Board Thread:What If?/@comment-173.245.80.12-20140903054558/@comment-39489211-20190530052501

I agree with Brutegwaine on the matter of Shade!Lancelot: Gaius had shown plenty of times, when Uther was still alive, that his duty in the Council (and friend of the king) was to raise the "is there magic involved in this situation?" card (and, when Uther felt in the mood, he was even believed). I'm not suggesting that Gaius should've told Arthur that they knew Lancelot was a Shade but he could've planted the seed of doubt: Lancelot "miraculous" return was, sorry for the pun, shady enough on its own (guy sacrificed himself by stepping into the Veil leaving no body behind but then wakes up somewhere on the other side of ?), and question a bit Lancelot's story was mandatory, to my point of view. Gaius just had to take Arthur aside and whisper "I do find Lancelot's story fishy, what about I search in my books if there's any chance for someone to return from the Veil, Sire?" and then go all about "I found an explanation, but I should use magic to check, Sire, what are you orders?"

Personally, though, even if they had decided to let Arthur find out at some point, I wouldn't have wanted Merlin or Gaius to be the one to tell him, simply because I think it would be a lot more emotionally resonant for him to find out from Morgana or Agravaine (it's kind of a family matter, after all). I would've loved a scene like this: Morgana spewing the truth to Arthur as if wielding a sword. For Arthur who, up to that point (see the finale) still held hope for Morgana to be "saved"... it would've been quite a painful revelation. Oh, well.

So much lost chances! This show is frustrating (but wonderful to play with as in what-ifs).