Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Four/@comment-5102537-20131116154357/@comment-5102537-20140127122724

Guinevere01 wrote:

However, we see again how people will do anything for those they love. Merlin clearly cares so much about Arthur, since he cannot bear to see Arthur distressed. To use magic again like that, he risks everything. I love the pureness of this scene, when Merlin decides that he has something urgent to go and do whilst Arthur speaks to the sorcerer, Dragoon. Since Merlin lost is own father, he doesn't want Arthur to have to experience the same hurt. Unfortunately, we see the way magic ruins another Pendragon, since Morgana sets up the amulet around Uther's neck.

But clearly, this wasn't the case. Merlin didn't care at all about Arthur's desperation which was specifically obvious when he told Arthur this:

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(ARTHUR They can give up hope, but I won't.)

MERLIN ''I know. It's hard to accept, and I wish it wasn't so...There really is nothing that can be done.''

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Merlin had every chance to heal Uther without Arthur's decision to use magic, meaning, he could have healed Uther long before, right after he was injured.

This is clear in his conversation with Gaius:

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''GAIUS Do you think Uther is going to thank you for healing him with magic? He's more likely to have you hanged.

MERLIN Uther will never change his attitude towards magic. I know that. '''But if Arthur allows it to be used to heal his father, his attitude will be changed forever. He will see that magic can be a force for good.'

(....)

''MERLIN I promised Arthur I could heal Uther and I can't even find the right spell.

GAIUS '''That's because you're reading the wrong books. Here...'''

[Gaius holds out a small leather tome, which Merlin takes.]

GAIUS Gwillem of Cambria was as mad as a coot, but there has never been a better healer.''

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Gaius knows the right books and where to find the spell, Merlin promised Arthur to heal Uther (after Arthur had decided to use magic), so there was no reason whatsoever to wait IF and until Arthur wants magical help. The solution was right there for Merlin to access at any time, yet he told Arthur that he had to accept Uther's upcoming death. Why didn't he heal him much sooner whe he could?

It's like a doctor in our time has a cure for a patient that is dying but doesn't treat the patient until, for example, the patient's loved ones tell the doc that he will get a huge reward if he heals the patient. How ridiculous and rotten is that? Imagine, your loved is injured or sick and you promise the doctors whatever you want to offer them for saving your family member's life. And when they die, you find out that the necessary treatment or cure could have been used much earlier and your loved one wouldn't have died if the doctors had treated them in time. What would you think and do?

In the scene when Merlin tells Arthur to accept Uther's upcoming death, his facial expression emphasizes that he has no intention whatsoever to heal Uther just out of the goodness of his heart or even for Arthur's sake. Arthur's grief isn't important for Merlin anymore, he wanted Uther to die.

The fact that Merlin doesn't care about Uther and Arthur is demonstrated again at the end of the episode in his conversation with Gaius - and neither does Gaius care:

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''GAIUS We must look to the future. '''Uther's death will allow Arthur's progression to the throne. We must hope it brings peace and stability to the land.'''

MERLIN Magic will still be outlawed.

[Gaius nods sadly.]

MERLIN '''I've turned Arthur against it forever. He'll never know who I really am.'''

GAIUS That time will come. I'm sure of it. Arthur will be under even more pressure now that he's King. He will need you more than ever. ''

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It's about Merlin and his failed plan all over, no word about Arthur's loss and grief or about Uther's agonizing death. The only reason why Merlin tried to heal Uther was to make Arthur lift the ban of magic and not to help a dying person and/or to help his so called best friend.