#it's such a goldmine too like u could spent ur entire mortal life there and not see everything

[servingliesarch]

MERLIN + LOCATIONS   #1    —    MERLIN’S HUT BY THE CRYSTAL CAVE. it’s  a  personal  headcanon,  please  don’t  reblog !!

a mysterious,  most secret of places that is almost as old as merlin himself.  it has originated as a simple hut he had chosen to live in towards the end of his original lifetime,  situated by the crystal cave which he had sworn to protect.  having to leave albion behind,  merlin charmed his hut along with the cave,  shielding them from those that hoped to use the crystals within in it,  thrusting them to be forever hidden in a sort of pocket dimension.  no one can find the place unless he allows them in,  or even know where to look,  and very few people had the pleasure of being invited inside over the centuries of his immortal life.

though he can appear and disappear from it at will,  the official entrance is led by a boat through clear waters of a narrow cave tunnel.  there stands the same hut that has stood there for centuries,  with a small garden and a stony path that leads to a cave containing the magical crystals allowing those able to use them to see the past,  present and future  ( a dangerous,  addicting hazard merlin’s learned to use with caution ).  in same cave,  there is a small pool containing the waters of avalon,  one he once could have channeled to contact freya,  the lady of the lake,  until the start of the twentieth century where the contact seemed to be lost.

coming inside,  there is a small,  inconspicuous chamber with a fireplace,  a cauldron,  comfortable armchairs,  with herbs drying close to the ceiling.  it seems like exactly the kind of a room one would expect from the exterior,  and yet it takes a closer look to see a mysterious door leading somewhere to the back of the hut.  long ago,  merlin bewitched the hut   ——   though it appears just a small shack on the outside,  it is bigger on the inside.

the mysterious door leads to a large two - floor atrium,  with a big staircase that leads to many different rooms  ( a patchwork of many styles and periods of time,  depending on the time of their creation ).  the whole place is a mine of magic,  knowledge and history.  there is a huge greenhouse that contains many plants that have been extinct for long years.  one of the rooms contains a large library filled with books and scrolls,  some older than merlin himself,  texts on magic,  on medicine,  on politics   ——   or novels he keeps just for fun.  he has a room that is an apothecary conjoined with a study  ( there hardly could be a more stereotypical place for merlin to possess ).

there are large rooms filled with things he safekeeps from the past,  all of which are magically preserved from the passage of time  ;  things such as paintings of people he knew,  or things that belonged to them  ( trinkets of the loved ones he often does not even remember ).  there are letters he wrote or received,  gifts he saved as it didn’t feel right to dispose of them   ——   some as notable as personal sketches of himself drawn by leonardo da vinci,  or personally signed original copies of jane austen’s books.  he has an entire room filled with journals that date so far back he no longer remembers what they contain,  another one for paintings or photographs of himself.  there is one just filled with instruments he knew how to play  ( as only the piano is fixed in the drawing room,  an instrument he likes to play the most ).  a big room is saved just for the rows of clothes he particularly liked and wanted to preserve.

there is a place where he keeps his liquor,  some so old he’s not sure they should still be drank.  there is a place where he keeps his riches,  dully collected in his immortal years.  there are some doors that lead to nowhere,  some that lead to other places he owns.  there is a large room filled with magical artifacts,  the most notable of them would most certainly be the cup of life  ( because of course merlin would have the holy grail stuck on his shelf ).  there are some rotating rooms,  or those he only conjurs when he feels like  ( much like a pool room,  or a room that has been an almost perfect replica of freddie mercury’s birthday party ).  

perhaps the most ominous room of them all,  one that is usually hidden even when someone is invited into that magical place,  is a room that contains nothing but names etched into the stone of the wall,  and an everlasting flame that accompanies them.  the room had begun as just a part of a wall,  into which merlin long ago carved the names of those he lost   ——   list beginning with his first childhood friend’s name,  william.  it goes from runes to different alphabets,  different names   ——   representing all those merlin had loved and lost,  so many of them already forgotten due to the passage of time  ( and yet not quite,  as the flame in the room is bewitched to never die ).

merlin has a bedroom in this hut,  one he uses if he wants to hide as he knows no one can find him where he is,  but he doesn’t like to stay there. he doesn’t see the place as his home,  but rather a hideout of sorts   ——   a place where he can store his things and keep them safe,  not a place of living.