Merry Whump Of May - Day 8

Toshiro Mifune as Detective Murakami in Stray Dog (1949) dir. Akira Kurosawa

so i said fine, ‘cause that’s how my daddy raised me if they strike once, then you just hit ‘em twice as hard but in the end, if i bend under the weight that they gave me then this heart would break and fall as twice as far

Whumpay - Day 11

Main Challenge - Ineffective Medical Care - Medical Torture Mini Challenge 11 - Dialogue - “Who did this to you?” Original Work - Ashfirth Farm

Rabbit unwound the handkerchief from his neck and mopped his brow. “Good day, sir. Come to help mend the fence with me?” Rabbit finished his joke with a grin.

Caldwell froze with a smile on his face. His smile disappeared. His mouth opened. All he could do was stare.

Rabbit was quick to notice and his grin faded. “Mr. Caldwell?”

Caldwell’s eyes dropped to the ground and then anywhere but Rabbit. “How did you come by those?”

“What?”

Caldwell reached out slowly with his riding crop and pointed to Rabbit’s neck. “Those.”

Rabbit reached up and put a hand to his neck. As soon as his fingers touched the puckered, rope-like, shiny scars, Caldwell saw Rabbit do something absolutely uncharacteristic.

Rabbit became embarrassed.

His eyes fell to the ground. His fingers fumbled as he tied the handkerchief about his neck again. He picked up his tools and got back to work.

Rabbit’s face was turned away when he tried to sound casual, lighthearted even. “Oh, yes. An accident, long ago. I’m sorry you saw that. It’s quite ugly.”

Caldwell didn’t miss the way Rabbit’s hands shook.

He usually would not pry. But seeing his friend so affected had him curious. Or that was what he decided he felt. He ignored the growing flame of worry and grief; the accident had to have been so awful that the normally unapologetic Rabbit would feel the need to hide it, and lie.

Caldwell got down from his horse. “Mr. Bell, what manner of accident befell you that would give you those scars?”

Rabbit Bell froze while trying to repair the pasture fence. “It’s nothing.”

Caldwell got down on his knees and began to help his tenant with the repairs. “It is not. Your hands are shaking.”

A long moment passed where Rabbit continued to stare down at the grass, tools held tightly within white knuckles, lips pressed hard together. Finally, he thrust the tools into Caldwell’s hands and stood up, laughing a little too bitterly for Caldwell’s liking.

“I told you that studied at the Kings Mages College in London.” Rabbit began, then stopped again.

A full minute passed by Rabbit paced back and forth.

Caldwell forgot the repairs he’d attempted to help with and just watched his tenant. Finally, he prodded Rabbit.

“Yes, you told me that you were a graduate from the college.”

Rabbit nodded and stopped pacing. He took a deep breath and spoke once more. “They perform research on a regular basis on the pupils and fellows of the college. This scarring is from one such research project.”

“What kind of research…” Caldwell trailed off. He couldn’t find the words. In addition to that, he felt like he was going beyond what could be considered polite inquiry. “I apologize.”

Rabbit sighed. He was trailing a finger along the handkerchief that covered the scars. Another moment passed and he took it off again. His shoulders drooped. His face took on a few lines that Caldwell had only seen when Rabbit was properly upset.

Caldwell stayed very still, as though Rabbit might bolt at the slightly movement.

“Because most spells require a vocal component, the research was done on only a few students. Gifted students.” Rabbit chuckled darkly.

“They wanted to understand what part the vocal cords played in spells. So,” And here Rabbit’s pallor became almost green.

“They immobilized the student with a paralytic and exposed the vocal cords surgically. The student was then asked to perform a specific set of spells while the vocal cords were observed. No pain relief was provided.”

Caldwell felt his stomach turn and struggled to keep his breathing under control. After he fully processed what Rabbit had just said, he felt a wave of anger overtake him.

“That’s barbaric.” Caldwell stood up and dropped the tools. He took a step towards Rabbit. “Mr. Bell, I cannot believe that learned men would stoop to such torture.”

Caldwell once again examined the scars. A central line ran down Rabbit’s throat with a few perpendicular scars. A cruel surgery. Was there any purpose to it?

“What were their findings?” He growled. “Other than a new method of torture?”

Rabbit smiled but it did not reach his eyes. “Nothing.”

“Barbaric!” Caldwell fumed. “Utterly barbaric!”

“The fellows at the college would not agree with you.” Rabbit kept the handkerchief off for now. “It was a necessary act of service in order to further the pursuit of mages studies.” Rabbit sounded as though he were reciting something.

“Necessary, my arse!” Caldwell did not agree with it.

Rabbit laughed, a genuine laugh, and set his hand upon Caldwell’s shoulder. “Thank you for your support, Mr. Caldwell.”

“I believe any reasonable man would reject such an act.”

“A reasonable man, yes, but not a scholar.” Rabbit’s small smile revealed that some of his old humor was back. “You are a reasonable and an honorable man, Mr. Caldwell.”

Caldwell felt himself relax a little but a prickling anger still needled him. He wanted to do something for Mr. Bell, something to take the pain of these memories away. He had this itch to give comfort. But how? And why was this feeling so strong? Caldwell’s eyes rested upon Rabbit’s lips.

His cheeks were burning but it was a cool day. “You are too kind, Mr. Bell.”

The tension around Rabbit’s shoulders seemed to disappear and he bent down to the ground to continue his repairs on the fence. “Not at all, sir.” He replied.

Caldwell swallowed hard and got back on his horse, which was grazing nearby. He rode back to the manor in a daze.

Mediwhump May - Day 4

"Pain"

(Dark Shadows 1966)

@mediwhumpmay

As soon as Willie woke up, he regretted it.

Every inch of him ached. Stiff and sore. Lying down hurt. Getting up hurt. Might as well get up.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, groaning. His head began to throb. Dawn was just beginning to peek into the room, illuminating the dust and the rot. 

Willie looked back to his pillow. A dark red and brown stain lay there. His nose must have bled in the night. He touched his swollen and tender cheek. 

The flash of a wolf’s head cane and sharp words.

Willie left the bed and padded over to the mirror on the wall. 

He thought about things so far. He thought about the distant past that was a few weeks ago. Before he’d come to Colinsport. Before all of this. Before him. 

And nothing had really changed. 

And that struck a hollow, empty chord within him.

Willie remembered getting into scraps as a kid. Scraped knees. Busted lip. Talking big only to get hit again. He’d always been covered in scabs and bruises. 

When he became an adult, it was the same. The scraps were bigger. Brawls. He just talked bigger and bigger. 

The hits got harder.

But he learned how to hit too. And he gave as much as he got.

Willie thought and thought and tried to remember a single moment of this life where he hadn’t been bruised. Or bloody. Or in pain.

He drew level with the mirror, realizing he couldn’t remember. 

This was just how it was. 

His reflection stared back at him in the dim and cold morning light. 

A pattern of cane-bruises marched over his face, dark and thunderous.

Willie’s tongue found a tooth, loosened by the blows to his face. He wiggled it. Opened his mouth. Stuck his fingers in. And ripped the tooth out.

Blood covered his fingers and blotted his lips. He slipped the tooth into his pocket.

Willie smiled at himself, bloody and gap-toothed. 

At least his outside now matched his inside.

—Why is his pain so slutty?

TW: MEDWHUMP/MEDICAL LANGUAGE

Hi everyone! @whumpetywhumpwhump here- I noticed there doesn't seem to be an official Medwhump May running this year, so I'm running one myself :)

I appreciate it's pretty late in the game to be releasing prompts, but I was waiting to see whether the official page was going to post anything before deciding to start mine. Hopefully a few of you would like to get involved (even if it is short notice lol)

RULES!

No AI-generated content

Please tag this account if you post your challenge submissions on Tumblr and use the tag 'medwhump may' (as in the tags of this post)

For completionists, all 31 days must be completed (using either the daily prompt or an alt prompt)

When creating content for chronic illnesses and seizures, PLEASE USE THE RELEVANT WHUMP TAGS INSTEAD OF THE GENERAL TAGS. e.g 'seizure whump' rather than just 'seizures'. This avoids important tags being flooded with whump fics

Have fun!

I will update these rules if necessary! Happy whumping!

Please reblog this to get the word out :)

Mediwhump May - Day 5

"No Response"

(original characters/story)

@mediwhumpmay

Caldwell checked his pocket watch again. Bell was late. Bell was usually a few minutes late. But this was ridiculous. He was late by over an hour.

Maybe he had forgotten their standing appointment. After dinner, Caldwell liked to have Bell sit with him by the fire and talk at him for a few hours. He wouldn’t say it was soothing. But he was a man of habit. 

Caldwell walked to the window and looked out into the inky black of night, the roar of a late winter rainstorm pounding the glass of the windows. 

Well, if Bell wouldn’t come to him, he would come to Bell.

Caldwell grabbed his overcoat and top hat and strode out into the frigid storm. 

The walk down the cottage using the gravel drive was much easier than taking the pasture, less muddy too. Caldwell arrived in no time at the cheerful-looking cottage and raised his hand to bang on the door.

But before he could knock, the door was flung open and Mr. Bell’s farmhand, Hogyn stood there in an oversized raincoat and boots. Hogyn looked up at Caldwell, eyes wide. Caldwell looked down at the young man, mouth open. They stood there a moment more before Hogyn stepped aside.

“Come in, Lord Caldwell, please come in.” Hogyn stammered.

Caldwell did so. “Where is Mr. Bell?”

“That’s what I was going out for, my lord. He’s gone missing.” Hogyn jammed a large floppy hat on his head. “I’m afraid something has happened.”

Caldwell struggled to process this but proceeded forward. “I will help you. But what do you think has happened?”

“He’s been feeling poorly these past few days. And then he went out to fix the pasture fence in all this weather. I couldn’t stop him. He’ll catch his death, my lord, sir.”

Caldwell nodded. “Let’s go then. Are you ready?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Good lad. Take the north end, I’ll take the south. We will meet in the middle.”

And they braved the storm. The rain that pelted down was icy and torrential. The wind ripped across the countryside and it was all Caldwell could do to keep his overcoat closed. His top hat was soon gone. Torn off by a gust. Caldwell headed to the pasture fence and began to work his way along it. He called out for Bell many times, his voice swallowed by the storm.

Caldwell lost the feeling in his ears and fingers. His boots filled with rainwater and mud. His clothes hung heavy, drenched and freezing.

He should have brought a lantern. He should have brought a search party. Bell should not be out in this. 

The thought that his dear friend was already dead kept whispering into Caldwell’s thoughts.

Tears mixed with the rain on his face.

Caldwell crested a small hill and realized that he’d almost finished searching his share of the property. And no sign of Bell. Unless…

Caldwell squinted through the downpour at a dark smudge. Something lying in the close cropped grass. 

Bell.

Caldwell ran forward as best as he could, slipping and sliding in mud and runoff. It was a person. In a dark coat. Laying face down on the ground. 

Caldwell turned the man over.

It was Bell. He’d found him. 

Bell’s eyes were closed and rain was beginning to pool in the hollows of his eyes. His dark hair was plastered to his face. He was very pale. So pale. 

Caldwell shook his friend. “Bell!” He called.

Nothing. No response. 

Caldwell put a hand to Bell’s cheek. He was cold.

Caldwell swallowed hard and took his friend in his arms. Carefully, slowly, he made his way back to the cottage. 

When he could, Caldwell looked to Bell’s face. If only he would open his eyes. Or stir. The man lay limp and cold against Caldwell’s chest. Bell was such an animated man. His eyes sparkled and he sang so sweetly. To see him like this, lifeless. So close to death. Caldwell felt his heart clenching.

Hogyn met him along the way. 

“You found him, my lord, is he?” Hogyn did not finish the question.

“He’s breathing.” Caldwell answered as they entered the warm cottage, dripping puddles onto the floor. “We need dry clothes. And stoke that fire.”

“All of us needs dry clothes.” Hogyn shut the door and began stripping off his coat and hat. “Lest we catch our death too.”

“No, no.” Caldwell set Bell onto his small bed with a sigh. “I can’t. I have got to go for a doctor. Bell is very ill.”

Hogyn had come over by now. “He hasn’t said anything.”

“Nothing.” Caldwell set his jaw and leaned over his friend. “Bell.” He gently shook Bell’s shoulder. Bell’s head sagged to the side. Caldwell pressed a wet hand to Bell’s wet cheek and stroked it. 

“Bell.” He urged again. Willing Bell to wake. To respond. But nothing.

Caldwell backed away, blinking tears back. “He won’t wake. Keep him warm. I will return with a doctor.”

Hogyn was stoking the fire. “What doctor would come all the way in this weather, respectfully, my lord?”

“The one I intend to pay very well.” And Caldwell dashed out into the storm again.

hi merlin fandom i'm back I have more tallies for you, I only have one spreadsheet for this so it won't be nearly as huge as my spell tally, but I am doing all the seasons in one go so who knows

BBC Merlin Whump Tallies

After rewatching the entirety of the show, some episodes more than once, and taking notes the whole time, I present to you a summary of data categorising the injuries and illnesses sustained by all named, recurring characters (2-pt-ers not withstanding) from 2008-2012's BBC Merlin.

Season 1

Season 1 contained a total of 27 incidents to its various characters. The character with the most incidents was Merlin, with 6 (22%). In earlier counts, he was the only character this season to endure at least one in every category: Small, 'Somewhere in-between', Life-threatening, Poison/Venom/Drugged, Magical Affliction, and Thrown/Unhorsed.

The runner up was Arthur, who had 5 incidents (19%).

Arthur and Merlin tied for character who was rendered unconscious most often, with Arthur passing out 3 times and being knocked out once, and Merlin being knocked out 3 times and passing out once.

Smallest injury: Merlin - graze on his shoulder blade from getting hit by the handle of a broomstick wielded by Arthur in Episode 1. I know in scar reveal fics people like to use the supposed mace wound from the fight with Arthur as 'Merlin's first scar', but unfortunately that has no actual basis in canon. Arthur does not hit Merlin with a mace (there aren't even maces in that fight, the weapon they use is called a flail). Merlin causes the chain to get tangled earlier in the fight, after which Arthur grabs a broomstick to use as a weapon instead.

Dumbest injury: Not sure about "dumb" but easily the most inconsequential is in Episode 7-- one of the times Merlin gets put in the stocks he comes back sore, complaining "they were throwing potatoes!"

Things Merlin should not have survived: His heart stopping in Episode 4 (antidote wouldn't be absorbed that fast, + can't circulate if no circulation), getting struck by Sidhe lightning in Episodes 7 and 12 (insta-kills everyone else, including the Sidhe themselves who explode. Only exception to this is Grunhilda in Season 3, a pixie, who does also explode it just takes more than one shot), and getting struck by a fireball in Episode 13 (self-explanatory I think).

Season 2

Season 2 contained a total of 22 incidents, an 18.52% decrease from Season 1 and the lowest of any season. The greatest number of these were made up by Arthur, who was injured or poisoned/drugged 10 times (45%). The runner up was Merlin, who was injured 5 times (23%).

The character rendered unconscious the greatest amount of times was Arthur, who passed out or was knocked out 2 times each.

Smallest injury: Arthur gets elbowed in the stomach by the troll in the confrontation at the end of Episode 6, it's ok though he almost immediately gets launched across the room into a wall so they made up for it (and he had been on the brink of death mere moments before due to willingly drinking poison).

Dumbest injury: Sorry Gwen, but it's probably when she fell and hurt her ankle for plot purposes in Episode 4. It doesn't even continue to bother her at any later point in the episode.

Things Merlin should not have survived: Nothing! He was pretty physically safe this season. Ish.

Season 3

Season 3 contained a total of 32 incidents, an increase of 45.45% from Season 2, led in number by Merlin who had 9 incidents (28%) all to himself. 3 of these were small injuries however, so he was not quite as damaged by the end of the season as Arthur, who had 8 incidents (25%).

The character rendered unconscious the greatest amount of times was Arthur, who passed out 5 times and was knocked out once.

Smallest injury: When Merlin was hit in the stomach by the pommel of Morgana's sword in the crypt in Episode 2, but honourable mention to when Merlin and Arthur were shot with tranquilliser darts and fell from their horses in Episode 12. TBF falling from a horse is incredibly dangerous, but neither of them had any residual effects or pain, and it's hilarious to me that they got shot with tranquilliser darts. Like rabid animals. The scene also is just really funny.

Dumbest injury: When Merlin was being dumb and demonstrating his lack of understanding of a) what a sword is and b) blade safety by messing around with "Sir Ethan" and "Sir Oswald"'s swords, and dropping one on his finger, getting a decent little cut.

Things Merlin should not have survived: Getting stung by an adult serket in Episode 1, not to mention the fact that he had already been knocked out for hours earlier that day (not normal to be out for that long, sign of brain injury), that he was bound in chains that made it difficult to breathe and impossible to move also for several hours, and the fact that Kilgharrah also took multiple hours to get to him (if you're not sure about this, rewatch the sequence and pay attention to the amount of daylight in each shot). Unbelievable. (Did receive external treatment so take it with a grain of salt.) Honourable mention to when he was thrown all the way across the council chambers in Episode 13 and was literally writhing in pain before having to get back up and finish dealing with the cup of life. Oh my god I hope he got treatment for that.

Season 4

Season 4 contained a total of 78 incidents, an 143.75% increase from Season 3 (yikes), headed up by Merlin who goes through 21 incidents (27%). That's right, almost as high as the total of all incidents sustained by all recurring characters in Season 2. Leave that kid alone!! 5 of them were counted as small injuries, but that still leaves him significantly ahead of the runner up- Arthur who had 11 incidents (14%) (with 4 of them considered small, leaving him barely more injured than 3rd place, which is tied between Leon and Morgana, both on 7 [9%]).

The character rendered unconscious the greatest amount of times was (you guessed it!) Merlin, who passed out 5 times and was knocked out a further 6 times. 6 of those collective 11 instances were in a single episode. Episode 6: A Servant of Two Masters was awful for his nervous system. (Interesting note: Runner up for this season is actually not Arthur, who's only unconscious twice this season! Rather it's shared between Elyan and Gwaine, who each pass out and are knocked out twice apiece, for a total of 4 instances each.)

Smallest injury: Arthur elbows the shade of Lancelot in the stomach in their confrontation in Episode 9.

Dumbest injury: PERCIVAL. IN EPISODE 2. All caps because THIS IS SO PREVENTABLE. Ok so we're all extremely aware of this man's constant lack of sleeves, including on his armour. Now, studio execs, I get it, really I do. As Bradley James says: 'Guns haven't been invented in Camelot but he brings two of them.' He's a beautiful man. On another note, we all are aware what type of attack chainmail is meant to prevent, yes? It's slashing. And where, might I ask, does Percival get his only injury from a slashing attack? Bingo! On his goddamn arms. In Episode 2. No other knight has that problem in this episode because all of them have sleeves. Percival. (That being said it was a wyvern attack so it may have tore through the armour anyway but I'm ignoring that.)

Things Merlin should not have survived: Getting struck by the Dorocha in Episode 1 (insta-kill for literally everyone else, but Merlin survives long enough for magical treatment). The other injury I had marked as life-threatening was the flail wound from Episode 6, not only because of the internal damage it would have done but also because of how fast and how seriously it became infected, but that received external magical healing so it's fair that he survived it. If Morgana hadn't treated it, then he should have died.

Honourable mentions to Gwaine, Gaius, and Elyan who were kept in a cell and starved for 7 days in Episodes 12 and 13. This didn't make it onto the spreadsheet because I didn't know how to count it, but it's in the tallies. During this time, Elyan was also "tortured to the limit of human endurance" (direct quote from Gaius), and Gwaine was taken out of the cell multiple times to fight for his food, meaning he was both malnourished and getting beaten up at the same time! Plus Gaius literally thought he was going to die in that cell and had a whole speech about it.

Season 5

Season 5 contained a total of 64 incidents, a 17.95% decrease from Season 4. The character who endured the most issues was Merlin, who had 11 incidents (17%). The runner-up was very close behind, being Arthur on 10 incidents (16%).

The character rendered unconscious the greatest amount of times was Merlin, who passed out 7 times and was knocked out 4 times.

Smallest injury: Gwaine got slapped by one of Morgana's henchmen in Episode 1 after back-talking her.

Dumbest injury: Audrey, the cook, confronted Merlin in his Dragoon form in Episode 7. She threatened him with a triple-pronged fire poker, accused him of conspiracy to steal her pies, and in response he insulted her and knocked her out with a pot. Iconic.

Things Merlin should not have survived: There are a few things Merlin only survives with external treatment this season, which kind of disqualifies them from the purpose of this section (see the disclaimers at the bottom of this post) but I'll list the worst of them anyway. In Episode 8, he is knocked out, poisoned, and kicked off a cliff. The poison largely immobilises him, and he is left alone in the forest for at least ~27 hours, unable even to turn his head in order to vomit safely. He also has a seizure after treatment is administered, then falls unconscious after. In Episode 10, he is shot in the side with an arrow. The arrow is pulled out, no first aid or pressure or anything AT ALL are applied, and then he is forced to run from assailants for some hours. He passes out before he is found and healed.

Honourable mention to Episode 12, which had absolutely bonkers amount of external magical intervention to save his life (magic had been stolen, causing him to pass out when it initially happens, and later he loses consciousness three separate times in that cave). Honourable mention also to Episode 13, which I'm not sure he really survived at all.

Overall

BBC Merlin subjects its recurring characters to a total of 223 whump incidents throughout its 65 episodes.

The characters who was whumped on the most was Merlin, who endured 52 incidents (23%, or once every 1.25 episodes).

The runner up is Arthur, who underwent 44 incidents throughout the show (20%, or once every 1.48 episodes).

Merlin also fell unconscious the most of any character, passing out 17 times and getting knocked out 15 times for a total of 32 instances rendered unconscious.

Arthur was also the runner up for amount of times rendered unconscious, with a total of 22 -- knocked out 9 times and passed out 13.

This was, obviously, very predictable, so I'll give you third and fourth places as well.

For total whump incidents:

3rd Place - Morgana - 23 incidents (10%)

4th Place - Leon - 16 incidents (7%)

For being rendered unconscious:

3rd Place - Morgana - 11 incidents (4 passing out, 7 knocked out, + the time she was in a coma in S1, which was more 'not waking up' than either of the options listed but you may count it if you wish.)

4th Place - Gwaine - 10 incidents (5 passing out, 5 knocked out)

Because there were so few examples of it, I did do unconscious counts for non-recurring named characters as well.

Named characters were rendered unconscious a collective of 113 times in 65 episodes. That means someone known to the audience became unconscious once every 0.57 of an episode, or almost twice per episode.

This was split between passing out - 59 total incidents (once every 1.10 episodes) and getting knocked out - 54 total incidents (once every 1.20 episodes).

Characters frequently unconscious previously stated. Characters not listed in the spreadsheet who became unconscious were:

Sir Ewan - Passed out when bitted by an enchanted snake - 1x02

Jonas - Knocked out when Merlin smashes a piece of pottery over his head- 2x05

Princess Elena - Passed out when Merlin sedated her - 3x06

King Cenred - Knocked out when the ceiling of the throneroom in the Castle of Fyrien collapsed - 3x07

Julius Borden - Knocked out when Merlin threw him against a wall in the Tomb of Ashkanar - 4x04

Princess Mithian - Passed out after riding through the night to Camelot after Nemeth is conquered - 5x04

Audrey, the cook - Knocked out when Merlin gets annoyed with her and whacks her over the head with a pot - 5x07

While my spreadsheets do not reflect this, the compiled dataset actually takes every named character into account, including non-recurring ones, like guest characters and villains-of-the-week. This even includes characters without any screentime, as long as we know their name. Therefore, without further ado--

Every knight of Camelot who is canonically dead in the BBC Merlin universe (members of the BBCM round table italicised):

Sir Ewan (1x02)

Sir Owain (1x09)

Sir Pellinor (1x09)

Sir Bedivere - no screentime (1x13)

Sir Alynor (2x02)

Sir Ethan (3x04)

Sir Oswald (3x04)

Sir Edric - no screentime (3x12)

Sir Alduuf - no screentime (3x12)

Sir Osric - no screentime (3x12)

Sir Lancelot

Sir Ranulf - no screentime (5x05)

Sir Elyan

Sir Gwaine

King Arthur

Also, not that you're asking, but Sir Pellinor was killed in the episode Excalibur and Sir Bedivere was killed in the episode Le Morte d'Arthur by the Questing Beast. It would make literally no difference and would be so much more in touch with the Arthurian mythos this entire show stems from if they just switched the names. It makes no sense to me that they kill Pellinor before the Questing Beast plotline when they literally do the Questing Beast IN THE SAME SEASON.

And last but not least, I made some graphs if you'd like them (open the image for higher quality) (sorry the first one's so ugly, it had such low readability as a line graph so I switched it to an area chart):

Figure 1: A stepped area chart showing the frequency of whump incidents for prominent recurring character by season.

Figure 2: An area chart showing the frequency of total whump incidents by season.

Figure 3: A line graph showing the frequency of passing out for some characters (round table -Gaius +Morgana) by season.

Figure 4: A line graph showing the frequency of getting knocked out for some characters (round table -Gaius +Morgana) by season.

Disclaimers and Data

Big one first: Merlin is my favourite character, which means I have bestowed on him the role of whump victim (<3). Because of this I was biased towards recording his misfortunes more than other characters. I tried to be fair and sympathetic to the plights of other characters just as much, but it's important you're aware of that anyway.

The reason I included "Things Merlin should not have survived" as a category was because of his immortality. I am very aware that other characters went through life-threatening things -- at times more than Merlin did -- but I personally headcanon that Merlin actually did die at some points and was revived by his magic (particularly in Season 1). Even if you don't have that headcanon as well, you have to admit his magic had to play a role in saving his life sometimes, and I wanted to have a list of those occasions.

And as always, my counting is imperfect and at times generated discrepancies. Here are some of the measures I took to minimise them:

Merlin and Arthur's unconscious stats (# times they passed out/were knocked out) were retallied.

All characters' unconscious stats were retallied and categorised by season.

Characters that showed discrepancies between the two counts were retallied again (Merlin, Arthur, Morgana, Leon, Gwen, Percival)

Character injury data was inputted episode-by-episode. When the final episodes' data was bulk uploaded, all characters were retallied. Characters whose numbers lowered in the retally were retallied again (Morgause, Percival, and Hunith -- who was since removed from the spreadsheet).

Characters whose whump totals differed between the tallies and the spreadsheet were retotaled (Merlin, Arthur, Morgana, Gwaine, Gaius) until the discrepancy was eliminated (in Merlin and Arthur's case, retallied entirely).

Merlin's numbers specifically were retallied, retotaled, or recounted more than 10. Times. So trust me, all known discrepancies have been eliminated.

That being said, if you happen to look through the original document and find I missed an injury or illness, it won't be in the numbers or the spreadsheet, so let me know!!

You can find those details here:

Original Dataset A list, with descriptions, of every incidence of whump that occurred to a named character by episode.

Spreadsheet The numerical data with accompanying graphs.

I hope these may be useful to you, especially all my fellow whump writers out there <3 keep doing what you're doing, and feel free to get in touch if you notice an error, want further clarification, or just want to chat! I'm always happy to chat.

Personal note: I'm such a sucker for medical accuracy. I'm currently studying to go into the medical field, so if we're both still around in a couple years, expect me to come back and bring you some scientifically-informed analyses of how truly not-ok these guys are.

And thank you so much for reading!! <3

MedWhump May - Day 1

@medwhumpmay

Under Anesthesia

Original Work - (No Title Yet)

“It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

Cyril let out another soft groan from the backseat. Kemp risked a look back and in the shifting shadows cast by the streetlights passing by, he could see the sweat glistening on Cyril’s pale face. Kemp twisted forward again to face the road, swerving back into the correct lane.

“Cyril?” He called.

No answer.

“Cyril! Talk to me.”

“Hurts.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“Not-” Cyril let out a whine as Kemp took an exit at the last second. “Not your fault.” Cyril’s words were breathless, and quieter than before.

“It is.” Kemp nodded, though he knew Cyril couldn’t see him. “It is my fault.”

Silence.

“Cyril?”

Cyril moaned.

Kemp dragged a shaking hand through his hair. “Just keep pressure on it, okay?” He read the street names, looking for the right one. In the dark, they were hard to read. So Kemp had to slam on the brakes when he spotted River Street.

Cyril gasped.

Kemp winced. “Sorry.”

Kemp parked the car and hurried around to the backseat. He flung open the door and hit the ceiling of the car to turn on the interior light. Cyril lay across the backseat, his head towards Kemp and his feet braced on the opposite car door. His eyes were closed.

Kemp bent down over Cyril’s upside down face and gently patted his pale cheek. “Hey, Cyril.”

Cyril’s eyes opened. “Hey.”

Kemp could not keep the smile from his lips. “Hey.” He almost got lost in those beautiful eyes. “Hey.” He said again, relaxing a little.

Cyril leaned into Kemp’s hand, his skin cool and clammy.

“Are we there?” Cyril whispered.

“Yeah, yeah. We’re there. I need to get you inside. Is- Is that okay?”

Cyril nodded and closed his eyes. Kemp guessed that he was bracing himself for the pain. As gently as he could, Kemp gathered Cyril into his arms. Cyril managed to stay mostly quiet, but Kemp didn’t miss the soft moan that Cyril tried to hide. And he didn’t miss how Cyril’s head rested on his shoulder. Warm and heavy. It felt right.

Kemp carried Cyril up the garden path and to the front door. “Cyril?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you ring the doorbell? Hands are full.”

“Oh, right, yeah.”

Cyril reached out with a shaking hand and rang the doorbell. He left a bloody fingerprint on the button.

“Jonah.” Kemp sighed in relief when the door finally opened.

An older gentleman stood there with mussed white hair and a flannel robe. He paused for a moment then nodded. “Oh, Mr. Kemp. How can I help you?”

Kemp felt the warm weight of Cyril’s head against his shoulder again. “I need that favor.”

The gentleman stood aside and let Kemp and Cyril inside the house.

Sometime later, Kemp was hunched over the kitchen table, nursing a cup of strong black coffee. Jonah was in the back room, working on Cyril. He would fix Cyril. He would fix Kemp’s mistake. Kemp took another sip of the coffee and winced at the bitterness.

It was Kemp’s fault that Cyril was injured. All his fault.

“Mr. Kemp.”

Kemp started and stood up too fast. He steadied himself by placing a palm on the tabletop. Jonah stood in the doorway, wearing white gloves and a surgical mask pulled down around his neck. “He’s asking for you.”

“What, it’s done?”

Jonah shook his head.

Kemp hesitated a moment. What was going on? What was the problem?

Kemp ducked into the brightly lit back room.

“Cyril?”

Cyril winced and opened his eyes. He was pale and shaking and sweating. He looked terrible. “I’m sorry.”

Kemp stayed in the doorway. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t like hospitals.”

Kemp hesitated a moment, shuffling his feet. He sighed and walked over to Cyril’s side. He looked so… scared. What was wrong with him?

“This isn’t a hospital.” Kemp offered.

Cyril looked around at the equipment that surrounded the bed he lay on. “It kind of is.”

“You have to let him work. You’re hurt.” Kemp gestured to the gunshot wound in Cyril’s thigh.

“Stay with me.”

Kemp met Cyril’s eyes. He was definitely scared.

“Until I’m asleep.”

Kemp pulled up a chair and held out his hand. Cyril’s pain-etched face softened a little. Almost a smile. And he took Kemp’s hand.

Kemp held his hand until Jonah came in. Until Cyril faded out. And all through the surgery.