Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24762954-20140731125438/@comment-5674726-20140731224245

I think that we had a case of a clash between the story the writers may have wanted to tell and the story that came to be to serve an overall agenda.

Early on, we are given to understand that, while there were and are some who use magic for dark purposes, they are a minority and most magic users are good people, which means that Uther's crusade against magic is wrong. We are supposed to root for Merlin's alleged destiny to help Arthur restore magic to Camelot. However, we are also expected to believe that Merlin is Arthur's protector, and that he is indispensable.

If we had a situation where all or most of the threats Arthur faced were non-magical, viewers would expect that the great "Once and Future King" should be able to fight his own battles, which would mean that, for the most part, Merlin's presence is unnecessary. On the other hand, if the threats Arthur faces are magical and can only be defeated with the use of magic, it's not a reflection on the warrior he is or the ruler he will be that he is unable to defeat them without Merlin's secret help, allowing Merlin to fulfill his role as protector.

The problem with that is that there then needs to be enough magical threats to justify Merlin's existence as the hero of the story, which means that viewers are repeatedly shown magical threats to Arthur and/or Camelot, which makes magic look darker.

In Season One, a grand total of two episodes do not involve a magical threat to Camelot. In one of those episodes, there is no threat to Camelot, the threat is to a young boy with magic. In the other, the villain is non-magical but is attacking Ealdor rather than Camelot. In Season Two, the balance shifts slightly in favour of non-magical threats, with an assassin, an outlaw and his gang, the witchfinder, and a king without magic (although using the magic of another) who wants to disrupt a peace treaty. Merlin needed to save the day or help to save the day in all four cases.

Basically, I think that what it boils down to is that the writers wanted to show magic as good or good for the most part but they also wanted Merlin to be the hero of the show. To facilitate the latter goal, they undermined the former.