Board Thread:What If?/@comment-5674726-20130722102922/@comment-5674726-20130905203052

That's a good one.

Do you mind if I add one more variant: What if Morgana had healed Uther in "The Wicked Day"?

It wouldn't have been a bad move for her from a strategy point of view.

As she rightly pointed out in the episode, Uther's death didn't improve her position. In fact, one could argue that it made things worse, as it ended the limbo situation where Arthur was Regent and solidified his authority as Camelot's ruler. Psychologically, she'd be putting Uther in a position where he not only knew that he owed his life to magic, he would believe that there was still hope of a reconciliation with her, which could make him tread more gently around her - Agravaine must surely have told her of Uther's state following her betrayal so she should have been able to guess his likely reaction if she saved his life and gave him hope.

On top of that, it was an opportunity to sow discontent in Camelot. Arthur had a year or so to get used to doing things his way, even when he knew that he was taking actions that his father would not have approved of if he was in a condition to voice his opinions about how his kingdom should be ruled. If Uther was able to resume his duties as King, Arthur would find that he was no longer the top dog in Camelot which could be very frustrating for him if he saw Uther making decisions that he would not have made, especially if he rolled back some of the changes that Arthur had made.

There could certainly be no question of Arthur marrying Guinevere if Uther was running the show. Morgana was appalled by the idea of Guinevere as Queen but doesn't seem to have realised that the longer Uther lived, the less likely it was that this would happen. It was only once he was King that Arthur was able to take the step of marrying a servant.