Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-31492005-20190107021918/@comment-37017073-20190504181040

75.115.169.143 wrote: It really sucked what happened to Morgana, I knew of the legends, but was under the impression the show was taking the story in a new creative direction by making Morgana so beautifully wonderful, with Merlin and Morgana being centered between good and evil, but ultimately facing it all together!

Morgana was "wonderful" in the beginning because the writers chose to follow a pattern of reversed expectations for the main characters. Wise wizard Merlin is introduced as a rash, bumbling fool; just King Arthur as an arrogant bully; Queen Guinevere as a shy, humble serving girl; and outcast witch Morgana as an empathetic courtier.

The writers did this because the series was set "before they were famous" and they wanted to show and explore how they grew and developed into the characters of legend. To this end, over the course of the series Merlin earns his wisdom through trials, tribulation, and yes, many mistakes; Arthur learns to follow his heart and do what he believes to be right even if it means disobeying his father or finding his own way of doing things; Gwen grows into and learns how to handle power as her relationship with Arthur deepens and he begins to actively seek her counsel; and Morgana allows her insecurities about her relationship with Uther and her desires for power and revenge to embitter her, infect her other relationships, and turn her against the people and kingdom she used to care about.

In the end, I can only blame the outcome of the show due to sucky, sucky writing to characters and a tv series that could have been so much more.

"Not What I Wanted To Happen" ≠ Bad Writing.

Morgana's problems with Uther date all the way back to the first episode and festered and grew in response to a number of issues: his tendency to ignore her counsel, his relentless persecution of magic-users, the discovery of her own magic, etc. In turn, Morgana's growing feud with Uther led her to ally herself with people like Tauren, Mordred, Morgause, and Alvarr, all of whom shared and encouraged her vendetta and had goals that aligned with it.

This may not have been what you wanted to happen, but that doesn't change the fact that Morgana's arc was neither contrived nor out of character. It could have been handled with a little more nuance, certainly, but her flaws and issues were still clearly established and the choices she made were given narrative weight and made sense in regards to her personality, mindset, and motives. It's not the writers' fault if her fans continually latch on to her positive traits and refuse to acknowledge the negative.