Board Thread:(Re)Writing "Merlin"/@comment-5674726-20150818201710/@comment-5674726-20150901184902

I agree on the keeping Uther alive but I would still have him have his year of being out of it, to give Arthur a chance to get used to being the man in charge before he had to step down. While I can't see Uther stripping Gwaine, Percival and Elyan of their knighthoods, given that they had served Camelot well, I'd say that he would make it very clear to Arthur that the First Code wasn't going anywhere, and also that he had had no business taking it upon himself to knight them in defiance of his King's wishes. I'd have some mild to moderate friction between father and son as Arthur adjusted to going from Regent to Prince.

As far as Morgana goes, I'd draw her back as a grey character rather than an out and out villain. Instead of having her wage war on Camelot, I'd have her focus on helping other magic users escape persecution. One option would be to have her establish a base for herself in an abandoned castle or on the Isle of the Blessed and lay claim to the surrounding territory, protecting any magic user who makes it past her borders, without making any distinctions about the magic user in question. If a magic user is being hunted by Arthur and the knights, Morgana's assumption is that they are an innocent victim and she helps them. Instead of Morgause's life being sacrificed to unleash the Dorocha, maybe her sacrifice powers a magical barrier of some kind. I'd have her reunite with Alvarr and gather together a strong support base among magic users who look to her as their leader.

As far as her relationship with Uther goes, I'd have her be the one to make the first move by healing him when he is stabbed. Merlin can still be gearing up to do it but so much time is wasted setting up the Dragoon ruse that Morgana does the healing before he has a chance. He can then angst about what might have been if he had healed Uther straight away and shown Arthur how good a magic user he was. For Uther, this would be a sign that his daughter was not lost to him and he could try to reach out to make peace with her.

I think that it would be a twist to have Uther adopt a gentle approach with his daughter, in the hope of a full reconciliation, while Arthur is more wary of her, far from happy about her laying claim to a chunk of the kingdom and sheltering any and all magic users, even enemies of Camelot, and worried that Uther's love for Morgana and need to have her back in his life is clouding his judgement.

I'd change Agravaine's role and also use the nobility as more than well-dressed props. Earlier in the series, we are told that there can be no question of breaking the First Code or of Arthur being allowed to marry a servant yet both obstacles miraculously vanish as soon as Arthur sets his mind to making the change. I think that was a cop-out. I'd have it that Arthur's year of running the show had rubbed a lot of the nobles the wrong way, and that they were appalled by some of the changes, ie. the commoner knights and Guinevere, a mere servant, daring to speak out to the Council. Agravaine could be the face of the conservative faction of nobles - ie. virtually all of them, apart from Leon - and loyal to Uther. If he was to interact with Morgana, it could be because Uther charged him to act as a go-between, in an attempt to make peace with his daughter.

Arthur's role in this would be to show him growing up as a future ruler. He has had a year of running the show and saw for himself that it is not as easy as decreeing what will be done and everybody goes along with it. Maybe he had to fight to have the commoner knights accepted. Now, his father is back on the throne and he has some time before he is called on to rule again but has to cope with his frustration over no longer being the man in charge when Uther makes decisions he disagrees with.