Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Four/@comment-5102537-20140111151000/@comment-5674726-20140115184928

Fimber wrote: I agree with you on what Uther might have done, ReganX. Though I actually doubt that he would have banished Igraine just so. Uther broke his own laws when Morgana was about to die, and back then, before he began to hate magic, he probably wasn't that stubborn and tough. Maybe he was more tolerant, especially when considering his youth, so I could imagine him to try to win Igraine back - and perhaps even with magic. Uther, as well as Arthur, had a tendency to be blind towards unpleasant things that concerned his loved ones. He just wasn't so naive and had a direction, unlike Arthur.

That would depend on whether or not anybody else knew of Ygraine's adultery. If only he knew of it, Uther could keep forgiveness as an option but that would not be the case if it was more widely known. A king who did not, at the very least, banish an unfaithful wife would be regarded as weak, which would cost him the support of his subjects, and he wouldn't hold his throne without that.

Fimber wrote: I can't really see that letting Gwen off the hook by being enchanted was necessary in order to keep her character clean and pure. Kissing her first true love in the heat of the moment would have been an interesting development of her character, plus it would be only human.

It could have been very plausible for them to have her kiss Lancelot in the heat of the moment, especially if they went for a more realistic take on how her and Arthur's betrothal was received by the nobility.

On the show, as soon as Arthur decided that he was going to marry a servant, the previously insurmountable obstacles to their union vanished and the nobility seemed to be quite happy to celebrate the betrothal. Had they shown that, while the commoners were quite happy to think that one of their own would sit on the throne, the nobility were disgusted by it and either abstained from the celebration - near-empty banquet hall, the portion of the stall that is usually occupied by the courtiers left empty and the tournament is a shadow of the one held in Ygraine's honour as only Leon, Arthur and the Round Table knights are willing to participate in a tournament in honour of a servant - or attended but looked like they were being force fed dog poop, it'd make sense that Guinevere would be apprehensive, as it does not bode well for how she will be received as Queen. Arthur could try to reassure her that they'll love her once they get to know her but she'd have trouble believing it.

When Lancelot suddenly re-enters the picture, it'd be plausible that the combination of joy at his return and worry over what will come of her marriage to Arthur could lead to part of her thinking that it would be so much easier if she could marry Lancelot instead and, in a moment of weakness, she kisses him but is caught in the act. It wouldn't even have to be Agravaine who catches her, any noble would do. Guinevere might know that it was a mistake as soon as she kisses Lancelot, and realises that she truly wants to marry Arthur, no matter what obstacles she has to face, but by then it is too late, as he can't marry her when she is known to be unfaithful. Instead of getting married, she is banished.