#implied immortal merlin

[styxhuntress]

Fanfic I wrote today

This is based off a fic I saw somewhere but cannot find. If you know it and can find it please send me the link so that I can tag it as inspiration. 

Posted on AO3.

Potential Part 2

A small child walked along with his mother, holding her hand while they walked along the road.

The boy was maybe seven years old, he was blond and blue-eyed. His parents owned a horse ranch. The boy even had his own horse. His parents had been amazed at how quickly he had picked it up. They lived in a small town in the United Kingdom. The town was beautiful. In the distance you could see large mountains. Tall enough to be capped with snow. The town itself was a combination of old and new buildings. The town had been there for a few hundred years. The boy looked towards the mountains.

He and his mother were walking leisurely towards the car, she had just picked him up from fencing lessons, a sport the boy loved and were heading home for supper. The sun was setting behind the mountains, bathing them in a red glow as it slowly moved so that the snow-capped hills blocked it's rays. The boy wasn't sure why, but he felt that there was something on the other side of them. Something important.

 “Mama?” He asked,

“Yes my darling?” the Blonde woman asked her young son,

“What’s on the other side of those mountains?” The mother paused, the duo coming to a stop as she tried to think on how to answer. For in actuality no one really knew. The other side was a vast forest. Occasionally some would go riding through but never more than a few kilometers in. There were no roads or towns. She said as much to the boy, in a way the he would understand of course.

“Really?” He asked, voice lilting up in disbelief. The woman paused again before telling him,

“Well actually there is a story about a man who lives on the other side.”

“Why does he live there if no one else does?” The boy asked, the mother tugged on the boy’s hand to resume their walk while she answered,

“Well according to the story, a long time ago a man lost the one he loved more than anything else in the world. His king. His king had been mortally wounded in battle, so the man journeyed with him to a lake where he would be able to save him. But his love died before they got there. The man buried his beloved king in the lake, and built a cottage on the shore so that he could watch over the lake, and his love. Apparently he was told that one day his king would return to him, so he stayed on the shore to wait for him. Some people say that he still lives there, waiting for his king to come back to him.” The boy stared at his mother wide-eyed, 

“He still lives there?”

“Oh darling, this story has been around for a long time. If he did live there, he probably doesn’t anymore.” 

“Oh.” was all the boy said, he turned back to the mountains, wanting desperately to go see if the man was still there, and comfort him the same way his mama comforted him when his puppy disappeared. A tug on his arm reminded him to keep walking.

“Come on Arthur,” the woman said to her son, “Daddy’s waiting for us.” 

 Seven year old Arthur Penn nodded, and continued to follow his mother. Thoughts of the mountains and of the man vanishing from his mind as he made his way to the car. They were having sausages for supper. He very much enjoyed sausages for supper.

 He would not think of the mountains or of the man again.

That’s it for now, I may write a part two (I already kinda know what I would do in the part two if I do write it) so if you like it let me know. Also I am open to constructive criticism so feel free to give that as well. 

You can find more one-shots and fics by me on AO3 if you’re interested (same username) but do what you like.

[onceandfutureclotpoll]

Title: I Need You So Much Closer

Author: helloearthlings

Rating: Teen and up Audiences

Summary: “I thought you were dead, oh, God, I thought you were dead."

[justaz]

the idea of immortal leon i take it to imply that there are just random immortals born here and there and leon just happens to be one of them. is there another option which states leon was cursed or something? yeah but thats boring so im ignoring it. just imagining a little secret society of immortals. leon who is happy to have one of his friends from camelot be immortal too so they can continue to go on adventures for centuries. merlin and him finding immortals here and there and being happy that its not just them for eternity and they can have proper friends that wont age or die like all the mortals they’re surrounded by (it was heartbreaking the first few times they lost people dear to them and then they started putting up walls to prevent the heartache but that was a lonely way to live)

[rosaharazu]

Merlin Mysteries

This is the most genius title, I swear you guys, Im so proud of it.

Anyways....Magister Merlin.

First off, let's just appreciate the premise given to them.

A powerful, well-respected, legendary mage for as long as history can remember. But the twist is...they're amnesic. I think it's such a high stepping stone in making AFK Journey's MC a standout to other MC's of games alike.

Thanks to that, we aren't even Merlin's actual form, hence being able to customize our character to our liking as Merlin is using disguising spells.

But let's see their past shall we. Second:

So like, have you ever looked at the very tiny text at the bottom whenever you load into the game? There are like, two things about Merlin. I'm sure someone else has pointed these out, but I'll list it anyways. (i think there's three, but I've seen to have forgotten the third one and I ain't checking it out)

Merlin harnessed the leftovers of powers from the War and named it 'magic'.

Merlin was a part of the council in discussing terms of after the Immortal War.

So from this....Merlin may or may not be immortal themselves. Or, if we take a look at the opening sequence of the game, someone pointed out that Merlin may be reincarnated throughout time over and over again. Someone on youtube even thought Merlin could be a hypogean.

If that's the case...it's really tragic.

Merlin is a...wait, lemme check from AFK Arena. WAIT-DIMENSIONALS WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!

There's also a huge plot in Arena's Merlin, but none of this makes sense to me. Let's ignore that~ O-O

Furthermore, whatever they are...they must be immortal or something like that. And that's harsh.

You know that one storyteller in Holistone? He describes Merlin as, some feared them, some respected, but their journey is a lonely one. That's just...implies that Merlin's missing something.

I'd like it if Merlin's quote is, "I feel like I'm missing something."

I'm in Remnant Peaks, and like, I have two more areas to go. It may or may not have something to do with Merlin, so as of I'm writing this, I have no idea.

Third. Now, what I would like to write is....Merlin's relationships.

I mean, yeah, you can ship them with Valen, Mirael, and so on. But...considering Merlin's possibility of being immortal, it would be sad really.

I feel like Merlin won't engage in romantic relationships because they know so well that her partner won't be able to stay as long as they do. Maybe that's why she has Chippy and Hammie by her side, which I searched up, that familiars live as long as their masters live.

I'd like to think that Merlin chose familiars to love, and while it's only platonically, I think that love is the most special thing to have for Merlin. Because at the very least, Merlin won't have to wake up one day and find that their familiars are gone.

Maybe she's lost a loved one before, and over and over again, and they're traumatized by it. You know, at this point you can just assume I'm talking about my version of Merlin.

Even if Merlin were to engage romantically, they would probably sought for immortals like them, hence Celestials or...Hypogeans, maybe. (for me at least)

(I mean, Wilders and Maulers also probably live for hundreds of years, but they still die- WHY IS THE LIFESPAN AND TIMELINE SO CONFUSING?!)

The idea of Merlin not wanting to lose their partner is kinda engraved in my mind and you can't stop me.

What I'm saying is, Merlin has done so many things over the years. Being recognized as Esperia's greatest mage. One of the professors at Casseedee's Academy. Their stories go all over the lands....

and in return....

Merlin lost something more valuable. Possibly their mortality and memories. I dead set that Merlin may have traded those in order to become the most powerful, and before they know it....they've lost quite a lot.

And as of present day, Merlin forgets again and again, and deep inside them, an immense sense of regret, longing, lost and hopelessness. So they try to focus on the present, and the people around them.

You know, it would be nice if Merlin's amnestic side is shown sometimes, but I guess that's too much work. Oh well. Would be a little interesting, though. Like, maybe more of Chippy and Hammie comforting us. Yes, please. I'd like that.

Man...the game started a few months ago, so Merlin's lore isn't exactly much...why did I even do this...?

Thanks for your time! Have a lovely day!

[casualbluebirdmentality]

Leon's immortality predates the Cup of Life, y'all. he's just Like That

I'm assuming people have probably talked abt this already but if they have, I haven't seen it (i'm relatively new here), so I'm bringing it up myself lol.

(It's important to note here that in the end credits starting from s2e2, Rupert Young has always been referred to as playing Sir Leon, so it is the same character.)

Remember s2e13 The Last Dragonlord, when Arthur asks his knights who among them are willing to ride out with him to fight this big-ass dragon, and Leon is the first to volunteer? And they then show Leon, with Arthur and the others, as they ride out to fight Kilgharrah in that weird-ass square field?

...And then Kilgharrah one-shots literally everyone except for Arthur & Merlin???? And when the two return, they're just like, "yeah all the other knights died valiantly defending the kingdom, very sad" ???????

Personally, I believe this only leaves us with two (2) options:

The writers just straight up Forgot (or maybe ignored) that Leon was one of the knights that died, and just kept writing him in bc he was a well-liked character,

Or,

2. They're therefore implying that, canonically, when Arthur&Merlin got back to Camelot and said that all the knights were dead, they were just straight-up wrong. Which means that Leon had to just... find his own way home, I guess, after having been freshly charbroiled by a fucking dragon.

Merthur: None of the other knights made it, even Leon :(

Leon, covered in burns, wheezing on the ground in that big-ass field: QUIT TELLING PEOPLE I'M DEAD

Merthur: sometimes we can still hear his voice :(

The wiki says that "many believed he'd been killed" when he "was injured by the great dragon," but that "this was ultimately disproven by his return in Series 3"...

...which I believe falls squarely into #2 listed above lmao. He wasn't dead, just injured. They just fucking left him there.

TL;DR: yes, he's immortal, but it's not even from the cup. he's just Built Different

[natsu-tte-noodle]

The “Wait, I Die in this Play??” Tier List

Under the cut for play spoiler purposes :3

Each level of dying in a play overrides the previous ones, so if a character has a role that almost dies AND a role that does die, they’re listed as “has died in a play.”

For the full rundown of having died in a play (this is game-verse; mankai stage would change some things up--notably Kazu would go up into almost dies thanks to Paul’s new development):

Sympathy for the Angel: Michael (Tsumugi) fades away at the end to nothingness

Stranger: Dom (Banri), Jon (Juza), and Nine’s (Sakyo) fates are unclear after the lab explodes

A Clockwork Heart: I’m counting S (Citron) being deactivated as a death in spirit

Ginji the Wanderer: Yokota (Omi) is killed by Ginji; Ginji himself (Sakyo) and Kojima (Taichi) are both critically injured during fights with Yokota and his men

Nocturnality: Franz (Hisoka) and Reo (Azuma) are both vampires, which puts them in “dead the whole time;” however, Reo being stabbed by Izumi bumps him up to “almost dies”

The Wonderful Charlatan of Oz: It’s implied that the Wizards of the East (Tsuzuru) and West (Itaru) are killed offstage by Dorothy by the end of the play

DEAD/UNDEAD: Red (Omi) and Bill (Sakyo) are dead at the start of the play, but are also killed again; Abel (Azami) is techically? Sort of? Half? Dead the whole time but it’s ok Azami dies in a later play; Roy (Taichi) dies in the beginning and then comes back and dies again, making Taichi the true king of dying in plays

The Phantom of the Opera: Richard (Homare) and Erik (Guy) both don’t escape the fire, but their bodies are never found

Knights of the Round IV: Gareth (Masumi) dies in the battle to free Gwen from her wedding to Arthur; (Merlin is defeated but he’s like. a demon and very clearly alive in the very end so he doesn’t count. I also wasn’t sure about King Arthur’s illness, but I think it’s safe to say Merlin didn’t plan for him to die then so)

Die by the Sword: Tojiro (Homare) has an attempt on his life; Kojiro (Guy) is killed by Musashi in their duel

Fallen Blood: The ending is ambiguous enough for me to feel comfortable saying it’s unclear if Blood (Juza) makes it through that last day

Yin Yang Midnight: Geppaku (Citron) is killed by what amounts to magical recoil; Hisui (Guy) then allows himself to be slain

Stray Devil Blues: Walter (Omi) is killed offscreen; Cliff (Azami) is very much killed onscreen; Mark (Taichi) dies while trying to help Lucifer near the very end

Immortal Crow: Tsugunobu (Misumi) is wounded severely enough to put him out of commission for several scenes; Minamoto no Yoritomo’s (Chikage) fate is unclear after his battle with Kurou

+3Ghosts!: Sora (Kumon), Aoi (Kazunari), and Minato (Muku) are dead the whole play. However I’m not counting fading away after completing your unfinished business and finally being able to move on as a death

Twin Kingdoms: Gilbert (Tasuku) and Sasha (Azami) (and Lutz but Shift isn’t in the tier list) are struck down by the dragon and wouldn’t have made it if Cain hadn’t been able to defeat it

South. Hill. Prison.: Ren (Azami) is dead the whole time

[evadne01]

Immortality shared ~ a Merlin and the Originals crossover!

Chapter 2 is been posted!

Summary: Merlin meet Klaus and Elijah

Chapter title: You know what they said about making a deal with the devil?

Warning: Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt

@multifandom-flash, card 1002 (round 3): Honey Trap

[merlinrarepairfest]

Round Up 4

With Week 4 coming to a close, we're now a bit over halfway through the posting period! You can find this week's fills beneath the cut <3

Title: A Lifetime of Promises Writer: eachpeachpearplum | @eachpeachpearplume Rating: M Warnings: No archive warnings apply Medium/Word Count: fic, ~50k | Chapter 1/14 Pairing/main characters: Gwaine/Merlin/Percival, established Gwaine/Percival, past Gwaine/Merlin Up to 10 tags: Modern AU, polyamory negotiations, fluff, slow burn (for the poly ship), falling back in love, hurt/comfort

Summary:

When Gwaine bumps into his ex, Merlin, in the pub one night, he doesn't realise quite how much it's going to change his and Percival's lives.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52010989

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Title: fade away never Writer: SlantedKnitting | @slantedknitting Rating: General Audiences Warnings: none Medium/Word Count: 1,186 words Pairing/main characters: Leon/Merlin Up to 10 tags: Regency Era, Queerplatonic Relationship, Immortal Leon, Immortal Merlin, Ballroom Dancing

Summary:

Leon and Merlin attend a ball.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51031786

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Title: [ART] Still Yours Artist: Mischel | @magicalmischel Rating: G Warnings: none Medium/Word Count: 0 Pairing/main characters: Gwen/Morgana Up to 10 tags: Digital Art, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Angel Gwen (Merlin), Hugs, Wings, Fallen Angel Morgana (Merlin), Demon Morgana (Merlin)

Summary:

Morgana/Gwen fanart for Rare Pair Fest 2023. Prompt: Angels and Demons au. They were together when they were angels. Then Morgana fell.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51384040

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Title: The Shop at the Corner's End Writer: Cassius_theCorrupterofSouls | @twisted-shipper Rating: M Warnings: Creator chose not to use Archive warnings  Medium/Word Count: 12,456 Pairing/main characters: Morgana/Mordred  Up to 10 tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Lovers, Witchcraft, Wicca, Autumn, Halloween 

Summary:

Drawn towards a local occult shop that lies on her route to school, Morgana Pendragon takes it upon herself one Saturday afternoon in September to visit the store, hoping to purchase with her meager allowance a book or two on witchcraft, a practice she has been secretly reading up on online but has no hands-on experience with due to her father's no "nonsense" stance on all things supernatural. Entering the shop, she finds it to be as magical and sublime as her expectations, but what she doesn't expect is the confrontation she is about to have with one of its employees, a young man by the name of Mordred, who may just possess the secret to helping her realize her dreams of forging her own path and become more certain of herself in the process. Or, based on the prompt: Modern AU. Mordred works in an esoteric Wicca bookshop. Curious, Morgana visits the shop secretly because her conservative and stern father doesn't like her "unscientific, silly" hobbies. Romance, initial dislike for each other, find themselves drawn together.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51253924

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Title: golden thread (clasped weft woven) Writer: AgapantoBlu | @agapantoblu Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Medium/Word Count: 20.766 words Pairing/main characters: Freya/Merlin; Arthur Pendragon. Up to 10 tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Freya Lives, Magic Revealed, Implied/Referenced Torture (though it’s just in dreams), Nightmares, It’s hard to live your cottagecore fantasies when destiny won’t stop banging at the door.

Summary: 

“It was so close. They barely made it out of Camelot and even then, Merlin was ready to watch her die. He'd held her and cried and screamed and begged whatever force had made him, every ounce of his magic, to please. Just not her. Not at Arthur's hand. Fate must have worried about the latter more than the first, but the waters had risen nonetheless, and the waves had washed away the blood and the wound alike. Merlin had been hit with a strange feeling of melancholy and sorrow and the weird relaxation that happens when a pull that seemed unnoticeable before suddenly stops. Just like that, Camelot didn't seem so enthralling anymore, and Arthur's actions not so easily pardoned."

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51364060

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Title: her sorrowless salt self Writer: greenforsnow | @m-b-w Rating: T Warnings: no archive warnings apply Medium/Word Count: fic, 6k Pairing/main characters: Gwen/Morgana Up to 10 tags: Pirate Morgana, Mermaid Gwen, getting together

Summary:

Morgana looks for freedom in the ocean; she finds Gwen.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51389305

[themerlinlibrary]

Favourites Friday (Mar 2024) – Golden Age

TML Favourites Friday round-up! March 2024 round 3

What is Favourites Friday? – The Basics

a different theme is announced on Friday each week; FF recs must match the theme of the week

only one FF rec per person per week/theme

FF recs must be unique within that week/theme; no double-posting the same fic for one theme!

no self-recs during regular rounds

only self-recs during self-rec rounds (last Friday of each month)

Theme for week 3: Golden Age!

Warlock, Runaway, Regent by be_brave13, TevinterPariah T, 99k, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon Canon Divergence AU, Fix-it

When the Inevitable Comes by N16 T, 3k, Merlin & Arthur Canon Era

Not a Matter of Chance, but of Choice by Skitz_phenom M, 40k, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon Canon Divergence AU, Post Season 4

Dower the Stars by RurouniHime E, 41k, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon, Merlin/Everyone, Gwen/Lancelot Canon

You're the Only Thing I Wanna Touch by Seravia E, 4.7k, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon Canon Era

All lives are (love)stories by amithia E, 193k, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon, Gwen/Lancelot Canon Era AU, Fix-it

My All The World by Signy1 G, 9.2k, Gen Immortal Merlin, Post-Camlann

A masterlist of all round-ups can be found here.

If you want to make sure you never miss a FF rec, or would like to participate and share your own favourites; join us on the Discord TheMerlinLibrary! Happy reading!

About the FF round-up lists:

Recs are listed in the order they were posted on the Discord; the order does not imply any sort of ranking.

The pairing given in this list is the main pairing of each respective fic – please read the tags for any possible minor or side-pairings, as well as any potential warnings or triggers.

Pairings and Eras are given as tagged in each respective fic. (?) signifies that the tags were unclear and I do not know enough about the fic to fill the gaps.

Round-ups are compiled on the weekend of the week after the respective theme of the post (when the new theme has already been anounced), to avoid omitting potentially belated FF recs.

The weekly round-up is not a guarantee! I'm running this alone, so it can only be posted for weeks when I have enough time on my hands to compile a list. If you'd like to help out, feel free to contact me on Tumblr ( @zaharya ) or Discord. Thanks to @ravenwilds for helping me out with these round-ups, and to Chel for making a whole-ass bot to make it easier!

[silverloreley]

Patching holes in Descendants lore - the origins of Auradon

I think we all agree that the Disney movies didn’t and couldn’t have happened all in the same era and are based in different areas (although it’s hard to dermine which ones in some cases, like Agrabah or the mix-and-match that is Kumandra), not to mention the multiple iteration of places like, say, London.

How to explain this in canon? I have a few theories, based on actual Disney events, feel free to pick one:

Cinderella 3: when Lady Tremaine used the wand to reverse time, she messed with time-space, which led to a mixup of worlds.

Sophia the First: when the amulet of Avalor was broken and Elena was freed, all the energy it used to channel the princesses so Sophia could meet them released and messed up the world, so everything merged in a single time.

Disenchanted: when Giselle’s wish died down it still had some aftereffects on all the fairytales’ worlds, copying the technology from our world but also pulling places distant in time and space all together (this is possibly my favourite theory).

Theory 1 makes a lot of sense, tbh, because it erases all the sequels except, in fact, Cinderella 3, while being a clean-cut explanation. It, unfortunately, doesn’t explain the technological advancement that is wildly beyond any Disney canon (save for Big Hero 6, but BH6 is even forth so that doesn’t work either). This could also explain why such a severe sentence was picked for Lady Tremaine (she stole the wand, petrified Fairy Godmother, broke important laws of magic, tricked the royals...), although it doesn’t work for Anastasia who, instead, redeemed herself a lot in that very movie.

The Sophia world is the only one that implies all the stories happened for real in the same world as she has Merlin, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather as teachers; (provided they’re immortal or nearly so, meaning they could have outlived their charges and went on teaching new generations of young royals) and references directly to the official princesses up to the 2018 lineup. But Sophia’s world has lots and lots of other kingdoms and it would poise logistic problems in storytelling because it’s hard to make it all fit (but if you know the series well, unlike me, you can make it work).

Personally, I’d go with Disenchanted: Andalasia was a fairytale world with unknown neighbours (to us, but Giselle heard of dwarves’ hospitality and other stuff...), separated by magic borders or just too distant from each other, some of those could be homes of stories from roughly the same era (I suppose we can consider Rapunzel and Frozen as a pair, the Little Mermaid could fit in the same times as Cinderella, while Snow White, Aladdin, Mulan and Sleeping Beauty belong to an older era, Pochaontas and Princess and the Frog must be of different eras, and so on...). The wish pulled everything together and they all had to navigate the situation from there on, inheriting the technology from our world but keeping the original stories.

Most importantly, in all cases, it pulled back the dead Villains. Or it pulled some and those ones figured out they could revive others to form an army to control the new world. Anyway, here’s the origins of Auradon as a composite land.

In another post I put together the info we have on other matters (excluding, for obvious reasons, Pocketwatch, which can’t and won’t be considered canon) such as the beginning of Auradon Prep or the supposed war against the Villains so I won’t repeat it all here.

As far as this post goes, I suppose we can say that this explains many of the plot holes and incongruencies, including the mention of Merida having been an Auradon Prep student in the last book.

[whenicarusflies]

i hate the posts that imply that merlin was sad and lonely for the entire 1500 years like NO. Sure, merlin would have mourned and it would have taken him some time to move past the loss and he would wait but he wouldnt wait alone, or in misery. He would have a bunch of immortal friends (one of which is leon) and the reason he looked so sad in the scene that we saw is just because hes missing arthur. it doesnt mean his life is sad.

[onceandfutureclotpoll]

Title: The Catalyst

Author: Val_Creative

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Merlin will never die. Time has withered him to a standoffish, hollow mimicry of what he has once been. The boy who wore his smiles with pride and genuine feeling.

The worst part is he never truly lives, not until destiny spits Arthur Pendragon back out.

[yaeggravate]

deep sigh. ok i've been thinking about a different angle regarding arlecchino: one that would link her to the golems of ancient remuria and the legend of the holy grail. if i throw enough theories at arlecchino one of them is bound to stick, right?

i mentioned before that in arthurian legend there is something called the siege perilous, which is an empty seat at the round table reserved by merlin for the one who would be *successful in finding the holy grail. this led me to believe there could be a connection to the vacant 10th seat within the fatui harbingers. there are some obvious similarities between merlin and pierro so it's not that big of a stretch. they're both powerful mages, have white beards, and have stag imagery. (pierro's mask has one antler or horn sticking out.)

some other recent arthurian references in fontaine are:

the melusines

lyney and lynette who are based on the sisters lynette and lyonesse** who lived at castle perilous

a local legend fatui operative called yseut

the great magician parsifal and her sister josephine etc. you get the idea

(anfortas and klingsor are also arthurian characters but as far as we know they are connected to khaenri'ah instead of fontaine.)

in any case, i started to look for a holy grail equivalent in the game. there is actually a monthy python and the holy grail reference in one of the notes. "mounted python & the pure grail," is a play based on the supposed tales of the lochknights. this could mean the holy/pure grail does exist.

turns out, we do have something resembling a grail in this game. it's a weapon ascension material: the golden goblet of the pristine sea.

this was remus' goblet with the extracted ichor from the primo soup. remus believed the ichor would bring eternal life and infinite wisdom just like the holy grail could grant immortality etc. the goblet, filled to the brim with ichor, was ultimately stolen by boethius, who used it to seal the dragon scylla underneath the tower.

Shocked by the foolhardy betrayal of the God King, the musician summoned the last guards, and used the insoluble Ichor to seal the dragon beneath the tall tower, and sank into the abyss with the capital. Afterwards, this noble thief vanished silently from history, and only the "Golden Troupe" faithfully remembers his prophecy.

it's unknown what happened to the goblet, or if it's connected to the lochknights, but what if the goblet is something arlecchino is after? or perhaps it's already in her possession? perhaps she was even born/created from the ichor in the goblet.

to clarify, i don't think arlecchino is after the 10th seat (bc she already has a rank lol), but maybe she is connected to the golden troupe, who were alligned with boethius' views. they were determined to restore remuria by attempting to reawaken the golems.

To save their waning civilization and their desire to transcend, the Golden Troupe played melodies most wondrous, enticing children to offer their precious souls to the sleeping golems.

what caught my attention is that golems are described as having skin as black as iron and are capable of devouring souls.

Combining the immortal stone with the Ichor essence extracted from primordial water, and carved into a race as black as iron— with arcane lithos for skin and Ichor for blood, never again fearing the curse of returning to the primeval past...

the golden ichor also turned black due to the agony of the many souls within, leaving only chaos behind. this could be connected to arlecchino's blackened arms.

should be noted that the research of rene, the leader of the narzissenkreuz ordo, borrows a lot from the golden troupe. rene's last name is de petrichor, which means golem in "the old language". we still haven't seen these golems yet, which are implied to be in the region of petrichor, which means we might get to go there in future patches.

another interesting part are these ominous lines from the golden troupe artifact:

Golden Troupe's Reward When the great golden symphony plays once more, the Golden Troupe will receive the rightful rewards owed to the true and loyal. When the perfect order separates humanity into master and servant, prosperity and beauty shall make the kingdom glorious once more… Abide until that day… Abide until that day… When every member of the Golden Troupe shall win the whole future as their prize.

if arlecchino has ties to the golden troupe this could be her true goal.

curiously enough, there is this bit from the weapon ascension material wine goblet of the pristine sea that aligns with the lore of the new weapon ballad of the fjords which recounts the legend of ajax.

Wine Goblet of the Pristine Sea The silent golem still dreams the dream of the empire — not knowing it has been over a thousand years since the empire's obliteration.

Ballad of the Fjords This ancient capital had sunk into the depths of the earth due to some ancient disaster, but despite being buried underground, it was still as bright as the dawn. The solemn and silent king yet sat upon his massive chiseled white throne, the scepter in his hands not yet eaten away by insects, And the silver-white trees in the courtyard were like the arms of a mother or a lover, holding the virtuous and wise priest in their embrace. Beautiful yet treacherous life, twisted and violent monsters, one by one awakened from their thousand-year slumber…

there might be no connection here but i thought i should mention it anyway since arlecchino's fellow harbinger childe is named after ajax.

(*the most notable ones successful in retrieving the holy grail were percival and galahad. we have two parsifals in this game, but for now neither seem to be connected to the goblet or the golden troupe.

percival had a son named lohengrin, the swan knight, part of the knights of the grail. this was a secret order of knights who were tasked to provide lords to kingdoms that had lost their protectors. this would fit with arlecchino's swan imagery but it would clash with the schwanenritters (swan knights) we already have in game. but hey, who knows, maybe there could be a connection there.

**the enemy of lynette and lyonesse was the red knight, ironside, who had besieged their lands. the red knight's armor was red due to it being completely covered in blood. the red knight eventually befriended his enemy gareth and became part of the knights of the round table. notably golems are as black as iron; black iron is known as ironoxide and arlecchino has some vivid blood red accents.)

[the-forgotten-lily]

Sometimes I wonder if Arthur was truly human or not...

It's just a thought but I would like to think that because of being born with the help of magic Arthur turned out to be mostly a creature of magic. Like not a beast but something more human-like.... something that can't be noticed unless you really look at him. Merlin is the more prominent one because he IS magic itself ..but with Arthur it's somewhat different. He attracts other magic users(idc if they have evil or good intention), he has exceptional sharp senses in a battlefield and is an excellent swordsman, he has this golden aura surrounding him all the damn time, and he is implied to be immortal considering he truly never dies... he's only gone for a while..he will return.....

I'd like to think there's something more to his past regarding his birth and maybe there is a reason why it was only him that was chosen to be the true leader of Albion.

[queenofthearchipelago]

im so curious, what was that fic you read about arthur going back in time and trying to fix things, going through every episode? you mentioned it the tags of a merlin post and it sounds really interesting

Hi! I, too, have been wondering what that fic was all day since I wrote those tags. Ever since I made my ao3 account about 2 years ago, I've privately bookmarked every fanfic I finished reading with my own tags and with commentary of what was good and bad literally for this exact situation where I remember a fic and want to find it again just so I know I didn't dream it. But it wasn't in my ao3 bookmarks, and I never did much reading on ao3 as a guest, which tells me I read it on fanfiction.net.

So I went there and tried finding it but I must admit, I never really got the hang of looking for things over there. It's not as well put together as the archive, after all.

I know that the fic was in Arthur's POV. I know that it started off with episode 1 and that Arthur quickly puts together what happened to him (that he died in Merlin's arms and then woke up in his bed about 10 years earlier) and he starts going through all the episodes being very nice to Merlin. I know that Time Travel was involved. I know that we go through all the episodes in order until episode 10, where things go a bit differently after the events of the battle at Ealdor.

I wish I knew how to find it based on that, but I don't.

If you go looking for it yourself, I must warn you of attempted suicide and implied suicide towards the end of the fic. There's more time travel things that happen, where Old Merlin, who is now maybe 500 years old, replaces the Young Merlin that was with Arthur and we come to learn that after Arthur's death, Merlin tried very hard to be patient and wait for him, but couldn't do it. Problem was, he was immortal. So he tried all sorts of things to try and end his waiting. He correctly guessed that if he succeeded then he would be reunited with Arthur, but the whole thing was very dark and concerning and I remember it being the topic of an entire chapter and Arthur insisted on talking about it, so it wasn't just a pass and go plot point. So please be careful if you go searching for it!

To make up for it, let me guide you to one of my top 3 favorite Merlin fanfics of all time, also on fanfic.net (it's not on ao3, or I'd guide you there). Essentially, what if Arthur found out right at the beginning of season 3? This fic is basically the story I thought I was getting into when watching season 1. Arthur eventually finding out, his friendship and brotherhood and also two sides of the same coin-ed-ness with Merlin growing stronger all the time because now he knows, and deeper exploration into what Merlin's powers might be in a way that doesn't overpower him or create unnecessary rules. Arthur having to go behind Uther's back to protect Merlin, much in the same way that Merlin protects him all the time. And as you get deeper into the story, one by one the others find out too. Gwen, Gwaine, Morgouse... It's just so well put together. Like I said, it's everything I thought the show would do, until you realized the show wasn't going to do it. Highly HIGHLY recommend it.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6319981/1/A-Question-of-Motives

(Again, I'm so sorry I don't have the fic I mentioned earlier today, I hope you aren't too disappointed. But I love the merlin fandom, I've been in it since 2014, and I'm always down to talk about fics, and just anything else about this show. One of the fandoms of all time, truly.)

[c0tards--s0luti0n]

"okay so the mechanisms are a narrative band who travel various galaxys (HAVING FUN, VIOLENCE, ADVENTURE, VIOLENCE, VIOLENCE,) in their starship (the starship aurora < 3) and write albums and songs about the stories they watch go down and sometimes are part of (i.e: drumbot brian being in camelot during hnoc) and their last album being a mix of their other albums . once upon a time (in space) is based on fairytales , ulysses dies at dawn is based on greek myths and gods , the bifrost incident is based on norse mythology , high noon over camelot is based on arthurian legends, death to the mechanisms is about the mechanisms' final deaths and is a mashup of their other albums (mostly the bifrost incident) . the mechs themselves are almost-immortal space pirates who died once and got revived by doctor carmilla , being "mechanized" aka having a mechanical version of the organ (or organs) that killed them the first time replacing said organ, and each member has a TON of lore and backstory but im not gonna talk about all that right now . the band consists of jonny d'ville (the ship's first mate who calls himself captain since doctor carmilla got pushed out the airlock, but always gets corrected by the other members) whose mechanism is his heart, gunpowder tim (master at arms , blew up the moon one time) whose mechanism is his eyes, drumbot brian (pilot, was the hanged man/merlin in high noon over camelot, got thrown into space twice) whose mechanism is everything except his heart, baron marius von raum (ships' "doctor", neither a baron nor a doctor) whose mechanism is his arm, the toy soldier (role N/A, a wooden toy soldier brought to life, canonically uses it/its) whose mechanism is everything except its voice (which it stole from someone else), ashes o'reilly (quartermaster, burnt down a whole planet once) whose mechanism is their lungs,... ...uuhhh ALSO MARIUS WAS ALSO IN BIFROST INCIDENT PRISON I FORGOT anyway . raphaella la cognizi (science officer, was in prison during the bifrost incident) whose mechanism is her wings, ivy alexandria (was also in prison during the bifrost incident, so autistic it could kill, remembers her backstory in dreams and forgets when she wakes up) whose mechanism is her brain, nastya rasputina (threw herself out of the airlock before the bifrost incident, was dating the starship aurora before she got airlocked) whose mechanism is her blood, and doctor carmilla (mechanism N/A) who mechanized most of the mechanisms (implied nastya did instead to some of them) and got pushed out of the airlock , implied jonny pushed her (also theres a fiction on the mechs website about the crew interviewing eachother after it happened, its Who killed doctor carmilla? and it has MORE CARD SYMBOLISM. I AM NORMAL.) and i could keep going on abt their backstories and the albums and etc but i think ive written . enough for now. sorry i am usual over this band (LYING)" - me, 2023, in the fucking splatoon roleplay discord server