User blog comment:Adelina Le Morte March/The Most Over-Rated Characters of the Series as a Whole/@comment-5102537-20130115120354

Another interesting blog post. And again I actually would have tons to say...

What you wrote here: "I think what bothers me most is that girls are watching Morgana thinking they're seeing a character making a "strong female point".

I wholeheartedly agree with you on this. Sadly, it's not only little girls who think that but also grown-up women who see her as a representative of a femenist movement. A mass-murdering crazy woman is indeed a very bad example for others, which is one of the reasons why I think that the show failed to describe her properly. The total exaggeration of her evilness and the desperate attempt to show her as a victim at the same time somewhat excuses her brutality and cruleness to those who love her. If Morgana had been shown as an evil monster from the beginning of the show, most viewers would dislike her. Yet they showed her as a compassionate opponent of Uther and only later turned her into an evil wacko, all without valid explanations, which makes a lot of people  think that she is innocent and that actually none of her evil actions are her fault. Even those who know that it was her fault see her as a needed rebel who had no other choice and/or who had a right to fight back the way she did. I wish they had stayed true to her character and had portayed her as human being in her right senses.

As for Uther, no-one says that he was a saint. He was far from being a saint but had many flaws. Which was what made him so interesting. Unlike Morgana who didn't care for anything and anyone anymore, Uther still had a conscience, and most of all he had good reasons - whether we agree with them or not. Comparing Uther to Morgana, the show has always demonstrated that the cruel things he did were very questionable. It was made clear to the audience by other characters who criticised him, which was a good thing. At the same time, with Uther's redeemable and good traits, there was every chance for him to change and to redeem. And actually he did when he gave up his precious kingdom because of Morgana's betrayal. This very thing (and some other things before) demonstrated that everything he did was for his children and that he gave up when he realised that what he did was invane. Morgana wasn't criticised by other characters, no matter what she did. The few times she was, she was compared to Uther which made her a victim again.

Of course, the Great Purge can't be justified, and of course, doing cruel things in order to protect his family and his people is not the right way. However, the show gave Uther more than just one good reason for his actions which was the very reason why he had the most depth and why the viewer could sympathize with him. This is the reason why he was not overrated but, on the contrary, with his ridiculous change when he returned, totally underrated. Up until season four, the show did everything to point out that Uther wasn't evil (except when Overman wrote a script). With season four they changed the direction and did everything to show that Uther was suddenly responsible for almost everything, even for the mistakes his son did, not to mention for Morgana's insanity.

When you say that he banished Nimueh for a thing he had asked for, please let me give you an example. Imagine, a couple in our time can't have children and the male partner asks the doctors for help. They grant the wish but kill the mother the moment that the child is born. Does the husband/partner now has to blame himself for the death of his wife and pat the doctors on the shoulders for their great help? Or would it be totally normal to blame the doctors and to get mad at them? With Uther, there was even more to it. As Gaius confirmed (and numerous other happenings), magic corrupted back then. We know that magic almost destroyed the land before Uther took the throne and before he brought peace. The incident with Igraine opened his eyes in regard to magic when he couldn't even trust his good friend and confidante Nimueh. We also know from season one that Nimueh chose Igraine intentionally as was confirmed by Gaius and Merlin. Only later Overman changed that in The Sins of the Father when totally overlooking that it was Nimueh who sactrificed Igraine and not Uther.

So magic almost destroyed the land and his wife died at the hands of magic. This resulted in rage and the desire for revenge, also in the desperate attempt to protect his son and also his daughter (and the rest of Camelot) from the "evil" that magic brings. Remember, he had a baby and a toddler who protect. Morgana lived somewhere within the Five kingdoms and after all those happenings, Uther was desperate to protect the Five Kingdoms/the land from magic, additionally to his wish for revenge due to his grief. So whether we as the all-knowing audience agree with him or not, he had very good reasons.

We should also not forget that he wasn't just a fluffy family father and the principal of a high school in our times but a king in the dark ages. In comparison to what royals and nobles did back in those times, Uther was a real softie. Disapproving of servants was also totally normal. It's even still happening in our times. And again, royals had good reasons for it since most commoners and peasants couldn't even read and those in high positions had always to fear that commoners/peasants/servants rebel against them or try to gain power for themselves. With total lack of education and sophistication, sadly people "had to be" opressed to obey and to have their place in society. Today we disapprove of it, of course. We go to school and live a more or less civilised life with different laws and ethical views. Unfortunately, society wasn't that way back then, simply because they weren't ethically progressed. However, even though Uther was arrogant towards servants, he never harmed them. When Gwen was sentenced to death, both times it was because she was believed to have practiced magic - which means that she violated the most important law of Camelot. Of course, she was sentenced for that. We, as the viewers, knew that she was innocent, Uther did not. He relaesed her the moment her innocence was proven. And of course, he couldn't give in into blackmail when Hengist held Gwen captured. Not even today countries pay the ransom money for those who are being held hostage. But we should not forget that one time he indeed sent troops to find Gwen when Arthur and Morgana begged him to help.

Treating Merlin like an idiot. Well, that's really definetely not Uther's fault. It was Merlin's tatic to play the fool in order to divert suspicion from himself. No wonder Uther thought that Merlin was an idiot, Merlin himself did the best he could to prove it. Deliberately. On the other hand, he talked to Merlin like he was talking to an equal on two occasions. First time when he asked him to look after Arthur and praised him for his loyalty beyond duty in "Excalibur", trusting the servant with his son's life. And later when he cried in front of Merlin and told him his most private feelings about his children. Shame that they overlooked this later.

The cruelties he did during the Great Purge, as terrible as it was and even though we certainly can't approve of them, it was very realistic for that era. Ever heard of the cruelties of Richard Lionheart during the Crusades? Lionheart was far from being a hero. Everyone was slaughtered during the battles and wars, children, women, men, everyone, and all only because of different religious views. Take a look at the wars of our times. All the horrific things that happened not only in the World Wars but also in Vietnam. Torture, slaughter, rape, children were burnt alive (yes, such things also done by US soldiers), villages were completely eradicated. They were civilists, total innocents, yet they were slaughtered most brutaly. It's all true horror, but I  really can't see why everyone thinks that especially a king of the dark ages was supposed to behave like a fluffy nice man. At least Uther killed only those who violated the law or were supsected of violating the law but also wanted to sacrifice himself for the innocent people of Camelot when offering his life to Morgana in the season three finale. Could we ever imagine a leader of our times sacrificing their life for common people on the street? No way.

And yes, he brought peace and kept it for at least 24 years. It was Morgana/Cenred/Morgause who ended the peace, not Uther. Only his reign stopped the ongoing wars in the Five Kingdoms when he took the throne. Unfortunately, magic-users couldn't benefit from it. On the other hand, his war against magic brought peace in the first place. So this all was a fascinating and interesting, twisted situation. They could have done so much with it all.

All in all, Uther was the deepest character of the entire show. He had many flaws and did very questionable things, and also things we would never tolerate today, but he was a fascinating character who was destroyed by the later seasons when the show decided to throw him into the ridiculous pool of black & white situations and character descriptions. All those golden chances wasted for nothing.

I agree that Mordred was overrated, but the reason is that his turn on Arthur went much too quickly. He did the same that Uther did when Mordred lost Kara. The difference was that Igraine was innocent whereas Kara was not. Mordred was also a tragic character because he didn't know of the prophecy and Merlin never told him. He wanted to do his best for Camelot and actually was a victim of Merlin who never was honest with him. In the end, Merlin even helped to make the prophecy come true. Mordred would have been a fascinating character if they hadn't made him turn on Arthur like a teenager who was disappointed, totally ignoring that his girlfriend was a cold-blooded fanatical killer. They could have made him a deep character, yet they chose to turn him into a black & white villain too. This show has a talent to destroy everyone and everything that was built up so carefully within just a few seconds.