#mordred is arthur's son

[merlinmylove]

Arthur : Merlin — what’s all this?

Merlin: This is my son Daegel

Arthur: Alright…and the other one?

Merlin: He’s also my son, his name is Mordred

Arthur; And the creature clawing at your legs?

Merlin; My daughter Aithusa

[casually-eat-my-soul]

Ok so funny Merlin au, I don’t know if anyone has already had this idea but:

Arthur begins to believe that Merlin is magic after Merlin has “funny feelings” about things such as dangerous scenarios and bad nobles. Arthur realizes that Merlin has scarily good intuition that he, himself can’t explain. And the fact that Merlin knows so many things about magical creatures and that said magical creatures “that can only be killed by magical things” end up dead via Arthur when Merlin is around. So obviously the only answer is Merlin has magic and doesn’t know about it.

Arthur is so worried that Merlin will be devastated to learn he has magic and doesn’t know how to tell him. He also worried about the fact that one day he won’t be able to protect Merlin the next time someone accuses him of being a sorcerer because Merlin might have done magic by accident. He tries to breach the subject carefully, never fully bring up the whole sorcerer, he keeping watch on Merlin making sure he doesn’t display any signs about having magic.

Merlin is an anxious mess because Arthur keeps making sly comments about magic around him and is constantly watching him. Like Arthur is waiting for Merlin to slip up. Merlin is going insane and having heart palpitations on the Daily now. He thinks Arthur knows he has magic and is angry.

Arthur on the other hand, sees Merlin withdrawing from him and being extra nervous and secretive and naturally comes to the conclusion that Merlin has figured out he has magic, with Arthur help, of course; And is not distancing himself away from Arthur because of it.

Imagine Arthur seeing Merlin’s get really close to Lancelot during this time. He’s worried that Lancelot will figure out that Merlin has magic, or that Merlin is telling Lancelot that he has magic. He’s a little (a lot) muffled at the fact that Merlin might have talked to Lancelot about his magic. Arthur is also worried about Lancelot snitching so he has a “talk” with him about Merlin and magical behaviour and many threats but never directly saying that merlin has magic, you know in case Merlin didn’t actually tell Lancelot. Lancelot is just so confused. (For a week straight after this “talk”, both Lancelot and Merlin think that Arthur thinks that Lancelot has magic)

This would be especially funny if this is during the time when Uther is alive because there would be one giant misunderstanding where Arthur is protecting oblivious Merlin from being found out as a sorcerer but Uther thinks he walked in on his son boning is manservant.

Uther later tries to have a talk with Arthur about Merlin but Arthur panics because he thinks Uther is accusing Merlin of sorcery.

And it just goes back and forth until the reveal, just a constant series of misunderstandings.

[motherofoompaloompas]

Merlin genderswap au where when the gang is hiding Mordred, Merlin gets caught with him by Leon and the knights. They're all "Look! A dark haired child we have never seen before! that must be the druid boy" And Merlin panics and goes full on mama bear. "No! This is my son. I birthed him myself. Don't you dare try to execute him"

So the cover story would probably be something like when Merlin was 11/12 she got SAed by a bandit or a passing knight and gave birth to him young. She left him with Hunith when she first came to Camelot because she didn't know what to expect, but once things stabilized, she wrote home for her son to join her. It was only bad luck that he arrived the day they were looking for the druid boy.

And Mordred's just like "guess I have a mom now" and goes along with it.

Merlin takes Mordred everywhere with her including to work with Arthur. Mordred learns how to handle Arthur and do chores around the castle under Merlin's instruction. When he gets old enough, he starts training to become a knight.

He now gets to accompany his mom and Arthur. And while he is a knight of Camelot, he still has to answer to his mom. So it's just Merlin bossing him around the campsite and making him help with dinner. And he does it because it's his mom and he has been doing this stuff his whole life anyway.

The knights try to make fun of him for it but he's just like "???????? Of course I'm helping with dinner and setting up bed rolls. In fact, why aren't you?"

And Merlin is just so proud of her boy

[aetherdecember]

Look, I love BBC Merlin and how they told the lore, but I’m a sucker for the relationship between Arthur and Mordred in the mythology. Specifically, I love how Mary Stewart (author of The Arthurian Saga**) and Nancy Springer (author of I Am Mordred**) wrote about the father/son relationship between them. So naturally, my brain has been conjuring up how I can include that in my Flipping the Coin au.

Since the main premise is Merlin died/Arthur lives, and now Arthur is the one waiting for Merlin to come back, things would stay consistent with canon up to the last episode (when Merlin flips the coin of their destiny and sacrifices himself so Arthur can live and thus stop Camlann from happening altogether). Which is where this idea will start:

Gwen is barren. She and Arthur never have kids. Eventually, everyone Arthur knows and loves dies. He can’t rule Camelot forever, and after Gwen’s death, he no longer wants to, so he fakes his death and wanders off figure out why he’s still here. He never gets an answer for that. Arthur spends the next millennium waiting. He keeps living. He meets people, experiences things he’d never experienced before, and learns things he’d never dreamed of learning. He can’t stay anywhere long, or else suspicions will rise, but he gets to see the world change, how technology advances, and witness humans continuing to be humans. When war breaks out, he joins the battle. It’s familiar. The rush of adrenaline is the same whether he’s wielding a sword or a gun. Only, he can’t see the enemy’s face anymore.

Peace comes again. At some point, he sleeps with a woman, and she happens to become pregnant. Bisexual disaster that he is, he’s had all sorts of partners from both sexes, but has never had this happen, even before the advent of reliable birth control. Later, he’ll learn her name is Morgause. She doesn’t look like the Morgause he knew before, nor does she act like her, but her name haunts him. After the baby is born, she gives him to Arthur, says she has no intentions of being a mother, and leaves. The last thing she had said to him was the baby’s name.

Mordred.

That night, Arthur holds Mordred and weeps.

There is irony in his son being named Mordred. First, in that the legends surrounding him, Merlin, Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table, and all of it, had long ago decided Mordred was his son. And two, in a retelling of that legend, it had aptly phrased what he sensed was happening now. Granted, he isn’t a sorcerer, he doesn’t have magic, so he can’t support his feeling with anything other than he’d been around a long time and knew to his very core that it was true. Mordred’s birth is a signal of the beginning of the end.

Fatherhood brings him a new sense of purpose. Gone are the days of loneliness and drudgery. Every day with Mordred brings a new light into his life. Each smile is a miracle. Seeing Mordred experience things for the first time brings a new appreciation. Being there to watch him grow makes time fly like it never has before. But Arthur is afraid. He doesn’t want to be his father. He doesn’t know how to be a father, or what the right way to do it is. In all the years he’s been on the Earth, he’s never known a man who could concretely say, “This is the way to raise a son,” and actually reap the fruits of their efforts. Too frequently, he’d seen sons grow outside of the visions their fathers molded for them and receive only disappointment and disdain in return. So he was afraid, because he too had been that son.

*cue a series of fluffy father/son one shots of Arthur raising Mordred until Merlin comes back, takes one look, and is is like WTF????? No, I won’t have Mordred for a step son >:(*

**Mary Stewart and Nancy Springer have several other works, not just the stories I mentioned. The ones mentioned are the ones I’m pulling inspiration from ^^

Additional notes below the break:

Guinevere’s barrenness is not a headcanon I typically subscribe to for BBC Merlin. My headcanon is that after Arthur’s death, Gwen gives birth, and their child eventually succeeds her as ruler.

I’ve always seen Mordred’s appearance as the harbinger of Arthur’s downfall. Thus, the reason for the plot bunnies in my brain going crazy with this idea of how I could bring him in, still remain mostly canon compliant with BBC Merlin, and build off some of my favorite parts of the lore. (Mandatory disclaimer: for BBC Merlin, I don’t headcanon Mordred as Arthur’s son. But for the mythology, I do wholeheartedly support that canon.)

Arthur’s choice to participate and live once Camelot is gone is a decision to contrast my headcanon of how Merlin handled it. I don’t think Merlin thrived. I think he stayed busy, and tried to remain hopeful, but I think he was anxiously consumed with the anticipation of wondering when Arthur would come back. In this au, Arthur may or may not know that Merlin is supposed to come back (I’m still working on that detail), but he’s always been around others. I think he would seek camaraderie, and companionship, and that he would connect with others but only to a superficial level. I don’t think he’d exist in a void of loneliness. Plus, he doesn’t have the guilt of knowing he failed because the pressure from the prophecy is very one sided *coughcough*causemerlinnevertoldhim*coughcough*

Anyways, that’s enough rambling from me about this. I’ll probably share some snippets of writing next because there are some fantastic scenes coming together in the draft so stay tuned! ;D

[turtlefordestiel]

Mordred has a mom, two dads, and five uncles (two of whom are most likely dating Merlin) [it's Gwaine and Lance], along with two High Prietess aunts (Morgana and Morgause are good and Merlin blessed Morgans with the title and knowledge) and two siblings (Daegal and Aithusa). Gaius is great uncle/grandfather and Uther is Merlin-dedicated kind to Morderd before he knows he's a druid because Mordred often trails one of his parents throughout the day being exceptionally helpful and has been known to help Merlin nag after Arthur plus it doesn't hurt that Mordred is good with a sword (Uther visited training in secret and saw him off to the side as if hiding to practice by his pre-teen self)

[medievalandfantasymelee]

Fathers and Sons

Match 5

King Arthur, Camelot (Broadway, 1960)

VS.

Mordred, Camelot (Broadway, 1960)

These Father-Son Matchups are not part of Tournament Proper. They are one-off 24 hour Matchups purely for fun while we get the next Round of the Tournament set up.

Requested by @luanna801

We wouldn't normally accept Broadway casts, but since this isn't part of the actual tournament and this is just for fun we can be a little loosey-goosey with it.

[oneshoulderangel]

To celebrate Mordred’s birthday (and also to take our mind of the horrors associated with it) I present a sketch of Sunshine Mordred enjoying a sweet cake for his birthday.

[tearcynical]

hey y'all I got another metal sonic au no I'm not okay in the brain

( @pastry3 heyyyy I'm back to my scheduled programming posting robot stuff!! )

Also bonus unfinished chaos sonic!! maybe if I get enough want to finish it or motivation It'll get done

[clown-paws]

> here's my take: brian didn't actually have a vision of galahad needing to go to the death chair. brian just REALLY hated galahad because he was getting a little too into worshipping him as the hanged man. and if brian was on EJM...

[ncoley]

I haven't finished season 5 of Merlin yet but I assume that (spoilers) Mordred is planning to kill Arthur or has some otherwise sneaky and nefarious plan going on behind the scenes, but can you imagine if he didn't?? like you have a traumatic near death experience as a child and you are saved by your version of Jesus. And then as a teenager/young adult you meet Magic Jesus again (!!) and he fucking hates your guts

[the-bright-one-with-black-eyes]

Mordred being an older brother sounds sweet at first but I fear having a little brat love on him will feed into his ego

[twistedshipper]

let us sound a human paean 🕊

[regulusrules]

watching other merlin / arthur adaptations really makes me thank the lord above for bbc merlin even with its ending

[justaz]

okay but have we considered morgana x freya?? two women who believed themselves to be monsters, hunted by the same man and his loyal followers, cursed, doomed to death the moment someone finds them out, alone. they wish for freedom, somewhere where they can be themselves, where they dont have to hide, where they can embrace their power and who they are without fear or without harming anyone.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

It is most likely already done but Hnoc au where Galahad is still Lancelot's son (like in the Arthurian legends) and during Hellfire Lancelot is like, "Son, please we have talked about this."

[mephiles-the-jester]

sonic and shadow can have one more baby as a treat,but its gonna look kinda like black doom and its name is gonna imply that hes gonna kill king arthur who is sonic,,just how it goes cant change this

do not worry tho,take this drawing of him and his siblings,,so happy