User blog comment:Knightofthecart/Uther, the once and future king, part I/@comment-5102537-20130101112329

I think you'tre not surprised that I really like this blog! :-) And I'm looking forward to the second part.

The only thing that I really disapprove of in regard to Uther is the Great Purge. Even though I understand why he did it, mass murder can never be right, especially since there are sorcerers who were born with their powers. On the other hand, if we take a look at Nimueh, Cornelius Sigan, Morgause and Morgana, Uther probably never met a good sorcerer/sorceress who was born with magic but only those who completely corrupted.

I think it was too much to have him killed children. It wasn't necessary to make him that cruel on a family show because it actually led to nothing and contradicted his general personality that was shown to us. I thought at first that they needed another reason for Morgana's turn and evilness but in the end, she didn't seem to care about this and she herself didn't feel the need to protect anyone anymore, so this didn't serve any other purpose than to show the viewer that Uther suffered from his doings during the Great Purge which was evident when he was haunted by the visions of the dead children and his wife. At that point of time it still seemed that he will redeem in the very end.

The Great Purge can never be justified, yet he did it for good reasons and it was unfortunately the mass murder of those who had/practised magic that brought peace to the land.

I wish they had made a difference between The Triple Godess and other ways of the Old Religion, because that way they could have made clear that Merlin is fighting for a new kind of magic, a peaceful one without the dogma of the ruthless and callous Triple Goddess who caused this all. That way, Arthur (and before him maybe even Uther) could have been really convinced to accept it. The Old Ways were evidentally cruel ones (even healing-magic came to a terrible price), so it would have been a good idea to make Merlin fighting the Triple Goddess and maybe replacing her or taking care of replacement so that everyone, viewers and fictional characters alike, could see that a peaceful coexistence can be possible.

The way they showed it on "Merlin" I still wonder why the Old Ways should return at all and why Uther was supposed to be so very wrong when we witnessed magic destroying everything in the end. Morgana and Merlin both made the big mistake to not prove to everyone that there can be good sorceres among those who are born with magic. They failed to make that clear -  Morgana by turning totally evil and by corrupting, Merlin by constantly hiding and manipulating. Uther had absolutely no reason to even think that there are good sorcerers who won't corrupt and cause destruction. He contantly witnessed evil magic-users until he died, and in the end, not even his love for his daughter could protect Morgana from corrupting completely.