missmarthanightingale

PREMISE - BBC's Merlin sucked & I'm bitter.

Merlin's relationships with Gwen & the Knights of the Round Table are central & consistent.
- Lancelot gets to be around more, Gwaine is loyal to Merlin above all others (they bang at some point), Elyan marries her probably.
- Gwen, Merlin & Leon form a We Believe In Arthur squad in S1, a relationship which endures.
- they all Know, to some degree, by the time Merlin finally comes out & says it.
Merlin has positive relationships & regular contact with other magic-users, e.g. Alice, Isildur.
- related, the Dolma & Dragoon are actually separate people who help her out with hi-jinks.
- she deserves to have real allies, goddamn it.
That Moment in S1 is the start of Arthur questioning his father & tentatively accepting magic. (x)
Morgana can't live in Camelot as it is but she isn't a completely irredeemable villain & is always, always Arthur's sister, though she does try to kill him a few times.
- ideally Merlin handles stuff with Morgana & Mordred … marginally better?
- Morgana knows about Merlin's magic from S2 on but never, ever outs her.
The Sorcerer's Shadow in S3 is a turning point for Merlin & the story. (x)
Merlin is a girl I think. Very, very bi. She works around the castle as needed but her main job is being Gaius's apprentice.
- her friendship with Arthur develops more slowly & is more difficult, but in the end, it's more genuine & healthier for both of them.
- it makes protecting him a lot harder! She can't always be there. He gets to do cool stuff by himself sometimes & is clearly a capable person in his own right.
vague time-line:
- in the first episode Merlin is 18, Arthur is 20, Gwen in 19, Morgana is, hmm, 23?
- the events of S1/S2 happen over a period of about 3 years
- Morgana disappears for about 6 months
- S3 happens over the course of 2+ years, with the events of TSS happening near the end of the first year
- Morgana grows progressively worse over this time, & it culminates in the takeover
- Arthur rules as regent for a year & a half before his father dies
- Arthur is crowned king, immediately starts repealing anti-magic laws
- Gwen is crowned queen within a year & a half, Merlin confesses about the magic in days after
- Camlann happen about 9 years later, Arthur dies at nearly 40, the Golden Age actually happened, I cry probably
- the rest of them manage to live pretty happily, keep Arthur's legacy alive, find someone decent to inherit the kingdom
- all of this, from Merlin arriving in Camelot to Arthur's death, takes places over, like, 20 years, which seems like a fairly reasonable time-span for Arthurian legend while preserving the tragedy of Arthur dying too soon