User blog:Fimber/Background stories that have been ignored?...

Rewatching "Merlin", now that four seasons have already been done and the probably last season will be aired soon, can help noticing background stories that might not be so obvious when watching the epsiodes the first time. I've always thought that the subtile happenings and character descriptions served a purpose and that they would be dealt with later on the show in order to show us things that can easily be overlooked at first but come crashing on the characters all of a sudden when the time is right.

However, some of those things have been overlooked so far and supposingly won't play a part in the show anymore. One of the following things I found extraordinarily annoying:

Last week, a friend of mine watched some epsiodes of season two, among them "Sweet Dreams", an epsiode I've always liked for its humour and Bradley James' great performance of an enchanted lovesick guy. But at the same time it reminded me of a plot I would have wished to see again, which was the fact that Uther initiated the peace treaties with the Five Kingdoms and hence making the first step to unite the lands - the very thing that is Arthur's destiny. What I found annoying was the fact that this happening actually was a very important plot, yet it had to make way for the light (yet great) humour and interaction between the boys. What's more, for some weird reason, Uther was being described as a ruthless tyrant in regard to other kingdoms in the fourth season, despite all the things we have seen in the previous seasons that proved otherwise.

Uther's words in the beginning -

"Never before have the rulers of the Five Kingdoms come together in this way. Never before have we all worked towards the same aim, towards peace. If these talks are successful, Camelot will enter a new era of prosperity. If they fail, we will almost certainly be at war." -

show clearly that peace was very important to him and that he was the one who made the first step and who was the initiator of it all. It wasn't Arthur and neither was Uther a king of war. In spite of this, Arthur is the one who is supposed to "correct his father's errors" and to finally bring peace by reuniting the lands of Albion. Why didn't the show refer to this happening in "Sweet Dreams" again when it was obvious that Uther wanted and gained peace, and why was he described as the one being responsible for tension and maybe even cold wars between the kingdoms in season four? Let alone that Uther had a peace contract with Caerleon's father, yet in "His Father's Son" we were supposed to believe that Arthur was the one who avoided a war, "unlike Uther", when actually Arthur was the one who had risked the peace contract in the first place by killing Carleon when beheading him. Queen Annis seemed to be mad at Uther and even compared the villain, Morgana, to him. Why? There was peace between the kingdoms up until Arthur decided to kill a defenceless man in cold blood. Whose fault was it? Certainly not Uther's.

On the contrary, it had always been Uther who taught Arthur that peace was most important, starting with not interfering when Ealdor was attacked by outlaws in Cenred's kingdom, when avoiding to show weakness in "The Labyrinth of Gedref" in order to avoid an attack, when listening to Arthur to not take revenge on Odin for trying to kill Arthur and when inviting the five kings for peace treaties. Moreover, it was obvious when Gaius told Merlin in season one that Uther had brought peace and prosperity to the land. So why for goodness sake were we supposed to believe that Uther was ruthless in regard to other kingdoms (not talking about magic here) and that he was a king of war? And why did Gaius tell Merlin in "The Wicked Day" that now with Uther gone and Arthur being King, Camelot will finally become a place of peace and stability, and by that contradicting himself?

I think it was annoying that all previous happenings were overlooked in season four and partly even changed into the opposite.

Another "background" story that has not been really ignored but that hasn't been dealt with by the main protagonist, Merlin, is the fact that Merlin actually can't die so soon. In "The Crystal Cave" it was shown that no matter what Merlin tries, the future can't be changed. It was also evident in "The Fisher King" when the Fisher King told Merlin that this was Merlin's quest and that his arrival has been awaited for centuries. In "The Darkest Hour" the Vilia said that Merlin's destiny has been written since the dawn of time and that he cant die now, which proves again that no matter what happens, Merlin's destiny will be fullfilled, come what may. Even the Cailleach couldn't kill Merlin because his time hadn't come yet. This all shows that Merlin will actually be invincible until his destiny is fullfilled. If I was Merlin, I would lay back and enjoy life, because it doesn't matter what happens, the destiny will fullfill itself through him, obviously.... Does it even matter what he does? The entire destiny that is "written since the dawn of time" makes every action of his irrelevant, doesn't it? This is a fascinating storyline that has been put into the background when dealing with the Arthurian legend stuff instead of clearifying the mysteries.

And then, as mentioned several times before, there is still the question wether Uther knew about Morgana's powers or not because we still don't know wether he knew about Vivienne's powers, and if so, why he pretended to not suspect Morgana of having inherited them. Mother and half-sister (related through Vivienne) had magical powers - wasn't it logical that Morgana could have them too? In case Uther knew about them but ignored it, it would show a whole new picture about what made him tick and also about the entire destiny and fate-question. Was he aware of some prophecies concerning Arthur and his destiny, Emrys and his fate, Morgana being the last High Priestess of The Old Religion when considering that he used to be friends with Nimueh, the High Priestess of The Old Religion and Gaius, someone who practised magic and knows almost everything about the prophecies, in a time when Uther had no problem with magic and used it too and when he had an affair with the witch Vivienne? In a time when he had to know about the secrets and propehcies because magic corrupted the land and threatened the Five Kingdoms and when it was prior to protect Camelot and himself against evil magic by using magic himself (before Igraine's death).

It's a shame that those background - and even actually main stories - have been ignored later on.