Disguises have been used by many different people in Camelot and for varying purposes. Some have disguised themselves for nefarious reasons. Others, like Merlin, use disguises for benevolence. Some use them for purposes that are neither "evil" nor "good".
After Thomas James Collins was executed for sorcery, his mother, Mary Collins an old witch with a hag-like appearance, vowed vengence, saying "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son"', before disappearing with the aid of a magical necklace. She then intercepted the convoy of Lady Helen of Mora, a famed singer scheduled to perform at a festival Uther was throwing, and murdered her using a poppet. Mary used a glamour to assume Helen's appearance, but the enchantment was incomplete and Mary's true form could be seen in mirrors. Mary Collins then returned to Camelot as Helen. She bided her time, waiting for the perfect time to exact her revenge. When ahandmaiden accidentally saw Mary in a mirror, Mary killed her. At the feast, Mary Collins, in the guise of Helen and sang, weaving an enchantment that put everyone who heard her song to sleep and rapidly aged the Castle. She then aimed a dagger at Arthur but Merlin used magic to drop a chandelier on her before she could throw it. The enchantment was lifted as her singing was cut off. Mary, in her true form, made one last effort to kill Arthur, throwing the dagger at him. Merlin once more used magic to protect the prince, slowing time and shoving Arthur out of that of the dagger. Mary Collinss had intended to kill Arthur. Instead, her actions caused Merlin to protect Arthur for the first time and Merlin to become Arthur's manservant, thus effectively setting Arthur and Merlin on the path of their shared destiny. (The Dragon's Call)
disguised herself as a servant named Cara in order to switch out a ceremonial goblet meant for Arthur, which King Bayard of Mercia had presented to the House of Pendragon as part of celebrating a peace treaty between both kingdoms, with a chalice she had magically poisoned with petal of a Mortaeus flower. In her disguise as Cara, Nimueh flirted with Merlin and earned his trust. Then, she warned Merlin that the goblet Arthur would drink from was poisoned, telling him that King Bayard was the culprit. Her actions were intended to kill Merlin and destroy the fledgling peace between Camelot and Mercia. Instead, she caused Merlin to further gain the trust of Arthur Pendragon, Arthur to grow more appreciative and protective of Merlin - even to the point of directly disobeying Uther, Arthur to first knowledgably experience magic being used to aid him (when Merlin's unconsiously casted spell lead Arthur to safety), and, though see had momentarily succeeded in disrupting the peace, caused Camelot and Mercia to recommit to the peace between them. (The Poisoned Chalice)
When the curse of the unicorn fell on Camelot and it's people he sneaked into the castle's grain stores. When he was caught, he begged Arthur to give him food, pretending to be a citizen of Camelot, stuggling in these desperate times to feed his starving children. Arthur gave him a few grains and Evan told Arthur that he was merciful and generous, saying that it would 'bring it's own reward'. Later, in the Forest of Balor, it was revealed that Evan was actually a very successful thief. When he started insulting Arthur, calling him weak and telling him he would be a bad king, Arthur fought and killed him. (The Labyrinth of Gedref)
When Myror, an assassin, discovered that Arthur was participating in the jousting tournament as "Sir William of Deira", he killed Arthur’s opponent, put on his armour, and took his place in the joust, disguised as the knight Arthur was pitted against. As Myror and Arthur rode up to each other, a hidden blade came out of Myror’s lance. He planned to kill his Arthur by using the pike hidden in his lance. Though he managed to wound Arthur, Merlin intervened by breaking a strap on Myror's saddle. This distraction gave Prince Arthur the chance to kill his would-be assassin. (The Once and Future Queen)
Lady Morgana and her handmaiden, Guinevere, had been kidnapped byKendrick and his band of fellow outlaws, who were working for the bandit leader Hengist. When Morgana escaped, leaving an injured Gwen only at her handmaiden's insistence, Kendrick disguised Gwen as Morgana so that Hengist , who had never seen Morgana, would still pay the bounty they had agreed to for the kidnapping. (Lancelot and Guinevere)
The Troll disguised as the lady Catrina to get the throne of Camelot
A female troll disguised herself as Lady Catrina, a member of the noble House of Tregor and friend of Gaius, and managed to enterCamelot's court. It was said that the real Lady Catrina was the last survivor of theHouse of Tregor. The troll stole the badge of her family to enterCamelot, but didn't know about the bone disease that the real Catrina suffered from. This was a fatal mistake for the troll, as her deception was uncovered byGaius andMerlinbefore she was finally killed byArthur. Her plan was to become Queen of Camelot by having Uther fall in love with her. To accomplish this, she placed Utherunder aSpell which made him so infatuated with her that he would gleefully follow her every command, including disinheriting Arthur and making her his heir. Her plan was to kill him after did so, but Merlin revealed her true form to the court and Gaius, Arthur, and Merlin broke the spell Uther had been put under before her plans were made successful. (Beauty and the Beast)
A Goblin disguised himself as Gaius by possessing his body.
Merlin and the Goblin - A Challenge
As Gaius, the goblin is rude and greedy and plays mischieviously mean-spirited, crudely-humoured, magical practical jokes on people. (Goblin's Gold)
Morgause disguised herself as an old beggar woman to meet Morgana in the Camelot market to give her a parcel containing a Pheonix Eye and tells her to bind it to a bracelet and give it to the prince just before he leaves for his quest. The Pheonix Eye will cause Arthur to die, and Morgana
Morgause disguise
will take her place as heir to the throne. As Morgause leaves, her true face is seen in a mirror by Gwen, who is confused at Morgana's well being having met her former kidnapper. (The Eye of the Phoenix)
Gwen, now a servant/captive of Helios, is discovered by Morganna and escapes into the forest, intending to somehow warn Arthur. She is awoken by the sound of the horse Morgana is riding to hunt down Gwen. Gwen runs but is outwitted by Morgana, who uses a broken twig to lead herself straight to Gwen. Morgana teases Gwen, saying they used to be friends and she's just trying to help. Gwen, whose loyalty for Morgana clearly disappeared a long time ago, says she has done enough harm and she won't trust Morgana again and runs away from Morgana, hoping she'll leave her alone. Morgana indistinctly says it doesn't matter where Gwen goes and uses her magic to throw Gwen into a tree, knocking her unconscious. Morgana stands over Gwen and uses an enchantment on her that temporarily disguises her as a deer. She says she will let Gwen see her beloved Arthur again, and leaves as Arthur, Mithian, Merlin and their hunting arrive. Merlin notices that the fleeing deer has Gwen's shadow and protects her. (The Hunter's Heart)
When Morganaframes Gwen of the crime of sorcery, Merlin informs Gaius of Morgana's plot and the physician reminds him that Uther will never believe that Morgana was the culprit. Merlin says: "If we can't expose the true sorcerer, then we must invent one." Merlin suggests that if another culprit were caught planting an identical poultice in Arthur's chamber, then Gwen
would be freed. The boy wizard decides to use an ageing spell to transform himself into an 80-year-old. While Gaius makes a replica poultice, Merlin casts the spell, emerging from his chamber as an old man, with long white hair and a beard. The transformed Merlin sneaks into Arthur's chamber, but is spotted by the prince. When Arthur captures Merlin and holds him at sword-point, he claims to be Dragoon the Great, a scheming sorcerer. Arthur begins to suspect that he has met Dragoon in the past, but Merlin uses magic to strike the prince with a flying helmet. Merlin escapes, but Arthur and his guards give chase and eventually recapture him. Arthur brings the disguised Merlin before Uther and reveals that 'Dragoon' isthe true sorcerer, much to Morgana's confusion. Merlin claims that he cast an enchantment on both Arthur and Gwen, suggesting that their relationship would bring shame on Camelot. He then uses this opportunity to criticise Uther and his hatred of magic, and also blasts Arthur for treating his servants poorly. Convinced by Merlin's trick, Uther declares that Gwen is to be released, with 'Dragoon' replacing her on the pyre. With Gaius' help, Merlin escapes execution. While Merlin uses the disguise of Dragoon many times for noble/good purposes, this was the first time he did so. (Queen of Hearts)
Merlin, as Dragoon, attempted to heal Uther of his fatal wound in exchange for the promise that one day Arthur would make magic legal once more in Camelot. However the attempt failed because Morgana had cursed a necklace Uther wore to reverse healing magic.
Lancelot, with the help of Merlin, disguised himself as the nonexistent fifth son of Lord Eldred of Northumberland, despite feeling uneasy doing so. His reason for such was so that he might have a chance to fulfill his life-long dream of being a Knight of Camelot, even though the first rule of the Knight' Code was "All knights must be of noble blood and swear allegance to the king" and Lancelot, though displaying all of the othet qualities which make for a great knight, was born a commoner. Though his motivations were not negfarious, forging a seal of nobility and claiming to be a noble when one is not is illegal. His actions were not intended to cause harm and ended up hurting nobody except himself, but, ultimately, Lancelot broke the law for his own self-serving desires to accomplish his dreams, a very dishonourable, but not "evil", thing to do. (Lancelot)
When Arthur realises, while practising for the jousting tournament, that he is being treated differently and allowed to win because he is a Prince, he becomes keen to show that he can win on his own merit as a skilled jouster. He concocts a plan to enter the tournament without people knowing who he really is.Arthur enlists the help of Merlin and Guinevere to disguise his identity to enter a jousting tournament. He pretends to leave Camelot to hunt a fierce creature of magic, the existence of which he fabricated. Merlin brings him some civilian clothes, and Arthur goes to hide in Gwen’s house during the tournament. Arthur's plan was to employ somebody, unknown in Camelot, to play the knight "Sir William of Deira" when riding out and greeting the audience, and for Arthur to then jousts as William. Merlin found a farmer willing to play Sir William. (The Once and Future Queen)
