Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Three/@comment-5102537-20130831114747/@comment-5674726-20130904000141

This is a wonderful episode but, for me, it is also an incredibly frustrating one because the writers had a perfect opportunity to add true depth to the storyline but didn't take advantage of it.

In Season Two, Morgana was isolated and very frightened and her fear was based on her belief that Uther hated magic more than he cared for her. The novelisation of The Nightmare Begins puts it into words quite well when it describes Morgana's thought process after she is "rescued" from the Druids: ''He had a father's love for her, there was all the evidence of that she needed in his embrace. But would that be any match for his hatred of magic? She didn't think so. Not for one minute. [...] His touch was gentle, but how soon might those same hands close around her throat if he believed she was a witch?''

This episode could and should have rocked her belief that Uther hated magic more than he loved her. He was willing to use magic to save her life, something he never even considered allowing when Arthur was dying, and after her life was saved, he held to his word to say no more about it and never treated Gaius any differently. Coupled with the fact that he spent a year tirelessly searching for her, at the cost of who knows how many knights and soldiers - even putting the life of his son at risk by sending him out to search - this should have had Morgana reevaluating her belief that Uther hated magic more than he loved her, and given her hope that, if he learned of her magic, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to hurt her. If he had acknowledged her as his daughter, she would have had even more reason to hope that he would love her enough to accept her magic. This would have allowed the opportunity to shift Morgana away from the path she was on, and had her genuinely torn between the two sides of her family, and between both of her people.

Maybe she might even have been able to confide in Uther about her magic - she could adapt some kind of memory loss spell as an insurance policy; if Uther reacted badly, she could wipe his memory of her telling him of her magic but, if he responded well, she would know how much he loved her and that he would never hurt her.

They had the potential for a very strong subplot for the Pendragon family.

If Uther learned about Morgana's magic, I doubt that he would be willing to hurt her. However, I also can't see him wanting it to be known that she has magic because it would force him to either execute his daughter or undermine his laws, which I can't see him wanting to do, given the very real threat magic posed. I'd say that he would have adopted a middle ground as far as magic was concerned, dealing severely with magical threats but not going after Druids or looking for magic if it didn't force itself to his attention. For her part, I think that Morgana needed to understand where he was coming from; I think that she was so afraid to believe that magic would make her evil that she took it to the opposite extreme and wanted to believe that everybody with magic was good, only driven to do bad things because of the persecution they suffered, and that they were all her friends. The level of trust she placed in both Alvarr and Morgause was very troubling.

If Uther knew about Morgana's magic, I could see him bringing Arthur into the loop but swearing him to secrecy. If so, I can't see Arthur breaking his vow, even to tell Merlin or Guinevere, especially as he would not want to undermine his father's laws or put his sister's life at risk. They may even have been able to reach a point where Morgana used her Seer power to warn of threats to Camelot.

Since Merlin wouldn't be in the loop about Morgana's magic, I could see him being very worried if Uther acknowledged Morgana, and if she was closer than ever to him and to Arthur. He was convinced that she was a threat and I doubt that she'd feel any great need to reassure him, not after he poisoned her. Even if he came to realise that she was no longer an enemy of Camelot, it would be interesting to see how he would have reacted if he learned that Morgana was using magic to help defend Camelot, with Uther and Arthur's full knowledge and approval, and if she was leading Uther to soften his stance on magic. His life revolved around his belief in his and Arthur's supposed destiny, so I don't know how he'd have coped if he thought that Uther, Morgana and Arthur were taking steps towards the golden age without him.