Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Two/@comment-5102537-20130727145913/@comment-5674726-20130730212138

Fimber wrote:

But yes, I had often wondered why a manservant was never be seen, except for this one episode, and why Gwen looked after him after Morgana's betrayal. Of course, it was plot convenience - it not only showed what a hard working and kind woman Gwen was but it also gave her a reason to stay in Camelot. With Morgana gone, Gwen had no job anymore but at the same time they wanted her to appear in the episodes to move the relationship with Arthur to the next level (kissing each other, Agravaine turning Arthur against her when he breaks up with her for a while). In reality, a woman would have never been "hired" to look after a male "patient", especially not the king. Uther was quite helpless and literally exposed to Gwen in many ways. This was tremendously humiliating for Uther since there was little to no privacy for him anymore. Gwen was obviosuly allowed to come to his chambers whenever she wanted or had to. Who knows what exactly were her obligations. And seeing him being a helpless shadow of himself most certainly would have never been tolerated if he had been lucid enough to object. Actually, it was quite mean to let Gwen do the job for both her and Uther.

I'd say that Uther's lack of a personal attendant is more because they didn't want the extra character than that Uther didn't have one. It's similar to the way that both Arthur and Morgana have ended up giving up their sole attendant to guests or for other purposes, ie. when Uther told Arthur to lend Merlin to Gaius in The Mark of Nimueh. You'd expect that the castle would be incredibly short-staffed for the king's children to be expected to manage without their servant instead of another servant being appointed to tend to a guest.

What bothered me most about Guinevere as Uther's attendant was that it has to have been the most painful choice Arthur could have made for him. He was catatonic with grief after having Morgana turn against him so the last person who should have been caring for him was her former maidservant, who would be a permanent reminder of Morgana.

If it was Arthur's way of ensuring that Guinevere remained employed in the castle after Morgana was gone, it was incredibly callous of him to do so at the expense of his father's peace of mind, especially when a place could very easily have been found for her in the kitchens, laundry, among the chamber maids, etc. It was also very clear that Guinevere was caring for Uther for Arthur's sake, not for his. I would find it very difficult to believe that there was no servant in the castle who thought well of Uther, and anybody else would have been better in the sense that he wouldn't have had a reminder of Morgana hovering around him when he was vulnerable.