What is Merthur?

Merthur my little fellows is the preferred fandom term for the pairing of Merlin and Arthur from the BBC adaptation of the Arthurian legends 'Merlin' starring the very lovely fellow Scottish-er Colin Morgan (as a young and cheeky-grinned warlock Merlin) and the very sexy, lickable, pretty etc. Bradley James (starring as Prince Arthur who seems to just leak mass waves of princelyness and prettiness...).

Anyways, in contrast with more traditional adaptations of the Arthurian Legends Merlin, instead of being a 300 year old kooky Magician, is instead roughly the same age as Arthur and is portrayed as a young-adult slightly-less-kooky Warlock. The age similarities INSTANTLY guarantee a slash pairing, in the Arthurian legends the relationship between Merlin and Arthur was one of great trust and respect (meaning Arthur gallivanted around being King of England and getting himself into all sorts of mishaps whilst beardy old Merlin would pop up at random times to sort everything out using a bit of hocus pocus) and seeing as how Merlin was about ooh....century’s older than Arthur we usually settled their relationship as one of Mentor-Mentee or something as such. HOWEVER, now that they both seem to be ticking the '20-25' age box a WORLD OF POSSIBLITYS have been opened to us needy Slash gals always in search of the next big shipping.

Now, being the same age, the relationship between the young Merlin and Arthur, though initially one of Manservant and Master (which is truly delicious to recognise, has evolved into the second season as a friendship that offers trust, awkward respect and yet even more opportunities for the Slash gals.
Why choose Merthur as my shipping for the series? At first I was quite intent on
supporting the rather Brotherly-Sisterly relationship of Arthur and Morgana and the cute one-sided thing with Merlin and Guinevere, but eventually the two lovely ladies have lost their man loves in my eyes, with the help of the Slash Dragon.

The Slash Dragon you say? Whats that?
The Dragon which Merlin captured and somehow has managed to keep underneath Uthers 'ZOMG No Magic Yo!' Castle without anyone else knowing about him but Richard Wilson....I mean Gaius. The Great Dragon has apparently 'foretold' unto Merlin that his destiny is to ensure that Arthur takes up the throne of Camelot and bring Magic back onto the 'Whats Hot' List. Thus Merlin’s destiny is to forever remain at Arthur’s side secretly using his magical powers to aid Arthur in whatever problem that may arise. The Slash Dragon then goes on to actually PRESSURE Merlin into putting up with Arthur’s rather pompous attitude come what may and remain as his friend and servant. Saying it’s his 'Destiny' and that Arthur and Merlin are 'two sides of the same coin'.

By this point the fangirls are foaming at the mouth.
Each week with each new episode I'm honestly expecting an encounter between Merlin and the Great Dragon to go a little something like this-

Merlin: -Insert magical creature or magical mishap inflicting danger towards Arthur here-
Great Dragon: No matter what trouble and strife Arthur faces you must face it together with him and guide the young Pendragon through the darkness. It is your Destiny to remain at his side and aid in his every battle young Warlock....and well....if you two wanna make out a little along the way why thats....that'll be pretty damn awesome. 8D
Merlin: 8(

-I'M TOTALLY SUPA-CEREAL GUYS.
And thus the POWA of the Slash Dragon reigns over us all.
Especially a lovely internet-user who created a Merthur Live Journal as The Slash Dragon himself!
[link]
At long last! A place where all Merthur fangirls can go to devote their loyalty (and their Yaoi doujins) to the Slash Dragon!

The Great Slash Dragon is, however, but one of the reasons why I have fallen deep into the never-ending pit of Merthur with no wish to be thrown a rope whatsoever. Of course there are the MOMENTS to enjoy too! 8D
The whole Destiny to be together thing and the 'Two sides of the same coin' metaphorical fanservice is relayed by many of the first seasons episodes, in particular 'The Poisoned Chalice' and the season 1 finale 'Le Morte d'Arthur', and of course who can forget the 'faster Arthur, faster' line....well I certainly can't.

Season 2 however has seemed to have shown much less focus on the friendship between Arthur in Merlin in favour of developing the relationship between Arthur and Gwen some more. Well boo. Although the whole Arthur-Gwen thing is very cute and all 'Forbidden romance' and such I was feeling rather 'irked' about the lack of any real interaction between Arthur and Merlin. But, a sigh of relief, today’s weekly episode (31st November) saw the episode 'Beauty and the Beast Part II' become my favourite episode of season 2 so far. And no it wasn't mostly because of Sarah Parish and her truly magnificent acting as a Troll and being the best villain this show has had to offer since Episode 1. It was because of all the Merthur-ness!

In the beginning of the episode the troll woman (posing as Lady Katrina) untruthfully accuses Merlin of stealing her 'family' seal, thus Uther sends Arthur and his merry band of knights to find and arrest Merlin. Arthur however pursues Merlin on his own and, upon finding him, goes against his Fathers orders and urges Merlin to escape Camelot before anyone else can find him. One has to really watch this episode to truly experience that awkward worry that Arthur displays about his Servants safety and the face Arthur projects at Merlin's back as he hurriedly leaves the room is just PERFECTLY slashy.

Later in the episode the glass bottle containing the antidote to waken Arthur from his pretend-death is broken and Merlin has to rely on his quick-thinking and his ultra-absorbent neckerchief to save Arthurs life for about the hundredth time. I'm sure I'm not the only one who watched the episode and was hoping that Merlin would have to perhaps dab the spilt antidote on his own lips and deliver the antidote to Arthur’s lips in a different way...as good friends should.

In relation to this potential moment Arthur, in his own Princely way, claims that he never doubted Merlin would give him the antidote in time (although he really did doubt, just a little) and thanks him for basically making sure he didn't really die throughout his pretend-death. To probably prove to himself of his manliness after such an 'un-manly' statement Arthur attempts to pat Merlin on the shoulder in a friendly and manly way. Merlin on the other hand, seeing Arthurs hand motions, doesn't seem to be all that concerned with being manly and optimistically believes that Arthur was lifting his arm to give Merlin a friendly hug and thus prepares himself by raising his own arms much to the comical confusion of Arthur.
The 'I thought we were going for a hug' scene so far reigns as my all-time favourite scene of Season 2 and quite possibly my heart. XD

The future of Merthur is questionable, in next weeks episode apparently Merlin is 'outed' by a Witch hunter and taken away to be burnt! This future episode is sure to hold some significance in the fandom of Merthur as Arthur struggles between his Fathers 'No Magic in Camelot' wishes and his concern for his best butt-buddy Merlin....I mean BEST FRIEND Merlin. But with the development of the whole Arthur-Gwen thing sure to happen and keep on happening the actual canonicity of Merthur in the series is most likely next to none. Well DAMN. Oh well, at least we still have our fanfiction and fanart to provide comfort. But perhaps there is a glimmer of hope? If the whole Arthur-Gwen relationship tends to follow the Arthurian Legends version, in which Guinevere gets it on with Arthurs top Knight and leaves Camelot in shame, and let’s face it we haven't seen the last of Lancelot and his moustache so the Gwen-Lancelot thing still has the slightest chance of happening.

And Arthur will be left alone and heartbroken, but of course he still has the trusty Merlin at his side (mumbling in grumpy tones about 'stupid destiny' and such) who is willing to aid Arthur is 'any way' he can.
Can anyone say REBOUND SEX?

I think the Slash Dragon would.