User blog comment:Edrea/Why so many bad things happened because of Merlin?/@comment-184.197.225.140-20150122231751

In my opinion, most of the really dreadful decisions Merlin made were because of information that he got from advisors.

He had to help Mordred escape when he was young, because it shaped his character. If he did chose to listen to the dragon, he would become nothing more than a murderer, and would lose the little faith that Arthur had in him. As it was, he hesitated because of the dragon's advice, and caused Mordred to realize that he could let him die. This was the mistake. This knowledge, of what Mordred was destined to do, continued to influence the decisions that Merlin made, pushing Mordred further away.

The decision to take Morgana to the druid camp was truly Merlin's fault, but he did feel that he was doing the right thing.

Merlin released the dragon, because the dragon demanded it in return for help. The dragon would not have insisted on a prompt release, if Merlin had not become angry and told him he would never release him. The reason why Merlin became angry was because the dragon only gave him part of the information that he needed to save Arthur. If the dragon had been honest, and told him that Nimueh would not take his life, then Merlin would have no reason to be upset.

The time that he forced the dragon to help him cure Morgana was also a result of bad counseling. Morgana was only in that state because Merlin was shown what she would do. He was so afraid of what he was shown that he acted rashly, and caused Morgana to learn her true heritage. The decision he made to save her life was the right one, but not one that he would have had to make if he had not glimpsed the future.

I believe that the decision that Merlin made, to try to save the king by magic, was the right one. He had so much hope, as he prepared his spells, that he could finally ensure the freedom of his kind. I do not think that this was a mistake. However, he knew that Camelot had a spy, so he should have been more careful.

He persuaded Arthur to ban magic in Camelot because of his knowledge of future events. If he had not been shown that Mordred would someday kill Arthur, he would have used his own judgment on the matter. He would have welcomed the opportunity with open arms. Instead, he ignored his own wisdom on the matter, and acted out of fear for Arthur.

I believe that Merlin did not call the dragon right away because he saw that he was not well, and knew that he could get Arthur to the island in time. It would make sense that there would be a reason why the dragon showed weakness so close to the end of the show’s run. If the knights had not gone after Morgana, and revealed where Merlin and Arthur were going, the two could have made it on the horses. So, the knights could also easily be blamed. However, I believe that Arthur was beyond helping from the moment Mordred pierced him with his blade.

To conclude, Merlin himself is wiser than you give him credit. If he had not been told of future events, or been given bad advice, he would have made some better decisions. In each of these instances it is clear that Merlin tries hard to make the right choices, and weighs the information he is given heavily. Four of these seven wrong choices were made because Merlin was told things that he was not prepared to hear, and when he makes the wrong choice he realizes it immediately, because it is not the decision that he would have made on his own.