Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5102537-20140217120328

Why did Merlin never try to convince Arthur about the good side of magic?

Imagine you have something to do which is one of the most important things in the world for you and maybe even for others. All you have to do is to convince either your best friend or one of your loved ones to believe you. You know that if you fail, all will be lost - and it's not about a new car, your job or a new DVD but something really essential on which the lives of others depend on.

Would you, at some point, after several failed attempts to cautiously push that person into that direction, finally press every button to open their eyes in order to save other people's lives and to complete your most important mission?

I will never really understand why Merlin (and Gaius) never directly tried to make Arthur see what they believed in, even when every other attempt led to nothing and when time was up for stupid games. I don't expect anyone to sacrifice themselves for others when the outcome is unclear and the success more than questionable. However, Merlin was willing to sacrifice himself for Arthur and others many times. He was willing to give his life, regardless the consequences.

So why not stake everything on one card when everything else didn't work, didn't improve and when he even received several warnings from his fellow sorcerers (the Disir/Triple Goddess, visions of prophets) that he had to make Arthur change his view on magic?

Merlin had many opportunities to tell Arthur what he believes and what he had experienced. Gaius and Merlin could have told him about the enchanted necklace and Agravaine plotting (putting it around Uther's neck). They could have told him the real reason why his father died, thus make him see that there were sorcerers/magic users he could rely on. Merlin had the chance to tell Arthur what he thought when the Disir gave Arthur the ultimatum. Why didn't he tell Arthur that bowing to the Triple Goddess may not be the best thing to do but that allowing magic would at least give him the opportunity to get the help from those who use magic for good, not to mention that he could propitiate those who still acted against Camelot (the rebellious druids, for example). He could have tried to convince him that not all magic was bad, that trying to eradicate it was probably impossible and that fighting it created new enemies almost every day. Arthur had asked for Merlin's opinion after all. Mordred wasn't a reason. Merlin could not only have dealt with Mordred later but he could also have figured that once Arthur allows magic and stops persecuting sorcerers, Mordred will have no reason to fight him. Even Kara may not have attacked Camelot.

I would understand Merlin's hesitation if the show had ever directly pointed out that allowing magic was the greater risk since it would have paved way for all those evil magic users who didn't care whether or not Arthur established a change. Fine, if that had been Merlin's reason and if he had to find a way to prevent such things from happening, there would have been a motive at least.

This wasn't the case.

Merlin lied to Arthur, played questionable games and manipulated him, but unfortunately, he never succeded and even didn't care about the lift of the ban anymore. All he cared about was Arthur's life, no matter what Arthur did to sorcerers and magic users. So did he care about Arthur's life because he loved him so much or because he knew that Arthur was the one who is destined to change everything - or both?

If it was about Arthur's destiny, Merlin should have told Arthur his stance on magic. He should have told him the truth about so many things, the truth about the visions, the prophecy and the consequences, especially when everything else didn't work and the end was near. Instead he let Arthur believe that his hatred for magic was justified while Merlin didn't even stand up for a proper burial for socrerers, let alone tried to stop Arthur from persecuting them.

The same applies for Morgana. Merlin cold have tried to convince her and find out what drove her so nuts. There's no guarantee that he would have succeeded, but it was his destiny, after all. Instead he missed really every chance to ever change their mind by even confirming them in their opinion. Which was something that happened all the time throughout the entire show: Morgana and other sorcerers did everything in their powers to confirm Uther in his view on the evil nature of magic instead of convincing him otherwise. Gaius and Merlin did the same and they continued it with Arthur when he was king.  