I saw this post the other day and haven’t been able to find it again, but it was basically saying that Lancelot and Merlin commit actually the stupidest identity fraud ever in 1x05 because given they had to make Lancelot a member of the nobility and went for making him part of a family with 4 sons already there was actually a pretty good chance one of them might have been at court or even a knight themselves who could have very easily been like “wtf you mean? I’ve never seen this guy before in my life?”
And while I think that’s a good point hear me out, the opposite happens.
The, IDK, 3rd son of Lord Whomever of the Place, finds out one day that his little brother is competing to be a knight. He thinks it’s weird they haven’t come to see him for advice since he’s already a knight, but little brothers can be touchy about making their own way so whatever. Then he actually sees Lancelot and does immediately realize “yeah okay. Not my brother.” And he’s totally prepped to tell someone about it, but then this guy claiming to be his little brother fights Arthur and absolutely kicks his ass.
That’s freaking impressive. No one ever does that (as we see in the episode) and it’s hilarious. 3rd son starts thinking maybe he just doesn’t have to tell anyone just yet….
Lancelot has his knighting ceremony and throughout the evening people keep congratulating Terry (that’s what I’m calling 3rd son now) and saying he must be super proud of his little brother and Terry just nods and smiles and generally emulated the Penguins of Madagascar and wondering how to get close enough to his “brother” to hash this out and maybe make a plan, but the man is surrounded by well wishers all evening and the Prince seems to have decided this guy is his best friend and is Lady Morganatic flirting??? So you leave it and figure you can wait until tomorrow…
Then the next morning when every Knight is still incredibly hungover The King makes you all show up to a special hearing about identity fraud and accuses this dude of being an imposter and Terry has literally never met him but being yelled at incredibly sucks and this guy has floppy hero hair and huge brown puppy eyes and he did pass all the knighting tests and Terry already has a ton of brothers and also he might still be a little drunk and before he knows it he’s out in the middle of the room going “Excuse me your majesty, but I think I would know best how many brothers I have. I must say I do not appreciate you yelling at my precious baby brother Linus-“
“Lancelot” The Prince’s man servant says on a cough.
“Lancelot,” Terry corrects. “Right. That’s what I meant.”
And from that moment on just absolutely 110% commits to the lie that Lancelot is absolutely and completely his youngest brother and no he will not be taking questions at this time. He gets bros 1, 2, and 4 in on it. 1 just thinks it’s too late to course correct and thinks the family can maximize on Lancelot’s popularity and chooses that over endangering their reputation by now revealing Terry lied. 2 just thinks the whole thing is hilarious and 4 likes not being the youngest. Lord Whomever is about the Kings Age and is at that stage certain older people get to where they just don’t give a shit and are down for some chaos so he just absolutely perpetuates this whole thing.
The King asks him about it and the Lord is like “What do you mean suspicious. I absolutely and completely have a fifth son in his twenties. Lucious really does make us all so proud what with the Griffin slaying and all.”
“He claims his name is Lancelot.”
“My memory is going in my old age and I have 5 sons. You can’t expect me to keep all the names straight King Igor.”
“My name is Uthor.”
“Is it?”
And Lancelot just gets fully absorbed in to the family utterly without realizing it. He has no idea what it means to be in a family structure like this and he can’t stand how much danger he’s putting this family in and is just agonizing especially because he finds it so nice and then Terry is like “Pack a bag and put in for some leave. Our little sisters want to meet you and one has a birthday coming up.” And it’s soft and sweet and Lancelot let’s them put a flower crown on him which makes him the immediate favorite of the little girls and he gets to go to a real home sometimes and still meets Percival sometime in there and then all the other knights and Merlin and Gwen and Morgana have a family structure to rely on more extensive than just Gaius, less evil than Morgose, and more supportive than Uthor
And narratively Lancelot gets to be in all the episodes and doesn’t get killed off and he’s around for whatever romance dynamic you wanna put him in because I swear Santiago Cabrera could manage romantic chemistry with a brick wall if he had it for a scene partner so anything goes and it’s all because Terry the 3rd Son of Lord Eldridge of the House of Northumberland (all that might be wrong) decided to pull a Mandalorian before it was cool and do some on the spot freeform adoption
