The mandrake is a magical plant used frequently in spells and rituals. The root was also thought to scream when it was dug up from the ground, killing everyone who heard its cries. In the show, the mandrake is a big and grey root, similar to a straw voodoo doll.
Use on Uther
Morgause, with the help of her half-sister Morgana, used it to enchant Uther Pendragon and make him lose his mind. Morgause prepared a potion in a big cauldron, a thick, dense, black liquid similar to dark mud, and threw a handkerchief, which had the tears of Uther on it with the root itself in it that sank in the potion. While doing this, the mandrake emitted a piercing scream that only those with magic could hear. For those without magic,
Morgause hands Morgana the mandrake root.
Morgause explained, the root would pierce the very recesses of the soul, twisting the unconscious into the very image of fear and dread. She then pronounced a spell ("Mid þæm wundorcræft þæs ealdan æwe ic þe hate nime Utheres wopdropan ond þa gemengan mid his blod. Sy he under wittig ond deofol seocnes his heorte afylþ") and took the root from the cauldron. Morgana placed it under Uther's bed, and the liquid started to drip from the mandrake.
The spell caused Uther to hallucinate, seeing people who had died because of his choices and actions before
The root under Uther's bed.
and during theGreat Purge. These included his wife Ygraine frightened and bleeding, begging Uther not to harm her and an unknown drowned boy, who was revealed by Gaius to be one of the many children Uther had killed simply because of the magic they had inherited from their parents. The spell gave the impression to the people of Camelot that their King was losing his mind.
Every night Morgana had to return to Morgause's cave and cover again the mandrake root with the potion. One night she was seen by a guard who thought she was bleeding, and she was forced to kill him.
Morgana worsens the enchantment.
Morgana also worsened Uther's sickness by wrapping the mandrake up with a string and pulling it twice: this caused the root to scream, like if it was in pain, and so Uther had another vision of Ygraine with many drowned boys, begging the King not to harm them.
The root was in the end destroyed by Merlin, who threw it into some flames. Without the root, Morgause's enchantment no longer held and Uther recovered (The Tears of Uther Pendragon).
Use on Gwen
In a wicked plan to brainwash Queen Guinevere and turn her against Camelot, Morgana kidnapped her former maid
Many mandrake roots hanging from the ceiling of Gwen's cell.
and took her to the Dark Tower, a place of terror that haunted the hearts and minds of men. She held the Queen locked in a dark, gloomy room filled with a large number of mandrake roots hanging from the ceiling, each of them covered with the black, muddy potion that dripped off them.
The cruel magic of the mandrake roots pierced the depths of Gwen's soul, twisting her unconscious into the very image of fear and dread. The woman spent an undefined period of time (probably a few days) being haunted by visions of Elyan, Merlin, Gaius and Arthur, taunting her and teasing her, while hearing ghostly screams of terror and other spirits laugh at her.
Morgana paid Guinevere a few visits, one time even to get her to dine with her, to show her how nice and friendly
The mandrakes piercing the depths of Gwen's soul.
she was compared to the evil people in her visions. The High Priestess, with her gentile manners and desire to lovingly take care of the Queen, induced Gwen to believe that she was all she had left in the world, her only friend, the only one she could trust, while her other former friends hated her and taunted her. So strong was the magic of the mandrake roots, along with Morgana's deception, that, although Gwen turned against the sorceress a couple of times, in the end she was completely taken in by her mind game. Even after she was
The Queen is haunted by the most terrible visions.
rescued by Arthur and taken back to Camelot, Guinevere was still under Morgana's influence and she had become her ally, sharing the same hatred towards everyone in Camelot (The Dark Tower).
Trivia
- Although never confirmed or explained, it is possible that when a mandrake's effects on a person are worsened, it can partially reduce a person's consciousness and focus the victim more on their visions than their surroundings. In fact, when Uther's sickness was worsened, he was so lost in visions that he was unaware that Morgana was standing in front of him even when he was awake.
- According to Katie McGrath (Morgana), in the audio commentary of Series 3 Episode 1 (The Tears of Uther Pendragon: Part One), she and Emilia Fox (Morgause) were so fond of the mandrake root they nicknamed it 'Manny'.
- The enchantment cast by Morgana on the many mandrake roots used to traumatize Gwen must have been different from the magic worked by Morgause, because the Witch hadn't probably used the Queen's tears and she didn't have to continuously recover the roots with the black potion.