User blog comment:Dragonfire8/Peasants being able to read/@comment-5674726-20131012005151/@comment-5102537-20131012121436

I would have found it more believable if Gwen and Gaius had been the only ones who could read and write in the beginning since they have lived at the royal court and Morgana could have taught Gwen. Gaius needed to since he used to be a magic-user. Merlin could have been taught later by Gaius.

Or it would have been a good idea to add another problem to the ban of magic and especially Merlin's life if he had been taught to read and write due to his true nature of being a sorcerer ever since his childhood (by other sorcerers maybe). He would have been forced to hide it from everyone so that others wouldn't suspect him of practicing magic. The reasons for peasants to be able to read without a particular education known to the king could have been magic/the Old Religion. It would also have contributed to the difference between commoners and nobles and the reason why nobles thought to be superior to commoners by birth.

Education of peasants could have been dangerous to those in power.

However, I too think that it was simply more convenient and less complicated to have Merlin literate from the beginning.