Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-184.88.25.24-20131112235645/@comment-24492510-20141106154241

ReganX wrote:

GianG wrote: Many evidences show that she is older than Artù, but (in my opinion), she is only 1 year (if not 1 year, 2 years) older than him. Also, Merlino is not 1 year younger than Artù... He is at least 2 and an half years younger and not more than 3 and an half years younger.

PS: Who said that in the script she had Merlino's age? There's an image from the script for the first episode that describes Morgana thus:

"She is about the same age as MERLIN, but her obvious sophistication makes her seem slightly older."

I'll see if I can post the image.

Merlin's age was never stated. Logic dictates that he is at least a year Arthur's junior but beyond that, we cannot make any assumptions. It hinges on how long it took for Uther to track Balinor down, as Hunith can't have been very far along in her pregnancy if she had not told him.

As to Arthur and Morgana's birth order, my trouble with her being older is that I find that it doesn't fit with Uther's backstory. It is very clear that he loved his wife deeply so I can't imagine that he had an affair while she lived. I can't picture Morgana being so much older than Arthur that her conception predated Uther's marriage to Ygraine. Something about the way he talked about Vivienne being lonely gave me a sense that the affair took place not long after Ygraine's death, when Uther was grieving and also lonely.

Also, one of my little pet theories is that Morgana was Uther's punishment from the Disir, who tried him in absentia for the Great Purge.

Based on Arthur's experience, it would appear that the punishment may be one that a person can escape by complying with the Disir, in the sense that, had Arthur embraced the Old Religion as they required of him, the chain of events that led to him dying at Mordred's hand would not have happened. Whether they gave him the life of a loyal friend or his eventual killer would depend on his future actions regarding magic and the Old Religion.

In Uther's case, he was given a child with magic and his actions would determine whether he would have a daughter who loved him and who would be loyal to her family, or one who would turn on him, break his heart, do great harm to the kingdom and eventually bring about the death of his son.

Unfortunately for him (and Arthur) the Disir don't play fair and don't spell out what they need to do, and the consequences for not doing so. I know that Merlin is at least 1 year younger than Arthur, but we have also another clue about his age...

Since he was described as a "young boy" in Series 1-3 and as a "young man" in Series 4-5, I assumed that Merlin is less than 21 in Series 1-3 and at least 21 in Series 4-5.

There are three main possiblities about Merlin ages:


 * Merlin is around 2 and a half year younger than Arthur: so he is 18 in Series 1, 18-19 in Series 2, 20 in Series 3 and 22 in Series 4.


 * Merlin is around 3 years younger: he is 17-18 in Series 1, 18 in Series 2, 19-20 in Series 3 and 21-22 in Series 4.


 * Merlin is around 3 and a half years younger: he is 17 in Series 1, 17-18 in Series 2, 19-20 in Series 3 and 21 in Series 4.

About Morgana... I searched the first episode script on the Internet and I found this:



You were right: Morgana is around Merlino's age! Now, I think that Morgana is 2 years younger than Arthur.

I thought that Morgana was older than Arthur, because of some reasons (she was slightly older in the legend, she battled him at sword fighting, she thought to be the rightfully queen...). But the main reason (that makes me think this) is a wrong head canon that I had.

I first saw the Series in 2008-2009 (in Italy Series were shown later),  I assumed that Morgana was younger than Arthur, because she seemed younger and that she was "Arthur's mother" 's daughter, because Uther said that she was his stepdaughter. In  Series 2, when it was stated that Ygraine died at Arhtur's death, I automatically assumed that she was the eldest child.

Anyway, your theory about the Disir is very realistic and I agree with you about it.