#ygraines sigil

[gldnstrngs]

it’s wild to think that the two times arthur gives a ring to gwen in case he dies, he doesn’t actually give it to her himself

in s4 ep 5, he gives ygraine’s ring—his mother’s ring—to merlin, so he could hand it off to gwen. even though it was because gwen hadn’t actually been there, arthur knew what they were getting into before they left for the battle. he had every opportunity to give it to her before that, but instead gave merlin the responsibility with a “tell her i’m sorry”

and then in the series finale, when arthur knows that the chances of him making it are slim, he gives gaius to the royal seal to give to gwen. arthur knew how high stakes the battle against morgana was and gwen had even been there, so he could’ve actually given it to her himself because of that very risk. also, the fact that they never even really got a proper goodbye, despite everything…

then we have the s4 ep1 deleted scene of arthur giving merlin ygraine’s sigil, explicitly telling him to “just… take it.” nothing else was said, but there was nothing else actually needed to be said between the both of them. arthur’s actions said enough, which is not something gwen had the privilege of seeing herself

arthur knew the risks when he was going to confront the dorocha, so he gave merlin his mother’s sigil. but when it came to gwen, he couldn’t be the one to actually give his rings to her

also, the fact that arthur thought that merlin was meant to have his sigil, despite knowing the weight in doing that??? it’s not just a symbol that represents the de bois house, but it’s a seal for royalty, which means he inadvertently made merlin the heir to the throne. and that was before he entertained the idea of giving gwen his rings

that in itself is enough to prove that arthur looked at merlin as something more than just king and manservant or friends. in his mind, merlin and gwen paralleled each other, hence his actions. but it turned out that, in the end, merlin was the only one who really mattered to arthur when his life was at risk. and he actually got to say goodbye to merlin before he died, even telling him thank you—which we all know was coded for “i love you” (platonic or romantic)

and people can argue that because the deleted scene is, in fact, deleted, then that means it wouldn’t actually mean anything. i would argue against that— i think it actually means way more that the scene was not only deleted, but replaced with a more “platonic” feel to it. because the showrunners knew what they were doing

they. knew. i CANNOT emphasize that enough. it’s likely that they came up with the original scene, proceeded to film it, and then decided to cut it out because of The Implications

honestly, this little rant isn’t necessarily me trying to invalidate arwen. i may not ship them, but i definitely do think they deserved better treatment as the main ship (like not having arthur properly say goodbye to gwen was actually Diabolical). i do think arthur loved her, but his love for merlin superseded that and those scenes just seem to prove it😭

[justaz]

balinor giving merlin the ambrosius sigil and merlin carrying it around with him for years. merlin and arthur sitting around a campfire, both believing fullheartedly that they’ll be dead by morning bc like hell are they going to allow the other to sacrifice themself to close the veil. arthur giving merlin the du bois sigil as a parting gift and ensuring that merlin will be taken care of after his death. merlin biting the bullet and handing over the ambrosius family sigil in exchange. luckily, arthur doesn’t recognize the ambrosius sigil for what it is - a dragonlord lineage. BUT now he thinks merlin has noble blood and is wondering when tf he figured that out, if he ever met his father, and why he never told arthur.

[bramblebush3]

Ygraine de Bois had been dead for a long time now. Decades. Yet, she never lacked for something to do. She tried not to think of what Uther had done; the lives he had destroyed. She remembered when he had been kind, quite like Arthur, really. But those days were long passed. Now, she watches Arthur grow up. Oh, how she adored him. She was not always pleased with his choices and actions, but she was always proud of him. And then: Merlin. The young boy was fiery and bright, with a lively glow and an infectious smile. Ygraine could not help but feel amused and joyful as she watched him insult her son in an effort to stand up for the poor servant Arthur had chosen to pick on that day. She felt something was different about Merlin, and she could tell Arthur did too. She had always been quite magic sensitive, so Arthur being so as well was not a stretch. The full body laugh that escaped her as she watched her husband proclaim Merlin Arthur’s manservant warmed her to her core, and the feeling something was changing wiggled its way into her head. 

She was right, of course. Ygraine watched as Arthur changed, becoming something more. And she knew. Oh, she knew. It was all because of Merlin. The adorable, smiling manservant who made luminescent butterflies and defended Arthur against anything that wished him harm. Before she knew it, Merlin had become as much a fixture of her life as Arthur. Ygraine watched, a swooping feeling of excitement in her chest, as Arthur and Merlin’s relationship became something deeper than even that of friendship. Love.  

So now, Ygraine watches Arthur carefully and reverently gift Merlin her sigil. Merlin does not know exactly what it means (neither of them do, really), but he cradles it as if it is the most precious thing in the world. Ygraine smiles, and finally allows her soul to pass on.

[adhd-merlin]

[chappellcastiel]

This my official request for the fandom to start writing more about the fact that Arthur wears his mothers ring.

[sundry-whovengerslocked]

Snow and Dirty Rain (Merlin)

Richard Silken, "Snow and Dirty Rain" // BBC Merlin

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

-

and we've got a part three! with merthur this time! and significantly less angst!

I tried to make this one a bit like a duet, if you pay attention you can see that the words are closer to one of the boys vs the other, rather than spread across the pictures like I usually do.

Gaius, Hunith, and Leon will be in the next part, I promise. I've got it all sorted out.

-

the first one is arthur and merlin in ealdor. I was gonna do the "there is no more rope!" scene for the literal climbing out the window, but I figured the more metaphorical rebellion against uther was better.

peep the poetry with the scene about poetry! haha

I chose the labyrinth of gedref for that catalog line because I wanted to include it, and also I found it fit because they were trying to bring back the food/harvest - like dawn to a field

also that kingdom line was too perfect to not use for Ygraine's sigil! I'm so happy I got to fit it in!

[starrieisdelusional]

canon merthur is so special because they’re ACTUALLY the only one who gets to accompany the other meeting each-other’s deadTM parents.

we saw arthur meeting ygraine only through merlin lens (+ the whole sigil thing????) and the only one who get to see merlin and balinor spend time with each-other is arthur

[neptunesyellowsands]

Has the sigil been beaten to death? Yes. Am I going to write a small essay about it anyway? Also yes.

The sigil is such a monumental piece of the story, guys. No matter who you ship, Arthur giving Merlin his mother’s sigil is outrageously important to the validation of their relationship and to Arthur’s character growth, AND a view into his evolving perception of his traitorous family, which is probably why they were cut bc why would we want THAT. I will explain.

Arthur resists verbalizing his friendship with Merlin so much, but he says a lot more with his actions - sacrificing himself for Merlin time and again, confiding in him, keeping him close even though he’s not really supposed to. The sigil is a tangible piece of himself that he gives to Merlin, inviting him into his family and reminding him, even if he can’t quite do it with words, how close they really are.

But his FAMILY. I think that Arthur’s perception of his family is really starting to shift here. He doesn’t give Merlin something that makes him a Pendragon. He doesn’t give him his father’s ring or a dagger encrusted with the symbol of the dragon. He gives him his MOTHER’S sigil, the symbol of the bird, which is of course very symbolic of the relationship between Uther and Ygraine vs. Arthur and Merlin, but it also means that Arthur doesn’t want to associate Merlin with the side of the family that connects via his father - Uther and Morgana, ruthless and hard and traitorous. Arthur didn’t know that Agravaine had betrayed him yet. He wants Merlin to be family, but I think he wants to try everything he can to associate Merlin with the soft bits of his family history - the memory of a kind, gentle mother and a loyal uncle. This, to me, suggests that Arthur is really feeling his own departure from his father’s ways and trying to find a part of himself that was maybe like his mother instead. That would have been important if Merlin had told him about his magic earlier, because Arthur maybe wouldn’t have wanted to react as his father would have.

I just think keeping the scene in would have changed everything about the show from that point on. WHICH IS WHY IT IS CANON IN MY HEAD.

[arthurthepeoplesprincess]

Arthur returning

As much as I enjoy “Arthur returns” fanfictions where he gets resurrected and rises from the lake, I don’t think it makes sense. It's fun to read about a medieval man in the 21st century (or any future time) and the Merthur reunion, but would he really ‘return’ this way? And if he does, what use would he be in Albion’s moment of need? When is that moment of need, anyway?

In my opinion, I don’t think Albion or the British Isles have only one moment of need, so it would make sense for him to get reincarnated multiple times to serve a purpose in saving Britain. Whether his actions are big or small, whether he succeeds or fails, it doesn’t matter because he will always be reincarnated when needed. That doesn’t mean he would come back at every minor inconvenience just when there’s a really big catastrophe, like a world war.

That being said, Merlin’s role would be to find every Arthur and help him achieve his purpose. You know, two sides of the same coin, so saving Britain isn’t Arthur’s job alone. That’s why Merlin stays immortal, just waiting for the next Arthur, finding him, helping him achieve their purpose, living the rest of Arthur’s life with him, and then Arthur dies and they redo it forever.

This is such torture for anyone to endure, but it’s their destiny. Even if they try to ignore their mission, I don’t think destiny cares it will have its way with them.

Also, in this headcanon (just for extra angst), Arthur doesn’t remember any of his past lives, but when his death comes near, he begins to remember everything slowly until he remembers it all and dies moments later in Merlin’s arms, every single time.

Another headcanon, which is why I wrote this in the first place, is that I love the idea of Merlin having memory boxes where he keeps significant things and memories he has of every single Arthur like Ygraine’s sigil, photos, gifts, love letters, a necklace with Arthur’s picture inside, and maybe diaries where he documents his favorite things about them and how different they all are, even though deep down they are all his Arthur, and he loves them all the same.

In the final scene we see him walking by the lake. He was going to visit the place where he last saw the first Arthur because he misses him so much, and it’s been a while since Arthur was last reincarnated. And Merlin is still waiting for them to meet again.

[akelafang]

Imagine if Arthur made an off-handed comment about Merlin and Agravaine being family. Merlin would be so confused and then Arthur realizing what he'd done would have to explain what him giving Merlin the sigil means. Agravaine realizing that the annoying servant he's been beefing with is technically his nephew-in-law and married to the king

A random thought for today: do you think Arthur wanted Merlin and Agravaine to get along so badly because they were both the last members of his mother's family? Merlin was technically made a du Bois when Arthur gave him his mother's sigil, which would have legally made Merlin and Agravaine family.

So, Arthur sees both Merlin and Agravaine as the last of his mother's family, so he wants them to like each other or at least get along, so that he can have one side of his family that isn't marred by blood and betrayal like the Pendragon line is with his father and sister. He might see this as a second chance of having a supportive family, so he wants Merlin and Agravaine to get along so they can be one big happy family together.

God I love all of the possibilities that the sigil opens up!

[lavendersins]

okay, but imagine merlin accidentally accepts a random king's offer to become their heir apparent, but then the whole problem of ygraine's sigil becomes known. next thing you know camelot is competing against this random kingdom for merlin in a bunch of ridiculous challenges like it's the freaking olympics.

it should be over soon.

until you add in the druids wanting him to claim his leadership and kingdom in the perilous lands, that merlin also unknowingly accepted from the fisher king.

meanwhile, merlin is just off to the side scratching his head confused.

i think it goes without saying that arthur's practically frothing at the mouth at this point. :)

[jade-bright]

Adding to my Sterek Queen Charlotte au (lowkey, more like Royalty au), because almost everytime I read a merthur fic that mentions Ygraine de Bois' Sigil i think of this...

After some time, when their marriage starts to be something more than an arranged marriage, Stiles starts to call Derek by terms of endearments and nicknames: love, dear, sourwolf, etc., and telling Derek that he loves him and kissing him outside of when it may be required of them to kiss.

And Derek returns his feelings of course! Anytime they kiss, Stiles has to be the one to separate them, because if it were up to Derek, he wouldn't end it for anything or anyone but Stiles.

So yes, Derek loves his husband very much, but at the same time, he hates that they're already married because although they actually like each other now and tell each other that they love the other, Derek doesn't feel like it's enough, he almost wishes they weren't married just so he could properly propose to Stiles.

Inspiration strikes one day. Derek goes to his mother and requests to have their family's sigil on a pendant to give to Stiles. Talia happily fulfills his request [cause I don't want to make her a meanie to Stiles like George's mom was to Charlotte]. Now there are two ways I think things could go once Derek is given the sigil:

He sets up a whole day just for him and Stiles, has his favorite breakfast made, has some quality cuddle time together (or whatever) takes him out to have a picnic and then gifts him the sigil explaining what it represents and what it means to everyone else, and what it'll mean to Derek if Stiles chooses to accept, orrr

Derek goes immediately running to find Stiles and once he does, doesn't explain, doesn't say anything else but, "Will you marry me?"

Obviously, in either scenario Stiles accepts, although he wants a little bit of an explanation afterwards in the second one. From then on, like with everything else Derek gives him *cough*hickeys*cough*, Stiles proudly wears the Hale's sigil everyday, which makes all the Hales, especially Derek, very happy to know and see.

[aleksiej]

a (non exhaustive) list of reasons why modern merlin uses the name "de bois" as his surname

because he does, let's be all honest. merlin has ygraine de bois's sigil, which makes him a part of the family, middle ages laws (or at least i presume it does, i'm not a historian)

it's his only remaining physical thing of arthur's, after camelot's fall. and better yet, it's untainted by uther and how his name still is used as a curse word for magic users.

finally, and maybe with some pragmatism, every member of the de bois is dead, at least of this branch. no one can exactly say what agravaine was doing between his siblings' death and coming to camelot in the show. merlin has dark hair and pale eyes, connection isn't that outlandish, especially since his true parentage is kept secret.

all to say, i just think that merlin de bois sounds nice and can be a connection to ygraine i have been oh so desperately craving

[adhd-merlin]

choosing to believe the de bois crest and ygraine's sigil depict two different birds. it's like her personal badge or something

[nextstopparis]

i do think one of the reasons why arthur gave merlin ygraine’s sigil, specifically, is bc merlin was the only person who really Got it. like. idk. he was presumably the only person arthur really talked to about how much he wanted to know her. he was the only person in arthurs life that witnessed arthur seeing and talking to her for the First time. he was the one who witnessed those first words between mother and son and just how tightly arthur clutched her. like i think he wanted merlin to have it because every memory arthur had of his mother, merlin also knew. was apart of, in some way. regardless of whether arthur thought that ghost was real or not - she was still his mom for that first bit yknow. i think maybe he wanted to leave one of the last things he had of her to someone who knew better than others how much he loved her and wanted to know her etc

[oswinsdolma]

not a day goes by when i don't think about the parallels between the scene where arthur gives merlin his mother's sigil and the ending when he gives gwen the royal seal, because it's just so representative of their different roles in the narrative, and who they are to arthur; he loved both merlin and gwen dearly, but in different ways.

arthur's relationship with gwen is an interesting one, and i think is probably more demonstrative of character growth within the show than any other. when arthur and gwen first fell in love, they were children, but as all children do, they grew up, going from boy and girl to king and queen. their character arcs are intrinsically intertwined, arthur realising the need for kindness whereas gwen became more confident in herself and came out of her shell, and as they grew, so did the kingdom, fruit pollinated by the best in both of them. as a result, gwen was arthur's love, but she was also his wife and queen, as he was her husband and king, their love becoming synonymous with the prosperity of the state, on both a literal and figurative level. when arthur gave gwen the seal, therefore, he passed on a legacy kept very much alive by the love that existed within them both, and it is stronger for it. in essence, gwen comes to represent arthur's tangible legacy; the people, the castle walls and the good he did for the people, and in his death, she keeps alive the parts of him that were most worth saving under the seal that once belonged to him. this is made particularly pongiant in light of the fact that arthur's trust in gwen was something condemned by uther, and there is a sort of triumphant irony in the fact that their love was not what destroyed the kingdom, but kept it alive. when uther passed on the throne, he did so out of reluctant obligation, clinging onto power as a parasite in arthur's memory that is slowly gnawed away. in inheriting the sigil, gwen provides resolution to this discordant, unfinished cadence, completing the circle and bringing the kingdom to where it was always meant to be.

yet with merlin... while gwen embodies the arthur that is remembered, merlin represents the arthur that never was; while she received the key to a kingdom to finish building, merlin was given proof of a memory that never really existed. furthermore, if gwen and arthur's love resolves the cadence of uther's selfish isolation, we can start to see the patterns of how merlin's translates from ygraine's. because if you think about it, arthur almost loved merlin in the same way he loved his mother. merlin was his friend, his confidant and the person who knew him best in the world, but ultimately, he only ever saw a version of him, a half truth, veiled by secrecy and aborted confessions, which were ironically borne from the actions and prejudices of his father. arthur loved his mother unequivocally, but the tragedy of their relationship is that it existed only as borrowed memories from those who loved her before him, his idea of her founded only on dreams and the space in his soul he left behind. but then you take this and apply it to merlin: when arthur died, it was in the anticipation of a future that could have been built, but was cut down before its time, forced to take root in intangible hopes for a future that might never come. as the centuries passed, arthur became not a king, but a legend, more metaphor than person for anyone but merlin, the sole survivor of an almost entirely fabricated past. in a slightly fucked up way, i suppose arthur giving merlin ygraine's sigil almost foreshadows the ending, with arthur passing on the legacy of a love borne of absence to the only one who will survive long enough to carry it. yes amongst this tragedy, there is that eternal motif of hope, because unlike arthur, merlin does remember, and not only that, but he waits. as gwen resolved the legacy of uther, merlin did the same of ygraine, turning the tragedy of what never was into something that still could be.

and the most beautiful thing about this is that it's all symbiotic: gwen could not have built camelot were it not for the love shared between merlin and arthur, and merlin could not have founded a legend were it not for the foundation laid by the marriage of his best friends. they are all elements of a web of stories, suspended in fragile dreams that need each other to be kept alive, but they endure nonetheless, propelled by an insatiable love of one another kept in perfect balance, because there was no other way for the story to go, and no other version of the world that could ever have been.