Immortal Army

"Weapons were useless against them. Th-They were men, sire, but not men. Nothing could kill them. Nothing."

- Elyan to Arthur

Immortal Armies are armies of the living dead sustained by the magic of Cup of Life. Only two such armies have been created in the history of Albion, the first by a great warlord and the second by the High Priestess Morgause.

A Warlord's Army
Many centuries before Uther's reign, the Cup of Life fell into the possession of a great warlord. He used it to make his army immortal by taking a drop of blood from each man and collecting it in the Cup. According to Gaius, the carnage this army wrought was beyond all imagining, and it was only defeated when the Cup was emptied of the blood within (The Coming of Arthur).

Cenred's Army
After Cenred retrieved the Cup of Life from Arthur Pendragon, Morgause took a drop of blood from each man in Cenred's army and collected it in the Cup. This ritual which not only made them immortal, but transformed them into the living dead. It also allowed her to take control of the army, and with no further use for Cenred, she ordered one of his men to kill him.

Under Morgause's command, the army easily conquered Camelot. Uther and the surviving Knights of Camelot were imprisoned in the dungeons and Morgana, Morgause's half-sister and ally, was crowned Queen.

One week later, Guinevere and Sir Leon fled Camelot to meet up with Arthur and his allies. Unbeknownst to them, however, Gwen had been tricked into drinking a potion that allowed Morgause to track them. She and a company of immortal soldiers followed their trail to Arthur, but the prince and his allies escaped by blocking the path with boulders. Merlin, meanwhile, killed several immortal soldiers with the sword Excalibur, which had been enchanted to kill the undead.

Merlin, Arthur, and his newly appointed Knights of the Round Table later infiltrated the citadel on a mission to rescue Uther. Once they were inside, Merlin and Lancelot left to disable the warning bell while Arthur led the remaining knights to the dungeons. Arthur's group initially had little trouble with immortals, but after the warning bell sounded, they were quickly surrounded and forced to engage them in battle.

Meanwhile, Merlin and Lancelot had abandoned their warning bell assignment to find the Cup of Life. Armed with Excalibur, they fought their way across the castle and easily destroyed any immortals they came across. They arrived at the throne room with only minor injuries and quickly dispatched the soldiers guarding the Cup. Merlin then moved to empty the Cup of the army's blood, but was stopped in his tracks by Morgause, who burst into the room and used her magic to throw him into a wall.

Gaius's timely intervention, however, prevented her from killing him. Merlin then used his own magic to throw Morgause into a pillar, seriously injuring her, and used Excalibur to knock the Cup of Life from its stand.

The spilling of the blood immediately broke the enchantment. All over Camelot, the immortal soldiers were instantly destroyed, including those still engaged in combat with Arthur and his knights (The Coming of Arthur).