#bamf merlin

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Merlin using magic to fake skills (juggling) is hilarious to me, because what are the limits to that?

Could he technically fake sword skills?

And could he technically get just a little bit tired of Arthur running his mouth on day so he grabs a sword, grins in a way that absolutely terrifies anyone in all of Albion, and just casually decides to put the best swordsman in the five kingdoms on his ass.

No one knows how, and he refuses to spar with anyone, but every now and again he shows just a bit too much competency on the training field, using his magic for shits and giggles or even vague threats when Arthur or any of the knights does something stupid.

Is that possible?

Or is there just a spell to make people inexplicably good at juggling?

That seems a bit too hyper specific, y’know?

[merlinemrys]

it always gets to me how powerful merlin is because if nimueh, one of the last high priestesses of the old religion, has to say a spell aloud to just unlock a door while merlin in the first five minutes just stops TIME for funsies then it's honestly a miracle that the whole of camelot doesn't just blow up if merlin sneezes too hard

[star-rie]

more merlin with weapons cause i can’t stop being delusional

him with a sword <3

merlin in chainmail is so chef’s kiss <3

he will not hesitate to kill

[theroundbartable]

POV: Merlin does not trust you (You are Mordred)

[emrys-merlin]

#that ‘oh shit’ moment

[onceandfuturewarlqck]

you cant tell me that merlin hasnt learnt how to use a sword after 10 years of following arthur and the knights around and watching them training.

you also cant tell me that arthur didnt personally decide to train merlin after he realized that the fool was going to follow him everywhere, head first into danger.

and you also don't dare telling me that gwaine, protective gwaine, the one that calls himself merlin's best friend (there is a bet going on about who is merlin's best friend, I'm pretty much sure, and merlin knows about this and just messes around with the knights for fun), didnt march straight to merlin, grabbed his arm, took him to the training grounds and shoved a sword to him because 'i won't have you dying for princess' sake, he already believes himself important enough'.

and you just TRY telling me that everyone else didnt jump on this train and started giving merlin tips or used him as a sparring partner as an excuse to teach him some swordfighting, and this goes on for years, and it becomes something natural and familiar between the inner circle of the knights, and then word spreads also outside of it and all the other knights, especially the new ones, are way too confused about who exactly this boy, this servant, is.

you shouldn't even open your mouth against me about how one day merlin is sparring against leon and they are just chattering and doing light footwork until things get animated and it turns into a real (even if friendly) fight and, under everyone's unbelievable eyes, merlin disarms leon, first knight leon, the second best after arthur. and merlin just shrugs this off, fawning over leon because 'you're not hurt are you??' and. leon just laughs. he completely cracks down and start laughing and gwaine swears under his breath and arthur is still looking at merlin like he has grown a second head (and, maybe, there's also some pride there. and something else we wont name) and percival whispers 'has leon been possessed?'

and youd be wrong if you think that, after that day, arthur doesnt call merlin into his chambers one evening and makes him sit at his table and there is a sword on it. and arthur tells merlin to pick it up, to tell him how does the blade feels in his hands, and merlin is like, 'sire, have you forgotten how to use a sword?' but arthur just ignores him and tells him to try it. and merlin does it, and tells him, a bit begrudgingly, that it's the best sword he has ever had his hands on, it flows perfectly, no hitch at all. and it is. it's beautiful and the hilt just fits perfectly in his palm, the engraved lines of a dragon pressing against his skin, the blade thin and light like air, almost bending at merlin's will. arthur nodding at this with something in his eyes.

and you cant change my mind that, when merlin goes to give the sword back to arthur, arthur just steps forwards and fasten its sheat at merlin's waist, ignoring the confusion on his servant's face (and if the tips of his ears are red, he doesnt say anything). 'you keep it,' arthur just says, brushing his hands against merlin's for a second, before clearing his throat and turning away.

you wont make me think that merlin didnt just stare at his king, at arthur, and then at his new acquired weapon, and then smirked (or tried to, it probably was a softer smile than he had intended), and said 'of course, my lord'.

and if, when in thoughts or anxious, merlin's fingers naturally touch the hilt of the sword, and if, when worried and agitated, arthur takes it upon himself to personally check that his manservant always has the sword he gifted him on his body, well. that's between them, and none is the wiser.

[gaiussleechtank]

I just thought of this theory so now I’m going to inflict it on all of you because I am no longer well after thinking this:

Magic existed in Albion long before Merlin and Arthur, et cetera, did. And based on canon - the books, the tales, even the geography and beings - magic used to be massive in Albion. A huge part of life and nature and living. Then Arthur is born and Ygraine dies and the Purge begins. Magic is killed off, reduced and nearly wiped out; thousands of species go extinct, entire cultures are burnt, and hundreds of millennia of knowledge are erased. So as a last resort to save itself, Merlin is born.

Merlin - Emrys - Magic Itself/Incarnate.

All of this desperate power is out there and channelled into one single being. Think of it, all the land's magic rushing into a single entity and given life, evolved from having existence in everything to truly living and experiencing a concentrated point. Maybe this is why Merlin has such a deep connection with everything, because he has existed before as something so much greater than the human mind.

I think this is why he is Emrys, why Emrys is immortal, you can't kill Magic, Albion's world doesn't work that way. There is the balance of life to maintain.

This is where Arthur and the Prophecy of the Once and Future King come in: Merlin and Arthur are greatly connected. It's Arthur's birth that forces Merlin into creation and it's together that they are meant to bring greatness to the land.

Except they don't, Albion's 'Golden Era' doesn't come. Arthur dies and Merlin continues living because Magic cannot die. Centuries pass, Merlin is missing his other half and Magic continues to disappear because Merlin and Arthur didn't save it.

So there is a build up, Magic keeps going to Merlin to protect itself, Albion ages and falls and is rebuilt over and over again into something new with each passing century. As time progresses Magic turns to its greatest source - the undying force of magic, the greatest concentration of it given life - and because of this the land slowly forgets that it even had magic to begin with.

This is what forces Albion's Greatest Need. The balance cannot handle this, the land cannot handle this and so Arthur returns to save it all.

He is Merlin's other half - their destinies are literally written and entwined with one another.

They would figure out that Magic had disappeared from the land and that it was why Arthur was back, but it would be Merlin to realise where Magic had gone to and what it would take for it to be brought back.

Merlin would have to die for Albion to be saved. His life would have to end and return to its previous state of unconscious sentient existence.

But how can someone that cannot die stop living?

It's easy really: have their other half of their soul - the one that they were born for, who they live for and exist for - kill their physical body with an immortal blade.

Only Arthur wielding the Excalibur would work. After all, Arthur was the reason that Merlin was born, so who's to say that Arthur's not the reason Merlin dies?

[creepslayer7]

Morgana- I am the High Priestess! I alone speak to the triple goddess!

Merlin- That's the difference between you and me.

You speak to the gods.

Emrys voice- ψ̷͍̈ ̵̥̀͛ ̷͖͓́̿̄͜I̵͓̿͘͝ ̸̲̃̉A̵͖̗̎Ḿ̶̱̈́ͅ ̷͈́̈́O̴̡̐͛̍N̶̺̝̙̾̑͒E̸̖̠͗̀ ̵̡͇̰̓ ̵̱͂́ ̶͑̀́

[justaz]

court sorcerer merlin and high priestess morgana being The Dynamic Duo in which with them both at arthur’s side, no one would dare cross him or anyone in camelot bc who wants to go against two of the most powerful sorcerers in the world AND the once and future king???? that’s suicide. a literal death sentence. hell no.

[mysticsublimeperson]

I have a Merthur AU idea!!! I have this Outlander-ish idea

Summary: What if Merlin crosses to another dimension, where the time runs differently and it’s left there, to fend for himself what to him it’s like 15 years but to the knights are just a couple of days. When the knights finally cross to rescue him they find a really hot, 30 ish Merlin that is a dragon rider and a badass and has been constructing the circle of rocks and designing spells and runes to come back to them..

Snippet of sorts:

They were investigating a new wave of new and different monsters they, (Arthur, Merlin and the knights) find themselves in front of a huge megalithic monument, it’s so big that to surround it would take a bit too much effort, just because they are all tired of riding and not finding ANYTHING even if the reports all point to this specific forest.

So they all are in front of this huge rocks and Merlin says that they should go around and NOT across because it doesn’t feel right to cross it, inside the circle the grass is tall and the flora grows freely, weird because it means no one have entered, no animal, no person… even the horses seem to be uneasy there. But the stones are clean, no moss.

Merlín feels a disturbance in the balance, the magic is exited but in tension, like waiting for something to happen. A drop to fall.

“I just… this doesn’t feel right Arthur” Merlin said growing desperate, the tension was starting to get to him. “This seems old, and unbothered, we should not be the ones to cross it, it may be a trap” he had come down of his horse because it wouldn’t get close willingly. That felt like a limit, a border, a huge sing that said DO NOT CROSS.

“You know what Merlin?” Merlin prepared to be mocked, but he honestly didn’t care if it got them out of there. He crouched, and took a little branch from the floor. Surrounding the stones he could see something, he moved the dirt to find runes. They were old. Unbothered. He could not recognize much. Some were familiar but not the same. Until…

Respect.

Eternal.

Rest.

Shit. This could be a grave. A grave of someone powerful. And this someone was asking for respect in his rest. And even dead, everything alive was still afraid of retribution.

“You are right, we will not be the first crossing this huge stupid thing…” Merlin could have cried in relief. He jumped to his feet and turned around, almost clashing with Arthur, who had got off his horse and walked up to him when he was distracted, and this huge mischievous grin in his face “You are” Just a tiny push in his shoulder, it’s all it took, it was almost comical.

“Arth…”

Merlín got up with a spring and his expression was relieved and free, and transformed into one of fear so quickly, it made him want to reach and stop his fall, to ask for forgiveness. To say that it was only dumb a joke.

Arthur could feel his blood freeze, and the time seemed to slow down. And between a heartbeat and the next Merlin was gone.

The laughter stopped abruptly.

He wanted to believe this a joke. But it couldn’t be, he seen it with his own eyes.

“MERLIN!” He shouted surprised of how desperate his own voice could sound, before he could give another step his knights stoped him. “MERLIN!” He screamed again while Percival pushed him out of the way, far from the circle.

Gwaine stepped up to the point where Merlin had been, he hadn’t left anything. The only thing that could ever hint that he had been there were his footprints in the soil.

“Sire, Arthur you need to breathe” Leon tried to get his attention.

Gwaine had his sword out, and pushed it into the circle, and nothing happened, his sword was there, not like Merlin.

He could feel the pressure in his chest, and the burning in his eyes. The anxiety felt suffocating, and suddenly Leon and Elyan were blocking his view.

“Breathe Arthur” instructed Leon, while Elyan tried to get him to imitate him.

It took be a lot more to calm down, and by the time Arthur and Gwaine were calm enough to talk the sun was already setting.

They decided to camp in silence and tension. Elyan had scouted the circle but had not found much. Like Merlin had said nothing came close to the circle, all the animal footprints stopped almost ten steps from the circle.

“But…” Elyan keep going “there’s four points where the earth has been disturbed” he tried to explain.

“What do you mean?” asked Arthur voice rough from shouting.

“There’s nothing entering the circle” he continues “I didn’t think those were footprints, because they were really big, and…” he shook his head and focused “I think the monsters have been coming from somewhere in the circle, they come out” he self finally, eyes set in the fire and voice tense.

A clash was heard and Gwaine was tackled to the ground.

“Get off me” he shouted, “if something is coming from there then I can get in” he growled.

“It’s just an idea” defended Elyan, “I know nothing of magic, there’s runes surrounding the stones! That’s what Merlin was looking before” he pointed to the circle “I don’t know if someone was summing the monsters, maybe what step inside turn into the monsters, maybe they are the sacrifice, maybe this has nothing to do w the monsters at all, and even if this is some kind of passage way, how do we know that place it's not worse” Elyan looked at Gwaine “Merlin is the one that knew most of this stuff” and Arthur’s eyes started to burn.

“I might as well killed him” he said in low voice, rough a guilty.

That made Gwaine stop.

“We” said in grave tone. “We all agreed, If you hadn’t done it yourself, I would have, it was a joke, we were stressed, and when that happen we tend to tease him, none of us took it seriously, none of us took him seriously” Gwaine let out an angry sob “that's why we need to to get him back, we need to apologize"

They start planning.

They notice that while it’s true that none animals entered willingly, when escaping from a hunter they had no problem entering.

They also find that like Elyan had said, that only happened through one of the four paths.

Birds were different, the crossed the circle all the time, they also disappeared.

They find that they can throw anything that it’s not alive and nothing would happen, sticks, rocks… but the moment it was alive it disappeared, even if that its a flower.

“This is stupid” Gwaine insisted “Let me try”

“How can we know if you are fine? How do we know if you are alive?” Arthur asked seriously.

How do we know if Merlin is alive? Everyone could hear the actual question.

“It’s useless if we lose you too” with every moment that passes his mood worsened. He felt guilty and humiliated because of his outburst, and the guilty again and sad.

“This is useless” when said and sprung to the circle.

“Gwaine!”

Before anyone could stop him, he stuck his hand into the circle, up to the elbow, and all of the could see how it vanished. Leon pushed him out of the circle and as he got out of the circle his hand came back to its rightful place.

“Oh thank gods” murmured Gwaine.

“You risked your sword arm, you idiot” Leon scolded.

Gwaine was way too happy to care.

“How does it feel?” Arthur asked checking his arm.

“It feels normal, like always, but it was really fast” Gwaine said flexing his hand and arm “Can I try again or will you freak out?”

No one said anything, no one stopped him, when he approached the circle again. He introduced his hand again slowly.

“What it is Gwaine?”

“It’s warm” he said slowly, making the knights confused.It was deep Autumn, and even if some days were warm, most days like this one were just bright and cold, and usually wet, luckily it didn’t feel like it was gonna rain any time soon “Let me see” and pushed further.

“Gwaine! Are you sure it’s safe?” Percival asked grabbing him by the other arm.

“Just don’t let me go, yeah? I still feel my arm, I can move it, It looks like only the part of me that trespasses the circle vanishes, maybe… I don’t know maybe it’s like a door, a portal? like Elyan said”

“To where?” Asked Leon.

“There’s only one way to find out” Gwaine said before pushing himself into the circle up until the waist, while Percival still held him by the other arm.

Gwaine finds that the place it’s similar, almost the same, but the circle it’s not there, there are a few rocks in place and some others around in the ground like someone was constructing this same place, the trees also looked different and like he said it was warm because it looked like a spring day. He came out and told the knights, buthere was no sing of Merlin.

“It’s been three days”

“He might have needed food”

“And water”

“Merlin is smart”

“He is resourceful"

"Check again" said Arthur, carefully "Look for specific hints, footprints, sings of a camp, struggle, something. It's been three days and if you said the weather looks tranquil then there's should be a trace of him" He was nervous, excited, he wanted to believe but he also was terribly afraid.

Gwaine nodded and went back. But something happened, Gwaine whole body tensed, so they pulled him out.

"What happened? Are you ok?"

"It changed!" Gwaine had a alerted gaze focused and confused.

"What changed?"

"Everything!" he tried to calm himself down "Th..I think the place was the same, but it was, suddenly it was night, and there was a hole like someone had been digging, probably for the rocks but... I don't understand, we didn't take long but it looked like days have happened, let me see again" before they could process anything Gwaine went back.

"What do you see Gwaine?" Arthur asked, worry forming a lump in his stomach.

"Gwaine?" Elyan asked too.

"Gwaine!" Percival took that a as a signal and pulled him out.

"What?"

"Didn't you hear us?" Scolded Arthur.

"I didn't hear anything" Gwaine answered genuine "I felt your hand, but I did not hear anything" explained " When I went back, the sun was rising, there were sings of a camp, the fire was recently put out" he kept going "I thought I heard someone but you pulled me out" accused Gwaine.

"How much time did you spend there Gwaine?" Leon asked.

"I don't know, a couple minutes, enough to see the sun rise fully"

"You were there only a few seconds"

They all processed that information in silence for a moment.

"You mean to tell me, that time runs different there"

"It appears to, sire"

"We need to get Merlin out"

"We need rope"

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Merlin: All I’m saying is that if a future version of me hasn’t shown up to stop current me from doing something, it can’t be THAT bad.

[bellamyblakru]

love me like you did (i’ll give you anything) (merthur au, canon universe wip) for @fluffypotatey

the enemy was a golden silhouette in the dying light, his hair a bright halo, a beacon leading his team onwards…

[algae-snails]

Idk why the quality is so bad😭😭

[cloudy-pink]

Outfits i think merlin wore in his long life without arthur :)

[theroundbartable]

Sorcerer: i'll offer you power, wealth, a whole kingdom, anything you like. What do you think, Merlin. Will you join us?

Merlin: anything I like? You mean, I get a day off?

Arthur: Merlin, don't

Merlin: no, no. Let him talk. I'm just weighing my options.

Sorcerer: you can get entire weekends off

Arthur: now hold on!!!!

Merlin: haha. You get that, Arthur? Entire WEEKENDS

Arthur: ....

Sorcerer: so will you join us?

Merlin: haha.... no

[emrys-merlin]

#when Arthur has no idea who HE's talking to