User blog:Fimber/What went wrong in "The Sins of the Father" ?

What a great episode this could have been, with the introduction of Morgause and the potential to clarify some things about Morgana, Uther, Igraine, Arthur and Vivienne, while bringing in even more conflict at the same time.

I was wondering about the entire plot about Morgause being a soreceress and being smuggled out of Camelot as a baby when she was several years older than Arthur is and due to that wasn't affected by Uther's hunt on magic at that point of time since the Great Purge started years later after Arthur's birth.

So why was she smuggled out of Camelot and why was Uther (and he probably wasn't the only one) led to believe that Morgause had died? There have been several discussions about this before on this site and I wish the producers would have given us an answer.

I was also wondering if Uther even knew that Morgause had magic (in this epsiode) before Merlin mentioned that she was an enchantress at the end of the epsiode. Uther didn't want Morgana to know about her half-sister so that Morgana's loyalties will not be divided. Her loyalties regarding the House of Gorlois or regarding magic? It points into the direction that Uther knew about Morgause's powers because Gorlois was dead already and Morgana had spent most of her life in Camelot as Uther's "ward". So it seems that Uther's concerns were about magic, which was shown later when he talked to Gaius and feared what Morgause had planned for Arthur. Generally, this kind of fear and panic only arised when Uther had to deal with magic, not with mere good fighters. If he knew about Morgause's magical powers, why didn't he order his knights to kill her, once he learnt that she was Morgana's half sister and therefore the one of whom he thought had died as a baby (for whatever reason)?

When he talked to Gaius about Morgause's plans and when Gaius told him that she claimed to have known Igraine, why didn't Uther wonder how she could have known Igraine? Morgause must have been a child when Igraine was still alive, which means that she must have been to Camelot at least once as such. Was she in Camelot in disguise or did she meet Igraine secretly and maybe even conspired with her in whatever things they could have conspired? Or did she meet Igraine when she had summoned her ghost before? How come that Uther obviously didn't wonder about this all? It's a miracle that he didn't do everything to have her killed when she not only had magic but also claimed to have known Igraine ("very well", as she said).

So in case he knew about Morgause's magic, did he know then about Morgana's magic? He had a brief affair with Vivienne before he started to hate magic, and since it's likely that Morgause and Morgana inherited their powers from their mother Vivienne, Uther must have known about Vivienne's powers, therefore must have suspected Morgause AND Morgana too. When the mother and the half-sister have magical powers, it's very likely that the other child, Morgana, has such powers too. Did Uther simply ignore this?

Later, when Merlin talked to Gaius about Uther having used magic and having "sacrificed" Igraine, he obviously had forgotten about his own deal he had with Nimueh when he saved Arthur. Merlin almost sacrificed his own mother and Gaius when he agreed to the life-for-a-life deal with Nimueh. How come he blames Uther for making this deal with Nimueh, in a time when Uther had no problem with magic, unaware of the fact that Igraine would die in the process, when Merlin himself did the same just three years before in order to heal Arthur? And why didn't Gaius say a word when he actually had witnessed it first hand back then and knew that Uther had no idea that Igraine would be the price and that Merlin had done the same before?

It was also astonishing that when Merlin told Arthur that Morgause lied to him and just wanted to turn him against his father, Uther didn't want to know anything about the meeting with Igraine or the illusion of Igraine. If someone "met" a dead loved one of mine, wether they were real or just an illusion, I would want to know everything. I would want to know how they looked like in order to find out if the "ghost" was real or not, I would want to know what they said and would want to know how it all worked and what happened at all. Uther, the one who loved Igraine so much that he had spent years of hatred towards magic and destroyed his own life because of his grief, didn't want to know anything about Igraine appearing? He just accepted it and didn't react at all when Merlin mentioned that Arthur had talked to his mother. At least he could have tried to convince Arthur that Igraine wasn't real or he could have looked surprised when he heard of Igraine's reappearance and wasn't sure if she was real or not. But there was nothing.

Last but not least, Arthur tremendously overeacted when he heard about the circumstances of his birth, or better, what Igraine or fake Igraine told him and made him believe was the truth. Igraine was a complete stranger to Arthur, he had never met her before whereas he has spent his entire life with his father. Yet, he runs to him in rage and wants to kill him without asking a question, without the benefit of a doubt. How much can he love his father when he lets a sorceress addle his mind and then wants to kill his father in total rage? Would anyone believe a dead family member just so and then try to kill the one you have spent your whole life with and who you trust and love? Why were magical people suddenly more important to him than his own father and why did he believe instantly that Uther had sactrificed his own wife? And even if Uther had sacrificed her intentionally, which wasn't the case, was it appropriate for Arthur to try to kill his father instead of thinking for a minute and maybe realising that Uther might regret it and that Igraine's death was the very reason why he started to hate magic in the first place?

It's such a pity that this epsiode was so full of plotholes and illogical happenings and that it was forgotten later when it actually opened a whole new chapter concerning the main protagonists and antagonists as well as guest characters that have only been mentioned.