Merlin and his ghosts

Last year work for a zine that I can finally post

i cannot believe he is the once and future king-he is so dumbass :''')

more merlin as textposts

Merlin, *walks into a round table meeting and passes out on the table*

Merlin: I swear to the gods, if the prat doesn’t stop destroying his rooms every time he can’t find me

Arthur: I can hear you, and it serves you right for spending four whole days in the tavern.

Merlin, *crying in frustration and having not slept in four days*

Lancelot, *casually pets Merlin’s hair, earning glares from Arthur*

Morgana, *laughing into a scrying pool*

Mordred: the tavern? I thought he was fighting Morgana after she sent that beast to kill Arthur

Merlin, muffled by the table: shut the fuck up, Mordred.

battle of camlann but merlin wasn’t ancient as shit. he blasts the warriors around arthur away and arthur turns to see a glowering, golden-eyed merlin. he tightens his grip on his sword but isn’t able to raise it. the inconceivable notion that merlin has betrayed him runs through his mind but he cant quite grasp it. his father is screaming in his head to kill the wretched sorcerer but all arthur can see is his friend wearing a face that looks too much like morgana’s. merlin glances up at arthur and the expression of rage fizzles into one tinged with fear and concern - all too confusing for him to unpack in the midst of battle. merlin is slow to approach his side and even then he keeps his distance. before either of them can say anything, mordred appears, sword in hand, glaring at arthur.

merlin tries to draw the former knights attention away from arthur, tries to goad him into fighting merlin instead, but mordred is deadset on fighting arthur. he calls morgana over instead and says emrys’s fight is with her while his is with arthur. with the extra seconds of back and forth, arthur isn’t as shocked when he raises his sword against mordred’s. morgana and merlin blast each other great distances until they’re far away from modred vs arthur and land on the front line between the two armies. both armies back off and watch the light show as morgana and emrys battle until morgana’s army uses the distraction to close in on camelot’s army.

three battles occurring at once until morgana gets a lucky hit in and merlin goes flying. he lands next to a gwaine who is currently bleeding out. he smiles when he sees who’s next to him “merlin!” which sounds so much like his greeting every time they ran into each other before gwaine became a knight. he reaches out and heals gwaine’s wound and leon just looks up at him for a moment before going “you’re always full of surprises, aren’t you merlin?” merlin grins and goes “i got one more” he stands up on surprisingly steady legs and calls on kilgharrah. in for a penny, out for a pound. arthur is already fuming at him, might as well rip the bandaid off right?

kilgharrah attacks morgana’s army while merlin orders aithusa to stand down. camelot’s army is able to march through the charred army and bring down those who remain, mordred is loosing but persevering through rage and spite alone, morgana is screaming (like she always is nowadays). merlin and morgana battle once more until mordred and morgana’s armies have fallen. merlin makes a tactical retreat to arthur who is still staring at him wearily (and definitely irate). he requests permission to kill morgana which is baffling but she is his sister and he’s always cared for her even after her betrayal so he supposes it makes sense. once he gives it, their fight doesn’t last longer than a minute. emrys was always stronger than her, he was just buying time.

camelot emerges victorious though they don’t seem all that excited about it. the other warriors cheer and clap each other on the back, but arthur is just watching merlin. the knights watch them uneasily. merlin returns arthur’s gaze. “is that the fucking dragon i killed?” merlin looks up at kilgharrah who is needlessly burning the remains of morgana’s army. merlin turns back to him “yes.”

It’s been years and I’m still not over the switch between “rests on the shoulders of a young boy” to “rests on the shoulders of a young man,” and I doubt I ever will be

Merlin: God, if only someone loved me… Arthur: standing behind them with a wedding ring roses Freya: holding box of chocolates Gwaine: has balloons Gwen: holding out a flower crown Mordred: has a card Morgana: bringing him special books Lance: literally just dropped everything he was doing because Merlin needed help carrying things Gaius: facepalms This is sad.

im so glad colin and bradley didnt randomly age in their appearances a whole lot throughout the show, because despite time passing arthur and merlin, though older, still hold a sense of pureness and youth to them and THAT is what kills me. Idc how old they are, theyre just kids trying their best. Idc same with morgana, she looks so young, they all do, not child like but not like an adult who knows what theyre doing.

Theyre all just kids trying their best in a world where adults are constantly telling them whats right and wrong and it breaks my heart.

Like youre telling me when arthur gets stabbed he doesnt look like just a boy? He doesnt radiate man who has has the experience of a lifetime, none of them do, theyre all just about to start their lives and yet theyre faced with the world against them.

As arthur dying in merlins arms, theyre just kids. Theyre just two boys, one whose mothers far away and the other whose fathers long gone, both trying to figure out how to live. Both stuck in situations far too mature for them. It almost feels like throughout the show an adult needs to step in, like what do you mean arthur has all this responsibility? Hes just A BOY???

Dont bc they’re literally all just kids and it makes me sad

This is my hot take on this

I started watching Merlin under the assumption that I’d get some fun history nerd moments and that Merthur was just another fannon mlm ship with little canonical basis but HOLY SHIT I’ve literally seen cannon straight couples with less sexual tension than whatever the fuck those two had going on.

bbc merlin is a show that has the power of queerbait and straightbait at the same time, and is not afraid to use it. I started watching for merthur and ended up shipping hard mergwen and mergana as well, only for none of these to happen.

Merlin had such a ridiculous amount of chemistry with everyone he met, the writers panicked and just killed everyone instead.

Merlin ended 10 years ago. TEN YEARS AGO.

I made a post last year for 9 years saying how I love that the fandom was alive and thriving. A lot of people shared their stories of Merlin and what it means to them, which was so special. But a few people didn't agree that it was alive and thriving...

... for a show that ended 10 years ago, almost every day new fics are posted, fanart, edits, reactions, interactions, friendships made. It is incredible how much of an affect Merlin had on so many lives.

So, please feel free to tell us your experience of Merlin, or take this chance to reflect on it, and celebrate a show that continues to mean so much to so many people.

Long live Merlin!

lives were changed. trauma was HAD.

Merlin: I’m incapable of love. I’m a monster, I kill people without hesitation, I lie and keep secrets, people think I’m a drunk, and I’m also actively breaking at least twelve laws at any given moment.

Also Merlin: *makes butterflies and flowers out of his magic, puts on light shows with fire embers and would do literally anything for the people he cares about*

Arthur, Lancelot, Gwaine and many, many others: I am… deeply in love with him.

Arthur: Tonight, one of you will betray me

Merlin: Is it me, Arthur?

Arthur: No, it’s not you.

Gwen: Is it me, Arthur?

Arthur: No, it's not you.

Morgana: Is it me, Arthur?

Arthur: ...

Arthur, mockingly: Is IT mE aRtHUr?