Board Thread:What If?/@comment-5674726-20131121000033/@comment-5102537-20131124113424

Arthur probably would have died since Valiant didn't seem to be the brightest one.

After having been accused of using magic already when Arthur showed Uther the head of a snake, Valiant still used the shield in the tournament when fighting Arthur, probably intending to use it. Whether Arthur had died or not, Gaius would have found the snake bites and Uther surely would have sentenced Valiant to death for it.

Valiant's plan has never been logical to me, so it's either hard or very easy to say what would have happened. Given that he acted unclever when using the magical snakes, I'd say he would have killed Arthur in case he hadn't won the fight in a fair duel.

In case he hadn't used the snakes and won against Arthur, he simply would have gotten away with the prize. Had he lost against Arthur and not dared to use the magic, he probably had seeked revenge on Merlin after the battle. And Merlin wouldn't be a reliable servant but being seen as a fool or liar to both Arthur and Uther.