User blog comment:Edrea/Everyone Turned Blind-Eye to Merlin's Power/@comment-5674726-20130715000327/@comment-5674726-20130716143456

''Position that let him go with Arthur everywhere everytime? If King has right hand advisor, what would a prince has?''

A squire, probably. Any knight could have one. However, not only would Merlin have been too old, since squires started at age fourteen, it was one of the stages towards becoming a knight, so a commoner wouldn't be eligible.

''For me, maybe position as servant was good enough if Merlin's tasks were limited only to serve Arthur's needs like bringing his belongings when travelling, preparing his food,clothes, and bath. For washing, polishing, cleaning stables, and other tasks not done at Arthur's side, were somebody else's job.''

Even if Arthur brought Merlin along on longer journeys, when he was expected to be away for at least one night - and wasn't worried about looking soft in front of the other knights because he couldn't manage without a servant - it would still make no sense for Merlin to be brought along half as often as he was. As far as anybody knew, he was a liability in a combat situation rather than an asset and, given how often Arthur complained about his clumsiness for hunting, it would make sense for him to leave Merlin in the castle to wash his socks and find somebody capable of moving quietly if he needed assistance on a hunt. He should certainly have been left behind for short excursions.