#merlin should've been raised as at least a noble but he was raised in a literal late 5th century pagan village so

[servingliesarchived]

MERLIN’S FAMILY AND THEIR STATUS BEFORE THE GREAT PURGE.

Initially, Merlin knew very little about who he was or where he came from. Raised by his mother who would speak neither of her own heritage, or the identity of his father, he lived a humble life for the first years of his life. Despite the poverty they lived in, his mother was the one that made sure to educate her son, a very unusual thing for how widespread illiteracy was at the time, a fact that was never addressed until later into his adulthood. Interestingly, had the Great Purge never happened, Merlin’s status would vastly differ from what he had been brought up to believe he was, which means  Merlin was a commoner due to circumstance rather than birth.

HIS MOTHER’S SIDE OF THE FAMILY.

Though living an exiled life of a commoner from infancy, too young to remember anything else, Hunith was the youngest child born into a royal family of Demetia  ( Dyved )  in Wales  before its fall due to regicide  ( Merlin later in life visited the place, and later chose to reside at Carmarthen / Caerfyrddin, commonly known as Caer Myrddin, where he established a magic school ).  There were five children in total, three sons from the king’s first wife, and two daughters from the second. The third son was Gaius, who subsequently left their home and any claim to the throne behind at a young age to pursue the study of science and magic in the court of Camelot. Though none of them were naturally gifted like Merlin when it comes to magic, besides Gaius there was a number of magic practitioners among the family members, including Merlin’s own grandmother, as well as Gaius’ mother.

Having different mothers, there was a big age gap between Hunith and Gaius, so they never quite grew up together. Gaius had already been at Camelot when Hunith was born, and she was only few months old when a plot had been conducted to overthrow Merlin’s grandfather. He had been killed along with his wife, two sons and older of two daughters, who was only five years old at the time. Only baby Hunith was successfully smuggled out of the castle and outside the border by one of the knights and her nanny. They settled in the small village of Ealdor, Essetir, close to the border with Camelot, where Hunith was raised by her nanny who acted the part of her mother due to the long years she had previously spent in the service of their family. An educated woman herself, she had been who taught Hunith how to write and read in the secret of their little, inconspicuous house.

Meanwhile, convinced his entire family is dead, it wasn’t until Hunith herself was about nine years old when Gaius found out his sister had been alive. From then on, though they only met a number of times in person, they exchanged letters every now and then, to a point that he sent Balinor, one of the last dragonlords not yet killed during the Great Purge to her house, which ended up resulting in Merlin’s conception  ( which had been destined to happen all along with him being a critical powersource of infinite magical energy ). However, it wasn’t enough for her to enclose in great detail that her only son is magic before sending him off to him eighteen years later, for the fear of the message being discovered and him being executed for it like other magical folks  ( magic children were routinely drowned at the time ). 

Chased away by Uther’s pursuit, Balinor had never known of his son, and Hunith gave birth to him with the help of the woman that raised her. She passed away when Merlin was too young to remember her. Though aware of her own heritage, having lived in exile all her life as well as facing the reality of raising a very magical child in a world where those were killed, she didn’t disclose any of it to him until later in life, when he had already been working on restoring rights of magical folk for years. He was aware Gaius was his uncle by blood, but continuing the safety habit of his mother, never officially called him as such, and rather addressed him by his name.

HIS FATHER’S SIDE OF THE FAMILY.

While Hunith had never lived a noble lifestyle, the same can’t be said about Balinor, who was titled before the Great Purge and Uther’s eradication of the dragonlords. The Order of the Dragonlord was held in a high regard during the times when magic was still cherished and valued, though they practiced the status differently to the norm. The skill itself had been the primary merit behind their power and respect, though they still, for the majority of cases, held lawful titles and position of power among the peoples. Balinor himself had come from quite a prolific line of dragonlords, known for their notoriety, zest, as well as a rebellious streak. In fact, Merlin’s grandfather had proven such by marrying a woman he loved in spite of his own father’s wishes concerning his possible match. Merlin’s paternal grandmother had been a druid, and a very skilled and renowned healer. She passed away just two years before the Great Purge, and Balinor was her only child.

Native to the lands of Camelot, Balinor had been brought up among his people and traditions, taught their ways from young age by his father the same way he was supposed to teach his own son, which he could never do due to Uther ordering a literal genocide. Traditionally, however, he didn’t receive his powers until his father’s death, which happened fairly early when he was only fourteen years old. Starting at a young age had been difficult due to the nature of how you receive the gift, but the already existing reputation of his family had been helpful, and soon enough he too became respected in his own right. In fact, he had grown quite famous due to his strong relationship with the Great Dragon, Kilgharrah, woven and tied to him and his kin throughout the centuries. Balinor was also often a guest at the court of Camelot, and in fact developed a friendship with both Gaius and Nimueh.

When the Great Purge began, at first the danger wasn’t quite so clear to any of them. In fact, the dragonlords were tricked by Uther by false promises, who considered them too close to magic in his vendetta against it. Using them to to call on the remaining dragons to kill them, and Balinor himself who was tasked with bringing Kilgharrah to Camelot so Uther could imprison him beneath the castle as a token of his victory, he rounded most of the dragonlords and executed them, while the rest of them, including Balinor, were pursued and ordered to be killed. Being one of the last, with the help of Gaius he managed to escape and was sent to hide with Hunith, which led to Merlin’s conception. Before he knew Hunith was pregnant, however, he was forced to run again and hid until Merlin found him hiding in a cave in Essetir when he was around 19-20 years old. Never knowing he had a son, and dying within a day of meeting him, Merlin never really learned the ways of his people and was left in the dark about their traditions and practices, at least the ones of dragonlords among the Britons.