Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Two/@comment-5102537-20130601104158/@comment-5674726-20130601122720

Would things have turned out differently if Merlin had revealed himself to her and if he had not brought her to the druids?

Almost certainly.

Seeing the Druids massacred by Arthur, on Uther's orders, gave her even more reason to be afraid of how both would react, should they learn of her magic. Had she known that she wasn't alone, she would have felt more secure and, if she didn't fear Uther and Arthur as much, I can't see her coming to hate them to the extent that she did.

Gaius could also have helped if he had spoken with her about her magic. He needn't have said anything about Merlin if he was worried about his secret, and he was also somebody who was well-placed to give her an explanation about what led to the Great Purge, to help her understand that, while some were innocent victims, others abused their powers to harm others. She needed to understand that it wasn't a case of all magic users bein innocent victims, some of whom were driven to desperate acts and had no choice but to turn ruthless. People used magic to hurt others long before the Great Purge and that is likely to be why Uther's measures against magic users were accepted. The fear was already there.