Board Thread:What If?/@comment-5674726-20130722103118/@comment-5102537-20130730212422

ReganX wrote: He steadfastly ignored any potential advantages to the proposed matches with Princesses Elena and Mithian, assumed that Arthur would be unhappy if he consented to the matches, and implied that it would weaken the kingdom if he didn't follow his heart and marry Guinevere, which I would consider a disservice to Arthur; I can't see him doing any less than his very best for Camelot, regardless of who he was married to.

On the other hand, Merlin wanted to make sure that Arthur was happy and lucky in love, which he obviously only was with Gwen. I understand why Merlin was eager to help his friend being together with his one and only true love. A ruler who is satisfied and really happy will always be a better ruler than someone who has to make compromises only for the sake of the kingdom. With Gwen, both important things would have been fulfilled: a happy love and a kind queen.

BUT... Uther was happily married to the one (and only) woman he loved, yet it ended in a tragedy. Being happy in love was no guarantee for perfection when considering this. However, Merlin surely didn't even think of a similar situation happening to Arthur and Gwen, so in my opinion, his attempt to bring the two of them together made indeed sense.

Nevertheless, I agree with you that Arthur surely would have done everything in his power that was best for the kingdom, even if he had been married to Mithian. And as much as I liked Gwen, I would have loved to see him being married to Mithian since I really liked her too and I believe that she would have made a great queen. They had such a great onscreen-chemistry.