Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24691863-20140413080351/@comment-5102537-20140414130048

If you don't mind reading "books" here, I'd like to continue with your other points about the other protagonists. Sorry that it is so long and so much to read but you approached very interesting points that are parts of the flaws within the show itself and which turned the show into an almost opposite direction. And I guess it's my flaw that I have so many thoughts about it :-D

Merlin After wrote:

"Her flaw is her own power – her magic. Its emergence terrifies her and for good reason. If it became known Uther would have her killed. We all wonder if it would all have turned out differently if only Merlin had revealed his magic to her early on but it can also be seen as inevitable that Morgana turns evil as she succumbs to her craving for revenge against Uther."

That's interesting. I'm not sure whether or not I agree... I guess you're right that her powers corrupted her, but I wouldn't call the powers a flaw. Additionally to what I wrote in my previous post about what would have happened if Uther had found out (earlier than he did), I think that not her magic was a flaw but the way she used it. She had it in her powers to bring a real change, both to the land as well as to Uther's mind. I had lengthy very interesting conversations with ReganX about this subject and she had really great ideas.

Had Morgana used her powers for good, not only Uther would have seen that his own flesh and blood who he thought was so much alike him was able and willing to change things, despite all the hatred concerning magic vs non-magic, but also Merlin would have had good reasons to become her ally. In my opinion, there were three people who had the power to change Uther's mind: Igraine (if she had had the chance to talk to Uther and in case she had a positive stance on magic - which we actually don't know), Arthur and Morgana. And in regard to Arthur, Uther was the one who could have changed his point of view in "The Death Song of Uther Pendragon", had the showrunners planned a different outcome.

Morgana's flaw may not have been her powers but indeed her personality (new personality, I have to say. She used to be different in the first two seasons).

On the other hand, maybe you're right and it really was the magic that changed her. This would at least contribute to what Uther always said, namely that magic sooner or later corrupts really everyone. It's hard to say. Maybe it's a question of how prone someone is to such powers. When we look at season one and Morgana's attempt to kill Uther in "To Kill the King" I would say that she was very prone to corruption. Would she had become so hateful and mad without her powers? I would say no, because once she learnt of her heritage/powers she became a prisoner of her own mission, and her mission used to be to fight what she feared, which was Uther at first.

She had no reason to fear anyone, given how powerful she was and that she could leave Camelot at any time, aside from the fact that Uther wouldn't have killed her anyway. Her hunger for power made her Uther's worst enemy, and once she became more powerful than him she finally saw a chance to turn the tables and to be the one everyone was afraid of. She once called Uther a "snivelling dog", referring to his happiness when she returned. So she obviously saw his love for her as a weakness, and at the same time she knew of his love for her indeed, yet denied it.

In my opinion, it was a mixture of a flawed personality and the magical powers that completely corrupted her - yet the outcome and her total madness is still not plausible.

Merlin After wrote:

"Like his father, Arthur strives to be a good king and he becomes a better king than Uther. His ability to see the good in people and his sense of justice reaches out to encompass more people. In often bitter opposition to his father he envisions a Camelot and a united Albion based more on merit than on hierarchy"

I agree up to a certain point. Arthur was indeed softer than Uther and at least achieved a tiny bit of more equality. However, it stagnated with the knights and Gwen. Everyone else was still the same, no status had changed for anyone and things remained the same in Camelot. Arthur most certainly was a better pal but I don't think that he was a better king. His flaw was his inability to decide and his lack of backbone, plus his naivete and his blindness to what was happening around him.

He never really chose one side and hopped from one opinion to another, always contradicting himself, which made him an easy target for manipulation. He either thought that all magic was evil or that some magic was evil, but making Uther responsible for Arthur's fickleness again is a much too easy way out. When Uther died at the hands of magic, Arthur could have thought that magic was dangerous and that it couldn't be trusted but also that there was indeed some magic that could be used for good. And that those who used magic could be either malicious or good. He could have thought that Uther had good reasons to distrust magic, given that even Morgana fell from grace and that trusting others often turned out to be dangerous, but that there had to be those who could handle magic in a sensible way (like Gaius, for example). Another opinion could have been that really all magic was evil and that sooner or later everyone would corrupt.

But this ongoing up and down in his opinion was the result of the inability to choose a side and to make ground for what he thought was either right or wrong. He was a grow up, not a child. At some point, people should know what to think and develop an own personality. If we always give the parents the fault for everything, we could also say that none of what happened was Uther's fault but the fault of his parents and their parents and their parents.... and so on.

I disagree that he led a more peaceful Camelot. As we have already talked about that on the other thread, there was only peace because Morgana was imprisoned. Not Arthur's achievement but actually Sarrum's. There was peace under Uther's reign for decades until Morgana and Morgause attacked. Same here with Arthur as king: Camelot was at peace until Morgana attacked again.

Merlin After wrote:

"With a strong sense of duty and loyalty he shoulders the responsibility thrust upon him. His fatal flaw too is created by Uther. From childhood it has been pounded into Merlin that to reveal his magic would be fatal. And though he repeatedly risks his life to save that of others and he repeatedly and foolishly uses his magic because of an almost painful desire to reveal his true nature, when it might have been of greatest benefit to all to do so, he doesn’t. "

I disagree that his fatal flaw is created by Uther. Once again it's Uther all the time. Neither do I think that his fatal flaw was created by Arthur, Morgana, Mordred, Gaius or anyone else.

When thinking about his actual home, Ealdor, Cenred was Merlin's king. Cenred obviously was one of the few kings who didn't forbid magic. However, who knows what a king like Cenred would have done with sorcerers, maybe he would have taken advantage of them (like he did with Morgause) and Merlin would have been forced to fight for him. But heaven knows why Hunith sent her son to Camelot, one of the kingdoms that forbid any kind of magic. I would say that Merlin was much safer in Ealdor.

Anyway, Merlin's flaw was his fanatism about Arthur. I wouldn't even call it love (brotherly or whatever) but actually real obsession. I have no idea why the show made Merlin such a submissive and obsessed servant to his king in the last two seasons, nor do I think it was a good idea to make him more selfish, callous and indifferent. But his flaw definitely had nothing to do with Uther. Keeping his secret made sense for a long time when Uther was still alive, and I wouldn't call it a flaw. Later it was only a far-fetched plot device to keep the magic secret when Arthur was king, which also was one of the reasons for Arthur's ongoing change of opinion.

What I would really see as Merlin's flaw was the fact that he always relied on blurry visions and riddle-like bits and parts of a prophecy instead of finally taking the chance to get all the information he needed. Did he ever study the prohecy and read as much as he could about himself, Emrys, the saviour? I've never seen him doing this. He didn't want to hear the knowledge of the Diamair and neither did he try to talk to the Triple Goddess but listened to a more than confusing remark of a seer and a vision of a happening in the future that nobody could really understand.

What he did was actually using people like chess-men from season four onwards. While he didn't always listen to what the dragon said in the previous seasons and made the well-being of others his priority (which was a real great character treat), he changed this all in season four and tried to participate in a sick game that he could never win, the game of the powers of the Old Religion. Instead of following his heart, like he did in the previous seasons, he tried to do what the prophecy demanded and by that used people around him.

His biggest flaw was his cowardice which showed the first time in "The Wicked Day" when he made Uther's life a bargain for his own goal. This continued with Mordred. In both cases Merlin let others or wanted others to do the dirty work for him (the Gleeman killing Uther, Arthur killing Mordred). Only to reach his goal and in the end to be with Arthur.

This all had nothing to do with Uther. As a matter of fact, in the previous seasons, Uther and Merlin were on the same side when it came to saving Camelot, Arthur, Morgana, and everyone else (aside from magic-users, of course). It was Merlin's sudden obsession and his later inability to take his chances that led to his failure.

And he failed indeed. In the beginning, the dragon told him that his destiny was to protect Arthur until he claims the crown. This was changed later when Uther was dead and the prophecy was suddenly stretched further into the future. Merlin's destiny was to help Arthur beyond this, to keep him alive and to unite Albion and to let magic return to the land. He failed in this because none of this happened.