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How A Little Kindness Changes The Course of Camelot by Daughter_of_Thranduil
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
12 Oct 2025
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“Some believe that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I have found it is the small things; everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love.” - Gandalf
Truer words were never spoken.
Some of the legends give Arthur an additional half-sister, Elaine. Here’s how her existence as a background character, despite performing no great deeds or showing no particular extraordinariness, prompts an earlier magic reveal and a happier ending than they all originally got.
Will be canon compliant until the end of Season 3, then verge into AU territory, where everyone stays alive.
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Harry receives a request for help that he can’t possibly turn down.
In an effort to try and help others he makes a friend that will turn his world upside down but not before Harry does the same in return.
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Merlin had given up on living a long long time ago. As the centuries had dragged on he had lost his loved ones time and time and time again. So he makes an impossible decision and choses to leave the world behind and live in solitude until Arthur’s return.
His goal: To never suffer the loss of a loved one again.
But even he couldn’t have guessed what fate had in store for him.
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« No young man, no young woman, no matter how great, can know their destiny. They cannot glimpse their part in the great story that is about to unfold. Like everyone, they must leave and learn. And so it will be for the young warlock and his sister arriving at the gates of Camelot... A boy and a girl that will in time father a legend. His name... Merlin. Hers... Millicent. »
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What's The Use of Being Good When Everyone is Blind, Always Leaving You Behind? by quietdetective
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
18 Oct 2024
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For better or for worst, Merlin has chosen to live for Arthur.
If that means being a punching bag, he will handle it.
If that means letting things go, so be it.
That doesn't make it hurt less.
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“You’re here,” he said and Gwen was too excited to hear his voice again to be concerned about the way his words slurred together. “What‘re you doing here?”
“I’m here to help you, of course. You haven’t been well, Merlin.”
Merlin looked up at her with eyes shining from fever. “Gaius would’ve taken care of me. You didn’t have to come all this way, Mum.”
Gwen’s hand froze mid-sweep in Merlin’s hair. “I- what?”
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When Merlin falls gravely ill and Gaius is busy trying to treat an outbreak in the lower town, Gwen steps in to help care for her sick friend. Delirium sets in and Gwen finds herself having to pretend to be Merlin's mother so he can say goodbye, even if it's not to the right person.
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"I'm writing you this message just so I can say that I love you."
Merlin, the fearless, loving, giving, selfless, warlock. Never bowing down to a challenge. He knows Arthur will be furious. He just hopes it's enough to keep him grounded. He doesn't want this. He never has. But it doesn't scare him.
Series
- Part 2 of Merthur Songfics
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Merlin’s gaze shifts over to the window, Arthur’s presence clearly an afterthought now.” Your people are out there because they know. They know what I am and what I pretended to be, they know that it isn’t natural.”
Arthur flinches as though he’s been slapped. He frowns, hands at his sides, standing there like a child.
He thinks of Uther in all his glory. Heavy armor, icy stare.
Uther who never would have agreed to this, Uther who would be ashamed of the man he’s become.Arthur needs this to be mutual. He needs Merlin to fight for this just as much as him because if he doesn’t, he’s not sure how long he can withstand it.
(Or, Arthur thought he’d made the right decision. For Merlin, for Camelot. But not everyone is pleased.
There a consequences to be dealt with.)Series
- Part 2 of come as you are
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spreading you open is the only way of knowing you by thoughtdaugther
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
26 May 2024
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“What’s Merlin up to, Gaius?”
Gaius isn’t listening. His eyes are wide and horrified but suddenly focused on something behind him, something outside of the window.
Before the knights can turn around to catch it, the door flies open yet again. The force behind it so strong that it nearly falls off it’s hinges.
Familiar eyes meet his own.
Merlin’s eyes.
Merlin is back, coming right through the door.
But he isn’t walking. He’s falling through the door and landing on the hard floor before Gwaine can even register what’s happening.
“Merlin?” Sir Leon rushes to his side, his voice quiet.
Merlin is right in front of him. Blood soaked and filthy. Covered scrapes and bruises. Crying out for no one in particular.
And it’s the most battered Gwaine has seen him.
(Or, Merlin disappears without explanation, leaving Gwaine worried to death.
Luckily, the sorcerer returns.
Beaten and battered.)
Series
- Part 1 of come as you are
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Merlin has a mission to get everyone to see that Arthur is a good king, prophecy or not. It is his solemn duty as a Court Sorcerer and friend to make sure that people are aware of Arthur’s virtuosness.
Arthur has a mission to get everyone to see how brilliant and brave a man Merlin really is. It is his solemn duty as King and friend to make sure that people are aware that despite the front he puts on, Merlin is not a fool.
OR
Queen Annis hatches a plan.
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"Honestly, Merlin, how could you possibly be this useless!"
A deafening silence fell over the room. Merlin looked up at Arthur with a face resembling a kicked puppy.
Maybe this should have been Arthur's cue to stop, to apologize, but instead it just made him even angrier.
"What?!" he demanded, hands shaking in an effort to contain his rage.
Merlin, still eerily quiet, dropped his gaze to the floor. His hair covered his eyes, obstructing them from Arthur's view. Finally, he spoke up.
"You're a bad friend." -
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There are days when he forgets he’s human too.
All of his days feel like that now.Merlin is weary of being serf and sovereign both.
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"You were my safest place, Camelot never was. But I understood that you are Camelot as much as Camelot is you. And you were the ones who shattered me into pieces and left me with nothing. I tried to save you, protect you and love you, Arthur. But at that exact time, I was slowly killing myself. I'm tired, My Lord, I wish to be truly happy, at least once. I deserve it."
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All the knights of Camelot are reborn, but when Arthur gets back he realizes how badly he fucked Merlin up before he died.
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"You don't have to do any of that here."
Merlin's hand froze. He looked up at Arthur with such hurt in his eyes, Arthur felt something inside him shatter.
"I thought you said this was the only way to earn your love."(This is based a Tik Tok!!)
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Merlin has been struggling for a while now , everything just became too much and no one can see through his facade or they do and pretend the opposite, he was taking a stroll in the citadel and as he reached the battlements, he thought he might not turn back.
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Merlin finally let go.
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I love you, I could never hate you (especially not for this darling) by Hunter_of_Artemis222
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
05 May 2023
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"I don't hate you, I could never hate you. Especially not for this."
"of course I do you magical idiot, I love you."Merlin and Gwaine must live for the stolen moments and quiet evenings because being in a same-sex relationship in camelot is hard under uthers old laws. Basically a magical confession, plot twist and fluff, so much fluff.
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Merlin has had enough. What with the magic and being in love with his soon-to-be-married King. Married not to him, of course. For 6 years, he's endured all the struggles of working multiple jobs and fearing for his and all he has ever loved's lives and keeping his secrets. And now he just really wants it all to end. To be finally free from his destiny and his love. Love that will never be requited. Destiny that seemed to never will be fulfilled.
And maybe there is a solution to it all.
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When is a name a reflection of your soul? by adragonhoardingstories
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
01 Dec 2022
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Merlin wakes up having been left behind one too many times by Arthur. He is tired. And then, he confronted by the truth. And the truth as he has found, is hard to swallow.
Merlin makes a decision, if he stays on the path he is he will not be able to fulfill his destiny and so he will make his own path. -
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Merlin still waits by the shores of Lake Avalon, his great destiny holding him captive...and the sickness grows.
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"There is no stress in his posture; his shoulders don’t look like he carries on them the heavy burden of destiny and lies, like he is not marked by death from the moment he was pulled out from his mother’s womb into the world which condemns people like him simply for their existence".
Wait, what, another reveal story? Definitely YES but for Merlin, things are more complicated than that (and when they are not?!)
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to be loved and to be in love. by bellamyblakru for its_hyperfixation
Fandoms: Merlin (TV)
27 Mar 2022
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merlin had enough of the silent treatment.