Board Thread:What If?/@comment-173.245.80.12-20140903054558/@comment-37017073-20190529204545

Hakka84 wrote: As far as I remember (I should rewatch the episode/look at screencaps) Dragoon has never been alone with Uther, Arthur is always in the room (and possibly breathing on Dragoon's neck) so there was no way for Dragoon to be blamed (unless he sneaked in Camelot before Arthur went in search of him, obviously). True, Dragoon was never alone with Uther and Arthur watched the healing spell pretty closely. However, that doesn't discount the possibility of Dragoon enchanting Arthur ahead of time not to notice the necklace (the piggyback ride alone would have afforded him several minutes to cast a nonverbal spell without Arthur seeing), or of him having an accomplice or sneaking in himself (as you suggested) to plant the necklace ahead of time.

All three of these options are exactly the kind of treacherous, underhanded things that Arthur has been raised to believe a sorcerer would do, and unlike Morgana, servant #25, or knight #84, Arthur knows for a fact that Dragoon has had several hours at his disposal to put together such a plot. He also knows that Dragoon has attempted to sabotage Camelot in the past with a plot every bit as tricky and underhanded as the ones suggested, and that he was able to successfully infiltrate the castle at least twice to carry it out.

Can any of these theories be proven? No. But unlike Merlin or Gaius, Arthur doesn't need to provide proof to convince people to act, he just needs to make a decree or give an order.

Arthur should've known that someone had hindered the healing magic. At that point it didn't matter whom, the eccentric Dragoon, servant #25, a sneaking Morgana, or knight #84: Arthur was left to believe Dragoon used magic to kill his father, when it wasn't the truth. I don't care if that was useless, that it would've never changed anything about his belief on magic: it irks me that he never knew the full picture of what happened at his father's bedside. Dragoon took the blame for what, four episodes? Though Arthur never found out about the necklace, Gaius did make it clear to him at the end of The Secret Sharer that Dragoon was not to blame for Uther's death and that he'd done everything in his power to save him, and by that point Arthur had grieved enough that he was able to listen and accept it.

That said, I completely understand why you would want Arthur to know (for emotional reasons, if nothing else). Personally, though, even if they had decided to let Arthur find out at some point, I wouldn't have wanted Merlin or Gaius to be the one to tell him, simply because I think it would be a lot more dramatic/emotionally resonant for him to find out from Morgana or Agravaine (it's kind of a family matter, after all).

They still held the secret about Lancelot's nature, though. I guess I'm irked, in place of Arthur, for all the secret he was withheld: many were withheld for a reason (protect Merlin), but these two... there was no reason to not tell him.

Well, a) they wouldn't be able to explain how they knew Lancelot was a Shade without admitting that they'd used Necromancy, aka magic, which is a capital offense, and b) Lancelot being a Shade doesn't change the fact that (as far as anyone knew, including herself) Gwen had acted of her own volition, so it wouldn't have done anything to improve her situation.