History Recap / MerlinS02E07TheWitchfinder

By night, a large horse-drawn cage rattles into the courtyard of the castle. An intimidating man in [[BadassLongcoat dark clothes]] and a [[NiceHat wide-brimmed hat]] jumps down from the driver's seat. And if none of that is scary enough, it turns out that he's played by [[Series/BleakHouse Charles]] [[Series/GameOfThrones Dance]]. Yeah, ''that'' Creator/CharlesDance. Be afraid. Morgana watches in terror from her bedroom window, looking especially horrified at the sight of the cage.

%%* BurnTheWitch

%%* ClearTheirName

%%* FramingTheGuiltyParty

%%* WitchHunt
%%* TheWitchHunter

* AnachronismStew: If he ever existed, Arthur was probably a late 5th/early 6th century warlord. The world of Merlin is aesthetically and technologically mostly 13th century, with castles and knights and so on. So far, so PurelyAestheticEra HighMiddleAges. This episode takes it a step further, however, by adding the decidedly ''17 century'' Witchfinder.

* WhatTheHellHero: Gaius gives Uther a dressing down on how his paranoia about magic allows people Aredian to tortue innoncent people in order to root out magic. And he gets ''away'' with it.

* BadassLongcoat: The Witchfinder
* BurnTheWitch

* ClearTheirName

* DisneyVillainDeath

* FramingTheGuiltyParty
* FullNameUltimatum: When Gwen calls Arthur: "Arthur Pendragon", he knows she means business.

* MagnificentBastard: Aredian

* OutOfOrder: This episode was originally meant to take place directly after ''[[Recap/MerlinS02E03TheNightmareBegins The Nightmare Begins]]''.

* ThrowItIn: When Aredian interrogates Morgana, he casually rearranges torture equipment around the room. This was Charles Dance's impromptu idea, which was naturally kept in the episode.

* WitchHunt
* TheWitchHunter

By night, a large horse-drawn cage rattles into the courtyard of the castle. An intimidating man in [[BadassLongcoat dark clothes]] and a [[NiceHat wide-brimmed hat]] jumps down from the driver's seat. And if none of that is scary enough, it turns out that he's played by [[Series/BleakHouse Charles]] [[Series/GameOfThrones Dance]]. Yeah, ''that'' Charles Dance. Be afraid. Morgana watches in terror from her bedroom window, looking especially horrified at the sight of the cage.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Aredian is like an expert lawyer when questioning Merlin, he gets the boy to admit that he ''can't'' prove he didn't use magic. He also seems aware that Morgana's dreams might be a sign of her magic, or at the very least he's able to pick up on her general uneasiness throughout the episode.
** He's able to use Uther's hatred of magic to his advantage knowning the king won't dare question any one he decrees of using magic.

* GenreSavvy: The Dragon warns Merlin if he confesses to save Gauius, Aredian will just burn them both. He's right, when Gaius confesses Aredian reveals that Morgana and Merlin are his next victims.

--> '''Aredian''': [[IronicEcho I have nothing to hide]].

--> '''Gaius''': [[JustFollowingOrders But I did not suffer at his hands, Uther. I suffered at yours. He worked for you, My Lord. He was merely following your orders]].

--> '''Gaius''': [[WhatTheHellHero No. You were deceived long before Aredian, for you deceived yourself. You see foes where there are friends, you see sorcerers where there are but servants. I am not the first to be wrongly accused in your war against magic, and not all have been as lucky as I]].

* DistressedDamsel: Morgana, held at knife-point by Aredian.

* GenreBlind: Aredian thinks he can sucessfully convince Uther that Morgana his beloved ward has magic.

* OutOfOrder: This episode was originally meant to take place directly after ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS02E03TheNightmareBegins}} The Nightmare Begins]]''.

By night, a large horse-drawn cage rattles into the courtyard of the castle. An intimidating man in [[BadassLongcoat dark clothes]] and a [[NiceHat wide-brimmed hat]] jumps down from the driver's seat. And if none of that is scary enough, it turns out that he's played by [[Series/BleakHouse Charles]] [[GameOfThrones Dance]]. Yeah, ''that'' Charles Dance. Be afraid. Morgana watches in terror from her bedroom window, looking especially horrified at the sight of the cage.

* {{Frameup}}: How Aredian does business.

By night, a large horse-drawn cage rattles into the courtyard of the castle. An intimidating man in [[BadassLongcoat dark clothes]] and a [[NiceHat wide-brimmed hat]] jumps down from the driver's seat. And if none of that is scary enough, it turns out that he's played by [[BleakHouse Charles]] [[GameOfThrones Dance]]. Yeah, ''that'' Charles Dance. Be afraid. Morgana watches in terror from her bedroom window, looking especially horrified at the sight of the cage.

By night, a large horse-drawn cage rattles into the courtyard of the castle. An intimidating man in [[BadassLongcoat dark clothes]] and a [[NiceHat wide-brimmed hat]] jumps down from the driver's seat. And if none of that is scary enough, it turns out that he's played by [[BleakHouse Charles]] [[GameOfThrones Dance]]. Yeah, ''that'' Charles Dance. Morgana watches in terror from her bedroom window, looking especially horrified at the sight of the cage.

--> '''Gaius''': [[WhatTheHellHero But I did not suffer at his hands, Uther. I suffered at yours. He worked for you, My Lord. He was merely following your orders]].

--> '''Gaius''': No. You were deceived long before Aredian, for you deceived yourself. You see foes where there are friends, you see sorcerers where there are but servants. I am not the first to be wrongly accused in your war against magic, and not all have been as lucky as I.

--> '''Gaius''': [[WahtTheHellHero But I did not suffer at his hands, Uther. I suffered at yours. He worked for you, My Lord. He was merely following your orders]].

Merlin and Gwen race through the lower town and bang on a door. An older man opens it, wondering what they're doing in the middle of the night. The two friends shoulder their way into the apothecary shop, and demand to know whether he's selling a tincture of belladonna. The apothecary tells them that it can be found in his range of eyedrops, which women use to brighten their eyes. The mysterious solved, Gwen coaxes a confession out of him: that Aredian gave him the eyedrops to sell.

--> '''Gaius''': But I did not suffer at his hands, Uther. I suffered at yours. He worked for you, My Lord. He was merely following your orders.

By night, a large horse-drawn cage rattles into the courtyard of the castle. An intimidating man in dark clothes and a wide-brimmed hat jumps down from the driver's seat. And if none of that is scary enough, it turns out that he's played by [[BleakHouse Charles]] [[GameOfThrones Dance]]. Yeah, ''that'' Charles Dance. Morgana watches in terror from her bedroom window, looking especially horrified at the sight of the cage.