Board Thread:(Re)Writing "Merlin"/@comment-5674726-20141115233456/@comment-5674726-20150102222118

The most crucial thing I'd change about Merlin is his level of power relative to other magic users. In the series, he was lauded as the most powerful warlock ever so I found that there was never any suspense, as it was not a case of whether or not he'd be able to defeat a foe but how he would do it without revealing his magic. I also found that I couldn't root for the character because it was a given that he was going to be so much more powerful than any foe he faced off against that they had no hope of defeating him.

If I was writing the character, I'd have it that inborn magic is rare but not unheard of, and that while he is very powerful, he is not so powerful that the likes of Nimueh, Mordred and Morgana wouldn't stand at least some chance against him in a one on one battle, and that he is potentially at a significant disadvantage if it is he has to face off against multiple powerful magic users - ie. that the prophesied alliance between Mordred and Morgana could be a threat to him. I would also give more weight to magic users with decades of dedicated training versus Merlin, who has more raw power but not the training. As time goes by, he could become more powerful but I think that he needed to struggle more.

I also think that there needed to be at least a couple of significant defeats for him along the way, to let him struggle as a character and to show viewers that it is not smooth sailing. Ideally, I'd make it something like Arthur's marriage to Guinevere, as he was very invested in it. If it was a case of Arthur not being able to marry Guinevere after she was caught with Lancelot before the wedding, as the weight of public opinion was too much against her for her to be accepted as Queen, he would be desperate to set things right for his friends and would take his inability to do so very hard. Having Gaius or Hunith killed is another option. It'd need to be something major that he couldn't fix at a later date, ie. no resurrecting the dead or turning back time, or Arthur and Gwen don't eventually find a way to marry.

I won't go into detail on the subject of destiny here, I'll save it for the Destiny thread, but I also would have Merlin feeling doubts about his alleged destiny with Arthur. It's a future he wants to believe in but one that looked less and less likely as the seasons passed and no real progress was made. I'd have him wrestle with the question of what he would do if destiny didn't work out, and whether his friendship with Arthur is more important, so much so that he will stay by his side even if it means that he is never able to tell him the truth about his magic and all he has done for him. He could also seriously question whether saving magic is a good thing in the long run or if it should be allowed to fade from the world.