Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5102537-20130801124135/@comment-87.2.236.141-20200811133115

I think that they did not really used the concept of fate and destiny correctly, and while they were doing the fifth season they realized their mistake, trying to correct it. In one scene of the Disir Merlin tells Arthur that there is a difference between fate and destiny, when in the beginning of the series the word “fate” was never mentioned.

Basically prophecy is not bound to happen, it’s just a prediction that is very likely to happen, but it can be tricky, misleading and it can be interpreted in the wrong way. Also there can be a lot of prophecies, that often can contradict themselves (like the prophecy that stated that Morgana would bring back the old ways, that contradicts the prophecy that says that Emrys will bring back magic to the land with Arthur). And they don’t have to happen necessarily (like Morgana’s visions, for example the scene were she asked Emrys to help her).

Destiny in the first seasons is treated as something that is bound to happen, while in reality destiny is something that can be changed, since men decide their own destiny whit their actions.

Fate on the other hand is something that is decided by the gods, that is bound to happen, because a higher power decided so. Basically Arthur sealed his fate when he refused to bring the old religion back to the land, for this reason the gods decided he had to die; even if he had accepted the old religion after the episode of the Disir, he would have died, and that is exactly what happened in the last episode. The gods were probably pissed because he did not lift the ban of magic when he became king, something that was prophesied, but did not happen.

So I think that his death was something that could have been avoided. Just like when morgana was told that Emrys was her doom, that was probably a message from the gods in order to make her change her ways. In my opinion the purge was caused by the gods to punish those that used magic for selfish reasons, just like Morgana did; so Arthur was born to correct this, and Mordred was born to correct the persecution in case it lasted after Arthur’s coronation.

Basically there is no right or wrong, everyone was right or wrong in some way, the only thing the gods cared about was to have balance, and after Morgana’s, Mordred’s and Arthur’s death the balance was restored, one way or another. The only thing that survived was magic, in other words Emrys. Kilgharrah basically told Merlin that his destiny was bound to happen, just like Morgana’s, Mordred’s and Arthur’s, but in reality it wasn’t true; for being a centuries old dragon he wasn’t very wise: he was too focused on “what could happen”, making everything worse, but maybe it was a mentality caused by the purge and Uther’s betrayal.