Board Thread:Series 5 Discussion/@comment-110.33.208.78-20121217051803/@comment-209.212.28.58-20130925194448

To Lurker, I ahven't seen Series Five yet, so I won't say definitively. However. remember that this show deviates considerably from the "canonical" version (essentially Malory) and Malory deviated from some of the legends! According to Geoffrey of Monmouth (yes, he was real), there were four queens who took Arthur to Avalon: Morgan le Fay (aka Morgana), the Lady of the Lake, the Queen of Northgales, and the Queen of the WastelandsMalory says "...thus was he led away in a ship wherein were three queens; that one was King Arthur's sister, Queen Morgan le Fay; the other was the Queen of Northgalis; the third was the Queen of the Waste Lands.  Also there was Nimue, the chief lady of the lake, that had wedded Pelleas the good knight; and this lady had done much for King Arthur..."

Tennyson in "The Idylls of the King" omits Nimue.

My point being that Morgan(a) in the earlier legends either had never been evil (most early tales) or, if she had been, deeply repented her treason and injury to her half brother, otherwise why would she have been there to help get him to Avalon?

The tales end with the passing of Arthur (Merlin ha salready been placed in a trance in his cave or tree by Vivien, Guinivere becomes a nun and Lancelot takes holy orders as a monk), so "What next?" is wide open. And guess what? There's a whole section of this wiki devoted to that very question!

Note that Nimue is the Lady of the Lake, not the evil sorceress of the TV show (which is NOT wrong, the writers just needed a character to move the story along and they named her "Nimueh", just like what the troubadors did with their characters) and it helps illustrate my point that when it comes to The Matter of Britain, you makes your choice and nothing you choose is "wrong". So if you want to construct a happy ending for Morgana, please write it down and submit it as fan fiction (if you are in school, it could be a creative writing project for English class! Talk it over with your teacher, perhaps you could earn extra credit for writing it).

I rather like the idea of a marriage betwen Morgana and Merlin - just imagine how powerful their children would be! (Imagine the comic possibilities of their baby exhibiting his or her immnese powers as an infant and, just like walking and speaking have to be learned, not knowing how to control them! You >don't< want this kid throwing a tantrum...)