#merlin headcanons

[merlinmylove]

[safety-data-sheet]

Okay I’ve seen this mentioned a couple times but

If I’m not mistaken (tumblr historians fact-check me) Merlin was just given a shit ton of jobs he absolutely would not have to do in a properly functioning castle.

Like

Arthur’s laundry? Laundresses.

Mucking out stables? Tacking horses? Stable Master and Stable Boys.

Scrubbing floors? Housemaids/Maidservants.

Delivering messages? Pages.

Sharpening weapons? Squires and Blacksmiths.

Taking care of Arthur’s wardrobe? Chamberlain.

Not even to mention that as the literal Prince’s Personal Servant he had wayyyy more power in the staff hierarchy than I think he ever realized.

Arthur just looked at this poor farmer-boy peasant who had never even seen a castle before in his life and decided to give him the work of 6 different people, just to be petty, correctly assuming he wouldn’t know any better, then proceeded to keep that up for like 10 years.

Merlin: *slams open Arthur’s door*

Arthur: Merlin? You alright there?

Merlin: I’ve just had a lovely conversation with Elizabeth, the Laundress

Arthur: *with fear* …Okay?

Merlin: You know what she said to me?

Arthur: Do I want to know?

Merlin: She said “Oh Merlin, I just don’t know why you insist on doing all that extra work for Arthur!”

Arthur: *eyes widen*

Merlin: When were you going to tell me what The Prince’s Manservant actually does???

Arthur: Uh… You see…. But you’re just so good at it all!

Merlin: *eyes glowing* You should run.

Arthur: *standing up* I should run.

[bluebloodravenclawqueen]

I have this Merlin headcanon that due to the fact that Merlin is literally /always/ running around like crazy, after Arthur, for Gaius, after villains and witches and whatnot, he builds up an insane stamina. Like /insane/.

And then one day Arthur and Merlin are out in the woods and get caught up in some mishap or another and Arthur tells Merlin to run and they do. However, what Arthur did not expect is for Merlin to book it, outrun him and then gradually build up a distance between them, becoming smaller and smaller as he gets more and more ahead.

And sure Arthur is a big boy and has a bit more muscle to carry than Merlin, but even he realises that Merlin is running at an insane speed.

After a while Merlin will notice that Arthur has fallen quite a bit behind and waits for him, but as Arthur reaches him, he cannot pick his jaw off the ground because — “when the hell did you become a professional sprinter, Merlin?!“

[koffeinkaos]

I am a firm believer that if Hunith had moved to Camelot that woman would have stopped everything from falling apart. She would have emotionally adopted Morgana and Arthur and they would have blossomed under her care. She would have managed Gaius and Kilgharrah and she would have kept Merlin sane. The knights would have loved her, especially Mordred and Uther would have been slightly afraid of her.

Hunith would have made a difference

[littlefangs00]

I was actually thinking how funny is that Arthur fell in love with Merlin from Arthur's perspective.

Like he met this strange peasant boy, he is disrespectful, stubborn, weird, clumsy, he acts really strange and he can only assume it is because he is probably drunk, because as much as he knows, this stupid servant usually neglects his obligations in order to be in the tavern.

And he still fell in love with him. Wow.

I like to think that Arthur thinks Merlin would be lost without him, like he looks at Merlin acting weird and actually thinks "If I don't keep him, no one will, he is such a social mess" and meanwhile all the knights are fighting over who will keep Merlin's custody is Arthur isn't there.

[vv0812]

I think that Arthur should think that Merlin learn magic for his sake, making him feel guilty. I think he should have discover that Merlin had magic in a moment in which Merlin was reading a spell from a book and doing something that it was quite obvious to save Arthur. Merlin, for whatever reason, does not notice Arthur watching him. Maybe they were in the middle of a fight, maybe Merlin thought that Arthur was sleep, or too sick, or uncounscious, and the spell was very complex so Merlin was struggling with it, and now Arthur knows and Merlin doesn't know he knows.

Arthur has a very big crisis about it, because (at least in his understanding) Merlin, oh so good old Merlin, who is so loyal and had always been there for him, decided to put himself at risk and learn magic just to help him, and now that loyalty had lead Merlin to not only potentially be corrupt by the magic, but also to be burn in the pyre if he is discover, all because Arthur wasn't able to survive by himself, and Merlin once again had risk his own life for his.

Arthur can't see Merlin been accuse of practicing sorcery, not when Merlin has done it in a selfless act, so Arthur now checks in Merlin more often, trying to do small chat in a effort to see if Merlin has somehow started to change, affected by the magic, but Merlin is the same as always, sassy and clumsy and whining. Arthur starts to notice more and more Merlin's magic, how Merlin use it without malice, or seeking power, and Arthur starts to question everything he knew about magic.

[karistiltskin]

sometimes i like to fall asleep to the idea of every kingdom being scared of camelot because king arthur decided to lift the ban on magic and it’s revealed that emrys is his right hand man. like yes, wreak havoc and scare your enemies.

on the other side of this, the castle staff and knights have to bear witness to arthur and merlin’s shenanigans everyday. because tell me why arthur is chasing merlin around the castle with porridge stuck in his hair and a spoon raised in his hand while merlin is cackling, bumping into every surface ever.

[rainbowsmagicandshit]

Headcanon that when Merlin started working for Arthur, he didn’t know what over half the names of things were—not only the parts of armor, but also just things around the castle and noble/city life—so he’d just make up names for them. When Arthur would ask for something, he’d have to describe what it was he wanted if Merlin didn’t recognize what the thing was by name, and then Merlin would go “oh, you mean the (weird name he came up with)!” and go get it. It always frustrates and annoys Arthur, and he tries to correct Merlin every time. Merlin eventually does learn the names of most of the stuff but still calls everything by the names he came up with because he knows how it annoys Arthur. Arthur still tries to correct him sometimes, but after a few years has accepted that Merlin’s not gonna stop and is doing it on purpose. Arthur will sometimes ask for something and Merlin will “correct” him with “you mean the (wacky name he came up with for it)” and Arthur rolls his eyes throwing something at him or cuffing him over the head as Merlin ducks away with a grin to get what he asked for. Eventually it gets to the point that Arthur adopts Merlin’s names for things without really realizing it. It just saves time. It gets to the point that Arthur will be talking to his knights or some noble or royal and he’ll end up using Merlin weird name for something. No one will know what he’s talking about and ask him to repeat himself. He does and they still look at him confused. He goes to explain what he’s talking about because he’s used to doing so with Merlin, and halfway through his explanation he realizes he called it Merlin’s stupid name and clears his throat and calls it by it’s proper name, a slight blush on his cheeks. No one calls him out on it or says anything to his face because he the prince and then the king, but Arthur stil complains to Merlin about what happened and “this is all your fault!!” while Merlin is grinning and laughing until Arthur has enough and throws something at him.

I just really want these two to have a language together. We get them having “prat,” “dollophead,” “cabbagehead,” etc. but I want it to extend to random objects too. Arthur adopts Merlin’s insults in canon and throws them back at Merlin occasionally, so I wanna see them do it with other stuff also. I think it’s be so funny and cute. Showing that Merlin really has a big impact on Arthur even down to the vocabulary he uses—changed irrevocably forever after. No longer the arrogant prince but the king Merlin made him, using vocabulary from the people rather than just the nobles and royals, setting him apart from his predecessors.