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panharmonium · 4 years

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#1When Will comes with Merlin to Camelot, he doesn't get to be his roommate and lives (and learns to be blacksmith) in Gwen's house. Why doesn't he live with Merlin, though? Oh, it's quite simple! Ours merry gang's first priority now is 'don't let Will and Uther meet, at any cost!' (Morgana, Gwen and Arthur're all on it, Merlin invented it) Or there would be epic BURN. No one is quite sure who and how will be set on fire at the end of their meeting, and it's the worst part. Every other threat b

this is truly the crack AU fic we deserve

and - i know i’m veering off slightly from the above premise, which was about merlin’s magic being revealed earlier, but - the comedic potential of a will lives!au where everybody thinks he can do magic and he very obviously cannot is limitless, especially if he’s maintaining the ruse precisely so merlin can stay hidden

merlin running around after him trying to surreptitiously make the right magical things happen on cue and will getting progressively closer and closer to strangling him for getting will mixed up in this business to begin with, though merlin always counters will’s moments of frustration with “why don’t you leave, then,” and will can’t say anything to that because he knows that merlin knows he would never

arthur being very reluctant and unwilling to resort to will’s “services” for a veritable AGE and then eventually at long last lowering himself so far as to admit that they might possibly, maybe need will’s particular brand of help on something, only he doesn’t want to admit that he’s resorting to magic, so he tiptoes around the subject like it’s a piece of spoilt cheese on his plate

arthur: we have come to...ask for...assistance.

will: with what

arthur: with...an issue

will: what sort of issue

arthur: a...special situation. requiring a...a unique approach

will: what sort of approach

arthur, to will, whilst glaring directly at merlin, morgana, and gwen: it has been expressed to me numerous times by a number of insufferably solicitous people that perhaps on this occasion it would be prudent for us to...to make use of your...abilities

will: my what now

arthur: your...you know. your...abnormalities.

will: ...mate you must think i won’t kill you because i saved your hide that one time

uther is on house arrest IT’S WHAT HE DESERVES XD XD XD

i’ve always been interested in the idea of how lancelot and will would get on, too! lancelot would be charming and gracious as ever, i’m sure, though i think it might take will a little longer to warm up to him - i think will would like him on a personal level, but i do think he would shake his head at lancelot’s utter devotion to camelot/arthur/the knighthood, because to will that stuff is nonsense, and harmful nonsense at that. but also i think that will respects people who don’t dissemble - lancelot is what he appears to be, and his ideals and his conduct are truly honorable in the most genuine way, and so i think they would like each other, ultimately. will would appreciate lancelot’s depth of conviction, even if will is always going to be more skeptical of his dedication to the knighthood and the throne.

i agree that will would never allow anyone to knight him. he’s not here for that. will is Plain Folk right down to his marrow, and proud to be so. he’s not interested in serving any lord; he’s here for his common neighbors.

uhhhhh in short - this is the best au in general, aha; i am here for it!!!! probably the only thing i would ever even consider changing if i were to expand on this scenario is that i wouldn’t necessarily have will choosing the forge as a career (though granted, i think will could figure smithing out just fine; he’s clever enough to manage whatever he wants to put his hands to) - but we actually have canonical evidence that will already has a trade :D (which is a thing i expect absolutely no one to know, obviously, and i am actually deeply embarrassed to even admit that i know, because it indicates that yes, i have in fact been this in-depth about researching this character - )

but anyway, i am sure that he is not formally trained and hasn’t entered a guild or anything like that; those opportunities don’t exist where he lives and he’s too poor to afford the entry fee even if they did - but will definitely supplements his agricultural pursuits with carpentry.

his house in ealdor is overflowing with hewn timber, and you can see a half-finished piece of some precisely carved project or other on the workbench to the left of merlin:

he has a grindstone in his house, as well as a shaving horse, which is a bench/clamp device specific to woodworking:

and almost every time we see him come out of his house, he’s got woodworking tools in hand (mallet, chisel, etc):

so! will is a woodwright! albeit probably a half-trained one, who learned, i would assume, from his father, before his father got snatched up by the army (all guesses, of course, but reasonable ones, i think.)

HOWEVER......i am NEVER going to turn down a smith!will AU, because a) that’s just badass, and b) he could hang out with elyan and gwen, and c) it would be shockingly easy to find appropriate gifs and images to illustrate your universe, because obviously joe dempsie also played gendry in game of thrones and uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

that’s one heck of a look, ok

#no kings no masters #the once and future slowburn #for want of a woodwright #replies #he fits right in with the rest of the 'camelot's next top model' squad tbh #will may not want to be knighted but he's got those Round Table muscles folks #if ever there were evidence that will was supposed to survive and join the crew in camelot #it's gifs of shirtless joe dempsie hammering an anvil in front of the flaming gates of hell #actually it's that specific gif of gendry slamming an ax down into a block of wood and saying 'it's strong enough'#before striding away all satisfied #that is the most HARDCORE kind of 'camelot's next top model' energy mmk #also #i am DELIGHTED that someone took time to send me a will!au; thank you so much; this was like...the best thing ever

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