User blog comment:Knightofthecart/Uther, the once and future king, part I/@comment-5102537-20130101112329/@comment-5102537-20130213132818

"I'd say that he carried the guilt of taking the easy way out, thinking that magic would give him what he wanted, little realising that it would cost him his beloved wife."

Yes, agreed. He most certainly felt guilt. I just disagree with Arthur's assumption that he started the Great Purge to ease his guilt because it wouldn't make much sense. Those who claim that Uther didn't start the Purge out of grief (since they think he sacrificed Igraine willingly) say that he started it out of guilt. However, he can't feel guilt if he didnt love Igraine. If he loved Igraine, which he did, he started the Purge out of grief (and fear). It's contradictory what some others said.

He felt guilt because he asked for magical help, yet he knows that the OldReligion/Nimueh chose Igraine even though they coud have chosen someone else, and obviously, nobody told him that someone close to him would die. So aside from his own guilt because he asked for magical help in the first place, he rightfully blames Nimueh/The Old Religion. I'd like to compare it to a situation in our real world. If someone tells his loved one to go to the store (for example) and on their way the person dies because, lets say, someone shoots him or her, the one who sent him or her will feel guilty because he asked them to go to the store. Neverthelss, he/she knows quite well that the criminal who shot his/her loved one and is the real guilty one.

"It could also mean that his decision to have Gaius use magic to save Morgana was an even bigger deal than it appears to be at first glance, since Uther would have thought that it was possible, maybe even likely, that somebody else would have to die in her place and that, if so, it was more likely to be somebody close to him than a random stranger."

Yes. This was either a plothole or the demand of taking another life in exchange ended with Nimueh's and the Questing Beast's death. Or maybe, it was Uther who paid the price in the end since he died at the hands of Morgana (and the Gleeman, Agravaine, Arthur and Merlin). Maybe he knew that he would die? I have always been wondering what Gaius meant when said "you can't risk everything".