#arthur’s return

[oatusily]

What if over the years Merlin forgot Arthur’s face. He remembered his laugh the warmth of his touch but couldn’t quite remember how his prince looked. Arthur has returned and keeps trying to get Merlin’s attention. Merlin’s just confused why the really hot guy keeps hitting on him.

[jagalart]

Yarrow and Feverfew

Art trade with the incredible @liscepu, I'm so grateful for the chance! Thank you for fueling my love for the game again <3

[myoonmii]

Started this over a month ago and Probably never going to finish or render this but haha ha heyyy 💖

[tiredcowboyy]

sometimes I wake up In a cold sweat thinking about the idea that kilgharrah was just using merlin to get the outcome he wanted which was to end the pendragon bloodline. That he knew how it would end and that without merlin it wouldnt all occur, so he convinces him that all his decisions will help save arthur knowing damn well where it leads them.

[earlymorningfoxhunt]

yay jarthur doodle page!

featuring favorites such as my soul eater au, jarthur fusion, and the lads eating each other

bonus boy:

[futurepastme]

Concept: During the many, many, many years Merlin and Leon had spent waiting for his royal pratness to return, Merlin's magic — still eager to help and fulfill his every need — had created physical images of Arthur and all the others every time it felt his or Leon's hearts fill with longing and despair.

The figures were not only palpable but could also speak and move and talk on their own, all based on Merlin's memories of his friends.

It happens enough times for them to get used to it.

Somewhere through the centuries, both Merlin and Leon gave up waiting, convinced that neither Arthur nor the rest would ever return.

A good amount of years pass after they giving up so that Leon and Merlin had fully accepted that Arthur's not coming and are okay with it.

But Arthur and the rest do come back, and now they have to follow these two stubborn immortals around trying to prove they are real.

So we have scenes like:

Arthur puts himself in front of him, grabbing Merlin's shoulders to make him stop walking and looking at his eyes with reassurance. "Merlin, it's real, it's me." Merlin, with two bags of groceries in each hand, annoyed by the insistence of this clone: "I think you are the worst one so far." He extricates himself from not-Arthur's hands and walk back to his car, putting the groceries away before entering it and leaving the supermarket. Arthur stands there like a fool, mouth open and hands still kind of raised where he held Merlin. Shocked still and confused by the idiot's reaction.

Or

Merlin and Leon: talking about the others out loud and unashamed, discussing how to get rid of them Arthur: "Excuse me, we are right here!" Merlin and Leon: Look at each other. Leon: "Of course you are, buddy."

And

Gwaine: Follows Merlin to the bathroom when he goes to shower. Merlin: Rolls his eyes and doesn't stop him Arthur: Pulls Gwaine back by the ear.

Last but not least:

Arthur: "I've loved you for a very long time, Merlin." Merlin with wide eyes: "Holy shit" Arthur: looks at him with hope Merlin: pulls his phone from his pocket and opens Grindr, "Jesus fuck, I need to get laid."

I don't know, I just think it could be funny.

[gayeddie-saved-me]

can’t stop thinking about a post-canon arthur returns fic where instead of walking out of the lake, merlin stumbles upon arthur in the exact same way he did originally. arthur (who doesn’t remember his previous life at all at this point) is like 18, bullying a kid on the basketball court or something and merlin instinctively steps up to protect the kid. repeating the exact words without intending to, thousands of years later

“that’s enough. you’ve had your fun my friend.”

and arthur finally turns around, and says “do i know you?”

and merlin feels the entire world stop as he stares face to face with arthur pendragon again

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Fall Season 🍁🍂🌻 !!! I’d love to see your take on a Merlin role reversal! 🥰

Hunith had never wanted to be queen, but once she gave birth to Balinor's son, there wasn't much choice in it.

Balinor sits as king, the lord of the dragon lords, and Merlin will one day inherit his title. She was just a village girl and the dirty traveling soldier had a nice smile and kind eyes so she'd lain with him.

If she'd known that he was king, she would not have presumed.

~

Merlin is strolling down the street, arguing with Will, when he trips over his own feet, knocks into a fruit stands, sends all the apples sprawling across the ground, and takes another step directly onto one of those apples only to end face first into a stone wall. "Ow."

The stone wall moves, which isn't unheard of in their kingdom, but then it talks, which is new. "Oh the Goddess above."

Hands settle on his shoulders, pushing him back and he looks up dazed to see that the stone wall is actually a blonde man with the brightest blue eyes he's ever seen. He's got broad shoulders and a chest firm enough that Merlin thinks his nose might be broke and Goddess above is right.

He's looking over Merlin's shoulder. "Are you going to clean this up?"

He turns, seeing the irate stall owner and the apples that are fucking everywhere as well as Will laughing his ass off and being no help whatsoever. "Oh, no! I'm sorry, let me just-"

Merlin holds out his hands, trying to remember the correct education, but the stall owner goes pale and starts waving his hands. "No, no, it's okay, please don't-"

The man smacks his hand down and grabs the back of his neck, giving him a rough shake as if he were a misbehaving kitten. "You a precision caster? Otherwise, knock it off. You're more likely to explode them then gather them that way."

He's sort of the exact opposite of a precision caster. He lets the spell go and sees the way the stall owner sighs in relief. "Oh. Right."

~

The man's name is Arthur, he's one of the peasants that have been recruited into being a solider in the war against Camelot, and he's here at the palace to receive the standard training along with the rest of the would be soldiers.

His father won't let him on the battlefield, even though that's where his magic is best, and he can't help but feel vaguely guilty that Arthur's been pulled from his family to fight in a war that Merlin thinks would end a hell of a lot faster if his father wasn't so protective.

It's that guilt that has Merlin forgoing his place at the high table with his mother to wander down to the lower tables at dinner that night to try and thank Arthur for helping him clean up all the apples, something he hadn't been able to do before Will was dragging him away.

He's not expecting it when one of the soldiers leaps to their feet and pulls out a dagger on him, one that has to be cursed against enchantments because none of the spells to pull it form his hands that several people at the high table cast do any good at all.

Merlin's just feeling the bite of it into his throat, frantically trying to think of a spell to get him out of this, when a carving knife goes whizzing past his face and embeds itself into his assailant's skull.

Merlin jumps away, shaking, to see Arthur standing there and cool and unbothered, hand outstretched as if he's about to cast a spell. But he's not, it's like that because he'd grabbed the knife from the venison on the table and killed that man before he could kill Merlin.

"You just make friends wherever you go, don't you?" Arthur asks.

Then everyone's moving forward, pulling him away, and Arthur along with him. His expression turns murderous, like he's wishing he had another knife as he's manhandled across the room.

His mother pat his face and clucks at his neck and then thanks Arthur for saving her son.

Arthur had bowed at Hunith but then frozen. He's looking at Merlin with dismay, which isn't exactly new for him but he's not sure why he's getting that look from Arthur now of all times. "You're Prince Merlin? You?"

"Uh," he says, then shrugs helplessly. "Yes?"

He really doesn't think Arthur's opinion of him is improved when Hunith assigns him to be Merlin's personal servant. It should be a reprieve, getting to work in the palace rather than the battlefield, but the tight look on Arthur's face doesn't ease.

[paticmak]

part one

part two here

[mothy-graves]

random 3 am Malevolent thought about exactly how John has Arthur’s eyes

we know that John doesn’t actually control Arthur’s eyes; the Butcher asking him what’s wrong with his eyes. his pupils don’t focus on anything. so if John doesn’t actually possess Arthur’s eyes, how does he see what Arthur sees?

he controls Arthur’s occipital lobe. which would also be why Arthur doesn’t have spacial awareness on his own; i.e. when he ran into the dock early in the series. as when theres something wrong with the eyes themselves, the brain can still process objects, because their occipital lobe is still in tact. however if there is damage to the occipital lobe, it can be lost. if John controls Arthur’s though, he would lose that too. which we see in the series

I know it’s supernatural and it might be silly to explain exactly how these things work but my brain brought it up and I had to express it cause humans are weird, and brains are weird, and John controlling an actual full part of Arthur’s brain I feel in a way adds to the horror of it. like a fucked up puppeteer. not controlling everything, but having just enough control to be vital for their survival. while yes Arthur could, in normal circumstances, survive on his own, obviously, as blind people exist, would he be able to survive the abnormal shit he lands himself in? likely not

OH MY GOD THE LACK OF SPACIAL AWARENESS WOULD ALSO EXPLAIN WHY HE FALLS INTO HOLES SO OFTEN

[justaz]

merthur marriage of convenience. arthur is complaining that his council is on his ass about marrying and siring an heir and they keep trying to arrange marriages but arthur doesn't fucking want any of them. merlin knows that arthur would like to marry someone he loves but he also knows that arthur has shown no interest in like anyone except when he was enchanted so like...who tf is he gonna marry? he needs to marry someone to get the council off his ass so he's just like "why not marry a friend? ik it wouldn't be a marriage of love but at least you'd have some control and choice in this." and arthur is like "hm. but who tho?"

anyways they make a list of everyone they know who can bear children (bc arthur will need an heir eventually). then they narrow it down, crossing off names like gwen bc she is happily married to lancelot and in a loving relationship with morgana (she has two hands and i love morgwencelot) and morgana (she's literally arthur's sister but they were just putting every name they could think of down first) and elyan (he may be able to bear children but they know he wouldn't be happy going through it bc of medieval dysphoria). eventually it's down to two names, mithian and merlin and arthur looks at merlin's name then up at him and is like "you're literally a trained physician so you should know this but you were literally born a man...how tf are you gonna bear children?" and my beloved genderfluid magic incarnate emrys just shifts her form to female and is like "don't be an idiot. anyways, mithian or me?"

dumb idiot whipped and in love arthur is like "you" and dumb idiot whipped and in love merlin is like "bet". anyways they marry but they're very insistent it's just as friends. lol they have to consummate the marriage the losers. they insist they did that as friends too. the entire round table has way too much fun with this. anyways they remain married "as friends" as they slowly morph into a very loving and touchy relationship "as friends" until they're like casually kissing as greetings and farewells and have that moment of "oh shit we're like actually married and in love" bc they're stupid dumb idiots.

anyways they unite albion and are recognized as high king arthur and high queen merlin and finally have an heir - the high prince/princess whatever you prefer. uhhhh anyways merthur happy ending bc i'm a sucker for it.

[oatusily]

Okay I was just thinking about how like if Arthur did return and everything and like Merlin is just sitting at the edge of the water and all of sudden Arthur who has been gone for over a thousand years just pops out of the water. It scares Merlin and he accidentally teleports himself away from the lake. Has an prompt breakdown to then teleport back and drag Arthur moldy ass back to his place. Then has to go through a power point(he’s been working on it for ages) to explain everything Arthur missed. And then they both are just sitting there looking at each other. Arthur asks Merlin why he teleported away when he came out of the water. And Merlin just is like no no reason at all you prat. And then Arthur’s like I scared you didn’t I with a smirk on his face.

Yeah that’s just what I was thinking about.

[papysanzonew]

My other Merlin art

[irishyuri]

they were 100% joined at the hip post-finale

[gyrhs]

If Merlin was honest, he didn’t planned to be arrested by the Met the day Arthur finally returned, but here he was...

[pyjamacryptid]

So. I drew that “Arthur’s fished out of the lake” au of mine

edit: yes I know that boats like that likely wouldn’t fish on a lake, and that where avalon should be isn’t really a lake anymore - I promise I know this 😂 - the imagery of Arthur being fished out of a lake in a net was just too hilariously powerful 😂