Thread:Fimber/@comment-11058666-20150808041857/@comment-5102537-20150811112225

I'm not offended at all, don't worry :-)

Uther is a very complicated and multifacetted character, which makes him the most interesting one to me. I'm easily bored by merely evil characters that always grin when thinking of their next malicuous plan. Same goes for only brutal and violent characters or those who only enjoy their own brilliant mind and feel satisfied by killing others (or simply don't care "for the greater good"), for example all the bad guys in the James Bond movies. Or the antagonists of the Die Hard movies. And I really love the Die Hard movies. In short: I find psychopaths extremely boring and irritating.

Uther was different. Despite the horrible things he did, he wasn't evil. Not really good but neither evil. In almost every scene it was obvious that his biggest enemy was himself and his grief and desperation. He wanted to do the right thing and to protect Camelot and his children from the evil outside, additionally to his vengeance. Yet, he didn't enjoy killing his enemies or those he considered his enemy.

Drowing children went a bit too far for my taste for a show like "Merlin", since it worked very well without too cruel actions in the beginning. On the other hand, in comparison to what really happened during the dark ages and what people, especially the leaders, really did to others, Uther's actions were even "mild". As a king of his time era, he had to do quite horrible things in order to keep the kingdom safe. People weren't as evolved and ethically sophisticated like we are today. And given that we are still a very cruel and ignorant species when regarding all the insanity of our time all over the world, only a few things have changed.

Another thing is that his actions in his past haunted him when he was under the influence of the mandrake root. It triggers the worst fears and regrets, and killing the children was one the heaviest burdens of his conscience. I think that Igraine was a symbol for his own conscience, which is why she appeared in his visions. To make the mandrake root work, Morgause needed Uther's tears. And the tears represented what tortured his mind the most. He clearly said that he didn't enjoy killing sorcerers. So he thought that he had to do it in order to keep his children safe and to defend Camelot.

Let's not forget that even before Igraine died at the hands of magic, the land was almost destroyed by magic and the followers of the Old Religion. I think that Igraine's death was what "opened his eyes" in regard to the evil nature of the Old Religion. He brought peace to an almost destroyed land and built up the kingdom to the most powerful and most progressed one. Most of the magic-users and sorcerers we saw on the show were indeed evil, even those who didn't seek revenge on Uther.

Of course, a genocide was the wrong way, no doubt about it. However, the Old Religion was extremely dangerous, especially the Triple Goddess and, as we could see, so were the High Priestesses. Nimueh, Morgause, Morgana - they killed thousands of people, didn't care at all for others and even killed and tortured their own kin. Nobody was an angel on "Merlin".

Anyway, Uther was torn apart inside, a very tragic character, and I'm convinced that he had the potential for redemption. Unfortunately, the show destroyed it all with his last appearance as a spirit. An episode that reduced his character to absurdity.