You Interrupted Something. Rude. Ko-Fi

Hello everyone! I wasn't planning on posting a new au idea so soon (since I'm trying to finish up the next chapter of "What to do when an Eldritch God Decides That You're Friend-Shaped" 😅), but this au idea formed while I was watching "The Nightmare Begins" (the season 2 ep where Morgana first discovers her magic and goes to the druids, only to see them slaughtered) and it decided to derail my writing schedule. With some encouragement from the amazing artist and writer @guiltyscarlet, this au was born! I hope you all enjoy!

In this au, Merlin tells Morgana about his own magic during "The Nightmare Begins", so Merlin doesn't send her to the druids for help. He offers to help her learn about her own magic and control it, and she's just so relieved to have someone who understands. Morgana is heartbreakingly scared throughout the entire episode, so having Merlin there to fully support her and offer her genuine help with hiding her powers is life-changing for her. She essentially gets the same wisdom from Merlin as she would have from the druids: that magic is beautiful and not something to fear.

Merlin and Morgana spend the next few months growing closer (much to Arthur's horror, as he interprets it as them being romantically involved). Morgana swiftly gains control over her own powers, and she practices spells with Merlin. Both of them are just so happy to have someone who understands, a friend that they don't have to hide from or fear! They essentially become each other's comfort person.

But despite Merlin's insistence that things will become better once Arthur is king, that they just have to wait and have patience and everything will turn out fine, Morgana isn't so sure. Merlin is her dear friend, but she cannot buy into his "hope for the future and work from the background" mentality. No, Morgana knows that change will only come from action, action that Merlin is too kind, too caring to take. Morgana would never begrudge Merlin for his own kind heart, it is what makes him who he is after all, but she simply cannot show mercy to Uther as Merlin has done.

However, after a few months, Morgause comes to town. While Morgana's nightmares had become much more manageable with Merlin's help, they still hadn't ceased entirely. So, when Morgause gave her the healing bracelet that made them stop completely, Morgana believed that she had found another person like Merlin: someone who understood her and could support her!

So when Morgause sent her a message to meet in the woods, Morgana of course accepted. Now she could have two people to share her gifts with! And even better, Morgause wants to take action against Uther! They can work together to bring about Uther's downfall, and kind, caring magic users like Merlin all over Camelot will be safe from his cruelty and madness! It's perfect... up until the part where Morgause tries to take Camelot by force with a sleeping spell and the knights of Medhir, prepared to kill anyone who stands against her, magic user or not. This, this was not the grand liberation of Camelot that Morgana had been promised!

In the end, Merlin convinces Morgana herself to stand against Morgause and force her to lift the sleeping spell, but when Morgause still begs Morgana to come with her, Morgana tearfully tells Merlin that she appreciates all that he's done for her, but she needs to get away from Camelot, away from Uther. To Morgana, going with Morgause is the only way to save Camelot from Uther, as she could learn from Morgause and focus her attacks on Uther, thereby saving all of the magic users in Camelot, including Merlin himself.

Merlin had risked his life to save her, now she was going to return the favor. This was the only way.

Merlin begs her to reconsider, to at least not go with Morgause of all people, but Morgana won't listen. She has to do this, for all of their sakes. She takes Morgause's hand, and they both disappear.

From there, Morgana and Morgause spend a year travelling around while Morgause trains her in the ways of the Priestesses of the Old Religion. Morgana makes quick progress, and her magic becomes formidable in no time. After a year, Morgana plants herself in the woods to be "discovered" by the knights of Camelot and makes her grand homecoming to Camelot. In contrast to canon, this time when Morgana returns to Camelot, she's genuinely glad to see Merlin again.

After her return, she quickly pulls Merlin aside and, after they spend the evening catching up and expressing how glad they both are that the other is alright after a year apart, Morgana tells Merlin of her plans with Morgause and Cenred, as she doesn't want him to get hurt in the crossfire. Merlin is horrified at the plan, even though Morgana emphasizes that Cenred's soldiers are under strict orders not to harm civilians and to prioritize killing Uther. Merlin, of course, protests her plans, but Morgana shuts him down. Despite their now slightly tense situation, Merlin reiterates his vow that, no matter what, he will never tell a soul about Morgana's magic, and Morgana swears the same to him.

Season three goes much the same way, except Morgana never targets Arthur or Gwen and Merlin never tries to kill Morgana on Kilgharrah's orders. Morgana instead trips on her own, leading to a head injury that Merlin heals with a spell that he forced from Kilgharrah, and the whole "Uther is Morgana's father reveal" happens the same way. This time, Morgana also knows that Merlin went out of his way to save her life with his magic, which only reinforces her belief that Merlin is too kind to do what needs to be done and will get himself killed if Uther is allowed to live.

During Morgana's takeover of Camelot with Morgause's immortal army in the season 3 finale, Morgana doesn't kill civilians and also tries to get Merlin on her side. Her recruitment pitch to Merlin was essentially was something along the lines of "hey, now that I'm in charge, nice magic users like you can be protected! Your kindness inspired me to do this so you and others like you don't have to be afraid anymore! Join me and you can spend the rest of your life using your magic to make flowers bloom and heal people, all of the things you said magic should be used for! :D You just need to ditch Arthur."

And that doesn't reassure Merlin, who's been sold on Arthur's eventual golden reign for years now, one bit. If anything, Merlin feels guilty, as Morgana had taken over Camelot by force and become this hardened version of herself in part because of him.

When Merlin tries to point out how Morgana's takeover and her methods of ruling were scaring people rather than making them feel safer, Morgana used that argument against him, telling Merlin how he could use his kind heart to advise her on ways to make the people of Camelot feel safer and more accepting of magic if he only joined her. Morgana wanted him as one of her chief advisors, right next to Morgause. Morgana already had Morgause to tell her when she needed to be harsher, and now she could have Merlin to tell her when she needed to be softer.

Merlin, however, still rejects her offer, but Morgana isn't surprised. She knows that Merlin's ultimate loyalty lies with Arthur, and once again, she will not begrudge him for that. From there, Merlin manages to escape and meets back up with Arthur, and the round table is formed as per usual. But, before Merlin escaped, Morgana asked him if, after all of this, they could still be friends. Merlin replied that yes, they could.

In this au, Morgause wasn't injured when Merlin struck the cup of life, so Morgana and a healthy Morgause escape together to plot more ways to conquer Camelot, and Merlin still tries to stop them at every turn. While he infuriates Morgause, he and Morgana almost start to see it as a friendly rivalry between the two of them.

I'd imagine that this au has a pretty happy ending, with Arthur and Morgana being able to have a reconciliation or perhaps even bonding over wanting to protect Merlin! Or maybe they have a sibling rivalry to see who can be the better friend to Merlin lol!

And that's all for this au for now! Let me know if you'd like a to see a continuation of this au! A big thank you again to @guiltyscarlet for your support! I'd encourage everyone to go check out their Merlin art!

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

Regarding the archeologist!merlin AU I’d love to see it on AO3, and while I’m a big fan of angst I’d love to read either direction the story takes. I’m just wondering if maybe you could include the translation in brackets or something throughout the text? Scrolling back and forth kind of takes me out of it, but I totally get it if you prefer the stories as is! Thanks for sharing it to begin with!

Hi! I've gotten some feedback on putting the translations at the bottom, and I've decided that I will put the translations throughout the text when I put this au on ao3. This au was my first time working with dialogue in other languages, so I was a little lost on where to put the translations to begin with 😅. Thank you for your feedback and your patience! 😊

Magic, mischief, and blackmail!

Oh, 2025 is going to be fun, isn't it? :)

Witchcraft, Wisdom, Death...

Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for all of the love you've given my latest au! I'm working on a continuation for the "Arthur misunderstands what a warlock is" au and will hopefully have it posted by tomorrow!

However, I have a question for everyone! I'm considering starting a new writing project based on Greek mythology (essentially a horror retelling of the Odyssey where mortal become less and less human every time they interact with the gods), and I'd love to share my work with you all! But, I'm conflicted on whether or not I should make a new blog for this project or not.

I know that most (probably all) of you are here for my Merlin content, and I want this blog to be enjoyable for everyone, so I want your thoughts!

I originally created this blog to share my silly Merlin au's and fanfics with you all, and I'm happy to keep it exclusive to that if you guys want that! However, I'm also happy to share all of my writing, Merlin-related or not, here!

I want this blog to be as fun as it can be for both you all and myself, so I value your feedback! Happy voting, and I'll be back soon with my au continuation post! :D

I love this!

Merlin would start tentatively questioning Arthur about the knights tailing him, trying to see if Arthur truly does suspect about his magic, while Arthur gets red and flustered with embarrassment at Merlin's questioning. Merlin mistakes this flush for Arthur holding back his anger at Merlin's betrayal, so Merlin misunderstands and takes it as confirmation that Arthur knows about the magic and that he's on thin ice.

In response, Merlin starts pulling away from Arthur, hopefully giving him space to calm his temper, while Arthur is heartbroken seeing Merlin reject his affections after he started to treat Merlin like his queen.

I like the angst potential here!

merlin notices knights trailing after him while he dashes around the castle and then they follow him into town and they follow him out into the woods and arthur is being super weird about it and none of the knights at the round table are saying anything so oh fuck arthur definitely knows about merlin’s magic and is having him closely monitored bc he thinks merlin is dangerous omg its so obvious. whole time arthur is just in his chambers giggling, twirling his hair, and blushing as he writes in his diary journal that he found old rules that were used to keep his mother safe and he implemented them for his queen his beloved merlin to keep him safe

Hello everyone! Here's a quick Merlin au idea that I might flesh out later:

We know from the show that Merlin is "magic itself", so what if all magic had a form of consciousness or spirit as Emrys? In this au, Emrys has always existed as magic's consciousness and allows magic users to harness his power, but he lacks any physical form on account of being a spirit.

However, when Uther declares war on magic and starts the purge, Emrys knew that he had to act to stop Uther. So, he decides to make a vessel so that he can directly act in the physical world, instead of having to rely on the power of his followers.

Emrys's plan was to intertwine his soul with the newborn vessel's, which would allow him to become one with the vessel and keep his memories, powers, and spirit intact. But, something went wrong while Emrys was attaching himself to the vessel, and now Emrys was stuck in a mortal form without any of his memories as a spirit. And thus, Merlin was born.

Everything after that would go pretty much the same as canon up until the last season. As the golden age neared and Morgana grew stronger, the part of Emrys's spirit that resided outside of Merlin grew more and more insistent. What was left of Emrys's spirit knew that Merlin needed to regain his memories as Emrys and reunite with their spirit to achieve his true potential, but it seemed like nothing was working!

So, Emrys tried everything to get through to Merlin, but Merlin was too preoccupied with trying to keep Arthur alive to notice any of Emrys's subliminal messages.

After a while, Emrys tried reaching out to the Druids and even the Catha to see if they could perform a ritual to unlock Emrys's memories and spirit from within Merlin. Merlin eventually figures out the truth and readily agrees to the ritual, taking any power that he can get if it means that he can protect Arthur better.

However, Arthur and the knights catch wind of this and are horrified. To them, it looks like magic itself is trying to possess Merlin!

This all culminates with Arthur and the knights being too late to stop the ritual. They watch on in horror as Merlin's eyes are permanently stained gold, and his expression holds an uncharacteristic grimness.

Arthur knows, down to his core, that what he's looking at isn't Merlin, but rather magic itself wearing his best friend's skin and controlling his like a puppet. With tears in his eyes, Arthur turns his blade on what was once Merlin, knowing that Merlin himself wouldn't have wanted magic to lay waste to the world while wearing his face.

But Emrys just rolls his eyes at Arthur dramatics. Honestly, his memories of existing as an incorporeal spirit for millennia were kind of boring anyways.

TL;DR:

Merlin gets a cool powerup, while Arthur thinks that he has to kill his best friend, who is possessed by the closest thing Camelot has to a devil: magic itself. Heartbreaking angst (from Arthur's POV) and mild irritation (from Merlin's POV) ensue!

You all were supposed to STOP me! Not encourage this!

(I say this half-jokingly, because I had too much fun making this and it took over two hours of my day today.)

sorcerers in camelot realizing merlin is head over heels in love with uther’s son

Aww, thank you! I'm not sure if I could pick a favorite among my au's, but I'm especially proud of that one! I think I found the perfect mix of feels and pure ridiculousness for that au!

Continuation Poll Time!

Hello everyone! Thank you all again for the amazing support you've given my last few au ideas! I'm finishing up the next chapter of my "Eldritch Merlin befriends an anxious Leon" fic (which I've procrastinated on for far too long now 😭), so the next chapter of that will hopefully be up some time today or tomorrow!

After I post the next chapter of that, I want to do a continuation post of one of the au's that I posted recently! I'll probably continue all of these at some point, but I want to know which one you guys would like to see first! So...

All links to these au's can be found on my Masterpost here! I'm looking forward to seeing what you all pick! :D

Hey, thanks for tagging me @cinnabon-sweetroll-tiramisu!

Coffee or Tea | Early bird or Night Owl | Chocolate or Vanilla | Spring or Fall | Silver or Gold | Pop or Alternative | Freckles or Dimples | Snakes or Sharks | Mountains or Fields | Thunder or Lightning | Egyptian Mythology or Greek Mythology | Ivory or Scarlet | Flute or Lyre | Opal or Diamond | Potions or Spells | Ocean or Desert | Mermaids or Sirens | Masquerade Ball or Cocktail Party | Butterflies or Honeybees | Macarons or Éclairs | Typewritten or handwritten | Secret Garden or Secret Library | Rooftop or Balcony | Spicy or Mild | Opera or Ballet | London or Paris | Vincent Van Gogh or Claude Monet | Denim or Leather

Join in if you'd like! @that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction @larluce @merthurogies @star-rie @theroundbartable

Doing the colors made me annoyed so I took forever but I decided to just do uppercase for my choices :)

Coffee or tea | early bird or NIGHT OWL| CHOCOLATE or vanilla | spring or FALL | SILVER or gold | POP? or alternative | FRECKLES or dimples | snakes or SHARKS!! | MOUNTAINS or fields | THUNDER or lightning | egyptian mythology or GREEK MYTHOLOGY | ivory or SCARLET | flute or LYRE | OPAL or diamond | potions or SPELLS| OCEAN or desert | MERMAIDS or sirens | MASQUERADE BALL or cocktail party | butterflies or HONEYBEES | macarons or ECLAIRS| TYPEWRITTEN or handwritten | secret garden or SECRET LIBRARY| rooftop or BALCONY | SPICY or mild | opera or BALLET | LONDON or paris | vincent van gogh or claude monet | denim or LEATHER

uh idk painters and I only drink water and milk, like a baby 💀

Thanks for the tag @funkylittlebats sorry it took so long 😬

@notsylheti @evilbitchwhohatesschool

@cinnabon-sweetroll-tiramisu @m1l0

@nerdasaurus1200