Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24762954-20140731125438/@comment-5102537-20140824084534

ReganX wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't realise just how much of a threat they had made magic, and by extension how understandable Uther's crusade against it was, until later in the series, when they belatedly tossed in the idea that Merlin was somehow going to merge the old and new ways.

I think that the idea to merge the old and the new ways was there in season one already. Merlin told Nimueh that he doesn't want to be part of her and her kind, meaning being a member of the Old Religion. This was the first clear hint that Merlin had his own way and was sitting on the fence in regard to magic and those who feared and hated it. There was his friendship with Arthur and his helpful nature even towards those who would have killed him, and on the other side there was his destiny and the fact that he himself had magic. He had to find a way for a peaceful coexistence.