A Study in Natural Philosophy
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Study in Natural Philosophy |
| Author(s): | mad_maudlin |
| Date(s): | 10 February 2010 |
| Length: | 13,200 words |
| Genre(s): | slash fanfiction |
| Fandom(s): | Merlin |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | A Study in Natural Philosophy (AO3) A Study in Natural Philosophy (LiveJournal) A Study in Natural Philosophy (Dreamwidth) A Study in Natural Philosophy (Ebook Library) A Study in Natural Philosophy (ePub Bud, offline) |
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A Study in Natural Philosophy is a Merlin/Arthur story by mad_maudlin (~13,200 words). The story is a fusion with His Dark Materials.
Summary: It wasn't all that unusual for people to hide their daemons; Merlin, however, seems to be taking it a little far.
Author's Notes: "So there was a craze for a while, at least in SGA fandom, for writing daemon!fic--using the concept from Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy of an animal-form spiritual companion. And it occurred to me, a while ago, that I'd never seen a Merlin version of that, and I quite wanted to. Which, of course, meant I had to write it myself. And then sit on it in anxiety until the whole damn thing had turned into an AU anyway."
The Scowling Hermit (aka A Cute Cat) illustrated the story with six images of the main characters and their daemons.[1] The illustrations are hosted at deviantArt.
Recs and Reviews
This is an old fic, I assume written post-S1??? But stumbled on it last night and I fell in love with the idea that every human in this AU had a daemon (basically like a familiar, an animal they were linked to, like it was a part of them). It’s a fascinating AU, loved seeing everyone’s daemon and what it said about their personalities. And loved that Merlin had to hide his familiar because it would say too much.[3]
I loved His Dark Materials as a kid (and as an adult), so it tickled me pink to find this fic. mad_maudlin is a wonderfully prolific writer, and I've enjoyed her SGA and Sherlock fic, so it stands to reason that her Merlin fic should be just as good (and it is :D). I loved how the two universes collide, and how bird daemons (basically, animal spirits that represent your soul) are viewed in Camelot. Witches in the HDM-verse have exclusively avian daemons, so in Camelot, having a bird daemon is highly suspect in the "are you an evil sorcerer?" department. Merlin's solution to the problem of being found out (and burned at the stake) is really interesting, but I won't spoil anything here. Arthur's daemon, Amaranth, is so very charming, and I loved how she and Arthur interacted with Merlin and with each other. One of the reasons I love HDM crossovers is that daemons can confront their humans about their internal conflicts, which really speeds things along if, say, your internal conflict is wanting to bone your manservant. Authors can really probe their characters' inner depths with a daemon, because the characters are, in essence, talking to themselves, and there aren't any of the traditional personal boundaries one gets when talking to another. So...yay metaphysical constructs! Yay fantasy![4]
Because it’s a His Dark Materials fusion! Everyone has a daemon, and Arthur becomes obsessed with figuring out what Merlin’s is. But hardly a day can go by without these two getting into trouble. A “magic revelation” fic, pretty short in comparison to other fics rec’d here. Mad_Maudlin is an excellent author, and I could picture everything that happened perfectly. She did a great job capturing the feel of the show and incorporating it into her fic.[5]
References
- ^ AcuteCat. 6 Merlin Characters, 29 March 2010. (Accessed 29 August 2010) Archived October 10, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ CRASH AND BURN: Fanfiction Recs. BBC's Merlin (2008). (Accessed 09 April 2011) Archived September 11, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ marguerite_26. Merlin Recs, 30 March 2012. (Accessed 06 April 2012)
- ^ "Rec by lolitakun at epic_recs, Sept 26, 2011". Archived from the original on 2023-03-13.
- ^ "July 23, 2012 Tumblr Post". Archived from the original on 2023-03-13.