Tag: ato wrote

The Theory of Arthur’s Contradictions

~ merls ~ Leave a comment

Before I begin, I’d like to say that I’m actually fucking proud of this, even if it might be “too convenient” or “fanciful nonsense” – which I’m sure it isn’t, but I might be biased. If it turns out to be fanciful nonsense in the end, however, I don’t care. IT EXPLAINS 89% OF THE SHOW’S BULLSHIT

With this theory I attempt to explain Arthur’s wildly varying characterisation (re: magic, Merlin’s magic, attitude towards Merlin; yes, this is meta that lends itself to a Merlin/Arthur interpretation of the show) throughout the five series we got him.

Okay.

I’ll be talking about things with 100% certainty, just so I don’t have to use “maybe”, “perhaps”, “there’s a chance”, “assume”, etc. ad nauseam.

In series 1, Arthur and Merlin already had developed a bond (strong, if not unshakeable) by the Afanc episode, owing to the whole Valiant fiasco. This would explain Arthur’s reaction when Merlin bursts into the council chamber and confesses to being a sorcerer: he immediately leaps to Merlin’s defence and makes up a bullshit excuse on the spot, rounding off the entire thing with a meaningful stare into Merlin’s eyes and an equally meaning-laden “There’s no way he’s a sorcerer”, as if he’s trying to tell Merlin to shut up and stop trying to kill himself.

What if Arthur accepted Merlin’s words as the truth, however? (It’s an idea that’s been explored multiple times in fanworks.) What if he just… accepted Merlin as he was? That his emotion for Merlin was such that only three episodes into the first series he would essentially commit treason for Merlin? (Explains why Arthur risks his life to save Merlin’s, and why we never get the whole “so the ball of light was you” thing in canon: Arthur already knew it was Merlin. He just couldn’t say it out loud to anybody.)

Now. Arthur gets placed under a HELL of a lot of enchantments and spells throughout the show, and more than once is plain knocked out. You have to admit there’s a non-zero chance that it screws with his memory and/or personality characteristics. And these incidences are what make him forget, maybe, that Merlin has magic. I remember saying something about asserting things to avoid “maybe” usage. LOL fun times.

(This is the “too convenient” thing I was talking about, but then again, the writers shoehorned wtf relationships into the show willy-nilly and also turned Kilgharrah from an I Hate Humanity DragonBarbie™ to a Wise Reptilian Codger™, so…)

I don’t want this to grow too long I grew lazy, so here are just some of the multiple things this theory would explain (assuming that Merlin and Arthur always hazily suspect that Arthur knows about Merlin’s magic and Merlin knows about Arthur knowing about Merlin’s magic BUT Arthur’s unfortunate head injuries fucking with him change the status quo conveniently):

1. The Moment of Truth – Arthur forgot about Merlin because of Sophia’s enchantment and so Merlin tries to confess, but Will beats him to it.

2. His protectiveness of Merlin and the utterly bewildered “Merlin?” he says in the Witchfinder episode.

3. The Last Dragonlord; he might be dreaming about protecting Merlin the way Merlin dreamt of protecting him in the Poisoned Chalice episode.

4. *clears throat* YOU KNOW THAT SUPER ODD EPISODE WHERE MERLIN TURNS ARTHUR INTO A SIMPLETON. Why does Arthur never question afterwards what happened between the time he was injured in the castle and the time he woke up to find himself in a different location, wearing different clothes, with days obviously having elapsed that he doesn’t remember? he knew he was supposed to act like a simpleton and merlin knew arthur was acting but neither could admit it to each other and so merlin’s teasing was okay and not upsetting at all

5. THAT DELETED SCENE WHERE ARTHUR SAID HE WAS GENUINELY CHANGING HIS MIND ON MAGIC

6. The series 5 episode where Arthur asks Merlin whether he should legalise magic or not – he was giving Merlin the chance to confess and Merlin fumbled it because he wanted Mordred dead to evade a certain prophecy.

7. the worst one of them all. The Diamond of the Day. Merlin weeps because he’s confessing a secret Arthur is already supposed to know, that Arthur has known subconsciously for ten years; he weeps because Arthur will go to his grave believing Merlin lied to him about something Arthur has always, always protected him for.

(yes i’m also crying)

secrets i have held in my heart

~ merls ~ Leave a comment

ao3feed-merlinarthur:

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2v6LUDA

by

“D’you think there’s something wrong with me?” Merlin asks out of nowhere. Arthur rolls his eyes and snorts.

“Of course there’s something wrong with you.”

Merlin hums. “It’s only that I’ve never been kissed before. Don’t you think that says something about me?”

Words: 2600, Chapters: 1/7, Language: English

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2v6LUDA

Every Time I Turn Around (I See Your Face)

~ merls ~ Leave a comment

ao3feed-merlinarthur:

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2LQehPL

by

Perhaps he’d wait with his eyes closed for just a minute. Worry Merlin just because. He couldn’t feel Merlin’s hands on his body, so Merlin couldn’t feel his heartbeat. Arthur was unnaturally good at hiding the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. His wound didn’t hurt anymore, so the quietening of Arthur’s breath was almost effortless. Let that fool the fool.

(What might have happened to Merlin after Arthur’s death instead happens to Arthur.)

Words: 4300, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2LQehPL

merlin family feud

~ merls ~ Leave a comment

hosted by gaius harvey

sorcerers’ team: merlin, morgana, mordred, morgause, nimueh
knights’ team: arthur, gwaine, lancelot, leon, and kilgharrah because percy and elyan were a no-show (said they’d rather die on the battlefield than of  embarrassment)

– merlin is the one that gives the dumbest answers with the most confidence, with will in the audience yelling “good answer, merls!!”

– arthur vs morgana at the buzzer. gaius harvey: “name something that follows the word pork.” arthur gets the buzzer first. leans into the mike. the entire room goes silent. “cupine,” he says, smug. gaius walks offstage while uther cheers and claps in the audience

– gwaine does the running man whenever he gets a scoring answer. lancelot regrets ever being born

– mordred and morgana at least try to answer properly (sniping at the other team all the while)

–  gaius harvey: “if you were fixing your friend up on a blind date with anhora, how would you describe him to the friend?” kilgharrah: “he loves horns. he’s a horn-dog”

– gaius harvey: “we polled the audience for this – name something that gets hard when it gets cold.” leon: “my nipples.” morgause and nimueh start clapping sarcastically but it turns out to be the #2 answer

– fast money, gaius harvey: “name something you see on a football field during the game.” merlin automatically: “arthur’s arse.”

– gwen and hunith pretend they don’t know anyone on stage and leave after ten minutes

mickey mouse clubhouse = camelot

~ merls ~ Leave a comment

this is all @schweetheart‘s fault. also hear me out.

mickey mouse –> merlin. (EARS)

donald duck –> arthur. (splutters when asked to come up with reasonable excuses. nearly always indignant. “i’m fighting fit!”)

minnie mouse –> gwen. (what a sweetheart)

daisy duck –> morgana. (elaborate dress + acc. to Daisy Duck’s Wikipedia page: “Daisy herself sometimes exhibits a temper, but she has much greater self-control than Donald.”)

and the crowning glory, the grand finale, the pièce de résistance:

goofy –> gwaine. (Wikipedia: “He is normally characterized as extremely clumsy and dimwitted, yet this interpretation is not always definitive; occasionally Gwaine Goofy is shown as intuitive, and clever, albeit in his own unique, eccentric way.”)

~ merls ~ Leave a comment

uh holy fuck i didn’t realise i’d written gro/ups/ex before:

They did things that day. Did things unspeakably filthy because hey, they were all going to different universities and weren’t going to see each other so soon so they needn’t remember how someone swallowed Atobe’s broken moans, someone swallowed Atobe’s come, someone spread Atobe’s legs and licked him everywhere, even there, fucking him with tongues and spit-slicked fingers, and made him arch his back and sucked on his nipples and made them shiny red and kissed his cock and his six-pack abs and teased him and tempted him and left lasting marks on him and double-penetrated him and spit-roasted him and got fucked by him, tied him up with their ties and kissed his red mouth slow and deep and got his sweat and come in their hair. Fucked him with the handle of his own tennis racket while someone held him up in their arms and made him (after asking if they could) suck them all off. Heard and loved his breathing and his gasping and his moaning. Ground their hips against his and looked straight into his eyes. Some did everything. Some just watched. Then whoever could reach him held him in their arms and hugged him close, letting him fall asleep for once.