That makes sense, about Arthur being Bradley. Since there's no knowledge Arthur has about modern times, he wouldn't be able to adapt at all. And if an actor suddenly became his role and wouldn't snap out of it, he'd be quickly put into psychiatric care. So if Arthur went to modern times... it would be pretty awful for him.

What do you think Arthur would do with his sudden lack of predestination, though? Part of me thinks he would carry on his greatness even outside of the place where he was Prince - like in the village. He likes working with real people against real injustice. I think he might be able to get really into it if he had some help adjusting.

I think that the nature/tone of Merlin is so close to crack it hardly even counts - in fact, really serious Merlin fic would weird me out. There is a lot of crack in the fandom. but dude yours is some of my favorite :D