Why is the majority of Merlin/Arthur AU?

[g_bowneyes]

I have a tiny rant about the Merlin fandom (or the tiny bit of it I have experienced so far). Why are so many of the Merlin/Arthur stories out there AU? I'm struggling to find a really really good in character, in canon, before Season Five's last episode, Merlin/Arthur story. Sure, it would have to be AU to happen, and maybe not everything that

Comments

[g_bowneyes]

No I haven't, I was just mostly ranting and thought I might as well turn it into a request for fic recs as well. And also because I don't really know Merlin fandom that well so I'm not as familiar with all the comms etc. I'll go check it out. I'm going through the merlin/arthur comm at the moment and checking out the tags!

[drarryisgreen]

There's also find_a_merlin

[celestlyn]

Yeah, I'm a big Merlin canon fan. I loved the quirky show. I just can't get into the fandom though. I've read a few things, but they just didn't grab me. I would much rather have medieval Merlin than modern au. I suppose because modern just doesn't seem Merlinesque to me. You could take any modern story with a bit of the occult and insert any names into it.

[g_bowneyes]

Yeah, I feel like to be a really good fic it needs to slot effortlessly into the canon, with Uther, Gaius, Gwen, Morgana etc all actually in character and not as other characters who just sport their names. With a bit of quirkness like you say, and also a bit of angst, and this is just my personal want for a Merlin/Arthur - dealing with the fall out of other people and even Camelot itself finding out about them. Arthur breaking Gwen's heart. Evil Morgana trying to use Merlin against Arthur to steal the crown, but not knowing that he's actually Emrys... all those sorts of things. And the show!! If you watch it closely, it gives you SO MANY openings to make a slashy merlin/arthur story, and because of how popular the fandom is I automatically assumed that's what people did, but I'm really struggling to find anything! I would have thought for sure it'd be more popular!! Maybe I'll just have to write something myself *humrph* although I really don't have the time... lol!

[allmysins]

I actually prefer the modern AUs and im not sure why. Maybe I haven't read any good canon fics? Maybe I exhausted my capacity for medieval times fiction as a teenager. I just can't get into them as much. *sigh*

[g_bowneyes]

I'm finding it really interesting how some people love the AU, and others love canon stories, just off the people who've commented on this post! Maybe that's why Merlin's become so popular, because there is something to suit everyone. I love medieval style books and what not as well, so maybe that's why I like the canon style better. I love my H/D to be as in canon as possible as well. The only AUs I really have fallen in love with in HP are Summer Rain and Everything Was Perfect by Lani (and those two are not REALLY AU, they were just written long before canon was ever finished) and Big Chicago by Samayel, which is definitely AU lol. Otherwise, I like to read HP stories that are as close to having been actually possible with the real story line as possible. I'm finding the same goes for Merlin for me & I'm struggling to find the sort of things I want to find! I might have a general search on AO3 rather than looking through LJ.

Random Rambling by drarryisgreen

[drarryisgreen]

Yeah, a while ago I asked for 'age difference' recs and they are all Modern World AU. Granted, I am guilty of this as well.

I have written one -- and my first -- Merlin Drabble and it wasn't Modern World but the drabble series I am writing for camelot_drabble is totally Modern World AU.

In other news, I am also writing a Merlin Mpreg but it's not Modern it takes place properly in proper camelot w/ age-difference and Pregnant!Merlin.

Re: Random Rambling by drarryisgreen

[g_bowneyes]

I'll have to check it out dig! I like the idea of mpreg merthur! Too often in canon fics only deal with the 'getting together' part, and not the next step of staying together, and how they progress with their lives. I want to see more of that! How Camelot and the other people handle them together, or whether they keep it a secret. Or whether it's accepted or not. Things like Morgana finding out about them, before or after she becomes evil. Gwen finding out. Arthur having to choose between Gwen and Merlin. All sorts of problems that staying together has to deal with! Maybe I'm still just very new to this fandom and that sort of thing does exist, I just haven't found it yet!

I'll have to have a read of yours!!

Re: Random Rambling by drarryisgreen

[drarryisgreen]

In my head (lol) when Arthur gets together w/ Merlin -- there's no evil Morgana but I do need to write one where she's evil and A & M get together and have lots of hot sex to relieve the stress of looking for an evil sister! HAHA.

Also ooooh to Gwen finding out -- that would be awesome. It's kinda like when Ginny finds out.

Anyway...

[lokifan]

I'm not in the fandom, but I wonder if it's because Merlin and Arthur have reincarnation/being brought back/immortality sort of baked into the premise, so if you happen to be into modern AU it's the perfect fandom?

[drarryisgreen]

Now that the show has ended, it makes sense for MODERN AU b/c of the reincarnation point you stated. However, I have read Modern AU stuff way before the show ended and it annoyed me then, and less annoys me now.

[lokifan]

Well, I think it made sense way before the show ended - Arthur coming back when England needs him and Merlin being immortal/living backwards are both fairly central elements of the myth.

[g_bowneyes]

Yeah I definitely agree with all of this, it makes it easier to write in the modern day because that's what we're used to, and the show itself lends to the idea of them being reincarnated or living forever or Arthur just returning and Merlin having lived forever etc. I think now the show's ended the way it has, it definitely makes it a lot easier, but I can see how people would have done it before the show ended as well. People used to write completely AU stuff for HP too before the books were even finished. That's what fanfic is all about I suppose, making what you want of it.