Board Thread:(Re)Writing "Merlin"/@comment-28430223-20160730000627/@comment-5102537-20160801134300

I agree with almost everything you said, Tabahta.

Many of us discussed this all in the past, it would be too much to repeat everything here. However, I believe that rushing through the Arthurian legend and changing the writers all the time was one of the reasons why there are so many plotholes, bad character development and unfinished, important stories. Up untill season four, the show should have been renamed into "Festival of Plotholes".

Of course, the ending wasn't what "Merlin" actually was supposed to be about in the first two seasons. It's more than obvious that it was all changed later (Kilgharrah told Merlin in season one that his destiny was to protect Arthur until he is king, to make sure that he becomes King of Camelot) due to the sudden idea of telling the entire Arthurian story within just two seasons, except for the story about Galahad and the Holy Grail (unless the Cup of Life was supposed to be the Holy Grail, which is quite possible).

While the first seasons where about the beginning of the Arthurian legend and actually worked its way towards it, supposedly ending with Arthur becoming king, season three was the introduction of a whole new storyline and direction of the show. And this was the worst idea ever in my opinion.

Let's start with Merlin:

He never ever really studied his own destiny but always relied on occasionally blurry visions and randomly show ups of others who told him something about it. Obviously, other people and creatures knew much more about Merlin's destiny than he himself. Admit it, if any of you got wind of a destiny and "future written in stone" you would do anything to learn all about it, wouldn't you? Merlin didn't. He just sat back and waited for the next guy telling him cryptic news that nobody actually understood. The reason why Merlin never knew if he acted right or wrong was the very fact that he never questioned his destiny after season one and never tried to learn the truth. Plus, he never tried to find out why he was the one to fulfill his destiny when everything that happened in the past - the ongoing war between the Old Religion and non-believers long before Uther was even born, Igraine's death, Arthur's birth, the Great Purge - didn't happen randomly but was intentionally triggered.

We know that the Triple Goddess knows all, sees all and presides all. That means that everything that happened was directed by her. She was the one who pulled the strings from the very beginning due to the very fact that Merlin's future was written and certain "since the dawn of time".

Why the need for somebody like Merlin when actually the Triple Goddes could have NOT done it all but prevented all the happenings instead? It doesn't make any sense.

The show totally failed in stating out the differences between the Old Religion and magic at all. In the first seasons it was obvious that Merlin distanced himself from the Old Religion but was, like the Druids, a sorcerer who wanted to use his magic for good and was to bring about some kind of a new religion. Alas, in the last two seasons it was all mixed up and Merlin not only didn't fight the Old Religion but also didn't care much about magic-users anymore. His only goal was to be by Arthur's side and that's it.

Why didn't Merlin talk to the Triple Goddess, his one and only boss? She could have answered some questions, yet Merlin didn't seem to be interested at all.

Arthur:

I don't even know where to begin. He was the most fickle character I've ever seen on a show. He obviously never really knew what was right or wrong and where his loyalties lied. On the one hand he loved his father and wanted to live up to his legacy, on the other hand he often denied him and even spoke ill of him. One time he says and is being told that he achieved so much and was so different than Uther, and then we can all see that he didn't change a bit about magic, still forbids magic and still persecutes magic-users. The only thing he changed was that commoners weren't treated like second-class people anymore, mostly for his own benefit since he loved Gwen. Everything else was still the same. Yet Merlin never criticised him for that but gloryfied Arthur as if he had really brought the Golden Age that actually never ever happened.

Morgana:

The worst developed character of all. There's not much I could add to what others have already said. She was changed into a real psychopath who didn't see what was really going on, a totally crazy witch, completely insane, like a brainwashed terrorist. Shame that they changed her that much. She was a very interesting character in the first two seasons. Her hatred for Uther was completely out of line, as well as her hatred for Arthur and all her former friends. Whatever she tried to achieve, she did everything to destroy each and everyone, including magic-users. What did she think when she released the Dorocha? They would have destroyed the entire world of the living. And then what? Where and how would she have lived, what would she have achieved when the world would have been destroyed?

Uther (he didn't persecute Morgana, by the way):

As cruel and despicable as the Great Purge was, he was as much a victim of what the Old Religion did as anyone else. Nimueh killed Igraine, she was the one who chose Igraine's life and didn't tell Uther about it (even Gaius and Merlin confirmed that in season one). Long before Uther was born and later came to the land, the entire land was alsmost destroyed by magic (as confrmed by Gaius in season one). Yet he became friends with Nimueh and had nothing against magic-users. Then Nimueh obviously thought it was funny or a good idea to agree to a deal that would kill Uther's beloved wife without telling him (even Merlin didn't know whose life would be taken when saving Arthur in "Le Morte D'Arthur", so how was Uther supposed to know back then?), triggering the pure rage and hatred of one of the mightiest human/king in the whole land.

Great job.

The purge is not justifiable but understandable. Uther had learned that magic can't be trusted at all because even a close friend betrayed him and took from him what he loved most. Even healing magic that actually was supposed to do good had dreadful consequences and was purely destructable. Of course it changed Uther's view completely. Chaos and mayhem caused by magic when he came to the land plus the death of his beloved wife caused by one of his close, magical friend.... No wonder he was furious and started to hate magic.

Merlin forgot about it all in "The Sins of the Father" when he ignored the very fact that he did the same by making a deal with Nimueh in order to save Arthur and almost killing his mother and Gaius in the process. The only difference was that Merlin had magic and was able to prevent the death of others by killing Nimueh. Uther didn't have magic and couldn't do anything about it.

I don't think that Gwen had much compassion for Uther, Tabahta. She only did it for Arthur, not for Uther. But even if she was a little compassionate, it would have been the right thing especially for somebody like Gwen. Accepting her hatred for the person who had her father killed (a man who collaborated with the sorcerer who wanted to kill the king...) but not accepting Uther's hatred for sorcery that killed his beloved wife would be double standard. Not to mention that Uther regretted Tom's death even though he had broken the most important law and helped a magic-user who tried to kill Uther. I wonder if Morgana had ever told Gwen about that. Besides, Uther was a complete broken man, and not just for fun but because he obwviously realised what he had done. If his hatred was stronger than his love for his daughter he wouldn't have become a broken shadow of his former self but persecuted Morgana and killed everyone who had just anything to do with the betrayal.

Yes, he deserved a little compassion. Gwen wasn't a friend of magic. She supported the law even after Uther's death and did the same and even said the same words that Uther said when she sentenced a magic-user as Queen. She knew that Tom was believed to be a traitor, helping treason against the king. She also knew that commoners didn't have the same rights as the nobles, and this wasn't a law that Uther had invented but it was common everywhere. Sure, she didn't exactly love Uther and it was understandable that she held a grudge against him. But no compassion from her was out of line for a character like Gwen.

There is so much more about Uther and everything else, I would have to write for the next few hours. So I better stop here for now.