MerlinISMagic. Surely this makes him more than a little different?
I have this Headcannon that because of all his various powers, Merlin is physically quite different to what is usually expected in medical science and Gaius is completely fascinated by absolutely hates it.
I’m talking things like one day he comes stumbling into their chambers with an arrow clean through the left side of his chest, wheezing but somehow Not Dead.It’s because like his dragon kin, Merlin’s heart is on the right side of his body. Gaius swears off everything Merlin related there and then. (He lasts about 30 minutes).
Or how under the concealment charm tied to his neckerchief, Merlin’s eyes are naturaly a blazing gold all the time, fuelled by the magic in his veins. Surprisingly, they also allow him to see quite well in the dark. ‘Like a cat’ Gaius remarks when he finds out about it.
His teeth are a little too pointy? Or at least his canines are. It’s Merlin’s most obvious ‘Medical Mystery’ trait but fortunately nothing that can’t be explained away easily enough. It does however add another point to the creature side of ‘Human vs Magical Being’ tally Gaius has been keeping in his head. For scientific purposes. Of course.
Merlin’s speed and agility are much greater than it has any right to be, even if you take into account the amount of physical labour he does for Arthur; The boy practically flys over the ground. Unfortunately the knights don’t realise this until they bet all their money he couldn’t beat Gwaine in a race.
He can talk to animals too! Mind-speak is easiest but his other method has Gaius tearing out the little hair he has left because his ward Should Not Be Able To Do That. To talk to animals, Merlin simply replicates THEIR language: be that neighing, breying or barking. Laws of Vocal Chords be damned, Merlin can do it.
To top it all off, the Knights aren’t wrong when they banter with Merlin about how little he weighs. Gaius is just glad it shields the boy from anyone thinking too hard about the definitely unnatural fact HE could even lift Merlin with one hand if he so pleased. They’re not sure if it’s an Emrys thing, a hollow-boned dragon thing or if there’s some pixie blood mixed in there but Merlin is secretly quite pleased when his creeping footsteps make much less sound than anyone else’s.
Gaius dreads the day he has to treat Merlin for an illness which isn’t immediately obvious because Dear Albion it could be ANYTHING.
BONUS: for anyone with magic, Merlin can be spotted from a mile away because he literally LEAKS it. Again, Gaius says this is Not Normal and no magic should be coming out of him if he’s not actively wanting it too but the druids spot his unique trait a mile away and it puts other magic users at ease when they’re around him. It’s like a giant warm blanket.
What I love about the disaster trio - Merlin, Arthur and Gwaine - is that they are ready to die for each other in like a split second.
Marlin would die for Arthur. Arthur for Merlin. Gwaine for both of them. Like I can understand that everybody wants to protect the future king but the fact that they are ready to die for a servant (from their perspective he’s not a magician) amazes me.
The thing that makes me chuckle every time is I think there is a hierarchy among the knights like when they are riding Arthur should come first, then the best knights then less great and at the end additional people like servants. But no.
There is Arthur, Merlin and t h e n the knights. And Merlin doesn’t even go after the price, he rides along with him. Like their positions are equal.
And I wonder if the other knights ever asked Arthur about it. Like sir Leon maybe or other “hey I’m your greatest knight, shouldn’t I be at the front?”. I bet if they did they would ride at the end for the rest of their life.
oh wow,,, i just realised Mordred stabbed Arthur in his side for a reason… He could’ve easily killed Arthur straight away right then and there in that moment at Camlann yet he stabbed him in side where it wouldn’t kill him instantly. I was just thinking, Mordred had been training as a knight under Arthur I’d be surprised if he didn’t know how to kill someone instantly. And then it hit me that that’s what he wanted, he wanted Arthur to suffer like he had suffered before he died. He could’ve also known that not killing Arthur instantly would awake hope in Merlin that he could maybe save him only knowing that it would inevitably be crushed- I’m assuming Merlin most likely used his magic to keep Arthur alive longer than he should’ve been here. It also adds weight to the smile after Arthur had stabbed him back. Which I may I mentioned was a fatal stab meaning Arthur most likely had no desire to see Mordred suffer before he died because he still felt that profound fondness for a boy who he would’ve thought of like his son.
Elyan literally canonically said that Gwen raised him,,, oh yeah and then the writers killed him off and Gwen was left with no family because there was apparently some reason to do that. I’m not convinced.
Look-
Gwen most likely had to grow up really quickly for reasons we never found (thank you BBC) and take care of Elyan which makes me think what the hell was Tom doing at the time and was their mother anywhere to be seen-?
My god couldn’t the BBC just given us a little more than a smudge i want to know their backstory.
Gwen didn’t have kids with Arthur because then she would’ve been a cottagecore mega milf and we could not have handled the sheer power from her as that.
For every post I see that claims Gwaine hated Arthur or would’ve easily chosen Merlin over Arthur in any situation or even that he would’ve been perfectly fine with Merlin’s magic I gain +3 in strength and +5 in spite that’ll make me write Gwaine + Arthur as besties into even more of my fics
Like my boy did notsay “maybe some nobles are worth dying for,” attempted to kill a sorcerer for dishonouring Arthur even slightly, let Morgana torture him in Ismere, and then actually died to keep Arthur’s location save, etc. etc. for this level of disrespect istg
gwaine was willing to fight in arthur’s name in 04x05 even though he knew there was a high chance of dying and technically almost killed merlin (since he didn’t know merlin was dragoon) because he thought merlin was gonna kill arthur in 04x06 and was also completely prepared to fight the disir for arthur in 05x05 but yeah let’s say gwaine hates arthur <3
