#bbc merlin fan fic

[mythmerth]

just started thinking about zombie apocalypse merthur. anyone know of any zombie apocalypse merthur fics cause in ALL of my reading I think I’ve found a whole total of 1, and its not as gritty as I’m imagining. like oh god the intensity whenever they’re parted, the way Merlin’s magic could be integrated, the not knowing who to trust, the not knowing if it’s your last night. anyone got anything I’m on my knees

[katherynefromphilly]

If you enjoy Merthur stories in which Merlin or Arthur (or both) work with animals, then I highly recommend reading these:

“Twitch Your Whiskers and Pull My Tail” by @bluesimplicity73 (explicit, 61k)

and

“All Things Loved And Lovesick” by horsecrazy / @cbk1000 (explicit, 90k)

If anyone knows of any other similarly themed stories, please feel free to add!

[mythmerth]

I think I have some that fit the bill for you, they’re pretty popular so if you need more niche ones/have read them already I’m sure I can find more 🫡

iirc, so close I’m halfway to it by ariadne_odair does this quite well. arthur pays very close attention to merlin in this and the magic reveal (or I suppose he sort of pieces it together himself) happens relatively early on and he covers for merlin as much as he can- I recommend it!

Doesn’t fit the premise exactly, but it’s close and so so good- The Dragon Rises by footloose. everyone knows Merlin’s got magic, but no one knows who he really is other than Arthur. VERY co-conspirator vibes, they’ve both got secrets and they keep them together. not wholly canon based but quite similar premise/world and also with incredible art

lastly, I’ll put We can always run by kairennart and queerofthedagger because he definitely does all that and more. I suppose I’d say it’s less trying to keep it a secret and more trying to keep him safe, but to me those fall in very similar courts since within Camelot, safety lies in secrecy, but this also tackles what happens if Camelot is (temporarily) out of the picture!

these are all pretty long too, if you’re looking for something shorter, or modern, more canon, less canon, more on the nose, etc etc. let me know and I’ll scour my bookmarks again heh

is the merlin fandom at all still active on here. im desperate to find au fics where arthur was aware of merlins magic and helped keep it a secret

[justaz]

i know this post has probably been made a million times but i cannot get this scenario out of my head

for whatever reason, merlin gets dragged into like training or sparring or a competition or whatever the point is, he has a sword in hand and is to fight against someone. arthur and the knights aren’t really expecting anything to come of this, they know merlin doesn’t really fight. but for some reason he does, maybe arthur made a comment and merlin wanted to prove him wrong, maybe it’s a challenge/trap and it’s life or death, idk but merlin picks up the sword and fights

and all of a sudden, the knights aren’t watching a scrawny serving boy swinging a sword around, they’re watching a carbon copy of their king, of arthur, dancing with his opponent, his sword an extension of his own being, arthur’s own personal moves and techniques are executed flawlessly, merlin even smirks and taunts his opponent the same way arthur does with an uneven curl of his lips and raising a hand to beckon them forward

perhaps its from training with arthur one on one for years mixed with the countless hours he spends on the edge of the training grounds watching arthur and only arthur follow the same exact dance but merlin quite literally is arthur in that moment, a brilliant, deadly swordsman with unexpected grace and an easy victory

[hee-blee-art]

When Merlin was helping Arthur draft an address, which meant writing it for him with the rare privilege of sitting at his desk, Arthur came over and hovered at Merlin’s shoulder. That wasn’t unusual—Arthur was prone to hovering, especially when he was a little nervous before a speech, something he would never admit but showed clear as day to Merlin—but he was lingering longer between his stints of pacing. Upon one such loom, he placed a hand on the back of the chair and his other on the desk, leaning in so close that Merlin could smell his sun-baked hair and feel the tickle of his breath on his ear.

a little comic based on something I wrote :)

[ID: a two page comic featuring merlin and arthur from bbc's merlin set in arthur's chambers. merlin is sat at arthur's desk writing with a quill and arthur is pacing and standing beside merlin to pester him. detailed IDs in alt text]

[stangalina]

I want to read a fic where Arthur discovers that Merlin is Emrys, but the conflicting feelings of affection for Merlin and hatred for magic cause him to misunderstand the nature of Emrys' existence.

His brain rationalises the situation in the only way it can, and comes to the understanding that Merlin and Emrys are two separate people living in the same body. That Emrys is living WITHIN Merlin without Merlin's knowledge.

Which, if that were true, would actually be a smart move on the sorcerer's part. Arthur would not, will not, and will NEVER execute Merlin. He's also around Arthur all day everyday, so that means he's close by to get whatever he wants or needs from the king. This only further convinces Arthur that he's correct.

He is not correct, of course. But since he's Arthur, he doesn't communicate what he has "learned" with Merlin. He doesn't want to tell his clearly unaware manservant that he's got an all powerful sorcerer buried in his brain. And he certainly doesn't want to tell anyone else out of fear it'll lead to Merlin's death. So he keeps it to himself, like an idiot, and operates every day under the assumption that Merlin is possessed by the most powerful sorcerer to ever live.

Meanwhile, Merlin is thriving. Sure it had been terrifying for Arthur to first learn about the prophecy via a loose lipped druid on the verge of death, and THEN witness Merlin using his magic in order for the thing that killed the druid to not also kill Arthur, but the reveal had gone over shockingly well all things considered.

He did get a whole week of complete silence from Arthur, followed by a few more days of being stared at in a thoroughly unsettling manner, but after that everything went back to normal. Better than normal, in fact!

It was clear that Arthur was incredibly uncomfortable with his magic, which was understandable. Arthur may be a good man, but his quality of character didn't magically erase the prejudices and experiences that had been hammered into his head over and over since he was a child. The way he seemed to be coping with it was by pretending that nothing had happened at all, which was just fine as far as Merlin was concerned.

Gaius disagreed. But what did Gaius know? Healthy communication? Don't need it.

Merlin didn't use his magic around Arthur on the day to day, even though he could be sure he wouldn't get executed for it anymore. He didn't want to make Arthur uncomfortable, so he went along with the unspoken plan of pretending that nothing had happened. Resuming the exact same routines and behaviours that he'd been doing for years now. Gradually, Arthur relaxed. Well, as much as Arthur Pendragon can relax. And life resumed as normal.

Except for one little detail.

Sometimes, Arthur would call him Emrys. Not all the time, and certainly not when people were around to hear or see. But sometimes.

When he needed help. When he needed magical help.

An enchantment on a courtier, an artifact found buried under a house, a monster wreaking havoc on a town, or a hoard of bandits descending upon the two of them in the woods. A tome, a necklace, a potion, a poison, a cure.

If Arthur called him Merlin, he wanted his manservant. If Arthur called him Emrys, he wanted his sorcerer. It was a neat little system, Merlin thought. A sort of code, just for the two of them.

Of course, this equilibrium can only exist for so long before something slips and shit gets messy. But that's all part of the fun!

[takingasterix]

Queen Guinevere's guard dog (AKA the Court Sorcerer of Camelot)

quick little thing because i got bored and LOVE this concept

[imagine-dragonlords]

Merlin’s expression grew sombre. “You’ve been… dead, Gwaine.” Gwaine stopped in his tracks, turning to face Merlin with a raised eyebrow. “Dead?” There was a long pause. “And you’re sure about that?” Merlin gave an apologetic nod. “We’re in some kind of spirit world, an in-between.” “Huh… so… how did you die?” “I didn’t.” Gwaine looked even more hopelessly confused, but let out a soft laugh nonetheless. “You’re not making much sense, Merlin. But…then again, when did you? Let me get this straight: I’m dead, but you’re… not?” Merlin smiled faintly. “That’s about the size of it.” “Well, that’s just brilliant,” Gwaine muttered, shaking his head. “Here I am thinking I’ve just been wandering around some cursed maze, and it turns out I’m dead. And you’re here for… what? A stroll?  Just visiting? The afterlife nice this time of year is it?”

Out of Context extract from my work-in-progress Merthur fanfiction, but I found this hilarious.

[hex-is-vexxed]

What???? Finally made part 2/3?????? Crazy

(Part 1)

When ur bestie kept the sigil you gave him and it reactivates you like a sleeper agent

[kissme-withyour-cherrylipstick]

Merlin says goodbye to Lancelot

From The Shadow of Lancelot on AO3

[sailofftheedgeoftheworld]

Hey y’all, not sure if anyone will see this but I’m looking for a merthur fic I read ages ago that I just can’t find.

It had something to do with Merlin accidentally cursing a ring and then followed a sort of Cinderella thing where Arthur was trying to find the person who could wear this ring (it was burning anyone who tried to wear it). Merlin realised he’d be able to wear it but if he did it would reveal his magic and all so he didn’t want to. Arthur got him to wear it in the end and he was annoyed about it because Merlin made him go on some wild goose chase looking for someone who was right there.

That’s as much as I can remember, if anyone knows this fic please let me know!

[mythmerth]

told my friend I read my fics on the default ao3 skin and

but fear not we cracked the code. loophole

[mythmerth]

I reread this at least twice per year for my own sanity and it’s absolutely perfect. the characterization, the slow burn that has so much history that it seems almost fast with how tangible and overwhelming the love becomes. the realizations that are so natural. the dialogue feels canon, the pauses and reactions feel real, theres faulty behavior and disagreements settled so realistically. sometimes i see posts on here and just think “wow the people YEARN for and like the cycle of the year, we begin again by katherynefromphilly” simply cause it is everything and more. they couldn’t have made a better post finale fic and I would recommend it to literally anyone who loves these fools

And Like The Cycle Of the Year, We Begin Again

Begins moments after the Merlin Series 5 Finale “Diamond of the Day”. Canon Compliant. In Character. An “Arthur Pendragon Returns” story

When Arthur stumbles from the Lake of Avalon 1,500 years after his death, he finds a world unlike the one he knew. Faced with the loss of everyone he loved, and the threat of impending prophecy, Arthur must learn what it means to be not just a king, but the Once and Future King.

Merlin does all he can to guide his king, even as he struggles himself to hide his love for Arthur, fight his fear of losing him once again, and keep control of unknown magical forces throwing him, and the world, out of balance.

Story includes sass, banter, horseplay, and True Love.

#HappyEnding #SlowBurn #PGUntilLaterChapters #Merthur

LINK: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6092269/chapters/13964185

[highlynerdy]

"Aithusa has seen her father's mate in his memories and smelled him on her father's skin when he comes to visit, but this is the first time she gets to meet him for herself."

Nepenthe and Lavender by @0hheytherebigbadwolf

My latest fanARTifact is an entirely handlettered, handbound, and illustrated book of this beautifully fluffy fic (and it has actually been in various states of progress since March 1, 2021.) More below the cut!

So as I said above, I actually started planning this fic over two years ago. Which, yeah, I don't really want to talk about because adhd is a hell of a thing. I love love love this fic (and this entire series) and I was inspired by The Black Hours and other gorgeous manuscripts with metallic on black paper.

I ordered some black paper from Canson for the text block, used Arabic gold finetec paint mixed with water and gum arabic as my ink (I used three pans of the gold paint...), and a Nikko G nib with a straight pen holder for the calligraphy. I really wanted to use one of my broad tip nibs, but I just couldn't my Uncial letters small enough with it. I used Uncial since that was technically the alphabet/font they used in the Arthurian time period.

The paper was cut down and folded into signatures of three and then I drew out light pencil lines for the text and for the margins. Every single letter was done sooooo slooowwllly because if I messed up on one page there was no way to erase it, which meant I would have to do basically four pages worth of lettering again since they were all connected.

And I did mess up.

More than once.

I think the most heartbreaking mistake was at the very end when I was trying to erase my pencil lines and I just ripped a page completely in half. The tears were real, folks.

Once I finished lettering - which took hours and hours and hours over many weeks - it was time to assemble the text block and sew it. I used gold silk thread I had leftover from Arthur's scarf (which is also used as the backdrop for the photo shoot) to sew the block together and I love how it gives just another little peek of gold to the book.

I painted the end papers in a vaguely floral pattern with the same gold and also some silver finetec paint, glued them all together and put them in my book press and then promptly didn't work on it again from October 2022 to July 2023. Sigh.

But once I committed to getting it done, I asked @swanfloatieknight to help be my accountabilibuddy and make sure I finished it this week. I tested out so many different cover designs, from fabric and thread, to paper, to finally settling on this all over design done by my cricut. Historically accurate?? Nah. I'm about as historically accurate as BBC Merlin.

I tried my hand at gold foiling and that was a disaster so I just used a gold silk ribbon to give the color a little bit more color. Once it was bound, I painted in a triskelion and Aithusa on a double page spread I left intentionally blank.

And it was finally done!

All in all, I'm pleased with how it turned out. Was it an exercise in patience? Yes. Did I learn a lot? Also yes. Mostly that handlettering an entire fic is madness and also this is far too small to case bind, but I'm a stubborn ass and it was happening regardless.

All total, I probably worked on this for about 50+ hours. It was most definitely a labor of love and I'm so happy that it's finally done.

Thank you for inspiring me to take on such a project by writing such wonderful fics, @0hheytherebigbadwolf! And thank you for everyone who reads these long fanARTifact posts. 💛

[justaz]

im a slut for post magic reveal arthur (& knights) thinking merlin has like. a smidge of magic. like he can get stains out of clothes or warm food and baths but OBVIOUSLY merlin can’t fight. that’s ridiculous. merlin doesn’t correct this notion for whatever reason - perhaps it’s best that people think that so when they’re all in danger, he isn’t registered as a threat so he can protect his silly lil guys. ofc his silly lil guys realize that they were wrong bc the bad guys get a lil too close to hurting arthur and merlin is like “nope! fights over!!” and annihilates them

[maddybthorne]

I love the trope where someone who cares about the Main Character or is just now getting to know them learns about all the dumb/impossible stuff they do and just kinda breaks. Like they’re not able to comprehend how this dumbass is alive. And then the MC is just trying to brush it off because they don’t understand what’s wrong

MC: “I may have done *insert impossible/extemy dangerous thing* but it’s fine everything worked out and it wasn’t that hard really”

Character B: “YOU WHAT?!? HOW?!?” *distressed and confused noises*