Tristan And Isolde - Tumblr Posts
Bard Will
as you may have seen here bard!will is something that should be discussed and now i will spiraling about this idea and dragging all of you with me. So, let us begin
Will didn’t die in s1 we’ll start with that. In this headcanon, universe, timeline or whatever, Will did get hit by the arrow but nowhere major and was thankfully saved! In thanks for saving him despite them not getting along, Arthur claims that he won’t do any harm to Will (also he is really confused about everything because sorcerers are supposed to be bad but this guy saved his life and the village and is Merlin’s friend and Merlin wouldn’t be friends with someone evil sooo).
With that near death experience out of the way, Will comes to a decision to travel around Albion. He did invite Merlin, but he said something about destinies and friendship and duty or whatever. So, he goes off on his own (the offer still stands though you never know when prince prat will get too much).
He ends up in a tavern and spies a bard with a nice lute singing tales of some distant knight who saved a town, you know the works. And it might have been because Will was drunk off his ass, it might have been because he overheard a group of drunkards joke about being a bard and spinning false tales just for kicks. It might have been both, but Will was inspired.
He already knew how to play a lute (he wasn’t a professional but he would play sometimes out in the woods with Merlin and it would be a lute he cut and carved himself), so Will bet it wouldn’t be that bad to just…become a bard. All he really needed was some nicer clothes for presentation which he definitely didn’t spend all of his coin for (he would get more back later from being the best bard of Albion).
And that, everyone, is Will’s bard origin story.
His first few times as a traveling bard were lackluster at best and humiliatingly terrible at worst. He had hit rock bottom after his fourth gig confused with why none of his songs worked. Until, he did a song about Prince Arthur’s fight with the griffin (all the info he got was from Merlin in his letters and some details were left out so he might have fleshed out some of the story…..he definitely played the ot4 angle and you can fight me on that) and the people loved it.
So, everywhere he went, he would tell tales of Arthur the dashing but bumbling prince (because Will isn’t blind but he’s would never miss a chance to mess with Arthur) going off on adventures with his knights and the ever loyal, ever brilliant, ever resourceful servant Merlin. What? Merlin’s his best friend of course he would take the opportunity to embellish him like that.
While traveling, Will gets to meet the druids and learn about Arthur and Merlin’s destiny and oh boy! Does he take that and spin it to his desire. Arthur, the Once and Future King with Merlin as Emrys? The druids were just asking for that to be a part of his many tales. (They weren’t but that didn’t stop a younger druid, who might or might not have been a young boy called Mordred, from telling Will everything he knew so that word would spread).
Now most of Albion knows about Prince Arthur’s endeavors (though sme are either super in accurate or greatly exaggerated) with his servant who may or may not be this powerful warlock Emrys but Will never says so.
Theories and rumors about this Emrys run wild. Most think it’s Merlin and those who are brave, question Will who just winks and carries on with whatever new tale he has. Some speculate Emrys is an old god who took the form a of mortal and is now judging the prince with trials to see if he will follow his father’s footstep or bring the golden age (Will is very jealous of that theory and wished he thought of that when he first introduce him to the public).
Of course word of Will’s songs reach Camelot. It comes from visiting royals who congratulate the prince on defeating some foe Will talked about, and how Emrys must be so proud and everyone just goes ‘who?’ while Merlin sweats heavily.
Arthur: I’m sorry…who is this Emrys?
Foreign noble: Why, he is your protector of course! Must be nice to have the favor of such a powerful god
Arthur: ….right, and where did you get this information?
Foreign noble: Well, from Will the Bard. He is, by far, the most infamous minstrel in all of Albion! He has told of all your tales since you spared the life of a peasant sorcerer years ago.
it was last year but Will made such a good name for himself that everyone just agreed that Will has been in the bard business for more than that
Arthur is pissed off and Merlin is just dying of laughter in the background. Soon, all the strange interactions Arthur has had with people for the past few months make sense. The old woman who cautioned him on tree roots makes more sense (Will likes to sing about Arthur tripping on roots whenever he can), the young farm boy who called Merlin and inspiration for all farm boys makes sense (Merlin never has anything ill said about him in Will’s stories), the lady who had questioned Arthur why he doesn’t just promote merlin to better his status for his intelligence makes sense, the foreign maid who cautioned Merlin about the amount of cakes a prince should have makes sense.
Arthur hates it at first, but….none of the tales told are completely awful. Will may paint him as a buffoon sometimes, but they do show Arthur as someone to be trusted (and Merlin too). the problem is when the tales show him as someone more sympathetic towards magic which he is not since his father didn’t raise him that way. however, after hearing these tales, Morgana has some twinge of hope.
The hope builds when she learns from gwen that the druids now come to visit Arthur when he is off adventuring or hunting. Arthur himself doesn’t know what to think about that but he does know that the druids are peaceful.
The druids, fuelled with the knowledge from Will’s songs, decide to try and teach Arthur about magic (and Merlin too but secretly). Being the Once and Future King and all, it would be best to at least give him a heads up and some positive knowledge about magic (Will might have grilled them about this but Arthur and Merlin are none the wiser).
Anyway, back to Will.
He destroys Uther. Arthur, he at least cuts some slack for being Merlin’s friend and all, but nothing is spared for Uther. He also calls Cenred a narcissistic pig (he got formally exiled from Essetir but that never stopped him). He starts his songs about Uther with it being all positive. Uther is a great king, benevolent and strong then gives his audience whiplash talking about genocide. He calls the king paranoid, quick to anger, past his prime. Will holds no mercy for him.
Will most definitely met Gwaine and Elyan (separately of course) while on his travels. Gwaine and Will bonded over Merlin. Elyan and Will bonded over dead dads. He also met Tristan and Isolde troup of smugglers and bonded about their anti-moarnchy ideals and how horrible Uther was (Will might have gotten some new song ideas from Tristan).
…….and….that’s all i have right now 😅 If anyone has anymore ideas, feels free to add or even drop some in my asks if you want!
But yeah, Bard Will
»Tristan und Isolde« Lately I'm very inspired by medieval tapestry...
Tristan and Isolde
mads mikkelsen as ‘tristan’ in “king arthur”, 2004
Tristan is a prince whose mother is the sister of the King, Mark. Both of his parents died when he was young, and he was raised by Gorvenal to be a gifted swordsman and musician (Tristan became an accomplished harp-player). Isolde, meanwhile, is a princess, the King of Ireland’s daughter. She is beautiful and fair-haired and admired far and wide.
Cornwall is bound by fealty to Ireland, which demands that Cornwall send 300 youths and 300 maidens to Ireland as tribute.
However, if a Cornish champion could beat the Irish giant Morholt (the King’s brother-in-law) in single combat, the King of Ireland agreed that the tribute would not need to be paid.
Tristan defeats Morholt, but is badly wounded with a poisoned spear. He is left on a ship to die. But the ship finds its way to the shores of Ireland, where Tristan is taken into the royal palace. The sorceress queen cures him with an incantation, and Tristan falls in love with Isolde, to whom he reveals his true identity. When she learns that he has killed Morholt, her uncle, she declares her hatred for him, and Tristan returns to Cornwall.
Mark wants to marry Isolde, so he sends Tristan as his ambassador, to bring Isolde back to Cornwall so they can be wed. In Ireland, the wedding agreed, the sorceress queen bids Isolde farewell, but gives a love potion to the maid-servant named Brangien, with instructions to give it to the married couple on their wedding night.
On the voyage to Cornwall, Tristan and Isolde need a drink and both drink the love potion, not realising that it isn’t wine. They promptly fall in love. After the wedding of Mark and Isolde, Brangien – realising that the error with the love potion is all her fault – takes the place of Isolde in King Mark’s bed on the wedding night, to trick the King into thinking she is Isolde. Meanwhile, the real Isolde is in Tristan’s arms.
Mark doesn’t realise the deception for a while, although the rumours are all around the court. Eventually, his most loyal barons tell him that Isolde is unfaithful. Although Mark banishes Tristan from the palace, Tristan and Isolde continue to meet in secret. When they are discovered together, they are sentenced to death by burning. However, the lovers escape, and go on the run together.
They go and live as a poor couple in the woods, until one day, King Mark discovers them, walking in on them while they’re both fast asleep. But when he sees the sword between them and realises the lengths they have gone to in order to guard their love, he feels sorry for them, and replaces the ring on Isolde’s finger as a sign that he forgives her. He also places his sword between them, in place of Tristan’s, as a token or gift for his former knight.
When the two lovers wake, they are so moved by the King’s mercy and kindness that they return to court. Mark welcomes Isolde back, but he tells Tristan he cannot remain at court. He is exiled from Cornwall and goes to live in Brittany, where he marries another woman named Isolde, oddly enough: Isolde of the White Hands, as she is known.
Tristan remains loyal to Isolde and cannot make love to his new wife (Isolde of the White Hands). He is wounded in battle (as before, with a poisoned lance), but this time there is no cure. As he lies dying, he asks one of his companions, Kaherdin, to go and tell Isolde (as in King Mark’s wife, Tristan’s first love) that he is dying and he wants to see her one last time.
Tristan tells Kaherdin to hoist a white sail to his ship if he is successful in locating Isolde, but a black sail if he fails. (Compare this plot detail with the ancient Greek legend of Theseus, too.) Unfortunately, Tristan’s wife hears of this plan.
Kaherdin finds Isolde and she agrees to come and see her true lover. However, Isolde of the White Hands, Tristan’s wife, lies and tells her husband that she has seen Kaherdin’s ship bearing a black sail. Heartbroken, Tristan dies. Isolde arrives with Kaherdin and learns she has missed Tristan, who has already departed this life. She dies of a broken heart shortly afterwards, her lips locked with Tristan’s in one last kiss.
