#merlin fans have it worse

[katherynefromphilly]

Feel free to share this on any social media site you’d like so the world knows of Our Great Suffering.

[livvyofthelake]

the way people consistently get into a show or franchise entirely because of a gay ship just astounds me because like. this ranges from the ship being real and canon and well written, to the ship being barely any subtext and they’re not even the main characters. and every time it’s always the most annoying people on planet earth. and yes the gay ship is always men but that lowkey went without saying. why do we not choose what franchises we like based on. the plot. or the themes…. why is it always jumping from gay ship show to gay ship show 😐 whatever

[dernier-mystere]

! SPOILER WARNING FOR 2.5 UPDATE! READ WITH CAUTION ! summary: the yaoqing trio returns back to the yaoqing, though things are a little different, being an alchemist in the alchemy commission, you receive the instructions and diagnosis from the cauldron master of the luofu, lingsha, about jiaoqiu's condition and what needs to be prepared for him and his treatment plan. despite being someone who worked a few times with the healer, you find yourself assigning treatments to him for once, despite his stubbornness and negligence when it came to his own health. pairing: jiaoqiu x alchemist!foxian!reader (afab) warnings: slight gore, injury descriptions word count: 3.4k a/n: how are we feeling jiaoqiu fans? a mess? :,) me too <3 so we need some comfort yes <3 the idea is based on an idea oc that was an alchemist and as the xianzhou yaoqing is mostly foxians, it makes sense right? hope you enjoy it <3 sorry for the medicinal rambling too! sorry if this may seem ooc, I feel so rusty with writing these days... ^^; I plan to write some proper fluff, I apologise this isn't lovey dovey, if anyone has suggestions please send them please support me by following or sharing! it's much appreciated! <3 twitter/x: @derniermystere ao3: Dernier_Mystere

The diagnosis was almost painful to read, you knew the trio was reckless, and a part of you thought it would be the Merlin’s Claw that would come back with the injuries, not Jiaoqiu. Even Moze who lingered in the shadow of the General had his incident report of injuries, most of the events that had occurred on the Luofu remained on the hush, so unfortunately, it left you and numerous other healers in great distress when the commission received the outpatient details and care instructions for the pink-haired foxian. Toxins in the wounds have caused surrounding flesh to decay and atrophy… acute shock from severe blood loss…? Disturbed blood circulation from Tumbledust results in disturbed blood circulation, massive internal bleeding, neurological atrophy and optic neuropathy, leading to… blindness. These were just a few lines written in his injury reports, you felt your eyelids flicker in concern at the words, each description made your lips crease further into a frown, your heart wavering as you could only imagine the pain he would’ve struggled with in that short period, not only ingesting a lethal amount of Tumbleweed but also baring the injuries sustained by the Borisin Warhead, Hoolay. Not to mention there were found traces of Lupotoxin still present in his bloodstream, in short, he danced on the thin line between life and death, a second too late, and he would have died an agonising death.

As you sat in the cool room of your examination office, the rhythmic ticker a counterpoint to the steady hum of the medical equipment in the room still trying to convince yourself how Jiaoqiu remained in such good spirits, and oddly with a good appetite despite his situation… his calmness and sly exterior made you fear the worse, after all, he hid a lot of his emotions, using his fox-like smile as a mask to pretend all was fine, even if inside he could have been begging for a semblance of hope. Your e/c gaze flickered up to the Foxian who hummed softly, sitting on the examination table with a Gaiwan* in his hands, as he curiously took in a whiff of the scent of the tea, swirling it occasionally in his hand as he tried to depict what herbs were in it. “Not much to say honestly, I feel quite fine besides the fact, I have been told not to eat spicy food… it’s truly a torturous treatment,” his voice was calm, yet the mention of not being allowed to eat his favourite food made him click his tongue, one of his long ears flicking in annoyance, “But, other than that, I am quite alright,” 

Your eyes squinted as you observed him talking to the pot plant in the corner of your examination room while you were seated on the other side of him, yet… you felt your insides soften that, he was still adjusting to his new condition after all. “Master Jiaoqiu, you know ingesting amounts of spicy food will only increase inflammation of your wounds.” You spoke softly, choosing not to comment further that he was talking to the plant rather than yourself. Jiaoqiu’s ears flicked in your direction rapidly, as he quickly adjusted himself to face the direction your voice came from, acting as if he knew the whole time you were seated there, it made you softly giggle in amusement as you slowly lit a stick of Dreambranch Incense in the office, in hopes of providing calmness to the mind during his routine follow up examination.  

“You always say you’re quite alright to avoid unnecessary long appointments, who dropped you off today? Was it the Merlin’s Claw or Moze?” You teased, prepping the small station beside him with all the necessary tools and treatment needs. Jiaoqiu’s tail flicked in annoyance as he crossed his arms, followed by a tiny pout on his lips, “I will have you know, no one dropped me off, Thank you.” His tone was almost childish and petty, “I came as instructed by the Cauldron Master of the Luofu, nothing more than a routine check-up.” He clarified, yet the creases in his brows seemed to convince you further that someone made him actually arrive at his scheduled appointment. “For a healer, Master Jiaoqiu… you should always look after yourself before treating others.” You commented, your fluffy tail swaying behind you in amusement as you spoke, enjoying the small amount of petty banter with the Foxian healer who had left the field a while ago now. Being a long-life species, a mere few years seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye, but when one formed friendships or any kind of relationship when they left or moved on, it felt as if they had left for centuries, this was no different to Jiaoqiu. His sassy nature and his usual greeting with a cunning smile were oddly something you missed, but deep down, you knew the losses on the battlefield tore and ate away at his heart, leaving nothing but emptiness, a path of Nihility to creep in. Some days, you found yourself sitting on the stairs of the commission, looking at the fake night sky of the Yaoqing, wondering if your research and treatments meant really nothing in the end. Countless patients slipped between your fingers like sand, no matter how hard you tried to grab the delicate granules, it would still slip through. The many nights where you prayed to Lan or any aeon to hear your pleas and silent begs to help a young patient that was slowly succumbing to the effects of Mara, the way their limbs twisted un-naturally, root-like appendages growing from his body like a deformity as they slowly lost their mind day-by-day, yet none of them cast their gaze on you or your pleads… they always replied in a numbing silence. You felt his pain… you sympathised with his feelings for those who were lost in battle… You could treat a thousand patients, but what was the point if they returned to the battlefield and lost their lives in the end… was their sacrifice in vain? These were the many questions that went through your mind on a daily, and something you assumed most alchemists thought. 

Your eyes fluttered closed as you shook your head to dismiss the darkening thoughts, you forced yourself to read over the letter submitted by Lingsha. As written in his treatment plan, you were to clean his wounds with Pathovore bugs, before applying liberal amounts of medication and dress them up firmly. As well as take a deeper examination of his blindness and relay any suggestions to her for possible treatments of his blindness. “Well, I know you want this to be done quickly, so I will start with the treatment of the wounds, Master Jiaoqiu, then if possible, I would like to examine your eyes…?” You asked hesitantly, your h/c ears pinning back against your head as you cautiously asked him, you honestly didn’t know why you were nervous, it was your job… but he had only recently just lost his vision, was it a touchy subject? Or maybe would flat-out refuse and say it was nothing.  

Jiaoqiu simply remained silent as he continued to hold on to the delicate clay cup, he gave the tea one last sip before he gently pressed the edge of his hand along the surface of the table to confirm he could safely place his cup upon it, “Why are you concerned, Y/N? it’s your job after all. Do what you need. For once, I am simply the patient, and you’re my healer now, are you not?” He spoke up, turning to face in your direction, though you could hear the slight hesitation laced in the last few syllables of his words but you slowly nodded in reply, not that he could see it. 

The initial examination was rather simple, you had to look over his wounds, the deep lacerations on his chest, the state of his collarbone, checking him for any signs of Lycanthropic symptoms which came in the forms of excessive hair growth, elongation of the canine teeth, hostility (namely to Foxians) and a heightened increase of Lupitoxin which are evident in a blood rage. Further examination of his red blood cell, Platelets and the protein count in his plasma, to gauge how well his blood would coagulate over time, while the effects of consuming Tumbledust has significantly lowered the count, he was slowly making progress as there were some improvements. While it wasn’t much, it was better than none… 

“So far, you seem to be on the road of recovering… slow, but I am sure we can get there eventually, there has been a minimal increase in your plasma counts, and platelets, but not much to say you can return to handling sharp objects… I am hoping you’re not, Master Jiaoqiu, and you have no signs of Lycanthropy so that rules out any further conclusion of you becoming a borisin.” You explained, all while scribbling on his patient forms that would be sent back to Cauldron master Lingsha, and further approval by Head Alchemist on the Yaoqing, Yingyue. “With this, I would like you to be placed on a higher dose of anti-inflammatories, to help reduce the swelling in your wounds. That, or need I remind you that you are not to ingest spicy foods, Master Jiaoqiu.” You slowly raised a brow at him as he turned to you, pulling out his fan that was underneath his alchemy commission uniform that he had removed so you could treat his injuries. He delicately fanned himself a few times, before hiding his lips behind the coloured feathers. 

“I would never betray the doctors’ words, no knives or spicy food here. Are you insinuating that your patient ingested spicy foods? Y/N you wound me… I would never,” He stated with a cunning smile pulling at his lips behind that fan, his tail swaying behind him as he took in the results of his examination. “But is it really my fault that Moze had hotpot, I couldn’t turn down such a request, even Feixiao was there.” He soon added, nodding his head innocently as his ears twitched in your direction. 

“So you did have Spicy food, is that what you're telling me?” You pressed, raising a brow as he kept fanning himself, concealing his smile. 

“I never said that, I just said that Moze might have offered it to me. But as such a good patient, I never touched a drop. I instead had to sit and watch my so-called friends enjoy a hotpot in front of me, it was quite cruel, really…” His fluffy ears drooped down, as he dramatically acted as if it had taken a toll on him that he couldn’t have some. Your expression fell into a deadpanned glare as he kept innocently fanning himself, humming all innocently, you knew that this sly foxian had made the hotpot himself and threw the blame at Moze to get off any kind of lecture. You feigned a sigh in defeat as you allowed him to win at his little game, “Alright, whatever the patient says… but know your slight increase of white blood cells, and redness on your laceration tells me otherwise,” You simply pointed out as you began working on removing the now loosened bandages around his shoulders and chest, you had seen your fair share of injuries and wounds, but the deep claw marks along his chest with lingering parts of decaying flesh seemed to leave a deep pang in your heart… reading about his injuries were bad enough, but seeing them in person was just as bad. 

The audacity he had as he simply hummed in reply and with a nonchalant shrug, “I have no idea what you’re insinuating here, doctor,” He added, placing his fan down to reveal that sly fox-like grin, as he lifted his head proudly, more so that you could work on his wounds better. But upon sensing your concern with his wounds, Jiaoqiu slowly fell into silence as he turned away, “This is nothing. I can handle this, there is no need to look at me with… pity.” 

You felt an all-familiar annoyance stir inside you as if small flicking flames lapped at the insides of your chest as your movements slowed down, “It isn’t pity… it was concern Jiaoqiu when the incident reports were handed to us, it was worrying… especially when there was no news or context from the Luofu. I knew something was covered up, and it involved Hoolay, something for sure went wrong… it may not be my place to ask what happened, but… You shouldn’t bare yourself to a wolf's fangs… and ingest Tumbleweed… even if you had a plan.” you whispered, gripping the bundle of bandages in your hands that you had removed, “You could have died, then what-” 

“I would have died fulfilled and content, Y/N.” He cut her off, a heavy sigh ruminating from his chest as he still refused to face you entirely, his brow furrowing in annoyance as he refused to accept your concern for him. 

“Would you really say that?” You pressed, your shoulders slouching as you continued to remove the last of the bandages to fully observe the wound in its entirety. Yet unlike before, you weren’t phased, instead, your heart simply felt like it was crumbling at his words. However, Jiaoqiu remained silent when you pressed him, his ears folding back a tad, it was a sign that you were right in some way. Despite the deafening silence, you continued to work on him, applying the Pathovore Bugs onto the rotting parts of his wounds, all while she delicately ran her scalpel over the unhealthy flesh to promote excess skin growth. Jiaoqiu grunted softly, leaning back onto his arms as he tried to push himself through the uncomfortable sensation, he didn’t want to be seen as weak or vulnerable, even though he was the one knocking on death's door. Yet his stubbornness to admit anything or the fact that for once he required treatment was unyielding, even when he was in pain. 

The silence continued to hover between them, once playful banter turned to a darkened cloud of tension, but, Jiaoqiu managed to face Y/N once more, parting his lips as he tried to find the words to say something, “Why do you care so much. Don’t they say laying your life out on the path of the hunt is a blessing…?” He managed to whisper out, his voice almost weak and one could even say vulnerable. Y/N glanced up, but unlike the look of annoyance or a frown, she offered him a compassionate gaze, “We are both healers, different kinds sure, but in the end, we are here to help those in need. I know you have lost many patients, as have I… I may not have been through or seen what you have on the Front Lines… but we share the same burdens of what we do is the right thing…” Your voice was soft, yet anyone could hear the way your words seemed to break through the ragged breaths you took in as you tried to formulate each word with sincerity, “But… we… no, you shouldn’t allow yourself to go through such measures… General Feixiao is already strong on her own, and your patient can only go as far as they can if their healer is also healthy, I have seen too many people die over nothing to claim they did so in the name of The Hunt… but it felt like they were throwing themselves away.” 

You gently removed the bugs, placing them in a glass beaker as you kept talking, “As I said… I don’t know what happened on the Luofu… but I know, you shouldn’t have risked yourself at such a high stake. There is always an alternative, another way to do things, picking the dangerous path isn’t always the right way.” You whispered, head now falling downwards as your ears drooped once more. You had seen so many soldiers come back from the battlefields injured and proclaiming proudly that if they died, they did so for The Aeon Lan, but, it more so felt like they were throwing themselves at the denizens of Abundance without another thought of a better strategy. Y/N slowly bit on her bottom lip as she continued with the treatment by applying liberal amounts of the ointment onto his wounds, before securely wrapping them up in bandages. 

During the quiet moment as Y/N worked, Jiaoqiu found himself sighing once more, shaking his head as his expression softened slightly to that of contentment. “You might have been right, I could have found another way… but I made it, did I not?” He replied in a lighter tone, even if you swatted his side with the flick of your fluffy tail, “You’re just as reckless as the Merlin’s Claw, she is rubbing off on you. You know… there would be a lot of people upset if you had died… I am sure even Moze would be upset in his way… you may have been fulfilled as you say, but what about the others that care for you?” you added, making sure that each one of his wounds was fully covered, before you soon sat back in your chair, your mind also wanted to add ‘what about me?’ yet, you didn’t. The Foxian offered you a sad smile, as he turned to the direction of the pot plant, “You’re not wrong, Y/N.” He reluctantly whispered, his voice holding a sense of vulnerability yet again, each word spoken like a prayer, with an ear twitch he turned back to you, this time with a more genuine smile.

“I am sure you would have been deeply hurt. To think during your training you said you hated me and my spicy food you could smell from a mile away…” His demeanour shifted to his usual self, sly and jabbing, which seemed to stir you up, evident as your tail swished around in annoyance as you finished up with his wounds, giving him the space he needed to change back into his clothes. “Stop being snarky… you seriously need to take better care of yourself.” You huffed as you turned to clean your instruments, all while he resumed fanning his delicate face once more, his soft pink hair flowing with each motion of his fan as he continued that same mocking smile. “I know. I can’t promise anything.” He hummed, for once he spoke truthfully, “But, I will do my best, I have no guarantees.” 

“That's all I wanted to hear, Jiaoqiu.” Your shoulders eased up and relaxed at his words, her heart feeling ever so lighter. 

“You know, you dropped the formalities halfway, this is quite intimate, Y/N, I am almost flattered, after many years and now you call me by my name and not Master Jiaoqiu,” As usual he tried his best to get under your skin, still calmly fanning himself. He expected you to retaliate or shoot back another snarky comment, yet you did something that surprised him… You gently hugged him, wrapping your arms around his lower torso to avoid touching his wound, as much as he wanted to open his eyes in surprise, the Foxian instead felt his expression melt into a soft fondness, one that wasn’t all that often seen. “You were that worried?” He finally admitted, moving one of his hands to delicately brush against your back soothingly. 

“Just promise me you will be more careful next time,” you whispered faintly, near one of his long ears that twitched at your words, his tail swaying side-to-side. 

“I can’t guarantee anything… but, if I get hugged like this, I might consider it.” He purred, still fanning the two of you with his fan, blissfully unaware of the edge of the fan catching a lit with the sizzling of fire lapping at the tips. Jiaoqiu quickly moved the fan to stop the fire from continuing with a silent huff of annoyance, “Maybe we could even go for some hotpot sometime?” 

You wanted to say he wasn’t allowed spicy food, but you were content from his words, you simply hoped that one day, he would take your words to heart, if not for your own sake, but maybe for those that were close to him…

[fujimomozane]

Magister Merlin Starhawk Info

Magister Merlin Starhawk, aka Merlin, Starhawk, Mage of the Stars, Starry Mage, a lazy bum who forgets to bring mugs out of his room, The Godfather of Magic, among others, is a half-treesprite half-human mage who was born in 200 B.H.W (Before the Hypogean War). 

  He is renowned as the discoverer of magic in around 190 B.H.W, having discovered healing magic by saving his hamster, Hammie, from near death- she later became the first-ever familiar. It is said that Dura herself granted him the key to unlock magic as a mortal. 

  He discovered almost all types of magic, including transformation spells by turning into a starhawk, and glamour spells by binding his chest. 

  He participated in the Hypogean-Celestial War of 1 A.H.W. (After the Hypogean War). It was rumored that he had become a Celestial. 

  After centuries of critical research in magic, astronomy, alchemy, potions, and natural sciences, Magister Merlin Starhawk disappeared in the 15th century A.H.W., often called "The Fall" of the mage, in keeping with the star theme. 

  He first reappeared in 17th century A.H.W., disappeared again, and did so a second time. The legends about the mage continued to spread across the world. 

  The third time, he appeared in the current year 1824 A.H.W. without his memories. He is slowly regaining them, but some are out of reach, as though they are locked away. 

  Hammie knows only that he has been "restarted" thrice, where he was the times he vanished is a mystery to everyone. Not much changed with each restart. 

  But by the third restart, his horns were reduced to nearly imperceptible buds that grow when he finds out more about his past, and binds were placed to keep his incredibly strong magic at bay. 

  Merlin will recover his memories no matter what they might reveal and meet new people along the way. 

  Hopefully, they will steer him clear of repeating his Fall. 

  Relationships: Talene (ex-best friend), Dionel (ex-friend), Hypogeans (enemies), Hammie & Chippy (familiars), Dolly (house caretaker), Lady Illucia (???), Cecia (???), General Hogan (a friend from his second restart), Mirael (student from his second restart), Valen (good friend), Rowan (like a niece to him), Lyca (astronomy friend), Cassade (biggest fan), Bryon (bird man and friend), Soren & Alsa (friends), Silverbeak (minion), Satrana (divination expert), Sinbad (good friend), Hugin (engineering buddy), Sonja & Lucca (intimidating friends), Tasi (friend), Bols (fishing expert). 

Posted this so people have some info on Merlin before I post any fanfics, in case someone is curious or doesn't want to read future ff to get info on him. Bonus random facts I couldn't fit in properly below cut:

  Bonus random facts I couldn't fit in properly but will probably be covered in future fanfic: He's 165cm tall.  He's a vegetarian because he feels bad for animals. He faints... a lot. He's trans and intersex. Collects minerals and watches, and he is obsessed with birds and hamsters. His identity as treesprite-human has been lost over the ages so he hides his ears and horn stubs (which seem to be slowly growing as he regains his memories?) Has an enchanted hat that he seldom takes off. Has a lot of nightmares. Has endless pseudonyms, his latest being "Vulpin" (because he saw a drawing of a fox on a building) upon introduction to Valen. Eventually Valen finds out about the charade though.

Ironically, he has poor long-range vision (about -1 in each eye, but the right sees worse).  Has a penchant for extravagant outfits.  The two golden bands around his hair don't come off.   He went grey at the ripe old age of... 20. His original hair color was bronze, and he wanted to keep his brows dark even after he turned grey, but the spell went awry and now they are permanently jet black along with his lashes. 

  His eyes have always been yellow- a gift from Misarte, according to the wilders.   His mother was a treesprite musician from Vaduso, and his father was an human ex-sailor and merchant from Holistone. His mother was 210 centimeters tall (without her horns, mind you) and his father was 180 centimeters tall. Neither were short, but Merlin is the outlier in terms of height in his family. His grandmothers always blamed it on him not eating enough. He thinks he just lucked out. 

[sneakyboymerlin]

Any thoughts on s5 merwaine strained relationship (Merlin not wanting to save him in ep1/2,not hugging him in ep4, Gwaine not speaking up for Merlin when Gwen accused him of Arthur’s murder, Eira (ep12).

First off, I’m going to start with the obvious: season 5 eps 1 & 2 are painfully out of character, poorly written imposter episodes. The sole purpose of Merlin’s hesitance to ride out is to uplift Arthur’s character, making him appear more heroic and matured than Merlin, and by comparison to where we saw him in s4, without having to actually develop his character. It’s cheap, lazy writing, to put it bluntly.

But, if it helps… Merlin wasn’t just ~abandoning~ Gwaine. He thought Gwaine was dead and that Arthur was going on a fool’s errand to join him in an early grave. Regardless of the fact that Gwaine was very much still kickin’, this is the place that Merlin was coming from. If the writers really needed to take the route they did, they should have given us a scene of Merlin mourning Gwaine to make this clearer, but since the writers only care about Arthur, they only show us this information through Merlin’s concern for Arthur. But it is present in the text.

In 5x04, we can see that Merlin is frantic to get to Arthur because Arthur is walking into a trap. It’s a time-sensitive mission. The purpose of writing a scene where Merlin shoves off Gwaine’s hug is simply to express this urgency. It comes across worse because, again, the writers do not find it important to show Merlin and Gwaine after they save the battle. They only care about how these events fuel Arthur’s reputation (not to be mistaken with development… he does not truly develop).

The belief that Gwaine simply let Merlin be arrested in 5x07 is a fanon pet peeve of mine. We don’t actually see any of the knights’ reactions in the immediate aftermath— only that Merlin did indeed get thrown in the dungeons. Later, we see that Leon believes the accusation and fully supports Gwen. We also see Gwaine pursuing what he believes to be an intruder in the citadel and, later, releasing Merlin from the dungeons himself with a massive smile on his face. We can pretty easily infer from this that 1) Gwaine did not believe that Merlin did it; 2) He may have been attempting to find the real culprit; and 3) He was outnumbered by the knights who did believe Gwen/follow her orders (such as Leon). After all, if Gwaine had arrested Merlin or believed the accusation for a second, he would have shown guilt upon releasing him from the dungeons. And why have Gwaine specifically be the only knight to release Merlin otherwise?

Gwaine sleeping with Eira is not evidence of a strained friendship between Merlin and Gwaine. Rather, it ends up proving where Gwaine’s loyalties truly lay— and it showcases Merlin’s friendship with Gwaine, which has indeed been ignored in s5. The reason for this is because it is their last episode together, and the writers are aware that fans care enough about their friendship that it needed the attention promised from Gwaine’s intro ep.

Gwaine rescues a cute girl (and gets rescued in return) and takes a special interest in her because he’s attracted to her. Merlin does Gwaine a personal favor by tending to her wounds. Later, Merlin asks Gwaine to escort him into the Valley of the Fallen Kings and does not provide an explanation for why, because he trusts Gwaine to protect him. Gwaine acquiesces, leaving Eira behind even though she asks him to stay. Gwaine makes it clear to Merlin that he’s doing this for Merlin because he wants to and does not expect anything in return— in fact, he feels he’s gotten more than enough in return. Merlin trusts Gwaine enough to admit he’s lying to him, even if he won’t tell Gwaine what about. And Gwaine trusts Merlin enough to leave him to it, then leaves Merlin with his sword since he won’t accept Gwaine’s protection any further.

Offscreen, Gaius reveals to Gwaine that Merlin believes Eira to be the traitor in the court, and provides Merlin’s evidence. Gwaine takes Merlin’s word for it and sets Eira up, sending her to her execution. So, really, the whole Eira situation is functionally meant to boost our view of their selfless friendship… but a bit too late, since the writers have neglected them quite literally all season long. It’s very much a last minute “shit we forgot to care” project.

When they do give Merlin and Gwaine’s dynamic attention, though, the writers make sure to present how close they are, but they ignore this for the most part to focus on Arthur. Essentially, it’s not that Merlin doesn’t still care about Gwaine… it’s that the writers don’t. The writers literally do not care about anyone besides Arthur— not even Merlin, the titular character. Not only did they neglect to give Merlin any character consistency in s5, but they did so (and framed events in a specific way) to ensure that Arthur’s reputation would remain unstained, as he is a personified fantasy of avoiding accountability and being coddled for one’s own wrongdoings.

Fans, of course, buy into this and argue that Arthur can do no wrong because he’s “too ignorant” to know any better, instead placing blame on characters like Morgana for “proving the stereotypes right” or onto Gwen and Merlin for “coddling” him. Thus, these fans coddle Arthur, despite claiming the opposite.

The truth is that Arthur is responsible for his own actions and beliefs. Those actions and beliefs are the mass slaughter of innocent people simply because they have magic. He’s already seen more than enough evidence that magical peoples are not inherently evil or harmful, and applied this same logic to other areas of life (such as nobles vs. commoners), and found that no one is inherently superior or inferior for their birth circumstances. It is only in the topics of magic (and gender…) that Arthur believes this. But even after the Dolma saves Gwen, he still refuses to lift the ban… so, yeah, all in all you can blame the lack of Merlin and Gwaine content in s5 on the writers not wanting Arthur to either develop or be held accountable for his actions. Instead, they wanted to present a character to be lauded above all others no matter what he does. This tells you a lot about the morals of the people writing the story… and maybe some of the things they don’t want to be held responsible for. After all, 35% of all BBCM episodes come with a message of, “If you try to stop this oppressive bigot, you’re just as bad as he is!”

TL;DR: they shoved Merlin and Gwaine aside to make more room for monarchy propaganda.

[yallthemwitches]

A Trick of the Light

Posting the @jilytoberfest Day 13, Muggle technology prompt early because I made it a combo with the Day 10 Matching making parents one and didn't post that day.

Finally getting mileage out of my HC that Euphemia worked for the Statute of Secrecy dept---I'll let you decide if James is just oblivious or hiding something more. ;)

AO3 Link Here

“James, darling you have to be careful with it–”

“I am being careful with it!”

“Smashing it with your wand is hardly careful.”

Euphemia smacks the hands of her son away, moving her finger deftly over the piece of machinery. The projector whirs to life, blinking a white square of light onto the wall of the Potter library—clicking a few times until a burst of figures in saturated color fill the space.

“There–see? What do I always tell you? Muggle things need care and patience–”

James isn’t listening, instead a grin widens at the images now dancing on the wall. 

“---two attributes you could afford to foster into your love life–”

James’ head snaps around. His mum winks one eye closed and sticks out her tongue. 

“Wow—bloody brilliant. Now you give me relationship advice.” He is only half serious. “I’ve already told you, there’s nothing between us…we’re just friends.”

“Just friends.”

“Yeah, mum, just friends.”

Euphemia flashes her eyes towards the projection than back at her son. “You're just friends yet you’ve made me pull out my one prized muggle artifact so she can be impressed by it.”

“You know it's not like that–,” he scans the room, knowing that if he allows eye contact he’s completely done for, “I just—I thought it would be nice.”

“Don’t see you pulling out the telephone for Remus just to be nice.”

“Merlin’s balls you’re worse than Sirius sometimes!” He waits for her to scold him about his crass language, but instead she picks some dust off her velvet robes, mouth pursed in amusement. Sometimes he wonders if he is the adopted son and Sirius is the true Potter of the family.

“You said she likes film—do you know which type?”

Any annoyance at his mum fades away as he thinks back at all the conversations he had with Lily last year. He tries to cut through the memory and only focus on her words, but gets stuck on the animated way her hands moved when talking about a particularly good film, how her eyes lit up while saying words like shot, composition, dialogue—words that were entirely meaningless to him alone, but with her they might as well be ancient spells. 

“I remember her talking about this one bloke--a director named Qewb...Kurb...Keyu…”

“Kubrick,” she laughs and shakes her head, “Oh wow, the ministry has been trying to obliviate him for years. He will be thrilled to hear he has a fan in the wizarding community.”

James eyes light up, lunging for his mum.

“You know him? Brilliant! Can he visit while she’s here?”

Euphemia’s eyes narrow and the smoky makeup makes them look like two billowing storm clouds.

“So let me get this straight. You want me to invite a very busy, very infamous muggle director—whom my business relationship consists mainly of mild threats and silence agreements—to our house for a girl that you don’t feel any attraction for.”

“I don’t appreciate you wording it like that—but yes.”

Euphemia eyes her son for a moment then stands, feeling somewhere between defeated and silly for even trying to unravel the intricacies of teenage boy.

“Well, I think I’ve contributed enough,” she sighs, making sure he can catch the sarcasm dripping from her voice, “wouldn’t want you to overdo it for just a silly Head Student preparation meeting.”

She walks to the door, knowing her son is watching her with an expression of embarrassment and defeat. Before crossing the threshold, she whips around and her earrings tinkle against her neck, getting matted into her unruly black hair. 

“Oh and James, darling?” He looks up from the figures still floating across the way, clearly focusing less on the film and more on whatever they symbolize in his personal life. 

“Do put some blankets and pillows down for you both to lay on—wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable during your film experience.”

She shut the door, watching red billow its way onto her son's cheeks, wondering how her son had become such a bad liar.

[merlincersei]

Merlin BBC UK TV Show - Opinion Piece Part 7 - How The 2008 Series Reinterprets and Subverts Arthurian Legends

I was talking to a mutual friend about movies and TV shows in the fantasy genre and this friend bought up the fact how Arthurian legends have influenced most of them.

As that conversation progressed, we both agreed that the best adaptation of Arthurian legend was John Boorman’s 1981 classic "Excalibur".

However he seemed very amused when I told him that I was a huge fan of the 2008 BBC TV series Merlin. His opinion was that the TV series was "so childish, historically inaccurate and farcical" when he watched it.

I disagreed with him profusely and decided to make this post to outline my love of the TV series. I will share this post with this person so we can have further discussions on this topic. So here it goes:

Creators wanted to reinterpret Arthurian legend.

PROOF:

Julian Murphy, co-creator and executive producer: It all began in a restaurant on Kensington Church street, where I had lunch with the writer Jake Michie. And the pitch I gave him was very simple - It was 'I'd like to do the Arthurian story, but as an origin story in the same way that the Superman story had been done in [US TV series] Smallville.' And I think from there, it evolved.

But the decision that I think was at the heart of it, which was to make Arthur and Merlin contemporaries, rather than make Merlin the old man looking after the young Arthur, was there from the very beginning.

Source : https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/merlin-at-10-the-cast-and-creatives-on-how-they-made-the-bbcs-boy-wizard-drama/

If you are a fan of the series i would recommend to read the article above for more information and details about the TV Show.

______________________________________________________________

There has never been a concise Arthurian story. The legends are an amalgam of numerous versions, the most popular of them being as follows:

 History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey’s account of the legendary king contains the first appearance of many of the iconic features of the Arthurian legend, including the wizard Merlin.

Lancelot by Chrétien de Troyes

Geoffrey of Monmouth never mentions Arthur’s most famous knight, and it wasn’t until Chrétien de Troyes wrote Lancelot and introduced the idea of an affair between Guinevere and Arthur’s most noble knight that Arthurian legend really got the ‘romantic’ treatment

The Mabinogion by Anonymous

The Arthur we glimpse in the Mabinogion is usually a marginal figure so it’s worth reading if you’re a fan of early legends containing King Arthur.

Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

This is a vast prose retelling of the story of King Arthur and the Round Table.

Idylls of the King by Lord Tennyson

Here we find the stories of Lancelot and Elaine, Geraint and Enid, Merlin and Vivien

______________________________________________________________

So for the 2008 series to collect Arthurian stories from various sources and try to repackage it to a modern audience is nothing new as the trend has already been established through works of T. H. White in The Once and Future King, Mary Stewart in The Crystal Cave, Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court etc...

But it is through reinterpreting Merlin & Guinevere's storylines and using Magic as a motif that we get a brand new Arthurian story.

Guinevere

The name Guinevere means The Fair One in old Welsh.

To cast Angel Coulby, a woman of color as one of the most famous white woman in history was a revolutionary act by 2008 British TV standards.

In the legends, Guinevere is of royal blood. Gwen in the TV series is a servant of common birth who ascends to become a queen.

Here the audience come to see Gwen as the fair one based on the strength of her character and not the color of her skin.

In the TV show Arthur forgives Gwen's infidelity with Lancelot rather than having her sent to a nunnery or worse having her die. The old male authors were okay with Arthur bedding several women but expectation of chasteness placed on Guinevere always contained an undercurrent of misogyny.

In the TV Show, Gwen leads Camelot into the golden age, instead of being blamed for the downfall of Camelot due to her affair with Lancelot

PROOF : Excerpt From Hyable Article:

Meanwhile of course, Guinevere was left to lead Camelot into the golden age. “We’ve had that in our minds for about three series,” Julian Murphy says. “We felt that to take Gwen from a servant girl to a powerful and strong queen, a person who can bind the kingdom together, was the journey we wanted to do, and I think Angel [Coulby] delivered that brilliantly.”

Merlin

By having Merlin be of a contemporary age to Arthur they effectively changed Merlin from being a father figure to being a companion of Arthur.

The close bond that Merlin shares with Arthur in the TV Show effectively replicates Lancelot's close bond with Arthur in the historical legends.

Bradley James here confirms how in some legends Lancelot was in love with Arthur.

The gay subtext that was prevalent between Lancelot and Arthur in the historical legends is played out in all its glory between Merlin and Arthur .

Motiff of Magic

Throughout the history of Abrahamic religions, there has been a connection between magic and (deviant) sexual practices. From the osculum inafme (kissing of donkey’s anuses and kissing the Devil’s anus) to witches who were supposedly inserting hallucinogenous mushrooms into their vaginas. The series association between magic and non heteronormative people becomes pronounced as series progresses.

And therein lies the appeal of the 2008 Merlin TV Series. With this modern retelling it succeeds in addressing certain historical wrongs, make it more representational, address issues and highlight subtext that have been historically ignored in popular media for the time frame it aired.

Arthurian legends no longer becomes the domain of a patriarchal Judeo Abrahamic narrative about a return to the good old days but of class mobility, race, feminism, queer acceptance and the belief of a better world to come in context of the TV Show.

[whatudottu]

If I thought the Transformers (Aligned) timeline was convoluted, god the Trollhunters timeline is fucked beyond all hell, and worse of all because they use Merlin - bloody MERLIN - as a character that created the amulet there's an upper limit of time Trollhunters have existed before, heck even Myrddin Wyllt his welsh name (and canonical alternate name in the show), Merlin stops being the Merlin from human myth and starts becoming Merlin a similarly named folkloric character in troll myth-

I wonder if I, a fan coming in at minimum 2023, am arriving to this a little late but- if this isn't going to be a timeline rewrite then let me complain about how specific canonical details contradict with one another, including the glaringly obvious issue of Wizard's addition to the timeline, making Deya the Deliverer the first Trollhunter and thus practically erasing most of the historical Trollhunters or conforming to fit them all in a timeline of 900ish years.

I'll address the elephant in the room when we get to it, but let's set up the basics, both for me and any viewer not already in the know (given that my audience is mostly from transformers and ben 10, I'd say it's a lot of you).

Trolls and humans got off to a bad start, humans living on the surface and trolls having originated from a realm called the Darklands, accessible from a bridge (a gateway) Kilahead bridge. Like with any civilisation there are good and bad trolls, the baddest being Orlagk the Oppressor, leader of the Gumm-Gumms. Having been introduced to the surface, trolls fought with the humans who already lived on it creating the War for the Surface Lands, and their fighting lead the first Heartstone (a gigantic magical gem that serves as the centre of troll caverns, healing them and providing power) to corrupt and birth Gunmar. This war lasted for millennia, Gunmar taking over leadership of the Gumm-Gumms after slaying Orlagk at some vague point, up until the Battle of Kilahead Bridge where the Gumm-Gumms were sealed away in the Darklands again thanks to the Trollhunter Deya the Deliverer.

Okay, sure, that doesn't sound very bad at first, up until you realise that the Battle of Kilahead Bridge was 900 years prior to the series (2016 was it's release date) and thus in the year 1116 AD give or take; the legend of Merlin as a magician, a wizard, was in the 12th century which would've been instead at minimum 1300 AD that's 200 years of difference. Not to mention Angor Rot - a character and antagonist in the show - came begging for magic to stop Gunmar's armies from destroying more and more independant troll tribes, like his own, in 1200 AD at least. Why in the fucking hell would Angor Rot bother to risk his own soul asking for magic, from a sorcerer known as (among many things) the Eldritch Queen, if Gunmar and his Gumm-Gumms were already kept within the Darklands. Gunmar's son Bular, the one Gumm-Gumm to not be banished, is surely not that much of a threat to not one but multiple villages it would send someone to the doorstep of the Pale Lady. In addition, Angor Rot was responsible for killing at least a few Trollhunters, one known and named being Voltar the Voracious, who was the only Trollhunter given an exact year of choosing in 1578. And the fucker is listed BEFORE Deya on the wiki but that alone doesn't mean anything, however she does die in 1620 to Bular, 396 years before the show.

Alright then, so you look at Merlin's mythological existence and go 'now what about the whole thing about millenia' because 12th century doesn't allow the War for the Surface Lands to have a Trollhunter, even with 11 named Trollhunters that come presumably before Deya (Unkar the Unfortunate, despite being trained by Blinky who in human standards - assuming his human body tells us his age - is probably about middle age give or take, fought in the time Gumm-Gumms were still around even if slain by Bular). Given that Trollhunters itself references Merlin's original Welsh name Myrddin (and his in show last name is Ambrosius, which would be Emyrs in the original Welsh, as opposed to Wyllt for 'of the wild), I thought that potentially looking into when Myrddin first came around I would be able to get a better timeline; Myrddin Wyllt was said to have been born - and not just the legend - in 540 AD, which gives between that and 2016 1476 years to work with, allowing the 400ish years ago that Deya died (and the 438 years from when Voltar had the amulet) and the millenia's worth of war the War for the Surface Lands took.

Done deal, right?

Well guess what, some fucker named Spar the Spiteful (not even the first Trollhunter like Deya so proclaims to be) died 5200 years before Jim, our protagonist and first HUMAN Trollhunter, ever picked up the mantle. 5200 years before 2016 is the bloody fucking 4th millenium BC. This period included the beginnings of the Bronze Age, and was the bloody time WRITING was invented! And in Spar's time, there was no DOMESTIC HORSES! HORSE RIDING DIDN'T BLOODY EXIST WHEN SPAR DIED HOW FUCKED IT THAT!?

God FUCKING DAMN IT!

Fine, I can work with this.

Merlin in the show is all the old man we think of him as in myth, but he's also still old when we go back in time to when the Battle of Kilahead Bridge takes place, albeit it without a full head of grey hairs (how does the old man age more than his teen/young adult apprentice) potentially as a young sorcerer/wizard/whatever they use these terms interchangeably, Merlin or Myrddin created the Amulet of Daylight. You could even give more wriggle room between whenever trolls came to the surface and when Merlin made the amulet, because although Orlagk was a figure explicitly older than Gunmar, there is no mention of an amulet without Gunmar simply a time when he was still not a leader. In fact, given that Merlin's original name - Myrddin - came from a riddle designed with the intent to kill Gunmar, a piece informing the Trollhunter teams how to kill Gunmar rather than Orlagk the original leader, perhaps it's befitting to make Myrddin technically younger than the trolls; given that the original purpose of the Amulet of Daylight was not to kill Gunmar but to protect trolls, seeing as how one of the keys to Gunmar's destruction is a Triumbric Stone (one of 3) that resulted in the death of Orlagk, the amulet can date to before Gunmar and have been made after the Gumm-Gumms took out their rage on other trolls instead of humans alone.

The Trollhunter after Spar the Spiteful was Boraz the Bold, named that specifically for taking on 1000 Gumm-Gumms, was killed by Bular who was - as I said - Gunmar's son. While that does not mean that Spar the previous Trollhunter existed before Bular did, it does mean that by the time Boraz was selected after Spar's position Bular was competent enough to slay a Trollhunter, especially one as 'Bold' as Boraz who felled a thousand Gumm-Gumms before falling to 1001. It would mean that his father Gunmar would be much older, potentially tracking further and further back in time and putting Orlagk's death deeper and deeper into the War for the Surface Lands, potentially even aligned Orlagk's death and the Triumbric Stone's creation to a period humans heard of Myrddin, the death of Orlagk potentially landing in 540 AD, perhaps even in 573 AD where an actual battle took place, the Battle of Arfderydd; this details a Riderch Hael, King of Alt Clut (Stratclyde, a Brittonic kingdom in northern... well... Britain, which got annexed in the 11th century AKA 1000 AD to become part of the emerging Kingdom of Scotland) slaughtering the forces of a Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio, Myrddin having gone mad watching that defeat.

The remaining named Trollhunters, ones that weren't explicitly dated and timed, are in a bullshit order on the Wiki that I just have to piece together what is being said to put together a timeline.

Maddrux the Many, he/him in the show and she/her in the comics, was canonically an active Trollhunter before another, Araknak the Agile, was either born or an actual functioning adult; Araknak is the ancestor of the previously mentioned (and assumed to be) middle aged Blinkous Galadrigal and his brother (an older brother or twin depending on who you quote) Dictatious Maximus Galadrigal, the pair being present for the Battle of Kilahead Bridge and still alive by 2016 and idk about Tatious but Blinky appears in 2017 or at least whenever RoTT takes place. To use the term ancestor instead of grandparent or even parent, which technically ancestor can be used on either anyway, means that the exact family history is undetermined. However, we can place Maddrux at the very least on the timeline where Orlagk was still active in, seeing as that was her major enemy in the comics.

At the end of her service instead of going directly to Araknak, a Trollhunter preceded him in Magmar the Molten, the only known mountain troll to be a wielder of Daylight. Interesting to note, Araknak learnt from Magmar a certain combat move so, even before his selection by the amulet Araknak was already preferring the lifestyle of a warrior in comparison to his scholar parents; a trait that outlasted the warrior spirit and descended to the Galadrigals however many years later. Mentioned specifically as preceding not only Araknak but Tellad-Urr, we have another date to place as Tellad-Urr the Triumphant - very soon to be Tellad-Urr the Terrible - was active until 501 CE where Orlagk was still alive; how convientient. It helps that Gogun the Gentle - his immediate successor - would be the only Trollhunter to die of old age, potentially because Gunmar was too busy killing Orlagk and Orlagk too busy being dead for either of them to do anything.

Hopefully Gogun was already an old fart because the oldest recorded troll Chokeenamaga lived to 5352 years and I have no idea if that's slightly above average, notably old, or specific to a troll type (like for example, mountain trolls may have the longest average lifespan of all trollkin), and it's not like I can look at the show for any reference because Draal the Deadly, son of Kanjigar the Couragous and the previous Trollhunter did not age between 900 years yet there are no troll whelps in modern Trollmarket, let alone the fact that the Battle of Kilahead Bridge according to our established Trollhunters could not have happened before 1578 but must have happened between then and 1620. And Draal is an adult in modern day but is rather impulsive and I do not know if that is simply a troll trait or the trait of a twenty something year old that should've had a different design in the past but couldn't because of the limitations of 3D show animation (Prime fans would know or at least see visually that you can't just design a cybertronian version of a bot's root mode without things getting expensive, it's why Skyquake couldn't fly despite looking the same before and after alt mode acquisition).

Speaking of age, this is also the time where Aaarrrgghh!!! was a teenager, which either means that Blinky is actually much younger than Aaarrrgghh!!! or there is another Trollhunter or few between Araknak the Agile and Tellad-Urr the Terrible; 5200 years is a lot of grounds to cover, especially with a Trollhunter dying of age between it. Tellad-Urr has an appearance similar to Kanjigar, and given that it's a book cover rather than a 3D model there may be grounds for him being of the same tribe as Kanjigar if not an ancestor like Araknak to Blinky. It could work give or take, especially since 'ancestor' is less of an official word and more of a footnote for someone's opinion, but it isn't word of god nor anything found in any media.

And keeping with age (last one I promise) Gorgus the Gorgeous, referenced in terms used by modern trolls 'By Gorgus' or 'Great Gorgus', was one of the youngest Trollhunters to be chosen. Whether he was younger than Jim Lake Jr, 16 years old at his time of getting the amulet, depends on what the hell the age of 24 fucking means to a troll. Is it the equivalent of 24 years in troll years? If so then why the hell does he begin training 32 troll years later at age 56 if he wasn't chosen to have the amulet at 24 human years old. What is 24 human years to a troll. NotEnrique, a changeling (troll whelp cursed to change into a human, can do so at will) is canonically a few centuries old, and he is fresh from the Darklands after replacing a human baby Enrique. He at a few centuries old is able to throw and host a troll party at his age, and maybe changeling's age differently and a changeling hosting a troll party would be very new because haha discrimination, but no troll flinches at the concept. And a few centuries could be considered more than 2 (being a few it's already more than 1) so the more centuries you tack on to this college type frat party host the more and more Gorgus' age becomes terrifyingly young like exorbitantly so.

If a few centuries means 'ability to host a party where full grown trolls do keg stands' then 24 probably means whelp, baby, a fucking toddler by troll standards, assuming changelings follow troll aging standards against their human mimicking physical development standards. If a 24 year old Trollhunter is only ONE OF the youngest Trollhunters, who was the youngest? Predestined at bloody birth!? Gorgus started training at age 56, presumably when he was old enough to wield a sword, being trained by none other than Kanjigar himself; Gorgus died during training when a group of Gumm-Gumms attacked, an arrow hitting him in the head. If NotEnrique was an adult, or at the very least on the cusp of it, at a few centuries old - more than 1, probably more than 2 - then what of someone at age 56, less than a few centuries, less than one. Whether Kanjigar was a father at the time or not, loosing a kid under his guidance - to death no less - would've stuck with anyone. Why was this child sentenced to death, and so young too. One can argue all the Trollhunters to failed to live up to legacy, who became their own version of Unkar the Unfortunate, were sentenced to death and fated to die young. Gogun may have defied fate and beat the ticking clock, but Gorgus the Gorgeous - a gorgeous child, a son to parents that will never see their little boy again - proved that there is no outrunning the clock for the bells toll for thee.

If Unkar was before Gorgus, then it is to be presumed that by dying on his first night - after 6 hours of training - that Gorgus the Gorgeous was failed by Blinkous in the same way Unkar had been. The next Trollhunter in line was summoned too soon, so because of Blinky's failure the trolls against Gumm-Gumms were without a defender, potentially reducing the remaining candidates for better trainers by slaughtering them before the Trollhunter was of age. If Unkar was after Gorgus, then Kanjigar needed to step away from training, even as it was his task given to the aging elder Rundle, potentially a younger but very busy Vendel, an elder by proxy of everyone else dying on the edges of Gumm-Gumm blades. He couldn't sacrifice another child to death, and as the amulet falls onto the arrogant overconfident Unkar, Kanjigar could not bare to have stone dust on his hands again. Blinkous Galadrigal (there is no mention of Dictatious despite the presence of Gumm-Gumms in Unkar's time) is tasked to train Unkar, to teach him the tennants of Trollhunter and put to good use his scholarly teachings and pray that the soul of his Trollhunter ancestor guides him. Unfortunately - as Unkar will be enshrined in by title - you cannot let a scholar do a warrior's duty.

However way it plays out, Blinky was young (or at least younger), and his failure marked his reputation for centuries.

There is a Grimbald the Grave, trained with Kanjigar AND Deya, which would definitely place that before 1620 and potentially before 1578; Voltar wasn't mentioned to have been trained by either, but given that he was the last Trollhunter before Deya (at the very least in close proximity), Grimbald most likely came before. Now this seems like a non-issue, if you consider Grimbald against our timeline nothing seems to be wrong, potentially Kanjigar's age since he's been around for a while but his son's an adult in the modern day so he could potentially be older than Blinky who knows. But I have an elephant to address and since it's been so long since I brought it up it's been drinking tea this whole time.

Wizards, the third installment of the Tales of Arcadia series, sequel to Trollhunters, introduces to audiences that Deya the Deliverer was originally Callista the Calamity, a troll who's tribe had been wiped out by humans and had been living in human custody since she was a whelp (or of an age that she had forgotten her name). Deya makes the timeline such a mess, because her first appearance in the comics, she was of an age where Rundle - Vendel's father - was the elder of Glastonbury Tor Trollmarket at the time of Deya, the Trollmarket before Dwoza which is the Trollmarket before Arcadia. Rundle was around in 501 AD, but it was his father Kilfred who was the elder and his son Vendel was of age enough to help in consulting, however old that is. In Wizards however, Vendel was the elder of Dwoza before Deya was Deya and when Callista was still an outcast, and even then he was only the elder by proxy, signs of his father Rundle or of Kilfred missing. Of course however Rundle could have been elder of Dwoza, as his father before him was elder of Glastonbury Tor, simply that he was potentially slain potentially died of old age and that Vendel being one of the few older than most of the Dwozan trolls took over in his father's stead.

The issue with Deya is that I really like the Callista part of her backstory, of being an outsider, an outcast, in the world of trolls that still hated humanity but held a deeper fear of the Gumm-Gumms. Diaspora for trolls, Callista the Calamity is seen as a human pet despite her wanting to find her way home, a home she can never go back to because it had been destroyed long ago; the one place that she could be accepted don't because they see her as too human, a far cry to being called a monster by humans but certainly not relieving. But she had become Deya, and found her footing as the Deliverer, by turning the Trollhunter from a single force to fighting alone to rallying a bunch of... gravellors? (Whatever, I like to think of Dwoza as essentially a refugee tribe given it's diversity in comparison to the Krubera tribe who are only krubera and the Quagawump tribe who are only - save for the generic troll king Angor killed - quagawumps) to fight one last fight against the Gumm-Gumms and ending the War for the Surface Lands.

...SO... that probably means that Grimbald was trained exclusively by Kanjigar after the whole Unkar and/or Gorgus ordeal and eventually got the Trollhunter's amulet himself when Deya was slain, her sacrifice delivering the migrating trolls of Dwoza a chance to get to the New World (or the Americas). Oh and their migration was after Vendel and some king wrote a truce called 'The Pact', which - I mean - it's described as a feeble truce and with a name like that I don't blame it, where they promise to stop eating humans and limited their diet to cats and used clothes which well- they might've broke on the journey to the New World because hiding in the cramped ballast of a 1600s era boat isn't fun nor is it fast. But regardless-

I think for a sense of cohesion, let me pull out an almost timeline for this post.

Trolls who had previously been in the Darklands somehow get to the surface

Tensions between trolls and the already present humans grows beginning the War for the Surface Lands

The intensity of the war corrupts the first Heartstone, giving birth to Gunmar

A young wizard Myrddin creates the Amulet of Daylight and gifts it to the good trolls

Spar the Spiteful gets the amulet. He dies 5200 years ago

Boraz the Bold gets the amulet. He dies to Bular, Gunmar's son.

Maddrux the Many gets the amulet

Magmar the Molten, the first mountain troll Trollhunter, gets the amulet

Araknak the Agile, ancestor to Blinkous and Dictatious Galadrigal, gets the amulet

Tellad-Urr the Triumphant, turned Tellad-Urr the Terrible, gets the amulet. He is killed in 501 AD

Gogun the Gentle gets the amulet.

Orlagk the Oppressor is slain by Gunmar. Gunmar loses an eye

Gogun dies of old age.

Angor Rot makes a pact with the Pale Lady, trading his soul for her magic

Unkar the Unfortunate gets the amulet. He dies 6 hours later

Gorgus the Gorgeous, one of the youngest Trollhunters, gets the amulet. He dies at age 56

Grimbald gets the amulet

Voltar the Voracious, born of two minds, gets the amulet in 1578. He dies to Angor Rot and his soul is stolen

Deya the Deliverer, previously Callista the Calamity, gets the amulet

The Battle of Kilahead Bridge is fought. Gunmar is defeated and the Gumm-Gumms (+ Dictatious Galadrigal) are trapped in the Darklands

Deya dies against Bular, last remaining Gumm-Gumm on the surface, in 1620

Kanjigar the Couragous, trainer of many Trollhunters, gets the amulet. He dies to Bular in 2016

James Lake Junior gets the amulet, and the events of the series take place

So, members of the Trollhunter fandom, how'd I do? If you stuck around this long, welcome to my gimmick, long posts :)

Hoo boy how should I tag this?

[shana-rosee]

wip snippet

Thank yoooou @kairenn-n by the tag! This is going to be the next chapter of my oneshot collection fic: A Future Worth Having

It takes Arthur’s fans five days to figure out he’s Arthur’s boyfriend. Five days. Honestly, Merlin’s a bit surprised it took them that long.

“So, your fans found my art Instagram,” Merlin said turning his head on the pillow so Arthur could hear him better over the speakerphone.

“Shit. How bad?”

He sighed, “I don’t know I just woke up.” He scrolled through the now hundreds of comments that had appeared overnight on the painting he posted last week, almost all about Arthur. “Eh. Could be worse.”

He could feel Arthur’s frown over the mobile. “Could be? What the hell does that mean?”

“Well, so far no one’s shit on my art. Oh wait, never mind,” Merlin said with a snort.

Tagging: @witchmd13 @tansyuduri @thenerdyindividual @nuttersinc @aithusar

[ferociouslycreativemystery]

Thanks for the tag @realmoftenderness!!

9 people you'd like to get to know better

Some tags of my own. Of course no pressure, but I would love to read it if you do write smth 😊 @juuret @sp-aace @sevenmilliongoldfish @samwisegamwise @a-simple-space-gay @greencloakedfae

3 non romantic duos

1. Merlin & Arthur

Shock! Horror! Blasphemy! No, but I 100% get where people are coming from making them romantic. I have begun writing out my reasons for preferring them as platonic many times before, only to not end up posting anything, but suffice it to say: it makes so much sense! Doesn't compel me though.

To elaborate a bit further, I enjoy a very particular moral and emotional dilemma in this series, namely: are you willing to sacrifice the hard-earned peace among your friends and family to find peace within yourself? Or to give that peace to others? What do you consider to be the meaning of life, and how is power able to corrupt that ideal?

This dilemma would be undermined if there wasn't any peace worth preserving to begin with, i.e. if Arthur wasn't genuinely satisfied with the status quo of his and Merlin's friendship. If their friendship is the most ideal it could be, Merlin has a greater reason to choose the reality of that before pursuing a hypothetical destiny and revealing his magic. Displacing the emotional choice onto two hypotheticals—fulfilling destiny or pursuing a romantic relationship—just isn't as compelling as a conflict to me. What's anyone waiting for then, if no one likes the status quo to begin with?

That's why I absolutely adore their platonic dynamic in canon!! Honestly this is THE story of all time.

2. Nell Jackson & Charles Devereux

Okay, he may have a slight crush on her, but that's not important. Look at these goofballs! They bring out the best and worst in each other in the most unproductive ways. Absolute chaos gremlins. Delightful.

3. Withnail & I

Disasters. Pitiful when they're sober, even worse when they're drunk. They have families. The salvation from this downward spiral is only a phone call away. But like the unemployed actors that they are, they need to perform their misery, even when their only audience are each other. It's a race to the bottom, and my guys are competing to be the one who drowns in a puddle with the most conviction. So absurd it's hilarious. Infinitely quotable. Stupendous.

A ship that might surprise others: Oh, Idk if I have one of these 😂 I tend to enjoy sticking very close to canon, so if there isn't clear romance there then I'm unlikely to ship anyone at all... Muriel x Eric in Good Omens if I have to name one, but I don't think that's particularly surprising.

Last song: currently working on an edit, but apart from that the last song I listened to for the sake of listening to music was Children of the Universe by Molly, because I am a terminal eurovision fan and love it whenever the UK sends anything remotely associated with doctor who :P

Last film: Last weekend I watched Gloria! and OH! MY! GOD! I loved it!! It's about musically trained orphans (now adult women) rehearsing to play for the pope, and their rebellion against the conductor/priest who manages the institution they're living in. The music and editing were so well put together and the story felt incredibly human and hopeful. As a fan editor it made my heart sing! Highly recommend!!

Currently reading: Interference - Book One, a doctor who novel in the Eighth Doctor Adventures series. It's going so slooooow cause I have a lot to read for uni too, but the topic is kinda related so I actually find the themes in the book give me new ideas for how to approach my subject :) Who ever said fandom was a waste of time?!

Currently watching: I've been rewatching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries while I've been ill because good lord the charisma and chemistry of the leads are Off the Charts!

But my parents introduced me to Magpie Murders yesterday and I think I'm really gonna love that too, along with the standard murder investigation they cut to a dramatisation of the in-universe murder mystery novel that was written by the 'real life' murder victim, based on the people in his actual village—the last chapter and therefore resolution of which is missing. How fun of a story structure is that?! I love stories that play with the concept of story telling.

Currently consuming: fuckall, aka no cough drops for a change :) a cup of tea sounds nice though, might go make one of those

Currently craving: not to be ill? It's better now though, my throat no longer feels like an open wound and I've had a full night's sleep. Can't wait to regain my appetite so I can finally enjoy the chocolate bars I got but haven't felt like eating for 5 days.

[elegantjellyfishwerewolf]

Why I don't like Trollhunters Rise of the titans

there is no worse hater than an ex-fan

1.Jim was spoiled as a character: I have to say right away that I don't like that at the end of "Wizards" Jim becomes a human again. Because it devalues all the drama that was in "Troll Hunters." At the end of the third season, they kept telling us that it was forever, that there was no cure for it and NOW HE'S HUMAN AGAIN! Therefore, you can safely throw in the trash that sentimental scene on the roof in the 11th series, as well as that scene in the bathtub from the 10th series. In the end, it was thanks to this sacrifice of Jim that I felt that the victory was given to the main characters for a reason, that they had to sacrifice a lot for this.

And after Jim returned from the other world, he began to really piss me off with his constant whining: "Well, what kind of troll hunter am I without an amulet?". Seriously, almost all the dialogues with Jim come down to this whining about "how can I save everyone without an amulet?". Everyone has already cited that legendary 11th episode of the second season as an example, so in order not to repeat myself, I decided to recall the episode with Merlin's Tomb, where Jim himself broke the amulet, and then without this amulet he fought against Gunmar and Angor AND HE DID NOT WHINE AFTER the DEFEAT: "But if I had an amulet, then I could protect everyone, but without an amulet I can't."

And if you think about it from this point of view, it turns out that throughout the movie he was right when he said that he couldn't do anything without the amulet, because in the finale he wins only because he has magic armor with the power of the amulet again, and without them he wouldn't even be able to scratch the Belrog. Indeed, it is very funny that throughout the film the creators are trying to convey to us the idea that even without the amulet Jim is still a hunter, at the same time showing in the finale that without the amulet he is not capable of much. And yes, I think that in the final he had to defeat Belrog WITHOUT an AMULET together with Toby (and that gun blocking magic).

And so in the movie, for me, Jim turned into an empty place, who is nobody without his armor, and if he is nobody without his armor, then he is not worthy of them. (Who found out where this quote came from?)))

Who else was bothered by the moment when Jim looked directly into the camera and seemed to be addressing the viewer? (Because it bothered me)

2.Characters: Only two characters have at least some development (Toby and Jim), the rest have turned into furniture. The conflict between Aja and Jim (when she suggested simply evacuating the Earth) eventually led to nothing, because Aja, for some reason, decided to support Jim's idea to rewind time. And this is strange because all her friends survived at the end of the film (she accepted the death of her parents back in 3below), and at the end of the film she had children (who, if something goes wrong, may not appear in an alternate universe).

After watching the movie, I was finally convinced that Varvatos had to die at the end of 3below (he so often talked about "glorious death". Death, as for me, would be the logical conclusion of his arch), if you replace him with a Zadra in the film, nothing will change (it even seems funny to me that Varvatos is not even on the poster for the film)

Blinky and Aaarrg in this movie, too, in fact, do not need any important role they do not play (the ninth configuration does not count). They didn't do anything significant during the whole. And why did everyone suddenly forget that Blinky is the new head of the troll market, why does he have time to fight titans when he needs to be engaged in the restoration and management of a new troll market?

The situation with Barbara is no better, in the plot she is needed only to tell Juma about his father (whom Jim didn't care about, he said it himself) in the future, information about Jim's father is not needed for the plot. why was this stuffing of information?

There are also some understatements with Claire's powers. At the beginning of the film, she gets tired after using a couple of small portals, and at the end she transfers a huge titan to the other side of the world and after that she still has the strength to fight with Belrog. (And if Claire is weaker than Morgana, it turns out that Morgana is also capable of opening such huge portals. Why then couldn't Morgana just use the portal to transfer a huge stone and drop it like a meteorite on Camelot or on the army at Kilahed?)

3.Senseless deaths: I'm talking about the death of Strickler and Nomura. This does not move the plot, does not reveal other characters, they are only needed to remove Strickler and Nomura from the plot. And if Barbara and Jim mourn Strickler's death (2 minutes) It's like everyone forgot about Nomura. It's strange that Jim doesn't even think about her, although in trollhunters she saved your life twice, challenged Gunmar and was ready to sacrifice herself for you, Jim, you would at least pretend that you don't care.

By the way, about the characters who were thrown out of the plot...Let's talk about Steve. You can forget that once it was a character with its own drama and interesting development, now he's just a joke.

And if you still remember this moment (This movie took away everything that was dear to me)

4.Lack of epicness: The film positions itself as an epic conclusion to the trilogy, but for me it is not.

The fact is that earlier in the finale, whole armies, and sometimes a whole fleet, opposed the villain, in the finale, troll hunters, for example, not only the main characters, but also other troll tribes and even several residents of Arcadia opposed Gunmar. In the finale of 3below, an entire fleet of Akkerion and an army of bounty hunters fought against Morando (by the way, what prevented the heros from sending several spaceships through the portal and using them to try to kill the titan?)

In the final , only 10 characters tried to stop Belrog. In the film, the stakes were also lowered, if in 3 below Morando, having received the power of god, could, according to the characters, destroy entire systems, then in rotta three titans could recreate only one planet (it turns out that Morando is stronger than all the members of the secret order).

5.Unnecessary scenes: The scene where Blinky briefly retells the plot of three animated series and the scene at the police station can simply be removed and nothing will change. Their function is to bring up to date those who have not watched the previous parts. But the Tales of Arcadia are too big a story to cram it into a short retelling in 5 minutes.

6.Transfer of the amulet: It's just genius to save Toby from death in order to doom him to a more painful death in the end. And Jim apparently forgot Unkar's sad experience because otherwise I can't understand why he didn't hesitate to make Toby a new hunter (And if Jim thinks that Toby is more worthy of the amulet, then why, when the two of them found the amulet in the first series, did the amulet initially choose Jim and not Toby?). And yes, as for me, Jim is more worthy of wearing an amulet than Toby, because even before becoming a hunter, Jim had those necessary qualities of a real hero. If we recall the situation when Steve bullied Eli, only Jim decided to stand up for a classmate, while Toby just wanted to pass by.

For me, this act of Jim is perceived simply as shifting responsibility to another person.

7. Quibbles: It seems to me that at the beginning of the film, all the characters became very stupid. Why, when everyone was discussing who to send to the Titans, no one said that sending a shadow mage to a place where shadow magic doesn't work is stupid? It was also very stupid to send Strickler to a place where his wings freeze, like sending Aaarrrgh and Nomura to Titan, which is under the sun.

The only plus of the film for me without any "buts" is the graphics, otherwise from the beginning to the end it was a complete disappointment.

[teenwolffan6]

Sterek should have been endgame and Scott needed to be less of a dick.

I wish the writers would stop using Derek as the punching bag. Like I get he was an angry asshole at the start but can you blame him after all that he went through? He should have had a character growth arc and given the chance to be a better alpha instead of making him give it up. I get the symbolism of giving up the power but he should have gotten it back. And we should have seen more of his full shift than what we got. Like the Hales were special because of the full shift and we only see it once? Also he should have gotten his family land back, like it's been in his family for years and he's lost enough he shouldn't have let the county take his land that was fucked up. Even if he never rebuilt, he could have tore the remains down and put up a marker or a tree or something to show they were there and what happened. But to let it become new housing was just fucked up.

I would have like to see Derek and Scott be co-alphas and lead the pack together. They could have had a batman and superman friendship with one of them being broody and the other being hopeful and optimistic.

Stiles should have had magic. I know Dylan O'Brien said he didn't want Stiles to have magic and just be human but come on, he would have been badass at it.

I was never a big fan of Stiles and Lydia because it felt like he was more in love with the image he had of her than of her. Yes he got to know the real Lydia and they fell in love but I still didn't really like it. He was too obsessed with her it felt like he just wore her down or something idk. I know that Dylan said in an interview that Stiles and Lydia would have dated for a while but then realized they were better of as friends, and this was years before the movie came out.

And OMG the movie what the shit was that!?!?!? For all that Scott said he would be the alpha and defend Beacon Hill he left the town for years and still left at the end of the movie. Derek, Peter, Malia, and Jordan are really the only supernaturals left to defend the town. The Hales are the ones protecting their territory. And did they really have to kill Derek in the way they did it. Like fire really? REALLY!?!? And in front of his sixteen year old son. Derek lost his family at sixteen to a fire and now his son Eli loses his dad to a fire at sixteen? Really!?!? Like I hated it, I hated that the whole movie felt like Scott was just reliving his high school glory days. I hate that's Scott got his happy ending at the expense of Derek's life. Derek was good, he was happy with his son, had a home, a good business, was respect in the community, had a good relationship with the remainder of his family and you kill him off? And then hint at the fact that Scott would be the one to 'adopt' Eli, a kid he barely knew, just so that he and Allison could play house and be a happy little family? BULLSHIT!!!!

I read somewhere that Jeff wanted the show to end with Scott and Allison together and Stiles and Lydia together and that their kids would all be best friends. But with Crystal Reed leaving in season 3 that changed things. The movie felt like his way of getting that ending he wanted but Dylan not returning changed things again. But at least Scott got Allison back, so yay? Don't get me wrong I loved Scott and Allison together but Scott was so obsessed with her to the point that he would throw anyone but his mom under the bus for her. And it got annoying very fast even worse was the fact that he didn't really learn anything from it he has just as obsessed with Kira (though maybe not to the same level). The whole bros before hoes thing was non existent for him. I get Scott was supposed to be like a King Arthur kind of figure, you know? Special, good leader, kind, and legendary but Scott was not it. Yea he had his moments where he was really good but he had so many where he wasn't and he never seemed to learn and grow. Like even the BBC Merlin Arthur who started out as a jerk became honorable, just, and a good leader, yea he too had his moments where he regressed but it was still better than Scott.

They should have fixed his relationship with Derek maybe then him taking Eli in would have made more sense. Like Scott hated Derek a lot ,more so than necessary. Yes Derek lied to get Scott to help him take down the alpha (Peter) but Scott acted like Derek was he one who bit him. Scott forgave so many others who had done far worse (deucalion?) But Derek was where he drew the line? Why because he bit three others who chose the bite? I get him being mad about the lies, I get him being mad about Derek's attitude while on the alpha power trip but come on sometimes Scott was just a dick. He was willing to look the other way when Victoria tried to kill him and was ok with keeping quiet about why Derek bit Victoria and let Allison hate derek and attack his pack because he didn't want to cause problems with Allison. No he sucks. We could have had an epic friendship between them but no we got something half-assed and I hate it.

And why the hell did they make Derek basically a True Alpha like two seconds before he died like what the FUCK!?!?!?

I just wished the would have given Scott some character development instead of just making him more powerful.

[andtheyweresquirrels]

Merlin, season 1

Mind that I remember almost nothing from the other seasons, I used to watch it on cable when I was in elementary/middle school. But here are some highlights because I rewatched it too quickly to have separate thoughts for every episode:

Merlin is in love with Arthur.

That's it, thank you for reading.

I'm joking, but have you seen how he looks at him? He's like Aziraphale looking at Crowley! Maybe worse!

I love everyone's dynamic with each other:

Arthur and Merlin: I think it's pretty obvious I like how they interact with each other, and all I like is there in the narrative. Merlin keeps Arthur's pride in check, he changes him, he protects him in the shadows, and he knows the importance of Arthur's role in the future of the kingdom. Arthur is challenged by how Merlin feels free to speak his mind, the only other person that has probably ever spoken so directly with him is Morgana, and even she has to keep herself in check because she's a woman. It's pretty evident from how they act and from their roles in the story that they complement each other, none of the two can bring Camelot to greatness without the other. Also, I think Arthur is attracted to the (partly just perceived) freedom from responsibility that Merlin has, while Merlin, in some ways, wants the power that royalty has, so their friendship satisfies their impossible desires.

Gaius and Merlin: father and son, great support, perfect balance between letting an almost-grown child do their thing, scolding, worrying and giving advice. I love that the last episode ended (not counting for the hook for season 2) with those two. If I can't have uncle Iroh, I want Gaius to be my cool old uncle. Better yet, I want them both and I want them to go play cards together.

Merlin and Gwen: poor unfortunate Gwen, can't you see he's already in love? But also, they stand for one another and have a great friendship; they understand each other because they're in a similar condition.

Gwen and Morgana: great friendship. It doesn't feel unbalanced like Arthur and Merlin, maybe because the show is not as focused on them, but I often forget that Gwen is Morgana's servant. The only time I felt a difference in power in the episode where Gwen's dad dies, because we see the different approaches between Morgana and Merlin, both hating Uther for condemning Gwen's father, but in the end Merlin treats Gwen as a peer and asks her if Uther should die, while Morgana plots against Uther without consulting Gwen (also tries to break her father free without consulting, which, I gotta say, I understand more, but it's still another instance of going over Gwen's head) but maybe that says more about the future developments of Morgana's character than anything else.

Uther and Arthur: Edipus complex. But for real, their complicated relationship is a big classic for a traumatized father who doesn't share the burden of ruling and wants his son to never make his same mistakes and a son that has to please his father because he is the king. (Ovb, I'm not really taking this seriusly. They're characters, and I'm not a psych-person. Though I am a fan of Psych, the TV show about a guy that fakes being a psychic to solve crimes.) Anyway, the DRAMA they have, I love it. Also, there's a scene in the last episode when Uther takes dying Arthur to his chamber, and while he carries him he falls to his knees, and it looks like La Pietà (Michelangelo's in particular, but also the various representations in art in general), which is, in essence, a mother (a father in this case) crying for the death of her child. Dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Uther and Morgana: father and daughter in a patriarchal society, what else do I need to say? A lot, actually. It's incredibly interesting how their relationship slowly deteriorates, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. But also you can see that they care for each other, that Uther's not merely keeping her safe for the promise he made to her father, and though she often goes against his will, he's family. But there's the elephant in the room, she has premonitions and he fears everything related to magic, their bond is probably doomed. Again, I love the promise of drama.

Gaius and Uther: old friends with power imbalance, they clearly represent what Merlin and Arthur should not become. To the viewers, Gaius is the only one that can show us what happened in the past, specifically what Uther did and what happened to make his the way he is. Only when Gaius pushes, the two together help us understand (through the past) the present and the future of Merlin (and Arthur, and Camelot, and magic, if you want to expand).

Arthur and Morgana: I guess the narrative wants me to see them as possible romantic partners, but I can't shake the idea that they work better as siblings. They find common ground by being constricted by Uther's will, they grew up together (at least since Morgana was 10, maybe they knew each other before) and at the start of the season they bicker a lot. I imagine this bickering is to show the audience they actually like each other but they're too proud/afraid to do the first move, but I fear this will turn Morgana's character into a tragic romantic interest. I feel that the "I know you as well as I know myself because we grew up together and sometimes you are infuriating" works better as siblings, but that's just a preference. I have other things to say about them, but I guess it's more about Morgana than their dynamic, so I'll keep it for later.

Other thoughts:

Neither Merlin nor Arthur have an actual canonical hetero-attraction moment* (for now) and I find this both perfect for my plan to prove that Merthur is canon (let me dream for as long as I can) and kinda interesting from a cultural-analysis perspective. We (the general audience) just assume they are straight because that's the norm. Of course there are nuances, because the ship is very popular, but the narrative doesn't want us to perceive them as possibly romantically involved (because as much as I want it, they'll not end up together T.T), yet it doesn't try to distract us from that possibility. Because it doesn't have to, it shouldn't be a possibility, it's actually not one, and it's assumed to be this way. Anywayyyy, my love for Pierre Bourdieu's works is showing, so I better stop talk sociology and go back to the normal kind of sorcery.

The character of Morgana. Wow, it's just wow. Imma make a separate post about her because this is getting too long.

*I don't consider incantations for Arthur, and Merlin reads to me as possibly arospec and/or ace because he so doesn't see Gwen's tentative flirting. (Also, as I so thoroughly established before by just saying that he is, he's in love with Arthur.)

[yoonnamjin25]

Is it really accurate to use the word "selfless" to describe Merlin?

"Selfless" is a word with an undeniable good "white" connotation and when it comes to Merlin, I don't think we can say something is black or white in its entirety. So this question is kind of tricky and, honestly, far too complicated to answer it with a simple and short yes or no.

Let me elaborate.

He was not selfish when it came to himself as a person —that part is right— as he never hesitated in giving his life for others, always helped his friends no matter what, never seeked power nor recognition for himself, etc.

But I do think he was selfish, extremely so at times, when it came to his own self-interests. The main one being Arthur's safety and wellbeing.

And why do I say this? Let's go back to memory lane and remember some of his decisions throughout the show!

1. He condemned (heartbrokenly, I'll give him that) his whole kin to continue living in the shadows and most probably to be executed if they were caught practicing magic in Camelot just so Mordred could die and Arthur could live by extension.

2. Talking about Mordred, he never gave him the chance to prove himself trustworthy and loyal to Arthur, he just decided he was evil since he saw he was destined to kill his friend instead of trying to change that outcome or understand where would that could come from.

3. He lied to Arthur about himself and what he was for the whole decade they knew each other so Arthur wouldn't feel bad for choosing him over his father when he found out about his magic. Or viceversa.

4. He always put Arthur's life before any other's, including his closest friends: remember when he repeatedly tried to talk Arthur out of going to save them from Morgana because he was worried about him as the druid seer showed him he was going to be killed by a man aka Mordred?

5. He lied to Arthur about his mother and what Uther did to conceive him (he also robbed him that unique and beautiful moment he shared with his mom), something he had all the right to know, so Arthur wouldn't kill Uther and hate himself for it for the rest of his life.

6. He took Arthur's free will away from him so he would agree to everything Merlin said and he could take him out of the castle and save his life when Morgana and Agravaine attacked.

And I could go on, honestly, but I won't because I fear some people might take this as a hating post towards Merlin, which it definitely is not lol. Quite the contrary, actually! I understand and, to a certain point even love, all the decisions Merlin took because it just proved the inmensity of his love for Arthur.

So if I mention all this is because, despite having honorable goals —as saving someone's life (Arthur's) or sparing them the possibility of feeling irrevocably guilty for taking a life-altering decision when their heads were clouded by anger, sadness and fear— the means he used to do all that were highly questionable to say the least: lies, deceiving, manipulation, mind-control and so on are, in no way, justifiable.

They are just not.

But we fans decide to brush those aside and accept them because we understand that it all came out from a place of love. Pure, huge, raw and unwavering love. Although, that still doesn't make it right. Not really.

I will dare to say it actually makes it worse.

Love is a complicated and, may I say, dangerous feeling. It can make us feel happier, confident with oursleves, adventurous and giddy. But it can also make us stupid, blind and selfish.

And that's exactly what it did to Merlin.

He came to a point where he stopped caring about his destiny and focused only on saving Arthur's life, others be damned, just because he loved him too much and he couldn't bare to lose him.

And unfortunately at the end, it was that love, and the King's complete and blind trust in Merlin, that got Arthur dead.

To sum it up, I don't think there's a better way to describe Merlin than to say he was a whole spectrum of greys. A constant paradox of selflessness and selfishness. Another victim of love.

Anyway, he was far from perfect but that's exactly why I love him! He could come as the most selfless person at first glance (and to a certain degree, he was; although I think the word sacrificial suits him even better) but if you really look at it, specially from a canon era outsider POV, he could rather come as a selfish, powerful man that wouldn't hesitate in destroying you if it means he can save Arthur's life with that.

He was truly unhinged when it came to his other half and that's exactly why he's my second most favorite fictional character ever created!

**The first one being Dean Winchester, another unhinged man that couldn't live without his baby brother and would burn the whole world willingly only to keep Sammy safe!

Huh.

Now that I think about it.

Maybe I have a type?

[hp-fanfic-archive]

Harry/Draco Humor Masterlist | Works With Less Than 5k Words

find the full masterlist directory here

last updated: 08/14/24 | links last checked: 08/14/24

*Come as You Are by peachpety [E, 3k]

If asked, Harry Potter would categorize his high school senior year as normal: football, friends, and one devastating crush on his tutor, Draco Malfoy. When presented with an opportunity to help Draco, Harry rises to the occasion. Unfortunately, so does his dick. Sparks fly and alarms blare… and the Hogwarts Owlz Gossip twitter feed blows up. Or: the one where an inconvenient erection brings them together.

*Draco's Emotional Uprising by XxTheDarkLordxX [T, 3k]

“For the love of—really Draco? Artificial leather?” The horror in his father’s tone was amusing. “You have money, use it. And what’s with the color scheme? Is that—oh Merlin it is—floral print? This is worse than I thought. You need to move back home. Clearly allowing you to venture out on your own was a mistake.” “I’m an adult,” Draco yelled, still laying on the ground, not bothering to care enough to move. He had chosen his furniture knowing it would haunt his parents. Petty spite did wonders for the soul Revenge, friendship, and a surprising romance kindle after Draco experiences a recent breakup. He just wants to discover who he is, and maybe the knowledge was there all along.

Harry Potter and the Incredibly Organized Personal Assistant by megyal [T, 2k]

Harry Potter's new assistant is snarkily organized.

Leave Sleeping Dragons Lie by DorthyAnn [T, 846]

Interhouse unity could fuck off, was the last thought that went through Harry’s mind when he went to break Malfoy's perfect nose. They had ended up in a tangled heap of rage on the floor, eventually separated by an irate Headmistress McGonagall who informed them that they had two choices, two weeks of detentions with Filch or they could hold hands for an hour. Harry was very tempted to take the detention but the look of inordinate glee on Finch's face changed his mind. Apparently, it had the same effect on Malfoy because now they were stuck, side by side in two chairs in the middle of the Great Hall, holding hands.

Meeting The Guardians by jlpierre [T, 3k]

Will Draco meeting the 'Dad's', Sirius and Remus, go down well for Harry?

Pet Names by snacc__daddy [T, 2k]

Mostly everyone has returned for their eighth year at Hogwarts and McGonagall tells Harry and Draco to stop calling each other by their last names to promote house unity. Hilarity and misconceptions ensue.

Real Texts by Affectiion [G, 2k]

Kingsley has decided all his Aurors need muggle mobile phones. Draco has finally learned how to use his, and gets a hold of Harry's number.

Ron Weasley: Accidental Matchmaker by Phoenix_Waves [T, 2k]

"There's not a sexual tension out there that the man can't accidentally detect!" George beamed. "And then ask the stupid arse question that's going to light the spark and fan the flames." Lee added matter-of-factly. A fluffy Christmas one shot featuring our favorite older Gryffindors.

Spin the Wand by WrittenSins [T, 2k]

In the spirit of inter-house unity, the eighth years have a small party. In an attempt to get Harry and Ginny back together, Hermione and Ron come up with the plan of a rigged game of Spin the Wand, but not all goes as planned.

The Proposal by dracogotgame [T, 4k]

Draco's proposal is a night to remember

The Talk by WolfstarPups90 [M, 1k]

Sirius and Remus think it's time they give Harry "The Talk" when they find he's been sneaking out at night to see someone special.

They Don't Know About Us by weasley_bee [G, 1k]

Harry and Draco are in a secret relationship. When they are both invited to Ron and Hermione's house for dinner, will they give the game away?

Welcome to the Family by Jencala [M, 2k]

Remus turned to face his husband. “Your godson is engaged to a Malfoy. He’s used to the finer things in life and I, for one, would like to make sure this dinner is not only pleasant, but that he knows we are not peasants.” Sirius barked a laugh. “So the truth is, you want to show off for the little bugger!”

*denotes personal favorites

[derekscorner]

Fated Rantings: Mordred pt2

I have just finished the two Camelot films and my post about them but one part I found too big to leave within it was my thoughts on Mordred.

I made a post on her already way back when I started my Fate journey but I couldn't help but want to add more after seeing these movies and playing through FGO's Camelot Singularity.

That said, for this, you will need some context from the first post so I'll link my part one of Mordred here:

Mordred Part One

Victim of Projection

To reiterate a portion of what I stated in Part One, I think Mordred is a highly complex individual. Her entire backstory is a tad convoluted as well.

I believe that some of this gets lost among fan discussion due to how people project onto her.

People see clips of her threatening to gut her master in Apocrypha because he called her a woman and jump on the trans wagon. And before you rage quit the post, I am not saying that there's no truth to that.

My issue is that her reasons are more complex than just her gender and that seems lost due to surface level understanding. She's also not that way due to surface level "daddy issues" either.

Her issues are far deeper due to her unnatural birth.

By "unnatural" I refer to her magical origins.

At the time, Artoria needed an heir but as a woman couldn't make one with her wife. To fix that Merlin used magecraft to temporarily erm...."alter" Artoria's body.

Morgan learned of this and essentially used her magic to charm Artoria and conceive Mordred.

This was Fate's way of working around Mordreds origins in mythology since Mordred is often cited as Arthur's bastard born of Morgans deceit and incest with their sibling.

Thanks to the magic of both Merlin and Morgan and the sheer level of spite that was the motivation for their birth Mordred was born a humunculous.

Which also meant that they would not only grow far faster than a normal human but live a much shorter life. Even if Mordred wasn't fated/cursed to die on battlefield of Camlann they would've died early anyway.

Mordred was doomed from the start and they know this. They also have a clear dislike for Morgan in other Fate stories for their upbringing.

Then there was Artoria's rejection of Mordred. Mordred perceived it as due to hate for Morgan or due to their gender but Artoria just did not believe they could be king.

Artoria rejected Mordred entirely without even sparing their "petty" emotions like hatred.

The damage on Mordred's spirit and beliefs is far more layered than just gender alone. That's what makes them endlessly appealing and tragic.

But I've already covered the deeper topic in the first post. What caught my eye about Mordred in the Camelot movies and FGO singularity was how Mordred rectified that as a knight of the Lion King.

The summoned knights have their full backstories in-tact. Mordred has all of that baggage seen in Apocrypha but is choosing to serve the king anyway.

And mind you, Mordred isn't treated well in the Camelot Singularity. The film didn't go over it as much as I'd have hoped but Mordred is choosing to be loyal to their father despite being banned from the city itself.

Despite Lancelot himself being there, Mordred is the one treated the worse of the knights present.

The more fucked up part of this info is that King Arthur is the one who decided that. The way she describes Mordred's treatment in the mobile game is cold, akin to the use and abandonment of a tool.

Gift of Rampage

On top of banning Mordred from the city save for certain times or for meetings the Lion King also "gifted" Mordred with "rampage".

All of the knights were given a power or gift upon serving her but Mordred's in particular not only plays on Mordred's angry nature but harms them when used.

Artoria Lancer essentially cursed Mordred to harm themselves in servitude to the Holy City while banning them from it for most of the time.

It's particularly cold treatment from a divine spirit that's lost her humanity. If anything, Goddess Rhongomyniad, aka the Lion King, aka Artoria Lancer shows more hatred/emotion toward Mordred than the real King Arthur did.

Despite that Mordred serves to the point they throw their life away to battle Caster and stop Ozymandias' pyramid.

And I can't help but think about why.

Guilt

And upon seeing her final scene with Caster I think I can understand why. There's a sense of guilt in Mordred. I wouldn't say Mordred wants to atone like the other knights but she does say that they will die "as a knight" as she "should have".

Which rolls back to Mordred's complex feelings for their father. Mordred truly idolized Arthur and Morgan grew frustrated by this and it was only then that she told Mordred of their parentage hoping to spark conflict.

Sadly that ploy ultimately worked but after all the hatred and love and despite Mordred's own unsorted feelings in other Fate works they idolize their father, the king Arthur.

It is almost ironic as well because Artoria Lancer treats Mordred no better than Morgan did in life but given this second chance Mordred would rather die her knight than betray them again.

On some level that love is there and Mordred chose to adhere to it in the Camelot Singularity and its tragic to see. Even for Caster who ultimately takes Mordred down.

Hell, even Agravain feels some sense of pity for Mordred when he questions the Lion King as to why Mordred is banished from the city. Granted, he was seeing it from a wasted soldier example but he still had s semblance of care/respect there.

I think that love also bled into her harsh words toward Bedivere. Mordred makes it clear they were never fond of him and I can't help but wonder if jealous is at the core of it.

Bedivere was Arthurs most loyal knight, a knight the king kept near at most times, a spot Mordred never had. They were never given the consideration and care Bedivere was despite being fare more powerful than him.

On top of that Bedivere was there for Arthur in her final moments while Mordred couldn't even get an iota of emotion from Arthur on the fields of Camlann.

Even in the Camelot Singularity where their roles should be reversed (in theory) they aren't. Mordred is treated like something to be used and left broken while Bedivere is walking around going on about seeing Arthur and fixing a mistake.

He also never argues with Mordred. He accepts their criticisms much to their anger. Mordred can't even get a rise out of Bedivere.

This is conjecture on my part of course, I have no way to prove it but it was something I wondered while watching the movie.

"What about Bedivere pisses her off so much?"

Ultimately Mordred continues to be interesting but tragic just like her father. It's hard to not talk about them or what's running through their mind.

I hope we get Mordred in another Fate story one day. Something to give them focus like Apocrypha or one that has more exploration into their relationship with Arthur.

It was only in bits in the FGO game and some scenes in the movies but it's fascinating to see the knight you'd expect to rebel instantly to die for the cause despite the treatment.

I know this seems to end a bit quick but there's not much else I can think of to say given the first post. I just found Mordred's situation in the movies interesting, I want to know what drives them.

One day maybe we'll get that Mordred route.

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For my other experiences with Fate go here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/fated-rantings