Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-31492005-20190107021918/@comment-37001937-20190509005450

75.115.169.143 wrote: SPOILERS FOLLOW

I stopped watching the show after watching the opening episodes of season 3 for the same reason a couple years back, and was left dissapointed after learning that she would not only become the shows primary villain, but through youtube saw that shewas dispassionately murdered by Merlin in the finale. Merlin of all people!

Since you stopped watching the show, and only got spoilers from Youtube, you missed several of Morgana's actions that led to Merlin's decision to finally kill her,  a tad too late in my opinion. Dying in the arms of a former friend, a friend whose pain and suffering brought her joy, was more than she deserved by then.

Merlin only killed Morgana at that point because she was going to kill an injured and defenseless Arthur, injuries and pain that she had caused in her latest war to push him off the throne. The worst part of this is that she tells Arthur that wants to see crows feast on his corpse. She was cold and cruel.

Morgana went to town in those two last episodes. She killed many Knights of Camelot. In turn Merlin had to kill many Saxons with force lightning to stop them from killing more Knights and taking the castle.

Morgana tried to murder Uther at least two times. In these two attempts she killed two Knights of Camelot in order to keep her secret schemes.

She tried to have Gwen executed when she framed her for sorcery.

She killed citizens of Camelot in an effort to coerce the Knights to accept her as ruler. She also threatened to burn the their crops and destroy their livelihoods until the people accepted her.

He killed citizens of Camelot to punish Uther.

She put Gwaine, Elyan and Gaius in a cell, and was starving them to death. During this torture, Gwaine also had to fight in gladiator-style fights with Helios warriors. All this while she gloated an laughed.

She had a priest, of all things, torture and if it got to it, kill Gaius to learn the identity of her arch nemesis.

She used sorcery to disarm Arthur during a duel so he would be killed by a man almost twice his size.

She brought Lancelot back from the dead and framed him and Gwen for adultery. This could have resulted in Gwens' execution, which is what she wanted, but Arthur banished Gwen instead.

She turned Gwen into a deer so that Arthur, or any person in his hunting party would kill her while she was defenseless as an innocent forest animal.

She raided villages, including those populated with people with magic. She enslaved men from those villages, as well as from other places to mine a fortress where she hoped to find the key to Arthur's bane, and finally be rid of him.

She uses psychological torture on Gwen, also using their former friendship as leverage to manipulate her. She then enchants Gwen so that she can kill Arthur due her proximity to him. This whole affair results in Gwen's brother, Sir Elyan, dying from an enchanted sword, and Gwen poisoning Arthur, and actually killing Arthur's horse keeper.

Because of this enchantment, Gwen wasn't allowed to properly mourn her brother, or even process and make amends for killing a person who was loyal to Arthur.

The most ironic aspect of Morgana's characterization is her persecution and use of people with magic the very thing she resents Uther and Arthur for. She uses them to achieve her own goals, instead of being a force of hope for the equality the seek. When Alator, the priest she recruited to torture Gaius, pledges his allegiance to Emrys and refuses to reveal his identity, she snaps his neck. Alator's friend, and fellow priestess in forced to commit suicide to avoid Morgana's torture.

When two Saxon warriors come to inform her that Arthur escaped alive from the battle at Camlann, she snaps their necks too.

Her actions were calculated and premeditated, and they were only aimed at meeting her needs and goals.

Arhtur, in his capacity as king, should have changed the law regarding people with magic as he promised the Druid boy in season 4. He was the king of the most powerful kingdom in the realm. Queen Annis, King Olaf, Lord Godwyn, King Rodor, even his former enemy King Odin thought he was a rightious ruler. He had the support to work towards change and progress.

As for Merlin, his biggest mistake was to keep his magic a secret for far too long: it only allowed Morgana to grow more powerful, and for Arthur to be undermined by his own insecurities and bad experiences with magic.