Who is this? and what is here? And in the lighted palace near Died the sound of royal cheer; And they cross’d themselves for fear, All the knights at Camelot: But Lancelot mused a little space; He said, “She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott.”
Sir Launcelot Rescues Queen Guenever -He rode his way with the queen unto Joyous Gard
Illustrator: NC Wyeth
Illustration published in, The Boy’s King Arthur; Sir Thomas Malory’s history of King Arthur and his knights of the Round table Edited by Sidney Lanier Charles Scribner & Sons, New York 1908
Some of you have never purchased a dead parrot but you didn’t realize it was dead until you got home and then you had to go back to the pet shop to complain but the employee keeps saying it’s pining for the fjords and that’s it plumage is lovely when the plumage doesn’t enter into it and it really shows.
why Morgana became evil in the first place? Because like I don’t get it? It wasn’t because Merlin tried to poison her (she was already bad then) or because he hurt her sister or because she learned Uther is her actual father. What actual reason did she have? Affection for Mordred? Murder of Gwen’s father? If she was a attached to Gwen why did she treat her so badly after she became bad? I really don’t understand it.
Why does Agraveine wants to help Morgana kill Arthur? It makes zero sense. Yes he hates Uther because he killed his sister. But like he can choose either his sister’s son or Uther’s daughter (who has no attachment to him whatsoever) and he chooses her? What does he have against Arthur? His father? Morgana has the same father. What. Is. Going. On?
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.
Also the disaster fourth aka sir Lancelot who went from “ugh self sacrifice” (for Arthur) to “yes self sacrifice” (for Merlin) real quick.
The relationship between Arthur and Merlin at the point of the end of season three is something different.
When Arthur tells Gwaine and Elyan to take Gaius and go to the woods it seems for a moment he completely forgot about Merlin. Only when he turns back to him he’s like “oh yea you’re not my shadow after all, you’re your own person you may wanna go with them” - because let’s face it for most of the time Arthur treats Merlin like some kind of inseparable part of himself (when Arthur goes somewhere alone he’s taking Merlin, which in my interpretation is not alone, but I feel like for them it is - they are two sides of the same coin and that coin is going alone on a quest).
And Merlin is like “nah” because his place is with Arthur. And Arthur seems pleased. Which is funny because Gwaine or even Elyan would be more helpful in a battle (at least from the non magical perspective). But no. Arthur want Merlin and Merlin is okay with that.
Then at the round table when everybody except Merlin devoted themselves to battle and to Arthur, Arthur is like “Merlin get up we’re the same coin you can’t split the coin”. And Merlin is like “I know I just wanted to be asked personally”.
It’s like they are inseparable. But not like at the beginning when Merlin was clinging to Arthur so he can protect him. It’s unanimous now.
Arthur “I’m Arthur and that’s the other part of me - Merlin” Pendragon
And Merlin “even when he goes alone we’re going together” the Young Warlock
TheBBC Merlin SountrackhadNO RIGHT to go that hard.
Listen to this! 2:10 - 2:41 of ‘Merlin buries lancelot’ has me in literal CHILLS. The grief and loss and magic and love that crescendo conveys is just so extraordinary I have to go and be alone for a while.
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.
![Arthur *stares brooding out of the window*Merlin *rants*Courting rituals >> [HERE]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/8b63248902fd57cd9fa350b3d920da7b/3df85364b4b0ed37-3d/s1280x1920/e030840539db7c96e6c94906510ff31994dfc463.jpg "Arthur *stares brooding out of the window*Merlin *rants*Courting rituals >> [HERE]")
![Arthur *stares brooding out of the window*Merlin *rants*Courting rituals >> [HERE]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/68f496c5f5a6d33eb39bf7376f6639bb/3df85364b4b0ed37-ec/s1280x1920/9b401bdc59bd0f10662bb5a25f6ec6fecccc0d67.jpg "Arthur *stares brooding out of the window*Merlin *rants*Courting rituals >> [HERE]")
![Arthur *stares brooding out of the window*Merlin *rants*Courting rituals >> [HERE]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/c2faed6d2f566f4d7102a1f2392367f1/3df85364b4b0ed37-fe/s1280x1920/ff32d2aed12cd6148249c7effc70b3295aa7a4e3.jpg "Arthur *stares brooding out of the window*Merlin *rants*Courting rituals >> [HERE]")
![Arthur *stares brooding out of the window*Merlin *rants*Courting rituals >> [HERE]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3f68cb55d4bf1261076ea42965a848e6/3df85364b4b0ed37-7c/s1280x1920/6973e9c4d3b7d0cfeb4ed18b4c8573fea64d2f5f.jpg "Arthur *stares brooding out of the window*Merlin *rants*Courting rituals >> [HERE]")
