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Let's adress the elephant in the room: the incest. And by that I do not only mean Medraut's complicated feelings towards Lleu, but his relationship to his mother and how it could be potentially affecting his relationship with his brother.

You see, Medraut is King Arthur's bastard son born of an incestuous relationship with his half-sister, the queen of Orkney. Morgause seduced Artos as a young man in an attempt to babytrap him and make her queen. When this plan failed she tried to raise their son as a weapon against Arthur. But that's not all. The story heavily implies that Medraut himself is also a survivor of sexual abuse and incest at her hands. There is a short story “no human hands to touch” by Elizabeth Wein which goes into detail about Morgause’s grooming and abuse of Medraut. When Medraut kissed Lleu and threatened to have his way with his body, he was trying to scare him. It was a power play. Medraut was trying to be as cruel as everyone else believed him to be, which meant becoming like his mother who is the most terrifying person he has ever known. In that moment Medraut was considering using the same depraved methods his mother had used on him. Medraut doesn't want Lleu's inheritance, not really, "It is your self, your soul that I envy. More than anything I want your birthrigh without shame, your clean lineage." Medraut doesn't want the throne as much as he wants the things associated with Lleu's position as crown prince (most of all his easy claim to their father's love). A bastard can never undo his own birth but he can taint Lleu's self and break his spirit.

What ultimately triggered Medraut's betrayal of Lleu was his accident reveal of Medraut's true parentage in front of Morgause's other children and the profession of his deepest contempt for Medraut when Lleu becomes witness of Morgause's assault on Medraut.

Therefore it is easy to imagine that Medraut would do all the things he had been fantasizing about in secret as a form of revenge once he has Lleu completely at his mercy. "You sneer at me for being a bastard born from incest, what will you do when you become guilty of incest as well? Can I drag you down to hell with me?" might be what went through his mind. You might be surprised to hear this, but I don't think Medraut would actually sink so low as to rape his own brother. He would never forgive himself and would either kill himself afterwards or let himself be killed. Actually, let me rephrase that: he would never violate Lleu in the same way he has been violated as long as he is in his right mind and outside of his mother's influence. The problem is that Medraut was turning increasingly unstable towards the end of the book. Everything came crashing down on him: the illness, the reunion with his abuser, his father's distrust, the horrible accident in the copper mines resulting in the loss of many lives, Lleu's denouncement of him in front of their cousins, the humilation of having the wooden sword held at his throat...

The original plan was that Medraut kidnaps Lleu, intending to turn him over to Morgause, who in turn, plans to trade Lleu's life for the throne. Provided Morgause keeps her word (which I doubt), Lleu would be released once Medraut has been crowned king. I'm convinced that Medraut would make a great king had he ascended the throne under normal circumstances and Lleu raising an army against him would be detrimental to the common folk.

However, since Medraut is trying to usurp the throne through treachery with the help of his mother and turning his back on anyone who has ever had a positive influence on him, I assume that left on his own, he will easily fall back into old habits (sex with Morgause) and Morgause will use this to extend her influence over Medraut, stoking his worst desires and fears to establish herself as his only ally and bind herself to him. An outcome that makes my stomach turn but that I find disturbingly realistic is Morgause marrying Medraut in order to become queen. Exerting control through sexual abuse is her M.O., she did it with his father and now she's doing it with his sons too. Her original plan was to seduce Arthur and make him crown her his queen, the only thing that has changed is that she moved her interest from her brother to his son. I don't doubt it that if Medraut were to become too defiant for her liking, she would dispose of him as soon as she's with child.

Morgause and Medraut would co-rule Camelot and depending on how broken Medraut is, Morgause would be sole ruler while Medraut would merely be king in name/her right hand. It would be an endless battle between him and her. She would behave like a tyrant and Medraut would spend most of his time doing damage control. Although he would finally have his childhood dream fulfilled, he would be deeply unhappy. If Lleu and his army blew down the gates of Camelot, he would welcome his death with open arms. Medraut has taught Lleu anything except how to kill. It would be very poetic if the first human life Lleu takes is that of his brother.

I view Medraut as a very tragedy-coded character who sometimes escapes into constructed narratives and stories in order to make sense of the things that are happening to him. For example in "no human hands to touch" Medraut references Oedipus and Jocasta when Morgause forces him to have sex with her after she had drugged him.

Even if Lleu spared Medraut's life because his experiences made him more understanding of Medraut's circumstances, Medraut would punish himself brutally. I can imagine vividly how he would gouge out his eyes with the needle of Morgauses brooch and then travel through the kingdom as a healer to atone for his crimes. Lleu would become King, beloved by the commoners that had given him shelter when he was in hiding and those who fought side by side with him against Morgause, and he would be a good King to them but the character growth cost him his family and innocence. He'll never be the Lord of Spring again.

But I'm looking too far in the future and presupposing that both Artos and Morgause won't be playing dirty. I don't think Artos would be giving in so easily without attempting to retrieve Lleu through other means (hostage exchange, secret rescue mission, setting up a trap for Medraut). Just as I believe that Morgause won't see this coming and punish Lleu accordingly. Let's not forget that she was very open about her desire to rape Lleu.

I suspect that part of the reason why Medraut didn't turn Lleu over to Morgause was Agravain's reminder about what Morgause was planning to do with Lleu once she has him in her clutches. It would be fear but also possessiveness. “My heart surged with jealousy and fear: and all you did was to look at him”.

In an AU where Medraut wins Morgause would be the only true winner as Medraut suffers. He would be forced to be her puppet king and sex slave. Trapped in a position where he would have to witness his mother inflict the same torture on his brother that he went through as a child and unable to do anything against it. He can't turn his eyes away, she would make him complicit in the abuse too.

Medraut would feel a cross of three different emotions, primarily guilt, which he would drown out by his anger and jealousy of the attention Morgause is giving Lleu, that he would redirect towards his brother.

How much Medraut's soul blackens depends greatly on how sensibly Artos negotiates with him after the kidnapping of Lleu. It's incredibly delusional of him to think taking Artos' heir hostage would make him publically admit his mistakes and mean it. If anything it would cause Artos to abandon Medraut entirely and lure him into a trap where soldiers in hiding are waiting to kill him. The betrayal would break Medraut's heart. His father's ultimate rejection of him would permanently destroy his relationship with Lleu. You can bet after Artos' death Medraut would be projecting all his daddy issues on Lleu.

At first Lleu would fight him ferociously, as he has fought him on anything. Soon these periods of rebellions would be punctuated by episodes of depression and suicidal ideation. But after a certain amount of time filled with struggle and punishments he would submit, or at least pretend to submit and bid his time until he saw a chance for escape.

The first months of imprisonment by Morgause would be pure torture for Lleu. Solitary confinement, sexual violence, attempted mindbreak, medical torture are on the daily schedule. Even if Morgause were to keep her word and release Lleu once she's finished with him, any man surviving this ordeal would only be a hallow shell of his former self. I don't think Morgause would be stupid enough to let the trueborn heir run around making alliances with powerful noble houses and kings beyond the sea while her bastard son is working hard to gain legitimacy and get the local lords on his side. Pretending to keep up her end of the deal, she would use a slow working poison on Lleu that builds up in his body until it kills him a few months after his release or the torture she has subjected him to would have taken such a toll on his body and mind that he would never be able to lead an army. BUT! That kind of scenario is too bleak for me that's why I'm moving to another! 😃

Remember how I mentioned earlier how Morgause views her son as an extension of herself and her nephew as an extension of her brother and how Medraut hurting Lleu would be as if she were to do the same things to Artos? I could imagine that Morgause would find Medraut's hypocricy endlessly entertaining. Her son condemns the incest between her and Artos (and himself) yet he lusts after his younger brother and is choking on his own jealousy just like she did. She would force Medraut to rape Lleu in order to destroy their bond, to rip his eyes open to the truth that they were both birds of a feather and make Lleu lose faith in his brother's goodness.

Medraut realizes if he continues to fuck Lleu he could spare him alot of pain. He is caught between a rock and a hard place. It's either him or Morgause. He doesn't really have a choice. If he calls Lleu to his bedchambers at night then he has ensured that Lleu is not alone and vulnerable to Morgause and Morgause would tolerate this kind of protection to a certain extend, because to her it's a sign of beautiful corruption that has taken root in Medraut's heart.

(and when Medraut and Lleu grow even closer she gets jealous of course.)

Maybe they have fucked up threesomes together and Lleu and Medraut bond over their shared trauma. If Morgause thought it would destroy their bond then she would be only partially correct. Something between them broke but the broken pieces were forced together incorrectly again and it changed them fundamentally. They are now closer than before. Observing how Morgause treats her son in private would give Lleu the chance to reflect on his past actions towards Medraut and emphatize with his situation. Although he would never excuse his crimes, he would feel very sorry that these things happened to Medraut and beseech him to be better than his mother.

Morgause wouldn't be succeeding in killing Lleu's spark of fighting spirit completely and it's mainly Medraut's merit for holding his protective hand over Lleu when he can. I don't think that Lleu would break in the same way as Medraut broke under Morgause's torture given that contrary to Lleu Medraut was given to Morgause as a child and lacked familial love, but he would develop some kind of stockholm syndrome/captive-captive bonding with Medraut where he yearns for his comfort but also has moments of explosive anger and emotional outbursts that manifest itself in physical violence pointed at Medraut. In an unguarded moment Lleu would stab Medraut with a fork and Medraut would respond the same way he always had with mockery, threats, another violation of his bounderies, drugs or withdrawl of help. They would be deadly towards each other if left alone for too long. It's Morgause's dangerous presence and Medraut's distate for her cruel machinations that make him take on the role of the protector again.

The following quote summarized their relationship very well:

The brothers enter a vicious cycle where Morgause hurts Lleu and Medraut rushed to his help and heals him, but he enjoys his role as the sadistic caretaker too much. Justifying doing things he shouldn't be doing, causing Lleu to either resign him to his fate or lash out in his hopelessness and suffer the consequences: Morgause's punishment and Medraut's inaction.

Some day when Morgause has tested something particulary nasty on Lleu, I can see Medraut offering himself up to Morgause from time to time to lessen Lleu's pain just like back then when he was becoming Morgause's test subject in the stead of the children of the servants that she'd been poisoning in pursuit of her research.

Lleu turning suicidal a few weeks after imprisonment would be another turning point for Medraut. I don't know if it would be enough for Medraut to help Lleu escape since he's aware the foundation of his power is Lleu's submission. He burned all bridges and cannot go back to his family. And if his father is dead or he is dead to him what is stopping Medraut from acting on his urges? Another reason why he might hesitate to let go of Lleu is that he is lonely and Lleu keeps him sane. Medraut letting Lleu go would mean accepting that they would see each other again at the battlefield and would have to kill each other. It'd be their last dance.

A way that could lead to this particular ending could be Medraut making occasionally bets and competitions with Lleu in exchange for something he wants, which could provide him with crucial information and guide him to his escape. Lleu's freedom vs total obedience would be their final bet with the highest stakes and perhaps Medraut would lose this one on purpose.

#I got a bit carried away hehe ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა #the winter prince #medlleu #headcanons #tw sa mention #tw child abuse mention #question asked by yono in my dm's but the answer far outgrew the word limit

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