Misrule

Fanfiction
Title:	Misrule
Author(s):	thehoyden
Date(s):	24 November 2008
Length:	4,300 words
Genre:	slash fanfiction
Fandom:	Merlin
External Links:	Misrule (LiveJournal) Misrule (AO3) Misrule (podfic)
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Misrule is a Merlin/Arthur first time story by thehoyden (Word count: ~4,300). It won first place in the 'One-Shot' category of the Merlin/Arthur Fanfic Awards 2008 and was a runner up in the 'Romance Fic' and 'Crack Fic' categories. Less than two weeks posted before Quickening Days, Misrule was one of the first stories that put Merlin in a dress as part of the plot.

Summary: "Well," Morgana said, looking pleased, "Maybe Arthur won't actually throw the tourney this year."

It's midwinter in Camelot and everyone celebrates the Feast of Fools. Servants get to play King and Queen and Prince of Misrule for a day and the luck of draw determines that Merlin is the Maiden (although he tells everyone that he is not actually a girl).

The story was podficced by twilight_angel in April 2009 and it is available at the Audiofic Archive.

Recs and Reviews

• "It's annual Court of Misrule and Merlin got an interesting item in his pudding. Only now he's getting eyed by not only some of the knights and ladies, but Arthur and Uther and Morgana and Gwen and ...uh oh."
• "The Feast of Fools! I'd totally forgotten about the tradition where the nobles trade places with their servants for one day. This is hilarous, mortifying (for Merlin), and absolutely delightful. Then it becomes scorchingly hot. I whole-heartedly approve of this fandom's habit of putting Merlin in a dress."
• "The Feast of Fools and Merlin in a dress, no, wait, drunk Merlin in a dress, and it's just the most fabulous thing ever. It's so much fun, I don't think I stopped grinning the entire way through the fic, because it took the premise and just ran with it, working in all the main characters so very well, with such perfect voices for all of them (oh, god, I was crying at pretty much every scene Uther was in) and then even adding fabulous, fabulous porn into the mix. I cannot describe the sheer level of happy that this fic has given me. <3"

• "The One That Features the Perversion of a Fine Old Tradition for the Purposes of Getting Two Guys to, Um, "Fulfill Their Destiny." And Isn't That What Fan Fiction Is All About? Misrule, by thehoyden. Merlin, Arthur Pendragon/Merlin. (Does Merlin have a last name? Is Merlin his last name, and his first name is, like, Egbert or Rupert or Meredith or Victoria or something? Egbert Merlin would be a lovely name for anyone, I think.) I thought I'd start off with the most customary form of intoxication: alcohol! Ingested orally! They were nothing if not traditionalists in not-really-medieval-England. (Visit not-really-medieval England on your next trip to Las Vegas! It's like medieval England, but cleaner and prettier and everyone has nice teeth and tomatoes. No, really: Merlin (the show) is exactly how Las Vegas would recreate King Arthur's court. Which, actually, they probably already have, complete with a Merlin the Magician magic show and a Dancing Sorceresses All-Girl Revue; I have a carefully-nurtured mental block about Las Vegas.) And, as is equally traditional, they really enjoyed dressing men up in women's clothes back in not-really-medieval England. Totally understandable, especially when the man in question is Merlin (and there are a couple of women around who apparently regret not having Barbie dolls when they were growing up). And need I tell you what happens when you get people drunk and cross-dressing? Sex, of course. It's elementary. Really, this story is a microcosm of everything that a traditional intoxication story is and should be. Including extensive awesomeness."