Merlin/Emrys (Colin Morgan)

"If I can't use magic, I might as well die."

The titular character, Merlin must protect Arthur — who will one day become king of Camelot and unite the lands of Albion — while keeping his magic a secret.

• Action Hero: In the beginning, magic-wise. However, he quickly learns that subtlety and manipulation is more useful.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Merlin has to hide his true identity as a sorcerer while making Sadistic Choice after Sadistic Choice.
• Adorkable: Merlin is dorky and adorable.
  • So much that he is in serious Moe territory, especially in the eyes of the fandom.
• A Friend in Need: To Arthur. But really, to everyone. He is always willing to help and be there for anyone who needs him.
• The Alcoholic: Subverted. Merlin isn't actually one, but due to Gaius' spur of the moment lie he was in the Tavern in Queen Of Hearts, Arthur is seemingly convinced that most of Merlin's odd behaviour is a result of his spending too much time in the local Tavern or any reason anytime he can't be found.
• All for Nothing: Arthur dies because of Merlin's actions to prevent it. Although it is implied that Queen Guinevere will bring magic back and lead Albion to a golden age, we never see Merlin enjoy what he waits for all the course of the series on screen.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Merlin has to hide his magical abilities from the people of Camelot because magic is considered evil, despite the fact he saves their lives with it every single episode.
• Almighty Janitor: His magical prowess aside, by Season 4, he is allowed to listen in in state council meetings and Arthur turns to him for advice. He's still officially just a servant.
• Always Save the Girl: To Gwen. Merlin has repeatedly gone to extreme lengths to save and protect Gwen as much as possible. He also has a similar mindset toward Arthur.
• Always Second Best / Always Someone Better: Sometimes feels this way in regards to Mordred, especially when it comes to Arthur. Deep down, Merlin feels that Arthur appreciates Mordred much more than him.
• Ambition Is Evil: For someone with his power and position, he is remarkably disinclined to use those advantages to rise in rank or become rulers in his own rights.
• Anti-Hero: Type III. Not malicious enough to slip into type IV, but his truly horrendous body count doesn't seem to bother him at all.
• Apologises a Lot: To contrast him with Arthur, who rarely apologises for anything.
• Arch-Enemy: To Morgana.
• The Archmage: He's destined to become the most powerful sorcerer to ever exist. And he does, in the finale.
• Asexual: The creators have said that Merlin is mostly non-romantic. Although you can hardly blame him for being put off romance considering what happened the last time.
• Awesome McCoolname: Merlin. Interesting name, right? If you think Merlin is a cool name, try Emrys.
• Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Merlin and his relationship with Arthur. They may insult each other like no tomorrow, but deep down, they really do love and care for each other and are willing to sacrifice themselves to protect the other.
• Badass
  • Badass Abnormal: Merlin is a warlock and a dragon lord who has many special powers and abilities.
  • Badass Adorable: Merlin may look cute and dorky, but he can kick anyone's ass (or better yet, kill anyone) in an instant without hesitation.
  • Badass Baritone: Merlin's Dragon-Lord voice. See Power Makes Your Voice Deep.
  • Badass Beard: As Emrys or Old!Merlin.
  • Badass Boast: Gives quite a few when he's forced to act.
    Merlin: I am the last Dragon-Lord...
    • Merlin's tells Arthur in 1x01: "I could take you apart with less than that." is a subversion, despite being true, because magic is outlawed in Camelot and doing so would cause his death.
    • Merlin gets another opportunity to play this straight in The Hollow Queen when confronting bandits. What really sells this is the tone Colin Morgan uses, to the point where you can practically hear his eyes rolling.
      Merlin: If you value your lives, you won't take another step.
      Bandit Leader: You don't even have a sword.
      Merlin: I don't need one *sends him flying with magic*
      20 or so bandits run away*
  • Badass Bookworm: Merlin is often seen reading when he doesn't have to run after Arthur and he gathers most of the useful knowledge from books.
  • Badass Nickname / Red Baron: In a sense, "Emrys". The Druids hold this name in reverence, and it strikes fear into Morgana's heart every time she hears it.
  • Badass Longhair: As Emrys, or Dragoon.
  • Badass Long Robe: As Emrys or Dragoon.
  • Future Badass: According to the Dragons and the Druids, the arrival of "Emrys" has long been prophecised.
• Badass in Distress: Sometimes Merlin needs saving too. Not as much as Arthur though.
• Bad Liar: An odd example. He's very good at keeping his powers secret, but the excuses he comes up with to cover for his behaviour grow increasingly bizarre as time goes by.
• Bash Brothers: With Arthur.
• Battle Butler: Merlin is clearly this to Arthur, even though Arthur doesn't realize it.
• Bavarian Fire Drill / Refuge in Audacity: Whenever Merlin gets caught in a compromising position, cue him descending into increasingly ludicrous and outlandish explanation for what he's supposedly doing. It's clear no-one buys it for a second, but they simply can't be bothered to find out the real reason.
  • Whenever masquerading as the elderly "Dragoon", he takes this to even more absurd levels.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In the first episode, Merlin angsts about having no purpose for his abnormal power. The Dragon gives him one, and what follows is endless killing and questionable decisions.
• Because Destiny Says So: He's Genre Savvy enough to realize that riding the course and fulfilling his destiny is the best way out.
  • Merlin is told by the last dragon that he is fated to protect Arthur until he can grow up, become king and have his own great destiny, so it's kind of recursive. Also a lot of the decisions he makes to secure this destiny were infuenced by this prophesy and the great dragons rather biased directions on how to go about achieving it. e.g. poisoning Morgana in The Fires of Idirsholas to save Camelot even though she had little to no idea of what was actually happening at the time or her role in causing it.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Starts out as an impulsive, clueless teenager who is easily fooled and manipulated by the Dragon. By the end of series 4, he's clearly found his place as Arthur's advisor, spends the finale organizing everything that goes on (except, notably, Arthur and Gwen's reconciliation) in a scheme worthy of a Magnificent Bastard, is one of the most Genre Savvy characters, and not only does the Dragon respect him, he obeys him. Probably the closest you can get to this trope without having a Face Heel Turn.
• Becoming the Mask: Merlin's initial motivation to protect Arthur is only that Arthur's prophecised to be the one who will bring magic back. By Season 5, he'd forego a chance to let magic return to ensure that Arthur'll live albeit with serious struggles. It's also become disturbingly easy for him to speak of magic as a threat to Camelot.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Merlin is a servant to Arthur. He runs around doing Arthur's chores, including extremely demeaning ones, while Arthur insults him and throws things at him. When Arthur wants to shirk his royal duties, it's Merlin's job to cover for him— which has more than once landed him in the stocks. And of course he spends most of the series repeatedly saving Arthur's life. Using his very illegal magic that he could be killed for having. Possibly on the orders of Arthur himself. And he gets no credit for any of this. It Makes Sense In Context why Merlin puts up with all this. Mostly.
• Beneath Notice
• Berserk Button: Endanger any of his loved ones — especially his mother Hunith — and you better get scared.
• The Beastmaster: He commands dragons and wyverns. He's also commanded a snake to attack Morgana once.
• Beware the Nice Ones
• Beware the Silly Ones: Merlin may be humorous, witty and the comic relief, but don't get on his bad side.
• Big Brother Instinct: Merlin seemed to have this towards young!Mordred, Daegal, and Gilli.
• Big Damn Heroes
• Big "NO!": Merlin has done this so many times throughout the series to count.
• Birds of a Feather: With Morgana and Freya. It ends badly in both cases.
• Blessed with Suck: Oh, you have awesome, mindblowing magical powers? Well, that also means you have to go through every layer of hell the writers can throw on you.
• Bodyguarding A Badass: Subverted. Arthur is the best swordsman in the Five Kingdoms and can defeat two other swordsmen blindfolded. He has a servant which watches his back on missions. Subverted in that the servant is Merlin, and can kill you with his brain making him the more badass of the two.
• Book Ends: Merlin says in the pilot that without his magic, he might as well die. In 5x12, he loses it.
• Bookworm
• Boom Stick: Merlin has a magical sidhe staff, that fires a blast of magical energy that can even kill a sidhe. Despite it being a cool and effective weapon, he's only used it in three episodes (The Gates of Avalon, To Kill The King and The Changeling).
• Bonding Over Missing Parents: With both Gwaine and Arthur.
• Boring Invincible Hero / Invincible Hero: There is literally nothing he can't do.
• Boy Next Door: Appears this way in the beginning. However, he's revealed to have abnormal power.
• Brains and Brawn: Merlin and Arthur, with Merlin as the Brains to Arthur's Brawn. Merlin is sort of defaulted into the position of brains because (unlike Arthur) he usually knows what's actually going on. Amusingly, Arthur seems to consider himself the brains and the brawn of their two man band and takes delight in calling Merlin an idiot, useless buffoon, girl's petticoat, etc. — although, if you don't know that Merlin has magic, his antics do seem a bit strange.
• Break the Cutie: Merlin goes through endless pain, tragedy and hardships. The boy never catches a break.
  • Although Merlin is an Iron Woobie, so he refuses to break. Although with how much they put him through to prove that he's not going to break, that might be even worse.
    • As of Series 5, Merlin has acquired extremely thick Jade-Colored Glasses, lost his Chronic Hero Syndrome, and despite the fact that he's been putting it on for a while now, Arthur notices that he hasn't smiled in days. When Gaius asks what happened to the boy who stumbled into his chambers all those years ago, this is his response:
    Merlin: He grew up.
• Broken Hero: Been through a lot of pain and misery yet still remains rather positive and optimistic regardless. Not to mention that Merlin is always kind to everyone, even those who are mean to him or don't treat him nicely. Series 5 highlights how broken he is with his increasing willingness to Kick the Dog.
• Broken Messiah: Merlin appears nice and cheerful most of the time but the more tragedy he goes through, the more it becomes just a mask.
• Broken Tears: Merlin is constantly shedding these, mostly after someone who is close to him dies.
  • Single Tear: Merlin sheds one tear when he kisses Freya, the moment he resolves to leave Camelot.
• Brought Down to Normal: In 4x01 and 5x12.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Pulls an awesome Heroic Sacrifice in the first and still manages to wound Morgana in the second.
• Brutal Honesty: At times. There are cases when Merlin won't hesitate to tell someone exactly how he feels.
• Buffy Speak: Merlin practically speaks like this all of the time. Although, the most notable example is when Merlin describes a sword as "very... swordy".
• Bullying a Dragon: When he is in his Dragoon disguise, the knights attack him even when they know that he is a sorcerer. This trope is also played quite literally and inverted: as a Dragon Lord, Merlin is the one doing the bullying towards Dragons and Wyverns.
• Bumbling Sidekick: To Arthur. A subversion as even though he has the occasional clumsy moment, he's more competent and quick-thinking than Arthur ever gives him credit for.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Merlin is (to everyone else) a Cloud Cuckoolander with serious mental issues who wanders around the castle at night, has a tendency to mumble complete nonsense to himself for no good reason, and a horrible manservant. However, the emotional support he gives Arthur is invaluable, and he's Arthur's best advisor, even if it's unofficial and Arthur will never admit it.
• Butt Monkey: So much that he is The Woobie or even an Iron Woobie.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: In the beginning, Merlin is scornful of his destiny to protect Arthur, wanting nothing to do with him. The next night, an enchantress makes an attempt on Arthur's life and Merlin pulls him out of the way without thinking. As a reward, Uther makes him Arthur's manservant, so he's going to have to deal with him full time now.
  • Another episode has this trope played as tragically as possible. Merlin falls in love with a fugitive Druid named Freya. After a few days with her, he knows he needs to get her out of Camelot, and decides to leave with her. The night they're supposed to leave, the men hunting her catch up and stab her, causing her to bleed to death in Merlin's arms. It's sad enough, but the man who stabs her is Arthur (albeit in self defense), the destiny Merlin was running away from, and you can't help but feel that this was a case of fate saying They Were Holding You Back.
• Call to Adventure: In the first episode when Merlin arrives in Camelot after his mother sends him there.
• Calling the Old Man Out: In 2x13, Merlin calls out his long lost father Balinor on his lack of compassion and nobility because the old man refuses to help him and Arthur stop the Great Dragon from attacking Camelot. He also asks his father about the abandonment but does not seem to be angry about it much.
• Came Back Strong: A nonfatal example. In 5x12, when he loses his magic, Merlin regains it and realizes his full potential.
• Cannot Spit It Out: His ability to use magic.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Never seen onscreen, but according to Gaius "one whiff from a barmaid's apron and you're singing like a sailor".
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: An odd variation of this regarding Merlin making the decision to save Morgana's life. It's not that he "needs" Morgana, it's that he can't bear the pain of her loved ones as they struggle with their grief over her impending death.
• The Caretaker: To Freya.
• Cassandra Truth: Merlin lives this trope. In every season and most episodes therein, Merlin usually has foreknowledge of the (dis)loyalties of basically everyone. But he can't ever prove this because it variously involves a) exposing himself as a wizard, b) selling out someone he would rather not, or c) being pitted against someone who Uther and/or Arthur trust implicitly. You would think, considering everything Merlin says turns out to be true, people might just start giving him the benefit of the doubt.
  • More conventionally, there's one instance of Merlin bursting into the throne room and insisting he's a wizard.
  • Surprisingly, Arthur finally catches on to this in the season 4 finale. He realizes that Merlin knew, and has always known, about such betrayals. Arthur, meanwhile, always sees the best in people right up until they stab him in the back. He finds it quite frustrating that the people he treats as friends are so willing to betray him. He predictably reacts quite badly to Merlin's confession of having magic at first.
• Category Traitor: Has been accused of this by other magic users because he works for Camelot. He has also refused to take the opportunity to end the magic ban out of personal loyalty to Arthur at least twice.
• Celibate Hero: Merlin doesn't do the romance thing that much.
• Character Title: The series is named after him.
• The Chessmaster: In Sword And The Stone Part II, where he orchestrates Arthur drawing the sword from the stone so that it will restore Arthur's faith in him being king and rally the people at the same time. And then he removes Morgana's powers to even the fight so Camelot can win. He's come a long way from the easily fooled teenager in Series 1.
• Chessmaster Sidekick: He has the magic and knows enough about what goes on to become the most powerful person of the land. Instead, he does everything for Arthur.
• Chew Toy: Too Adorkable not to become this.
• Childhood Friends: With Will.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Merlin just can't stand by doing nothing when someone needs help despite the warnings of his mentors.
• The Chooser of The One: He orchestrated the entire retrieval of the Excalibur sword in the stone. A bit of a subversion in that Arthur is already The Chosen One, but it was Merlin that brought it to light.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: When Arthur is trying to draw Excalibur, Merlin says that he needs to truly believe he can in order to do it. Subverted since Merlin was just trying to boost Arthur's confidence: once Arthur is sold on Merlin's story, Merlin covertly uses magic to make the task extremely easy for Arthur, thus reinforcing the idea he was trying to instill.
• Clark Kenting: Inverted. Merlin's Older Alter Ego looks, sounds, and acts nothing like him and yet everyone says his "eyes are familiar". And it's not like he has an unusual eye color or anything, they're standard blue eyes in a cast of blue eyes that everyone picks up on. Even when he disguised himself as an old woman (very convincingly at that), Arthur kept wondering if he'd met "her" before. Although, given that Arthur is extremely Wrong Genre Savvy, whatever guess he had had to be miles off.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: While his actions generally make sense to the audience, to everyone else he comes across as utterly bizarre. But he's right enough of the time that some people still take him seriously.
• Clueless Chick Magnet: Merlin can attract the girls, but at times, he's completely clueless about the girls who he does attract, such as Gwen for example.
• The Coats Are Off: In the Pilot episode, Merlin removes his jacket before preparing to fight Arthur. He ends up having his ass handed to him.
• Coconut Superpowers: Merlin's ability to slow down time.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Merlin almost always wears the colours red and blue. This seems to mirror the character whom Merlin is modelled off of, Clark Kent / Superman.
  • However, in 4x06, Merlin is seen wearing a purple shirt instead of either a blue or red shirt, indicating that something was indeed wrong with Merlin. This was because Merlin was brainwashed by Morgana into killing Arthur at any cost.
• Combat Pragmatist: Merlin repeatedly uses magic to gain an advantage by turning the things around him against his opponent. He's also not above stabbing from behind or cursing the enemy.
• Comes Great Responsibility: Gaius teaches him this philosophy in series 1. YMMV on how much he actually succeeds in following it.
• Composite Character: In the finale, Merlin takes on the role that is usually allocated to Bedivere in the legends when he throws Excalibur back to the Lady in the Lake.
• The Confidant: Whenever a character needs someone to talk to, he's always the obvious choice. Even guest characters are much more inclined to talk to him than anyone else. Arthur even invokes this trope in a few episodes by sending him in to talk to people who aren't speaking to anyone else.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Between his personal attachment to Arthur and the desire to end the oppression on magic users. As time passes, he increasingly leans towards the former.
• Constantly Curious: He gets into troubles because of this.
• Cool Sword: Excalibur. Merlin is the one who basically created the sword for Arthur. He's also used the sword a few times to defeat the enemy.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
• Coming of Age Story: The central focus of the series is Merlin evolving from a naive, overly optimistic, and idealistic youth to a mature, pragmatic and almighty powerful warlock.
• Cool Old Guy: When masquerading as the 80-year-old sorcerer "Dragoon".
• Country Mouse: At least at first.
• Court Mage: Subverted. He takes care of magical threats, negotiates with other magic users, and if magic is needed he provides it. But no one aside from Gaius and Lancelot know this is the case. Might be played straight as of the finale, now that everyone knows who he is.
• Crazy-Prepared: Half of his spells are so tailored to the situation that either Merlin is making them up as he goes or he really does learn spells just in case he wants a magnetic sword, he needs to drop bed covers on someone, or he needs to throw a bench.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: A bit of a subversion in that he's not completely a Cloud Cuckoolander, but since nearly everyone else believes he is, this happens nearly Once an Episode. Arthur eventually catches on to this and starts consulting Merlin on everything.
• Curiosity Killed the Cast: A non-fatal example, when Merlin releases the goblin in 3x03. Sometimes Merlin's curiosity really gets the best of him.
• Cute Clumsy Boy / The Klutz: Merlin's clumsiness is a defining characteristic.
• Cute Warlock: Merlin is a warlock who is incredibly adorable and loveable, and powerful.
• Darker and Edgier: As the series progresses, Merlin becomes much more dark and ruthless. His body count continues to increase as the series goes on.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Death by Secret Identity: Oh boy, almost everyone who discovers Merlin's secret ends up dying.
  • Almost all the people who have discovered Merlin's secret are dead. Most One Shot Characters, were they Villains Of The Week such as Edwin, Sophia, Aulfric, Tauren, Sigan, Catrina, Jonas, Aredian, Grunhilda, and more recently, Borden, Lamia; or Victims Of The Week such as Will, Freya, Balinor, the Fisher King and Daegal, have died within the episode. And then we have the few who lasted longer, such as Nimueh, Agravaine, and more recently, proving that Anyone Can Die, Lancelot and Alator.
  • As of the series finale, Mordred, Morgana and Arthur have joined the list.
  • In fact, it's quicker to name the characters that haven't fallen prey to this trope: it's a short-list of Hunith, Gaius, Gilli and (eventually) Guinevere.
• Death Glare: Constantly shares these kinds of looks with Morgana.
• Declaration of Protection: Merlin has made it his life's mission to protect Arthur at all costs because it is destiny to do so.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: No show based in modern times would have a protagonist (Merlin) that is so innocent, idealistic and naive (at least in the first two seasons) with such a horrendous body count that doesn't seem to bother him at all. Why? Because this is the Dark Ages and killing people who are trying to kill you is completely okay. Killing in cold blood is still frowned upon, though.
  • Merlin calling Morgana out in the Series 3 opening for killing can come across as hypocrisy, but if you notice his main problems are that she's killing innocents and her actions will only cause more hatred against magic.
• Despair Event Horizon: Plenty of times, but particularly in 4x03. Gaius has to end up talking Merlin out of it.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Only in the first episode. Then the Dragon informs him of his destiny.
• Determinator: Merlin is probably the most determined character in the entire series. He NEVER gives up.
• Deus Angst Machina: The writers seem particularly fond of throwing tragedies at Merlin.
• Deus Exit Machina: As the series progresses, he becomes so powerful the writers have to constantly find ways to get him out of the way
• Did Not Get the Girl: Merlin's romance with Freya. Freya ends up dying.
• Disappeared Dad: Until 2x13. Then, he died.
• Disguised in Drag: When Merlin is dressed as Dolma. It's played for laughs, but Colin Morgan's performance is actually quite convincing.
• Disney Death: Throughout the series, it has appeared that Merlin has actually died a few times from various different things (from weapons, poisoning, etc). However, after he appears to be dead, he wakes up alive fairly soon afterwards. Turns out that the reason for this is because Merlin is immortal and therefore, cannot die.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Happens frequently with Merlin: every time he first meets a woman, he's momentarily dumbfounded by their beauty. However, when things get serious, he plays the reverse trope. In The Lady of the Lake, after Freya goes back to her human form for the last time, she's completely naked. The moment Merlin realizes this he takes off his jacket and covers her without even trying to sneak a glance. Happens again in The Hunter's Heart, when he finds Gwen injured in the forest. She's wearing something that looks like a harem woman outfit, but he's focused on healing her.
• Distressed Dude: Sometimes. But most of the time, the one who's always in trouble is Arthur and Merlin has to save him.
• Doom Magnet: Pain and tragedy follow Merlin everywhere he goes. He never seems to catch a break and he never gets a chance to be happy.
• Dork Knight: Merlin is clearly heroic but at the same time, he's rather dorky and socially awkward.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Played with considering that the entire audience already knows Merlin's true power, but In-Universe, the likes of Arthur and Morgana will inevitably be gobsmacked when The Reveal finally happens.
• Dragon Rider: For relatively practical reasons.
• Dramatic Irony: The Knight's protectiveness of Merlin, when you consider that (not counting Mordred's magic, although Merlin would probably win anyway) Merlin can kick their asses to kingdom come without even trying hard.
  • The most powerful sorcerer who is destined to bring magic back serves the anti-magical faction.
• The Dreaded: As of Series 4, Morgana is frequently haunted by terrifying nightmares of "Emrys", standing over her, seemingly all-powerful and berating her for all the death she's caused.
• The Drifter: Merlin appears to be this at the very end of the series finale as Emrys.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Merlin is a powerful warlock who has saved Camelot more than once and saved Arthur more times than we can count, but since magic is banned on pain of death, he has to keep it a secret. He's Arthur's manservant, and the two share a very vitriolic friendship, so he gets plenty of humiliating tasks on a regular basis. Though it's usually Played for Laughs, it can be surprisingly poignant at times.
  • Over time, Arthur does come to respect Merlin's opinion and occasionally admits what a good friend Merlin has been. Doesn't stop them from being Vitriolic Best Buds, though.
• Dude, Where's My Reward?: Merlin has this hard, and there isn't really anything he can do about it since magic is a crime punishable by death. He has secretly saved Camelot itself from total destruction multiple times over the course of the show. He saves Arthur's life Once an Episode, often several times an episode, and aside from the exceptions that can be counted on one hand, either someone else gets the credit or Arthur never realizes his life was in danger in the first place. He's even saved Uther a couple of times, even though the guy's the reason why he has to keep his magic a secret.
• The Dulcinea Effect: In The Lady Of The Lake. Merlin merely glimpses Freya and instantly decides he must risk everything to save her, though the fact she's being persecuted for magic use might have something to do with it.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Not as consistently as Morgana but he appears very pale most of the time.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: He has a different hairstyle starting Series 3. This is also the series where he begins acting as Arthur's advisor.
• Expy: Merlin is influenced by or modelled off of the character of Clark Kent/Superman from Smallville.
• Eye Color Change: Merlin's eyes turn brownish-gold when he uses magic.
• Fake Brit: Colin Morgan is from Armagh.
• Fatal Flaw: His almost pathological habit of keeping Arthur (and everyone else except for Gaius and the Dragon) in the dark about what is really going on, even if it doesn't necessarily involve revealing his magic.
• Feet of Clay: Out of universe example: Merlin is repeatedly referred to as the most powerful sorcerer ever and frequently shows his skill with housework, but as soon as he is faced with an injury, a troll, other magical creature, a sticky hiding-in-the-cupboard situation, or heaven forbid one of those other witches/wizards who are obviously infinitely less powerful than him, such as Nimueh, Edwin, Cedric/Cornelius Sigan, then he immediately either forgets his 'amazing abilities' or finds himself completely outdone.
  • More a case of Unskilled, but Strong. Merlin possesses a great deal of raw, instinctive power, but lacks training, enabling his less powerful but experienced opponents to gain the upper hand. Best demonstrated when fighting Nimueh: Merlin tries an incantation, and she laughs it off and sticks a fireball in his chest. Then Merlin gets ripshit pissed and blows her into Ludicrous Gibs through sheer willpower.
• Fights Like a Normal: Has extraordinary abilities and powers and could easily mop the floor with anyone who goes against him, but he chooses to appear weak and an incapable fighter in order to conceal identity and his abilities.
• Flanderization: Merlin used to be quite good at hiding his magical abilities by rationalizing (or completely avoiding) the odd situations he often found himself in because of them. Nowadays not an episode will go by that doesn't have Merlin getting caught in compromising positions (usually with a dose of subtext), and having to explain himself with increasingly bizarre excuses. By this stage, Arthur thinks that he's an alcoholic weak-bladdered cross-dresser who prowls around the castle at night, is obsessed with pest infestations, and has serious mental problems.
• Foil: To Arthur. Merlin is the poor but optimistic and self-assured servant. Arthur is a prince with serious inferiority complex.
  • Merlin can also be seen as the ultimate foil to Morgana later on in the series. Kilgarrah has said that Morgana is the dark to Merlin's light; the hatred to Merlin's love.
  • Merlin could also qualify as a foil to Mordred.
• Forgot About His Powers: Merlin decides that POISONING Arthur is necessary to fake his death, when there have to be a million other ways to do it. Arthur gets bonus points for going along with it.
  • After the first few episodes, Merlin also completely forgets his original innate power of stopping time and telekinesis with nothing but a glare. As soon as he starts learning some spells that don't even have a fraction of this power, he only uses spells which could have him executed if anyone listens to his muttering.
  • Lampshaded in The Darkest Hour, when Merlin uses a spell to light the fire while the other knights are gathered around. Lancelot, the only knight who knows about his magic, glares at him. As we saw in series 2, Merlin can light a fire just by moving his hand and there is no need to risk the knights overhearing him.
• Friendship Moment: Many times with Arthur throughout the series.
  • Also with Gwen, Gwaine and Lancelot.
• Functional Magic
• Geek Physique: The skinny or slender type. It is especially noticeable in the first few seasons. Merlin does buff up later on in the series.
• Genre Savvy: He correctly suspects that Morgana and later Agravaine acting as The Mole for enemies of Camelot. Also catches on to Gwen's brainwashing in Season 5, only this time Arthur actually listens to him.
• Goal in Life: To reinstate magic in the kingdom and to protect Arthur long enough for him to fulfill his destiny (and by proxy, protect Arthur's family members, particularly his father and his wife).
• The Good Chancellor: Bonus points for qualifying without even having rank.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: Merlin wears red and blue, which are both Hero colours. If he's not wearing those colours, you'll know something is wrong with him.
• Good Is Not Soft: He's one of the sweetest characters on the show, but that compassion does not always extend to his enemies. To put it flatly, go near his friends, and you will die. If you threaten him, he won't worry about killing you, either.
• Great Big Book of Everything: Merlin receives a book of magic from Gaius in the first episode, and he learns almost everything he needs about spells or magical matters from it.
  • Spell Book
• Grey and Gray Morality: The boy wizard is definitely a good guy. But he supports a Knight Templar king (Uther) who would execute him if he knew the truth, often against designated villains with a legitimate grievance, and Merlin often makes some questionable choices to balance his nature against his support of the king. Why? It's just Because Destiny Says So ("destiny" in this case being a dragon with a fairly major and deserved grudge against Uther himself).
• Guile Hero: After a few close calls, he matures into this from a reckless teenager who thinks magic can solve everything. He increasingly relies on his wit and manipulation, and magic is simply a tool for his plan.
• Half-Human Hybrid / Human Mom, Non-human Dad: Merlin is the son of a human mother (Hunith) and a Dragonlord father (Balinor). Technically, he is a creature of the Old Religion.
• He Who Fights Monsters: After years of making Sadistic Choice after Sadistic Choice under the tutelage of morally questionable mentors like Gaius and the Great Dragon and suffering endless heartbreak, he becomes noticeably similar to Morgana (and by extension Uther) in the ease with which he jumps straight to questionable actions and finds justifications for them. He also contributes to the continuing oppression of magic users, the very thing he fights to end.
• Healing Magic Is The Hardest: Seems to be the case for Merlin. He could not heal Arthur in 3x05, and has difficulty with healing spell again in 5x07.
• Heartbroken Badass: Merlin has suffered so much heartbreak, loss, grief, tragedy and pain that it is a surprise that Merlin hasn't completely broken down.
• The Hero: Merlin is practically the only thing that stands between Arthur and the many manners of death, and he protects Camelot by extension.
• Hero Ball: Merlin is the hero who always ends up saving the day one way or another. However, some of his choices and decisions which he has made have been highly questionable by other characters and even the audience. Most people are surprised by some of the controversial decisions Merlin has made because Merlin is known to be one of the most intelligent, wise, and kindhearted characters on the show.
• Heroic Bastard: Ironically, he might not have been been a bastard at all had it not been for Uther's interference, and his father is unaware he exists until the Series 2 finale. All the better to constrast with Morgana, who is a Bastard Bastard, and Mordred, who isn't one at all in this version.
• Heroic BSOD: Many times, but particularly after Arthur's death. In fact, Merlin basically loses it.
• Heroic Lineage: Merlin discovers that his long lost father, Balinor is a Dragon Lord.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Doesn't think that much of himself for a guy who saves the kingdom on a regular basis.
• Heroic Spirit: Merlin has it more than anybody.
• Heros First Rescue: In the Pilot episode, when Merlin saves Arthur by pushing him out of the way when Marry attempts to kill Arthur by throwing a dagger at him. As a reward, King Uther makes Merlin Arthur's personal manservant.
• He's Back: At the end of "Diamond of the Day Part 1", when he regains his powers once more.
• Heterosexual Life Partners / Ho Yay: With Arthur. Though the fangirls tend to disagree...
  • Also, with Lancelot.
  • Gwaine could count as well.
• Hidden Badass: Merlin doesn't physically look intimidating, but he can kick anyone's ass, including the much bigger guys.
• Hidden Depths: Merlin may look like a naive and clumsy servant boy but he's actually a very powerful warlock. He's also probably the most well informed person in the cast given his position.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: He's the savior of the magical race, living in the most anti-magic place he could be in as an innocuous servant.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: If Merlin had just ignored the visions, namely in Crystal Cave, he wouldn't have fallen into the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy loop.
• Honest Advisor: To Arthur, though subverted in that he seldom tells Arthur the full extent of the deal, especially when magic is involved.
• Hope Bringer: Merlin is this to everyone around him, but especially to Arthur. On the cosmic scale, he embodies the promise that magic will return and Albion will enter a golden age.
• Humble Hero: Is a highly powerful warlock who saves lives all of the time, yet is content to be Arthur's servant.
• Hurting Hero
• Hypercompetent Sidekick / Sidekick Ex Machina: Is often seen as this to Arthur. Merlin is always saving Arthur, much to Arthur's unawareness.
• I Gave My Word: Merlin in his second What the Hell, Hero? moment of 2x12 when he frees the Great Dragon (Kilgarrah), who then proceeds to attack Camelot.
• I Have Many Names: Emrys, among others, according to Mordred and the Great Dragon. Somewhat inverted as Merlin himself is unaware of most of them.
  • He has also given himself a name for his Secret Identity as an old man: "Dragoon"
• I Just Want to Be Normal: In the pilot, Merlin is worried that he's a monster because of his magic. He plays with this again in 2x09 when the situation with Freya gives him a reason to quit the destiny business and get out of Camelot.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Merlin tries this on Morgana in 3x02. It doesn't work.
• I Know Your True Name: Many Druids and Creatures of the Old Religion refer to Merlin by his true name of "Emrys". This doesn't give them any power over him, though.
• I Owe You My Life: Why Merlin tries so hard to help Lancelot become a knight.
• Iconic Outfit: Merlin's infamous red or blue neckerchiefs.
  • Also Merlin's boots could count as well.
  • Let's not forget the hat he wore in 1x04.
• The Idealist: Especially in the first season. Merlin becomes much more of a realist and more pragmatic with a good dose of cynicism as the series progresses.
• Idiot Ball: Merlin kick-starts an episode's plot by conjuring the smoke of a camp-fire into the image of a galloping horse. A woman sees it, tells King Uther, and a witch-hunt begins. Merlin spends the remainder of the episode lamenting just how stupid he was.
  • And in another when Morgana has gone to see the Druids for advice, Uther thinks she has been kidnapped and so Merlin has the bright idea to cause a big commotion escaping the locked up city (as opposed to trying to sneak out quietly) and for no reason at all lights a fire in the middle of the forest thus leading the knights right on his tail to where the Druids are hiding.
• Idiot Savant: Appears this to others, especially Arthur.
• Immortality: Merlin is immortal and therefore, has eternal life. In the series finale, it was shown that Merlin has lived for centuries.
  • Type IV. See Resurrective Immortality.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Colin Morgan doesn't do Single Tears. When he's crying, he's crying.
  • In A Lesson In Vengeance, Merlin nearly breaks down because it appears that his spell has failed to heal Arthur. Partially done to contrast with Gwen, who was brainwashed the episode before and has spent the entire episode crying Crocodile Tears to get everyone to follow her.
  • Merlin revealing his magic to Arthur in the series finale almost doesn't come to pass since Merlin is crying so much.
• Informed Attribute: Merlin is described as weak and scrawny. Maybe in the first and second series that was true, but the actor has since filled out and it barely applies. Loose clothing seems to shake this somewhat, but whenever you see Colin Morgan out of costume it's blatant that he's just as big as some of the other knights that are described as muscular.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Changes into Icy Blue Eyes when he becomes more cold and ruthless towards those he considers enemies.
• Instant Expert: At casting certain spells. Some can be slightly more difficult though.
• In the Blood/Lineage Comes From The Father: Merlin's dragonlord powers, which are described to be a sacred gift, have been passed down from father to son for thousands of years. Balinor, Merlin's father, was a dragonlord. After Balinor died, Merlin inherited the dragon lord powers. Merlin is currently the last dragon lord in existence.
• It Sucks To Be The Chosen One: Merlin has to keep his abilities a secret within a land that condemns magic and views magic as evil. At times, Merlin feels like an outsider and an alien.
• It's All My Fault: Sometimes. For example, Merlin blamed himself for Uther's death, even though he was only trying to save Uther.
• It's for a Book: Merlin uses a variation of this, ("it's for homework") in ''Lancelot'', to excuse his unlikely interest in the library.
• It's Personal: Merlin is a fairly calm person, generally speaking, but if you dare to threaten someone he cares about, he will hurt you.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: He has become noticeably pragmatic and jaded during the course of the series. By season 5, he has advised Arthur to abandon the quest to rescue the captured knights and to shoot a defenseless man. It's played for laughs but he is completely unenthusiastic to investigate the scream of a woman in 5x03, a remarkable change from a young man who is eager to help in the beginning.

  Gaius: What happened to the young boy who came into my chambers just a few years ago?

  Merlin: He grew up, and learnt the meaning of duty.

• Jumped at the Call: In the pilot, he despaired that his magical power made him a monster. The Dragon gave him a purpose and he committed to it after some initial misgivings about Arthur Pendragon.
• Just Eat Gilligan: Merlin's steadfast refusal to tell anyone about the fact that he has magic has caused more problems than it's solved. In particular, his treatment of Morgana led at least partially to her Face Heel Turn. Particularly as she likewise discovers she has magic in the second series. Her neck is on the line just as much as his, as it doesn't seem like that Uther would have been merciful.
• Just Friends: Merlin and his relationship with Gwen.
• Language of Magic: Merlin seems to use Old English for this purpose. This is weird, given that Old English would have been the language of the Saxon invaders that King Arthur fought against. Chalk it up to Translation Convention.
  • The one exception is when he's in Dragonlord mode. It's Homeric Greek then.
• Large Ham: When in his "Dragoon" disguise.
• Last of His Kind: Merlin's father is revealed to be the Last of the Dragon-Lords, Magi who possessed the ability to command and bend Dragons to their will. Upon his father's death, Merlin inherited the gift and the responsibility of being the Last Dragon-Lord.
• Let's Get Dangerous: Merlin's default state, even to those who knew he had magic, was a clumsy, silly moron who was just as likely to screw things up as make them right. But threaten his friends, and you won't last five seconds. He also became more mature, edgier, serious and much more wiser as the series progressed.
• Let Them Die Happy: In 2x09, Merlin takes Freya to a place that reminds her of her home.
• Lethal Joke Character: In-Universe. Out of any number of elite knights, it's Merlin who ends up getting dragged along whenever Arthur goes on a solitary mission. Arthur seemingly does this because Merlin makes him laugh and provides moral support. He's completely unaware that Merlin is the only reason he survives these missions.
• Like Brother and Sister / Platonic Life Partners / Just Friends: With Gwen.
• Limited Wardrobe: Merlin has only one red shirt, one blue shirt, two neck scarves and a brown jacket that he wears through all five seasons. This may be deliberate. Merlin is a servant, and probably doesn't have a lot of money.
• Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Merlin has gone from no magical training at all (the only thing he can do is telekinesis), to causing earthquakes, summoning gods, commanding freakin' dragons to do whatever he wants, and in the finale, he beats the entire Saxon army, a dragon, and a High Priestess almost casually with lots and lots of lightning.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Believe it or not, to Arthur. It has been shown that without Merlin, Arthur would be very vulnerable emotionally and physically. Although Arthur may not realize it, he strongly depends on Merlin for many things.
• The Load: A quite noticeable subversion and inversion. Arthur seems to consider Merlin this...however, Merlin would get the problem solved a lot faster if Arthur and the Knights weren't along for the ride. At best, Merlin has to tolerate them while finding a way around them, at worst they end up worsening the problem.
• Love at First Sight: With Freya. Sadly, it ended in tragedy when Freya ended up dying..
• Love Hurts: His relationship with Freya, The Gwen Stacy.
• Love Martyr: Even though Arthur doesn't always treat him nicely and almost never acknowledges his worth in a straightforward manner (especially jarring when compared to how Arthur treats the knights and Guinevere), Merlin still cares about Arthur and is always there for him no matter what.
• Love Or Destiny Decision: Merlin must chose between Freya and Arthur. He actually chooses Freya, but destiny puts a stop to this.
• Made of Iron: Merlin he's been sliced open by a mace, taken fireballs to the chest, and been hit by freezing spirits that killed everyone else.
  • Turns out that Merlin is indeed an immortal being according to the series finale and therefore can't die.
• Made of Magic: According to Balinor, Merlin is magic himself.
• Magic Knight: By Series 3, Merlin seems to use sword and sorcery equally well together to take down his enemies. It's likely he picked up fighting techniques purely in self-defense from a combination of always being attacked and Arthur's insistence upon using Merlin as a sparring partner (or practice dummy).
• Magic Staff: Merlin has two staffs, a Sidhe staff he's used on a couple occasions, and a staff from the Crystal Cave in the series finale. Both are capable of channeling lightning (or at least something that looks like it) and utilizing it as a weapon.
• The Magic Comes Back: Merlin's ultimate goal for Camelot.
• Magnetic Hero: Merlin is definitely this. He befriends nearly everyone he meets and others always seek Merlin out for help or advice.
• The Magnificent: Merlin disguised as Old!Merlin calls himself "Dragoon, THE Great!"
• The Man Behind the Man: Merlin is this to Arthur, so much it's practically a Central Theme. Arthur's going to rule all of Albion, the greatest kingdom that ever was or ever will be? Yep. He's the Chosen One? Yep, so much that he has a Chosen One chosen to protect him. Merlin on the other hand: is partially responsible for Morgana and Mordred's villainy via Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, got Arthur and Gwen together, made friends with Lancelot and Gwaine and ignited the idea of commoners being knights, put the sword in the stone, put the lady in the lake, convinced the dragon to forge Excalibur, and is responsible for a lot of Arthur's Character Development into the Once and Future King he was supposed to be in the first place.
• Manic Pixie Dream Boy: Merlin represented this to sheltered, cursed Druid girl Freya. While Freya represented all gloom, doom and isolation due to being cursed, Merlin brought rainbows and sunshine into Freya's life by making her feel loved regardless of what she was.
• Martyr Without a Cause: Merlin is constantly willing to trade his life in order to save others. He often offers himself up to be sacrificed without hesitation, especially if it is someone that he loves and cares about (examples include Arthur, Gaius, his mother, etc).
• The Masquerade: "Keep the magic secret".
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: The reason why Merlin doesn't get romantically involved with anyone is because he has to keep his magic a secret both to survive and to achieve what he's destined for. Also, everyone who knows about his secret and whom he can depends emotionally on (sans Gaius and the Great Dragon) inevitably dies.
• Meaningful Name: Merlin's name means "sea fortress" or "of the sea fortress" in Welsh.
  • The name that Merlin bestows upon the baby dragon, Aithusa, turns out to mean 'Light of the Sun' in dragon-speech.
  • Emrys: Means 'Immortal'.
• The Medic: Not as experienced as Gaius, but he knows the basics and has learned a lot from Gaius.
• Meet Cute: It's played with. Whenever Merlin meets a pretty girl, he shows interest, evident with his encounters of Gwen, Morgana, Nimueh, Lady Catrina, Sefa, and Freya.
• The Messiah: Merlin is destined to become the greatest and most powerful warlock to ever live on Earth. Not to mention that he is destined to free the magical people, revive the Old Religion to co-exist with the New Religion.
• Merlin Sickness: Averted. Merlin doesn't have it in this version.
• The Millstone: Inverted. Merlin plays this role in his more Genre Savvy moments to keep Arthur's ill-informed plans from going through. For example, Aithusa, where Arthur decides to seek out and smash the last dragon egg. Note that Dragons in this series are intelligent and this could be considered infanticide, but because Arthur's father raised him to hate magic Arthur is convinced they are mindless monsters who need to be exterminated, Merlin decides to go on ahead and nearly kills himself when the tower collapses, so they can't search through the ruins for it. Well, at least the egg is probably destroyed... or it would be, if it wasn't in Merlin's backpack.
• Moral Dissonance: Merlin and Morgana have a huge Not So Different thing going on. Anything she's done, he's done as well. Attempt to murder an innocent to prevent a prophecy, take away free will, betray a close friend, killing lots of people.
• Morality Tropes:
  • I Did What I Had to Do / Kill The Ones You Love / Shoot the Dog: Merlin poisons Morgana — who was unaware that she was the vessel of the Knights of Medhir — because he did what he had to do in order to save Camelot, but at the price of killing his friend and someone he cared about. Many fans, while praising the acting of Colin and Katie, did not agree with Merlin's actions.
    • It's actually lampshaded in a hilarious commentary in 2x12 between Colin and Katie discussing Merlin's eventual decision to kill Morgana, with Colin trying to defend himself.
  Katie McGrath: You do everything to not kill anyone else. The Dragon says kill [Morgana], and you're like "all right."
  Colin Morgan: No, I kill loads of people. I kill at least one person an episode.
• Motive Decay: Merlin begins the show by wanting to protect Arthur so that one day he can accept magic and make it legal. By the end of the show, Merlin has explicitly redefined his destiny as simply serving Arthur.
• Motor Mouth: At times. Sometimes when Merlin gets talking, he just can't stop. Hence Arthur's catch phrase of "Shut up, Merlin."
• Mr. Fanservice: From his cute, adorkable qualities, to his intelligence, to his magical abilities, to his quirky sense of humour, to his pretty boy looks, to even his Dragon Lord voice, everything about Merlin can be considered fan service. He's also the first one in the show to get a Shirtless Scene.
• Mugging the Monster: All the freaking time. If you want to survive in the world of Merlin, please do not attack the scrawny guy on the ground who has clearly never had a day of combat training in his life. Odds are that a spear will fly out of nowhere and stab you.
• Mundane Utility: Merlin often uses his magic to do household chores, to the great distress of his mentor figure (magic is illegal in Camelot, and anyone caught using or even knowing magic is put to death).
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Substitute "country" for "kingdom" and "future king."
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Averted. Merlin often has to protect Arthur from himself.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Plenty of times throughout the series, but especially after Merlin tries to save Uther with magic and Uther ends up dying as instead.
• My Greatest Failure: Merlin takes the biggest risk of his life in order to save Uther with magic and convince Arthur that magic can be benign. However, Morgana and Agravaine's actions prevent his spell from working and Uther dies, seemingly hardening Arthur's heart against magic forever.
  • Also, not being able to save Arthur from dying in the end.
• Mysterious Protector: Inverted with Merlin's alter-ego Dragoon. Though he's trying to save Gwen's life, his plan involves him making everyone believe that he's their enemy.
• Naďve Newcomer: In the beginning, when Merlin leaves his childhood in Ealdor for Camelot. He's inexperienced in court life and constantly finds himself in troubles.
• Never Accepted In His Hometown: Merlin confesses to Arthur that he never really felt as though he belonged in Ealdor.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Although since he's unsure of even his own powers, its justified that he can get away with this. An example is Merlin's mind's eye. Kind of justified in that he learned about it from a very obscure source and so couldn't use it before this episode, but it still fits the trope. Time will tell if this is brought up again.
• Nice Guy: He will not be unnecessarily mean unless provoked first and is a bad case of Chronic Hero Syndrome especially in the beginning. However, his kindness isn't extended to whom he considers enemies.
• Nice Hat: In 1x04, the official servant's ceremonial clothes in which Merlin has to wear include a huge feathered monstrosity of a hat. Gwen even comments, "nice hat," in between giggles, much to Merlin's embarrassment.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: 2x12 has a double whammy: he releases the Great Dragon and poisons Lady Morgana. The former allows the dragon to finally take revenge on Camelot and King Uther, while the latter is a huge reason behind Morgana's face heel turn.
  • 4x03 In disguise, he accidentally kills King Uther with magic and in front of Arthur: Arthur has now lost both his parents to magic and he knows.
  • 5x05 When the Disir told Arthur they'll save Mordred if he bring back magic, Merlin told him magic has no place in Camelot hoping to Screw Destiny. Result: the Disir heal Mordred as a punishment so he will, in time, play his part in Arthur's death. Merlin's mistake basically condemns Arthur to die.
• The Nicknamer: Merlin has nicknames for Arthur which include "Dollophead", "Prat", "Cabbage-Head", "Turnip-Head", "Simpleton", "Clotpole".
• Noble Male Roguish Male: Merlin could be seen as the Roguish Male to Arthur's Noble. While Merlin is all about doing the right thing, he is more willing to use underhanded means, while Arthur is more upstanding, chivalrous and noble.
• No Hero to His Valet: As Arthur's manservant, Merlin sees him at his worst - and most vulnerable.
• Non-Action Guy: Only in the very beginning. Especially when he goes up against Arthur in the Pilot.
• The Not-Love Interest: Merlin to Arthur. However, many fangirls may disagree...
• Not Quite The Right Thing: Merlin decision to poison Morgana. He was exhausted, out of options, and had been told to do so by the dragon, but the act has far-reaching consequences.
• Not So Different: To Morgana, obvious considering she is traditionally his Shadow Archetype.
  • Best shown in 5x02 when Arthur calls Morgana out on being virtually unrecognisable anymore, and in 5x05 when Gaius notes that Merlin has gotten a much darker personality from the innocent boy he first met, both respond to the criticism with;
  Merlin / Morgana: I grew up.
  • Agravaine says this almost word by word to him as they both have a Dark Secret to hide from Arthur.
• Not What It Looks Like: Merlin frequently gets walked in on in various compromising-looking situations, usually by Arthur or Gwen. Not only does he have to explain that it's not what it looks like, he usually can't even tell the truth and so has to come up with another (comedically improbable) excuse. While they usually don't believe him, they trust him enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Often happened unintentionally in Series 1. Nowadays, he actively exploits it.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging: This happened several times to Merlin, whenever someone (usually Arthur or Uther) complimented him for helping them in the fight against magic.
• Oblivious to Love: Merlin was completely oblivious to Gwen having a crush on him.
• Occult Detective: Often with Gaius.
  • Some fans would say also Merlin and Gwen, who have teamed up on more than one occasion to investigate the fantastical mysteries in Camelot, earning them the Fan Nickname of "Camelot's Detective Agency."
• Odd Couple: With Arthur of course.
• Odd Friendship: With Arthur of course. They have different backgrounds, personalities and outlooks, yet they are extremely close and attached to one another. This is because ultimately, Merlin and Arthur's destinies are intertwined.
  • Merlin and the various knights also count, since they generally have very little in common but all seem to like him quite well and are rather protective of him.
• Older Than They Look: Although Merlin's age is vague in the series, he has always looked baby faced and younger than his actual age. It seems as though Merlin hasn't aged all that much in the span of a decade. This is subverted in the series finale when Merlin is seen as an immortal old man.
• One-Man Army: As "Diamond of the Day" can attest, you do not want to be on the receiving end when Merlin decides to fully unleash his power. In a matter of minutes, he single-handedly manages to obliterate most of Morgana's army and send the rest scurrying into full retreat. To give some perspective, before the battle, Morgana's army outnumbered Camelot's nearly 5-to-1 and was told to contain thousands of men. Oh, and he finishes it off with taking down Morgana, who is the closest next to him in power, with one shot.
• Only Friend: To Arthur. Arthur has even admitted that Merlin is the only true friend that he has, despite being surrounded by many others.
  • Also to Gwaine. Gwaine admits so himself in 3x08.
• The Only One: Merlin is the last Dragonlord. It is revealed when Merlin's dad dies that there can be only one and the power passes from one individual to another father-to-son upon death. Therefore, when the Great Dragon was attacking Camelot and was going to destroy it, Merlin was the only one who could stop the dragon with the use of his dragon lord power.
• Only One Name: Although Merlin has many names or aliases, Merlin's surname or last name is never mentioned and remains unknown. It's either Merlin or Emrys.
• Only The Chosen May Wield: Merlin magically embeds Excalibur in a stone, to keep it safe until Arthur is meant to wield it. In a subversion of the norm, Merlin's magic isn't emphathic in any sense: the sword is impossible to remove by hand, and Merlin simply tricks Arthur into thinking he is the only person able to do it. Merlin loosens the blade with magic once Arthur is in the right mindset.
• OOC Is Serious Business: When walking back to Camelot in 3x05, Merlin is either quiet or laconic, lies rather well, and when Arthur compliments him, he ignores him. Arthur is immediately suspicious, but doesn't investigate. Reappears in 5x05 when Arthur comments that Merlin doesn't rise to his jibs and it means something is wrong.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: On occasion. Colin Morgan gets better at hiding his accent as time goes on.
• Opposites Attract: Merlin and his relationship with Arthur, with Arthur being a rich and emotionally repressed blond, and the latter being a poor but easy-going brunet. As the series goes on, however, it becomes Arthur being the idealistic king backed by Merlin's pragmatic and secretive sorcerer
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Mentioned frequently, in that Merlin knows he's the most powerful person in any given situation, but will always be considered a lowly servant in amongst all the kings, princes and knights.
• Papa Wolf: A non-parental example, but he is fiercely protective of Arthur, Gaius and Gwen.
• Parental Abandonment: Didn't know his father or where he was until 2x13, then he died afterwards.
• Perma Shave: Merlin seems to be lacking in the facial hair department. He is always smooth faced.
• Person of Mass Destruction: He's Emrys, the most powerful warlock or sorcerer to ever live on Earth. He is capable of great destruction and has the ability to take out towns and cities with a wave of his hand.
• Play Along Prisoner: Camelot's cells have no defense against magic, which means that whenever he's in there, he can leave whenever he wants.
• Plucky Comic Relief: It could be argued that Merlin IS the comedy and humour of the series. Especially as his older alter ego, Old!Merlin or Dragoon The Great.
• Poison And Cure Gambit: In 2x12, Merlin turns Morgana's poisoning into this when Morgause bursts into the room, offering to tell her the poison if she removes the spell over Camelot.
• Poison Is Evil: Inverted, as it is first the heroic Merlin who uses it for morally-dubious means (killing Morgana in order to break a fatal spell upon Camelot).
• Poisonous Friend: In a very literal sense to Morgana.
• The Pollyanna: For all the tragedies in his life, he remains optimistic that one day Arthur will end the oppression on magic and leads Albion to the golden age as the prophecy promises. He's also most of the time (and at times inappropriately) cheerful and upbeat. When he stops joking around, even Arthur knows that something is wrong.
• Power Incontinence: Notably averted. All other magic users have their powers go out of their control, but Merlin was using magic on purpose since before he could talk.
• Power Makes Your Voice Deep: When he's speaking the dragon tongue, his voice is notably deeper.
• The Power of Friendship: Merlin's undying loyalty to Arthur stems from his very close friendship with him.
• Pragmatic Hero: Merlin poisons the innocent Morgana to save the good future he works for. Gaius encourages him on this way, and they both end up talking about how hard making difficult choices can be, but how it becomes necessary.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: He can pull them off on occassion.
  Merlin:You should not have killed by friend. *cue lightning*
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner
• Pretty Boy
• Primary Color Champion: Merlin usually wears the colours Red and Blue (The Hero colours) together.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: As Arthur's servant, he's supposed to be this.
  • Sarcastic Devotee: What he actually is to Arthur.
• The Promise: Merlin made a promise to Kilgarrah that he would free him one day.
  • Also that he would ensure that he would find a place to keep Excalibur in a safe, hiding place. Merlin put the sword in a stone.
• Protagonist: The story centres on Merlin, his heroic journey and his relationships with other characters.
  • Supporting Protagonist: Sort of played with. Although Merlin is often seen as The Protagonist of the series as it is Merlin's story, and he really does seem to be The Chosen One. But once you step back and look at what he's been chosen for... His entire purpose in life, his reason for existing at all in the threads of destiny is to protect Arthur. Arthur's destiny is to be the greatest king Albion has ever known. Who's the Chosen One now? By the start of series 5, Arthur is King Arthur, with a Cool Sword (Excalibur), Hot Consort (Guinevere) and Badass Crew (The Knights of Camelot) seated at the Round Table. Merlin is still a servant, much to the fandom's dismay.
• Protectorate: Of Camelot, the knights, but especially Arthur and Gwen. His protection also extends to anyone with magical abilities, such as Mordred and Freya.
• Puberty Superpower: Averted. Merlin could use his magic 'before he could talk'.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Merlin's eyes are large, blue and twinkling. His eyes make him all the more adorable, even if you want to yell at him for his choices and decisions sometimes.
• The Quest: In "The Fisher King" episode, Arthur goes on a Quest to get the Golden Trident and prove himself worthy of the throne. Subverted as it turns out Merlin was the one really on the Quest and the Fisher King gives him water from the Lake of Avalon. Arthur still gets the Trident and Merlin, Arthur and Gwaine are named Magic/Courage/Strength as a Trio by Grettir, the watcher of the bridge.
• Rant Inducing Slight: Merlin has a lot of grievances, but he explodes exactly once. It was both funny and awesome.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: What makes Merlin appear so ethereal and unusually beautiful.
• Really 700 Years Old: In the Distant Finale, he's clearly lived through the centuries.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Merlin gets to tell Uther's ghost a piece of his mind in 5x03. Earlier, under the Dragoon guise, he says some scathing things to both Uther and Arthur, calling Uther a "tyrant" and Arthur a spoiled, arrogant brat who treats his servants like crap and has the face of a toad.
• Red Is Heroic: Merlin is often seen wearing the colour red. Often combined with blue.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Merlin is the Blue to Arthur's Red.
• Refuge in Audacity: Probably the only reason Merlin keeps his job is because of this.
• Refusal of the Call: Merlin refused to accept his destiny when the Great Dragon had told him that his destiny was tied to Arthur Pendragon, someone whom he immediately disliked. It didn't take.
• The Reliable One: Merlin is the one whom others can always depend on, especially at a time of need.
• Resurrective Immortality: Merlin is still alive in the present day. He's taken fireballs to the chest, swords, and huge slash wounds, and yet has gotten up again. It was confirmed in a Distant Finale that he really is immortal (his name, Emrys means "immortal") like his mythological roots.
• The Rival: Merlin became a bit of this to Mordred in the later seasons.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: In the third episode of the first season, Merlin — who has mostly averted this trope by wearing typical clothes — sarcastically argues that he should wear a pointy hat to convince Arthur that he's a wizard.
  Merlin: He thinks he is so sharp. Even when I told him I was a wizard, he still couldn't see it.
  Gaius: Sometimes it's pretty hard to spot.
  Merlin: Maybe I should go around wearing a pointy hat?
  Gaius: I don't think you'll find one big enough.
• Sad Clown: Sometimes Merlin will use wit and humour to hide how he is really feeling, especially if he feels overwhelmed in any way.
• Sadistic Choice: When Merlin claimed the the wine from a visiting king was poisoned, Uther calmly gave the cup to Merlin to drink. If it was poisoned, Merlin would die. If it wasn't poisoned, Merlin would be given to the infuriated visiting king to do whatever he wishes to Merlin.
  • Towards the end of series two, Merlin is given the choice of either allowing Camelot to be destroyed by some freaky enchantment placed on Morgana or personally trying to kill her. Ouch.
  • The Disir is about him making a choice between a chance to lift the oppression on magic and preventing the death of Arthur. He chooses Arthur. It backfires spectacularly.
• Samaritan Syndrome: Merlin will always go out of his way to help others.
• Sarcastic Confession: In "The Darkest Hour", Merlin tells Arthur "You have no idea how many times I've saved your life". Arthur's response is that when he's king, Merlin can be his court jester.
  • Can't forget Brainwashed and Crazy Merlin in "A Servant of Two Masters":
  Sir Leon: (about a fancy crossbow) Will that do the job?
  Merlin: Oh, yes. That will do the job nicely.
  Sir Leon: Er, what is the job, exactly?
  Merlin: To kill Arthur.
  Sir Leon: He's driving you mad, is he?
  Merlin: Not for much longer.
  • Also in 5x11, Merlin telling the knights he's the best tracker out of all of them. Given his magical GPS, this is completely true, but they take it as a joke
• Save the Villain: Has saved the Big Bad Morgana on a few occasions, despite the fact that she is his arch-enemy. In the series finale, Merlin does end up finally killing her though.
  • Has also saved Uther.
• Say My Name: "Emrys!" In the finale, Merlin just zaps Morgana unconscious and continues owning the Saxons.
  • Merlin's whole Arthur! Go faster! thing kind of has its own merits...
  • And the way Merlin pronounces Freya is quite lovely.
• Scarf of Asskicking: After 4 seasons of uncontested scarf-badassery, Merlin finally meets his match when Mordred reappears with an even bigger, more awesome scarf.
• Screw Destiny: He wants to prevent the whole 'Mordred killing Arthur' thing. He fails.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Merlin's decision to forge Lancelot's credentials in order to bypass the First Code of Camelot.
  • Using magic in Camelot definitely counts.
• Secret Keeper: He's the only one who knows about Lancelot's feelings for Gwen. He also grudgingly keeps quiet about Mordred's magic.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: His actions against Mordred and Morgana, at the guiding of the Dragon, are significant factors in driving both to become the very evil the Dragon predicted in the first place. Series 5 is all about his efforts to prevent Arthur's prophesied death backfire on him.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Merlin is the Sensitive Guy to Arthur's Manly Man.
  • Also Merlin and Gwaine with Merlin as the Sensitive Guy to Gwaine's Manly Man.
• Servile Snarker: His default mode towards Arthur.
• Shipper on Deck: He ships Arthur/Gwen, probably more than they do themselves.
• Shoot the Dog: Merlin is forced to poison Morgana, who he has been lying to about her magic and hiding his own from, because she is the vessel for a curse that has caused all of Camelot to fall into a sleep they cannot awaken from. Admittedly, his hand was forced by Kilgharrah the dragon and Morgause only made things worse, but up until that point, he had viewed Morgana as a great friend and there was even a little bit of romance between them. He also betrayed the location of a Druid camp that he'd led Morgana to in hopes that she would learn more about her magic because Uther was hunting down innocent people and killing them to find her. This also kickstarted Mordred's hatred of Merlin.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: He fails in his mission to bring about a golden age with Arthur. He gets one with Gwen, but...ouch.
• Sidekick: Arthur sees Merlin as this to him.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: When Merlin refuses to save Mordred's life because he's destined to kill Arthur, Gaius asks what happened to the young boy who first arrived in his chambers. Merlin replies, "He grew up. And learnt the meaning of duty."
• Simpleminded Wisdom: Arthur credits him with this.
• Single-Target Sexuality: The closest he's come to having a relationship other than Freya was some very mild flirting with Sefa over five years since her last appearance. Even in the finale, when her arm grabs Excalibur, he has a brief Longing Look.
• Skyward Scream: In series 1 finale when he thinks Gaius is dead. A big one in the Grand Finale when Arthur is dying.
• The Smart Guy: He's definitely this (especially when compared to Arthur), as he is one of the wisest and most intelligent characters.
• Smart Ball: In 5x09, Merlin tells Arthur that Gwen is enchanted, and manages to prove it to him. This is an incredibly rare thing by this show's standards. In fact, the last four episodes are pretty much an abridged version of season 3, except with competence instead of idiocy.
• The Snark Knight: Under the burden of his destiny and the questionable choices he makes, snarking is Merlin's way of coping.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Often with Arthur.
• The So-Called Coward: According to Arthur.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Merlin is this so much. Not afraid to be brave, heroic and courageous when it comes to saving the day, but can be incredibly awkward and clumsy in everyday life.
• So Happy Together: With Freya. Sadly, it doesn't last.
• Squishy Wizard: Goes from this to Magic Knight as the show goes on.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Freya. It ended in tragedy in 2x09 when Freya died.
• Status Quo Is God: Merlin is forced to go back on his vow not to speak to the dragon again; Merlin gets a girlfriend and vows to run away with her, but by the end of the episode she's dead, and he gets over it within less than a week.
  • The status quo of no-one knowing about Merlin's powers was kept right up until the end: Morgana didn't find out until the end of the antepenultimate episode and Arthur and Gwen didn't find out until the last episode, during which Merlin and Gwen never meet anyway.
• Stepford Smiler: Sometimes. In 2x08, he manages a genuine smile while fighting back tears.
  Arthur: It has become clear to me that those who practice magic are evil and dangerous. And that is thanks to you.
  Merlin: Glad I could help.
  • Stepford Snarker: Uses sarcasm to hide how he's feeling sometimes.
• Stock Punishment: A lot in series one. It was used as a Running Gag in The Gates Of Avalon.
• Story Breaker Power: Take a shot for every problem that Merlin could have solved if magic wasn't punishable by death and he wasn't restricted by his lack of training.
  • He does get his full power and training in the Grand Finale, and owns the entire Saxon Army at Camlann.
• The Strategist: Merlin can very strategic and calculating when he wants to be.
• Submissive Badass: Merlin is the strongest and the most intelligent between himself and Arthur, however, Merlin almost always lets Arthur take the leadership role on missions.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: When using magic.
• Superpowerful Genetics: Merlin inherited the special dragon lord powers from his father Balinor, who was a Dragon Lord.
• Superpower Lottery: Comes with being the most powerful warlock ever. Pretty much the only thing he can't do within the limits of human sorcery is to predict the future without aid such as the crystal like Morgana.
  • Playing with Fire / Pyrokinesis: As with Blow You Away, Merlin's elemental powers are usually based in fire or air.
  • Mind Over Matter: Telekinesis is what we see him use the most.
  • Super Strength: Emrys carries Arthur (in full armour) from the battle ground. Later (as Merlin) he can only drag him around.
  • Nigh Invulnerability
  • Time Master: Merlin is occasionally shown to be able to alter the flow of time at will. In fact, stopping time is the very first magic Merlin does on screen.
  • Telepathy: Rather passively since we only see him responding to other magic users like Mordred.
  • Pure Energy
    • Energy Ball
  • Power Of The Storm: Merlin can manipulate the weather.
  • Blow You Away: Gaius calls Merlin's magic "elemental". Thus far, he favors wind and fire.
  • Shock and Awe: Uses lightning to blow up Nimueh. Also against the entire Saxon army in the finale. It seems to be his go-to magic for serious battles.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: He can cause earthquakes as shown in Another's Sorrow.
  • Spider-Sense
  • Brainwashed: He has been on both ends of this.
  • My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Merlin is often instinctively aware of magical activity around him, most notably in To Kill The King with the Expy of the Philosopher's Stone, and in "The Tears of Uther Pendragon" when he recoils in the same moment that Morgana drives the staff into the ground in order to raise the dead (and even breaks the fourth wall while he does it, considering he seems to be staring straight at the camera). He also seems to sense that there's something a bit off about the bracelet that Arthur is wearing when he leaves for his quest in "Eye of the Phoenix."
• Super Mode: The eventual result of Merlin reaching his full potential.
• Sword and Sorcerer: With Arthur, although throughout the series, Arthur doesn't know it.
  • Better fit is Merlin and Lancelot with Merlin as the Sorcerer and Lancelot as the Sword. Lancelot is knows about Merlin's magic, whereas Arthur is completely in the dark about it.
• Sympathy for the Devil: In the beginning of season three, Merlin tells Gaius that when he thinks of Morgana, all he feels is sadness. This attitude changes quickly when she begins targeting Arthur and Gwen in later episodes.
• Tall, Dark and Snarky: Merlin is one of the most sarcastic characters on the show.
• Team Chef: Because of his position as a servant.
• Technical Pacifist: He prefers to just knock people out rather than kill them. If he has to kill them though, he will.
• Teens Are Short: Averted: Merlin is actually taller than almost the entire cast, including Arthur (Colin is six feet).
• Tender Tears: Merlin really cries so pretty.
• Theory Tunnelvision: His attitude towards Mordred in season 5. He is hellbent on believing that Mordred will cause Arthur's death, even if there are reasons to give the guy the benefits of the doubt as Gaius points out.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Merlin may have permanently turned Arthur against magic. But in 4x04, he's actually continued the race of dragons, and, according to the Great Dragon, the birth of a white dragon (whom he named Aithusa) is an omen of good fortune.
• Token Evil Teammate: Double subversion. The Knights of the Round Table consider magic evil, which would make Merlin this. It's not, so there's the first subversion. The second is that no one knows this.
• Took a Level in Badass: Merlin goes from moving things with his mind and no magical training at all to earning the title of "most powerful sorcerer ever" throughout the series. Morgana is the only one who poses any threat to him, and he takes her down with one shot in the Grand Finale. Oh, and remember how he got stuck in the crystal cave and missed Camlann in the original legends? In this version, he not only shows up to Camlann, but he curbstomps the entire Saxon army by making it rain lightning on the enemy troops. Too late for Arthur, unfortunately.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Fitting his Not So Different with Morgana. Her Start of Darkness coincides with him becoming more wily and ruthless.
• Tragic Bromance: With Arthur. Merlin watches his best friend die in his arms and there is nothing that he can do to stop it.
  • Also with Lancelot.
  • And Gwaine.
  • And let's not forget his childhood friend, Will.
• Tragic Hero: Let's see, he loses everyone he loves, has to keep his abilities a secret from the outside world and spends the rest of his immortal life waiting for Arthur to rise again.
• Tranquil Fury: If Merlin is yelling at you, trying to hit you, or insulting you, you're completely safe. If Merlin has no expression on his face at all and you've just pushed his Berserk Button, ask for five minutes to set your affairs in order and then submit quietly to your doom.
• Trauma Conga Line: Everything bad happens to Merlin. In the series finale, Merlin spends centuries and centuries as an immortal alone and miserable. All of his friends and loved ones have died. See Doom Magnet.
  • In Series 2, Arthur regresses to being a Jerk Ass to him in the beginning after the whole build-up in Series 1, his mentor Gaius nearly gets burned at the stake due to his moment of carelessness, his first love dies, he has to make a Sadistic Choice and poisons Morgana under extreme duress, and he finds and loses his father within the span of one day.
• Trickster combined with Trickster Mentor at times, when Arthur starts seeking his advice, due to his witty, carefree and joking attitude. This trait comes from the source material. As the series goes, he relies less on his magic and more on his wit and manipulation to get things done.
  • Particularly when masquerading as the elderly "Dragoon", he seemingly revels in this role.
• True Companions: With Arthur and Gwen. Merlin's friendships with Gwaine and Lancelot can also count as well.
  • In 5x12, It doesn't matter that Arthur doesn't know how Merlin contacted him... the fact that it was Merlin was incentive enough for him to rally his army.
• Trying Not To Cry: Many times. The most famous one being he holding back his tears when his father dies to keep their relation from Arthur.
• Tsundere Towards Arthur. Type B.
• Uh-Oh Eyes: Whenever Merlin's eyes start to glow gold, you know that he's going to strike you with magic.
• Underestimating Badassery: Everyone does this to Merlin, except maybe Lancelot and Gaius (who know his secret) and Guinevere, who has teamed up with him in several dangerous situations.
• Understanding Boyfriend: To Freya. Not every guy can accept that you're a giant winged panther.
• Undying Loyalty: To Camelot and to his friends. Merlin will never turn his back on his friends. To the point where he's still alive, hanging in there after centuries, just so he can be there when Arthur returns.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Morgana.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Especially in the earlier seasons. He has trouble enchanting a lance, but get him angry enough and he will blow you to bits with lightning. He's since gotten better.
• Vague Age: Merlin's age can be roughly worked out from canon info: Merlin was conceived at the end of the Great Purge which was described as having taken place 20 years ago during series one when Arthur is 21. So Merlin must be roughly a year and nine months younger than Arthur.
• Verbal Backspace: When Merlin suggests disguising Uther as a woman...er, a servant.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Arthur.
• Vocal Evolution: Merlin's voice got progressively deeper and huskier as the series progressed.
• Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Substitute "run after Arthur and do chores for Gaius" for "school".
• Walk the Earth: His ultimate fate in the end of the series.
• Weapon of Choice: See Magic Staff. Although, sometimes aside from his powers and the magic staff, Merlin can be seen using swords, standard weapon in the show.
• Weirdness Censor: No one notices either Merlin mumbling nonsense to himself or his eyes turning gold, even if he's right in front of them.
• Weirdness Magnet: With all the stuff going on, one has to wonder if it's Merlin as a person or just the whole of Camelot that's attracting it. Lampshaded by Bradley James: "When something is wrong, blame Merlin".
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Over the course of the series, Merlin has been forced to do numerous morally questionable things and has either directly or indirectly killed a lot of people along the way, simply because his destiny is to protect Arthur.
• We Used To Be Friends: With Morgana. When Merlin asked her this question in series 3, she replied that she hasn't forgiven him for poisoning her.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: So, did Merlin ever go back to Camelot after Arthur died?
• What the Hell, Hero?: He's been called out by Arthur (5x02), and Gaius (5x05) for his ruthlessness towards Mordred. Mordred himself confronts him in 5x09
  Mordred: Everything I do, you think of the worst.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: In the beginning. As the series progresses, Merlin becomes much more cynical, darker and edgier. Not really surprising considering all that Merlin has been through.
• Wimpification: Many fan fic authors seem to forget that Merlin is actually quite a badass (most powerful warlock ever anyone?)
  • Merlin is basically The Woobie of the Merlin fandom.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: The Euchdag commends him on this in 5x02.
• Witch / Warlock Species: Merlin is born having magic, as opposed to having to learn it like most magic users.
• With Friends Like These: Arthur. In response to Arthur's bullying him, he has humiliated Arthur behind his back several times.
• With Great Power Comes Great Perks: Merlin uses his magic to do chores, and occasionally humiliate Arthur when he's getting on his nerves.
• Wizard Beard: When disguised as Dragoon.
• Wizard Classic: Subverted most of the time as he's just a young man, but played straight when he's in disguise as Dragoon, who has a long white beard and robe.
• Worthy Opponent: Merlin is strongly feared by his enemies. And rightly so.
• Would Hit a Girl: He's never actually hit a girl - but he's dropped a chandelier on one, blown up at least two more, electrocuted a third with a lightening bolt, poisoned Morgana before later causing a roof to collapse over her head and then throwing a snake at her, and hurled Morgause into a pillar so hard that she was left disfigured and dying slowly over the course of the following year. Finally, in a literal example of the trope, he stabs Morgana in chillingly cold blood in the series finale.
• Would Hurt a Child: While he never lay a finger on Mordred, he used magic to prevent the kid from escaping some knights who were going to kill him.
• Yandere: Non-romantic. The length he is willing to go for Arthur's safety borderlines obsession.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Something good happened to Merlin? Open up the Tearjerker page, cause he's not going to be happy long. He's reunited with his childhood friend (Will) who knows about and accepts his magical powers? He dies. He falls deeply in love with a pretty Druid girl (Freya)? She dies. At long last, he meets his long lost father (Balinor)? He dies. Arthur begins to think that maybe, just maybe, Uther's wrong and magic isn't inherently evil? Merlin has to lie through his teeth and convince him otherwise in order to stop him from murdering his own father. Lancelot, who is Merlin's close friend, is the only person who knows about Merlin's magic and accepts him but what happens to him? He dies. And Arthur finally discovering about Merlin's magic, accepting Merlin for who he is as his best friend and companion, finally appreciating and thanking Merlin for all that he had done for him over the years but Arthur ends up dying in the end. Pretty much every time something significantly nice happens to Merlin, he gets the rug yanked out from under him.
• You Are Not Alone: Merlin never leaves Arthur as he is dying in 5x13. He says this almost word-for-word to Arthur in 4x03 when Uther dies
• You Are What You Hate: He wants the ban on magic to end and the magical people to be free, but every major decision he makes contributes to prolonging the oppression.
• You Can't Fight Fate: He's constantly finding this out the hard way, starting from the very first episode in which he rejects the idea of Arthur being his destiny, only to instinctively save his life and thereby become his manservant as a "reward".
  • The entirety of the last season. In the first episode, Merlin is shown a vision of Arthur being fatally wounded by Mordred. Try as he might, he ultimately failed in preventing it and actually cemented its coming through his actions.
• You Have to Believe Me: His usual line of argument, though no one ever believes it. He never has any proof, because obviously A Wizard Did It, and so it never works. You'd think he'd learn after a few tries. Or alternatively, you'd think the other characters would learn that no matter how insane Merlin's initial claims may seem (or however badly he goes about explaining it), he's always — always — proven to be right by the end of the episode.
  • Although this is finally subverted by The Dark Tower, when Merlin is trying to get the Knights to follow him. Arthur, being his usual Genre Blind self, starts to ignore him, but the Knights point out that it can't hurt as they're already lost, and ask Arthur to give him a chance.
• You Must Be Cold: Merlin did this plenty of times with Freya in 2x09, often using his jacket to cover up Freya and keep her warm.
• Younger and Hipper: In this series Merlin is a young man about the same age as Arthur, not an old man with a beard.

King Arthur Pendragon (Bradley James)

Gaius "He is a future king. People expect so much of him. He's under a lot of pressure."

The prince of Camelot, Arthur starts out as a Jerk Ass but ends up developing a Hidden Heart of Gold thanks to his gradual strong friendship with Merlin, Morgana's guidance, and his inevitable and budding romance with Gwen.

• Aborted Declaration of Love: Arthur seems to be on the verge of telling Guinevere that he loves her in the series three finale. However, she interrupts him after he makes the mistake of saying "if I never see you again..." which only compels her to insist that they will meet again.
• Action Hero: Combat is his main way of solving problem. Too bad he's in a series where the most dangerous enemies are manipulative and subtle.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Arthur has serious Daddy Issues and issues with everyone lying to him and betraying him, including his own best friend, Merlin.
• Always Second Best: Feels this way about Lancelot. Arthur believes that Lancelot is "the better man" in everything from their skills in combat to how Guinevere feels about them.
• Anchored Ship: Arthur and Gwen. Since series 2, although both know of their mutual feelings for each other, they've refused to upgrade their relationship because of, among other things, their different social classes.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: To Merlin about Guinevere.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: In series 1, Morgana considers Arthur to be this.
• Anti-Hero: Type II or Type III.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: Arthur describes himself as "the ultimate killing machine" and this is in no way an Informed Ability. In fact, it's almost disconcerting to see him kill another man (albeit one who was trying to kill him) without a moment's hesitation in the very second episode of the show.
• Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With Merlin and Morgana, sort of.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: When Arthur is crowned King in 4x03.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Uther's education philosophy. Arthur has to prove his worth as Crown Prince through tournaments and military leadership.
• Bad Boss: To Merlin, though it's played for laughs.
• Bad Liar: When he contemplates using the horn that can resurrect dead people, it is obvious that he is hiding something. However, he can pull rank on Merlin to end all questions.
• Badass: He's King Arthur.
• Badass Cape
• Badass in Distress: All the time. Most of the time he doesn't even realize it.
• Badass Longcoat
• Badass Normal
• Bash Brothers: With Merlin.
• Because Destiny Says So: Arthur is destined to be the greatest king Albion has ever known.
  • Also destined to unite the five kingdoms back into the great land of Albion, rule as High King with the most powerful warlock ever (Merlin) and free the magical people.
  • Prophecy Twist: He dies before he could achieve any of those. It's his Queen Guinevere who brings about a golden age.
• Berserk Button: He reacts badly to any perceived slight against his honor or integrity. Likewise, threatening his servant, foster sister, or especially his beloved is a surefire way of getting killed by a very angry prince.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Merlin.
• Big Brother Mentor: To Merlin, although Lancelot and Gwaine probably fit the bill better. Also to Mordred in 5x05.
• Big Damn Heroes
• Blood on These Hands: The Herald of a New Age reveals that he has done pretty horrible things in the past before Merlin arrives in Camelot.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Arthur goes hunting or travels for quests with gusto, especially in the beginning of the series.
• Brains and Brawn: Arthur is the Brawn to Merlin's Brains.
• Broken Pedestal: Arthur is a huge “Well Done Son” Guy who's basically spent his entire life having it hammered into him that whatever he does, his father Uther does it better. After about three years of ruling as king, he gets a chance to contact Uther from the otheworld, who immediately reams him out on all the "stupid" decisions he's made to bring equality to the land. Arthur's heartbroken, and accidentally let's Uther's spirit free, who proceeds to wreck the Round Table, attack Percival with an ax, and attempt to set Guinevere on fire. Arthur's in denial for a lot of this, but he finally breaks and realizes just how terrible a man his father was.
• Broken Tears: When his father dies, and when confronted with the ghost of a boy who died in a raid led by him.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Especially in "The Sins of the Father".
  • In "The Death Song of Uther Pendragon", when confronted by Uther's vengeful ghost.
• Cannot Spit It Out: His feelings for Gwen. He's also infamous for frequently giving backhanded compliments to Merlin instead of acknowledging the guy's wisdom.
• Cannot Talk To Women: After asking Princess Mithian out for a picnic lunch, he mutters to himself: "I've never been much good at this." Something of an Informed Flaw, as he never really seems that uneasy around the likes of Morgana, Guinevere, or any other visiting princess.
• Catch Phrase: "Shut up, Merlin."
• The Chains of Commanding: He is willing to try his best to be a better ruler, but is haunted by his inability to make good judgements about people. He has also complained about the burden of expectations placed on him.
• Chick Magnet
  • Although this is kind of an Informed Attribute lampshaded in the Valiant DVD commentary for the scene where Merlin mentions that Arthur "gets all the girls":
  Bradley James: All the girls? Morgana? That one girl who's my adopted sister? Oh yeah, he gets all the girls, he does. Look, they're surrounding him! Argh! Someone get a stick to beat them off with!
• The Chosen One: The Chosen One of the series. He has Merlin and Guinevere, who are chosen ones by their own rights one way or another, to protect and guide him.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome
• The Comically Serious: In comic relief moments.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Arthur has moments where he butts heads with Uther, usually when the latter is being too harsh, accusing an obviously innocent person of witchcraft, or not taking good enough care of the people of Camelot.
• Cool Crown: He's probably meant to have this but ends up getting the short end of the stick. Whilst Uther wore a simple but respectable looking circlet, Prince Arthur had something that looked like a shiny metal head-band. In a Flash Forward, Arthur was seen wearing Uther's crown, but when he finally became King himself, he switched to a giant gold crown with fleur-de-lis spikes on it, which most people thought looked a little bit like the Burger King crown.
• Costume Porn: Arthur wears highly impressive armour.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: When Arthur sees Lancelot and Gwen kissing in 4x09, he goes berserk.
• Decoy Protagonist: Arguably. Despite five seasons worth of prophesies stating that he will lift the ban on magic, unite the kingdoms and rule over the Golden Age of Albion, he never does. He dies before achieving any of it and it's implied in the finale (confirmed by Word Of God in this interview) that it'll be Guinevere who does all those things.
• Defrosting Ice Prince/Ice King: Due to the influence of Merlin and Gwen, Arthur goes from an arrogant, entitled, impulsive young noble to a much kinder, humble, and understanding leader.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Arthur can be sexist and elitist at times.
• Deuteragonist: To Merlin's protagonist.
• Distressed Dude: In almost every single episode. He's the target of dozens of assassination attempts, and is regularly poisoned, shot, knocked out, hypnotized, held prisoner, and put under enchantments.
• Does Not Like Shoes: Attention is never explicitly called to it, but he frequently goes barefoot when he's in his own chambers.
• Doomed by Canon: It was pretty much expected that Arthur would end up dying at the end of the series. And he does.
• The Dragon: To his father, especially in the eyes of Camelot's enemies.
• Dramatically Missing The Point: He seeks to make a kingdom that is fair and just. However, he fails to notice that the people who need fairness and justice the most are the magic-users, and continues to persecute them.
• Dumb Muscle: Unfortunately, for someone expected to be a wise ruler, perceptiveness isn't his strong point.
• The Dutiful Son: To his own detriment even.
• Mr. Fanservice: With his endless shirtless scenes, he's a treat for anyone who appreciates male beauty.
• Emotional Bruiser: Becomes more of this thanks to Merlin and Gwen. Arthur became more comfortable with opening up and expressing his feelings and vulnerability.
• Even the Guys Want Him
• Famed in Story: Not just because he's the ruler of Camelot, but because his destiny is already known to the likes of the dragons, the druids, and other magical beings.
• Fatal Flaw: He just can't help trusting the wrong people. It's endearing, but also immensely frustrating.
• Flaw Exploitation: It didn't take long for Morgana to pick up on Arthur's love for Guinevere and use it to her own advantage on at least two separate occasions.
  • Agravaine exploits his insecurities and desires to please his father to manipulate him into potentially disastrous decisions.
• Flirty Step Siblings: Arthur and Morgana are kind of like this during series 1 since Uther is the guardian of Morgana, and she is like a daughter to him. It is almost as if Uther adopted Morgana, which would make Arthur and Morgana like step-siblings. As it turns out, they're half-siblings.
• Famous Last Words: "Thank you."
• Foil: To Lancelot.
  • Also to Merlin. Their backgrounds, upbringings, outlooks and personalities are entirely different.
• Genre Blindness: When Arthur claims something, you know it is not true.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: To Merlin, often.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: Arthur often wears the colours Red and Gold.
• Good Is Not Dumb: If there was a trope named Genre Blind Is Not Dumb, he would be this. Best demonstrated in these two lines from The Coming of Arthur. Justified in that most of his smarter moments stem from being a tactician, which makes sense since he leads an elite army.
  Arthur: The best place for this cup is the vaults of Camelot
  Arthur:*stops and looks around worryingly* It's Quiet... Too Quiet.
• The Good King: What he is expected to be.
• Green-Eyed Monster: A couple of times, when Lancelot or Gwaine look particularly friendly with Gwen.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: In the beginning. An indication of his maturity throughout the series is the frequency of his temper tantrum, especially towards Merlin.
• Hard Head: Arthur getting knocked out is both Running Gag and a convenient way to keep Merlin's magic from him.
• Happily Married: To Gwen until Arthur's death at the end of the series.
• Hero Antagonist: Arthur occasionally lapses into this. While he's undoubtedly a good guy, he has been raised from birth to be distrustful of magic and will not hestitate to arrest anyone caught using it, even though the penalty is death. What seperates him from Uther is that he does this not out of maliciousness, but because it is his Father's law and he's honour bound to obey it.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Arthur always uses one, even though he's shown to be quite handy with a mace.
• Heroic BSOD: 2x08; 3x13.
  • 4x09 has such a huge one that he spends the next three episodes drifting in and out of this state. And then his uncle betrays him, and he breaks down so badly in 4x13 that he feels he must Abdicate the Throne because he was such a horrible leader. Let's face it, if it weren't for Merlin, Arthur wouldn't just be dead a thousand times over, he'd be insane.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Drinks the (supposedly) poison for Merlin in The Labyrinth of Gedref. Later, he intends to sacrifice himself to close the veil between the living and undead worlds in The Darkest Hour, and offers his life for Mordred's in The Disir.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Merlin.
• Hidden Depths: He first appears as a spoilt royal Jerk Jock but as Merlin gets to know him better, his insecurities about his own worth as a leader and his genuine strong sense of honour surface.
• Honor Before Reason: Merlin frequently has to intercede before Arthur's sense of honour gets him killed.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Honour? Chivalry? Bravery? Arthur has those qualities honed to perfection! Being capable of noticing if someone is Obviously Evil? Yeah, he might need to work on that some more?!
• Hot Blooded
• Hunk
• I Work Alone: Due to his father's influence, he believes that as a leader, he cannot afford to rely on anyone, especially emotionally. Merlin, Gwen and the knights prove him wrong.
• Ice King: He's very aloof, stoic, and averse to expressing his emotions originally (when he doesn't throw temper tantrums). Merlin and Gwen's influence manages to change that.
• Iconic Outfit: Mail shirt with the Pendragon red cape.
• The Idealist
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How Mordred kills him
• Improbable Aiming Skills
• Inadequate Inheritor: Believes himself to be this throughout series 1. In series 5, Uther's ghost appears to tell him so.
• Incest Subtext: Now that Morgana has been revealed to be his half-sister, their relationship in series 1 seems like this.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: His Jerk Ass behaviour near the start of the series is quickly put down to his Freudian Excuse of having a very demanding and emotionally-distant father, and it's clear in his insecurity with Guinevere, Merlin, Morgana, and Lancelot that he doesn't consider himself worthy of their affection or friendship, even as he takes them all for granted. Merlin and Gwen have to give him many pep talks about believing in himself instead of following his father's examples during his Heroic BSOD moments.
• Infinity+1 Sword: Excalibur, due to being forged in Dragon's breath.
• Innocent Bigot: He distrusts and hates magic users, but honestly doesn't know any better.
  • Unlike his father, it seems more to be that Arthur doesn't care about magic, as long as it stays out of Camelot.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Matching his Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold, fitting the honourable, chivalrous Once and Future King.
• Innocently Insensitive: He doesn't realize that it is rude to refuse Hunith's breakfast in The Moment of Truth and his stay inconveniences Gwen in The Once and Future Queen. Gwen calls him out on both cases.
• In-Series Nickname: Merlin calls Arthur "Clotpole" or "Dollophead". Arthur is never amused by this.
• It's All About Me: Originally, Arthur was very entitled and self-centered even if he genuinely cares for the people of Camelot. He started to display humility as the series progressed though.
• It's All My Fault: It says something about Arthur that when he is betrayed by his loved ones, the first question he asks is "Where did I go wrong?"
• It Sucks To Be The Chosen One: He complains about his life being planned out for him and the resulting expectations several times. Also, being the chosen one for him means he suffers from countless betrayals from people he loves.
• Jerk Ass: Initially. And hints of this remain in his treatment of Merlin throughout the series.
• Jerk Jock: His first appearance, complete with bullying the scrawny Merlin.
• Jerkass Façade
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Killed Off for Real: As of The Diamond of the Day Part 2.
• King Arthur
• Knight in Shining Armor
• King Incognito: Pulls this in The Once and Future Queen and Gwaine.
• Last Guy Wins: Arthur may have known Gwen longer than her other two love interests, but he was the last to be introduced as a potential love interest for Gwen in 1x10 (though the ship was teased upon in 1x01 and 1x05). Then again, it's not much of a surprise.
• Last Request: Not to be left alone. And Merlin doesn't, living up to the present day waiting for him to return.
• The Leader: Arthur is a blend of Type III and Type IV.
• Like Brother and Sister: Arthur and Morgana become this in series 2.
  • And then they became ACTUAL brother and sister. Well, half at least.
• Like Father, Like Son: Merlin (and Gwen's) entire purpose is to ensure that this doesn't happen. However, Arthur and Uther are similiar in a lot of ways.
• Love Hurts
• Love Redeems
• Love Triangle: Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot. Arthur wins.
• Magic Feather: Amusingly, Excalibur serves as one for him.
• Magnetic Hero: His biggest asset as a leader is his ability to inspire respect and loyalty in other people.
• Manly Men Can Hunt: At least six episodes and one deleted scene involve him out hunting in the forest with Merlin or his knights, in fact it's a crucial part of The Labyrinth of Gedref and The Hunter's Heart.
  • And occasionally played for laughs:
  Arthur: After Sophia left, I wanted to take my mind off things. So, I went for a hunt.
  Morgana: And killing things mends a broken heart?
  Arthur: No, but it's good fun.
• Master of Delusion: He still doesn't suspect Merlin of magic. Not even a little bit.
• Master Swordsman: Arthur is the best swordsman in Camelot.
• Marry for Love: He's determined to do this, and even manages to make it sound like a politically sensible idea: "I'll be a much better king for the strength and support of a woman I love."
• The Men First: He is unwilling to risk his knights' lives, and can go to great lengths for them.
• The Millstone: Aside from the problems he has caused himself, how many times has Arthur's general refusal to listen to Merlin, follow common sense, or even consider that someone Obviously Evil is...well..evil... made the problem worse? He gets better throughout the show, but still refuses to believe he is Wrong Genre Savvy.
• Missing Mom. She's long dead... and it's Uther's fault.
• Morality Pet: To Merlin. As a contrast to Morgana, who doesn't use her power for anyone, Merlin's loyalty to Arthur designates the warlock as the "good" guy.
• Muggle Best Friend: To Merlin.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Arthur's first reaction when he sees Lancelot kissing Guinevere.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Can tell there's something about Merlin, looks worried after realizing the boy he liberated is Mordred, and guessing from the musical cue, can sense the importance of Excalibur. However, he always thinks It's Probably Nothing, so this is pretty much useless.
• Named Weapons: The infamous Excalibur, the sword that is basically created especially for him. However, the name only appears as title for an episode and is never mentioned by the characters.
• Nice to the Waiter: Arthur flip-flops with this in regard to Merlin. While he clearly assumes he's the superior and constantly insults and berates Merlin while Merlin's trying to do his job, he has shown that he cares about the common people and occasionally shows Merlin some measure of affection and respect.
  • He's also willing to risk his life to protect or save Merlin without a second thought.
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: It's subtle, but it's there, with Arthur getting rather stand-offish at the sight of any Action Girl (or at least surprised by the activities Tom Boys). He instead prefers the feminine and nurturing Guinevere, whose appeal lies in her forthrightness and/or supportiveness. He has congratulated Gwen on her bravery in combat, but it's clear that he prefers her to stay well out of such situations.
• Noble Bigot: While Arthur was raised to hate magic, it's seems he actually merely distrusts it. Several episodes imply that he only hunts down sorcerers because it's the law and personally, he doesn't care about magic as long as it stays out of Camelot.
• Nobody Calls Me Chicken: Never explicitly, but the best way to get Arthur to do something is to insult his bravery.
• Not a Morning Person
• The Not-Love Interest: To Merlin, who will go to extreme lengths for him not only because he is prophecized to be the Once and Future King who will bring back magic but also because he has become a friend.
• Odd Couple: With Merlin.
• Odd Friendship: With Merlin again.
• Oedipus Complex: In the episode Sins of the Father, Arthur meets the (young and beautiful) ghost of his mother, whose words inspire him to gallop straight home and nearly commit patricide.
• Only Mostly Dead: In several episodes, he's on the verge of dying. And it's true to the legend about coming back when the world needs him the most.
• Pinball Protagonist: Happens a lot to Arthur, particularly in the later seasons.
  • In one notable example is in The Eye of the Phoenix, Arthur has a vision that instructs him to seek out the Trident in the lands of the Fisher King. He wanders all the way to the Perilous Lands where he's promptly knocked unconscious by a spirit-destroying bracelet given to him by Morgana. Merlin follows in his wake, meets the Fisher King, retrieves the true MacGuffin (the trident is useless) and is told that the entire journey was for his benefit. Arthur was just the catalyst for getting him there, and one can't help but wonder why the vision wasn't just sent to Merlin in the first place.
• The Power Of Trust: Arbitrary Skepticism to Merlin's claims aside, he's the most trusting person in the whole cast and that makes him sympathetic and earns him incredibly loyal knights. On the flip side, unfortunately for him, just about every loved one in his life betrays him one way or another.
• Prince Charming: Especially to visiting ladies.
• The Promise: "When I am King, I promise you; things will be different. We can be together."
• Puppet King: Sadly, he comes across as this in series 4, spending the entire thirteen episodes being manipulated by Agravaine or blind-sided by Merlin. The only clean victory he gets (without any secret help from Merlin) is freeing the spirit of the Druid boy. Everything else, including his retrieval of Excalibur in the Stone, is in some way organised and controlled by Merlin.
• Rage Breaking Point: When Arthur confronts Gwen about kissing Lancelot on the night before their wedding. He starts out speaking quietly and calmly, listing reasons for her behavior. When she doesn't agree with any of them he completely loses it, starts yelling, and grabs her by the shoulders. Almost immediately, though, the rage subsides and he apologizes.
• Real Men Get Shot: In The Fires Of Idirsholas, Arthur is almost delighted by the fact that Merlin has sustained his "first battle wound!"
• Real Men Hate Affection: He prefers to show fondness for Merlin and Morgana through backhanded compliments and snarking contests.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Arthur is the Red to Merlin's Blue. Arthur is more hot-blooded, impulsive and passionate, while Merlin is more practical, logical and intelligent.
• Resurrective Immortality: When Albion needs him.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Arthur in the episode "The Once and Future Queen", when he's staying with Gwen. He says he'd like to take a bath, she tells him that might be hard as she doesn't own a bathtub, and he just stares at her, speechless.
• Risking The King: He usually jumps head first into dangers, to Merlin and Gwen's distress.
• Royal Blood: Arthur comes from a family of royalty in which is father (Uther) is the King of Camelot. Once Uther died, Arthur became King.
• Royal Brat: Basically Arthur's middle name.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Arthur is a fairly active Prince (and later on, King). His most commonly seen job is a cross between police chief and military leader, and he also goes on missions to rescue people (Morgana, his knights) or recover things (the Cup of Life, the dragon egg).
  • Prince Arthur to be not only the Camelot's heir apparent, but also the day-to-day commander of the kingdom's armed forces. He not only leads them in battle, but also recruits the knights and oversees their training. He also seems to be the closest thing that the kingdom has to a sheriff or chief of police. If any "crime" occurs, it's usually Arthur that's sent to investigate.
• Ruling Couple: With Queen Guinevere since season four. Subverted since Arthur dies at the end of the series.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Arthur is unable to dress himself without the help of his manservant, Merlin.
• Selective Obliviousness: Not counting not knowing Merlin has magic, Arthur seems to have rewired his brain to ignore everything that Merlin does competently to the point where it seems like he's consciously unaware he's doing it. This actually gets pointed out to him in With All My Heart, and he's still unable to grasp the idea.
  Merlin: Without Merlin, your queen would still be lost.
  Arthur: Not sure that's true.*

  Let's see, what did Merlin do to free Gwen again? Oh, yeah, he figured out she was brainwashed and found a way to cure her!
• Scarily Competent Tracker
• Shirtless Scene: A LOT.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Morgana.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Often with Merlin.
• Spirited Competitor
• Spoiled Brat: So much. Especially in the beginning.
• The Strategist
• Submissive Badass: To Guinevere. Though she's half his size, there's a definite theme of Gwen being the more dominant one whenever they get physical (tackling him in The Curse of Cornelius Sigan, pushing him into a tent pole to kiss him in Sweet Dreams and topping during their makeout session in Queen Of Hearts).
• Sugar and Ice Personality: He maintains a stoic demeanour when in front of his father, the court and his knights, but relaxes considerably when he's alone with Merlin, and is quite the big softie when it comes to Guinevere.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: How he acknowledges Merlin's wisdom without having to actually admit Merlin's right. Examples include?
  It's turns out Merlin's not always entirely stupid.
  It appears on this single solitary occasion you might have been right.
  I should have listened to you, Merlin. For once, you were right.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Arthur is the Sword to Merlin's Sorcerer.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Chucks one at a cockatrice.
• Tragic Bromance: With Merlin. Arthur dies at the end of the series while Merlin stays with him.
• Trauma Conga Line: The end of series 3 and series 4 are not kind to him. Morgana usurps the throne of Camelot, leaving his father a broken shell. His father later dies under circumstances that he blames himself for. Guinevere apparently cheats on him with Lancelot. To top it all, it turns out his uncle Agravaine has been betraying him all along. He's in such a bad Heroic BSOD that Merlin has to find a Magic Feather for him to regain faith in himself.
• Twenty Four Hour Armour: It's not very consistent, but sometimes he can wear his armour at the oddest times, including to banquets and other casual celebrations.
• Undying Loyalty: To Camelot and Albion.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Gwen. It's resolved by the end of Series 4 when they get married
• Uptown Girl: A Gender Flipped case for Gwen.
• Veronica: To Lancelot's Betty.
  • Debatable.
• Vague Age: Out of all the young cast, it's generally accepted that he was twenty-one in the first series, thus making him twenty-nine by the fifth.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Merlin.
• Warrior Prince
• Was It All a Lie?: After Merlin comes clean to him about having magic, he questions everything he knows about Merlin.

  Arthur: So you're not an idiot. It's all a lie

• Weapon of Choice: Excalibur, though it does not actually happen until the end of Series 4.
• Weapon Twirling
• “Well Done Son” Guy: Growing out of his desire to please his father is a big part of his characterisation.
• Will They Or Won't They: Arthur and Gwen. Their budding relationship constantly grows strained because of their different social classes.
  • The magic reveal subplot with Merlin has shades of this too.
• With Friends Like These: Merlin.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Unlike Merlin or Uther.
• Young And In Charge

Lady Morgana Pendragon (Katie McGrath)

"What if... magic isn't something you choose? What if it chooses you?"

Morgana is the beautiful ward of Uther who suffers from premonitions in her dreams, unaware that she is in fact, a seer. She is close to her maidservant Gwen. Her strong sense of justice often clashes with Uther's rules and judgement.

In series 2, Morgana discovers that she is a seer, but fears what Uther may do if he finds out she has magic. She also briefly befriends the sorceress Morgause, unaware that Morgause is her half-sister. However, Morgana's growing resentment towards Uther and his treatment of those who use magic inevitably leads to her Face Heel Turn. When she is used as a catalyst for a spell under Camelot, Merlin is forced to poison her. Morgause rescues Morgana, and it is implied that she can save her life.

In series 3, Morgana has been recovered and returned to Camelot, but she is firmly set on the Dark Side, pretending to be the "loving ward" while she secretly plots with Morgause for the downfall of Uther and Camelot.

• Action Girl/Dark Action Girl: In season 1/2 and season 3 respectively. As well as the last episode of season 4.
• A God Am I: Well, not god as far as we know, but she certainly doesn't consider herself on the level of Muggles, and even treats her own kind with contempt if she has no use for them.
  Morgana: I am more powerful than you could ever imagine.
  • Always Second Best: However, it becomes apparent in Series 4 that despite her massive ego, the mere mention of "Emrys" is enough to reduce to her a nervous wreck. It's repeatedly shown that compared to Merlin, she's basically an ant.
• Antagonistic Offspring: To Uther.
• Anti-Hero: Pre-Moral Event Horizon.
• Anti-Villain: Afterwards, she goes from a qualmless and often emotionless Well-Intentioned Extremist traumatized by her experiences and mostly seeing things in their light to a more thoughtful and calculative but also more human and confused antagonist, with a slight episode of Sanity Slippage (thus being technically a type III for anyone who sees her as a villain and doesn't choose the popular Alternate Character Interpretation).
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Seems particularly interested and intrigued by Alvarr in 2x11.
• Aloof Dark Haired Girl
• Arch-Enemy: To Merlin (though she doesn't fully understand to what extent until the very end).
• Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With Arthur, although the specifics of this trope don't apply due to their mostly siblingly relationship.
• Badass Princess
• Bad Boss: Consistently treats Agravaine poorly and is very quick to insult and blame him when things go wrong, even though he has been of enormous help to her at great personal risk.
• Bad Dreams
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Eventually subverted.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: She went through many personality changes after series 2. You can find almost no similarities between her former self and her new self.
• Big Bad: Series 4 onwards.
  • May be in a Big Bad Duumvirate with Mordred come series 5, if the leaked info is any indication.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In the first episode of series 3 alone, Morgana's killed a knight, plotted with Morgause for the downfall of Uther and Camelot, while making numerous Psychotic Smirks to pretty much let us know she's way into The Dark Side.
• Big "NO!": In 3x13, after Morgause is gravely injured; she literally brings the roof down.
• Black Cloak: In series 4, complete with hood.
• Black Magic: What Morgana practices. A contrast to Merlin, who practices White Magic.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Where do we even start?
• Braids of Action: Whenever she has time to prepare for a fight, her hair is put back in a braid.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Practically an inversion. She could be quite bratty in the first series (understandably so, given her status) when she was merely Uther's ward, but by the time her true parentage is revealed, she had moved from "bratty" to "homicidal".
• Break the Cutie
  • Corrupt the Cutie
  • Kill the Cutie (in that order)
• Broken Bird: Morgana's resentment towards Uther's hatred for magic and those who use magic led to her Face Heel Turn, so much that Merlin sympathizes with her in 3x02 and even tries to pull a "I Know You're In There Somewhere" Fight.
• Cain and Abel: Now that she's trying to kill Arthur. Even after learning that he's her brother. It's a far fall from when she actively defended him in 1x07.
• The Caligula: Her short stints as Queen of Camelot didn't seem to involve anything except demanding that the people accept her as their ruler, killing them when they refused, and burning their crops just to drive the point home.
  • Indeed, it often appears that Morgana seems to be under the delusion that by taking the throne of Camelot, everyone will automatically bow down and worship her as their new Queen. Thus her plans always spectacularly fail to take into account exactly why everyone has such Undying Loyalty towards Arthur.
• Catapult Nightmare: Plenty. They get worse as the series goes on.
• Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive: A couple of times in series three.
• Cleavage Window: Most of her outfits.
• Complexity Addiction: Hoo boy. Nearly every single one of Morgana's plans falls under this trope.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Ended by series 3.
• Consummate Liar
• Convenient Coma: She ends up in at least three of these over the course of the series.
• Cool Big Sis: To Arthur. At least in series 1. Ironically, neither of them knew it at the time, and when they both finally realize that she is his big sister, she's already tried to kill him several times.
• Cute and Psycho: She was getting there in series 4, but seems to have fully crossed into this in series 5.
• Dark Magical Girl
• Dark Messiah: The Dochraid prophesies that she will bring back the Old Religion to the land.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: She starts out with the best of intentions, (her first act of treason is to avenge the death of her best friend's father), but her fear and tendency to take everything personally eventually leads to violence and genocide.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Only to revert back into an Ice Queen in series 3.
• Diminishing Villain Threat: The more Morgana tries to kill Arthur, the less threatening she becomes.
• Does Not Like Men: An unusual case. In the first two series she was portrayed as friendly and flirty toward men, but as she falls further into evil she becomes less and less interested, to the point where she appears practically asexual in her complete lack of awareness of them.
• Double Agent: In series 3.
• Dreaming of Things to Come
• Driven by Envy: This seems to be the source of her new-found hatred toward Guinevere, considering that her former serving maid is destined to be Queen of Camelot - a position that Morgana believes is hers.
• Driven to Villainy
• Entry Pimp: Her entry is nearly twice as long as any other character's, including the one that the show is named after!
• Et Tu, Brute?: She did not take Merlin's betrayal or Uther not publicly recognizing her as his biological daughter well...
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Averted; she is always known as Lady Morgana and apparently has not been awarded the title of Princess, even though she has been Uther's ward since early childhood and is secretly his daughter.
• Evil Feels Good: Justified. After becoming a sorceress, the only time she doesn't feel terrified and alone is when she's associating with the bad guys. Although she subverts it with Uther's death. Agravaine expects her to rejoice, but she's in a Troubled Fetal Position and wondering why she feels so empty.
• Evil Is Petty: Sure, her animosity toward Uther and Merlin is justified, but her treatment of Gwen is just catty and mean.
• Excessive Evil Eyeshadow
• Fake Brit: Katie McGrath is from Dublin in real life. Unlike Colin Morgan she mostly keeps her Irish accent.
• Fallen Hero
• False Friend: Towards Merlin, and later towards Arthur, Gwen, and (in a daughterly manner) Uther.
• Faux Affably Evil: If need be, she can put on a show of courtly breeding and etiquette.
• Faux Action Girl: She is presented as a feisty girl with a sword, but she never accomplishes anything. Read this.
• Flirty Step Siblings: Arthur and Morgana are kind of like this during series 1 since Uther is the guardian of Morgana, and she is like a daughter to him. It is almost as if Uther adopted Morgana, which would make Arthur and Morgana like stepsiblings.
  • As of 3x05, Arthur and Morgana fall into Brother-Sister Incest, given that they share the same father.
• Foil: To Merlin. She's consistently referred to as "witch" in parallel to Merlin's "warlock". They both have great power and live in loneliness because of it, and are both prophesied to bring magic back. However, she's more unforgiving of non-magical people's fears and mistrusts than Merlin, and are more inclined to take out her resentment on them. As the Great Dragon puts it, she's the darkness to his light, the hatred to his love. She's also a noble as opposed to Merlin's commoner background.
• Foregone Conclusion: Morgana becoming evil (or at least becoming an enemy of Camelot and its people).
• Good Girl Gone Bad
• Go Mad from the Isolation: For two years in between series 4 and 5, Morgana and Aithusa were locked at the bottom of a well away from the sun. It seems to have shattered nearly every remnant of sanity she had left.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: She gets no less than four purple dresses over the course of the first three series, two of silk and two of velvet: one◊, two◊, three◊, four◊ which denote her status as the king's ward, as well as the fact that...
  • Supernatural Is Purple
• Green Eyes
• Hard Head: Holds the record for being knocked unconscious more than any other character on the show, which is saying something. What do you expect? She's Merlin's equivalent of Lex Luthor.
• Heroic BSOD: Kate McGrath said that Morgana sort of "shuts down" in 2x12 as she realizes her role in Morgause's plot.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Gwen. This starts to deteriorate in Season 3. Also, with Morgause.
• High Priestess: Becomes one after Morgause's death.
• Hot Witch
• Hourglass Plot: With Guinevere. The two essentially switch positions over the course of the show.
• Ice Queen: Morgana is cold, icy, selfish and sociopathic.
• Ill Girl: Quite often, notably in A Remedy To Cure All Ills, The Crystal Cave and the beginning/end of A Servant of Two Masters/The Secret Sharer. And that's not even counting her on-going nightmares that Gaius is continually trying to suppress with various tonics.
• In the Hood: Is often wearing one when she's up to no good.
• Internalized Categorism: Morgana explicitly tells Uther that she hated herself for years after realizing that she had magic, having been brought up for a significant portion of her life by a man who claimed that it was evil and executed anyone who possessed it. It almost becomes a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: having taken in Uther's teaching that magic was evil, she subconsciously believes that having embraced her magical side, she has to act evil.
• Irrational Hatred: The sheer, inexplicable vehemence with which she plots Guinevere's death is difficult to grasp. Granted, she feels as though Gwen is usurping her position as Queen of Camelot, but that she so quickly leaps to the betrayal and attempted murder of her once-closest friend with no remorse whatsoever is rather jarring. Of course, she also plots Arthur's death, but for whatever reason, she takes Guinevere's existence that much more personally.
  • Probably due to the fact that Gwen, like everyone else, thought that magic was evil, and thus would likely have feared her had she known about her powers. See Gwen's entry in Fantastic Racism.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Has shades of this through the first two series, attempting to kill Uther at least twice because of her hatred towards him. By the third series, she's long since become a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and crossed the Moral Event Horizon. By the fourth, the Morgana who'd rather die than see a child hurt in series 1 (Mordred), callously reacts to the news of innocents death with an expression of "So?".
• Killed Off for Real: After multiple attempts.
• Knife Nut: She carries a knife with her at all times during the course of series four.
• Lack of Empathy: This was actually telegraphed fairly early on. Though she's sympathetic when Gwen's father dies, the end of the episode suggests that she was channelling her own grief for her father's death all along. Likewise, whilst she was still in her "good phase", she refused to return to Camelot when she heard that hostages would be killed if the druids did not release her (Uther having mistakeningly believed she was kidnapped). By the third series, she responds to Merlin's plea that women and children are dying with the word: "Good!"
• Lady in Red
• Lady of Black Magic
• Last Of Her Kind: She is the last High Priestess of the Old Religion.
• Let's Get Dangerous: 1x10 and 2x04.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Dark obviously, though with less emphasis on sexuality (in the later series) than the trope usually implies.
• Like Brother and Sister / Platonic Life Partners: Arthur and Morgana become this in Season 2 and are revealed to be half-siblings in Season 3.
• Like Father Like Daughter: The great irony of her character.
• Long Lost Relative: She is revealed to be Morgause's and Arthur's half-sister.
• The King's Ward: Her position makes some people like Alvar and Morgause seek her out for their attempts to bring down Camelot.
• Memento MacGuffin: The bracelet she received from Morgause to help her sleep.
• Ms. Fanservice
• Making a Splash: Whereas Merlin's powers seem to be based on air and fire, Morgana is often connected with water, most obviously in The Tears of Uther Pendragon in which the damp mandrake root conjures up visions of drowned murder victims.
• Mama Bear: Morgana's strong attachment towards Mordred causes her to become very protective of him and a willingness to do anything for him in order to keep him from harm's way.
• Manipulative Bitch: Even when she was good, she was very adept at getting people to do what she wanted them to. See her manipulation of Arthur throughout The Beginning of the End and Uther in To Kill The King.
• The Mentally Disturbed: You could definitely make a case for Morgana.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: She began turning against Camelot when she discovered that she has magic and feared for her life. Merlin's poisoning her clinches it.
• Monster Sob Story
• Morality Pet: Is more or less one for Uther, and is definitely one for Morgause. Aithusa becomes one for her in series 5.
• More than Mind Control: Being under Morgause's guidance for an entire year must have made her the way she is in series 3.
• Motive Decay: At some point her goals shift from ridding Camelot of a tyrannical king (justifiable) to killing her half-brother and becoming queen herself (not so much).
• Multi Coloured Hair: In series 4, she inexplicably has green streaks in her hair.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Though she keeps changing her mind on this. Usually she goes straight for the kill when she shouldn't and relies on overly complicated plans when she should just be killing.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Mor
• Not As You Know Them: Her return in series 3.
• Not So Different: Annis calls her on her similarities to Uther, despite her hatred of him.
• Of Corsets Sexy: In series 4 her black outfit is fitted with a laced-up corset.
• Offing the Offspring: She's terrified of Uther for exactly this reason.
• Offscreen Teleportation: She's a master of this after going evil. If the camera drifts away from her for more than a few seconds, she's gone.
• Oh Crap: Morgana in A Servant Of Two Masters upon seeing the 80-year-old disguised Merlin, having had visions of him as "Emrys" and foreseeing that he will stand over her on a corpse-littered battlefield, admonishing her for her misdeeds. Occurs again for "The Sword in The Stone, Part II".
  • In "Diamond of the Day Part 2", the smug expression on her face turning to rapid horror after Merlin reveals that the sword he ran her through with was actually Excalibur, a weapon forged in Dragon's breath. In other words, a weapon that can actually kill her.
• Orcus On Her Throne: In series 4 Morgana spends a lot of time sitting in her hovel, waiting for other characters to bring her news of what she's ordered them to do.
• Parental Abandonment: Her father died ten years ago, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown. But as it turns out, Uther is her biological father and kept it secret all along.
• Parental Substitute: Of sorts, towards Mordred.
• Pimped-Out Dress
• Plucky Girl
• Politically Active Princess: Both before and after her Face Heel Turn. Prior to it, would often stick up for the rights of magic-users, afterwards she tries to topple the Pendragon dynasty.
• The Power of Hate
• Put Them All Out of My Misery: At this point, she seemingly just wants to make everyone suffer.
• Rebellious Princess
• The Resenter: Of Arthur and Guinevere for their positions in Camelot and their addherence to Uther's anti-magic policy.
• Rich Bitch: She comes from royalty after all.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: What she's been doing for the past two series.
• Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: With Gwen and Morgause.
• Royal Blood: Morgana is the daughter of Uther, who was the former King of Camelot.
• Same Character, But Different: The abrupt switch in her personality between series 2 and 3.
• Sanity Slippage: By series 5, her desire to rule Camelot seems to be the only thing keeping her even remotely grounded. He's so lost in her hatred that the mere mention of failure to kill Arthur sets her off.
• Seer
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Which leads to her Face Heel Turn.
• Shadow Archetype: To Merlin.
• Shipper on Deck: Morgana became a bit of a shipper of Merlin/Gwen in 1x03 and 1x04.
• Show Some Leg: Morgana devises this plan in order for Gwen and her to escape from bandits in 2x04.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Arthur.
• Smug Snake
• Smug Super: When she doesn't have to hide her magic, she's not shy about lording it over non-magic users.
• Stay in the Kitchen: In Series 1-3, while she's a high-ranking noble, her role in Camelot as the King's Ward is basically to show up at functions and look glamourous, and she doesn't have much actual power (compared to Guinevere later on who actively takes part in ruling). Arthur has made some disparaging comments that she should just comb her hair or whatever a girl of her station does all day.
• Sugary Malice: She's good at this one.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Like Merlin, when she uses magic.
• Those Two Bad Guys: With Morgause and later Agravaine.
• Traitor Shot: Gets dozens and dozens. And dozens.
• Tragic Villain
• Troubled Abuser: All her interactions with Guinevere post series 3.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Merlin, Morgause, Gwen and Arthur.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Arthur invokes this explicitly in 5x02 when he reminds her that she used to be so kind and compassionate as a child. Her response? "I grew up."
• Vain Sorceress: Subverted, as the more powerful and evil she gets, the less interested she becomes in maintaining her appearance. Though she's still beautiful, her messy hair and dark make-up suggest she's not really trying to impress anyone.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: In series 1.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Along with Morgause. Given Uther's treatment of those with magic, her shift in alignment is understandable and her side may even have the moral high-ground over Uther, but like Uther, she uses some ruthless tactics to achieve her end.
• We Used To Be Friends: To Merlin, Arthur and Gwen. In fact, she says these exact words to Gwen in The Hunter's Heart.
• What Kind Of Lame Power Is Precognitive Dreaming Anyway?: Though she has dreams of the future, she can't control them, barely understands them, and has never achieved anything worthwhile at first with her foreknowledge of events to come.
• White Stallion: When she was still on Camelot's side.
• Wild Card: In series 2.
• Wild Hair: In series 4 and onward.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
• Woman in Black: As of series 4, all part of the general theme that Dark Is Evil.
• Woman in White: Sometimes in series 2 and 3, highlighting her vulnerability.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Occasionally. She gets really good at almost fooling everyone.
• You Are What You Hate: As several characters point out to her in series four, Morgana has become just like Uther.
• You Killed My Father: A surprisingly low-key take on this trope in which Morgana accuses Uther of indirectly killing Gorlois by not sending troops to his aid.
• You're Not My Father: Morgana indirectly says this of Uther, telling a neighbouring Queen that it was Gorlois that raised her, and who she thus considers her true father.

Queen Guinevere (Gwen) Pendragon (Angel Coulby)

Merlin: "You have such a good heart, Gwen. Don't ever lose that."

Guinevere — nicknamed Gwen — was the maidservant of Morgana and a good friend of Merlin's. She is a hardworking and kindhearted, young woman who is often awkward and shy when it comes to romance. As of the finale, she is queen regnant of Camelot.

• Adorkable: More so in series 1, but she does retain a bit of it when it comes to denying or hiding her feelings for Arthur.
• Anchored Ship: Arthur and Gwen. Since series 2, although both know of their mutual feelings for each other, they've refused to upgrade their relationship because of, among other things, their different social classes.
  • Now averted, as the two are married.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Gwen had feelings for Merlin in season one which were unreciprocated.
• Badass Damsel
• Batman Gambit: Pulls one off in 5x02 by gambling on Ruadan's Papa Wolf instincts.
• Beauty Mark: Of the nice kind.
• Berserk Button: None of her own, but notable considering she is almost everyone else's berserk button. Mess with her, and there'll be a wave of very angry warlocks, princes and knights out to get you.
  • She gets one in 4x08, namely Merlin.
• Beware the Nice Ones: In 5x01, she sentences her servant to death.
• Brainwashed: post the events of 5x06. And all the resultant tropes
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: The only good parts of the plans (i.e., getting Merlin out of the way, actually making good excuses) are hers. This seems to be her only character trait remaining.
  • Face Heel Turn: an involuntary variant.
  • Stockholm Syndrome: Morgana invokes this by torturing her into thinking all her loved ones hate her, and then offering comfort and help, thus allowing a...
  • Symbiotic Possession: It is explained that her behavior is due to Morgana taking over her will and replacing her will with her own, which causes the following behaviors...
    • Decoy Damsel: Puts on quite the show of helplessness to manipulate her enemies.
    • Femme Fatale: She definitely acts more coquettish than usual when under Morgana's power. Arthur and the knights are completely wrapped around her little finger.
    • Obviously Evil: But only to the audience.
    • Psychotic Smirk: Again, only the audience sees it.
  • The Power of Love: Breaks the enchantment.
• Brainy Brunette: Gwen is quite smart, pragmatic and logical.
• Break the Cutie
• Brown Eyes
• Cassandra Truth: Guinevere spends a lot of time in series 5 warning Arthur about the dangers inherent in him constantly riding out on missions. He never listens.
• Chickification: In Season 2, Gwen's role is pretty much just The Heart and Arthur's Love Interest.
  • Rectified in Season 3.
• Character Development: From shy, stuttering maid to regal, confident queen.
• The Chick
• Cleavage Window: Sometimes, from Season 2 onward.
• Closer to Earth
• The Conscience: She's the moral compass of the show. With Arthur being morally compromised early on due to his allegiance to Uther and Morgana and Merlin going the slippery slope, she embodies honesty, principles and goodness.
• Cryptic Conversation: In "Diamond of the Day Part 2", she has this type of conversation with Gaius, confirming her suspicion that Merlin was indeed the Sorcerer that turned the tide at the Battle of Camlann in Camelot's favour.
  Gwen: The Sorcerer in the battle, you knew who he was?
  Gaius: *Beat* Yes.
  Gwen: Do I know him? Please Gaius, answer me honestly?
  Gaius: Yes.
• Distressed Damsel: A couple of times, but not nearly as often as you'd think. It's probably because the (very few) Gwen-centric episodes do involve her in considerable distress.
• Dogged Nice Girl / Unrequited Love: Towards Merlin in Season 1.
• Dude Magnet: Zig-Zagging Trope. This is something of a Memetic Mutation due to her reputation in the source material. In this version, Arthur and Lancelot have fallen in love with her, and Gwaine and Helios have shown brief interest (however, both are characterized as being womanizers; in their case, it's not so much that Gwen is special so much that Gwen is there). The trope was subverted with Merlin, who shows no romantic interest in her at all, despite her obvious crush. If you're keeping track at home, Arthur has been romantically linked with more women than Gwen has with other men. *
  In order, they are: Morgana, Sophia, Guinevere, Vivian, Elena, Mithian
• Fantastic Racism: Subverted and Played With. She doesn't hate magicians, unlike Uther, but like him, she is afraid of magic and tries to punish people who use it. It leads to several unconspicuous Kick the Dog moments.
  • She tells Gaius what happened with Morgana after she used magic in front of her, an act that could have gotten her mistress imprisoned, even if she was declared the King's ward and had all along actually been his daughter. In her defense, what Morgana did was a curse and before that Morgana went off with someone who was not what they seemed.
  • In 4x03, she told Arthur in a deleted scene that she was mistrustful of magic and blames it for a tragedy which befell on her father, hoping that he won't use magic to heal his father (which is the equivalent of choosing lawful over good).
  • In 5x01, she sounded very angry (and had a frightening look on her face), just a short moment after learning that Sefa (her maid)'s father was a sorcerer, before pretending to sentence her to death while actually working to save her and getting her father, The Man Behind the Man, emprisonned in her place, an uncharacteristically harsh gambit which she doesn't seem to regret.
• Fan Service Pack: See for yourself◊...
• Forceful Kiss: To Arthur in 2x10 in order to break him out of an enchantment.
• Genre Savvy: Realizes her servant is a traitor pretty quickly. It usually takes Pendragons either an episode or an entire season to figure these things out. She also catches on to Morgana's Stockholm Syndrome attempt in Series 5, but unfortunately Morgana had time on her side and it worked anyway.
• Girl Friday: Can be this at times to Merlin, especially when they're teaming up to solve mysteries.
• Girl Next Door
• Good Is Not Dumb: She's easily the most observant character in the show and knows how to talk people into action.
• Good Is Not Soft: After discovering her maid leaked information to her father, tipping off Morgana's forces about Arthur's plan of rescue, cue Gwen swiftly sentencing the maid to death for committing treason. Even Sir Elyan appears shocked at the ease of which she declares this. However, it turned out to be a ruse to invoke a Papa Wolf response from her father, who Gwen considered the actual threat. She just needed it to be convincing. It was a gamble, but it worked.
• Guile Hero: Check out the Crowning Moment of Awesome page; most of her entries involve her simply TALKING to people, using a blend of logic and guile to convince them to act according to her wishes.
• Hair Tropes:
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Her hair goes from practical buns to long, loose curls as she rises in status.
  • Hair Decorations - usually a Flower in Her Hair.
  • Long Hair Is Feminine
  • Quirky Curls: Series 1 and 2.
  • Regal Ringlets: Series 5
  • Messy Hair: In series 1
• Happily Married: To Arthur in series 5.
• The Heart
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Morgana. This starts to deteriorate in series 3.
• The High Queen: As of the end of series 4. This is even more true at the end of series 5 considering she became the sole ruler of Camelot. In fact, the very last words of the entire series are "long live the queen!", as cried by everyone present in the throne room.
• Honest Advisor: Together with Merlin to Arthur.
• Hot Consort
• Hourglass Plot: With Morgana, essentially taking her place as the most powerful woman in Camelot.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With Arthur.
• I Will Wait for You: At the conclusion of Queen Of Hearts, she promises to wait for Arthur to become King, at which point they can marry.
• Let's Get Dangerous: 1x10, 2x04 and 5x01.
• Like Brother and Sister / Platonic Life Partners: Gwen eventually becomes this with Merlin in series 2.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Light to Morgana's dark.
  • In The Hunter's Heart she is the dark to Mithian's light.
• Limited Wardrobe: In the first series she (understandably) only had two outfits.
• Love Hurts: The poor girl never catches a break — her feelings for Merlin are unrequited, her brief romance with Lancelot abruptly ends when he leaves Camelot, only to return and their romance is rekindled until Lancelot leaves again after noticing Arthur's and Gwen's feelings for each other, leaving Gwen upset, and her budding relationship with Arthur constantly becomes strained because of their social classes. Once she and Arthur become stable, she is enchanted into cheating on him with Lancelot - the kicker being only the audience and the bad guys know - and banished from Camelot forever. To top it all, Gwen has to assume power at the cost of Arthur's death.
• Love Triangle: At the centre of the most famous one of all.
• Mama Bear:
  • It turns out that messing with Merlin will turn the usually mild mannered Gwen into one of these. GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!
  • If you ever betray Arthur while he's on a rescue mission, she'll order your execution.
• Modest Royalty: Though she gets a significant upgrade in clothing, she only ever wears minimal jewellery (just earrings and her wedding band). This is in stark contrast to Morgana of the first two seasons, who was often decked out in necklaces, rings, bracelets and earrings.
• Muggle Best Friend: To Merlin.
• Mythology Gag: She gets Arthur's conventional characterization in Arthurian legend: commoner to ruler of the realm, marriage to a royal, leader of the kingdom to a golden age of justice and chivalry.
• Naming Conventions: At the start of the show, she was invariably referred to as Gwen as a reflection of her status as a maid. This changed as the series went on (in particular, her Love Interests usually called her by her full name), and by series 5, she's consistently called Guinevere to reflect her higher status.
• The Needs of the Many: She often gives wise advice to Arthur and/or the Council on this principle.
• Never a Self-Made Woman: The kingdom'd never benefit from Gwen's wise rule had Arthur not fallen in love with her.
• Nice Girl
• Ninja Maid: In The Moment of Truth at least.
• Non-Action Snarker: She might not be able to sword-fight an opponent into submission, but she's sassed quite a few bigger, stronger, more powerful people in her time.
  "I don't expect someone like YOU to understand that."
• Of Corsets Sexy: Wears them as outerwear in series 2 and 3. She seems to be wearing them as underwear in series 4.
• The One That Got Away: She is this to Lancelot.
• Parental Abandonment: Her father was executed at Uther's hand, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown.
• Plucky Girl
• Politically Active Queen
• The Pollyanna: Although she's also remarkably pragmatic.
• Pragmatic Heroine: Gwen is incredibly pragmatic and logical in her thinking, especially when she became Queen in season four.
• Progressively Prettier
• Promotion to Parent: Elyan says of her: "she raised me."
• Proper Lady / Ojou
• Race Lift: In the Arthurian legends, Guinevere is Caucasian. But on the show, Guinevere is not.
• Rags to Riches
• The Reliable One
• Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Their social classes aren't played into the Love Triangle, but Arthur (rich suitor) and Lancelot (poor suitor) for Gwen.
• Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: With Morgana.
• Ruling Couple: With King Arthur.
• Satellite Character: Gwen really has no real Character Arc of her own, at least not one that isn't connected to her relationships with Morgana, Arthur or Merlin. She does have a father and a brother, but the former was killed off and she barely interacts with the latter. That said, it's also an example of Tropes Are Not Bad, as her relationships with Merlin, Arthur and Morgana make up a significant part of the show.
• Second Love: As Gwen realizes her feelings for Merlin are unrequited in 1x05, she finds a brief romance with Lancelot.
• Secret Secret Keeper: Reveals in the finale that she knows about Merlin's magic. When she put it together is unknown, but as Merlin never found out she knew in the finale.
• Shrinking Violet: Though she grows out of it.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Gwen's new look in Season 2. Not that she needed it, though.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: What attracted Gwen to all her three love interests.
• Silk Hiding Steel: A kind castle maid who takes pride in her work. If necessary, she can fight reasonably well. More importantly, she's the firm moral compass and the connection to common people of Arthur.
• Spirited Young Lady: Especially before she became Queen.
• Starcrossed Lovers: With Lancelot. Her marriage to Arthur ends tragically short too because of his early death.
• Stay In The Castle: Guinevere's job as Queen is to maintain control in Camelot while Arthur is away.
• The Strategist: At times.
• They Fight Crime: She's teamed up with Merlin on more than one occasion to solve the Mystery of the Week.
• Took a Level in Badass: Definitely seems to be the case in series 5 after becoming High Queen.
• True Blue Femininity: Many of her dresses are blue; particularly in series 4.
• The Unchosen One: Unlike Arthur, Merlin, Morgana and Mordred, who all have their destinies outlined by various prophesies and portentous words by the Dragon, Guinevere becomes Queen because Arthur loves her. Other than Morgana’s dreams, she is not mentioned in any prophesy. More importantly, by the very end, she is implied to be the monarch who will repeal the oppression on magic users and brings Camelot to the golden age instead of Arthur, who merely paves the way and is ultimately killed off.
• Unfazed Everyman: She's seen Merlin get up to some truly bizarre things over the years, but seldom reacts with anything more than a bemused smile.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Arthur and Lancelot. Her supposed crush on Merlin is more or less abandoned between series 1 and 2.
• When She Smiles: So very much.
• White Stallion: In The Dark Tower.
• Whoopi Epiphany Speech: Gives one to Merlin, which encompasses the moral standing of the show, outlining why Uther can't just be killed.
• Will They Or Won't They: Arthur and Gwen. Their budding relationship constantly grows strained because of their different social classes.
  • They Do: They are finally married at the end of series four.
• Women Are Wiser
• The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask: She has to act as regent of Camelot when Arthur heads into danger, and it is not easy for her.
• Your Cheating Heart: Averted, despite the legendary expectations. She's faithful to Arthur, and kisses Lancelot only when under a spell.

Uther Pendragon (Anthony Head)

Uther Pendragon is the ruthless king of Camelot who has outlawed magic within the kingdom. Often his hatred for magic blinds him from his tyrant-like nature, but he nevertheless believes what he is doing for Camelot is right. While Uther does not often show it, he does strongly care about his son Arthur and his ward Morgana, as well as acknowledging loyalty from his subjects e.g. Gaius and Merlin (occasionally).

• Abusive Father: In many ways, at various points, to both Arthur and Morgana.
• Achey Scars: He has an old battle wound in his side that he sometimes complains about.
• Adults Are Useless
• The Alcoholic: Subtly implied, as Uther is frequently seen with a goblet in hand. Though given the calamities that often nearly spell the end of Camelot, you can understand why his reaction would be I Need a Freaking Drink.
• Anti-Villain: Type 3 with a bit of Type 1 as well.
• A Sinister Clue: He wields sword and pen with his left hand.
• Badass Normal
• Badass Longcoat
• Back from the Dead: Temporarily, in 5x03.
• Blood on These Hands: He clearly suffers from a guilty conscience when faced with the apparitions of his deceased wife and the children he drowned.
• Broken Pedestal: Arthur gradually comes to realize that his father is not the infallible father/king that he initially believed him to be.
• Create Your Own Villain: Uther certainly played a large part in how Morgana turned out.
• Despair Event Horizon: When he realizes the depths of his daughter's hatred for him.
• Disproportionate Retribution
• Doting Parent: To Morgana, but only after she returns from her year-long absence. Before that, he could be quite distant.
• Mr. Fanservice
• Final Speech: He manages a few last words to Arthur before slipping into a coma that he awakens from only very briefly.
• Freudian Excuse: His extreme hatred of magic comes from the circumstances of Arthur's birth: Uther was desperate for an heir. His wife couldn't conceive, so he asked Nimueh to help him have a son. She didn't tell him, however, that giving life by magic requires the taking of a life to keep the balance. Arthur was born, but Uther's wife dies.
• He Who Fights Monsters
• Hey, It's That Guy!: King Nathan Giles Pendragon.
• Heroic BSOD: Is rendered catatonic after Morgana betrays him in the third series finale. One year later, he's still a shell of the man he once was, leaving Arthur ruling the land in his stead.
• Hypocrite
• It's All About Me: He bans and allows magic use as he wants it. There's also a subtle hint that he defines loyalty to Camelot as loyalty to himself, as evidenced in the Great Purge.
• Jerkass
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: On every issue except magic, though there is rather more Jerk than Gold. Notably he is very sympathetic to Merlin's mother when Ealdor is being attacked and expresses a desire to see the Jerk Ass who's doing it wiped off the face of the earth.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: There is apparently some sort of court system in Camelot (people speak of getting "fair trials") but when it comes down to it, Uther can demand whatever sentencing he likes on whoever he deems guilty.
• Kick the Dog: Just about every episode.
• Killed Off for Real
• Knight Templar / Knight Templar Parent
• Like A Daughter To Me: Morgana. Quite literally.
• Love Makes You Evil: He hates magic so much, because it caused a death of his beloved wife.
• Never My Fault: He completely denies his responsibility in his wife's death, and taking his anger and sorrow on Nimueh and other magic users.
• Papa Wolf: Is very protective of Arthur and Morgana when it comes to life-threatening situations (usually Arthur) or kidnapping attempts (usually Morgana).
  • We all knew that once Aredian pulled a knife on Morgana in 2x07 (in front of Merlin, Arthur, and Uther, no less) that he wasn't going to leave Camelot alive.
• Parental Substitute: For Morgana. At least, it seems this way until it is revealed that she actually is his illegitimate daughter.
• The Patriarch
• Pet the Dog: At the end of Excalibur. It's obvious that Uther loves his children, and speaks of his late wife as "my soul." He's also fond of Gaius, and can be made to see reason on several issues.
• Troubled Sympathetic Bigot: His hatred of magic stems from his grief and guilt over his wife's death (troubled), he dearly loves both his children (sympathetic) and yet he is utterly ruthless and hypocritical when it comes to eradicating those that practice magic (bigot).
• Royally Screwed Up
• Upper Class Twit: Sometimes.
• Villain Protagonist
• Villainous BSOD: Suffers a nasty one once Morgana brings to light how much she truly hates him in 3x13
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He is convinced that magic is evil and threatens Camelot.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Uther gets this A LOT.
  • But only sometimes to his face.
• Would Hurt a Child: Has ordered the deaths of children in the past (via drowning) as well as the attempted execution of Mordred.
• Would Hit a Girl: Has no problem with this. He's attacked both Morgana and Guinevere.
• You Are Grounded: To his children, several times. He's not adverse to shutting them in the dungeons either.

Gaius (Richard Wilson)

"I'd give my life for you, Merlin."

The court physician, Gaius took Merlin under his care in his arrival to Camelot. He attempts to voice reason to Uther's judgement and ideals, but often gets rebuffed until his suspicions are proven correct.

• Adult Fear: Merlin is like a son to him and he constantly lives in fear that Merlin'll get himself killed one way or another. He also witnesses Merlin becoming increasingly world-weary and ruthless.
• Anachronism Stew: Gaius' medical knowledge is far too advanced for the time period of the series.
• As You Know: Gaius is the KING of this trope. How many hundreds of time have we heard him say some variation of: "you/he/she can't use magic or you'll be killed" or "we can't tell anyone about Morgana/Agravaine/any other obvious villain because they'd never believe us".
• Badass Grandpa: Gaius takes on a Dorocha without even flinching in order to save Gwen.
• Big Damn Heroes: Saves Merlin from Morgause in 3x13.
• Brick Joke: Gaius constantly telling Arthur that Merlin is in the tavern when he disappears to do his magical thing.
• Canon Foreigner: You won't find any Gaius in Arthurian legends, he was created specifically for the show.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first handful of episodes, he was a typical Absent-Minded Professor who couldn't keep track of what day it was, accidentally set his bench on fire, and whose (egregious) Establishing Character Moment was falling off a ladder. Later he became a much more astute mentor with Feet of Clay.
• The Confidant: To Merlin and Uther, and occasionally to Guinevere and Morgana (in the early years) as well.
• Cool Old Guy
• Court Mage: Several episodes imply that Gaius was the Court Mage before sorcery was outlawed in Camelot. One can infer that he was spared during the purge due to his loyalty to Uther, his skill as a physician and because his knowledge of sorcery meant he was invaluable at identifying any magical threats to the kingdom.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Demoted to Extra: In series 4, with the exception of one episode. Even more so in series 5, where pretty much every scene and all of his dialogue is either plot-relevant exposition or warnings to be careful.
• Fascinating Eyebrow: To a memetic level.
• Fingerless Gloves: He's seldom seen without them.
• Ignored Expert: He had perhaps a 50% success rate in convincing Uther of dangerous magical circumstances.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Arthur and particularly Guinevere (Merlin falls into the Like a Son to Me category).
• Like a Son to Me: Merlin.
• Living Emotional Crutch: To Merlin. Except for the Great Dragon, he's the only one Merlin can confide in about what is going on and occasionally rants to. It's probable that he's never killed off for real because the chance that Merlin would completely go to the dark side like Morgana is too great.
• The Masquerade: He's a retired magician.
  • Becomes a Broken Masquerade in 2x07, as it's revealed that Uther always knew.
• The Medic
• The Mentor: To Merlin about the use of magic.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Almost dies three times.
• Morally Ambiguous Mentor: He's accused by Nimueh of betraying fellow magic users during the Great Purge. On screen, he's focused on maintaining the status quo (more specifically, Merlin's safety) to the exclusion of everything else. Merlin arguably picks up deception and secrecy from him.
• Oh Crap: In Queen Of Hearts he is asked to identify a poultice as magical. After confirming it, he asks where it was found and is told: "Arthur's bedroom." He looks over at a smirking Morgana and realizes that he's just condemned Guinevere.
• Old Retainer
• Parental Substitute: For Merlin.
  • To a lesser extent, Gwen as well.
• Retired Badass: He may have given up practicing magic, but he still has it in him.
• Secret Keeper: the only character in the core cast knows about Merlin's magic.
• Shipper on Deck: From the looks of 2x13, he approves of Arthur/Gwen.
• Team Dad: To Merlin and Gwen especially, but also Arthur and Morgana (though he messed up spectacularly in that case).
• You Just Told Me: A variation in which he forces Merlin to reveal his powers by tipping a bucket of water over. Merlin automatically freezes it.