knightsofthethicktable

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The Merlin book series. Out of print, hard to find, crazy expensive. Especially if you're not in the UK. So here's me, contributing to the internet with scans. I'm going to try to do one book a day until they're all up - except Lancelot & Guinevere, because I can't find that one ANYWHERE for any price. Here you go, Merlin fandom. Read your hearts out.

(I recommend downloading and saving the pdf in case it gets taken down for copyright? Would that be a thing? Idk?)

Edit: all the books are now available for download at The Royal Library of Camelot project! Check #the merlin books on my profile for the latest post.

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🌞AND GO! GO! GO!🌞

It is officially time to bring the HEAT!! You can find out more about the event guidelines on this post, but quick recap: From now until the 16th of August, you can participate in several ways! Celebrate past summer Olympic fics by (re)reading them and commenting! Cheer on and support fellow fans in their creative endeavors! Submit prompt ideas for creators! Join in creating fic, art, podfic, manips, fanvids, moodboards, or however else you want to celebrate Merlin BBC at the summer Olympics. You can post your creation anytime to the AO3 collection and/or tag us in your tumblr post. We'll also be doing our best to track #merlinolympics24. Give us 24 hours and if we don't add your work to the collection or reblog your post, feel free to reach out and see if we missed it <3

artwork credit to @gyrhs <3

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“No young man, no matter how great, can know his destiny. He cannot glimpse his part in the great story that is about to unfold. Like everyone, he must live and learn. And so it shall be for the young warlock arriving at the gates of Camelot. A boy that will in time father a legend. His name… Merlin.”

Merlin | “1x01” → The Dragon’s Call

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MERLIN | 1.01 The Dragon’s Call

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MERLIN: I need help!

KILGHARRAH: How about a cryptic riddle and a thinly veiled insult about your character?

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Happy Wednesday!!

MERLIN 1.01 • The Dragon's Call

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Rewatching Merlin be like...

I'm going on an adventure 🪄👑💐🗡️🧣✨

Destination? PAIN ⚔️🥺🪦🛶💀 😭

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YASS!!! THIS IS MY ORIGIN STORY!!!

bbc merlin - 03x09 Love in the Time of Dragons

obsessed with arthur's faces throughout this whole scene. what a little loser.

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you know, i think too many people misunderstand the "no man is worth your tears" line. i see it brought up so often in magic reveals as a thing arthur feels guilty about saying, when i really don't think he would. cause in context, that line isn't supposed to be about balinor.

well, it obviously is, on the surface, but arthur doesn't mean it in way that's like "oh you shouldn't cry over some guy's death", not at all. because look at the context of the scene: arthur is about to face the dragon, and he's almost certain that he's going to die. he saw the way merlin cried over balinor's death, and what he means when he says it is that he doesn't want merlin to cry over him. and merlin realizes this! he even says it, "you're certainly not".

and the thing is that this completely recontextualizes the scene. it goes from arthur being well-meaning but unintentionally insensitive to arthur being genuinely caring and concerned about merlin once he's no longer there. which would definitely be in character for arthur, because he very much does become a little more honest about his feelings in life-or-death situations.

like it's genuinely such a sweet moment between them and it's so so overlooked because of circumstances that arthur didn't know about, and it's really unfortunate in my opinion because that scene is honestly one of my all-time favorites

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Something i really like about Merlin is how they didn’t make love a redemptive force. Uther loves both his children very much – doesn’t make him a good man or even necessarily a good father. Merlin and Arthur love each other so much, but it doesn’t save either of them, nor does it always makes them better –  oftentimes, it makes them worse. It makes the love no less compelling or meaningful – in my opinion, it only makes it more so, and it’s a more realistic approach to love. Thoughts and feelings!

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"He's gathering herbs, Sire"

Merlin skipping his chores for Arthur taking a break from gathering herbs for Gaius and chilling with his fluffy friends.

I made this for a friend over at discord Sage_Owl who was nice enough to give me an idea on what to draw to pass the time as my beloved (ao3) went to war (maintenance)

-(got reference for the animals cuz I suck at drawing them, also ignore the weird looking trees, I also suck at backgrounds)

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I just love Merlin loving magic, those moments are the best ones for me. The dragon out of fire, the butterflies, the horse out of smoke, the flying lights…it’s just so Merlin, and it makes your heart ache how badly he just wants to make pretty things

It’s so great to see how happy magic makes him, and how badly he wants Arthur to feel that too (and not only Arthur)

It’s what’s so good about his character, he stays optimistic and good, despite all this hate and murder.  Even in season 5, yes. The fact that when he gets his magic back he could do whatever he wants, and he chooses to create butterflies

This particular scene makes me sad. Look at him

Merlin doesn’t have a whole lot of opportunity to use his magic for fun really, you can see how badly Merlin wants to be free. It’s something tragically beautiful.

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side by side—

happy 10th anniversary merlin finale, you ruined my life.

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Merlin: So what do you want for Christmas

Arthur, thinking: You, just you. The world may collapse and all will lose hope but with you by me side I can achieve anything. Oh how I wish for a day to spend with you with no responsibilities and no statuses keeping us apart. All I wish for you to feel the same as me. I would give up the world if I could be yours forever.

Arthur: Some peace from you would be nice

Merlin: Oh fuck off

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The trip back home was hard. Even though Merlin had bandaged up Arthur pretty well, each step he took carrying him through the forests and pathways weighed him down. It wasn’t even so much that Arthur was heavy (he absolutely was), it was the doubt and the worry that’d held him back from just sprinting as much as he could. Arthur wouldn’t die—this Merlin thought repeatedly. He couldn’t die. He was the king. He was his best friend. He was…No, Merlin couldn’t say.

Arthur’s ragged breaths made the hairs on Merlin’s arms raise, so he quickened the pace despite his feet burning from pain. It seemed like everything wanted to slow him down: There were too many rocks in the way, too many bumps on the ground, too many hills to climb, and when he at last arrived to Camelot, there were too many people in the way, too many people that wanted to take Arthur away from him, and he would not have it. He would never let him go again. His grip stayed firm, he climbed up the entrance steps, he opened the door to Gaius’ chambers, and gently laid Arthur down on the table. He continued to hold his hand as Gaius unwrapped the bandages and quickly went to work on him.

Weeks passed, the king stayed in his bed, pale, hardly breathing, never waking. Merlin stayed with him in his chambers on his bedside, each day, he read him a story, not knowing if he could hear at all.

Today, the story was about a man who turned into a frog, although as Merlin read, he hardly paid attention to what was happening.

“Just because I’m asleep doesn’t mean you have to cut back on the liveliness of the story,” Arthur groaned.

Merlin’s head shot up to his King, watching him slowly prop himself up on the pillows. His chest ached, tears welled up.

“Arthur…”

“Don’t tell me this story is some way to cast me into a toad.”

Merlin had missed that voice. He wiped at his eyes and leaned back on his hands.

“Keep up that tone, and I will turn you into a toad.”

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I didn’t like how in the show, after Morgana finds out that Merlin is Emrys, she doesn’t properly confront him on it in the caves or in battle, she calls him Emrys and that’s it, and then Merlin just killed her with Excalibur. It’s like they had no history. The writers didn’t remember season 1, 2 and 3?

 Morgana and Merlin are linked together in destiny like Arthur and Merlin (just in a different way)

Emrys is her mortal enemy, the one destined to defeat her, the mysterious sorcerer who has thwarted her countless times and threatens to destroy her dreams.

We needed a REAL confrontation. In s5, after discovering who Merlin is, i was expecting something like this

It really could’ve been a moment to bring some good storytelling back into Morgana’s character. Their confrontation also would have given Merlin an excuse for losing track of Mordred and arthur in the chaos of battle til it was too late.

Missed potential, again.