#i just think it'd be funny if jon's like ''what strange land does this mysterious assasin come from

[welcometogrouchland]

5 HCs for a fantasy AU for TMA?

(This is mainly influenced by my special interest in mythology/folklore/fairy tales and my lack of knowledge about fantasy. It’s mainly me aligning characters with tropes/characters from those sources)

1. Annabelle is the king’s evil advisor. I just think it’d be wildly entertaining to watch her play the king (probably someone like jonelias) and it feels like a fitting translation of her role in canon. She’s just making sure errant heroes go on quests at exactly the right time to exactly the right place to get exactly the right thing, and well wouldn’t you know it the king’s dead now, woops! Who could’ve foreseen this? :::::/ ((anyway I like to think Annabelle is a subversion of the evil advisor trope. Not particularly out for power, just hates the guy in charge and wants him gone. You couldn’t pay me money to make Annabelle straight evil)) but of course, she just ends up working for the next guy in charge, speaking of which…

2. Haha so you guys know king Arthur and the knights of the round table? Yeah?

That’s basically Jon and the archival staff in this au. Jon’s a humble orphan turned scholar turned errant hero questing for “the watcher’s crown”, turned king of Britain! I like this idea first and foremost because we’ve seen the kind of imposter syndrome Jon gets when he feels he doesn’t deserve an archiving job let alone being king of a country! I’m so interested in what Jon’s leadership style would be. He’s simultaneously so hesitant and so impulsive. He’s willing to mull over the morality of things to the point of wallowing (re: season four), but he’s also willing to make snap judgements and impulses if he’s under pressure/people he cares about are under threat. It’s easy to assume that Jon’s story could end just as tragically as it did in canon, but then again, maybe there’s hope. After all, he has his knights

3. Speaking of knights! Not everyone is a one-to-one match with a particular Arthurian character, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that Tim can easily slot into the Lancelot role. A noble, skilled, handsome hero who serves as the right hand man to the king until a misunderstanding leads to betrayal and tragedy? It writes itself! I don’t think Tim has quite as much backstory going on as Lancelot does (no raised by the lady of the lake (whom we’ll get to) here), but I think a dead brother murdered by Nikola (who I guess is a fae court jester in this au? I think the dynamic between fae, mortal’s and their names feels very fitting for the stranger, so that’s appropriate) is enough to spur any dashing hero to a life of chivalry and questing. There isn’t a love triangle in this au (because as tempted as I am, just for the drama, I know that it’d feel pretty trite with these characters), but there is a misunderstanding regarding Sasha in this au! Which leads me into:

4. The translation of not!Sasha would be a classic changeling swap in this au! Sasha, one of the knights who was once a scholar alongside Jon, goes out on the quest of the week alone, and get’s taken by a changeling who replaces her and takes her place in the king’s court. This is sufficiently less angsty than in canon though, considering a) Sasha just get’s taken to the realm of the fae rather than dying, and b) there’s no “you don’t remember what she looks like?” moment, since the changeling just looks like regular Sasha. The changeling is a part of the same fae court as Nikola, and just generally sows the seeds of doubt in the knight’s minds until they decide to attack. That’s where things probably get angsty. But, like in the original story (as much as there is one in Arthurian canon), where Arthur is taken to Avalon to heal, I think Sasha in the realm of the fae eventually gets to reunite with at least one of her friends. Maybe it’s Tim, maybe it’s Jon, I’m not sure! But I think there’s a silver lining to it all.

5. And a lightning round of other roles I think are filled: martin is the Gawain equivalent. He’s seemingly plain and un-special, but he has his own adventures that show his contributions are valuable to the round table (like the poem Gawain and the Green Knight). I like to think he comes back from that particular adventure and it’s like a mag22 moment where king Jon is finally a bit more noticing/kind to him. Que eventual romance and martin siding with Jon like Gawain sided with Arthur. Instead of the lady of the lake it’s the lady of the flame and it’s Agnes Montague! She has the watcher’s crown because something something her and Gertrude, and gifts it to Jon much like the lady of the lake gifts Arthur his sword. You might be tempted to say that Elias or Gertrude is the Merlin equivalent, but I actually think it’s Gerry in this au. I just think he’d thrive as a chaotic neutral advisor to Jon (even if Gerry isn’t really chaotic neutral in canon. This Gerry is probably a lot more…noble? Than Arthurian Merlin is). Gertrude was the knight to first try and find the watchers crown (like Percival with the grail) but she failed. Rip grandma, this twink’s here to carry on your legacy. Melanie is a knight and is born blind in this au, Basira is also a knight, and daisy is an assassin from a foreign land (Wales) who ends up being reluctantly allowed to help in court after she’s impressed with Jon’s honor (he saves her like in canon).

#ramblings of a lunatic #tma fantasy au #like i said it's less fantasy more ''ladel's special interest in king arthur violently reactivated'' au but hey #this took a while? but im decently proud of the ideas i came up with! #king arthur au you live in my head rent free! #keep in mind though it's been a WHILE since i last read abt arthurian/celtic myth #i'm honestly sad i couldn't include more of my knowledge? but it's mainly centred on irish myth which isn't that relevant in a story- #-set in ye olde britain #also the ''foreign land (wales)'' bit is sarcastic #i just think it'd be funny if jon's like ''what strange land does this mysterious assasin come from?'' and daisy's like ''fuckin wales'' #ALSO i couldn't find a way to include it but there's a thing in welsh myth where ppl attributed the howling of the wind to GHOST TORNADO- #called 'the wild hunt' or the 'night hunt' and i desperately wanted to incorporate it into daisy but couldn't #look it up it's cool #idk if i have anything else to say uh... #the knucklavee is a manifestation of the flesh #thank you for your time and the ask oran #EDIT: AGHH FOUND TYPO GRR BARK