Long Suffering Leon - Tumblr Posts
Merlin, to reincarnated Mordred: One universe, nine planets, seven seas, seven continents, 195 countries, and I still had the unfortunate luck of meeting you. Twice.
Lancelot: Surely he isn’t that bad-
Leon, just found out who used him as a step stool: There are only eight planets, you uncultured swine!
Merlin, forgetting about Mordred: VIVA LA PLUTO, FUCK YOU!
Leon: That shirt looks great, Merlin.
Merlin: Thanks.
Leon: But I bet it would look even better on Arthur 's floor.
Arthur : Are you hitting on Merlin... for me?
Bard Will
as you may have seen here bard!will is something that should be discussed and now i will spiraling about this idea and dragging all of you with me. So, let us begin
Will didn’t die in s1 we’ll start with that. In this headcanon, universe, timeline or whatever, Will did get hit by the arrow but nowhere major and was thankfully saved! In thanks for saving him despite them not getting along, Arthur claims that he won’t do any harm to Will (also he is really confused about everything because sorcerers are supposed to be bad but this guy saved his life and the village and is Merlin’s friend and Merlin wouldn’t be friends with someone evil sooo).
With that near death experience out of the way, Will comes to a decision to travel around Albion. He did invite Merlin, but he said something about destinies and friendship and duty or whatever. So, he goes off on his own (the offer still stands though you never know when prince prat will get too much).
He ends up in a tavern and spies a bard with a nice lute singing tales of some distant knight who saved a town, you know the works. And it might have been because Will was drunk off his ass, it might have been because he overheard a group of drunkards joke about being a bard and spinning false tales just for kicks. It might have been both, but Will was inspired.
He already knew how to play a lute (he wasn’t a professional but he would play sometimes out in the woods with Merlin and it would be a lute he cut and carved himself), so Will bet it wouldn’t be that bad to just…become a bard. All he really needed was some nicer clothes for presentation which he definitely didn’t spend all of his coin for (he would get more back later from being the best bard of Albion).
And that, everyone, is Will’s bard origin story.
His first few times as a traveling bard were lackluster at best and humiliatingly terrible at worst. He had hit rock bottom after his fourth gig confused with why none of his songs worked. Until, he did a song about Prince Arthur’s fight with the griffin (all the info he got was from Merlin in his letters and some details were left out so he might have fleshed out some of the story…..he definitely played the ot4 angle and you can fight me on that) and the people loved it.
So, everywhere he went, he would tell tales of Arthur the dashing but bumbling prince (because Will isn’t blind but he’s would never miss a chance to mess with Arthur) going off on adventures with his knights and the ever loyal, ever brilliant, ever resourceful servant Merlin. What? Merlin’s his best friend of course he would take the opportunity to embellish him like that.
While traveling, Will gets to meet the druids and learn about Arthur and Merlin’s destiny and oh boy! Does he take that and spin it to his desire. Arthur, the Once and Future King with Merlin as Emrys? The druids were just asking for that to be a part of his many tales. (They weren’t but that didn’t stop a younger druid, who might or might not have been a young boy called Mordred, from telling Will everything he knew so that word would spread).
Now most of Albion knows about Prince Arthur’s endeavors (though sme are either super in accurate or greatly exaggerated) with his servant who may or may not be this powerful warlock Emrys but Will never says so.
Theories and rumors about this Emrys run wild. Most think it’s Merlin and those who are brave, question Will who just winks and carries on with whatever new tale he has. Some speculate Emrys is an old god who took the form a of mortal and is now judging the prince with trials to see if he will follow his father’s footstep or bring the golden age (Will is very jealous of that theory and wished he thought of that when he first introduce him to the public).
Of course word of Will’s songs reach Camelot. It comes from visiting royals who congratulate the prince on defeating some foe Will talked about, and how Emrys must be so proud and everyone just goes ‘who?’ while Merlin sweats heavily.
Arthur: I’m sorry…who is this Emrys?
Foreign noble: Why, he is your protector of course! Must be nice to have the favor of such a powerful god
Arthur: ….right, and where did you get this information?
Foreign noble: Well, from Will the Bard. He is, by far, the most infamous minstrel in all of Albion! He has told of all your tales since you spared the life of a peasant sorcerer years ago.
it was last year but Will made such a good name for himself that everyone just agreed that Will has been in the bard business for more than that
Arthur is pissed off and Merlin is just dying of laughter in the background. Soon, all the strange interactions Arthur has had with people for the past few months make sense. The old woman who cautioned him on tree roots makes more sense (Will likes to sing about Arthur tripping on roots whenever he can), the young farm boy who called Merlin and inspiration for all farm boys makes sense (Merlin never has anything ill said about him in Will’s stories), the lady who had questioned Arthur why he doesn’t just promote merlin to better his status for his intelligence makes sense, the foreign maid who cautioned Merlin about the amount of cakes a prince should have makes sense.
Arthur hates it at first, but….none of the tales told are completely awful. Will may paint him as a buffoon sometimes, but they do show Arthur as someone to be trusted (and Merlin too). the problem is when the tales show him as someone more sympathetic towards magic which he is not since his father didn’t raise him that way. however, after hearing these tales, Morgana has some twinge of hope.
The hope builds when she learns from gwen that the druids now come to visit Arthur when he is off adventuring or hunting. Arthur himself doesn’t know what to think about that but he does know that the druids are peaceful.
The druids, fuelled with the knowledge from Will’s songs, decide to try and teach Arthur about magic (and Merlin too but secretly). Being the Once and Future King and all, it would be best to at least give him a heads up and some positive knowledge about magic (Will might have grilled them about this but Arthur and Merlin are none the wiser).
Anyway, back to Will.
He destroys Uther. Arthur, he at least cuts some slack for being Merlin’s friend and all, but nothing is spared for Uther. He also calls Cenred a narcissistic pig (he got formally exiled from Essetir but that never stopped him). He starts his songs about Uther with it being all positive. Uther is a great king, benevolent and strong then gives his audience whiplash talking about genocide. He calls the king paranoid, quick to anger, past his prime. Will holds no mercy for him.
Will most definitely met Gwaine and Elyan (separately of course) while on his travels. Gwaine and Will bonded over Merlin. Elyan and Will bonded over dead dads. He also met Tristan and Isolde troup of smugglers and bonded about their anti-moarnchy ideals and how horrible Uther was (Will might have gotten some new song ideas from Tristan).
…….and….that’s all i have right now 😅 If anyone has anymore ideas, feels free to add or even drop some in my asks if you want!
But yeah, Bard Will
Lancelot: And I also encouraged Merlin to start a fire yesterday but I can't tell you that.
Lancelot: What's wrong?
Leon: I think Gwaine is onto something, Lancelot. I think I AM lame.
Lancelot: What? What are you talking about?
Leon: I'm, like, the uncool parent. I'm the stick in the mud. I have become lame.
Lancelot: No, you haven't!
Leon: Face it, Lance. A wild Saturday night for us now is rum raisin ice cream and startling raccoons. When was the last time you did something illegal?
Lancelot:
Lancelot: Last week, at the tavern, I asked for a water cup and I put lemonade in it.
Leon:
Lancelot: It was an accident. I apologized. I poured it out, and I paid for it, but it was still pretty reckless. Right?
Leon:
Lancelot: Okay, maybe we are lame.
Leon: I regret getting dragged into your homosexual tomfoolery.