So...
Now I think many of us can agree Gaius's story has been strectched out too far. The grown-up element of Series 5 could possibly be threatened by Gaius, and like with Morgause not allowing Morgana to mature, Gaius is not allowing Merlin to mature. It would be, in all my certainly, a 50% better and more interesting Merlin without Gaius there telling him what he may or may not be doing, what he should be, his destiny, blah, blah. More has to start happening! We know that Merlin is getting darker and with Mordred around Merlin will start looking into dark magic. With no Gaius there, there's no one to scold him for it.
Plus, Gaius is still the court advisor. He's right near Arthur on the round table while Merlin stands behind, and Merlin has done more to save Arthur's life than Gaius has. Gaius, while he was still a significant character, for instance being the star of the episode The Secret Sharer is beginning to turn into a little bit of a prop. His Father's Son, Gaius wasn't even there a lot of the time. We have to look at realism factors as well…
- Why isn't he having hair loss? Or is this a time of magic so long ago old people grew hair instead (then again look at Geoffrey?
- It's been three years… in the trailer he was depicted as the same old Gaius. Will not change at all. Like the dragon said. That's understandable. I hope that in Series 5 we at least get Arthur to start implying to Gaius that he should be retiring.
Now let's look at the hints of him not being around for Series 5. The producers have said Gaius will be around, I think, but you know they did a really good job at keeping Uther's death in wraps… many of us were convinced Uther would be around a lot longer.
- We've only seen Gaius in one promo picture, standing around with Arthur, Mordred, and the knights on the steps of the castle.
- We only saw him once in the trailer "You may be walking into a trap."
So two things raised- 1. As we know much of Series 5 will be away from the castle. Producers have been asked in multiple interviews if this will affect screen time, and they said not to worry. I can't imagine Gaius would be out and about much. (It doesn't appear that he has a walking stick, though…) So far we've only seen Richard in the castle. 2. They bothered to make his hair longer, and he's on the cover of the promo poster. BUT so was Uther. And it shows the snowy theme, which should only be around in the opening two-parter. So, I know I'm over-comparing with the unpredictable nature of Uther's death and it will probably be very different, I still think there's every reason they would kill him off, simply by judging by all we know… If not they'll have him floating in the background, making brief and vague appearances. I really wouldn't like that. I love Gaius and I'd be happy for another episode devoted to him (if he dies), and a wonderful ending… as long as it's CONSISTENT, of course. I'd like for Merlin to be carrying around an amulet or something in memory of Gaius, and even get strength from this. That would be great. :')
So now.. the final, big question… HOW should he die?
Feel free to add more, in the top 10 list I made!
Personally I wouldn't mind if his death was a little brutal, BUT as long as they don't pull another Lancelot and we get a really awesome funeral type of scene, and we get CONSISTENCY, so he isn't forgotten.