About anything ,anyone (you explain things beautifully and I'd love to see more)
hjshjshs i am blushing so much!!!!!! <333 most of the meta i write nowadays is cramped into web weaves because i find other people's words much more effective in communicating stuff i want to say. for a random meta.... i have one hc my friends on discord know but i don’t think (?) i’ve ever posted on tumblr:
we as viewers are never given the original form of the prophecy. when the vilia appear in 4x02, they say that merlin “has great power and a future that has been written since the dawn of time“. the disir also say that arthur “has always been known”. this implies two things: that merlin and arthur’s destinies have been decided (in a vague sense of the word) since the beginning of time, and that the prophecies of their destiny have been passed down in writing. however, the only piece of writing we see is the prophecy of camlann merlin gets in 5x10. and that, too, only seems to mention morgana, mordred and arthur - not merlin. even if we assume that these ‘writings’ are later writings written by sorcerers who have heard these stories orally, that still leaves the point that there was an original prophecy - so the question remains.... what was contained in the original prophecy?
this question probably unanswerable, but while ruminating over it I did have a sudden lightbulb moment that has now become my hc for the answer to this question. i remembered the fact that the spells merlin mutters while unconscious in 1x04 is from “beowulf” which is an old english epic poem that tells the story of a king similar to arthur (the verses of the poem merlin mutters directly parallels and alludes to arthur’s actions in the episode as well as his storyline in the series). you could technically draw a parallel to the story of beowulf and the supposed prophecy of merlin and arthur since beowulf is the oldest piece of english literature ever found and the prophecy has been written “since the dawn of time”.
basically what i’m saying is... the spell merlin says is actually the original prophecy. this can also be supported by the fact that merlin - magic itself, “the fabric of this world”, and something that “has always been and always will be” - mutters the spell while unconscious, a bit like morgana when she’s dreaming and uses her seer abilities. there’s also something poetic about merlin guiding arthur with a light from the magic created by the words of a prophecy that tied them together, especially because they were both saving each other's lives that episode.
