ooc ♔ application @ realityshifted
Player Name: Mel
Player LJ: melissa_228
Email and/or AIM: melinelly228
Timezone: EST
Other Characters:
archaeologist
quecaneatit
dreamrecalled
endofruins
Character: Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot
Series/Fandom: Merlin (BBC)
Deviance: 2 - Uther is killed at the end of To Kill the King and Arthur becomes the new king of Camelot.
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Species: Arrogant king dude; he's also considered human in most circles.
Canon Used: television because well...the show contradicts too many of the legends to use any other canon really.
Appearance: another blond idiot who enjoys handling his sword
Psychology: Arthur is a prat, a tsundere prat. The end.
Well, not really. It could be, but more than that is required of a psychology so I will provide that for you right now.
First thing first, Arthur has a daddy complex. He always wanted very much to please his father, Uther. Some part of Arthur always felt that Uther resented him due to Arthur's mother Ygraine dying in childbirth. Arthur blames himself a bit for his mother's death as well. There's a small part of him that blames himself for his father's as well. Perhaps if he'd accompanied them, things might have been different. All in all, being Uther's son involves Guilt of the Catholic Variety. On top of this he worried that Uther thought Arthur wasn't good enough to be his son or the heir to Camelot. So Arthur always tried really hard to please his father and swallow down certain objections he had because he wanted to prove himself to his father as loyal and worthy. As Arthur grew, he was able to question his father more, but his need to please his father and his need to be worthy in his father's eyes always were extremely important to him. This is why Uther's death hit Arthur very hard. He doesn't feel he's ready to be king yet, and he's almost certain Uther wouldn't see him as ready to be king. This just adds more stress to his new role, and makes him more determined to preserve Camelot and his father's ideals. He's not quite ready to make any changes just yet, and he's more concerned about preserving what his father created versus reforming or changing the old ways.
This means that Arthur is not quite ready to lift the ban on magic or change his official attitude on magic. Arthur had always been taught by Uther that magic is evil, and it is a difficult thing to unlearn. Uther's death has only made Arthur idolize him more, the way people idolize and whitewash those who have passed on. Although, despite the fact that he will argue that magic is inherently evil when presented with the topic, you can kind of spot somewhere around the edges that he's not so sure about this, and wonders if magic really is all that bad. It's one of the things he wouldn't dare question his father's judgment about just yet though, but it's still something he wonders about and isn't completely inflexible about.
Arthur actually shows a surprising amount of flexibility and compassion when it comes to people. He may be a prat at times, but he really does care about the greater good and defending his kingdom, his people, and anyone that seems to need help. He will make sacrifices for the sake of his people, he will show mercy towards his people, and hist top priority is the welfare, happiness and prosperity of Camelot and its people. He's very good at inspiring his people and he is a natural born leader, despite his own insecurities about this role.
He is also clearly chivalrous since he is you know, King Arthur. Before Uther's death, he was always ready to go into battle even when the odds were against him, and showed himself to be very protective of his knights. He worked very hard to train them and he is very willing to put his life in danger. The only problem is he's not allowed to do that anymore, due to being King and the absence of an heir. He married Morgana to give some appearance of stability, but he did have to step down as leader of the knights. He gave that role to Sir Leon and he brought back Lancelot, and the knights are still a strong cohesive unit. He misses it terribly though, and feels pretty stagnant and trapped now. He'd rather be out on the battlefield than worrying over treaties and politics. It's not a role he feels comfortable in, and he's convinced he's not fit to fill it, but he has no choice. It means he depends a lot on Morgana for the political and courtly things, and Merlin for keeping him sane and in his place.
Just because Arthur is insecure though, doesn't mean he's lacking in pride. If anything, pride is his fatal flaw. This might be in part due to his insecurities and his need to prove himself to be the best, even when he doesn't always agree with this statement. He has always needed to prove himself to his father, to his knights, his kingdom, and now to every other outside kingdom who thinks Camelot will crumble due to Arthur's inexperience. In the past, even when he knew something was probably suicidal he wouldn't back down because he didn't want to appear cowardly. Now he doesn't have that same luxury, which adds to the feeling of stagnation he feels being king. He also has a certain attitude towards women and people he assumes are weaker than him, in that he can't let it seem like they're stronger than him. When he is challenged his first instinct is to accept the challenge in order to protect his honour. He's quickly learning he can't do that anymore, which is a struggle for him to say the least. His pride is one of his biggest downfalls and it comes into play in quite a few episodes.
He's also very stubborn. If he's wrong he won't usually admit it, or if he does, he'll do it in a way where it's almost questionable whether or not he really just apologized or what just happened. He is the king after all, so that does count for something. Once upon a time the crown and title of crowned prince went to his head. Now the crown of a king feels far too heavy. That doesn't mean the pressure of being king makes him feel any less entitled. He can be rather pompous well, almost all of the time really, especially as far as Merlin is concerned. Although it should be noted that when it really is important or when it does matter, Arthur can admit he's wrong and does try to make up for what he's done. He can be truly caring although he tries to hide this, and so if he has really fouled up, he can humble himself and truly mean it.
But speaking of Merlin and being secretly caring, Arthur's also not very good at displaying affection. He usually hides his affection for people behind indifference or mockery or snarkiness. This is especially evident in his interactions with Merlin and Morgana. While he shows respect or a mild indifference when necessary, if he really likes you he will be a prat. He's very tsundere. Although with Guinevere it's a bit different, he's still a prat, although it's an accidental prat since he fails at understanding commoners. He's a rich bastard, okay? Despite how insulting he can be towards these people though, they are also the ones he respects and cares for the most, and their counsel and criticism are invaluable to him now more than ever.
Other Skills/Abilities: He is pretty awesome at being a knight. He's got the whole thing down really well, the fencing the jousting the fighting mythological creatures that threaten to destroy your kingdom. All that.
Other Weaknesses: He's human still, and still prone to all the same human weaknesses. He's also a jerk.
History: Scary monsters show up in Camelot ready to destroy the whole place because Arthur's dad Uther is a douche. Arthur charges off to save the day and kills the monsters and is the awesome hero, the end. Until AU hits him and Uther's douche dad dies and now Arthur is stuck being king. (Also, unknown to Arthur, Merlin might have used the power of ~love~ ~magic~ to help Arthur save the day.)
AND NOW I WILL TRY AN ACTUAL HISTORY:
So a long time ago, in a land of myth and legend there was destiny and chicken and things to be had (although we haven't yet arrived at destiny and chicken...but still, it's a theme). But anyway, long time ago, land of myth and legend, young boys, blah blah blah stuff. But before any of that happened there is some important backstory pieces that our hero here isn't even fully aware of, but shed light on the current climate in Camelot.
SO let's rewind about 21 years and 9 months, give or take. Camelot is a kingdom where magic coexists quite happily with the normal day to day life. People practice the old religion quite freely, dragons might be seen chilling out at the local pub maybe, but either way things are good. The kingdom is ruled by King Uther, he has a hot wife name Igraine who he loves a great deal and things are good. The only thing is Uther is starting to worry about his wife not producing an heir, like really worry. He worries about the future of Camelot and the Pendragon dynasty and all that junk. So he goes to this friend of his, Nimueh, who is a pretty powerful witch. He tells her that he really wants a son, and she explains to him the way magic works. The balance of life and death, and to create a life another life must be taken. Uther understands this, but he really wants a kid, and the survival of Camelot and Uther's name is far more important than one human life. So he agrees that after being told of the consequences of such an action, he still really really wants a kid. And so Nimueh works her magic and Igraine finds out she is pregnant. Only thing is that the entire life for a life thing needs to be balanced out and all that, and that life that is taken so Arthur can be born is Igraine's. And while most people at this point would realize their own selfish actions led to this unfortunate loss, we're not dealing with most people. We're dealing with Uther the Douche. So Uther decides that this is all the fault of magic, despite the fact that he was warned about the consequences, and he wages an epic war on all forms of magic, the old religion, and anyone suspected of practicing or supporting the practice of any form of magic or witchcraft. And so Uther outlawed magic, killed a lot of people, chased out a lot of other people, and left a ton of people with scores to settle with Uther and Camelot, which will become Arthur and Merlin's problem twenty-one years later.
And now let's use the power of television magic to fast forward to that point riiiiiiiiiiiight NOW
So Camelot is holding a great big awesome party to celebrate 20 years of peace and things since magic has been banished. And what's the best way to do this you might ask? Well a public execution of a suspected practitioner of magic, of course! And this is exactly what Uther does, because well...because he's Uther. Unfortunately, the person he executes just happens to have a mom who is pretty powerful and magically inclined. She's rather pissed that her son died, and so in a theme that happens again and again, in order to get revenge on Uther she is going to plot to kill Arthur.
But there is a party to be had, and Uther loves a great party, so he has to have awesome entertainment - and it comes in the form of Gwen from Torchwood. She's hot and she can sing. This is good enough for Uther, particularly the hot part since he does like to get his flirt on. Unfortunately the pissed off witch mom runs into Gwen from Torchwood on her way to the party, kills her, and then takes on her appearance, so she can get into the Court and go kill Arthur for great revenge!
Meanwhile Arthur is rather unaware of the events going on around him that are putting his life in danger. He's just obliviously being a prat and bullying his current manservant. Rudely, this skinny kid with big ears bumbles along and butts in when it's not his business. So after some posturing and insult trading, Arthur has him thrown into the stocks.
And thus starts one of the biggest bromances partnerships in history, Arthur and Merlin.
So intrigue is happening, Gwen from Torchwood is preparing to sing Arthur to death (really almost quite literally), Merlin is having rotten vegetables hurled at him, Arthur is going back to chilling with his friends and picking on people, Uther is flirting and making eyes and hot women, Gaius (Merlin's guardian) is doing sciencey things, all is right in the world of Camelot...that is until Merlin decides to start trouble again. Of course he totally cheats and uses magic (unknown to Arthur - like so many things tend to be) and trips Arthur up...and so back to the stocks with Merlin, where he rightly belongs.
But the story continues, we get to our party, drinking and fun are being had, Gwen from Torchwood sings and it's really pretty and ... putting everyone to sleep, except Merlin. Merlin ends up saving Arthur's life not once, but twice. The second time he does this everyone sees, including Arthur and Uther. So long story short, Merlin saves the day, Gwen from Torchwood dies when a chandelier falls on her, happy endings all around. And Uther, being the douche he is decides the best way to reward this heroic act is to make Merlin Arthur's manservant. No one except for the Slash Dragon is amused. (Well maybe Uther is as well, because he's Uther)
So now as we venture into episode two our hero is stuck with the torture that is Merlin as your manservant. Poor Arthur, let's all pity him. Merlin is rubbish, he can't even properly shine armour, what the hell is that about? And on top of all that, Arthur has to prepare for the big tournament (there always seems to be a big tournament. I guess it was the thing to do in Camelot or something) and there is a lot of pressure on him, what with being the future king and all that junk. So to make this rather rubbish week even worse, this pompous knight bloke whose name really is ~Valiant~ comes into town, and he starts hogging the attention big time and looks like he might actually have a chance of beating Arthur in the tournament, which means even more stress is on Arthur, which means he has to practice even harder, and seriously of course this has to be just when his father sticks him with this rubbish Merlin bloke. And on top of all that, Valiant is trying to tap Morgana, Arthur's sort of step-sister that he has a total crush on. The nerve of this Valiant guy, seriously.
Except Merlin comes to him and says he saw Valiant's shield and it looks to be enchanted with poisonous snakes. Despite Merlin being rather terrible at best, Arthur does have a strange intuitive trust of Merlin. Perhaps it's because he saved his life before and didn't have to, but regardless of this, he does trust Merlin and brings his concerns to his father. When Valiant is called forward, however, his shield appears to be nothing out of the ordinary. Arthur is humiliated and then must go back into training mode. He sends Merlin away and focuses on training and things, because he needs to be ready. Despite sending him off, Merlin returns, because he is bothersome that way. Arthur admits that he believes Merlin, but no one else does, and if he withdraws from the tournament his father and subjects will think he's a coward, and because he's an idiot, he would rather die than appear to be a coward.
So Arthur and Valiant are fighting it out, but suddenly the enchantment in the swords seems to be activated and snakes come out. Everyone is shocked, but Arthur kills the snakes, defeats Valiant, Merlin is proven not to be a liar, and Arthur wins the tournament and it's a happy ending all around. Arthur saves the day, yet again (unknowingly with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin).
And so we see a nice bond forming between all our main protagonists. The power of the BBC ensemble cast strikes again.
So next story we return to the theme of WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC ARE UTHER'S GREAT ENEMIES. Also, we meet Nimueh for the first time! So the water in Camelot is poisoned, and after eliminating science as the cause, everyone knows it must be magic. So Uther tells Arthur to have his men search Camelot for any signs or traces of magic in their midst, and Arthur, being the good son he is says 'yes father' and gets to work.
Along the way, they go to search the home of Gwen (not from Torchwood) or Guinevere as Arthur seems to call her (I'm sure she'll be of little importance in the end), handmaiden to Morgana, and all around regular in the Court, what with being Morgana's BFF. While conducting their search, they find a magical object, right under Gwen's father's bed. Gwen's father who had been close to death but had mysteriously healed suddenly. With no choice, Arthur must place Gwen under arrest now for practicing magic. And like all our protagonist's, she gets her turn being thrown in the dungeon.
(Now, obviously, as the reader might be well aware, all things that go wrong can be blamed on Merlin, and this is no exception. Merlin and Gwen are also BFFs, and he didn't want her dad to die, so he worked his magic and...well...now Gwen is in the dungeon ready to be tried and most likely killed for being a witch. Good job, Merlin :|b)
So Uther decides the witch must die, even after Arthur and Morgana insist that Gwen is innocent and Uther can't do this and all that. Merlin, being the hero he is, comes forward and declares he's the real sorcerer. Arthur steps in to save his boyfriend though, explaining to Uther that Merlin just has a crush on Gwen and is lying to foolishly save her life. Uther says whatever, and Arthur drags Merlin away before he can do anything else stupid.
Later on Merlin and Morgana come to Arthur saying that an Afanc, a mythological creature thing, is what is causing the poisoned water. This is something that can only be conjured by a powerful sorcerer or sorceress, and they need to destroy it now to save Gwen and Camelot. Arthur finally agrees after some convincing from Morgana and Arthur and the three of them venture down to the vault that the Afanc is living in and Arthur of course saves the day! (unknowingly with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin).
Gwen lives, everyone celebrates, another bonding experience bringing all our protagonists even closer. YAY! And for those of you keeping score, that powerful sorceress conjuring the Afanc, totally Nimueh, who is watching somewhere in her magic watery mirror thing, cursing Merlin and all his friends. If it wasn't for those meddling kids...
So Nimueh needs to take a more direct approach clearly. And how might she do that, you ask? Why,coming to Camelot herself of course! And just in time for another party, too. (There's always a party going on in Camelot!)
So anyway, Camelot has been at war with Mercia for a while now, but they have finally declared peace. And Uther, always looking for an excuse for a party, decides they need to have a big bash to celebrate this peace thing. So Bayard, king of Mercia, and a bunch of his buddies and servants and soldiers and things come to Camelot, ready to party and declare peace and stuff. Now, one of these servants though, is really Nimueh in disguise. I know, shocking!
SO ANYWAY...stuff happens, Arthur just wants to drink, but he never gets the chance. It's tragic, I know! Merlin rushes in, telling Arthur he can't drink from his goblet, it's been DUN DUN DUN...POISONED! BY BAYARD! GASP! Everyone is very GASP GASP GASP, and Bayard is all 'what the hell, no, you jerk :|!' Finally Uther is just like "look, Merlin, since you enjoy crashing parties so much, you drink the goblet. If it's poisoned, well you're proven right. If it's not, Bayard can do whatever he likes with you." Arthur protests this very strongly, because either way his boyfriend manservant (I don't think that sounds much better actually) ends up dead. But Merlin, being the hero he is drinks from the goblet...and...is...POISONED.
Bayard and his people are thrown into the dungeons, Arthur takes Merlin to Gaius in hopes of science saving the day, everything is very dramatic and upsetting and worrying and things. Looking at the chalice however, they find a leaf of the mortaeous flower. It is super poisonous, and the only cure...is to find that flower and do ... something sciencey with it. So Arthur is ready to dash off and save the day -- except Uther says he can't go.
BUT after some prompting from Morgana and junk, Arthur sneaks out anyway. He finds the very remote cave where the flowers are, finds a girl in distress, lets her tag along while he goes looking for the flower, but GASP!!! It's NIMUEH!!! Leading him to the cave for his DOOM. She tells him that she's the one who poisoned the chalice and now she is going to leave him in the cave to die, with the giant spiders she creates out of nowhere. She also says she can't be the one that kills him, but again, that doesn't stop her from leaving him to die.
BUT BECAUSE HE IS STRONG AND COURAGEOUS AND AWESOME HE ESCAPES THE SCARY SPIDERS!!! ( unknowingly with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin who even in a coma finds a way to save his boyfriend master (still not better) prince (again, not better, but whatever) ).
So Arthur returns to Camelot with the flower, but because Uther is a douche, he sends Arthur to the dungeon for disobeying him. (see, all our protagonists get thrown in there by Uther, it's a trend). But Arthur and Gwen are very sneaky, and are able to sneak the flower out of the dungeon to Gaius who makes an antidote to save Merlin. Gaius goes to Uther, explains that the poison was made with magic, and Bayard and his people are freed to go home. When Arthur tells his father about the woman in the cave, Uther explains it was Nimueh and goes on to say this proves just how evil magic is, end of story. Oh Uther, you douche.
But next we get Lancelot! Lancelot he likes to dance a lot he likes to...sorry. But Lancelot comes to town and everyone falls in love with him because he really is that hot and dashing and things. He saves Merlin one day (which as Arthur points out really isn't that impressive) and he tells Merlin that he wants to be a knight, and so Merlin says he'll put in a word to Arthur. So Merlin talks to Arthur, and the knight candidates at the moment are rather rubbish and after confirming with Merlin that Lancelot was born of nobility, Arthur agreed to let him try out to be a knight. The only problem is, Merlin is a dirty dirty liar. DIRTY. SO Merlin forges some documents for Lancelot, Lancelot tries out for knighthood and junk, after the requisite tsundere-ness Arthur embraces his new bro, and everything is good.
Except, Uther is a douche.
Uther doesn't believe Lancelot is nobility, and when he gets the proof of this he has Lancelot thrown into one of the dungeons (sound familiar?). Arthur argues with his dad to let his new boyfriend go because he's hot and talented and there is also a Griffin to be killed and most of Arthur's knights are rather fail and Arthur needs Lancelot. Uther says no, and Arthur can't stand to see his new boyfriend locked up so he goes down and sneaks him out, but tells him he can never return to Camelot again.
So Arthur goes off to slay the Griffin with his fail knights, and Arthur's boyfriends can't leave him to die. So Lancelot and Merlin ride off to save him. When they get there Arthur is knocked out on the ground, and so Lancelot gets to work to slay that beast and junk, but a sword isn't enough, so Merlin tries to sneak in some magic, and Arthur wakes up in time to see Lancelot kill the Griffin (unknown to Arthur, all with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin). Arthur is happy his other boyfriend Lancelot killed the Griffin and rushes home to tell his dad. Uther continues being a douche, and Lancelot is so valiant and noble that he says he doesn't want to cause family problems, so he will go off and be noble elsewhere.
Camelot is that much less hotter without Lancelot. It is tragic.
Next we get the episode where Gaius is picked on horribly. A new physician comes to town and works to discredit Gaius. Of course Uther believes this guy over his BFFL Gaius. Gaius goes through the ringer and Uther actually fires Gaius. It is terrible. This is all because Edwin, the new physician has a score to settle with Uther. He watched his parents burn as witches and as a child he tried to step in and save them and his face was very badly scarred. So again, bad things come down to Uther being a douche. So in his new role as court physician, Edwin poisons Uther. Despite everything that has happened, Gaius still wants to save Uther, but he needs Merlin's help. Merlin is reluctant, due to Uther's douchitude, but he finally relents and helps save Uther's life. Uther wakes up and thanks Gaius for saving his life. (unknown to Uther, he was saved with the help of magic :| thanks to Merlin).
Our next story is squicky and has date rapish kind of vibes to it, and begins a trend of Arthur getting stuck with the love whammy. Morgana starts having nightmares about Arthur drowning at the hands of a princess. Of course this is very important. Meanwhile, while Morgana is having her nightmares, Arthur and Merlin finds a girl and her father being attacked by robbers. Arthur of course valiantly saves them (unknowingly with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin). Arthur brings the girl and her father back to court. He introduces himself as Ulfric and his daughter as Sophia, explaining that the kingdom he was meant to inherit was ransacked by bandits, and he and his daughter were forced to flee. Uther loves a party, so of course he invites the two of them to chill out in Camelot for a while. Morgana, upon seeing them, very quickly freaks out since this is the girl she saw in her dream drowning Arthur. She tells Gwen about the dream, but refuses to say anything to anyone else, for fear of what Uther might do to her.
Meanwhile Arthur has been love whammied and starts ditching his duties. Merlin covers for him and is promptly thrown into the stocks (his second home). During this time, Sophia increases the love whammy on Arthur and Morgana tells Sophia she'll cut a bitch if anything happens to Arthur and Merlin finds Ulfric's magical staff and knows that he and Sophia are up to know good. During all this however Sophia has upped the love whammy to the point where Arthur is completely under her control and has no free will of his own.
So Sophia takes him to Avalon, where she intends on having Arthur sacrifice himself. She and her father used to live in the realm of fairies, but her father was exiled and Sophia with him. The only way to get back in is to make the correct sacrifice, and Arthur is the perfect one. Her dad can't go back with her though, and at first she refuses to go, but then he tells her she must. So she walks Arthur into the lake and begins to drown him. Of course his boyfriend comes to save the day and kills both Sophia and Ulfric.
When Arthur wakes up he's back at Camelot with no memory of what happened. Merlin tells him that he ran off to elope with Sophia and so Merlin had to knock him out and drag him back to Camelot. Arthur finds this to be the greatest humiliation of all and orders Merlin not to tell anyone. Again, Merlin covers for Arthur's absence and Uther has him thrown in the stocks. (Which really, clearly, is his second home).
Our next story involves a Druid boy who witnesses his father's murder. He runs away though and is not caught by the guards. Uther however orders that this boy be found and killed. Arthur seems to follow his father's instructions, but after a few words with Morgana he can't stand by and let a child die who hasn't committed a crime. Also somewhere along the way, Morgana has her turn being thrown into the dungeon, because like we said before, all our protagonists get thrown in at least once. Meanwhile the Slash Dragon keeps insisting to Merlin that this boy should die or else Arthur is doomed, and Merlin almost lets this happen, but because he's a sweet derp he can't really let an innocent child die. So the boy is saved and Arthur sneaks off into the night to return him to the Druids so he can live happily every after and of course never cause trouble for any of them again. As the Druids thank him for returning the boy, Arthur finally asks what his name is. "Mordred," the boy tells him. So yeah...that's not going to come back to bite him AT ALL.
Our next story involves Excalibur. Let me tell you about his legend. It starts in the 12th Century. So once upon a time this scary scary knight who we'll call the Black Knight came to court and he started to challenge all of Arthur's knights and kill them rather swiftly. It turns out though this Black Knight was Tristan, Arthur's uncle and Uther's brother in law. Shortly after Igraine died, Tristan and Uther were involved in a duel. Tristan blamed Uther for his sister's death. So they dueled, Uther won, but Tristan vowed he would one day get his revenge. A powerful sorcerer or sorceress (two guesses who) used this grief and bitterness to bring Tristan back from the dead as a wraith, which in the show basically equates to a very scary zombie knight who is awesome with a sword and won't die. Now Arthur has been trying to pick up the gauntlet everytime Tristan throws it, but one of his knights or his dad stops him, so finally after watching another on of his bros get killed, Arthur throws the gauntlet to the Black Knight instead.
And so begins a series of events that leads to Excalibur's legend. Let me tell you about it. It began in the 12th Century. So Merlin and Gaius realize that no mortal weapon will kill a wraith, so Merlin first goes to Gwen's dad and has him forge a wicked awesome sword for Arthur and then Merlin takes that sword to the Slash Dragon and asks him to make the sword capable of killing a wraith. The Slash Dragon agrees, but with one condition, no one besides Arthur is allowed to use the sword. If anyone else does, great evil might be unleashed. Merlin promises, the Slash Dragon creates Excalibur, and Merlin takes off with the sword to give it to Arthur, and you know, what can possibly go wrong?
Now Uther, after being confronted by Nimueh, who I hope we all guessed was behind the wraith, has in a moment of non-douchery decided to be somewhat accountable. He still blames magic and thinks it's the big evil, but he can't let his son die for his sins. So, he drugs Arthur and locks him in his room so he can't fight the Black Knight. And Merlin returns with Excalibur just in time to run into Uther who says "that's a mighty fine looking sword" (more or less) and takes off with it to fight the knight, despite Merlin's protests.
So Uther fights the Black Knight and defeats him (unknown to Uther, he was saved with the help of magic :| thanks to Merlin and the Slash Dragon). When Merlin sees Uther next, he is ready to make out with Excalibur because it is very awesome and powerful, and right then Merlin knows he needs to go tell the Slash Dragon what happened. The Slash Dragon, as expected, throws a fit, and then after bitching Merlin out for giving it to THE LAST PERSON ON EARTH who should have it, he tells Merlin to go get the sword back and take it somewhere remote where no one will find it again until the right time comes. So Merlin takes it to a lake and tosses it in, somewhere a lady probably caught it, I'm sure.
So everything has settled down from all that, but now we have Merlin's mum coming to Camelot to plead for help. There are these douchey bandits who are forcing the people of Merlin's hometown to offer up all their food and supplies. Of course, if they do this, they won't have provisions for winter and a lot of people will die. So Merlin's mom comes to court to ask for assistance in fighting off the bandits. Uther says they can't afford to risk the lives of their knights or endanger the peace they have with other kingdoms. So Arthur, Gwen and Morgana run off with Merlin and with the combined powers of their OT4 save the day. Arthur proves he is awesome at inspiring people and giving good speeches and saving the day (unknown to Arthur, all with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin). And Arthur almost finds out about Merlin's magic, but then he doesn't, and we find out Merlin's mom, along with the Slash Dragon ships Merlin/Arthur.
Next up we get unicorns. Yes unicorns. That's right, unicorns. So Arthur is out hunting one day and he kills a unicorn to which he goes "awesome, I am badass' and to which Merlin goes "how could you kill a pretty unicorn?" to which Arthur replies "Merlin, stop being a girl and be useful." But, who knew, killing unicorns can be bad. Very bad. And so a curse is put on Camelot that makes their waters dry up and the food all go bad and basically it's very very bad. Now Arthur, despite everything, he does love his people, so he is very upset and torn and all that. But then he finds out that if he can pass a series of tests the curse will be lifted. He passes he first one which involves showing mercy to a thief, but when the second one comes he does not do as well. The test touches on his pride and hits below the belt quite a few times. So Arthur is horrified with himself thinking he's doomed Camelot. BUT a second chance appears, that involves going through a Labyrinth. But once he gets through the Labyrinth he finds Merlin has been taken and is waiting on the other side. What goes on next is a series of events that adds up to Arthur and Merlin wanting to die for each other, and Arthur finally tricking Merlin and drinking out of a poisoned goblet to save not only Camelot but his boyfriend. But oh, it's not really poisoned, it was just to see if Arthur was willing to sacrifice his own life. And since he did that the curse was lifted and Camelot returned to normal. And Arthur learned his lesson that killing pretty unicorns is bad, and so he and Merlin bury the unicorns horn, only to have it's spirit return since it is now at rest. It's actually a very nice episode...about unicorns.
Moving on.
Our next story is about alchemy and witchcraft and Gwen's father being jailed and killed on suspicion of practicing magic, despite both Arthur and Morgana's protests. It's actually rather sad and Arthur tries to be comforting to Gwen, and we start to see the first signs of their emerging ship. Morgana and Uther get into a huge fight though, so Uther throws Morgana in the dungeons - as he tends to do when his kids disobey him. Arthur talks to Uther though, and convinces Uther to let Morgana out, because it makes for super awkward dinners and things. As far as Arthur knows though, Morgana and Uther make amends, and Uther accompanies Morgana to visit her father's grave as an apology for being Uther. This is all well and good, and Arthur is happy in thinking things are cool again.
START OF AU: If he lived in his canon universe, he'd be right. Sadly, he's in AU land. When Morgana returns home, she's the only survivor of the outing. Uther and the knights who accompanied Uther and Morgana were attacked by a group of bandits. Everyone died, and only Morgana survived.
With Uther dead, Arthur becomes king. He's pretty much at a loss for what to do, and he's very much not ready to be king, nor does he want to be king. He just wants his daddy back. He also wants to stab things, as that's the best coping mechanism in the world. After hearing about a Questing Beast being spotted in the woods, Arthur decides to take a group of knights out and hunt and kill the beast. Morgana tries to stop him, very publicly, telling him that he'll die if he goes on this mission. Arthur assumes this is nothing more than hysteria and trauma still from witnessing Uther's death, and dismisses her and goes off anyway. Of course, while hunting the beast, he is attacked and poisoned by its bite. He is very likely going to die, and the loss of two kings in one week is just embarrassing. Behind the scenes hijinks, which Arthur knows nothing about, somehow save Artur's life though. Sadly this means he encounters the one thing that's even more embarrassing than two kings dying in one week - Morgana telling him "I told you so." But the beast is dead, so that's the important thing.
Only now Camelot is facing even more danger than it had been before. Not only were they dealing with angry magic users, but now with the death of Uther, Camelot itself seems vulnerable and they face political attacks from their enemies and kingdoms looking for a little extra territory. Arthur is doing his best to maintain the stability of Camelot, and the best way to do this seems to convince the people and the outside kingdoms that Camelot has a future and stability. So he marries Morgana, although the marriage itself is political more than anything else.
And so begins the story of the reign of the alleged greatest king England has ever known. Although it's rather hard for anyone at the moment to believe he'll even hold onto the title of King long enough to manage a footnote in history.
Canon Point: After the AU version of 1x13 Le Morte d'Arthur. Arthur is getting used to being a king and Stuff.
Reality Description: Our reality exists long ago in a land of myth and legend. You might know it better as Camelot, you know the famous one with Arthur and the Round Table and Merlin and magic and stuff? But the Camelot we find ourselves in is the high school AU version. Now we're still in the 12th century and all that of course. We're entering right after the untimely death of King Uther, Arthur's father. He has just taken the thrown and he's very inexperienced and struggling just to keep the kingdom safe and stable. Arthur and Merlin and Guinevere and Morgana are just barely out of their teens, and Mordred, well Mordred is the cutest evil kid ever.
In this Camelot magic has been outlawed, and even the support of it is a crime punishable by death. Which of course makes life difficult for the star of our show, but this isn't about him, this is about their reality.
So, in this Camelot science (yes science) plays a rather big role. Most people can read and write, medicine is fairly advanced, so yes, it's a very anachronistic Camelot. Despite the anachronism though, it still looks almost exactly like how you'd imagine Camelot to look. You have the castle and court itself which has its dark halls and corridors, stone walls, dungeons and underground areas and a dragon locked up in the basement. You also have the stables where the horses are and which Merlin should be mucking out right now. There are also the tournament grounds and the training grounds for the knights.
There's also Gaius's house, which has all kinds of medical equipment housed there and where Gaius does most of his work as the court physician. It's also where Merlin lives. There's also a library and hall of records nearby as well, where one of Gaius' BFFs, Geoffrey of Monmouth, works.
And then surrounding the castle you have the kingdom and citizens themselves. Their homes are rather humble, but they all live relatively happy safe lives, save for the occasional monster or wizard or witch attacking the kingdom. Usually the citizens in the villages though are fairly safe, since those big bads like to focus on attacking the castle itself more than anything. You'll find Gwen living here in the house she shared with her father.
Outside of Camelot itself you have the other kingdoms which are usually tricky to enter since peace treaties and wars flip flop back and forth so frequently. Due to Arthur's sudden rise to the thrown, the chances of outside kingdoms attacking during Camelot's appearance of weakness has grown. Cenred's kingdom is most likely to attack, while Bayard's kingdom of Mercia is Camelot's biggest ally. You also have the Lakes of Avalon not too far outside of Camelot. These are visited sporadically by our cast, most often by Merlin himself. It's a very pretty lake and there may or may not be a mythical city on the other side if you have the magical means to reach it.
Player LJ: melissa_228
Email and/or AIM: melinelly228
Timezone: EST
Other Characters:
archaeologist
quecaneatit
dreamrecalled
endofruins
Character: Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot
Series/Fandom: Merlin (BBC)
Deviance: 2 - Uther is killed at the end of To Kill the King and Arthur becomes the new king of Camelot.
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Species: Arrogant king dude; he's also considered human in most circles.
Canon Used: television because well...the show contradicts too many of the legends to use any other canon really.
Appearance: another blond idiot who enjoys handling his sword
Psychology: Arthur is a prat, a tsundere prat. The end.
Well, not really. It could be, but more than that is required of a psychology so I will provide that for you right now.
First thing first, Arthur has a daddy complex. He always wanted very much to please his father, Uther. Some part of Arthur always felt that Uther resented him due to Arthur's mother Ygraine dying in childbirth. Arthur blames himself a bit for his mother's death as well. There's a small part of him that blames himself for his father's as well. Perhaps if he'd accompanied them, things might have been different. All in all, being Uther's son involves Guilt of the Catholic Variety. On top of this he worried that Uther thought Arthur wasn't good enough to be his son or the heir to Camelot. So Arthur always tried really hard to please his father and swallow down certain objections he had because he wanted to prove himself to his father as loyal and worthy. As Arthur grew, he was able to question his father more, but his need to please his father and his need to be worthy in his father's eyes always were extremely important to him. This is why Uther's death hit Arthur very hard. He doesn't feel he's ready to be king yet, and he's almost certain Uther wouldn't see him as ready to be king. This just adds more stress to his new role, and makes him more determined to preserve Camelot and his father's ideals. He's not quite ready to make any changes just yet, and he's more concerned about preserving what his father created versus reforming or changing the old ways.
This means that Arthur is not quite ready to lift the ban on magic or change his official attitude on magic. Arthur had always been taught by Uther that magic is evil, and it is a difficult thing to unlearn. Uther's death has only made Arthur idolize him more, the way people idolize and whitewash those who have passed on. Although, despite the fact that he will argue that magic is inherently evil when presented with the topic, you can kind of spot somewhere around the edges that he's not so sure about this, and wonders if magic really is all that bad. It's one of the things he wouldn't dare question his father's judgment about just yet though, but it's still something he wonders about and isn't completely inflexible about.
Arthur actually shows a surprising amount of flexibility and compassion when it comes to people. He may be a prat at times, but he really does care about the greater good and defending his kingdom, his people, and anyone that seems to need help. He will make sacrifices for the sake of his people, he will show mercy towards his people, and hist top priority is the welfare, happiness and prosperity of Camelot and its people. He's very good at inspiring his people and he is a natural born leader, despite his own insecurities about this role.
He is also clearly chivalrous since he is you know, King Arthur. Before Uther's death, he was always ready to go into battle even when the odds were against him, and showed himself to be very protective of his knights. He worked very hard to train them and he is very willing to put his life in danger. The only problem is he's not allowed to do that anymore, due to being King and the absence of an heir. He married Morgana to give some appearance of stability, but he did have to step down as leader of the knights. He gave that role to Sir Leon and he brought back Lancelot, and the knights are still a strong cohesive unit. He misses it terribly though, and feels pretty stagnant and trapped now. He'd rather be out on the battlefield than worrying over treaties and politics. It's not a role he feels comfortable in, and he's convinced he's not fit to fill it, but he has no choice. It means he depends a lot on Morgana for the political and courtly things, and Merlin for keeping him sane and in his place.
Just because Arthur is insecure though, doesn't mean he's lacking in pride. If anything, pride is his fatal flaw. This might be in part due to his insecurities and his need to prove himself to be the best, even when he doesn't always agree with this statement. He has always needed to prove himself to his father, to his knights, his kingdom, and now to every other outside kingdom who thinks Camelot will crumble due to Arthur's inexperience. In the past, even when he knew something was probably suicidal he wouldn't back down because he didn't want to appear cowardly. Now he doesn't have that same luxury, which adds to the feeling of stagnation he feels being king. He also has a certain attitude towards women and people he assumes are weaker than him, in that he can't let it seem like they're stronger than him. When he is challenged his first instinct is to accept the challenge in order to protect his honour. He's quickly learning he can't do that anymore, which is a struggle for him to say the least. His pride is one of his biggest downfalls and it comes into play in quite a few episodes.
He's also very stubborn. If he's wrong he won't usually admit it, or if he does, he'll do it in a way where it's almost questionable whether or not he really just apologized or what just happened. He is the king after all, so that does count for something. Once upon a time the crown and title of crowned prince went to his head. Now the crown of a king feels far too heavy. That doesn't mean the pressure of being king makes him feel any less entitled. He can be rather pompous well, almost all of the time really, especially as far as Merlin is concerned. Although it should be noted that when it really is important or when it does matter, Arthur can admit he's wrong and does try to make up for what he's done. He can be truly caring although he tries to hide this, and so if he has really fouled up, he can humble himself and truly mean it.
But speaking of Merlin and being secretly caring, Arthur's also not very good at displaying affection. He usually hides his affection for people behind indifference or mockery or snarkiness. This is especially evident in his interactions with Merlin and Morgana. While he shows respect or a mild indifference when necessary, if he really likes you he will be a prat. He's very tsundere. Although with Guinevere it's a bit different, he's still a prat, although it's an accidental prat since he fails at understanding commoners. He's a rich bastard, okay? Despite how insulting he can be towards these people though, they are also the ones he respects and cares for the most, and their counsel and criticism are invaluable to him now more than ever.
Other Skills/Abilities: He is pretty awesome at being a knight. He's got the whole thing down really well, the fencing the jousting the fighting mythological creatures that threaten to destroy your kingdom. All that.
Other Weaknesses: He's human still, and still prone to all the same human weaknesses. He's also a jerk.
History: Scary monsters show up in Camelot ready to destroy the whole place because Arthur's dad Uther is a douche. Arthur charges off to save the day and kills the monsters and is the awesome hero, the end. Until AU hits him and Uther's douche dad dies and now Arthur is stuck being king. (Also, unknown to Arthur, Merlin might have used the power of ~love~ ~magic~ to help Arthur save the day.)
AND NOW I WILL TRY AN ACTUAL HISTORY:
So a long time ago, in a land of myth and legend there was destiny and chicken and things to be had (although we haven't yet arrived at destiny and chicken...but still, it's a theme). But anyway, long time ago, land of myth and legend, young boys, blah blah blah stuff. But before any of that happened there is some important backstory pieces that our hero here isn't even fully aware of, but shed light on the current climate in Camelot.
SO let's rewind about 21 years and 9 months, give or take. Camelot is a kingdom where magic coexists quite happily with the normal day to day life. People practice the old religion quite freely, dragons might be seen chilling out at the local pub maybe, but either way things are good. The kingdom is ruled by King Uther, he has a hot wife name Igraine who he loves a great deal and things are good. The only thing is Uther is starting to worry about his wife not producing an heir, like really worry. He worries about the future of Camelot and the Pendragon dynasty and all that junk. So he goes to this friend of his, Nimueh, who is a pretty powerful witch. He tells her that he really wants a son, and she explains to him the way magic works. The balance of life and death, and to create a life another life must be taken. Uther understands this, but he really wants a kid, and the survival of Camelot and Uther's name is far more important than one human life. So he agrees that after being told of the consequences of such an action, he still really really wants a kid. And so Nimueh works her magic and Igraine finds out she is pregnant. Only thing is that the entire life for a life thing needs to be balanced out and all that, and that life that is taken so Arthur can be born is Igraine's. And while most people at this point would realize their own selfish actions led to this unfortunate loss, we're not dealing with most people. We're dealing with Uther the Douche. So Uther decides that this is all the fault of magic, despite the fact that he was warned about the consequences, and he wages an epic war on all forms of magic, the old religion, and anyone suspected of practicing or supporting the practice of any form of magic or witchcraft. And so Uther outlawed magic, killed a lot of people, chased out a lot of other people, and left a ton of people with scores to settle with Uther and Camelot, which will become Arthur and Merlin's problem twenty-one years later.
And now let's use the power of television magic to fast forward to that point riiiiiiiiiiiight NOW
So Camelot is holding a great big awesome party to celebrate 20 years of peace and things since magic has been banished. And what's the best way to do this you might ask? Well a public execution of a suspected practitioner of magic, of course! And this is exactly what Uther does, because well...because he's Uther. Unfortunately, the person he executes just happens to have a mom who is pretty powerful and magically inclined. She's rather pissed that her son died, and so in a theme that happens again and again, in order to get revenge on Uther she is going to plot to kill Arthur.
But there is a party to be had, and Uther loves a great party, so he has to have awesome entertainment - and it comes in the form of Gwen from Torchwood. She's hot and she can sing. This is good enough for Uther, particularly the hot part since he does like to get his flirt on. Unfortunately the pissed off witch mom runs into Gwen from Torchwood on her way to the party, kills her, and then takes on her appearance, so she can get into the Court and go kill Arthur for great revenge!
Meanwhile Arthur is rather unaware of the events going on around him that are putting his life in danger. He's just obliviously being a prat and bullying his current manservant. Rudely, this skinny kid with big ears bumbles along and butts in when it's not his business. So after some posturing and insult trading, Arthur has him thrown into the stocks.
And thus starts one of the biggest bromances partnerships in history, Arthur and Merlin.
So intrigue is happening, Gwen from Torchwood is preparing to sing Arthur to death (really almost quite literally), Merlin is having rotten vegetables hurled at him, Arthur is going back to chilling with his friends and picking on people, Uther is flirting and making eyes and hot women, Gaius (Merlin's guardian) is doing sciencey things, all is right in the world of Camelot...that is until Merlin decides to start trouble again. Of course he totally cheats and uses magic (unknown to Arthur - like so many things tend to be) and trips Arthur up...and so back to the stocks with Merlin, where he rightly belongs.
But the story continues, we get to our party, drinking and fun are being had, Gwen from Torchwood sings and it's really pretty and ... putting everyone to sleep, except Merlin. Merlin ends up saving Arthur's life not once, but twice. The second time he does this everyone sees, including Arthur and Uther. So long story short, Merlin saves the day, Gwen from Torchwood dies when a chandelier falls on her, happy endings all around. And Uther, being the douche he is decides the best way to reward this heroic act is to make Merlin Arthur's manservant. No one except for the Slash Dragon is amused. (Well maybe Uther is as well, because he's Uther)
So now as we venture into episode two our hero is stuck with the torture that is Merlin as your manservant. Poor Arthur, let's all pity him. Merlin is rubbish, he can't even properly shine armour, what the hell is that about? And on top of all that, Arthur has to prepare for the big tournament (there always seems to be a big tournament. I guess it was the thing to do in Camelot or something) and there is a lot of pressure on him, what with being the future king and all that junk. So to make this rather rubbish week even worse, this pompous knight bloke whose name really is ~Valiant~ comes into town, and he starts hogging the attention big time and looks like he might actually have a chance of beating Arthur in the tournament, which means even more stress is on Arthur, which means he has to practice even harder, and seriously of course this has to be just when his father sticks him with this rubbish Merlin bloke. And on top of all that, Valiant is trying to tap Morgana, Arthur's sort of step-sister that he has a total crush on. The nerve of this Valiant guy, seriously.
Except Merlin comes to him and says he saw Valiant's shield and it looks to be enchanted with poisonous snakes. Despite Merlin being rather terrible at best, Arthur does have a strange intuitive trust of Merlin. Perhaps it's because he saved his life before and didn't have to, but regardless of this, he does trust Merlin and brings his concerns to his father. When Valiant is called forward, however, his shield appears to be nothing out of the ordinary. Arthur is humiliated and then must go back into training mode. He sends Merlin away and focuses on training and things, because he needs to be ready. Despite sending him off, Merlin returns, because he is bothersome that way. Arthur admits that he believes Merlin, but no one else does, and if he withdraws from the tournament his father and subjects will think he's a coward, and because he's an idiot, he would rather die than appear to be a coward.
So Arthur and Valiant are fighting it out, but suddenly the enchantment in the swords seems to be activated and snakes come out. Everyone is shocked, but Arthur kills the snakes, defeats Valiant, Merlin is proven not to be a liar, and Arthur wins the tournament and it's a happy ending all around. Arthur saves the day, yet again (unknowingly with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin).
And so we see a nice bond forming between all our main protagonists. The power of the BBC ensemble cast strikes again.
So next story we return to the theme of WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC ARE UTHER'S GREAT ENEMIES. Also, we meet Nimueh for the first time! So the water in Camelot is poisoned, and after eliminating science as the cause, everyone knows it must be magic. So Uther tells Arthur to have his men search Camelot for any signs or traces of magic in their midst, and Arthur, being the good son he is says 'yes father' and gets to work.
Along the way, they go to search the home of Gwen (not from Torchwood) or Guinevere as Arthur seems to call her (I'm sure she'll be of little importance in the end), handmaiden to Morgana, and all around regular in the Court, what with being Morgana's BFF. While conducting their search, they find a magical object, right under Gwen's father's bed. Gwen's father who had been close to death but had mysteriously healed suddenly. With no choice, Arthur must place Gwen under arrest now for practicing magic. And like all our protagonist's, she gets her turn being thrown in the dungeon.
(Now, obviously, as the reader might be well aware, all things that go wrong can be blamed on Merlin, and this is no exception. Merlin and Gwen are also BFFs, and he didn't want her dad to die, so he worked his magic and...well...now Gwen is in the dungeon ready to be tried and most likely killed for being a witch. Good job, Merlin :|b)
So Uther decides the witch must die, even after Arthur and Morgana insist that Gwen is innocent and Uther can't do this and all that. Merlin, being the hero he is, comes forward and declares he's the real sorcerer. Arthur steps in to save his boyfriend though, explaining to Uther that Merlin just has a crush on Gwen and is lying to foolishly save her life. Uther says whatever, and Arthur drags Merlin away before he can do anything else stupid.
Later on Merlin and Morgana come to Arthur saying that an Afanc, a mythological creature thing, is what is causing the poisoned water. This is something that can only be conjured by a powerful sorcerer or sorceress, and they need to destroy it now to save Gwen and Camelot. Arthur finally agrees after some convincing from Morgana and Arthur and the three of them venture down to the vault that the Afanc is living in and Arthur of course saves the day! (unknowingly with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin).
Gwen lives, everyone celebrates, another bonding experience bringing all our protagonists even closer. YAY! And for those of you keeping score, that powerful sorceress conjuring the Afanc, totally Nimueh, who is watching somewhere in her magic watery mirror thing, cursing Merlin and all his friends. If it wasn't for those meddling kids...
So Nimueh needs to take a more direct approach clearly. And how might she do that, you ask? Why,coming to Camelot herself of course! And just in time for another party, too. (There's always a party going on in Camelot!)
So anyway, Camelot has been at war with Mercia for a while now, but they have finally declared peace. And Uther, always looking for an excuse for a party, decides they need to have a big bash to celebrate this peace thing. So Bayard, king of Mercia, and a bunch of his buddies and servants and soldiers and things come to Camelot, ready to party and declare peace and stuff. Now, one of these servants though, is really Nimueh in disguise. I know, shocking!
SO ANYWAY...stuff happens, Arthur just wants to drink, but he never gets the chance. It's tragic, I know! Merlin rushes in, telling Arthur he can't drink from his goblet, it's been DUN DUN DUN...POISONED! BY BAYARD! GASP! Everyone is very GASP GASP GASP, and Bayard is all 'what the hell, no, you jerk :|!' Finally Uther is just like "look, Merlin, since you enjoy crashing parties so much, you drink the goblet. If it's poisoned, well you're proven right. If it's not, Bayard can do whatever he likes with you." Arthur protests this very strongly, because either way his boyfriend manservant (I don't think that sounds much better actually) ends up dead. But Merlin, being the hero he is drinks from the goblet...and...is...POISONED.
Bayard and his people are thrown into the dungeons, Arthur takes Merlin to Gaius in hopes of science saving the day, everything is very dramatic and upsetting and worrying and things. Looking at the chalice however, they find a leaf of the mortaeous flower. It is super poisonous, and the only cure...is to find that flower and do ... something sciencey with it. So Arthur is ready to dash off and save the day -- except Uther says he can't go.
BUT after some prompting from Morgana and junk, Arthur sneaks out anyway. He finds the very remote cave where the flowers are, finds a girl in distress, lets her tag along while he goes looking for the flower, but GASP!!! It's NIMUEH!!! Leading him to the cave for his DOOM. She tells him that she's the one who poisoned the chalice and now she is going to leave him in the cave to die, with the giant spiders she creates out of nowhere. She also says she can't be the one that kills him, but again, that doesn't stop her from leaving him to die.
BUT BECAUSE HE IS STRONG AND COURAGEOUS AND AWESOME HE ESCAPES THE SCARY SPIDERS!!! ( unknowingly with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin who even in a coma finds a way to save his boyfriend master (still not better) prince (again, not better, but whatever) ).
So Arthur returns to Camelot with the flower, but because Uther is a douche, he sends Arthur to the dungeon for disobeying him. (see, all our protagonists get thrown in there by Uther, it's a trend). But Arthur and Gwen are very sneaky, and are able to sneak the flower out of the dungeon to Gaius who makes an antidote to save Merlin. Gaius goes to Uther, explains that the poison was made with magic, and Bayard and his people are freed to go home. When Arthur tells his father about the woman in the cave, Uther explains it was Nimueh and goes on to say this proves just how evil magic is, end of story. Oh Uther, you douche.
But next we get Lancelot! Lancelot he likes to dance a lot he likes to...sorry. But Lancelot comes to town and everyone falls in love with him because he really is that hot and dashing and things. He saves Merlin one day (which as Arthur points out really isn't that impressive) and he tells Merlin that he wants to be a knight, and so Merlin says he'll put in a word to Arthur. So Merlin talks to Arthur, and the knight candidates at the moment are rather rubbish and after confirming with Merlin that Lancelot was born of nobility, Arthur agreed to let him try out to be a knight. The only problem is, Merlin is a dirty dirty liar. DIRTY. SO Merlin forges some documents for Lancelot, Lancelot tries out for knighthood and junk, after the requisite tsundere-ness Arthur embraces his new bro, and everything is good.
Except, Uther is a douche.
Uther doesn't believe Lancelot is nobility, and when he gets the proof of this he has Lancelot thrown into one of the dungeons (sound familiar?). Arthur argues with his dad to let his new boyfriend go because he's hot and talented and there is also a Griffin to be killed and most of Arthur's knights are rather fail and Arthur needs Lancelot. Uther says no, and Arthur can't stand to see his new boyfriend locked up so he goes down and sneaks him out, but tells him he can never return to Camelot again.
So Arthur goes off to slay the Griffin with his fail knights, and Arthur's boyfriends can't leave him to die. So Lancelot and Merlin ride off to save him. When they get there Arthur is knocked out on the ground, and so Lancelot gets to work to slay that beast and junk, but a sword isn't enough, so Merlin tries to sneak in some magic, and Arthur wakes up in time to see Lancelot kill the Griffin (unknown to Arthur, all with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin). Arthur is happy his other boyfriend Lancelot killed the Griffin and rushes home to tell his dad. Uther continues being a douche, and Lancelot is so valiant and noble that he says he doesn't want to cause family problems, so he will go off and be noble elsewhere.
Camelot is that much less hotter without Lancelot. It is tragic.
Next we get the episode where Gaius is picked on horribly. A new physician comes to town and works to discredit Gaius. Of course Uther believes this guy over his BFFL Gaius. Gaius goes through the ringer and Uther actually fires Gaius. It is terrible. This is all because Edwin, the new physician has a score to settle with Uther. He watched his parents burn as witches and as a child he tried to step in and save them and his face was very badly scarred. So again, bad things come down to Uther being a douche. So in his new role as court physician, Edwin poisons Uther. Despite everything that has happened, Gaius still wants to save Uther, but he needs Merlin's help. Merlin is reluctant, due to Uther's douchitude, but he finally relents and helps save Uther's life. Uther wakes up and thanks Gaius for saving his life. (unknown to Uther, he was saved with the help of magic :| thanks to Merlin).
Our next story is squicky and has date rapish kind of vibes to it, and begins a trend of Arthur getting stuck with the love whammy. Morgana starts having nightmares about Arthur drowning at the hands of a princess. Of course this is very important. Meanwhile, while Morgana is having her nightmares, Arthur and Merlin finds a girl and her father being attacked by robbers. Arthur of course valiantly saves them (unknowingly with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin). Arthur brings the girl and her father back to court. He introduces himself as Ulfric and his daughter as Sophia, explaining that the kingdom he was meant to inherit was ransacked by bandits, and he and his daughter were forced to flee. Uther loves a party, so of course he invites the two of them to chill out in Camelot for a while. Morgana, upon seeing them, very quickly freaks out since this is the girl she saw in her dream drowning Arthur. She tells Gwen about the dream, but refuses to say anything to anyone else, for fear of what Uther might do to her.
Meanwhile Arthur has been love whammied and starts ditching his duties. Merlin covers for him and is promptly thrown into the stocks (his second home). During this time, Sophia increases the love whammy on Arthur and Morgana tells Sophia she'll cut a bitch if anything happens to Arthur and Merlin finds Ulfric's magical staff and knows that he and Sophia are up to know good. During all this however Sophia has upped the love whammy to the point where Arthur is completely under her control and has no free will of his own.
So Sophia takes him to Avalon, where she intends on having Arthur sacrifice himself. She and her father used to live in the realm of fairies, but her father was exiled and Sophia with him. The only way to get back in is to make the correct sacrifice, and Arthur is the perfect one. Her dad can't go back with her though, and at first she refuses to go, but then he tells her she must. So she walks Arthur into the lake and begins to drown him. Of course his boyfriend comes to save the day and kills both Sophia and Ulfric.
When Arthur wakes up he's back at Camelot with no memory of what happened. Merlin tells him that he ran off to elope with Sophia and so Merlin had to knock him out and drag him back to Camelot. Arthur finds this to be the greatest humiliation of all and orders Merlin not to tell anyone. Again, Merlin covers for Arthur's absence and Uther has him thrown in the stocks. (Which really, clearly, is his second home).
Our next story involves a Druid boy who witnesses his father's murder. He runs away though and is not caught by the guards. Uther however orders that this boy be found and killed. Arthur seems to follow his father's instructions, but after a few words with Morgana he can't stand by and let a child die who hasn't committed a crime. Also somewhere along the way, Morgana has her turn being thrown into the dungeon, because like we said before, all our protagonists get thrown in at least once. Meanwhile the Slash Dragon keeps insisting to Merlin that this boy should die or else Arthur is doomed, and Merlin almost lets this happen, but because he's a sweet derp he can't really let an innocent child die. So the boy is saved and Arthur sneaks off into the night to return him to the Druids so he can live happily every after and of course never cause trouble for any of them again. As the Druids thank him for returning the boy, Arthur finally asks what his name is. "Mordred," the boy tells him. So yeah...that's not going to come back to bite him AT ALL.
Our next story involves Excalibur. Let me tell you about his legend. It starts in the 12th Century. So once upon a time this scary scary knight who we'll call the Black Knight came to court and he started to challenge all of Arthur's knights and kill them rather swiftly. It turns out though this Black Knight was Tristan, Arthur's uncle and Uther's brother in law. Shortly after Igraine died, Tristan and Uther were involved in a duel. Tristan blamed Uther for his sister's death. So they dueled, Uther won, but Tristan vowed he would one day get his revenge. A powerful sorcerer or sorceress (two guesses who) used this grief and bitterness to bring Tristan back from the dead as a wraith, which in the show basically equates to a very scary zombie knight who is awesome with a sword and won't die. Now Arthur has been trying to pick up the gauntlet everytime Tristan throws it, but one of his knights or his dad stops him, so finally after watching another on of his bros get killed, Arthur throws the gauntlet to the Black Knight instead.
And so begins a series of events that leads to Excalibur's legend. Let me tell you about it. It began in the 12th Century. So Merlin and Gaius realize that no mortal weapon will kill a wraith, so Merlin first goes to Gwen's dad and has him forge a wicked awesome sword for Arthur and then Merlin takes that sword to the Slash Dragon and asks him to make the sword capable of killing a wraith. The Slash Dragon agrees, but with one condition, no one besides Arthur is allowed to use the sword. If anyone else does, great evil might be unleashed. Merlin promises, the Slash Dragon creates Excalibur, and Merlin takes off with the sword to give it to Arthur, and you know, what can possibly go wrong?
Now Uther, after being confronted by Nimueh, who I hope we all guessed was behind the wraith, has in a moment of non-douchery decided to be somewhat accountable. He still blames magic and thinks it's the big evil, but he can't let his son die for his sins. So, he drugs Arthur and locks him in his room so he can't fight the Black Knight. And Merlin returns with Excalibur just in time to run into Uther who says "that's a mighty fine looking sword" (more or less) and takes off with it to fight the knight, despite Merlin's protests.
So Uther fights the Black Knight and defeats him (unknown to Uther, he was saved with the help of magic :| thanks to Merlin and the Slash Dragon). When Merlin sees Uther next, he is ready to make out with Excalibur because it is very awesome and powerful, and right then Merlin knows he needs to go tell the Slash Dragon what happened. The Slash Dragon, as expected, throws a fit, and then after bitching Merlin out for giving it to THE LAST PERSON ON EARTH who should have it, he tells Merlin to go get the sword back and take it somewhere remote where no one will find it again until the right time comes. So Merlin takes it to a lake and tosses it in, somewhere a lady probably caught it, I'm sure.
So everything has settled down from all that, but now we have Merlin's mum coming to Camelot to plead for help. There are these douchey bandits who are forcing the people of Merlin's hometown to offer up all their food and supplies. Of course, if they do this, they won't have provisions for winter and a lot of people will die. So Merlin's mom comes to court to ask for assistance in fighting off the bandits. Uther says they can't afford to risk the lives of their knights or endanger the peace they have with other kingdoms. So Arthur, Gwen and Morgana run off with Merlin and with the combined powers of their OT4 save the day. Arthur proves he is awesome at inspiring people and giving good speeches and saving the day (unknown to Arthur, all with the help of ~*~destiny~*~ ~*~love~*~ ~*~bromance~*~ ~*~magic~*~ thanks to Merlin). And Arthur almost finds out about Merlin's magic, but then he doesn't, and we find out Merlin's mom, along with the Slash Dragon ships Merlin/Arthur.
Next up we get unicorns. Yes unicorns. That's right, unicorns. So Arthur is out hunting one day and he kills a unicorn to which he goes "awesome, I am badass' and to which Merlin goes "how could you kill a pretty unicorn?" to which Arthur replies "Merlin, stop being a girl and be useful." But, who knew, killing unicorns can be bad. Very bad. And so a curse is put on Camelot that makes their waters dry up and the food all go bad and basically it's very very bad. Now Arthur, despite everything, he does love his people, so he is very upset and torn and all that. But then he finds out that if he can pass a series of tests the curse will be lifted. He passes he first one which involves showing mercy to a thief, but when the second one comes he does not do as well. The test touches on his pride and hits below the belt quite a few times. So Arthur is horrified with himself thinking he's doomed Camelot. BUT a second chance appears, that involves going through a Labyrinth. But once he gets through the Labyrinth he finds Merlin has been taken and is waiting on the other side. What goes on next is a series of events that adds up to Arthur and Merlin wanting to die for each other, and Arthur finally tricking Merlin and drinking out of a poisoned goblet to save not only Camelot but his boyfriend. But oh, it's not really poisoned, it was just to see if Arthur was willing to sacrifice his own life. And since he did that the curse was lifted and Camelot returned to normal. And Arthur learned his lesson that killing pretty unicorns is bad, and so he and Merlin bury the unicorns horn, only to have it's spirit return since it is now at rest. It's actually a very nice episode...about unicorns.
Moving on.
Our next story is about alchemy and witchcraft and Gwen's father being jailed and killed on suspicion of practicing magic, despite both Arthur and Morgana's protests. It's actually rather sad and Arthur tries to be comforting to Gwen, and we start to see the first signs of their emerging ship. Morgana and Uther get into a huge fight though, so Uther throws Morgana in the dungeons - as he tends to do when his kids disobey him. Arthur talks to Uther though, and convinces Uther to let Morgana out, because it makes for super awkward dinners and things. As far as Arthur knows though, Morgana and Uther make amends, and Uther accompanies Morgana to visit her father's grave as an apology for being Uther. This is all well and good, and Arthur is happy in thinking things are cool again.
START OF AU: If he lived in his canon universe, he'd be right. Sadly, he's in AU land. When Morgana returns home, she's the only survivor of the outing. Uther and the knights who accompanied Uther and Morgana were attacked by a group of bandits. Everyone died, and only Morgana survived.
With Uther dead, Arthur becomes king. He's pretty much at a loss for what to do, and he's very much not ready to be king, nor does he want to be king. He just wants his daddy back. He also wants to stab things, as that's the best coping mechanism in the world. After hearing about a Questing Beast being spotted in the woods, Arthur decides to take a group of knights out and hunt and kill the beast. Morgana tries to stop him, very publicly, telling him that he'll die if he goes on this mission. Arthur assumes this is nothing more than hysteria and trauma still from witnessing Uther's death, and dismisses her and goes off anyway. Of course, while hunting the beast, he is attacked and poisoned by its bite. He is very likely going to die, and the loss of two kings in one week is just embarrassing. Behind the scenes hijinks, which Arthur knows nothing about, somehow save Artur's life though. Sadly this means he encounters the one thing that's even more embarrassing than two kings dying in one week - Morgana telling him "I told you so." But the beast is dead, so that's the important thing.
Only now Camelot is facing even more danger than it had been before. Not only were they dealing with angry magic users, but now with the death of Uther, Camelot itself seems vulnerable and they face political attacks from their enemies and kingdoms looking for a little extra territory. Arthur is doing his best to maintain the stability of Camelot, and the best way to do this seems to convince the people and the outside kingdoms that Camelot has a future and stability. So he marries Morgana, although the marriage itself is political more than anything else.
And so begins the story of the reign of the alleged greatest king England has ever known. Although it's rather hard for anyone at the moment to believe he'll even hold onto the title of King long enough to manage a footnote in history.
Canon Point: After the AU version of 1x13 Le Morte d'Arthur. Arthur is getting used to being a king and Stuff.
Reality Description: Our reality exists long ago in a land of myth and legend. You might know it better as Camelot, you know the famous one with Arthur and the Round Table and Merlin and magic and stuff? But the Camelot we find ourselves in is the high school AU version. Now we're still in the 12th century and all that of course. We're entering right after the untimely death of King Uther, Arthur's father. He has just taken the thrown and he's very inexperienced and struggling just to keep the kingdom safe and stable. Arthur and Merlin and Guinevere and Morgana are just barely out of their teens, and Mordred, well Mordred is the cutest evil kid ever.
In this Camelot magic has been outlawed, and even the support of it is a crime punishable by death. Which of course makes life difficult for the star of our show, but this isn't about him, this is about their reality.
So, in this Camelot science (yes science) plays a rather big role. Most people can read and write, medicine is fairly advanced, so yes, it's a very anachronistic Camelot. Despite the anachronism though, it still looks almost exactly like how you'd imagine Camelot to look. You have the castle and court itself which has its dark halls and corridors, stone walls, dungeons and underground areas and a dragon locked up in the basement. You also have the stables where the horses are and which Merlin should be mucking out right now. There are also the tournament grounds and the training grounds for the knights.
There's also Gaius's house, which has all kinds of medical equipment housed there and where Gaius does most of his work as the court physician. It's also where Merlin lives. There's also a library and hall of records nearby as well, where one of Gaius' BFFs, Geoffrey of Monmouth, works.
And then surrounding the castle you have the kingdom and citizens themselves. Their homes are rather humble, but they all live relatively happy safe lives, save for the occasional monster or wizard or witch attacking the kingdom. Usually the citizens in the villages though are fairly safe, since those big bads like to focus on attacking the castle itself more than anything. You'll find Gwen living here in the house she shared with her father.
Outside of Camelot itself you have the other kingdoms which are usually tricky to enter since peace treaties and wars flip flop back and forth so frequently. Due to Arthur's sudden rise to the thrown, the chances of outside kingdoms attacking during Camelot's appearance of weakness has grown. Cenred's kingdom is most likely to attack, while Bayard's kingdom of Mercia is Camelot's biggest ally. You also have the Lakes of Avalon not too far outside of Camelot. These are visited sporadically by our cast, most often by Merlin himself. It's a very pretty lake and there may or may not be a mythical city on the other side if you have the magical means to reach it.