#but like fuck uther i hate him

[mushroom-through-the-stargate]

whether you see them as romantic or platonic, merlin and arthur are literally soulmates

[deuteragonist1]

Merthur really have it all huh. King and lionheart dynamic. Fucking hate at first sight then speedrun to trying to die for the other. Slow burn? Never heard of her. One of them wears gloves and one doesn't and I'm not even gonna bother to explain why that is top fucking tier. Lies and secrets that could bring about the doom of the kingdom. Obviously adore each other but will actually fucking die before saying it with actual words. The prince is a gigantic asshole who doesn't know how to show care or ask for attention like a person who had healthy emotional development as a child and oscillates between pulling pigtails and acting like an over-eager puppy or both at the same time. Domesticity levels previously unheard of. They canonically wear each other's clothes. One of them makes up words and the other promptly starts using them. Both are extremely into the other's specific brand of dumbassery. Their love language is fucking playing together. "I don't want you to change" fuck this fuck everything

[imagine-to-be-a-pike]

Arthur had every right to hate magic. I won't take back these words.

[dashiellqvverty]

the thing about bbc merlin is that in many ways it is very tragic, in the sense that so much bad shit that happens could have easily been avoided if charcters had made different choices, hadn't been so wrapped up in prophecies, had trusted people and communicated openly literally ever, just generally got their heads out of their asses. like i know thats the point, they are trying so hard to do the right things and protect people but the story is unavoidable. HOWEVER it is all soooo fucking poorly executed that none of it is effective. so instead of thinking "wow what a tragic story about fate/destiny/whatever" you walk away like "well that fucking sucked for no reason. i hate that fuckass dragon" and i sometimes feel very cinemasins in the way i pick apart the logic but the thing is the show is written in a way that makes the characters come off as so stupid and always making terrible choices rather than like. tragic victims of circumstance.

[nextstopparis]

me explaining how everything would’ve been different after bbc merlin episode 2.08 the sins of the father if morgause had juST USED THAT DAMNED CRYSTAL SOONER and seen arthur actually fighting uther and being lied to and manipulated back into thinking uther was right because tHEN SHE COULDVE SOUGHT HIM OUT BUT ALONE THIS TIME AND DEFENDED HERSELF AND GOTTEN ARTHUR ON HER SIDE and then when she reached out to morgana the three of them would’ve teamed up and brought uther to his knees

[if-i-could-fly-h0me]

Arthur lifting Mordred up in his arms like a proud father isn't talked about enough

[nerdyfangirlingbooks]

I've had a stupid merlin au idea stuck in my head for days now and I know I'll never get around to writing it the way I want it written but I kinda wanna try anyway even though I am 100% of the target audience

[milkwands]

even she was weirded tf out

[mossmx]

PS I KNOW I didn't make Gaius use lube in *the other* fic with Uther, BUT HE KNOWS AND I KNOW!!

I decided gaius has decided that is part of the punishment!!

No Uther you don't get comfort!! You need to be submissive and take it as we deal it >:)

[emi-love]

All I want in my merthur is Arthur to trust Merlin to toxic lengths and Merlin to never, ever misuse that trust. I want Arthur to be slapped with one hundred evidences against Merlin but not believe in Merlin’s fault because Merlin said he didn’t do it, and he actually didn’t. I want Arthur to not know but know about Merlin’s magic, and Merlin to know that Arthur knows but doesn’t know because he cannot know because Uther is the king. I want Arthur to have absolute faith at all times in Merlin, that Merlin is able to save him and his kingdom, and Merlin being unsure of himself, but never giving up, because he knows that Arthur trusts him, even if he cannot say it, because he doesn’t know, but knows, and Merlin cannot let him down.  

I want everyone around them to see how they constantly bicker and banter and have that thought that they hate one another, that they think each other stupid, but at the same time to know not to come between them, because you’ll be lost if you take Arthur away from Merlin, or Merlin away from Arthur. I want the nobles to think that Merlin is stupid and incompetent but treat him with kindness because they are scared of what Arthur will do to them if they dare disrespecting Merlin. I want bitter sorcerers once in the while come in with the plan to finish Arthur, but back away, because they recognise Emrys, the greatness of his power, and they are too afraid of what he would do to them if they attempted to hurt his king.  

I also want Arthur to be badass, and Merlin to have trust in Arthur’s badassery. I want Arthur to actually be the greatest king to ever live, not just some vaguely okay king with good intentions and pure heart, and I want Merlin to actually be the saviour of magic, not a cute twink manipulated by bitter dragon and a little corrupted physician. I want Arthur to actually be that skilled knight he always claims to be, not a one who can be defeated by that one random blonde sorceress with little to no effort, I want Merlin to actually know something about magic except for how to use it, not to being forced to run between Gaius and the dragon and Freya and Catha and the druids to find everything out.

I want them to be so epic and so unhealthy (but it's okay because they are that way only about each other and Arthur would never break Merlin’s faith and Merlin would never break Arthur’s trust) and so skilled (I'm still thinking about that one secret room full of magical books that was introduced in the episode with the goblin and then never brought up again- like why was Merlin not getting any education. like I mean, the spells are important part of magic, but there’s other stuff, too, that Merlin should know. Merlin should have received the same education Morgana did. like, Morgause had Morgana for a year and Gaius had Merlin for ten. why is that twink so confused. and we all know how eager Merlin is to learn magic stuff. Gaius had completely failed him) and I want Arthur to be a fucking high king and I want Merlin to be his court sorcerer and consort and most trusted advisor at the same time.

[futurepastme]

SecretConsort!merlin

I had this fic idea before falling asleep, I don't know if anything like this already exists (probably). Be warned that I didn't revise this once.

First of all Arthur and Merlin absolutely love each other, but they start off as friends with benefits. Until one day Arthur can't handle anymore

“Say you're mine. Say you'll be mine and no one else's”

“I'll be yours as long as you're also mine”

And yeah, they go exclusive after that (they already were but now was official) and give them a few months or years, but eventually Merlin becomes Arthur's secret consort and they are officially official, mother's sigil and all, because like I said, they Love each other.

Anyways, eventually Uther finds out they are together and he gets tomato-red furious, and only calms down when Arthur agrees to marry for political reasons, whomever Uther chooses for him.

The thing is, Uther kind of learns to like them as a couple, not that they go all out and about telling the world, because is still supposed to be a secret, but Uther sees the sweet glances and the smiles, and most of all he sees how willingly they are to die for each other and it just sits right with him. Uther thinks Merlin makes a good consort for his son and is in no hurry to marry him off anymore.

But of course, nothing really stays the same, and the day comes where the only way Uther finds to keep peace with another kingdom is to marry Arrhur off to some other king's daughter, and he hates it because he knows and he approves of his relationship with the skinny boy that makes his son so happy.

And then comes the heartbreaking scene of Arthur telling Merlin the news and the even more heartbreaking scene before Arthur's wedding day

“I won't be able to be only yours anymore”

“Maybe not, but I'll always be yours”

And they cry through the night holding each other tightly as if the world were to end, because it just might.

And the next day, Uther can freaking see it 

They are both behaving, no one is causing a scene but from up close you can notice how bloodshot their eyes are. And he can see it in the way they refuse to make eye contact, he can see it as he sees Merlin silently crying as Arthur shows the crowd their future queen.

And Uther hates it.

And is not like the new princess is a horrible person but she just doesn't like Merlin, she doesn't want to share her husband. She makes Merlin leave Arthur's Chambers and forbids him to follow Arthur all day unnecessarily, but she knows she can't win.

Not when the King himself gives Merlin royal chambers on the same floor as theirs, and especially not when Arthur doesn't spend the night on his.

Arthur has duties, though. Husband duties. And he has to fulfill them and it kills Merlin.

And Uther can just watch helplessly as Merlin's gaze follows Arthur and his wife and he stays behind as the servant he is supposed to be and is so unfair because she doesn't even love Arthur 

And they keep growing apart but keep fighting for each other because they are fucking made to be together so they still try even if the best they can do for days is hold each other for a few minutes just breathing each other in because that's home and that's where they are meant to be

It continues for a while until one day comes where Arthur goes out without Merlin

And at the same time while he is away, his wife finds herself with child, and everyone's so happy and Merlin just has to leave for a while because he can't handle it

But again, things never go as planned and the knights return with Arthur's body, because something went wrong 

And you can honestly choose what it was, a curse, a spell, bandits, a boar, a mercenary, it doesn't matter because Arthur is dead now and Merlin wasn't there to save him

And now Uther has to deal not only with the death of his only son, and with his widow wife with child but he'll be the one to tell his consort and is so devastating 

Merlin's face turns from sad to haunting and it's like the world ended and Uther can see himself in him, he can see the death of his love weighting on Merlin the way it weighed on him, if not worse

Arthur's body stays inside the castle for two days before the burial so the people of the castle can say their goodbyes and no one has seen Merlin, they are not even sure he went to see Arthur 

And everyone is concerned about the poor widow all dressed in black, she is sad, sure, but the tears rolling from her eyes are just for show, Arthur was barely a friend, but he was good to her

Arthur's body is being prepared for removal, overseen by his family and close friends before the public ceremony took place, and that's when it happens 

Merlin just barges in and stops everything. 

He's spent two days working in it, and he just doesn't care anymore, as long as it works

And Uther once again just watches as this skinny boy fills the room with golden light, and he can't even care to do anything because honestly he would do everything for his love if he could 

And everyone watches as the light coming from Merlin starts being absorbed by Arthur through his chest and is so beautiful to watch

Arthur starts to sit up as Merlin lowers down and they just have a moment, a small second where they are both there and Merlin just rests his head against Arthur's 

“I would do it again. I would do it as many times as needed because I love you and you are my everything”

“Merlin?”

And then the light is gone, and so is Merlin 

And Uther watched as his widowed son holds his lover's body, just like he did over twenty years ago

[someguyinc]

yknow a take on morgana pendragon's story i see often is that if merlin had told morgana about his magic in that moment where they were in his chambers alone that she wouldn't have turned to become evil,, i disagree,, i think that morgana as a character would have eventually turned to become evil and bitter even with merlin as a mentor if she'd learned his secret early in season 2.

let's not forget merlin himself is NOT the most stable of mentor options (not that gaius or kilgahrah or ANY of the druids were a great help either) but he didn't know what the fuck he was doing,, just trying his best consulting that outdated spell book and had cryptic messages from a conniving dragon who MIND YOU still wanted morgana dead and was manipulating merlin the whole time and gaius was a traitor to most magic people like,, he literally was pro-gaslight morgana

merlin also loved arthur, however you view that love (romantic, platonic, brotherly, whatever) merlin loved arthur more than he did magic. we see this multiple times with merlin choosing what kept arthur safe and happy over him doing what would be best for the old religion (fuck them too but that's another post),, major example being the episode with the disir where he straight up tells him there is no place for magic in camelot (which is crazy considering he IS magic made flesh but anyways)

morgana HATED. uther, she hated everything about him and for awhile she disgusted that hate as righteous fury, raining down terror and pain onto innocents (even other magic users) and justifying it as payback. she hated arthur as an extension of uther because that's what uther raised them both as (again another post for another time) and tried to kill him without even asking what his stance was on magic (i believe arthur would have immediately done some introspection and realized he was wrong but thats imo)

i think that eventually,, their two stances would have come to blows (merlin's love for arthur above his magic/morgana's hatred for uther above all else) and morgana would still go to immeasurable heights to murder uther once more, merlin would have stopped her (or tried) because he knew the pain it would cause arthur even if he hated uther too, and morgana would've hated merlin for getting in her way,, her anger triumphing her love for arthur (see: s1ep12: to kill the king)

i feel like often times i just see morgana painted as someone who just needed a little love and light,, when in reality she's been heavily abused and pit against arthur since she was like 10/11 (however old she came to Camelot) and is now a grown woman who is realizing she hates her abuser and everything he's done and wants to destroy him and everything he loves !!

likewise merlin was manipulated and gaslit and forced to become a compulsive liar and would've NOT !! been good for morgana and eventually everything would've gone to shit !!

they are worsties for better or much much worse

[arthurthepeoplesprincess]

Merlin fandom try not to act like the Knights of the Round Table were secretly pro-magic activists challenge (impossible). Why do you act like they weren’t grown ass men who willingly chose to work for the system oppressing magic users?

it wasn’t a secret to anybody that one of the obvious job requirements was occasionally murdering people.

But but you don’t get it! When the magic reveal happens, they’re all going to be protecting babygirl Merlin against bad alpha Arthur (as if they weren’t all following the same fucking system).

You can’t possibly believe these people actually give a fuck about magic. I’m so sorry but that’s ridiculous.

Controversial opinion, but when you think about it, Arthur was actually the least worst of them all because, unlike the rest of them, he was the only one who had no choice in doing this job. He was canonically groomed into becoming a child soldier and was brainwashed and abused directly by the fucking dictator himself. He canonically said that if he had a choice in his life, he wouldn’t be here, and if I’m not mistaken, he was the only one of them to ever question if the system was wrong. The rest of them were just going with it with no second thoughts and didn’t give a fuck at all.

A lot of people fail to remember that 1) Uther is the only family Arthur ever knew, 2) his only family also happens to be the narcissistic tyrant who we saw committing all types of atrocities, 3) he was isolated (he didn’t even have friends before Merlin arrived), and 4) he was only fed lies and half-truths his entire life.

Like, is it crazy that he was brainwashed?? No?? Why do you act like he was like that solely because he’s an annoying brat lol.

And imagine this: after all that brainwashing, where your abuser drills 'Magic is evil' in every possible way, he unfortunately gets proven right multiple times (82.05% of the times Arthur was aware of magic being used, it was used in a harmful way, based on a meta made by anarchycox, thenerdyindividual on AO3).

So, considering all the brainwashing, the abuse, and magic being used to hurt Arthur or someone he loves or the entire kingdom, he still has it in him to try and think that maybe there’s good in everyone, that maybe Uther was wrong.

Do you know how crazy that is?? I want you to stop and think: would you do that if you were in his situation? Because I’m definitely not going to, but maybe I’m just an immoral person lol.

And also, stop acting like Arthur wasn’t doing anything when he became king. He stopped the mindless murder of anyone who had magic and only punished those who used it to do harm and that was after a trial.

You might say that this is just the bare minimum, which is somewhat correct but not entirely because 1) Arthur only ruled for four years, meaning he didn’t have time, 2) there were tensions and wars started by Uther that he was trying to undo, meaning the magic situation wasn’t the only thing going on, and 3) the entire population had been brainwashed for 30 years and was terrorized by Morgana’s followers very recently. Like, sure, it’s definitely a good decision as a newly crowned king to just suddenly repeal the laws and no one would mind not Uther's followers, not the nobles, and certainly not the average citizen, right?

Also disclaimer: this is neither me hating on the knights nor saying you can’t like them, nor is it me excusing everything Arthur ever did or saying that he was 100% innocent, because he definitely wasn’t. It’s just me saying that maybe you should consider his trauma and point of view before making him into the bad villain and then believing that the knights were better people, because they definitely weren’t.

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

I hate that Merlin got no good mentor figure in the show.

Like Gaius was fine, ish, because Merlin liked him and he did very genuinely try to keep Merlin safe. But he was also traumatised as fuck and literally agreed with a genocidal maniac who decided killing everyone was better than actually grieving his dead wife.

And Kilgharrah was a spiteful basement lizard and an absolute bastard. He did nothing other than be a convenient plot device who gave Merlin more trauma than he knew what to do with.

And it wasn’t like he had many other options either, like

Alator of the Catha, dead.

Balinor, dead

Hunnith, amazing but no idea about magic.

Uther, read it in a fic one time. I’ve had trips that were less trippy.

Gaius, traumatised to the pyre and back. A few times.

So I can’t really blame him, same as Morgana he just latched onto the first person (or nightmare cave beast basement lizard in his case) who told him he wasn’t cursed or a monster.

But the show would’ve been better if he actually had someone to turn to consistently instead of an immortal who wants to die, a cryptic shut in, a druid he sees twice a year or whoever else showed up for less than 15 minutes of screen time.

[theroundbartable]

True loves kiss scenario but with a twist.

Arthur is sleeping Beauty (naturally) and Uther has declared that any princess who'll wake Arthur will be rewarded handsomly.

Merlin: I think I know how to wake him

Uther: how? Spill it boy?

Merlin: well, it IS true loves kiss... And I happen to have an inkling who might be in love with him, BUT I will only help under a few conditions.

Uther: *growling* I could just have anyone in this kingdom kiss him and figure it out like that

Merlin: yes, because that won't stirr trouble

Uther: urgh, fine. What do you want?

Merlin: I want you to accept that person as Arthur's potential partner. Regardless of station or ... Or whatever you may think is wrong with them. Don't kill them for their attempt to help.

Uther: ... What?

Merlin: And I want you to accept whoever Arthur chooses for himself after this, no matter the consequences, the law... Or Potential embarrassment to the crown. Even if he chooses against them, chooses another, it will remain his choice and his alone.

Uther: ...

Merlin: what do you say?

Uther: you could have asked for gold, land, a wife, you could have asked for knighthood and title, heck, even just your own horse... But you choose my son's happiness? Why?

Merlin: give me your word.

Uther: *stunned* ... You have my word

*Merlin kisses Arthur and Arthur wakes*

Arthur: *smiling dopely* Merlin? *Realization* MERLIN! What the -

Uther: oh

Arthur : father!!!

Merlin: I can explain

Arthur: what the ever living - father, I swear I -

Uther: I know exactly what's going on. Merlin, I understand now, I gave you my word. Good luck *leaves*

Arthur: did he just -

Merlin: i lied to you, Arthur. When I said I wanted to move on, when I broke up with you, I lied. I couldn't bear being with you, knowing it was temporary. That someone else would always have you trapped. You told me I was the love of your life, so - I helped

Arthur: huh?

Merlin: I gave you a love potion that you would only wake if your true love kisses you

Arthur: you drugged me?

Merlin: yes. To set you free

Arthur: but - you fucking DRUGGED ME!

Merlin: I bargained with Uther to accept only whoever you choose for yourself in love in exchange for waking you. I understand if you're mad at me for the drug but I feared you wouldn't love me anymore if I told you and I couldn't risk that you wouldn't wake up. I never blamed you for the rules you were stuck in but it broke my heart to see you struggle with it and I - I just wish for that choice to be yours. *Takes deep breath* you can hate me now if you wish but I don't regret what I did.

Arthur: Merlin, you - idiot! That was dangerous!

Merlin: I couldn't just stand by and mope while your dad trapped you in a marriage with someone else! You would have been miserable!

Arthur: you could have been caught! You could be DEAD for what you did! Even just for asking all that nonsense!

Merlin: Uther Pendragon always keeps his word

Arthur: gosh damn it, Merlin, you're lucky I love you