Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Five/@comment-5102537-20140426100805/@comment-24785400-20140428003710

You could argue however, that ALL their characters, including Merlin and Arthur were assassinated in the end.

I really worded that badly didn't I? There really is no argument that all the characters were ill-served by the writing. Its interesting to note that Morgana and Gwen did get some sort of character development, even though it happened off-screen. It just wasn't a place the writers wanted to go. They had an idea of where they wanted these two characters to end up (one the villain, the other the queen) but the getting there was left out. ( I don't think its what did they do to the BBC, but what did the writers have against their own characters!)

I always loved seeing Gwen working as part of the team too

Same here, I think too, that it gives Gwen some sort of agency when she's working as part of team. I so loved seeing her and Merlin's friendship in earlier seasons, even in episode 5 where she asks him to look after Arthur and he replies its not always easy, and they just share a knowing look.

Merlin and Arthur didn't get any sort of character development at all,  (Arthur becoming King was always a given anyway) Its a common story (either on screen or paper) to have a character face all sorts of adversities, to lose people that they love, to be ignored, or mocked in someway, to face trials and go on a journey of self-discovery,  we watch and cheer  those characters  on, we see them learning from defeats,  but I've never seen a character put forth like Merlin who is continually put through all sorts of hell and still loses in the end (for eternity too). His ambitions and goals are so ill-defined, that we don't know what his motivations are, that we don't see him achieve his goals, we don't see him doing things (such as killing people) for the "greater good". In this season we see him literally battered and bruised, getting abused,  close to dying, but not pushing Arthur towards their shared destiny. He's so obsessed with protecting Arthur, that he seems to have forgotten the bigger picture, but he does pause to give it lip-service every so often to other people of magic. As for Arthur, he's always trusting the wrong people, getting betrayed but he never learns. He doesn't become this great King we all expect to see, too many things happen while he's unconscious, he's protected from knowing his destiny because it goes hand in hand with "keeping the magic a secret" he can't do anything unless he learns the truth. Yes Arthurian Legends are a tragedy, but its because they built this ideal place, (of which Merlin is seen as the architect)  that shone brightly for a while, but was brought undone by human ego. But it was there so people in dark times could look back and see that something once was created. The tragedy is in the losing it, not ever having achieved it.

Do you mean that Morgana in the legend had good reasons to be against Gwen, or Morgana in this show?

I meant in the legends. In the show she just see's Gwen as an usurper to her crown. In the legends however, Gwen banishes Morgan for having a love-affair with her (Gwen's) cousin Accolon. Morgan leaves Camelot and goes to Merlin (who is said who loves her, and teaches her many of his arts) Accolon later dies in a tournament, and Morgan blames Guinevere. The only thing she ever does directly to Arthur is to steal Excalibur and its Scabbard (which is also enchanted, so he never suffers a serious wound). Merlin finds out and gets the sword back to Arthur, but the scabbard is thrown in the lake. Morgan is increasingly portrayed in stories as the main antagonist, but she really didn't start off that way.

I also have to say I agree with Ozymandia's. It certainly got me liking Mordred even more than I already did  (Alex come's across in interviews as really lovely guy too!). Although the ambiguity he has is more in our heads (because we know the legends and we know his destiny) rather than on-screen. Still, he was like a little puppy wanting to please everybody and wanting to be friends with Merlin, it was sad to see him continually rebuffed.