Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-93.72.133.51-20140307194703/@comment-202.161.18.105-20140308101632

But Balinor was also of the old religion, and tells Merlin its something you are born with, not something you learn. Merlin himself was a "creature of magic". The story we were feed (and how I understand it- someone tell me if I'm wrong here) is that the purge came about because of Uther's revenge on those with magic when Igraine died in child-birth to Arthur, which meant that Balinor fled when tricked into bringing Kilgarrah to Camelot. I can't remember Morgana's mother having ties with priestess's and the Isle of the Blessed,  rather it was Uther who approached Nimue (with Gaius's help) to help Igraine conceive, and that set of the chain of events. That Igraine died as a result was not something she was able to foresee, as Nimue tells Gaius she had no control over who paid the price (of course, one of the inconsistencies was that Merlin's mother was targeted later)  Morgana came to court after both her parents died (we don't find out how they died). If it all happened because of conflicts on the Isle of the Blessed, (this whole incident standing in for Mists of Avalon here, which I don't believe is a book ever referenced, or read by the show-runners) and that Uther  was being played by Vivienne (who was never mentioned) It was certainly never made clear.

I actually think they killed Nimue off to soon. It would have been great to have her and Merlin interact more, she could have taught him so much, and yes, she didn't want Merlin to die. After the incident with the poison, she tells him, "that was before I knew who you were)  So even as the High Priestess, she knew what Merlin and Arthur were destined to do.