Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season One/@comment-5102537-20130428092325/@comment-5102537-20130430120602

Soliloquising a bit....

This epsiode had some really beautiful scenes, and my favourite one was when the unicorn was resurrected in the end.

I particularly liked that Merlin disapproved of killing this creature and criticised hunting, even though he often accompanied Arthur on hunt trips and surely was aware of the necessity of hunting for food (not that I would ever justify or approve of hunting and killing animals in real life, on the contrary - just referring to those times and the different moral standart).

Arthur and Uther's pride of the horn was so typical warrior-hunter-male behaviour. We killed something, we have a trophy, great! Reminded me a bit of Tom Hank's "I have made fire!" Testosterone all over. :-D  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS7Og1zvdy8

Though killing the Unicorn wasn't funny at all, of course. Hated when Arthur killed it.

Anyway, the Anhora represented the higher power (probably the Old Religion) that was willing to kill thousands of innocent people as some kind of vengeance for the unicorn's death. As usual in this show, we are again witnessing that revenge and vengeance is a main theme and concept on "Merlin" and it actually proves (again) that Uther wasn't the only one who let innocents pay for the loss of a loved one. We already Nimueh, the Anhora/the magic behind it and we will have Mordred and several others who didn't and won't care about innocents when seeking revenge for their personal loss or a loss at all.

The Old Religion/magic/power behind the unicorn is not any better than Uther was when he started the Great Purge after Igraine died. On the contrary -  here the Anhora was simply lecturing Arthur but was well aware that the citizens of Camelot weren't evil or guilty at all, yet he/the magic was/were willing to let them pay for Arthur's mistake, whereas Uther was convinced that magic-users weren't innocent at all. Intentionally killing innocents only for a lesson/test or killing innocents more or less unintentionally because they're supposed to be evil... I'd say that what the magic/OldReligion did when the unicorn was killed was even worse. It all depended on Arthur's ability to realise what he had done and on his good will and compassion. It's a cruel thing to make people depending on the actions of just one single person or a minority at all. It not only endangers them and they're not only punished even though they're innocent but they're also deprived of their self-determination and honour.

The dilemma of deciding who will get food and water was quite interesting. Even though I would have decided the way Arthur did, meaning that I would have helped the citizens, Uther was also right when deciding that the army needed to be strong enough in order to defend Camelot. He was also right to not ask for help on one hand. On the the other hand I wonder what allies and befriended kingdoms are for when they are not even to be trusted in such a desperate situation.

Anyway, a weakened kingdom would have been an easy pray for other kingdoms, so both Arthur and Uther were right.

But I do wonder why the people not simply went to the lakes and rivers in order to get water. And why didn't Camelot's soldiers go out hunting animals in the woods, collecting fruit (if it wasn't autumn or winter)? Surely, the lakes and rivers were dried and the animals hadn't disappeared all of a sudden. It would be odd if Camelot only depended on the water supply-system and on its crops only.

Oh, and did  mention that I felt sorry for the little rat that Merlin killed? Poor little thing.

It was again fascinating to see that Uther (again) dismissed Gaius' warnings, even though he knew very well that magic still existed and that the Old Religion demanded a price for everything, especially since the unicorn was a magical creature. Did he just repress the fact that magic was still very present, maybe out of fear? Or  did he ignore that killing a magical being would have severe consequences? Or was it just a plothole?

I liked the humorous scenes between Merlin and Arthur and also the final test in the end, even though I was a little surprised that Arthur was willing to give his life for Merlin since I've never bought for a second that he really considered him a friend or that they were really friends at all. However, the test/riddle was interesting and I liked the happy ending. Even though Arthur wasn't pure of heart at all as later events proved.