User blog:Knightofthecart/What happened to the young boy who came into Gaius’ chambers just a few years ago ?

 At the moment,  The Disir  is the most important episode of the series 5, since the (in)famous nine words of Merlin will affect the whole series. If we want to understand why Merlin acted like he did, if we don't want to take it like a simple twist of the writers made to bother, to annoy, to surprise or to irritate the audience, we have to take seriously what Gaius asked him : "What happened to the young boy who came into my chambers just a few years ago ?"

 Merlin answered that he grew up. Ok, but, how come the man who learned the meaning of duty has figured out the death of Mordred ? Where the warlock has left his humanity ? For which we loved him so much. Where is the Merlin who couldn't watch everyone's grief (cf.  The Crystal Cave ) ? Is this the meaning of duty ? Really ? Let's take a look back in few excerpts of previous episodes to realize how much his advice to Arthur, these nine words, is really upsetting.

 In  The Beginning of the end , Merlin asked Kilgharrah why he told him not to protect Mordred who was just a boy at this time and Kilgharrah answered that Mordred was going to kill Arthur. But at this very moment, Merlin was not convinced: "The future isn't set in stone", he replied. The warlock didn't want to accept that the future was written, like Gaius, he thought that the future was as yet unshaped : "It is we that shape it. It is you, Merlin. The decisions you make. The actions you take. Remember that." said Gaius in  The Witch's Quickening . Ok, he was conflicted and decided to do nothing in the first place, but, finally, his humanity got the upper hand over his fear of the prophecy and he saved the boy. It seems that Merlin, in The Disir, has forgotten Gaius’ lecture. Is this the meaning of growing up ?

 In one of the best scenes (perhaps the most thrilling one) between him and Kilgharrah, in the The Crystal Cave, he said that there’s no need for people to suffer and command the Dragon to help him healing Morgana. He took the risk to let Morgana trying once more to kill the king. And now ? He is ready to watch everyone’s grief ? Is this the meaning of growing up ? There must be another way as he used to say ! No, apparently, this time, there is not. But what’s the difference between this time and the previous ones ?

 In Le Morte d’Arthur, he was pissed off at Kilgharrah, because the Dragon had him trade his mother’s life for Arthur’s. In this occasion, he claimed out loud that he was not the Dragon’s kin, that the only family he had was his mother. In short, he claimed his belonging to human race ; he is not only a creature of the Old Religion. He is an inbetween, a heros, like Hercules in the Greek mythology. That is what induces his compassionate care for the mankind. Is set aside this compassion the meaning of growing up ? It reminds me what Arthur had been told by his father when he wanted to save Merlin’s life, in The Poisoned Chalice : “ This boy won't be the last to die on your behalf. You're going to be King. It's something you'll have to get used to.” Is this what Merlin had to learn, to let someone die for the sake of the kingdom ?

 In a nutshell, Merlin, the warlock of “there is always another way”, compassionate for his kind, questioning the oracles, has apparently gone for a Merlin closest to Uther or Kilgharrah or even Morgana and farest from Gaius: The end justifies the means as harsh as they can be. One can say that, in The Disir, Mordred is no more a little boy, is not Morgana, a dear friend or Hunith, Merlin’s mother. Perhaps, but it’s not enough.



 We have to ask the question of Gaius again and again : “ What happened to the young boy who came into Gaius’ chambers just a few years ago ?” (who said that Gaius has to die ?)



 On the other hand, one can propose a psychological explanation of Merlin’s behaviour. Mordred is the first real threat to Merthur bromance. Arthur is clearly developing with Mordred a father/son relationship (remember the legend : Mordred is Arthur’s son, and after more than three years, there is no baby on the horizon, but nobody cares). Since Merlin, it’s the first time that someone uses the expression “fond of” about Arthur : in The Servant of two masters, Morgana said that Arthur was fond of the boy, Merlin, and now, in The Disir, Gwen said that his husband has grown fond of Mordred. Perhaps Merlin is blinded by jealousy. He can’t tolerate that someone else takes his place, the first one, on the side of his dear Arthur. It’s clear for me that Mordred is not a traitor, he’s probably looking for recognition, a father or a mentor and he’s ready to renounce magic to get them (Has anyone else noticed that he never uses magic ?). In other words, he doesn’t know that he is Arthur’s doom and, at this time, doesn’t want to know.



 Last but not least, there’s a way to understand the nine words of Merlin, but it didn’t appeared that it was the motive of his action. The request of the triple goddess is not acceptable. We have to take seriously the words of the Disir : “Embrace the Old Religion”, “Bow to the goddess”. It’s one thing to allow magic in the kingdom and stop prosecuting the sorcerers, it’s another to bow to the goddess. It’s like one priest asked the Prime Minister of England to bow to the Pope. The answer of the Prime Minister would be : The Christians can live freely in our country, but there is no discussion of bowing to the Pope. Arthur has to maintain the balance between the work of his father and the request of the goddess.