Achilles

merlin text posts pt 8! back again

materials from mighty pinterest

I am haunted

by many things

I just want one of them

—and her reaction is supposed to be:

"Oh.😊"

"That explains a lot."

THAT'S IT??? THAT'S THE REACTION??? BECAUSE I'M SORRY BUT IF I'M GWEN I'M STARTING A FUCKING INVESTIGATION.

Imagine being married to Arthur Pendragon. Imagine spending YEARS with this man. You know his habits. His moods. His fears. His strengths. His weaknesses. You know exactly what he looks like when he's angry. You know exactly what he looks like when he's happy. You know exactly what he looks like when he's worried.

Then one day you look back and realize there has been ONE CONSTANT in his life. AND IT WASNT YOU. 🤡

MERLIN.

Merlin is always there.

Always.

Arthur gets poisoned? Merlin. Arthur gets kidnapped? Merlin. Arthur gets cursed? Merlin. Arthur gets stabbed? Merlin. Arthur gets depressed? Merlin. Arthur gets into trouble? Merlin. Arthur is happy? Merlin. Arthur is sad? Merlin. Arthur is breathing?

MERLIN IS SOMEHOW INVOLVED.

At some point I'd start wondering if these two were separated at birth.

And that's BEFORE you discover they're in love.

Because then suddenly every weird little thing comes back to haunt you. Every time Arthur dropped everything for Merlin. Every time Arthur forgave Merlin for something nobody else would've survived. Every time Arthur defended Merlin. Every time Arthur chose Merlin. Every single fucking time.

And Gwen is supposed to just nod and go:

"Yeah fair enough."

NO. NO THE FUCK SHE ISN'T.

This is discovering your husband has spent the last decade emotionally orbiting one specific idiot. This is discovering there has been a third person in your marriage the entire fucking time.

It's MERLIN.

The man who is literally always there. The man eating dinner with you. The man sitting at council meetings. The man standing behind Arthur's chair. The man Arthur talks about constantly. The man Arthur brings up in every conversation. The man Arthur would probably mention during a house fire.

"Arthur, the castle is burning."

"Has anyone seen Merlin?"

BROTHER.

FOCUS.

Imagine the questions. The endless questions.

How long? When did it start? Did everybody know? Was I the only person who didn't know? Was I standing in the middle of the world's longest slow burn and nobody thought to mention it?

Do you have any idea how humiliating that would feel?

I think she'd spend at least six months just being angry.

Because suddenly Arthur's behavior starts looking VERY different.

Arthur exiling her over a kiss?

Interesting.

Arthur forgiving Merlin for literally everything?

Also interesting.

Arthur treating Merlin like the exception to every rule in existence?

VERY interesting.

Arthur trusting Merlin more than his wife?

EXTREMELY FUCKING INTERESTING.

And suddenly Gwen's sitting there like:

"Oh. Oh that's why.

That's why the rules were different. That's why the standards were different. That's why Merlin always got another chance. That's why Arthur could never quite let him go.

That realization alone would make me need several business days. Maybe weeks. Maybe months. Maybe a chair to throw. Potentially several chairs. Possibly Arthur out a window.

Because fandom keeps acting like Gwen discovering Merthur would be this sweet little revelation.

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It would be a forensic investigation. A retrospective analysis. A decade-long audit.

She'd be looking back through ten years of memories going:

"YOU DID WHAT?"

"YOU FORGAVE HIM FOR WHAT?"

"YOU CROSSED A KINGDOM FOR HIM?"

"YOU RISKED A WAR FOR HIM?"

"YOU THREATENED WHO FOR HIM?"

"YOU SAID WHAT TO WHO FOR HIM?"

"ARTHUR WHAT THE FUCK."

The more she looked back, the worse it'd get.

Because eventually she'd reach the horrifying conclusion that every single person around her had been competing with Merlin for Arthur's attention.

And nobody ever stood a chance.

Merlin occupied a category all by himself.

A category nobody else could enter. A category nobody else could challenge. A category Gwen didn't even know existed until it was too late.

A CATEGORY THAT SHE WASNT IN.

And THAT is why I cannot stand fics where Gwen discovers Merthur and immediately becomes their biggest supporter.

Give me Gwen staring at both of them like she's solving a murder.

Because Merlin spends 1,500 years waiting for Arthur, and the cruelest part is that the show never actually confirms that Arthur's resurrection means he will return as the same Arthur Merlin knew. The prophecy is about Albion, not Merlin. Arthur is the Once and Future King, which means his return belongs to the destiny of the kingdom, while Merlin's immortality belongs to the destiny of the world. They are bound to each other historically, mythologically, almost cosmically, but that does not necessarily mean they are bound to meet again.

Merlin isn't necessarily waiting for Arthur to come back.

He's waiting because he cannot stop waiting.

Every few decades, every few centuries, Merlin could have convinced himself that this was the age. That this was the war. That this was the moment Albion needed its king. He watches kingdoms rise and collapse, watches languages disappear, watches Camelot become a story people tell children, and every time someone mentions Arthur in a book or a song, there is that tiny possibility that this is finally it.

But it never is.

So Merlin's immortality becomes less like a gift and more like being trapped inside a prophecy whose ending he isn't allowed to read.

And here's the really painful part: what if Arthur's resurrection does not require Merlin to be alive?

The prophecy never says Merlin must be there.

Which means Merlin could spend centuries believing that his immortality is the thing keeping him alive long enough to see Arthur return, when actually his immortality has nothing to do with Arthur's resurrection at all.

Arthur could rise tomorrow.

Merlin could die tonight.

The prophecy would still be fulfilled.

I like to think that Merlin is a country bumpkin and doesn’t understand or know about a lot of Camelot’s courtesy’s and cultural traditions ESPECIALLY when it comes to courting…

My heart: *on the bring of tears* i can't decide between merthur and mercelot. I need to decide between merthur and mercelot

My brain: oh boy okay okay calm down, new idea merlin has two hands just ship them poly, problem solved

Also poly doesn’t mean they all have to be together, Merlin can date Arthur and Lancelot while arthur and Lancelot don’t date each other/ don’t fuck. You can even make them have silly fight because you slept with him yesterday on my day it’s my turn!! Well Sire, with all due respect I can’t control Merlin if he wishes to sleep with me and not you it’s his choice Oh don’t play with me on that Lancelot I saw you and your bending over business of yesterday two can play this game— or them both fighting to be the first to propose so they can be Merlin’s sole husband (while Merlin doesn’t even think about that because the triple goddness religion love everything that go in three especially at wedding—)