A Thought:
As Emrys, Merlin is a very powerful sorcerer.
However, his utter lack of any formal training means Merlin is not a very good sorcerer.
The magic he does should be theoretically impossible, but he's got enough raw fucking power to just make it work. Infant demigod smashing blocks together and creating a Lego Death Star.
Merlin: *does magic that Should Not Work*
Other sorcerers:
AND THEY ARE RIGHT TO FEEL UPSET
IMAGINE YOU'RE A SORCERER. YOU'VE BEEN PRACTICING YOUR CRAFT, SHOOTING THE SHIT, LAYING LOW, PLOTTING PLANNING.....THEN THIS FARMY BOY TWINK SHOWS UP AND NUKES THE FUCKING PRIESTESS OF THE LAKE OF AVALON
I'D FEEL PISSED TOO
like, bro, you meet him, you're apprehensive of him bc 'shit that's emrys'. the emrys. the dude that's said to be the greatest sorcerer to ever walk the earth. you meet him. you can feel his magic and like holy shit, what the fuck was that??? you ask him how the fuck he gained so much power by the age of 21????
merlin: you mean....y'all don't also just have magic doing shit when you're a toddler
you, the sorcerer who has had to spend years getting control to fucking heat up a teapot: .........no.......no our magic doesn't do that
goddamn do you wanna just chuck this adult child into the lake and be done with it. better yet, you wish for the sprites to just pick you up and use your body as a sacrifice for entrance into Avalon.
and then, and then
you see how this motherfucker fights against bandits and "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU JUST PUSHING THEM AWAY??? WHERE'S THE SHOWMANSHIP??? THE PIZZAZZ??? HOW MANY SPELLS DO YOU KNOW???"
merlin, who forgot he can freeze time and space and can launch lightning bolts at people: uh....3???
it takes the triple goddess to restrain you from murking the prophesized warlock right then and there.
"NO, NO, FUCK THAT, FUCK THIS, FUCK ALL O' Y'ALL!" you scream as you jump on a ship and move to a place that doesn't have op young adult children who didn't study shit and yet still get an A+
@0hheytherebigbadwolfâ omfg
DO YOU WONDER HOW FUCKING TERRIFYING THAT MUST HAVE BEEN???? THEY END HIS LIFE THINKINGÂ âthank GOD heâs gone, we can live our lives in peaceâ BUT HE POPS UP UNSCATHED AND DISGRUNTLED ABOUT IT AND THEREâS UNGODLY SCREECHES COMING FROM THE POOR SORCERER.
sorcerer:Â âTHE FUCK YOU DIED????â
merlin, on interaction #1,289:Â âyeah, yeah, i get that a lot. did it have to be poison tho? that tactic is getting old.â
sorcerer who is counting their seconds and taking in every last moment like itâll be their last (bc it will):Â âwhat the fuck, what the fuck, whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefu--â
once again they high tail it outta there because why would anyone stay and attempt to kill the king when thereâs an immortal god at his right hand.
Also a suggestion, instead of snobby disdain or embittered fury, there is a third reaction of absolute terror.
*nervous* "Who taught you to summon lightning before basic elemental compositions?"
*sweating* "What do you mean you 'just did it'?"
*violently shaking* "What do you mean you cast it with your BARE HANDS?"
#eldritch nightmare merlin superiority#personal hc that certain kinds of magic effects are made by combining other kinds of magic together#lightning is made by combining the elements of air and fire which sounds simple in writing#but in practice it's like trying to create Ye Olde H-Bomb#side effects include spontaneous combustion; 3rd degree burns; explosive removal of limbs#and here comes this country ass twink just yeeting lightning like a frisbee at THEE high priestess nimueh and one-hit ko'ing her#yeah that's terrifying ( @0hheytherebigbadwolfâ )
merlin being an eldritch nightmare is cORRECT
he has sorcerers shaking in their boots and quietly mouthing prayers because how is this man even human??? no, no, he canât be human....what tf is he???
au where balinor didnât die and offers to help merlin with learning new spells but it soon becomes lessons where merlin just casts high level spells without a thought and balinor continues to grow terrified
Literally the only person 110% chill with this is Hunith. You say eldritch terror, she says her sweet little bird.
Merlin: So, since living things want to stay alive and being alive is the natural state of all things that can achieve it, anything that has been alive before should have an innate desire to do so again, so necromancy should logically be the easiest and most natural kind of magic.
Merlin: Anyhoo, Mum, Dad, this is my girlfriend Freya and my good buddy Lancelot.
Hunith: Hello, dears, would you like some lunch?
Balinor:
#bbc merlin#look#balinor only *marginally* signed up for this#he saw merlin do one (1) bit of simple magic and was like ''ah you have your father's gifts :)''#he was NOT expecting his kid to be able to REWORK THE FABRIC OF REALITY just for shits and giggles#hunith is objectively the coolest woman in albion and is happy her lil baby got friends
listen, you cannot just put these in the tags and expect me not to bring it up like
there are two ways i see hunith being so chill about this
hunith just does not care and loves her boy so much and is so happy that he feels comfortable enough to use magic more and more (hunith: "oh freya, it is so good to meet you! you know, i heard you like strawberries and did you know my baby merls planted for me the most beautiful strawberry patch?" merlin: "mooooooom, i was 12!" hunith: "and what a sweet little boy you were!" balinor, visibly shaking: "you were what")
hunith also doesn't know that merlin being capable of reviving old friends is not normal and is something that is an outlier in terms of stuff magic users can do (balinor, bursting into hunith's room after a lesson: "MERLIN CAN STOP TIME???" hunith, braiding freya's hair: "since always, why?")
hunith truly is a real one. only respect for merlin's mother hunith <3
#hunith is traveling with a sorcerer who is very much NOT The Emrys#they pass through a large farming town (idk how shit works) that's going through a drought and hunith turns to her traveling companion and#asks 'would you be a dear and summon a rainstorm; to help them out at least a little?'#and the sorcerer turns to her and goes 'why the fuck did you just ask me that like it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do'#'well my son does it all the time'#'YOUR SON IS MERLIN FUKCING EMRYS' ( @the-book-reaper )
things hunith had asked common magic users to do that are actually feats of ungodly power and require years of study:
change the weather
summon water
create cute little butterflies
manifest food out of thin air
enchant a plant to dance
form complex shapes from fire embers
shapeshift from a human to an animal to a cloud to a swarm in the span of 30 seconds without breaking a sweat
the amount of stress and terrified confusion she unknowingly gave sorcerers just by asking is the funniest thing. i mean, how would hunith know any better??? she's been raising her child and sure she knew he was stronger than average but it never registered that he was pretty fucking strong



















