thinking about dragon!arthur who hoards people....I dunno I just think arthur deserves to breathe fire and have his eyes flash gold as he desperately tries to protect his people....as a treat
the dragon!Pendragons AU no one wanted and no one needed but I’m making one anyway
As a bloodline, the Pendragons have an „inner dragon” of some sorts, why, I don’t know yet, gimme time (probably „the legends don’t mention the origins” or smn)
First triggered when they come of age (21 in this instance i suppose), then all goes downhill (as expected), it becomes more noticeable, the temper gets a lot worse and all that, BUT extraordinary circumstances such as, oh I don’t know THE LAST DRAGONLORD MAYBE might strengthen the dragon and generally make the whole condition more unpleasant than it should be lmao
Uther denies everything but it’s fine as his dragon doesn’t give a fuck about the guy either way
Arthur’s in trouble cause his dragon does, in fact, give a fuck about him so he can’t deny a single thing
In any case, his title as „the Once and Future King” might indicate that the dragons is going to be stronger (because reasons and because I said so); SO Arthur might have a new, annoying habit of hissing at things. And at times, he might spit smoke. He is entirely unable to convince his father he has never smoked in his entire goddamn life. And that he never plans to. No one likes those new habits. Least of all Arthur himself.
Extreme circumstances – like danger to self, danger to the hoard, etc. - might cause some shapeshifting to happen. And, yes, I fully intend to get this story to a point where Prince Arthur gets stuck in the dragon form bc reasons. It will probably have something to do with pulling Excalibur out of the stone (which, at this point, will have to look completely different to the show, oops) because I really want to have Dragonthur after freeing this “stupid chunk of metal” out of this “stupid goddamn rock” and extremely mad Uther going between “Jesus fuck kill this abomination now” and “SON PLS WAIT AND DO NOT SUCCUMB TO SORCERY I WILL DO EVERYTHING TO CuRe YOU” real quick
Technically they aren’t obliged to listen to the Dragonlords, but, tehee, merthur needs to happen so listening to their Dragonlord’s orders makes them incredibly, stupid pleased. More like euphoria-pleased. I mean I don’t really need it for merthur to happen, I just find this insanely amusing.
They know the dragontongue, somewhat, without having to learn. The dragontongue does things. I don’t know what things yet. Just. Yanno. Things.
Arthur basically gets disowned at some point because, hey, Uther’s dragon might be more dead than alive (and Arthur’s lizard is very lively), but it’s still his land and treasure, and hoard, and why would he let this young, little, eager to fight bitch even try to usurp that, how dare he >:c
Art and Morgana argue more
As a matter of fact, all Pendragons piss each other off a lot more. Somehow.
Arthur confronts Merlin directly after 2x13, because it is, dammit, in his right to know why the hell he gets this stupid urge to wag a tail he doesn’t even have every time Merls smiles. Also, why on earth does he feel like the knowledge about Dragonlords has been permanently drilled into his head (he somehow knows the words despite never learning and something, the beast, inside him stirrs)
Dragons, as expected, hoard things. For instance: Uther has always been interested in riches that might be hidden under Camelot (see 2x01), morgana loves her expensive dresses and jewellery, and Arthur… Arthur hoards people. His Kinghts of the Round Table. His magical, ridiculously powerful Dragonlord. His strange druid child whom no, Merlin, you can’t get rid of unless you wanna get me a new one, understood?
Permanent scales on the shoulders, elbows and knees (maybe the loins too? Dunno yet)
When pissed off, the pendragons’ pupils become slit, like a snake, but that’s for later (plot-wise)
I… feel like at this point, Merlin is just sort of screaming into the void in this one, but stay tuned or something
ooc: fic/RP idea for a retelling of The Last Dragonlord
Strap yourselves in this is a long one… just didn’t know when/couldn’t stop with the overly detailed plotting! xD
Note: I saw the actual episode two days ago. That’s why it’s all quite vivid still in my mind ;)
~~
So the story starts with Kilgharrah haunting Merlin’s dreams and telling him Camelot’s doom is at hand/the legacy of Uther Pendragon will be terrible to behold/his bloodline will be cursed forevermore for his acts against magic-kind. Merlin works out from this that Kilgharrah is dying and the dragon is invoking some sort of ancient powerful magic in the moment of his death. Merlin has failed to free him from his chains basically, and now the imprisoned dragon is getting his revenge through other means…
Flash forward to the next day. Merlin and Arthur are doing their usual things but Merlin notices Arthur being a bit more hungry haha not like that than usual. He’s also developed a bit of an itch to his skin that continually distracts him whilst training the knights. So he asks Merlin to draw him a bath that evening and while undressing Merlin notices shock horror the skin on Arthur’s back is literally peeling off! More sinister than this, it appears that something that looks suspiciously like golden scales lie underneath… Arthur asks Merlin what’s up and Merlin is just so horrified he literally plays dumb and tries not to panic, just focusses on getting Arthur ready for bed.
That whole night he’s at the books with Gaius, trying to make sense of the curse that Kilgharrah mentioned and what’s happening with Arthur. They come across some page in a book that tells them about possession/mad kings/the significance of the Pendragon line…
And it suddenly just clicks with Merlin oh shit Arthur’s turning into a dragon. Camelot’s Champion is turning into Camelot’s fiery destruction. What does this mean for his and Arthur’s supposed destiny together? What can he do to stop the curse? What will Uther do when he finds out what’s happening to his son??!
Gaius tries to calm down an obviously distraught Merlin at this point and advises that they try and bring Arthur discreetly to see him. Maybe some of Gaius’ potions and salves can slow down the transformation/buy them time until they can work out what to do.
Merlin finds Arthur in the morning completely freaking out. More of his skin is gone and this time Arthur has noticed. Arthur’s nails have also grown pretty sharp. He’s scratched and cut himself in a few places. Merlin realises Arthur’s a bit fragile mentally as he hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. Arthur asks Merlin if he’s turning into a monster. Merlin is of course stuck in a quandary, just as he was with Morgana. He can’t tell Arthur everything as that would reveal his magic, but he also doesn’t like to see his friend so upset. He suggest they quietly go to seek Gaius’ help. At various points during their dialogue, Arthur starts to lose his temper with the whole situation. He shouts into Merlin’s face for being so damn calm about it all and then unexpectedly a gust of flame and smoke almost sets Merlin’s hair on fire! Arthur shuts his mouth pretty quickly, absolutely mortified. Merlin just doesn’t even know what to say. Arthur tells Merlin his father mustn’t know. Uther must never ever know. Merlin agrees.
They go back to Gaius who’s been preparing some herbal salve to put on Arthur’s cracking skin. There are more gold scales everywhere now and Merlin doesn’t know how much time they have. Worringly, Arthur has started to mutter a strange language under his breath - seemingly trying to fight some sort of strange magic that is taking him over. When Arthur goes to sleep (Gaius gives him some sleeping draught to help him along), Gaius tells Merlin about the Dragonlords and Balinor and tells him if anyone knows of a way to break the curse, Balinor will. He also advises Merlin that whatever might become of Arthur out of this, hard decisions might have to be made and Merlin could possibly be forced to reveal the secret of his magic with Arthur in order to save him. Merlin is torn, fearful of the consequences while Uther is still king.
So then the next day in the early hours of morning Merlin and Arthur saddle up on their horses and head out to seek Balinor. Merlin is trying to be cheerful but Arthur feels dreadful. They have had to cover him now with a huge cloak as his face is beginning to change. He’s growing horns. His mood swings are also turning more violent and unstable. He keeps slipping into the dragon language when his mind wanders and Merlin has to do everything to stop that happening. Every night when he sleeps Arthur dreams of Camelot burning and hears whispers of the Great Dragon telling him this is his destiny and when he wakes up panting and scared shitless his eyes have turned golden and his pupils have become slitted like a dragon’s. As they near to finding Balinor, a worn out Arthur takes Merlin to one side for The Talk. The Talk consists of Arthur basically giving Merlin his sword and saying to Merlin. Hey look. If this mission to find a cure spectacularly backfires, you’re going to have to kill me with this sword if I’m no longer able to do it myself. Merlin looks at it and says he can’t but Arthur makes him promise. Merlin reluctantly agrees. Arthur tells Merlin to tell Gwen he loves her, if when the time comes he cannot.
They find Balinor like in the episode and Arthur’s getting really edgy but Merlin just sticks with the plan and tells Balinor his friend is really sick and needs help. A group of mercenaries appear at this point and attack the three having heard a tipoff from the tavern that strange beasts were abroad that needed slaying. This action pushes Arthur into savage beast mode(!) and as this overlarge human dragon hybrid he swipes his claws and lashing his tail at them. He kills the mercenaries and saves Merlin and Balinor but at a cost as the transformation really starts to set in and Arthur starts to lose grip of his consciousness due to the strain of resisting the effects of the change/losing his identity. He doesn’t even get a chance to tell Merlin to kill him before he’s out unconscious.
Merlin and Balinor then carry Arthur together back to Balinor’s cave where they have their little chat and Merlin asks Balinor if there is a way to reverse the effects. Balinor is a bit ‘no comment’ on this and questions why Merlin would want to stop a young dragon from coming into the world. A changeling of this kind is extremely rare, or else this is a person of royal blood under a curse. Merlin goes a bit tight-lipped after that and Balinor eventually works out this must be Arthur Pendragon with him. Feeling vindictive, Balinor says it serves Uther right, for all he did to destroy the Dragonlord people and outlaw magic in the kingdom. It’s nothing more than delicious irony that his son and heir will destroy the kingdom his father created. Merlin counters that this isn’t about Uther, this is about Arthur, and that it shouldn’t have to be the son that suffers for the sins of the father. Balinor hesitates, but he says that although he bears no ill will towards Arthur this has clearly been chosen as his destiny and he can’t avoid it. Merlin (who knows that Balinor is his father thanks to Gaius telling him) makes the sort of vague comments he does to try and make Balinor realise he is his son - they discuss Uther’s purge, Ealdor, and what all this might mean if dragon!Arthur simply burns it all down. Merlin asks one last time if Balinor will help him. Balinor refuses once more.
Merlin leaves the cave deeply upset. He picks up the sword and remembers his promise to his friend. He’s going to have to kill Arthur. Grimly resolved he goes back into the cave to do The Deed, but only to discover that Arthur has awoken and although he still looks very dragon-ish he appears to have regained command of his mental faculties. Balinor seems to imply that Arthur and he have ‘struck up a friendship’. Merlin is a bit confused/suspicious of this but realises perhaps this means Balinor does know of a way to restore Arthur to his normal self. Balinor agrees to go with them to Camelot, implying that if they travel to the place where the original dragon enacted the curse they might be able to reverse its effects.
On the way back to Camelot, Balinor and Merlin have a further chat which culminates with Merlin telling Balinor he is his son (like in the episode). Balinor is shocked, humbled, and immediately proud of his boy (as he is in the episode). He begins to tell Merlin all will be well now, the power to save Merlin’s friend has been inside him all this time, but suddenly they are stopped by patrols of Camelot’s knights. In the days since Arthur and Merlin snuck out of Camelot on their mission, Uther has set up a mega operation to find Arthur and kill/take prisoner those who dare thought to kidnap his son. Balinor and Merlin try their best to conceal Arthur but someone gets the cloak off him. By this point Arthur’s original features have been twisted so much he isn’t easily recognisable as himself, and the knights all draw their swords to slay the monster. Arthur becomes highly distressed to see his former knights and friends turning on him and this sadness melts into anger which of course triggers the full onslaught of the curse and Arthur pretty much metamorphoses all the way into a large golden dragon (about ¾ the size of Kilgarrah). Driven by the madness of his curse, he burns most of the knights alive before flying off towards Camelot. Presumably to enact his ‘destiny.’
In the wake of the destruction, Merlin emerges to find Balinor horrifically scarred by the dragon fire. He’s been burned within an inch of his life, and he is dying. He and Merlin have a final chat where Balinor tells Merlin he was right. Arthur should not have to suffer for the sake of his hatred of Uther. He then shares his secret with Merlin, that he as the last Dragonlord is able to speak to dragons and thereby tame them. He says Merlin as his son has this power too, and he must find Arthur and tell him who’s boss calm him and bring out the best in the beast. Balinor then dies.
Merlin travels on to Camelot by himself. Arriving outside its gates he finds the city already burning. It looks exactly as Arthur described to Merlin in his earlier nightmares. He fears for Gaius and Gwen, but he knows he’s got to find and subdue dragon!Arthur first. He tries to get the dragon’s attention by riding round a horse and shouting up at it. He avoids using magic initially and outright, as he still harbours this deep sense of shame for hiding it from Arthur all this time and revealing his magic now and using it offensively against him would just hurt/piss off his best friend more. Merlin then has An Idea. He searches for Gwen and takes her with him to the green clearing, thinking that Arthur’s feelings for Gwen will draw the dragon to them. It does.
Dragon!Arthur arrives and lands near to the two of them, looking very interested with Gwen (she’s absolutely petrified - Merlin hasn’t really told her everything that’s going on does he ever). Noticing Gwen is frightened by his appearance, dragon!Arthur gets very agitated and beats his wings, roaring/etc. Gwen gets thrown on the ground in the commotion, banging her head against something and falling still. Meanwhile, Merlin has his inner Dragonlord awakening moment, and finally speaks the language of dragons.
He calms dragon!Arthur until he settles on the ground, utterly docile. Then Merlin notices the dragon is crying. He’s looking at Gwen’s motionless body. And he’s looking back at Merlin. Merlin senses Arthur’s pain. He thinks he’s killed his girlfriend, he’s destroyed half of Camelot and he’s feeling upset/shocked/betrayed by Merlin, who (although he’s managed to stop his crazed rampaging) has been keeping his powers secret from him all this time. Merlin reaches out and touches Arthur’s snout to console him. Then he goes over to Gwen. He finds she’s still alive, but desperately needs Gaius’ aid. He asks dragon!Arthur to fly them all back to the castle. They ride on Arthur’s back up to the Keep.
Once Gwen is safely in Gaius’ care, a whole legion of knights with Uther among them spills out onto the courtyard. The sight of Uther causes the deep well of poison in the curse to flare up again in Arthur, and it looks like the dragon is going to murder the king. But Merlin places his hand on the dragon’s side again and calms him. A few of the knights fire arrows at dragon!Arthur and Merlin. Aware that Merlin wishes to keep his magic secret from people who know him, Arthur shields the warlock with his wings before picking him up in his claws, carrying him away.
They land outside the castle. Merlin comforts dragon!Arthur as best he can. He can sense Arthur’s despair in his head. He’s tormented by what he’s done to the knights and people of Camelot as a dragon and believes he’s going to be stuck as a monster for the rest of his life. He’s lost his home, family, friends. Everything of his past life. Merlin reminds Arthur of what Balinor said about returning to the place where the original dragon cast the curse in order to revoke it. He tells Arthur to not give up hope.
They travel together deep underground into the pit where Uther chained Kilgharrah. There they find the crumbling bones of the deceased dragon and the heavy chains that have fallen away, and are lying open. Merlin pauses, unsure what they are meant to do. It takes a few moments, but dragon!Arthur eventually realises what must be done (he can feel/hear the ancient magic of the Old Religion speak to him while he is a dragon) and nudges at Merlin to do it. When Merlin realises via their telepathic link, he disagrees - no, no, no there must be another way! - but Arthur knows there isn’t.
To break the curse on their bloodline, the son of Pendragon must suffer to be chained as Uther had imprisoned and persecuted those with magic before. The deep wrongs perpetuated against magic kind must be atoned for.
So dragon!Arthur submits to Merlin casting the enchantments to bind him to the rock where Kilgharrah was once chained. Merlin asks Arthur why go through with this? If it means he can never be free - what point is there in breaking the curse?
Dragon!Arthur speaks, and for the first time it’s not in Merlin’s mind but spoken out loud like a proper Great Dragon can speak. He wishes to right the wrongs of his father. As a dragon he has witnessed first hand how those that are magical are hated and hunted down, through no fault of their own but simply for being. He wishes for a future society of kindness and that the intolerance his father perpetuated be locked away underground and never be seen again. Merlin tells him he’s being a pompous self-sacrificing arse. Dragon!Arthur merely laughs and threatens to burn Merlin’s hair again if he disobeys. As Merlin wipes his nose on his sleeve and leaves his friend chained in the darkness, he tells him he’ll visit everyday. Dragon!Arthur just tells Merlin to have a life of his own for once, and to tell Gwen he loves her.
Flash forward to a few months into the future. Uther Pendragon, the King of Camelot, has fallen ill to a strange wasting illness. He’s literally dying, becoming more and more (metaphorically) chained to his bed as each days passes and his strength fails. The king’s ill health leads to civil unrest in the kingdom with rival factions warring over the succession to the throne. It’s all the besieged Knights can do to keep the peace. Prince Arthur has not been seen for months. He is presumed to be dead, although some blond men pretending to be Arthur keep miraculously popping up to try and claim their supposed ‘birthright’ to the throne. It both really hurts and pisses Merlin off.
Anyway, when Uther finally dies, Merlin senses a seismic shift in magic around him. Hardly daring to analyse what this means, he runs downstairs deep underground to the lair where his friend lies in the darkness in chains.
Dragon!Arthur is not there. Instead there is simply a large egg. And a blond, naked man lying in the dust curled around it. Pretty much like Daenerys from GOT in that scene
Merlin runs over and grabs his friend in a tearful hug and a shivering Arthur goes “hey I’m naked and cold, give me something to wear.” They have their moment and then Merlin tells Arthur all the latest news in Camelot. Arthur grieves the passing of his father. But then he picks up the dragon egg in his arms, and for a fleeting moment, feels the young (Pen)dragon inside moving. And he is reminded that life goes on.
The two then carry the egg with them back into Camelot, where Arthur will claim his throne, usher magic back to the kingdom and become the first royal in over a thousand years to hatch a dragon egg (with a bit of help from his court sorcerer). They call the baby dragon Kilgharrah in honour of his grandfather and he grows to become Protector of the Realm.
~~
And there you have it.
I call this monstrosity of an AU “The Last Dragonlord and his (Pen)Dragon.
Note: I am sorry if many of the ideas in this fic are cheesy as sin and/or badly abused tropes. I am so sorry.
(this is copied from an extended (very extended aka 35 pages in gdocs even after removing the avatars rip) discussion of an au I’d been sitting on for years i decided to share on discord a while back and am interested in eventually rp’ing. will be posting more - specifically on the au as a whole as well as lew and vivi’s aspects in different posts)
tldr arthur is a very unfortunate mix of dragon genes but we love him regardless
mythological au where the whole group is some sort of creature and artie's parents were a wyvern and a wyrm, and he inherited the worst possible combination of traits for his dragon form.
lance gets to be the badass grumpy wyvern while art is literal noodle boy
he littel water snek
can't fly, no venom, no fire/element breath... he won the lottery of getting literally none of the good traits from either side, rip.
just curl in his kiddie pool because it's Texas in summer and some MORON (me) gave him GILLS
here's the lil note section for easier reading:
2 short legs
2 tiny wings
no flying
awkward noodle body
gills (in Texas!)
main seafood diet
no ears
hoarding compulsion/need
no fire/element breath
he's like the dragon equivalent of one of these:
---
any small inconvenience: exists
Arthur:
also asdfkl sure lots of downsides but we are forgetting CUDDLE THE BAES (AT THE SAME TIME) POTENTIAL
---
lance is full wyvern (since he was brother to art's mom, while Arthur's dad was a wyrm)
---
he likes to soak in his pool (nice rockscaping type deal like a good boa enclosure) with just the snoot poking out
with the tongue occasionally
doin the blelele thing
---
guess who just snapped out of bed to write part of a whole symposium on Arthur's human form in the mythology au.
not that i need a reason in order to have a physically disabled/wheelchair using character, but i thought the logistics would work really well?
so imma ramble. a lot. because worldbuilding is my jam
so basic premise of this aspect is that many creatures, if they aren't already, develop human/humanoid forms through various methods of magic because it made it a lot easier for most* societies to accommodate for just one main range of body type.
*very much not all. especially throughout history, different regions catered to the local populus (centaur herds, merperson cities), or was just a mish mash of differently constructed styles for more mixed societies (like fae villages). but just like English was spread across much of the world (for better or worse, considering how it was done) most main or central areas of modern society now cater mostly or exclusively to the one humanoid body shape.
so dragons, but specifically Arthur's parents in this case, show the two most common body plan of the various dragon types, 4 and 6 limbs for mother and father respectively.
for 4 limbed (1 wing set, 1 leg set), the wings are used to interact with objects and serve as hands, so they map to the human form's arms. their single set of legs map to the human legs for the same reason.
meanwhile the 6 limbed (1 wing set, 2 leg sets) varieties use their front legs as hands, while wings act as their own set of limbs if the human form has them.
(4 limbed dragons with only legs and no wings map the same, minus the wings since, well, they don't have them :p)
Arthur meanwhile, despite being 4 limbed, uses his front/only legs as hands while his wings are auxiliary limbs since they are small and not conducive to movement. he doesn't have any limbs to mirror the use of a human's legs, so while he changes shape the magic makes the "default" form with legs, but there's nothing to actually map to those limbs.
in universe, merpeople are similar, in that if they bother with human forms their tails don't transfer to legs and thus wheelchair and mobility aids aren't as stigmatized as they are irl. difference being they'd need an aid to move on land regardless, while Arthur is perfectly capable and comfortable moving as a dragon, and the chair restricts his movement in that sense. but growing up he was required to use a human shape for school, and even if he does change to get around better he's still got to keep track of and drag around the chair in the interim. so at home and as he gets older and can go more places where a human form isn't required, even if helpful, he goes around "beast" much more than most other people. especially hanging out with his friends at their houses. (if it's like a sleepover and going out to a movie he'll bring it along since the theater (and just cars in general too) doesn't accommodate his dragon self, but he can chill with them and leave it out of the way somewhere which he can't do just going around in public.
his dragon body isn't the most conducive to graceful movement, but it's his body and he's had it his whole life so yeah. he can get around perfectly fine in the chair too, using it isn't some horrible, arduous task he dreads or anything like that. it's very much an "eyeroll, yeah yeah okay" and not "oh no fuck i hate it" even if it can get annoying dragging it around sometimes (like with basically any aid i think, though it’s mostly just a nonissue to even think about)
Questions for Muns of Canon Muses // answered for @lespendragons
5. What is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?
Everything involving the legends that is/was too adult to be shown on a family tv drama. I want to explore Arthur the promiscuous lover who had sexual relations with his half-sister and various other women and illegitimately sired over a third of the boys who grow to become knights at his round table (naughty man). I want to write about Arthur the warrior, who once went on a rampage and killed over 470 warriors in a single day on the battlefield (according to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account). And yes, I want to somehow relate all this morally dubious behaviour back to a king who still strives to do what he thinks is right, and who absolutely crucifies himself if he thinks he’s made an error in judgement somewhere. The character is made to be tortured, and while I try and balance that with lighter moments, it’s always a matter of time before the darker stuff comes back to bite. Ouch.
On a lighter note, I would also like to flesh out the headcanons I have for Arthur and his love of falconry, aka “The Sport of Kings.” I have it that Uther once gave his son a goshawk and laid down a challenge. If Arthur could tame the bird and call her to his fist within the week, then one day, he might similarly win the trust of his people. Did Arthur succeed in that challenge? Hmm. Well… let’s just say Arthur’s bird of choice nowadays is a peregrine falcon, named Iseult. She’s a fantastic predator, and very biddable to her master.
Anyway, @aquestionthatsneverbeenposed and I are exploring that with our Arthur and Merlin muses :)
~
7. For movie or TV muses, what is your muse’s favorite scene? Why? Can you show a screenshot?
I haven’t seen it yet, but…. I’m almost certain it’s going to be this iconic moment. (Quick google search got me this very nice gif - you’re welcome). In any version of the Arthurian legend, I absolutely love the connection between King Arthur and Excalibur. It’s the magic contained within that legendary sword (and its scabbard), coupled with Arthur’s undisputed prowess as a warrior, that makes them such a formidable combination. I love how in some versions, claiming Excalibur is the only way Arthur will be accepted by the people as the True King of Albion. In others, I really dig how it’s used more as a personal metaphor for Arthur to find the king inside himself, and in doing so, the enchantments binding the sword to the stone yield to him - and Excalibur is his.
However it plays out in BBC Merlin, it’s got to be the character defining moment for our blond-haired prat and I’m really looking forward to it :)
Note: Just doing a little bit of research this evening, I see that Excalibur is actually given by the Lady of the Lake to Arthur (often via Merlin) and the “sword in the stone” actually goes by a different name: Caliburn. So apparently, that means Arthur has two magical swords in his possession. Hmm. Perhaps one of them could eventually be wielded by his significant other?
~
14. What is your ideal AU for your muse?
Oh dear. Haha. I have far too many AU ideas bubbling away in this brain for Arthur and those really unfortunate people he interacts with. I can’t decide which one grips me the most tbh, it varies very much with my mood.
But I suppose if you’re asking me to pick, I’ll go with my dragon!Arthur AU.
“Deep within yourself, you must find the voice that you and Arthur share. For your soul and his are b r o t h e r s.”
Full plot detail found [ here ]
I must say I’m rather fond of it because it’s not only a fantastic opportunity for Merthur - it also incorporates dragons (which I geek heavily over - I’m a legit dragon fanatic) and provides a great opportunity to explore that Dragonlord mythology (which I am absolutely weak for). There’s also some rather nasty body horror elements with the transformation Arthur’s forced into, tons of angst and h/c, and a resolution which I think leads quite nicely to a series finale which I would love to see happen in canon. But we won’t get it, so there’s the AU.
Note: I know you asked and so I’ll spill. Armor has grown massively on me since starting to RP Arthur. Our extended AU is right up there on the top of the ‘favourites’ pile. I just primarily came to this fandom due to the Merthur which felt so obvious. I’m not going to deny my pull in that direction too.
