Mandrake Root

The Mandrake, also known as Mandragora, was thought to be a magical plant and it was frequently used in spells and rituals. The Mandragora was also thought to scream when it was dug up from the ground, killing everyone who heard it.

In the show, the Mandrake is a big and gray root, similar to a straw voodoo doll. Morgause, with the help of her half-sister Morgana, used one to enchant Uther Pendragon and make him lose his mind. Morgause prepared a potion in a big cauldron, a thick, dense, black liquid similar to dark mud, threw a handkerchief, which had the tears of Uther on it, and the root itself, that sank in it. While doing so, the Mandrake emitted a piercing scream that only those with magic could hear. For those without magic, Morgause explained, the root would pierce the very recesses of the soul, twisting the unconscious into the very image of fear and dread. She then pronounced a spell and took the root from the cauldron. Morgana placed it under Uther's bed, and the liquid started to drip from the Mandrake. The spell caused Uther to hallucinate, seeing people who had died because of his choices and actions before and during the Great Purge. These included his wife Igraine frightened and bleeding, begging Uther not to harm her and an unknown drowned boy, who was revealed by Gaius to be one of the many children Uther had killed simply because they may have inherited magic from their parents. The spell gave the impression to the people of Camelot that their king was losing his mind. Every night Morgana had to return to the cave and recover the Mandrake root with the potion. One night she was seen by a guard, who thought she was bleeding, and she was forced to kill him. The root was in the end destroyed by Merlin, who threw it into the flames. Without the root, Morgause's enchantment no longer held and Uther recovered.