Just occurred to me that from Arthur's perspective yes Merlin seems really brave and stupidly loyal but also like someone with a death wish. Not necessarily wanting to die in the straight forward sense but reckless with his wellbeing in a way similar to characters like Lockwood from Lockwood & Co. Arthur doesn't know Merlin has magic so he has no reason to think Merlin is anything other than a defenceless servant who is reckless with his life to a concerning amount.
I've seen discussion and fan fics exploring how it should have been obvious to Arthur that Merlin was in love with him because of how devoted to him he was in such a self sacrificing way but I think you can justify Arthur not assuming Merlin's behaviour was born out of love for him because from Arthur's perspective it seems far more likely that Merlin just doesn't value his own safety and life to a concerning level. He's always joking that Merlin has a mental affliction, doesn't question truly strange behaviour because oh that's just Merlin being Merlin he's an unstable weirdo. Arthur counting the days since he saw Merlin smile because gods forbid Merlin's reckless lack of care for his own life developed into something with more intent.
Basically I think Arthur believes Merlin is legit just mentally ill in some way. Because frankly without the contact of Merlin's magic and the prophecy his behaviour is really concerning (frankly even with context it's pretty concerning by the final few seasons, that boy is not okay) and because to Arthur that is a much more logical explanation for Merlin's behaviour than Merlin actually loving him (platonically or romantically, doesn't matter) because Arthur can't comprehend someone loving him like that.
Also makes his reaction to the magic reveal make some painful sense because he's never factored Merlin's love for him into his understanding of Merlin's behaviour so when the weird behaviour he'd assumed was a mental affliction seems to be revealed as just a lie to hide his magic Arthur has no basis of Merlin's devotion to him to fall back on and use to make sense of why Merlin would be loyal to him despite having magic.
Arthur doesn't see Merlin's self sacrifice as the result of love from him but as a result of lack of love for himself.
Gaius yelling with the door open: WHEN WILL YOU LEARN MERLIN THAT YOUR MAGIC IS A SECRET YOUR MAGIC MERLIN THE MAGIC YOU HAVE IS A SECRET MERLIN MAGIC-
The guards outside the chambers passing by:
No, no. This is spitroasting!
A trilling trilogy from three different posts of mine:
I consider this a great achievement! I guess as a safety warning, you cannot drink tea or eat yogurt while reading my posts. Apparently they're a choking hazard!
Hello everyone! I hope that you're all having a wonderful day/night! To celebrate all of the love you all have given my au ideas, I've decided that I'll do a continuation post of one of my previous au's! Which one would you like to see another post about? I'm excited to see which one is your favorite! The links to each au will be below the poll!
Here's the links for all of the au prompts!
Balinor lives: Part 1/1
Merlin controls the Knights of Medhir: Part 1/1
Arthur thinks Merlin's a fairy: Part 1/1
Arthur becomes Emrys's familiar: Part 1/2, Part 2/2
Archeologist Merlin and Immortal Camelot: Part 1/2, Part 2/2
Arthur hugs magic dolls of Merlin and Gwen: Part 1/1
Arthur thinks that Merlin needs to get laid for the safety of Camelot: Part 1/1
Morgana wants to be allies with Emrys: Part 1/2, Part 2/2
Happy voting! I'm excited to see what everyone chooses! :D
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I've been reading your work lately, and I really love it.
They manage to bring tears and laughter to my eyes at the right times. Really cute when they're right and they're definitely my shot of happiness for the day.
So, I don't know, but I got to thinking, because I think you might be one of the people who can elaborate more on the idea I had in mind.
Idea:
Basically… Mordred meets Merlin before canon - Mordred for this story is younger, almost 3 years old -, and decides to simply self-adopt. Because he's a determined toodler.
Only because the druids who were taking care of him, after telling him high praises about Emrys and such, fell asleep. Leaving a little baby Modred completely fascinated and literally wishing to always be with Emrys.
That, without counting that he had heard from other druids that the boy Merlin of Camelot was the young man of the prophecies.
It wasn't much science, he put the pieces together and knew where he had to go… he just had to close his eyes, the magic basically spat him out in the castle courtyard.
Literally.
One day, out of nowhere, he came out from somewhere in the castle with his sleeping blanket, he kindly asked one of the servants to take him to his father Merlin, and he didn't stop insisting until someone took him to Merlin. Who was attending to Arthur.
Merlin, who literally doesn't know when he had a child, because he definitely knows that he was never with anyone, but that child looks so determined that he even begins to doubt his virginity.
"Can babies be created by magic? Gaius!!! Stop laughing at that!!"
The fact that Mordred is a half-breed version of Merlin physically speaking doesn't help much either. Everyone in the castle really takes it as a reality, even more so after the innkeeper came to the castle to collect some bills and publicly said that Merlin had never set foot in his establishment.
He was even surprised to see him saying that he had never seen him in his life.
So, that confession, the physical resemblance and a completely determined baby were enough for everyone in the palace, including Uther, to put two and two together and create the crazy idea that Merlin's escapades were to be with the baby's mother.
Now Merlin, who doesn't know when, finds himself in the need to take care of a baby who is his complete shadow. Who looks at him with such adoration that he follows him everywhere, and it seems that he has magic because strange things happen when Mordred is around.
I love the image of little baby Mordred deciding that he's Merlin's son now and no one can stop him! This prompt has a lot of crack humor energy, but what might make it angsty was if Mordred, after being accepted as Merlin's son for several years, suddenly had his magic revealed. Now Arthur is faced with the decision between his father's laws or his best friend's son, and that would force Arthur to think critically and ask "wait, if no one taught him magic (because who on earth be stupid enough to do that in Camelot?), then how can this little boy do magic?" This could lead to Arthur realizing that magic isn't always a choice, forcing him to reevaluate the magic ban.
I also absolutely loved Merlin's own doubt of "well maybe he is my son, I have no clue how my own magic works!" 🤣
has anyone else made this connection before bc im crying shitting throwing up banging my head against the wall like im actually not ok the direct parallels kill me i hate everything but i love them oh my god the first pic is arthur making fun of merlin and the second pic is arthur being worried oh my god the way their relationship has developed so much im so
Now they get to be on a hot dog roller together! :)
How "The Last Dragonlord" Should've Ended:
Merlin, pointing a spear at Kilgharrah: Tell me the name of god you scaly piece of shit!
Kilgharrah: Can you feel your heart burning? Can you feel the struggle within? The fear within me is beyond anything your magic can make. You cannot kill me in any way that matters.
Merlin: I'M NOT FUCKING SCARED OF YOU!!
Arthur, concussed and laying on the ground overhearing this exchange: ????
Oh, this is one of my favorite Merlin fic tropes. I'd read (or write, if I had enough time and caffeine) a thousand of fics involving this specific story element and I'd never get bored! I love fics exploring all of the possibilities of god-of-magic Merlin SO MUCH!!
(As my readers on ao3 can probably tell, based on the relative words counts of my Merlin fics. 😅 A certain fic of mine centered around this premise is much longer than the others lol!)
I legit need this fandom to refer to Merlin as “god of magic” more often, I desperately need it.
POV: Someone accuses you of sorcery, but you're just a chill manservant who definitely doesn't practice magic:
A great selection of my incoherent thoughts!AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral01/pseuds/ChaoticNeutral01
307 posts