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#merlin 5.09
atdawn · 2 months
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MERLIN | 5.09 With All My Heart
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aithusar · 1 year
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MERLIN (5.09)
↳ With All My Heart
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weakforarwen · 1 year
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More fic recs! I have to share them before I forget what I read. Arwen fics are usually so short that I can read many of them in half an hour...
A Time of Joy by Nebula5030: This is a baby fic, but it's very cute! It has Gwen and Merlin plotting together, an oblivious and stressed out father-to-be Arthur, Arwen (they're very cute but honestly not super prominent), uncle Elyan!, and the other Knights as well. It's very well-written, with great characterization.
say it first by sadpendragon: I don't read a lot of modern day Arwen fics but I liked this one. Gwen was a bit OOC (on purpose, I believe), but modern day Gwen would probably be like this Gwen anyway. I liked that Arthur was aware of how shitty Uther was and chose to free himself from his father's influence.
The Rising Sun by AliveandMel: Another modern day fic. As it often seems to be the case, Arthur's characterization was better and more accurate than Gwen's imo. I think fic Gwen is usually more aloof and assertive than real Gwen, specifically in her relationship with Arthur. But the story's very sweet from Arthur's pov.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place by 1917farmgirl: Gwen isn't even in this story though her and Arthur are mentioned in the beginning. It's kind of a dark fic and it's just Merthur (platonic). I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it was interesting, engaging, and well-written.
What the Heart Wants by 1917farmgirl: By the same author, baby fic, interesting to read, well-written, Merthur-centric, again not sure how I feel about Merlin's characterization, Gwen appears in the beginning, I liked Gwen, Arthur, and Arwen's characterizations.
Please Believe That I Speak True by Moonflower999: I branched out with this one. There's only a trace amount of post-5.09 Arwen (but it was very much appreciated), a good scene between Gaius and Merlin (spot-on characterization) - the rest was Merlin and Mordred. I liked that Merlin was a bit angry Arthur forgot about him after Gwen was freed from Morgana, and that he felt torn between just being happy that he helped his friends and wishing for acknowledgement of some kind - and also torn between wanting to trust Mordred and thinking he shouldn't. I think Mordred's characterization was pretty good and I liked that he was given a chance to change his fate; I liked that Merlin decided to trust Mordred. Honestly, Mordred and Merlin had many similarities and an interesting dynamic that the show did very little with (some of the most interesting parts of season 5 were Mordred, Mordred and Merlin, and Mordred and Morgana - but, unsurprisingly, the writers fucked it up). Merlin and Mordred had good chemistry, some good scenes together, and Mordred clearly admired Merlin a lot, so it wasn't a stretch to imagine he could've felt more for him. The romance in this fic happened a bit too abruptly but it was very well-done, in a way that felt truthful to both Merlin and Mordred. I enjoyed this fic a lot. It was one of the best and most memorable Merlin (the series) fics I've read so far. I wouldn't mind reading more fics like this. I don't care for Merthur-centric fics, but maybe fics with Merlin and Mordred, Gwaine, or Lancelot could be interesting.
The Queen and the Frog by writerwriting: This was the craziest yet most brilliant fic I never expected to read, my second favorite after the previous one. It's crack but so well-done and thought-out it could almost be canon. I loved Merlin's characterization, loved the humor and genius of the plot, loved Gwen's characterization though it was crack in many places, loved Gaius's characterization, loved Gwen and Merlin's friendship, loved the more serious ending and how the writer chose to make a statement that wrapped things up so beautifully and made the whole fic feel even more like it should've been canon.
Naming Contest by silence_since_silence: Super short but cute and sweet. Just read it. It'll only take a second.
A Golden End by tailysnaily: Uncle Merlin... that's it. I don't know how I ended up reading so many Arwen baby fics, but, yeah, this was cute and super short.
Please by BlackMamba: Just well-written Arwen smut, that's all.
There's a lot more Merlin than Arwen on these fics, but I still enjoyed them and wanted to rec them. I think my recs are pretty diverse this time so there's probably something in here for everyone. Maybe the Mordred/Merlin fic isn't for everyone, but please read The Queen and the Frog at least!, and A Time of Joy.
Dunno if these fics are massively popular and everyone's already read them, but I'm sure I'm not the only newbie to Merlin.
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manyprofoundbonds · 4 years
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#brooding arthur
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merlinpetpeeves · 3 years
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reality-schmality · 3 years
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Getting Gwen to walk into the Cauldron of Arianrhod was way too easy, honestly. It was really sweet, don’t get me wrong, but I wanted more of a speech. “Remember when I promised to cook you dinner? Our first date. You were so taken and then so angry! That wasn’t trickery. Our first kiss? Our next kiss, the one in the stables when Leon almost caught us?” Etc. I wanted to see Arthur vulnerable. Maybe cry just a little. Really have to reach Gwen. Not just one line about “all my heart”. I wanted to watch him really find Gwen once again.
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camelotsheart · 2 years
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What will I do without you? You will remember me.
bamf!merthur week | day 2: smart!arthur 
the song of achilles // who lives who dies who tells your story, lmm // bbc merlin 1.01 // the song of achilles // poet, bastille // bbc merlin 2.08 // the song of achilles // bbc merlin 5.12 // an arundel tomb, phillip larkin // bbc merlin 1.04 // and death shall have no dominion, dylan thomas // a thousand years, christina perri // the song of achilles // bbc merlin 1.01 // the song of achilles // bbc merlin 3.10 // the song of achilles // bbc merlin 5.09 // the song of achilles // bbc merlin 5.05 // bbc merlin 5.12 // bbc merlin 2.12 // the song of achilles // save yourself, i’ll hold them back, my chemical romance // the song of achilles // unknown // the song of achilles // bbc merlin 5.13 // the song of achilles // remember me, coco
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nextstopparis · 3 years
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on destiny & choice.
friedrich nietzsche, letter to mathilde trampedach // bbc merlin, 1.01 // bbc merlin, 3.10 // eavan boland, eurydice speaks // bbc merlin, 5.09 // madeline miller, the song of achilles // bbc merlin, 5.11 // bbc merlin, 1.02 // madeline miller, the song of achilles // bbc merlin, 1.03 // emily brönte, wuthering heights // bbc merlin, 1.10 // emery allen, become // bbc merlin, 4.13 // bbc merlin, 2.08 // bbc merlin, 5.12 // eisha tandon, a poem for a moment with you // bbc merlin, 1.10 // bbc merlin, 5.13 // mina loy, the collected poems of mina loy // bbc merlin, 4.02 // bbc merlin, 5.13 // benjamin alire sáenz, to the desert // bbc merlin, 1.01 // bbc merlin, 5.13 // kiersten white, the chaos of stars // bbc merlin, 5.13 // jenny slate // bbc merlin, 5.13 // kiersten white, the chaos of stars // bbc merlin, 2.12 // bbc merlin, 5.13 // bbc merlin, 3.06 // kiersten white, the chaos of stars // bbc merlin, 4.13 // casey mcquiston, red, white & royal blue // bbc merlin, 4.02 // bbc merlin, 5.13 // frank bidart, guilty of dust
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writerloading · 3 years
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The cinematography of MERLIN - 4.04 Requested by Anonymous.  5.13. 5.12 5.09 1.01 3.08 4.06
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tracionn · 3 years
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Merlin BBC / Merthuredits (5.09 / ?)  /  With All My Heart
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atdawn · 2 months
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MERLIN | 5.09 With All My Heart
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panharmonium · 4 years
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some meandering bbc merlin thoughts that got too long for tags on this gifset.
normal disclaimers apply, which, given that i’m evaluating media, means that these are just my own thoughts and nobody else need agree with them; i don’t expect all of us to have the exact same impressions of tv shows. :) 
now, without further ado:
i started to type a novel in the tags of that gifset, but it got too long, so i’m moving it over to an actual post.  and what i wanted to say there is this: my thing about arthur isn’t that his story was badly written.  it’s that it was incomplete.
it’s probably more common for folks to assign responsibility to the writing, and that’s totally fine; i definitely get it - there are places in this show where i think things could have been handled better as well.  (i did write sixteen pages about how poorly executed the finale was, after all.)  but for my own part, i personally don’t think most of the story was badly written.  i think it was unfinished.
and what i mean by that is that i sincerely think that almost everything bbc merlin did could have been pulled together in a meaningful way after 5.11, and that if this had happened, then we would be evaluating the previous seasons differently, because things that seemed to not fit or be nonsensical or not be given enough attention would have been pursued all the way through to their natural conclusions.  
i’m not sure if it’s because i watched the show so late, or because i watched it in a spoiler-phobic bubble isolated from fandom input, but my own assessment of this show seems to exist in kind of a weird limbo-place on the spectrum of fandom opinions, because i don’t like how it ended, but i also don’t dislike the writing, up to the point of the finale.  are there things that could have been improved, or quibbles i have?  definitely.  i can list them for you.  but overall?  i still believed in the story at the 5.11 mark.  there were things i sometimes thought ‘oh, i’m not sure about this,’ but i always gave the show the benefit of the doubt, because i truly did feel that things were going somewhere.  anything the show did that gave me pause wasn’t something that couldn’t eventually have been made meaningful, if the show had actually...been finished.* 
(*elyan’s death excepted.  that’s one of the things on my list, and i think it might be the only thing besides the finale that doesn’t fall under the criteria i’ll discuss below.  it was a bad decision, flat-out, and could not have been improved by finishing the story.)
so for example, morgana.  if i were going to critique her development, yeah, i’d say that we don’t get enough of her internal conflict; she goes from the voice of moral authority to (apparently) delighting in wickedness very quickly, offscreen, and the constant smirking doesn’t show us what we know must be true - that she hasn’t become like this because she enjoys it; that she is wounded and her rage at arthur, gwen, merlin et al comes from a very real place of pain.  
but, as i said above - even though her development was something i recognized as questionable while i was watching, it didn’t make me too nervous, because i really trusted that the story was eventually and slowly taking us to the place it needed to go.  you could see her conflict, sometimes, in her confrontations with arthur, and that conflict finally took center stage in 5.09, when mordred confronted her and appealed to her humanity.  they were getting there.
and evaluating her development solely from what we ended up getting, i agree: now the writing just looks Bad.  but it wouldn’t have been bad, if it had been finished.  i would have completely believed morgana closing herself off from regret/sadness/compassion/any feelings at all for her former friends; it would have been okay for her to be so smirky, cold, etc; because it wouldn’t have been the endpoint for her arc, but rather a front to protect herself from the true conflict she felt.  we would have gotten more than that.  the story would have taken her farther than that.  but the story was incomplete, and so everything that came before it just looks like a mess that ran off a cliff.
this is how i feel about almost all of the “questionable” writing things on this show.  it’s not that they were ‘bad’ decisions in and of themselves, but they look that way in the rearview mirror because they never had the chance to develop into what they were supposed to be. 
take arthur, for another example.  i honestly don’t have a problem with his arc in S4 and S5.  i completely believe what a horrible and unadmirable mess he is for most of S4.  i believe that he would absolutely revert to thinking about “what would my father do” as soon as the realities of kingship are thrust upon him.  and i love how in S5 he’s moved past that and IS admirable in so many other ways, but then we start once again addressing the central conflict, which is that he’s still oppressing part of his population, and he starts to hit roadblocks again.  5.05 and 5.11 are the crisis points there, and honestly, i didn’t have a problem with how they unfolded (i mean, i did, but not in the sense of ‘this is bad writing and i hate it.’  rather in the sense of ‘this is fucking painful but i believe it’).  
the problem for me was never that it took arthur too long to accept magic or that he backslid or anything like that, because quite frankly i found all of that to be believable, given the circumstances.  the problem was that the show ended before he was ever allowed to progress past that.  he never atoned for anything he did.  he, like morgana, was never allowed to go where he was meant to go, because the show stopped before it was over.  if he had, all of his previous missteps wouldn’t have felt so much like ‘bad writing,’ they would have just been natural steps on his long journey.
same thing goes for gwen.  do i have a problem with her being sidelined towards the end of the show?  abso-fucking-LUTELY.  that’s on my list.  did her relationship with morgana deserve a resolution?  YES.  but it still could have happened!  if there had been more time, the show could have dealt with that.  gwen’s enchantment by morgana could have meant something, could have prompted something bigger; gwen could have taken the reins and started pushing arthur, who has entrenched himself into old ways, to start thinking from a place of compassion, even though it’s risky and it scares her.  or she could have broken with arthur’s decisions completely and made a move of her own.  if they had been given the time, nothing that happened to gwen prior to 5.11 precluded her character from going somewhere important.
and merlin - merlin could have gotten what he deserved, which is a resolution to the question he’s been struggling with since literally day one: how do i justify serving a regime that oppresses me?  how do i reconcile my responsibility to my people (and MYSELF) with an externally-imposed responsibility to protect arthur?  
merlin never settles on an answer to that question.  or rather, the answer he’s given is that he doesn’t need to be conflicted in the first place; protecting arthur was the right thing to do (even though it ultimately achieves nothing).
merlin deserved to have a chance to work out the answer to that question for himself, rather than having his core dilemma wiped aside.  and, much like my opinion on everyone else’s arcs, i don’t think the writing on this show ever took merlin to a place where this problem couldn’t be addressed.  i don’t find merlin’s arc questionable; i am fully convinced by the hole he’s dug for himself by 5.11.  merlin’s descent into single-minded preservation of arthur’s life at the expense of his own welfare/moral compass is absolutely tragic, yet also absolutely believable, to me - merlin’s been told all along that saving arthur is the only way to save his people, and now he’s been presented with so much evidence to the contrary - and yet he doesn’t want to admit that it’s all been for nothing - it’s honestly…i honestly actually think it’s spectacularly crafted.  that scene with finna in 5.10 is absolutely the most devastating thing i think i’ve ever witnessed on this show - when merlin’s on the verge of passing out and he murmurs, ‘it won’t always be like this.  things will be better.’  and you can see he’s just telling himself a lie, over and over again, trying to believe.  and then when he says ‘running…from arthur?’ because he knows, he knows it’s true that arthur is the real threat, arthur is the one with the sword at all their throats, but merlin has come to care about him so much - 
truly, they hit a point there that was just - fucking amazing.  that was the moment.  that, leading into 5.11, was the axis point for merlin’s unavoidable moral crisis, and there was so much potential there and so many places for it to go, but then the show just ended.  conflicts wiped away.  no wrongs ever righted.  merlin never comes into his own.  he never finds his feet.
but he could have.
so again.  what i’m saying here is that for me, for my particular experience with this show, i actually don’t dislike the writing, up until the very finale.  i think the writing actually brought us to a place that was fairly exploding with possibility.  but then the show just stopped, and that’s why it’s so easy to find places to critique the previous seasons, because of course it all looks poorly constructed now.  it isn’t finished.
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weakforarwen · 1 year
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Did anyone notice that when the characters of colour were enchanted, it's played for horror (like shade!Lancelot, possessed!Elyan & evil!Gwen) but when the white characters got enchanted, it's played for laughs (like Formorroh!Merlin, simpleton!Arthur and goblin!Gaius)? Sure, there is one exception when Arthur gets enchanted by Sophia, but the terror of having your consent taken away was never dealt with consistently & that really bugs me.
I'm sorry I forgot your ask! I think you sent it last week? I remember reading it, but then I immediately forgot about it, lmao. Sorry! At least you haven't been waiting that long?...
You make excellent points! And the way the narrative treated these incidents is kinda reflected in the audience's response to them. No one cared that Merlin tried to kill Arthur in that one episode, but Gwen deserved to die or worse for doing the same under the same circumstances (re: Morgana). The fandom just hates Gwen, I guess...
Furthermore, there are no consequences when the white characters are enchanted but the characters of color pay a heavy price. Lancelot died a traitor after first dying a hero. Gwen's character and life were ruined in 4.09, and she lost her brother and killed a man in season 5. Also, it was Elyan who nearly died in 4.07 though the other knights had been enchanted by Lamia too and he could've died (a traitor) in 4.10. And what's worse is that there was no resolution or justice for the characters. Morgana's involvement in 4.09 was never exposed, so neither Lancelot nor Gwen's characters were ever avenged - Lancelot was never spoken of again and Gwen had to live with the fact that she had deeply hurt and betrayed the person she loved and was loyal to the most for reasons she couldn't conceive. Also, she lost Elyan but wasn't allowed to grieve nor was she allowed to come to terms with nearly killing her husband, killing a man, and being controlled by Morgana for weeks. And Elyan nearly died and was possessed by the ghost of a boy in 4.08 and 4.10, but after Arthur saved the day in both episodes we didn't see him again - this is especially weird in 4.10.
Compare all that to when Merlin or Gaius were possessed - they learned the truth of what had happened to them and there were no consequences to their actions. When Arthur was enchanted to fall for Sophia and Vivian, it was more serious because he nearly died, but, in the end, no one thought less of him and he learned the truth of what had happened with Vivian at least. 1.07 is much darker than 2.10, but, at last, all was well. Neither episode ended like 4.09 or 5.06. And it's sad that there were no consequences to what Merlin did in 4.12, but nothing too horrible happened to Arthur anyway - he lost a bit of his dignity but what else is new - his honor was restored in the end.
There is also a huge difference in how the characters are treated when they're possessed. Merlin quickly realized that Arthur had been made to fall for Vivian and that Gaius had been possessed by the goblin; Arthur and Gaius weren't looked at with suspicion or accused of treason. And Gwen and Gaius figured out super quickly what had happened to Merlin so he was never accused of betraying the King. Arthur, Merlin, and Gaius were blameless and those who mattered knew it (with a few exceptions). Yet, when Elyan was possessed in 4.10, the Knights thought he was seeking revenge for his sister, and Arthur at one point feared it too, though it was obvious Elyan would never have done that. Although Merlin and Arthur learned the truth, his character was first put into question. Moreover, everyone thought Lancelot and Gwen had betrayed Arthur, and even Merlin never knew the truth about Gwen. And when Arthur saw Gwen with Morgana in 5.09, he kind of questioned her character at first (though that bit of dialogue is ambiguous). My point is, Gwen, Lancelot, and Elyan's morals and loyalties were questioned (and tarnished in the case of Gwen and Lancelot), yet Arthur, Gaius, and Merlin came out of it unscathed and were never accused of betraying the King.
Anyway, that was a really good observation, thanks for pointing it out! I hadn't really noticed it, but it's so obvious now you've said it. I'd noticed how the characters of color were treated on Merlin compared to the white characters but I hadn't made this particular association. I'm always happy to be enlightened and educated though.
Also, Merlin is fucking awful with consent. Poor Arthur had his taken from him multiple times and it was always played for laughs. I guess it's because he was a man, so being kissed by Sophia against his will, kissing Vivian, unknowingly fucking non-Gwen, and being toyed with by Merlin, were all played for laughs. Arthur never even learned the truth about Sophia and Merlin...
Thanks so much for the ask!
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fanfictin · 3 years
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okay fic
https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130705
- a series with two one-shots where merlin wanders near death after the rockfall in 4.06 and aithusa finds and helps heal him while Arthur searches. After, Arthur brings a mostly healed Merlin back to Gaius and thinks about magic.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/30413724
- an interesting diverge where Gwaine mildly suffers from the effects of touching aconite laced food from Merlin in 4.06 ! Featuring Gaius as court physician obviously, and Leon as big brother knight 
https://archiveofourown.org/works/30655763
- lighthearted, the knights chat abt Merlin having magic, which is not something Arthur or even Merlin know (or know that they know) about
https://archiveofourown.org/works/29342748
- Merlin enters the room of a veteran knight, accidently triggering an aggressive ptsd reaction where he is hurt. Arthur finds him quick enough to subdue the knight and Merlin is taken to Gaius to heal
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19368091
- Set after 5.09 where Merlin is a bit miffed abt Arthur leaving him (as he SHOULD BE) and so takes his time in going back to camelot, greeting a relieved Gaius and knights when he gets back and an unsure arthur
https://archiveofourown.org/works/27050164
- a long single chapter. Arthur wants to teach Merlin to defend himself after he’s picked out by a visiting lord. Merlin is less than impressed and points out servants cannot defend themselves no matter the problem. Slowly, Arthur finds ways to brings peasants’ abilities up, such as speaking out and defending oneself. Merlin is impressed, but then Arthur asks if he knows of any other injustices in the land. Leading to a very good and ambiguous ending:
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Merlin went still, his face impassive as he watched Arthur. "What?"
"If you ever see something like this again – if you see an injustice against people in Camelot, if you see my people suffering, and I don't even realize it – will you tell me? Please?"
Merlin turned strangely pale. [...]
"You want me to swear to tell you if I see injustices in Camelot?" he repeated. "Injustices against certain people, that you might not even realize exist?" And to Arthur's shock, Merlin's voice trembled just a bit.
"Yes," he confirmed, watching his servant closely. [...]
But Merlin's face held no amusement. It held trepidation and hope and fear, and Arthur had no idea why.
But after a minute passed in silence, Merlin nodded. "I give you my word," he said, his voice little more than a whisper. "I swear I will tell you the truth of injustices in Camelot."
Then, inexplicably, he bowed. "Excuse me," he mumbled, and he fled from the room.
[...]
To his surprise, he found Merlin outside the door. Merlin, who had never knocked before entering in his life, stood pale and shaking with a terrified look on his face.
"Can I come in?" he asked quietly. [...]
"Of course," he agreed, ushering him into the room. "What's going on? Did something happen?"
Merlin shook his head. "No, nothing like that. I just…" he paused, then rubbed a hand over his eyes.
Was he crying? Arthur half wondered if he was drunk, but he hadn't carried the scent of alcohol when he'd entered the room.
Merlin dropped his hand, then took a shuddering breath.
"I made you a promise earlier tonight. I came to keep that promise."
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ao3feed-merlin · 4 years
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With Care
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3emb8BE
by RayneSummer
Arthur has to ensure he hasn't just lost another friend from something as simple as a fall from a cliff. . . Tag to 5.09
Words: 1748, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: Gen
Characters: Merlin (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Mordred (Merlin)
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Additional Tags: Gwen is there but she's asleep, Mordred is a sweet boy who just wants to help, first work not focused on merlin & gaius !, Episode Tag, obviously, Episode: s05e09 With All My Heart
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3emb8BE
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merlinpetpeeves · 3 years
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