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Mun

Name: Masamune
Livejournal Username: dammitmasa
E-mail: gamehiker@gmail.com
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Current Characters at Luceti:
markofthewise - Sokka
onebluebamf - Kurt Wagner
gerudoking - Ganondorf
itsaxingthing - Ling Yao


Character

Name: Arthur Pendragon
Fandom: Merlin (BBC)
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Time Period:The night after drawing Excalibur (Sword in the Stone pt 2)
Wing Color:Red, with bits of blue
History: Merlin Wikia


Personality: Though recently made king, Arthur has not quite lived up to the legacy of the myths and stories that would persist long after his own death. Indeed he remains still in his first year of kingship and has just recently lost his kingdom due to trusting the wrong people. In spite of his failings though, there is much about him that resonates with the well known version of King Arthur. At the heart of it, Arthur is a good and just man. He strongly believes in justice and fairness, qualities that once put him at odds with his father's often brutal method of dealing with problems. He absolutely cannot stand to see others suffer, especially when there's something he can do about it. Left to his own devices, he will do everything in his power to work towards the greatest good, but often his duty to Camelot (or his father before) will leave him at odds with his values. Usually it takes one of his friends to make him see sense and make the right choice, despite the consequences that come from it.

But in spite of how moral he may be, Arthur is far from perfect. Though he has declared that he makes his own choices, he is often easily influenced by those he thinks are wise. He still follows many of the beliefs his father held and listened to the advice of his uncle Agravaine over that of Merlin in almost every situation. Unfortunately these have often led him to making terrible choices that he still regrets. Under Agravaine's advice, he pushed Guinevere away because he, as king, could not allow his feelings to take preference to what his kingdom expected. Likewise, he also executed an enemy king in cold blood to 'prove his own strength', causing a war that he only very nearly was able to stop by putting his own life on the line in a duel. Like his father, he can often be led into trusting the wrong people.

Arthur's mistakes and regrets stick with him, more than people often realize. During one of his first times leading the knights, he raided a druid camp. Though the women and children were meant to be spared, he was unable to control it and in the chaos, the entire settlement was slaughtered. This incident would come back with a vengeance years later, ultimately leading him to confronting the spirits of one of the slaughtered druid boys who sought retribution. After Arthur confessed his crime and offered himself to be killed, the druid boy ultimately chose to forgive him, leaving the prince in a rare moment of being in tears. When it comes down to it, Arthur absolutely will not let anyone suffer for his mistakes. The same can be said when a curse was cast on Camelot after he killed a unicorn. Though Merlin offered to die in Arthur's place, due to Merlin being nothing more than a servant, Arthur tricked him and drank the poison himself. (But he got better, it wasn't actually poison.) Again, when he executed an enemy king and started a war, he made arrangements with the remaining queen to settle the dispute in single mortal combat, with Arthur fighting as his own champion. He did not want any man, of Camelot or any other kingdom, to die because of his poor choices. This conviction runs at the very heart of him and he will not hesitate to sacrifice himself for the good of his kingdom.

However Arthur is not always virtuous and he does have his faults. For all he says about equality and fairness, he can be something of a spoiled prat. He often takes the finer things in life for granted and isn't above making his servants work hard for his sake, especially Merlin. That said, he is not quite as much of a bully as he was before about it. In fact most of the time he only does it to tease Merlin or to punish him for his apparent incompetence (since Merlin's mentor, Gaius, will often excuse Merlin's frequent disappearances for spending a day at the tavern). Even then, it's a rare moment when Arthur will clean or cook for himself, unless he absolutely has to. He does feel that as royalty, there are certain tasks that are beneath him and that he has to be focused on doing his duty to his kingdom.

Like his father before him, Arthur holds a great amount of suspicion for magic. Although Merlin has saved Athur's life countless times using it, Arthur has never known of this. As a result, he has almost always ever seen magic used for evil purposes. He has been enchanted and fallen in love more than once, he's seen his father enchanted to love a troll, he's fought a dragon that tried to destroy Camelot, he's seen Morgana corrupted by magic, he saw Morgause trick him (or so he believed) into seeing a vision of his mother that turned him against his father, and most significantly, his father died when a sorcerer named Dragoon (actually Merlin in disguise) tried to heal him. Although Arthur is not as fiercely anti-magic as his father and does not hunt sorcerers as ruthlessly, he greatly distrusts magic and considers it to be an evil power that can corrupt even the kindest of people, as it did to Morgana. Though his viewpoint has softened to some degree, it will be a long time before it is something he can ever condone.

Although Arthur is bold and courageous, one thing he falters at is actually expressing himself. When it came to Guinevere and other suitors, he had difficulty ever outright saying how he felt (and if he did, an enchantment was to blame). He is very concerned with his own image and how people perceive him, so when it comes to emotional attachment, he prefers to keep himself distanced. In that way he is also like his father. For a long time, Arthur believed Uther was disappointed in Arthur, but it was only in his final years that Arthur realized how proud his father actually was of him. Likewise, Arthur is not always the best at revealing how he feels about people. No one knows this better than Merlin, who could not even get a hug out of Arthur even after helping to save Camelot from a troll. It's a rare moment indeed when Arthur will give any praise to Merlin and it's usually laced with a half-insult at the same time. Though this has mostly fizzled out into them both ribbing one another in a more brotherly sort of way.

Among his own knights, Arthur may be the leader, but he often treats them as his friends and equals, especially the four closest to him - Sir Leon, Sir Percival, Sir Gwaine, and Sir Elyan. In fact, the three latter were all commoners that he knighted himself, despite how much his father would have disapproved. The five of them enjoy a healthy amount of respect and rivalry among each other and he usually feels at ease being able to joke around with them, where they will often pick on Merlin (or Gwaine, if Merlin isn't available). This is the model for how he treats most people if they are fellow men in arms like himself. He has a great amount of respect for his fellow fighters, especially those with bravery to match his own. In the end, he is able to easily earn the respect of those who serve with him, because he will never ask more from them than what he would do himself. It's a rare moment when Arthur himself does not lead the charge in the most dangerous of situations.

Although he often has Merlin to tell him when he's being wrong, Arthur will often dismiss him and silence him if he doesn't agree. But there is one person that always has Arthur's ear and that is Guinevere. Though she is also a servant like Arthur, he is head over heels in love with her and has been for some time now. There is nothing he won't do for her sake and when he was still a prince, it greatly pained him to know that they couldn't be together due to Camelot's rules and customs. When their relationship to Uther was revealed, he desperately tried to make a case for them to be together. And when she was sentenced to death for the accusation of enchanting him, he begged for her release, going so far as to renounce his title so he could leave Camelot and be with her. She is the one person he can be absolutely open around, not hiding anything away and feeling just like Arthur the man and not Arthur the king. It is because of this that her betrayal to Lancelot hurt so much. After finding her kissing one of his knights, he was devastated and angry. But in spite of that, he still loved her and spared her from the execution that his father most certainly would have inflicted. Instead he banished her from Camelot, because not only did it hurt him, but he knew that he could not allow himself to be seen as being that weak and forgiving for a betrayal like that.

However, Arthur has recently lost his kingdom to his half-sister Morgana, due to the manipulations of his treacherous uncle, Agravaine. Compounded with the loss of his father through Arthur's decision to use magic, he has been betrayed in terrible ways by those he has given his trust to. As a result, Arthur's confidence has been greatly shaken, to the point he was close to giving up on Camelot, as he no longer felt fit to be its king. Although Merlin was able to pull Arthur out of it by bringing him to the Sword in the Stone as a test of his worthiness, Arthur still maintains some doubts. After all, his only living family hates him and Camelot itself will not be easy to retake. Though he has reunited with Guinevere, he still cannot bring himself to forgive her and put behind them what happened, as much as he wants to. To put it simply, Arthur is in a bad, bad place.


Strengths:

Physical: Although Arthur lacks any supernatural powers, he is an accomplished knight and shown himself to be among the finest warriors in the Five Kingdoms. He trains rigorously and daily among his knights and with Merlin, pushing himself as hard as he can to be the best and prove himself worthy to his people. As a result, he is skilled in all manner of weaponry available to him in Camelot. Few swordsman have ever been able to beat him, with only Lancelot and Morgause ever defeating him (the first only through trickery). He has shown himself to be able to take on multiple enemies at once, as well as many magical beasts that have attacked Camelot. He is just as adept with other weapons, showing incredible accuracy with the crossbow, spear throwing, or even throwing his own sword. He's a clever fighter and quick moving, in spite of the heavy chainmail and armor he wears. It's a testament to his strength that he wears his armor anytime he leaves the castle, going so far as to scale cliffs even while wearing it, or even sleeping in it. To his credit, he never seems to suffer for wearing it and is a quick moving fighter.

Beyond that, he is also now in possession of Excalibur. The properties of the sword are not fully understood yet, but it was forged in the fires of the Great Dragon and has many magical properties. Known among them is its ability to destroy the undead, immediately breaking whatever magic that keeps them alive in the world of the living. It is unknown what other powers it possesses, but the dragon warns Merlin that the sword must not be used by any other than Arthur, as it has the potential to do great evil. Beyond that, real world legends and myths of Excalibur credited the blade as being able to cut through anything and being unbreakable.

Mental: For his era, Arthur is actually very well read and educated, as befitting a person of nobility, especially in a world wrought with illiteracy. Although he is not particularly academically inclined, he is fairly intelligent and cunning, especially when it really counts, such as military strategy or getting on with his allies or enemies. He has a very strong sense of what is right and wrong that he holds to, as well as his own sense of honor.

Emotional: Arthur is usually a calm person and tries to present himself as being as stoic as he can. He listens to the advice people have to give and will usually consider it, even if he doesn't like what he's hearing and initially dismisses the person's concerns. His courage and dedication inspires loyalty and friendship. He does his best to cheer up others when they are down and can be gentle and reassuring when trying to get information from others.

Weaknesses:

Physical: For all his accomplishments as a warrior, Arthur is not a perfect fighter. Many of his foes would have killed him were it not for Merlin's secret magical assistance. He is only mortal and subject to all the same perils and weaknesses as any other human. Indeed he has been cut, stabbed, and hit by arrows more than once and a sufficient wound can immobilize him. Even his own armor won't protect from everything, even from other normal fighters, much less those with special powers.

Mental: Though he may be more educated that 90% of the people of Camelot, that's not saying that much, especially by modern standards. Arthur has little interest in the sciences or history and has admitted to neither of them being his strong points. In fact, Merlin was even able to trick Arthur into believing Excalibur was centuries old by taking advantage of Arthur's lack of interest or knowledge of ancient times.

Emotional: As royalty, Arthur does not allow most of his emotions to show. He is not always as confident as he presents himself, especially after after losing Camelot. He carries a lot of regrets for the past and they sometimes will gnaw at him. He can also be too trusting, especially to those who he has known a long time and can react angrily to those who question their loyalty. In fact, there are certain things that can really set Arthur off and cause his hot temper to flare up. One such incident made him angry enough that the only way to stop him from killing Uther was for Merlin to lie to him about his mother's death. He also takes insults to his pride and honor seriously and once nearly doomed Camelot because he would not ignore the heckles of a man who had taken advantage of his charity.


Samples

First Person: I don't know how anyone is supposed to be able to use these clothes cleaning contraptions. It's bad enough I had to toss them all in there myself, but now all my white shirts are pink. What bloody good is that going to do me, running around in pink? And it's no use lecturing the damn thing. At least when it was Merlin, he would get marginally better at his job. Admittedly, I might be giving him just a little too much credit there. But really, these machines are absolutely and completely useless.

Forget it. I'll just go find some new clothes. There's a never ending supply of them, after all. I might as well just get a new pair every day, if this sort of thing is what I can expect.


Third Person:

Arthur had been living in this strange village for a week now and he still could not get over how strange it all was. He had arrived here alone, without so much as his own clothes on his back. At first he counted himself fortunate to find his armor and the sword of Camelot's first king, but his attempts to escape had proved useless. He remained still trapped, with no way to return to Camelot or send a message. He had been assured that time would not move and that he would return, someday, in time to save his kingdom. But it did little to reassure him. It was hard not to imagine that Merlin, Guinevere, and the others dying at Morgana's hands. It drove him crazy just to think about it.

At the very least, he had his training still. Though he lacked Merlin or his knights to assist him in that training, he still had a sword and could at least keep his sword arm strong for when it was needed. Even though the chainmail was a painful strain on his new wings, he considered it best to ignore it and keep the blows coming. When it came to the point where it would really matter, he couldn't afford the luxury of providing those annoying wings the comfort they seemed so intent on having. They were yet another evil enchantment about this place that he despised.

In fact, this whole village was full of sorcerers and people with strange, inhuman powers. It was more than unsettling. For as much as they claimed that they used their abilities for good, he knew full well that even their good intentions would likely lead them to being corrupted and evil. After all, their own captors frequently used enchantments called 'Shifts' to curse the people of this village. It left him to wonder how long it would take his fellow villagers to become just as corrupt. And it made him wonder if he would be able to deal with them when that time came.