History YMMV / Merlin1998

** Did Queen Mab act selfishly, fighting a war and giving up any vestige of morality to save herself from being forgotten? Or are her motives more sympathetic; it could be argued her entire plot was only an answer the prayers of an ordinary British human woman who prayed for the Old Ways to come back?

** Did Queen Mab act selfishly, fighting a war and giving up any vestige of morality to save herself from being forgotten? Or did she act completely selflessly througout; her entire plot only an answer to the woman's prayer in the beginning, who cried "Queen Mab!", an ordinary British human who prayed for the Old Ways to come back?

** This isn't the last time Creator/LenaHeadey would play a [[Series/GameOfThrones queen cheating on her husband with one of his knights]].

* OneSceneWonder: When Mab arrives at King Vortigern's castle, she's accompanied by a retinue of eerie women who share her otherworldly countenance and fashion sense. Whether they're her human acolytes or fellow fae [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith taking human form]] isn't clear.

* ItWasHisSled: Arthur will draw the sword from the stone, uniting the kingdom, and Guinevere will fall for Lancelot, dooming the kingdom. Every damn time.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The cutaway scene of Queen Mab and Frik dancing (for a very loose definition of dancing). The latter you might forgive, but the former...
* EvilIsSexy: Queen Mab.

* MoralEventHorizon: Vortigern casually referring to having killed men, women, and children simply for insolence, or deciding to [[spoiler: sacrifice Nimue to a dragon]] simply because it was most convenient.

* {{Narm}}: Morgan le Fey's ElmuhFuddSyndwome works decently at first as part of her general insecurities in her appearance...except then she ''still has it'' after Frick's glamour spell.
** Its implied by [[spoiler: Her death]] that it was just a glamour like what Frik does, it didn't actually change her physically, just an illusion, unlike merlins version which is more a time reversal.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Courtesy of Trevor Jones, also responsible for ''Film/{{Excalibur}}''.

** Just look at the [[http://l6.sphotos.l3.fbcdn.net/hphotos-l3-snc4/hs924.snc4/73703_160452923992985_100000848364812_285470_1298358_n.jpg costume]] MartinShort wore as Frik, and consider that Morgan is played by Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter.
** This isn't the last time Lena Headey would play a [[Series/GameOfThrones queen cheating on her husband with one of his knights]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / WellIntentionedExtremist: Did Queen Mab act selfishly, fighting a war and giving up any vestige of morality to save herself from being forgotten? Or did she act completely selflessly througout; her entire plot only an answer to the woman's prayer in the beginning, who cried "Queen Mab!", an ordinary British human who prayed for the Old Ways to come back?

* HilariousInHindsight: Just look at the [[http://l6.sphotos.l3.fbcdn.net/hphotos-l3-snc4/hs924.snc4/73703_160452923992985_100000848364812_285470_1298358_n.jpg costume]] MartinShort wore as Frik, and consider that Morgan is played by Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter.

** For Mordred, this moment is probably when Mab [[spoiler: kills his mother Morgan le Fay]], and he responds by ''laughing'' about it and complimenting her on it. “That was very clever.”

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Several. Every one is also a TearJerker, though.
** One specific example is Merlin telling Arthur, "you were the right man to hold Excalibur", and seeing the look of gratitude on his face, [[spoiler:[[TearJerker moments before he dies.]]]]
** A cute example is Mab's interactions with Mordred as a child, namely when she and Frick first arrive and Mordred runs into her waiting open arms and she lovingly picks him up and cuddles him like a loving aunt visiting her nephew. This shows Mordred was one of the few, of only, one Mab ''genuinly'' cared about. This makes it even more heart-wrenching in the end when he dies in her arms after the final battle and she can't save him.
** Another occurs between Morgan and Frik, after their magic has slipped away and both are back to being homely:
-->'''Morgan:''' Frik, my love, am I still beautiful?\\
'''Frik:''' Beyond words, my love. Am I?\\
'''Morgan:''' Oh, yes. Beyond words. [dies]
** There's also the Lady of the Lake's words of reassurance after Merlin's plans have all gone wrong.
-->'''The Lady of the Lake:''' It's human to make mistakes, Merlin, and part of you is human. The ''best'' part.

* HilariousInHindsight: Just look at the [[http://l6.sphotos.l3.fbcdn.net/hphotos-l3-snc4/hs924.snc4/73703_160452923992985_100000848364812_285470_1298358_n.jpg costume]] MartinShort wore as Frik, and consider that Morgan is played by HelenaBonhamCarter.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Courtesy of Trevor Jones, also responsible for ''Film/Excalibur''.

** For Mordred, this moment is probably when Mab [[spoiler: kills Morgan le Fay]], and he responds by ''laughing'' about it and complimenting her on it. “That was very clever.”

** For Mordred, this moment is probably when Mab [[spoiler: kills Morgan le Fay]], and he responds by ''laughing'' about it and complimenting her on it. “That was very clever.”
* TearJerker: [[spoiler: The deaths of Ambrosia and later Arthur, and their final words with Merlin.]] Also, [[spoiler: How Frik's relationship with Morgan le Fay ends.]]
** The Lady of the Lake's final conversation with Merlin, and the [[spoiler: lingering demise of both Queen Mab and Magic.]]

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome

** A cute is Mab's interactions with Mordred as a child, namely when she and Frick first arrive and Mordred runs into her waiting open arms and she lovingly picks him up and cuddles him like a loving aunt visiting her nephew. This shows Mordred was one of the few, of only, one Mab ''genuinly'' cared about. This make it even more heart-wrenching in the end when he dies in her arms after the final battle and she can't save him.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / WellIntentionedExtremist: Queen Mab acted completely selflessly througout; her entire plot was an answer to the woman's prayer in the beginning, who cried "Queen Mab!"; It was an ordinary British human who prayed for the Old Ways to come back.
** Merlin, meanwhile, spends the film on a vengeance quest to destroy an entire religion because he's angry at one goddess (though he knows that the other members of the pantheon are good), becoming a knowing accomplice to a rape in order to help achieve his goals. He then complains that men don't live up to his lofty moral standards.

*** Time can be rewritten. Presumably that was what he was aiming for.

* JerkassWoobie: Morgan le Fey grows up insecure about her lisp and drooping eyelid. She witnesses Uther rape her mother via BedTrick, then murder her father and his men, all because Merlin let him. Later, she's used as a pawn by Mab and Frik, and eventually her son completely stops caring about her [[spoiler:in preference for a surrogate, "Auntie" Mab, who kills her in the end.]] On the other hand, her reaction to the childhood trauma is bitterness and eager complicity in the plot to screw over Arthur, and she probably has a lot to do with Mordred's poor character.

-->'''The Lady of the Lake:''' It's human to make mistakes Merlin, and part of you is human. The ''best'' part.