#toa camelot

[just-screenshots]

screenshots of the beautiful architecture from camelot, wizards tales of arcadia

[wheretwofacesmeet]

[gaylightisminetocommand]

random Douxoodles (Douxie doodles) 💙

(click for better quality) (i hope)

[avirxy]

Title: No remedy to falling

Pairing: Jlaire

Typically when one loses their wings, whether by injury or accident there are alternatives, fixes, something left to salvage besides two horrible, gnarled scars on their back.

Jim can see her struggling, silently writhing within herself at the fact she’s forever grounded, never to fly again. With him, or anyone else. What Morgana took from her is permanent. All he can hope, is that when she leans against him and he carefully uses one of his wings to cover her, does it comfort her in some small way like it used to.

[aevyk-ing]

Lights and Shadows of Camelot: Chapter 21

King Arthur couldn’t believe his eyes as Bular ran towards him, twin swords raised. He took Excalibur and stopped the strike.

“Where is Morgana?” he asked. “Or this is just a war between Trolls and Camelot?”

Bular bared his teeth. The witch had only told them to debilitate Arthur until she arrived. Bular really wanted to fight the Trollhunter, for the two had a long story, so he was angry he had to fight the human king.

“Who cares?” he snarled. “I’ll be drinking from your skull when she gets here!”

However, Gunmar was having a bad time. Jim had managed to jump over the Bridge, trying not to give away the plan. Daylight was no rival for Gunmar’s Decimaar Blade and the swords clashed several times. It was such a spectacle to be seen; however, the rest of the battlefield was pure chaos.

Claire was trembling. Just as she had feared, it was as if her powers had disappeared the second Morgana had taken the Shadow Staff. Douxie and her were now free to move and the wizard took a step forward, drying his tears with the back of his hand. He crossed the golden circle of light.

“A hopeless apprentice and an insecure witch.” Morgana cackled. “I’ll be reuniting with my brother in no time.”

“Come on, Claire.” Douxie said, his bracelet shining as he performed some hand movements. The girl couldn’t move. Archie tried to give her a gentle shove. She might be covered in shining metal from head to toe, but she felt as vulnerable as ever.

AO3

[lightfin]

Ok,ok, soooo, just a little thought hear but, my mind was racing around intreaging AU senators to TOA and one piped up in my head.

What if, when Steve, Claire,Douxie,Jim and Toby ( I’m adding Toby because we need a best friends reunion and we were robbed of it. Anyways, whe they fall in the rift what is they got separated, for example Claire and Douxie end up being in the same place with the nights, Toby and Steve are rescued by Claire’s shadow portals in her panic but they end up being flung into a different part of the Forrest perhaps closer to a town or village outside Camelot’s walls but still in its borders, and Jim ends up somewhere entirely different, and wakes up both confused and alone.

I don’t know why, but I thought this was an interesting concept to think about, in a searies point of view rather then just ten eps. For example Claire and Douxie end up descovering the flaws in camalot, the truth behind morgana and just how hatted magic is among Camelot’s people, whilst also finding a way to exit camalot without screwing up the time line and find there friends. Toby and Steve team up and problem solve ways in which they can find the others, learning more about the past, and the perspective outside just camalot, on trolls, and humans alike, the good the bad, and ugly, it even could be that those two run into blinky this time.

And then there’s Jim, ok so I may have made this one a little more dark then it should but bare with me. Jim at first wakes up in the woods, alone, I wanted to explore this because of his time in the dark lands and how he would cope alone again. I changed the shard aspect, rather then it in his amulet, it’s in his shoulder, which is worse because in this AU, the orders shard acts like a poison, slowly working its way to his soal befor corrupting it, but rather then just under Arthur’s control, it slowly takes away his sentience,and with his conection to the amulet, the corruption shows as his armor and body starting to form into one large beast.(I’m sorry, I would never want this for Jim) it would be interesting how he would cope, battling his wild and human instincts, blacking out, and learning things about the gum gums this time, that he had never realised befor. Perhaps leaning more about hedge wizards, trollhunters lor, because I also when’re with in this time daya is not the first trollhunter, only because it makes more scence in construct of time. I am still keeping big distance Cal with Jim , because that’s gold, but this time she through Jim’s predicament builds her strength in helping the future trollhunter in reuniting with the others, both coming to terms with how they are perceived by others as ‘ calamity’ and ‘beast’ on the way. This would explore a versify of different sides of the past, even encountering creatures that are mother troll or human, or anything we’ve scene in cannon, the un scrntiamt creatures.

Also yes they will all end up convening together and having one big happy reunion befor the storm, learning the information about the order they needed,and returning home, but with both good and bad news.

Plus’s this whole past adventure, would take place over the horse of several months, lots more time to uncover the caos and find out how to get home.

Anyways I may wright this but before I do, would anyone be interested in reading something like this that dives more into the past of camalot in and around the castle, some canon elements still standing, I’d appreciate some thoughts, and suggestions to things that may make it more interesting.

[honeyxmonkey]

Jim, Excalibur in hand, jaw set with determination: Back to the bowels of the underworld from whence you came demon

Douxie, sleep deprived, wandering into the kitchen in search of sustenance: [demonic hissing]

[atlasthroughtheaftermath]

I wonder how much of Camelot flying has to do with Fata Morgana?

It's a type of optical illusion near the horizon that produces mirages that were once described as Morgan le Fay conjuring "fairy castles in the air."

[the-gateway-to-madness]

It sorta bothers me that post-series people are still complaining about 3Below being disconnected from the rest of Tales of Arcadia. For me, it was a refreshing break from the densely-packed fantasy lore and an intriguing peek at the way the universe beyond Arcadia and Earth functions. I liked the character arcs and interpersonal connections. And there was ample room for me to come up with a bunch of my own headcanons, which I love! I absolutely love being able to slot pieces of my own mind and soul into an existing world! I don't like shows where I'm told how every little detail works, that's way too much to remember. Instead I want enough to create an idea of the rules and how things might have gone/might continue to go and fill in whatever else I want.

Also, I think 3Below was SUPPOSED to be a lot more connected before Wizards got cut down. Tons of ideas didn't make it into the limited series run- I remember hearing stuff about Mordred being involved, a lost Krel arc, and I'm sure a lot of lore that would have bound the worlds together more closely. When they mentioned Gaylen's core came from Earth, there was clearly supposed to be more to that, but it got cut out. I'm like 93% sure Gaylen was a being who was part of or similar to the Arcane Order, but was drawn to the cosmos rather than to a part of the Earth. That would indicate that Akiridion tech and magic are compatible because Akiridions' energy-based life was initially magical, but those roots were largely forgotten because of how old a civilization Akiridion is. They've been spacefaring since humans were cavepeople. If the Order existed from the primeval dawn of the world, and Gaylen left not long after that, Akiridion could be millenia ahead of Earth. Or, heck, maybe Earth was the first or only livable world, and Gaylen created the Order to look after it before going off to try to find or create life elsewhere. I always headcanoned that Seklos was more powerful than most Akiridions or even the Royals that came after her, given the fact her core alone was enough to stop Gaylen while in the modern era it requires two royal cores. Maybe she was created by Gaylen to be Akiridion's version of an Arcane Order type being, and she created normal Akiridions, which she then had kids with, diluting her power in the Royals that followed. There's so much ancient history to unpack from just the tidbits we were given.

As for the modern era, there seems to very distinctly be a major intergalactic connection. The drunk ship operator in episode 3 of 3b s1 that the Zerons interrogate talks about ship classifications, which indicates a universal or at least an interplanetary system of ship ratings. We also see interplanetary tourism, and signs that Akiridion is one of the most advanced and influential planets out there.

3Below doesn't need to continue the plot of Trollhunters to be a valid part of Tales of Arcadia. It brought an energy to ToA that was somewhere between Star Trek TNG and Babylon 5, and I love how it expands the weirdness of Arcadia. If it was supposed to be a continuation of Trollhunters, they would have made more Trollhunters. But it's not Trollhunters, it's 3Below. And Wizards isn't Trollhunters either! I honestly think that Camelot, Douxie, and the world of wizards could have been written such that the Trollhunters cast was much less focal, and that if they'd given the show the time it needed and deserved to tell its story, it would have been fleshed-out and fascinating all on its own, with or without the TH gang. Where are the magic users beyond the reach of Camelot? Are there merfolk, sirens, harpies, dryads, more dragons, or other sapient races living on Earth with their own civilizations and magic and cultures? There are so many worlds and so many potential stories out there, on Earth and beyond, in the Tales of Arcadia universe. Arcadia just happens to be the narrative meshing point of them all. And I think that's a really cool way to build a universe.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk, here's more Akiridion development as a treat for making it this far.

[thekingofthenameless]

Is Arthur a character in TKN, and if he is, what kind of role does he play? I know Uther is the Villain King of the story, and I was curious on how you planned to portray Arthur, if at all? 👀

Thanks for the ask! :D

For reference, this is Uther’s appearance in TKN!

He may look cool, but trust me, he’s not a good person at all.

He’s charming (superficially), lacking empathy and a sense of guilt, a pathological liar, inclined to psychologically manipulate, bold, impulsive, narcissistic, arrogant, inclined to violence…

The list goes on, and it’s because he’s a psychopath. The word is overused and misused, but I mean it in the (current) true definition. It can be caused by “genetic and environmental issues, such as neglect or abuse by parental figures”, from Wikipedia’s article covering it.

A few risk factors are also “family history, parental neglect, abuse, or psychological manipulation of the affected child”. And depending on how I characterize his father, Constantine (The Third possibly, but idk lol), he could’ve been a sweetheart who was abused into becoming a monster, or he was the monster all along.

Either way, he destroys everyone around him, intentionally or not. He harbors secret hate towards Merlin and Charlie, because neither of them are like him at all, besides both being blatantly magic.

Realizing there’s so much I haven’t thought about…

Back in Daylight’s Redemption: Emerald Embers, Merlin had been living at Camelot for 100 years when the story started (separated from Charlie at that point; I’ll say more about that in a different post). The order of the kings I had was Vortigern, Constantine, Uther, and Arthur. Vortigern is the only one who isn’t explicitly related to them, but he was who I was going with.

The order of the kings still makes sense to me? But I don’t know how long Merlin and Charlie would’ve been living at Camelot before “present day”. T_T

Anyways, Uther is a sun coded character, like Merlin is subtly moon coded with his earrings!

Camelot has the sun as its insignia, making Merlin’s moon motifs seem like he’s rebelling against the royals’ authority. (He is. Secretly.)

Merlin actually had moon motifs back in Daylight's Redemption, to match Morgana! But when I started The King of the Nameless, I wasn't sure who the brutal sun character would be for a while, since at the "beginning" of the story, Morgana isn't even alive yet. And of course, she isn't the Morgana from Tales of Arcadia. (I'll talk more about her later.) Ignore the tag for Morgana lol; that's for ToA's version, not mine.

Finaly had a stroke of genius and decided it would be Uther! That was before he'd been designed lol, so now that he was going to have that coding, I wanted to finally give him one.

It was... difficult. He was being a bitch to design along with just. being a bitch in general. Forgot he was supposed to be 25, so I kept making dudes in their 40s in the game Dragon's Dogma, and I also couldn't decide if I wanted him to be handsome or ugly. To past me, “the first option would show that evil people can be handsome too, but I don't still don’t want people simping for him. The second option might make it unintentionally seem like 'Oh of course he’s evil! He’s ugly!’”

Made a poll asking if I should make him handsome or ugly, and handsome won! After that, I think I finally gave up and commissioned Merlin's first artist, using some references at the bottom of the post.

That's how his design finally came to be!

Then after that, his backstory that I really need to update at some point went through multiple revisions.

Idea 1: Listened to “Monster” from Epic the Musical and thought of him not always being evil until his father died; (magically related, presumably) he saw his brother, Aurelius, who was the older brother and king at this point in time, struggling under the weight of the crown and blamed it on magic doing this. Then as he grew up with Merlin as one his mentors, he realized that Merlin was insane (read: mentally ill) and felt like he was losing him, and presumed his magic did it to him.

His brother died, and his feelings towards magic taking everything from him only increased. Logical solution is, of course, eradicating magic completely so no one else would get hurt because of it (and starting with murdering Merlin). I had no idea how that would fit in with Igraine.

I didn't want to retcon Uther’s character, but I also thought a kind character becoming a monster was peak. I had no idea who a different character could be though.

Idea 2: Constantine sucked ass and Merlin basically raised Uther, but the latter's biological father still managed to get into Uther’s head that Merlin was crazy. That cued the complicated feelings of not wanting the one who raised him to die, while also thinking he needed to be put out of his misery so he wouldn't suffer anymore, and the misguided offspring betrayal. Seemed like a tragic villain at this point, and once again couldn't figure out how to make Igraine fit. He also started planning the magical genocide behind Merlin’s back because he knew that Merlin would never agree, and his reasoning was that magic took his father and brother, and he wouldn’t let that happen to anyone else.

Idea 3: Make Aurelius the asshole brother to fit the previous two ideas. Or Uther was still an asshole and he was dead. Or he faked his death or something.

@danhengsbestie and I got mixed up while talking about the third idea, and she thought I meant make Uther good and Aurelius evil, but I meant keep Uther evil and Aurelius good. She liked his design and though he could be a good guy, and that I could give him a more heroic treatment. I disagreed because if you know what he did to Igraine (and Gorlois afterwards) in the Legends, then you know.

Made another poll. Uther won, so that's what I kept.

If anyone wants to hear more about Uther, and Igraine, Gorlois, and that whole situation, send me an ask? 👀 There's some dark things there so I'd put it in a separate post so people can avoid it if they need to. Also this is getting a bit long even without their designs and things...

Ending Uther's bit with this: something funny about Charlie’s personality changing is that at one point Uther hated him for “being like him (and he doesn’t realize it)” but now their personalities are vastly different lol.

Compared to Uther’s above traits, Charlie’s serious, brave, protective (of Merlin), compassionate (towards Merlin), as well as fierce but loving and loyal, who sometimes takes a little bit longer to care about people than Merlin due to personality differences. He'll readily state his opinions and start arguments without caring, as well as having no qualms about staring people down while gauging their personality and threat level. Was at first completely normal but is now Fucked Up too.

Arthur:

I... have no official design for this dude yet. But like in many of the Legends, he's the son of Uther and Igraine! He's also the older sister of Morgana.

These are just a few of his portrayals in media, in order: King Arthur by Charles Ernest Butler, N. C. Wyeth's title page illustration for The Boy's King Arthur (1922), The Sword in the Stone (1963), The Quest for Camelot, Once Upon A Time, Merlin (2008), and Tales of Arcadia.

These are a couple of beta designs I made before I realized I wanted him to look younger, like his father, and these are also from before Uther got designed lol.

I also made a couple of Picrews for him, but now when I look at them I'm like: "Why are you white."

Because this is the color swatch I picked directly from Morgana's skin, and while her original artist said she could be any race or gender I wanted since she was designed to be ambigious, I went with her being Greek after @honeyxmonkey suggested it!

Decided to attempt another design for him while making this post, and I'm not set on it, but for now this is him lol.

I think he looks like Krel from Tales of Arcadia. 💀

Anyways, onto his portrayal!

Or former portrayal. Apparently most of this is not updated information. I'm so sorry to disappoint lol.

Some of this is a combination of Daylight’s Redemption and TKN content.

DR, January: I was thinking about Arthur struggling with trusting his magic his whole life because of Uther’s upbringing, in spite of Merlin and Morgana proving that magic can be good instead of doing an abrupt 180 as soon as Guinevere dies. Because most fics either have him hating magic the whole fic regardless of logical timelines, or have the 180, but I was thinking the struggle would be interesting because it contrasted Gwen, who’s loved magic her whole life and he loves her, Merlin, and Morgana enough to keep trying to fight his father’s opinions drilled into.

Then it’s all thrown down the drain when Bellroc stabs him and the Order makes him the Green Knight.

And Gwen dying also pushed him over the edge of after all his trying and launching the genocide out of grief despite Merlin and Morgana’s pleas.

TKN, January: Despite me starting to change the newly titled writing into a book, Guinevere was still dead due to magical means, and Arthur still started the genocide out of grief.

February: I realized Merlin being more open with his emotions meant he actually told people about his visions, which made it even more gutwrenching when Merlin told Arthur about his vision of the latter committing the magical genocide, and he was so grief stricken he did it anyways because he felt like Uther was right about everything he taught him despite him being dead for years at this point.

March: He was going to be one of four of Merlin’s adopted kids: him, Guinevere, Morgana, and Mordred. Which is very weird compared to now, where Merlin only has Charlie as his adopted kid lol. I’ll elaborate more on him and Charlie in an ask @gaylightisminetocommand sent!

Arthur was adopted first because Uther was severely lacking as a father figure (to say the least). Guinevere came to Camelot every summer to hopefully become friends with Arthur because the two were betrothed (Swan Princess, anyone?). And they did bond pretty much immediately! Morgana was adopted because at that point, she also lived in Camelot, and Uther was just as amazing with her. Same with Mordred.

Currently: Something that will stay the same from my most recent version is Arthur being nicer than some portrayals, such as Once Upon A Time, where, according to the casting call, is “a good and just ruler who, beneath the surface, is a master manipulator who can carry a grudge to the grave, and maybe beyond. He harbors an eternal burning love for Guinevere that can lean toward being a bit... controlling.”, or Tales of Arcadia, where he enacts a magical genocide after Guinevere dies. (Back then, this was because of Merlin’s influence, but if that stays the same Merlin will be more of a mentor figure than a parental one.)

Also, Mordred is still going to be related to him, but he isn’t his son like the Legends. Especially not through his mother being Morgana (or Morgause depending on the version). They’re both Arthur’s half-sisters, and there won’t be any incest in TKN at all. Mordred also won’t bring around the end of Camelot lol. I think.

Also also, he’s a great older brother to Morgana, and he and Guinevere actually have a wholesome marriage! He never has any lovers besides her, and they rule Camelot as equals.

To apologize for the lack of information, I’m also going to yap about Guinevere and Morgana!

Guinevere:

I actually have more of a set design for her!

I could've SWORN she's usually blonde at first, so I made that design first, but most images I found depict her with brown hair. So now… I can’t decide if I like blonde or brunette better. 😭

Back in January, when I was first coming up with new ideas, I thought of Morgana being a teenager instead of a grown woman like usual, and at this point, she was the child produced by ahem. The if you know thing. Her being so much younger when Uther died and being the result of the Uther thing™️ instead of Arthur caused her a lot of insecurity, but Guinevere didn’t care about the circumstances of her birth because it wasn’t her fault, and basically became an older sister to her. When she died, Morgana was shattered.

Debated on if I was going to keep her dead or not as I went through more revisions, and finally decided not to :] She’s gonna live!!!

Back when Merlin had four kids, I was debating on if he possibly would have three instead, since her just coming every summer might not be enough for him to be a dad to her. At the very least, they’d have been friends.

In her current version, she still loves Morgana, and she’s an older sister figure to her like before. And a line in God Games from Epic: the Musical applies to her: “Never once has he cheated on his wife”. The Lancelot affair destroying the round table doesn’t occur, and we love a loyal queen!

Morgana:

Like Merlin, she’s gone through a few design changes.

This was her first design! And I still think she looks cute :) It’s very different from her current one though lol.

This was way back when I first started TKN! I was thinking of inverting Arthur and Morgana’s usual designs, and making him have black hair, and her have blonde hair.

I’ll go through her ton of backstory changes like Merlin and Charlie first and reveal her design at the end!

As I said, originally, she was Uther’s daughter produced by that, a bastard child because Uther wasn’t married to her mother. He hated her because of it, even though it was the consequences of his own actions.

In the og Arthurian Legends, the result was Arthur, but I forgot which sibling it was, so I had to Google it, and I also wanted Morgana angst. Uther also treated her like shit for having magic; she was eight when it first started.

He only let Merlin train her in magic so she wouldn’t become a monster, but unbeknownst to them, he was secretly sending assassins in attempts to rid himself of her (and he might have done it to Merlin too).

Also I wasn’t very smart lol, because then I couldn’t decide if she or Arthur was going to be Igraine’s child but… in Arthurian Legends they’re both her kids. I thought they were half-siblings through Uther, not her. That’s part of why Morgana was the bastard child first, but then I couldn’t decide which one it was going to be, and apparently. I didn’t have to and I’m just stupid.

Like how I forgot Arthur was the original child by Uther in the Legends. 😭 But in my defense, I may have been thinking of BBC Merlin where they were actually half-siblings through Uther.

After my realization, I was thinking about how Merlin would become Morgana’s surrogate father because of her being Igraine and Gorlois’ daughter, and Uther wouldn’t have any claim to take her to Camelot that way; so maybe they would actually die of old age later on, and then she was taken to Camelot. (Uther was possibly still alive because he was forcing Merlin to keep him immortal. Idk. Or Arthur and Gwen were ruling Camelot by then and he wantsd to take in the half-sister he’s never met.) So anyways, she latched onto Merlin because he was nice just like her parents were, and he was magic just like her, and as much as her parents had loved her, they had never known what it was to be magic in a world that hated you.

But then @danhengsbestie said killing them off was rude lol.

Then I thought that maybe actually she could start coming to Camelot every summer or something so Merlin could teach her magic. And then she has three parents.

When Guinevere dies, she and Arthur were both heartbroken, and her grief got even worse when Arthur launched the genocide against magical beings despite her and Merlin’s pleas.

She couldn’t take being in the castle after Gwen’s funeral, and she goes out to the forest, where my equivalent of the Arcane Order at this point found her.

“Nari” sensed her soul and how much pain she was in, and they decide that her grief and young age makes her a prime target for them.

They easily manipulate her into being their pawn, and the “fight” between Merlin and her was him getting her to stand down after he tells her who they truly are.

But no one else was taking her unintentional betrayal well…

Well, that was wild. It’s gonna get even worse with Merlin and Charlie’s post lollll.

Another idea I had was Morgana getting a prosthetic arm later, like how ToA Morgana got the prosthetic hand.

And a day later, I found an adoptable that I decided was perfect! I was so glad they (designed to be an ambiguous gender as well as race lol) were still available, because I would’ve been crushed. 😭 I couldn’t believe nobody had snagged them.

They didn’t have a name either when I got them lol, but I saw them and I was like “Ohh that’s beautiful!! WAIT THAT WOULD BE A PERFECT MORGANA DESIGN”

I thought it was hilarious that I had the idea for her to have a prosthetic arm and then not even a day later bam. art.

I still have to figure out how she loses her arm and part of her left ear, along with getting the scars on her face.

The one thing that’s stayed consistent about her is being a lesbian! :D Like ToA’s is.

Back when Uther was still her stepfather, I had an idea for him being so despicable that he yelled at Morgana after she lost her arm for being that “careless” when she’d just woken up at Camelot after passing out from the blood loss and being bandaged up. Yeah that definitely won’t happen now.

I wasn’t actually going to make her Greek at first, but when I was making a reference sheet for her, her skin color came out as various shades of brown when I used a color picker tool. Before, I thought she was white because of the lighting. I thought it was my mistake, so I asked her original artist if he had a possible race for her, and he said I could decide.

Like I said, @honeyxmonkey suggested her being Greek after saying she looked vaguely Latina lol, and I ran with it! I also made a few Picrews of her during the figuring out her race part, and you can see how she changed! The third one is actually still a little bit lighter than her color swatch lol.

Oh also, she gets a familiar eventually! :D Her name is Willa!

Since Charlie is one of the biggest animal familiars currently existing, she’ll definitely be smaller than him, but other than that I don’t have a current size for her lol.

Artist credits: Soberana Art (on Artstation) MuriWorks (on DeviantArt), inn13art (on DeviantArt)

Picrew credits: brightgoat, romanapologist/hotvanilla, baydews

Links to their individual posts, if applicable: Uther reveal, Original Uther concepts, Uther design poll, Uther moral alignment poll, Original character, (1, 2,) Young Arthas Menethil, 3rd Uther reference), King Arthur, N. C. Wyeth's illustration, The Sword in the Stone Arthur, The Quest for Camelot Arthur, Once Upon A Time Arthur, BBC Arthur, ToA Arthur, ADOPTABLE - Machine Amongst the Flowers (on DeviantArt) Willa (on DeviantArt). (also a few more links throughout the post lol)

Taglist: @gaylightisminetocommand, @the-arson-author-gamer, @honeyxmonkey, @danhengsbestie, @falki-of-the-vanir

[prismarts]

Memories and a Reunion

Plot: Three moments in Douxie's lifetime where he remembers his best friend, Illy......... and their reunion, 900 years later.

Notes: Takes place wayyy before ToA but also during Wizards, Just them and an exploration of Douxie thinking about Illy throughout the centuries, small Peter Pan Return to Neverland reference :3, WE ARE SO BACK BABSSS LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I miss them.

Trigger Warnings: Fear of a loved one's death, brief mention of one night stands and flings. Let me know if there are any that I missed-

Word Count: 2171 words

Tags: @tempestimes @mxcheese @alovesongtheywrote @blixeon @gafanhotoanarquistax3 @gaylightisminetocommand @nyxicnymph @slowpokenz @sergeantsporks @honeyxmonkey @tenebrius-excellium @generalfandomsofthefreak @bernie-the-nugget @lovedropletsdreams @glorious-pxrpose @valentimmy @tales-of-hisirdoux

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Douxie always held his life back in Camelot in his memories, in his heart. Despite everything, Camelot was his home and where he spent a good while of his life there… That was where he was accepted as Merlin’s apprentice, where he met Morgana and gained a permanent place to live with his familiar and learn magic.

But it was also where he met his best friend, Illy….

Of course he would always remember to keep his life in Camelot in his memories, even with the kingdom long gone by the time he started his journey to other kingdoms and villages, to other countries and lands…

Memories of the people he cared about so deeply and the times he had there, they were special to him…Merlin, Morgana……

Illy..

There were three specific moments in his centuries long journey where he thinks about the spellcaster, his best friend…

The first time was…. So simple… When Douxie looked back on this moment, he almost chuckled fondly, thinking about how something so small could remind him of her…

He was travelling to a neighbouring town at the time, taking a longer route through a flourishing field. With Archie on his shoulders, he was walking along the dirt path and looking around the area, taking in the scenery of the open field.

The clouds floating around slowly as the wind gently blew through his hair as something small caught his golden hazel and green eyes nestled amongst the soft grass as he quietly strayed from the dirt path and towards the open field.

“Douxie, where are you going?”

Archie asked as he watched his wizard familiar kneel down on the soft grass and stare at the small bundles of forget me nots nestled on the ground.

“Look Arch, forget me nots!...”, Douxie said, a hint of excitement in his voice as he glanced at his cat familiar as he saw Archie tilt his head, “Indeed, Douxie…what about them?”, his familiar asked curiously.

The young wizard has never really shown interest in flowers before…

“They’re Illy’s favourite…remember?..”, The wizard replied in a soft voice, turning his head again to stare at the small flowers, waving around through the wind as he felt a small, nostalgic smile spread across his face.

“It is….I’m surprised you remembered…” Archie said as he watched his young familiar roll his eyes playfully as he glanced at the black cat on his shoulder, “Of course, I remember….”, he mumbled before going back to looking at the flowers quietly.

“I wonder what she’s up to….”

He wondered out loud, a worried frown quietly making its way to his face as he fully sat himself down with a sigh, “I hope she’s alright..”, He mumbled, holding the bud of the flower in his hand, being careful not to pick it off.

“I’m sure she is, Douxie…. She’s a strong spellcaster…wherever she is, I’m sure she’s safe..”, The familiar on his shoulder said as he gently bumped his head against Douxie’s as an attempt to cheer him up.

“R..right….of course she is….I suppose I’m just…realising how long it’s been…since we last saw each other..” 

“Well…. You’ll see each other again Douxie… I can’t tell you exactly when that is…but the day will come.”

Archie watches as Douxie takes a breath, smiling a little sadly as he nodded, “You’re right, Archie….I just have to wait and see..”, He mumbled, carefully picking a small bundle of the forget me nots.

“For now…I can find ways to just…remember her..” 

Douxie took out his heavy leather bound notebook out of his pack, carefully opening to two empty pages and placing the bundle of flowers and closing the book, pressing the flowers into its pages.

He packed up his notebook before standing back up, being careful of Archie perched on his shoulder as he spotted a sparkling turquoise butterfly fluttering past in the distance, smiling as they continued their journey.

Centuries later, another moment came…

Well, less of a moment and more of a realisation on Douxie’s part, he admits as he thinks back on it.

It was the 90s, he had just gotten into a relationship with a mortal girl, Alice. She was sweet and kind, he was happy with her despite the relationship not lasting long.

It wasn’t because of anything terrible, Alice was amazing really, but Douxie had gotten used to not being attached to mortals….it was harder as an immortal to do so and he’s built a wall around himself.

He just couldn’t bring himself to stay in relationships with mortals long term, most times they end up being very brief single nights of intimacy…

But he also noticed something else, how much she reminded him of Illy… It wasn’t too obvious at first, she has small physical similarities…. 

She was a brunette, freckles littering her cheeks like Illy… she was a little on the shorter side as well.

But what really hit the young wizard hard were the similarities in their personalities, his girlfriend was well read, she was smart and kind. She was shy at first but grew to be more talkative as their relationship went on.

She was gentle and soft spoken…

She reminded him so much of Illy, she reminded him of his best friend…The best friend he hasn’t seen in centuries at this point of his life.

Douxie was laying in his bed as the realisation hit, staring at the ceiling and getting so lost in thought as he tossed and turned.

He never expected to think of Illy this way, of course he didn’t. She was his best friend, he hasn’t seen her since Camelot…. 

He’s never had these thoughts before….

Never realised if any of his partners, as rare as it was for him to be in relationships, he never realised if any of his past partners ever reminded him of Illy.

His face burned, going warm as his cheeks turned red as he thought about it, sitting up abruptly as he covered his face with his hands with a heavy sigh. Running his fingers through his bangs as he glanced out the window.

“Douxie, are you alright?..”

He flinched, hearing Archie’s voice as the cat familiar jumped up the bed as he glanced down at him for a moment.

“I….I don’t know….I guess…I was thinking..”

“Whatever about?..”

Douxie thought to himself quietly as he looked out the window for a moment before glancing at Archie, “Do….you ever notice….that Alice is a lot like Illy?..”, he asked quietly.

There was a silence in the room for a moment before Archie spoke up, seemingly in thought the whole time, “I suppose so…. She isn’t completely like Illy, of course…but I suppose she does remind me of her….why?..”

“I…I just never realised it before, I suppose….and it’s…I’m not sure why I’m thinking about it. Illy’s just…..my best friend..and I shouldn’t be thinking about this…..right?..”

“Well….I wouldn’t say it’s an awful thing to think about… You’re maybe just realising you have certain traits you gravitate towards.”

“I…guess?...”

Douxie mumbled, sounding unsure of himself as he took a breath for a moment, “Do you think we’ll ever see her again?... It’s been……centuries…since we left Camelot, since we said goodbye… We haven’t seen her at all…”

“...We have no way of knowing if…..if she’s even alive…”

He let out a shaky sigh, getting up from his bed completely, opening the window and leaning his head on the window sill. Staring at the night sky quietly as he felt tears prick at his eyes.

Archie quietly jumped onto the window sill next to his wizard familiar, sitting himself down as he nuzzled his head against his young wizard, purring as an attempt to comfort him.

“Maybe someday….we’ll see her again….. There’s also no way for us to know either way…but if she is alive…then we’ll see her again someday….”

Douxie let out a shaky sigh as he gently leaned his head a little against Archie as he purred, the both of them looking out the window as he could have sworn he saw the same glowing turquoise butterfly he did centuries ago flying by in the distance.

He smiled sadly, sighing, “Maybe you’re right, Arch….thank you..”, he mumbled softly as they stared at the stars together.

Years later, he was tossed onto a flying ship. 

Narrowly escaping the Green Knight and his attacks on the bookstore with Merlin, Toby, Steve and AAARRRGGHH in tow. Archie having been with him since the start of the night like he’s always been.

They were flying through the sky quickly, Douxie holding onto the side of the ship as it slowed down slightly when the castle came into sight.

The young wizard’s breath caught in his throat for a moment at the sight of his old home flying in the sky, effectively having drowned out the excited conversations from the two kids and his old Master in the distance.

Douxie smiled fondly, leaning slightly on the railing of the ship as he looked at his old home, memories of his time in Camelot slowly flooding back to him..

Memories of Illy resurfacing….

He can’t help the feeling of his racing heart as the memories resurface, questions flooding his mind eternally.

Is she here? Has she been here for a while? Master Merlin…didn’t mention her…

Has she changed much since he last saw her? She had to have changed somewhat…it has been centuries..

Would….she even remember him?... 

Would she recognize him?...

His head was reeling at the thought….hoping so badly that his best friend did remember him…that she could recognize him right away.

He was finally going to see her again!

The excitement was making his heart jump around in his chest, the closer they got to the castle…

Oh, if he only knew what would happen…

He could never imagine he would have to bring an entire group into hiding at Hex Tech, almost suffering the wrath of Zoe, who….he really owed after that day.

He could never imagine that he would have had to go back to the past…

He would never imagine he would have reunited with Illy from his Camelot days before he could even see her from his own timeline..

He never imagined that Illy would kiss him before the Battle of Killahead…

He glanced down at the girl in question, the girl currently occupying his brain amongst all the danger and adrenaline.

She looks…different, her hair was significantly shorter, messily cut and draping just above her shoulders. She was dressed differently too, her lady in waiting gown in shades of green replaced with an outfit more befitting of a wizard.

A dark green vest over a white tunic top, a wrapped around skirt, pants and heavy brown and silver boots. Silver detailing scattered all over now that he had the time to really take in her different look.

Her eyes were still the same shimmering turquoise…but at the moment it seemed hardened…her eyes seemed puffy and red…as if she had been crying.

She looked upset.

Douxie felt a pang of pain when he noticed….was there some form of guilt in there as well? Maybe…was she upset with him? Because they haven’t seen each other in so long?

He couldn’t tell…

And perhaps he had been looking at her for a tad longer than he intended…because as soon as he glanced away, he tenses, hearing her quiet voice.

“Douxie?..”

Douxie looked back down at Illy, seeing her look up at him quietly, her turquoise coloured eyes almost inspecting him in a way he just couldn’t explain..

“..Hello, Illy..”, He said, his voice soft as he did, being mindful at how tense she seemed.

There was an awkward silence as they looked at each other, Illy staring at him for a moment, looking him up and down before glancing down, “....You changed…” She barely whispered, her voice fragile and almost solemn..

The now Master Wizard looked down at her, the hurt in his chest getting a little worse… something happened to her…and he wanted to know everything, but there was so much going on at the moment.

Douxie reached out, taking Illy’s hand in his with a soft squeeze as she whipped her head up to look at him, “Not really….not ever… I’m still the same moppet you knew…all those centuries ago..”, he said, a fond smile appearing on his face.

He watched as Illy let out a shaky sigh as tears appeared in her eyes, in that moment, that was what she saw… the same moppet she befriended and fell in love with all those centuries ago.

She squeezed his hand back gently, a small giggle escaping her.

“I guess you are…..I really missed you, Douxie…” She mumbled softly, leaning her head on his arm, gently. 

Pulling a soft chuckle from the taller wizard, a sound Illy thought she would never hear again before today….

“I missed you too, Illy…”

[tmae3114]

Except that Wales was officially formed into a kingdom by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1055, so the "Camelot being around in the 1100s" butterfly problem still applies! I focused on England initially because it was where they seemed to have placed Camelot but frankly putting an entire other kingdom on this island that recently (for a given value of recently) causes a ton of butterflies and questions about history regardless of where on the island it is XD

(Incidentally, the main reasons I placed ToA's Camelot as being in England were that they seemed to be pulling on a lot of pop culture King Arthur stuff, so I figured the writers probably didn't know about the Wales connection because it gets overlooked so much, and they gave basically everybody a Received Pronunciation accent. And while nobody in the twelfth century would've used RP anyways and loads of us nowadays end up forced by circumstance to learn it, I tend to automatically associate RP with England :p)

It’s 03:28 and I’m lying awake in bed wondering what the history of the British Isles - England, mostly, but alternate history butterflies would affect way more than just them - looks like in the Tales of Arcadia universe given that King Arthur was ruling the Kingdom of Camelot in the twelfth century

[beannary]

Bean we are SO interested in your other toa wips PLEASE

OK this has been sitting in my askbox for three months and i just kept putting off answering it for literally no reason so finally we are here and i have another wip for you!

i basically wrote this because i started watching a lot of documentaries on medieval europe and learned about how dirty it was

Camelot is nothing like Hisirdoux ever imagined.

First of all, the castle is absolutely filthy. 

The straw and hay that covers the floors are filled with muck and grime. Rats and other vermin scurry about on the floor. None of that really bothered Hisirdoux really, he had grown up on the streets after all. Out of everyone here in the castle he was probably the most acquainted with filth. 

But what really bothered him was the smell. 

It permeated every inch of the castle, nowhere was safe, not even the very top of Merlin’s tower. He mentions this somewhat offhandedly one morning during his writing lessons with the page boys. They kindly, but also with an air of amusement at his ignorance, inform him about the castle moat, and where exactly the latrines emptied out into. 

So yeah. It wasn’t necessarily pleasant.

But the perks of living in the castle far outweighed the cons.

On his first morning in Camelot, Merlin had given him an actual toothbrush! Made with hazel wood and wrapped in actual cloth! And he got to eat spiced candies after dinner! Hisirdoux had never been more excited to abandon the awful chewy, gummy mallows he had previously used to keep his teeth clean. Plus he got to bathe indoors now! Sure the water was frigid cold but it beat having to bathe in whatever stream or lake he happened across. 

The scholarly lessons were also a surprise. Hisirdoux had been only expecting to be taught in magical affairs, but it had taken only one day of Merlin attempting to teach Hisirdoux before he was deemed not ready enough and sent off to join the page boys with their daily lessons. And yeah it was disappointing not being able to learn magic right away, but the poetry, music, and writing lessons more than made up for it.

He adjusted to his new daily routine quite quickly. Wake up at dawn, rush down to the kitchens for a quick bite to eat before hurrying off to his lessons with the page boys. After lessons were over, Hisirdoux would rejoin Merlin and help with whatever cleaning or other chores needed to be done before turning in for the night.

[aevyk-ing]

Lights and Shadows of Camelot: Chapter 18

The cave was dark and narrow, a long corridor that ended in a small chamber. There was no light there, just the faint glow of the amulet. Until it died out.

The light of the Amulet faded and, with a click, the armor disappeared and the rounded artefact slid from Jim’s chest to his knees. He didn’t have time to react.

“W-what? No!”

He desperately reached for it, holding it with his two hands, as he had done when he had used it as a mirror. Nothing.

“Come on, I need you! They need… I have to fight!” he yelled, baring his teeth at it. With a sigh, he let it fell to the ground, next to him. He started remembering. He remembered how the Amulet wouldn’t leave his side during the very first week.

“I don’t want this!” he had yelled to Merlin, throwing the Amulet as far as he could through the forest. It had come back. Time after time.

“Oh, you can’t refuse it, it chose you.” the wizard had said, shrugging.

“Well, obviously, it made a mistake. Take it back.”

AO3

[xxbatsybeanxx]

And now, for some TOA OC art

Lana if she was in trollhunters

Bonus : Camelot Lana

[trollamulet]

ok ok a few aus on this master post i'll link on pinned / whatever mobile accessible thing i make for him - sorted by in and out of fandom!

toa based-aus

unbecoming! i can't get enough of this line of aus - essentially anyone other than jim getting the medal Without Resetting The World tm - jim retains knowledge of what's gone on, with mixed effects. i personally Love jim still functioning as a trollhunter, though more along the lines of main timeline toby & claire, and more along the lines of jack sturges. that, and potentially picking up the skathe hrun later.

jim escaping camelot and ending up in with either gunmar's army, or in dwoza properly - either or. just your Totally Normal Troll Guy With One Extra Finger On His Left Hand, totally doesn't also act like he's got human reactions too. maybe it's just from being locked up in camelot. as jim hesitates with a name, stumbling out 'ji...key... jiki!' and tries to disengage the conflict between humans and trolls; for better or worse. though he knows that gunmar must end up in the darklands, one way or another.

as a side tangent au to above- jim being lost to the darklands with and becoming the beast, replacing aaarrrgghh!! as gunmar's general once the shard corrupts him, but instead of losing his mind to the corrupted, he keeps his sanity for a while before going mad himself eventually. timey wimey bullshit can happen with a human jim stumbling upon him.

body swap - body swap magic is canon - is it a spell jim activates, or someone else does, or something in a trap that both characters trigger