#witcher!arthur

[alons-ycreeper]

Because it's been rotting in my brain and it's canonical that a version of this world exists in the franchise I bring you this

BBC Merlin x Witcher

- When King Uther is saved from a griffin attack by a passing witcher from the school of the Bear, the witcher calls upon the Law of Surprise: the first news he receives when he arrives home. It is then that the Court Physician, Gauis, comes out to tell the king that his wife, Yrgraine, has passed in childbirth but his son Arthur is in good health. The Bear witcher looks to the king and tells him that in six years time he'll return for the boy. Six year pass and despite Uther's best efforts to save his only son and heir the witcher still manages to come for him. With the loss of his son Uther banned the Law of Surprise and all witchers from entering Camelot.

- Arthur undergoes the Trial of the Grasses with fellow children of surprise: Gwaine and Lancelot. Arthur seems unaffected by the Grasses so he's given a second round which was more painful than the first leading to his hair falling out and coming back in platinum blond. He grows to be the most skilled swordsman the school has to offer making him efficient in each kill. However, he is unable to use witcher signs and his potion brewing skills could use some work. Aside from that, Arthur quickly becomes the most sought after witcher in Albion.

- When Arthur is twenty-one he gets a contract in Camelot, a request from the king himself. At this point more than witchers and the Law of Surprise have been banned from these lands. Magic has also been prohibited unless it is used for healing and even that has strict rules to it. The king asks him to kill a dragon in one of the nearby caves. Arthur laughs stating that killing a dragon is strictly against his own code. Seeing himself out Arthur is soon stopped by Princess Morgana, who doubles as her father's court sorceress. She brings him another contract this time in aid of the dragon. She tells him her close friend and son of the Chief Dragonlord, Merlin Wyllt, is in need of protection for the Great Dragon's egg. Arthur agrees and sets out to meet this Merlin.

- Turns out Merlin just happens to be the legendary Emrys, Son of Eart Sky and Sea, Magic itself. A bit intimidating especially for someone who's at least two years younger than Arthur himself. Merlin is an interesting person. For someone so incredibly kind and down-to-earth, he's rather feisty and a bit mischievous. The way he makes Arthur feel dizzy isn't entirely unwelcome. When the threat to the egg has passed and Merlin is returned safely to his Dragonlord clan in the tiny village of Ealdor, Arthur is asked by the younger to stay and watch the egg hatch. Honored, Arthur agrees and is awestruck by the newly hatched Aithusa.

- Arthur is on the outskirts of the village when Merlin comes running up to him, pack in on hand and horse's bridel in the other. The witcher doesn't even try to object, just laughs as he saddles his own horse as they ride off together towards Camelot.

- By the end the king believes Arthur has slain the beast and dubs him knighthood, thus making him Arthur of Camelot the only witcher allowed into the kingdom. The years following the dragon hunt see Arthur frequent Camelot often for its monsters. The king seems to become more and more familiar with the witcher as does the princess though Arthur would call her more a friend than Uther. There's something about the old king that feels off to Arthur not necessarily in a bad way but not in a good way either.

- It's during the year Arthur claims his child surprise, Mordred, a young druid boy, and Merlin has been traveling with him for a few years. Merlin has received news from Morgana that she's run away from home to a druid tribe not far from them. They plan to go meet her when they find themselves surrounded by Camelot knights. Leon, their leader, apologizes for the ambush but the king wants Arthur in Camelot immediately.

- Uther tells Arthur he's his son. It all makes sense why the king became so adamant that Arthur stay long after hunts. Now with Morgana having gone rouge Camelot needs an heir, its true heir. Arthur refuses but before he can escape Uther has him imprisoned. Merlin and Mordred managed to get out, running into the nearby forest. Merlin, frantic, goes in search of Gwaine and Lancelot, Arthur's brothers. Mordred, however, calls out to the druids. They answer.

Merlin: You knew. This whole time you knew.

Morgana: Merlin, listen please–

Merlin: How could you lie to him like that? He's your brother, your flesh and blood brother!

Morgana: What good would telling him have done, huh? Already a witcher for longer than he was human. He didn't suit this life not anymore.

Morgana: I know I haven't been a good sister, Merlin. But believe me I love my brother very much. I sobbed myself to sleep the night the witcher came for him. I prayed to the triple goddess every night to bring him back. And when I saw him again all I wanted to do was hold him like I did when he was a baby.

Merlin: Save me your tears. I don't have time for this.

Morgana: Uther trapped me, controlled me. You think he won't trap Arthur as well?

Merlin: He already has. That's why I'm going for help.

- Merlin sets out again with Mordred and an uninvited Morgana to find Arthur's brothers. Meanwhile Arthur suffers at the hands of his father who is constantly trying to find a way to reverse the witcher mutation

[ramen-flavored]

[shibuya-111]

[dafna-winchester]

Final sketches for my December SAD ( sketch a day) challenge 🙏

[taintedmind6669]

Let it be known that I also love Morgana x Gwen but they usually flirt pretty normally aside from the whole evil Morgana manipulation plot point but I couldn’t find a good screenshot to encapsulate that

[mijuki]

Forgotten Sword. Acrylic paints on wood panel

[lellowberry]

any game that let's you dress up the grizzled, battle scarred murderer like he's your own personal Polly Pocket belongs to the girls gays and theys sorry I don't make the rules

[wolfred09]

RDR2 VS TW3.....look like Horse?

[sebesun]

It was a little whisper I was like mk yeah i gotta drwer that

Red Dead Witcher... Witcher Dead Redemption... wahoo

[morganalefay]

my heart is full of swords full of, full of swords

[lilykim523]

20191117 Witcher Arthur

[jaskier-more-like-saskier]

The Merlin to Witcher and Merthur to Geraskier pipeline is the realst thing on tumblr

[ramen-flavored]

[coffeeandmagicaltales]

DISCLAIMER: Written and illustrated by me, I'm Polish, I use all kind of AI translators to my original texts, because I sometimes make mistakes or simply don't know how to write dialects/accents. What's in front of you are silly stories written by me in Arthur's journal style to indulge you, Reader. Nothing ambitious, expect mixed AU, irony, distance to Arthur's serious story.

Chapter 1: When the Wolf meets the Buck

[hanzajesthanza]

my attempts to avoid thoughts of geralt's hanza continue to fail, as sapkowski talks about them in front of my face.

(from manuscript, on the subject of the hero and the quest):

On this expedition, the Hero (Simple or King) is accompanied by others who are stereotypical-canonical fantasy characters, in other words - clichés:

Wizard-Mentor (the aforementioned MERLIN, Obi-wan Kenobi, Gandalf, Allanon, Belgarath, Sephrenia or Moiraine, who supports the hero with advice and help); Faithful Servant (in the case of the King, literally, in the case of the Simple, rather a childhood friend, Sam Gamgee. He serves the plot to recite wise folk maxims and prove that the simple people are the most morally healthy; or to save the ass of his master/friend where magic and a sharp sword will not help, and common sense and a strong, faithful arm will suffice). Good Knight (charismatic LANCELOT, always loyal and ready to fight, sometimes with some dark secret in his life); Worse Knight (always with some dark secret in his life, ambitious like Boromir, in the clutches of Evil, secretly collaborates with Evil, regrets betrayal, undergoes catharsis, perishes); Trickster - Conniver (see LOKI in "Materia Magiczna"**), cheerful, but can cause trouble, which attracts like a magnet; Damsel in Distress, who is saved from danger on the way and included in the team. Usually a princess in disguise. For several volumes of the cycle she does not like the Hero, in the last she becomes his wife.

* Type A = Percival, a hero who does not have power and is searching it, and Type B = King Arthur, a hero who has lost his power and wants to regain it. in other words, Type A = Reynevan and Type B = Geralt :)

** another chapter of the book, "Materia magica, or the Little Magical Alphabetical Lexicon," it's a glossary of various myth and legend. in loki's entry, he recounts some myths of loki and equivalates him with other figures across various traditions: Odysseus, Pryderi, Bricriu, Mordred, Alyosha Popovich, Coyote, Anansi, Maui). then he lists a few fantasy/spec fic characters he categorizes as trickers: Cugel (Dying Earth), Kickaha (World of Tiers), Coyote (Coyote Blue), Peter Lake (Winter's Tale), Moonglum (Elric of Melniboné), Nifft and Haldar (Nifft the Lean), Random (Chronicles of Amber), Saruman (Lord of the Rings), Shimrod (Lyonesse), Silk (The Belgariad and The Malloreon), Gray Mouser (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser), Talen (The Elenium).

my thoughts:

pretty obvious assignments here, for the most part.

regis is the Wizard-Mentor, but, as he soon loses his mystique, his intellectual, philosophizing manner becomes mundane and irritating than providing magical provenance. he advises incessantly, answering questions before they're asked, giving guidance when no one asked. he only appears to be omniscient, and the others may think he's so smart because he's hundreds of years older than them, but is really just a guy, a middle aged man with a troubled youth which he learned from. his advice is not magically guided and for this reason is fallable, mortal, human. maybe the cliché is also played with in that he's a vampire, not a wizard, sorcerer, or priest, "‘I see.’ The poet sighed. ‘Is Regis a sorcerer?’ ‘No. No, not a sorcerer.’" ... as vampires are typically evil and regis is decidedly a force of good. (on this topic, @wampirzielarz once compared-contrasted gandalf and regis and it was super interesting :))

dandelion is a combination of the Faithful Servant and the Trickster. he's geralt's best friend, and doesn't fight alongside him with sword but his presence is necessary to our hero for moral support, that all makes the first part an obvious assignment... and... sapkowski lists a wide variety of tricksters of various moral alignments, but amongst them are some heroes and some best friends of heroes (and anti-heroes). and asides from being geralt's closest friend, dandelion is, after all, a rascal, who uses words and good looks to get what he wants from people. "a cynic, a lecher, a womanizer and a liar." (also, because i think szarlej also fits this double-definition as well, i won't hesitate to give them to dandelion, as they serve pretty similar functions alongside their respective heroes).

milva is the Good Knight, "always loyal and ready to fight" describes her perfectly, and her 'dark secret' was her pregnancy and plans for abortion. (though, the attribution of lancelot... well, maybe this is why some keen eyes saw a potential in yenva). anyhow, the playfulness with the cliché comes from the fact that she's a woman, which is supposed to be surprising that the hero's strongest ally is a woman. i think the "charismatic" attribute is also supposed to be played with here, as milva is simple and not too well-spoken, only so in her cursing. in other words, she's a peasant woman, and not a born-and-bred nobleman. also, for her gender, she is a play on another trope sapkowski mentions a couple of pages later, but i can't go into it now because it's too funny.

cahir is the Worse Knight, though perhaps in reverse, for all of his associations with Evil was in the past and shed like sports colors when he changed teams. he has no betrayal, "I will never betray you, witcher," all of his ‘betrayal’ was before he was even allied with the hero. but of course, for these sins, he "undergoes catharsis, perishes".

the Damsel in Distress is evidentially angouleme, being "saved from danger on the way and included in the team." the rebuking of the cliché, of course, is that geralt is "genuinely angry, genuinely confused, genuinely embarrassed" when she offers her "gratitude" to him. also, that she is no princess in disguise, just an ordinary girl, though she is confused for the princess they're after (who also happens to be another play on the damsel in distress cliché). and again, like milva, i think angouleme is related to another specifically female character cliché sapkowski calls out; but i'll save it for another post.

[pandalikeelf]

when pandalikeelf's worlds collide