Name: Anonymoose
Personal Journal: anonymoose_au
Contact: @plurk anonymoose_au
Other Characters Played: None
Are you 18 or over? Yes

Canon: BBC's Merlin
Character: King Arthur Pendragon
Timeline: From just before using the Horn of Cathbhadh to enter the afterworld
Personality: As mentioned, Arthur is cocky - or in Merlin's word a clotpole (or prat if he's feeling nice). When you first meet him he comes off as someone who is every inch a prince, destined for the crown. He is fiercely competitive, but fears others might go 'easy on him' since he is the heir to the throne which fuels doubts in his abilities.

As a Knight of Camelot Arthur places a huge amount of importance on the Knights Code of Honour - he'll never back out of a properly issued challenge even if the odds appear entirely against him. He also values fairness in so far as the lower classes are not taken advantage of and are protected (in the face of his father's more pragmatic approach of protecting and valuing the nobility). These views have become firmer thanks to his friendship with Merlin and his love for Guinevere.

Arthur carries around some guilt for being responsible (as he sees it) for his mother, Ygraine's, death as she died giving birth to him. He wishes desperately that he could have known her and have at least some sort of memory about her.

His relationship with his father, King Uther was very strained, for most of Arthur's life in fact he thought he was a disappointment to the King. His father had, on a few occassions told him nothing could be further from the truth but because of Uther's own personality (cold, angry and paranoid) Arthur sometimes found it hard to believe. Even now three years after Uther's death, Arthur still wonders what his father would think of the decisions he has made for Camelot. This is the reason in fact, that he's willing to use magic to meet his father in the afterworld and find out.

Despite his generally prattish and snobby behaviour, Arthur cares a great deal for the people of Camelot and wants to be a king they can be proud of.

Background: As the Crown Prince and later King of Camelot Arthur has always had lot of expectations placed on him and he places a lot on himself. He generally hides any uncertainties and fears he won't be good enough under a mask of cockiness and bravado.

Arthur idolises his father, King Uther even after death, despite the fact they had clashed more than once over important issues especially in terms of how to treat the lower classes in Camelot and beyond. The fact that Uther died saving Arthur's life has only left Arthur's feelings for his father's more confused, in some ways he recognises that Uther was in many ways a bad king, but he still can't help wanting to be the sort of king his father would have approved of.

Arthur grew up mostly alone and isolated from real frienships, an exception being his father's ward - Morgana. The two had a sibling-like relationship (with a bit of flirting tossed in) and loved to tease each other, but when push came to shove Arthur would have done anything (even disobey his father) to help her out. However at the end of Season Three Arthur discovered two shocking things, firstly that Morgana was actually his half-sister and that she had turned her back on Camelot and her friends, joining the witch Morgause and working behind the scenes to overthrow King Uther and take the throne for herself.

A few months before his 21st birthday an out of towner by the name of Merlin saved Arthur from an assassination attempt, and as a reward the King made the strange fellow Arthur's personal manservant. The two have a complex relationship which varies between friendship and relentless teasing. Whatever weirdness Merlin displays (and he displays it often) he's fiercely loyal to Arthur something which he deeply appreciates - no matter how many objects Arthur throws in Merlin's direction.

Before becoming King and even for some time after it romance put Arthur in a very precarious position, a few years ago he fell in love with Morgana's handmaiden - Guinevere and if the difference in class wasn't a big enough hurdle there is also the fact that his father had her father executed. Gwen didn't hold that against him, but ever practical she didn't believe their relationship could possibly work. For a couple of years their relationship was in a state of flux, at one point the relationship was discovered by Uther and Guinevere was accussed of witchcraft (because why would a prince love a handmaid and based on evidence manufactured by Morgana) and almost executed. Even after Uther's death there were problems, as Arthur's uncle, Lord Agravaine was in Camelot by then and had a low opinion of Guinevere, at one point Arthur was convinced to end the relationship, but he came to his senses and told his Uncle to back off.

Arthur knows almost nothing about his mother because Uther refuses to talk about her, partly because of grief and partly because he is keeping a terrible secret (that is he asked a witch to use magic so Arthur could be concieved. The price for this magic was Ygraine's life - a price Uther apparently didn't know about and as a result magic of any kind is punishable by death in Camelot and just after Ygraine's death Uther instituted a Great Purge in which hundred of men, women and children were killed). Through Morgause, Arthur later met his mother who claimed Uther had known her life would be forefit, but did it anyway. This almost results in Arthur killing his father, but he is prevented by Merlin who claims Morgause created an illusion and nothing Ygraine said was true. (The jury's still out on whether it was ghost!Ygraine's claims were true or if it was a trick of Morgause's)

At the end of Season Three, Morgana and Morgause succeeded in taking the throne of Camelot,backed up by an undead army from Cenred. Arthur, the Court Physician Gaius and Merlin escaped, but the revelations of everything that had happened and that Morgana had been working against them ever since being 'rescued' from Morgause threw Arthur into a deep depression, though fortunately Merlin and Gwaine (a ne'er do well wanderer who had come to Arthur's rescue more than once over the preceding year) were able to snap him out of it.

Fortunately, Arthur managed to shake off this depression and with the help of Merlin and Elyan bring together a few other good men - Sir Leon (who escaped Camelot later on with Guinevere) Gwaine, Lancelot and a large chap called Percival to create a small band of knights to take back Camelot. In no small part due to Merlin's magic and the sword Excalibur (neither of which Arthur knows of) Morgana and Morgause were overthrown.

In the wake of this however, King Uther was left a broken man and Arthur became king in all but name, a position he did not feel prepared for, which only lead to more trouble in the form of his mother's brother, Uncle Agravaine, who arrived in Camelot shortly after Camelot was retaken and quickly ingriated himself with his nephew though they hadn't seen each other in years. Unfortunately, Lord Agravaine didn't have Arthur's best interests at heart in fact he held a deep hatred for Uther Pendragon and by extension Arthur and secretly worked with Morgana (now alone after Morgause's death and increasingly unstable) to destroy the Pendragons. Arthur's desire for family and his wish to see the best in everyone lead him to be overly trusting and not realise Agravaine's evil intent until it was almost too late.

Following the overthrow of Morgana and Morgause, the latter was badly injured and eventually convinced Morgana to kill her in order to rip open the veil that seperates this world from the next, as a result of this, horrible creatures came from the spirit world bringing death everywhere they went. Arthur planned to sacrafice himself to save Camelot, but in the end it was Sir Lancelot who made the sacrafice, closing the veil and returning the creatures to where they came from.

Eventually Arthur got around to proposing to Guinevere, a proposal she accepted and the two eagerly planned their wedding, not realising that Morgana was plotting to destroy their happiness, using yet another magical amulet with the power to resurect a shade of a dead person, one that would be completely under the spellcaster's control. Morgana chose to bring back Lancelot, who Guinevere had once been in love with, and sent him to Camelot to break up Arthur and Guinevere. Despite Guinevere's happiness at seeing Lancelot, she was no longer romantically interested in him and in desperation Morgana enchanted a bracelet that forced Guinevere to seek out Lancelot. With Agravaine on the scene to alert Arthur to Guinevere and Lancelot's betrayal the scene was set, the two 'lovers' caught and Arthur in utter dispair banishes Guinevere from Camelot on pain of death. The shade of Lancelot meanwhile commits sucide and no-one ever discovers Morgana's plan.

Despite his denials, Arthur deeply regrets banishing Guinevere, but sees no way of righting this wrong and instead resigns himself to making a political marriage to Princess Mithian of nearby Nemeth, going so far as to invite the Princess to Camelot. Meanwhile, Guinevere who has been taken as a slave by warlord Helois discovers he is working with Morgana and attempts to warn Arthur despite the risk to her life, which becaomes even more precarious when she runs into Morgana herself and is turned into a deer stumbling across Arthur and Princess Mithian on a hunt. Thankfully, Merlin sees through Morgana's magic and saves Guinevere (who then passes on what she knows of Morgana's plan) and when Arthur discovers Guinevere's engagement ring in amongst the leaves, he realises he can't marry Mithian calling off the wedding and in return giving more land to Nemeth in apology.

At the end of Season Four, Morgana, with Agravaine's assistance and backed by Helois once again took control of Camelot, this time Arthur planned to stay and fight, but certain they would not be able to win, Merlin used his magic to control Arthur's mind and effect an escape. While fleeing they ran into two highway robbers, Tristan and Isolode and eventually Guinevere. While it seemed that the two would mend their relationship, Arthur was still hurt and shut Guinevere out. In the ensuing events, with Arthur finally coming into possession of Excalibur (assisted by Merlin's magic), the death of Isolode while fighting Helois and Guinevere almost been killed herself in a sword fight with Morgana, Arthur decided that the love he and Guinevere still shared was more important than any hurts that had been inflicted. He proposed to her again and the two were wed, with Guinevere becoming Queen.

In the three years that followed before Season Five, Camelot has become peaceful and prosperious, thanks in no small part to Morgana's disappearance for two of those years, having being captured and imprisoned, however she has now escaped and is as ever planning the death of Arthur and taking back Camelot once and for all. She joins forces with the Saxons to achieve this and succeeds in catching a large number of Camelot's knights to work for her in her search. Loyal to his knight's as ever Arthur (with Merlin in tow) leaves for the northern reaches of Albion and rescues them, despite being captured by some of Morgana's men, who are lead by Mordred, the Druid boy Arthur once saved many years before from execution. This comes back to Arthur's advantage when Mordred, who has Morgana's trust, turns against to save Arthur from certain death at his half-sister's hands. In gratitude Arthur knights Mordred, despite Merlin's doubts about the boy's loyalty.

Abilities/Additional Notes: Arthur is an expert warrior 'trained to kill since birth' in his own words. For a number of years he was Champion (and technically still is, even though a chap called Sir William holds the honours) and is skilled in swordfighting, archery, jousting, hand to hand combat and prides himself on his ability with a mace.

Arthur became King early in Season Four, but hopes for a kingdom more tolerant of magic was not to be due to the fact that Uther's death was seemingly caused by a strange sorcerer named Dragoon (actually Merlin in disguise), Uther's death was in fact caused by an enchanted amulet given to Agravaine by Morgana. Although the ban on magic was not lifted, Arthur did prove himself to be more fair than his father, recognising the Druid's as a peaceful group on the whole and after Sir Elyan was possessed by the ghost of one, Arthur admitted his guilt in being part of a massacre of a camp and promised the ghost that he would not hunt down the Druid's anymore. Just before arriving in Adstring, in fact, Arthur had just rescued an old witch from being burnt at the stake warning the villagers that instant execution was no longer the way things were done.

At present Arthur is unaware of his manservant/friend Merlin's magical abilities - although he does wonder from time to time how someone as clumsy as Merlin always manages to survive (and often save him in the process!). Arthur's own view of magic is convoluted, he is not as paranoid as his father, but due to an incident involving the 'ghost' of his mother he tends to believe that those who use magic do so only for evil purposes.

Sample Journal Post:

[Video]

[There is a strange noise, like a flute or a horn being blown and then out of nowhere a man dressed in chainmail stumbles into view a almost landing flat on his face.]

"Father?"

[The man, who looks rather like a knight from the old legends, turns aound, blinking confusion trying to take in his surroundings, he looks over his shoulder as if expecting to someone behind him. His confusion is well warranted, for this is none other than King Arthur of Camelot and he definitely doesn't seem to be in Albion anymore.]

"Merlin?"

[The King rubs a gloved hand over his face then looks at it, frowning, hadn't he been holding that horn a second ago? Where was it.] "What is this place?"

[He wanders in and out of shot as if trying to get his bearings. Finally, he steps directly in front of the screen and then...]

"What's this?"

[The screen shakes, and the scene twiss and turns about and then finally stops on the man's frowning face, peering suspiciously at the odd...thing in his hand. There's the sound of buttons beeping as the man pokes at the device trying to make sense of it. Unable to, he gives up and he looks about some more.]

"Hello? Is anyone out there? What kingdom is this? I mean no harm." [That might sound a little less than...truthful, especially considering the rather shiny and sharp sword belted to his side.

Still no response...

Arthur heaves an annoyed sigh, dropping the device back to the ground.]

"Merlin, this is all your fault."

Sample RP:

The King of Camelot is very displeased, here he is in some bizarre land, full of bizarre people, wearing the strangest clothing he has ever seen and seem to either have no idea who he is or if they do seem to believe it's all some sort of joke.

Nothing could be further from the truth, Camelot is in grave danger with Morgana at large and he should be there, with his knights protecting the people from his insane half-sister. But no instead he's here with not even Merlin for company.

For once he wishes that Merlin hadn't followed his orders and remained just outside the stone circle. He was sure he wouldn't be alone here if that were the case. Trust his servant to decide to obey him at the worst possible time.

Finally, Arthur decides that blaming Merlin isn't going to solve any of his current problems, so instead he takes to the streets of this very odd city...it's like none he's ever seen before, with broken buildings and strange shells of things called 'cars'.

Arthur was on a mission however, a mission to find someone or something that might aid him in his way back to Camelot. Surely there has to be people who are actually helpful in this place. It seemed to be a hopeless cause, but if Arthur was nothing else he was optimistic .

There had been mention of strange creatures in this place, but having faced his fair share of magical beasts and faced down all of them he wasn't all that worried, besides he had Excalibur belted at his side and he was more than certain that with it he could face anything.

A roaring sound filled the air and Arthur was immediatley on guard, drawing his sword and turning in the direction of the noise ready to take on whatever animal was bearing down on him. He quickly realised that this was no ordinary monster, or even a magical creature... it was a silver...thing....one of those 'cars'.

Arthur had been under the impression all of those things were immobile, but apparently not, he briefly considered facing it down, but it was faster than anything he'd encountered before and he decided any confrontation wouldn't go well for him so he got out of its way instead, coughing at the smokey wake it left behind as it passed.

The sun was starting to set and darkness setting in, Arthur expected to have only the light of the moon to see by, but above his head there was an extremely unsettling event taking place, there was something else rising, big and slightly green...another moon?!

Arthur picked up his pace, just when he thought this place couldn't get any more unsettling... He had to get out of here and soon.