Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Two/@comment-5102537-20130530130219/@comment-5674726-20130606201111

OnceUponAFairytale wrote: Exactly! And if they were going to have the whole magical bracelet thing, why didn't they use it more? They just put it in and then forgot about it! It would have made more sense if Arthur had found out that she had been enchanted.

Personally, I think that it would have been a very gutsy move on the writers' parts if they'd had it that, between the existing problems over Arthur's decision to marry a servant girl and the fact that, to the best of everybody other than Morgana's knowledge, Guinevere was unfaithful to Arthur the day before they were due to be married, they weren't able to be married in the end. Arthur might be able to forgive as a man but, as a King, he can't just disregard the views of his people, least of all the nobility on whose support he would be quite dependent. For the sake of Camelot, what he wants must take a back seat. Maybe he ends up marrying Princess Mithian, maybe he stays single. Either way, marrying Guinevere is not on the cards.

They could have had it that, in episode 4.09, instead of everybody apparently being cool with Arthur's unorthodox choice of bride and happily celebrating, the nobility are fuming and going through the motions of the celebration of the betrothal as if at gunpoint, while Arthur insists to himself, Guinevere, Agravaine and anybody who will listen that people will soon realise what a fantastic Queen Gwen will be. Whatever about the commoners celebrating the idea of one of their own becoming Queen, it made no sense that the nobility who were supposed to be so strongly opposed to the marriage were so happy to attend the joust, etc.

When Guinevere is caught with another man, those who were opposed to the marriage would consider themselves vindicated, and believe that Arthur had had a lucky escape, since he not only avoided having a commoner as his Queen, he won't end up with a gang of little "Pendragons" who all bear a striking resemblance to Lancelot. Even after Morgana's defeat in the Season Four finale, and Guinevere's return to Camelot, it could have been made painfully clear that there can be no question of Arthur marrying her, if he doesn't want the nobility to revolt - not to mention that there's bound to be a sizeable percentage of commoners who don't want their King to marry an unfaithful woman - and he has to reluctantly accept that it won't be possible.

I'd wager that few viewers would have seen that twist coming. It would have been taken for granted that Arthur and Guinevere were going to end up married from the moment they started to push the pairing but it turns out that love doesn't conquer all.

At a stroke, they would have had a way in which Morgana had a lasting impact as a villain, as opposed to Arthur & Co. bouncing back from her strikes like rubber, a problem that Merlin wouldn't be able to solve for his friends, no matter how much he might want to, and doubt about whether the golden age viewers are anticipating is actually going to happen. If the prophecy about Gwen being Queen can be averted, the other prophecies must be called into doubt.

Arthur wins back Camelot but Morgana has still dealt him a blow, and he doesn't even know it. She could reveal all in the finale, when they last meet, or take the secret to her (non-existent) grave.