User blog comment:Adelina Le Morte March/Statements regarding Arthurian Legend in general I cannot take seriously/@comment-5209013-20130220205953

I've heard some of those too, such comments as 'I can't believe they killed of Arthur! Why would they do this to us?' have annoyed me as well. But, on the other hand, I can kind of understand as perhaps they started watching Merlin because it seemed interesting but they never had any knowledge of Arthurian legends in the first place? Then again, one of the more interesting features of the show, in my opinion, was seeing all those legendary things (such as the Round Table or Excalibur) appear, so it's a bit of a shame when you start watching it without any prescience.

I can understand some confusion amongst fans as there are many different takes on the legends. Although I can't immediately recall one where Arthur actually marries Morgana (though this doesn't mean they don't exist), she was his lover in many legends whilst he only married Guinevere for political reasons. And about Morgana being evil: she was good in the earlier legends. Back then she was one of the nine sisters living in Avalon. She was Arthur's lover and healed him when he was mortally wounded by Mordred. It wasn't until Arthurian legend became popular again in the 13th century, when catholicism didn't like the thought of a woman with magical powers, that Morgana was written as being 'evil'.

BBC's Merlin is a popularising adaptation of Arthurian legends, no foreknowledge is acquired, so rather ignorant comments are quite understandable. However, I 100% agree with you that it gets really tiresome when people claim that the variation of Arthurian legend they're familiar with is the only correct one. It's a story that already exists for over 1500 years and the original one will probably be long but gone. It provided, and still provides, writers with a lead and I find realising that such ancient stories are still popular quite phenomenal!