The Author's Barely Disguised Open Wound Splattered Livid And Filthy Across Everything They Create

In a land of boop and a time of boop boop booooop

I am tired. I will be there.

women keep coming up to me giggling and blushing and running their finger along the edge of my mighty greatsword like STOP theres literally evil afoot

Elyan was being haunted by this watery ghost child and was being really freaked out by him but when he first actually talked to he went 'you're so cold' and then just hugged him like

why does no one talk about this??

NEVER listen to fiction podcastst they put viruses in your brain called FICTION PODCAST. BEWARE!!!

Pere Ginard

Merlin Horror Month 2024!

Welcome, Tavern-goers, to our fourth quest: Merlin Horror Month!

With spooky season coming up, how about making a little something to give us all a scare with our Merlin Horror Month?

Is someone being haunted? Are there monsters and ghouls in Camelot? Is there a serial killer on the loose? It’s time to be brave and show us some fanwork entries that will strike fear into the hearts of other fans!

So, what is Merlin Horror Month?

For this quest, we invite you to join us and post a spooky, scary or in some way horrific Merlin fanwork. Maybe there’s something strange in the neighbourhood. Or has a dead body been found? Perhaps the dead have come back to life (again)…  It’s up to you!

We are here for the whole of the spooky month, so give us your entries at any point from 1-31 October!

Here are the rules of the quest:

All works should have a spooky/scary theme

Any pairings and types of fanwork are welcome. The minimum requirements are:

Fanfic: at least 500 words.

Fanart: at least 1 completed work.

Podfic: at least 5-10 minutes long (and please get the fic creator’s permission!).

Fanvids: at least 2-3 minutes long.

For other fanwork formats, please contact us so we can decide on a suitable minimum amount.

Please note: No AI generated or assisted works are allowed for this fest

The fest is self-posting and runs from 1 October to 31 October. No fanworks for the fest will be accepted before or after those dates.

How do I participate?

Post your fanwork wherever you like. If you would like to post your creation to our AO3 Collection specifically for this fest (tavernfest_quest4). 

Follow the instructions and submit your work to us here: https://tavernfest.tumblr.com/submit

Please make sure to use the #merlinhorrormonth tag in addition to #tavernfest!

That’s it. We'll promote it here on Tumblr and in our dedicated Discord channel.Thank you! We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

pendragon siblings yet again

Beginner’s Guide to Medieval Arthuriana

Just starting out at a loss for where to begin?

Here’s a guide for introductory Medieval texts and informational resources ordered from most newbie friendly to complex. Guidebooks and encyclopedias are listed last.

All PDFs link to my Google drive and can be found on my blog. This post will be updated as needed.

Pre-Existing Resources

Hi-Lo Arthuriana

♡ Loathly Lady Master Post ♡

Medieval Literature by Language

Retellings by Date

Films by Date

TV Shows by Date

Documentaries by Date

Arthurian Preservation Project

The Camelot Project

If this guide was helpful for you, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi!

Medieval Literature

Page (No Knowledge Required)

The Vulgate Cycle | Navigation Guide | Vulgate Reader

Culhwch and Olwen

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

The Marriage of Sir Gawain

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Welsh Triads

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Squire (Base Knowledge Recommended)

The Mabinogion

Four Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes

King Artus | scan by @jewishlancelot

Morien

Knight (Extensive Knowledge Recommended)

The History of The King's of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Alliterative Morte

Here Be Dragons (Weird or Arthurian Adjacent)

The Crop-Eared Dog

Perceforest | A Perceforest Reader | PDF courtesy of @sickfreaksirkay

Wigalois | Vidvilt

Guingamor, Lanval, Tyolet, & Bisclarevet by Marie of France

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Grail Quest

Peredur (The Mabinogion)

The Story of the Grail + 4 Continuations by Chrétien de Troyes

Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach

The Crown by Heinrich von dem Türlin (Diu Crône)

The High Book of The Grail (Perlesvaus)

The History of The Holy Grail (Vulgate)

The Quest for The Holy Grail Part I (Post-Vulgate)

The Quest for The Holy Grail Part II (Post-Vulgate)

Merlin and The Grail by Robert de Boron

The Legend of The Grail | PDF courtesy of @sickfreaksirkay

Lancelot Texts

Knight of The Cart by Chretien de Troyes

Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven

Spanish Lancelot Ballads

Gawain Texts

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

The Marriage of Sir Gawain

Sir Gawain and The Lady of Lys

The Knight of The Two Swords

The Turk and Sir Gawain

Perilous Graveyard | scan by @jewishlancelot

Tristan/Isolde Texts

Béroul & Les Folies

Prose Tristan (The Camelot Project)

Tristan and The Round Table (La Tavola Ritonda) | Italian Name Guide

The Romance of Tristan

Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg

Byelorussian Tristan

Educational/Informational Resources

Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Warriors of Arthur by John Matthews, Bob Stewart, & Richard Hook

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia by Norris J. Lacy

The Arthurian Handbook by Norris J. Lacy & Geoffrey Ashe

The Arthurian Name Dictionary by Christopher W. Bruce

Essays & Guides

A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes edited by Joan Tasker & Norris J. Lacy

A Companion to Malory edited by Elizabeth Archibald

A Companion to The Lancelot-Grail Cycle edited by Carol Dover

Arthur in Welsh Medieval Literature by O. J. Padel

Diu Crône and The Medieval Arthurian Cycle by Neil Thomas

Wirnt von Gravenberg's Wigalois: Intertextuality & Interpretation by Neil Thomas

The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac by Jessie Weston

The Legend of Sir Gawain by Jessie Weston

one thing the show doesn't care about enough: the dragonlords and the dragons themselves. they were hunted to extinction. merlin is the last of his kind. and he'll never know anything about being a dragonlord because his entire family and anyone who might've known about them is gone. how do you fix that? you can't. there's nothing you can ever do to make up for something like that. absolutely nothing.

and i love fics that explore arthur surviving and struggling through the realisation of just what kind of monster his father was for everyone else but also. they rarely focus on that bit of history, on the fact that uther actually managed to destroy that part of magic completely as merlin is the very last of his kin and there are only two dragons left (the first one won't live much longer and he has no knowledge on how to help the second). uther actually did eradicate something, it wasn't magic as a whole maybe but an entire branch of it is just gone.