The Sword in the Stone

The Sword in the Stone comprises the twelfth and thirteenth episodes of the fourth series of Merlin and is the two-part finale.

Part One
With Morgana at the helm of a vast Southron army, a deadly net is closing in around Camelot. When the sorceress strikes, the ferocity of her attack forces everyone to run for their lives - even Arthur. But Morgana will not let him escape that easily. And so begins a chilling hunt...

Can Merlin save the King from Morgana's clutches? Or has Arthur's luck finally run out?

Part Two
Morgana and Helios have successfully captured Camelot, and Merlin and Arthur are outlaws on the run. Trapped in Ealdor with a ruthless army closing in, their situation becomes desperate. Arthur must take control before Camelot is lost forever, but faced with Agravaine's betrayal and the strength of Morgana's force, the young King has lost his conviction.

Only Merlin can restore his faith, and only an extraordinary act can prove to the King that he was born to rule. Will the young warlock convince Arthur before his dreams of Albion fall to pieces?

Part 1
While Arthur has a feast in Camelot with everyone else, Agravaine knocks out some guards and travels through some tunnels. He then emerges in an unknown location and signals to Morgana and Helios that it is finally time to attack Camelot with their army. Morgana's army attack and burn down many parts of the kingdom while the Knights of Camelot attempt to protect the kingdom. Arthur is then alerted of the attack and he orders everyone to leave the feast while he goes into battle. Merlin, who is helping Gaius treat the wounded, decides to protect Arthur.

Arthur is wounded during the battle after killing many soldiers, but Merlin arrives in time and distracts the soldiers with his magic, allowing both of them to escape. As they hide, Arthur then looks out and sees Agravaine with Morgana, Helios and the army marching into the citadel, finally discovering his uncle's treachery. Enraged at Agravaine's betrayal, Arthur attempts to fight his uncle but Merlin talks him out of it as there are too many soldiers and Arthur is wounded. As Morgana finally captures Camelot, the Knights of Camelot, including Sir Leon, evacuate the citizens and escape from the kingdom, while Merlin and Gaius tend to Arthur's wound. Gaius tells Merlin that they need to evacuate Arthur from the kingdom to Ealdor, but since Arthur is willing to die to protect Camelot, Merlin enchants Arthur, making him confused, and he agrees to leave the kingdom and go to Ealdor. While Merlin and Arthur leave with Percival, Gaius remains behind with Gwaine to distract Morgana, however as Morgana enters, she has Gaius and Gwaine captured and goes for a hunt to find Arthur.

Elyan joins Arthur, Merlin and Percival as they escape the kingdom, but Morgana eventually catches up to them and uses her magic to knock them over, separating Percival from Arthur, Merlin and Elyan. As Percival has disappeared, Merlin and Arthur continue, while Elyan fends of Morgana's soldiers and is later captured. Merlin orders the enchanted Arthur to change his clothes and disguise into a villager, as they contunue their journey to Ealdor. However, along the way they are captured by some smugglers led by Tristan and Isolde, but they allow the disguised Arthur (whom Merlin introduces as a 'simpleton') and Merlin to stay when Merlin tells them that they are heading for Ealdor. Meanwhile, Morgana returns to Camelot and uses a Nathair to torture Elyan who is forced to tell her that Arthur is heading for Ealdor. Morgana then tells Agavaine to go to Ealdor and capture Arthur while imprisoning Elyan with Gaius and Gwaine. During the night, Arthur, under his enchantment, tells Merlin that he finds it hard to be polite to Merlin and that he still has lots to learn to which Merlin tells him to clear their belongings.

The next day, Arthur is free from Merlin's enchantment and demands to know where they are and why he is dressed as a villager. Merlin tells him that Camelot has fallen and that he had to disguise him to prevent his true identity from being revealed to Morgana's men. Arthur when meeting Tristan and Isolde, continues pretending to be a 'simpleton' under Merlin's supervision but when Agravaine catches up and ambushes them, he reveals his true identity to Tristan and Isolde. As they escape the ambush, Tristan reveals that the taxes Arthur gave was the reason why he and Isolde had to become smugglers, making it hard for Arthur to help them. However, when Arthur saves Isolde's life when she is wounded by a soldier, Tristan reluctantly allows Arthur to join them but only does it for Isolde who is grateful to Arthur for saving her.

As they camp, Arthur laments over Agravaine's betrayal, saying that he had been blind to his treachery as he was to Morgana's, but Merlin comforts him, saying that people only hate him as they are hungry for power. Meanwhile, in Camelot, Gwaine is forced to fight a man to get food for Gaius, who is starving, but when he wins, Morgana only gives him a piece of bread and tells him that he has to fight more men to get more food. Arthur, Merlin, Tristan and Isolde eventually arrive in Ealdor where Merlin is reunited with his mother, Hunith. Arthur apologises to Tristan for the taxes he gave which caused him and Isolde to become smugglers, and Tristan forgives him for that and the loss of his cargo during Agravaine's ambush, saying that he still has Isolde. Arthur is then reunited with Gwen, who has been staying in Ealdor since Arthur had her exiled for her apparent betrayal. Gwen tells Arthur that she has missed him and Arthur says that he has also missed her, and they forgive each other.

However, Agravaine later arrives in Ealdor with his men, forcing Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, Tristan, Isolde and Hunith to escape, while Agravaine orders his men to pursue them.



Part 2
To be added.

Cast

 * Merlin - Colin Morgan
 * King Arthur - Bradley James
 * Morgana - Katie McGrath
 * Gaius - Richard Wilson
 * Agravaine - Nathaniel Parker
 * Guinevere - Angel Coulby
 * Great Dragon - John Hurt (Part 2 only)
 * Sir Leon - Rupert Young
 * Sir Percival - Tom Hopper
 * Sir Gwaine - Eoin Macken
 * Sir Elyan - Adetomiwa Edun
 * Isolde - Miranda Raison
 * Tristan - Ben Daniels
 * Helios - Terence Maynard
 * Hunith - Caroline Faber (Part 1 only)

Broadcast
Part One: 17th December 2011

Part Two: 24 December 2011

Trivia for Part 2
1. “I’ll cover our tracks! You keep going – you keep going!” 2. Arthur is hesitant to leave his only friend behind. 3. Secrets are revealed between Agravaine and Emrys. 4. “Everything I cherished between us, everything we had, it’s gone.” 5. “There’s nothing special about me. I’m just like everyone else.” 6. The moment this episode is named after doesn’t happen the way you think it will. 7. “There’s only one person who could’ve done this; only one man who could command a dragon.” 8. The confrontation between Morgana, ******, ****** and **** is short-lived. 9. “What did I do to make you hate me so much?” 10. Three characters die but one of those doesn’t stay that way.
 * The Great Dragon makes two separate appearances, but Aithusa is not in either…
 * Agravaine learns the hard way
 * Merlin tells Arthur a very important bedtime story
 * “You and you alone can restore *** ****’s *****”
 * Old Emrys plays a small, but vital role in the final battle
 * “I’m not long for this world…”
 * Merlin has fresh blood on his hands
 * Arthur is very fond of his new toy
 * Morgana gains a surprising new ally
 * She should have checked under the bed
 * “What happened to you Morgana? I thought we were friends”
 * “I’m going to enjoy killing you, Arthur Pendragon. Not even Emrys can save you now”
 * Gwen and Morgana’s confrontation is short and swift
 * “You’ve made it perfectly clear about how you feel about me and my kind”
 * Two characters won’t make it out of the finale alive
 * “So it’s you! You’re Emrys!”
 * Merlin has made a really terrible mistake earlier in this series. One that is going to come cause him trouble in Series 5…
 * 1) “I came back because you’re the only friend I have and I can’t bear to lose you” Arthur to ?
 * 2) “Well, well, well, look at you. First you go back to rescue your servant, and now you’re getting your hands dirty” ? to Arthur
 * 3) “The one thing I am not afraid of is death” ? to Elyan
 * 4) “They will have to find themselves a new King” ? to Merlin
 * 5) “I can cover many leagues in the blink of an eye, they shouldn’t be too hard to find” ? to Merlin
 * 6) “You’re destined to be Albion’s greatest King. Nothing, not even this stone can stand in your way. Have faith” ? to Arthur
 * 7) “He fled Morgana; he trembled at the sight of you” Helios to ?
 * 8) “You have shown us that you fight for what is right and fair” ? to Arthur
 * 9) “I just don’t ever want to lose you” Arthur to ?