Mordred

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player name: Bee
player journal: DreamsOfStarlightExpress
playing here: Yoite
where did you find us? Batty
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yes.



character name: Mordred
Fandom: Merlin
Timeline: Season One, episode "The Beginning of the End"
character's age: Not specified, approximately 11 yrs old. 

powers, skills, pets and equipment: Mordred is a young warlock, and capable of powerful sorcery beyond the skills of older sorcerers. His powers include:

Telepathy: Mordred can use telepathy both as a means of communication as well as a powerful force that can shatter glass and cast enemies away from him, a method of escape he uses when Camelot soldiers pursue him in the woods. 

Telekinesis: Mordred is seen making objects move through the air, such as spears which he propels through the air to impale attackers

canon history: Mordred is a young druid boy who entered into Camelot with his teacher. However, upon their arrival, they were attacked. While Mordred managed to get through the gates, he was wounded in the struggle and his master was taken into custody and tried for treason against the kingdom. Mordred went into hiding and called out to Merlin with his telepathy to plead with him for help. With little choice, Merlin brought him into the castle and hid him with the help of Morgana and Gwen in Morgana's chambers. They kept him there as Arthur and the guards searched for the druid boy known to be missing in the kingdom. Mordred's master was swiftly put to death. 

As time went on, Mordred's wound became infected and he became horribly ill, bordering on death as Merlin debated whether or not he could go to Gaius for help. As he grew sicker, he continued to speak to Morgana and to Merlin using telepathy that faded in and out with his strength. This is when he also revealed to Merlin that his name among the druids is "Emrys." 

After failing to heal Mordred himself, Merlin finally went to Gaius to seek help, and Gaius agreed to treat the boy on the condition that they get the him out of Camelot as soon as possible. They agree, and Morgana and Merlin begin to hatch a plan to sneak Mordred out of the castle through a secret door. 

However the plan was to fail, as Morgana and Mordred were caught hiding by Arthur, who had previously been chastised by his father for failing to find the boy in the first place. Mordred was then taken to the dungeons to await his execution as Morgana went to face the wrath of Uther. 

Morgana later appealed to Arthur's humanity, and pleaded for him to help. Arthur was swayed and agreed to help, but this time it would be he that would do it, as Morgana would be too easily suspected. The plan balanced fully on the cooperation of Merlin to get Arthurs horse to the secret passage, or all would be doomed. Yet Merlin, having been told by the dragon that sparing Mordred would inevitably lead to Arthur's death, found himself reluctant to help. 

That night Arthur snuck into the dungeons, and through use of sleeping powder got past the guards and into Mordred's cell. Then hastily they made their way to the secret passage, only to find Merlin had not come. 

Once again Mordred put his telepathy to use, and called to Merlin. He begged him to come, insisting that he did not want to die, and asking why he would abandon him when they were the same. At last Merlin changed his mind and set off to do as Arthur had asked. He arrived at the last minute with Arthur's horse, and as Arthur and Mordred readied to ride into the forest, Mordred informed Merlin that they would meet again. 

personality: Mordred tends to be quiet and alert, hardly opening his mouth save to speak to those with whom he cannot use telepathy, such as Arthur. When he is first introduced he appears to be only frightened and innocent, however as time moves on,  Mordred starts to reveal that he knows a good deal about Merlin that even Merlin does not know and a far more powerful and concerning side of Mordred begins to be seen.

With the death of his master and his treatment in Camelot, Mordred becomes more and more vengeful towards Uther and his slaughter of magic users. Time and again he finds himself on the run from the knights of Camelot and more and more he begins to actively seek out those who would wish to overthrow Uther's rule. This includes aiding bandits who would kill not only the king, but also any that served him. As Merlin points out, such actions reveal a willingness of Mordred's to go to the extreme to reach his goal, including a willingness to die for his cause. 

However, Mordred is not without his innocent kinder side. He quickly forms a bond with Morgana, and aids her when she seeks help with her budding powers and fears as a magic-user living in Uther's kingdom. They find kindred spirits in one another, and form a strong trust. This is also why Mordred later goes to her for help when he seeks the power of a crystal locked in Camelot's vaults. His interactions with Morgana bring out his more child-like nature, as he is seen rushing to hug her, as a younger brother might to an older sibling. Mordred is not seen to act this way with any other character. 

Therefore Mordred is at once the more enigmatic and perhaps unnerving entity lingering in shadow as well as the frightened and wounded boy seeking revenge for his wounds. He can neither be called truly evil or truly good, and instead is possibly the most powerful opposing force to Camelot with the ability and destiny to be its downfall. 


why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting? Mordred is a fascinating character to see adapt to changing situations as he switches constantly between more reserved and pensive and more child-like and innocent as well as powerful and angry. A place such as Scorched, with constant events as well as a large magic-using population would be a good setting for Mordred's character to be explored. 




Network Post Sample:

[Perhaps those of you with magic can hear his voice in your heads, distorted and seeming to fade in and drift back out with pleas for help. The voice is that of a young child, weak sounding and afraid. It is the voice of a small creature chased out from the underbrush and now seeking a new place to hide from the hunter.]

Please. Help me. 

[The screen catches the swirl of a green cloak through gaps between pale fingers, as the boy is running]

They'll kill me. 

[To those of you without magic, perhaps you will catch some of his voice, or perhaps the video will almost be mute save the clattering of small boots against cobblestones and the soft flutter and swish of long fabric as the child darts around street corners.

The cloak covers his face, and only here or there might the cowl of his cape be blown back just enough to reveal vibrant blue eyes and almost sickly white skin]

Emrys. Emrys! 

[The voice becomes more urgent and desperate]

Help me!

[On a dime he turns and disppears into the darkness of an alleyway and its several long moments before he drops to the ground and huddles as far back into the shadows as he can, face still hidden but for his small mouth hanging open for gulps of air.

The feed then cuts out as he waits with for the sound of chain mail and rattling weapons.]

Third Person Sample:
Mordred remained still save for the rise and fall of his shoulders with his attempts to catch his breath. The air felt sharp in his lungs and his small body ached from running, a light sweat gathering on his brow. So much of the past few days had been running and fleeing. And each time it seemed to end with him cowering alone with pain on his heels. He was no more than a creature being hunted, and the hunter was so close he could feel his own death looming just behind him. 

Why?

For magic.  

Leaning weakly into the wall that now granted him respite in shadow, he looked up with mouth hanging open and eyes dazed. Where was he now? Where were his people? And how long until he knew if he'd escape or be executed? 

He'd tried calling out. He had kept calling out. But so far no one had answered, not even Emrys. If he was nearby he'd had to have heard, and if he had, then he was choosing not to answer. Again. It would mean that once more he was leaving Mordred to wait for another to deal out his fate. But why? They were the same. They were sorcerers under persecution of a wrongful king. They were sorcerers with great destiny thrust upon them.

Why, then, would Emrys not help him when even Arthur Pendragon had tried? 

Had the Emrys his people had talked about had his alliances so easily changed? Had he fallen in line with a king who'd sooner set them alight in punishing flames than show mercy to just one unfortunate child capable of magic?Or did he have a plan? Or a fear of his destiny?

How unfair to condemn him, still only a child, for such reasons. They were the same. 

They were supposed to be. 

And Mordred did not want to die.
 

Anything else? not that i can think of.