Not Spoiler Free

For all those interested: heres the set up to my Next Gen AU

Questions: did anybody know Gwaine had a sister??? Or did only i not know that?

One wiki page said Gorlois was implied to be Morgause's dad and another said they were not related so thats why theres a "?" there.

How does everyone pick last names for their modern AU fics? Like im gonna keep the last names we know about (Arthur Pendragon, Morgana le Fay) but what about the others? Ive seen a lot of "Merlin Emrys" but i think i wanna keep "Emrys" for something like Merlin's username or stage name

Right now i have:

But i still need Gwaine, Percival, Gaius, and Merlin

So how do u all pick names? Or what common/favorite last names have you seen?

And pop in the notes and tell me to go with "Thompson" or "Smith"

Crack fic about everyone developing a crush on Lancelot (anywhere from admiration to full on in love) and at the end they discover that through all their longing stares at Lancelot somehow absolutely no one picked up on the fact Merlin and Lancelot have been friends-with-benefits for 2 years now

You know what wouldve been cool (and by cool i mean emotionally painful and would completely derail the plot)? A small group of people tracking down Merlin for his immortality. At this point Merlin doesnt even know he's particularly difficult to kill and no one knows about his magic. They just think this is another group of mercenaries hired by someone who's got beef with Arthur.

So the knights are ambushed in the forest and all that and eventually the knights are all surrounded so Arthur tries to diplomatically defuse the situation by asking why they're here and what they want from him. Leader Guy says something. Arthur says something back or tries to before Leader Guy says to/orders his men to "grab the immortal" and the knights and Merlin are like "what?" And Arthur is looking at Leader Guy the whole time because he's the top threat but all a sudden there are outraged noises behind him so he glances back to see them dragging and tying up Merlin. Arthur joins the outraged noises. Merlin doesnt even have to pretend to be normal he literally has no idea whats going on. Everyone's like "you've got the wrong guy" so Leader Guy is like fine we'll check and stabs Merlin in the heart with a dagger. Merlin dies with a surprised look on his face before his body drops, only being held up by the people who were holding him in place for the stabbing.

Gwaine is screaming. Elyan is thrashing against the people who are holding him back. Percival and Leon are stunned but quickly recover. Arthur is speechless. His eyes are locked on the dark spot on Merlin's chest. Just as Arthur is thinking "don't cry don't cry Kings do not cry over servants" Merlin gasps and starts coughing up blood. Merlin looks up and looks right back down at where he was stabbed before looking up again and says something funny to us the audience ("well thats not normal" or maybe "wtf dude") and the knights are so relieved to hear his voice.

Leader Guy does a small laugh and goes "we got him"... and the rest of the episode is the escape and Merlin questioning everything

So remember how i mentioned i was revisiting my Next Gen AU for Merlin that i found in my computer files.... i already had a 10 page document on notes alone but now i have a reworked timeline and all this...

Why do i do this? Why do i make heavily detailed AUs and abandon them? Watch me forget all about this in two weeks

Arthur Returns AU where the he and the knights come back in reverse order of death (Leon or Percival, Arthur and Gwaine, Elyan, Lancelot). But no one is expecting Lancelot to return, since he was already resurrected as a shade. So Merlin made sure to be on the lake on the days he knew people were coming but no one was there for Lancelot because no one expected him to come. They might not even be in the country because they wanted to get started on fighting right away and only find out because poor Lancelot is on the news

I've always liked the idea that the knights come back before Arthur which i hardly ever seen done (probably because theres little angst and lots of happiness/humor) or the idea of Lancelot coming back first (by like centuries) which ive never seen done (which would be happiness for Merlin but lots of angst for Arthur) but now im really liking the idea of everyone coming back in the order that they died: Lancelot, Elyan, Gwaine & Arthur, Leon & Percival

So Lancelot pops up first. He died 4 years before anyone else so either he shows up 4 years before everyone or its like multiplied bc immortality and he shows up 40 years early. He gets used to the new world and Merlin's sad sad eyes and after the hurdle of his first year they start actually having fun again and living. Maybe they know why he's there maybe they dont

Next is Elyan, who died about half a year before Gwaine and Arthur. He pops up and it throws Merlin and Lancelot for a loop because either they werent expecting him or were expecting him at a different time. He's super confused. With both Merlin and Lancelot he adjusts a little quicker than Lancelot did but its a much harder adjustment (Lancelot has come back from the dead before with a time jump. His difficulties were with physical things, Elyan's is with emotional things)

Gwaine and Arthur died on the same day, so they return at the same time. They both immediately get into trouble but their panic is much lesser than Lancelot's or Elyan's was because they're together. They come home to a blaring TV, plastic snack trash everywhere, flashing colored lights, and Merlin's pet macaw(s) (they were having a tv marathon when they left to pick up Gwaine and Arthur). Its overwhelming. Also the bird(s) are scary. They do not adjust well. Gwaine punches the microwave and Arthur pretends to understand things he doesnt.

Now we dont know when Leon or Percival died, but they'd come next. Gwen too if you want to include her. We also dont know how they died, maybe they're the only two who come back as old men, which shocks everyone else (but Merlin. He was kinda there for that) because of change of appearance, change of abilities (decreased), and change of personality (you change as you get older).

I started reading Merlin fanfic again this weekend and it was once again brought to my attention that most of the orginal Round Table knights are from outside the kingdom and probably see magic differently then people in Camelot. Its been a long time since ive watched Merlin but if i remember right Percival is from a different kingdom, Gwaine is a traveler, Elyan has been traveling but he grew up in Camelot so his view could go either way, and Lancelot already knows. So really the only ones in that group who we know are 100% anti-magic are Arthur and Leon, so like magic reveal fics there could be more people on Merlin's side then just Gwaine