Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24762954-20140731125438/@comment-5674726-20140826202716

Fimber wrote:

I think that the idea to merge the old and the new ways was there in season one already. Merlin told Nimueh that he doesn't want to be part of her and her kind, meaning being a member of the Old Religion. This was the first clear hint that Merlin had his own way and was sitting on the fence in regard to magic and those who feared and hated it. There was his friendship with Arthur and his helpful nature even towards those who would have killed him, and on the other side there was his destiny and the fact that he himself had magic. He had to find a way for a peaceful coexistence. Unfortunately, I don't think that this angle of the storyline got the attention it needed to be effective.

There was the occasional indication that people with magic backed Merlin but, to me, that seems like the writers' way of showing that he was still on track to achieve his alleged destiny, when one would logically expect that those who believed that Emrys would restore magic would be getting impatient and losing faith in him.

Merlin's focus was on protecting Arthur, even when it meant not taking advantage of opportunities to improve the position of magic users. This is natural, as Arthur was his friend, but it would have made for a better story if his focus on one goal at the expense of the other came with consequences, ie. that he was losing the support of magic users who saw him as a traitor to his own people as he was using his powers to protect the oppressors rather than to free the oppressed.