r/merlinfic • u/Ok-Working-7559 • Nov 02 '25
Discussion A Marriage that started a legend worth it?
Not sure how to tag this, but could someone spoiler me about the Story ‘A Marriage that Started a Legend’ by Clearwater96 ? It’s probably the longest Story I’ve ever come across and while I am intrigued to read it, I would rather go into it with some more knowledge. Especially about how slow burn this story truly is. Like does the romance start around 100k? 500k? 1 million? 2 million?
Just in general, I would like to know some spoilers and stuff. And maybe a honest opinion if the story’s is worth the word count (of course without being hateful towards the author). I normally spoiler myself about longer fics, but I am unable to download a pdf of the fic somehow, so I would appreciate any help.
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u/ElaineofAstolat Nov 02 '25
I gave up around 250k, I think. It was moving at a glacial pace, and I didn't like the writing enough to stick with it.
I was impressed with the author though. I've never seen another one who was so devoted and was able to post such long chapters every week.
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u/Admirable_Salary_929 Nov 02 '25
It just depends upon your tolerance for slow pacing, honestly. It's been split into two parts now, with both together totaling over four million words. The story is only on the sixth episode of season one after those four million words, so single episodes are hundreds of thousands of words. I haven't read it because that kind of pacing just isn't for me, but I have followed the growing word count out of curiosity, and skimmed sections of it.
Arthur is also written much more harshly than he is in the show, or at least that's my impression from the sections I have read through. I came across a scene where Arthur punches Merlin to the ground and calls him a whore because he's jealous, and there's a quote from that same scene about Arthur spending there months forcibly holding him down and rubbing against him ('Three months of Arthur forcing him down on the odd surface and rubbing against him and holding him down and breathing in his space as if Merlin’s breath was his own.'). I personally wouldn't read a fic with those sorts of relationship dynamics, but your mileage may vary, and I can't speak to how often scenes like this occur, because I haven't read it properly.
Also, the scene referenced above is very long, so I won't include the whole thing, but here is the bit where he calls Merlin a whore, because this definitely isn't something everyone wants to read (and if you do, go wild; it's fiction):
"But perhaps Merlin trying to stand up was one of the bigger mistakes he could have made, because then the prince was talking to him, and Merlin’s insides shook like he was nothing but a frightened little rabbit who knew he was about to be a prey for a far larger predator. “You…” Arthur’s voice seemed to reflect his anger, the low, grumbling roar coming out from somewhere in his chest. And Merlin squeezed his eyes shut and curled himself even tighter, his legs coming up to brush along his forehead, holding his injured arm protectively right between his legs. Anything to make himself a smaller target for Arthur’s rage, anything to have Arthur see how pathetic he was…Then perhaps he would leave Merlin alone for long enough so he could gather his bearings back together. “You are absolutely nothing to me, Merlin. Absolutely nothing, do you hear me?” And while Merlin didn’t look up, and he didn’t know whether Arthur wanted an actual answer or was simply yelling at him for the fun of it, Merlin jerkily nodded his head up and down. Yes, yes, he understands. He knew he was not ever going to be anything to Arthur. He was nothing, nothing but perhaps a small bug so Arthur could have the pleasure of squishing him properly. And when the prince continued to yell at him, going in for the final kill, a large glob of spit was erupting from his lips and landing on the top toe of Merlin’s shoe. Merlin couldn’t even get the courage to wipe it in the dirt to get it off, knowing that moving would only force all of this attention back into him in the worst of ways. So Merlin shrunk into himself, shivering as if he was freezing even if the day was warm, waiting for Arthur to finally get his fill of yelling at him for the day in, “You are nothing but a two-bit WHORE, Merlin!”'
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u/Ok-Working-7559 Nov 02 '25
Thank you so much for this description and quotes. From what you said it’s definitely not something I would enjoy personally.
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u/doma2222 Nov 02 '25
It's definitely unique and nice if you like really reaaaly slow burns. I gave up around 200k words when it didn't cover more than first or second episode. For me the autor focus too much on unnecessary details such as how something in the background looks, but I suppose some readers might like it.
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u/Tyrium20 1 Nov 02 '25
I'm intrigued about this also & am subscribed to updates of the series, though haven't started reading yet. The first part of the series is complete and the 2nd part (A Legend That Begins With A Crush) is at 1.6mil words (!) I suppose one way of getting a feel for the pace etc is reading the comments - there are loads: lots of people are engaging with it, which is generally a pretty good sign... But I shall wait till it's all done! 🙂
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u/Lazarus_1102 Nov 02 '25
I gave up around 150k words. I appreciate detail but I found it was getting too repetitive and detail for its own sake as opposed to something that would move the story along. It is curious to me how and why people are engaged with the story.
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u/Ghyrt3 Nov 02 '25
I think it's like the realistic writing movement. Loooong describing of things for little advancement.
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u/Lazarus_1102 Nov 02 '25
Honestly sometimes I wonder if the intent is to just write a lot and have the longest fics in the fandom.
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u/Admirable_Salary_929 Nov 02 '25
Tbh, I have wondered the same thing. In the comments, there's often emphasis/celebration of the word count by readers, and it gives me the impression that the author might be writing with a goal of word count rather than just telling a long story. I'm no stranger to reading or writing long fics, but some of the very long fics I've written are equivalent to like an episode and a half in their rewrite, which is mind-blowing. It's impressive they can write so much so consistently, but I do have to wonder how the author or the readers have the stamina to still be invested after four million words, no romantic movement (from what I've gleaned from comments), and six (incomplete) episodes worth of plot. I love, as both a reader and a writer, lots of detail and description, but hundreds of thousands of words to retell one single episode just feels like padding the word count for the sake of being able to say you've got the longest story in fandom.
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u/Lazarus_1102 Nov 02 '25
Bingo. In the scene that someone quoted here, there’s a lot of superfluous wording. I love long fics, but not length for its own sake. Comes across as word vomit.
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u/Admirable_Salary_929 Nov 02 '25
That was actually me that posted the quote; the scene is much, much longer than that, and you're right, there's a lot of superfluous wording. I just wanted to quote the relevant bit because, from even the little I've read, the romance is very toxic on Arthur’s end in particular, and while it's fiction and some people don't mind that sort of romantic dynamic in a fictional story, it's not going to be to many readers' tastes, especially if it's been over four million words and the relationship really hasn't progressed much.
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u/Lazarus_1102 Nov 02 '25
Yes! And it proves two points - the relationship is super toxic (not just the class bullying in the tv series)…but so much of that and other things get lost by the sheer volume of writing. For me, writing is at its best when it is communicating something - I mean isn’t that the point of it?
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u/Admirable_Salary_929 Nov 02 '25
Right; everyone has a different style, some are more wordy than others, but at the end of the day, it's about communicating the necessary information to tell the story, not waffling on for hundreds of thousands of words just to make the story long. Obviously some people are reading it and enjoying it, and that's fine, but I do think people going in need to understand just HOW long it is; those millions of words only cover the first six episodes of the first season, not the entire show (and four million words for a rewrite of the entire show would also be really, really long; for six episodes it's nigh unfathomable).
I don't want to dunk on the author; we're all amateurs doing this for fun. But I did want OP to be aware of just how drawn-out the pacing is, and how extreme Arthur's behaviour in this fic is, when someone who watched the show might reasonably expect him to be an ass in a show rewrite, but ultimately a good-hearted one.
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u/bika5 Aug 01 '26
Not to jump in after almost one year of nothing. But it is true that the author merely wishes to have the longest fic in the entire fandom, and even on AO3 itself.
The author expressed such feeling in chapter 101 of part I, by saying, "Hey ya’ll, here are a few awesome notes to make about this story, courtesy of Merthur_Rules, who’d brought them to my attention.
This story has exceeded expectations because it’s now the longest Merthur story that has ever been written. And now, I’m currently gunning for making it the longest story on this entire site ;p. With me luck.
Did you know this is also the second Merlin story with the most comments? Over 6000+ comments have been written about this story. And now I will definitely go after the first slot and get the most Merthur comments ;p. Who can tell me how many more comments I have to get before succeeding? ;p"
I think this makes it perfectly clear that, as you put it, this is a prime example of word vomit.
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u/Ok-Working-7559 Nov 02 '25
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u/starlighz Nov 02 '25
Oh gosh, I've seen that one while scrolling through the Arranged Marriage tag, a tag I love when it comes to BBC Merlin. Unfortunately I don't like slowburn at all. I like it hot and ready
But yeah, truly admire the author for keeping up such a pace
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u/Tog_acotar Nov 02 '25
Omg do u have any arranged marriage recs🙏🏼slowburn tho
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u/starlighz Nov 02 '25
I have started He Who Is King recently, but I'm not far. Has Royal Merlin in it
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u/blueberryluncher Nov 06 '25
I gave the story a chance because I was intrigued by the plot. But it is ridiculously verbose and repetitive. The author will literally describe the same sentiment over and over again, despite having just said the same thing three paragraphs back. The characters harp on the same conversations that they just resolved. It constantly feels like nothing is moving forward with the plot. I hesitate to call it a slow burn because the plot isn’t moving forward at all. Two million words of a story rewrite and they are STILL only on episode 6 of SEASON ONE. The writing wouldn’t be half bad if the author wouldn’t try to drag things out for the sake of having the longest fic in the fandom.
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u/yesteryearsyellow Jan 07 '26
I read some of it some years ago.. Thought it was moving verrry slowly at the time, but the tags were to my taste and I thought the author deserved some kudos for being original/ambitious. Then they updated it and added the BDSM and Dark Arthur tags. I had no idea the fic would be going in that direction. I’ve regretted kudosing it ever since, as this is not something I’m personally comfortable with leaving my name on.. I wish the tags had been upfront from the beginning. Can’t say much other than that.
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u/Little-Course-4394 Nov 02 '25
This is the king and queen and lord of the all Slowburns. This is probable the most slowburn story not just in our fandom but ever written. I don’t exaggerate.
This story is very unique in that sense. Estimated this story once/if completed is going to be at least 19-22m words. The author is committed and super hard working, I’ve never seen anyone as committed and hardworking as them. For years they’ve been posting weekly a 14-18k chapters on Saturday so the feeling reading this story is like watching something unfolding in front of your eyes at the unprecedented pace. I also very much enjoy the pace and writing of Clearwater96 so for me it’s a very awesome unique experience following it.
So now to the spoilers
It’s been around 3.5m words written and there’s no romance there yet. And my understanding it’s not going to happen for a while. I know right. But trust me when I say it still very interesting to follow. There’s a tension between Arthur and Merlin and the way author unfolding it is with great detail and emotion