#but that's all that merlin tries to do in the later seasons

[gdn019283]

Why I believe Arthur isn’t attracted to women and my not so deep analysis over it (this is my personal opinion, and a mess, so bear with me)

Hear me out.

Not only Arthur is a very constipated man over pretty much everything, doesn’t show or openly says what he feels, especially in the first two seasons, but he doesn’t even have friends, except those that he is supposed to have because he is a regent, and later a king. His father is even worse, thought him nothing if hatred and repression, so we can say he sucks at socialisation, and I may or may not be projecting here, but I know what it feels like to be out of your bubble and enter the world feeling completely out of yourself, which is why Arthur is attached to the hip with Merlin, and is he so enamoured, attracted, shocked with him during their first encounter.

Back to my point, he is socially awkward, but I don’t believe that is the reason behind why he acts the way he acts towards every single woman character in the TV show. (his own bloody wife included)

Arthur doesn’t like women, repertory A:

First kiss with Gwen. Lovely, I always smile when I see it, but why. Like, Arthur thought he was going through with his death, just received a token of affection that no one had ever dared give to him, felt appreciated, like a beaten kid who receives his first hug, and thought: “Okay, well, might kiss her too, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?” , dipped for a peck, and FLED RIGHT AFTER. His face showed no emotion, he basically just gave a shrug when he realised he and Gwen couldn’t be together and went on with his day. And honestly, if it wasn’t for the amazing soundtrack, I would just stare at the screen with a flat face during their first kiss. You can feel the difference between this scene and the one where Lancelot saves Gwen and tells her to run, and they kiss before they part, and THERE you can feel the longing, understand why there had to be a parting kiss. Arthur almost feels relieved that Uther won’t let him stay with Gwen after he survives, but whatever.

Repertory B:

Arthur, even if enchanted, stills asks Merlin for advices on “feelings” and “girrlllss”. This doesn’t need explaining.

Repertory C:

Men can be shy, obviously, even with women, but, as I cited above, Arthur has no idea how to socialise. His friends, hell, even his relationship with Morgana, wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Merlin. So explain to me why Arthur doesn’t even look at Gwen until he has to, and goes around NOT CARING about women, unless Uther is the one throwing them at him, and then caves when a pretty man appears on the screen. I also believe this is the directors’ fault, who tried so hard to make the relationship between Gwen and Arthur real, that they just made a gay show, but Arthur, when he had more worrisome things to think about, he didn’t care about women, or girls, or courtship, in the slightest, until Elena gets in the picture and he has to think about marriage and a future with his queen, again. I firmly believe Arthur chose Gwen not because he loved her romantically, but because to him, she was the best choice amongst everyone else.

Repertory D:

The Knights of the Round Table. Arthur, a prince that throughout all three seasons has an hard time even speaking openly to Merlin without making fun of him, or to Gwen, suddenly fights his father over Lancelot (because he admired him quickly, and couldn’t understand that because of his sexuality, he felt very comfortable around a thoughtful man like him), drools over Percival the first time he meets him, probably thinking of how nice it could be to jump the giant like a tree, and has a love hate relationship with Gwaine, because Gwaine is everything Arthur envies. Free, open, and in a close relationship with Merlin, (a man) that Arthur forbids himself to have. (also, nice hair)

Repertory E:

Mithian. Arthur doesn’t spare a glance at a single woman in the show. He does it with Gwen (poorly) because he feels he needs to, and once again avoids marriage, and acts like a complete panic around Mithian in the entirety of the episode where she is introduced. He can’t take her compliment when he meets her the first time; he doesn’t realise that standing outside a woman’s chamber for that long can mean something else; he is affronted of having burped in front of her, not because he likes her and she is a woman, but because Arthur’s ego is too huge; this man has no clue over: “how to act around women”, because to him, women are people he isn’t attracted to. As simple as that. He finds Morgause irritating and not beautiful, like many others, because to him, she is just another very good warrior who has beaten his ass.

Repertory F:

Arthur doesn’t have sex with Gwen (oh, hot take). We never see them languidly stare at each other (unlike the eye fucking that happens between Merlin and Arthur. That’s not sexual tension that can be cut with a knife, it’s a wall of homosexuality where Arthur often bangs his head on) Yes, this show was very chaste, but definitely not intended for kids (see innuendos), so how could someone who should be close to Gwen, in any way possible, doesn’t recognise that his wife is bloody enchanted and she is trying to kill him? No, you don’t need to have sex with someone to understand that they want you dead and that they drastically changed their personality, but my brother in christ, this just proves me that Arthur was attracted to the idea of a peaceful kingdom, ruled together with an intelligent, fierce, and good woman by his side, rather than attracted, attracted to Gwen per se. The rest of the time he just followed Merlin around like a puppy. He married for love? I believe he married his best friend Gwen so that he didn’t have to go through the process of having kids. The heir had never been the problem. If it was for Arthur, he would have married Merlin the instant he met him in the market during the first episode.

Repertory G:

Do we see Arthur openly complimenting the women in the show? No. Also, because it’s not the point of the show. The point of the show is the homosexual relationship Arthur has with his serv—(he does it with Gwen and probably Mithian, because she is objectively beautiful, but I can’t remember other instances)

Last but not least:

Merlin.

Separately, Arthur, and here I’m adding Gwen, too, are both complex and well thought characters, lacking many things and contradicting themselves during the show, always because of how they were badly written in a lot of episodes. The Arwen scenes are lovely, but they don’t bring out anything. They don’t make you hope, giggle, despair, cry, because to me, there is nothing there to be tragic over. They just needed to fill a gap so that the people who didn’t like the idea of Merlin and Arthur together romantically would have something else to watch. Which is also the main ship of the show and it makes everything more hilarious, because they fucked it up so bad, LMAO.

The more you try not to make something gay, you just make it even gayer that what you had originally planned.

I had so many other points, but my ADHD said no. So if you want to add something else, feel free to do it!

[poppinspops]

Hey I was just wondering if you could do a descendants 4 Hades x Maleficent x reader were the reader is the kid of the big bad wolf (or the younger version of the big bad wolf) so shes a werewolf and its close the full moon and she feels psychically sick and achy and shes been unintentionally avoiding them the past few days and they get worried. If you do this thank you so much.

Werewolf season

Paring: Hades x Big bad wolf reader x Maleficent

Genre: hurt/comfort, happy ending ofc & werewolf changing described kinda like growing pains..

Warnings: Hurt/comfort, descriptions of pain, cursing, and Grammer/possible spelling errors that I'll fix later

A/N: I was watching an ever after high edit whilst writing this, so if she reminds you of a certain wolf girl.. anyways I'm so sorry this took a hot minute, schools coming up but I hope u like this still!!!

God, was it torture to be in class right now

I mean, how could you stay focused in class when the full moon was coming in two days.

You started your werewolf changing process, which was rather slow this year, taking a full week to start, and of course, the changing process was causing you to be more paranoid, mainly more paranoid of hurting others around you because some werewolfs couldn't control themselves when in their werewolf forms, you being one of the unlucky people.

An incident of this being when you fully changed and attacked a student in freshman year, almost getting yourself expelled if it wasn't for your parents arguing with merlin about how horrible and a 'punch to how werewolves are already treated as monsters' so he'd be setting back all werewolves by years back and adding that you couldn't control yourself in that state making it not your fault

And clearly, your parents won that argument as you're still attending merlin Academy.

And so here you where practically laying on your desk in this boring history class with clenched teeth, wanting nothing more than for it to end.

You forget every year how painful the changing process really was as you felt sick, not a cold sick. Your whole body felt like it was growing and stretching from under your skin, and it was.

Bouncing your leg under the table, trying to distract yourself from the pain you were in as you spaced out or tried to space out, it wasn't really working all too well.

Your eyes kept flickering towards the clock, 10 more minutes until this class ended, you rolled your eyes, they now had a weird itchy feeling so did your hands balling them up and closing your eyes waiting out the minutes till you could run to your dorm room away from the prying eyes of your classmates

Honestly, this class wasn’t all that bad. The teacher was lenient to you being as she did, she'd research on werewolves and could hold your attention for long enough.

But a certain fae, your girlfriend that you just so happened to be avoiding, was currently staring holes into your skull with a slight worried expression on her usually blank face

You had almost forgotten you shared this class together and where seatmates... well, you two didn't actually sit together, but the kid she stole the seat from was too scared to get it back, so it was her seat now.

You felt her hand on your shoulder as she stared down at you. "You've been ignoring me and hades." She said, not caring for the teachers annoyed expression. When she interrupted the teachers rant, she was more focused on her girlfriend, who had been ignoring her and their boyfriend almost all week.

She didn't understand or know why

"I dont know what you're talking about. " You mumbled out a blatant lie through your clenched teeth, eyes avoiding hers.

Maleficents eyebrows furrowed at the lie, her mouth opening to say something but was interrupted by the teacher. "maleficent, i will send you to the principles office if you interrupt me again, im teaching you can talk to your girlfriend later." Maleficent rolled her eyes at the teacher but stayed silent, returning to staring at you

The teacher looked at you, shaking her head but continued on with her boring rant about some old witch called 'glinda' and all her good deeds she'd done for some girl from a place called Kansas. Who would name their kid glinda?

The bell rung signaling classes was over everyone had stared to get up gathering up their stuff to leave but being stopped by your teacher as she spoke loudly "class i will be assigning homework for you to do tomorrow."

Your whole class could be heard groaning and complaining from down the hall as they all packed up their things to leave the classroom. She was the only teacher to assign homework when Castel coming was happening in a week

You had already been out the door the second the teacher finished, heading straight for your dorm

If you had looked back, you would have seen a confused and almost hurt look on your girlfriends face as you practically ran away from her

You'd been lucky enough to get a dorm with a girl that had a boyfriend, so that meant she was never really there, so you had the whole dorm to yourself most of the time

As you rounded the corner, you collided with someone, stumbling back as growling at the person looking up to start yelling at whoever almost made you fall only to see hades your other partner you were avoiding.

Hades looked almost caught off guard by you growling at him. He'd seen you growl at others before, but never him. But that wasn't the only reason for his concerned look

You looked bad. Your hair was messier than normal, your nails looked sharper, almost claw like, and your eyes were blown wide and seemed to have this glow to them, making the normally cocky God concerned

"Are you alright?" He asked, almost uncertain of his words as he stared at his girlfriend who was looking anywhere but at him "I'm fine, I really have to go so..!" You said almost too quickly as you ran past him and towards your dorm you could hear him call out your name but you didn't turn back

Once you got to your dorm, your roommate not being here per usual you flopped onto your bed backpack thrown somewhere across the room as you immediately curled into yourself tail wrapping itself around your front as you just wanted to stay in bed and rot.

Your body ached in places it normally wouldn't it normally shouldnt. your body was growing, changing and it hurt is bad your nails digging into your arms as you held yourself tears brimming in your eyes as you wanted someone to stop it, wanted someone to hug you close without you accidentally hurting them in the process..

As you laid there you heard a knock, not a gentle one, one that makes you jump at how hard it was but it abruptly stops another person is seemingly yelling at someone and soon comes more gentle knocking oh.. you knew both of those knocks maleficent and hades where knocking at your door.

You slowly sat up staring at the door, contemplating if you wanted to open the door knowing your partners that you've been avoiding like the plague the best you could where standing on the other side of the door waiting for you

Begrudgingly, you sit up, sitting on the edge of the bed for a minute or two and getting up your bare feet touching the cold wood floor making you wanna crawl back into bed but you couldn't, not now... sadly.

You slowly walked closer to the door as you hearing the two bicker through the door, making you sigh out loud before twisting the door handle, looking down at your hand and noticing just how long your nails are and how they look a bit dirty before looking away and pulling the door open

The twk stopped arguing when they noticed you standing there, still holding the door handle, turning towards you. maleficent was the first to speak as always

"Why are you ignoring us, and don't say you aren't because you are blatantly." She said, crossing her arms as she spoke, her voice flat like she didn't care but her slightly raised eyebrow, and the way her eye twitched told you otherwise..

hades preferred to stick to snide comments, but he still nodded at what maleficent said, furrowed eyebrows and a frown

You took a breath already regreating your choice of opening the door as now you're being greeted with the consequences of ur actions, actions being not telling your clearly worried partners about being a full werewolf not just the whole werewolf traits and such.

You looked at them a frown of your own now on your face. You stayed quiet for a bit, trying to think of what to say, but your head was empty. There wasn't anything you could say that would be a good excuse, so you kinda shrugged, standing there before you quickly tried to close the door and end this rather tense and awkward silence

But you where stopped by hades boot that was now in between the door keeping you from closing the door, before his hand pushed it back open you looked at the door than him, then maleficent before sighing as you knew they wouldn't leave you alone till they knew why you where ignoring them

"Don't just close the door. We're just worried about you, and we deserve an explanation." Hades said as he looked at you. "You've been avoiding us. Why?" He said as you stayed silent looking away as you realized you couldn't hide this anymore even if you wanted too.

It's not like it was that big if a deal it was just.. you were a bit ashamed for no apparent reason but still

You put a hand on your side that felt a bit like it was streaching, which it was, and it hurt a bit. "I just... I'm sorry, yeah, I've been purposely avoiding you guys it's just.. im a werewolf, and I didn't want you two to think differently about me, so I hide it. " You took a deep breath before speaking awkwardly laughing a bit before continuing."I know it's really not that big of a deal, but it is to me! Being a werewolf is frowned upon, and i was afraid that if you knew, then you wouldn't want to be with me anymore, I guess.."

You took a shaky breath before looking at the two who stayed silent in the doorway. They both had strange looks on their faces that made your heart twist in your chest as the longer they stayed silent, the more you were sure they didn't want to be with you anymore nkt that you'd blame them you did lie to them..

You were one of the monsters people would tell stories to their children about to scare them from going too deep into the woods

Maleficent rolled her eyes as she spoke, "That was the reason you were ignoring us?" Making your eyes snap over to her before shaking your head, yes. "I mean, yeah, it was -"

Maleficent interrupted you as she spoke as if you had said the stupidest thing ever. "Well, that was a stupid reason. We've been together for two years, and I truly couldn't care less what you are. you're our girlfriend either way, beast or not." She stated, shaking her head as hades let out a laugh, making maleficent hit him in the side with her elbow

Now, it was your turn to feel slightly stunned. You felt silly for worrying about what they'd think now that they were here. You really were worrying all for nothing, eyes stinging, and the fatigue finally hitting you

Hades rough hand came to your shoulder lightly pushing you aside so that they could come in instead of standing outside of your room

A softer hand grabbed yours, being careful of the claws that now replaced your nails, leading you over to your bed sitting on the large bed, placing your head on her lap as you almost curled up immediately in her lap, bottom lip wobbling a bit

Hades moved your legs so that they were now resting on top of his lap as the two stayed silent, just listening to your slightly incoherent mumbles, and every now and then groans of pain

Maleficent already figured out that you must be shifting still. That may be why you've been more flightly than normal and more... emotional as the tears in your eyes just from your head in her lap only proved her point

Hades drew patterns on your leg that calmed you down a bit. You'd say it was the hand motions when asked, but truly, it was just his touch

Maleficent silently and skillfully undid your cape strings that were tied securely under your chin, slipping the soft meterial off of your form tossing it onto your floor. You'd complain about that later

With the cape gone now, there could be seen two small ears and a long tail that would most likely get bigger in the next two days when you actually shifted fully.

But no comment was made about it, just a comforting silence from your partners as you drifted off, succumbing to sleep in your lovers embraces.

[sneakyboymerlin]

Can I ask for you to talk more about what you said in the tags of this post? Morgana went evil because she was classist and not because she was hurt? Can you go more into depth on that? I feel like Morgana's arc and her motivations are really hard to decipher because of the way she was written. Like one episode it seems like she just wants Uther dead, and then the next she wants Arthur dead too and she wants the crown and she's going after Emrys and that shift always confused me a little.

I always thought the interpretation that Merlin could have helped her more was valid. Like, yes I am completely in agreement that the entire point of 2x03 is that Merlin helped her when no one else would. But he also took back that help as the season went on, and betrayed her when he poisoned her. There WAS more he could have done, I think. He could have been honest about himself, but he wasn't. He could have simply told her that he suspected that maybe she was the center of the sleeping spell in the Fires of Idirsholas, but he didn't. He could have tried convincing Gauis to help her on his own, without bringing Merlin into it, but he didn't. (Even Katie McGrath said that she blamed Merlin for what became of Morgana.)

And yes, I know why these things didn't happen. Because the dragon told him not to and Gauis told him not to. But in the end these WERE Merlin's choices. And maybe if he had chosen differently, so would have Morgana.

Like, yes I agree that Morgana's choices were her own. But I don't think she made those choices in a vacuum.

As to the bit of her being classist, I think I understand what you mean? But I'm still confused because I wouldn't exactly call Morgana from season 1-2 or even season 3 a classist person. She was good back then, shared values with Arthur about what a better world would look like.

I'm just so intrigued by what you might mean, and I'm always looking for new ways to look at this story. It's lovely that after all this time there's still more to discuss.

Lot to unpack here.

For one thing, Morgana feeling hurt didn’t encourage her to kill or allow the killing of random uninvolved people, but especially the Druids + their sympathizers who were arrested in 2x03. She ignored her kin’s plight in favor of her own comfort, even though she is granted protections that those people couldn’t dream of. She’s very much a class traitor from the start, because she tends to be thinking more about how she feels than how others do. She’s more blatant in her self-loyalty later on, but it’s always been a theme with her.

As for Merlin, 2x12 was a mutual betrayal between him and Morgana. Morgana betrays him first in this episode by endorsing the fever spell that Morgause casts on Camelot. While she’s not fully informed at first, 1) Merlin has no way of knowing that (especially since she has formed similar alliances in 1x12 and 2x11), and 2) Morgana embraces Morgause’s plan after the fact (explicitly so in 3x01/2). Merlin then poisons Morgana in order to end the fever spell on Camelot, choosing the greater good over her as an individual. To clarify point 2 here, Morgana is aware long before 3x01 that Merlin poisoned her because everyone in Camelot was slowly dying, but she makes it clear that she understands this in 3x01.

I also fail to see how Merlin revealing his own magic would have changed anything. Morgana already knows that Merlin is pro-magic (also discussed in 3x01), they simply have different methods by which they aim to achieve that goal. Both are flawed, as Merlin’s relies on tyrants like Uther changing their minds, and he places blame on the oppressed group (even if he’s a part of it) for not demonstrating that magic can be good, when it doesn’t matter how well this is demonstrated, since magic is not banned for any logical reason.

Morgana’s plan is also flawed because she prioritizes herself over anyone else, meeting Uther’s tyranny with more tyranny. This is where the classism comes in. Morgana’s sense of entitlement is rooted in her status as a noblewoman. As 2x03 demonstrates, she values her own safety above the safety of her people, and when her descent is portrayed more openly, the first changes we see are in her mistreatment of Gwen, her maidservant. In 3x01/2, she also finds the townspeople to be disposable (including the Druids & sympathizers she knows live among them) and blackmails Merlin using her status as a noble. She also tries to kill Gwen because she can’t stand the thought of a “mere servant” taking the throne. She’s good to Gwen as long as Gwen functions as her underling, but as soon as Gwen is set to outrank her, everything that makes her appear distinctly better than other nobles disappears.

But ultimately, it’s Morgana’s actions that tell us this. These actions aren’t bad because she was hurt, or because she has magic. Every bad thing she does is bad because she is classist. The harm she does comes from a place of entitlement and inflated self-importance. While she may justify these actions with the hurt she’s suffered, being hurt did not make her do those things. Classism is the reason she becomes a tyrant, and it’s the reason she mistreats the “commoner” class. Again, her dismissing random civilians, especially the Druids & sympathizers, as disposable to preserve her own comfort? Comes from a place of classism. Her getting Gwen arrested on false charges and blackmailing Merlin using her power as a noble? Acts that are motivated by classism.

But back to what Merlin could or didn’t do. Morgana knew that Merlin was pro-magic, but she would never have agreed to his methods, as we see in 3x02, because she did not have faith in Uther or Arthur changing for the better (understandably so, and she’s proven correct). Whether Merlin is just pro-magic or has magic himself does not change this outcome, because it is about methods, not identity. Even when she finds out that Merlin is a sorcerer in 5x12, this does not change her mind.

And again, as far as Merlin knew in 2x12, Morgana was very much in on the plan with Morgause. He even tests this by asking Morgana why she reacted the way she did about Morgause and catches her in a lie. If he tells Morgana that he suspects her involvement, with the information he has (that she is allied with Morgause), then what? It makes no sense to bring it up. He never tells Agravaine that he suspects the man’s involvement with Morgana, either, because he doesn’t suspect that Agravaine could somehow be innocently/unwittingly doing these things. One could argue that Morgana could have confided in Merlin about her earlier interaction with Morgause (when the curse was cast) since she trusted him so much, but alas, she did not. And that’s understandable, too. Also, if you’ll recall, Merlin did try to get Gaius to help Morgana. They had a whole argument about it. Gaius concluded that gaslighting her about her powers was helping her. Merlin had to give up and go to Kilgharrah, and then when Kilgharrah wouldn’t help, either, he searched out the location of the Druids on his own and sent Morgana to their encampment. What Katie McGrath thinks about it means very little since she is just one (1) opinion against the visible canon facts. Merlin too blames himself for what Morgana became, but that doesn’t make him right.

The fact is that Morgana is her own person and her mind isn’t going to be passively changed. She’s always been fiercely independent, opinionated, and actionable. The desire to blame everyone but Morgana for her own actions also has a lot to do with her being a rich white woman. People assign a ~delicate, passive~ demeanor onto her, even when she shows her ruthlessness (whether that is simply standing up for her beliefs or torturing people). Morgana did not just get passed around and manipulated by everyone. If anything, 2x12 seeks to establish that it is Morgana herself who can make these decisions and change the future, rather than sitting around passively watching it happen. And by choosing to join with Morgause, she changes everything. The rest of the series is a chain reaction to this one crucial moment when she makes up her mind.

[closetsof-backlogged-dreams]

HI QUEEN!!!! thoughts on the vision morgause showed to arthur and her motivations/was she lying/ should Arthur have killed uther?

AHHHHHH IVE BEEN WANTED TO BE ASKED THIS AND I DIDNT EVEN KNOW IT

alright so i think the first thing that needs to be considered is what her intentions were when she showed him the vision. i think the main consensus is that she wanted Arthur to kill Uther, and while i agree, i think Morgause deserves a few more layers than that. i genuinely think Morgause wanted the truth to be known.

imo, from what we've seen, Morgause is extremely similar to Morgana. in the early seasons, Morgana is justice with kindness. Morgause is justice without. Later, we watch Morgause slowly "corrupt" Morgana and watch her lose her kindness, turning her into the heartless villain she is by season five.

i think Morgause, while not out of the deep goodness of her heart, saw the injustice, and wanted it to be corrected. this manifested mostly in the form of Uther's death, but i do believe a small part of her just wanted the truth to be known :)

whether or not she was lying is something we will never truly know, but she could have been lying about two different things, and i want to attack them separately.

i 100% believe she wasn't lying about Uther using magic for Arthur's birth. i've wondered A LOT how the fuck she knew though, because sorry, who told her?? and merlin is the show it is, so it doesn't tell you these things, but there are enough breadcrumbs left behind so that we can assume she was a pupil of Nimueh's and learned of it from her.

but whether it was actually a vision of Ygraine? i really don't know. i'm not going to lie, the first time i saw the scene, it gave me all the wrong vibes. the ghost of Ygraine is able to meet her son for >5 minutes and one of the maybe two things she says to him is about how Uther used magic to birth Arthur and it killed her?? i don't know. it's strange.

but we also have to remember that we actually don't know anything about Ygraine! honestly, the fandom and fics tend to mention her x10 more than the actual show does. Arthur hardly speaks of her, as well as Uther, and we have to remember that this is the man who essentially killed his wife and is forced to live with that every goddamn day and is 100% romanticizing the woman she was—and then all Arthur has ever heard of her is this romanticized version from his father, and this is the dead mother he's never met. he's going to do some embellishing of her own.

so, for all we know, Ygraine was a terrible person. we really don't know. so i have no conclusive answer to whether or not Morgause was lying about it being a vision, and i think the show actually intended it that way. because that doesn't actually matter. what Ygraine said—that's the truth. the cold, honest truth. whether it actually came from his mother or from a false mimicry of her doesn't actually matter.

another thing i find really interesting is that while Morgause was obviously trying to provoke Arthur with this information and was clearly manipulating him, she really didn't take any extreme steps to ensure he killed Uther. this was also her first step to bring down Uther. it's almost like she tried to find the most moral option she could that dealt the fairest form of justice, and only when it failed was she forced to resort to more gruesome, hands-on approaches.

it also really doesn't seem like she has anything against Arthur in the beginning, which is so fascinating to me, but moving on lol.

now for the BIG one:

should Arthur have killed Uther in The Sins of the Father?

god, this one is hard, because you have to consider it from all angles.

from an objective, justice-based standpoint, you could say that Morgause was absolutely in the right in all of this, and that after learning this information, it was Arthur's duty to kill his father. his father killed his own wife due to his desperation for an heir, and then spent half a lifetime destroying an entire culture and group of people in an attempt to stem his guilt.

so, yes. Arthur should have killed his father, if we're viewing this from the eyes of pure justice.

but for Arthur's own conscious? from a political standpoint? absolutely the fuck not. it would have destroyed Arthur. even when Uther died season four, he was a wreck, so imagine if it has been Arthur. dear god.

and then imagine being an average citizen of Camelot, for whom Uther was probably an alright to not great king, but no one who deserves death, and learning that your beloved Prince Arthur committed patricide and his now king? jesus. that's not how you establish good subject-monarch relations.

and if enemy kingdoms heard about it? god, all the knights must be horribly divided, because most of them swore themselves to Camelot and its royalty, but who the hell do you stand with when your two royals tried to kill each other and one of them was successful? enemy kingdoms would attack, and with their armies as divided as they'd be, who knows how that'd go.

so overall, no. i genuinely believe Arthur shouldn't have killed his father. but that doesn't mean that Uther didn't deserve death.

anyways, i think that's all! this was a lot of fun, and tysm for the ask once again <3

[shellyseashell]

2023 FIC REC LIST

I did this last year, and I thought I’d do it again. To close out 2023, here’s a list of some of my favorite fics I’ve read this year. These aren’t everything, just of course the highlights. If the author has a tumblr, I tried to tag them, but if I missed anyone let me know or feel free to tag them yourself!

WILLOW

did i dream (that we were so perfectly entwined) | General | Tanthamore | One Shot | 8.9k

Jade and Kit, from childhood through season one. Jade’s pov.

Our hardest battles are the oaths we keep by @rehizle28 | Mature | Tanthamore | 7/25 | 50.9k

Jade grows up as a Knight of Galladoorn. When Graydon and Kit are engaged, she travels to Tir Asleen as Graydon’s personal guard. Words cannot describe how much I love this. The pining and shenanigans these two get into is so so good. Kit causes problems on purpose and Jade Cannot figure out what the princess’s deal is. King Hastur is perfectly normal and has Totally Good intentions.

be my mirror (my sword and shield) by @onlyshestandsthere | Explicit | Tanthamore | 30/? | 228k

Bone Reaver Jade helps the Crone’s followers bring Kit to the Immemorial City. Quite easily one of the angstiest fics I have ever read. But for all 100k of angst there’s another 100k of fluff and that’s only vaguely an exaggeration. The magic is absolutely horrifying but it feels totally realistic to what we’ve seen in canon. Jade and Kit both need a hug.

if we’d turned a corner (if i had waited) by @sugarfey | Mature | Tanthamore | 5/? | 13.9k

Soccer au! There’s plenty of angst in this one, but it focuses on the healing. I love everything about this fic. Kit and Jade are so dumb as usual and I love the social media bits.

The Flawless Five, Vol. 1: Rise of the Five | Teen | Gen | 2/6 | 11.9k

Superhero au! It’s silly and goofy and so so much fun to read. I’m really liking the mystery so far, and I’m looking forward to how it unfolds.

Triumph of the Wyrm | Mature | Tanthamore | 3/12 | 13.8k

Series still currently in the first book. Kit successfully runs away, and every attempt to rescue Airk fails. Twenty years later, the world is under the rule of the Wyrm. Kit and Jade work in smuggling, unaware what happened to the other. Until, of course, they end up working together on a job. The world is so so horrifying but so well done. Also, Kit is allies with Sarris the Troll.

Let’s take a knife and cut the world in two by @spybrarian | Mature | Tanthamore | One Shot | 7.9k

Exorcist Jade and possessed Kit! Very angsty. The worldbuilding is very very well done and so so horrifying.

these walls come tumbling down by @onlyshestandsthere | Teen | Tanthamore | 4/? | 28.8k

Vet Jade and Perfectly Normal Human Kit. After Jade hits Kit (as a cat) with her car, she takes it upon herself to take care of her. Told in two timelines, one in Kit’s pov before the accident, and one in Jade’s pov after. I have laughed so much reading this I absolutely adore it.

One Night in October | Teen | Tanthamore | 9/9 | 29.k

Slasher fic! Angsty, mysterious, but it has a bittersweet ending.

Sink or Swim | Mature | Tanthamore | 7/7 | 16k

Lifeguard Jade and disaster Kit. Seriously she is so, so dumb and it is so, so funny.

LEGENDBORN

Rescue | General | Gen | 1/1 | 4k

Valec’s point of view of Chapter 42. I love Valec okay.

A Place at the Table | General | Gen | 1/1 | 7k

Legendborn/Merlin cross over. Basically, Arthur is a lot better than in canon and it’s so nice to read after Bloodmarked.

Beach Day Memory Walk by @justbrainrot | Mature | OT3 | 1/1 | 3.5k

Bree takes Sel and Nick on a memory walk during Sel’s birthday. Super cute and fun.

Mother, Merlin | Mature | Gen | 4/? | 13k

Natasia healing Sel after the events of Bloodmarked. Very very angsty, but also very very good. I love how Natasia is written.

Dancing in the moonlight by @nightworldlove | Teen | Willark | One Shot | 3k

William and Lark dance. Uh. In the moonlight. Very cute one shot.

Sometimes Hunting and Running Blur Together… by @ficnoire2 | Explicit | Other | 4/? | 11.9k

Valec backstory and I absolutely adore it

DESCENDANTS

Yeah I’m pretty sure we’ve all probably read most of these but nevertheless

Blessed Art Thou Among Women | Mature | Gen | One Shot | 1.3k

Claudine and the Catholic virtues

Descendants: A Different Tale by @kanzakurawrites | Teen | Gen | 9/? | 17.9k

I think this altered my brain chemistry tbh Mal deserves the best parents

Dark Fire by @dragoneyes618

Yeah just go read these if you like Claudine

Obligatory @isleofdarkness shoutout I am quite literally obsessed with this au

Let Dead Men Lie by @dragoneyes618 | General | One Shot | 2.6k

Everyone takes the blame for killing Frollo. Ben is struggling.

Death threats on Dead Beauty by @panthera-tigris-venenata | Mature | Gen | 2/3 | 2.7k

Listen I think Harry should be this feral all the time

the devil had done for the rest | Teen | Gen | One Shot | 2.5k

Harriet! Harry! Yeah that’s all.

Cursed || Harriet Hook | Teen | One Shot | 10.7k

Any Harriet content makes me insane and this is no different. Harriet backstory.

THE MECHANISMS

love in his own eyes by @nonbinarylowkey | General | Gen & Multi | One Shot | 5k

Arthur’s first night as a father

(im)mortality by @nonbinarylowkey | Teen | Multi | One Shot | 7.7k

Arthur handles Mordred’s “death” in a perfectly normal way. Sometimes I think about this fic and take physic damage.

From The Wastes His Child Came (Bringing Revelations Of All Things) | Teen | Other | 3/3 | 7k

Arthur forgets trans people exist and finds Mordred. I’ve reread this so many times I adore it.

la soleil passe son bras par la fenêtre by @ladydragonkiller | General | Gen | One Shot | 6.4k

Brian falls from the gallows and stops the Battle of Camlann, as he should

Inverse Suspension | General | Gen & Multi | One Shot | 3.4k

Mordred frees Brian, and everything turns out okay

no path past kindred’s stain | Teen | Multi | 3/3 | 9.8k

Pendragon backstories my beloved <3

[bisclavret]

hello I'm thinking about that gifset you did. yaoi cocaine. whatever it was. with gwaine and merlin having figured each other out. and gwaine looking betrayed while merlin looks elated is SO IMPORTANT TO ME YOU DON'T EVEN GET IT.

GWAINE USES HAVING MERLIN FIGURED OUT TO BRING HIM JOY. MERLIN USES HAVING GWAINE FIGURED OUT TO HURT HIM.

fuckkkk it just. you can sort of see it with how they distance themselves too and what their relationship looks like in s4 & 5. ESPECIALLY 5 bc at the end of the season merlin uses his knowledge of gwaine (that gwaine cares about him and would risk his life for him without hesitation) to hurt him (not being honest with him about his magic or allowing him to help get it back) LIKE OH MY GOD. THEY HAVE EACH OTHER FIGURED OUT. MERLIN KNOWS IT'LL HURT GWAINE IF HE DOESN'T TELL HIM THINGS BUT HE ALSO KNOWS GWAINE WILL DO ANYTHING FOR HIM AND I JUST. AUGH. I THINK THAT SHOULD BE EXPLORED MORE BC LATER SEASONS MERWAINE TOXIC YAOI IS EVERYTHING TO ME

oh im so glad you picked up on that too! theyre literally ideological foils to each other in that episode: even as they bond over some shared values and trauma (and attraction), the key conflict between them is that gwaine's life experiences have made him a staunch anti-royalist while merlin is prophecy-pilled into believing he lucked out with "the good ones". from the moment merlin learns gwaine's dad was a knight he relentlessly uses this fact to convert gwaine back to catholicism nobility so he can stick around as a knight of camelot, which merlin rationalizes as a kindness because gwaine seems lonely and leads a dangerous life.

but the way gwaine reacts to merlin's attempts at persuasion is conflicted and suspicious because "what's this guy's agenda?" and i don't think that ever fully lets up. even as gwaine concedes that arthur is one of "the good ones" i do believe it's just for merlin's sake because there are no "good ones" in a class war lol he sees how rooted merlin is in his beliefs (not to mention the repressed sexuality) and wants to reassure him that even though he's in no rush to join him, he's not judging him either. and merlin is relieved and happy with this outcome because gwaine kindly didn't call him out on the homosexuality and he stopped trying to threaten his beliefs. that whole episode is the equivalent of being a leftist on a dating app in 2022 wondering how low you'd stoop for a cute british twink that's unironically mourning queen elizabeth. but i digress.

merwaine is toxic yaoi to ME because not only does it start with them butting heads ideologically, merlin's ideology WINS and gwaine abandons everything he stood for to become a knight in the hopes of finding love and community. and then of course by the time s4 and s5 roll in there is so much grief and shame and fanaticism in merlin that he refuses to indulge, refuses to go off-script and allow gwaine to be anything except a tool and a weapon. which is obviously not the vibe gwaine was getting off of merlin in s3, but by his last episode he's surrendered himself to the reality that that's all merlin allows himself to want from him to the point where after merlin rejects him one last time he literally gives him his sword and lets him walk away. grim!

then again, they're both complicit in making each other feel worse! gwaine sounds like he already has some mistrust of magic when we first meet him, and by s5 he's parroting camelot-isms about magic, "you are a sorcerer and a heretic", and killing sorcerers who did nothing. and then merlin quietly marks their grave and keeps repeating to himself that "it'll get better one day" while refusing to listen to anyone who has any criticism whatsoever.

and to circle back to the point of "they figured each other out": THAT'S WHY IT'S SO POTENT. TO ME. merlin knows that gwaine loves him best of all but whenever gwaine tries to act on his love merlin recoils because of catholic fanaticism he's convinced everyone he shares his secrets with will die. the repression is off the charts. and gwaine resents repression but he's forced to abide by it because he's disarmed by merlin's apparent selflessness and bravery (and the fact that merlin gets to live a life of adventure and self righteous fighting while not actually being a noble - that's literally gwaine's dream!) but i simply cannot look at gwaine in honestly ANY of the seasons he's in and go "oh he doesn't mind :) he just wants to be involved!" the man practically died of a broken heart. merlin broke his heart. and gwaine let him, he was also an active participant! i like to overanalyze eoin's acting decisions and try and pinpoint moments where he bites his tongue lest he says something that goes against merlin's (and the show's) ideology that will cost him his place. which is not unlike hiding a secret identity if you think about it

[elegantjellyfishwerewolf]

Why I don't like "Wizards"

In general, I think that the "Stories of Arcadia" began to slide after the release of "Three from Heaven", but more on that later. In this post there will be many comparisons of "Wizards" with "Trollhunters" due to the fact that they are a direct continuation.

1. The first thing I didn't like was that the narration was too fast, and if this is still acceptable in the first series, then in the rest such narration begins to annoy, because it does not allow you to delve into the story and concentrate on at least one action.

For example, already in the second series, a lot of things happen: the arrival at Arthur's castle, the interaction of Claire and Morgana, the acquaintance of Jim and Deya, Steve becomes a knight, the trolls escape from Camelot. Of course, there are episodes in which the narrative goes normally, for example, in 4 episod, but basically the story does not have the ability to concentrate on one moment and continues to throw out new information to us.

2.The second problem, for me personally, is the characters. 1. I really didn't like that Steve's intelligence was cut so much, he wasn't a very smart character before either, but he could still come up with interesting ideas to solve problems (for example, when in the second season he guessed to use umbrellas to help trolls), but then they made a complete jerk out of him who, throughout the entire viewing, only irritates with his tantrums. If you remove him from the series, literally nothing will change, because his "knight's arch" didn't really lead to anything. After the battle of Kilahed Bridge, he says he will continue Lancelot's cause and bring back the Knights of the Round Table, but in the end he did nothing of it. 2. Another character who, in my opinion, has become worse in "Wizards" is Claire. I'm the only one who thinks that in the two weeks she spent in Camelot, she became too good at using shadow magic, considering that she studied with Douxie, who himself said he didn't understand anything about shadow magic. And even after becoming such a professional magician, for some reason she still can't guess to open a portal under Jim and only then, after escaping from the fortress of the Secret Order, try to bring him to his senses, BUT NO! Instead, she tries to convince Jim to enter the portal himself, and when she tries to open the portal under him, Morgana has already arrived by then, and she has to retreat. 3.The third character is Douxie. I immediately say that I do not hate him, the only thing that confuses me is his age. He is 900 years old, just think about this figure! And with all this, he behaves like a teenager who is 18-19 years old. The authors are trying to show us that he has changed since the events in Camelot by showing his younger version, but these changes can happen in a maximum of 2 or 5 years, BUT NOT IN 900 YEARS!!!! While watching it, the thought did not leave me that it was a 900-year-old man who, for some reason, continues to behave like a teenager.

4.Morgana. After The Wizards, I hated her. The authors tried to make her an ambiguous character, but in the end they created a bunch of plot holes. In Wizards, she says she wants to help all magical creatures, but in Troll Hunters, when Angor asked her for help, she tricked him into serving her and killing Merlin's champions. She also stole troll children and used creepy experiments to turn them into changelings (also against their will). Yes, even in the series itself, she contradicts herself when she gives Gunmar a sword that can control the mind. 5. The secret Order. I have no doubt that the authors came up with these characters only when they were writing the script for "Wizards", and that they did not exist initially. Because after the battle on the Kilahed Bridge, they say they will now try to change the world. AND THEY DECIDED TO DO IT ONLY AFTER 900 YEARS!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!! You say that they have been recovering all this time, but I will say that only Belrog needed to be restored, and the rest of the Order members could try to carry out their plan to steal the seals alone. AND WHERE WERE THEY WHEN GUNMAR AND MORGANA ARRANGED ETERNAL NIGHT?!!?! I very much doubt that magicians of their level would not have felt such a strong release of magical energy.

3.Plot holes. There are too many of them! Literally in every episode I noticed one or another plot hole. Of those that were very noticeable: 1. Deya could not be the first hunter because Kanjigar said that troll hunters tried to kill Gunmar many times, but never won. 2. Morgana couldn't create a changeling in a couple of days, which also grew so fast. 3. When the moment came to conclude a deal between Angor and Morgana. 4. Creeper's poison created the Order of Janus, changelings could not create an order in a couple of days, and Morgana could not create such a number of changelings. 5.In the third season of trollhunters there was shown the battle of Merlin and Morgana and it had happened not only in another place but also there was no Douxie on the scene. 6. Blinky said that the confrontation between Merlin and Morgana lasted for centuries, as a result, it happened within a couple of days.

There were also many minor inconsistencies in the plot: 1. The battle on the Kilahed Bridge was different from the one we were shown in the third season of "Troll Hunters".

2. The design of the Deya is different from the statue in the forge of heroes.

3. WHY THE HELL CAN MORGANA OPEN PORTALS WITHOUT A STAFF?! Then why didn't she just create a portal in the finale of the third season and fly out of it? 4. The process of creating the amulet is different from what we were shown in the third season.

5. Where did Belrog get the staff of shadow if it was destroyed in the finale of the third season? AND WHERE DID THIS STAFF GO AFTER THE EIGHTH EPISODE?!! 6. The hand that is used to create the amulet is also different from the one that was shown to us in "Troll Hunters".

7. During Morgana's incarceration, she was wearing a helmet and a raincoat. 8.Wendel's appearance is also different from the one that was shown to us in "Troll Hunters".

(This is probably going to sound like a quibble, but why didn't Jim react to Draal in any way?)

And this is the main reasons why I can't perceive wizards as a direct continuation of the trollhunters series.

4.Of course, there were moments in this show that I liked, for example, the acquaintance of Blinky and Aarrg, the storyline of Merlin and Douxie, but, alas, the cons in this show outweighed the pros for me.

[leupagus]

Three-Legged Puppy Fics

List five of your least-popular fics, as well as when/why you wrote them.

Home to the Weary: Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, 2010.

I wrote this at the request of a friend who wanted, I think, something Gwen-centric. Because I was not a fan of the show I decided to focus on an AU in which Gwen backflipped out of that whole situation and founded her own sort of kingdom, only meeting the terrible trio years later. It was really fun and was the first time I'd ever tried writing a fic that hinted at a larger world going on around the characters, if that makes sense. This one's a little pretentious but you can definitely see my "style" as it were.

Treads on the Ground: Babylon (not the sci-fi show, the short-lived british cop show), Liz Garvey/Finn Kirkwood, 2022.

This was written during my Bertie Carvel phase where I'd watched "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" and was desperate for something, anything, that didn't have him wearing terrible prosthetics or playing a psycho. He still sort of plays a psycho in this show, but he looks super hot and angry all the time which is really all I needed. (Also bonus hilarity: Liz's boyfriend in this show is played by none other than James Lance, playing "louche asshole" to the absolute hilt.) Anyway I wrote this because I really wanted a fake dating AU for these two AND a "Finn is secretly in line to the throne" fic and this was the perfect way to combine these two. I'm still legitimately really proud of thsi fic.

The Bright Relief: 1776 musical, John Adams & Thomas Jefferson (and a little bit of / in there, if I'm honest), 2010.

I wrote this because my friends waldorph and screamlet and I were having the Summer of 1776 Feelings and we all wrote various (wonderful) crimes and misdemeanors in that fandom, mostly revolving all the ways in people who love John Adams make fun of him. That was a truly terrible summer but made a whole lot better by those two, and by William Daniels being the most John Adams to ever John Adams. (I actually rewatched the miniseries a few months ago and Paul Giamatti does a great job but that thing is SO DREARY. Although I will say Stephen Dillane first caught my eye in the role of TJeff, aka once again playing a guy who's down real bad for someone smarter than him (in this case both Abigail AND John). The scene where he first meets Abigail is just nonstop flirting, with John making faces in the background. It's great.)

Happy Tails To You (Until We Meet Again): SGA, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, 2009.

Oh lordy — probably the worst fic I've ever written, but I can't quite bring myself to delete it. I've been on the periphery of fandom for most of my adult life (what up X-Files yahoo groups and Prodigy Star Trek RP rooms), but SGA was what made me start thinking of writing fic after a long period of only reading it. (Yes, there is college-era gus fic out there. No, I'm not posting it on AO3.) I never quite got a handle on Sheppard or McKay but I did enjoy writing this and the other SGA fic I wrote, but yeah this deserves its obscurity.

Honey Now I'm Not One To Complain: Dalgliesh, Adam Dalgliesh/Kate Miskin, 2022.

Another one of my "Bertie Carvel is extremely attractive when he's sad and/or a cop" flash-fandoms, although I wrote a pretty good primer on the first season that I think gives a good case for the show as a whole. I wanted to write that largely because the show is so resolutely grim and I prefer stories that are... not grim, so I gave myself the challenge of putting these guys into one of the classic tropes. I did toy with the fake dating/marriage trope but honestly I think this was funnier, and I would always rather commit to the bit.

Tagging uhhh let's see, @laiqualaurelote, @themardia, @sadcypress, @auntieclimactic, and @eyebrowofdoom, if they (or anyone else) wants to do this.

[ghostofafruit]

So i'm working on a lot of fics at the moment, the oneshots will continue as I always have with loose hope that i'll finish them before I lose interest in them but I have several multi chapter/longform fics I wish to work on. There is a poll at the bottom of this post and I just want to get a guide idea for what people would want first, below are the four longer fics I'm trying to finish and get out and a little description about them.

Martha/Rose Season 3 onwards rewrite - A Martha/Rose multichapter rewrite of season 3 featuring less leading on of Martha, a role swap between Rose and the Doctor, and an actual relationship. Would probably contain immortal/bad wolf Rose.

Rose and Ten in the MCU - A doctorrose long oneshot (It was meant to be maybe 5k and I haven't even gotten to my main points for writing it yet and it's over double that). They've crashed into the MCU and they can't get the Tardis to start back up again, she won't even do a short jump within the universe, so they're stuck on Earth and have to settle down. Rose becomes an English teacher at Peter's school. Later into the year there's a fieldtrip to stark industries, and the Doctor and Rose get the help of Peter and Tony to get back home. (I actually have a sequel planned too, a human nature/family of blood rewrite where the Doctor crashes them into that universe to hide out)

Married Life - a season 2 onwards multichapter rewrite starting at the werewolf episode going forward Each chapter alternates between an episode rewrite and an original, hopefully more relaxed, adventure.

It's not really a secret - originally intended as a multichapter Merlin fic, inspired by a prompt from @onceandfuturelesbian in which Uther finds out about Merlin's magic and tries to kill him for it. The first chapter came out over a year ago and I've been really struggling with it. Now it is intended to be finished as a longer oneshot with Merthur happening around halfway through.

Rose Tyler's guide to becoming a superhero - Immortal Rose Tyler is trying to get back to her birth universe after her family are all gone (she's in her 300s she wanted to hang around and explore that universe) but her one attempt on the canon lands her not in her original universe but one full of heros and villains. Her brother Tony had liked comics, though she never had, and through him and her hazy memory of his rambles about his comics, she has a pretty rough idea of what's going on. She starts out as a teacher, but one of her students is Peter Parker and that name rings a bell from Tony's ramblings. It takes a little while, but she realises he's Spider-Man and sets on to help him however she can. Good thing Bad Wolf left behind a couple things more than just immortality.

[gdn019283]

“The Death Song of Uther Pendragon,” 05x03, has to be one of my favourite Merlin episodes (it opens the gate to so many theories)

I rewatched it today, and a lot of things and questions came to my mind:

1) What would have happened if Arthur had summoned Ygraine, instead of Uther?

Following the rules, Arthur should have been able to summon every spirit he wanted. If Ygraine had been able to respond to Arthur, I believe things would have been very different. She would have been proud of Arthur, who would have changed things for the better, and therefore the plot line of the entire show. Ygraine has only ever been the one to make Arthur see what was right in front of him, even more than Merlin, like when Arthur had tried to kill Uther in the second season, and accused him of his hypocrisy, once he knew of how his mother had died, and since the second person Arthur trusted the most, Merlin, told him that what Morgause had shown him was a lie, Arthur believed him, reinforcing the idea that Uther was a good man.

2) If it would have been possible to summon anyone, then why did Arthur choose Uther, of all people?

Even if the answer seems obvious, I don’t think it actually is. Arthur had always known one person that was meant to be family and who technically didn’t betray him. He still felt guilty for choosing magic to save Uther, and it was actually what brought his father away from him, the only parental and father figure (as horrible as he was) who Arthur had ever had. His choice was also influenced by the date, since it was the day after the celebration of his coronation, and the same day Uther died. The moment Arthur meets Uther in the Spirit World, he tells him, even as he fights with him, that he has so much more to say to him. I think Arthur wanted nothing more than validation, something he had never had, and hoped he could find in the same man who had told him, seconds before he died, while being held in his son’s arms, that he knew Arthur would make him proud. The last moment Arthur had with Uther was the only one in his entire life where Uther had actually rewarded him and his duty with kindness and sincerity. Which means, at least in my opinion, that Arthur had hoped that that was the man he was about to meet in the Spirit World. That rare man who had sacrificed himself to save his only son and who had called him Arthie and to whom he had said he was proud of. But it wasn’t that man, and Arthur left the Spirit World feeling disappointed.

3) But what if it wasn’t possible to actually summon Ygraine, or certain, specific people?

When they go back to Camelot, Arthur and Merlin ask Gaius about the Horn of Cathbhadh and they found out that summoning spirits has always been a ceremony, a tradition, even one that Gaius had multiple times attended, held by High Priestesses, meaning that many different people could have been able to participate, which explains while even a commoner or someone without magic or practice could use the Horn, like Arthur did. Later on, after Arthur meets Uther and Merlin confesses what they had gone to do to Gaius, telling him of his fear that Uther may have left the Spirit World, Gaius tells Merlin that those same High Priestesses trained for years before using the Horn, which makes me believe there were so many rules to follow and accept, which brings us to the question. What if one of these rules was to know in your heart who you’d believe had passed away and went into another realm, and who got stuck into the Spirit World?

4) Therefore, what if the Spirit World is actually a place where spirits, who have either undone/unfinished things in life, or are bitter, cruel, and with many grudges and anger inside, or had died in an unjust manner, get stuck there forever?

We have no explanation of it or of how it works, and no one else tried to blow the Horn, but that would explain why Arthur didn’t think of his mother first, Ygraine, instead of Uther. He thought it more simple and less dangerous, since he had no knowledge of magic and didn’t want to ask anyone, not even Gaius, about it (not knowing Merlin had magic, and still, even he had no knowledge of these practices) to summon someone, who deep inside his heart, he knew was still stuck, somehow, in the between of the Worlds, of the Dead and of the Living. This means that Arthur somehow knew that Uther had something he thought was unfinished, or even going more far, we might think Arthur sort of hoped it, and not only to see Uther again because he was his father, but to be right about his character and himself, as a sort of bitter sweet victory, as if Arthur wanted to say to Uther: “If you’re still here, if I’m able to see you, talk to you, you might have done something terribly wrong, which makes me right, because you have never actually been a good and just man, like you painted yourself to be.” It opens a great theory about where Arthur actually went to after his death, since he was burned and mourned by Merlin and sent into the Lake of Avalon.

Another thing I believe further proves my theory, is that all the people in the show that we see dying, are buried in a boat and burned in a lake. Now, I have no idea if it would have been unusual or even disrespectful to burn Uther and send him on a lake, but even Elyan, and Lancelot, two honourable knights with high status, who before were simple commoners, were burned and sent on a boat in the lake when they died.

All, except Uther.

I want to believe that it was a sign to show Uther the disrespect he deserved.

Others may think that it’s the opposite, that Uther was the king and had to be held on an higher position, and therefore buried in the same castle he had conquered, but it wouldn’t make sense, since Merlin buried and said goodbye to Arthur in the same way as the others.

It makes me think that all who had died in the show are free of the Spirit World, unlike Uther.

It also opens so much theory about where did Morgana, or Mordred go.

6) Did people’s beliefs matter?

If the majority of people had supported Morgana and Mordred in their conquest to kill King Arthur, maybe their support would have been enough to make Morgana and Mordred free, to be free in the after life. We also have to remember Mordred was buried, much like Balinor, under rocks, because it was illegal to do otherwise for sorcerers, to be buried in another way.

7) All these people, buried in another way, in an unjust way, like for sorceres, who didn’t even get a burial, but were killed unjustly, where did they go?

I like to imagine they are stuck in the Spirit World too, and take revenge on Uther in any way the can, knowing none of them will ever die again. Uther’s punishment is to live in an endless loop of what he had put magical beings, humans and non, under, while he, a tyrant, reigned.

5) If this is the case, this must mean, in order for the summoning and the ceremony to work in the Living World, there had to be rules in the Spirit World. Did Uther know these rules?

As soon as Arthur entered the Spirit World, taking in consideration the theory that is just a layer of another world, slightly pulled away from the Living one, where some can see the progress of humanity but not so clearly, as if looking through a damp glass, Uther was able to not only spit everything he hated about his son to him, but he also warned Arthur that he had seen the kingdom he had built and that he disagreed on, which is another proof to my theory that those who are like Uther, or simply left to death in an unfair way, without an inch of respect, are somewhat stuck in the Spirit World and damned to see what happens outside of it, but without the ability to stop or intervene in anything they witness (it would explain why Uther hadn’t discovered Merlin’s magic before, since his goal has always been the one to watch Arthur and how the kingdom progressed, in order to protect his legacy, as he puts it in the episode). Not only Uther told Arthur he had watched him, but he warned him that he had to go, otherwise he would have been stuck into the Spirit World forever. This means that Uther knew that there were bounds and rules and that summoning someone with the Horn of Cathbhadh could be dangerous, if a person didn’t know the exact rules.

8) Has Uther seen someone else being summoned?

In this episode, Gaius says the Horn has been saved before the Purge and never been used since. But someone else could have used it, even a simple person, who longed to see their dead lover and blew the Horn. Because of the Purge, many traditions had been forgotten and the use of the Horn could have been forgotten too, used only by simple people who found it or hid it, and who didn’t know what they were doing, but later found out about what it could do, once one of them, out of curiosity, blew it, and summoned a spirit. If the High priestess were people who were born as magic did, and had held these traditions for centuries, it would also explain why ghosts existed. Many people had been left out wandering without a chance to go back into their Spirit World. Uther may have seen, in a world where he wandered endlessly too, someone else being summoned before him, or met someone else who knew all of these things before him.

Which only means one thing:

The last thing Uther Pendragon did before Arthur would disappear from the Spirit World, was to manipulate him until the last moment, and hurt him in doing so:

With the knowledge Uther had, he may have understood that the person who summoned a spirit could have freed it by looking back at it. Uther was a tyrant, a bitter and cruel and murderous man, who without doubts, tried to kill Arthur in the same episode, in the name of his legacy and of “his” kingdom. Uther cared more about something that he couldn’t even rule anymore than his own and only son, manipulating Arthur to no end, so that he would do what Uther wanted him to. His last words to Arthur, that irremediably made the latter turn around, were: “I will always love you, Arthur.” It sounds as if Uther grasped at the little thing he had, knowing that those words would have made Arthur turn. Uther wanted to get out of there, and did not mean a single word he said to Arthur. To Uther, in that precise moment, Arthur was a mean to escape.

9) But what if the Spirits had some saying in being summoned, and refused to appear?

Arthur simply sounded the Horn and Uther appeared, which opens the door to so many possibilities. Uther had agreed to meeting him, but some other Spirit could have also refused to meet the people who had summoned it, and the Horn basically wouldn’t have worked.

10) What if the spirits simply got more bitter with ages of being stuck into the Spirit World and without nothing to do then relive their deaths, or past mistakes, and getting tired of it?

The spirits got stuck in their world for centuries and forgot why they were there or what they did, while they had lived, and just got so much anger inside themselves, they didn’t know anything else except that feeling, like those who believe the theory that every ghost is bad, and does bad things, because it wants to protect their surroundings, or does it because it doesn’t know anything else. Uther may have being fuled with even more hatred than ever and his true feelings actually came out once he got out of the Spirit World, showing himself to Arthur for who he truly was (Uther has always showed Arthur his tyrant personality, but it feels as if we had been the only ones to see it, until Arthur finally did too)

What if Merlin, at the end of the episode, smuggled the Horn into his satchel, promising Arthur he would have put it into a safe space, and went to the Stones of Nemethon instead.

Suspicious, Arthur followed him, and frightened of another Spirit wandering into the Living World again, he jumped into the light with Merlin, who had summoned Balinor,

and Arthur watched everything unfold.

And Merlin, after 1500 years of waiting, found the Horn again, under rubble and rubble of the Camelot castle, as he had desperately searched for it, and decided, in the last attempt to meet Arthur again, to blow the Horn.

But as Merlin had suspected, the Horn didn’t work, and no one, not even a light, appeared in his way. Merlin blamed it on so many factors, on the fact that Arthur had been dead for too long, or because he was in Avalon, and with an heavy heart, and a weary sigh, Merlin turned around and walked away from the dried up Lake.

But the sound of the Horn had been loud enough to disturb the Once and Future King.

And Arthur woke up from his old sleep.

[corneliaavenue-ao3]

time can't stop me quite like you did (A Graveyard fic)

Graveyard fics are fics that I started and will never return to. Some are vague outlines, some are 4 sentences, some are 40 pages. But if they haunt me, I want them to haunt you too.

OH BOY! Here is the 40 page fic lol.

It is the first fanfiction I ever started to write, and boy does it show. I do not have the time, skill, or energy to go back and make this fic good. But it will always have a special place in my heart for what it could have been.

Anywho.

Harry and Ginny get stuck in a time loop during the start of OOTP, stuck at Grimauld Place. They start to actually form a friendship during this time because they are the only two reliving the same day over and over again at Grimmauld. I wanted it set here because it gave Harry the opportunity to have more time with Sirius. It allowed Harry to get to know Ginny earlier. It allowed shenanagans and it allowed angst with no reprocussions because they got to relive the same day over if they fucked up.

Fun fact! It was also based on a Bellarke fanfiction, Meet Me in the Morning! It is just a time loop fic for Bellamy and Clarke for the first season of The 100, but it is what inspired me to write this.

Below the cut are some of my favorite scenes I wrote and an outline for where the fic was going! (Beware it is quite long!)

Chapter 1.

Opened with Weasleys et al. having to clean a room, and Ginny is having major deja vu because they did this yesterday?

Ginny lurched forward to snap the lid of the music box close. “Okay”, Ginny said, turning to everyone in the room, “Am I insane or did we do this yesterday?”

“You’re insane,” chorused the twins from the back corner of the room. 

“No, we definitely did this yesterday,” Harry chimed in. 

“Okay, you’re both insane,” replied Ron. 

“No, yesterday you idiots opened this same box and Crookshanks ate the doxy eggs in the corner.” Ginny pointed at her brother, “And Fred, you definitely took doxy eggs yesterday. I distinctly remember,” Ginny panicked to a room of blank stares. Only Harry seemed to not be looking at her like she had two heads. 

“I think the house is getting to you, Gin,” George said.

“No, I am with Ginny on this one. In the wardrobe Ron and Hermione were cleaning, Sirius’s Grandpa has an Order of Merlin for ‘Services to the Ministry.’ Ron tried on the medal and wore it for the next hour after we found it,” Harry pointed out.

George walked over to the wardrobe and dug around the opened drawer, pulling out an emerald green handkerchief that had dark spots splattered on it which could be blood, picking something small up and not so discreetly tucking it into his pocket, before proudly brandishing a gold medal with a big M on the front. 

“Merlin, it’s Merlin!” George exclaimed.

“You’re going to do all of my Divination homework for me this year, mate,” Ron said, reaching for the medal in George’s hands. “Look at me,” Ron said, placing the medal over his head, and puffing out his chest to brandish the medal, “Order of Merlin, First Class award winner.”

Fred snatched the medal off of Ron. “I don’t think they hand out Order of Merlin’s for being the biggest git, Ronnikins.”

“If I ever win an Order of Merlin, it will be because I put up with you,” Ron said, snatching the medal back. 

“Okay, but how did you know that Harry?” Hermione asked.

“I told you, we did this yesterday!” Harry exclaimed.

“No, Harry, we did not,” Hermione retorted.

“Okay we didn’t,” Ginny said, pointing at the group, “But Harry and I did.” 

It is important to note that Slytherin's Locket is in all the stuff that they are cleaning (that is an important tool that will become important later!)

They try talking with the adults and they can't come up with a solution. They think that Voldemort may have done something to Harry in the graveyard or someone at the ministry did something to Harry during his hearing and Ginny gets mad at all them for forgetting her. Harry and Ginny relive the next few days in frustration.

our next scene takes place on top of the roof of Grimmauld Place

“Well, I had the stupid thought that maybe if we both stayed up all night, the clock couldn’t reset. And I thought, why not at least start our night out here. We can go back inside later if you get too cold, Mr. I’m-too-good-for-a-jumper, but for now, being under the stars is nice. We don’t get out much anymore,” Ginny rambled.

“It’s not stupid.” Harry reassured her.

Ignoring the swoop in her stomach again, Ginny layed down on the blanket and stared up at the stars. She had always found the night sky fascinating. When she would sneak out at night to steal one of her older brother’s brooms for a night fly, she would always end the night staring up at the dark sky above her. Coming up on the roof at night made her feel slightly more at home, even if the sky does not get as dark nor the stars as bright as they did at the Burrow. 

“Why do you think it was us?” Ginny softly asked. “Why us and not you and Ron, or the twins? Or not even all of us?”

Harry joined Ginny laying down on the blanket, his arm slightly pressing against hers. Neither one moved. Ginny regretted throwing on the jumper so that her skin could actually touch Harry’s. Still, she could feel the heat radiating off of his arm that made her entire body flush with warmth.

“I don’t know,” replied Harry, turning his head to face Ginny. “I keep thinking back to the first day, maybe there was something we did just the two of us that caused this, but I keep drawing a blank. We were all in the drawing room cleaning, we all ate the same food all day. Ron and I played chess that night and you and Hermione watched, but why wouldn’t Ron and Hermione also be experiencing this if that was the cause. I just don’t know.”

“No one seems to know,” Ginny said in response, thinking back over the last several days when the adults tried to help, but no solution was given. 

Ginny looked down at Harry’s wristwatch. Five minutes until midnight. Making it past midnight is their first big obstacle, if they could make it to the 15th, then maybe they can break free from time’s grasp on them. 

“I’m sorry if I somehow caused this,” Harry whispered.

Ginny sat straight up and turned to Harry. “Let’s get one thing clear, you are not apologizing for something that is not your fault. Especially when so much of what is going on is unknown. You got that, Harry Potter?”

“Gin,” Harry said sitting up, “Let’s be realistic, when I am around, things have a tendency to go to shit. People get hurt because of me.”

Ginny understood immediately. Cedric.

Ginny placed her hand over Harry’s, “You were not the reason Cedric is dead, Harry. You didn’t kill him.”

“But if I didn’t tell him to grab the stupid cup with me, he would still be alive.”

“And if I didn’t write in that damn diary, I would not have been the reason so many people were petrified two years ago. I could have directly killed every single one of them, they were all just lucky. Harry, I understand the guilt you are carrying right now, but I also know that it was not our fault those things happened. It is Tom’s fault.”

Harry studied Ginny’s face, trying to understand. “I’m sorry, I sometimes forget everything you’ve been through.”

“It’s fine,” Ginny shrugged, “I’ve mostly moved on. Try not to let Tom control me anymore than he already has.” 

Harry bumped Ginny’s shoulder with his own, “Voldemort sucks doesn’t he?”

Ginny snorted. “That is one way to put it.”

Harry grinned down at Ginny. She could feel her cheeks begin to pink again. It wasn’t the same when she used to turn into a tomato and freeze up next to him. This felt warm like a summer day at the Burrow. Comfortable and Safe.

And then Ginny woke up.

Chapter 2

this chapter is really just the getting into shenanagans chapter. They fly brooms through the halls together. They completely destroy a room they are supposed to clean to get our their frustrations. One day Ginny pretends she is sick because she doesn't want to deal with it all and Harry brings her food.

The end of this chapter they go to Hogwarts to corner Dumbledore to see if he can actually help them because he avoids Grimmauld, so they haven't got his advice yet.

Inside the Headmaster’s office sat their headmaster himself behind his desk, hands gently crossed on the desk in front of him. The famous twinkle in Dumbledore’s eye was absent. Dozens of picture frames of former headmaster’s sat behind him. One of them gave a loud scoff at the sight of the two teenagers. The voice of Phineas Nigellus spoke, “Your mother is quite upset with you, child. She is making such a ruckus, yelling at all your siblings. My worthless great-great-grandson is doing quite a horrible job at calming her down.”

Dumbledore raised a hand in the air, and Phineas Nigellus immediately quieted down. “Please Phineas, can you return to your other frame and inform Molly Weasley that her daughter and Mr. Potter are safe in my office.” Phineas gave another grunt, but quickly existed left out of frame. Dumbledore returned his focus to the pair in front of him. “Now, why do I have the pleasure of this early morning visit from two students who should be at home right now?” Dumbledore asked them sternly.

Ginny rarely interacted with her Headmaster. A quick hello in passing in the halls on sporadic instances. Then there was that one time her second year he invited her up to his office to share some hot chocolate to see how she was holding up after the events of her first year. She was intimidated and lied saying she was fine, then promptly ignored the offer to seek him out if she were to ever need anything. So when she was lightly scolded by her Headmaster, she looked down at the ground in shame.

Harry, however, had no such qualms of embarrassment. “We need help, and I was hoping you could provide that for us, sir.” The bite and anger that was in Harry’s voice at the start of the summer was back as if the sight of Albus Dumbledore triggered the feelings of resentment and anger to return.

“Harry… I need you to take a moment to collect yourself.”

“Ginny and I have been stuck reliving the same day over and over again!” Harry yelled, each work punched with emphasis. “WE HAVE BEEN STUCK FOR MONTHS AND NO ONE CAN HELP US! YOU WON’T HELP US!” 

Harry seized a glass instrument on the table and threw it against the wall. Ginny recognized the seriousness of the situation they were in and the hurt that Harry felt, but she did want to give him a score of 9 out of 10 for that throw.

 Harry’s chest heaved, “I WANT TO BE NORMAL! WHY - DO - SHITTY - THINGS - KEEP - HAPPENING - TO - ME?” Harry yelled, voice hoarse with emotion. He kicked at the leg of the small wooden table causing it to crumble to the ground. 

Ginny cautiously took a few steps forward, “Harry?” she questioned, voice soft. Harry whipped around to face her, eyes alight with rage. However, they softened when the green eyes met her brown. Harry turned back to Dumbledore, much stiller than before.

Dumbledore slowly rose from his desk and walked around to his pensive in the corner of the room, ignoring Harry as he walked past. He picked up the basin and brought it to the center of the room, floating between the three of them. “Miss Weasley,” Dumbledore turned to her, “I am trusting you with sensitive information, that I have full faith in that you will keep to yourself.” Ginny could only nod at this request. 

Dumbledore spoke to Harry, “There is a prophecy.” Then he pulled out his wand taking a silver stream of a memory from his head and placing it in the pensive. A figure began to rise out of the basin. Professor Trelawney spoke in a loud, harsh tone. 

“THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES. . . . BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES . . . AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT . . . AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES. . . . THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. . . .” 

A quiet hum fell over the room. Ginny held her breath, not wanting to be the first to make a sound. Eventually, Harry was the one to break the tension. “What… what exactly does that mean?” Harry paused, drawing in a breath, “Does that mean me?”

“Everything that has happened to you, is because Lord Voldemort decided it to be when he chose you.” Dumbledore stood in front of his pensive, but looked directly at Harry. “He marked you as an equal on that fateful Halloween evening in Godric’s Hollow.

Chapter 3:

The moping, but surprisingly, moping by Ginny and not Harry after hearing the prophecy. She thinks that the only way to end the time loop is to do something drastic. So, Ginny kills herself.

Thankfully, she wakes up the next day and Harry is not happy with her.

The bedroom door opened with a bang.  

“Harry!” Hermione shrieked, “We aren’t dressed yet!”

Ginny pulled back the blanket over her head and peered at the doorway to see a very disheveled Harry. He was still wearing his pajama bottoms and a shirt two times too large for him which must have once belonged to his cousin. His hair was sticking up out of place more than usual like he had literally just gotten out of bed. 

“Ginny,” Harry sighed, almost looking relieved. And then his attitude shifted. Ginny noticed his eyes darken and his posture stiffen before he strode over to her bed. 

He was pissed. 

“What the absolute fuck was that, Ginevra Weasley!” 

Oh, he is using her full name. He is really pissed. Angrier at her than he was at Dumbledore. She just hoped he wouldn’t chuck any crystal lamps at her head.

“Do you realize what the consequences could have been for your actions yesterday? Do you realize how incredibly stupid you were?”

He could be as mad as he wanted to be, but he was not going to call her stupid. She thought about this long and hard. She was not stupid. Ginny jumped out of bed and stood toe to toe with Harry, not planning on backing down from his anger.

“Obviously I knew what the consequences were going to be, Harry. Did you even read the letter?”

“Did I even read the letter?” Harry spluttered, “Yes I fucking read the letter. I read both of them. I realize you have some flaws like how feisty and short-tempered you are, but, damn, I never realized how selfish you could be too! Did you even think about how everyone would react when they found you dead? No, of course you didn’t!”

“How dare you? Of course I did, Harry! I thought about it for days!”

“For days!” Harry shrieked. “And you didn’t think to maybe tell me?”

“You know exactly why I didn’t tell you. You wouldn’t let me try!” Ginny pushed back.

“No shit, I wouldn’t have let you try because it was a dumb idea! If you brought it up to me, maybe you would have realized the consequences! Did you think about your family? You should have seen the way your mom sobbed all night long. Or the way Fred and George did not laugh let alone smile for the entire evening. Ron cried for hours blaming himself for something entirely not his fault! Hermione was the one who found you! Her scream echoed through the house and scared all of us!”

Hermione finally spoke up after hearing her name, “Harry,” Hermione said warely, “What are you even talking about?”

Harry put his hand up in Hermione’s direction, not even looking at her. “Not now, Hermione!”

“Oye! Don’t yell at her, she didn’t even do anything wrong!” Ron’s voice echoed from somewhere behind Harry.

“See, Harry!” Ginny yelled, ignoring the audience they have, “They don’t even remember. It doesn’t matter. It didn’t work, let’s move on!”

Harry growled at those words. “Fuck Ginny! I remember! You killed yourself yesterday, and I will always remember that! Yesterday was the worst day of my life! You know what the worst day of my life was before then? The day you got taken down to the Chamber of Secrets!”

“Why do you even care so much if I really did die?”

“Merlin, Ginny because,” And then Harry, as though without thinking, or truly even planning it, grabbed her face, pulled her up to him and kissed her. 

Oh.

Ginny was frozen in shock for a second, trying to fully grasp what exactly was happening. And then she was kissing him back. As a little girl, she had always wondered what it would be like to kiss Harry Potter. She imagined it to be soft and tender, maybe he would brush her hair back behind her ear before he leaned down to press his lips to hers. She never expected it to be so heated. Ginny wrapped her arms around his back and pressed her entire body into him. Minutes ago she had died, but now she had never felt more alive.

The rest of the chapter is them just trying and miserably failing at secret dating during the various days that they keep reliving.

“You would think that we would know enough hiding places by now to not keep getting caught.”

“If Sirius gives you the talk again, that is on you.”

The end of the chapter is when the reveal that the chest Slytherin's Locket is kept in also happens to have a broken time turner in it! (oooohhh)

Chapter 4: (This is where we jump the shark)

Harry and Ginny sneak out of the house and go on a date at Diagon Alley! But war is a thing, and Harry and Ginny should not be wandering around Diagon Alley all by themselves and lol, guess what, they get kidnapped by death eaters and taken to Voldemort.

They go to Malfoy Manor, and they realize that the best way to escape is actually by killing themselves because they know it won't actually stick thanks to Ginny's early attempt. They also are worried that if Voldemort kills Harry that then the prophecy might actually stick, so Ginny kills Harry by stabbing him with a knife. Unfortunately, before she can turn and kill herself, the Death Eaters stop her and take her to Voldemort.

A dangerous thought crossed her mind.

This was either going to extend her pain or kill her sooner. She hoped to Merlin it would kill her sooner. 

“Do all 16 year old boys keep a diary, or was that just something you did Tom?”

Voldemort stopped torturing the Death Eater who captured her and turned to face Ginny.

“How dare you use that name, little girl! How did you know of the diary?”

“I wrote in it. We became fast friends. Unfortunately it's gone now. Harry destroyed it, and killed your pet snake as well. You can thank Mr. Malfoy over there for giving it to me.” 

A flash of light was sent Ginny’s direction, she didn’t even have time to recognize that the color was not green before she fell to the ground in excruciating pain. It was like every nerve fiber was on fire and then on ice. It was unbearable. Ginny couldn’t tell if she was screaming or not. Her blood was pounding in her ears, and her head felt like it was going to explode. And then it was over. 

“You gave one of my horcruxes to a teenage girl?”

“My Lord, I was not aware that it was a horcrux.”

“Avada Kedavra!”

Unfortunately for Ginny, it was Lucius Malfoy that fell to the ground dead and not her. 

From her position on the floor, Ginny could see Voldemort kick Lucius Malfoy’s body out of the way before he sauntered over to her. Voldemort crouched down to Ginny’s level, pointing his wand at her.

“You might think that I would be thankful to the person who killed Harry Potter.” Voldemort said, tracing a pattern across Ginny’s face, “But they would be wrong. I was to be the one to kill the boy, and yet a teenage girl does it instead. My only question is why?”

Ginny let out a whimper as Voldemort’s wand continued to jab her cheek. 

“You speak when Voldemort speaks to you,” Voldemort sneered.

“I didn’t want you to get to Harry, Tom -” before Ginny could even finish the sentence, Voldemort sent another cruciatus curse at her. Somehow the pain was more excruciating than the first time the spell hit her. 

“How dare you! Potter may have killed the basilisk, but he did not get to Nagini. You will become quick friends with her.” Voldemort said, standing up and walking away from her. The familiar sounds of parseltongue were heard. Ginny looked up to see Voldemort’s pet snake slithering towards her with its jaw wide open. Nagini striked, biting down on Ginny’s neck. 

The pain was different from the cruciatus, but just as painful. 

“Kill me, please just kill me,” Ginny begged. And then Nagini struck again.

Ginny wakes up. And then it is basically a repeat of the time that Ginny first killed herself where Harry crashes into her and Hermione's room panicking that Ginny is dead.

The chapter ends with Ginny asking Harry if he knew what a horcrux was.

Chapter 5: LAST CHAPTER!

Everyone finds out what a horcrux is and realizes that the locket is one. We destroy the locket! With the sword, Ginny also gets to do it because Ginny deserves to destroy a horcrux!

And, like I have said before, I just really like digging into Ginny's trauma with Tom. So like the boggart scene in I Go On Too Many Dates and in the other graveyard fic, Haunted, I have Ginny face Tom again.

“How are you going to open it?” Ginny asked.

“Parsaltongue,” Harry replied, the answer somehow obvious now to the both of them. “Ginny,” Harry warned, “it is going to fight back. Are you sure you want to do this? I am sure Dumbledore-”

“Harry, we both know that it has to be one of us,” Ginny interrupted, “and you got to do it last time.”

Harry nodded at her, and set the locket down on top of the table. A quick swing down and then this nightmare would all be over. Ginny’s hands tightened on the handle of the Sword of Gryffindor. Just one swing.

With a hiss from Harry, the locket springs open.

With shaky hands, Ginny lifts the sword above her head. Just one swing. Why can’t she swing? Looking down at the locket, the eyes that have continued to haunt her nightmares for the past 3 summers stared back at her. Then the voice that haunts her began to speak.

“Ginny, I have missed you. Look at you, all grown up, but still so young. So naive. So stupid.” 

Out of the locket’s windows, two figures grew: one of Tom Riddle, the other of Harry. 

Ginny lowered the sword out of shock.

“Ginny, stab it!” Harry shouted from a million miles away. 

The voice of Riddle-Harry was much louder. “Do you really think that I could truly love you? That this bond we have formed was not out of desperation? Are you that stupid that you think I will continue to want to be around you once we break free from this loop?”

Ginny backed away as the figures of Tom Riddle and the dark Harry sauntered towards her. 

Tom Riddle spoke next. 

“I know everything about you Ginevra Weasley. I know how you hate to be coddled because you are the youngest. I know that worry that you disappoint your own mother because you are not the daughter that she always wanted. I know that even though you are a Gryffindor, you are still terrified.” Riddle stood directly in front of Ginny, “terrified of me. You have so many demons, and they all look like me, don’t they? I haunt your dreams. Hasn’t it been so nice not dreaming lately? You have almost forgotten about me? You have gotten to live out your childhood fantasies of being the love of Harry Potter. 

“Do you really want to lose that?” Tom Riddle asked, a long, cold finger hovering over Ginny’s cheek. Almost to brush away a nonexistent tear.

No, she didn’t want to lose that at all. Tom terrified her. The diary may be long gone, but Tom was still a part of who Ginny was since the Chamber. Ginny looked over to the real Harry. Her Harry. Harry was the reason why Tom’s voice that used to echo around her skull, had softened to a whisper. The risk of nightmares returning and Harry moving on was worth ending the loop. It was worth ending Tom. 

Ginny rushed forward with the sword brandished over her head and swung down on the metal locket, shattering it into pieces. Both Tom Riddle and Riddle-Harry vanished with a scream. Ginny dropped the sword to the ground, sinking to her knees next to it. Warm arms embraced her. Ginny turned to the familiar scent of Harry that was her best source of comfort during the past few months.

“He’s gone,” Whispered Harry, muffled by Ginny’s hair. Ginny clung on to Harry tighter. “He’s gone,” Harry repeated, “But I’m not going anywhere. It’s going to take a lot more than that for you to get rid of me. If one thing is for certain, Gin, it’s that you and I are stuck together.”

Ginny gave Harry a watery smile. “I know.” She could still hear the chill of Tom’s voice echoing around her skull. She knew this would only ignite the nightmares that have plagued her since the Chamber because Tom was right: she is still scared of him. 

“Let’s go to the roof.”

Ginny and Harry just held onto each other for the rest of the night, whispering words of reassurance to each other. At some point, Ron and Hermione came up to join them. The four of them stared up at the stars, very few words passing between them, waiting for the clock to strike Midnight. 

“Guys!” Hermione said, sitting up straight. “My watch says it's 12:04!”

“It’s past midnight?!”

“It’s past midnight!”

“Ginny!” Harry shouted, picking her up by the waist and spinning her around. “You did it, you’re amazing!” Ginny giggled.

“You do realize they are not going to forget this time and we will actually have to deal with the consequences of my family knowing we are dating, right?”

“You are so worth it.” Harry said, grinning down at Ginny and kissing her. 

AND THAT IS IT!

I have honestly had thoughts about what comes after all of this: Harry basically being like "lol no" to Cho as soon as he saw her, Ginny breaking up with Michael Corner because she basically cheated on him for over a year with Harry. The fact that, technically, both Harry and Ginny aged a year despite not moving forward a day, so does that then cause them to lose the trace a year earlier? The fact that we know about horcruxes a year earlier, and destroyed one a year earlier, so how does that impact the rest of the story.

etc. etc.

The world will never know

[tansyuduri]

Top Ten TV

Rules: Game: Add 10 gifs from your favorite shows and tag 10 people.

I was tagged by @godmerlin Thank ya so much! SOO

My love! My favorite! I adore you so much! Merlin until recently was a show I would rewatch every year. THEN one of my RP servers when down for months and my mind was like HEY YOU NEED DOPAMINE KNOW THAT SHOW? It's a special intrest now. Merlin and Arthur were always my favs. But I read two merthur fanfics, realized hey this actually worked, watched the show with new eyes, decided to write a small oneshot. And then It was not a one shot, And then there was a sequal and a prequal... then I was writing more stuff! This show showed me I could write again after a long time thinking I could not.

My second favoirite show is Avatar the Last Airbender I guess and my fav character is actually Aang. I like his nonconfrontationalness I kinda also have that trait and you do not often see it in fiction.

(Now from here on out they don't really have an order?

I really like the show The Tudors. I don't require historical accuricy in shows about the time period that is a special interst to me. I can enjoy the shows seperatly and be like that did not happen! But the tudors is weard because it is very much NOT historicaluy accurate as a whole but somtimes, Dialouge and scenes are pretty much ripped from the firsthand acounts of the period. This is also the show were both Natalie Dormer and Henry Cavill got their start. Fun fact Katie McGrath was actually working on costume design on this show and someone told her she should try acting. She got a very small role in the show then went on to land Morgana in Merlin. ALSO this show makes me cry so MUCH

I didn't get into Shadow and Bone on my first try. After season two aired I tried is again with a freind of mine and loved it. I'm so upset it was canceled!

With Brigerton I actually started with the Spin off Queen Charlotte (I'm counting spin offs and their original show as the same show usually so I can have more shoes listed here WHEEEE.) Anyhoo Queen Charlotte won me over with it having a romantic male lead with mental Ilness. and I enjoyed it! So I watched Brigerton too. Eloise is pretty much teenage me.

The boys and Gen V got me with its plot and commantary on American society. Alright it kinda helps that I've never really liked the idea of super heros. This is pretty much the only superhero media I consume along with one animated show my sister had me watch once. My favorite from the original Series is Hughie and my fav from Gev V is Jordan.

Okay so yeah! Dr Who. I stopped watching shortly after 11 left and came back for 14 and 15. My fav doctors are 11 and 15 so far! I adore Martha and Donna the best.

So The Last Kingdom was a show that my freind really liked and we watched together. I hated Uhtred in season 1 but came to enjoy him later. I LOVED These two in the gif, I WAS HERE FOR THEM SHIPPING THEM IN THE LAST SEASON. You know how that turned out if you watch the show. I have never hated on a character as much as I did on a certain king. THEM. <3

I am very much enjoying House Of The Dragon. I was a GOT fan until the end season even if it started going downhil before that. No I am not team black or team green. I can see both viewpoints. So I'm just here to watch people freak out over it. And enjoy it myself. And Cheer for Healana while waiting in dred due to having read the book it's based on. I'm upset the seem to have gotten rid of Nettles though.

Derry Girls is the show on this list I watched most recently. I did not really like the first episode but from there I adored them all. Clare and Orla are my Favs. But the entire cast is great.

@shana-rosee @tiny-and-witchyn @poisonedfate @theroundbartable @247merthur

@saurix5 @akelafang @kairenn-n @kadenemrys @pendragonsclotpole

[dobnny]

@ladiesofhpfest

monthly mini for Ginerva Weasley

Summary: Ginny is being interview by Hannah from Risk-and-Taken, but someone interrupts their conversation.

The interview?

"So, Ginerva-"

"Please, call me Ginny." She corrected the interviewer, with a smile that didn't fully reach her eyes.

"Oh, of course. Ginny, as I was saying how excited are you with the upcoming Quidditch season? Do you think the Harpies has what it takes to win the Quidditch World Cup this year?"

"Well, Han-Han, I definitely believe that-"

"Erm, please call me Hannah," the interviewer from Risk-and-Taken, a new prophet company that was competing with the Daily Prophet.

"Of course, Hannah my apologies." Ginny replied, "I believe that this season the Harpies are certainly going to take a risk and come out victorious at the end. Yes, the odds are certainly stacked against us but there's one thing that we have that the other Quidditch teams lack."

The interviewer leaned in closer, intrigued by the determination in the young Quidditch star. Ginny could tell she was about to ask what exactly makes the Harpies stand out amongst all the other teams. When suddenly the living room became dark, and an unfamiliar muggle song started to play all around them.

Before the lights turned back on, instead of a soft white light, the room the light changed from red to pink. Thick smoke began rising from the ground, quickly spreading throughout the room.

"You don't have to be rich to be my girl. You don't have to be cool to rule my world. Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with. I just want your extra time and your kiss."

"Shit." She muttered, her face burning scarlet....damnit. Why now out of all times. She thought to herself, why couldn't Harry take Dobby with him?

Ginny stared at Dobby, who was wearing- wait was that little butter wearing her favorite jersey? She quilted her eyes, and realized that not only was Dobby wearing the jersey that she wore for her first Harpy match, but he was also wearing a pair of Harry’s grey joggers. It was magicked to fit the house elf, yet it didn’t suit him at all. In fact Ginny noticed how Dobby had to continuously hold onto the sides of the joggers in order to keep them up as he danced in a slow circle.

Merlin’s saggy left-

“Oh, it seems as if I’m in the middle of something intimate….I can reschedule this interview at a later time?” Ginny heard Hannah ask from besides her, almost in a strained voice.

Before she could reply to the reporter, Ginny noticed how Dobby had turned around and was staring at her. His eyes were extra wide open and he was watching her like a hawk, he had the audacity to wink at her as if saying, “you like the show?”

“Dobby, what in Merlin’s name are you doing?” She asked, through clenched teeth.

“Ms. Ginerva-“

“It’s Ginny.”

“Oh, yes sorry!” Dobby squeaked out, his face turning a shade of murky green. “Ms. Ginny, I wanted to show my gratitude for letting me serve you.”

She closed her eyes, willing herself to count to ten before reaching for her wand and firing a bat bogey hex to the house elf. After a few deep breaths, Ginny opened her eyes and spoke, “there isn’t a need for all of this, Dobby. Please can you leave? I'm in the middle of a very important interview.”

“But, Dobby needs to express his gratitude! Dobby has been practicing for hours, and this time the socks are clean,” the house elf squeaks out as he gestured to his feet. The pair of “clean” socks that Dobby claimed were a mixture of brown and green. It was also emitting a foul odor from the longer he stood there in front of them. Ginny tried her best to push down the bile in her mouth. Nope, she doesn’t want to even think about what the “dirty” socks even looked or smelled like for the matter.

Another silence stretched between the three occupants, that was until Hannah had decided to break the silence.

“You know what, maybe I should get going. Yes-I will send an owl to your manager and we will fix up a different date.” The reporter spoke with difficulty since she was doing her best to hold in her breath.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll ask Dobby to leave-”

“No! I mean, it’s fine….I’ll make sure to keep in touch with your manager and hopefully we’ll set up another date.” Hannah said as she gathered all her things quickly, “Besides, I believe Donny…?”

“It’s Dobby, Miss,” Dobby replied while attempting to give a lopsided smile to the reporter. It seems as though he tried to get that out of her brother’s Ron’s arsenal, because he would always smile like that to Hermione to get his way. Which worked practically all the time, but the way that Dobby is doing it, it just wasn’t pleasant to see. Ginny wondered if Hannah would end up sending in a restraining order against the house elf, just from the way he was trying to smile.

“Right. Dobby, I believe you two have some sort of conversation to finish, and I truly don’t want to interrupt,” Hannah replied and with that she was already rushing to the floor and before Ginny could even call out to her, Hannah was gone.

“So now that we are alone-”

Ginny pulls out her wand quicker than ever and stuns Dobby into the next realm. That buggering little shit.

[the-knight-of-the-stars]

10 years later after it's airing, I would like to dedicate a moment to talk about how I think Merlin last episode is an absolute GEM.

Is it perfect? No. It has its problems? Yes. But the things it does well, it does it with wonder.

First of all, I think it was brilliant, that most of the big ass battle and the fighting were on the previous episode.

Now it all reduces us to Merlin and Arthur. Them, their story. Everything that was built up between them has brought us to this. Their friendship, their trust, the profound love they feel for each other, the entire transformation their relationship had. From being rivals to being friends to being essencially each other's soulmate.

Season five really shinned on showing just how close and intimate Arthur and Merlin have become after spending every day thogeter all those years, after saving each other's lives so many times. And specially, just how blindly Arthur trusts Merlin, and how much Merlin has come to love Arthur.

And what I love about the final episode is that its respectful towards the characters, and towards what us as an audience have been living through them. It was always about them. Arthur and Merlin, Merlin and Arthur. Their magical bond, the fate they were destined to have, but also the relationship and love they chose to have for one another.

Is actually amazing how full circle everything comes. Specially regarding one of the most central themes of the show: Destiny.

From episode one, we were told about the inamovility of destiny in this world. And we saw again and again Merlin trying to change destiny, and each time he failed. And the most dreaded prophecy Merlin tried again and again to evoid from coming true was Arthur's death.

At first for a sense duty, then because he started to belive in him, and finally because he had come to love him.

The final episode is not some epic long battle, is not about saving the kindom, is not even about defeating Morgana. Is Merlin, one last time, trying to save the man he loves most in the world. And like every time, he failed.

All along it was true what Kilgharrah said in episode one: "None of us can choose our destiny, and none of us can skip it".

I can't recal any other show going with the theme of "You can't scape fate" all the way through, until the very end. The show is over when Merlin finally accepts that he can't change fate, that in that sense, he is powerless.

It all started with the prophecy of a Dragon, an with exactly that it ends. Is heartbreaking, and sad, and the perfect tragic tale.

And if that is not enough, this episode has hands down one the best dialogues on the entire show. So many beautiful, powerful and iconic lines that tell us so much about the characters in little words.

"I have magic, and I used it for you Arthur, only for you" - "Merlin you are not a sorcerer, I would know"

"You've lied to me all this time"

"I was born to serve you Arthur, and I'm proud of that"

"I also do this, because you are my friend and I don't wanna lose you"

"All this time, Merlin, you never once sort any credit" - "That's not why I did it"

"I don't want you to change. I want you to always be you."

"With all your magic Merlin, you couldn't save me"

"I'm not going to lose you"

"Just hold me, please"

"Everything you've done, I know now. For me, for Camelot, for the kindom you helped me build."

"I'm going to say something, I've never said to you before. Thank you."

"I can't lose him! He is my friend!"

"For when Albion's need is greatest, Arthur will rise again"

[elevenstork]

S1E1 "The dragon's call" commentar

my god it hurts so much to see him arrive in Camelot again for the first time; he really is just a young boy, it's so unfair

fuck that overgrown lizard I mean what was that bullshit with "no man can know their destiny" and then goes and tells Merlin his destiny like two minutes later. Man, he really was playing the long game here wasn't he? :/

the joy and wonder on his face while wanders around the town and then he isimmediately faced with a public execution of one of his own kind; sick

oh apparently Uther says "when I came to this land this kingdom was mired in chaos" Soo it's not a long lasted royal family? Don't know always pictured it that way

Look, I totally understand why Hunith felt like she needed to send her son away I really do, but really?? the capital of the "I hate magic users and want to kill them all" Kingdom??

was there really no other options?

Awww, I saw so love early season's Morgana with her defiance and sass and her furry <3

Early Arthur is definitely an asshole alright

I might as well be wrong but i think he sound just a tiny bit desperate (as well as an arrogant prick ofc ofc) when he calls after Merlin on the street.

There musn't a lot of people who ever dated to insult to his face (maybe Morgana and that's that)

It must have been something new, something interesting

The smile the huff of air the disbelievibg tone chef's kiss

Yepp they're definitely flirting

Gaius is soo done with his bullshit already XD

I so love their relationship :]

That fucking dragon looks so hideous D:

Merlin is so much stronger than me; I want to scream from seeing it, and possibly, set it on fire

That fucking dragon right, he is so small :(

Oh i never saw that but the dragon's eyes are the same colour as Merlin's when he does magic. cool

I tottaly agree with everyone present here, Morgana is one of the most beautiful hottest girl i have ever seen

Still don't know why they tried to push that weird romance between Arthur and Morgana. They are half-siblings, they were basically raised as siblings :/ didn't even go anywhere with it just drop it later on dunno man

It's so fucking funny seeing Arthur's indignant shock when Uther pronounced Merlin his manservant :》

Ohh Gwen doesn't seem that happy... }:o

"Your destiny is calling. You'd better find out what he wants" bizch

I kinda promised to do this to @none-ofthisnonsense like, a month ago; i'm so so sorry procrastination got the better of me :/ but here were are i guess :D

[koalas-koalas-everywhere]

About a month ago (I thought it was longer!) I posted some ficlets with the promise that a longer Lancelot Lives Alt Season 4 full fic was coming. It has been going slowly. Like, "less than 15k words since then" slow. I started alt Servant of Two Masters literally with Mercelot Week and they've just found out that he's trying to kill Arthur slow. And I thought, you know, I could post another sneak peek.

A few days ago, I made myself sad writing the first conversation between Lancelot and Merlin since the latter went missing (not that the scene itself comes off as all that sad, it is from Fomorroh!Merlin, but I thought of how sad Lancelot would've been and well). Yesterday, I made this fic into a comedy:

“It’s probably best that we get there first,” Gwen tried to demur.

“We think Merlin might have been enchanted to kill Arthur,” Gaius said.

Gwen made a sound like a mix between a boiling kettle and a cat whose tail had been stepped on, but Lancelot didn’t pay it any mind.

“What?” he yelped and didn’t wait for an actual answer before breaking into a run. 

Fortunately, while the physician’s chambers were on the top of a tower, isolated from the rest of the castle, they’d also been placed close to the Royal Chambers. He burst through the doors not a minute later, just in time to see Merlin pull an arrow out of a pillar. Thinking only of that weapon in his hand (the danger to Arthur’s life, to Merlin’s life if he was caught after the act, how it’d break his heart if he hurt Arthur or worse) and not the startled look on his face or the bewildered question from behind the privacy screen, Lancelot launched himself at him.

They went down in a tangle of limbs.

“What on earth— Lancelot?!” Arthur exclaimed, running over. “What is going on?!”

“Get off me!” Merlin struggled like a fish on land.

“I just… hadn’t seen him since he came back!” Lancelot said, barely dodging an elbow to the face. “I’m so happy he’s alive!” he insisted, finally managing to wrap his arms around his torso to immobilize him.

“What are you talking about? We just saw each other in the Armoury!” It was a good thing Merlin had dropped the arrow when they fell, because Lancelot was pretty sure he’d have been stabbed by now otherwise. 

“I think you imagined that.” Lancelot was half trying to pin Merlin’s legs under his own, half trying to avoid a kick to any sensitive spot when Gwen arrived at the door, out of breath.

“Arthur, they need you at the Throne Room,” she gasped out. “You have to go.”

“Why would I ever torture myself by imagining more conversations with you? The ones I have to suffer through in reality are more than enough for any sane being,” Merlin said, still wriggling.

Lancelot shot Arthur a wide beam. “He’s so funny.”

Merlin took that moment of distraction to twist suddenly, getting his legs under himself. He might have gotten enough leverage to shake Lancelot off and stand up if Gwen hadn’t jumped on him as well.

“You too?!” Arthur demanded, arms spread. “You saw him this morning!”

“I missed him so much,” she explained, holding on for dear life.

Gaius appeared at the door and Arthur turned to him.

“Let me guess.” Arthur gestured wildly. “Do you want to drop to my floor?”

“No, sire,” Gaius answered, eyes narrowed. “Do you?”

Arthur made a strangled noise that choked itself into a laugh.

“Back to normal, then,” he sighed. He walked across the room, past the wrestling figures in the floor that became a lot more active when Merlin saw Arthur come within reach, and grabbed his ceremonial sword. “I better get going. You” —he waved a hand— “have fun.”

“Wait,” Merlin shouted after him. “Don’t you need me to—?”

Arthur slammed the door behind himself pointedly.