[fic masterpost] The Ivy Crown

[da_ya_ri]

Title: The Ivy Crown
Pairings/characters: Merlin/Arthur; Gwaine, Leon, & the other knights; characters from Arthurian legend (e.g. the Green Knight, Ragnelle)
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Word Count: 251k
Warnings: past minor character deaths, violence & slight gore on occasion, drinking, intoxication, sexual situations
AO3: here (← downloadable in various formats)

Summary: [Post-S3 crossover with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle.] Merlin couldn't have picked a worse time to finally tell Arthur about his magic. In the wake of the battle against the immortal army, a strange visitor disrupts the court, calling himself the Green Knight and proposing a test of the court's integrity. Although Uther turns him away, several of Camelot's northern allies end up mysteriously beheaded over the next few months, and Arthur, Merlin and the knights set out to investigate. They encounter more than they'd bargained for on the way—a reckless young boy, a lady in search of a husband, a centuries-old fairytale that holds more than a grain of truth... and a challenge that ends up being more than just a game.

A/N: Written for the paperlegends challenge of 2011, and oh my God, I can't decide what I find harder to believe—that I really managed to finish this story, or that it's over now. I keep expecting someone to jump out from behind a corner and go, "Fooled you! You still have 4,528 scenes left to write!" xD A note about the dates: All parts of this story were posted on August 30, as per my posting date, but I backdated them to August 20 to avoid spamming my wonderful f-list too much. ♥

There is a giant list of people without whom this story would not exist. They are, in no particular order (AND YES I KNOW I AM A GIANT SAP SHUT UP):

❦_ First off, the amazing, kind cruentum & paragraphs, whose weekly write-in chats made this a wonderfully (and unexpectedly) social experience for me. When I first signed up for this challenge I never thought I would meet so many new people through the chats alone, and I certainly never guessed how much fun the 30-minute word wars would be! At first I thought that my shyness would turn me into the odd one out as it has done so many times, but I instantly felt so welcome that that never became an issue. Each and everyone of the people I met there were so genuinely supportive and kind that it just overwhelmed me! ♥

❦_ Everyone on paperpushers, particularly yue_ix (who might not even remember our conversation now, but it honestly inspired and encouraged me so much!), and fuzzytomato02 for organizing the snippet posts because I got such a kick out of seeing bits and pieces of everyone else's work, as well as posting my own, once I'd gotten past some initial nervousness! And I would also like to thank every single person who ever left comments on my story's snippets, in particular lachatblanche—your kind words of encouragement meant so much to me while I was still a little doubtful about the whole thing!

❦_ the_muppet, who made this possible in the first place by being such a patient, fantastic mod. ♥ Never once did she lose her cool with me when I panicked at her again and whined once more about how I'd never be able to finish. She sent me the kindest, most supportive replies and was just such an all-around wonderful person to work with—I could always tell that she hadn't created this challenge to make copious use of her mod hammer, but to support all of us in whatever way she could. I'm just so glad that she had faith in me whenever I didn't think I would finish, because that's what drove me to complete this monster of a story in the end. ♥

❦_ maya_freyja, my awesome, unfailingly supportive cheerleader! She offered to cheer for me even before I had fully made up my mind if I even wanted to sign up, and that's what basically gave me the last push I needed to head over to the writer sign-up post for real. She read through a long, rambly summary of the story, she found the perfect balance between pompom-waving and butt-kicking whenever I whined at her during the middle of a very busy semester. Hell, she even let me rant at her about my research and was so genuinely enthusiastic about everything that I could hardly believe it! There were so many times when, while talking to me about this story, she came up with things that just had me flabbergasted with their epicness—and she did it so casually, all like, "oh, but maybe you could do that," and, "this might work here as well," like those ideas were just afterthoughts to her. And I was left wondering about three things: (1) Her ideas are perfect, (2) Why didn't I come up with that myself?, and (3) How is she so awesome??! ♥ I haven't come up with a satisfying answer to that last one, but I'm so, so glad and grateful that she put all of that awesomeness into cheering for me! ♥

❦_ My parents (as "uncool" as it probably seems to mention one's parents on the Internet), in particularly my mother, who I could always, always come to when I needed to whine about this story (or when I needed a gentle kick forward to get me out of my funks). She patiently listened to me whenever I outlined the plot for her or went on and on about a certain character's motivations. And I will never forget that one evening when a dear friend of our family was visiting, and he, along with my parents, coaxed the plot of this story out of me bit by bit because he was curious about what I was working on so feverishly. I was quivering inside the entire time, but none of them ever batted an eye at the slash, and they all encouraged me to keep writing, which made me feel so appreciated and supported. <3

❦_ And finally, my unspeakably amazing beta, kura_tan, who was the first person I ever told about the idea for this. To be honest, when I first signed up I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it without her, and I'm just so relieved and honored that she was happy to be there for me from start to finish. She got her teeth into this story with an enthusiasm that left me humbled, and never even blinked when it kept growing plot point after plot point. Not once did she complain about its size, although she probably didn't quite see that coming (but well, maybe she did—she has a way of knowing things!). She supported me through my ridiculous amounts of research when all I wanted to do was headdesk in frustration, and she was so excited even about that that I could hardly believe it. If I was the writer giving birth to this story, she was the fondly exasperated, eager, loving midwife who helped it into existence, and who was not above shouting, "Push, damn you! Push!" every time I nearly despaired of its size. Even the idea would have gotten scrapped long ago if it hadn't been for her, and I'm more grateful for her unending faith and support than I can say. :D ♥ ♥ ♥

Part 1: The Summoning (a)
Part 2: The Journey (a) (b) (c)
Part 3: The Man of the Summer Day (a) (b)
Part 4: The Challenge (a) (b) (c)
Part 5: Of Truces and Trials (a) (b) (c)
Part 6: Three Ravens (a) (b) (c) (d)
Part 7: Hide and Seek (a) (b) (c)
Part 8: Derry, Derry Down (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)
Part 9: The Green Chapel (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Notes + References

❦_ Disclaimer: Merlin is owned by the BBC and Shine. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle belong to their respective anonymous authors. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made. (Additionally, both briar_pipe and I are aware that our Big Bangs share a title. This didn't happen on purpose, and I assure you that no form of plagiarism was involved. And through her story (which you can find here), I even found out that "The Ivy Crown" is also the title of a beautiful poem by William Carlos Williams!)

❦_ The little art stuffs—like the scene breakers—were created by me, but I didn't think they'd warrant an art post of their own, so I just embedded them in the story. I'm sad that the previous/next/masterpost navigators didn't make it into the AO3 version, but oh well! At any rate, I'm all nervous about the art, and I hope you like it, especially the masterpost navigator, which ended up taking way more time and energy than the other pictures combined. :D You can see a larger version of it here.

❦_ Some general notes first: laydeekay's resource post about Arthur's armor was invaluable to me, especially since it helped me realize that I'd had so many parts mixed up in my head! Wikipedia was a great help with details like medicinal herbs, the anatomy of horses' hooves, medieval measures of length, and which greens people liked to hang above their doors at Beltane. Any and all references to the round table in episode 3x13 were done with the help of this wonderful look behind the scenes, provided by gealach_ros. Along with my lecture notes, the Old English Translator helped me find the right words for the spells. (On that note, I'm aware that many people use accents on Old English words, but at uni we always used lengthening marks, so I went with what I used to beat into my head for two semesters.)

❦_ A short word about the names: I found Sir Ricbert & Caedmon on some random site with Old English names, but Sir Gromer Somer Joure's name (although I did change his character quite a bit) was borrowed from The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, as was his sister. Sir Gilbert de Venables was actually a real person (more on that below). As stated in the credits, Iseldir is the name of the druid who handed over the Cup of Life in the S3 finale. In addition, according to etymonline.com, Grænn is Old Norse for "green".

❦_ The villages (particularly their names) and the geographical details of the journey are as historically accurate as I could make them in such a short amount of time. For instance, all of the villages that are mentioned in this story still exist today, though they go by different names. I took their Old English (and Welsh, in one case) names from the Domesday Book, as well as their lords, if I had to (such as Sir Gilbert). I do realize that the Domesday Book was only compiled about 600 years after my story supposedly takes place, but as I said, this was much historical accuracy as I could muster up within six months. :) For those of you who are interested, here are the villages and their Modern English names: Treffynnon = Holywell; Torpelei = Tarporley; Watenhale = Wettenhall; Maneshale = Minshull Vernon; Sanbec = Sandbach; Cogeltone = Congleton.

❦_ In search of something I could use to map out the journey (which, by the way, is also roughly the route that Gawain takes in search of the Green Chapel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), I turned to Early British Kingdoms.com and found this map of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms around 550 AD. (I would have preferred to use the one from 525 AD, as it would have been closer to my supposed timeframe, but Mercia's expansion by 550 AD won me over!) Basically, Gwynedd & a part of South Rheged make up the Northern Plains, and most everything from Luitcoyt down to Gwent is "my" Camelot.

❦_ The song Three Ravens is a folk ballad, from the 17th century or older, and you can take a look at the full lyrics (with 1611 orthography!) here. (I realize that it's by far not old enough to have been known around ~520 AD, but I love it so much that I wanted to use it anyway :D) I've listened to a couple of modern recordings, but my favorite by far—and the one that was on top of my writing playlist as well—is the version by Brocelïande.

❦_ As far as I know, scholars still argue about the true location of the Green Chapel today. At first I thought about using Lud's Church, as has been done by many, since it does kind of fit the descriptions in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. But I thought that to capture the atmosphere of such a place, I would have to have been there myself, and decided against it in the end. Instead I chose Wetton Mill (although I haven't been there before either), in accordance with the wonderfully enthusiastic scholars from Travels with Sir Gawain.

❦_ There are about 800 more tons of references I could drop on you now, but since I'm not trying to write another Big Bang about my research, I'll leave it at that! Feel free to ask me if there's a particular aspect you're curious about! ♥





I can't believe I'm done, OMFG. *collapses in a heap*

And if you haven't run away screaming from the size of this story yet, that raven down there will take you to the first part! :D

Comments

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!! <333~ *glomps* Now I will sleep for a WEEK. XD ♥

[kura-tan.livejournal.com]

Aww, it's here, it's huge, it's done ♥ Our baby LOL
Und irgendwie bin ich blöd oder blind oder beides, aber ich sehe the Masterpost Banner nur, wenn ich den Link anklicke. Oder war das so gemeint? *verwirrt* Ansonsten muss ich verärgert feststellen, dass mein Absatz nicht der längste ist *mir jetzt n Cabrio als Kompensation kaufen muss ;_;* Nee, aber wie gesagt, ich bin stolz vom Anfang bis zum Ende dabei und ein Teil dieser Geschichte gewesen zu sein! Und daran wird sich auch nie was ändern ♥ I just hope you'll get a lot of nice and loving reviews, cause this story definitely deserves it!

[kura-tan.livejournal.com]

Forget what I said earlier... Ich hab das mit dem Masterpostbanner gefunden. Aaaah, ich will ins Bett und keiner lässt mich ;_; Deswegen war ich auch so blind *rumhops und darauf wart, dass die Leute deinen BB fertig gelesen haben*

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I am so thrilled to see this done! You have done an amazing job bb and I have to say, thank you for your lovely words to me (and N too).

I am so looking forward to this!

[dayari.livejournal.com]

<333~ Thank you so much, C! You deserved every single word I wrote about you--I still remember sitting there and wondering how I could express my gratitude, because the chats and the people I met really did go a long way towards helping me finish this thing! ♥

I'm so glad you're excited for this story, I hope it won't disappoint! *hugs & twirls you*

[the-muppet.livejournal.com]

I'm so proud of you for finishing; I know how hard you found this and I hope you're proud of yourself too. You should be ♥

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Thank you so, so much!! *tackle-hugs* Yes, I am proud of myself :P, but I'm also well aware that without everyone's support, this story probably would have been abandoned somewhere around June (which was when my semester got really hectic)! You've done an amazing job keeping this challenge together and being such an understanding mod!! ♥

[kathyh]

This sounds absolutely amazing! Congrats on finishing such an epic sounding fic.

[dayari.livejournal.com]

It was quite a struggle, especially during the last parts, because it just kept getting longer and longer and there was not a damn thing I could do about it. I'm really glad I made it! :) Thank you so much!! ♥♥

[pathera.livejournal.com]

CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING! :D

You should be amazingly proud of finishing such an epic fic and I am so excited to read it! It will be going onto my kindle ASAP! <3

[dayari.livejournal.com]

THANK YOUUU!~ *tackle-hugs* I'm just so happy and relieved now, and I still can't quite believe that it's over and I don't have to cram like 20k into one week anymore! XD And wow, thanks so much for wanting to read it, I'm so glad! *blushes* I hope you enjoy it! ♥

[gonrie.livejournal.com]

This sounds absolutely EPIC and god, that's the first summary that made me go: Oh God, I *have* to read this!! Look forward to a beautiful review from me hon ^^

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that's such an amazing compliment, thank you!! *blushes <3* I'm so glad you want to read this monster, and I hope you enjoy it as much as you did the summary! ♥♥

[moonie]

I haven't had a chance to read the story yet but wanted to say that I'm seriously impressed by the word count and omg the little art stuffs. ♥_♥ I love all of them, they look great. :)

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Eeeee, thank you so, so much!! You're the first person to mention the art, so I'm doubly glad you like it! I did my best and even had a lot of fun creating the little banners. The masterpost banner literally got finished about an hour before I posted! XD ♥♥

[missaffliction.livejournal.com]

That was amazing. SO GOOD. I've been reading all day.

I CRAVED this fic. I wanted post s3. I wanted Merlin to tell Arthur about his magic. I wanted them to fall for each other after that. I wanted Merlin to tell Arthur about his father, and for Merlin to tell Gwaine about his magic. I did not ever think I would find half these things, let alone in the same fic!

What I didn't know I wanted was Gwaine/Green Knight. Oh my god, hello new OTP. I want more of THAT so bad it hurts. That was gorgeous. So well written and just, UGH to die for. I seriously think you've stolen my Arthur/Merlin OTP and replaced it completely.

It just fits. The Green Knight is so wild and Gwaine is so free. Just WOW :).

I thought Percival/Ragnelle was cute too :).

SO MUCH UST IN THIS FIC, OH MY GOD. Haha, I was dying for Merlin and Arthur just kiss already, the tension was built so perfectly. And then there was rain, and magic and guh really hot first time hotness.

I'm completely rambling, but I haven't loved something this much in while :).

[dayari.livejournal.com]

OMFG—let me tell you, this comment = ♥ ♥ ♥! Really, that's exactly what makes me happiest as a writer, to hear that someone got so much out of a story of mine! I'm so glad that it made for such a satisfying read, and that you found even more than you'd bargained for just... makes me so happy I'm a bit speechless right now!! :D

But for me, the best thing ever is that you liked Gwaine and the Green Knight so much! Seriously, I had so much fun writing them, it was almost unreal. I was practically cackling madly throughout all of their scenes (and doesn't that make for an entertaining mental image? xD) just because I was having such a blast with the two of them! It's beyond flattering to hear that they may even have replaced your OTP—that's absolutely the best compliment ever, and I can't thank you enough for that because it just makes me so happy!! ♥ I think that in a way, the Green Knight might be my favorite character, out of all the "new" ones I hadn't really written about before (Gwaine, Leon, the other knights). I'm so glad that he seemed wild to you, because that was exactly that I'd been going for. I was so anxious what people would think of him, because I loved him so much and I would've been so sad if anyone had really disliked him, so I'm doubly relieved and happy that you liked him! :D

And yes, Percival/Ragnelle! :D I didn't want to overdo that, but I had meant to include it right from the start. It was a bit tricky at times—I remember that I wanted to write more scenes with the two of them, but in the end I think I was afraid it would seem forced and too fast, and so I left it at that. I'm so glad that you liked the two of them!! <3

I still remember that I was nervous about both the UST and that M/A first-time scene; I don't have much experience with writing sexual content yet, so I was worried that it would seem too fast or forced or whatever. So, thank you so much for your kind words about that, I feel really reassured now! :D

tl;dr (see, I rambled too! xD) Thank you so, so much for this amazing comment—I know I'll be walking around with a smile on my face for the rest of the day! ♥♥ And if I ever feel like going back to write more Gwaine/Green Knight—which my beta has also been trying to bully me into, LOL—I'll be sure to tell you! Seriously, I can't say it often enough—I'm just SO glad that you liked those two!! ♥ *walks away with the biggest :D that has ever :D in the history of :D*

[hanako-yume.livejournal.com]

You didz iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!! *_________* I am so proud of you!! And I cannot wait to dive in and read it!! Ooooh, it's going to be so good I know it!! :3

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Thank you sooo much, dear!! <333~ On the one hand I'm glad I finished it, but on the other I just wanted it to go on and on! (No, seriously, I've been so pathetically sad these past few days—I wanted to burrow into this fic and stay there forever. xD) I hope you'll like it, then, but please don't hurry, I can wait! You've got so much RL stuff on your plate at the moment, I really would understand if you can't get to it for the next couple of months! *huggles* ♥

[yue_ix]

Congrats on finishing! \o/ That word count is extremely impressive! I've downloaded the story on AO3 and can't wait to properly get to it, is looks so epic.

Speaking of epic, congratulations on the beautiful art. It is so pretty, bright and detailed. The veins in the leaves, the wood grain and those feathers! *__* I REALLY like your Master Post sign (thank you for the bigger version), and rue that it won't be in my ePub version. Is there a technical reason the images aren't all on the version in AO3, or was it a personal choice? You obviously poured time and effort in the crows and axes, and they seem to fit the story so well, it'd be lovely to see them as often as possible.

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Hee, thank you so much!! :D I can't even tell you how many times I nearly despaired of the word count while I was writing this story, but now I'm sort of glad that I never tried to cram it into a 50k frame. I hope you'll like it! ♥♥

Also, OMG, you should have seen my face when I read all your kind words about the art—coming from you, that's such a fantastic, flattering compliment!! Thank you so much! ♥ I'm really, really glad you like the pictures, especially the masterpost banner because that's the one that took the most time and effort! I finished it literally an hour before I posted, after having worked on it for pretty much two days straight. My hand hurt so much afterwards, but I felt like it was worth it!

Ahaha, the wood grain—I didn't know if it would look good, so I actually created a new layer and felt like patting myself on the back for that idea (I'm fairly new to digital art). And then later when I tried to merge the layers I realized that I had foolishly set the background color to white, so I had to meticulously cut that out and leave only the wood grain *fails* But I've learned my lesson—never, ever will I work with anything else but transparent layers from now on! XD

I didn't include most of the pictures in the AO3 version because I thought they would be a bit redundant—for instance, on AO3 you've got those neat little "next chapter" buttons that you don't get on LJ, so I felt like the previous/next/masterpost navigators weren't really needed. (I'm sad that they're only here on LJ too, though!!) And I didn't want people to feel like I was shoving the art in their face, going, "LOOK AT ME I DID ARTS! DO YOU SEE IT?" XD (...Although, to be honest, that's kind of what I secretly wanted to do—I know it's ridiculous, since it's just a couple of small images to accompany a story, but these three pictures (four, if you count the scene breaker) are the first pieces of art I've managed to complete in the past three years, despite the ongoing art block that I thought was insurmountable. So I kind of wanted to go all "These are my arts, let me show u them"! XD)

Anyway, tl;dr (lol, look at the size of this comment—sorry for rambling!), thank you so much for all your kind words about the art. Your comment made me feel all glowy and warm inside! ♥♥

[ninamalfoy]

I read this fic on AO3 by way of a recommendation from frogspace, and... just, WOW. I spent the better part of today reading your story and still can't shake that feeling of being totally blown away by your writing style. Detailed and concise and encompassing everything and despite the length, I never tired of it nor found I any of your scenes superfluous, instead, I gobbled up every word and wished the story would never ever stop. And I've also turned into a sudden Gwain/Green Knight fangirl, waving my little flag wildly and hoping that this won't be the last story you'll have in store for them... (I know, it's bad form to ask for more when you probably want to just lean back and enjoy the rest after so much work on this fic, but I hope you won't mind!)

And, wait, you're German, too? Dann kann ich nur sagen: einfach großartig, erste Klasse, was du da abgeliefert hast - ich wünschte nur, ich könnte diese Story als Buch in meinen Händen halten, um immer mal wieder zu meinen Lieblingsstellen blättern oder die ein oder andere Szene nochmal in Ruhe mit einer heißen Tasse Tee neben mir zu lesen oder, ja, um die ganze Sage nochmal in einem Rutsch durchzulesen. Hach. ♥

[dayari.livejournal.com]

I squee'd so much over frogspace's rec—I was practically bouncing with excitement for the rest of the day. :D But really, thank you so, so, so much for all your wonderful, kind words about my story! I am so glad that you liked the details and the length (both of which were things I felt nervous about) and never found them redundant. I don't think I could have squeezed it into a 50k frame anyway, there was just so much to tell once I'd started. It scared me a little while I was writing, but now I'm sort of glad I didn't try to cut anything out! (Oh, and I totally don't think it's bad form to ask for more—it just makes me so happy to know that you'd even want to see more of Gwaine and the Green Knight! :D Actually, I kind of want to revisit their relationship—even my beta kept insisting that they should just tear off their clothes and ravish each other already, LOL. I've been taking hesitant notes for the past couple of days and I think I'll try to write more about them *nods* At any rate, thank you so much for your interest—that's pretty much the best compliment ever in itself!)

And yes, I'm German too! *highfives* Ganz ehrlich, das macht mich einfach so glücklich. <3 Ich freu mich so, dass du Lieblingsstellen hattest, und das Bild mit der heißen Tasse Tee ist supergemütlich! Ich wünsche mir auch häufig bei FFs, dass ich sie in Buchform in den Händen halten könnte, und es ist so schön zu lesen, dass es dir genauso geht. Vielen, vielen, vielen Dank nochmal für all deine lieben Worte—ich fühl mich gerade so geehrt! ♥♥

[abacus55.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of new to the Merlin fandom but have been absorbing fics like a sponge the last few weeks - this story was really great!

At first I wasn't sure about the pacing, since in the beginning there was very little dialogue - but it really served the purpose to give the appropriate weight when Merlin and Arthur would speak to each other, and the subdued mood of the whole group when going off to explore the murders.

As for the characters themselves, I think you really got them true to form - my favourite part was when they were stuck in the forest - just great where Arthur anchors Merlin back to himself when he's overwhelmed.

Major kudos, and hope there's more to come (since I'm greedy like that!)

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Yay, welcome to Merlin fandom! I still remember that thrilling feeling of being new and overwhelmed with all the stuff to read! :D

And thank you so, so much for this kind comment! I'm really glad that you liked my story and especially the characters, and I'm just so happy about what you said about the parts in the forest. I can never decide which part was my overall favorite to write, but I did have tons of fun with the forest scenes (...I have such a thing for feral!Merlin). ♥ And I see what you mean about the pacing—it started out pretty slow, but I'm really glad you stuck with the fic anyway! ♥

Once again, thank you! It's just such a huge compliment in itself that you'd even want to see more! (I've been thinking about revisiting the relationship between Gwaine and the Green Knight, since I had so much fun with them—I hope I'll actually manage to finish something! :D) ♥

[kitsuneyujji.livejournal.com]

This story was absolutely amazing. Once I started reading it, I could barely tear myself away for such basic things as food and work and I refused to sleep until I was completely done.

The relationship between Merlin and Arthur was painfully realistic and I alternately wanted to smack them both in the head and hug them tight and promise it'd all be okay.

I think the best thing, though, was that even though the story between Merlin and Arthur was important, there was so, so much more going on.

The Green Knight was amazing, the rest of the knights were awesome. The servants were creepy, Ragnelle was interesting.

My feelings about Morgana were both good and bad and she was both heartbreaking and despicable at the same time.

I wouldn't mind seeing an after-arc ficlet where Ragnelle and Erik come to Camelot and Percival gets to prove that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Anyways. This is absolutely one of my favorite Merlin stories ever and thank you so much for writing it. ^_^

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, thank you so much for this amazing comment!! ♥ It's such a huge compliment that the story sucked you in like that—of course I hoped it'd do that, but wasn't sure if it would because of the length. And now I'm doubly glad that it did! ♥

And really, thank you for what you said about all the things going on aside from the Arthur/Merlin relationship. I felt pretty nervous about that beforehand, because I thought people might not want to read about all those other things—that they would only be interested in Merlin & Arthur, you know? (I mean, the two of them are awesome, of course, I'm not saying that!) And it just makes me so happy that you liked the rest of the story as well. ♥♥ (I absolutely agree, by the way—I wanted to smack and hug them too, sometimes at the same time! XD)

I'm really, really happy about all the details you just mentioned—especially the servants! I struggled with them so much, since I wanted them to be creepy but wasn't sure if I had accomplished that in the end. And the Green Knight was such a joy to write—I think that out of all the "new" characters that I'd never written about before, he was my favorite. I practically grinned throughout every scene he was in (which probably looked a bit silly, but oh well!). I'm so relieved at what you said about Morgana! Heartbreaking and despicable was exactly the combination I'd been going for, and it just makes me endlessly happy that you saw that. ♥ I'm really glad that you found Ragnelle and Erik interesting too—I think at first I wanted to give them more of a closure at the end of the fic, where Ragnelle already makes the decision to come to Camelot with her brother, but then everything else happened and I couldn't fit it in anymore. I'm not sure if it would have felt 'right' anyway! But I'm 100% sure that she did come to Camelot afterwards, *nods*

Anyway, you've made me so, so happy with this comment and I just want to hug you now. :D Thank you for all your encouraging words!! ♥♥

[ampersandals.livejournal.com]

Thought I'd pop in to tell you that I've been reading this on my cellphone. I am torn between wanting to get to the heart and end of it, and dreading for the fic to stop. :( The wordcount is srsly crazy - it's a very dense read and I love it (though I now wish I'd nabbed it as a .mobi instead of copy/pasting it all in one big .doc file, because I can't bookmark/highlight bits in my version of MS Word SADFACE SADFACE). It's one of those stories that I'm sure will stick to me and remain particularly distinct, considering how the fics just, you know, blur in my head.

Anyway will probably comment again when I'm done with it! I uhhh really just want to congratulate you for finishing something so big. ♥_____♥

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Wow, you've been reading on your cell phone?! That's so amazing, you must have the patience of a saint! :D And thank you so much for those congratulations, I feel all honored now! It wasn't easy at times, especially because my last semester was really stressful and busy, but I'm really glad that I wrote it anyway!

And it made me so happy to hear that you don't want the story to end. <3 Of course I'm not happy that you're dreading the end, don't get me wrong! But this is kind of how I've felt this past week, ever since I finished it. I've been all sad and listless because this story almost felt like a good friend I'd grown so fond of, and then I had to let it go... *lower lip wobbles* xD It's such a huge compliment that this fic will stick with you, because it certainly did that with me, too—I still dream of the Green Knight every other night. I hope you continue to have fun with it, and thank you so much for all your kind words!! ♥

[dayari.livejournal.com]

I totally understand that—RL is more important than fandom, unfortunately! :P Good luck with school, and I hope you get enough sleep to get through the last days! It makes me really happy to hear that the summary drew you in, and I hope you'll enjoy the story once you get to it (no worries, though, I know it's huge and probably takes time to read! I know it certainly took time to write and edit :P). Thank you! ♥

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Haha, it's so amazing that you finished just before the power went out! And it's a funny coincidence, because I once lost about 2k (from... somewhere around the middle, maybe part 7? Wow, my memory sucks) because of a power outage. And there were a bunch of thunderstorms when I was racing madly towards the finish line, so I basically saved every 10 seconds for fear of the power going out again! But fortunately it didn't that time. :D

And thank you so, so much for all your kind words, this comment made me so happy! It's so great to hear that you liked the other characters too, not just Arthur and Merlin (although the two of them are certainly likeable as well, I'm not saying that). It was great fun trying to figure everyone out and keep them in character. I'm so glad you liked my fic—thank you, again! ♥

[shellsinner.livejournal.com]

It's awesome. Really. Have read it all in one go. That's my second COHERENT attempt to write a comment.

I LOVED IT.

your story is my new canon. I feel like I need a break from Merlin fandom, cause I cant even imagine reading anything else rn

❤ ❤ ❤

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, you've read it all in one go?! That's so amazing, congratulations on your reading stamina! :D And really, it makes me just so happy to hear that you enjoyed it. <3 I absolutely loved writing it, and trying to create something that would believably pick up the story from the end of S3. I'm really, really glad that worked for you! Thank you so much!! ♥♥

[kcrd.livejournal.com]

I loved your story - and it took me long enough to read through it but it was totally worth it!

Oh und ich sehe gerade, daß ich sogar auf Deutsch schreiben kann - was sich komisch anfühlt wenn man sonst nur auf Englisch schreibt. :)
Das war wirklich ein Monster von einer Geschichte, aber ein wirklich lohnenswertes Monster! Arthurs Reaktion auf Merlins Magie war wirklich sehr glaubwürdig und realistisch und auch wie sie sich langsam wieder zusammenraufen.
Die Geschichte vom Green Knight war unglaublich, was aber eigentlich auf die ganze Geschichte und alle Charaktere zutrifft.
Gratulation für diese tolle Geschichte und die verdient überschwenglichen Kommentare!

[dayari.livejournal.com]

"Lohnenswertes Monster" ist mein neuer Lieblings-Untertitel für diese Fanfic! :D Aber ernsthaft, ich kann dir gar nicht genug für all deine lieben Worte danken. Ich bin so froh, dass dir mein Big Bang so gut gefallen hat und du alles glaubwürdig fandest! Das ist eine der ersten 'magic reveals' an die ich mich rangetraut habe, und es ist so schön zu hören, dass das Ganze realistisch war. Das war glaube ich beim Schreiben mein Hauptanliegen, auch wenn es stellenweise so weh tat, diese Kälte und Distanz zwischen den beiden schreiben zu müssen! (Aber später war es umso schöner, die neu gewonnene emotionale Nähe zu schreiben. :P)

tl;dr Vielen, vielen Dank, dass du mir so eine tolle Rückmeldung hinterlassen hast!! <3 (Oh, und bitte entschuldige die wirklich sehr verspätete Antwort--ich weiß auch nicht, wie das passiert ist, ich hab mich nämlich so riesig über deinen Kommentar gefreut! ♥)

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this fic. Excellent job!

um.. more rambling comments here, if you are interested:
http://marguerite-26.livejournal.com/596801.html

but basically: Very nicely done! THANK YOU!

[dayari.livejournal.com]

(This reply is so late, I'm so ashamed of myself right now ;;; ) I know I've said it before, but I just wanted to thank you once more for reccing my story. <3 You're one of my favorite reccers in fandom (if not the favorite) and seeing my fic among your entries just made me flail so much, in a delightful, omg-I-can't-believe-it kind of way! So, thank you, again--you've made me so happy! ♥

[merryrose11.livejournal.com]

Sorry to be so late in posting, it's taking me ages to get through these fictions these days. I absolutely LOVED reading this fic. The feeling of 'myth' to was great. You did such a good job of characterization. The 'divide' between Arthur and Merlin was hard to read but a realistic possibility.

Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Thank you so, so much for this amazing comment, it makes me so happy to hear that you liked my fic!! ♥ I'm really glad that the characterization worked for you, even though I do admit that it was hard to write as well--I breathed such a huge sigh of relief when things between Merlin & Arthur finally started to look up. :) But I think what made me happiest about this comment is that you said the story felt mythical. That was exactly what I'd been going for (and what I worried about a lot, not knowing if it would come across properly!), and I'm beyond thrilled to hear that it worked! ♥

Once more, thank you so much for making me smile and blush so much with this comment! ♥ Oh, and please don't be sorry for any kind of lateness! Every single comment I get makes me ridiculously happy, no matter if it is posted a week or a month or even a year after I've posted the fic! I mean, just look at how long it took me to get back to you... RL just happens and gets in the way, no need to apologize! <3

[micx04.livejournal.com]

this is truly amazing!!! THANK YOU!!

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much to you, too!! I'm so glad you liked my fic! ♥♥ (And btw, I love your icon!)

[iichristinll.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Rec'd it over here with my thoughts: http://fuckyeahmerlinfanfic.tumblr.com/post/12620834046/the-ivy-crown

Thanks for writing it!

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, let me just tell you--you've absolutely made my day with this. :D :D I'm so glad you enjoyed my story enough to even rec it, and I feel so honored that it's now part of your awesome Tumblr!! Thank you so much! :D

[limico.livejournal.com]

I am so excited to find such a long story and want to read it - preferable via download from AO3, but every time it fails to open (for a few days now). Other stories like the one with the same title I can start without problems. If you have a solution for this issue I would be grateful.

[dayari.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, I'm sorry about that! Is it the download itself that doesn't work, or is the file corrupted afterwards? I've downloaded it in PDF format now and it seems to work just fine, except all the chapter titles are missing. >.< I admit that I'm not sure what to do now--I suppose I could contact AO3 to see if they can do anything to fix the download. In the meantime, if you don't mind the missing chapter titles I could upload my downloaded AO3 version for you. I've also got the fic saved on my harddrive as a .doc and PDF, would that be acceptable too or do you need an entirely different format?

I'm sorry I can't be of more help! I have no idea how to create ebooks--I know how to convert documents to PDFs, but that's about it, which is why I uploaded the thing to AO3 in the first place. XD But still, I'm so glad you want to read my fic, and I hope this issue clears up soon one way or the other!