GODFREY: Oh Go Fuck Yourself

I like “Lavender Wedding” and “Bi Fiddleford” as much as the next guy, but I feel like this headcanon needs more attention.

Suggestive Bonus:

it's always so funny to me when arthur/uther says something like "i don't believe this, it's just a silly tale" when merlin/gaius warns them about some legend because like. my guy. YOU LIVE IN A LAND OF MYTH AND A TIME OF MAGIC.

I'm rewatching Merlin and it's only really hitting me now how bat shit the entire concept of the show is because without the context of the original stories, it's a pretty typical mid-tier sword and sorcery type thing, but from the perspective of actual Arthurian Legend, it's kinda like if they adapted Lord of The Rings and made Gandalf a 19 year old twink that had unresolved sexual tension with Aragorn

I love getting on pinterest and experiencing lots of gendery envy.

the year is 2026. you're getting married to your wonderful partner. it's the happiest moment of your life. as you say the vows and kiss as a married couple for the first time, you freeze in shock. you see him in the crowd

“I can fix him” okay but I can fix the narrative. I can recontextualize events and bring out depths of character. I can shift priorities and strengthen relationships and show that anyone can change with enough kindness and support, and that what you admired in him has been inside yourself this whole time.

So, did Jared ever learn how to read or is he still 19?

That being said there is a obvious form of subordination between Priests and Dragons in the way their names are structured.

Dragons gave their Priests name to give them power, but also to subordinate them to them.

Priests have a two words name (Miraak for example is Mir-Aak, Allegiance-Guide (Which is so fucking ironic and tragic)) while dragons have three. In that way a Dragon is still Superior to a Priest, but the Priest is still close to the Dragon's power.

I guess servants to the priest (cultists, warriors etc) would then in turn take one name to erase their own identity and race, thus continuing the chain of command. We just never meet them to confirm.

And since names have power,a power the Dragons can use to subjugate Mortals to their will, then you becoming Dovah-Kiin is even more subtle.

You are much like a Dragon Priest, two words against three, shaped by your role and your mask, wooden, empty, infinite possibilities merged into one path.

And yet at the same time you're also trying to overcome this mask, with new adventures, new titles, new NAMES. Archimage, Guildmaster, Harbinger, Listener, Champion, Dawnguard, Vampire, Hero, Traitor, Spouse, Parent, Thane... They are all facets of your empty wooden mask, trying to derail your very nature, shaped by your name, one given to you by the Father of all Dragons, one you didn't want, as Kyne weeps for you.

But a way, the one who is doing the worst here however is Durnehviir. In a way, he is experiencing the same thing a dragon priest would experience under him. He was given a name by his new Ideal Masters, the Never Dying Curse, shaped his very being in his new subservience, poisoned his mind and body for them, and all to escape a Dragon's greatest fear, to lose himself, have his consciousness devoured for good.

To die and not be reborn again. To become bones for the mortal to gawk at, and be erased from reality for good.

And then you arrive, much like him slave to your Mask, and you best him in battle, and all he can think of as a Dragon, as a Never Dying Curse, as someone who holds all the cards in this scenario, someone who will never die and yet will only need to kill you once...

Is to curse you with his power.

Is to give you a Two Words name.

Is to make you his Dragon Priest. Whatever you realize it or not.

You are Qahnaarin. Qahnaar-In. Vanquish the Verb and In the Master... You are the Vanquisher, much like Krosis was the Sorrow, and Volsung was the Horror, and Morokei was the Glory.

And you still accepted the name he gave you. You still accepted his graceful authority over you. It might not be as powerful as the Wooden Mask the Father of Dragons have you, but is still a bond way stronger than the ones your Mortal connection granted you.

He will come when you call him, but that's because he asked you to do it, he REWARDED you for it with his knowledge much like the other Dragon Priest's before you, so who is the master, and who is the servant here?

Because every time you shout now, you only sing the anthem to his wretched existence, as you allow him to fly the skies of Nirn once more.

Miraak cultist: Have you heard the words of our lord and saviour Miraak the True Dragonborn?

Local Farmer: Don't suppose I have. What's he say then?

Miraak cultist: No idea. None of us speak dragon or ancient Atmoran. But he seems very passionate about it.

Watch out Liz, you'll be in the Veneration next