but his hands had cupped around Hazel clinging to his neck. He pulled his hands away quickly.

"Are you ok? What the hell was..." Ben started before she interrupted him.

"Sorry I startled you....You're such a kind, wonderful, amazing...I..." Hazel stopped and just hugged into him harder. She started laughing and confused Ben even more. Hazel thought it was a nice change from him always startling her.

She climbed off of his neck and onto his chest so he could see her more easily. Hazel wiped her eyes and cheeks with her sleeve. She took a deep breath and looked at him adoringly.

"Why would you..." Hazel continued before Ben interrupted her.

"I love you so...it's easy..." Ben said plainly, like he was telling her the time of day.

Hazel stepped forward towards his face again and hugged the underside of his jaw in silence. Ben raised up a hand and pressed two of his knuckles gently against her back.

He didn't press her to say she loved him too. He didn't need to hear it to know.

"Uh mind if I order dinner now? I'm starving..." He finally asked.

*** End

[liketwoswansinbalance]

I am really curious to see your take on Aric and Japeth's relationship. I mean, the beloved author and creator of the series have addressed this issue with 'in their own sick wicked way they had loved' so yeah it's cannon cool. But I feel like the further implications of this? We saw evil 'unable to love'/ 'only ever have true love'. From what I remember Japeth mentioned Aric more than once, how they would write letters to each other how Aric 'begged' for Japeth to come to him but Japeth never did so and then bro spent the last of his life trying to bring Aric back to life. There are so many implications, the dynamics, the context, everything, but I love how you theorise and explore all sorts of ideas so I can't help but wonder how you view all of this :D.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and have a great day/afternoon/evening/night!

Sorry to disappoint, but I should probably start off with the fact that I don't ship Japeth and Aric. While I like Japeth, partly in thanks to @discjude winning me over, and further recognizing the tragedy surrounding him, his relationship to Aric never canonically does him any favors. And, with Aric, I think I'm apathetic enough towards him that I don't actively hate him; I just don't care about him. In truth, if not for Aladdin's pitiful existence actively hammering on my nerves, Aric would probably be my least favorite character.

The first thing I want to address is that Evil being "unable to love" or "only Evers have True Love" is actually false, despite the many times the series puts forth this claim. Yes, we are explicitly told this "fact" in book 1, but the book's point was to subvert/deconstruct the myth.

First, by the end, with her self-sacrifice, Sophie proved Evil's capacity to love, meaning: Evil being unable to love is just a commonly-held belief in the Woods, not the absolute, be-all, end-all truth.

(And the belief could've been perpetuated by "Rafal's"/Rafal's way of running his institution that literally shapes the Wood's perceptions and the future. Alongside this claim about love, consider the existence of the Doom Room, created to punish a singular mutinous class of first-years, based on a now-revised philosophy about Nevers' learning from harsh treatment and (probably) disproportionate retribution that an excessively stubborn dead man already too entrenched in his old ways never had the chance to change because he died—and this is all aside from the fact proven by the display at the very first Circus of Talents, that Rafal's students did indeed learn better when he finally listened to them and mentored them as an equal in their position (as Fala). In addition, the statement: "Nevers learn from deprivation" similarly reveals how the Woods really do generalize about Nevers—until Sophie, the "exception" and iconoclast, comes along.)

Second, Sophie's non-romantic True Love at some point was said to be Agatha, and I think this established fact is consistently maintained throughout the series, even if other elements overshadow it, so not only Evers can have True Love.

My take on Japeth and Aric is that Japeth's love for Aric, however twisted or sincere it was, drove him to become the Snake, follow along with Rhian's Camelot ambitions and initial staging-terrorism-and-hostage-scenarios plot, and commit all his other, duplicitous, villainous acts throughout TCY, later by his own will, which is a motive I find fascinating (and contradictory about the nature of the Woods' Good and Evil souls, whenever Japeth is set next to the rather grey Rhian).

So, while Japeth's devotion to Aric could be viewed as romantic, it's just not appealing to me, personally, due to the relationship's ambiguous one-sidedness in particular. And, I think I once may've read something about Japeth as a Never fighting for True Love (or his perception of "True Love") and Rhian as an Ever fighting for power (the Nevers' ideal fairy-tale ending) being ironic or inverted in some way. That's also some world-building fodder to consider, or even just another point that could overturn the Rules as we know them, yet again. I'm not surprised by that subversion honestly. Japeth is very much like his parents. Nearly every SGE villain Soman has ever written has been motivated by the pursuit of love, or by the overwhelming force of their own (often obsessive) infatuations (with the exception of somewhat flatter, less-developed, secondary villains, like Aric, Vulcan, Marialena, and Peter Pan).

Also, thanks for the compliment!

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

An Introduction to Arthurian Paganism

Hey, everyone! I’m back with another practice-related post. This time, we’re talking about Arthurian Paganism.

It should be noted that I am still researching and learning about the Arthurian Canon, and Tumblr’s #Arthuriana tag has been, unironically, extremely helpful. They have massive blog posts with links to copies of books that have been published and translated, abridged or unabridged, compilations and separate short stories, etc. which are becoming quite useful to me in my research. And for that, to the people who post and follow the Arthuriana tags, I say thank you. Your work—be it memes, academic compilations of sources, or artwork—has made this not only easier, but very fun.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the Arthurian Pantheon, starting with what it exactly is at this point in my research and spirituality.

What is Arthurian Paganism and How did I get here?

The what and the how are where I want to start. Simply put, I think this is the easiest thing to understand before we go down the rabbit hole of me assigning correspondences, working with festivals, etc.

Plus, anyone, especially in the Western World, has some vague understanding of what the King Arthur story is about. This gives us some equal playing field for a good understanding of the jumping off point of my spiritual path with the Arthurian Pantheon.

So to begin, the Arthurian Pantheon is the characters of King Arthur Stories being honored as deities.

I stumbled across this accidentally when I was trying to worship the Lord and Lady of the Land. A lot of how envisioned these deities came across as King Arthur and Lady Morgan Le Fay—and I was quite intrigued and confused. I had done some honoring of Morgan Le Fay in the past, but not much, and yet could not shake the feeling that there was something here for me to explore.

And as a child, I was always in love with the King Arthur stories and retellings I came across.

It took me a few months to fully embrace, but, by the time Lunasdagh arrived, I began considering in earnest how to honor King Arthur and Lady Morgan within their respective mythos.

King Arthur Pendragon is a mythic King of Britain. While there’s no real historical evidence that states he was a real person, to my knowledge at time of writing, we can trace his story specifically back to Wales as a folk hero in the Mabinogion. Here Arthur is usually portrayed as a vaguely supernatural entity who helps other travelers on their quests.

One such notable one is of Arthur helping his cousin win the hand of a giantess in marriage, if I remember correctly.

His time as a Welsh folk hero is discussed, briefly, in the Mythillogical podcast’s episode on YouTube. The link can be found here.

This version of Arthur is quite different from what he will become, as he is a wanderer and has a lot more agency in these tales. King Arthur tends to lose a bit of focus and agency over the overarching story of Camelot as the Canon grows both in characters and gets codified over time.

This loss of agency or lack of focus, whichever you prefer to call it, reminds me quite a bit of the human life cycle. Arthur, as people add on to his legends starting with Geoffrey of Monmouth and his Welsh Counterparts going all the way up to the modern day, goes through the cycle of birth, childhood, young adulthood, adulthood, elder, death, and finally rebirth. He represents a very human experience—from making mistakes (sleeping with his sister Morgause and in a fit of regret and anger at what he did goes to try and drown every child born on May Day in order to not eventually die at the child’s hand) to just trying to be a genuinely good man and king (his attempts at trying to persuade his Knights and Lords to have Mercy on Queen Guinevere when she was falsely accused of murder and rightfully accused of adultery).

King Arthur is very human and that is necessary for a chief god of a pantheon that I believe in, because I could never get behind a perfect god or a supposed son of god who is meant to share a human experience to understand us better but yet simultaneously is meant to be perfect.

So King Arthur became a comfort as a chief god, even if I haven’t really worked with him yet.

I do say good morning to him every morning though, because I associate King Arthur with the sun.

I mainly got here through Lady Morgan Le Fay, though. She reached out to me about a year ago through a vision I had while working at my part time job. I saw myself following her through mists in an indigo cloak with silver embroidery. So I began to honor her the best I could—I even picked up the Mists of Avalon, and read it for a while, to get her perspective on Arthurian Canon. Then, as the stress of finding a full time job and then having two jobs all began to bubble up, I fell off.

(Which I will get back to the novel eventually. I’m going to be reading a lot of Arthurian books and romances for the foreseeable future.)

Recently, through the attempt at honoring the Lord and Lady of the Land, I found my way back to Lady Morgan. When I reach out to a goddess in divination, I ask for her. When I do my kitchen witchcraft, I do it in her name. When I think of making something for my craft, I think of making it for her.

I wanted to do this seriously and the best I can.

Doing so led to me realizing that it’s not just King Arthur and Lady Morgan who gained spiritual/magickal/etc. independent being status through the centuries of rewriting, retelling, and rediscovering the Arthurian tradition again and again. They all were alive in their own way. Entities in their own rights with their own domains and their own things to teach us, the characters of King Arthur’s stories are alive.

And I had that realization relatively recently. Just a bit before my “Sir Gawain Type of Day” post.

So that’s how I got here.

Now let’s talk about my recent experiences.

My Experiences with the Pantheon:

This section will be quite short as my experiences aren’t much in the grand scheme of things—and a few are a bit personal. The findings are rather few as of right now, but I am starting out and the Arthurian Pantheon as a whole requested that I focus on the research aspect first as a way to honor them before I do anything big like celebrate Sabbats and stuff.

Lady Morgan also reiterated this fact with me last week, and reminded me that I do need to practice patience with myself.

And I’m trying, promise.

For my experiences with the pantheon, I’ve mainly interacted with Lady Morgan. She helped me pass my excel certification exam which allowed me to get my current full time position, and I asked that of her because I thought I’d be quitting my part time job once I got a full time position. I would have more time for the craft, which I promised her that I would make. However, the current state of the economy, and the cost of living where I live specifically, required me to work both jobs in order to pay bills and save up for an apartment.

So, I never really kept up my end of the deal—despite trying to for a while.

Lady Morgan’s energy never seems to give much away about her emotions. I’ve only ever felt an ancient patience and kindness with her. Much like a dusty old library on a misty spring morning, Lady Morgan’s energy is that of learning the art of patience and being okay with waiting—leading you down the path at your own pace.

Her energy also is heavily linked to the moon, mists, and rainstorms from what I’ve found.

The moon is something that she always radiated to me. Lady Morgan guides the way through the night, providing light and guidance through moonlight and stars. The moon tends to show its phase in a very different way if I’ve just been speaking to Lady Morgan earlier that evening and the stars seem much brighter despite the light pollution.

In my limited dealings with Lady Morgan, I’ve also found that, if I did something she was particularly proud of, a morning mist greeted me the next day. I feel the most comfortable in the mists, especially in the morning, so I always appreciate that little treat.

Lord, or more accurately, King Arthur has a different energy that I am sometimes able to connect to in the mornings.

King Arthur’s energy to me is very much the sun. It’s bright and welcoming and even protective to an extent. He’s constant, strong, and reliable. I also associate him with stags, not only because of the whole White Stag search that may or may not have ruined his wedding to Queen Guinevere (depending on the version you’re reading), but also because deer are quite common where I live. Does are definitely more common than stags, yes, but the few times I see a Stag I just immediately think it’s King Arthur.

I think this association began with the Mists of Avalon. Especially when there’s a whole trial by deer that Arthur needs to go through in order to be accepted by the Tribes and it results in his son with Morgaine, Mordred.

Beyond that association, stags tend to be connected to nobility and dependability in our modern media symbolism shorthand, with the most prominent example coming to mind being Elijah Mikaelson from the Vampire Diaries extended universe. Elijah’s nicknamed the Noble Stag for being a Mikaelson the people can trust to keep his word to the letter. He usually acts as the consciousness of his brother, Klaus, and tries to put family above all else.

In my mind, King Arthur is much the same. His energy is that of a stag—a man who keeps his word, puts the people he loves before himself, and is a just king.

And, finally, I felt Sir Gawain’s energy once. I wrote a blog about it, just a small musing really. But to me Gawain’s energy is that of liminal tidings. His energy is soft and comforting as the wheel of the year turns and we shift from one season to the next. At Yuletide/Winter Solstice, he deals the blow to the Green Knight—which rings in the warmer half of the year. And at Litha/Summer Solstice, he faces the Green Knight once more to bring in the colder half of the year.

Possibly.

I think this may change as Sir Gawain is definitely a god of the seasons and their shifts, but I can’t tell if it’s Sir Gawain who rings in the different parts of the year, or if it’s King Arthur, or someone else I have yet to interact with, or no one in the pantheon at all.

But, for now, I will say it’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that ring in the colder and warmer halves of the year.

But that is the extent of my experiences with the Arthurian Pantheon thus far. I am reading up on them still, as a part of my research and way to honor them.

My Recent Findings on the Pantheon:

Through my research, as I currently read “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” as translated by Jessie Weston, I have found that King Arthur likes to hear stories of great feats from his knights and/or songs, or see a good game before he eats a feast, so that will be implemented during times I offer some food up to him. He also refuses to eat until everyone at court is sitting and served when hosting a grand feast, so if I invite people over I will try and do the same. King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table love to have feasts with dried meats and honey wine ( AKA mead ).

When I get my apartment, I will practice making honey wine for libations to the King and his Knights.

My time browsing the Arthuriana tag on Tumblr, and the abridged version of Le Morte d'Arthur read by Derek Jacobi, indicated that Sir Gawain loves apples. So when I honor Sir Gawain specifically, I’ll see if I can make apples ready for the occasion.

The abridged version of Le Morte d’Arthur previously mentioned also pointed two days that I specifically took note of: Arthur’s birthday, being around December 24th, and Arthur’s king making which was on Candlemas, February 2nd. So I will definitely be celebrating Candlemas, and King Arthur’s birthday, which falls during Yuletide.

The Mists of Avalon audiobook that I’m listening to on Spotify indicates that Lady Morgan is knowledgeable in herb lore and is gifted with the Sight. So any form of herbalism and divination could be considered devotional acts to Lady Morgan. Or working with the Fair Folk, as in that telling of Arthurian canon has Lady Morgan descended from the Fae Folk of the British Isles.

And that’s all I have at the moment research wise. I haven’t had time to sit down and finish “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” in order to move on to the next pieces of Arthuriana on the docket.

Conclusion:

As you can see, I don’t have much in the way of research or experiences yet. Really, this Introduction to the Arthurian Pantheon is just me trying to get my thoughts and early findings down on paper so I can continue forward.

I really can’t wait to learn about and from this very large and very diverse pantheon.

I’m not even sure if I’ll get to everyone—or if this counts as Celtic or Pop Culture paganism! I tag it as Celtic since these stories tend to be leaning more Celtic in nature and its birth in the British Isles.

But I hope you guys enjoyed this introduction into the pantheon and my experiences with it! I’ll make a more comprehensive and scholarly introduction when I have more time, knowledge, and experience under my belt with the pantheon if necessary. For now though, this is where I end the introduction post.

Until next time!

[kanerallels]

bestie!! Can you tell me about your book, Land of Tales? I may have just stalked the tag for a solid forty minutes and I’m dying to know more (I LOVE me some good fairytale retellings)

BESTIE I LOVE YOU FOR SENDING ME THIS ASK I'm so so honored?? Thank you so much!! (also same we love fairy tale retellings they're amazing)

OKAY SO! I'm gonna give you a brief overview of the book in case you didn't see what it's about, then I'll do some fun facts because I deserve it as a treat and I'm hyperfixating on my own book series right now (and also Valiant. Minor detail. LET'S MOVE ON)

The main plot: My girl Rebecca Wood lives on Earth, but never knew her parents. She discovers at the beginning of the book that she, and the family she never knew, is from the fairy tale world, and so she goes there with the help of this socially awkward cinnamon roll, Liam. We love Liam, and we feel bad about the amount of Horrors I put him through, including but not limited to social interactions and torture

The rest of the book is basically Rebecca and Liam's travels through Avena (fairy tale world) meeting fairy tale characters and evading the evil Empress Goldilocks (who has magic plants and fairy tale princesses for assassins). And there are more books. Or there will be. Four overall in the main series, two prequels, umm... *pauses to count* okay yeah there are a lot of stories post canon. And I've already written a handful of short stories for fun and profit!

And now it's fun facts about some of the characters time:

Cinderella is, as mentioned, an assassin! She has fabulous fashion taste, glass shoes that can morph into any shoe type she wants, and is incredibly sadistic. Her husband Gavin is what would happen if Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, Schimdt from New Girl, and Oscar from The Rookie were fused into one incredibly vain, lazy person who wore a lot of capes

Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk is a pirate (occasionally of the sky). He's married to a future seer who basically tricked him into taking her hostage the first time they met, and has two kids. They are utter gremlins and we love them

Alec and Risha, who I've been talking about lately, are from Camelot. Risha's dad is Sir Gareth, aka Gawain's cool brother. In my series, the people of Camelot have Australian accents because why not?

OH MY GOSH I JUST THOUGHT OF A CHARACTER I HAVEN'T TALKED ABOUT ON HERE okay his name is Bob. It's short for uhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm gonna be straight with y'all I don't remember his full name. It's really long. But he's the Magic Mirror from Snow White! He's a cursed prince who likes shipping his best friend with her love interest, and boba tea (if it exists in this universe. I shall ponder this) and he's just a little chaos gremlin and I would die for him

Somehow, every single ship in this series is enemies to lovers (except Alec and Risha, slow burn friends to idiots in love my beloved) and it's really funny to me. They're all different flavors of enemies to lovers, too. We've got "coworkers who annoy the crap out of each other to lovers", "I tried to kill your friends that one time and am involved in the organization that killed your brother but now we're working together and technically I'm engaged but it's a engagement of convenience and we're connecting to lovers", and one of my personal favorites, "you forced me to take you hostage that one time and now I'm stuck with you which is really annoying to lovers". There are, believe it or not, others

One more fun fact for the road: I have a book planned that's set after the series, and it's a combination of no less than three fairy tales at once. Possibly more, for all I know

Oh, and actually last of all! The first book in the series, which I shall not reveal the title of just yet because DRAMA, is finished! All polished up and shiny, and I'm currently looking into publishing options and cover artists! (also my girl a.spice is doing illustrations I can't wait for you guys to see them they're incredible)

[starry-teacup]

Because of some cool art you made I want to dip my toe into the Mechanisms.

where do I find the story?

So I don't know how much you know about them, but the basics are:

The Mechanisms is a band in which each member has a persona. They are a crew of immortal space pirates, roaming the galaxy in search of violence, fun, and stories to tell. Each persona character can be referred to as a mechanism, as in a member of the crew, but they each also have a mechanism, a clockwork prosthetic of some sort that was installed after they each had their own tragic story and made them immortal.

When they find a good, long, juicy tragedy, they turn it into an album. They also have two anthology albums, with some songs connecting to the wider stories and some completely independent of them, and a couple containing mechanisms lore. Their last album is from the live show of their final performance.

All of these albums stand on their own, and there is no particular order you need to listen to them in. They each contain characters and places from classic stories, putting unique sci-fi spins on them all and following queer narratives. I'd say bury your gays, but honestly, it's more like bury your gays and the entire planet they lived on, along with everything they ever held dear.

here's a summary of each, stolen from the mechs blurbs themselves:

Once Upon a Time (In Space)-

This tale tells of those embroiled in the rebellion against the tyrant of New Constantinople, Old King Cole. It tells of the love of Cinders for her captured Rose, of the treatment of Rose at the hands of Cole's genetic scientists, and of the bold but savage leadership of the rebel General Snow. And it tells of the final fates of all of these.

fairy tale but make it a rebellion. their first album, contains many of their most popular songs. solid. not personally one of my favorites, but the one I'm most likely to be listening to a song from on any given day. our boy jack and pump shanty are excellent.

High Noon Over Camelot-

A tale of hope and despair aboard the Fort Galfridian, long lost to the outside world, where the chaos of centuries of solitude has been brought in check at last by the guns of the Pendragon Gang. But the visions of the mad prophet Galahad, and the schemes of the Pendragons' lieutenants Mordred and Gawain, threaten to cast the station back into anarchy. And all the while, the Sun grows hotter...

arthurian legend has just become a space westerner in which everyone rides motorcycles and a fiery death threatens them all. haven't listened to it yet, but I've heard great things. Blood and Whiskey is a banger, and Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere are in a polycule, something I didn't know I needed until I heard it suggested.

Ulysses Dies At Dawn-

Ulysses Dies at Dawn. That's the word on the street, at any rate, if you talk to anyone who saw what went down at Calypso's Bar the other night. Who is behind the thuggish band known as the Suits - Heracles, Ariadne and the others? What is Ulysses's secret? And what is hidden within the security of the Vault?

I'm going to be completely honest with you. I think this is no-contest their best album. It's greek mythology in noir film style, with heavy usage of blues and rock. I don't even like blues, but I love each and every song. This one is also a little easier to follow than the others. I'd recommend starting here.

The Bifrost Incident-

The Bifrost Incident. Any schoolchild could tell you about it. The fall of the old order; two hundred years of Asgardian hubris come together in a single epoch-defining event. The maiden voyage of a train through the stars, vanished without a trace...

Remember how I think the last one was the best one? Well, this is still my favorite. Norse mythology framed as a mystery on a train, with a twist completely out of left field that leaves you reeling. Thus, it is probably the most difficult to follow, or at least, it was for me. The art you liked-which wasn't mine, unfortunately, credit to the artists is on the post if you want to check those blogs out-featured variations of the narrator from this album. let's just say I'm. not so normal about them.

well. ANYWAYS. this was...probably longer than what you wanted. Or than what I should have given. I don't get asks a lot and an excuse to talk about the mechanisms is always something I am willing to abuse.

If you do end up listening to any of their music, please tell me what you think! I'd love to hear it, and it's always nice to talk about them with someone else :)

[sic-vita]

"this is the time of King Arthur, and forgiveness is not weakness, and justice is not revenge"

// think back on all the tales that you remember, of Camelot

[ladyjuquia]

sorry if this is a bit invasive, but im just curious, I was wondering what made you like Tristan so much? also, which one did you like first, the one from fgo or the one from the original myths.

Hopefully this doesn't come off as rude or anything cause I'm not trying to be! if it does I'm sorry

Hey there! Thank you for your message! And don’t worry, it isn’t invasive at all! I get this Question actually quite often, haha!

Why do I like Tristan this much?

- It all started when I had my first FGO Account. It was a JP Account and it was back then when the Camelot Chapter recently released and the Tristan Banner was out. I went in the Banner blindly since I didn’t knew how anything works, haha. Then after Tutorial I rolled and Tristan was the very first card I got. I remember this well because I was so excited, haha. I asked my friend back then who this is and when I heard it was Tristan I was like „From Tristan and Isolde?!“ it made me very excited, since I knew the Opera. The Story of Tristan and Isolde is quite popular here! With that, Tristan became my very first Servant. I call it „Fate“ (no pun intended, maybe). Over the years I focused on other characters more but Tristan always stayed one of my favourites until it grew stronger. That’s why in my Yumeshipping it’s also Friends to Lovers. A fateful summoning where they liked each other from the beginning but love bloomed only after a while! So the fact he was my first Servant also already did a lot. Sadly I don’t have the original first account not anymore. But he came back quickly as you see in my current accounts!

In general, I love Tristans whole personality and especially how natural he feels. He deals with lots of Trauma and Depression and while his „catchphrase“ is „I am so sad“ that’s not the only thing he is. He is silly and funny, serious and cool, gentle and caring. To me he is everything I love in a person. I feel comfortable thinking of him, it gives me so many warm feelings. I am a Dreamer by nature and Tristan feels like he always lived in my dreams. Also I love how much research was done in his writing! Many people would expect only Malory or Wagner, since they are the most popular. But in Tristans Writing you can recognise all the different tales and sources. I think Higashide wanted to handle Tristan like Joseph Bedier which I appreciate so much! He feels like a love letter to the legend! I love everything about him, his looks, his way of speaking, his fighting style, his personality, he is perfect for me, in my eyes.

Which one did you liked first, the one from FGO or the one from the original Myths?

- To be honest, FGO. While I was familiar with the Story I always saw „Tristan and Isolde“ as one Story and never thought much about the characters separately. FGO was the first one where I viewed Tristan as separate character, I am really grateful for that. Analysing Tristan in my free time became one of my hobby’s, weird as it sounds, haha. I just love reading the sources and writing my own thoughts all over again. It’s lots of fun! So I am grateful for FGO making me meet Tristan and how FGO treats Tristan not just as part of Isolde but as his own Character. I appreciate this so much.

Thank you once again for the message! It was so much fun to answer it! I hope you have a lovely day!

[mask131]

Ségurant, the Knight of the Dragon (1/4)

In order to do my posts about Ségurant, I will basically blatantly plagiarize the documentary I recently saw - especially since it will be removed at the end of next January. If you don't remember from my previous post, it is an Arte documentary that you can watch in French here. There's also a German version somewhere.

The documentary is organized very simply, by a superposition of research-exploration-explanation segments with semi-animated retellings of extracts of the lost roman.

0: The origin of it all

The documentary is led by and focused on the man behind the rediscovery of Ségurant, the Knight of the Dragon – Emanuele Arioli, presented simply as a researcher in the medieval domain, expert of the Arthurian romances, and deeply passionate by the Arthurian legend and chivalry. If you want to be more precise, a quick glimpse at his Wikipedia pages reveals that he is actually a Franco-Italian an archivist-paleographer, a doctor in medieval studies, and a master of conferences in the domain of medieval language and medieval literature.

It all began when Arioli was visiting the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, at Paris. There he checked a yet unstudied 15th century manuscript of “Les prophéties de Merlin”. Everybody knows Monmouth’s Prophetiae Merlini, but it is not this one – rather it is one of those many “Merlin’s Prophecies” that were written throughout the Middle-Ages, collecting various “political prophecies” interwoven with stories taken out of the legends of king Arthur and the Round Table. And while consulting this specific 15th century “Prophéties de Merlin”, Arioli stumbled upon a beautiful enluminure (I think English folks say “illumination”) of a knight facing a dragon. Interested, he read the story that went with it… And discovered the tale of Ségurant, a knight he had never heard about during the entirety of his studies.

Here we have the first fragment of Ségurant’s story: “Ségurant le Brun” (Ségurant the Brown, as in Brown-haired, you could call him Ségurant the Dark-haired, Ségurant the Brunet), a “most excellent and brave knight”, sent a servant to Camelot, court of king Arthur, and in front of the king the servant said – “A knight from a foreign land sends me there, and asks you to go in three days onto the plain of Winchester, with your knights of the Round Table, to joust. You will see there the greatest marvel you ever saw.”

Checking the rest of the manuscript, Arioli found several other episodes detailing Ségurant’s adventures, all beginning with illuminations of a knight facing a dragon. And this was the beginning of Arioli’s quest to reconstruct a roman that had been forgotten and ignored by everybody – a quest that took him ten years (and in the documentary he doesn’t hide that he ended up feeling himself a lot within Ségurant’s character who is also locked in an impossible quest).

I: Birth of king, birth of myth

The first quarter of the documentary or so is focused on Arioli’s first step in his quest for Ségurant: Great-Britain of course! However, slight spoiler alert, Arioli didn’t find anything there – and so the documentary spends a bit more time speaking about king Arthur than Ségurant, though it does fill in with various other extracts of Ségurant’s story.

Arioli’s first step was of course the National Library of Wales, where the most ancient resources about king Arthur are kept, and where old Celtic languages and traditions are still very much alive, or at least perfectly preserved. The documentary has Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan presenting the audience with the oldest record of the name Arthur in Welsh literature – if not in European literature as a whole. The “Y Gododdin”, where one of the characters described is explicitly compared to Arthur in negative, “even though he was not Arthur”. The Y Gododdin is extremely hard to date, though it is very likely it was written in the 7th century – and all in all, it proves that Arthur was known of Welsh folks at the time, probably throughout oral poems sung by bards, and already existed as a “good warrior” or “ideal leader” figure.

From there, we jump to a brief history lesson. Great-Britain used to be the province of the Roman Empire known as Britannia – and when the Romans left, it became the land of the Britons (in French we call them “Bretons” which is quite ironic because “Breton” is also the name of the inhabitants of the Britany region of France – Bretagne. This is why Great-Britain is called Great-Britain, the Britany of France was the “Little-Britain”, and this is also why the Britain-myth of Arthur spreads itself across both England and France – but anyway). However, ever since the 5th century, Great-Britain had fallen into social and political instability, as two Germanic tribes had invaded the lands: the Angles and the Saxons. In the year 600, the Angles and the Saxons were occupying two-thirds of Great-Britain, while the Britons had been pushed towards the most hostile lands – Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. This era was a harsh, cruel and dark world, something that the Y Gododdin perfectly translates – and thus it makes sense that the figure of Arthur would appear in such situation, as the mythical hero of the Briton resistance against the Anglo-Saxons.

However we had to wait until a Latin work of the 12th century for Arthur’s fate to finally be tied to the history of the kings of England: Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh bishop, wrote for the king of England of the time the “Historia Regum Britanniae”, “History of the Kings of Britain”, in which we find the first complete biography of Arthur as a king – twenty pages or so about “the most noble king of the Britons”. Geoffrey’s record was a mix of real and imagination, weaving together fictional tales with historical resources – it seems Geoffrey tried to make Arthur “more real” by including him into the actual History with a big H, and it is thanks to him that we have the legend of Arthur as we know it today ; even though his Arthur was a “proto-Arthur”, without any knight or Round Table. The tale begins in Cornwall, at Tintagel, where Arthur was conceived: one night, Uther Pendragon, with the help of Merlin, took the shape of the Duke of Cornwall to enter in his castle and sleep with his wife Igraine. This was how Arthur was born.

The documentary then has some presentations of the archeological work on Tintagel – filled with enigmatic and mysterious ruins. The current archeological research, and a scientific project in 2018, allowed for the discovery of proof that the area was occupied as early as 410, and then all the way to the 9th and 10th century, maybe even the years 1000. There are many elements indicating that Tintagel was inhabited during the post-Roman times when Arthur was supposed to have lived: post-Roman glass, and various fragments of pottery coming from Greece or Turkey and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea – overall the area clearly was heavily influenced by Mediterranean commerce and cultures. Couple that with the fact that we have the ruins of more than a hundred buildings built solidly with the stone of the island – that is to say more buildings than what London used to have during the same era – and with the fact that there are scribe-performed inscriptions for various families and third parties (meaning people were important or rich enough to buy a scribe to write things for them)… All of this proves that Tintagel was important, wealthy and connected, and so while it does not prove Arthur did exist, it proves that a royal court might have existed at Tintagel – and that Geoffrey of Monmouth probably selected Tintagel as the place of birth of Arthur because he precisely knew of how ancient and famous the area was, through a long oral tradition.

2: After birth, death

The next area visited by the documentary is Glastonbury. “On a Somerset hill formerly surrounded by swamps and bogs”, medieval tradition used to localize the fabulous island of Avalon – where Arthur, mortally wounded by his son Mordred, was taken by fairies. Healed there, he ever since rests under the hill, and will, the story says, return in the future to save the Britons when they need it the most… More interestingly fifty years after Monmouth’s writings, the actual grave of king Arthur was supposedly discovered in the cemetery of the abbey of Glastonbury, and can still be visited today. It is said that in 1191, the monks of the abbey were digging a large pit in their cemetery, 12 feet deep, when they find a rough wooden coffin with a great lead cross on which were written “Here lies king Arthur, on the island of Avalon”. Now, you might wonder, why were monks digging a pit in their cemetery? Sounds suspicious… Well it is said that Henry II was the one who told the monks that, if they dug in their cemetery, they might find “something interesting”… Why would Henry II order a research for the grave of king Arthur? Very simple – a political move. Henry II was a Plantagenet king, aka part of a Norman bloodline, from Normandy, and the House of Plantagenet had gained control of their territory through wars. The Plantagenet was a dynasty that won large chunks of territory through battles (or through marriage – Henri II married Aliénor d’Aquitaine in 1152, which allowed him to extend his empire so that it ended up covering not just all of Great-Britain but also three quarters of France). But as a result, the Plantagenet House had to actually “justify” themselves, prove their legitimacy – prove that they were not just ruling because they were conquerers that had beaten or seduced everybody. They needed to tie themselves to Briton traditions, to link themselves to the legends of Britain – and the “discovery” of king Arthur’s tomb was part of this political plan. And it was a huge success – Glastonbury became famous, and so did king Arthur, who went from a mere Briton war-chief that maybe existed, to a true legend and symbol of English royalty.

However, so far, there are no traces of Ségurant in the Welsh tradition, and here we get our second extract of Ségurant’s roman, which actually seems to be the beginning of his adventures.

Ségurant comes from a fictional island (or at least going by a fictional name): l’île Non-Sachante. There Ségurant le Brun was knighted on the day of the Pentecost by his own grandfather. There was great merriment and great joy, and after the party, Ségurant openly declared he wanted to see the court of king Arthur and all the great wonders in it that everybody kept talking about. He claimed he would go to Winchester – and thus it leads to the invitation mentioned above. Yep, he decided that the best way to go see king Arthur’s court and his wonders was to basically challenge the king and his knights…

3: No place at the Round Table

Of course, the next step of the documentary is Winchester, former capital of Saxon England. Some traditions claim that it was at Winchester that Camelot was located, king Arthur’s castle and the capital of his Royaume de Logres, Kingdom of Logres. Logres itself being actually clearly the dream of a land rebuilt and given back to the Britons, once all the Germanic invaders are kicked out.

The documentary goes to Winchester Castle, built by William the Conqueror, and takes a look at the famous “Round Table” kept within its Great Hall – a table on which are written the name of 24 Arthurian knights, with a painting of king Arthur at the center… Above the rose of the Tudors. Because, that’s the thing everybody knows – while the Round Table itself was built in the 13th century and presented as an “Arthurian relic”, it was repainted in the shape it is today during the 16th century, by Henry the Eight (you know, the wife-killer), who used it as yet another political tool to impose and legitimize the rule of the Tudor line – and he wasn’t subtle about it, since he had Arthur’s face painted to look like his… On this table you find the names of many of the famous Arthurian knights: Galahad, Lancelot of the Lake, Gawain, Perceval, Lionel, Mordred, Tristan, the Knight with the Ill-Fitting Coat… They were organized according to a hierarchy (despite the very principle of the table being there was no hierarchy): at the top are the most famous and well-known knights, with their own stories and quests, such as Galahad, Lancelot of Gawain. At the bottom are the less famous ones: Lucan, Palamedes, Lamorak, Bors de Ganis…

And Ségurant is, of course, absent. Which can be baffling when you consider what the story about Ségurant actually says…

NEW EXTRACT! We are on the field of Winchester. All the tents are prepared for the greatest tournament Logres ever knew. The tent of Ségurant is very easy to spot, because there is a precious stone at the top, that shines day and knight, constantly emitting light as if it was a flaming torch. In front of king Arthur, all the bravest and most courageous knights of the Round Table appear and joust between them: Lancelot and Gawain are explicitly named. Suddenly, Ségurant appears and defies them all in combat! One by one, the knights of the Round Table battle with Ségurant – but all their spears break themselves onto his shield, and in the end, no knight wants to defy him, realizing they could not possibly defeat him. And in the audience, a rumor start spreading… “For sure, it will be him, the knight who will find the Holy Grail!”

So we have a knight who managed to defeat all the knights of the Round Table, in front of king Arthur, and yet nobody talks about him? But as the documentary reminds the audience – the Winchester Round Table only contains knights that the British tradition is familiar with. There many Arthurian knights with their own story and quests, such as Erec or Yvain the Knight of the Lion, who are absent from it… Because they are part of the French tradition, and thus less popular if not frankly ignored by England (a specific mention goes to Erec who was only translated very recently into English apparently, and for centuries and centuries stayed unknown in the English-speaking world).

Anyway – the conclusion of this first part of the documentary is simple. Ségurant is not from Great-Britain, he is not British nor Welsh, and so his origins lie somewhere else.

ADDENDUM

In the first part of this documentary, they stay quite vague and allusive about the story of Ségurant (because the documentary is obviously about the quest and research behind the reconstruction of the roman, not about what the roman contains in every little details). So to flesh out a bit the various extracts above I will use some information from the very summary Wikipedia page about this recently rediscovered knight (I didn’t had the time to get my hands on the book yet).

In the version that is the “main” one reconstructed by Arioli and that is the basis for the documentary’s retelling, soon before being knighted, Ségurant had proved his worth by performing a successful “lion hunt” onto the Ile Non-Sachante. Said island is actually said to have originally been a wild and deserted island onto which his grand-father, Galehaut le Brun, and his grand-father’s brother, Hector le Brun, had arrived after a shipwreck – they had taken the sea to flee an usurper on the throne of Logres named Vertiger (it seems to be a variation of Vortigern?). Galehaut le Brun had a son, Hector le Jeune (Hector the Young), Ségurant’s father. However, unlike the documentary which presents Ségurant as immediately wishing to see Camelot and defy its knights as soon as he is knighted, the Wikipedia page explains there is apparently a missing episode between the two events: in the roman, Ségurant originally leave the Ile Non-Sachante to defeat his uncle (also named Galehaut, like his grandfather) on the mainland. After beating his uncle at jousting, rumors of his various feats and exploits reached Camelot, and it was king Arthur himself who decided to organize a tournament in Ségurant’s honor at Winchester, so that the Knights of the Round Table could admire Ségurant’s exploits.

The fact that the documentary presents a version of the story when the Knights of the Round Table are already in search for the Holy Grail when Ségurant arrives at Winchester is quite interesting because according to the Wikipedia article, Ségurant’s name is mentioned in a separate text (a late 15th century armorial) as one of the knights of the Round Table who was present “when they took the vow of undergoing the quest of the Holy Grail, on Pentecost Day”. The same armorial then goes on to add more elements about Ségurant’s character. Here, instead of being the son of “Hector the Young”, he is son of “Hector le Brun” (so the whole family is “Brown” then), and this title is explained by the color of his hair, which is actually of a brown so dark it is almost black. Ségurant is described here as a very tall man, “almost a giant”, and to answer this enormous height, he has an incredible and powerful strength, coupled with a great appetite making him eat like ten people. But he is actually a peaceful, gentle soul, as well as a lone wolf not very social. He also is said to have a beautiful face, and to be “well-proportioned” in body. A final element of this armorial, which is the most interesting when compared to the main story given by the documentary (where the dragon comes afterward) – in this armorial, Ségurant is actually said to have killed a dragon BEFORE being knighted, a “hideous and terrible” dragon, and this is why his coast of arms depict a black dragon with a green tongue over a gold background.

Again, this all comes from an armorial kept at the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal – which has a small biography and drawing of Ségurant over one page (used to illustrate the French Wikipedia article). It is apparently not in the “roman” that Arioli reconstructed – especially since in the comic book adaptation, and the children-illustrated-novel adaptations, not only is Ségurant depicted as of regular size, but he is also BLOND out of all things…

As for the name of the island Ségurant comes from, “l’île Non-Sachante”, it is quite a strange name that means “The Island Not-Knowing”, “The Unknowing island”, “The island that does not know”. This is quite interesting because, on one side it seems to evoke how this is an island not known by regular folks – this wild, uncharted, unmapped island on which Ségurant’s family ended up, and from which this mysterious all-powerful knight comes from (and you’ll see that the fact nobody knows Ségurant’s island is very important). But there is also the fact that the adjective “Sachante” is clearly at the female form, to match the female word “île”, “island”, meaning it is the island that does not “know”. And given it is supposed to be this wild place without civilization, it seems to evoke how the island doesn’t know of the rest of the world, or doesn’t know of humanity. (Again I am not sure, I haven’t got the book yet, I am just making basic theories and hypothetic reading based on the info I found)

[bananaactivity]

i saw the "ask me abt my descendants au" ask button and so i simply HAD to ask about your au--carlos is my fave, with harry being my second favorite (while morgie is my favorite from RoR), so i guess, if anything, i wanna ask abt carlos. whats he like in your au? what exactly happens--and do his cousins exist? love the way you draw him op!!

and abt your morgie and james verse--i'm curious, do harriet and cj exist ? does harry remember morgie at all? does hook ever even talk about him?

sorry if this was a lot!

Naw it’s all good, I’ve been waiting on an ask for forever 🙃 I will say I only consumed the movies back in elementary school (WILD IM SAYING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND NOW IM 18 LIKE TIME GOES BY SO FAST) The only books I read was Mals spell book. Not to say I don’t like reading, I read Ever After high books and The School for Good and Evil, I could just never get my hands on the Descendents ones. And I watched one episode of wicked world… and said fuc no never again.

All that to say I just found out three weeks ago that Harry had siblings, and that Carlos had any hench men or other stuff not specifically in the main movies. I had already figured out a lot of James and Harry’s story and suddenly the timeline was fucked because there was no way for Harriet or Cj or Jane Darling to exist in context. Harry is born as an accident in Neverland and Hook has to return home so he can grow and his mother is a random someone who wasn’t going to come back to take care of her son. Her existence is already shaky but then adding Harriet she’d have to be born first with Jane Darling who I didn’t account for in the slightest either. She’s Wendy’s daughter so now a lot more time will have to pass so she can grow up and come to neverland, which is gross and not in a campy Disney way… and I was having a hard time wrapping my head around it 🥲

That was until I gave Hook a younger brother who can get with Jane at an appropriate age 😈 He’s unarmed rn but he’s a Hook so Harriet and Cj will be Harry’s cousins who he’s estranged from until some events happen…

Harry does NOT remember Morgie especially not with him looking so scary and tryna kill his Stylist and sparing partner. ( Carlos and Jay) Hook only talks about him to Maleficent and Uliana ( Hades still thinks he’s a spoiled rich boy, and Hook still thinks it was dumb for a “god” to attend a four year University with mortals, also At this time Maleficent and Hades are in that bad argue stage right before a divorce) He was okay leaving them all because time is different in Neverland, even tho from his side he’s been gone 12 years, Morgie only missed him for one year and time melds together on Neverland since you don’t age so it was basically nothing. ( that’s why Peter Pan is so unhinged, he’s been there forever and he refuses to keep track) Morgies in the same time zone as them so he’s been gone a good ten years, Harry and his friends are 14-12 now,So everyone is feeling the effects, and Camelot is on lockdown due to Morgie terrorizing them so Hook can’t check up on him. ( I dunno if I mentioned on tumblr but in my au Auradon is the place that’s locked up so the poor and Villians can’t come in on their “superior” society, the rest of the world is made up of lands from other Fairy tales and Folklore) So Hook is worried but he keeps on and Harry’s memory of Morgie comes back after a month of getting used to him being back.

Sad part but I have to share, Morgie and Hook never officially unionize… Morgie knows he’ll outlive Hook by a VERY long time (till the end of time) and he can’t bring himself to finalize anything, his grief about Hooks mortality is slowly consuming him🫠 (also Hook has issues with living forever due to his trauma from Neverland and won’t entertain any sort of immortality shenanigans)

On another note Carlos is also my favorite! I’ve had him down in my notes (before I could brave the internet) as soon as the inspiration from the 1996 101 Dalmatians live action film staring Glenn Close hit me I knew what had to be done. ( and descendents of the sparrow inspired me 😙) Carlos is a very smart man, he’s the analyst, ranged weapons specialist, stylist and bestest member of my Core four. (Jay is a wreck, Mal is a wreck, and Evie is still slay but she has to get wrapped up in Mals mess because she loves her 🙄 damn you Evies demi-god/dragon gf ) but I’d say my Carlos is a little more disciplined then the Og. He hates gross things and hates getting dirty or messy. Hes dorm mates with Chad now because the fairy god mother doesn’t want the four to conspire together so easily ( like they do in the movies 😅) He threatens Chads and his forest friends a lot because Carlos also hates any animal that he isn’t wearing. He grows out of that eventually, but it takes the longest out of all of his flaws because… like did you see him in that tiger skin outfit!?? How could he give up furs?!?

Carlos story intertwines with Harry’s a lot, in a brotherly love way. I was having Carlos love his mom in my first posts about Carlos but since then I’ve changed it. Cruella Hates Hook and Carlos hates his mom for being abusive, so he makes Harry swear that Carlos can style him when he’s older to get back at his mom. It becomes more than that and now Carlos gets even more clients, enough to move out on his own but he ends up staying with Mal and Co. This separates him a little from Harry, Uma, and Gil who he grew close with because Harry’s home was his safe place from his mother. She not only hated Hook but also the sea and its smells and the hustle of the costal territory present on that side of the isle. He still sees them when he goes for meetings with Harry, to Mals agitation. Mal Hates Uma and is kinda scared of Harry. ( Maleficent, Uliana and Hook think they accidentally bestied to close to the sun and made their kids and niece hate each other on accident)

Jay is jealous of Carlos due to his obsession with beating Harry and stuff. I’m not a hundred percent sure if I wanna go Huma or Jarry for this one… leaning towards Huma as Jerry is really toxic and I already have a bunch of other toxic couples I don’t want a million of them fr. For Carlos I’m thinking Aro/Ace like bro just wants to chill and design cool shit. I could see people having him be with Chad based on the context of my au, close proximity/enemie’s to lovers/hhimbo and smart guy, but I’m just not feeling it and Jaylos felt forced during the movies so I don’t want that 🫠

I have more but this is basically a fic chapter all on its own, if you have anymore askes I’ll gladly answer them!! I don’t mind spoiling my story like this, I find my fic interests in the specific conversations characters have and details. So this isn’t something I’m against doing…

Edit: I’m also having trouble on what I want the themes of these fics to be. I want a little bit more then “cool alternative universe!!!” I’m love this au but I’m also using this story to help warm me up for developing a story with my own characters that I’ve had swimming in my mind for years 😭

[nine-frames]

“... think back on all the tales that you remember ...“

Camelot, 1967.

Dir. Joshua Logan | Writ. Alan Jay Lerner | DOP Richard H. Kline

[zahri-melitor]

Recent Reads:

I haven’t done a round up of stuff I’ve picked up randomly for a while so let’s have one:-

Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles: I tried this, on the back of the fact I do enjoy Mark Russell’s satire. After one issue I rapidly realised I simply don’t know enough about the Hanna-Barbera characters in this to care about the adaption going on. The premise is interesting, it’s just Not For Me.

Madame Xanadu 2008 #1-10: this is Matt Wagner with Amy Reeder on art. Reeder's art is ADORABLE and she has such fun drawing elaborate clothing all the way through this. I really enjoy Matt Wagner's ability to take old stories or concepts and breathe a modern comics approach into them, making them a lot more accessible. This is Wagner telling the backstory of Nimue Inwudu, stopping in with her at 5 points in her history (Camelot, the court of Kublai Khan, the French Revolution, Jack the Ripper London, and America WWII) and her interactions with a bunch of characters from the Magic side of DC (Merlin, Etrigan, Death of the Endless, the Phantom Stranger, Giovanni Zatara, and Jim Corrigan as the Spectre). Nimue has a MASSIVE beef with the Phantom Stranger. She does not like him at all, because he keeps turning up at some of the worst points in her life and won't help her try to evade terribly fated things. Come for the Amy Reeder art, stay for the story.

The Demon: Hell is Earth 2018: I enjoyed this. Because I don’t clean read Etrigan stuff in order I cannot remember if Etrigan is officially a Rhymer again as of Rebirth (he appears to be rhyming for fun and because he enjoys it, but isn’t bound to do so, but he’s also getting mocked by his demon uncle for using rhymes). In any case, Jason Blood and Etrigan get separated for hell-related reasons, and they’re running around with Madame Xanadu and Merlin to prevent Belial taking over Earth by invading from Hell. Good times. Lots of people die. Etrigan potentially ends up King of Hell at the end of this story.

Swamp Thing: I was going to make this its own post but heck let’s put everything in together.

Len Wein (Swamp Thing #1-13 1972): Wein's work is absolutely solid magical horror. He sets up an intriguing premise to build from and he can spin a good story. It's exactly the sort of amusing writing that keeps me coming back to, say, Warlord. Worthwhile to see the starting premise.

David Michelinie (Swamp Thing #14-18, 21-22 1972): Not as good at Wein, but definitely can tell a story. You can tell he spent time on House of Mystery given the episodic horror nature of his storytelling.

Gerry Conway (Swamp #19-20, 23-24 1972 plus Challengers of the Unknown #81-87 1977): Conway I think is the first writer who actually gets some of the specific horror you can imbue in this concept, especially around identity. I can see how his ideas could contribute to the later concepts Moore will introduce. I don't think his execution is fantastic but the hand regeneration? Yeah. Yeah that is playing with the ideas available.

Martin Pasko (Brave and the Bold #176 1955, Saga of the Swamp Thing #1-19 1982): Pasko is definitely processing things. Like, the man has an entire story that's just him responding to the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-1981. He is very much a cynic about the innocence of childhood (or innocence in general, actually) and wants to explore the dark side of humanity.

The Phantom Stranger: these have been backups to the Martin Pasko Swamp Thing issues. Mostly I’ve found them pretty trite and a bit overly religious in places. Yes I know his entire concept is rooted in religious myth (as the Wandering Jew) but I mean more in a 'this tale has an Overt Christian Moral' way. The concept of the character is fascinating. The execution seems to be very across the shop.

Outsiders #1-33 2003: oh boy. Uh. Tomasi's fill using the original Batman & The Outsiders characters was a WELCOME reprieve to this. Okay, in terms of the main run: I tend to find Judd Winick a writer that either I'm fully enjoying or decidedly not to my taste. Outsiders falls into the 'not to my taste' category. I can see what Winick is going for in terms of 'let's make this Gritty! And Mature!' except for it's really not that gritty and his idea of making it mature is just having everyone hooking up a lot on panel, whether or not said hookup makes characterisation sense. And then he'll turn around every 10 issues or so and have some quite interestingly interrogative storytelling about Dick and Roy. (literally: you want issues #1, 11 and 21). I see what a bunch of the DickRoy shippers enjoy in this, but there's a lot of cantilevered cloud structures required to extract the Shippy Goodness out of the rest of this run.

[mediawhorefics]

hiii can you please recommend me some gay novels ? thank you in advance :)

hell ! yeah !

you didn't really specify what genre you're interested in beyond gay so i'm just gonna rec my favs and go wild with it. apologies, i've prob. recced these books before but *shrug*

edit: i added books that aren't novels cos i couldn't resist. ooops?

edit 2: i've taken gay to mean gay ~umbrella term~ and not gay mlm, hope that's alright x

under a read more cos i got carried away !

the raven cycle | maggie stiefvater | completed series | ya | fantasy | follows blue sargent, the daughter of a skilled psychic who augments her family's abilities, but has no psychic power of her own. she becomes friends with four boys from the local boarding school -- gansey, adam, ronan and noah -- when she meets gansey's ghost and learns the upcoming date of his death. gansey is obsessed with finding the sleeping welsh king, glendower. In his pursuit of the legend, he and his friends encounter all kinds of mysticism and danger in henrietta, virginia.

the dreamer trilogy | maggie stiefvater | completed trilogy | ya | fantasy | raven cycle sequel focusing on ronan's character.

the disasters | mk england | ya | sci fi | star trek vibes | found family | a band of space academy rejects are the only witness to a terrible crime/galaxy-wide conspiracy & are the only ones who can save the day. 

emry merlin series | robin schneider | incomplete trilogy | ya | fantasy | arthuriana | a knight's tale meets bbc merlin | years after her father’s, legendary court wizard merlin, disappearance, emry takes her far less talented twin brother’s place when he is summoned to camelot to train and become prince arthur’s right hand wizard. studying magic properly is everything she hoped for, but posing as her brother isn’t as easy as it seems. not to mention those sparks that are flying between her and arthur.

cemetery boys | aiden thomas | standalone -> a sequel is planned | ya | fantasy | trans rep | yadriel wants to prove himself as a brujo (and a man) to his family so, in secret, he performs the ritual meant to unlock his powers that his family has denied him access to. only problem, he’s accidentally summoned a ghost he didn’t mean to and the guy won’t leave. also his cousin vanished and his spirit is nowhere to be found.

the last binding series | freya marske | incomplete trilogy -> the third one is coming out in november | historical fantasy | alternative edwardian england | romance | each book focuses on a new queer pairing while following an overarching mystery | when an administrative mistake names robin blyth as a civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known. a dangerous deadly curse awaits him as he navigates the magical bureaucracy with his standoffish counterpart edwin courcey.

the kingdoms | natasha pulley | standalone | historical fantasy | time travel | alternate history | 19th c. | 18th c. | joe tournier has amnesia. he remembers nothing prior to stepping off a train in londres, england, a french colony. his only clue, a century-old postcard of a lighthouse in scotland, illegally written in english rather than french and signed m.

the watchmaker of filigree street series | natasha pulley | completed duology | historial fantasy | 19th c. | sherlock holmes vibes | telegraphist thaniel receives a mysterious watch on his birthday whose pre-set alarm saves him from a terrorist bombing on scotland yard. since the bomb was made with clockwork parts and only the bomber could have known when to set the alarm, thaniel is sent by a detective investigating the bombing to live with the suspected watchmaker to figure out what’s going on.

the bedlam stacks | natasha pulley | standalone -> twofs references/characters but not part of the main storyline | historical fantasy | 19th c. | magical realism | merrick tremayne is called upon by the india office to go on a dangerous expedition deep in peru to fetch quinine (essential for the treatment of malaria) despite the debilitating injury that almost cost him a leg. every expedition before his has yielded no results apart from dead bodies, but merrick has family history deep in the country so he goes against his better judgement. there, he meets raphael, a priest surrounded by strange stories of disappearances, cursed woods and living stones, and who might hold the key to his family’s past.

the binding | bridget collins | standalone | historical fantasy | 19th c. | romance | in a world where books are dangerous objects containing people’s painful memories they want to get rid of, emmet farmer is sent to become an apprentice to the local bookbinder after he had some sort of mental collapse.

captive prince series | cs pacat | completed trilogy + some short stories | historical fantasy | romance | no magical elements | dark themes | major trigger warnings apply | prince damianos of akielos is sent as a pleasure slave to laurent of vere, prince of an enemy neighbouring kingdom, by his treacherous half-brother who wants the throne for himself. the court of vere is a pit of deception and lies and both princes must reluctantly ally with each other to gain rightful control of their respective kingdoms. only problem, damen killed laurent's older brother auguste in battle and must keep his true identity secret to protect himself from laurent's hatred of his brother's killer. which is only complicated by the growing feelings between them.

a taste of gold and iron | alexandra rowland | standalone | historical fantasy | romance | kadou, the shy prince of arasht, has no intention of wrestling for imperial control with his sister, the queen. yet he remains at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court - the father of the queen's new child. when a hunting party goes terribly awry and he finds himself under suspicion of attempted murder, kadou teams up with his new bodyguard, the coldly handsome evemer, to investigate a break-in at one of their guilds to salvage his reputation. but what appears to be a straightforward crime spirals into a complex counterfeiting operation, with a powerful enemy at its heart.

the house in the cerulean sea | tj klune | standalone | fantasy | romance | found family | 40 yo caseworker linus baker is given a special secret assignment to check out an orphanage of supposedly particularly dangerous magical children. linus has been a rule follower and someone who doesn’t want to rock the boat his whole life, but the children and their caretaker make him reconsider previously held beliefs.

under the whispering door | tj klune | standalone | fantasy | romance | found family | an unpleasant and selfish man in life, wallace price meets his reaper at his near-empty funeral and gets taken to a whimsical tea shop where he meets hugo, the ferryman whose job it is to help him move on and crossover into the afterlife. a task that becomes complicated as wallace starts developing feelings for hugo.

peter darling | austin chant | standalone | historical fantasy | romance | trans rep | peter pan retelling | ten years ago, peter pan left neverland to grow up, leaving behind his adolescent dreams of boyhood and resigning himself to life as wendy darling. growing up, however, has only made him realize how inescapable his identity as a man is.but when he returns to neverland, everything has changed: the lost boys have become men, and the war games they once played are now real and deadly. even more shocking is the attraction peter never knew he could feel for his old rival, captain hook—and the realization that he no longer knows which of them is the real villain.

the song of achilles | madeline miller | standalone | historical fantasy | mythology retelling | greek mythology | a classic ! | achilles' story, great love, and tragedy...

salt magic skin magic | lee welch | standalone | historical fantasy | 19th c | lord thornby has been trapped on his father’s estate by a strange curse for a year and when industrial magician john blake shows up, they must team up to investigate the mystery.

the secret lives of country gentlemen | kj charles | first in a series | historical romance | regency era | a shabby london clerk who inherits a grand house on the remote romney marsh is unexpectedly reunited with an old lover and gets unexpectedly thrown in the world of smugglers.

the will darling adventures | kj charles | completed trilogy | historical romance | 1920s | it’s the 1920s and tensions are rising along with hemlines. soldier-turned-bookseller will darling finds himself tangled up in spies and secret formulas, clubs and conspiracies, bbolsheviks, blackmail, and bright young things. and dubious aristocrat lord arthur ‘kim’ secretan is right in the middle of it all:  enigmatic, unreliable, and utterly irresistible.

the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue | mackenzie lee | ya | historical romance | 18th c. | bisexual disaster nobility youth goes on his grand tour on europe with the best friend he has a crush on and his sister. nothing could possibly go wrong.

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo | taylor jenkins reid | historical romance | old hollywood | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | aging and reclusive hollywood movie icon evelyn hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. but when she chooses unknown magazine reporter monique grant for the job, no one is more astounded than monique herself. why her? why now?

the charm offensive | alison cochrun | standalone | contemporary romance | reality dating show producer dev has always believed in romance/fairy tales and he works tirelessly to ensure magical happy endings happen on his show, even though his own love life is a disaster. but when disgraced tech wunderkin charlie is cast as the lead of their next season, dev has his work cut out for him to transform charlie into a man the ladies on the show might want and the viewers might like. charlie is far from a prince charming but as they get closer and closer, dev starts realising he might want him for himself. uh oh.

i kissed shara wheeler | casey mcquiston | standalone | ya | contemporary romance | a month before graduation, chloe green’s academic rival shara kisses her before disappearing. now, chloe is on a hunt for answers alongside unlikely allies.

one last stop | casey mcquiston | standalon | contemporary romance | time travel | a 23-year-old realises her subway crush is displaced from 1970's brooklyn, and she must do everything in her power to help her - and try not to fall in love with the girl lost in time - before it's too late.

red, white, and royal blue | casey mcquiston | contemporary romance | new adult | alex, son of the us president, and british prince henry have to fake a pr friendship after a scandal at a royal wedding puts us-british relations at risk. only problem? they despise each other.

check please | ngozi ukazu | graphic novel | new adult | contemporary romance | coming of age | bitty, a southern ex-figure skater armed with a love of baking and a vlog joins his college’s hockey team and falls for his captain, the prodigal son of a famous nhl player whose own draft was derailed by an overdose of anxiety medication.

angels in america | tony kushner | theatre | aids | angels in america is the story of a gay man, prior alter, a 30-year-old New Yorker, whose lover, louis, abandons him when he falls ill with aids. transcendent forces—visions and angels—help transform Prior from a man dying of aids to a man living with aids. along the way, several romantic and platonic couples come apart, and the final social configuration of the play comprises a loose band of multi-generational, multiracial, queer friends.

the normal heart | larry kramer | theatre | aids | focuses on the rise of the hiv/aids epidemic in nyc between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist ned weeks, the gay founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group.

love song to lavender menace | james ley | theatre | in 1982, two friends bob and sigrid opened their new radical lesbian, gay and feminist bookshop, 'lavender menace' on edinburgh's forth street. on the eve of the shop's 5th birthday, sales assistants paul and david take a look back at its origins, in this funny, moving play.

this is how you lose the time war | amal el-mohtar & max gladstone | sci fi | literary fiction | epistolary novel | time travel | an epistolary story told by two future beings, operatives on opposing sides of the "time war" tasked with ensuring that past events happen in ways that are amenable to their goals.

on earth we're briefly gorgeous | ocean vuong | literary fiction | epistolary novel | a letter from a vietnamese american son to his illiterate mother.

night sky and exit wounds | ocean vuong | poetry

time is a mother | ocean vuong | poetry

crush | richard siken | poetry

brokeback mountain | annie proulx | short story | two ranch hands, come together when they're working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. at first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer.

fighting proud: the untold story of the gay men who served in two world wars | stephen bourne | non-fiction | history | wwi | wwii

coming out under fire: the history of gay men and women in world war two | allan bérubé | non-fiction | history | wwii

fabulosa!: the story of polari, britain’s secret gay language | paul baker | non-fiction | history | linguistics | 19th c. | 20th c.

[ofglories]

Title: To Meet Upon a Spring Eve warnings: N/A Characters: Emrys (as Ambrosius) Time Period: Pre-Camelot, prior to Ambrosius' defection from Rome

He walked through the woods, stars he had never seen before wheeling overhead through the dense branches.

The path was barely visible in the star and moonlight, a trail of bluebells and cowslip, dotted with smooth, white stones. As he walked the flowers grew denser, as did the trees themselves. Heavy and ancient oaks, wild rowans, and between them brambles and ferns. Like a forest from a dream. All the more so as his guides grew in number.

What had started with one, a willowy Fae he had recognized from aiding with a task some months prior, had swiftly grown into a practical parade. Beings the man had never seen before weaved between the various humanoid Fair Folk, all shimmering ever so slightly in the twilight shadows. A stag with coat and antlers a pure, blinding white dashed across the path before him, pausing only a moment to look at him with dark eyes filled with countless stars, before hurrying on its way. Strange butterflies flitted through the air, glowing softly like they had absorbed the gentle light of candle flames. More and more, and all the time the willowy Fae he recognized kept a gentle hand on his wrist, tugging him along through a forest that no longer felt like it belonged in the mortal plane.

Then his guide stopped at a clearing, where a stream flowed in a circle around and beneath the curtain of branches of a willow, older than anything he had seen before. They smiled at him, waving him on towards the stone path through the water, through the leaves.

And, with a deep breath, Ambrosius stepped forth.

"Well come and well met, child of the stars," a voice called out, coming from a tall, broad man with a gentle expression upon his face. Long white hair covered his head, his clothes made of both fur and seemingly leaves of an ancient design that he could not place. But upon his head, crowning him, sprouted a pair of magnificent antlers, winding and twisting together like tree branches, with ribbons and jewels hanging from them. "Come close, child, I wish to look upon thee and speak."

Another Fae?

But the air felt different within this willow canopy. Bright and alive and powerful, more than it ever had with the other Fair Folk Ambrosius had encountered so far.

Like something...from another time.

Still, he remembered the lessons his mother's stories had told, the important old tales. And, bowing his head somewhat, Ambrosius approached the man.

"I am honored to meet you, my lord, though I must admit to not knowing who I have the pleasure of addressing this evening." A warm hand, so large it could have crushed his head easily, cupped his cheek, lifting his face. To meet eyes like those of the stag's from earlier. Deep and endless, with stars and galaxies swirling in their depths. But the chill he experienced with the deer did not come this time, offset instead by the gentle, almost grandfatherly smile upon the strange man's face.

For a brief moment the endless stars seemed to clear, a soft blue in their place that reminded him of his mother's eyes. Only for a moment.

"I am," something was said, a language that sounded more like the rustling of leaves, the flowing of water over stone, than proper words. Ambrosius blinked, a small frown forming. With a snort the man shook his head slowly, tapping his free hand against his chin. "Ah, forgive me, child. I momentarily forgot myself. Age can fog even the minds of us divinities. In times past, thy ancestors called me Cernunnos. I would prefer to be called thus."

Divinity?

Cernunnos?

It made little sense, but... "Forgive me, Lord Cernunnos, but I must wonder what a presumed deity would wish with myself? I am...just a soldier." That was all Ambrosius ever was. Ever had been.

"Just a soldier, and yet thou has done much to help my children wheresoever thine paths did meet." Cernunnos chuckled, a deep rumbling noise that sounded like waves upon a distant shore. Like an oak swaying in high winds. "Modesty suits thee, but do not let it blind thine eyes to thy true worth. But the night is short, for mortal children. And mortal child thou are yet, though a star blazes in thy breast. So, unto thee I have prepared a gift. A blessing of protection, picked by my young Willow who owes a great debt."

A flower was plucked from Cernunnos' branches, soon joined by a berry and, with a squeeze of the god's hand, in their place was a small piece of familiar candied honey.

Something that seemed to amuse the divinity, if the crinkling of his eyes was anything to go on.

"That's...?"

"I learned long ago that mortals prefer such gifts to be subtle in form upon their giving. So it takes the appearance and taste of a favored treat in thy life. Now," he pressed the candy to Ambrosius' mouth before the soldier could react, eyes wide as he met the endless stars in inky depths once more, "eat this and know that it will grant thee my favor. No poison of mortal or mundane creation will bring thou to harm, and those of magical means shall not bring immediate death nor incurable harm. Thus speaks I."

The candy was pushed past his lips, melting away like snow instead of the solid sweet it felt like.

And then it all began to spin before his eyes, everything blurring as Ambrosius gasped and fell, legs suddenly weak. Before sleep fully pulled him under the soldier saw Cernunnos' lips move once more...

"Lord of Nature and God of the Fae, I, Cernunnos, grant this gift."

Then nothing.

Hours later he woke, blinking slowly, as sunlight warmed his face and the taste of honey filled his mouth. The only proof it had not been a dream.

[trekscribbles]

Greatest Need—Chapter 1

Fandom: BBC Merlin

Cross-posted: AO3 and FFN

Summary: Present-day Merlin gave up on the promise that Arthur would return long ago—until he runs into another person he had never hoped to see again. Gwen doesn't remember him, but as more familiar faces start appearing, Merlin wonders if the time of Albion's greatest need is closer than he thought.

Note: Look, I know it's been 10 years, but I'm rewatching Merlin and thinking about this fic again, and hoping that sharing it will help give me the motivation to finish it. This version has been revised because, you know, it's been 10 years.

Gif of modern "Merlin" because he's beautiful.

Merlin

An unfortunate consequence of immortality is that every new face looks familiar. There are only so many shapes of lips and angles of jaws and colors of eyes, and after a few centuries I gave up trying to keep them all straight in my mind. I often find myself staring at a person, trying to recall if I have met them before or if I'm remembering some long-dead ancestor of theirs. It got so bad that over the years, the features and names blurred together in my memory and drove me, eventually, to isolation.

That's not to say I'm an unfriendly man—I consider myself quite cheerful, considering the life I have led. And it is not to say that I confuse everyone, because certain names and faces stick in my memory better than others. But there are only a handful of identities that I have never mistaken, and only because they are my oldest and most-cherished memories. The ghosts of those faces have haunted me for 2,000 years, during which I have seen features so achingly familiar that I wept at the impossibility of it. There were no descendants to which I could turn, no portraits I could find to ease my loneliness. Only my memories.

Gaius had had no children—he often referred to me as the son he'd never had. After he died I had sought out any relatives he might have neglected to tell me about, but he was alone in the world except for those of us in Camelot. Gwen and Arthur had produced no heirs, though after his death Gwen visited Gaius every day for weeks hoping that she might have some final miraculous gift from the King. It never came, and after a few years of urging from the council she took Sir Leon as her husband. I never felt that there was love between them, though there was certainly a great deal of respect and friendship. The two of them never had children, though whether that was by choice or by fate I never asked, and they never told. If Gwaine had had any illegitimate children, which I half-expected and even hoped for, I never found them. Only Percival had had a family, but the last of his line died out long ago, when the tales of Camelot were still considered history rather than myth.

For years I had searched, seeking out every last tie to the friends who fell to mortality while I was forced to continue, but there was nothing to find. Desperate to keep at least the memory of them alive, I'd cast a spell which allowed me to hold the vision of their faces and the sounds of their voices in my mind, so that when the ever-changing world consumed the reality of their existence, I held fast to the knowledge of who they really were.

So when I sat down this morning at the corner table in a tiny coffee shop I occasionally visited, ordered a cup of coffee, and prepared to lose myself in the numbing words of my book, the very last person I'd expected to ask me if I'd like a refill was Guinevere.

I jump, and then she jumps, and I stare while she readjusts her hold on the coffee pot in her hand. "Sorry—ˮ she blurts, and the voice is hers too. I blink, trying to match the image of Queen Guinevere with the girl before me. It is her face exactly, the same gentle brown eyes and bright, nervous smile, but her hair is cut short and she is wearing jeans and a plain green t-shirt under a wrinkled apron.

"Um- sorry," I force out, wondering if my spell is beginning to wear off. "I thought you were someone else."

She smiles the painfully familiar smile of our first meeting in Camelot, gushing friendly cheer and just a touch of awkwardness. "Sorry," she laughs. "Just me."

I catch myself staring again and clear my throat. "Are you new?"

"Yeah—I just started today," she answers readily. "I'm Gwen."

"Gwen," I echo, and I almost choke on the name.

The girl named Gwen wrinkles her nose. "It's short for Gwyneth," she says. "But not even my parents call me that. Isn't that awful?"

"No," I say quickly, but I'm lying. She is not Gwyneth, and for some reason the change of name makes me feel disappointed.

But she just laughs. "It's alright, I'm used to it. Sorry, I don't think I asked your name."

"Oh, I'm—ˮ I pause, trying to remember which appearance I'm wearing. The skin on my hands is smooth—I'm young then, about her age, because I wanted to attend a lecture on Arthurian literature later this afternoon. "Morgan," I answer finally. "I'm Morgan."

"Nice to meet you, Morgan," Gwen smiles, extending her free hand to shake mine. At least I'm not in the stocks this time. Perhaps I'm dreaming? It wouldn't be the first time I've dreamed of meeting my friends again, but in my dreams they appear exactly as they had in Camelot. This girl's hair and clothes are enough to prove that she isn't a figment of my imagination, but I have no other way of explaining her.

"D'you want a refill?" Gwen asks, lifting the coffee pot slightly.

"Er—yes. Thanks." She pours the steaming liquid into my mug, the handle of which I hold steady as I try to think of what to do next. Not much surprises me anymore, but this… how am I to react to this? This girl cannot be Guinevere. She clearly doesn't recognize me, even though I appear exactly the same as I had in Camelot, except for my clothes. And anyway, I was with her when she died—the last of them all, besides me. She had been old then, and sick, and I'd held her hand while the life slipped out of her. So how can she be here, young and beautiful and memory-less? How could she have possibly forgotten?

And yet here she is—modern, but unmistakably Guinevere. She flashes me her familiar brilliant smile and starts to turn away, and I am seized by the sudden fear that if I let her out of my sight I will lose her to the busy crowds of the city and never see her again. "You're new here?" I blurt, trying to think of something to keep her from going.

"Yeah. Just moved here a week ago. My boyfriend lives in town, and I wanted to be closer to him." Her eyes widen as if she's just heard her own words and they didn't match up with the thought she'd had in her head. The expression is so painfully Gwen that I have to clench my jaw to keep from laughing—or crying—or leaping over the table and kissing her. "I mean, not that I moved here just to be with my boyfriend," she goes on, not noticing my reaction. "Obviously I wouldn't do that, but I'm studying at the University and it's nice to know someone in town, you know? My family's not from here, so he's all I've got, but it's good to be able to get out and live my own life." She breaks off, looking vaguely embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm rambling so much."

"No, it's okay," I tell her. "You said your… boyfriend—ˮ I stumble over the word and try not to let the sudden flare of hope show in my voice. If Gwen is back, is it possible that Arthur has followed her? "Your boyfriend lives in town?"

"Mmm-hmm," Gwen nods. "Lance is going to be a policeman. He's studying at the University too."

"Lance," I repeat, more to myself than her. Not what I'd been hoping for, but too much of a coincidence to dismiss completely. "Lance the policeman. He sounds nice."

She smiles at me again. "He is. We only met a few months ago, but it's strange… I feel like I've known him my whole life. Maybe we met as kids or something."

"Or in another life," I say quietly. Gwen gives me an odd look, as if she's trying to decide if I'm making fun of her. "I just mean," I go on, hoping I haven't offended her. "You know, some people believe that when you meet someone and get on really well right away, it's because the souls recognize each other. And I mean—Gwen and Lance?" I smile in what I hope is a disarming way. "That's a nice coincidence."

She laughs. "You mean like King Arthur? My soul is Guinevere and his is Lancelot?"

"It could happen," I shrug.

"You're strange," she giggles, and then breaks off, horrified. "I don't mean that in a nasty way," she adds quickly, and my stomach flips at the familiar words. "You're just… funny. I like that."

When had she said that to me before? Not long after our first meeting, I am sure, but I can't recall the events surrounding her words. They were her words though—Guinevere's, my Guinevere's. The best friend besides Arthur I'd ever known. Not even my lifetime is long enough for me to forget the moments we'd shared—especially not with the added enhancement of my spell. How can this be happening?

"Do you come here often?" Gwen asks, covering up my silence with her unquenchable friendliness.

"Yes," I lie. I like coffee shops, and I've been to this one a few times before, but as a rule I try not to frequent one establishment over another.

"Good," she smiles. "Then I'll see you again?"

I push my confusion and questions aside and return her smile. "Yeah. That'd be nice."

She gives me a parting, dazzling smile and turns away, and this time I let her go.