Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Three/@comment-5102537-20131005094057/@comment-5102537-20131103102054

Edrea wrote:

I agree with Fimber when so many inconsistent happened here (again!)...throughout the series about Arthur and Gwen and so many more counting days until Arthur became King was very cold and cruel..but something just popped in my mind, is it possible that a King when he is very old, retired and give his position to his son even though he is still alive?

If the King can, maybe the writers had that in mind when they repeatedly making almost everybody said "counting the days until Arthur become King", although even if that is possible and Uther still alive when Arthur do all the things Uther despised, he would get serious heart attack :)

Yes, a king could resign. However, knowing Uther, Gwen surely doubted that he would ever do unless he's seriously ill or otherwise too weak - which would also be a quite indelicate wish. Arthur would have to act against tradition while his father is alive, which would cause a lot of trouble. Uther wasn't the only one who honoured this tradition but a lot of nobles/royals/kings most certainly shared this point of view. I doubt that a resignation ever came to anyone's mind. Uther told Arthur in season one "One day I will be dead and you will be King". There was no sign of Uther ever retiring up until circumstances would have forced it on him in season four, had he survived and not regained his full strength.

Counting the days until Arthur is king meant counting the days until Uther is dead.