Board Thread:What If?/@comment-173.245.80.12-20140903054558/@comment-37017073-20190511223659

Brutegwaine wrote: Morgana had already proven that she wanted Uther dead. She's hardly alone in that, though. "Disgruntled sorcerer seeks revenge against Uther and/or Camelot" has been one of the show's standard plots since 1x01, and most of the sorcerers in question were people that Arthur had never seen or heard of and had no idea were around until they actually put their plan in motion. There isn't any evidence connecting the necklace to Morgana; it doesn't bear the crest of Gorlois or the mark of a High Priestess or anything else that points to her over anyone else. She's still a likely suspect, in any case, but she's far from the only suspect, is what I'm trying to say.

From my perspective, this was the time for Merlin to come clean about his magic and show Arthur the difference between him and Morgana. The gig was up. A lot complications and Arthur's hatred of magic would have been resolved a lot sooner if Merlin spoke sooner. I'd probably agree with this is Arthur's sudden interest in magic had been based on the idea that magic (and, by extension, magic users) might not be inherently evil, but it wasn't. It largely stemmed from the idea that it would get him what he wanted, which is made evident by the fact that his deep-seated distrust of magic was on display from the moment he considered using it.

He needed reassurance from Merlin that he was doing the right thing before he would commit to the idea; (understandably) reached for his sword when he recognized Dragoon, was prepared to abandon the plan entirely, and tried to walk out on him; hesitated for a very long moment before finally agreeing to lift the magic ban if Dragoon succeeded (which, to me, indicates that it wasn't a price he particularly wanted to pay, but was willing to bite the bullet if it meant saving his father); and nearly backed out of the plan at the last minute (despite Dragoon's peaceful assurances) because he couldn't believe that he was even considering the use of magic.

If Arthur was struggling this much with using magic when it was his idea and the only means of saving his father's life, I really doubt that he'd be in any state to weather Merlin's magic reveal after seeing Uther die, much less to sit and listen to him hash out the differences between him and Morgana and take in the standard magic-can-be-used-for-good speech. I can't see him being particularly receptive to Gaius's theories about Agravaine's supposed treachery, either, especially after realizing that the physician himself had apparently been lying to him for years.

(In fairness, I do think that Arthur would probably reach a reasonable enough frame of mind to process it all eventually - by the end of 5x07 for example, he's made enough peace with his father's death that he's able to sit and listen to what Gaius has to say about it not being Dragoon's fault that Uther died - but that doesn't really do anything for Merlin and Gaius's immediate predicament.)