Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5674726-20150813192004/@comment-2605:E000:121D:C5F5:0:CFA8:C42:707D-20180517033803

I have a small (actually, BIG) theory regarding the whole "Merlin is Emrys = Merlin is the most powerful sorcerer EVER" thing, and why, despite this, he struggled so much with defeating his foes. First, and most obviously, he doesn't actually know that much about how to use his magic. Second, lack of refinement in his use of magic causes him to put in too much power in his spells, making it so that most of that power never actually goes into the effects of the spell and simply dissipates.

This last part, though, is a tremendous jump with very little proof. The only things that actually back it are the "most powerful sorcerer" thing and how the Fisher King (I think it was the Fisher King, anyway) called him, outright, Magic. My theory largely involves theorized workings of magic in general.

Pt. 1 – Magic is a free-floating energy that just works with nature or does nothing until someone with some magical capacity bends it, and therefore some aspect of reality, to their will.

Pt. 2 – While witches and warlocks are born with their own magic, sorcerers and sorceresses use the magic of the Earth itself to cast their spells.

Pt. 3 – Merlin is the Earth's magic, given sentience, sapience, and general humanity, so he's really powerful. However, a butt-load of sorcerers use his magic/himself, and with more precision than he does, so he's never operating at full power throughout the entire series.

Before anyone points out how Uther's Purge wiped out a large percentage of magic-users in general, recall the number of sorcerers that came out of the woodworks to take a try at someone's head during the show. That's a large number by itself, with a considerable amount of power, and it doesn't even include all the other sorcerers that are in hiding.