The Crown of the Summer Court

The Crown of the Summer Court is a Merlin/Arthur story by astolat (24,773 words). In a fusion with the Merry Gentry series of books it follows the tradition of high fantasy elves and reveals Merlin to be a half-elven prince and contender for the elven throne. This comes as a surprise to everyone, including Merlin, and Arthur volunteers as Merlin's champion when it becomes clear that Camelot can not escape elven politics as long as the successor hasn't been found.
Author's summary: "The king sent me to get you," Merlin said, with a tone that implied strongly that he wasn't rolling his eyes where Arthur could see, but just wait until his back was turned. "He said you're to get changed into formal clothes and meet him in the Great Hall, there's a delegation coming from the Summer Court."
==About the Story==
The Crown of the Summer Court is one of the most recommended stories in the fandom and has an awesome Morgana in a supporting role. All the characters are as close to canon as one can get with such a premise and another reason for the story's popularity might be that the author found a satisfying and romantic happy end for Merlin and Arthur that still manages to be true to some aspects of the legend. 
About the creation of Crown of the Summer Court:
The Crown of the Summer Court won at the Merlin/Arthur Fanfic Awards Spring 2009 in the category Best Crossover Fic and was a runner-up in the category One-Shot. It also won the Spring 2010 Merlin Slash Awards in the "Fanfiction: Arthur/Merlin" category Best Action/Adventure and was a runner-up in the category Best Epic. 
==Illos, Fic Trailer and Podfic==
The story was illustrated by trolleys. The four images are embedded in the text and show two of the elves who are the main adversaries, a fight scene with Arthur in his role as champion, a key moment where Merlin demonstrates his power, and an romantic/erotic scene close to the end of the story.
The Crown of the Summer Court was translated into Russian by Etne (translator) and Tokyo_number_13 (beta).Корона Летнего Двора (Мерлин/Артур, NC-17, перевод, часть 4 из 4) - закончено, completed 15 March 2010. (Accessed 03 October 2010) While the translation was still a WIP, Nerjaveika created an epic fic trailer based on the Russian translation.Nerjaveika. The Crown of the Summer Court - Fic Trailer, 01 January 2010. (Accessed 02 January 2010) The trailer uses clips from Lord of the Rings for scenes featuring the elven characters in the story. The footage in this vid is from Merlin (seasons one and two), The Lord of the Rings, The Fountain, and The Da Vinci Code. The vid won the Spring 2010 Merlin Slash Awards in the category Best Trailer ("Fanvideos: Arthur/Merlin") and was a runner-up in the category Best Editing. 
FayJay made a podfic of The Crown of the Summer Court. It's 2 1/2 hours long and is available at the Audiofic Archive as MP3, M4a and in audiobook format.pandarus. audiofic: 'The Crown of The Summer Court', 06 August 2009. (Accessed 18 February 2010) 
lim made the fanart In Red And Pale Gold of the work, in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry. lim. fanart: 'In Red And Pale Gold', 25 May 2009. (Accessed 26 August 2014)
==Reactions and Reviews==
===LiveJournal/Dreamwidth Reviews===
===Goodreads Reviews===
:For the fannish reaction to reviews about fanfic at Goodreads see Some Topics Regarding Reviews of Fanfiction Posted at Goodreads
 
 
==References==
Category:Merlin FanfictionCategory:Slash Fanfiction
Category:2009 Fanfiction‎