Board Thread:What If?/@comment-5674726-20130906200850/@comment-68.68.96.98-20130909125512

In reality, a person who suffers from such depression and mental breakdown couldn't get back to their old self again without having some severe and drastic changes in mind.

When supposing that Uther had his mental breakdown due to realising that everything he has believed to be right and true has become wrong and untrue, and if this caused an inner fight, a different point of view and a change of heart had already begun. He either would stay in his mental condition and not be able to deal with it or, in case that he mentally recovers, would see things differently.

In the show there would be 2 possibilities for Uther to mentally recover:

a) Merlin or Morgana do some magic and mysteriously put back a part of his lost mind or spirit, as Gaius called it, back into him. This would most likely create a mixture of new opinions and falling back into old habits at the same time when regaining strength and probably also rage because of the betrayal or the assumption that only magic could do such a terrible thing like corrupting Morgana. This would also slowly destroy the mental progress of trying to deal with a tough new situation and probably the new point of views would vanish bit by bit.

b) he recovers all by himself the natural way and therefore has dealt with the new situation and has come to terms with it. This would mean that he naturally changes his mind and attitudes because a natural recovery without a change of mind would not be possible at all. Once this has happened, only a new terrible happening or shock could reverse the new opinions.

What I'm saying is that a non-magical healing of Uther's mind could never bring back the old Uther but would inevitably create a new Uther because a natural recovery means dealing with the new reality.... Morgana being a witch and hating him. This has collided with his old beliefs and put him into his mental condition, and the old way back was blocked once and for all which is why he had the mental breakdown. Only a new way forward could have ever dragged him out of his depression and caused a mental recovery.

I am convinced that, had he survived he either had stayed in this condition or almost fully changed if he had recovered. There is no boubt to me that a change had already begun either way.