#arthur stuff

I love the fanfic nature of the Arthur legend. Lancelot was an OC added way after the fact, and Galahad was an OC added after him (and was always a little too OP, to be honest.) Sir Gawain doesn’t have anything to do with the main story, but he’s the fan favorite so he’s always there anyway. He also stars in the super cool Song of Roland/Legend of Arthur crossover fic Orlando Innamorato (sadly abandoned. But picked up later by another author and the ending he wrote was awesome.)

Morgan le Fay is technically a gender swap, since Geoffrey of Monmouth either didn’t know that Morgan was a male name in Wales or figured since there was already a male magic user, a female magic user might be fun. She’s a good guy when Geoffrey and Chrétien write about her, but Malory headcanoned her as a villain, and Le Morte d'Arthur was a super influential fic, so she stayed that way until Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. Tennyson couldn’t resist a pretty magical lady I guess. 

I love Arthurian retellings. I’ve seen... a lot. Camelot (1967) was my introduction, and the characterizations there mostly come from The Once and Future King. But for me, the gold standard will always be Mary Stewart’s books. I have never seen better historical fantasy, ever. They lean into the post-Roman Britain origins of the story, hard. And they’re so damn beautiful. Merlin is the POV character of the first three, and his magic is so bound up with him that sometimes he’s not sure if he’s actually using it or not... and Mordred is the POV character in the last one, and he’s so practical and stripped down and defensive - and so compelling. No one is really the villain, which I always, always appreciate. 

Lancelot, when you get him down to basics, is a knight who has to choose between his cause and the woman he loves, and chooses his lady. That’s a Snake/Lion at war with a Lion primary model. Arthur is the king who wants to bring peace to his land by starting an organization, giving his knights rules to live by, and and prompting them to solve conflicts by talking across a round table where symbolically everyone is equal. So a Badger Bird.

Guinevere is complicated. I think that she’s in love with both of them. She loves Arthur for his ideals, and the way he grounds her and makes her better - but she loves Lancelot because he gets her. Being with him is a release. I think if she’s a Badger Lion who shares a primary with Arthur and a secondary with Lancelot, that communicates this idea pretty well. 

When I say “Grail Knight,” I’m thinking like Galahad and Percival - the knights who aren’t riding for King Arthur, or their Lady Fair, they aren’t trying to slay dragons or Help the Helpless. They’re after the Holy Grail - this metaphysical truth.

Which is ultimately what Birds are doing. Bird Lions just happen to be especially direct and driven about it, because of that secondary. Bird Lion heroes like T.E. Lawrence, Buzz Lightyear, Sam Vimes, Hamlet, Julian Bashir, Luke Skywalker tend to be battling with really big questions like... their identity. Their place in the cosmos. It’s really, really common for their quests to have a spiritual side to them. 

submissions are way better

(you dont like AUs, do you? i will try to keep them in their canon country stuff, although i prefer AUs ;u;)

How can you guys spend so much time together? What do you do when you can't see eachother for a long time? What was the longest time you were apart? Do you still think about the american revolution and stuff? I hope its okay that i cant do pervy questions since i am 14 and feel uncomfortable haha with that? But you dont care for topping and bottoming, right? Is Alfred ticklish? OH MY GOD IS HE TICKLISH DO YOU TICKLE HIM OFTEN ARTHUR PLEASE TELL ME MORE AND THAT "ENERGY SAFER" BLACK BACKGROUND THING IS ALWAYS APPEARING NO NO NO I AM TYPING GO AWAY

hm that are more questions than i had before ahh 

[I don't mind AUs at all~ Sometimes I prefer them, but I think...I love the premise of hetalia too much to deviate sometimes~]

I admit, Alfred is the most diabolically irritating person I have ever had the misfortune to meet, but, that said, I...I'm rather fond of him. Sometimes, when you spend enough time with a person, their habits and traits become intrinsically synced with yours, and thus being without them is more difficult than you could imagine. Yes, he's annoying. He leaves wet bath towels on the bathroom floor. He will never help me wash up, nor offer to do the laundry, god forbid the shopping... He spends the majority of his waking hours obliterating zombies on his Xstation or whatever it is and even then he doesn't bother getting dressed, just prefers to laze about in his underwear of all things. But...I love the wanker to bits. That's how I can bear it.

Take a well-earned rest, I think. No, there are many occasions when we simply cannot spend a long time together. We both have responsibilities that cannot be bypassed, so sometimes we might not see each other for a number of months at a time. Although, we do...telephone each other. Alfred has introduced me to...Skype? I think that's it. A wondrous piece of technological whatsit if you ask me. The house is...uncomfortably quiet without him. But I'm sure he enjoys the time away from me...~

Technically...a few centuries, but the majority of my life has been lived without America. Nowadays, it's more like a month at the most.

...Of course. I try to limit the amount of time I give to the topic. We both do.

14? Blimey... You're but a toddler, child~ No, I don't prefer either to be honest. It really does depend on how I'm feeling... I know certainly, that in the beginning, I begrudgingly submitted to Alfred's every desire and grew accustomed to it, mainly because he...he likes control. It's...it's complicated, I won't...go into it...