An Ancient Tale May Later Words Retell by 01100100 (R)

[hariboo.livejournal.com]

Fandom Category: Merlin BBC
Pairing: Guinevere "Gwen"/Arthur Pendragon
Fic Title: An Ancient Tale May Later Words Retell
Author: 01100100
Link: http://01100100.fanfib.org/fanfiction/other/an_ancient_tale.html; lj comment page
Rating/Warning(s): R; future fic, angst, romance, character study, dark themes, character death
Genre: character piece, romance, angst, friendship
WIP?: no

Why This Must Be Read: Insta-rec! Seriously, I JUST finished it. Okay, first I feel I should say, I'm not exactly an Arthur/Gwen shipper, but this story? Damn, it sells it. Wonderfully. A major issue with the show canon (for me) is how they'll get Arthur and Gwen to the point where you can see them get together, married, and Gwen become Queen. This fic is the really the closest I've ever come to believing this relationship. The growth of Arthur and Gwen to Arthur/Gwen feels real, their struggles feel real. They're not perfect, they have flaws, they're human. While it being very much a fic about Gwen and Arthur, it's also a story about their friendship and relationships with Merlin and Morgana and how these relationships develop and it just reaches inside you makes you ache, for all of them.

Partly a narration (and awesomely so) told to a group, it really manages to combine the myth-legend and show canon rather flawlessly, best I've seen yet, but it doesn't take away from the tragedy we all know the legend to be. It doesn't look to excuse the actions taken by the four, instead it makes us try to understand them. I mean it, the last half can and will break your heart in the worst ways, be prepared because it's worth it.