#the death of king arthur

[taliesin-the-bored]

Challenge: Find the Holy Grail

The Death of King Arthur by James Archer

[starchaser45]

Arthur"no man is worth your tears"

Merlin " you're certainly not "

Me*SCREAMS IN SPOILERS*

[wilkoakdraws]

Malevolent doodle dump! since im still SHAKING from part 43

[justaz]

king merlin after meeting lady guinevere and sir lancelot’s baby and falling in love: arthur. i want a baby.

king arthur, not looking up from his paperwork: …what?

merlin: give me a baby.

arthur, sighing: merlin, you studied to be a physician. i don’t think i have to be the one to tell you how impractical that is.

merlin, rolling his eyes: this is why i’m the brighter side of the coin

arthur, finally looking up: wha-

queen merlin using magic to transform her body: i. want. a. baby.

arthur:

arthur:

arthur: *stands up from his desk so fast his chair topples over, multiple parchments flutter to the ground, his tunic is already off*

[illustratus]

Sir Bedivere put King Arthur gently into the barge by William Henry Margetson

Illustration for Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by James Knowles

[mythmerth]

you ever think about that godforsaken prophecy and Arthur’s title of ‘the once and future king’? we never see him come back and he didn’t even live very long while he was king, so this ‘once and future king’ business really does feel questionable in the end.

but what if that’s just thinking about it in the wrong way?

Merlin is essentially immortal- this we all know. Arthur and merlin are ‘two sides of the same coin’, and were together prophesied to bring about Albion’s golden age with magic and all that. Merlin also IS magic. like, he embodies the magic of the world, he is the physical embodiment of magic, and in S5 he sends arthur to rest in magic to one day return. he was once king for a short time - but to merlin, arthur has always been and will always be his king. arthur is the future king because, no matter what, the magic that weaves together the very base of the world will always see him as its king. because merlin loves and reveres him with his whole being. those prophecies were all in reference to the relationship between merlin and Arthur, not in their relationship to Camelot or the people or land. merlin creates the once and future king with his love, and maybe it’s that same sentiment that will bring arthur back to him tangibly as well

[arthur-lesters-right-arm]

I can't decide what's more painful to think about. The fact that there are Alternate Universe Arthur's that were killed in the events of the first few episodes before his journey's even begun, before he even knew John's name. Or that there are Alternate Universe Arthur's being killed in the events of the later episodes after he's fought tooth and nail to say alive.

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Sometimes I think about Merlin giving Arthur the only weapon that could kill him.

Imagine if he told Arthur about his magic and Arthur took it badly, running him through without really thinking about it.

Maybe they were in the middle of a battle and Arthur saw magic first, Merlin second.

Then he regrets it, desperately trying to save Merlin. Leon says take him to the Druids since they’ve brought people back from the brink of death before. So Arthur does but when the Druids see Merlin bleeding out, they aren’t worried.

Arthur can’t understand why they aren’t freaking out, so they tell Arthur about the prophecy. He learns about Emrys and how Merlin is immortal.

Arthur relaxes just slightly, glad that Merlin will definitely recover.

But one of the Druids says he can only be killed by a sword forged in a dragon’s breath. Arthur says he isn’t sure what his sword is, that it was the sword from the story that was left in the stone by Bruta. The Druids all look confused so Arthur recounts what Merlin told him the day he got Excalibur. They all look horrified to realise that Merlin has been stabbed by the only sword in existence capable of killing him.

The Druids tell him Excalibur was made by Emrys, forged in the breath of the great dragon, and that only the once and future king could pull it from the stone.

So Arthur has to come to terms with the fact, not only that he killed the most loyal man he knows and also his best friend, but also that his best friend wouldn’t be dead if he hadn’t trusted Arthur implicitly even without telling Arthur about the magic.

He doesn’t know what’s worse but Merlin dies with the assurance that magic will be legalised in his honour.

Just something I think about sometimes. I have fics of this but they’re staying in the fic graveyard because I don’t like how they turned out so if anyone wants to use this as a prompt, feel free just tag me and give credit for the idea please :)

[strawlessandbraless]

I found out some new information recently that is relevant to the famous ‘horseplay’ scene in Merlin

BBC Merlin: A Family Show

[taliesin-the-bored]

“The Lay That Had No End” by Ernest Rhys

"Puis comence le iengleor Bloys

Deslaiaux de mort du roy:

Mais porquoi on dit.

Sanz fin james laisser çi."

                             I

"The sun sank red, the moon as red

   As blood did rise o'er Caerbrë town;

The King," he sang. "But Bloys," I said,

    "Come tell me where is Caerbrë town?"

                             II

"The Haut King, red with blood, returned

   From Barendown's fire, and came therein

To die," he sang. "What in him burned,

   Dark Mordred's death? or Gwenevere's sin?"

                             III

"They buried in his blood the dead;

   But One bore water there to save

The King," he sang. "But Bloys," I said,

    "Where lies indeed the Haut King's grave?"

[dreamsrunfaster]

I'm sure there are ways to read The Death of King Arthur without reading Gauvain as suicidal and trusting only Lancelot to be able to kill him but like. Are there.

[jerys]

thinking abt merlin through the ages contending with the fact that arthur is still so present in the land. in mythology in legend in fairytales told to children in books and films and countless other forms of memory. throughout the world he is remembered still, and yes it isn't really him they're remembering, it's the legend of him, the myth, the heroic fool's gold shimmer of his legacy. but he's still here.

[starchaser45]

The differences between the pendragon siblings in this scene broke me

Morgana got angry when Arthur said she's like uther

While it broke Arthur that that's what she thought of him

Morgana was enjoying the idea that she will kill him

While it broke Arthur's heart when he realised he can actually kill her

THOSE TWO ARE BREAKING ME I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[dyke-in-crisis]

malevolent sketchdump 👁️ idk what possessed me when I created that AU, let me know if anyone has ideas!

commissions

patreon

[justaz]

semi-dark king merlin au, someone from ealdor tells king cenred about merlin and he is captured and held as a slave in essetir. since merlin despises captivity and servitude, he’d rather be dead and free than alive and in chains so he acts out and pisses people (especially the king) off so they’ll think him too much trouble and kill him. at first they stick to beatings until merlin manages to get his chains around a few necks and now has a body count so they kill him…..only he wakes back up a few hours later and king cenred is Intrigued and keeps him close. merlin keeps acting out but no matter how many times they kill him, he won’t stay dead. merlin has this moment after waking up perfectly fine after his twenty seventh death where he is hopeless and believes there to be no escape, not even thru death. a few other sorcerers in chains come and help him clean up and give him a lil peptalk, realizing him to be emrys, and then they revolt and take over the kingdom and crown merlin as king and now uther is like “wtf” bc his neighboring kingdom who was kinda sorta on his wavelength about sorcery, though uther did not approve of keeping them alive, is now a kingdom ruled by magic. he goes to war with them but with magic running free and fucking emrys on the throne, they don’t make a lot of headway. anyways merthur meet on the battlefield, enemies to lovers, you get it