Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5102537-20140620091030/@comment-24629321-20140706190817

Fimber wrote:

It was completely incomprehensible that the entire royal household seemed to have forgotten that there obviously was a powerful traitor in their midst, someone who had the power to release a dragon from  enchanted chains. It would have been first priority to find the one who was responsible instead of just forgetting about it all once the dragon was believed to have died. I doubt the royal household would have thought the dragon's escape indicated the presence of a traitor, because it came so closely on the heels of Morgause's attack on Camelot with the Knights of Medhir. I always assumed they would think Morgause broke the dragon's bonds during the time she was there (and one could reasonably assume that the dragon would wait until nightfall to begin its assault).

But, I agree that it was strange for Merlin to completely discount the vision he'd seen in the crystal and decide to free the dragon anyway. It was obviously a difficult choice for him to make, but it would have been nice to see more of his thought process both before and after he does it. It could have been a great opportunity to explore less of a black and white morality. For me it's less about 'anyone else who did it would have been evil' and more about 'for once Merlin didn't just blindly support Uther's persecution of magic.' Because really, it's hard to keep making excuses for him when he stops every sorcerer that wants to bring Uther to justice for being a mass murderer. In this episode, he might have been feeling particularly guilty for doing so given that he just poisoned one of his friends to put a stop to one such plot.

Merlin releasing the dragon knowing there would be consequences seems to indicate that he may finally be considering a broader morality—in particular, the injustice of Uther wiping out the dragons and holding the last one prisoner for 20+ years. It's perhaps an early indication of the responsibility (for the welfare of the dragon species) he will soon assume as the last Dragonlord.