Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season One/@comment-5102537-20130512091538/@comment-5102537-20130514101831

Rubelle wrote:

Third, the way it was complelety glossed over that Merlin tried to mettle with forces beyond his understanding and refused to pay for the consequences. I agree, Rubelle. As a matter of fact, Merlin only got out of this situation because he has magic and was able to kill Nimueh. If he hadn't been a powerful sorcerer Gaius would have suffered the consequences of Merlin's deal with Nimueh. He was lucky to have been so powerful, unlike Uther who couldn't kill Nimueh in order to restore the balance.

This is what strikes me most about the whole thing. Since "The Sins of the Father", Uther was called a hypocrite because he used magic back then and allegedly was responsible for Igraine's death - but Merlin did the right thing and saved the day, even though he too ignored all warnings and almost killed his own mother and Gaius. Does the fact that he was in the lucky position to kill the offender (Nimueh) make his actions morally right and Uther's action morally wrong only because he wasn't a powerful sorcerer? Not to mention that Uther didn't have a problem with magic back then before Igraine died.

This is a good example for seeing much too similar or even the same situations totally different depending on who the person in question is. Imagine Uther could have killed Nimueh and Igraine would have survived - none of the events would have ever happened and magic would still be allowed. No Great Purge, no persecution of sorcerers...

And what would have happened if Merlin couldn't have killed Nimueh and if either Arthur, Hunith or Gaius had died? Merlin doesn't have Uther's temper and he was born with magic himself, but I doubt that he just would have let go off this all. He even wanted everyone dead who threatened Arthur, as was evident when he wanted Mordred's death or killed those who wanted to harm Arthur.

Merlin wanted to save Arthur and ignored the consequences. Uther wanted to have a son and ignored the consequences - both were unaware that a loved one would die, both were being tricked and pushed over the edge. And both times it had to do with Arthur and Nimueh.

Yes, Lurker, I too wonder why Gaius didn't tell Merlin that someone close to him will have to pay the price. He knew that Nimueh was the one who chooses a victim and he also should have known that she wouldn't kill Merlin, one of her ownkind and equally powerful (more powerful, actually). Obviously, the one who has to die has to be an innocent person and Merlin, as the one who made the deal, wasn't innocent in that case.

This epsiode was truly great. It showed different sides of past happenings and clarified some situations, like the fact that Igraine didn't die accidentally or wasn't a random choice but was chosen by Nimueh deliberately. It also showed that Gaius knew about this and obviously didn't blame Uther for Igraine's death (unlike Merlin, who forgot about his own knowledge and also his own doings in "The Sins of the Father" all of a sudden).

Entire season one was filled with all the shades of grey without pointing a finger at only one of the main characters and without black & white descriptions of situations and characters. I wish they had continued that way.

The question is: why did it all happen in the first place? Nimueh told Merlin that Arthur was never meant to die at her hands. This implies that she had foreseen Merlin asking for her help and maybe even triggered the whole situation to make Merlin doing exactly this. Did she want to have Gaius out of the way or did she want to drag Merlin on her side? And what about the Questing Beast? It showed up when Igraine died and it showed up and wounded Arthur here. Ever since the Questing Beast died, the Life-for-a-Life dogma vanished because there were several occasions when someone who would have died for sure was being healed either by Merlin, the druids, a sorcerer.... Or was this dogma only Nimueh's doing?

Lurker, I think Uther didn't ask Gaius for magical help because it wasn't planned at that time that he would ask for magic later when Morgana is about to die. In my opinion, it was just overlooked in "The Crystal Cave" that he should have demanded the same treatment for Arthur in season one. Or maybe, since he knew of the Questing Beast, he thought that asking for magical help would be invane because perhaps he had tried back then when Igraine was being chosen to die and his wish was denied. On the other hand, Uther refusing to use magic in this situation with Arthur proved that he really though that magic was evil and didn't just use it when it was convenient for himself. This was changed only later when Morgana was fatally injured.

I too loved the scene when Gaius wanted to sacrifice himself for Merlin and also Uther being devastated over Arthur's upcoming death. No idea how he managed to carry him :-D It is said that people in medieval times were much stronger than we are today.

And I agree with Alfons. This was one of the best epsiodes of season one, and to me, one of the best of the entire show.

I only disapprove of Gwen telling Arthur that he was a much better man than Uther. She has every right to think that but it was rude and tactless to tell it to the son of the one she dislikes. I wouldn't dare to speak ill of a family member of someone else, no matter my personal feelings.