Talk:The Disir (episode)/@comment-5995315-20130129233031/@comment-5995315-20130131202005

I agree that those quotes show that, as far as Kilgharrah and Nimueh are concerned, Merlin is a "creature" of the Old Religion. Both of them are creatures. They're not seeing any human side to Merlin because they don't have a human perspective.

I  don't see how being a creature of the Old Religion makes Merlin automatically a member of the Old Religion unless creatures are considered a single race as opposed to a confessional grouping. If Merlin is already a member according to identity, Nimueh makes no sense saying, "You should join me." I'm in the middle of re-watching season one, so I'll have another look at that exchange in light of what you're saying, today or tomorrow.

When Merlin said that there could be no place for magic in Camelot, it must indeed  have looked to Arthur a lot like something Uther would say. Certainly there's no reason to think allowing magic under the terms the Disir laid down would do anything but cost lives and plunge Camelot back into the Dark Ages. So to me there's a sense in which Merlin really is stating his misgivings aloud as well as denying himself for Arthur's sake. As with many episodes in the series it seems possible that the same statement or scene can be taken to convey several messages.

''If we consider the fact that Merlin and Morgana both were creatures of the Old Religion, standing on opposite sides but none of them really wanted to restore magic in the land later on the show [...] we start to wonder what the first three seasons and the actual plot actually had to do with season four and most of all season five. ''

That part I don't think I understand well. If anything, I would have said it was really season three where things generally started changing irreversibly. But to me, all five seasons  deal with magic and how it's used. Merlin and Morgana weren't under any specific orders. Arthur, as far as I remember, was the only one put under a particular obligation to restore magic and the Old Religion.