Having A Lot Of Thoughts Recently About Post-canon Merlin's Relationship With Music

having a lot of thoughts recently about post-canon merlin's relationship with music

bc like. he would have lived through the evolution of a lot of mediums-- written word, theatre (please dear gods do not GET me started on this one it's for your own good), visual art-- but, arguably, the one that has some of the most dynamic change has been music. (i say this very carefully, knowing i am opening myself up to the fact that, in a lot of ways, i am Wrong)

this is to say, because my brain is rotten--

i imagine merlin being delighted about the way music changes throughout the ages. i don't know much in the way of medieval music past its religious connotations, but i like imagining the centuries of folk music merlin must have been exposed to. the way music was used for storytelling, for communication. musical instruments changing and evolving and choral arrangements changing and evolving and thematic structure changing and evolving. all Very Interesting

here's where the rot comes in

i imagine there's a point in which merlin starts thinking i wish arthur could hear this. and for, you know, the absolute vast majority of his time on earth, merlin wouldn't have the ability to preserve the music he's hearing for arthur to hear it. so maybe he teaches himself how to play, so he can memorize these pieces that arthur will love. and he just has tomes of sheet music that he composes over the years, especially the early years when a lot of it wasn't really written down. (this is where my musical history knowledge suffers. please flay me if I am wrong.)

and he sees all these musicians that he's like. arthur would love this. and he has these wild stories of like, seeing mozart as a child, that he saves up for one day

and then i think of how fucking excited merlin would be when we finally got the ability to record music. at the very least with most other forms of art, there's always been a way to preserve it-- written word has the privilege of being written, visual art has a canvas. but music recording is a VERY young invention (save for the music box, but even then, that isn't a recording moreso than a reproduction), and suddenly merlin has the ability to catalogue all the things he wants arthur to hear

and so i imagine years of vinyl and 8-tracks and phonographs and, as the technology evolves, merlin has to adjust and save and like.

as music becomes more dependent on lyrics, merlin starts finding things that remind him of arthur and just. starts crafting playlists. starts thinking of how to introduce him to how music changes. starts crafting his own history that he can one day show arthur. starts imagining how arthur would react to bluegrass, gospel, blues, rock n roll, punk. (if he purposefully saves a signed edition of never mind the bollocks just to see arthur's face when he hears "god save the queen" for the first time, that's his prerogative.)

just. years and years of saved up songs, all because merlin would be in a concert hall or a church or a community gathering or playing alone in his room and would hear a chord that said arthur. and he would think, "even if he doesn't speak my language when he returns, he will know this."

and, you know, if-- when-- arthur comes back, if arthur finds that the majority of those songs are love songs, well.

he doesn't need to be any the wiser.