#redeemed morgana

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Reincarnation au where everyone comes back/modern Merlin headcanon

Merlin and Morgana would be best friends.

It definitely takes a long time. They talk about their issues with a fair amount of violence and magical battles, but then eventually get to a point where they can stand to be in the same room together without committing war crimes against each other.

After a while, Merlin is struggling with something and Morgana begrudgingly helps him out.

They begin a tentative friendship that builds slowly after that until one day, Morgana needs help with something modern and goes to Merlin saying something along the lines of: “you killed me, you owe me this.”

So begins the running joke and beginning of a beautiful horrifyingly chaotic friendship.

Morgana asking for Merlin to buy her a drink, specifying without poison this time

Merlin asking Morgana to cat sit because she put her pet snake in his neck that time

Morgana tells Merlin he’s got to help her move into her own flat because he was really crap at killing Arthur that one time

Merlin asks Morgana for help getting out of work because of all the times she kidnapped him and got him in trouble with Arthur

Morgana asking Merlin to drive her around since he was so good at driving her out of Camelot

Merlin getting Morgana to buy him a coffee because she stole his magic

It takes a while, it’s not until one of their friends asks why they spend time together if they hate each other that Merlin and Morgana look at each other, then they both realise they’re friends now and break down laughing hysterically. It terrifies everyone, thinking they’re having a breakdown or something, but they clear up that they’re good friends, just that they’ve got a dark sense of humour.

Everyone just looks on horrified because they don’t have context for most of their jokes, but at least they’re getting on so is it really worth questioning it?

Everyone just learns to live with it.

#bbc merlin #merlin #merlin bbc #headcanon #merlin emrys #modern merlin #good morgana #redeemed morgana #morgana #chaotic besties #reincarnation #reincarnation au #immortal merlin #reincarnated morgana #i’m bad at tagging

[justaz]

arthur repealing the ban on magic and sitting merlin and morgana down to figure out who is going to be court sorcerer and ready to mediate a debate but before morgana can even open her mouth, merlin passes to position onto her. arthur and morgana just stare, morgana makes feeble attempts to spark an argument, to instigate merlin to at least fight for it. even arthur is like “…you don’t even want, like, a room or something for your magic work?? none of the perks?? a different position in the court?????” and merlin’s just like “nope! i’m good!” and morgana and arthur exchange a look before arthur asks why. merlin’s answer is that his position, where he belongs, is at arthur’s side. besides. morgana deserves it. she was snubbed from becoming queen so it was only fair.

#in the end merlin continues to serve at arthur’s side as his queen #teehee #just thinking about the implications of arthur being surrounded by those who love power and glory #his father who only looked on him with pride when he conquered an enemy #his sister who went wayward for a bit because of her desire to sit on the throne and used her magic in cruel ways to get there #his uncle who sided with morgana and manipulated arthur to try and gain power through morgana’s coup #versus merlin who was proud of arthur for being arthur #who didn’t need arthur to vanquish enemies to look at him as if he hung the stars and the moon in the night sky #merlin who despite having the power of the gods - who could bend nature to do his bidding - kneeled before arthur and cleaned his boots #merlin’s who even in the end turned down power and recognition for all he had done just to stay at arthur’s side and continue serving him #queen merlin #king arthur #redeemed morgana #merthur #court sorceress morgana #IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THEM FOR DAYS #HELP MEFJZBAKAKNSNCA #bbc merlin #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #morgana pendragon

[moondragoness]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Merlin (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Gwaine/Merlin (Merlin), Gwaine/Merlin/Percival (Merlin), Leon/Merlin (Merlin), Lancelot/Merlin (Merlin), Gwaine/Lancelot/Merlin/Leon/Percival Additional Tags: Polyamory, Female Merlin (Merlin), Dark Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Redeemed Morgana (Merlin), Alternate happy ending Summary:

What happens in a world where Arthur was not ready to learn the truth? Will Merlin's lovers have her back or Arthur's? Can Albion still come to be when Courage becomes a Coward in the eyes of Magic?

#merwaincelot #merwaincelotweek2022 #merlin #gwaine #lancelot #percival #leon #polycule #dark arthur pendragon #redeemed morgana

[skatesfullofsunshine]

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Merlin (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Gwen/Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Mordred (Merlin), Gwen/Merlin/Mordred/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) Characters: Merlin (Merlin), Mordred (Merlin), Gwen (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gaius (Merlin), Hunith (Merlin), Gwaine (Merlin), Percival (Merlin), Leon (Merlin), Elyan (Merlin), Kilgharrah (Merlin), Original Characters Additional Tags: Good Mordred (Merlin), POV Mordred (Merlin), Mordred Needs A Hug (Merlin), Mordred Angst (Merlin), Mordred is done with Merlin's shit, POV Alternating, POV Merlin (Merlin), POV Gwen (Merlin), POV Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Awesome Gwen (Merlin), Queen Gwen (Merlin), Gwen Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Gwen Knows About Morgana's Magic (Merlin), Arthur Finds Out About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Merlin's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Magic Revealed, Slow Burn, Established Relationship, Developing Relationship, Pre-Relationship, Mutual Pining, Polyamory Negotiations, Polyamory, Awesome Hunith (Merlin), Morally Ambiguous Character, Character Development, Introspection, Gwaine Being Gwaine (Merlin), Minor Gwaine/Percival (Merlin), Mordred's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Magic Ban Lifted (Merlin), Falling In Love, Not Canon Compliant, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Demisexuality, Demisexual Mordred (Merlin), Redeemed Morgana (Merlin), POV Morgana (Merlin), Morgana Knows about Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Arthur Knows About Morgana's Magic (Merlin), Immortal Merlin (Merlin), Aging, Parent Merlin (Merlin), Parent Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Parent Gwen (Merlin), Parent Mordred (Merlin), Canonical Character Death, It's Gaius Due To Aging, Dragonlord Merlin (Merlin), Court Sorcerer Merlin (Merlin), Minor Elyan/Mithian (Merlin), Parent Elyan (Merlin), Parent Mithian (Merlin) Summary:

Mordred returns to Camelot, no longer a child, but a man, with an agenda that eventually changes the kingdom as a whole for the better.

#Good Mordred #Redeemed Morgana #Slow Burn #POV Multi #Merdred #Merlin X Mordred #Mergwenthur #Merlin X Gwen X Arthur #Merlin X Gwen X Arthur X Mordred #Queen Guinevere #Queen Gwen #King Arthur Pendragon #Court Sorcerer Merlin #Completed Fic #So many other tags but this writer is tired

[nikikikiko]

Angsty set of Morgana-opinion Headcanons for the GaGene family bc yk what they need a bad day. just a bit of a bad day.

• Conrad is an easy subject. Morgana is… a much more complicated topic of discussion for the family. She’s influenced a large part of Gavus’s life, and raised Liberta, and they both have varying opinions on her.

• Gavus is a lot more solid in his feelings, they’re complicated, yes, but he’s solid in that his disapproves of her actions. He’s had time to come to terms that what she is doing is not okay and that he cannot support her any longer. Gavus knows that Morgana is not as good a person he thought she was, but even then. He cannot truly bring himself to hate her. She hurt him, his kids, his husband, and yet he cannot find it in him to hate her. He still wants to plead with her and make her see reason, even after knowing she won’t listen. He does find it painful, even now, to think about the good times with her. It’s jolting to know someone you loved and respected turned out to be so horrible, and it taints everything, Morgana is no exception.

• On Liberta’s side, it’s quite a bit more complicated. Liberta doesn’t know how to respond to Morgana’s actions and horribleness. He doesn’t want to believe it at all actually. He finds himself, often, unable to process what he had actually went through and what is good and bad in his childhood with Morgana because he genuinely cannot tell. Not to mention she treated him nicely, like a son! She can’t be all that bad then, right? She’s still a good person deep down, because she has to be.

• He’s got a good ol’ case of Mafuyu Asahina basically

• Eugene, on his own opinions, hates Morgana. He despises her, and every single fake ass person on the Celestial’s faction. He hates that she messed up badly, that she betrayed Gavus and raised Liberta to believe that his feelings don’t matter. He hates that she did that to his family, and he hates how the situation is complicated. It’s not like everyone can agree she sucks as easily as they do with Conrad. Hell, it hurts him that Liberta even saw her as a parental figure at all! That fucking sucks, and he can’t do anything about it because she DID raise his kid, like it or not. He’s mindful about what he says about her around the kids, but next to Gavus he’s mouthing her off left and right as many chances as he can get whenever she comes up in conversation.

• This both amuses and irritates Gavus. It’s essentially like, “Raven, I know you hate Morgana but can we focus for a second??”. The amusement moreso comes from the fact at least one of them holds enough hatred in their heart for both of them for that woman, thank you Eugene.

• Lastly, Lucilla. Lucilla’s feelings are extremely simplified: Morgana = Conrad. Conrad = Bad, Hate that guy. Morgana = Bad, Hate that girl. She understands there’s more nuance to it for Liberta and Gavus, she’s not dumb, and she can, to an extent, recognize where Liberta is coming from. However, it frustrates her a lot whenever she hears words in Morgana’s defense, from Celestials or otherwise. It’s awful, terrible. Just what about Morgana needs defending? What could possibly be so good about her? She doesn’t get it. She doesn’t get any of it.

• Pretty much, the overall opinion as a family is, well, it’s complicated. Her actions run a bit deeper because of her emotional hold on two of their family members, and Conrad at least made it easy by acting like he doesn’t care (because, well, he doesn’t! Mans is as straight forward as he sounds: he just wanted power and destruction.), but Morgana? Morgana acted like she cared, and maybe she did at one point. For Gavus. Maybe she cared a lot about Gavus, and maybe she got attached to Liberta as well. But it doesn’t erase what she did, just simply complicates it further for the ones she hurt, because they loved her.

#afk arena #afk gavus #afk eugene #afk liberta #afk lucilla #morgana too #i have a LOT of feelings with morgana and a lot of it is like a #its a whole analysis kind of thing ??? #i dont feel shes as cut and dry as conrad is with this family #i think shes a much more complicated subject bc like #plain as day shes lied to and betrayed gavus and manipulated him #she emotionally abused liberta #and yet she also goes personally out of her way to try and get gavus redeemed for celestials and herself #when he stands firm to his grounds she doesnt kill him she simply leaves him in a prison #so like #she does care a tiny bit about them #her evilness however overshadows her care bc shes not willing to change her ways at all even when its hurting the people she claims to care #about #DO YOU SEE WHY THIS WOULD BE A COMPLICATED SUBJECT #THERES SO MUCH THAT HAS TO GO INTO THIS GOR LIBERTA AND GAVUS ESP BRO #anyways i hope she dies #make it uncomplicated and just die evil wench #bah

[morgana-ren]

I'll blessedly forget that Degrees of Lewdity exists for, like, months at a time, and then I'll wind up coming back to it and end up reminding myself just how awful and unreasonable my masochism truly is when I fall back in love with Literally The Worst Characters Imaginable™

#morgana whinings #Degrees of Lewdity #catch me making googoo eyes at Bailey #my villain attraction isn't a joke #i see the most wretched horrible person imaginable and its immediately 'id die for you' #let me romance the wraith LET ME ROMANCE THE FUCKING WRAITH #i had a bailey piece in the works from ages ago #i think i like him because he reminds me of another character so i clearly project #z e r o redeeming qualities that one #Leighton is a piece of work isnt he

[tiny-and-witchy]

I love good Morgana fics.. Because that is what was supposed to happen.. That is what would it be like if Merlin hadn't let Kilgarrah get under his skin..Merlin would have hepled Morgana when her dreams got bad.. Merlin would have been there for Morgana the whole way.. Morgana wouldn't have lost her faith in her friends and her family.. Arthur wouldn't die and Morgana would have helped Merlin and Arthur unite Albion.. That is what the happy ending of this tale would have been like..

#good morgana #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #merlin #merthur #morgana redeemed #arthur lives

[bisaster-energy]

Merlin but Merlin loses it when Arthur dies and instinctively starts a time loop and every time Arthur dies it automatically resets...for angst purposes it could stay tragic..no matter what he does to change the past kilgharra was right. no one can change their destiny nor can they escape it. or by starting this time loop at all he's doing is preventing the rise of the once and future king so by staving off Arthur's death he's actually preventing anyone from ever really living again. a never ending story with one character aware of the narrative but powerless to change it. a puppet with a brain but no autonomy to put it to use. A tragedy of his own making instead the one prophesized

#so that it doesn't work on the first try maybe morgana remembers and interferes or #maybe future Merlin is a sort of apparition that can only act if his old body lets him. he talks to past him like a ghost or demon even #so what he's saying directly contradicts kilgharra or gaius so present merlin probably distrusts him like crazy #merlin becomes another old annoying person in his own ear #who he doesn't even know if he can trust #OR he ends up sending arthur back by accident and arthur is in the past trying to fix shit #and this CHANGES something because now there's warnings of a great ending of all things coming for Camelot and by extension albion #and arthur knowing about Merlin's powers after keeping his knowledge to himself (cos he died RIGHT after learning about the magic) #finally understands the burden merlin had without having to try and understand based on Merlin's summary of an explanation alone #he understands morgana and mordred even nimueh like he GETS it gets it #anyway time goes on canon events are rewritten and the 'great evil' rips a giant hole in space and time and it turns out #future merlin was the cause. because he was smashing alternate realities to pieces looking for arthur is desperation #not knowing where the hell he even sent him breaking any known laws of time and space and reality consequences be damned #arthur cannot kill merlin. he cannot do it. not even for Camelot #so this can be angsty too like merlin loses himself completely in the search for arthur (paralleling the og timeline where Merlin ends up #singularly focused on Arthur's safety instead of his true mission) #and it literally swallows him and their entire known world up #or they get through to him. arthur AND past merlin. seeing that past him was able to diverge from the set path. live more for himself #than just arthur or for the sake of camelot be a PERSON outside of that. and have knowledge that he DID change arthur's mind. #not just as a useless deathbed confession but as something that actively changed and SAVED albion redeemed him of the mistakes he made and #proved that arthur is the man the KING he told every antagonist he was #future merlin sacrifices himself to destroy the black hole he made and it's like that future never even was. #just a bad nightmare you can't really remember. #just thinking about Merlin god bless #bbc merlin #fic ideas

[veebs-hates-video-games]

I'm glad I waited until the last minute to figure out how I felt about the games I played this year because there were some surprise changes right up until the end. I think I managed to get most things I played this year that weren't just demos onto a list and will have opinions on them.

There will potentially be too many to tag properly, but maybe I'll try linking the game titles to the tags and see how that goes, which should bring up any previous posts about them with more detail (although I still haven't finished updating all the old posts to the new tags yet as of writing this so they might not all work right away).

Also except for the final category stuff within each group isn't really in any particular order, and there's no hard boundary between some of the categories where I think everything in one is definitively better than everything in another (e.g. I think Aria of Sorrow is better than at least some of the stuff in the "pleasantly surprised category", but I liked it exactly as much as I expected to so it is where it is).

So starting from the worst:

Fate/EXTELLA LINK was the least fun I had with a game all year. It's like what if a Musou game felt worse to play and also had an extremely uncomfortable level of pandering to weebs and their waifus in the writing. Blech.

Diablo 2: Resurrected is literally unplayable without creating an account and being online even though D2 has always had offline single player. They don't actually mention this. I only have it because it was cheaper to get the bundle with D2 and D3 than D3 by itself.

Super Mario 3D World is the least fun I've had with a Mario game in literally decades. 3D movement with a fixed camera is awful. I still like the full 3D games and the 2D ones, but this is nope for me.

Pendula Swing is honestly probably fine on a different platform (read: with a mouse and keyboard), but the Switch version is borderline unplayable. The idea seemed interesting but it was so clunky I couldn't get into it.

Ys Origin just hasn't aged well. I played it a long time ago and it was in the "fine, I guess" category, but trying to replay it after some of the newer ones (which will be further down the list) was rough.

And then games that were mostly just disappointing to me:

Diablo 3 is one of those things everyone kept saying at least feels the best to play out of all the modern ARPGs for years, so I finally gave in and tried it to see what all the fuss was about. It feels like Torchlight 2.5 with a bigger budget and was kind of uninspiring overall.

The Outer Worlds was something I was really hopeful about, but I just didn't find anything at all about it enjoyable.

Pokemon Picross is just a bunch of free-to-play bullshit ruining something that could've been fun. The world is better off with the eShop shut down so no one can play it anymore.

Persona 5 Royal is another one I was really looking forward to that I just did not click with at all. The first few hours were full of minor annoyances and did very little to win me over.

AI: The Somnium Files had potential and sounded interesting, but moon logic for solving puzzles should've stayed in the 90s and I could do without all the random horniness.

The World Ends With You: Final Remix and NEO: The World Ends With You are frustrating because they have so many interesting ideas and a neat presentation but just aren't any fun to play, especially the first one.

Tales of Vesperia just hasn't aged super well I think. I know there are people who like it, and I was looking forward to it, but I think I would've had to play it closer to stuff like Tales of Symphonia to appreciate it.

Inscryption is not my thing at all. It's a shame because I loved Pony Island, but I just couldn't get into this one.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a Donkey Kong Country game, which have always been just ok to me. I should've remembered that and not bought into the hype over the years.

Next is stuff I liked the idea of but didn't really like playing enough to stick with it:

Titanfall 2 has really neat movement and stuff, and I've heard the later levels do some interesting stuff, but beyond that the actual combat wasn't really my thing.

Ori and the Blind Forest had too many frustrating bits to keep me playing through the parts I did like.

Disgaea 4 seemed fun and like it had a lot of potential, but I always find that kind of SRPG way too fiddly, ever since I tried the original Final Fantasy Tactics.

Marenian Tavern Story: Patty and the Hungry God is just a worse version of Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom (see later on the list), which is understandable because they made it first.

Bravely Default I mostly played a couple years ago, but this year I put another dozen hours in and finally gave up on it. I really like a lot of stuff about it, but there were just too many things that frustrated or annoyed me.

They Bleed Pixels seems like fun and has some good pixel art (mostly the story stuff outside the gameplay segments), but I don't think it's for me.

Hero Hours Contract is an amazing idea and I love almost everything about it except for actually playing it.

Luckslinger took forever for me to get around to. The idea of luck being a consumable resource you have to manage is really neat, but I wasn't really enjoying the actual game, even if "pixel art hip hop spaghetti western" sounds great on paper.

Carto is one I don't really have anything against beyond apparently glitching it into an unrecoverable state and not being invested enough to start over.

Cris Tales is another one of those ones where I like a lot of stuff about it except for actually playing it.

Anarcute was a lot of fun for a little while, but it started introducing more elements I tend to not really like. Definitely one of the cuter games on the list with one of the best theme songs though.

Followed by things I had mixed feelings on or the "fine, I guess" category:

PixelJunk Eden 2 was fun enough, but they changed things from the original in a way that seems to be to make it more suitable for mobile, and I feel like most of them made it worse.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars didn't quite stick the landing. I loved the idea of everything being cards on a table with a single narrator/GM running everything, and the world and characters were interesting enough for a while. It didn't quite hold up for me all the way through to the end though.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is...better than Breath of the Wild, at least? It's smoothed over a lot of my biggest annoyances with that, and it's amazing that half the stuff in it even works at all, but it still doesn't feel like Zelda to me and has been pretty low priority to get back to and finish.

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout has one of the worst openings of any game I've played in years and absolutely awful pacing. It did seem to finally have opened up and gotten potentially rather good where I left off (and might get back to one of these days), but it shouldn't take half a dozen hours for that.

Yoku's Island Express is a clever idea and was a pretty good time for a while, but it's also one of the buggiest things I've played in the past year, and that's what drove me to stop playing.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age is frustrating to go back to. I loved the demo when I played it a couple years ago, but redoing everything now because I'm playing the full game on a different platform kinda sucks because of how slow the start is.

Will Die Alone has an interesting premise and way of interacting with it, but it stops short of quite saying as much with it as I would've liked.

Chaos;Head Noah had so much potential that kind of got wasted in the end. I really liked a lot of stuff about it along the way, but it's also kind of a mess. Hopefully when I get around to Steins;Gate they'll have learned to do it better because the anime for that one was great.

I'LL KILL HER is basically an interactive comic book, and the main strength is the art. The rest is fine I guess. Every content warning for this one.

Murder by Numbers is a constant mix of mildly amusing and mildly annoying. I hope they can even things out if they make more games in the future.

And then games that were pretty good but not my favorites:

Kuukiyomi: Consider It is a silly idea and doesn't overstay its welcome. I haven't felt an urge to play the sequels so far though.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is definitely the best in the series and has tons of great music, but I still have some issues with this style of music/rhythm game that keep me from completely loving it.

Cadence of Hyrule was kind of annoying when I first started playing the demo, but once I got the hang of it I had a pretty good time mostly. The huge difficulty spike at the end left me less happy with it than I was for most of the game though.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is probably the best game in this category, much better than most of the others, and my favorite Castlevania game, but it's a little short of being one of my favorites overall this year.

Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet is probably my second favorite in thie category and rather cute and silly.

One Night: Burlesque is the "worst" game in this category and doesn't entirely succeed at what it's trying to do, but I appreciate the effort and the overall vibes.

Gunma's Ambition -You and Me Are Gunma- is literally just a single joke drawn out for like an hour, but they lean into it enough to make it work.

LOUD: My Road to Fame has a couple weird design decisions that make it a bit frustrating toward the end, but up until then it's a surprisingly fun music/rhythm game with decent original music.

Lara Croft GO has some pretty decent puzzles in it and is probably my second favorite Tomb Raider game at this point, but I also had some Issues with it that held it back a little bit.

Next are the ones that I was pleasantly surprised by that were better than I expected:

Pixel Puzzle Makeout League was not what I expected. I figured it would just be picross with a silly dating sim on top, but I had no idea about the themes and ideas it would go into, and the entire ending section of the game in general was great and totally unexpected.

Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom really surprised me. I had zero expectations going in, and while it isn't quite great at anything it's good to very good at a lot of things and was pretty satisfying in the end.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is the most Zelda-like game I've played this year (with close competition from another game down the list), and an actual Zelda game came out this year. Exactly as long as it needed to be and went in a more interesting direction than I thought it would.

Majotori is something I accidentally stumbled on because it was on a list of games that at least tangentially have lesbians in them, and it's delightfully silly.

Death end re;Quest really surpassed my expectations, even if I have significant enough issues with it that it's hard to recommend without caveats. it did some surprisingly interesting things though, and I keep thinking about it from time to time.

Rabisco+ was an impulse purchase because it randomly came up and was very cheap and I had no idea what was going on in the cover art. It turned out to be a short but pretty fun arcade-style puzzle game.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana was the first Ys game I played since Ys Origin first came out in English, and the series has really come a long way since then and is much better these days.

Demong Hunter was basically an impulse joke purchase because I had to know what makes a demong different from a demon. I still have no idea, but this was way better than I expected from what initially seemed like a cheap mobile game.

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox wasn't quite as good overall as the previous game in the series, but I still had a lot of fun with Goth Adol, and all the new movement abilities added a lot to it.

Perfect Gold did a surprisingly decent job of having flawed characters who worked through problems in their relationship without making them annoying or unlikable like often happens.

Trigger Witch is the other most Zelda-like game I played this year. I totally grabbed it because of the cover art and it was on sale, but it's a pretty solid twin-stick shooter mixed with the LttP/LA era of Zelda.

Will You Snail? was pretty unknown to me before I started playing because I somehow avoided anyone else playing it or talking about it, but it turned out to be a pretty good precision platformer with a fun gimmick, which is hard to pull off for me because I can be kinda picky about how platformers feel to play for some reason.

Vivid Knight managed to absorb nearly all my game time until I finished it, which I did not see coming. I did eventually start to see the cracks in the systems and stopped enjoying it as much, but up until then I got pretty wrapped up in it.

And finally the ones that were probably my favorites, not necessarily in order but with the best generally toward the end:

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected would be more toward the top of the list except this was a replay so I'm disqualifying it. I played the Wii version originally, and they sure did improve almost everything in an already great game in this version.

Bowser's Fury was about as enjoyable as Super Mario 3D World was unenjoyable. I'm not sure it would quite work for a full size Mario game, but there were some good ideas in this one.

Trials of Mana really polished up an older game that I thought was kind of underwhelming back in the day and turned it into something I had a great time with. Between this and the recent announcement of the new game I'm cautiously optimistic about something good in the Mana series finally happening for the first time since the PS1.

Harvestella really caught me off guard. I was expecting a farming sim with some Final Fantasy-style nonsense on top, and it turned out to be 85% JRPG with a story I liked more than anything FF has done in years.

Can Androids Pray is the most last minute addition to this list on December 30th. When a short story (in any medium) really focuses in on a single relationship or conversation or event or idea so well that it implies the existence of the entire rest of the universe around that my brain just starts vibrating. This is one of those.

The House in Fata Morgana takes a long road to get to its ending and the characters earn every step of the way there. It also surprised me by being a totally different flavor of queer than I expected.

Unpacking wins the award for best vibes. I had a lot of feelings about this one, probably including some they weren't expecting people to have when they made it, and it does a better job telling a story than most stuff on this list despite having no visible characters and almost zero dialogue.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim I think wins for my favorite story/writing this year. People said it was a great sci-fi story, and not just for a video game, and they were right.

Fire Emblem Engage is the winner for my favorite gameplay. They absolutely nailed a lot of the mechanics and systems on the game design side of things, and it's my favorite Fire Emblem game at this point.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed gets this spot for my favorite overall. They polished the already great gameplay of XC3, introduced some great new characters and brought back some old ones, and managed to expand on a lot of the story from the entire trilogy and tie up a bunch of stuff all at the same time.

And I guess that's finally that. There were some pretty big disappointments for me, but there were even more really great games I played and ones I had no idea I'd like as much as I did. I think I'm just going to tag stuff in the final two categories (since that's what'll fit) and call it a day.

#xenoblade chronicles 3: future redeemed #fire emblem engage #13 sentinels: aegis rim #unpacking #the house in fata morgana #can androids pray #harvestella #trials of mana #bowser's fury #xenoblade chronicles: definitive edition #xenoblade chronicles: future connected #vivid knight #will you snail? #trigger witch #perfect gold #ys ix: monstrum nox #demong hunter #ys viii: lacrimosa of dana #rabisco+ #death end re;quest #majotori #turnip boy commits tax evasion #blacksmith of the sand kingdom #pixel puzzle makeout league

[varricscrossbowbianca]

really liking the curse of ‘‘wow i really love this fictional character i hope they dont do anything stupid/nothing bad ever happens to them’‘ and then their story turns into a shakespeare tragedy like wow thanks for that

#. ramblings #me about my fav characters #anders #fairbanks #sir gwaine #morgana pendragon #blackwall #. i mean blackwall can be redeemed but still...holy shit #ciri #. remembering those goddamn scary witches in witcher 3 uuarghh

[lonesomedotmp3]

lancelot du lac genuinely the worst episode of the entire show I don't think I've ever come across forty minutes that are so absurdly maddening and devastating to the viewer while ALSO being devoid of character. like I can't even be more specific than that there's just no CHARACTER to any of it no agency no depth no development no meaning there is NOTHING even decent about any of it it's an insult to lancelot arthur merlin and most of all fucking of course GWEN

#only redeeming aspects is merlin w the real lancelot at the end the way it leads to the herald of the new age #and the teeny bit of morgana depth it gave us. which i will always cling onto like my life depend on it #.txt

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

I kinda want to write a scene between redeemed Morgana and Gaius where Morgana gets to tell him to go fuck himself for not telling her about her magic.

She deserves that.

Plus I think it’d be healthily cathartic for her to tell Gaius she’s not going to forgive him for not being someone safe first her, and for making her feel like a monster for something she couldn’t help.

And of course, Morgana would give him a chance but Gaius clearly doesn’t regret what he did to her, and the hurt he caused. At that point, she’d realise his apologies are bullshit and would strongly advise him to retire before he continues to perpetuate harm to other magic users.

(In case you can’t tell, I really don’t like Gaius. I could rant for hours about why I think he sucks just as much as Uther)

#bbc merlin #good morgana #morgana #redeemed morgana #merlin bbc #ao3 fanfic #gaius merlin #merlin #i’m bad at tagging #fic ideas

[merlinswizardhat]

morgana is the princess in the tower, the wicked witch whose tower it is, and the knight come to save the day all at once!! this is too big of a metaphor for my brain rn but i'll find this in the morning and Do Something

#something something idk about morgana redeeming HERSELF #also. mental illness metaphorsss

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

Broke: Merlin and Arthur's fates were predetermined and there was nothing either could do to prevent it. Love is a powerless force compared to the hands of destiny.

Woke: Love directly prevents both Merlin and Arthur from fulfilling their destiny. Merlin's blind love for Arthur skews his moral compass and causes him to lose sight of his true destiny. He prioritises Arthur and their relationship over his own happiness and the wellbeing of all sorcerers. Arthur is blindly trusting and desperate to please the people he loves. This allows him to be easily manipulated by Uther, Morgana, Agravaine and often, Merlin, which prevents him from becoming the king he was destined to be. He hesitates when he sees Mordred at Camlaan because he doesn't want to believe that he has been betrayed, which directly leads to his death. Both Merlin and Arthur (and the audience) wants to believe that love will redeem them, but it becomes their doom.

Bespoke: Love is a benevolent force, the tragedy arises from shame preventing it from being expressed. We are told from the start that "a half cannot truly hate that which makes it whole" and that their destiny is entirely dependent on Merlin changing Arthur for the better, overcoming hate with love. But the power of love will only go as far as you let it. Merlin is repeatedly told by people that he trusts (Gaius, Kilgarrah, Hunith) that Arthur can never know about his magic*, so he hides the true depths of his loyalty in order to avoid making Arthur uncomfortable. Merlin is so afraid that Arthur would hate him if he knew the truth, that he self-sabotages any opportunity that would challenge Arthur's views, eventually becoming complicit in his own oppression. In actuality, Arthur is just as fiercely devoted to Merlin and would have legalised magic for him if he was ever given the chance to grow. However, the confines of class divides, toxic masculinity and the expectations placed upon him prevents him from ever communicating his feelings to Merlin. If either Merlin or Arthur had felt comfortable expressing their love for each other and had allowed their relationship to develop, they would indeed have fulfilled their destiny, but they are held back by external factors. "They tell me it was fate. No, darling, it was not the stars which crossed us. It was people."

*Although this post is more of a general commentary on themes, also... magic is a metaphor for sexuality, the true evil is homophobia

#bbc merlin #merlin #merlin meta #bbc merlin meta #merthur

[skatesfullofsunshine]

Chapters: 1/3 Fandom: Merlin (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Gwen/Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Mordred (Merlin), Gwen/Merlin/Mordred/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) Characters: Merlin (Merlin), Mordred (Merlin), Gwen (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gaius (Merlin), Hunith (Merlin), Gwaine (Merlin), Percival (Merlin), Leon (Merlin), Elyan (Merlin), Kilgharrah (Merlin), Original Characters Additional Tags: Good Mordred (Merlin), POV Mordred (Merlin), Mordred Needs A Hug (Merlin), Mordred Angst (Merlin), Mordred is done with Merlin's shit, POV Alternating, POV Merlin (Merlin), POV Gwen (Merlin), POV Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Awesome Gwen (Merlin), Queen Gwen (Merlin), Gwen Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Gwen Knows About Morgana's Magic (Merlin), Arthur Finds Out About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Merlin's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Magic Revealed, Slow Burn, Established Relationship, Developing Relationship, Pre-Relationship, Mutual Pining, Polyamory Negotiations, Polyamory, Awesome Hunith (Merlin), Morally Ambiguous Character, Character Development, Introspection, Gwaine Being Gwaine (Merlin), Minor Gwaine/Percival (Merlin), Mordred's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Magic Ban Lifted (Merlin), Falling In Love, Not Canon Compliant, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Demisexuality, Demisexual Mordred (Merlin), Redeemed Morgana (Merlin), POV Morgana (Merlin), Morgana Knows about Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Arthur Knows About Morgana's Magic (Merlin), Immortal Merlin (Merlin), Aging Summary:

Mordred returns to Camelot, no longer a child, but a man, with an agenda that eventually changes the kingdom as a whole for the better.

#Merdred #Merlin X Mordred #Mergwenthur #Slow burn #Eventual relationships #Establishing relationships #Developing relationships #Merlin X Gwen X Mordred X Arthur #Redeemed Morgana #Good Mordred #Multi pov

[regulusrules]

Tags for BBC Merlin Fics

Since this post of general tags seems valuable, here is a specific one for my fellow Merlin readers and writers!

Can you guys believe that there are only 34K fics in our fandom that are tagged? When we have 62K+ fics!! There are so many hidden gems out there that honest to god changed my LIFE and deserve all the recognition in the world

So here is a guide for what are the most used/searchable tags in our fandom!

For Canon Era Fics

Merlin's Magic Revealed - Magic Reveal - Arthur knows about Merlin's magic - Arthur finds out about Merlin's magic - Episode Tag (for example: s01e04: The Poisoned Chalice) ((all episodes have a tag, and it's important to mark which setting are we in from the start)) - Merlin is Emrys - Merlin Needs a Hug - Protective Knights - Merlin dies - Everyone knows about Merlin's magic - Arthur-centric - Merlin-centric - Golden Age - Magic Ban Lifted - Merthur - Post-Camlann - (character's name) Lives - Arthur has magic - Merlin's Scars Revealed

For Reincarnation / Modern Fics

Arthur Pendragon Returns - Modern Setting - Modern Era - Alternate Universe - No Magic / Historical / War / University / High School / Reincarnation / Office / Authors / Royalty / Fantasy / Soulmates / Spies - Doctor Merlin - Businessman Arthur - Professor Merlin - Artist Merlin - CEO Arthur - Teacher Merlin - Actor Arthur - Musician Merlin - Lawyer Arthur - Writer Merlin

For Characters

(trait is followed by character's name. eg: Hurt Arthur)

Merlin: Hurt - BAMF - Immortal - Protective - Court Sorcerer - POV - Dragonlord - Pining - Oblivious - Powerful - Dark - Prince - Sick - Consort - Kidnapped - Caring - Top/Bottom - Royal - Tired - Sassy - Competent - King - Angry - Sad - Parent - Soft - Worried

Arthur Pendragon: Protective - King - POV - Pining - Prince - Caring - Hurt - Jealous - Soft - Worried - Oblivious - Confused - BAMF - Dark - Guilty - Smitten - Possessive - Angry - Top/Bottom - Parent - Insecure - Touch-Starved - Smart

Gwen: Awesome - Queen - POV - BAMF - Caring - Hurt - Protective

Morgana: Good - Evil - Redeemed - BAMF - Protective - POV - Awesome - Dark - Queen

Mordred: Good - Evil - Hurt - Protective - Kid

Gwaine: Protective - Hurt - POV - Pining - Awesome - Worried - Caring

Lancelot: Protective - Hurt - Supportive - Lives

Leon: Immortal - Long-Suffering - Protective

Elyan: Protective - Hurt - POV - Lives

Percival: Protective - Hurt

And remember to tag ANY triggering topic you will be writing about!

#merlin #ao3 #tags #merlin fics #bbc merlin #merthur #arthur pendragon #merlin fic #king arthur #how to tag #how to guides #regulusrules metas