#prophecy fate and destiny

[cynthia39100]

Merlin rewatch -- S3E5: The Crystal Cave

So I'm thinking about the reason the ancient (all-knowing looking) sorcerer spirit insisted Merlin to see into the crystal.

He said to use the knowledge for good, implying that the future isn't completely set in stone, which I can sort of get on board since Merlin did stop Morgana from killing Uther at the end. The problem is that Merlin seeing the future is actually the cause of the whole event since if he wasn't that suspicious of Morgana she wouldn't get hurt and wouldn't hear Uther's confession. If he hadn't seen it he didn't need to prevent it at all.

Unless Merlin was wrong and the sorcerer's (or the destiny's) aim was to have Morgana kill Uther.

Or just have her discover the truth of her heritage? It's still pretty lame cause Morgana already had motivation to kill Uther (and had in fact tried several times) why the hell she hadn't done it was a mystery and frankly I still don't get why among all the things Uther had done it was this reveal that prompted her to do it in the most efficient way. But I like this interpretation better just because I was so annoyed by Merlin's insistence to save Uther and Morgana both...

Gaius was painted as the wise old man again this ep, but I think he was just lucky. I think the future could be altered based on the knowledge you got from the crystal, it just depends on how you do it. Merlin's action in the end decided Uther's fate, for example. Before this, Morgana’s vision also served as a warning several times. There was also the crystal where Merlin saw the dragon attack. The key is not to be overconfident of one man's ability, perhaps.

A bit off-topic but why was Gaius so uncaring anyway? I thought he was the one who couldn't let go of Uther. Even if he didn’t think the vision was important Morgana always wanted to kill Uther! It’s hardly news. I'd thought Gaius would be more worried.

[S3E5] [other episodes]

[justaz]

arthur (prince of camelot) still has to study under a tutor bc yknow uther wants him to be very intelligent before becoming king or something bc its super important idk idc anyways merlin is doing chores in his chambers while arthur is squinting at a book and merlin eventually caves and asks him what he’s reading and arthur gruffly explains that its a collection of stories from greece that make absolutely no sense so merlin asks him to read them outloud to him. arthur of course teases him and calls him an idiot and asks how he could possibly help but does as he’s asked and reads the stories to merlin as he does his chores. merlin (being crushed under the weight of destiny and tormented by the prophecies that kilgharrah spews) understands the stories almost immediately and gets all excited and starts rambling about them with arthur. arthur is glad to have someone who understands so he can give something that reflects a hint of understanding to his tutor who accepts it and moves onto the next unit of education.

the thing is, arthur finds more stories in camelot’s library and brings them up to his room to read them aloud to merlin under the guise of completing his studies but really he just wants to watch as merlin’s eyes gleam when he understands whats happening and listen to him ramble on and on about them bc he’s gay. the stories stick with merlin though and he realizes that they’re cautionary tales, that the heroes who were told too much of their future doomed themself to fulfill them - that them fighting the prophecies led to their completion. merlin takes it to heart and gives a big “fuck you” to kilgharrah before forging his own fate and helping morgana with her magic and handing out an olive branch to mordred and now everyone can live happily and peacefully in an albion teeming with magic.

[bi-dykes]

Prophesied to be evil but is actually a cutie patootie

[artstationable]

John Patrick Gañas • "Tetrahelix, the Snail Maidens"

Concept Artist and Illustrator

artstation instagram

More from «Artstation» here

[pyjamacryptid]

‘The forest is forever because it dies and dies and so it lives.’ - Tales from Earthsea: Dragonfly, by Ursula K. Le Guin

[cosmiclove-heavenstruck]

PLEASE, I‘VE BEEN ON MY KNEES – BUT I THINK IT'S ULTIMATELY MY FATE

sources under the cut

invisible string by taylor swift /  chinese proverb / when i met you by mira lightner / mastermind by taylor swift / cruel summer by taylor swift / but daddy i love him by taylor swift / h of h playbook by anne carson / the prophecy by taylor swift / gorgeous by taylor swift / the selected poems of elizabeth bishop: “the burglar of babylon,” by elizabeth bishop / andersen’s fairy tale anthology / the prophecy by taylor swift / the woman dies by aoko matsuda (translated by polly barton / so long, london by taylor swift (header by @ttpdicons) / waterloo by abba / from the lover diaries / the prophecy by taylor swift / the dialogue of desire and guilt by marina tsvetaeva, from notes / the prophecy by taylor swift

[narwhalandchill]

also mistake not my silence on the summer event story now that its all out for not paying attention bc. well firstly not going to be the subject of this post but seriously just the . Overall implications of the whole thing when it comes to teyvat and genshin as a whole? wild stuff like are they rly out there revealing the entire cosmology now 😭 (tho i kinda have. Mixed thoughts as well)

anyway secondly and most importantly because of course i have priorities (its ajax we all know) . soooo simulanka and names eh?

HUH!

well not that i was any doubter to begin with in that it like. meant something when hit game jenshin impact featuring guy already foreshadowed and being set up for some real curious world-overturning and celestia torching business etc etc etc coincidentally named. ajax. among other things. that the same game happening to Also begin introducing this whole other ajax/aias as an actual historical figure featured within the games lore and legends. would very much be just a massive fucking thing we Should be taking very seriously in terms of his future development but like thanks very much for confirming it too uwu

anyway let us look at my favorite french cultist scribbled note for no particular reason once more just to celebrate the occasion

i mean what can i say man . truly the endgame relevance long term allegations continue undodged 😤😤

anyway whats kinda funny to me is the way a lot of ppls reaction to this name confirmation seems to be like. omg ajax is in trouble now bc irl mythology ajax died and ajax/aias of genshin also seems to have possibly had a shit fate by the end im so worried omg . when like. literally the second part to this whole "name = inheriting destiny" thing we see in simulanka is that . with the right circumstances . the one that inherits the name and destiny is not necessarily doomed to that exact same outcome as the original . like we all did see how we saved simulanka durin right?? and how the existence of mini durin may now open up the possibility of teyvats durin to receive a different outcome to his tale???? right??

like why do ppl have so little faith in childe im 😭 like if you ask me hes Already giving indication of defying his fate in a multitude of ways (vision malfunction being a big one) so personally i simply think we need to let him do his thing and see where he goes with it . i have faith in him like if Anyones abt to subvert the fate hes been set up with be it due to his name or any other reason . its gonna be him lmao

like. its not even new stuff kwdwdjkdwjk

either way tho . even if this fucker straight up "dies" or goes MIA im not even that worried bc. ppl worrying about this "tragic fate" his namesake seems to be conferring to him by default with simulankas explicit confirmation of a names meaning . and its just are we straight up missing the fact that this historical ajax/aias is Literally connected to that rent free narzissenkreuz note that EXPLICITLY aligns this "tragedy" with the theme of REBIRTH. and becoming a descender straight up .

like maybe its just me but this Really isnt giving "omg childe is going to die due to mirroring the fate of ajax" its giving "childe is Literally being set up to become sth descender equivalent one way or another AND theyre doubling down on it now" im sorry 😭

like. even the implications of phrases like. "forsaking the self" to be reborn in the abyss just reminds me of this. weird panic people have around childes vision malfunction as if its like. vision is GOOD ambition and his GOOD ending and his GOOD characteristics and it malfunctioning means BAD EVIL SIN ambition and WRONG characteristics is taking over!!!!!!!11! hes being torn into two different directions and the abyss is bad and vision (=celestia) is good!!!!!1

and its like. say we even buy that (but like dang what a sustainer sponsored take to have in a. gnostic inspired lore environment JWSJKJKSF) . that his. "correct" and "healthy" destiny as vision wielder (that Every single recipient of a "gods EYE" gets like forcibly and irrevocably bound to by design and surely this isnt problematic at all) . is a part of that "self" that is being forsaken and twisted as his destiny pushes against celestias control and his connection to said vision falters . lets say we assume that is a "bad" thing for his "intended" path and destiny somehow .

(which YES it prolly is. but only within the bounds of a world order set up by the heavenly principles!!! of COURSE the HP would force people into destinies and paths that Only serve the continuity of its rule!!! and doesnt shake up the system!! like yes a vision likely represents and assigns to people a "Good" ambition but thats not from the recipients POV thats from celestias POV and at this point its just. fellas. we are not supposed to buy into that at face value lmao)

which like. again. i v much dont buy anyway i think every single time genshin calls something sin or forbidden it should be assessed v critically.

but even with that assumption we can still see how this very note is already implicating that "forsaking the self" is Literally a prerequisite . in this grand destiny featuring ajax/aias . for reaching True rebirth as a holy infant and a descender and all that . for defying the shackles of the heavens . for gaining a will that rivals the world . right???

+ also if like. forsaking the self being mayhaps and perchance more of a GOOD thing in a world with preordained and unyielding destiny set up by false divinity wasnt already established enough

welp thank you rene narzissenkreuz.

oh "excising the self" you say?? that sure sounds a bit like "forsaking the self" doesnt it ??? how curious that it would be considered less of a "death" and more of a "rebirth" indeed . and that a vision to a cultist very invested in the methods available to Defy a prophecy and fate is very much a bad thing to receive . like what a coincidence that we would have a note like this as an established character already tied to a note you wrote about acquiring a descenders will is experiencing vision compatibility issues its very funny indeed.

so like ig what im trying to say is just idk for me personally if ajax is out there forsaking his self by any metric im just gonna be cheering him on <3

but yeah jkqjkwdjkwdjkwd dont mind me im just kinda rent free with how its now just even more confirmed by hoyo that this insane ajax/aias note stuff is Not meant to be coincidental At All (even tho its very funny ppl doubted the signifance to begin with at all). but also i just dont get the panicking abt it being some bad thing lmao like this is just genuinely hype as fuck for him 😭😭😭

[howifeltabouthim]

'I think he's trying to fulfill a prophecy, but I don't know if the point was to bring us together or keep us apart.'

Jenn Lyons, from The Ruin of Kings

[pizzapasta23045]

part 3

[kateis-cakeis]

Okay okay thinking about it, really thinking about it. My post from the other day (here) I said "you see him slip into this version of himself that is hardly recognisable, even when you compare him to his characterisation in S4" talking about S5 Merlin.

And then I really thought about, okay but what if say S1 Merlin was put into S5 Merlin's shoes, would he do any different? Would he?

Honestly, think about it.

Let's take him at the end of S1, where he was ready to give up his life for Arthur completely to save him. I mean sure he did that in S1Ep4, and tried to do it in S1Ep11, but Ep13 is where it really hits. He said goodbye after all.

This is a Merlin that was ready to tell Arthur about his magic, but was locked out of the possibility after Will lied as he died to protect him.

This is a Merlin who already tried to kill Mordred. Or well, let him die really. Not so much kill.

So let's look at lines from S1EP8 about Mordred dying vs Arthur dying, shall we? ...

"Would you let something terrible happen if it meant you'd stop something even worse happening in the future?"

"One of them's bad, really bad. And the other, it's...unthinkable."

"For once, you don't have to worry. I'm going to do nothing."

I cut out Gaius's replies because Merlin's lines are more important here. The 'something terrible' and the one that's 'bad, really bad' refer to letting Mordred be executed.

Meanwhile the 'something even worse' and 'it's unthinkable' refer to Arthur's death in the future.

He decides to do nothing as we know, he decides to let Mordred die, right up until Mordred pleads with him through telepathy.

That's the S1 Merlin we're dealing with.

Maybe if you took him from Ep1 or pre-S1 yeah he'd act differently, but S1 Merlin is as much defined by Arthur's impending death as S5 Merlin is.

The only difference is between them, S1 Merlin has destiny propelling him forward just a little more than S5 Merlin does. Whether by love or sheer dedication, S5 Merlin is even prepared to push aside his own freedom to save Arthur's life, just to condemn Mordred to death.

Would S1 Merlin do any different?

No, no I don't think he would. Not if he saw the vision, not if he saw Arthur fall.

S5 Merlin is defined by what he saw in the pool, he's defined by seeing what he believes is Arthur's death (not yet knowing he would survive for days after acquiring that wound)

If S1 Merlin, or even S2, 3, or 4 saw that same vision? I don't think they would do any differently.

Maybe he had more hope earlier on, sure, but that would be missing the way that S5 Merlin hopes. He tells both Mordred and Finna that it "won't always be like this". He hopes for freedom as much as S1 Merlin does, he's just more prepared to prioritise Arthur.

But isn't that what he's always done? S2, when he struggles to lie, but still does lie to Arthur about Morgause and his mother - He's thanked for reminding Arthur that sorcerers are evil.

The way he acts just before telling the lie is so similar to his expressions when he's about say "There can be no place for magic in Camelot" in S5Ep5.

That's the thing. I know I bang on about how S5 Merlin is so much darker and he is, he grew up after all. But I truly think if S1 Merlin saw that vision, nothing would have changed.

Nothing. Not even his actions with the Disir. Why would he, if there's a chance to try and kill Mordred Merlin always took it. Or tried to as much as he could.

S2 Merlin, put in S5 Merlin's shoes, might even edge closer to murder, that man tripped that kid up in the hope that two guards would kill him, and instead watched as Mordred killed the guards instead.

What, Merlin was innocent back in earlier seasons? That boy, that man, he was never innocent, man was down to murder from his very first day in Camelot.

So yes, S5 Merlin has ten years give or take of saving Arthur and setting aside his freedom, and that did indeed darken him and change him and mould him, but S1 Merlin already had enough experience that nothing would change.

Merlin was always going to condemn Mordred, he barely knew him early on after all, and later, he already had the knowledge of the vision.

Let's not forget that in S5, Merlin says he likes Mordred, but that he can't ignore what he saw. That he can't save the life of a man destined to kill Arthur, that he can't ignore what the dragon said. That Finna was right, he cannot trust Mordred, not after all he's been told.

I don't think any Merlin could do any differently if he was told all that, and shown Camlann.

There's no such thing as an innocent Merlin, not when it comes to Arthur's life. We can say he became too blinded, but in S4 he killed Agravaine, used dark magic to lock away Morgana's magic for a time, and took away Arthur's free will. S3 is a little harder, but he did command Kilgharrah against his will. S2 Merlin is easy, he tried to kill Mordred, and morbidly held Morgana as she was dying to the water he poisoned. S1 Merls is just people dying left and bloody right. Nimueh, god should we ever forget about the way he killed Nimueh. She fucking exploded.

All this to say, S5 Merlin didn't abandon his values because he already did that when they all first met Mordred. He just became more and more set, darker and darker over time. But if any version of himself was given that vision by the Vates, it's over, it's so over, because that's all it took.

To see Arthur fall, that's all it took. It's all it would ever take.

[somestorythoughts]

Lackadaisical Fate

Was thinking about prophecies in literature and the combination of "in trying to avoid the thing you made it happen" and "we only have access to one piece of information about the future with VERY little detail" and started wondering about a version of Fate or sentient prophecies that didn't care HOW something happened, only that it does.

Oedipus and Perseus are classical examples of "failing to avoid the thing despite best efforts." Oedipus's parents are told their son will kill his father and marry his mother, go "no no no way" and his dad tries to kill him, doesn't work, Oedipus is adopted and later hears the same prophecy, goes "no no no way" and proceeds to leave his adopted family only to run into his birthparents without knowing and fulfilling the prophecy. Perseus' grandfather hears his daughter will bear a son that will kill him, fails to keep her from having a kid, years later Perseus kills his father by complete accident at the Olympics.

Neither of those examples are "you tried so hard to avoid this that you made it happen" but it's the same kind of thing. If you've ever read or watched anything where the villain tries to kill the baby prophesized to defeat them and thus creates an enemy, that's that. It's pretty similar to "failing to avoid the thing despite best efforts" the latter just has more bad blood in it.

But at the same time, you have prophecies that happen in unexpected (to the people) ways. Herodotus had a story of a King who was told that if he went to war a great empire would be destroyed...that empire ended up being his own. That possibility really should've been something he considered so lets take a modern example, Dealing With Dragons has a prince who was destined to do something important for a king. That king to his surprise ended up being the king of the dragons.

If you've ever read the Percy Jackson books, think about how much thought goes into the prophecies only for the characters not to fully understand till the end.

We're human, we don't have a birds-eye view of time much less an omnipotent view. We don't know HOW the future thing will happen, just that this one thing WILL. But what if whatever it was that decided the thing would happen didn't know the HOW either?

I'd thought before of fate and destiny and prophecies in stories as being kinda like essay outlines, or plot points. Guidelines with room for chaos and choice and trickster jokes, with a few set things there. If you like Doctor Who, it's kinda like time being wibbly-wobbily but also there are fixed points that can't change.

So what if Fate was just looking at the world going "yep, this prince will kill his father and marry his mother, this random lord will be a king, this kid will found a great city..." and just. Not planning anything else. Just speaking it so that it must happen and letting things go as they will with just enough power to make sure they don't die first.

"This kid will do a great service for a king. Which king? Don't it's up to them."

Bonus: On the other hand, the kid hearing they'd help out a king and proceeding to avoid every royal like the plague so much that Fate rolls up their sleeves like "oh you want to go?"

[goldensunset]

i want to properly hit people with the keykid dalia lore but unfortunately i’m a perfectionist and i believe text should be accompanied with pictures in order to have a stronger impact which means i gotta draw which means it’ll never happen

[elijahmiles]

"wahhh i hate the chosen one trope its so boring" mad because you're not the chosen one are you?

[spicyicymeloncat]

Okay okay so you know my wu/Misako rivalry au? Where Wu and Misako feel no romantic feelings, only spite for each other? Where it’s revealed in s4 that they used to be good friends until Garmadon orchestrated a deception in order to split them up under Chen’s instruction? And he feels really bad about it?

Well what if, they actually would’ve made up quickly after that, but soon after they both discovered the prophecy of the green ninja (wu doesn’t just find the scroll, both of them found it), and their mixed feelings about learning that eventually Garmadon was going to succumb to evil ended up making them disagree and unable to get along afterwards.

I mean think about it. Even in canon, Wu and Misako’s outlooks on the prophecy remain different. Wu knowing the prophecy is inevitable and goes through the effort of hiding the golden weapons, and training ninja to fight against it. Misako knowing who the green ninja would be, and doing her best to conceal him, and trying to find a way to defy the prophecy.

[oifaaa]

To be fair, the Shark lady only saw someone with a straw hat destroying fishman island

And the bad guy from the arc, the creep one, has a straw hat too

That wasn't a straw hat it was a fedora I'm actually pretty sure there is only 2 straw hats in the whole series which are Luffys and that big one we see that's how luffy got the copyright to be the strawhat pirates

[rosaacicularis]

hmmmm….. thinking about my bbc merlin scarian au