Meri'du

Meri'du is the het ship between Merida and Mor'du from the Brave fandom.

Canon
When Merida was little she and her mother were nearly attacked by the demon bear she had heard about from her father. Who faced the beast while Elinor spirited Merida to safety. Since then Merida would hear her father constantly talk about that encounter with Mor'du and how he plans to kill the beast to revenge the lost of his leg. Merida showed no pity or thought about Mor'du from believing him to be a dangerous animal, and hasn't let her childhood encounter with the bear stop her from doing into the woods, where she can be herself than a princess. Merida was also familiar with the old story of an ancient lost kingdom that fell when the oldest prince refused to respect his father's wishes and wanted the throne all to himself. She payed the legend no mind from believing it to be a story, despite her mother telling Merida that legends ring with truth. A lesson that Merida finds herself to understand the day after she turned her mother into a bear.

When the wisps led Merida to the ruins of the ancient kingdom from the story, she began to put things together from seeing the four thrones and a broken stone carving of the four brothers. With the oldest prince being separated from the others. Much like Merida had done with her mother on the tapestry of their family. Once Merida touched the stone carving she has a vision of her damaging the tapestry before seeing the oldest prince axing the carving, along with the prince's human face turning into the face of a bear. The witch had told Merida about a prince who had also asked for a fate changing spell and using his ring as payment, just as she had given the witch her mother's necklace for the same spell. As soon as Merida realised who and what became of the oldest prince, she comes face to face with Mor'du. Who has turned the ruins of his fallen home into his lair. That the princess just happens to be trapped in. Merida managed to shoot Mor'du with one of her arrows before she made her escape with her mother.

Not wanting her mother to suffer the same fate as Mor'du and believing that the vision she got from the stone carving of Mor'du and his brothers had given her was a clue on how to undo the spell, Merida assumes that fixing the tapestry would mend the bond that was torn by pride. When it fact it was the bond between Merida and her mother. Mor'du had accepted his new form and refused to make peace with his brothers, before he killed them in cold blood. While Merida was prepared to take responsibility for her selfish driven actions and to fix the bonds between her mother and the people she shamed with her earlier actions. Merida had tried to retell the legend of the fallen kingdom she visited to help the Lords understand what she has from it. Her father, the Lords and their first born children were the four princes in their own story, with how she came pretty close to becoming the selfish essence of the prince who became Mor'du. Even though she had given the spell to her mother rather than taking it herself like he did, the lords and their king coming close to ending their alliance would have led to a war that might have destroyed their kingdom. Before Merida had her realisation she wouldn't have minded a war between them, until she saw the results of the war that was caused by the selfish pride of Mor'du. Merida choosing to set things right and to keep the peace allowed her to break an old tradition so a new one can be made, for her and the lords' sons to have a say in their fate. While the anger and pride of Mor'du was the source of his kingdom's fall and it's memory to fade into legend.

After Merida kept her father from killer her mother, Mor'du appears and began to attack them. Merida tries to defend herself from the demon bear, until he picked her down and was about to kill her with his fangs while she cries out in fear. If it wasn't for Bear Elinor saving her daughter from him. After Merida watches as one of the large stones that make up the ring of stones crush Mor'du to death, she sees his human spirit emerging from the his deceased bear body. The prince's soul was finally freedom from the spell and form that turned him into a monster. He looks at Merida and her mother before he bows to them in thanks. His spirit turns into a wisp before he takes off, leaving Merida to also free her mother from the same spell.

Video Game
The video game of the Pixar film has Merida clearing up the dark blight that Mor'du used to corrupt the Waystones. Resulting in the witch's magic to be twisted as well, as it causes Elinor to be turned into a bear. Merida's journey to clear the Waystones had her running into the demon bear more than once. One of their encounters has her seeing Mor'du corrupting one of the Waystones, forcing Merida to fight off the monsters from his blight while he takes off to corrupt other Waystones. At the final dungeon of the game, Merida gets a close up face to face encounter with the bear, while she was climbing. The shock of this encounter causes Merida to lose her fall, luckily she wasn't injured or intimidated by Mor'du. She was ready to face him in order to end his dark blight for good.

Like in the 2012 film, Merida is able to learn what Mor'du had failed to understand, when it comes to the dangers of anger and mistrust. Allowing Merida to be free of her own darkness while Mor'du had became trapped in his for years. Resulting in the blight he was spreading. Until the final boss battle, as Merida fights the monsters he summoned through the elemental stone pillars of earth, fire, wind and ice. He grows weaker after she defeats them, by facing the four elemental groups one at a time until she gets to the final group battle. Using all of the power he had to summon and control them for one last battle with the princess, Mor'du gets defeated. With all that remains of his blight gone and the kingdom finally being freed from the threat of Mor'du, Merida is able to turn her mother and brothers back to normal, along with her gaining the wisdom and strength she'll need for when she becomes queen.

Fanon
After people began to parallel Merida's selfish actions to the ones of the demon bear when he was still human, they realised that the two weren't so different to one another. Along with how Merida came close to repeating his story, before realising her mistakes and fought to fix them, it inspired a small group to ship Merida with human Mor'du. To make the idea less weird with those who don't want to ship Merida with an animal, and is supported by those who enjoy "Disney Princess x Villain" ships. Even though some do question the age gap between them, since Mor'du was a a grown man when he consumed the spell while Merida is still in her teens. Which is why some fanfics bridge the gap, to keep the ship from being attacked by haters. Despite the fact that most stories of the ship have Merida being appeared by the redeemed ghost of the oldest prince. Which could be connected to the AU's of Merida having an ability to see and speak with the souls of the dead.

Mor'du's bear form, however, could have people treat it as a friendship instead. By having Merida tame the beast, some dark AU's do have Merida allying herself with Mor'du; when they don't have her wearing his bear skin. Along with having her repeating his story all the way through, or have her being turned into a bear. Like her OUAT counterpart had done by taking the potion that turned a certain prince into a bear. Strengthening the view of bears being seen as Merida's iconic animal and the fact that some fans like to feature her in a bear related theme in their artwork of the Scottish princess.

There are theories that after Mor'du died his human soul gained the realisation Merida had, after having his human mind being sealed away by the beast he allowed himself to become. As it explains him appearing to be thankful towards Merida and her mother, before he took off as a wisp. While the other Wisps that appeared before Merida were believed to be the souls of Mor'du's brothers, asking Merida for her in freeing their oldest brother's soul from the bear. Most video games have Merida being surrounded by wisps or having some sort of connection with them, so the chances of those blue colored spirits being the souls of human Mor'du and his three brothers wouldn't be too surprising. As the bow that Mirrorverse Merida used is a wisp that becomes it, along with her super power move having one of her arrows turn into a roaring bear's face when released.

FanFiction.Net currently has 12 fanfics with only 2 placed under pairing.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION
 * Merida/Mor'du tag on FanFiction.Net

Trivia

 * A Jungle Run app game version of Brave had Merida being chased by Mor'du, instead of a giant boulder.
 * In Once Upon A Time Merida allows herself to be turned into a bear. Having her serve as the Mor'du of the series, until the effects of the Mor'du potion was undone.