#UTHER INCLUDED

[justaz]

Merlin = Emrys = magic incarnate = all magic

power over the dragons (dragonlord) ✅

visions of the future (seer) ✅

power over life and death (high priestess) ✅

extremely charming nature that has everyone tripping over themselves for him (lamia) ✅

Do You Understand Me?

[two-crows-in-a-trenchcoat]

the fact merlin openly said I'm a sorcerer in front of uther!??! like directly to him

and lived!??!!?!

a testament to Arthur being in love with him from the start ig

[weirdnotal]

The knights aren't allowed to get leon drunk drunk anymore cause he giggly explained to the whole tavern how he once overheard Uther and that troll getting busy with it whilst walking the halls

They have never evacuated from the tavern faster

[thesorcerersshadow]

i love how we find out in s2 that hunith specifically defied uther to house and protect balinor during the great purge because of the way it recontextualizes when she addresses uther at court in the moment of truth. this woman was giving the performance of her LIFE when she called uther a good man and a caring king.

[scalecallerpeak]

A lot of people have issues with Uther showing up in Legion when he in SL was an Ascended Kyrian. Personally I think he just nipped out for a bit like:

Uther: Excuse me Devos I need to take this.

Devos: No you don't? Uther we are trying to make the Forsworn here- Uther.

[tansyuduri]

Heathers Songs Merlin Version!

Okay so I first posted these in this post but I decided they needed their own post. (I linked videos in the song above) SO! I SAY NO (Arthur and Uther Version) ARTHUR:

You are a drug. You are a poison’d cup

I've got to show my feeling now and stand up.

I craved the love. When you would keep me close.

But you will not be satisfied until I overdose

This is it. For their sake. I am finally awake!

Let me be. Let me go

You need help. I can't provide. I am not qualified

This future king is coming clean. I say no

UTHER:

Arthur , they are-

ATRHUR:

No, no, no, no. Don't say a word

You speak and I cave in. You'll twist the truth again

And drill deep down beneath my skin

You said it was for her. And I believed in you

But you're still using ust o justify the harm you do

This is it. What you make. Call it all my mistake

Long as you let me go

You need help. I can't provide

I'm not here to stand beside

It's not too late, I'm fighting fate

I say no!

Blame her loss. Blame being sad. Blame the life we never had

But hurting people. That's your choice, my king.

'Cause I believe that love will win

And hate will earn you nothing in the end

This is the end

UTHER:

But I love you

ARTHUR:

Father!

This is it. I won't cry. Starting now. I will try

To pay back all the karma I owe

Start again, help those two. Far from people like you

So goodbye 'cause now I. I say no.

Just in time, I say no

Somehow I'm saying no

Just say no

I say no No!

__________________________________________________________ DEAD GIRL WALKING (Merlin and Arthur Version)

MERLIN: The evil king of the kingdom has decreed it.

He says Monday, in the morning, I will be deleted

They'll hunt me down in every hall.

Burn me alive until I fall.

30 hours to live, how shall I spend them?

I don't have to stay and die like cattle.

I could change my name and avoid that last death rattle.

But I can't just leave all my freinds.

Wait, here's an option with better ends.

Spend these 30 hours gettin' freaky, yeah.

I need it hard I'm a dead man walking.

I'm in your yard I'm a dead man walking.

Before they grab me from the stock.

I'm magicin' off your window lock.

Got no time to knock, I'm a dead man walking.

ARTHUR: Merlin? You Idiot, What are you doing in my room?

MERLIN: Shh...

Sorry, but I really had to wake you.

See, I decided I must ride you 'til I break you.

'Cause Uther says I got to go.

I'm drunk and here to let you know:

Shut your mouth and lose them night clothings.

Come on, tonight I'm yours.

I'm your dead Man walking.

Get on all fours.

Kiss this dead MAN walking.

Let's go, you know the drill. I'm done waiting. I've had my fill .

Bow down to the will of a dead man walking.

And you know, you know, you know

It's 'cause you're beautiful.

You say you're numb inside But I can't agree.

So the world's unfair. Keep it locked out there.

In here it's beautiful

Let's make this beautiful.

ARTHUR : Uh... That works for me,

MERLIN: Yeah, Lets go ahead

Take this dead man walking.

Let's break the bed. Rock this dead Man walking.

No sleep tonight for you.

Better Kiss me right down there.

Take me by the rear.

Make this whole town disappear.

Slap me, pull my hair, Touch me there and there and there

And no more talking.

Love this dead Man walking.

Love this dead Man walking

Love this Dead Man walking.

BOTH: Yeah, yeah, yeah Ow, yeah.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEVENTEEN (Gwen and Morgana version)

GWEN:

Fine! You're “damaged” Really “damaged” But that does not make you “wise”

Fine you're “special”, Fine you're “different” But we don’t choose who lives or dies.

Let’s be normal, watch bad jesters. sneak a picnic and watch the sky.

We’ll bake sweet things or go riding.

Don’t you want a life with me?

Can’t we be as a team?

That’s all I want to do.

If you could let me in I could be good with you.

People hurt us

MORGANA: Or they hate us

GWEN: And you’re right, thats full of woe But we let go—

MORGANA: Take a deep breath

GWEN: Then go buy some special clothes We'll go camping—

MORGANA: Work together

GWEN: And convince Arthur to hear us out Maybe moon light

MORGANA: Maybe dancing

GWEN: Don't stop looking in my eyes

MORGANA: Your eyes

BOTH: Can't we be as a team.

Is that so hard to do?

If you could let me in. I could be good with you.

Let us be as a team. If we still got the right.

GWEN: So what’s it gonna be? I wanna be with you

MORGANA: I wanna be with you

GWEN: Wanna be with you

BOTH: Tonight

GWEN: Yeah you've been damaged

MORGANA: Badly damaged

GWEN: But your love’s too good to lose

MORGANA: Hold me tighter

GWEN: Even closer

Morgana: I’ll stay if I’m what you choose. Can't we be as a team.

BOTH: If I am what you choose

MORGANA: If change how I fight

GWEN: ‘Cause you’re the one I choose

MORGANA: You’re the one I choose

BOTH: You’re the one I choose

[thatgirlonstage]

So I’ve never actually read Le Morte d’Arthur but the bookstore was on my way home today and I’ve had this secondhand copy of Gawain and the Green Knight on my shelf for years now that I’ve finally actually started reading and I did bring my copy of Once and Future home with me so anyway what if I simply became an insane person

[princelawarrior]

I kinda want an episode where Uther realises how useful Merlin is as a spy and just uses him to spy on royal guests.

The poisoned chalice episode and then later the whole thing with the Dark Knight proved to Uther that Merlin is trust worthy, so he approaches Merlin and offers him that job.

Merlin: okay ... That actually works well for me, but I have one condition

Uther: Let me guess, you want more money

Merlin: no. You can't use me to spy on Arthur. He trusts me and I'm not going to abuse that trust.

Uther: ... What would Arthur have to hide from me?

Merlin: that's not the point. I want Arthur to be able to tell me if he like, wants to vent about a royal he's annoyed with without me having to tell you that he's annoyed by them. Or if YOU annoy him.

Uther: do I do that?

Merlin: no comment, but let me tell you something about that: any child is annoyed by their parents sometimes.

Uther: hmm ... Okay, I think I see your point. You're awfully loyal to him

Merlin: he's my friend.

Uther: I see... And that's your only condition?

Merlin: yes actually.

Uther: It's going to be interesting to work with you

Merlin: yeah, also wildly ironic

Uther: what?

Merlin: i said mildly iconic

[ggukalaxy]

just finished my rewatch of all five seasons of bbc's merlin, and my sister and i decided it would be fun to keep count of how many times merlin saved arthur's life throughout the show, so here is an accumulated list:

(disclaimer: it is absolutey possible that we weren't always watching attentively and that we might have missed a case or two, but i like to believe that it is kinda accurate)

times arthur would have died if merlin hadn't saved him

• 1x01: dagger thrown at arthur ⟶ merlin slowed down time to pull arthur out of the way

• 1x02: snakes supposed to poison arthur ⟶ merlin exposes the snakes and arthur kills them

• 1x04: poisoned cup ⟶ merlin drinks from it instead

• 1x05: a griffin attacks them ⟶ lancelot fights it, and merlin enchants his sword/spear so that it’ll work

• 1x07: arthur is to be sacrificed to the sidhe ⟶ merlin saves him

• 1x10: ealdor gets attacked, including arthur, and they’re doomed ⟶ merlin creates a huge wind gust to save everyone

• 1x13: questing beast attacks arthur ⟶ merlin kills it

• 1x13: questing beast bites arthur, the poison is fatal ⟶ merlin gets water from the cup of life to save him

• 2x01: arthur gets attacked by a huge boar (?) ⟶ merlin uses magic on a crossbow to save him 

• 2x01: camelot gets attack by living stone statues ⟶ merlin destroys them

• 2x02: assassin tries to kill arthur during a tournament on horses ⟶ merlin uses magic to make the assassin fall off his horse

• 2x12: dead stone statue thingies attack arthur and his knights ⟶ merlin uses magic to make the ceiling cave in and pulls arthur to his side, separating them from the statue thingies

• 2x13: arthur's wounds are getting worse ⟶ merlin finds balinor in time and has him help him (HONORARY MENTION)

• 3x04: arthur gets attacked (again) ⟶ merlin uses magic to save him (again)

• 3x07: morgause tries to kill arthur with a fire beam ⟶ merlin uses magic to make the fire beam explode before it reaches arthur

• 3x08: arthur gets attacked by wyverns ⟶ merlin uses his dragonlordness to stop them

• 3x08: arthur wears the eye of the phoenix bracelet (sucking life-force out of someone) ⟶ merlin takes it off him

• 3x12: arthur gets shot by a poisoned arrow ⟶ merlin uses magic to help him, then brings him to gaius

• 3x13: an army of immortal deads attacks camelot ⟶ merlin empties the cup of life of their blood to “kill” them all

• 4x01: dorochas attack arthur ⟶ merlin pushes arthur out of the way to get attacked instead

• 4x04: their food gets poisoned ⟶ merlin uses magic to save them

• 4x05: arthur fights in a duel and is about to be striked down ⟶ merlin makes the opponent’s sword fall out of his hands with magic

• 5x01: arthur and their men get attacked by morgana’s men ⟶ merlin saves arthur and gets them away from the battle

• 5x04: arthur almost got beheaded by odin ⟶ merlin created an earthquake with magic to stop that

• 5x06: dark tower traps ⟶ merlin parries an arrow with magic

• 5x07: arthur gets poisoned ⟶ merlin saves him with magic

• 5x08: someone wants to shoot an arrow at arthur ⟶ merlin attacks the shooter and saves arthur

• 5x11: kara tried to stab arthur ⟶ merlin uses magic to save him

and the one time he fails: 5x13, mordred stabs arthur with a sword forged on a dragon’s breath — merlin doesn’t get him to avalon in time

which brings us to a total of 27.5 times that merlin has saved arthur's life throughout the show

we also kept track of all the times arthur saved merlin's life, so here is that list:

• 1x03: merlin tells uther he is a sorcerer to save gwen (which would’ve gotten him a death sentence) ⟶ arthur convinces his father that merlin is lying out of love for gwen

• 1x04: merlin drank from a poisoned cup ⟶ arthur gets the antidote for him

• 1x11: arthur drinks poison so that merlin won’t have to ⟶ it was actually a sleeping draft though (HONORARY MENTION)

• 1x13: questing beast attacks ⟶ arthur pulled merlin out of the way

• 2x12: dead stone statue thingy attacks merlin ⟶ arthur strikes it down

• 4x01: a dorocha flies towards merlin ⟶ arthur pushes him out of the way

• 4x08: the lamia was about to kill merlin ⟶ arthur comes in at just the right time

which brings us to a total of 6.5 times that arthur saved merlin's life

it's kind of crazy to me to compare it like this, because on the one hand 27 near-death experiences across 65 episodes doesn't really sound like a lot. but at the same time i can't believe that arthur would have died 27 times if it hadn't been for merlin. and to think that arthur only saved merlin's life 6 times though?? oof

on my next rewatch, my sister and i want to make a list of all the moments that contributed to arthur's death (a so-called "doom list" with moments like merlin poisoning morgana in 2x13 etc), but that one is definitely going to be more subjective, since it'll be based on things that we think could've prevented arthur's death if they had gone any different

very excited to debate all the things that could go on that one!

[blackchrysalys]

Llama Uther AU

Where everything's the same except Uther's a llama.

"So the king, he really is-"

"Yes Merlin, but I wouldn't recommend bringing it up while you're here."

"But Gaius, h-"

"Uther punished many magic users, including those who were unfortunate enough to be visiting here. One particular one cursed him to be a Llama before the fire overtook her."

"And the curse is unbreakable?"

"Oh no. Anyone with a basic knowledge on curses and magic could break it."

"Then why?"

"Because that would require magic. And the King knows that."

[snowberriies]

ugh finally some good ass arthur content

Can I please request some headcanons of Arthur Pendragon (BBC Merlin) falling in love with a soft, kind hearted witch with healing powers, please? Thank you so much!! ✨🖤✨

𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝-𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡

⤷ female, ambiguous race, and any size reader. Requests are open, thank you for reading!  

ᴹᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡᶤˢᵗ    

SFW🌿

⭑ You would be the first to admit that you don’t fit into the beauty standard. And for much of your life, you thought love was something that would only happen to others. 

⭑ Until Arthur saw you in the town’s markets. You didn’t know it was the king, and you had no reason to look up at the man staring at you. 

⭑ He saw the way the sun shone on your hair. You looked otherwordly. Like you didn’t belong on earth, or that you were earth herself. 

⭑ For weeks he watched from afar. Making excuses to ‘be among his people,’ but really he was seeking you out. And whenever he did, butterflies fluttered within him. 

⭑ Merlin noticed what was going on as well. And did his best not to tease Arthur. (which really means he teased him relentlessly...)  

⭑ So with encouragement, Arthur approached you one sunny mid-morning. A basket in one arm and the other tucking a stray hair behind your ear. 

 “Hello,” he spoke as if he was giving an announcement. And it made you jump. 

     “Oh! Ugh, hi-” you peered up at the handsome king, heat spreading across your cheeks. 

⭑ He asked you if you wanted to accompany him on a picnic. And although you were apprehensive, something inside you wanted to go. 

⭑ It was a lovely day when he met you in front of your home. Until you reached the forest and it started to rain. At every point something went wrong. But somehow, just being with him was enough. 

⭑ Your kindness astounds him, and affects him more than you’d ever know. He treats his subjects with more respect. 

⭑ He loves how animals will randomly come up to you. Strays, birds, mice. You name it, they’re drawn to you. 

⭑ Little did he know your good-nature was because of your beliefs. As a witch, nature is important to you. Animals are just as important as humans and treat the earth with respect. 

⭑ As your relationship progressed, you felt more and more guilty that Arthur didn’t know about your powers. 

⭑ Not only did you practice witchcraft, but you were able to use magic with your will. 

⭑ Merlin would sense you. He would notice that certain things were happening when you were around. At first he was suspicious. But he too started to watch you from afar. 

⭑ You had such a gentle hand with everything that you encountered that Merlin knew you would be perfect for Arthur and for Camelot. 

⭑ Telling Arthur was one of the toughest things you had ever had to do. The look on his face was like a knife to the chest. He felt betrayed. Like you had been a different person this whole time. 

⭑ He didn’t talk to you for a few weeks. And your heart felt broken. But you held no ill will against him. Only Uther, for putting such demeaning thoughts into his head. 

⭑ But Arthur couldn’t get you out of his mind. You were like no other person he had met before. Your kindness... soft heart...the intuition in which he trusted... 

⭑ Merlin would be upset with Arthur. Because in a way, it felt like Arthur was rejecting him too. 

⭑ “I didn’t know you and Y/N were so close,” Arthur mumbled after the third day of the silent treatment. 

    “You won’t find someone as good as her. Not ever.” Merlin replied, tensing his shoulders. 

⭑ It took Arthur, because of his stubbornness, another two days to see you. He was stoic until he saw you. Your hands seemed to glow, brighter than the sun and where they were directed, everything bloomed. 

⭑ His heart stopped in his chest. 

⭑ You were engaged only a mere month later

⭑ And Camelot rejoiced, for another powerful person was there to protect them from harm

⭑ Even if they didn’t know it was you

⭑ You’re always adamant that you need to go on quests. You can heal anyone that is injured. 

⭑ The Knights know, even though they don’t fully understand it 

⭑ Merlin would reveal his secret to you, but you swore never to tell anyone 

⭑ You and Leon get on very well

⭑ You’ve saved a lot of people from dying 

⭑ And Arthur thinks you’re a goddess

⭑ Although he is a bit intimidated by you (but would never admit it)

[unfortunatelymerlin]

So I fell in love with this fic rec game to the extent that I decided to just answer all the categories, Merthur style. All are canon era. Enjoy!

1. Recommend a fic that lives in your brain  rent free. 

Golden As I Open My Eyes | E | 2,900 words

Sometimes, the unravelling of secrets is the easy part. Sometimes, what is most difficult comes after; how do you relearn something that you thought you knew better than yourself?

I just LOVE this. The darkness of it, the possesiveness, the obsession, the hints at my shared headcanon with the author of it being weird and awkward post-Camlann... delicious soup!

2. Recommend a fic that is not posted on  AO3.

In Time of Trial | Not rated (E) I 36,807 words

In which Uther is deceived by an old  friend, and Arthur is declared a traitor. 

Not only is this fic not on A03, it's hard to find  anywhere because the original site on which it was  hosted no longer exists. Everyone say thank you to the wayback machine. 

3. Recommend fic that is less than 5,000  words. 

What lf You're Someone I Just Want Around | T | 2,900 words

Sometimes, you love despite, not  because. Sometimes, finding out does not change anything.

My bookmark note on this reads: "It's as if the author peered into your brain, and wrote this based on what it found there." And this fic really does align with my own headcanon about Arthur's thought processes throughout canon to a startling degree. Basically canon. To me. 

4. Recommend a fic that is over 50,000  words. 

Sorcerer's Bane | E | 264,621 words

Arthur gave Merlin his cloak thinking only of the warmth it would offer in a snowstorm. He never thought his manservant may be mistaken for him and snatched by bandits. Nor did he expect his dashing rescue of Merlin to turn his world so utterly on his head.

Because the bandits hadn't kidnapped a prince. They'd snatched a sorcerer, and now captivity is the least of anyone's problems.

A golden age awaits, but can they claim it together, or are they doomed to fail?

One thing I love about this fandom is how many fics are long and juicy. So many fics could have gone here, including others on this list. However, this one is briliant. A lot is packed into the story — the summary covers only the catalyst at the start of the whole thing — and it is so engaging that the lengthy word count flies by. If you've not read it yet, you need to.

5. Recommend a gen fic (no pairings). 

The Champion of the Arcane Dominion | M | 81,070 words

When the well-being of Camelot's greatest hangs in the balance, Merlin undergoes the trial of the Arcane Dominion. He is alone, forced to enter a magical realm and confront a dangerous enemy in order to save his friends. Little does he know, those very friends are watching his every move. Trapped by the magic of the trial, Arthur and the knights are made to witness Merlin's journey - and discover some uncomfortable secrets along the way.

I struggled to narrow down this one, so decided to be strict with myself and only recommend fics without any background romantic Merthur. That being said, this fic does have a strong emphasis on the Merthur relationship, and it's not romantic in the same way the show isn't romantic. Which is to say, they are so devoted the lines blur.

6. Recommend a fic that does something cool with format or structure (epistolary social media, 5 things, non-linear, etc.)

A Different Wilderness I T | 28,580 words

Merlin dies. Arthur lives.

For 1600 years.

Full of faux media chronicalling Arthur's life as a public figure while waiting for Merlin return to him. I have never read a fanfic that manages anything like this quite so well, especially in the way the author manages to competently mimic works by many incredible real-life literary greats. If you read nothing else on this list, read this.

7. Recommend a fic that uses a trope you love.

You can hold my hand (if you let me hold yours too) | T | 23,775 words

Arthur has long since begrudgingly admitted to himself that his feelings might run a bit deeper than just a harmless case of infatuation. But it isn't until Merlin's mortally injured in an ambush that Arthur learns to what lengths he's willing to go to save him.

Especially when it turns out that his manservant is also a sorcerer and has magically bound himself to Arthur.

And why is it that Arthur doesn't exactly mind?

I am a SUCKER for soul bond tropes, and there are a fair few that contain that in the Merlin fandom. This one has it as the central conflict, however, AND it's accidental, which is my favourite twist.

8. Recommend a fic with an interesting  premise/concept. 

Awake | E l 50,735 words 

King Arthur sleeps in Avalon, waiting to  return at the hour of Albion's greatest  need. But once a year he awakes and  spends a single day with Merlin, who will  never, ever leave him.

The way this author writes this premise is especially pleasing to me, and it was the first and one of the few I've read like it.

9. Recommend a fic from a book fandom.

The Ivy Crown | E | 252,245 words

Merlin couldn't have picked a worse time to finally tell Arthur about his magic. In the wake of the battle against the immortal army, a strange visitor disrupts the court, calling himself the Green Knight and proposing a test of the court's integrity. Although Uther turns him away, several of Camelot's northern allies end up mysteriously beheaded over the next few months, and Arthur, Merlin and the knights set out to investigate. They encounter more than they'd bargained for on the way—a reckless young boy, a lady in search of a husband, a centuries-old fairytale that holds more than a grain of truth... and a challenge that ends up being more than just a game.

This is, I think, not only one of my favourite Merlin fics that is explicitly crossed with Arthurian literature, but also one of my favourite fanfics ever, in any fandom. It also happens to be mainly crossed with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is one of my most beloved stories in the entire world, and one I've not only reread a million times in a million iterations, but also studied extensively in various forms - and this fic does it justice, with a lovely Merthur slant. If you don't know the story, it will keep you on your toes, but if you do know the story, this doesn't rehash it in a way that is boring.

10. Recommend a fic that is more than 10  years old.

Light of Arthur | E | 63,462 words

An epic tale of gods and man, destiny and choices, darkness and light, and eternal love that's fixed as the stars to the celestial sphere.

Another thing I love about this fandom is just how long it's been going, so finding a good fic that is older than 10 years old isn't difficult in the slightest. This is a classic, and one newer fans who stick to the more established Merthur tags on A03 might miss.

11. Recommend a fic you think is a hidden  gem/deserves more reads.

Tumbling Overboard | M | 8,052 words

Unfortunately for Merlin, it’s getting terribly hard to get Arthur alone, these days.

(Or: Five Interruptions)

I really struggled with this one, because I don't know if there are many hidden gems in this fandom... so I went with a fic I loved that I think should have more comments, especially considering it was posted alllll the way back in December 2024...

12. Recommend a fic that formed or changed your opinion on something (characterization, backstory, relationship, etc.)

to go with grace I T | 16,972 words

Morgana is dead.

Morgana Pendragon is dead, at Emrys's hand. Just as the prophecies had foretold.

But before she can enter Avalon and find peace, she must first pay penance for all the sins she committed in her life.

After reading this, imagining a post-finale world where destiny was simply done with Morgana became unthinkable, and now there is always some element of Morgana redemption in any Arthur Comes Back scenario I concoct in my head.

13. Recommend a fic you've re-read multiple times.

Favorite | E | 13,012 words

Arthur was tipped back against the wall, his mouth open for breath and staring at the small arrow-slit window over Merlin's head, trying to work out how it could possibly be that good with Merlin, of all people.

Just SUCH a lovely, fun, and sexy fic. I find myself going back to it often.

14. Recommend your favorite fic.

The Rise of Albion Series | E | 55,295 & 35,964 words (91,259 total)

Merlin arrives at Camlann just in time. When the truth comes out, will Arthur accept him? Will they be able to face the feelings each of them has for the other? Will they ultimately defeat Morgana - together?

Something about this series just makes it stick around in my head, so while I definitely have more than one favourite fic, this ended up being The One I kept coming back to as my main option. It has the perfect balance of angst, plot, and glorious wish-fulfiment that has me coming back to reread it over and over again. I also adore the way magic is written in this. Comforting and lovely.

15. Recommend any fic of your choice

Arthur, Sincerely | M | 47,823 words

No one understands Arthur and Merlin's relationship, least of all Arthur and Merlin. Limping home after Camlann they have time to figure it out.

Now if only people would stop trying to give Merlin a promotion.

A gorgeous read, and I picked it because I love fics that deal with post-finale fics where Arthur lives, and everyone has to work out what comes next. 

If you read and enjoyed any of these, do make sure you leave a kudos/comment for the author! And let me know too! <3

[evedaser]

Merlin Spell Review

After rewatching the entirety of the show, some episodes more than once, and taking notes the whole time, I am so excited to finally present to you a full summary of the magical data* from 2008-2012's BBC Merlin.

*Specifically about the spells, therefore innate/passive abilities were not included! Morgana's visions, Merlin's Dragonlord commands, Anhora's teleportation etc DO NOT COUNT.

BBC Merlin contains 512 spells over the course of 65 episodes.

Characters

Merlin

Merlin cast 312 spells (60.9%) over the course of the show for an average of exactly 4.8 spells per episode. 112 of his spells were cast nonverbally, comprising 35.9% of his total magic usage. This proportion was at its highest in s1 (35.1%) when his magic was at its least refined and most instinctual, and s5 (71.2%) when his magic was at its most powerful.

(The other 39.1% of spells are divided between 41 other characters.)

He is the most consistent magic user in the series, being the only magician to cast in (almost!) every episode. There were 12 episodes where he was the only character to perform magic (including some surprising ones like s4e9: Lancelot du Lac, where Morgana's resurrection of Lancelot doesn't actually use any spells. In fact, Merlin is the only one to use spells in any of the three episodes named after Lancelot - s1e5: Lancelot, s2e4: Lancelot and Guinevere, and s4e9: Lancelot du Lac).

Season 3 Episode 8: Eye of the Phoenix is the only episode in the show in which Merlin does not cast any spells. He does still perform magic in this episode via the use of his Dragonlord abilities, however these were not measured in this tally.

Merlin did not throw anyone until Season 2, where he throws Jonas against the wall in a confrontation in Episode 5: The Beauty and the Beast I. The first time he threw anyone nonverbally was in Episode 13 of the same season, The Last Dragonlord, when, in a fit of anguish, he instinctively threw and killed the soldier who had just stabbed Balinor. In general his combat strategy tends towards using the environment (dropping tree branches, chandeliers, slamming doors) or the opponent's own equipment (heating sword hilts, breaking saddles, pushing weaponry against their will) against them rather than brute force, though he does transition more toward throwing in the later seasons. By the end of the series, he had used spells to throw people, either verbally or nonverbally, 24 times, still less than Morgana despite his head-start.

He cast his highest amount of spells in s4 (69) and his lowest amount in s5 (52).

Merlin used magic to do his chores 9 times on screen.

The lovely @arrowlovesdragons asked that I note how many of Merlin's spells were for Arthur, which I did and subsequently turned into this graph:

The most common characters included in "Other" were Gwen and Gaius, Morgana in the earlier seasons, and very notably in s2 (hence the large increase), Freya. Any spells Merlin did for Uther were counted under "Camelot".

Or, if you want a simplified version (wherein I factored "Others" as Merlin's own desires, and "Camelot" as being for Arthur):

TL;DR when Merlin said "I use it for you, Arthur, only for you." he was blatantly lying. That being said, he still devotes almost half of all of his magic to just Arthur. In s5 when he makes that statement, it's more than half. Considering Balinor told Merlin that he is magic itself... well. Merlin wasn't too far off.

Morgana

Morgana is the second most prolific caster in the show, casting 59 spells (11.5%) across the 25 episodes she is magically active in for an average of exactly 2.36 spells per episode. She has the highest proportion of accidental casts in the show, the first in Season 1 Episode 12: To Kill the King, wherein her touch activates the Mage Stone, and the other 5 in Season 2 Episode 3: The Nightmare Begins, where she casts magic in a panic after being woken by nightmares.

The aforementioned artefact activation in Season 1 is her first specific usage of magic in the show, and if you would prefer not to count that, then the also-aforementioned panic-magic are her first spells.

Morgana had the highest proportion of magic intended for violence by a very large margin. 34 of her 59 spells (57.6%) were intended to cause harm to others (harm to others for the purpose of protecting someone not included - this is why Merlin's stat for this is so much lower). She also used throwing as her chosen method of combat magic more than anyone else in the series, throwing people a total of 25 times (38.5% of all person-throwing in the show). The first person she threw was Merlin in Season 3 Episode 5: The Crystal Cave.

In Morgana's final episode - Season 5 Episode 13: The Diamond of the Day II, where she casts 5 spells - her last four spells are used to hurt or kill others, but her first was to protect Mordred (albeit by killing the soldiers around him). All the way at the end, she still truly cared for someone.

Other High Priestesses and Servants of the Old Religion

Nimueh is the first recurring magic user, aside from Merlin, to appear in the show. She mostly uses her magic to be malicious and evil, but does take Merlin to the Isle of the Blessed and gives him water from the cup of life with which to heal Arthur. Her intentions around this are never made clear.

Despite 70% of her spells being used explicitly for harm, she never directly attacks someone until Episode 13, where she launches two fireballs at Merlin. It is also interesting to note that she is one of very few villains who never attacks Arthur. Her malice was always focussed on Uther and his kingdom, not misdirected towards his son.

Throughout her time on screen, Morgause was a formidable enemy. In her first appearance (Season 2 Episode 8: Sins of the Father) she performs 4 spells. She is the first person to enchant an animal (discounting Edwin Muirden's Elanthia Beetles because they operated more like magical items than natural animals) and is linked to both of Ygraine's appearances, with the spirit she raised in s2e8 and the mandrake root she enchanted in the first two episodes of Season 3. Like many more experienced magic users in the series, she relied heavily on enchantments to weave complex and manipulative webs of magic rather than brute force violence. In Season 2, she actually doesn't use magic for direct violence at all. The Knights of Medhir, who were meant to carry out violence on her behalf, were only shown to be responsible for the deaths of the knights Arthur took with him to inspect the fortress in the beginning of the episode. They did not kill anyone in Camelot.

That being said, she can be extremely violent when she so chooses. The first person she acts against directly is one of Cenred's guards, who gets little further than drawing his sword before she has thrown him across the room and through a table. In that very same episode, her soldiers knock Merlin out (for several hours), and she subsequently binds him in magical chains and leaves him for the serkets. Very friendly. Catching up on the violence I see.

Most of the other creatures and messengers of the old religion are bound to a specific purpose. Anhora, the keeper of the unicorns, only ever deals with matters dealing with unicorns. Grettir and the Cailleach are gateway spirits. None of them get to do many spells because, within their purview, there just isn't a need for it. The Disir do slightly more, but only slightly.

Fun fact, those were the only four I categorised under "Messengers of the Old Religion" in my spreadsheets. Anhora is from Season 1 and so cannot count towards this, however the other three are post-Gwaine, and all three of them use a spell to get Gwaine to lay off threatening them. For Grettir and the Cailleach, it is their only spell. The Disir's only other spell is summoning the rune mark that got them into the situation in the first place. That is a 100% pissed-off-by-Gwaine rate among the spirits of the old religion. I'm sure Merlin would be thrilled (he was there for all of them).

All of them seem to believe in Arthur's potential, but they are not as assured of his fate as Kilgharrah leads Merlin to believe they should be. The Dochraid -- who I included as a Magical Creature and not a spirit -- chooses to support Morgana and quite actively opposes Arthur, despite being a creature aware of Emrys, and, you would think, probably the prophecies too. She's not alone in this. That being said, the Cailleach seemed to derive some joy out of Morgana's fear in 4x01, and did refuse Merlin's sacrifice. To me, this shows that at no point in the show did the old religion itself "pick a side" in the war, it was only ever up to Merlin, Morgana, and Arthur to prove who was right.

I don't have interesting magic stats about these characters for you because they were usually too busy dealing with Gwaine to do any actual magic. My apologies.

Mordred

Mordred did very very little magic throughout his time on screen, especially in Season 5. In his three child episodes, he performs exactly one spell in each of them. The first is an instinctive reaction to Cerdan's execution in Season 1 Episode 8: The Beginning of the End, shattering Morgana's mirror with a mental scream, and the other two are both violent actions of self-defense when surrounded by Camelot soldiers. Poor kid.

As an adult, Mordred performs only three spells.

He throws Morgana at the Cauldron of Arianrhod after Merlin abandons him to deal with her on his own (5x09),

He screams, out loud this time, and absolutely destroys the dungeons around him as a reaction to Kara's execution (5x11), and

He performs the only cooperative spell in the entire show, wherein he and Morgana combine their powers to launch a gigantic fireball at Stowell (5x12).

As a child, he was built up as someone with a great deal of power dealing with an incredibly hostile world. We were led to believe he would grow into someone dangerous, perhaps matching even Merlin's calibre of sorcery. Mordred ended up growing into a world in which he suppressed his magic for the sake of laying low and fitting in, but when he used his power, he was unstoppable.

Sorry for the break from the stats there, there just isn't a lot to say about Mordred statistically, except that the only spell he ever performs verbally is that final one he does with Morgana. All of his personal magic usage is done without incantations, and half of it is pure instinct. It's understandable why Merlin was so afraid of him.

Guest Characters

These are characters who only appeared in one episode (double-parters not-withstanding) (or in Alator's case only cast magic in one episode).

The highest casting guest character was Edwin Muirden, who cast 9 spells in s1e6: A Remedy to Cure All Ills.

The lowest casting guest characters were Anhora (1x11), Cornelius Sigan (2x01), Jonas (2x05), Balinor (2x13), Taliesin (3x05), the Sidhe Elder who attacked Merlin in his chambers (3x06), Grettir (3x08), the Cailleach (4x02), Lochru the Vates (5x01), and Ari (5x12), who all cast only one spell in their on-screen appearances.

The median was represented by all the characters who cast 2 spells in their on-screen appearances: Sophia (1x07), Aulfric (1x07), Cerdan (1x08), Tauren (1x12), Alice (3x09), and Osgar (5x05).

Honorary mention to the only two on-screen sorcerers who went unnamed in BBC Merlin, both of whom were vendors who sold their enchanted items to extremely-obviously-evil people and were immediately killed. R.I.P these guys (1x02 and 3x04):

(There were other magic users who went unnamed, but they weren't human: the goblin in 3x03, the troll in 2x05 and 2x06 -- "Lady Catrina" was her DISGUISE -- , the Diamair -- more of a title than a name --, and from 4x08 you could argue 'Lamia' is her species and not her name, but she does introduce herself by that.)

Episodes

The episode with the highest amount of spells was Season 5, Episode 13: The Diamond of the Day II with 19 spells cast. This was split between Merlin, who contributed 14, and Morgana, who contributed 5.

The runner up was Season 1, Episode 1: The Dragon's Call with 17 spells cast. This is split between Merlin, who casted 12 times, and Mary Collins, who casted 5 times.

The episode with the lowest amount of spells was Season 5, Episode 11: The Drawing of the Dark with only 2 spells cast. This was split between Merlin and Mordred, who each casted once. Mordred's spell was instinctive, a wave of destruction following his anguish at Kara's death.

There were 2 other episodes that shared such a low count. The first is Season 1 Episode 11: The Labyrinth of Gedref. Anhora's teleportation and the curse itself both were not counted as no deliberate spells were involved. One of this episode’s spells didn't even happen on screen, we only saw it being cast (Merlin used magic to kill the rat in Arthur's chambers, though we never saw exactly how). The second is Season 2 Episode 2: The Once and Future Queen.

The median was represented by all the episodes which had 7 spells to their name, listed as follows. s1e8: The Beginning of the End, s2e11: The Witch's Quickening, s3e4: Gwaine, s3e5: The Crystal Cave, s3e9: Love in the Time of Dragons, s4e2: The Darkest Hour II, s4e12: The Sword in the Stone I, and s5e8: The Hollow Queen.

As a bonus: The most common spell value per episode (the mode if we're talking stats, which we are) was 5. 10 out of the show's 65 episodes (15.4%) contained exactly 5 spells.

The average spell count per episode was 7.88.

Spells

The most common type of spell cast in the entirety of Merlin was Telekinesis in both verbal and nonverbal forms. It comprised 108 spells, or 21.14% of all spells shown on screen. That being said, if you separate verbal and nonverbal forms, the nonverbal Telekinesis becomes the second highest usage of magic, and the verbally incanted Object Manipulation becomes the fifth. It is bearing that separation in mind that I give you the following spell type top 3:

Enchantment. The big catch-all. 97 spells, 18.98% This is a big one, it accounts for every spell targeted on an object or a creature, provided they didn't belong to other categories*. It included enchanting poppets, amulets, bracelets, potions. It included all the love-spells, applied directly or not. It included the one other instance of mind-control, it included the GPS function Morgause installed in Arthur's horse, it included the spell Merlin used to clean the stain off Arthur's shirt. It included Morgana's blatant Darth-Vader rip-off force choking, and plenty of other things. Huge catch-all, very common. Merlin used enchantments 46 times.

Telekinesis. Classic. Non-verbal only. 62 spells, 12.13%

Elemental. Also classic. Verbal only. 61 spells, 11.94% This is another category that is split between verbal and nonverbal. If you combine both types of elemental spells, it comes out as 86 spells total (16.83%). The vast majority of this is flame and heat magic, but Merlin also uses wind several times throughout the show (he's the only one to do this) and, on occasion (literally only where his loved ones -- Arthur -- are in mortal peril -- 1x13 and 5x13 only), lightning. He is known to be able to cause rockfalls (also done by only Merlin) and precisely one time causes a full-scale earthquake. No one uses commands elemental water magic at any point in the show (spirits who happen to live in lakes/rivers doing magical things do not count, it has to be related to the water. Merlin does use magic related to water a couple times, but it was always categorised under other things).

Honourable mention to Violent Telekinesis, the term I used for the nonverbal "throwing people" spell, which came in 4th with 51 spells (9.98%). It's higher if you combine it with its verbal form, which I literally had to title Throwing (14 spells, 2.74%). That means that on 65 instances was magic used to throw people with an intention of causing harm, which averages out to exactly once per episode.

* There were two types of spells that were definitely enchantments but which I chose to separate into their own categories. The first of these is Artefact Activation, which is when a spell is used to activate a magical item that has already been enchanted. A good example of this would be the entirety of Gilli's magic, all of which was done via the use of an already-magical ring. Another good example is in s4e5: His Father's Son, when Morgana uses a nonverbal spell to activate the curse she placed on Arthur's sword the night before. The other of these categories is self-explanatorily named Locking/Unlocking, and I separated it simply because it was so common and I was curious.

Seasons

Seasons 3 and 4 are tied for most amount of spells cast, each with 108 spells in their 13 episodes. Season 1 has the least, with only 96. Overall, the show was pretty consistent with the amount of magic it did, with the average sitting mostly within the 7.5-8.5 range at any given time whilst I was constructing these tallies. The top five episodes of the entire show are a perfect distribution action the seasons, with one episode from each (1st. 5x13, 2nd. 1x01, 3rd. 4x06, 4th. 2x03, 5th. 3x06).

Season 4 has the highest lowest-episode spell count at 4, whereas s1, s2, and s5 have their lowest at 2, and s3's lowest has 3.

Most of the data on the spreadsheets were not organised by Season, though many of my physical tallies were. If you're interested in how the seasons compare, send me an ask or a message and I'll happily fish that information out for you. Otherwise, most of the data about the individual seasons has already been uploaded under other posts, so I won't make this section any longer.

Fun/Opinions

I'll do my narrative analyses later on a separate post, but just know it's so important to me that the top two episodes are the finale and the pilot, and the lowest is The Drawing of the Dark. At the top, two episodes that are so quintesentially about a magic boy in a world where his powers are desperately needed, Merlin (Arthur) at his very beginning and at his end, and at the bottom an episode that really was not about magic at all. The story of Kara's death was never a story of magic. She was not condemned for her sorcery, she was condemned for her murder. She was both caught and treated like any other criminal. 5x11 is fundamentally about people, about loyalty, about how our choices shape us. Mordred saw it as if it was about magic, and it was this misunderstanding which turned him away from Arthur for good.

Anyway. Silly spells (with references)!!

Merlin trips Arthur twice in the first episode.

Merlin successfully lures guards away from their posts using dice in the first episode. The second time he's shown using telekinesis on dice is when he's cheating in a gambling game against Arthur in 5x12.

Merlin uses barrels to distract guards on two separate occasions (2x04, 4x10). On the first one, he knocks them out.

Merlin slows time four times throughout the show (1x01, 1x07, 3x06). One of them is in order to observe Grundhilda's massive purple frog tongue.

Merlin uses magic to wind a rope discreetly up his pant leg and around his torso (2x08). This has a verbal incantation, which means someone either made a spell for this, which would be absurd, or Merlin is bastardising the hell out of someone's real actual sorcery that they wrote down formally.

Merlin once uses magic to put a princess to sleep and stuff her into a cupboard, which he then seals shut with magic as well (2x10).

Merlin uses magic to pull down people's pants. Twice. It works perfectly for his plans both times (3x07, 4x04).

Morgana also has an elderly disguise (5x04)!!

Sorry that they were mostly all about Merlin, everyone else in this show is so serious about magic. For other magic users who get silly with it, just rewatch Season 3 Episode 3: Goblin's Gold. I couldn't make up half the things that guy does.

I do have Fun/Vibes as a 'Purpose' category. It's populated mostly by Merlin, but also by the Goblin (3x03), Edwin Muirden (who lights a flame in the opening shot of the episode for the purpose of looking spooky and magic to the audience, and also who does some telekinesis just to show off to Merlin) (1x06), and Gilli (who activates his ring once in the opener of the episode purely for the benefit of signalling that it's magic to the audience) (3x11).

And no, I'm still not over the toad in s2e7: The Witchfinder, and I'm certainly not over the use of the Sidhe staff as a TAZER in s3e6: The Changeling (See the posts for Season 2 and Season 3 for elaboration on those).

Data

I am human, I have biases and make mistakes, I oversimplify things, I have a preference for viewing certain characters in certain ways. If you thought I was disingenuous, or wasn't clear enough, or have some other issue with this post, or otherwise are curious, the raw data I collected is now yours!!

Do with it as you wish. If you do end up using any of this for something, I would really appreciate a credit. This took me a very long time to put together.

Tally A list, with descriptions, of every spell in Merlin by episode.

Spreadsheets The numerical data in a variety of different tables and graphs.

Please note that I know there are mistakes in this dataset and I will be continuously working on fixing those. If you have need of the data, always refer back to the original post/document/spreadsheet. Reblogs do not update when previous posts are edited.

If you notice a mistake, even a minor one, please let me know!! And if you have any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them. Thank you for your time <3 I really, really appreciate it.

[dial-achos-gwenllian]

‘The Burial at the Giants’ Ring’ - Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae.

Like his brother Ambrosius, Uthr (anglicised as Uther) met his death after being poisoned, and both were buried within the Giants’ Ring near Salisbury. Geoffrey of Monmouth describes the removal of a ring of stones from Mount Killaraus in Ireland that had been placed there by giants to Salisbury to memorialise a massacre of Britons. Constantine, the king who follows Arthur after he is taken to Avalon after Camlann, was also buried here upon his death. I’ve only chosen to represent Ambrosius and Uthr here as I wanted to focus more on it as a location during what would have been Arthur’s lifetime. The editor of Geoffrey’s text, Lewis Thorpe, also notes that it is likely that Geoffrey could have been confusing Stonehenge and another stone circle at Avebury nearby, but I’ve chosen to use Stonehenge here.

I’ve always found him to be a complicated individual in the Welsh tradition as a modern person reading it. In Geoffrey’s depiction, he is both an incredibly successful warrior, it is prophesied that his son will have a great empire and his daughter’s descendants will retain the kingship of Britain, and he is the father of the greatest Welsh hero. But it is this last point which becomes a difficult part - his love for Arthur’s mother, Eigr (Ygerna or Igraine), and his decision and methodology when acting on it are, to a modern audience, quite obscene. He, with the help of Myrddin (Merlin), disguises himself as her husband, Gorlois, and they sleep together, conceiving Arthur that same night.

I think modern interpretations often follow this track of him being a complex (but generally quite a bad) person. In almost all the literature, he is heavily overshadowed by his son - my rather destroyed and heavily referenced copy of Geoffrey’s text sums his kingship up in around 9 pages. Although it wasn’t necessarily a long reign, it pales in comparison to the time given to Arthur, who takes up around 50 pages, around 20% of the text. Mentions of his beyond the Welsh tradition also leave out perhaps one of the coolest things about Uthr which is his ability to potentially shape-shift. The shapeshifting he does in Geoffrey’s text is magically induced by Merlin, but recent scholarship (including my own current research!) suggests that this is a run off from Uthr’s supernatural powers in other texts. The Trioedd Ynys Prydein records that Uthr taught a ‘great enchantment’ to Menw ap Teirgwaedd, likely the shapeshifting he performs in Culhwch ac Olwen when travelling to Esgair Oerfel. I would love to see this sort of stuff included in depictions of him, especially as they’re so absent in the English and Continental traditions!

Anyway, continuing with my inability to complete any artwork within the time limit given, this is again based on @mortiscausa ‘s #marchtocamelot, instead on the theme of ‘family’. Yet another information dump to go with it, but Lord knows doing two degrees in the subject means you have a lot to say in the long run!

[gawrkin]

#It makes for an intriguing pet theory about whether or not Lancelot and Mordred and Amr all swapped roles to some extent#it doesn't track fully but I wonder if there's something there--in which case poor Amr gets written out of the romances entirely#Also Arthur being related to every significant member of the Round Table sure would make fandom shipping awkward#Feel like it'd turn into the GOT fandom very quick

The idea of Lancelot having a sister that has ties to King Arthur is an absolutely fascinating concept but the evidence for it is scant at best, like?

I have yet to find evidence for a) Pandragon/Pandragus and b)the source included. Baudin Butor doesn't show up in any capacity online outside of this page! I'm really curious where this story came from.

[ramblings-of-a-chaotic-neutral]

I wasn't planning on posting this today, but this idea came to me today and I must share it! (I'm still working on my special au to celebrate two big tumblr milestones! Hopefully it'll be done by the end of the week!)

With all of the dehumanizing propaganda labelling magic users as "inhuman monsters" that Uther spread during the purge, people who are attracted to magic users are probably labelled as deviants. In Camelot, saying "yeah I'd bang a wizard" is considered completely taboo. But that doesn't stop people from fantasying about what they can't have.

This, of course, spawns a whole genre of steamy romance manuscripts featuring evil sorcerers kidnapping fair maidens and falling in love with them, powerful wizards seducing innocent princess with their dark magics, dark and broody warlocks tricking naive ladies into becoming their lovers through a devil's bargain, etc. These cheesy romance manuscripts are quite popular with the ladies of Camelot, as they have a forbidden aspect to them in both the owning of such stories and the material of the stories themselves. Plus, when you're a noblewoman trapped in a loveless political marriage, the fantasy of a dark and powerful magic user becoming enamored with them and stealing them away is quite the appealing fantasy.

To many people in Camelot, magic users become the ultimate forbidden romance fantasy, being (in their imaginations) secretive and powerful creatures who can use their magic to exert their will and their dark desires on their innocent victims.

The few people in Camelot who have actually slept with magic users don't help these rumors either, as they only add fuel to the fire. Gwaine certainly has plenty of stories to share about how much fun sorcerers and witches can be in bed with their magic, and the people in the tavern listen with rapt attention and furious blushing when he tells those stories.

But when tales of Emrys, the last dragonlord and the most powerful sorcerer to ever live, travel from the druids to Camelot? The wizard-fuckers in Camelot went wild.

Within a couple weeks, there were dozens of steamy (and VERY imaginative) romance novels and manuscripts written and passed around Camelot, all revolving around the mysterious and brooding warlock Emrys.

As people's dirty imaginations ran wild with what Emrys might be like, the general perception of Emrys became more and more ridiculous. According to some of these stories, Emrys was a seven foot tall brooding warlock whose magic made him irresistible, forcing people to succumb to his will.

Pretty much everyone in Camelot gets their hands on one of these manuscripts or hears about them. Gwaine has his own collection of them, which isn't too shocking to anyone, but, to everyone's surprise, Merlin starts collecting some of those stories too (to make sure that no one else gets their hands of such embarrassing material, but people just assume that he has some sort of kink). He even blushes whenever someone mentions them (out of mortification).

Eventually, Arthur finds out about his kingdom's dirty fascination with this Emrys guy because people kept teasing Merlin for his crush on Emrys. Arthur demands to know who Merlin has fallen for (for security reasons, of course, not because he's jealous). It's at that point that Gwen and the knights have to tell Arthur that his entire kingdom (including Merlin apparently) has been thirsting over a hot mysterious sorcerer that no one actually knows anything about.

Arthur almost blows up when he hears this, furious that his entire kingdom has been having dirty fantasies about a dangerous man who's most likely their enemy! And don't even get him started on how Merlin, his Merlin, has the audacity to be more attracted to this Emrys than Arthur himself! This is outrageous!

However, no matter how much Arthur tries to point out to Merlin that being attracted to Emrys is a bad idea and nothing will ever come of it anyways, he still keeps on catching Merlin with those dirty manuscripts about Emrys! (Because Merlin is still trying to secretly get rid of them all).

Eventually, Arthur gets frustrated enough that he'll try anything to get Merlin's attention away from Emrys. He thinks over how he could do that for a while, until one day he overheard two ladies of the court talking about how much they enjoyed it when their partners in bed roleplayed as a powerful magic user like Emrys, and Arthur begrudging came to a solution.

The next day, when Arthur catches Merlin reading a story about Emrys and blushing wildly again, Arthur clears his throat, looks a mortified Merlin dead in the eyes, and asks, "if I took you to bed and pretended to be Emrys while doing so, would that finally get you over your ridiculous attraction to this criminal of a sorcerer?"

Arthur was perhaps a bit too blunt in his delivery, as Merlin promptly started choking on air after Arthur's question in lieu of an answer, much to Arthur's annoyance. You see, as much as it would irritate Arthur to have to pretend to be another man, let alone an enemy sorcerer, in bed, Arthur had a plan.

Arthur obviously needed to rein in Merlin's lust before his servant did anything stupid (like fall into bed with an actual dangerous sorcerer), and what better way to do that than slake Merlin's lust himself? Truly, Arthur was the most generous king there ever was (ignoring his own rampant attraction towards Merlin). And once they were in bed, Arthur would prove to Merlin how great and how proficient a lover he is, and any thoughts of Emrys (or any man who wasn't Arthur for that matter), would be forgotten immediately in the face of how superior Arthur is!

Arthur mentally pats himself on the back for coming up with this genius plan as Merlin's coughing fit finally ends.

"Arthur, why on earth would you even ask that?!"

"Because you're clearly enamored with this sorcerer, so perhaps this will finally get that stupidity out of your system!"

They go back and forth like this for a while, until finally Merlin, to his own shock, agrees to Arthur's proposal. Arthur feels alight with victory for a few minutes, until he realizes that he'll have to learn how to act convincingly like a powerful sorcerer for one night. At that point, Arthur goes out to buy some dark robes for himself to hopefully get more into character, and even "studies" some of those spicy manuscripts to get an idea of what Merlin would be expecting.

Arthur barely managed to finish one of them from how scandalized he was at their contents. Why were these so popular with his subjects?! Still, Arthur soldiered on, reading more and more of the embarrassing romance manuscripts until he finally felt confident in what Merlin was looking for.

Of course, when the time came, Arthur was terrible at roleplaying as a sorcerer, but Merlin didn't mind one bit (most because Merlin was torn between laughing hysterically or being embarrassed beyond belief at at Arthur's poor impersonation of a poor interpretation of Merlin himself, so he decided to instead just enjoy being with Arthur).

And that's all for now! I'm thinking about doing a continuation of this later on, where Camelot (who's been thirsting over Emrys) learns that Merlin had been Emrys all along. Please let me know if you'd like to see that one day!

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D