User blog comment:Fimber/The thing about magic - The Drawing of the Dark/@comment-5864027-20121216163313/@comment-5102537-20121216174229

Hi and thanks for your comment.

I know it's sometimes hard to remember all the things that has been said on the show from the beginning but when you remember some epsiodes of season one, you'll see that Merlin is indeed a member of the Old Religion, being born as creature of it, not by choice. This is being confirmed by both Kilgharrah and Nimueh.

Kilgharrah: "We are both creatures of the Old Religion. It is the source of your power." And Nimueh: Your childish tricks are useless against me, Merlin. I am a priestess of the Old Religion. You, too, are a creature of the Old Religion. You should join me."

So we see that Merlin is much more than just a sorcerer and that the Old Religion is his ultimate source, namely the Triple Goddess, the boss of the Old Religion.

I agree with you that mercy and forgiveness is never pointless. However, from Arthur's point of view, he learnt that showing mercy towards a sorceress/magic-user led to nothing but was rejected willingly, and the druid girl showed no remorse at all but said before she would do it again if she had the chance. Her life was less important to her than her hatred for Camelot and Arthur, so Arthur's mercy, in his experience, was invane and unaccepted. As for Uther, I think that what we saw during the seasons was what indeed happened in regard to persecuting sorcerers and he didn't do more than that. However, before the show started, in Uther's past, he persecuted a lot more during the Great Purge, of course. But he stopped the purge even though he knew that there were still many sorcerers out there/in Camelot/around Camelot. Arthur does the same aside from the Great Purge, persecuting sorceres and executing the law which he himself continues. What you said about Arthur taking responsibility for his actions when, for example, facing the ghost of the druid boy, he didn't do it without blaming his father again by saying that he did it to impress Uther. He also didn't tell anyone except Merlin that slaughtering the camp was his own doing and not Uther's responsibility. He let others believe that it was his father's fault and not his own, which I found to be extremely cowardly. Uther also took responsiblity for his actions, for example when he wanted to sacrifice himself for Arthur in "Excalibur". Instead of trying to capture Tristan's wraith and to maybe burry him somewhere where he can never escape again, he told Gaius that Igraine gave her life for Arthur and that he must do the same since Tristan wanted him and not others. So he was willing to pay for his actions and to sacrifice his own life, taking full responsiblity, even though he didn't know that Igraine would die and even though it was Tristan back then who challenged Uther for a deadly duel, not the other way around. Tristan blamed Uther and wanted to kill him, even though Uther had no idea that Igraine would die. Uther won the fight that he as forced into by Tristan. Later Tristan returned by magic and Uther took responsibility even though it wasn't him who had challenged Tristan in the first place after Igraine died. As for Igraine's death, he didn't know that she would die and Nimueh didn't tell him but chose Igarine. She didn't tell him that someone close to him would be the price. So it ws Nimueh's/the Old Religion's responsibility, not Uther's. Uther also took responsibility for Morgana disappearing when he told Arthur that looking after Morgana was his responsibility and not Arthur's.

The differences between Arthur and Uther are the Round Table, marrying a serving girl and Arthur being more relaxed on magic. Yet, in regard to the law and to magic at all, Arthurs does the same and he didn't even deny it when the Disir blamed him for that. Arthur has the power to lift the ban but he doesn't want to, instead he still kills those of Merlin's kind, yet Merlin loves him but hates Uther. Ridiculous. As for looking down on servants, in the end of The Poisened Chalice Uther admitted his mstake and praised Arthur for saving Merlin even though he had disobeyed Uther. He also cried in front of Merlin and told him his most private feelings about his children, even though he was talking to a servant. Whe Uther wasn't king for a few minutes, he was a total different person and a normal man. This was the time when theshow still demonstrated the shades of grey and the multidimensional characters instead of this constant flat, one-dimensional up and down of season four and five.

I don't believe that Merlin supports the cruel and ruthless ways of the Old Religion. That's why I wrote that the show can't seem to decide what Merlin's purpose is and what he tries to achieve when the Old Religion is dangerous and ruthless but Merlin wants to restore magic nevertheless even though he should disapprove of the Old Ways. As I said, total chaos. Uther is suddenly supposed to be evil, the Old Religion is obviously evil, yet Uther is the badass even though a few minutes later it's the Old Religion/magic again, and Merlin is supposed to restore it even though he sacrifices his own kind, disapproves of the Old Ways, doesn't want to have anything to do with the Triple Goddess and supports Arthur in continuing the ban of magic. Weird. And since The Crystal Cave, Merlin knows that he can't alter the future. But even if he tries, he'd better talk to Mordred about it and tries to figure out what's going on instead of killing him or wanting him dead. The reason is, Merlin's actions could as well be the very actions that lead Mordred to being Arthur's killer - which happened indeed, as we could see. Had Merlin helped Kara to escape, Mordred wouldn't hate Arthur now. Not to mention that Merlin didn't even tell Mordred that Arthur wanted to spare Kara's life. Plus, when Merlin met the Diamair (?) ... this blue alien-like guy, he could have asked about the vision. But no, he didn't want to know what's going to happen. And, as I said, he could have tried to talk to the Triple Goddes. He is her own creature after all.