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They have been clingy af recently; it wasn't too long ago that these losers were avoiding me out of spite and now they won't leave me alone. But honestly, I don't really see this as a bad thing because it's given me the much needed opportunity to Cinderella them from cardboard into gold. Don't get me wrong here—I've always loved these two and am immensely proud of this creation, but Amid A Forest of Thorns!Arthora truly was cardboard in comparison to what they're becoming now. They should've had the childhood friends to lovers arc from the start, but I was young and foolish (I mean seriously, she was besties with Morgana and Gwen and yet barely knew Arthur at all??? Unrealistic, Miss 2017!Terra). Now it's time to ramble about they so welcome to Arthora brainrot city!!!
Seasons 1-2:
• Arthur's been in love with this redheaded fool since they were littles. My favorite new detail about them is that he gave her a flower every day he possibly could for two and a half years (when winter came and killed all the flowers, he literally cried about it and then resorted to doodling flowers on parchment to give her in place of the real thing). He was a soft little boy and really thought she hung the stars in the sky.
• We all know Aurora is both extremely intelligent and very stupid, so it's no surprise that she was completely oblivious to his feelings the whole time. I don't know what sensible human being would receive a flower every day for such an extended period of time and not immediately assume "He must like me or something lol." Aurora Lothbrok, apparently.
• They were definitely more of a slowburn in the original story, which made sense then since they weren't familiar with one another, but not so much this time (it may seem that way given every episode is split into 3-4 chapters, but they're not). Their chaos didn't start until the Once and Future Queen episode, but this time around??? Hints of chaos have been sprinkled about since the beginning, I think, but it really begins during the Gates of Avalon episode and shit absolutely hits the fan in The Labyrinth of Gedref.
HERE IS SPOILER CITY FOLKS
• During the events of the Gates of Avalon, Uther makes a comment about how Sophia wasn't Arthur's first love (referring to my beloved Zara Vortigern) and she wouldn't be the last. Since it was so close to the anniversary of Zara's death and Uther hung that over Arthur's head during that confrontation, Aurora told her boy that she thought bringing up Zara at all was absolutely tasteless, and the conversation, in a nutshell, unfolds as follows.
"I didn't think it was necessary for him to bring up Zara like that."
"He didn't."
"Sophia is not your first love and she won't be the last? Just how hard did Merlin hit you?"
"Zara wasn't my first love. You were."
Aurora.exe stops working.
• She was shook enough by that, but wait until this dumb dumb gets to the Labyrinth of Gedref and has her whole world flip-flop destroyed lmao. In this, Aurora goes to the final test in Merlin's place because "he told you to stay behind, not me" and all her dumb loopholes. She outsmarts him and ends up drinking from the cup, he pleads with Anhora to let him take her place and thus shows what is truly in his heart, and once she wakes up an hour or so later, his relief is so overpowering that he just plants one on her. That is where their chaos really begins and it's an absolute shitshow from this point onward, and there's really no break until season two is over.
• Those two are the only spoilers I'll go in-depth about (for now lol but I'm impulsive af), so here's a vague one that takes up a chunk of season two and serves as the bane of Arthur's entire existence: Phillip Olinson—I'm sure based off of his name alone, you can guess what this means. :)
Now, here's some random little tidbits that I think are delightful:
• Arthur kept one of his mother's old jewelry pieces before Uther could dispose of them all and swore that one day, he would use some of the stones to have an engagement ring made for the love of his life. He does, in fact, do just that; Arthur designs and Francis makes Aurora's engagement ring. 🤌🏼
• I know only a few people have noticed that whenever she's affected by a sleeping magic (The Witch's Aria, Nimueh touching her forehead), a single touch from him wakes her up. Hella foreshadowing and there for a reason. Obviously Maleficent won't make it EVEN REMOTELY that easy for them, but I thought it was a neat touch.
• After finding out she's cursed, Arthur secretly (and I mean secretly—even Merlin isn't there or aware of this) seeks out a druid/sorcerer on the outskirts of Durenwol to find a way to expel the curse, only to learn that the only way a curse of such power can be revoked is through the one that casts it. Hopes shattered.
• At some point, they name their future children in their flower glade; some readers know who their daughters are and some don't, but let's just say Merlin was right in the assumption that one of Arthur's future children would be the ruler with a frozen heart lmao.
• There is a time in season two where something, um, quite saucy occurs and while poor Arthur thinks that culmination meant their relationship was finally assured, Aurora avoids the HELL out of him and hates herself for giving him that kind of hope.
• Her main reasoning for not wanting to pursue a relationship with him isn't because she doesn't believe he'll make it happen (she knows him well enough to know that he sure as hell will, regardless of what his father and tradition say), but because she has nothing to offer Camelot as a whole—no men in a time of war or grain reserves in a time of famine, for example—and refuses to let him jeopardize the kingdom for her. In short, she thinks Camelot deserves a better queen than she could ever be.
• This has nothing to do with them as a couple, but good heavens, this poor child is going to deteriorate mentally the closer her 25th birthday gets. You'll understand when we get there lmao. This time around, there's just an easily avoidable amount of chaos, but they're both stubborn idiots. Wow, this really was a bunch of rambling and it was barely the tip of the iceberg here, but I don't wanna give away everything ofc. I'm really excited for everything I have planned and can't wait to share it.
