No More Media Analysis Until We Agree That All Art Is A Sublimation Of The Desire To Ritually Sacrifice

"the world" tarot card, 2023, inspired by excalibur (1981)

A favor? Would you change the link on "Let me be ta'en" to the ao3 work? Right now it links to the earlier drawing on tumblr, which really isn't as good. Oh! I also finished a drawing for "Believe me, love" and linked to the drabble. One to go... but I'm having trouble deciding what image to go with for the third and final drabble. Any suggestions?

<3,

Sunfall

Hi Sunfall! I can of course! I'll do that now. Sorry for the late reply, I suspect we're in very different timezones. Just rolled over and found your second gift/related fic, thank you again so much, I can't tell you what a treat it is and how happy it's making me that you've be so inspired by my microfics (especially you, since I've been lurking on your art on Ao3 for a while now). As for the scene for the third fic, how about the ending scene when they're holding hands in the sunlight that's coming into the cottage? You could maybe have hints at what they've been through, like scars for Merlin or his ash walking stick leaning nearby? That's how I imagine the scene. Whatever you decide to do though I'll be over the moon the receive it ❤️!

-Mighty

Rebecca Sugar cooked with "Character whose entire existence is devoted to the service of another character who's now dead and now they have no idea what to do with themselves except live." I love that shit. I forged myself into a tool for you and now you're gone. I'm sniffing this like a bloodhound

Commission for Michael for his wife for Christmas, to match with a commission from earlier this year.

Merlin Horror Month 2024!

Welcome, Tavern-goers, to our fourth quest: Merlin Horror Month!

With spooky season coming up, how about making a little something to give us all a scare with our Merlin Horror Month?

Is someone being haunted? Are there monsters and ghouls in Camelot? Is there a serial killer on the loose? It’s time to be brave and show us some fanwork entries that will strike fear into the hearts of other fans!

So, what is Merlin Horror Month?

For this quest, we invite you to join us and post a spooky, scary or in some way horrific Merlin fanwork. Maybe there’s something strange in the neighbourhood. Or has a dead body been found? Perhaps the dead have come back to life (again)…  It’s up to you!

We are here for the whole of the spooky month, so give us your entries at any point from 1-31 October!

Here are the rules of the quest:

All works should have a spooky/scary theme

Any pairings and types of fanwork are welcome. The minimum requirements are:

Fanfic: at least 500 words.

Fanart: at least 1 completed work.

Podfic: at least 5-10 minutes long (and please get the fic creator’s permission!).

Fanvids: at least 2-3 minutes long.

For other fanwork formats, please contact us so we can decide on a suitable minimum amount.

Please note: No AI generated or assisted works are allowed for this fest

The fest is self-posting and runs from 1 October to 31 October. No fanworks for the fest will be accepted before or after those dates.

How do I participate?

Post your fanwork wherever you like. If you would like to post your creation to our AO3 Collection specifically for this fest (tavernfest_quest4). 

Follow the instructions and submit your work to us here: https://tavernfest.tumblr.com/submit

Please make sure to use the #merlinhorrormonth tag in addition to #tavernfest!

That’s it. We'll promote it here on Tumblr and in our dedicated Discord channel.Thank you! We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Not to Merlin-post in the year of our Lord 2024, but I love Gwen as a character. She goes through too much honestly. She deserves such a good life and so much love. I want to see a spin off show about Gwen's reign as queen because that would be awesome.

FULFILLING THE GREAT PROPHECY

I was always frustrated because I felt like the "Arthur is going to be this great king and unite Albion" thing never came to pass or only kind of did sparingly BUT maybe it's that thing with prophecies where they come to pass in unexpected ways.

So maybe the great prosperity and uniting of Albion happens because of Gwen's peaceful, fair, and progressive reign, which technically happens because Arthur made the choice to marry when she was a commoner. She wouldn't have been on the throne otherwise. I'm calling it. I believe she would be a freaking great queen. With her empathy and intelligence and bravery? Hell yeah!

It's very likely that she had the guts to finally lift the ban on magic during her reign (and all that entails) which Arthur was never able to do because he had trouble /didn't have the chance to work through the negative feeling about magic that had been instilled in him by his father. Merlin was never able to push him to do so because he became too entrenched in supporting the current power structures because he was blinded by his love for and devotion to Arthur. Maybe they could have gotten there in time (there are hints of that), but instead the revelation is made inadvertently and the end of the show happens before they cross that boundary. That's one of the great tragedies of the show. It painfully demonstrates how power corrupts and people can be forced to try to work within a system that is actively harming them, especially when they love and believe in the people entrenched in that system.

Maybe Morgana had a twisted sixth sense about this too because she's peculiarly focused on Gwen being queen for a lot of reasons (SHE EVEN HAS VISIONS ABOUT IT).

Anyway, I'm sure someone has said this before.

Thoughts?

I am tired. I will be there.

Behold! Dragoon the Great pondering his orb!

I wonder, what secrets of the universe is he peering into?

Whenever arthur gets a new bethrothed

Merlin: Gaius she's evil

Gaius: you cant say that about every woman arthur tries to marry merlin, at this point you might as well marry him yourself if none of his suitors are to your standard

Merlin already making the plague rats sew together his wedding dress like cinderella: im prepared to make that sacrifice

Now that I have small captive audience and 2024 is ending, please find hereunder my favourite new song from this year, Seven Years Below the Flowers by Luki. It's fun, it's wonky, it's high fantasy and it's so very worth a listen

Okay audience, you're free to go