User blog comment:Fimber/Things that went wrong in "The Death Song of Uther Pendragon"/@comment-7285162-20130415005522/@comment-188.32.240.81-20130426161057

You mean where did I get it about Uther killing babies? I believe we had a particular living example, Morgause, whom Uther ordered to be killed. Not specifically drowned (that part is about the druid boy and many others like him) perhaps, I admit, but still... Am I mistaken? By the way, Fimber, if ever I happen to blunder with facts (I'm only a human), feel free to correct me outright, it is vital to distinguish truth from delusions. And as for the mood, I think that a fruitful discussion would lighten one's spirits, don't you? ;)

Yes, we are definitely closing the circle about the Old Religion thing. ;) About Nimueh... Did she deliberately do all this? I remember her saying she didn't mean it in "Excalibur", the episode in question. And even later in the finale she warned vaguely and bitterly that not everything is so simple...

My guess is that it's not always quite within her power to choose someone... I don't believe she could have taken Merlin's life even if she wanted to, it was not his destiny and all that. )

It's not clear to me how that magic works either. I suppose it would be too easy if your loved one were to live and a random stranger (or even the worst enemy of your kingdom) would die for it, not much of a sacrifice, eh? Perhaps that was the price to be paid, who knows.

Finally, what would be her motives (I understand that any detective always questions the suspect's motives; let's play detectives, shall we? :D) for killing particularly Igraine? Even in Series 1 she didn't seem the desperate-for-a-boyfrind (sorry, couldn't help it :D) ax crazy Morgana type girl, even her most twisted schemes had a particular purpose --- revenge against a certain enemy. I guess she just agreed to help Uther in her own way, and then it went wrong. I can even imagine their bargain, it could have been like this:

N.: Well, I can do what you ask, but there is a terrible price to be paid, Uther...

U.: Do whatever it takes. I need an heir, Camelot needs an heir.

N.: To create life, a life must be taken. The balance of the world must be maintained.

U.: Just do it, no matter the cost.

N.: Well, if you say so...

Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm a latent fanboy of hers :D, but that's the way I see it. YMMV, however.

Now, an interesting point it is you've touched, about plain coldhearted villains vs misguided types. It would seem to me that the worst omnicidal maniacs and their likes are not right in the head at all. Even those particularly bad and ruthless criminals are actually sociopaths, if you look into it.

Uther may not have been a bad person in the first place, but he had any reason to go crazy. The psychological trauma after losing Igraine, and what went next certainly didn't help either. You don't just kill people without any consequences, you know, and even for a warrior it's not that easy, especially when he knows somewhere deep inside that they are innocents, hence the nightmares and all.

Oh, and this whole "I'm not such a bad person, it's just my bad temper that I execute someone without second thought and then may even have some regrets later" thing just got a bit old for me...

On sorcery... Sure, in the wrong hands it can be very dangerous, but the irony is, in the whole series were see only one "villain" who uses it for some selfish reasons to hurt others, and that's Gilly. ) Of course, he was not really malicious, just young, inexpirienced and exposed to temptations. Apart from Gilly, every single sorceror (!) seeks to destroy Camelot only because Camelot seeks to destroy him or her in the first place, having already killed and wronged a lot of their kin. Then comes Uther and preaches: look, this is another example, all magic-users are evil and must be destroyed!

Actually all the anti-magic campaign justifications, including those you mentioned, are post hoc and have nothing to do with the real reasons for it. I'm sorry to mention it, but people often advocate the likes of Stalin or Hitler in a similar way, that includes argument like "But the country and its economy flourished in their reign". Is it because Jews (yes, all of them; sarcasm mode is on, of course) were the evil which almost destroyed their countries before (like magic did for Camelot), or perhaps there were some other reasons?

In fact, everything Uther teaches Arthur, all his slogans like "Magic equals evil", "Law must be maintained", "Camelot comes first" are nothing but the biggest hypocrisy ever (often too true in real life either, sadly; those who preach morality etc too overzealously too often turn out to be hypocrites using it to cover all the shit inside them, sometimes for their public image, sometimes as a psygological self-defence mechanism, just like Uther). Uther enjoys using magic himself, the laws only serve his needs as a tyrant, and Camelot is nothing compared to his own personal needs (family for example) for him.

He was a good tyrant, however, and people ate his hypocrisy quite eagerly. Of course, that includes Arthur. From the childhood he is taught to look up to his father, "Everything you can do he can do better", how could one expect him to accept magic so easily, not to mention all the accidents which only strenthened that belief ("The Wicked Day", 'nuff said)? Let's give it to him, he already did well to challenge his father's dogmas...