Since you sent me, I shall send in return!
Blorbos? Tell me about them if you wish!
Okay. Technically he’s my own creation. But DR!Merlin is definitely my blorbo! I’ve made posts about his redesign (which I need to update) and characterization, so now it’s time for backstory!
Well, some of it. The meme I made definitely still applies, but I can, at the least, now tell you about his birth and his sister! :D
So obviously, Emerald Embers spoilers, but there are a lot of dark subjects ahead.
TW/CW for: rape, mentions of genocide, murder, and child death.
In the year 5,650 B.C., Adhan, a mortal human, is raped by a cambion. Merlin is born nine months later as a result.
It was an attempt to bring the Anti-Christ into the world, and as the first human wizard, Merlin was supposed to be. His magic surfaces as a baby, because a demon’s magic is very powerful.
Being half-demon also gave him exceptional intelligence, and it first shows through his eyes. His eyes are a muddy color when he’s born, but as he gets older, and his blue eyes become clearer, intelligence shines in them.
(At two years old he speaks very eloquently, and he’s already beginning to act like an adult in a child’s body.)
Adhan falls in love and marries his stepfather, also a normal human, about a year after his birth.
Three months later, she gets pregnant.
One day, Adhan and Merlin are sitting in their family home. She’s rocking him, and he’s falling asleep. But then a noise coming from his mother’s stomach startles him awake. She’s very confused by what noise he could be talking about, but they eventually figure out that he was hearing a heartbeat from her unborn baby.
His sister, Ganieda is born, and when he sees her for the first time, he gets a gut feeling that she isn’t like him. He’s confused, because he doesn’t know why she isn’t, and he’s sad, because he thought she would be like him.
But he loves her, and when she grows old enough, she loves her big brother’s magic.
Back then, magic wasn’t feared or hated, and people were amazed by it.
But as he and Ganieda grow up, more wizards start being born, and so do more cambions who wanted to bring the end of the world, because Merlin apparently won’t. (He doesn’t even know the true circumstances of his birth until years later.)
Because of all this, people become afraid. They begin to associate all human magic with demons and evil, and they decide they need to exterminate it.
So… they start capturing wizards and killing then.
Whether the wizards are innocent or not isn’t the point; no matter what, it’s a terrible, brutal act that shouldn’t have happened, but it does, and it keeps happening.
But Merlin and his family are safe, and he has no idea what’s going on. (The mortal humans know he has a high amount of power, even if he hasn’t used it yet, so they want to get the drop on him.)
Ganieda gets married to a mortal man named Rhydderch Hael, and Merlin, who’s just started getting into crafting, makes them both wedding gifts.
She gets a necklace, and Rhydderch gets a knife.
Ganieda gets pregnant pretty soon after the wedding, and everyone is overjoyed. Merlin is very excited to be an uncle because it’s his only sibling, and unbeknownst to them, the baby is a girl.
The fear of magic keeps getting worse. Soon whole mobs dedicated to wiping out at all magic form, and they decide they have enough manpower to kill Merlin.
They arrive to Merlin’s village. A few of them infiltrate it, pretending to be newcomers searching for a home; the rest of them stay in hiding. They begin spying on Merlin, and they learn that he has a sister. And anyone who’s in proximity to magic and knows about it is helping them live, and helping the magic spread, so they need to die.
One day, Merlin and Rhydderch go out to trade metal for silk, leaving Ganieda at home because she’s very far along at that point.
They break the door to Merlin, Ganieda, and Rhydderch’s house down, and they stab her in the stomach, killing her and her unborn child.
Then they set a few houses on fire, driving everyone else out. They leave Merlin’s family home alone for him to discover.
Then they take their exit, satisfied that their work is done. They’d ruined the village, killed Merlin’s sister, and Merlin would definitely end himself when he discovered the carnage.
Merlin and Rhydderch arrive home to their village mostly burned down, with no one in sight. They’re confused, horrified, and terrified for their family’s safety.
They race to their house, and find the door broken, hanging off its hinges.
Ganieda is on the floor close to the entrance. She’s lying in a pool of her own blood, and it’s clear that she’s been dead for a while.
They stare at her in horrified silence, shock rendering them completely unable to speak.
Merlin starts to disassociate for the first time.
Rhydderch, who had gone to his sister and picked up her body while he was, calls his name and begs him to do something, snapping him out of it.
He walks toward them with shaking legs and kneels slowly, taking her into his arms.
And he tries to think of something, anything, that will help-
But he knows he can’t do anything, and Rhydderch sees it in his eyes. He starts sobbing, and Merlin starts crying too.
Merlin starts to lose his innocence that day. It would take a lot more centuries, a lot more losses, and a lot more trauma, but it was the first thing that changed him into the man he is now.
The village slowly starts trickling back, and they hold a funeral for Ganieda and the baby.
At the funeral, Rhydderch gives Merlin her necklace, saying that he should have it because he was the one who made it.
He takes it without protesting and puts it on, a thousand yard stare on his face.
A few months later, Merlin and Rhydderch find themselves in a battle with the steadily growing number of anti-magic humans. (Some of them are definitely the ones who murdered Ganieda and her child.)
One of them stabs Rhydderch in the heart, and Merlin sees him go down.
He races over, kneeling so quickly he roughly slams his knees, but he barely notices that.
Maybe this time his magic could do something.
He lights his hands up and slams them down into his brother-in-law’s chest, over and and over again.
Rhydderch is already gone. He’s dead, just like his sister. Just like his sister, there are no goodbyes, no promises to see each other again.
He stares down at his brother-in-law’s body, his blood covering his hands.
He snaps. A grieving, agonized scream tears from his throat, and with it comes a wave of uncontrollable magic that blasts everyone away.
He picks his brother-in-law up and cradles his body, just like he’d cradled his sister’s.
The village has another funeral.
Eventually, Adhan and his father die of old age, leaving him with only Charlie.
Speaking of Charlie. I need to insert him in here. 🥹🤦♀️
Eh that’s a worry for future me 😎👍
