Talk:Royal Round Table/@comment-96.242.179.217-20130819055430/@comment-5674726-20130825004723

''True, but aside from the fact that he indeed (ridicuously!) attacked his son in the end, the commoners that Arthur had knighted were the ones who freed Camelot and Uther himself from Morgana and Morgause's reign. He should have seen by now that they had served Camelot well on many occasions. Since he wasn't dumb but saw that the knights were skilled fighters and absolutely loyal to Arthur and Camelot, even in regard to the ban of magic, his wrath made no sense at all.''

How aware was he of how the kingdom was being run during the last year of his life? He was a shell of his former self and, even if it registered with him that there were a bunch of knighted commoners(1) running around, I don't think that he was in any state to care, one way or the other.

After he was dead, he evidently knew something of what was going on, and knew or guessed what lay ahead for Camelot, and was truly concerned that Arthur was weakening the kingdom and that knighting commoners was part of the problem.

(1) I maintain that it was very disrespectful of Arthur to knight the commoners. At the time, he technically was no longer Crown Prince and wouldn't have had the authority to bestow knighthoods even if he was but, more than that, he knew that it was something his father would not approve of and went ahead with it anyway. As far as he knew, Uther was going to be quite capable of retaking the throne if/when Morgana was defeated so he was deliberately undermining his authority. How did he think the conversation was going to go?

ARTHUR: I know that you've been through a lot and that you won't approve of what I'm about to say but, while you were captured, I knighted four commoners.

UTHER: Only the King can bestow a knighthood, you twit! You tapped their shoulders with a sword.

If Arthur felt strongly about it, he could have waited until he was King to knight them. He had no business doing it during Uther's reign when he knew full well that he would not agree to it if he was there to voice his opinion.