User blog comment:Adelina Le Morte March/The Best Under-Rated Characters of The Whole Series/@comment-5102537-20130113112711

Interesting blog post. I could add some more people to it.

About Merlin, I agree with Aithusa07. I've always thought that they made him kind of a coward from the beginning of season four up until the end. He used to be a brave young man with a strong sense for what is right or wrong, with strong morals and with compassion. Later he turned into a sneaky and indifferent character who was fanatic about protecting Arthur, and I've never understood why. Arthur didn't treat him as a friend and to me they had no chemistry, just like Arthur and Gwen had no chemistry at all. Saving and protecting Arthur from a humane point of view was totally okay, but in regard to the overall story and the end we were presented, it didn't make sense. Merlin watched Arthur slaughtering his kind, yet he obviously also considered the three years time skip between season four and five as the golden age of Camelot, totally forgetting that there was peace for decades under Uther's reign before Morgana started the first wars. Instead of revealing himself, he continued lying and betraying, not helping those of his kind, not even talking about it or demonstrating the viewers what he feels and thinks about magic, the Old Religion and his fellow sorcerers.

When Merlin told Nimueh in season one that he didn't want to have anything to do with her kind, he showed his strong mind and demonstrated that he was different - and that he was the hope for a new beginning and for redemption for everyone, simply because he didn't just choose one side but tried to do the real right things, no matter if for the anti-magic-fraction or for his own kind. He was the one who had the power to show that a coexistence was possible and that a new era of magic should be started instead of following the old one with the ruthless Old Religion and its cruel laws. Then, for some reason, they changed this all and gave Arthur the status of a messiah, making Merlin his submissive and obsessive servant who didn't follow certain morals anymore but became more callous and also very undecided. In my opinon, it was a huge mistake to change Merlin's personality. The bad guy- image, even the slightest one, doesn't suit him at all. He wasn't believable when turning more to the darker side. And due to that, he became a coward, a lying and manipulating character, almost as fickle as Arthur himself. Even Colin Morgan's great acting skills couldn't prevent this. I didnt like Merlin anymore in the last two seasons. Everyone and everything became unimportant, the only one who counted was Arthur. I suppose Merlin would have been happy even if the rest of the world went to its doom as long as he is together with Arthur. That was just unbelievable and also very uninteresting.

I've always found Klighrarrah very interesting. You're right that he was underrated because he had so much potential. They could have created such great stories around him if they had just given him more screen time (even if only off-screen) and had exlplaned why he lost his senses when attacking Camelot. Sure, we can imagine that he just went nuts after having been chained up in a cave for more than twenty years, yet it wasn't too much to ask for a short explanation on screen. He could have mentioned that he temporarily lost his mind and temper and that he was glad that Merlin stopped him so that Arthur could live. If they had intended to make Kilgharrah someone who had his own agenda, meaning that he had a reason to try to kill Arthur, they should have continued this plotline. Either way, it would have been a good idea to present explanations. Another thing that bugs me is the fact that he didnt even show just any emotion once Uther was dead. For two seasons he wanted to be freed and to take revenge on Uther after being locked up in the cave and watching Uther killing all of his kind, yet when Uther is dead, he doesn't even say a word as if it had never happened. One would expect that Kilgharrah was hapy beyond belief about Uther's death - or, on the contrary, concerend because Uther died at the hands of magic which made Arthur "hating" magic... well, at least that was what we were supposed to believe. Anyway, Kilgharrah made such a good character with all his predictions, visions, advices - and in the end they made a mockery of everything he had ever told Merlin when he said that Merlin indeed fulfilled his destiny. Totally contradictory to what he told Merlin (and to what Merlin learnt from others) during the entire show.

I can't say much about Freya. She was interesting in the one epsiode she appeared, then she was okay when she re-appeared for a moment, but other than that, I had no particular opinion about her. I'm generally not interested in love stories, so whether Merlin and Morgana or Merlin and Freya, I don't care much. It would have been interesting if Merlin and gwen had been together but this was impossible... at least impossible for a longer time ;-) However, Freya was a kind person and I wouldn't have mind if she had returned.

Gwen... well, she has became boring to me ever since she became queen. She was interesting in "Arthur's Bane" when she tried to become friends with Sefa. Then she became a smiling and happy little girl in nice dresses when she wasn't evil due to an enchantment. I think it was disappointing that they ignored the friendship between Merlin and Gwen once she was queen. The dynamic of this friendship was an important part and it gave the characters more depth.

I would add Gaius and Uther to the (later) underrated characters. They provided tons of interesting, dramatical and deeper stuff to the show. It would take too long to explain why but the history they shared and their failures, mistakes and "sins" alone were enough to fill the seasons. The entire story around Arthur and Morgana/Morgause/Vivienne/Gorlois/the Old Religion, the fact that Gaius stayed in Camelot and supported Uther while opposing him at the same time, their friendship they had in the beginning (which was also changed later, what a shame!), Uther's path to redemption they had chosen in the first seaons, the relationship between Gaius, Uther and Kilgharrah and so much more. But to please the Arthur-Merlin-shippers/fans and the most of all the younger audience, they simply got rid of all that stuff and focused on teenage banter and shallow stories that were pointless, with Merlin and Arthur in the centre for no real reason.