History Series / Merlin1998

* UnstoppableRage: Frik, when Morgan le Fay is killed. After joining Arthur's army he can be seen during the battle viciously bludgeoning Mordred's soldiers with a mace despite being depowered and mortal.

* UnstoppableRage: Frik, when Morgan le Fay is killed.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: On Mab's advice, Vortigern attempts to have Merlin and Nimue sacrificed to the Great Dragon of the North, a Celtic-looking dragon with antlers, wings, and six legs. Despite its strange appearance, it's a fairly standard fire-breathing western dragon which tries to devour our heroes before Merlin manages to defeat it with magic.

** The Novelization clears this up, we are seeing the story as it really happened in Merlins memories, the story Merlin is telling his audience is leaving out a significant detail, Queen Mab, so as not to undo TheUnperson gambit that caused her death.

* AnAxeToGrind: Mordred.

* CruelMercy: A case where it is the ''villain'' doing it to a much less evil character. [[spoiler:Mab takes Frik's magic, leaving him to wander the world as a powerless gnome, with his true love dead, having nothing but his misery and pain, unable to do anything about it. When asked why she didn't kill him, she responds, "Because that's what he wanted me to do."]] This backfires on her, though. [[spoiler:Frik takes up arms against Mordred and outlives her and the rest of the Old Peoples]].
* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:Vortigern vs. Merlin.]]

* DemotedToExtra: Galahad, Gawain. The former is a child during the story and, as a result, only appears briefly and is left at home when Lancelot goes to court.

* FunctionalMagic: Explained quite a bit more in the novelizations than in the movie.
* GeniusBruiser: Merlin

* GreenThumb: The first magic that Merlin uses, to pull Nimue out of a mud hole. He later uses the same power again to [[spoiler:defeat a dragon!]]
* GuileHero: Merlin. Nimue also gets into it, managing to convince Vortigern to release Merlin, while being kept as a hostage herself.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Merlin

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Mab

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Merlin summons one [[spoiler:during the final battle against Mab.]] The shield is simple and sturdy; the summoning is whip-fast and looks awesome.

* PerspectiveFlip: From Merlin's point of view.

* PluckyComicRelief: Frik
* PluckyGirl: Nimue. Getting Merlin out of Vortigern's dungeon.

* TimeAbyss: The Rock of Ages claims his memory goes back to [[UpToEleven before the dawn of time]].

* MaybeMagicMAybeMundane: Uther and Guinevere are both [[LoveAtFirstSight immediately taken]] with the paramours that will [[LoveRuinsTheRealm prove their undoing]], but it's worth noting that Mab has a hand in each incident. Was it purely their lust that damned them, or might they have kept it in check without Mab's supernatural influence stoking the fire? Uther in particular is so madly bewitched by Igraine that one is left to wonder. [[TurnOutLikeHisFather But then, madness ''is'' in his blood...]]

* AmbiguousSituation: Uther and Guinevere are both [[LoveAtFirstSight immediately taken]] with the paramours that will [[LoveRuinsTheRealm prove their undoing]], but it's worth noting that Mab has a hand in each incident. Was it purely their lust that damned them, or might they have kept it in check without Mab's supernatural influence stoking the fire? Uther in particular is so madly bewitched by Igraine that one is left to wonder. [[TurnOutLikeHisFather But then, madness ''is'' in his blood...]]

* CompositeCharacter:
** Morgan le Fay is a composite of both the legendary sorceress and Morgause, Morgan's sister and the true mother of Mordred in the Arthurian Cycle. Every one of Morgan's defining aspects in Medieval tradition (her healing powers, her magical studies under Merlin, her unhappy marriage to King Urien and the resulting lovers she takes from among the knights of Camelot, her rule over Avalon and her taking of Arthur there after the Battle of Camlann) are gone. The character is really Morgause in all but name.
** Lancelot's wife Elaine also counts, as she has traits of two women from Arthurian Mythology who were both named Elaine. On the one hand, she's Lancelot's wife (Elaine of Corbenic) and on the other, she's given the fate of the ''other'' Elaine (The Lady of Shalott) what with her vision of Lancelot in a magic mirror and her body floating past Camelot on a funeral barge.

!!Tropes:

* PerspectiveMagic: Merlin plucks the moon out of the sky and it becomes a glowing coin that he rolls around his fingers. He then says something about appearances being deceiving and points at the sky to show the clouds pulling back from the moon.

-->'''Vortigern''': (taunting) Are you going to use some of your magic on me, Merlin?
-->'''Merlin''': I'll kill you any way I can, Vortigern, but I ''will'' kill you.

** While not a ManipulativeBastard, Merlin is manipulative. He [[GuileHero shapes the politics of Britain, putting Uther and Arthur on the throne, and plotting to ensure the latter's birth.]] Sir Rupert calls him out on it, insinuating that he and Mab are NotSoDifferent.

* NotSoDifferent: Mab tells Merlin that she is fighting and causing evil because she must save her people, and the ends justify the means. Merlin later gives the same excuse after helping Uther seduce Igraine, causing Sir Rupert to grumble, "Now, where have I heard that before?"

* PetTheDog: It's buried deep, but Mab seems to have legitimate feelings for both Merlin and Mordred. Likewise for Mordred toward "Auntie Mab."

* BeeAfraid: A heroic version: [[spoiler: when Mab unleashes a pack of griffins to try and kill Arthur, Merlin, seeing a beehive in the branches of a nearby tree, uses his magic to direct the insects to attack the monsters. The stinging proves too much for the griffins, forcing them to retreat]].

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For all her flaws, Mab does show some for love Merlin, however twisted. In a private confrontation with Nimue, a frustrated Mab makes it clear that she both loves and hates the son she created.

--> '''Ambrosia:'''And you can tell Her Royal High and Mighty Queen Mab that magic or no magic, if she harms you in any way, I'll have her guts for my boot laces.

* HypocriticalHumor: The Christian ban on killing unless it's a "holy cause", at least according to Vortigern and his court.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The few references to Queen Mab in English literature make her out as a benevolent fairy queen. Here, she is a dark pagan goddess (the counterpart of the good pagan goddess, the Lady of the Lake).

* YourCheatingHeart: Lancelot and Guinevere, of course.

%% * EvilMatriarch: Mab.

* PerspectiveMagic: Merlin pluckss the moon out of the sky and it becomes a glowing coin that he rolls around his fingers. He then says something about appearances being deceiving and points at the sky to show the clouds pulling back from the moon.