Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-110.33.239.213-20121226023324/@comment-5674726-20130929142155

Fimber wrote: As an inspiration for democracy and equality, Arthur was great, as were Merlin, Gaius and Gwen. If they were the ones who brought this kind of thoughts up, thoughts that people can and will remember, great. All is fine. A huge part of the world has a democracy today, so people could say "see, legend has it that Arthur and his friends were the ones who started it all." But the thing is, there is democracy already and that's why I think that it would have been a better idea if the Golden Age/peace/whatever had happened back then during the story so that it can be remebered. It should have stayed in the past as a pleasant thought and as a lecture, but it was a bad idea to make the viewers believe that it is all going to happen in the future.

I think that the very first lines of the series may have been spot on:

''“No young man, no matter how great, can know his destiny. He cannot glimpse his part in the great story that is about to unfold. Like everyone, he must live and learn. And so it will be for the young warlock arriving at the gates of Camelot. A boy that will, in time, father the legend. His name: Merlin.”''

It cannot be a coincidence that, in the same episode that the viewer is told that no young man can know his destiny, Merlin is essentially told "Hey, young man, this is your destiny!"

The opening narration tells us that Merlin will father a legend. This is true. Thanks to Merlin, Arthur will be remembered as a man who proved that he was the rightful King by drawing the sword from the stone, for defending the kingdom against multiple magical and non-magical attacks, despite tremendous odds against him, for defeating various deadly beasts, etc. However, nothing is said about how much truth there will be to the legend. As viewers, we know that most of the work was done by Merlin but, as long as his role is not known, Arthur will be remembered as a legend and it is this legend that will inspire others.

It doesn't matter that Arthur was an average monarch, at best, or that it's more likely than not that Camelot fell to rack and ruin within a couple of decades of his death. His legend is his legacy, one that people may draw inspiration from when they need to but I would say that Arthur himself is not coming back, as he will never be needed in the flesh.