#you could argue that it's character development and merlin not wanting to make the same mistake again

[pendragonsclotpole]

it makes no sense but it honestly reminds me so much of my own trauma-induced decisions. like sure, merlin knew he could trust morgana, and yes he knew morgana needed his suppoort, but i think actually telling someone so close to arthur, was in itself too close to telling arthur? like what if he tells her and then it spirals?

what if morgana tries to convince him to tell arthur? what if telling her ruins everything and arthur rejects them both and tells uther? talk about a fatalistic thought spiral that i headcanon because it feels so realistic because it makes no sense. it isn’t healthy and i hate merlin for never telling her, but it was such a relatable and toxic choice. i’ve had things i could never tell my friends that i’ve spoken out loud to random strangers because of the very fact that i’ll never see them again.

sure they could return and bring it up later but among the people that know me best, would they believe a random stranger that i swear i never met over me? nah probably not. and if they did, well merlin’s emrys, he could figure something out. he couldn’t do that with morgana because that would mean harming his friend for his own good/the greater good/arthur’s safety (and as we know, pre-morgause, merlin wasn’t quite at the level of moral grayness he achieves over the course of five seasons).

so merlin tells this forest rando because of the lack of threat he poses and he doesn’t tell morgana because of the massive threat she poses.

maybe i’m reading too much into it, but is it so hard to believe that in a world that persecutes magic, magic users would turn against each other in other ways beyond directly selling you out to the persecutors? i mean look at what we canonically know about gaius’ actions. he turns a blind eye to uther’s atrocities, despite being a magic user, and at least part of it is motivated by his own safety and self-interests.

i still can't believe merlin chose to reveal he had magic to the most random person on the planet who he had only known for a day (gilli in "the sorcerer's shadow") but NOT to morgana when she needed it most... by the time morgana figured out she had magic, her and merlin's friendship was already at a point where he could trust her with something like this, and he had already seen her stance on magic through the way she risked everything for mordred (a DRUID, aka a magical being). hell, she straight up said "what if [magic] chooses you?" to his FACE. he really had nothing to lose and morgana had everything to gain by him telling her he had magic too, and being there for her when she needed it. but nOoOoo merlin just HAD to listen to the overgrown basement gecko and keep it a secret. which i wouldn't really mind had he not gone and revealed that very same secret to a perfect stranger a season later. it just makes no sense whatsoever that he'd keep his magic a secret from morgana and refrain from helping her then turn around and show GILLI of all people that he had magic.

[gldnstrngs]

i will never not be angry with the way morgana’s character was developed

there are so many layers to her character that could’ve been utilized but was instead boiled down to her “losing her mind” and only wanting power

it starts with merlin poisoning morgana in s2. this may be a very unpopular opinion, but i dont think that being the trigger of morgana actually turning evil was enough…

merlin was wrong to poison her, but he was also put in an impossible position and his only guidance in that moment was a dragon who was desperate for freedom. he didn’t do it because he wanted to, but because he felt like he didn’t have a choice

and, yes, he could’ve talked to morgana, but they were in a high stakes situation where im not sure merlin could actually rationalize with her

people love to solely put the blame on merlin, but its not like morgana was completely innocent either. she may not known at first how morgause was using her as a tool to make all of camelot unconscious, but we could literally see her piecing things together the way merlin was

also, she was working with morgause and i know it was because she wanted uther dead (literally who doesn’t?), but it came with the risk of hurting camelot’s people and also betraying arthur’s trust

in s3 when morgana returns, merlin feels a lot of remorse and that is something that morgana can see. she confronts him and pretends she didn’t become evil, and literally says “you were just trying to protect your friends. i would’ve done the same” which she WOULDVE. morgana was known to be passionate and kindhearted and would’ve done anything to protect her friends (and actively did so), and maybe she wouldn’t have went about it the same way merlin did, but she would’ve eventually come to understand his actions, especially because she allied with darker forces

with that being said, if the writers wanted to make morgana mad at merlin then that’s fine because she has the right to (to an extent), but why take it out on arthur and gwen, who hadn’t done her any harm (before she found out she’s arthur’s half-sister and that arwen was a thing)?

she was raised with arthur and literally said in s1 that he’s a better man than his father. she had faith in him, which was shown when he helped the people of ealdor and when he went to get the mortaeus flower so he could save merlin

and we know that gwen was her maid for several years at that point, and they were literally best friends! so why turn on her, especially when she didn’t do anything to morgana? it can be argued that morgana was frustrated with arthur’s complacency, but there wasn’t any actual reason for her to turn on gwen, especially knowing how she lost her father not too long ago because of uther’s actions

another thing that really upsets me is how morgana uses her class against merlin, so he won’t expose her??? she was literally opposed to classism and did her best to help camelot’s people, but now she was using her standing against merlin

and she uses it when she exposes arthur and gwen for dating. morgana was completely aware that uther wouldnt be happy to find out that arthur was with a maid of all people, so she used that against them

these are all things that were exceptionally out of character for morgana. i know she was under the influence of morgause for roughly a year, but she went from being on the fence about which side to take to immediately going against the people who knew and loved her for years

it’s not like they had to keep morgana’s character completely good the whole time, but she is very nuanced. instead of making her outright evil, the writers should’ve done more to have her juggle with what side she wants to be on. realistically, she wouldn’t just pick morgause, who she really barely knows, over arthur and gwen, who have been her friends for years, without hesitation

and maybe morgana could’ve still ended up being an antagonist, but instead of making her completely bloodthirsty, she could’ve continued to struggle with her feelings towards arthur and gwen and even merlin. in the end, her anger was towards uther because he was the one to persecute magical people, not the others. we could’ve seen her deal with the guilt of inherently going against arthur because she wanted to kill uther (and, no matter how much she hated uther, she was raised by him and clearly showed love for him)

morgana wasn’t just some absolutely unhinged villain. its not like it would be impossible for her to lose sight of what she wanted, but there was no actual transition to get to that point. by the end of the show, she still wanted arthur dead, but i dont think that would’ve actually been the case if she didn’t deal with character assassination

even in the legend (based on which interpretation), morgana is the one to send off arthur’s dead body. i don’t think she wouldve actually wanted arthur to die, especially because arthur didn’t want to see her dead, but it wouldve inevitably happened and that would be when she fully realized everything she did wrong

idk i just have so many thoughts about morgana’s character like she actually deserved so much better 😭 if they were going to make her a villain then they should’ve written that storyline better

[sleepdeprivedvigilante]

Ok but theres TWO characters, TWO CHARACTERS, who give me the same fucking vibe.

Damian Wayne and Selwyn Kane

LISTEN- THEY ARE BOTH SELF-LOATHING BLACK HAIRED TEENAGERS THAT HAVE TO DO WITH SOMETHING "demon"OR POWERS THROUGH A SIDE OF THE FAMILY.

They both were forced into the roles of soldier/Bodyguard/Assasin/vigilante at a young age, and sure you can argue for damian that it was bound to happen or else he would have risked himself and he already raised as an assasin, same with selwyn, If he wasnt oathed to nick he would have transformed into a full demon he didnt really get a choice and he ddint want to loose his humanity.

SEE:

-Both forced into roles that no chikd should be put through, highly dangerous and/or with high manipulation and torture

-Both didn't get a choice even if they "had " to choose. Damian was already soon of the Bat and he was already raised a ninja, groomed to be heir of both. Selwyn the son of a merlin who since his birth was groomed to become the Kingsmage, who as a child got sent to live with this Family and tasked to protect A community of die/loose his humanity.

-Both have deep trauma and self-loathing.

Like, Damian feels the guilt over the deaths on his shoulders fron when he was a child assasin, thats very deep guilt, mixed with his families treatment him,(not all bad but they could do better), he has very self sacrificial tendencies seeing himself as expendable and preferring others lifes over his own (In a very concerning level of suicidal ideation).

Sel has a similar deal, he deals with a lot of pain and grief from how he treated Bree to his mother abandoning him mixed with the regents and legenborns abuse of him, that and he feeks pain and doesnt show it and he makes choices and sacrifices himself especially due to that guilt.

-Both got them mommy issues

We dont know that much about Sels mother apart from that she can resist turning and she was friends with brees mother, we have few glimpses of her but thats it. We know this, Sel feels deep grief and pain over loosing her, he also is upset that she didn't come back for him, and angry on her behalf cause he can and cant justify her actions.

we have more information about damians mom and we know she loved him and its mutual, but Damian did get dropped off at his father after years, they didnt even meet until certain age for Damian, Damian was also trained since birth and he loves his mom, he cant condone her actions, he cant justify them and it pains him because its still his mom.

-They both are Dry humoured Emotionally constipated Teenager emos.

BOTH their characters are very angsty and dramatic but have a sense of dry humour and comedy.

Like Sometimes its cruel due to being defensive and sometimes its funny saracasm or something just makes them so done. Like Sel after bree told him to say something and he did exactly that, or the jokes they have,same with damian, Like the joke about the crowbar to jason in robin 2021, there he was defensive and trying to get the rise out of someone but it was dry cruel humour, very funny and also their humour is a mix of angst and "Try me bitch" so they will say espontaneous shit thats funny or obvious sarcasm mixed with the joke of "I need therapy" Because thats their mindset (And no Damian wayne is not the feral eight year old brat that cant ever laugh that some people think he is,he is a teenager and has developed well through the comics)

-They are self aware as fuck and idiots.

They can probably go on and say the most concerning shit about their childhood like being raised as an assasin or taken as a child. Selwyn joked about trying to help bree when she needs Just a much therapy than him or even more, and then he jokes saying no one needs more therapy than him, and then theres damian talking/Thinking about his childhood and sometimes realizing how messed up it was, or how it upset him to do certain things.

-They both are dramtic as shit and speak with a fancy air.

Like holy shit (I do too but i read too much) the calling people Full names or fancy titles miced with spite, or the way they speak bejng all "Thine thou shant" dramatic, or how damian Would give a speech to jason to electrocute him dramatically or Sel just being sel edgy.

Anyways theres a lot of similarities and differences but this characters are literally same.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Shrek the Third (2007)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

The drop in quality between Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third is so steep you'll wonder why anyone bothered. There’s nothing inspired here in terms of plot, character development, humour or even pop-culture references. It’s a devastating letdown that disappoints more the longer you watch.

King Harold (John Cleese) is dying and names Shrek (Mike Myers) and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) as his successors. Convinced an ogre will be unfit to rule the kingdom of Far Far Away, Shrek decides to track down her cousin, Arthur “Artie” Pendragon (Justin Timberlake). With the help of Donkey (Mike Myers) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), our swamp-loving hero is off, but not before Fiona reveals she is pregnant. Meanwhile, a washed-up Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) vows revenge.

The story by Andrew Adamson - adapted by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, Chris Miller and Aron Warner - is so flawed I don’t know if there was any salvaging it. By and large, it’s really just the same plot as the original film. Shrek and Donkey - plus Puss - have to find a royal and bring them to a castle so Shrek can get his swamp back the way he wants it to be. Oh sure, there are slight differences. Obviously Artie doesn’t fall in love with the green meanie the way Fiona did but they do have that big “lover’s quarrel” scene once true intentions are revealed.

What you essentially get is Shrek but without anything that made it magical. The characters aren’t fresh the way they were before. Worse, the well of fairytale-based jokes has been drained dry, leaving this movie with few opportunities to make you laugh. I know you could argue whether Red Riding Hood or the Three Blind Mice really fit the fairy tales motif but King Arthur? Sans excalibur and with only a couple of lame scenes where an exaggerated, incompetent and loopy Merlin (Eric Idle) appears? It feels completely out of place.

Tonally, director Chris Miller misses the mark so thoroughly it's almost like it's on purpose. The first scene has a humiliated Prince Charming mourning his now-dead mother. Next a parade of scenes of Shrek grumbling about how much he hates Far Far Away and how much he doesn’t want to rule. He then finds an excuse to abandon his wife so he can pawn the kingdom off on some schmo he’s never met. In no time, you're sympathizing with the villain rather than the hero. Yes, Charming turns out to be malicious but it feels like the character was re-written to be the antagonist. From what we saw previously, there was nothing to indicate he had any volition of his own; he was just a mama’s boy raised to believe he should rule. Couldn’t Fiona wear the crown? How about the still-living Queen? What if Artie had been this megalomaniac who, after obtaining power, used it to get revenge on everyone who bullied him at high school? Shrek would’ve come off as an even bigger jerk than he already is.

Even the choice of songs doesn’t feel right. Whereas Livin’ La Vida Loca, I’m Holding out for a Hero and All-Star in Shreks 1 & 2 either subverted your expectations in a novel way, drove the story forward through non-litteral music, or both, there’s nothing about the short clip of Immigrant Song and the cover of Live of Let Die during the royal funeral that comes close. Where’s the wit? Where are the unusual choices that don't seem to fit on paper, but in execution work so well?

I doubt anyone who saw Shrek the Third upon its original release remembers it. They might remember some of what happens, but the way the movie made you feel? No way. That’s because this comedy has no heart. It’s diet water served after two classic animated comedies. I’d say I hated it, but that's incendiary, passionate - too good for Shrek The Third. The people behind the scenes knew this movie would be a hit so they rushed out a mediocre product because they knew they could. (On DVD, August 9, 2019)

[honestlyandrogynousnightmare]

magic reveal

So ive been thinking about the magic reveal we did get and also the different magic reveals we COULD have gotten so i thought id project all my thoughts into another massive tumblr rant:

personally, i dont think the magic reveal was bad at all. yes, i wouldve done it slightly differently, i think it was done way too late in the show and left little time to explore how that reveal affected merlin and arthurs relationship, and obviously we never actually ended up seeing if magic was legalised and all. but i dont hate the magic reveal we got. the key part i really love is that it was done on Merlins own terms, he could have just lied, but instead he finally told Arthur the truth and i think that there were many reasons for that decision being made. 

firstly, Merlin definitely felt guilty and blamed himself for Arthur being stabbed, he must have at least partly blamed himself because everything he did directly led to Mordred turning into a little shit. Part of him might have just felt as if he owes Arthur that explanation yknow. secondly, i feel like by that point he was tired of lying in general, he needed to get that secret off his chest. those two things combined with the fact that Arthur was dying may have pushed him to telling the truth,  because deep down he did know that it was probably the last chance to tell Arthur the truth. 

i liked how they presented Arthurs reaction too, the clear message there was that Athur was angry at the lying, thats the part he saw as betrayal, not the magic itself. he didnt want to believe that Merlin was a liar, when he always saw him as the one person that was entirely honest with him. hell, he still trusted him enough to send him back to Camelot and Gwen so he knew Merlin wasnt evil. If the writers actually did a good job at developing Arthurs character, i feel like itd be more obvious that Arthurs stance on magic was different from his fathers, but yknow bbc and their shoddy writing. I love that moment of acceptance as well, when he tells Merlin that he doesnt want him to change. He doesnt even now about all the things Merlin sacrificed and lost in order to protect Arthur and Camelot but he still accepts him. I think that when he first fund out it was all like “holy crap i dont even know him” but after spending a few hours with Merlin he realises that its still the exact same person he knew the week before. 

anddddd as much as i like the way they did that magic reveal, the ending of the show left me with no closure and a lot of tears. my ideal magic reveal wouldve happened earlier, either at the start of season 5 or near the end of season 4. It would give us a chance to see them talk it out, and god we know that there would be arguing, and if arthur wasnt dying he would probbaly be shouting but the key part here is that arthur wouldnt hurt merlin. i think he culd consider sending him away if his father was still king just to protect him but we all know merlin would reply with “no <3″. but since i cant see the reveal happening when uther is king, i will be ignoring that scenario. and again, theres many ways this could play out.

the one way that ive always found interesting was arthur figuring it out on his own, because he may be an idiot, but hes not stupid. *if you like this sort of thing read “so close and im halfway to it  on ao3, its a merthur fic and the magic reveal in that one makes me cry so much and the fic is so well written* I feel like at one point, he would just put the pieces together, and it would all make so much sense to him? Merlins random disappearances and scars would make sense, the luck he had when it came to fights, Merlins weird reactions when someone mentioned magic, how on earth merlin of all people managed to survive every battle and fight arthur was in when some of his best knights didnt. 

then theres the very cliche “merlin using magic mid battle to save everyone” reveal. because its mid battle, i really cant picture them talking it out there lol,  i picture a lot of ignoring but also if other people saw him using magic, we all know the first thing arthur would do is give the knights a good old “if you kill him i will kill you and then myself”, it wouldnt be until later that they would actually talk. 

and then like the canon magic reveal, theres Merlin doing it on his own terms. i personally really like thhis one because it gives him so much more control over the situation and over his words. *another fic rec here if you like this sorta thing, its called “to the world that let you by” and its really beautiful and made me cry at 1am so there you go, and as you guessed it, its another merthur*. i love this reveal because it gives merlin a chance to explain, and arthur a chance to listen and try to understand. 

now there are loads of different sub categories that could go into those, like Arthur finding merlin creating butterflies out of thin air lol, but i wont go into those. whatever reveal would happen, i feel like “the talk” after would usually end up in a similar way. Arthurs reaction would be similar to what we got in the canon reveal, because the actual magic isnt what would hurt most.  it would be the lies. Arthur has been lied to and betrayed by so many people you cant really expect him not to react badly to being lied to. the magic sure would confuse him and put him in a difficult position, because you have to keep in mind that his entire life he has been told that magic is pure evil, and to him, merlin is the polar opposite of that. i think it would just make him question everything, like does he even know this man? has he won any of his battles or has it always been merlin? why is he in camelot? why would a sorcerer be serving him? but he wouldnt hurt him. he wouldnt even consider that imo, sure, he will demand an explanation, but he wouldnt actually thin about hurting him. 

and merlin would understand why hes angry about the lying, that much is obvious. and he would be reluctant to tell arthur about the things that were happening behind his back all those years, but he would be honest. and go that conversation would be hard for both of them, i cant really imagine them having it without a lot of crying, shouting and even more wine tbh. arthur isnt good at listening which is why this would be so hard for him too, but merlin has to be honest, completely honest with arthur for the first time in his life and thatd be difficult. 

and i think merlin would handle arthurs reactions well, even if arthur decided to lose his temper lol. but i can still imagine him being a bit bitter if arthur judged his choices and stuff when it came to poisoning morgana and freeing the dragon, asking what on earth HE would do in that situation. where the only choices he sees are bad ones, and he has to pick the one thats least evil. 

arthur would probably be most pissed off at the thing about his mother tbh, because merlin outright lied there, usually its just deflecting but he made that deliberate choice to lie. but i really do think he would understand all of this, while not every choice merlin did was good, he did it with good intention. 

and then arthur would remove the ban on magic and they would kiss and get married amd live happily ever aft-

thanks bbc.

anyway if you want any more magic reveal fics (or links to the ones i mentioned, ao3 can be bloody annoying sometimes) feel free to comment or message me or anything, i have a couple more in my bookmarks. 

thanks for reading this rant, scuse the bad grammar, id love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this and magic reveals in general so feel free to comment! have a great day<3

[fanfic-mind]

Blood on my hands (all that i've gained and all that i've lost)

pairing: merthur

warnings: non

status: fanfic draft, Part 1/? (~ 2300)

It’s yet again an hour of need for Camelot. But the weapon they need to safe kingdom and people comes with a price. Only those who prove that they are powerful and wicked can receive it. The knights of Camelot don’t have enough evil deeds to be worthy of the sword. They think everything is lost - until  Merlin speaks up...

A magic reveal story in which Merlin makes good use of being a morally grey character. Because, yea, Merlin-is-the-victim-reveals are swell and all but he is capable of making his own decisions and some of them are pretty shady. There is still a good amount of Uther bashing included.

Somehow they get into a situation that requires someone with blood on their hands - figuratively (otherwise it wouldn't be a problem because seeing how often Arthur and Merlin and also Gwaine get wounded by just existing they probably wouldn't even have to injure anyone)

Maybe a god of the Old Religion guards a weapon they need to kill the magic beast of the week or to destroy a cursed item.

In any case: they are really desperate. People are dying and this is their last hope, their last resort.

To their misfortune, this weapon is guarded by a very cunning and wicked god and they will only give their weapon to someone who has the power and the will to use it for evil deeds

There is a test that must be passed by the one who wants to receive the weapon. They must prove that they did enough evil deeds to be worthy of it.

Arthur quickly fails his test because despite some wrongs he's done he is way too just and noble to be wicked

The only knight that seems to get at least a few moments more of consideration is Leon who has done some terrible things - however under Uther's orders which isn't quite powerful enough

"Ahh, Uther Pendragon," the god muses, "Him i would have given the weapon. Such rage and blind hatred and, oh yes, so much blood."

Arthur grits his teeth and sets his jar. he wonders if his father would be disappointed in him for not living up to this legacy of his. he wonders - not for the first time - why he wanted to be like his father once and how he managed to end up being so different.

The knights discuss their strategy. non of them is wicked enough to pass the test. they have wicked people in Camelot's dungeons. But Camelot is three day rides off and their quest is really urgent.

They could separate and seek for wicked folk, but the chances seem slim and the risk of them keeping the weapon as they receive it seems too big

People are dying and they need to do something now.

"there must be another way to destroy it," Lancelot suggests, though they've been over this. His eyes stray to Merlin, but Merlin seems caught up in thought.

If there was an easier way to do this, Merlin and Gaius would have come up with it by now. asking the god had been their idea in the first place.

"What if there isn't?" Gwaine argues heatedly. "We can't have waisted six days for nothing. This is probably our last chance."

"so what do you suggest?" Lancelot interrupts somewhat irritated. They temperaments are heated at this point. And suddenly knowing each other’s worst deeds doesn’t exactly lighten the mood. "All of us failed the test. i wouldn't have thought that I'd ever be angry about being found too good and noble."

Gwaine shrugs with a grimace. He hadn't thought that he'd ever be deemed good and noble in the first place.

"maybe there's a way out of that," Arthur says. He hasn’t spoken in a while and all heads turn towards him.

"what do you mean, Sire?" Leon asks, looking uneasy as if he already knows and doesn't like it.

"If you're not noble enough, you proof your nobility by doing good deeds," Arthur starts matter of fact. "so, logically, if I'm not wicked enough, i prove my wickedness by doing an evil deed."

The god smiles a toothy smile.

"To murder just anyone obviously isn't evil enough" Arthur says, looking at the god with disgust. "so it must be somthing worse. murdering a friend, for example."

"My king, with all due respect, this is madness," Leon say carefully.

"sir Leon, that's the point." Arthur says sourly.

"is that really it?" Gwaine shouts at the god who watches his outburst unimpressed. "You want us to slaughter each other?"

the god laughs, distant and hollow and the earth seems to vibrate with it. "The weapon can only be taken by those of power who are wicked and cunning enough to wield it." the god repeats his earlier words.

"So there's not even a guarantee," Gwaine says, throwing up his arms. "Arthur, let's just leave and see if we can find something else."

"there is nothing else, Gwaine, you said so yourself!" Arthur returns. His expression is incredibly pained but determined in a way that makes them all shudder. Leon, Percival and Lancelot unconsciously get into fighting stance.

Gwaine takes a few steps to put himself between the king and Merlin who is the most vulnerable

Arthur nods to himself, seemingly coming to a decision in his head.  Tehn he draws his sword . "If either of you kills me while i try to kill you, that might be enough too" he muses

They all stare at him in horror, unable to believe that he will go through with this.

"My people are dying," Arthur says, his tone pleading, "if i have to sacrifice my good conscience to help them - well, it is a price i must be willing to pay. I'm sorry. But all of you swore to protect Camelot at all costs too."

Arthur halts for am moment then nods grimly. "Don't try to sacrifice yourself. I'm sure that's not what he's looking for" Arthur nods towards the stony god who smiles.

"you can't be serious" Mordred whispers.

"I'm afraid i am. Now, it's been an honour. truely. and i hope - i hope I'll still have your respect afterwards. Though, i can understand if you can't trust me again."

"that's enough."

They all turn around. Partly, because they had forgotten about Merlin who has been uncharacteristically quiet the whole time. and partly because they have rarely heard this sort of tone from him. harsh and demanding. a voice more fit for a king than his manservant.

They stare at him and he makes short eye contact with Arthur before he steps forward, in front of the statue that the god is using as a vessel.

"test me." Merlin says. his voice is determined and his shoulders are set.

Arthur let's out a short laugh, because clearly this is absurd, right? Merlin is the best and kindest of all of them. Actually, coming to think of it, if he's really honest, Merlin probably is the reason Arthur is not like his father. Merlin makes him better. Merlin makes him want to be better.

A few of the knights share his sentiments, laughing slightly hysterical with tension but still perplexed over this development.

Only Lancelot steps forward with a frown as if to pull him back, but merlin raises a hand without looking at him and he stops in his tracks.

Arthur who was about to say something stops too.

The god looks more alive than before he seems to stretch himself to his full height as if he has waited for this

"welcome" he starts as he has with all of them. "young warlock, tell me your deeds."

lancelot tenses, casting a worried glance back at the king who stands there, sword still drawn, eyes fixed in Merlin as if he doesn't understand any of this

Lancelot doesn't either. Even if Merlin is a sorcerer - what evil deeds can he possibly have done? Saving Arthur's life over and over without ever seeking credit doesn't have a ring of evil to him.

"I am Merlin, and they call my Emrys." Merlin starts.

Some of the Knights gasp. Emrys is a name they know by now.

Lancelot wonders whether Merlin considers his identity an evil deed in itself. The possibility breaks his heart a bit.

"I was born with magic. I am the most powerful sorcerer there is."

Merlin takes a deep breath.

"i lied to all my friends. I let them think they can trust me, that they know me. But they never will. I could kill them just by looking at them. I am magic and i killed many behind friends backs and before their eyes, but never revealed myself to them"

"I am a slayer of my own people," he continues, his voice hard, "I killed many creatures and men of magic to protect their murderers - the king and his son. I did it out of self-righteousness and out of selfishness because...” for a moment, Merlin halts, but then he continuous with the same hard tone as before, as if something is forced out of him, but he wants to stand for it.

“I loved Arthur more than my own people. i let many of them die even though i could have helped them if i had revealed myself. But i couldn't bear the thought to be separated from him so i stayed quiet and watched them burn."

The god nods Merlin on. They all stand in shock. They know from before that Merlin won't be able to stop telling his deeds before the god thinks he is done.

"I killed the witch Nimueh even though she told me i have to pay with a life to save Arthur's. Instead of giving my life as i promised, i killed her."

"I killed Mary Collins, Afanc, Aulfric, Sophia, Cornelius Sigan, Myror and many more. "

Merlin's voice falters a bit, but he seems to pull himself together visibly, because his voice is clearer again when he keeps speaking.

"My betrayal to my people is so great, my wickedness so deep, i considered to kill a child on the mere possibility that he could threaten what was mine in the future."

Mordred makes a quiet stricken noise.

No one dares take their eyes off Merlin, but Merlin himself turns his head slowly.

There is a gasp of horror when they all see that his eyes are glowing yellow with magic.

Up until now, no one except Mordred and Lancelot had truly believed it.

"I tried to kill Mordred when he was a child and i wish his death even now though he is kind and serves Arthur."

Lancelot looks at Merlin with complete bewilderment as Mordred sobs.

Merlin doesn't answer Lancelot's gaze, he just turns around again.

They can hear him take in another breath and it sounds more halting than before.

"I knew that my friend had magic and i saw her turmoil and her fear of being killed. of being burned by her own kin like all of the others. but instead of helping her, i left her in the dark. I told her to trust me - she trusted my - and then i poisoned her."

Merlin stops for a moment, his voice sounds rough as if speaking becomes quickly more difficult.

"I gave Morgana poison in full intend and watched her as she died and i regretted when she was healed."

"Only i had the power and knowledge to save her, but i turned my head from her suffering, i killed her when she didn't know better than to turn to her sister, it was me that made her what she is today."

There is another short pause. Lancelot is desperate to see Merlin's face. To demand how this all really went. Because though he knows that Merlin is bound to say the truth by the power of the god, he still thinks there must be a mistake or a trick. This is not Merlin. Merlin would never...would he?

"I conspired with and freed the dragon that attacked Camelot which led to the death of many innocent people. I attempted to kill Arthur on multiple occasions."

Lancelot frowns. This one he knows to be untrue. Merlin didn't want to kill Arthur. it was Morgana's doing that he went after him.

"i saved Uther Pendragon's life - more than once. I let him live even though he slaughtered my people. I saved his life even though i didn't have to. I never killed him even though i had many opportunities."

Merlin pauses then, looking up at the god.

"Do i really need to go on?" he asks and it sounds almost indifferent. except they know Merlin and they know how his face looks when he sounds this way.

The god leans their head to one side slowly. the stone his vessel is made of groans.

"You are worthy, young warlock. More than you know. Into your hands i command my sword."

Suddenly, there is noise and light and they cover their eyes, everyone except for Merlin and Mordred.

They can't be sure but they think they can hear Merlin's voice through it all, speaking a foreign tongue. Then, it's over.

When the air clears, Merlin stands alone, the stone vessel of the god has crumbled to pieces, a big sword in his hand. For just a moment, when he turns around to face them, he looks nothing like Merlin at all. His eyes are golden, and his face is grim, lips pressed into a thin line. His posture is straight and majestic and he holds the sword like a warrior. His appearance strikes them with fear. He looks like power incarnate.

The others notice from the corners of their eyes that Mordred kneels before him. and even as they are completely bewildered, they have an urge to do the same.

The next moment though, it's all gone, and Merlin looks like he's never handled a sword before. His eyes are blue and his cheeks messy with dust and tears. He sinks to his knees and the weapon falls from his hands - is pushed from his fingers as if through magic, landing on the ground with a strange sound.

Merlin looks after the sword with disgust clear on his face. Then he looks up and suddenly he looks afraid.

To be continued

[emachinescat]

New chapter! :)

Title: A Remedy to Cure All Ills, Part Four | Story: The Power of Three | Fandom: Merlin

Summary: While Arthur visits Merlin in the dungeons, Morgana confronts Edwin herself. Merlin is faced with a terrible choice.

Characters: Merlin, Morgana, Arthur, Edwin, Uther

Words: 5,308

TW: None

AO3 Tags: Friendship, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Magic Revealed

Full Story can be read here.

Full chapter here or on AO3!

Arthur wasn’t there when Merlin was arrested and brought to his father.  He didn’t want to risk his father getting suspicious and thought it best to make himself scarce.  Instead, he let himself into the dungeons and sequestered himself away on a stool in the corner to wait for Merlin’s arrival.

Nearly an hour later, the door swung open and three figures appeared, the one in the middle being held by the others.  Arthur watched from the shadows as the guards shoved Merlin into the same cell Gwen had been held in.  One followed him in and shackled his wrists to the chains in the floor.  Metal squealed and clanged as they locked him in, and then they retreated up the stairs.  Arthur had no idea if they’d seen him waiting there, nor did he care.  There were more important matters to deal with.

Arthur grabbed a torch from a wall sconce and hurried over to the cell, where Merlin was just picking himself up, more than a little ruffled.  Arthur noticed with fury when he turned around that there was a red handprint standing out starkly on his left cheek.

“Merlin!  Did my father–”

Merlin waved him off, coming as close to the bars as the chains would allow.  “No, one of the guards was a bit too enthusiastic when they were arresting me.  Apparently, I was impertinent.”  He gave Arthur a strained half-smile.

Normally, Arthur would have made a snide comment about how Merlin’s impertinence didn’t surprise him at all and that he wasn’t aware that Merlin could be anything but, but instead he demanded, “Which guard?  Who was it?”

Merlin shrugged, uncomfortable.  “It doesn’t matter.  We have far more important things to worry about.”

Arthur knew he was right and tried to quell the sudden protective energy that had consumed him.  Since when had he cared so much about what happened to Merlin?  The answer was fairly simple and hard to swallow: Almost since Merlin set foot into Camelot.   He drove Arthur mad, never did what he was told, and his very presence was illegal – and yet, absurdly, he had swiftly become an irreplaceable part of Arthur’s life, no matter how many times the prince threatened to replace him.

As quickly as he could, he told Merlin all that had happened – about Edwin blackmailing Gaius and then somehow finding out that he had told him and Morgana, and how the king had believed Edwin over them.  Merlin was fidgeting nervously, the chains clanking, by the time Arthur had finished.  A dark look brewed in his eyes.  Arthur understood it for what it was – Merlin felt betrayed, and rightly so.  Not only had Edwin pretended to be his friend and then turned against him in an instant, but he was also another sorcerer who had come to Camelot for evil instead of good.

“Right,” Arthur transitioned, clapping his hands together once.  “Can you magic yourself out of the chains?”

Merlin looked puzzled.  “I can, but why?”

Arthur regarded him blankly.  “So you can escape.  Or do you fancy being executed at first light?”

Merlin winced.  “If I escape, that will either just prove that,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “that I do have magic, or your father will think you helped me escape like you did Lancelot, and then you’ll be in trouble.”

“So you’re just going to die for being a sorcerer so that no one will know that you are actually a sorcerer?”

Merlin scoffed.  “Not if I can help it, not anytime soon, anyway.  We have to find a way to prove that Edwin is lying and that he’s plotting to kill the king.”

“I agree,” Arthur said slowly, “and Morgana’s already tailing him, trying to catch him in the act or find some sort of proof that he’s using dark magic.”

Merlin furrowed his brow.  “You said that your father plans to retire Gaius.  Did he say when?”

Arthur thought back.  “Immediately,” he responded apologetically.  “But at least he’s not being implicated by Edwin’s accusations against you – what?”  He broke off at the look on Merlin’s face.

“Why didn’t you mention this before?” Merlin demanded.  “If he’s taking Gaius’s place today, then he’ll set his plan into motion now.  He’s going to kill your father tonight!”

Dread poured over the prince like cold water.  “What – no – you think he’s going to try now, after he’s just been accused?  Even if my father sided with him, that’s too brash–”

“Don’t you see?” Merlin asked desperately.  “He doesn’t care about the little details like that.  If he’s as bitter and vengeful as you say, then he’s going to take the first opportunity he gets to take his revenge.  And anyway, do you really want to risk it?”

Arthur felt a sudden, strange swell of gratitude toward Merlin, paired with something akin to affection.  It was an unusual, almost uncomfortable feeling, but it came with the realization that Merlin had nothing at all to gain from stopping the king’s death.  In fact, he would gain more from letting him die.  But because Uther was Arthur’s father, and because he cared about Arthur, he was doing everything he could to save the life of a man who would see him dead – who had just sentenced him to hang an hour ago!

“What should we do, then?”

Merlin responded with a question.  “Did you say that Morgana was following him?”

“Yes.”  His eyes widened.  “If he’s really as desperate as you believe, and he’s already this close to his goal, then he won’t hesitate to hurt her to get to my father.  If he sees her–”

Merlin’s eyes flashed gold.  Without uttering a single word, he’d cracked the shackles off of his wrists and nearly blew the cell door off its hinges.  Arthur dove to the side just in time to avoid being bludgeoned.

“ Merlin!”

“Oops.”

Arthur had gone from being grateful for the loyalty of his manservant to wanting to strangle him in seconds.  “What happened to breaking out causing us more trouble in the long run?”

“If Edwin is acting tonight, we don’t have time to play it safe,” Merlin answered, rubbing his raw wrists.  “If you and Morgana are going to face Edwin to save your father, you’re going to need someone with magic.  You’re going to need me.”

Arthur scoffed.  “I’ve faced sorcerers in battle before and won, Mer lin.  Just because you’ve been protecting me magically doesn’t mean that I cannot look out for myself.”

“I know,” Merlin said earnestly, “and Morgana is more than capable of standing up for herself, too.  But this is a sorcerer, and neither of you have magic, and we don’t even know just how powerful he is.  It’s better not to take the chance.”

Arthur finally saw to the heart of Merlin’s decision to join them, despite the increased risk to himself if he were to be caught: He was worried about them.  Merlin couldn’t stand the thought of sitting around, waiting, while his friends put themselves in danger.  Arthur didn’t argue with Merlin further after that.  It was exactly what he would have done, too.

Morgana was rather adept at sneaking around the castle.  Having grown up within its walls, she had developed early on an intricate knowledge of the maze of hallways, the many floors and staircases, and array of rooms.  She knew where to avoid and how to get in and out of the kitchen without being seen.  The servants’ passages were a personal favorite of hers, because they allowed her to move about silently and invisibly as the rest of the bustle of the castle passed her by.

Nowadays, she didn’t sneak around as much – Uther had caught her hiding in a secret passage when she was fourteen eavesdropping on a council meeting and had given her a stern but indulgent talking to about how sneaking around like a common thief was not appropriate behavior for the king’s ward.  The king’s reprimand hadn’t been what stopped her secret escapades, but rather the realization as she grew into a woman how much more those in the open hallways respected her.  Crowds would part when they saw her approaching, her heels clicking imperiously on the cold stone floor.  She no longer needed to sneak, because no one questioned her presence in any part of the castle now that she was no longer a troublemaking child.  If only they had realized that she had, in fact, only morphed into a troublemaking adult who was just very adept at hiding said troublemaking.

Even if she no longer routinely employed her knowledge of the ins and outs of the castle, the secret passages and servants’ hallways and hiding places, it didn’t mean that she had lost the mental map she had forged so long ago.  This is how Morgana followed Edwin now, watching him from the shadows, following him from adjacent, hidden passageways.  The conniving physician marched with great confidence, a nauseating sort of prideful strut, and it was apparent that he assumed he had already won.

Arrogance, Morgana reflected testily, is both one of the most obnoxious and useful vices nature imparts on men.   It was because of this arrogance that she was able to follow him so easily.

Morgana had spotted Edwin going into the chambers he was using as his laboratory, where he stayed for quite some time.  She got bored waiting on him to emerge, but she knew that there was no alternate way out of the room, so she just had to wait in the shadows until he finished whatever he was doing.  Finally, when the chill of dusk had settled into the air and on her bare arms, he eased the door open and set out on his way, not even bothering to check if he was being watched.

She trailed him down five corridors, up two flights of steps, and down the dome-ceilinged, guarded hallway that led to Uther’s chambers.  Her heartbeat quickened as she realized that the man was wasting no time in executing his revenge.  The moment he had stolen Gaius’s job as Court Physician, he had put the remainder of his plan in motion.  Morgana hesitated for the briefest of moments before steeling herself, wrenching a sconce from the wall of the servants’ alcove she lurked in, and holding it before her to use as a weapon if it came down to it.  She had no idea where Arthur was – probably trying to free Merlin or at the very least make a plan with him.  Not that it mattered.  She didn’t need him to confront Edwin.  She was perfectly capable of doing so herself.

And so she did.

She stepped out of the shadows, and in the clear, cold voice she had learned as a beautiful woman often approached by undesirable men, said simply, “Edwin.”

Edwin froze, then spun around in one fluid motion.  His eyes changed from cruel to surprised, and then melted into a tense indulgence when he saw who had snuck up on him.  “Lady Morgana,” he exclaimed sweetly, his voice hushed.  Morgana narrowed her eyes, disgusted by how obviously he thought he could manipulate her so easily.  His candied words may have fooled Uther, but they had never worked on her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in a level tone.  Her heart pounded, and she tried not to think about how a show of bravery would mean ultimately nothing in the face of his magic.  The sconce she held before her was no more a weapon against a sorcerer than a needle against a knight.  Still, she stood firm, back straight, chin held high, eyes cold and haughty.  Morgana was used to fighting until she got what she wanted.  This time was no different.

“I could ask you the same question,” Edwin evaded, taking a step closer to her, arms held out placatingly at his sides.  When she said nothing, merely fixed him with an impatient stare, he yielded.  “Lady Morgana, I am merely bringing the king his medicine.  I am the new Court Physician, after all, and the king is waiting.”

It was Morgana’s turn to move closer to him.  She put every ounce of ferocity into her next words.  “If you get what you want, the only thing the king will be waiting on is his death.”

She watched the short-lived battle flash behind Edwin’s eyes and knew that he was trying to decide whether he should continue playing his part or drop the act.  Finally, he sighed, rolling his eyes to the ceiling in an over-dramatized air of annoyance.  “Okay, fine, you’ve got me,” he said, still in the same good-natured tone as before, but this time, there was a slide edge to his voice.  “I should have known you would have figured me out, my lady.  You are, after all, much more intelligent than the men who rule this stupid kingdom.”

She raised an eyebrow menacingly.  “Flattery is trite, and will get you nowhere, Edwin.  And I believe Gaius discovered your plan before anyone else.”

Edwin shrugged, unimpressed.  “Only because he remembered me from when I was a child.  That’s basically cheating.”

She tilted her head to the side contemplating him.  “You are in an awfully good humor for someone who has just been caught committing treason,” she remarked dryly.

Edwin’s smile took on a strained quality.  “Lady Morgana,” he said, and she curled her lip at the patronizing tone.  “Please try to understand that I am not a bad person.  I’m not evil. ”  Her other eyebrow rose to join the first, but she did not speak, so he continued.  “I am not doing this out of greed, or cruelty.  I only wish to avenge my mother and father.  Surely you can understand that?”

“I understand that you came into my home, used me as a pawn in your revenge and nearly killed me with a terrible illness.  I understand that you forced a kind, competent man and great friend out of the job he has held for decades.  I understand that you accused a close friend of magic, that you got him thrown into the dungeon and slated to be executed.  And I understand that even now, you are marching to deceive and destroy my guardian, the man who took me in after my father died.  These are not the marks of a good person.”

The smile had turned to a sort of grimace now.  “My lady, I only did what I had to do in order to achieve my revenge.  I took no pleasure in making Gaius look like a fool–” a brief pause, “–okay, so I felt a little pleasure in that.  The man sat back and watched my parents – his friends – burn!  But I did take no pleasure in betraying one of my own.”  His eyes glittered.  “Interesting that you are aware of the servant’s secrets and that you not only keep them but refer to him as a close friend.  Perhaps your loyalties are not as easily defined as you would like me to believe.”

The hand of uncertainty clenched around her heart.  Her loyalty to her guardian had come into question in her own mind many times before, especially since she had learned Merlin’s secret.  Certainly, she had never approved of the king’s reckless hatred of magic, his harsh sentencing of any and all who possessed it.  She didn’t know much about the Purge, for Uther had sealed those records up as tightly as his own heart, but what she had heard, in fearful whispers or the dying curses of the accused, sickened her, and she found a growing disgust rising within her when she found herself alone with the king.  She fought against him, rebelled, did anything she could to prove that he had no control over her.  She tried to force him to change, to help him see the truth, and she was tossed aside, like she was nothing.

No, not like she was nothing.  Like she was a girl in a council room full of self-important old men – less than nothing.

She hated it.  Sometimes she hated Uther.  The kindness and indulgence  he had bestowed upon her as a child were few and far between.  Lately, she found herself contemplating what she would do, how she would feel, if a bitter sorcerer succeeded in their plot to kill the king.  Would she mourn?  Or would she breathe a sigh of relief for the oppressed and abused?

A small part of her was tempted, very briefly, to turn and walk away, especially when Edwin wheedled, “I have seen your heart through your actions, my lady.  I have seen how you have embraced those like me, how you have become loyal to a sorcerer.  You have empathy.  You cannot bear to see innocents suffer.  Just think of how many lives you will be saving if you just turn around and pretend you never saw me.”

His words struck her deeply, and she found herself thinking of all the times that Uther had belittled her, executed someone without a trial, hated those with magic indiscriminately.  Edwin was right in that her heart ached for those like Merlin who had lived in terror their entire lives because of something they were born with.  Then she remembered growing up in the castle, the way Uther would ruffle her hair, how he would always take her side over Arthur’s, and the tender way he had kissed her forehead when she had woken from her illness.  As completely as she knew she hated the king of Camelot for the atrocities he had committed, she knew that her guardian truly loved her.

And besides, he was Arthur’s father.  Merlin would be determined, she knew, to save the king even though letting him die would make his life easier.  He would save Uther for Arthur’s sake.  And even though Arthur was obnoxious and thick-headed and proud, he had also grown remarkably since Merlin came into his life.  And she had grown up with him, seen him at his highs and at his lows.  She knew how much it hurt him that he never got to meet his mother.  She could not be responsible for taking his father away, too.

She chose her next words carefully, for she could feel the hurt and the sorrow and the rage bubbling just beneath the surface of the man before her.  In a way, she pitied him, and all that he had lost.  But he had hurt her friends, and she would not allow it to happen again.  Perhaps, if she could just reach him… “Edwin, you of all people should know that revenge is never this simple.  Think of all the people that Uther has killed in his quest for vengeance.  Think of how Gaius and Merlin – Merlin, a sorcerer, like you – have already suffered because of your hatred for the king.  And if you do kill him, that will only continue the cycle.  Don’t you see?  Arthur will seek vengeance for his father’s death, and people will continue to get hurt.”

“The cycle stops with my death,” Edwin said, and he sounded haunted, fragile.  “I have no one left to fight for me.”

Morgana hesitated for a fraction of a second, then vowed, “If you stop this now, I will fight for you.  Arthur and Merlin will fight for you.  You are hurting, I know.  And you have a right to be angry.  But can you not see how different Arthur already is from his father?  He knows about Merlin’s magic, and he supports him.  He hides it from his father.  If you stop the cycle here, then Arthur and Merlin can work to build a better, safer Camelot for magic-users like you.  Change – good change – can only come from time, and patience.”

A tear trickled down his face, nesting in a divot of his scar.  “I watched my parents burn.  I tried to run into the flames to save them.  I don’t have time, or patience.  I want to see him die.”

Morgana took another step forward.  “If I let you walk away, how am I better than Uther?” she asked softly.  “If you kill him, how are you better than Uther?”

Edwin shook his head, something like pity in his eyes.  “Someday, my lady, you will see that your moral high ground means nothing in the face of tragedy.”  He studied her closely, his eyes boring into hers, and she fought the urge to back away or avert her gaze.  If he was trying to intimidate her, it wouldn’t work.  She put all of her frustration, all of her passion, all of herself into her glare, felt the rush of emotions build up behind her eyes as she met his gaze.  Abruptly, Edwin took a step back, as if she had slapped him.

“Perhaps we are more alike than either of us thought,” he said cryptically.

“What are you talking about?” Morgana demanded.  For reasons she could not explain, her heart was thrumming madly, and she felt alive, exhilarated – powerful.

Edwin hesitated for the fraction of a second, then murmured, “Your eyes…”

He trailed off, eyes catching on something over her shoulder.  Approaching from behind, Morgana heard sound of echoing footfalls and knew without having to turn around that the rest of her party had arrived… at exactly the wrong moment.

“Edwin!” Merlin’s voice resounded, pinging off the high walls and domed ceiling.  He didn’t sound like himself – the one name he called radiated power, deeper than his usual tones, serious and cold.  A warning.  Chills arced down Morgana’s spine.

And then, Arthur’s voice, as irritating and dripping with male bravado as ever, followed, and the spell of Merlin’s voice was broken immediately.  “Morgana!  Look out!”

Irritation flared up in her chest, and now she turned to meet her approaching friends with a withering glare.  “What are you doing?” she hissed.  “I’d nearly gotten through to him!”

Arthur and Merlin – whom she was relieved to see looked relatively unhurt, though with a bruise adorning one cheek – skidded to a stop in her ire, eyes wide, slightly out of breath.  Merlin’s eyes widened in alarm.  “Morgana–”

His warning, for that was what it had been, came too late.  Or perhaps Edwin was simply too fast.  One moment, she was reprimanding two of the most powerful men in the kingdom like they were naughty children, and the next, she was airborne, propelled from the ground with an invisible hit that knocked the breath out of her lungs and sent her crashing into Merlin and Arthur.

Well, she would have crashed had it not been for Merlin’s magic.  Instinctively – it had to be instinct, for though his eyes flared gold, no spell passed his lips – he caught her with magic.  The feel of his power being used on her was like nothing she had ever imagined.  She had watched him do magic plenty of times before, in the secret of Gaius’s chambers.  But he had never performed magic on her.

She’d wondered what it might feel like, and suddenly, she knew: Merlin’s magic was just like him, gentle, good-natured, but steadfast and real, like the feel of sun-warmed grass underneath your back on a breeze-kissed summer day.  It was also duplicitous, with another, almost invisible layer resting just beneath the surface.  This part was unyielding, shivering with power, and a little bit terrifying, like the lightning-charged sky in the moments after a great storm.  It made her want to laugh and weep at the same time, to wrap her arms around him and to run as far and fast as she could.  The top layer, she knew – it was Merlin.  But something far more powerful and foreign – not evil, just strange, almost old, somehow – lay beneath.  And yet she knew – this was Merlin, too.

All this ran through her head in a matter of seconds, and then Merlin’s magic had deposited her gently on her feet.  She staggered, pain flaring in her middle back, as the magic left her.  Edwin’s spell had hit her hard.  Merlin reached out and steadied her, and though Morgana did not enjoy being “rescued” by anyone, she had to admit that in this situation his hand wrapped loosely around her upper arm was actually helpful.  She regained her footing moments later, and Merlin, as if realizing he’d been holding a poisonous serpent, sprang back, and his hands disappeared behind his back, almost as if he were a good, obedient servant.

Morgana could tell with one glance at Arthur’s face that he’d watched the whole exchange, but he had no time to contemplate what it meant – nor did Morgana, for that matter.  Edwin had used the distraction to disappear, and Morgana knew that he hadn’t taken the opportunity to simply make his escape.  She’d almost broken through to him, but a bloodlust had still tinted his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Arthur asked in a terse voice.  She nodded, said a quick, “Thanks” to Merlin for keeping her from further injury, and then the three of them rushed to Uther’s chambers, hoping they would be there in time, but all knowing already that they would be too late.

Edwin was gone when they burst into the room.  Merlin swore under his breath, an anger most unlike him sizzling just under his skin.  The rage swelled as his eyes alighted to the open window.  The king’s chambers should have been too high for anyone to escape from without serious injury, but when Merlin leaned out, toes barely brushing the surface of the floor as he tilted forward, peering into the darkness below for any sign of Edwin, the courtyard was empty.  Edwin had escaped.  A heavy weight settled directly onto his heart at this realization – and he came to the sudden, jarring understanding that he was not angry at all.

He felt betrayed, lost, and alone, but the rage had dissipated as quickly as it had come upon him.

He was wrenched from his thoughts, and from the cool night air blowing gently against his face, with a desperate shout from Arthur.  “Merlin!”

Merlin knew at once what was the matter, and what Arthur would want him to do.  A pang of anxiety joined the aching betrayal consuming him, followed quickly by fear, then an intense, deep-seated guilt.  It was one thing for Merlin to stop Edwin before he could work his dark magic on the king.  It was another entirely to play an active role in saving the life of the man who had driven Edwin and so many others into the reapers of death and hatred they had become.

Yes – Arthur was going to ask him to heal the king who had arrested him, thrown him in the dungeon, and sentenced him to a horrific death without a trial.  Worse yet, the man who had killed so many like Merlin, who only used their magic for good, or to get by, or because it was the only thing they knew how to do.  The thought of performing magic on a grief-torn, vengeance-born husk of a man such as this stirred something deeply uncomfortable inside of the warlock, and for an insane, panicked moment, he was half-tempted to follow Edwin out of the window and into the night, away from the dangerous and impossible thing that Arthur was about to request.

And yet, it was because Arthur needed it that Merlin stayed.  It was because it was Arthur’s father who was dying that he gathered the strength to turn away from the fear and self-loathing and nameless voices of the magical dead that screamed traitor! in his mind and agreed to use his magic to save a man who hated it.  Who hated him , and wanted him dead.

Now that he understood Edwin’s magic, it would be relatively simple to heal the king.  He’d just need the box, which the sorcerer had, in his haste to escape, left on the end table beside an unconscious, death-pale Uther.  “I can heal him,” Merlin said, his voice rough and uncertain, and he could tell from the looks on both Arthur’s and Morgana’s faces that they understood his struggle.

Morgana took a step forward, green eyes softening in sympathy.  “Merlin, you don’t have to–”

Merlin shook his head, cutting her off without uttering a word.  When Morgana had spoken, Merlin had looked to Arthur and saw something wonderful and terrible on his face – resignation.  Wonderful, because it meant that he had never intended to force Merlin to use his magic to save the king.  Terrible, because he doubted for a moment that Merlin would refuse to help his closest friend’s dying father.

I’m not doing it for a king, Merlin told himself firmly, I am doing it for a father and his son.  In the back of his mind, he heard those same voices, those of the damned, the oppressed, the executed, the slain, whisper their vile insults and curses.  Traitor! they spat.  Traitor to magic!  Traitor to your kind!

The battle waged fiercely for a few seconds more.  Merlin squared his shoulders, took the box of dark magic from Morgana’s pale, slender fingers, and stopped trying to justify his choice.  He leaned over the magic-hating king who wanted him dead, and used magic to make him whole once more.

As soon as Uther stirred, Arthur grabbed Merlin and shoved him out of the king’s chambers, escorting his servant quickly but silently, through the empty corridors of a sleeping Camelot, and back into the dungeons.  The guards were still sleeping by the door, having been knocked out from behind by a sleeping spell upon Merlin’s jailbreak.  Merlin had assured the prince that these men would remember nothing when they woke up – probably.  Merlin’s astounding confidence aside, Arthur hadn’t felt particularly reassured, but knew he needed to check on his father.

Soon, he knew, the king would learn the true story of Edwin’s betrayal, and Merlin would be released, though Arthur knew an apology from his father was far too much to expect.  Gaius’s position would be restored, and life in Camelot would resume in some facsimile of normal.  Except normal, Arthur knew, didn’t exist anymore.  It couldn’t, not with threats like the griffin and Valiant and Edwin surfacing seemingly every week; a heavy fog of dread and death had descended upon Camelot, and Arthur had thought his servant untouched by that darkness.  Until now.  He knew how hard it must have been for Merlin to willingly use his magic to save a king who wanted him dead because of said magic.  He knew Merlin felt betrayed by Edwin.  Did he now feel betrayed by himself?  The question twirled a sickening dance of uncertainty in Arthur’s mind as he escorted Merlin back into his cell.

Reluctantly, Arthur secured the shackles around his friend’s wrists, as Merlin almost sheepishly magicked the cell door back into place.  The sorcerer smiled reassuringly at Arthur, but the prince was anything but.  He was unsettled by the way Merlin’s smile barely touched his eyes, and Arthur’s skin crawled in unease at the choice he had forced upon his friend as he made his way up the stairs, away from the friend he had just locked in a dark, damp dungeon.  The man who had saved the king, the killer of so many of his kind, with magic.  The King of Camelot was alive, the prince was still a prince and not a king, and Arthur still had a father.

But at what cost to Merlin himself, Arthur feared but did not know.

He went to his father, but his mind stayed on his servant.

[candicewright]

Kindly requesting that analysis on wangxian being peak romance and how it compares to queerbaiting please 🙏 🙏 🙏

Hello, anon! I am very genuinely happy that my rambling thoughts interest you in any way (because I have a lot of thoughts) so here is my analysis as promised. It is veeeery long (almost 2k), sorry about that but I’ve really been looking forward to talking about this for a very long time. In the end, it isn’t so much about how Wangxian is peak romance and more about the censorship and how it compares to queerbaiting, I may have to do another post about that later on. Without much further ado, here it is!

The Untamed’s tasteful censorship vs. BBC Merlin’s queerbaiting and why I prefer one over the other.

I know most people follow this blog for Merlin and believe me when I say that I love this show more than I can say because it has quite literally changed my life. But The Untamed has opened my mind to a whole new world (insert Aladdin’s A Whole New World here) and it has given me a lot of perspective on a lot of things.

I often joke with my friends saying that my first consideration when choosing a new show to watch is saying “is it gay?” which is not far from the truth, but it’s also not the complete story. What I mean is that I ask myself “does this show have a relationship that I think is worth getting invested in?”. Yes, t usually happens that those are not heterosexual romances, but what can I say, I’m queer and I like my emotional support fictional characters to be so too. This is the exact reasoning that led me to Merlin. I saw a couple of videos about them on youtube and immediately found their dynamic compelling and their story beautifully tragic. But like with most shows these days, the writers failed (among other things) to make their relationship explicit. This has happened with every show I watched after Merlin too; The Witcher, Sherlock and Good Omens being the most notable ones. 

You can argue if they are or are not queerbaiting, I at least think Good Omens isn’t, but again, it is pretty subjective.

But i had grown so accustomed to this type of media that I fully went into The Untamed expecting something similar.

And oh boy was I wrong.

Now, the case of The Untamed is a curious one because it is supposed to be a love story between two men due to being based on a BL novel, but because of censorship, it had to be very toned down. I found this out right before actually watching the show while doing some preliminary research and while it did change my thought on what I was getting into I truly thought they would just erase the entire relationship and try to hide it behind straight relationships like in most other shows I had watched.

But that was absolutely not the case, to my endless relief and joy.

But how? How did they get away with censoring all the explicit aspects of a romantic relationship while still managing to tell a wonderful love story? And how does this compare to the queerbaiting of a show like Merlin?

Warning: I will be using different parts of both shows and probably some of the MDZS novel to illustrate my point, so there will be spoilers.

The initial accidental chemistry + innuendos vs. The establishment of the very clear enemies to friends to lovers trope

I’m going to use Merlin to compare and contrast this because it’s what I know best and the other show I've given a lot of thought to.

Merthur and Wangxian are both similar and different dynamics in the way they’re written and it was one of the things that drew me into The Untamed in the first place. Both stories begin with our main duo meeting and instantly disliking each other, ending up in a fight. And while they both set the story up to lead to a more intimate bond being created between the pairs, there’s something very different from the start.

Merthur is deliberately set up to be a close friendship and all innuendos and chemistry are accidental (in my opinion and only at the start). Let me explain.

The concept for Merlin clearly started with the idea of how the story would change if Merlin was a young boy arriving in Camelot instead of an old powerful sorcerer. Then they made the main plot to be his destiny/friendship with the young and arrogant Prince Arthur. I truly believe that the first innuendos were not what they intended and that all chemistry and sexual tension between the characters comes courtesy of Colin and Bradley and how undeniably good they look on screen together. Fans then started speculating (as we always do) and then the production team decided to run with it, making it almost a recurring joke when it shouldn’t have been. Had they treated that developing relationship seriously like what they were hinting it was, the show would have been very different.

The Untamed on the other hand, is everything but accidental. What they’re doing is deliberately establishing the enemies to friends to lovers trope from the very beginning. It’s not an accident that during their first fight on the roof of the Cloud Recesses Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji that women would find his true character very disappointing and that no one would want to marry him. he says so several times in fact and this is clearly both to highlight the change in their relationship as well as to say that Lan Wangji is not at all interested in the opinion of any female (or anyone besides Wei Wuxian for that matter). This is the same stuff we see in mainstream straight romances: one of the characters saying something to the effect of “who would want to date them?” only to end up involved with the other at the end of the story.

You could argue that Merlin does something similar with the conversation between Merlin and Kilgharrah where Merlin is affronted by the idea of having to help Arthur where he says “There must be another Arthur because this one’s an idiot...If someone wants to kill him, they can go right ahead. In fact, I’ll give them a hand.” but the difference between these two is that Merlin is hiding behind the guise of destiny and friendship to make these parallels while Wangxian is deliberately and clearly in a romantic context.

The deliberate continuation of the subtext vs. The suggestion of something more

The accidental nature of the subtext doesn’t last long and in true BBC fashion, it turns into full-on queerbaiting real fast. Again, you can argue endlessly about when the deliberately suggestive comments start, but by the end of the show, we know for a fact the entire production staff and even the staff were aware of the effect and reception their show was having. This was no longer an innocent mistake on people reading too much into it, it was a very purposeful narrative that they were pushing without ever truly committing to it. This is what got fans going crazy over “poetry” or lines like “you’re the only friend I have and I couldn’t bear to lose you”. These are all very intentional choices they made to keep their devoted fanbase interested and while we’re all very thankful for this material it really keeps us wondering what it could have been if they had taken that extra step.

The Untamed can’t take that step because of the censorship laws, but it’s still much more daring than Merlin ever was. While Merlin keeps the soulmate aspect of the Merthur relationship a suggestion, The Untamed outright says it, which was baffling to me. It even does it at a pint where the first kiss happened in the novel, which you would think makes it less romantic. But that's absolutely not the case because of both the non-consensual nature of that original kiss and because of how heartbreakingly beautiful the replacement scene is. Not only that, but they also keep all the elements you could expect to see in any pre-relationship stage of a developing romance story: endless amounts of mutual pining, not-really-unrequited love, jealousy, panicking at the sight of your crush (yes I’m looking at you 15-year-old Lan Wangji) and even some fun in vino veritas moments. They even have a son together! It doesn’t get more clear than that!

This is all the way the show has of suggesting something more without outright saying (even though it’s a pretty not subtle way of suggesting it).

Merlin, on the other hand, keeps trying to deny the romantic nature of the Merthur dynamic, which brings me to my next point.

The introduction of a female love interest as an excuse vs. The awareness that the audience understands the relationship in the way it's meant to be

Now, this one really bugs me, because of all the ways they could have done this they truly chose the worst and destroyed Gwen’s character in the process. 

In my opinion, the writers could have done a few different things. They could have fully developed the Merthur relationship as a romantic one while keeping Gwen’s role as a queen and creating a much more satisfying character arch for her, maybe even getting her together with Morgana or Lancelot. They could have focused on the Awen romance and therefore lowered the suggestions of romance between Merlin and Arthur, once again creating a much more enjoyable subplot for Gwen, though it could have also meant sacrificing the very powerful bond between the main characters. They could have even taken advantage of Gwen’s crush on Merlin in the first season and gone on the full-on polyamory direction! That would have been much better! Instead, they halfassed the romance between Arthur and Gwen and made it just...meh. Not that Angel and Bradley didn’t do a great job, it was more of a writing problem than a them problem.

The Untamed (despite the rumours and possibilities of a Wen Qing/Wei Wuxian relationship) decided to just run with the not really platonic relationship between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, making them the complete focus of the story while still upholding the censorship laws. What I think the biggest difference between the two shows is, is that one runs on assuming the audience is stupid while the other one assumes the audience is smart.

Let me explain once more.

The Merlin writers clearly thought that by introducing Gwen as the love interest to Arthur he would just become what? Magically straight? As if we hadn’t seen the last four seasons of sexual tension between him and Merlin? The audience was not fooled for the most part, but some people did fall for this, coming with the argument “But he’s married to Gwen so he’s straight!” as if being gay or straight are the only two possibilities but oh well.

The Untamed does quite the opposite. It relies on the fact that the audience is going to catch onto the romantic aspect of the narrative without them actively saying anything because we are Not Dumb. It also does something that I think is quite beautiful which is leaving it up for interpretation as far as whether it’s platonic or not and even more touching is the way the story has resonated with the ace community (that is according to what I’ve seen, please do correct me if I’m wrong) by focusing on their emotional and intellectual connection instead of in their physical and sexual one.

This is why, in the end, I prefer what I call The Untamed’s tasteful censorship over Merlin and other shows’ blatant queerbaiting.

I feel the need after all of this to state that Merlin is still my favorite show of all time and that this is not by any means me saying that Merlin is absolute trash or something like that. There’s also a lot more that I think can be said in this conversation, so please feel free to tell me what you think and if you’ve ever encountered something similar to this.

Also, if I made any mistakes or wrong points, please don’t be shy about telling me!

I hope this rant was at least somewhat interesting and that you found it satisfactory, anon!

[merlinpetpeeves]

Breaking for the holidays!

Hey all! So, now that Christmas Eve has brought me to a nicely rounded multiple of five, I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be taking a few days off for Christmas (possibly extending through to the new year).

There are a few more submissions sitting in my inbox, so those will be posted once I return. If you have more in the meantime, however, feel free to keep ‘em coming!

Also, I’ve had an awful lot of Anon messages in the past week or so, so responses to those are under the cut:

Re: Peeve 432:

It's been established that magic is something you're born with but is seen as something you choose. That's one of the reasons why the Purge is so bad and why most of the fandom considers magic as an allegory for homosexuality. Morgana's whole introduction to her magic literally tackled this. I believe what Gaius said to Merlin in the first episode was either Gaius being ignorant about the nature of magic and believing it to be a choice (unlikely, but still possible I'd argue), or he was talking about Merlin's innate control over his magic being impossible, especially when Merlin was a baby. I think Merlin's usage of instinctive nonverbal magic from infancy/childhood is what distinguishes him from other magic users (aside from his sheer raw power, of course). both Morgana and Mordred, when we first see them use magic, had explosive magic that was triggered by their emotions. Morgana, particularly, had to learn from Morgause to control and use it, while Merlin said he always knew how to move objects with his magic.

This was actually in response to a submission, not to my own personal Peeve, so I wasn’t sure what to do with your comments, but this post gave me a good chance so: I don’t agree that Gaius was showing ignorance or a lack of knowledge in the first episode. It’s my understanding that different people come to magic in different ways. Gilli, for example, couldn’t really use magic without the external aid of his ring. Some seem to learn purely through study. Others, like Morgana and Mordred, develop magic over time (I don’t count this as being ‘Born with Magic’ in the sense that the show uses that phrase, but more as eventually developing a latent ability, in a similar (albeit more extreme) way to how one might develop freckles, for example), but can’t do complex things with it without training. Other than that, for those people, it seems to emerge (an a limited manner) in times of extreme stress or great concentration. Merlin, however, is the only one to be described as being ‘Born with Magic,’ and is the only person for whom it is seen to function as essentially an extension of himself- which is what Gaius appears to be commenting on in 1.01. No other magic-user would have been able to pause that water without even so much as thinking about it. So I think, with this, it just comes down to a difference in what we term as fitting under the phrase “Born with Magic.” And this, I think, is why people in fics often make the distinction between ‘sorcerer’ and ‘warlock,’ while saying that Merlin is essentially a ‘warlock plus.’ Warlock being the closest word to describe him, but him being on a distinct tier as the only person ever to have literally been born with his abilities. (Hopefully my rambles make some sort of sense. Lol.)

Praise: "And you, Uther, you will go to hell." >> See Praise 332

Is there a specific reason you have Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, Elyan, and Leon?? Or am I just reading too much into it?

Yes and no? I originally made this super long banner with loads of characters. Arthur and Merlin were near the centre because they’re the main characters. Gwen, Merlin and Elyan were the centre because I love them so much, and everyone else was in kind of a random order around them based on whose pics I searched for first. It looked dumb when uploaded, so I cut it down to just the central five. Then, when I made MerlinPetPraises, I just liked the idea of having the same people on both (and I’m super fond of Leon’s giddy little geek-out over the crossbows, so no regrets. Lol).

Why didn't Alator throw away the note from Finna? Just left it in his chambers? Where it could and was found?  >> See Peeve 175

Do you ignore asks that aren't peeves/praises?

Again, yes and no? In a way? Like, I’ll read them, of course, but if it’s just a simple comment (especially on a submission), then I prefer not to disrupt the flow of the blog, if that makes sense? I much prefer to reply to people in person, which is part of the reason (along with it making it muuuuch easier for me to ask for clarifications re:submissions) that I prefer people message off of anon. I know that at least one person (not sure if it’s you) sends thing via anon because they don’t have an account, though, which is the main reason I haven’t blocked anon submissions entirely. If it’s a comment about a mistake in a post, then I’ll post a retraction, but other than that I kind of have to play it by ear based on the content of the ask. After all, I’m really not sure how people would feel about me constantly breaking up a simple blog format with long and rambly posts like this one. Lol. (Honestly, I don’t receive many non-submission asks, though. If I did, I might have just made a third side blog just for that to avoid breaking the flow.)

I know there was a pet praise about how clever Gwen was and I agree. I just wish we got to see more of that in the early seasons.

Faaaairly sure this is just a comment and not a submission? In which case, I genuinely don’t know how to respond except to say that I think Gwen had lots of moments in the earlier series where she showed how clever she is. The main difference that I can see is that, by S5, she’s much more self-assured and willing to share those opinions without fear of judgement. (But yes. More Gwen is always of the good. Lol.)

[aithuzah]

Re: Kilgharrah Conspiracy Theory. Yeah, exactly. I've also read a meta on AO3 called 'The Triumph of Uther Pendragon' where the author explains how the entire show came to embody Uther as it progressed. It's a really great analysis of what went wrong, and I thoroughly recommend it.

{ previous | The Triumph of Uther Pendragon by Araeph }

Thank you so much for this rec! It's the essay I've always wanted to write but never felt like actually organizing in such a clear, focused format, and I'm LOVING IT. (Also, the author actually knows things about the original Arthurian legends, which helps a lot.)

Some choice quotes, for anybody else wondering if it's worth the read:

"If Kilgharrah’s lessons to Merlin are don’t try to save people and don’t try to see goodness in them, Gaius’ lesson to Merlin is: if you try to press for progress in Camelot, you and everyone you love will get hurt."

"In Series 5, Arthur is King, Gwen is Queen, Morgana leads an army, and Merlin is…Arthur’s manservant. Arthur wears his crown, Gwen wears velvet and brocade, Morgana wears black clothes and enchanted jewelry, and Merlin…wears the exact same clothes he’s always worn. Arthur has the Round Table, Gwen rules at his side, Morgana has her own castle, and Merlin…leads nothing, despite all the Druids and Catha waiting for him to build the world he promised."

"As Series 3 progresses, we see this more and more—that Morgana has not merely changed, but been removed to make way for the version of the character that is safely in the evil camp." (my Morgana Conspiracy Theory is that Morgause used the same spell on Morgana that was used on Gwen in season 5, because that's the only in-universe explanation I can come up with that accounts for the total destruction of Morgana's values, ethics, loyalties, and personality in such a short time span.)

"Arthur’s story arc in Merlin is the equivalent of watching five years of Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and having it yanked away at the last minute. That is not a journey; it is a repetitive loop of eternal punishment à la Dante’s Inferno. Worse, the “football” that the creators snatch away is not just Arthur’s job, or his dream; it is his identity."

"The obvious follow-through to this would be to have Gwen take over her father’s forge after he dies, earning her bread by her blacksmithing. What if she were then approached by someone who heard her father was willing to help a sorcerer? What if Gwen came to see that she could use magic, not having been born with it, but able to see it as a tool to help people? What if, out of love for her work, she was drawn into a world she didn’t fully understand and thus had to develop on-screen in order to survive in it? The Arthurian Legend is rife with magical trinkets Gwen could have created. If the creators had had a few series’ patience with Gwen, she could even have forged Excalibur. What better way to modernize Gwen than to have this “woman of the people” create Arthur’s sword, having the land itself symbolically give the King the weapon needed to rule Camelot?" (holy shit I LOVE this idea)

"While there is so much concern about making Arthur King at just the right time, no one ever asks if Gwen is truly ready to be Queen—for what genuine answer to that question could the creators possibly have? And this lack of questioning of Gwen’s readiness is despite the fact that, according to the show’s timeline, Arthur only reigned for three years and Gwen will reign for the rest of her life!" (the author is probably harsher on Gwen's character than I would be, but I understand why--and I recognize that I'm kind of defensive over her at this point. I just wanted more for her to DO, dammit)

"It didn’t matter to the creators that their characters achieved nothing, because their sole intent was to sell an idea without ever having to deliver on it." (DAMNNNNN)

"Despite the in-show condemnation of everything Uther is, it is Uther whom the show really wants in charge."

If anybody tries to tell me that "no the ending was good actually because it's BEAUTIFULLY TRAGIC and it's what the creators intended" or "no you don't get it their destiny WAS fulfilled by GWEN, you know, OFF SCREEN" again I think I'll just link them to the relevant chapters instead of dredging up the energy to argue the point myself lmao

[thegeminisage]

hey liz i've been thinking a lot about story structure lately and i wanted your take on how you decide what structure your stories will have? i know there's that "you have to do what your story needs and tells you to do" thing but these bitches dont ever tell me anything they just multiply so. thoughts? - bma

(as an aside, i don't know whether involving medium would change many things but it may be worth considering. mainly i think medium is just a matter of arrangement and that the story would be for most intents and purposes the same no matter how you choose to tell it. i guess you could argue that structure is arrangement in itself and intrinsically tied to medium but i sort of feel like it is secondary arrangement, if at all? like if you consider time as an element to outline -- the time IN the story (how things happen to your characters) is not necessarily the time you’re telling the story IN (how you are telling your reader that things are happening) aka internal chronology doesnt equal your work’s pacing? or should it??? does this make sense? i dont think so. i am sorry.) - bma :|

NOOO dont be sorry ur making total sense

i think there’s 3 thots to unpack here (medium, structure, & chronology) & i’m gonna start with medium bc it’s easier. im also putting it behind a cut bc it’s gonna get just stupidly long and rambly. i’m sorry in advance if it’s not helpful to you, i have a lot to say for someone who has never taken even one single class on writing and as a result doesn’t know jack shit (there’s a tl;dr at the end dont worry)

about MEDIUM: 

so like ok i’m just some goof-off with a HS degree who writes fanfiction but In My Very Super Qualified Personal Opinion, i don’t think that most of the time medium is intrinsically tied to STRUCTURE of the main storytelling arc...i think the art of storytelling itself is distinct from the medium you choose to tell the story IN. this post puts it better than i ever could but basically for me, i feel like the story itself is sort of the raw, malleable concept, and the medium you choose to tell it in is how you convey the information??

like in a book, you can say “she forgot her keys” and in a film you have to show her smacking her forehead, heading back into the house, and swiping her keeps off the counter. you can’t TELL in film, you have to show. similarly i regret every day i cannot perfectly describe a facial expression with words when i see it so clearly in my head. for audio-only podcasts that are dialogue heavy out of necessity you have different limitations than you would for, say, animated music videos with no dialogue at all. games allow for more interactivity and exploration while sacrificing accessibility, tv shows allow for more length while sacrificing, uh, a big hollywood budget...medium affects the kind of story you can reasonably tell which is why some stories are better suited to one medium than another. i think trying things in other mediums is a good way to stretch your storytelling muscles but with enough skill nearly any story could be told in any medium. i think when trying to decide on a medium you just gotta weigh the pros & cons and what you feel comfortable with/what you think would be most effective/what would evoke the strongest reaction

re: structure:

firstly “do what the story tells u to do” is a little silly like...the story isn’t sentient. come on. that’s like “i can only write when the writing gods inspire me” there are no writing gods! inspire yourself! it’s all in our weird messed up brains! ok anyway.

this is, again, just how i do things, and i am 700% self-taught so take it with a grain of salt, but when i sit down and start blocking out a story from scratch i don’t...actually consider the big structure at all! sorry if that’s not helpful to you. i like to make a list of everything i want to happen, and then put it together in a few different orders to see what looks best. and when i’m finished, whatever i have just like...IS the structure i go with, with perhaps minor tinkering to make it flow more smoothly. (i think this might be in the same spirit as “do what the story tells you” with less bullshit and more Agency Of The Writer.)

for long and more complex projects, i actually usually have several lists - one list of stuff that is, for example, the Action Plot (the kingdom has been cursed, i’m tracking down my serial killer sister to bring her to justice, i’m running from djinn who wanna kill my dad, i’m trying to bring my dead not-boyfriend back to life). then i have another list for Character A & Character B’s romance or whatever. and maybe a even another one for solo character development (magicphobic prince learns to love magic, former werewolf hunter figures out his family is a cult, half-demon learns to embrace his own nature). and as many lists as we need for however many Main Characters and or Plots/Sideplots

how i order the lists: individually first. don’t mix them together to start with. when deciding the order of an individual list i like to, for example in a romance arc, use escalating intimacy. “A and B have dinner together” is naturally gonna go way sooner than “A and B kiss” or “A and B talk about A’s angsty backstory” because that’s more satisfying. draw it out, good/important stuff last, dangle that carrot so we have a reason to keep reading! for singular character development, it’s basically a straightforward point A to point B...if i want my guy to start hating magic with everything he is and end up being very comfortable with it, i have to put “reluctantly uses magic to save his own life” WAYYY before “casually using magic to light torches and reheat his cold stew.” 

the tricky part for me is when i’m done with these lists and then i need to mix them together To Pace My Whole Story. (this is usually why i wind up with a rainbow colored spreadsheet.) i don’t like to put too many things too close together because then the pace feels uneven. even if my Action Plot is only a thinly veiled excuse for romance and character development, i still don’t want to focus on a romance for 30,000 words and then go “and oh yeah in case you forgot Serial Killing Sister is still coming for your asses.” the more sideplots and major character arcs you’re juggling the harder it is to get an even distribution, which is my main concern always

and like, generally, whatever i have when i’m finished...is my structure. (sorry.) 

i don’t know much about the classic 3-act or anything like that, but i usually can divide them up into 3-5 big arcs based on story turning points. sometimes i take a scene out of one arc and put it in another because it fits better and i like for my shit to be organized, but usually by the time i’m finished with all that, that’s what the final story is mostly gonna look like. (there have been a few exceptions when i realized i needed extra scenes/changes while i was MID-DRAFT and let me tell you that murders me EVERY time. it happened on the merlin fic i’m currently posting and that was like my own personal hell.)

this is also where thots about chronology come in:

i think time CAN be an element of this if you WANT it to be, but it doesn’t HAVE to be. if you want it to be, i would consider it just another “list” like character development or the romance arc. 

i usually plot without considering Time very much...to me, it’s all down to the events you want to show, and however much time it takes is the byproduct. if you want to show something from a character’s chilhood but then tell the bulk of it when they’re adults, that’s one thing. if you want to show a scene from their childhood, teenhood, young adulthood, etc, that’s a different kind of pacing?? i usually do it this way so i can regard time like wordcount: it takes as long as it takes. 3 days or 3 years, a 1.5k drabble or a 100k epic...overall, my LARGEST CONCERN is that even distribution. in the same way that i don’t want one chapter to be 30,000 words when the rest are 10,000 words, i personally am not a fan of huge timeskips offscreen

(because this where i think someone’s own internal chronology DOES matter...this is just a personal preference, as a reader i have a hard time really comprehending, say, a year timeskip or a 10yr timeskip when all i did was turn one page. like, a year is such a long time. i can’t even begin to describe how different i am now to how i was a year ago. it’s the same for character development. time IS development and as a writer i’m not really comfortable having that take place offscreen - for main characters, at least. it’s just too jarring. a little prologue with something happening 10 or 20 years ago is usually fine, but for the most part, i’m not a fan. ...i can do one chapter per year a lot easier than i can do two chapters in childhood and the other 8 in adulthood. of course you can play with this a LOT with nonlinear storytelling, which is a whole other very cool thing, and someone skilled in their work can keep me sucked in no matter what, but imo if you don’t want to risk throwing your reader out of your work it’s better to keep things steady)

HOWEVER sometimes time IS an element u wanna consider outside of just making sure your shit is evenly distributed...if your heart is moved to tell a story in a specific timeframe, over a year, or from solstice to solstice (this was almost the timeline for my merlin fic and then i changed it), for the first six months of a friendship, or even a huge journey in the span of a single day (toby fox had a lot of success with this one lol).

i think it can help to choose a start and end point for your chronology the same way you do for character development (prince goes from hating magic to being ok with it, story takes place from ages 8 to 25, or from new year’s eve 2038 to 2039, whatever) - that way you can keep your distribution even, if that’s a thing you want to do...even if you have a lot of skips you can still note what happens offscreen to make it work better in your head? like, if you just make it another List, another column on your spreadsheet, when you’re in the early stages of organizing you can be conscious of it and make sure it’s playing into the story the way you want it to

anyway these r my thots im SOOOO SORRY this is so long lmao. brain machine broke today which is why i had to ramble more to explain myself. the tl;dr in case ur brain is melting out of ur ears & u didn’t sign up for an essay:

imo medium is totally distinct from storytelling tho ofc some stories are better suited to some mediums

structure? i don’t know her. i plot w/o regard to structure and then if it looks funny i mush it into a more structurally sound shape

my main concern when structuring anything, including time, is an even distribution of Events and a steady rate of escalation

structure to me is just what i have when i’m finished plotting. i’m sorry one day i’m gonna take a writing class

internal chronology matters to me personally because i have a little bit of time blindness but maybe not to everyone, i know many very successful stories where they disregarded that entirely to no ill effect

writer’s block isn’t real! everyone just needs more rainbow spreadsheets

thank u for asking I HOPE i didn’t make you regret it too badly lmao and that at least a little of it was helpful!! 

[myemotionalsupportcharacters]

Mission #5

Type: One-Shot Series

Pairing: (Kingsman)Merlin x Female!OC

Summary: To celebrate their new start, the current Kingsmen take a night off to hold a small party.

Warnings: A little fluffy, drinking games, thirst

{Disclaimer: I do not own any characters except those marked as OC, I hold no rights over anything from the Marvel universe. Otherwise all content is my own and any similarity to real people, events, or any other fiction is unintentional. Please inbox me if you believe anything within my work violates this disclaimer.}

AN: Enjoy some random Merlin content on my Marvel blog because I’m going though yet another fixation faze. PSA: Mark Strong got jacked and I’m weeping at this gif.

It had taken a few months, but everyone was now settled in at the new Kingsmen Headquarters, and after all that work, they reasoned that a party was the next logical step. A small affair, just the eight of them (of course Tilde was invited) before they began their recruitment phase, once again headed up by Merlin. They had all agreed it was only right that Harry should head up the new Kingsmen, and had subsequently ascended to the title of Arthur. Eggsy had married Tilde and was now a Prince by title. Roxy had made a full recovery from the missile attack on the old headquarters and was feeling (a little like Merlin) lucky to be alive. Tequila, Ginger (she was technically now Whiskey, but as she was currently on loan from Statesman to help Merlin rebuild the technical and medical departments, decided to go by Ginger), and Vermouth had all found their groove. 

Tequila mostly did what he wanted (just less recreationally) until it was go time for a mission. Vermouth walked around all day seeing where she could lend a hand and popping in to see Merlin when she could. They had developed a pattern. Harmless flirting, and secretive winks, although it was mostly Vermouth having all the fun. Merlin was a tough shell to crack, and with the lack of agents he'd been stepping out to do some recon in person. It was a party to celebrate many things.

So they gathered in the 'ballroom' as they had decided to call it. A large space in the centre of the new mansion that no one had really known what to do with until Vermouth suggested they let her do it up and make it into a ballroom. It was excellent and reminded Eggsy of his new parents-in-law's house. They'd all gotten dressed up, and hired Wilhem from the Tailors Shop to man the bar. A large jukebox in the corner linked up to the speakers and slowly they milled around, each picking a song of their own. 

Vermouth had chosen a long wine red dress, with a gold belt, thin straps, and a slit that ran up the front of her thigh. Merlin had braced himself on arrival, but he hadn't been prepared for that. He still wasn't as she sauntered over to him at the Jukebox, a glass of Single Malt Scotch in one hand, and a darker liquor in the other.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She held out the scotch, and he took it, raising it with a nod to thank her.

"I wanted to pick a song, but I'm a little spoiled for choice." He mused.

"Well, a little birdy told me that you had a thing for country western music, so I just couldn't resist loading it up with a couple of classics...and a couple of new ones." Her shoulder brushed against his as she peered into the machine, he chuckled turning to face her.

"What would you chose, Ma'am?" She smiled, bumping her shoulder into him, pressing a few buttons to bring up the next songbook.

"Hmm, the ladies choice. If I pick a song, will you dance with me?" She never took her eyes away from the machine, fingers hovering over the play button.

"I think that depends on the song." He smiled, taking a sip from his drink. She chuckled, before hitting the button, the intro to Darius Rucker’s Wagonwheel playing over the speakers. She took a couple of steps back, before holding out her free hand for his.

"Care to join me?" He took her hand, neither putting their drinks down to move to the free space and face each other. Meredith changed hands, placing her right on his shoulder, and Merlin placing his right around her waist. Slowly they began to sway and spin. "Not to be the one to break up the party, but someday, we're going to have to do something about this."

"I think you might be right, lass." She looked up into his eyes, for once without glasses, and saw the smile lines next to the frown lines, the way his eyes seemed to speak for him. She smiled before stepping a little closer and resting her right cheek against his firm chest. He looked good tonight, a white shirt, unbuttoned and tucked into black slacks. His legs were so long, and she wasn't sure what it was about that, but there was something. "Good song choice." She felt his chest rumble as he spoke, and suddenly all she could imagine was falling asleep on his chest and smiled.

"Alright, that's about enough of the easy drinking. Time to get the party really started." Tequila joked. Vermouth had to give it to him, he looked good in a suit. She, however, had swapped out her denim jacket for a black leather one, not quite ready to start wearing a blazer yet.

"What you got in mind?" She asked, familiar with most of his self-created party games.

"I was thinking, Winner Takes All." Vermouth chuckled and nodded.

"What's Winner Takes All?" Eggsy asked, curiosity piqued, Tilde right with him.

"A game of my own design." Tequila bragged. "A question is posed to the group about something within the group, the group votes, and the losers take a shot." He explained.

“You’ve missed out a crucial detail, T. Bets on.” Vermouth points out as she and Merlin slowed their dancing. She quickly pilfered some bottles from Whilhem who smilled and starting collecting shot glasses.

“Right, right! So if someone calls bets on, you have to prove it.” He beams at the group, arms open as if expecting applause only to be met by confusion and amusement.

"Plead the fifth!" Tequila hollered, and Meredith smiled, placing the assorted alcohol on the table before flopping down onto the sofa next to Merlin.

"Let's get started." She grabbed one of Eggsy's empty beer bottles and spun. 

“I’m not sure I understand how this works.” Merlin leant over to whisper in her ear.

“You’ll see.” She whispered back, and for a moment he got a scent of the sweet alcohol on her breath. It landed on Tequila, who whooped again.

"Alright, let me show you how it's done. We'll start tame. Which of the girls can do the most push-ups? Men vote." Slowly the votes trickled in. Tequila for Vermouth, Harry and Eggsy for Roxy, and finally Merlin also for Roxy. 

"No offence Roxy, but y'all are fools. Bets on." Tequila laughed as the two women stood up, moving to the dance floor next to the couches, and onto their knees. "All right ladies, nice clean push-ups from both of you. Highest wins. Go." A quick fist bump and they were off. They both kept as even a pace as possible, not wanting to wear out too quickly, until Roxy started to slowly fall behind, the lads cheered them on, but it was too late. Vermouth beating out Lancelot by fifteen.

"Bloody hell, Di." Roxy gasped, shaking out her arms, Meredith mimicking her with a laugh.

"Alright boys, drink up and think of a question for Tequila over there." The two women stood, making their way back to their seats.

"Alright," Tilde's eyes narrowed as she looked around them. "Who is the most buff of the guys? Girls vote." Suddenly, a devious smile settled across Meredith's lips, not going unnoticed by a few of the group. All the votes pointed to Tequila, Tilda giving Eggsy an apology kiss who argued he'd say the same thing. Everyone looked to Meredith, who took a little sip before leaning back.

"Merlin." Harry chuckled from the other sofa and seconding her, and Tequila puffing out his chest.

"No way." He argued, the others joining in on the confusion. "You agree?" He asked Merlin, who sized up the other man before giving a nod. "Bets on."

Merlin gave a resigned sigh before shooting Meredith a look that sid ‘i’ll get you back for this’. Both men stood, Tequila shrugging off his jacket as Merlin unbuttoned his shirt. By the time he was done, Tequila was shirtless and waiting. Merlin shrugged off his shirt, tossing it onto the couch next to Meredith, and she got the sudden urge to crawl inside it.

"Holy shit, Merlin. You're jacked." Eggsy spluttered, Harry laughing and tipping his glass to his old friend.

"How did you know?" Tilde asked, eyes narrowing at Meredith.

"I flew out to patch him up in Columbia. You can't apply an Alpha-gel patch over clothing." She explained simply. Tequila held a hand out to Merlin who shook it, and Meredith never looked away from the rippling muscles of his back. Slowly he sat down and pulled his shirt back on, leaving a few buttons undone like before, but opting to roll up the sleeves, and suddenly Meredith's legs felt weak. "Sorry Tilds, but I think that counts as my question." She smirked. The questions were a little tamer after that, and soon got so silly that Roxy and Harry slowly began to diffuse the situation.

Merlin waited as Meredith closed the ballroom up, and walked to the residential wing together. Whilst he still had his own house, Merlin wasn't currently in a state to drive and didn't fancy the journey anyway, so was staying in one of the guest rooms. He walked Meredith to her room like a true gentleman, holding her heels for her as she clutched the nearly full glass of Dissorano she had insisted upon taking bed with her in one hand, and her now slightly too long skirt in the other. Halfway up the second staircase, she had almost dripped, catching her self on her knees, Merlin's hand under her right forearm to steady her as she peeled with laughter. Once they finally made it there, they stared at each other in silence for a moment, assessing.

Merlin made the first move, weaving a hand into her hair and cupping the side of her head as he pressed his lips to hers. She lost her breath at the sensation, strength pouring through, whilst he was met with soft and yielding. He pulled away, stroking his thumb across her cheekbone, before moving away. Meredith reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt and pulling his back to her. It was a far more intense kiss, her tongue slipping out to run across his lower lip and he nipped at hers in response. Her back pressed against the door, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she reminded herself not to drop the glass. She tasted sweet, like marzipan, where he tasted of something woody, and strong. Remnants of alcohol brushing over her tongue. They parted, panting, eyes wide and panting breaths. amidst this moment she managed to mumble out,

"That's how you say goodnight."

[tielan]

10 Favourite Not!Male Characters [meme]

So, the request is “Name your 10 favorite women/nonbinary/not men characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people.” But, really, if you pick any ten fandoms of mine, my favourite character will always be a not!male character.

Okay, on reflection, almost always. Lee Adama is my favourite character in BSG, although Sharon Agathon | Athena would come a very close second.

Maria Hill - Marvel Cinematic Universe

She’s competent and cool-headed, shoots with icewater in her veins, argues with power, and speaks her mind before superheroes. She saved Captain America, the Black Widow, and the Falcon, from HYDRA on a day when they were one television crew away from public execution. She’s friends with the Avengers, and the person Nick Fury calls for when he needs someone he trusts (and, let’s be honest, Nick Fury could count the people he trusts on one hand and still have fingers left over when he was done).

Mako Mori - Pacific Rim

Quiet is not the same as passive. “It’s not obedience, Mr. Becket. It’s respect.”

Teyla Emmagan - Stargate Atlantis

One of the things I liked best about Teyla was that she not only built bridges between people (a trader, who went to other cultures and worked out what they could swap), but that she ended up in Stargate Atlantis as a bridge between people. I wish the show had developed that more, and better, and with greater depth than the cursory skim they gave it, but, eh.

Diana Prince - DC

Diana has always been one of my favourite characters in the DC Universe, all the way back to JLU. Overall, I love that the best portrayals of her, while celebrating her as female and feminine, also bring up that she can be ruthless in her pursuit of justice - perhaps less inclined to mercy towards a villain than the male superheroes.

Kate Freelander - Sanctuary

Thief. Grifter. Fast thinker. Occasionally ruthless. I really adored Kate’s casual insouciance and street cunning in the midst of the Sanctuary. And Helen Magnus (one hundred fifty something years old) encourages her.

Guinevere - Merlin

Amidst magic users and princes and nobles and knights, Gwen was ‘just’ a servant girl with a kind heart, a quiet courage, and a moral compass, but she had a warmth and a personality that shone in the midst of kings and nobles and wizards and sorceresses.

Sam Carter - Stargate SG1

In spite of the 90s cringiness of it, Sam had me at the arm-wrestling challenge, and I was girl-crushing HARD by the time she babbled about Cray supercomputers (ah, the 90s) and the DHD. Smart and sharp, scientist and military both in a time when the divide tended to be one or the other. A woman who was good looking, intelligent, and tough, but who still had a maternal/feminine side, while rather enjoying blowing things up. (”You know, you blow up one sun, and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water...”)

Faith Lehane - Buffy|Angel

The extraneous Slayer - the one girl in all the world with the strength and the skill...oh wait, no, sorry, she’s the spare. She goes dark-side, comes back, goes quiet as she pays her price, then realises that in there doing the time won’t change the crime and she can’t make amends if she’s not out there and doing. And she does. I am still kinda salty that Faith didn’t get her own roadshow, but these things happen.

Leia Organa - Star Wars

I have always and forever wanted the story of Luke turning dark side in the emperor’s throne room in Return of the Jedi, and Leia having to save the galaxy.

...and then someone wrote me just such a fic for fandom stocking 2019.

my brother’s keeper by rain_sleet_snow Luke kills his father and Falls, and Leia becomes the last resort.

Ziva David - NCIS

She’s ba-ack!

[phoebedoescostume]

a little bonus post from my patreon. this isn’t exactly the sort of thing i usually do over there, but it fitted in with my april theme: knights.

“i told you i can't stop thinking about merlin right? well i couldn't help myself but make this little edit while putting together this month's mood boards. there's something so compelling about the central pairing, two-sides-of-the-same-coin merlin and arthur. it's funny that the series really nailed the relationship and character development of those two, but fell short on those aspects with so many of the other characters. two of the least well served characters are unsurprisingly the two female leads. gwen, while a great character, isn't given quite enough to do, and is often mistreated or sidelined for the sake of the plot. morganna also has so much potential, engaging, loveable and well acted whether she's good or evil. but her character development is clunky, and honestly doesn't make much sense.

i remember watching merlin when it was first on, long before my feminist awakening, and even then being frustrated with the female representation in the show. why were gwen and morgana never made knights? why were there no female knights at all, even when class was removed as a barrier? why was practically every other female character either portrayed as ridiculous if they were unattractive or undesirable in some way, or if not, pitted against qwen  as a threat to her relationship with arthur? why was it constantly made very clear that to lose to a woman was embarrassing? why was arthur's go-to insult to compare any poorly executed action to doing it "like a girl"?

i could probably go on, and talk about how even merlin (especially merlin) is the victim of uther and arthur's toxic masculinity, but i will lecture you no further. did i mention that i love this show? i do, because it is possible to love something even if it flawed. which as feminists in a patriarchal society, is something we have to accept, as long as we are able to decode the inherent sexist messages in the media we consume.

if you want a fantasy tv series with better written female characters, i highly recommend legend of the seeker. it's tonally and structurally very similar to merlin, and while it doesn't have any knights, you could argue that the (all female) mord sith play a very similar role in the pseudo-medieval world of the show.”

[yo-namine]

Okay, I’m not done with this idea, so...

To start off, Riku and Kairi's relationship post-KH3 is a little, uh.... strained. After everything that happened in the Graveyard, Riku really doesn't trust Kairi to hold her own at all. They both want to go search for a way to revive Sora, but Riku's pretty dead-set on Kairi staying safe at home while he does all the actual work. He's already lost one friend, and he's not risking losing another. Kairi argues that if he's going to go chasing the Lich, he needs someone like her who can bring him back, but her argument kind of falls flat because her PoH abilities have been pretty shaky ever since Sora died because, well, her heart's broken. So Riku doesn't budge, and Kairi's left feeling useless and powerless to help her friends. Again. Also, Kairi can tell that Riku does sort of lowkey resent her for being a liability back in the Graveyard. Riku knows it's unfair of him, but he can't help how he feels. And while Riku really does want to keep her safe, Kairi feels that he's also shutting her out as a way to penalize her for costing them Sora's life. Angst ensues. Basically, instead of working together on a way to bring back Sora, Riku and Kairi end up pushing each other away and doubtlessly making things harder than they need to be. 🎉🎉🎉

Obviously, Kairi isn't going to just stay home. She thinks that if she can fully regain her powers, she may be able to restore Sora like she did in KH1, or get some kind of tether on him from the Realm of Light like she did in KH3. So she decides to sneak off on her own to first go find the other former Princesses of Heart to see if they can teach her more about her abilities, and then hopefully get her powers back and use them to revive Sora or at least help Riku. And admittedly, there’s a small, petty part of her that just wants to prove to Riku that she's not useless.

Naminé catches on to what Kairi's planning and wants to come with her to help however she can. Kairi kept her alive for the last couple of years, so Naminé is basically RIDE OR DIE for this girl at this point. If Kairi wants to go save Sora, then dammit, they’re gonna go save Sora. That said, she probably feels guilty enough to leave Riku a note or something just telling him that she and Kairi left together and everything's fine and to please not freak out. Riku reads it and is like "for fuck's sake," decides to go look for them (on top of everything else he's doing).

I'm... not really sure how Xion gets involved tbh. Maybe she initially wants to help Riku find Kairi and bring her home, but then switches sides once she realizes that Kairi's just trying to prove herself? Anyway, Xion is a total badass and (in this story, at least) has some of her Days boss battle abilities still in her arsenal, so after she joins the other girls, they're able to venture into more worlds that they'd had to avoid before because the combat level was too high they were too dangerous. During their journey, Xion gives Kairi lots of pointers that do her way more good as a keyblade wielder than whatever Merlin had her and Axel doing in that time chamber.

There's initially some tension between Kairi and Xion because Xion is supposed to be "Kairi as Sora remembers her," and in this story, Xion's clearly much stronger and (now that she's free of the Organization) cheerier than the real Kairi. So Kairi feels like she's hanging around a better version of herself all the time, and it takes effort to not let her bitterness over it show. It also doesn't help that Kairi's spending most of her time with two people who are like embodiments of Sora's love for her (Naminé being the Nobody that was created from Sora housing Kairi's heart in his, Xion being made up of Sora's memories of Kairi). Theoretically, that knowledge should be comforting, but it really just ends up rubbing some extra salt in that "Sora's dead and it's all my fault" wound.

While they're off on their journey, Riku tries to call Kairi almost every day, but she never picks up because she knows he'll just try to talk her into going home. Eventually Axel calls her, and it's fine until she realizes he's trying to weasel her whereabouts out of her so he can pass the info along to Riku. After that, she keeps her phone off.

Kairi, Naminé, and Xion start to work really well together after a while both because of their skill sets (Xion being the powerhouse, Naminé the healer, Kairi the warrior-still-in-training), but also because they have a lot in common. Xion can empathize pretty strongly with Kairi feeling like she's just a liability. Naminé knows how it feels to be used by people more powerful than you to hurt someone you care about. The trio develops a pretty deep understanding of one another, and they help each other rationalize and work through their problems/insecurities (like Xion has a tendency to get irritated/overly defensive when her judgment's questioned because, well, she also isn't sure if she can trust her own mind sometimes thanks to the Org reprogramming her in the past. Naminé has some pretty deep-rooted abandonment issues that are part of the reason she clings to Kairi as much as she does. Kairi has survivor's guilt in spades.). Character development ensues.

Naminé does Not like combat or just hurting things in general, hence why she sticks to healing. She does still have her heart-shattering ability from CoM, but she never wants to use it again (especially considering whose replica vessel she’s inhabiting these days).

Meanwhile, Riku thinks the other masters will help him with figuring out how to either find the Lich or contact Sora somehow, but nope. Yen Sid and Mickey don't want him going after the Lich or "chasing hearts," potentially costing them another valuable wielder getting himself killed. Aqua's more inclined to let him do what he thinks is right, but she's also doubtful that Sora's heart is even salvageable at this point. She tells Riku what she knows from her own training just because she feels he has the right to that information as a master, but that's about it. Beyond that, Riku's basically on his own. Without any real leads, Riku decides to visit different worlds to learn more about their differing concepts of death/the afterlife (so like the Underworld in Olympus, the Locker in the Caribbean, etc.). A lot of worlds have legends of creatures similar to the Lich that ferry the dead and all that cool stuff, so he makes note of that while also scouting the place for Kairi. He might also run into Maleficent at some point and learn something from her (since idk, she commanded the Heartless for a while, so maybe she knows something about the Lich)?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The trio runs into Riku once early on, and it... doesn't go that well. Riku's still not keen on Kairi running off (plus he's probably kind of annoyed that Naminé and Xion sided with her over him despite them both being his friends for way longer, oop), and Kairi's still frustrated that Riku has 0 faith in her and won't let her help him. They basically have the same argument they did back home, only now there's been more time for resentment to build. On top of that, they're both grieving over Sora without really knowing that they are (because neither's willing to even consider the idea that he may not be savable), and both feel like the other's abandoned them when they need them the most. Anyway, their fight doesn't accomplish anything other than hurting each other further. They split up again after Riku tells Kairi to just answer her damn phone every once and a while. She doesn't.

So Kairi meets up with the former PoHs as she travels worlds. She's lucky that Riku's on bad terms with half of these ladies and is gonna steer clear of Wonderland, Agrabah, and Beast's Castle. Kairi gets advice and some training from each of the princesses on how to tune out her own self-doubts and focus her magic on what she wants to accomplish. Her biggest help is probably Belle just because that lady spent SO MUCH TIME in Hollow Bastion's library in KH1 probably reading everything about light/darkness. That, and I think Belle kind of uses a tethering ability in KH1 to bring the Beast to Hollow Bastion (or at least, the Beast says he got there just by ~believing~, so maybe it's a two-way connection or something), so she may have a better understanding of her (former) powers than the others. Anyway, Kairi slowly starts regaining her powers, and they only get better as her confidence/faith in herself improves. Eventually, she starts working Faith/Holy into her combat moves and "tethering" to the other girls just to see if she can. She's able to use the latter ability to sense out where exactly Naminé and Xion are whenever they're separated from one another. Connecting with people in the same world is easy enough, but doing it across worlds/realms is trickier, so she practices reaching out to Riku occasionally with mixed results. She gets to where she can figure out where he is, but she can't communicate with him, and she's not sure if that's due to her abilities being too weak or if it's because she and Riku have been shutting each other out (spoilers: It's mostly the latter.).

The trio has another run-in with Riku later on. He and Kairi have another argument, but it's more constructive this time around. Riku starts to call her out on leaving him to go on this journey (because unlike her, he's been going it alone this whole time, and it's really starting to get to him), but she points out that she only left him before he could leave her. Everything kind of starts to click after that. Riku eventually apologizes for trying to leave her behind, Kairi apologizes for shutting him out for so long. There's still some tension between them, but it starts to ebb once they finally start working together on a plan to bring Sora back.

Kairi finally turns her phone back on to find approximately 34978593487 missed calls from Riku. She also sees that he left her a few voicemails, and while Riku says she can just delete them, she keeps them to listen to later when he's not around.

....I'm not sure how this ends? Part of me likes the idea of Sora just... staying dead and everyone moving forward with their lives because that's all you can do, really. But another part of me really likes the idea of Riku and Kairi finding the Lich and figuring out a way to split the price for Sora between them. Maybe they have to give up a fraction of their hearts or cut time off their lifespans to give to Sora's. And they both agree to just not tell Sora about that once he's back.

I realize I'm leaving a TON of characters out of this story lmao. I don't know what everyone else would be up to. tbh Ven could probably save Riku and Kairi a lot of trouble just by introducing them to his magic cat that apparently knows all about the afterlife, but.......................... whatever.

[margridarnauds]

fandomswillruinmylife replied to your post “grendelsmilf: u know those shows that are so full of potential but...”

Why do you wanna rewrite merlin? I’m on S4E9 (when lancelot comes back from the dead) and it’s good so far (except for Morgana, my baby does not deserve to suffer like this)

Alright, so I’ll TRY not to spoil you too much. 

For me, personally, the show never lived up to its premise, nor did it really....have a consistent view on its own morality? It’s generally acknowledged that Uther did a Very Bad Thing when it came to relentlessly persecuting sorcerors, but then, time after time again, Merlin refuses opportunities to either end or diminish that persecution or to kill Uther, even in circumstances where Uther’s death wouldn’t have been directly tied to magic. Merlin ultimately ended up caring more for ARTHUR and Arthur’s wellbeing than his own people, and unfortunately, Arthur never proved himself worthy of that kind of loyalty. Which could have been a FASCINATING take on an unreliable narrator and the development of a narrative over time, but the writers unfortunately didn’t have the self-realization to realize what they were actually writing on the page. Again, I’ll avoid MAJOR spoilers, but during the time he’s king...a lot’s discussed, the audience is told many things about how he’s A Better Man Than His Father, but then we never really SEE it, just like we’re expected to believe that Gwen and Arthur are True Love™ because the soundtrack decided to add in Swelling String Music in the background. 

And...really...

Look, I GET that the fandom loved Merthur. I really, really do. But at the same time, they never really rise BEYOND the “Hahaha stupid servant” thing. It’s very, very funny when one person tosses things at another, hits them, belittles them, etc., because it’s two guys, amiright! Sometimes, there are these little moments where they come close, and it’s cute (and then the writers pull back), but ultimately? I would say it’s fairly toxic, as a relationship. And normally, I don’t particularly care, because so many things that I ship are absolutely wretched, but this is someone who Merlin’s willing to risk his people for? There’s no...development. There’s this ongoing cycle of taunting, “Oh, look, Arthur’s not a complete tool after all,” and then...whoops, back to Square One because lol emotions are funny. I guess my main thing is: If they’re going to be friends, you have to SHOW them as friends, and you have to show them evolving beyond the servant/master dynamic. Because otherwise, watching a character getting ordered around by someone that’s supposed to be a friend? Isn’t really my cup of tea. Note: BY THE SECOND EPISODE, Arthur was canonically willing to believe Merlin when he was like “lol Valiant’s a little bitch.” Because the writers certainly did in later seasons. 

The treatment of Morgana, you’ve already pointed out. She deserved better as a character; she had SO much potential, but they left her fall to the equivalent of flipping a switch. And...personally, I got TIRED of how sanctimonious the cast could be towards her. Arthur and Merlin can preach about how she should rise above years of Uther’s abuse to her, but ultimately...that was HER experience. Arthur, Gwen, and Merlin ALL suffered at Uther’s hands, but...coming from experience, the way that a given victim will react to an abuser can vary. She’s ALLOWED to be angry. You don’t HAVE to love your abuser, or forgive them, or wish them well, and after what she was put through? Also, I’ll never forgive the writers for making the scene where Merlin POISONS HER about his pain.  “Oh, look at our woobie protagonist, he’s crying :(” YEAH, AND MORGANA’S CHOKING TO DEATH RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, TRYING TO GET AWAY BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T WANT HER WOULD-BE MURDERER TOUCHING HER. 

I’m calm. I’m calm. 

That Fucking Dragon. Get rid of it. If you can’t develop your main cast’s relationships organically and have to rely on Destiny™, you can’t write. IF you’re going to keep That Fucking Dragon, then at least let him be a LEGITIMATELY shady character. Like, Merlin goes from “OH SHIT KILGARRAH’S OFF HIS SHITS AND IS GOING TO BURN CAMELOT TO A CRISP. WHO KNEW HE HAD AN AGENDA ALL ALONG?” to “Ah, well, I’m going to take this action because my BFF Kilgarrah said so.” There’s no real consistency there. 

Also the inconsistencies with Mordred, but I’ll skim that since you’re not there yet. Suffice it to say, they could have split him into two separate characters and it would have done very little. They never knew WHAT to do with the damn kid. 

Okay, but strictly speaking, what I would change: 

The timeline. That’s it. The show stretched itself out too much, ESPECIALLY with Uther. Look, I love Anthony Head, I love Anthony Head as Uther. He’s a delightful asshole who even has a few moments of sympathy despite being a genocidal asshat. 

But Uther had to go. There’s a REASON why most Arthurian adaptations begin with the death of Uther, and that’s because, as long as he’s around, things are kept static. Merlin stumbles around, trying to save the day, Prince Arthur alternates between heroism and prattishness, usually within ten seconds of one another, he and Gwen look longingly at one another as Swelling String Music Plays, Morgana smirks...nothing CHANGES. 

Ergo, you’ve got to get rid of Uther ~S1-2. I lean towards S2, so you can get a little time to develop him/his relationship to Arthur and The Igraine Drama. Cut The Troll Episode, cut a few other filler episodes, and just. Kill Uther. That gives you time to develop Arthur as a KING, while also not making the switch to King Arthur seem jarring. Spend some time on the magical ban, have Merlin GENUINELY try to do something for people like him. I’d probably set The Magic Reveal around S3-S4, with the last episode of the series being the establishment of the Golden Age of Camelot, with Merlin being appointed Court Magician.

 Sometime in those few extra seasons, I WOULD like to see Morgana have an arc of her own. Not even necessarily a full REDEMPTION arc, because I’m not sure there’s anyway for her and her brother/the court of Camelot to be on solid terms, but at least something where she has to really...figure out what’s best for her people, as a High Priestess. She can’t TRUST Arthur and Merlin, but they’re also offering a way out. One of the common things I’ve seen people argue about her sloppy writing was that Morgana HAD to be evil because that’s part of the Arthurian myths, but the figure of Morgan le Fay’s been very flexible throughout the years; in her first appearances, she was benevolent. I would like to see her THERE, having reached a truce with the others. Just as Arthur rises to the kingship, she gains power in her own way. There’s no need to take it to Camlann.

Gwen and Arthur....I would put more threads of it in S1. I’m not sure it would EVER be my Number 1 ship, because it has Arthur in it, but the DEVELOPMENT needs to be there. And, whatever happens with her and Lancelot, I wouldn’t have them being FORCED into it by Morgana. For me, that completely annihilates the pain of Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot. If Uther can make vague references to keeping Morgana’s mother company while Gorlois was away, I THINK the audience can handle Gwen having conflicting feelings towards two men. Maybe Arthur’s different now that he’s king, not the more carefree prince she knew who turned her from a maid to a queen. Maybe the kingdom’s under invasion, maybe he’s finding out that his father left far more of a mark than he thought and he has to reconcile the fact that he STILL loves his father with knowing that the man was a monster, maybe he doesn’t EXACTLY understand the amount of pressure she’s under to be The Perfect Queen, since the court will take any opportunity it can to rip her apart. And she loves him, of course she does, and she’s grateful to him, but Lancelot’s there, and he’s concerned for Arthur too, and he understands what it’s like to rise above his station. I’m not asking for a full on soap opera storyline, but IF you’re going to put Lancelot/Guinevere in there, then you have to do it in a way that respects the characters rather than just ticking points off a checklist. (Especially given that the show completely went away from Arthurian myth at various points, so it’s not like they HAD to bring it in. And the lovely thing with Arthuriana is that you can bring in or take out pretty much whatever you want; the genre is endlessly adaptable.)

Also, we were robbed of a Merlin-style Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. ROBBED. (Christmas special, anyone?)