User blog comment:It's Good to be the Queen/Pendragon Family Reunion/@comment-5102537-20121014172327/@comment-5102537-20121015124446

Hi Chris,

I have to disagree, Uther was a very good father. We see it in Arthur and what has become of him. After all, he was the hand that rocked the cradle when Arthur grew up without a mother. When locking Arthur up in the dungeons, he did it to protect him which was completely reasonable. In this situation a prince can't afford to risk his life in order to save a servant. While we as the viewers think it was harsh, it was totally different from Uther's point of view and position he was in. Crushing the flower was to show Arthur that he was more important for Camelot than any servant since servants can be replaced while the future of the entire kingdom stands and falls with the King's offspring. In today's time such a behaviour would have been totally unacceptable since everything has changed till then and there would have been other ways. The situation that Uther and Arthur were in left Uther no choice than to protect his son and the prince.

However, we should not forget that at the end of the epsiode, Uther told Arthur that Arthur was right and that he was proud of him. So we see, he indeed was capable of changing his mind and he saw that what Arthur did was a noble thing.

He also was a very good king since he brought peace and prosperity to Camelot, took care of his people and did everything to protect the kingdom. Killing those who used magic is ethically more than questionable, yet he did it to protect the kingdom and most of all his children. He was also the one who made the peace treaties with the Five Kingdoms instead of invading or attacking them. Aside from the Great Purge, he was a great king.

He also was a good father towards Morgana. Grabbing her and locking her in the dungeons was part of the education system back then. She contantly challenged and even insulted him, so when it was enough he punished her. Not that I would support such education but it was canon in those times and he didn't harm her any further, nor did he ever lock her up again. On the contrary, after the conversation at Gorlois' grave he kept his promise and changed towards her. He stood by what he told her and gave her every imaginable freedom, didn't even get angry when she grabbed his arm and challenged him in fron of everyone when Gwen went missing. Morgana received nothing but love and respect from him and all the fuss about him killing her if he learns of her powers was total nonsense. We saw that he didn't kill her when he learnt of them but that he suffered a mental breakdown. If he really hated her because of her powers and wanted to kill her, he could have told Arthur after he freed him at the end of season three. And if his hate for magic would have been stronger than his love for Morgana, he wouldn't had had the mental breakdown because in that case, Morgana's betrayal wouldnt have had such an impact on him.

Morgana should have known that already when he used magic to heal her. And at the latest when he was completely broken because of her. He didnt harm her and he wouldn't have harmed her, yet Morgana still refuses to see that.