User blog comment:Knightofthecart/Uther, the once and future king, part I/@comment-5102537-20130101112329/@comment-5102537-20130212135340

I totally agree ReganX. I believe that when Igraine died, Uther was convinced that sooner or later all magic will corrupt. Of course, aside from his grief and rage over her death which surely was the main reason for him to start the Great Purge. In his point of view it all must have made total sense to destroy magic and with it its devotees since not even he himself was able to resist the tempting power and to control it when he was even friends with a very powerful High Priestess who evidentally betrayed him.

In the beginning of the show I always thought that it should be so easy to make clear to him that magic was only a tool and that it only turns evil in the hands of those who misuse it. This changed when the show told us that magic was very dangerous and uncontrollable. It was much more than just something like a sword that only caused damage by the one who wields it. A sword could never manipulate and take control over the one who holds it, unlike magic that tempted people and promised them power over others while they were kind of possessed by it. Which is why it corrupted so often and to that extent. It was also evident when Alice was controlled by the manticore. While she herself was a good person, as it seems, she could not defend herself or others against the power of the manticore which almost caused the death of both Uther and herself. Corruption and helplessness all over.

I think, in Uther's mind, magic/the Old Religion could be compared to the devil that whispers sweet words in your ear and promises you happiness while he destroys everything at the same time the moment you get involved with him.

I've often heard from some others that Uther actually didn't love Igraine because he sacrificed her willingly (thanks to the chaos of "The Sins of the Father") but what you wrote, Regan, seems to be much more likely. If it was all only about an heir he could as well have produced an heir with another woman. Since he loved Igraine so much and wanted to be with her, he turned to magic. If he hadn't loved her so much he wouldn't have started the Great Purge at all because he woudn't have had a reason for it. Same goes for the weird theory to "easy his guilt". If he hadn't loved Igraine then why should he have felt guilt over her death? Guilt couldn't have been the reason for his hatred for magic if he hadn't loved Igraine. It was grief, desperation, fear and total distrust of everything that had to do with magic.