#Elyan/Percival

[quondam-et-futurus]

My cousin rewatched Merlin and she has provided me with her thoughts on the relationships, namely:

"I've decided the real love story is between Percival and Elyan."

Followed by:

"I've also decided there's a bit of a love triangle going on. So Gwaine loves Merlin, but Merlin loves Arthur and it's so sad because he'll just never see that Gwaine is right there. And then Arthur loves Gwen, so yeah."

[thenerdyindividual]

Merlin ship: Elyan/Percival

I vastly prefer this ship over many of the side character ships. I like the dynamic they have, I think it’s goofy and cute. They really seem to like each other and there’s a rapport there that neither of them have as strongly with anyone else.

That moment when Elyan jumps in the save Percival from the Dorocha? So boyfriend coded of him. Then they exchange those cute little smiles!

Percival comes to Elyan first during the rescue from the dungeon in season 4, and they have a little laugh together at Gwaine’s expense? I love that! I think they are a highly underrated pairing. I don’t have any writers ideas that grip me for them, but I also think they add a level of fun as a background ship in any fic you write. Plus you know I’m a sucker for smol and tol pairings, and these two have that in spades. Elyan comes up to what? Percival’s shoulder? It’s a comical height difference, and I love thinking about how different their fighting styles would be and how they would work together on the battlefield.

I rank this as a solid:

B-Tier

Send me a Merlin Ship and I’ll rank it on a tier list. Note: This is a subjective ranking and a low ranking in no way means that I am shaming you for your taste in ships.

[merlinbingo]

Yet When the Other Far Doth Roam by Zorbojorks Ship: Elyan/Percival, Arthur/Gwen Main Characters: Gwaine, Elyan Rating: Mature Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Non-Linear Narrative, Getting Back Together, Angst and Feels, Pre-Canon, AU: Canon (ep, 3x12-13) Summary: They meet in a tavern and fall together quickly, splitting disastrously some brief months after. Reunited by chance amid the scourge of Camelot by Morgause's immortal army, Elyan grapples with his lingering hurt and feelings for Gwaine. As they fight for Arthur's kingdom, they reacquaint themselves and tentatively begin to heal what had been broken.

[justaz]

*merlins magic gets exposed in front of the knights*

merlin, magic user: oh fuck

arthur, finally taking this opportunity to pretend as if he just found out merlin has magic after agonizing for the past month on how to bring it up: you have magic?

lancelot, merlin defender, already knew of merlin’s magic: no! i have magic

gwaine, merlin defender, already knew of merlin’s magic, lover of chaos, ride or die: no, i have magic!

mordred, desperate for his hero’s approval bc no matter what he’s done emrys just stares at him with distrust and the poor boy is tired and so close to tears: no…i have magic.

percival, raised by druids and bonded strongly with mordred over that and does Not agree with the persecution of magic in camelot, had an inkling that merlin had magic but no proof: no. i have magic.

*leon and elyan exchange a look, elyan, amused and leon, exhausted, elyan shrugs*

elyan, knows how much gwen adores merlin and completely understands her stance bc merlin…is merlin, down to clown and put on a show, really playing up the dramatics: no! i have magic.

leon, exhausted, has known of merlin’s magic since he stepped foot in camelot, knows of his feelings for arthur and arthur’s feelings for him, knows arthur knows of merlin’s magic and wouldn’t harm him, thinks everyone is being absolutely ridiculous:

*the knights stare hard at leon and even merlin looks slightly offended at leon not jumping to his defense with the rest of the knights, arthur hasn’t said anything and is staring at leon expectantly*

leon, sighing: …no. i have magic.

[lesbicosmos]

there's an obvious answer

[pyjamacryptid]

Knights will be Knights. You know how it is.

The photo that prompted this whole thing is under the cut, in all its glory.

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

On a random Tuesday in Camelot:

Merlin to the knights, trying to stop an argument from happening: Once again, I will remind all of you that I love you all equally.

Lancelot: That is bullshit if I've ever heard it.

Gwaine: What did I eat for breakfast, Merls?! Tell me what I had for breakfast, hmm?

Arthur: Huh? Didn't Merlin make sweetbreads and tarts for everyone?

Leon: No, sire. That was just for you.

Percival: It's true. I was there in the kitchens, I saw him making them himself.

Elyan: Me too. Audrey saw us stealing breakfast and came at us with a rolling pin. It was terrifying.

Merlin: I’ve made you all food before now. That’s not a good thing to judge by.

Gwaine: There’s plenty more examples if you want them. We have a list.

Merlin: Fine, I don’t have a favourite knight.

Lancelot: Yeah, okay.

Leon: That’s more accurate.

Elyan and Percival: *nod in agreement*

Gwaine: Princess is just a whole other level to you, huh?

Arthur: I’m your favourite? I thought it was Lancelot. *accidentally starts a fight*

[myths0f01d]

[outwardjester68]

Merlin would cut the Knights apples into slices and at first the knights would tell him he didn’t need to do that but now they’ve forgotten how to eat an apple normally

[amariram]

Merlin: I am Emrys. I am darkness. I am power. I am your worst nightmare. I could kill a man in more ways than you can imagine. I am the night. The fury. I am-

Gwaine: A doll.

Lancelot: A cinnamon roll.

Leon: A sweetheart.

Percival: A sunshine.

Elyan: A cupcake.

Arthur: The love of my life.

Merlin: ...

Also Merlin staring at Arthur: ... wait what?

[bloopy-writes]

I just think it’s hilarious to think about everyone looking at Merlin and the knights of the round table and thinking that they’re the ones protecting him and treating him like the little brother of the group when in reality if you watch them for more than 5 minutes you’ll see that Merlin is the tired old soul surrounded by these hooligans that actively try to make his life harder

(He’s one more prank away from putting a spell on each of them that will give them dry itchy skin for an entire month)

[loki-the-bi-frost]

It’s been years and I’m still not over the switch between “rests on the shoulders of a young boy” to “rests on the shoulders of a young man,” and I doubt I ever will be

[an-entity-i-think]

Magic reveal in a terrible situation except whenever it's over and Merlin saved Arthur and the knights hes so tired and upset and angry and overwhelmed and he just sort of turns to denial and

"No." Merlin shakes his head slowly and then more sure.

Everyone looks at him appalled but before Arthur can even open his mouth, he's interrupted by tiny nervous giggles from Merlin rocking back and forth in front of them before stopping abruptly and looking up determinedly.

"No. You all-" he points at the knights (who only flinch a little thank you), "-are you going to pretend you never saw that and then- then!" Merlin says a little hysterically pointing at Arthur now who can't help but take a step back and the look in his eyes.

"You! Are going to wait and then when the time is RIGHT just like I PLANNED I will tell you I have magic! And it will be the perfect moment! And it'll be when I'm ready and I'll tell you everything and it'll be SAFE and and- and you'll be upset but you'll understand and this is just-" Merlin screams a little to himself making everyone's eyes widen.

Merlin looks down with his eyes closed and takes a long breath.

He looks up at them looking like he's about to cry before saying desperately in a small voice, "You guys didn't see anything, right?"

Silence greets him before Gwaine cuts in, in a much less boisterous voice than usual, "I didn't see anything." Looking at the knights beside him, he elbows Elyan in the ribs causing a grunt.

Wincing at the pain, "I don't know what you're talking about." Elyan looks at the others with a very obvious look of 'your turn'.

Percival shrugs solemnly, "I was blinded by the sun."

Leon looks hesitantly over to Arthur before straightening his shoulders, "It must have been a trick of the light."

Merlin's shoulders relax a little as he nods to himself before everyone looks to Arthur.

Arthur looks at his knights and then back to his trembling manservant before looking to the ground and then to the sky.

"We were simply lucky as we always are."

Merlin breaths and everyone ignores the tears falling down his cheek as he turns around.

[justaz]

that one deleted scene where merlin compliments percival and arthur takes him down, then merlin compliments gwaine and arthur takes him down, the merlin insinuates they’re letting him win so arthur challenges elyan and wins. merlin laughs after arthur stomps away and then lancelot comes over to chide him and complain and merlin laughs and says that arthur is just so predictable. out of the corner of his eye he can see the king returning so he flutters his eyelashes and places his hands on lancelot’s arms to squeeze his muscles and goes “and you’re all big, strong men. i’m sure you can take it” lancelot stares, confused, but can’t say anything before arthur plows right through them and grabs a weapon before dragging lancelot onto the field with him. lancelot turns to look over his shoulder with a betrayed look and merlin just waves back with a grin. arthur wins. leon sighs tiredly from beside merlin, scaring him bc he didn’t see the knight make his way over to him. leon doesn’t say anything but just gives merlin his Disappointed Mom stare and merlin mutters an apology

[gldnstrngs]

this scene in s5 ep11 is Always On My Mind

i feel like there are so many layers to this conversation between merlin and mordred

“kara is sentenced to die in the morning. what would you do?”

“you can’t.”

“tell me you wouldn’t do the same for the woman you love.”

the. silence.

“that’d be foolish.”

i repeat. THE. SILENCE. i remember the first time i saw this scene and merlin paused like [gay silence] and i was like🧍🏽‍♀️and replayed the scene a few times to actually process what i saw

the thing is— this scene could definitely be about freya. honestly, i wouldn’t even argue against it. i think that, to an extent, it is a callback to freya and how merlin wanted to run away with her. this scene really just solidifies how much merlin has changed throughout the years. like saying “that’d be foolish” really shows the disconnect between merlin in s2 and s5

with that being said, while i do think this scene does hint at freya, i believe that this is ultimately about merlin and arthur’s relationship

the silence after mordred asks if merlin would do the same for the woman he loved was telling. i don’t think it was just merlin reminiscing his past with freya, but more so that there was no woman he loved

but there was someone he would do those things for, no matter how foolish it seemed to him. he spent nearly a decade being entirely devoted to arthur and having so much faith in him

no, merlin did not try to run away with arthur like he did with freya, but he did everything else. just episodes before, when arthur asked merlin whether or not he should bring magic back into camelot so that mordred is alive, merlin says no

merlin says no.

what has been merlin’s purpose leading up to that very moment? it was to bring magic back into camelot with arthur’s rule and the golden age of albion. this was something merlin had waited arthur to say to him for YEARS. and it wasn’t just about him— it was about other magic users, the druids, kilgharrah, and all the beings who died because of uther’s tyranny

but merlin said no. he said no because he knew that if he let mordred live, then arthur would be killed. magic didn’t matter to merlin at that point. ultimately, it was never really about magic. it was always about arthur. arthur meant more to merlin than magic did, even when he’s the physical embodiment of it

we’ve witnessed five seasons of merlin making sacrifices or taking risks just for arthur. if anyone understands mordred in that very moment, it would be merlin

[kayotic-idiot]

found on tiktok op is @kadenemrys