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'''Main Cast''' ([[Characters/MerlinTheCharacter Merlin]] | [[Characters/MerlinArthurPendragon Arthur Pendragon]] | [[Characters/MerlinMorgana Morgana]]) | [[Characters/MerlinOthers Others]] ([[Characters/MerlinKnightsOfTheRoundTable Knights of the Round Table]])]]-]]]
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'''Main Cast''' ([[Characters/MerlinTheCharacter Merlin]] | [[Characters/MerlinArthurPendragon Arthur Pendragon]] | [[Characters/MerlinMorgana Morgana]]) | [[Characters/MerlinOthers Others]] ([[Characters/MerlinKnightsOfTheRoundTable Knights of the Round Table]])]]-]]]
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[[caption-width-right:280:"I want to say... something I've never said to you before... Thank you."]]
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[[folder:Gwen]]
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinevere-pendragon_2115.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
[-'''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. [[spoiler: As of the finale, she is queen regnant of Camelot.]]
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinevere-pendragon_2115.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
[-'''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. [[spoiler: As of the finale, she is queen regnant of Camelot.]]
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!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
!!Lady Morgana Pendragon
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.
[[caption-width-right:280:"I am a High Priestess. No mortal blade can kill me."]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:'''
[-'''Merlin''': "You have such a good heart, Gwen. Don't ever lose that."-]
Guinevere -- nicknamed Gwen -- was
->''"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
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* AccompliceByInaction: Believes all of Camelot is this.
* ActionGirl: In season 1/2 and season 3 respectively. As well as the last episode of season 4.
* ActionFashionista: Morgana loves fashion plus she's an ActionGirl to boot.
* AdaptationalNameChange: There is no mention of her traditional surname of le Fay, and instead once she finds out that Uther is her father she is referred to as Morgana Pendragon.
* AdaptationalSympathy: Compared to older versions of Morgan le Fay. Morgana actually starts out as a heroic character before SlowlySlippingIntoEvil. She was [[TheGift born with magic]] but tries to keep it suppressed because her guardian King Uther despises magic and persecutes anyone who practices it, so she lives in fear for years. Her half-sister [[ManipulativeBitch Morgause]] manipulates her into turning against her friends; their own actions [[NiceJobBreakingItHero don't help]] as Merlin poisons Morgana to force Morgause into calling off an attack and Morgause subsequently whisks her away from Camelot for months, not allowing Merlin to explain. And then Morgana discovers Uther is actually [[spoiler:her biological father via an affair with her mother but never told her this, and then killed the man who raised her in an [[UriahGambit UriahGambit ]]]], so she's understandably upset and hacked off. She then decides she'd make a much better ruler than either Uther or Arthur, spurred on by Morgause.
* AGodAmI: 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.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: She seemed particularly interested in both Valiant in season one and Alvarr in season two.
* AlwaysSecondBest: The mere mention of "[[TheDreaded Emrys]]" is enough to reduce to her a nervous wreck. It's repeatedly shown that compared to Merlin, she's basically an ant. According to Merlin however, the day she grew more powerful than him was not far away but nothing ever came of it. The writers have confirmed that by the time of the second to last episode, she had grown as powerful as him so she didn't actually even need to take away Merlin's powers. When he emerges from the crystal cave, he's more powerful than ever before.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Morgana's thirst for power and to become Queen of Camelot and gain entitlement to the throne at any cost, including trying to kill her own half brother (Arthur) and turning against her own former best friend (Gwen), is nothing but pure evil. Morgana's hunger for power turned out to be her ultimate downfall.
* AntagonisticOffspring: To Uther.
* AntiHero: Pre-MoralEventHorizon. Morgana could be classified as PragmaticHero and UnscrupulousHero.
* AntiVillain: [[SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains TypeII and III]]. Afterwards, she goes from a qualmless and often emotionless WellIntentionedExtremist traumatized by her experiences and mostly seeing things in their light to a more thoughtful and calculating but also more human and confused antagonist, with a slight episode of SanitySlippage (thus being technically a type III for anyone who sees her as a villain and doesn't choose the popular AlternativeCharacterInterpretation).
* ArchEnemy:
** To Merlin, though she doesn't fully understand to what extent until the very end. After her FaceHeelTurn, she hates Merlin for trying to poison her but largely sees him as an annoyance while Uther and Arthur are her true enemies. Then she learns that the man named Emrys, who she sees in a vision, is destined to be her doom, not knowing that Emrys is actually Merlin aged into an old man using an aging potion. It's only in the GrandFinale that she finally learns the truth.
** Once Arthur learns the truth about her and becomes King, she firmly becomes his main enemy.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: With Arthur, although the specifics of this trope don't apply due to their mostly [[LikeBrotherandSister siblingly]] relationship.
* AxeCrazy: Definitely becomes this season four onwards albeit in a rather cold and manipulative way.
* BadassBoast: Morgana has zero problem with using her powers to try to intimidate others.
* BadassNormal: Before she discovered that she was a witch who possessed magical abilities.
* BadBoss: Consistently treats Agravaine poorly and is very quick to insult and blame him when things go wrong, even though he has [[HypercompetentSidekick been of enormous help]] to her at great personal risk.
* BastardBastard: After her FaceHeelTurn, before which she was a compassionate, good-hearted young woman. It is revealed Morgana is the illegitimate daughter of King Uther and a woman named Vivienne.
* BatmanGambit: Towards every character in the series, primarily to Arthur, Merlin and Gwen. Morgana often used manipulation (primarily with the use of magic) in order to cause harm to others.
* TheBeautifulElite: Especially in season's one and two. Not to mention that Morgana does come from RoyalBlood, although that was unknown in the first few seasons.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Eventually {{subverted}}.
* BeautyIsBad: From season three onwards after Morgana did a FaceHeelTurn.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: She went through many personality changes after series 2. You can find almost no similarities between her former self and her new self. Morgana was at first a confident, brave, and always compassionate young woman, who didn't judge any differences between magicians and non-magicians. After she discovers she has magical powers and would thus be hunted by Uther and shunned in Camelot, she becomes insecure and paranoid. Her feelings of isolation and lack of self-worth make her more self-focused. She slowly begins seeing everyone in Camelot as an enemy and reinterprets her relationships with them. After a betrayal, she begins to feel justified in her fear and considers all non-magic users in Camelot as worthless and cruel enemies who deserve to die. She then uses her insight into their inner lives to trap them, manipulate their minds, and ruin their romantic plot lines.
* BigBad: In series four and onwards. She is the opposite of [[TheGoodKing Arthur]], the BigGood.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: 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 TheDarkSide.
* BigNo: In 3x13, after [[spoiler:Morgause is gravely injured]]; she literally brings the roof down.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Merlin, Mordred and Morgause. All have the gift of magic, although Morgana is originally unaware of that Merlin has magic.
* BlackCloak: In series 4, complete with [[InTheHood hood]].
* BlingOfWar: Morgana's "action gear" involves a shiny metal corset of some kind. Unless she were shot directly in the stomach, it's utterly impractical.
* [[RingOfPower Bracelet Of Power]]: Morgana wears a special bracelet which was given to her by her half sister Morgause. The bracelet has magical power.
* BraidsOfAction: Whenever she has time to prepare for a fight, her hair is put back in a braid.
* BrainyBrunette: Of the ManipulativeBitch type.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: 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".
* BreakTheCutie: Although she has become evil, everything had gone wrong for Morgana. It is probably the biggest reason why Morgana did a FaceHeelTurn to begin with.
* BrokenBird: Morgana's resentment towards Uther's hatred for magic and those who use magic led to her FaceHeelTurn, so much that Merlin sympathizes with her in 3x02 and even tries to pull a [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight "I Know You're In There Somewhere" Fight]].
* BrotherSisterIncest: With Arthur. In the first season, there were hints of a Arthur/Morgana pairing, but in the third season, it was discovered that Arthur is her half-brother due to the fact that she and Arthur share the same father, Uther. Which is interesting, considering that in the original Arthurian legend, it's Arthur and Morgause, not Morgana, who have an incestuous relationship as the parents of Mordred (although adaptations often fold Morgause into Morgana and give her these relationships).
* ButtMonkey: Even before her HeelFaceTurn, the writers did not seem to like her.
* CainAndAbel: With Arthur. In terms of roles, Morgana is the Cain (the BigBad) to Arthur's Abel (the BigGood). She spends most of her time plotting to bring Arthur down and has made many attempts to kill him and make him suffer. And it seems as though she doesn't even care even after learning that he's her half brother. It's a far fall from when she actively ''defended'' him in 1x07. See SiblingYinYang.
* TheCaligula: 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 UndyingLoyalty towards Arthur.
* CatapultNightmare: Plenty. They get worse as the series goes on.
* TheChessmaster: Morgana has no problem using and manipulating people to get what she wants.
* TheChosenOne: According to the Dochraid, she's destined to bring back the Old Religion. [[spoiler:Given that she's the BigBad of the series and is killed by Merlin in the GrandFinale, it's doubtful that this is true.]]
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: After losing Morgause, Morgana is never fully loyal again, even to the magic users who serve under her. This eventually becomes her biggest downfall.
* ChronicVillainy: Morgana cannot stop committing evil acts.
* ClaspYourHandsIfYouDeceive: A couple of times in series three.
* CleavageWindow: Most of her outfits.
* ColorCodedEyes: Morgana's eye colour, which is one of her most noticeable and defining physical features. Interestingly enough, her green eye colour reflects on her personality and her temperament as a person, especially considering that she did a FaceHeelTurn after series 2. Morgana has always been somewhat of a jealous and envious personality, even before she became evil and consumed with darkness and hatred, but her jealous nature and her thirst for revenge became even more amplified and obvious after she became evil and turned to the dark side. Morgana particularly aimed her jealousy towards Arthur and Guinevere, so much that she spent all of her time plotting against the both of them.
* ComplexityAddiction: Hoo boy. Nearly every single one of Morgana's plans falls under this trope.
* ConflictingLoyalty: Ended by Series 3.
* ConsummateLiar: Morgana is always lying.
* CostumePorn: Morgana's entire wardrobe, including dresses that wouldn't look too out of place at a cocktail party.
* ConvenientComa: She ends up in at least three of these over the course of the series.
* CoolBigSis: To Arthur. At least in series 1. Ironically, neither of them knew it at the time, and when they both finally realize [[spoiler:that she ''is'' his half-sister]], she's already tried to kill him several times.
* CoolCrown: [[spoiler: At the end of season three, when she is briefly crowned Queen of Camelot.]]
* CorruptTheCutie: She became evil after her half sister Morgause started to manipulate her over to the dark side.
* TheCorrupter: Could be to every character on the show. But mostly to Gwen in season five. Also, to Merlin, when she tried to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwash]] him into killing Arthur at any cost in season four.
* TheCorruptible: It could be argued that Morgana was easily swayed over to the dark side because of how broken, fragile and vulnerable she was emotionally, psychologically and mentally. Darkness had already existed inside of her but it could be that a combination of psychological and mental issues, a dysfunctional family (being a Pendragon), the people she surrounded herself with (bad influences such as Morgause, Agravaine and even Uther) and the people who had somewhat of an influence on her turning evil (such as Merlin's betrayal, finding out that Uther arranged an [[UriahGambit Uriah Gambit]] on her father, and finding out he was her father, ect) is most likely what caused her to be so corruptible and what was able to let the darkness fully consume her to the point where she was filled with nothing but anger, hatred, jealousy and vengefulness on the inside.
* CuteAndPsycho: She was getting there in series 4, but seems to have fully crossed into this in series 5.
* DaddysLittleVillain: To Uther of course.
* DarkIsEvil: Morgana started dressing like Bellatrix Lestrange in season four. In season five, she strays from the Bellatrix look, but continues to wear black from head to toe.
* DarkMessiah: The Dochraid prophesies that Morgana will bring back the Old Religion to the land. A contrast to Merlin, who is the prophecised [[MessianicArchetype sorcerer who will guide Albion into a Golden Age]].
* TheDarkSide: Morgana becomes evil and does a FaceHeelTurn in season three. She becomes darker and darker as the series progresses, so much that she is no longer recognizable to the character she was in season's one and two.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: 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.
* DeadpanSnarker: Before she had her FaceHeelTurn, she had her witty and humorous moments.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Only to revert back into an IceQueen in series 3.
* TheDeterminator: Morgana will do anything, '''anything''', to gain access to the throne of Camelot, including killing people, causing destruction, and betraying and backstabbing others (like Arthur). Hell, she has started wars due to her determination to get what she wants. Morgana is probably one of the most determined characters in the entire series, probably up there with Merlin.
* DiminishingVillainThreat: The more Morgana tries to kill Arthur, the less threatening she becomes. It quickly becomes clear that without Morgause around to make the plans, she's out of her depth.
* DoesNotLikeMen: 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.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Morgana has the ability to see the future.
* DrivenByEnvy: 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''. Then again, it could be because Gwen chose Arthur over her after she invaded Camelot.
* DrivenToMadness: Morgana being betrayed by Merlin at the end of season two and watching Uther, her father, endlessly execute her kind (magic users) as well as deny being her father to the public caused her (who already has a host of psychological and mental issues to start with) to become obsessive, sociopathic and insane.
* DrivenToVillainy: Many factors contributed to Morgana doing a FaceHeelTurn.
* DrunkWithPower: After Morgana discovered that she had magic and became very powerful, she used her powerful magical abilities to destroy Camelot and bring down Arthur.
* DysfunctionJunction: Morgana is a highly dysfunctional individual. Her upbringing and her family (the Pendragons) are the most dysfunctional royal family ever.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Morgana has very dark hair with extremely pale complexion. It is very noticeable, especially when she wears black clothing.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: After Morgana gained her magical abilities. Not only did Morgana become a powerful witch and High Priestess, but she is also a master swordswoman and highly skilled in combat, skills which she possessed before she gained any of her magic.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Well, Morgana is royalty after all.
* EtTuBrute: She ''did not'' take Merlin's betrayal or Uther [[spoiler:not publicly recognizing her as his biological daughter]] well...
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Although Morgana is evil with bad intentions, it is clear that she cared for a few select group of people such as Morgause, Mordred, and Aithusa.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: As of series four, Morgana wears a gothic black dress and green eye-shadow with [[ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow dark eyeliner]], as well as having wild hair.
* EvilCounterpart: To Merlin. See {{Foil}}.
* EvilFeelsGood: 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 [[spoiler: Uther's death. Agravaine expects her to rejoice, but she's in a TroubledFetalPosition and wondering why she feels so empty.]]
* EvilFormerFriend: To Gwen, Arthur and Merlin.
* EvilGloating: There was never a time when Morgana didn't gloat about how powerful she was and how she would defeat Emrys and become Queen of Camelot one day.
* EvilIsPetty: Sure, her animosity toward Uther and Merlin is justified, but her treatment of Gwen is just catty and mean. Though Gwen did betray her for Arthur after she invaded Camelot.
* EvilMentor: To Mordred and Aithusa, sort of.
* EvilPlan: To destroy Uther, bring down both Arthur and Gwen, defeat Emrys (Merlin) and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen rule Camelot as Queen]]. [[spoiler: She fails.]]
* EvilSorcerer: Gender-inverted. Morgana is a very powerful witch and a High Priestess. However, she uses her magic for evil purposes and she also practices BlackMagic. She uses her magic to bring down Arthur and the rest of Camelot. Morgana is the opposite of Merlin, who is a good or benevolent magic user who practices WhiteMagic.
* EvilWearsBlack: After Morgana does a FaceHeelTurn, she starts to wear much more black or darker colours, indicating her status as someone who has turned to the dark side. In the earlier series, Morgana wore brighter colours such as purple, blue and green for example, which had reflected not only her royal status but her good natured personality.
* ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow: After Morgana became evil, she started to wear heavier eye makeup, such as heavier eyeliner and heavier eyeshadow (the colour of her eyeshadow was green). Before Morgana became evil, she wore much lighter makeup.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Morgana's hair style change is vert noticeable after she does a FaceHeelTurn.
* FaceHeelTurn: In season three onwards.
* FallenHero: Morgana was originally a kind and nice person who had shown herself to be compassionate and understanding. However, she does a FaceHeelTurn in series 3 and becomes evil, succumbing to TheDarkSide. There are many factors that contributed to Morgana becoming the way that she did, such as her dysfunctional upbringing, feeling like an outsider within Camelot as somebody who possesses magic, watching those like her constantly being ostracized and killed because of who they are, being corrupted by immoral people (Agravaine, Morgause, even Uther) and being betrayed by those she considered to be her friends.
* FalseFriend: Towards Merlin, and later towards Arthur, Gwen, and (in a daughterly manner) Uther.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Morgana appeared this way to everyone, including to Merlin, Arthur, Uther, and Gwen, during the beginning of season three. She appeared to be polite and nice to everyone's faces, primarily Uther and Gwen. However, Morgana had already slipped over to the dark side. She became full-on evil in the later part of season three onwards.
* FlirtyStepSiblings: 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 of 3x05, Arthur and Morgana fall into [[spoiler:BrotherSisterIncest]], given that [[spoiler: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 is also the DarkMessiah to Merlin's MessianicArchetype. She's also a noble as opposed to Merlin's commoner background.
* ForegoneConclusion: Morgana becoming evil (or at least becoming an enemy of Camelot and its people).
* FreudianExcuse: There are various and understandable reasons as to why Morgana did a FaceHeelTurn. Some of them include her dysfunctional upbringing, watching Uther (her own father) consistently persecute and execute those of her kind (magic users), having to hide her identity as a witch within Camelot out of fear of being executed, suffering from psychological, emotional and mental issues, and also being betrayed by both Uther and Merlin.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Averted. It's not that Morgana was nobody, it's that Morgana goes from being a "normal" King's Ward into one of the most powerful and most dangerous characters in the entire series. Most of this has to do with the fact that Morgana became completely [[TheCorruptible corruptible]] and let power, jealousy, anger and greed take over her and her motivations.
* TheGift: When Morgana finally accepts her magical powers, sometime between seasons three and four, she becomes a High Priestess after one year of training. She eventually becomes a serious threat to Merlin, who is the most powerful warlock in history. She is a skilled swordswoman and is always able to get her hands on an army.
* GirlyBruiser: Morgana is very feminine but she's a rather capable fighter and is pretty handy with a sword.
* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: Inverted. More like Psycho Girl With Weapon. It's not that the weapon Morgana often has on her (mostly a sword or a knife) is psycho, it's that Morgana is psycho.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Morgana was [[spoiler: crowned Queen of Camelot in one of the final two episodes of season three. Also, she was momentarily Queen in season four.]]
* GoodColorsEvilColors: When Morgana was still good in the first two seasons, she wore lighter colours such as blue, purple and green. However, after Morgana did a FaceHeelTurn, she started to wear much darker colours, specifically black.
* GoodGirlGoneBad: Morgana went from being a kind, caring, compassionate and understanding person to someone selfish, hateful, manipulative, vengeful, and jealous. There are many factors that contributed to Morgana doing a FaceHeelTurn such as growing up in a dysfunctional family and environment, being rejected or not being acknowledged by her real father (Uther), feeling like an outsider within Camelot as someone who possesses magic, seeing people of her kind (magic users) constantly being persecuted and killed by the hand of her own father, and being betrayed by people she saw or referred to as her friends (i.e. Merlin).
* GoodHairEvilHair: Morgana's hair changed rather dramatically between the time she was "good" and when she became bad. Morgana's FaceHeelTurn takes her from shiny, flowing tresses to a bird's nest of messy hair that seems to include dreadlocks.
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: 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.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: She gets no less than four purple dresses over the course of the first three series, two of silk and two of velvet: [[http://oi47.tinypic.com/hv79xi.jpg one]], [[http://oi46.tinypic.com/riywya.jpg two]], [[http://oi46.tinypic.com/1114bk9.jpg three]], [[http://oi48.tinypic.com/10f3vx1.jpg four]] which denote her status as the king's ward, as well as the fact that she is also of RoyalBlood ([[spoiler: considering that she is King Uther's illegitimate daughter after all.]])
* GreenEyedMonster: Morgana is strongly driven by envy, jealousy and revenge. It became more evident after she became evil. Even before Morgana turned to darkness, she still possessed somewhat of a jealous and envious personality and temperament.
* HardHead: 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 [[Series/{{Smallville}} Lex Luthor]].
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: At the end of the second season, Morgana is unknowingly the source of an enchantment that has put everyone in Camelot to sleep. The only way to break the enchantment is to kill the source (the source being Morgana) - so Merlin poisons her. Throughout that season, Morgana had been teetering between good and evil but this act of betrayal (Merlin's betrayal against her) acts as a catalyst. So when she returns a year later, her half sister Morgause has corrupted her completely. Then in a season three episode, Morgana discovers that she is King Uther's birth daughter. When he refuses to acknowledge her, it's a pretty definitive door slam for Morgana.
* HeroicBSOD: Kate [=McGrath=] said that Morgana sort of "shuts down" in 2x12 as she realizes her role in Morgause's plot.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:By the time that she trapped Merlin in the Crystal Cave, her powers had finally managed to become strong enough to be equal to his. Too bad that it was the Crystal Cavern where Merlin managed to reach the full potential of his abilities, becoming more powerful than ever and, more importantly, more powerful than she could ever hope to become, returning her to her usual AlwaysSecondBest]]. Had she not [[spoiler:trapped Merlin in the cave and (apparently) stripped him of his powers]], she might have had a chance to defeat him, but instead what she did was ensure that would never happen.
* HourglassPlot: With Guinevere. The two essentially switch positions over the course of the show.
* HumiliationConga: Is unnervingly prone to being on the receiving end of these.
* IceQueen: Morgana is cold, icy, selfish and sociopathic.
* InTheHood: Is often wearing one when she's up to no good.
* InternalizedCategorism: 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 SelfFulfillingProphecy: having taken in Uther's teaching that magic was evil, she subconsciously believes that having embraced her magical side, she ''has'' to act evil.
* IrrationalHatred: 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 FantasticRacism.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: 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 BitchInSheepsClothing and crossed the MoralEventHorizon. 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?".
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: She does come from royalty after all.
* KillTheCutie: She is killed [[spoiler: by Merlin in the series finale after he stabs her with a sword in dragons breath.]]
* LackOfEmpathy: 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 [[ItsAllAboutMe 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 mistakenly believed she was kidnapped). By the third series, she responds to Merlin's plea that women and children are dying with the word: "Good!"
* LadyOfBlackMagic: Beautiful, intelligent, poised, and a powerful sorceress who can use highly destructive magic. Her magical powers only become more powerful throughout the story.
* LadyOfWar: A graceful sorceress who is also a masterful swordsman.
* LastOfHisKind: She is the last High Priestess of the Old Religion.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Dark obviously, though with less emphasis on sexuality (in the later series) than the trope usually implies.
* LittleDeadRidingHood: Morgana narrowly avoids this fate in ''The Nightmare Begins'' after escaping to the forest in a bright red hooded cloak.
* LongLostRelative: She is revealed to be Morgause's [[spoiler:''and'' Arthur's]] half-sister.
* MagicIsEvil: At least when Morgana uses magic. Morgana often practiced dark magic, as opposed to Merlin, who practiced [[WhiteMagic good magic]].
* MakingASplash: Whereas Merlin's powers seem to be based on [[BlowYouAway air]] and [[PlayingWithFire fire]], Morgana is often connected with water, most obviously in ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS03E01TheTearsOfUtherPendragonPartI}} The Tears of Uther Pendragon]]'' in which the damp mandrake root conjures up visions of drowned murder victims.
* MamaBear: 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.
* ManipulativeBitch: 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''.
* MasterSwordsman: Morgana has been shown to very capable and effective in sword fighting.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [[spoiler: She began turning against Camelot when she discovered that she has magic and feared for her life. Merlin's poisoning her clinches it.]]
* MoralityPet: Is more or less one for Uther, and is definitely one for Morgause. [[spoiler:Aithusa and Mordred become this for her in series 5.]]
* MotiveDecay: At some point her goals shift from ridding Camelot of a tyrannical king (justifiable) to killing [[spoiler:her half-brother]] and becoming queen herself (not so much).
* MsFanservice: Some of Morgana's outfits have been somewhat revealing.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Though she keeps changing her mind on this. Usually she goes straight for the kill when she ''shouldn't'' and relies on [[ComplexityAddiction overly complicated plans]] when she should just be killing.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: NamesToRunAwayFrom/{{Mor}}gana.
* NiceGirl: Was this before her FaceHeelTurn.
* NiceToTheWaiter: In the first two seasons she treats her maidservant Gwen very nicely, and the two are close friends. This obviously changes after Morgana's FaceHeelTurn.
* NoSympathyBetweenMooks: Morgana even treated her own allies and people who were on her side badly, most notably Agravaine.
* NotAsYouKnowThem: Her return in series 3.
* NotQuiteDead: Many times in the series, but most notably after Merlin poisoned her in season two.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Annis calls her on her similarities to Uther, despite her hatred of him. Also, in "The Sword in the Stone: Part 2", when Morgana calls Arthur out for being not so different from Uther, [[InsultBackfire only for him to counter back]].
--> '''Morgana:''' Maybe you're not so different from Uther as you like to think.\\
'''Arthur''': [[LampshadeHanging Nor are you]].
* OfCorsetsSexy: In series 4 her black outfit is fitted with a laced-up corset.
* OffingTheOffspring: She's terrified of [[spoiler:Uther]] for exactly this reason.
* OffscreenTeleportation: 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.
* OhCrap: Morgana in ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E06AServantOfTwoMasters}} A Servant Of Two Masters]]'' upon seeing the 80-year-old disguised Merlin, having had visions of him as "Emrys" and foreseeing that [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou he will stand over her]] on a corpse-littered battlefield, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech admonishing her for her misdeeds.]] Occurs again for "The Sword in The Stone, Part II".
** In "Diamond of the Day Part 2", the [[SmugSnake smug expression]] on her face turning to rapid horror after Merlin reveals [[spoiler: that the sword he ran her through with was actually ''[[InfinityPlusOneSword Excalibur]]'', a weapon forged in Dragon's breath. In other words, a weapon that ''can'' actually kill her.]]
* OrcusOnHisThrone: 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.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father died ten years ago, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown. [[spoiler:But as it turns out, Uther is her biological father and kept it secret all along.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Of sorts, towards Mordred.
* PetTheDog: Has a genuine bond with Aithusa.
* PluckyGirl: Before her FaceHeelTurn.
* PoliticallyActivePrincess: Both before and after her FaceHeelTurn. Prior to it, would often stick up for the rights of magic-users, afterwards she tries to topple the Pendragon dynasty.
* ThePowerOfHate: In season three she is driven entirely by hate, some of it understandable (toward Uther and Merlin) and some of it inexplicable (the writers never give us a reason why she suddenly loathes Arthur and Guinevere).
* ProperLady: Primarily in the earlier seasons when she was King Uther's ward before she did a FaceHeelTurn.
* ProudBeauty: At times, especially in the earliest episodes.
* PsychoticSmirk: Morgana gives these all of the time.
* PsychopathicWomanchild: Morgana displays traits of entitlement, selfishness and brattiness. At times, she displays immaturity, especially when it comes to feeling that she is entitled to the throne of Camelot. Morgana can come off rather bratty and immature and she throws temper tantrums whenever she doesn't get her way.
* PurpleIsPowerful: Morgana wears a lot of purple, which strongly reflects her coming from RoyalBlood as well as being a powerful witch and high priestess.
* PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery: At this point, she seemingly just wants to make everyone suffer.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: The contrast of Morgana's very dark hair and pale skin is even more noticeable in the later seasons.
* RelatedDifferentlyInTheAdaptation:
** She is revealed to be Arthur's paternal half-sister. In the Arthurian legends they're usually maternal half-siblings. Interestingly, the series does still feature Gorlois, Morgana's legendary father - Morgana believed he was her father for much of her life, not knowing Uther secretly had an affair with her mother. This partly explains why Uther took on Morgana as his ward after her parents died, though it also results in Morgana resenting Uther more than ever for never acknowledging her as his child. It also drives her ambition to become Queen of Camelot eventually, because the way she sees it she has just as much right to rule as Arthur.
** As a consequence of this, Morgana and Morgause are presented as maternal half-sisters rather than full sisters, though it doesn't diminish their closeness (especially as they both hate Uther).
* TheResenter: Of Arthur and Guinevere for their positions in Camelot and their adherence to Uther's anti-magic policy.
** She also has a strong resentment against Merlin for poisoning her in season two. In fact, it could be argued that Merlin's betrayal is what cause Morgana to do a full on FaceHeelTurn.
* RichBitch: She comes from royalty after all.
* RivalTurnedEvil: Morgana became this towards Merlin, Arthur and Gwen in season three onwards.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: What she's been doing for the past two series.
* RoyalBastard: She's revealed to be the illegitimate daughter of King Uther Pendragon.
* RoyalBlood: Morgana is the daughter of Uther, who was the former King of Camelot.
* RoyallyScrewedUp: Morgana could be the Trope Codifier. She is the illegitimate daughter of King Uther. Morgana hates Uther but ironically, [[LikeFatherLikeSon shares many traits in common with him]]. Morgana also has [[TheMentallyDisturbed many psychological, emotional and mental issues]].
* SameCharacterButDifferent: The abrupt switch in her personality between series 2 and 3.
* SanitySlippage: By series 5, her desire to rule Camelot seems to be the only thing keeping her even remotely grounded. She's so lost in her hatred that the mere mention of failure to kill Arthur sets her off.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: Morgana possesses magic. Therefore, she believes that she is able to do whatever she wants because she is a powerful witch. Morgana often tries to use her strength and power of magic to intimidate others.
* SecretlySelfish: Morgana certainly cares about her friends and feels sympathy for those persecuted because they use magic, but most of her actions are actually motivated by her own desires. After Gwen's father is killed, she becomes willing to betray Uther not because of how this hurts Gwen but because of her own issues with him, and after discovering that she has magic becomes far more willing to betray him and aide those who are willing to kill anyone working for him. She also refuses to return to Camelot after Merlin warns her that people will be killed since Uther suspects them of having kidnapped her, showing that at the end of the day she only cares about herself. And it's notable that after her FaceHeelTurn, she seemingly swears revenge on all of Camelot despite Uther and Merlin being the only ones deserving of her anger, not caring how this would result in the death of people like Gwen and Arthur who have always treated her fairly and even helped her in going against Uther's commands such as when they saved Mordred.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Which leads to her FaceHeelTurn.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Her mother and the man she looked to as a father and believed for a long time was her father were already dead, but she gave Agravaine the amulet to kill the wounded Uther--her birth father.
* ShipperOnDeck: Morgana became a bit of a shipper of Merlin/Gwen in 1x03 and 1x04.
* ShowSomeLeg: Morgana devises this plan in order for Gwen and her to escape from bandits in 2x04.
* SmugSmiler: One of her defining traits after her FaceHeelTurn, to the point that it's a source of {{Narm}} and MemeticMutation among the fans of the show.
* SmugSuper: When she doesn't have to hide her magic, she's not shy about lording it over non-magic users.
* TheSnarkKnight: Morgana won't hesitate to use sarcasm.
* TheStarscream: Morgana beginning in Series 3 becomes this to Uther.
** In Series 4, this ends up repeatedly being [[FatalFlaw her downfall]], seeking allies to take control of Camelot, but whom end up abandoning her after realising her ChronicBackstabbingDisorder.
* StartOfDarkness: It could be argued that Morgana started to become evil after Merlin poisoned her in season two. [[spoiler: In the series finale, Merlin even admitted that he blames himself for Morgana turning evil and into a villain]]. However her actions prior to this imply she would have turned evil anyway, but poisoning her is just what finally caused her to become the villain.
* StayInTheKitchen: 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 [[spoiler: 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.
* SugaryMalice: She's good at this one.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Like Merlin, when she uses magic.
* TokenEvilTeammate: In season 3, when she returns to Camelot, after her FaceHeelTurn. In season 4 and 5 she's not even a "teammate" anymore.
* TookALevelInBadass: After she discovered that she had magic and found Morgause, she stopped being afraid and began to use her power purposefully.
* TookALevelInJerkass: She always was rebellious and butting heads with Uther, but it was because she didn't like his treatment of magic users and was upset with the rumors of him offing the man she thought was her father. But, after she found out Uther was really her father and had lied she went full on evil. Even when Arthur became king (after she had Uther killed), she didn't stop because she views Arthur as being just like Uther and believes only she can bring back magic.
* TraitorShot: Gets dozens and dozens. And dozens.
* TroubledAbuser: All her interactions with Guinevere post series 3.
* TrueCompanions: Was this with Merlin, Gwen and Arthur before her FaceHeelTurn.
* TheUnfettered: Morgana is extremely ruthless in her actions. She doesn't have any guilt or remorse for her actions or hurting others.
* UnkemptBeauty: In season's four and five. Morgana went from wearing fancy dresses and looking like royalty in the earlier seasons to wearing black gothic clothing with wild, untameable hair in the later seasons.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: Before season four. When Morgana was the King's ward in season's one to three, she had a variation of different outfits and dresses. After she turned bad in season three, her wardrobe became less vibrant and became more limited.
* UnstoppableRage: Morgana has it towards Uther, Gwen and Arthur. She has anger towards Merlin to a lesser extent.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: 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."
* VainSorceress: {{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 she's not really trying to impress anyone.
* VillainCorner: Towards the end of season two, Morgana was already started to do a Face by joining forces with [[LongLostSibling Morgause]]. Morgana became increasingly darker and more evil after Merlin poisoned her. It could be argued that Merlin poisoning Morgana and betraying her caused Morgana to do a complete FaceHeelTurn.
* VillainousBreakdown: At the end of season three, when she finds Morgause gravely injured. She [[BigNo screams so loud in devastation]] that she literally brings the walls down with her magic.
* WaterIsWomanly: A cold, aloof LadyOfBlackMagic whose magical powers are often associated with water to contrast with Merlin's fire-based powers.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Along with Morgause. Given Uther's treatment of those with magic, her shift in alignment is understandable and [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation her side may even have the moral high-ground over Uther]], but like Uther, she uses some ruthless tactics to achieve her end.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: To Merlin, Arthur and Gwen. In fact, she says these exact words to Gwen in ''The Hunter's Heart''.
* WhiteStallion: When she was still on Camelot's side.
* WickedCultured: Morgana comes from royalty, therefore, she was raised cultured and was surrounded by all of the finer things in life.
* WildCard: In series 2.
* WildHair: In series 4 and onward.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Morgana wants nothing but to bring Camelot, Uther and Arthur down. She is willing to do so at any cost. Although, if you look at Morgana's story, you can understand why she became evil or turned against Uther and Camelot. Morgana has always yearned to be accepted in Camelot as a magic user. However, watching her father, Uther, endless persecute and execute people of her kind has made her disdain and hatred for Uther and Camelot grow as time goes on. So, while Morgana doing evil things against Arthur, Uther and Camelot may be wrong on all levels, it is understandable why Morgana did turn against all of them at the same time.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Occasionally. She gets really good at almost fooling everyone.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: As several characters point out to her in series four, Morgana has become just like Uther.
* YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood: What Merlin tells Morgana in season three after she did a FaceHeelTurn.
* YouKilledMyFather: Morgana accuses Uther of indirectly killing Gorlois by not sending troops to his aid.
* YoureNotMyFather: 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.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Gwen]]
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinevere-pendragon_2115.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
[-'''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. [[spoiler: As of the finale, she is queen regnant of Camelot.]]
----
* ActionGirl: In season 1/2 and season 3 respectively. As well as the last episode of season 4.
* ActionFashionista: Morgana loves fashion plus she's an ActionGirl to boot.
* AdaptationalNameChange: There is no mention of her traditional surname of le Fay, and instead once she finds out that Uther is her father she is referred to as Morgana Pendragon.
* AdaptationalSympathy: Compared to older versions of Morgan le Fay. Morgana actually starts out as a heroic character before SlowlySlippingIntoEvil. She was [[TheGift born with magic]] but tries to keep it suppressed because her guardian King Uther despises magic and persecutes anyone who practices it, so she lives in fear for years. Her half-sister [[ManipulativeBitch Morgause]] manipulates her into turning against her friends; their own actions [[NiceJobBreakingItHero don't help]] as Merlin poisons Morgana to force Morgause into calling off an attack and Morgause subsequently whisks her away from Camelot for months, not allowing Merlin to explain. And then Morgana discovers Uther is actually [[spoiler:her biological father via an affair with her mother but never told her this, and then killed the man who raised her in an [[UriahGambit UriahGambit ]]]], so she's understandably upset and hacked off. She then decides she'd make a much better ruler than either Uther or Arthur, spurred on by Morgause.
* AGodAmI: 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.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: She seemed particularly interested in both Valiant in season one and Alvarr in season two.
* AlwaysSecondBest: The mere mention of "[[TheDreaded Emrys]]" is enough to reduce to her a nervous wreck. It's repeatedly shown that compared to Merlin, she's basically an ant. According to Merlin however, the day she grew more powerful than him was not far away but nothing ever came of it. The writers have confirmed that by the time of the second to last episode, she had grown as powerful as him so she didn't actually even need to take away Merlin's powers. When he emerges from the crystal cave, he's more powerful than ever before.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Morgana's thirst for power and to become Queen of Camelot and gain entitlement to the throne at any cost, including trying to kill her own half brother (Arthur) and turning against her own former best friend (Gwen), is nothing but pure evil. Morgana's hunger for power turned out to be her ultimate downfall.
* AntagonisticOffspring: To Uther.
* AntiHero: Pre-MoralEventHorizon. Morgana could be classified as PragmaticHero and UnscrupulousHero.
* AntiVillain: [[SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains TypeII and III]]. Afterwards, she goes from a qualmless and often emotionless WellIntentionedExtremist traumatized by her experiences and mostly seeing things in their light to a more thoughtful and calculating but also more human and confused antagonist, with a slight episode of SanitySlippage (thus being technically a type III for anyone who sees her as a villain and doesn't choose the popular AlternativeCharacterInterpretation).
* ArchEnemy:
** To Merlin, though she doesn't fully understand to what extent until the very end. After her FaceHeelTurn, she hates Merlin for trying to poison her but largely sees him as an annoyance while Uther and Arthur are her true enemies. Then she learns that the man named Emrys, who she sees in a vision, is destined to be her doom, not knowing that Emrys is actually Merlin aged into an old man using an aging potion. It's only in the GrandFinale that she finally learns the truth.
** Once Arthur learns the truth about her and becomes King, she firmly becomes his main enemy.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: With Arthur, although the specifics of this trope don't apply due to their mostly [[LikeBrotherandSister siblingly]] relationship.
* AxeCrazy: Definitely becomes this season four onwards albeit in a rather cold and manipulative way.
* BadassBoast: Morgana has zero problem with using her powers to try to intimidate others.
* BadassNormal: Before she discovered that she was a witch who possessed magical abilities.
* BadBoss: Consistently treats Agravaine poorly and is very quick to insult and blame him when things go wrong, even though he has [[HypercompetentSidekick been of enormous help]] to her at great personal risk.
* BastardBastard: After her FaceHeelTurn, before which she was a compassionate, good-hearted young woman. It is revealed Morgana is the illegitimate daughter of King Uther and a woman named Vivienne.
* BatmanGambit: Towards every character in the series, primarily to Arthur, Merlin and Gwen. Morgana often used manipulation (primarily with the use of magic) in order to cause harm to others.
* TheBeautifulElite: Especially in season's one and two. Not to mention that Morgana does come from RoyalBlood, although that was unknown in the first few seasons.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Eventually {{subverted}}.
* BeautyIsBad: From season three onwards after Morgana did a FaceHeelTurn.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: She went through many personality changes after series 2. You can find almost no similarities between her former self and her new self. Morgana was at first a confident, brave, and always compassionate young woman, who didn't judge any differences between magicians and non-magicians. After she discovers she has magical powers and would thus be hunted by Uther and shunned in Camelot, she becomes insecure and paranoid. Her feelings of isolation and lack of self-worth make her more self-focused. She slowly begins seeing everyone in Camelot as an enemy and reinterprets her relationships with them. After a betrayal, she begins to feel justified in her fear and considers all non-magic users in Camelot as worthless and cruel enemies who deserve to die. She then uses her insight into their inner lives to trap them, manipulate their minds, and ruin their romantic plot lines.
* BigBad: In series four and onwards. She is the opposite of [[TheGoodKing Arthur]], the BigGood.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: 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 TheDarkSide.
* BigNo: In 3x13, after [[spoiler:Morgause is gravely injured]]; she literally brings the roof down.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Merlin, Mordred and Morgause. All have the gift of magic, although Morgana is originally unaware of that Merlin has magic.
* BlackCloak: In series 4, complete with [[InTheHood hood]].
* BlingOfWar: Morgana's "action gear" involves a shiny metal corset of some kind. Unless she were shot directly in the stomach, it's utterly impractical.
* [[RingOfPower Bracelet Of Power]]: Morgana wears a special bracelet which was given to her by her half sister Morgause. The bracelet has magical power.
* BraidsOfAction: Whenever she has time to prepare for a fight, her hair is put back in a braid.
* BrainyBrunette: Of the ManipulativeBitch type.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: 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".
* BreakTheCutie: Although she has become evil, everything had gone wrong for Morgana. It is probably the biggest reason why Morgana did a FaceHeelTurn to begin with.
* BrokenBird: Morgana's resentment towards Uther's hatred for magic and those who use magic led to her FaceHeelTurn, so much that Merlin sympathizes with her in 3x02 and even tries to pull a [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight "I Know You're In There Somewhere" Fight]].
* BrotherSisterIncest: With Arthur. In the first season, there were hints of a Arthur/Morgana pairing, but in the third season, it was discovered that Arthur is her half-brother due to the fact that she and Arthur share the same father, Uther. Which is interesting, considering that in the original Arthurian legend, it's Arthur and Morgause, not Morgana, who have an incestuous relationship as the parents of Mordred (although adaptations often fold Morgause into Morgana and give her these relationships).
* ButtMonkey: Even before her HeelFaceTurn, the writers did not seem to like her.
* CainAndAbel: With Arthur. In terms of roles, Morgana is the Cain (the BigBad) to Arthur's Abel (the BigGood). She spends most of her time plotting to bring Arthur down and has made many attempts to kill him and make him suffer. And it seems as though she doesn't even care even after learning that he's her half brother. It's a far fall from when she actively ''defended'' him in 1x07. See SiblingYinYang.
* TheCaligula: 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 UndyingLoyalty towards Arthur.
* CatapultNightmare: Plenty. They get worse as the series goes on.
* TheChessmaster: Morgana has no problem using and manipulating people to get what she wants.
* TheChosenOne: According to the Dochraid, she's destined to bring back the Old Religion. [[spoiler:Given that she's the BigBad of the series and is killed by Merlin in the GrandFinale, it's doubtful that this is true.]]
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: After losing Morgause, Morgana is never fully loyal again, even to the magic users who serve under her. This eventually becomes her biggest downfall.
* ChronicVillainy: Morgana cannot stop committing evil acts.
* ClaspYourHandsIfYouDeceive: A couple of times in series three.
* CleavageWindow: Most of her outfits.
* ColorCodedEyes: Morgana's eye colour, which is one of her most noticeable and defining physical features. Interestingly enough, her green eye colour reflects on her personality and her temperament as a person, especially considering that she did a FaceHeelTurn after series 2. Morgana has always been somewhat of a jealous and envious personality, even before she became evil and consumed with darkness and hatred, but her jealous nature and her thirst for revenge became even more amplified and obvious after she became evil and turned to the dark side. Morgana particularly aimed her jealousy towards Arthur and Guinevere, so much that she spent all of her time plotting against the both of them.
* ComplexityAddiction: Hoo boy. Nearly every single one of Morgana's plans falls under this trope.
* ConflictingLoyalty: Ended by Series 3.
* ConsummateLiar: Morgana is always lying.
* CostumePorn: Morgana's entire wardrobe, including dresses that wouldn't look too out of place at a cocktail party.
* ConvenientComa: She ends up in at least three of these over the course of the series.
* CoolBigSis: To Arthur. At least in series 1. Ironically, neither of them knew it at the time, and when they both finally realize [[spoiler:that she ''is'' his half-sister]], she's already tried to kill him several times.
* CoolCrown: [[spoiler: At the end of season three, when she is briefly crowned Queen of Camelot.]]
* CorruptTheCutie: She became evil after her half sister Morgause started to manipulate her over to the dark side.
* TheCorrupter: Could be to every character on the show. But mostly to Gwen in season five. Also, to Merlin, when she tried to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwash]] him into killing Arthur at any cost in season four.
* TheCorruptible: It could be argued that Morgana was easily swayed over to the dark side because of how broken, fragile and vulnerable she was emotionally, psychologically and mentally. Darkness had already existed inside of her but it could be that a combination of psychological and mental issues, a dysfunctional family (being a Pendragon), the people she surrounded herself with (bad influences such as Morgause, Agravaine and even Uther) and the people who had somewhat of an influence on her turning evil (such as Merlin's betrayal, finding out that Uther arranged an [[UriahGambit Uriah Gambit]] on her father, and finding out he was her father, ect) is most likely what caused her to be so corruptible and what was able to let the darkness fully consume her to the point where she was filled with nothing but anger, hatred, jealousy and vengefulness on the inside.
* CuteAndPsycho: She was getting there in series 4, but seems to have fully crossed into this in series 5.
* DaddysLittleVillain: To Uther of course.
* DarkIsEvil: Morgana started dressing like Bellatrix Lestrange in season four. In season five, she strays from the Bellatrix look, but continues to wear black from head to toe.
* DarkMessiah: The Dochraid prophesies that Morgana will bring back the Old Religion to the land. A contrast to Merlin, who is the prophecised [[MessianicArchetype sorcerer who will guide Albion into a Golden Age]].
* TheDarkSide: Morgana becomes evil and does a FaceHeelTurn in season three. She becomes darker and darker as the series progresses, so much that she is no longer recognizable to the character she was in season's one and two.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: 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.
* DeadpanSnarker: Before she had her FaceHeelTurn, she had her witty and humorous moments.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Only to revert back into an IceQueen in series 3.
* TheDeterminator: Morgana will do anything, '''anything''', to gain access to the throne of Camelot, including killing people, causing destruction, and betraying and backstabbing others (like Arthur). Hell, she has started wars due to her determination to get what she wants. Morgana is probably one of the most determined characters in the entire series, probably up there with Merlin.
* DiminishingVillainThreat: The more Morgana tries to kill Arthur, the less threatening she becomes. It quickly becomes clear that without Morgause around to make the plans, she's out of her depth.
* DoesNotLikeMen: 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.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Morgana has the ability to see the future.
* DrivenByEnvy: 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''. Then again, it could be because Gwen chose Arthur over her after she invaded Camelot.
* DrivenToMadness: Morgana being betrayed by Merlin at the end of season two and watching Uther, her father, endlessly execute her kind (magic users) as well as deny being her father to the public caused her (who already has a host of psychological and mental issues to start with) to become obsessive, sociopathic and insane.
* DrivenToVillainy: Many factors contributed to Morgana doing a FaceHeelTurn.
* DrunkWithPower: After Morgana discovered that she had magic and became very powerful, she used her powerful magical abilities to destroy Camelot and bring down Arthur.
* DysfunctionJunction: Morgana is a highly dysfunctional individual. Her upbringing and her family (the Pendragons) are the most dysfunctional royal family ever.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Morgana has very dark hair with extremely pale complexion. It is very noticeable, especially when she wears black clothing.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: After Morgana gained her magical abilities. Not only did Morgana become a powerful witch and High Priestess, but she is also a master swordswoman and highly skilled in combat, skills which she possessed before she gained any of her magic.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Well, Morgana is royalty after all.
* EtTuBrute: She ''did not'' take Merlin's betrayal or Uther [[spoiler:not publicly recognizing her as his biological daughter]] well...
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Although Morgana is evil with bad intentions, it is clear that she cared for a few select group of people such as Morgause, Mordred, and Aithusa.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: As of series four, Morgana wears a gothic black dress and green eye-shadow with [[ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow dark eyeliner]], as well as having wild hair.
* EvilCounterpart: To Merlin. See {{Foil}}.
* EvilFeelsGood: 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 [[spoiler: Uther's death. Agravaine expects her to rejoice, but she's in a TroubledFetalPosition and wondering why she feels so empty.]]
* EvilFormerFriend: To Gwen, Arthur and Merlin.
* EvilGloating: There was never a time when Morgana didn't gloat about how powerful she was and how she would defeat Emrys and become Queen of Camelot one day.
* EvilIsPetty: Sure, her animosity toward Uther and Merlin is justified, but her treatment of Gwen is just catty and mean. Though Gwen did betray her for Arthur after she invaded Camelot.
* EvilMentor: To Mordred and Aithusa, sort of.
* EvilPlan: To destroy Uther, bring down both Arthur and Gwen, defeat Emrys (Merlin) and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen rule Camelot as Queen]]. [[spoiler: She fails.]]
* EvilSorcerer: Gender-inverted. Morgana is a very powerful witch and a High Priestess. However, she uses her magic for evil purposes and she also practices BlackMagic. She uses her magic to bring down Arthur and the rest of Camelot. Morgana is the opposite of Merlin, who is a good or benevolent magic user who practices WhiteMagic.
* EvilWearsBlack: After Morgana does a FaceHeelTurn, she starts to wear much more black or darker colours, indicating her status as someone who has turned to the dark side. In the earlier series, Morgana wore brighter colours such as purple, blue and green for example, which had reflected not only her royal status but her good natured personality.
* ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow: After Morgana became evil, she started to wear heavier eye makeup, such as heavier eyeliner and heavier eyeshadow (the colour of her eyeshadow was green). Before Morgana became evil, she wore much lighter makeup.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Morgana's hair style change is vert noticeable after she does a FaceHeelTurn.
* FaceHeelTurn: In season three onwards.
* FallenHero: Morgana was originally a kind and nice person who had shown herself to be compassionate and understanding. However, she does a FaceHeelTurn in series 3 and becomes evil, succumbing to TheDarkSide. There are many factors that contributed to Morgana becoming the way that she did, such as her dysfunctional upbringing, feeling like an outsider within Camelot as somebody who possesses magic, watching those like her constantly being ostracized and killed because of who they are, being corrupted by immoral people (Agravaine, Morgause, even Uther) and being betrayed by those she considered to be her friends.
* FalseFriend: Towards Merlin, and later towards Arthur, Gwen, and (in a daughterly manner) Uther.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Morgana appeared this way to everyone, including to Merlin, Arthur, Uther, and Gwen, during the beginning of season three. She appeared to be polite and nice to everyone's faces, primarily Uther and Gwen. However, Morgana had already slipped over to the dark side. She became full-on evil in the later part of season three onwards.
* FlirtyStepSiblings: 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 of 3x05, Arthur and Morgana fall into [[spoiler:BrotherSisterIncest]], given that [[spoiler: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 is also the DarkMessiah to Merlin's MessianicArchetype. She's also a noble as opposed to Merlin's commoner background.
* ForegoneConclusion: Morgana becoming evil (or at least becoming an enemy of Camelot and its people).
* FreudianExcuse: There are various and understandable reasons as to why Morgana did a FaceHeelTurn. Some of them include her dysfunctional upbringing, watching Uther (her own father) consistently persecute and execute those of her kind (magic users), having to hide her identity as a witch within Camelot out of fear of being executed, suffering from psychological, emotional and mental issues, and also being betrayed by both Uther and Merlin.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Averted. It's not that Morgana was nobody, it's that Morgana goes from being a "normal" King's Ward into one of the most powerful and most dangerous characters in the entire series. Most of this has to do with the fact that Morgana became completely [[TheCorruptible corruptible]] and let power, jealousy, anger and greed take over her and her motivations.
* TheGift: When Morgana finally accepts her magical powers, sometime between seasons three and four, she becomes a High Priestess after one year of training. She eventually becomes a serious threat to Merlin, who is the most powerful warlock in history. She is a skilled swordswoman and is always able to get her hands on an army.
* GirlyBruiser: Morgana is very feminine but she's a rather capable fighter and is pretty handy with a sword.
* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: Inverted. More like Psycho Girl With Weapon. It's not that the weapon Morgana often has on her (mostly a sword or a knife) is psycho, it's that Morgana is psycho.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Morgana was [[spoiler: crowned Queen of Camelot in one of the final two episodes of season three. Also, she was momentarily Queen in season four.]]
* GoodColorsEvilColors: When Morgana was still good in the first two seasons, she wore lighter colours such as blue, purple and green. However, after Morgana did a FaceHeelTurn, she started to wear much darker colours, specifically black.
* GoodGirlGoneBad: Morgana went from being a kind, caring, compassionate and understanding person to someone selfish, hateful, manipulative, vengeful, and jealous. There are many factors that contributed to Morgana doing a FaceHeelTurn such as growing up in a dysfunctional family and environment, being rejected or not being acknowledged by her real father (Uther), feeling like an outsider within Camelot as someone who possesses magic, seeing people of her kind (magic users) constantly being persecuted and killed by the hand of her own father, and being betrayed by people she saw or referred to as her friends (i.e. Merlin).
* GoodHairEvilHair: Morgana's hair changed rather dramatically between the time she was "good" and when she became bad. Morgana's FaceHeelTurn takes her from shiny, flowing tresses to a bird's nest of messy hair that seems to include dreadlocks.
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: 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.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: She gets no less than four purple dresses over the course of the first three series, two of silk and two of velvet: [[http://oi47.tinypic.com/hv79xi.jpg one]], [[http://oi46.tinypic.com/riywya.jpg two]], [[http://oi46.tinypic.com/1114bk9.jpg three]], [[http://oi48.tinypic.com/10f3vx1.jpg four]] which denote her status as the king's ward, as well as the fact that she is also of RoyalBlood ([[spoiler: considering that she is King Uther's illegitimate daughter after all.]])
* GreenEyedMonster: Morgana is strongly driven by envy, jealousy and revenge. It became more evident after she became evil. Even before Morgana turned to darkness, she still possessed somewhat of a jealous and envious personality and temperament.
* HardHead: 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 [[Series/{{Smallville}} Lex Luthor]].
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: At the end of the second season, Morgana is unknowingly the source of an enchantment that has put everyone in Camelot to sleep. The only way to break the enchantment is to kill the source (the source being Morgana) - so Merlin poisons her. Throughout that season, Morgana had been teetering between good and evil but this act of betrayal (Merlin's betrayal against her) acts as a catalyst. So when she returns a year later, her half sister Morgause has corrupted her completely. Then in a season three episode, Morgana discovers that she is King Uther's birth daughter. When he refuses to acknowledge her, it's a pretty definitive door slam for Morgana.
* HeroicBSOD: Kate [=McGrath=] said that Morgana sort of "shuts down" in 2x12 as she realizes her role in Morgause's plot.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:By the time that she trapped Merlin in the Crystal Cave, her powers had finally managed to become strong enough to be equal to his. Too bad that it was the Crystal Cavern where Merlin managed to reach the full potential of his abilities, becoming more powerful than ever and, more importantly, more powerful than she could ever hope to become, returning her to her usual AlwaysSecondBest]]. Had she not [[spoiler:trapped Merlin in the cave and (apparently) stripped him of his powers]], she might have had a chance to defeat him, but instead what she did was ensure that would never happen.
* HourglassPlot: With Guinevere. The two essentially switch positions over the course of the show.
* HumiliationConga: Is unnervingly prone to being on the receiving end of these.
* IceQueen: Morgana is cold, icy, selfish and sociopathic.
* InTheHood: Is often wearing one when she's up to no good.
* InternalizedCategorism: 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 SelfFulfillingProphecy: having taken in Uther's teaching that magic was evil, she subconsciously believes that having embraced her magical side, she ''has'' to act evil.
* IrrationalHatred: 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 FantasticRacism.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: 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 BitchInSheepsClothing and crossed the MoralEventHorizon. 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?".
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: She does come from royalty after all.
* KillTheCutie: She is killed [[spoiler: by Merlin in the series finale after he stabs her with a sword in dragons breath.]]
* LackOfEmpathy: 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 [[ItsAllAboutMe 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 mistakenly believed she was kidnapped). By the third series, she responds to Merlin's plea that women and children are dying with the word: "Good!"
* LadyOfBlackMagic: Beautiful, intelligent, poised, and a powerful sorceress who can use highly destructive magic. Her magical powers only become more powerful throughout the story.
* LadyOfWar: A graceful sorceress who is also a masterful swordsman.
* LastOfHisKind: She is the last High Priestess of the Old Religion.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Dark obviously, though with less emphasis on sexuality (in the later series) than the trope usually implies.
* LittleDeadRidingHood: Morgana narrowly avoids this fate in ''The Nightmare Begins'' after escaping to the forest in a bright red hooded cloak.
* LongLostRelative: She is revealed to be Morgause's [[spoiler:''and'' Arthur's]] half-sister.
* MagicIsEvil: At least when Morgana uses magic. Morgana often practiced dark magic, as opposed to Merlin, who practiced [[WhiteMagic good magic]].
* MakingASplash: Whereas Merlin's powers seem to be based on [[BlowYouAway air]] and [[PlayingWithFire fire]], Morgana is often connected with water, most obviously in ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS03E01TheTearsOfUtherPendragonPartI}} The Tears of Uther Pendragon]]'' in which the damp mandrake root conjures up visions of drowned murder victims.
* MamaBear: 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.
* ManipulativeBitch: 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''.
* MasterSwordsman: Morgana has been shown to very capable and effective in sword fighting.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [[spoiler: She began turning against Camelot when she discovered that she has magic and feared for her life. Merlin's poisoning her clinches it.]]
* MoralityPet: Is more or less one for Uther, and is definitely one for Morgause. [[spoiler:Aithusa and Mordred become this for her in series 5.]]
* MotiveDecay: At some point her goals shift from ridding Camelot of a tyrannical king (justifiable) to killing [[spoiler:her half-brother]] and becoming queen herself (not so much).
* MsFanservice: Some of Morgana's outfits have been somewhat revealing.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Though she keeps changing her mind on this. Usually she goes straight for the kill when she ''shouldn't'' and relies on [[ComplexityAddiction overly complicated plans]] when she should just be killing.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: NamesToRunAwayFrom/{{Mor}}gana.
* NiceGirl: Was this before her FaceHeelTurn.
* NiceToTheWaiter: In the first two seasons she treats her maidservant Gwen very nicely, and the two are close friends. This obviously changes after Morgana's FaceHeelTurn.
* NoSympathyBetweenMooks: Morgana even treated her own allies and people who were on her side badly, most notably Agravaine.
* NotAsYouKnowThem: Her return in series 3.
* NotQuiteDead: Many times in the series, but most notably after Merlin poisoned her in season two.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Annis calls her on her similarities to Uther, despite her hatred of him. Also, in "The Sword in the Stone: Part 2", when Morgana calls Arthur out for being not so different from Uther, [[InsultBackfire only for him to counter back]].
--> '''Morgana:''' Maybe you're not so different from Uther as you like to think.\\
'''Arthur''': [[LampshadeHanging Nor are you]].
* OfCorsetsSexy: In series 4 her black outfit is fitted with a laced-up corset.
* OffingTheOffspring: She's terrified of [[spoiler:Uther]] for exactly this reason.
* OffscreenTeleportation: 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.
* OhCrap: Morgana in ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E06AServantOfTwoMasters}} A Servant Of Two Masters]]'' upon seeing the 80-year-old disguised Merlin, having had visions of him as "Emrys" and foreseeing that [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou he will stand over her]] on a corpse-littered battlefield, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech admonishing her for her misdeeds.]] Occurs again for "The Sword in The Stone, Part II".
** In "Diamond of the Day Part 2", the [[SmugSnake smug expression]] on her face turning to rapid horror after Merlin reveals [[spoiler: that the sword he ran her through with was actually ''[[InfinityPlusOneSword Excalibur]]'', a weapon forged in Dragon's breath. In other words, a weapon that ''can'' actually kill her.]]
* OrcusOnHisThrone: 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.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father died ten years ago, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown. [[spoiler:But as it turns out, Uther is her biological father and kept it secret all along.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Of sorts, towards Mordred.
* PetTheDog: Has a genuine bond with Aithusa.
* PluckyGirl: Before her FaceHeelTurn.
* PoliticallyActivePrincess: Both before and after her FaceHeelTurn. Prior to it, would often stick up for the rights of magic-users, afterwards she tries to topple the Pendragon dynasty.
* ThePowerOfHate: In season three she is driven entirely by hate, some of it understandable (toward Uther and Merlin) and some of it inexplicable (the writers never give us a reason why she suddenly loathes Arthur and Guinevere).
* ProperLady: Primarily in the earlier seasons when she was King Uther's ward before she did a FaceHeelTurn.
* ProudBeauty: At times, especially in the earliest episodes.
* PsychoticSmirk: Morgana gives these all of the time.
* PsychopathicWomanchild: Morgana displays traits of entitlement, selfishness and brattiness. At times, she displays immaturity, especially when it comes to feeling that she is entitled to the throne of Camelot. Morgana can come off rather bratty and immature and she throws temper tantrums whenever she doesn't get her way.
* PurpleIsPowerful: Morgana wears a lot of purple, which strongly reflects her coming from RoyalBlood as well as being a powerful witch and high priestess.
* PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery: At this point, she seemingly just wants to make everyone suffer.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: The contrast of Morgana's very dark hair and pale skin is even more noticeable in the later seasons.
* RelatedDifferentlyInTheAdaptation:
** She is revealed to be Arthur's paternal half-sister. In the Arthurian legends they're usually maternal half-siblings. Interestingly, the series does still feature Gorlois, Morgana's legendary father - Morgana believed he was her father for much of her life, not knowing Uther secretly had an affair with her mother. This partly explains why Uther took on Morgana as his ward after her parents died, though it also results in Morgana resenting Uther more than ever for never acknowledging her as his child. It also drives her ambition to become Queen of Camelot eventually, because the way she sees it she has just as much right to rule as Arthur.
** As a consequence of this, Morgana and Morgause are presented as maternal half-sisters rather than full sisters, though it doesn't diminish their closeness (especially as they both hate Uther).
* TheResenter: Of Arthur and Guinevere for their positions in Camelot and their adherence to Uther's anti-magic policy.
** She also has a strong resentment against Merlin for poisoning her in season two. In fact, it could be argued that Merlin's betrayal is what cause Morgana to do a full on FaceHeelTurn.
* RichBitch: She comes from royalty after all.
* RivalTurnedEvil: Morgana became this towards Merlin, Arthur and Gwen in season three onwards.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: What she's been doing for the past two series.
* RoyalBastard: She's revealed to be the illegitimate daughter of King Uther Pendragon.
* RoyalBlood: Morgana is the daughter of Uther, who was the former King of Camelot.
* RoyallyScrewedUp: Morgana could be the Trope Codifier. She is the illegitimate daughter of King Uther. Morgana hates Uther but ironically, [[LikeFatherLikeSon shares many traits in common with him]]. Morgana also has [[TheMentallyDisturbed many psychological, emotional and mental issues]].
* SameCharacterButDifferent: The abrupt switch in her personality between series 2 and 3.
* SanitySlippage: By series 5, her desire to rule Camelot seems to be the only thing keeping her even remotely grounded. She's so lost in her hatred that the mere mention of failure to kill Arthur sets her off.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: Morgana possesses magic. Therefore, she believes that she is able to do whatever she wants because she is a powerful witch. Morgana often tries to use her strength and power of magic to intimidate others.
* SecretlySelfish: Morgana certainly cares about her friends and feels sympathy for those persecuted because they use magic, but most of her actions are actually motivated by her own desires. After Gwen's father is killed, she becomes willing to betray Uther not because of how this hurts Gwen but because of her own issues with him, and after discovering that she has magic becomes far more willing to betray him and aide those who are willing to kill anyone working for him. She also refuses to return to Camelot after Merlin warns her that people will be killed since Uther suspects them of having kidnapped her, showing that at the end of the day she only cares about herself. And it's notable that after her FaceHeelTurn, she seemingly swears revenge on all of Camelot despite Uther and Merlin being the only ones deserving of her anger, not caring how this would result in the death of people like Gwen and Arthur who have always treated her fairly and even helped her in going against Uther's commands such as when they saved Mordred.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Which leads to her FaceHeelTurn.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Her mother and the man she looked to as a father and believed for a long time was her father were already dead, but she gave Agravaine the amulet to kill the wounded Uther--her birth father.
* ShipperOnDeck: Morgana became a bit of a shipper of Merlin/Gwen in 1x03 and 1x04.
* ShowSomeLeg: Morgana devises this plan in order for Gwen and her to escape from bandits in 2x04.
* SmugSmiler: One of her defining traits after her FaceHeelTurn, to the point that it's a source of {{Narm}} and MemeticMutation among the fans of the show.
* SmugSuper: When she doesn't have to hide her magic, she's not shy about lording it over non-magic users.
* TheSnarkKnight: Morgana won't hesitate to use sarcasm.
* TheStarscream: Morgana beginning in Series 3 becomes this to Uther.
** In Series 4, this ends up repeatedly being [[FatalFlaw her downfall]], seeking allies to take control of Camelot, but whom end up abandoning her after realising her ChronicBackstabbingDisorder.
* StartOfDarkness: It could be argued that Morgana started to become evil after Merlin poisoned her in season two. [[spoiler: In the series finale, Merlin even admitted that he blames himself for Morgana turning evil and into a villain]]. However her actions prior to this imply she would have turned evil anyway, but poisoning her is just what finally caused her to become the villain.
* StayInTheKitchen: 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 [[spoiler: 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.
* SugaryMalice: She's good at this one.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Like Merlin, when she uses magic.
* TokenEvilTeammate: In season 3, when she returns to Camelot, after her FaceHeelTurn. In season 4 and 5 she's not even a "teammate" anymore.
* TookALevelInBadass: After she discovered that she had magic and found Morgause, she stopped being afraid and began to use her power purposefully.
* TookALevelInJerkass: She always was rebellious and butting heads with Uther, but it was because she didn't like his treatment of magic users and was upset with the rumors of him offing the man she thought was her father. But, after she found out Uther was really her father and had lied she went full on evil. Even when Arthur became king (after she had Uther killed), she didn't stop because she views Arthur as being just like Uther and believes only she can bring back magic.
* TraitorShot: Gets dozens and dozens. And dozens.
* TroubledAbuser: All her interactions with Guinevere post series 3.
* TrueCompanions: Was this with Merlin, Gwen and Arthur before her FaceHeelTurn.
* TheUnfettered: Morgana is extremely ruthless in her actions. She doesn't have any guilt or remorse for her actions or hurting others.
* UnkemptBeauty: In season's four and five. Morgana went from wearing fancy dresses and looking like royalty in the earlier seasons to wearing black gothic clothing with wild, untameable hair in the later seasons.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: Before season four. When Morgana was the King's ward in season's one to three, she had a variation of different outfits and dresses. After she turned bad in season three, her wardrobe became less vibrant and became more limited.
* UnstoppableRage: Morgana has it towards Uther, Gwen and Arthur. She has anger towards Merlin to a lesser extent.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: 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."
* VainSorceress: {{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 she's not really trying to impress anyone.
* VillainCorner: Towards the end of season two, Morgana was already started to do a Face by joining forces with [[LongLostSibling Morgause]]. Morgana became increasingly darker and more evil after Merlin poisoned her. It could be argued that Merlin poisoning Morgana and betraying her caused Morgana to do a complete FaceHeelTurn.
* VillainousBreakdown: At the end of season three, when she finds Morgause gravely injured. She [[BigNo screams so loud in devastation]] that she literally brings the walls down with her magic.
* WaterIsWomanly: A cold, aloof LadyOfBlackMagic whose magical powers are often associated with water to contrast with Merlin's fire-based powers.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Along with Morgause. Given Uther's treatment of those with magic, her shift in alignment is understandable and [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation her side may even have the moral high-ground over Uther]], but like Uther, she uses some ruthless tactics to achieve her end.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: To Merlin, Arthur and Gwen. In fact, she says these exact words to Gwen in ''The Hunter's Heart''.
* WhiteStallion: When she was still on Camelot's side.
* WickedCultured: Morgana comes from royalty, therefore, she was raised cultured and was surrounded by all of the finer things in life.
* WildCard: In series 2.
* WildHair: In series 4 and onward.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Morgana wants nothing but to bring Camelot, Uther and Arthur down. She is willing to do so at any cost. Although, if you look at Morgana's story, you can understand why she became evil or turned against Uther and Camelot. Morgana has always yearned to be accepted in Camelot as a magic user. However, watching her father, Uther, endless persecute and execute people of her kind has made her disdain and hatred for Uther and Camelot grow as time goes on. So, while Morgana doing evil things against Arthur, Uther and Camelot may be wrong on all levels, it is understandable why Morgana did turn against all of them at the same time.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Occasionally. She gets really good at almost fooling everyone.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: As several characters point out to her in series four, Morgana has become just like Uther.
* YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood: What Merlin tells Morgana in season three after she did a FaceHeelTurn.
* YouKilledMyFather: Morgana accuses Uther of indirectly killing Gorlois by not sending troops to his aid.
* YoureNotMyFather: 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.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Gwen]]
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinevere-pendragon_2115.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
[-'''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. [[spoiler: As of the finale, she is queen regnant of Camelot.]]
----
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[[folder:Gwen]]
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinevere-pendragon_2115.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
[-'''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. [[spoiler: As of the finale, she is queen regnant of Camelot.]]
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinevere-pendragon_2115.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
[-'''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. [[spoiler: As of the finale, she is queen regnant of Camelot.]]
to:
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
!![[Myth/KingArthur Prince (later King) Arthur Pendragon]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.
!!!'''Portrayed By:'''
[-'''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
->''"He is a
-->-- '''Gaius'''
The prince of Camelot, Arthur starts out as a JerkAss but ends up developing a heart thanks to his gradual strong friendship with Merlin, Morgana's guidance, and
Changed line(s) 16,115 (click to see context) from:
* ActionGirl: Gwen is highly capable of defending herself and can use a sword quite effectively.
%% * ActionFashionista: Gwen becomes one [[spoiler: after she becomes Queen of Camelot in season four.]]
* ActionSurvivor: She has ''survived'' a lot, including being being dragged before Uther for crimes she didn't commit twice, being kidnapped by Cenred, being exiled by the love of her life, Arthur, after Morgana enchanted her to kiss Lancelot, and being kidnapped, dragged by a horse, and psychologically tortured by Morgana, until the had her will taken from her. Gwen endured so much, but was still as kind as ever.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Gwen is given a RagsToRiches storyline by becoming the wife of King Arthur later on in the series.
%% * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: With both Lancelot and Arthur.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Gwen had feelings for Merlin in season one which were unreciprocated.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Gwen is crowned Queen of Camelot in the season four finale.
* BadassNormal: Gwen is completely human and therefore, she has no abilities whatsoever, yet she is highly capable of defending herself and others when the time calls for it.
* BatmanGambit: Pulls one off in 5.02 by gambling on Ruadan's PapaWolf instincts.
* BattleCouple: With Arthur, especially before she becomes Queen, but also after as well.
* BettyAndVeronica: Gwen is the Archie to Lancelot's Betty and Arthur's Veronica. Technically, Lancelot is considered to be Gwen's FirstLove and she fell in LoveAtFirstSight with him (and vice versa). Gwen starts to display romantic feelings for Arthur in series 2, but even in the beginning of series 2, she still had very strong feelings for Lancelot; this was evident in 2x04 when Lancelot and Gwen were reunited when Gwen was kidnapped. Lancelot rescued Gwen and Arthur was also on a mission to rescue Gwen. Both Arthur and Lancelot realize that Gwen has feelings for the both of them, but Lancelot decides to step aside and not come between Arthur and Gwen. As Lancelot ids gone, Gwen starts to fall deeper in love with Arthur to the point where she ends up choosing Arthur over Lancelot. In series 4, Lancelot dies after [[HeroicSacrifice he sacrifices himself to close the veil between worlds of the living and the dead]]. Gwen had made Lancelot promise to protect Arthur at all costs and Lancelot, being the noble and selfless person that he is, adhered to Gwen's wishes and promise.
** However, it seems that the triangle had come back in 4x09, when Lancelot made a return in the episode after Morgana had used magic to bring Lancelot back from the dead. Although, it was not the real Lancelot and was in fact, a shade version of Lancelot. Morgana had raised Lancelot from the dead in attempts to destroy Arthur and Gwen's relationship so that she would not get married to Arthur and become Queen of Camelot. Morgana used methods to manipulate a situation where Gwen would resist the love and the feelings that she had for Lancelot so that Arthur and Gwen would break up. Sadly, it ended up working as Arthur and Gwen break up in the episode. Fortunately, Arthur and Gwen do end up rekindling their relationship and the two get married at the end of series 4, becoming the RulingCouple of Camelot.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Gwen is normally a very nice and caring person who will go out of her way to help others without hesitation but she does not always extend that compassion, kindness and empathy to those she is suspicious of or those whom she considers to be her enemies. Gwen also will not hesitate to call out other people on their bad behaviour and she won't hesitate to kill those whom are posing as a serious threat to either her or those she loves and cares about. This is the same person who has stood up to both Uther and Arthur, calling them out on their behaviour. Gwen becomes even more stern when she becomes Queen in season five. She has shown that although she does have Camelot's bets interests at heart and wants to do right by her kingdom as Queen, she will resort to some rather ruthless methods when it comes time for her to do so. An example of this is in 5.01, [[spoiler: when she sentences her servant Sefa to ''death''.]]
* BigSisterInstinct: Towards Merlin and Elyan. She is highly protective of both of them. Merlin is even one of her weak spots -- threatening him is not a good idea. Gwen sees Merlin as someone who is very dear to her and there is nothing that she would not do for him. She has risked her life to look out for Merlin whenever he finds himself in trouble. Although Gwen was rather distant and estranged from Elyan and did not seem to have too much of a close relationship with him, she is still very protective towards him considering that is the only family that she has left.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Merlin. Both come from poor or commoner backgrounds. They both originally couldn't stand Arthur and thought that he was a bully, although both of their opinions of Arthur gradually change over the course of the series (Merlin develops a strong and intense friendship with Arthur; Gwen falls in love with Arthur). Both are servants to someone of status, nobility and wealth. Merlin is the personal man-servant of Arthur, the Prince of Camelot; Gwen is the maid-servant of Lady Morgana, the King's Ward). Also, Merlin and Gwen both share TheHeart role on the show. Merlin represents the male emotional aspect of the series, while Gwen is the female centrepiece of the series. Both Gwen and Merlin are advisors to Arthur and guide him to do the right thing as much as possible. Both Merlin and Gwen are compassionate, humble, kind, friendly and understanding in personality. It is no wonder that Merlin and Gwen "clicked" from the very beginning since they share so many traits in common.
* {{Brainwashed}}: [[spoiler: Post the events of 5.06. And all the resultant tropes:]]
** FaceHeelTurn: An involuntary variant.
** StockholmSyndrome: Morgana invokes this by torturing her into thinking all her loved ones hate her, and then offering comfort and help, thus allowing a...
** SymbioticPossession: 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...
*** DecoyDamsel: Puts on quite the show of helplessness to manipulate her enemies.
*** FemmeFatale: She definitely acts more coquettish than usual when under Morgana's power. Arthur and the knights are completely wrapped around her little finger.
*** ObviouslyEvil: [[SubvertedTrope But only to the audience]].
*** PsychoticSmirk: Again, only the audience sees it.
** ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: What helps to break the enchantment, with the help of Merlin [[DisguisedInDrag disguised as a woman]], Dolma]].
* BrainyBrunette: Gwen is quite smart, pragmatic and logical.
* BreakTheCutie: In ''Lancelot du Lac'', in which she is enchanted into betraying Arthur by Morgana, is banished from Camelot and none of her friends are there to see her off except Merlin. Not even her own brother wants to see her. The cherry on top? Only the audience and the villains know she was enchanted, so she believes everything is her fault. This isn't so much Break the Cutie as smash her to bits, stomp on the pieces, and grind them to dust. As if that isn't enough, she gets enchanted AGAIN by Morgana to kill Arthur and was probably tormented a bit while she was held captive.
* BrokenBird: At various points in the series. Most notably in season one, when Uther has Gwen's father, Tom, executed even though he was innocent; in season four, when Arthur banishes Gwen from Camelot; and also in season five when her brother Elyan unexpectedly dies. Gwen has lost all of her family and after her brother died, she was corrupted by Morgana.
* CassandraTruth: 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 TheHeart and Arthur's LoveInterest.
** Rectified in Season 3.
* CharacterDevelopment: From shy, stuttering maid to regal, confident queen.
* CleavageWindow: Sometimes, from Season 2 onward.
* CloserToEarth: She is one of the few minority characters on the show.
* TheConscience: 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.
* CoolBigSis: To Elyan.
* CoolCrown: Gets one at the end of the season four finale. Guinevere is lucky enough to wear a very elaborate, but still elegant-looking silver crown adorned with jewels.
* CorruptTheCutie: In season five, by Morgana.
* TheCutie: Primarily in season's 1 and 2.
* CrypticConversation: In [[spoiler: "Diamond of the Day Part 2"]], she has this type of conversation with Gaius, [[spoiler: confirming her suspicion that Merlin was indeed the Sorcerer that [[CurbStompBattle turned the tide]] at the Battle of Camlann in Camelot's favour.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: The Sorcerer in the battle, you knew who he was?]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: *''{{Beat}}''* [[CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer Yes]].]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: Do ''I'' know him? [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow Please Gaius, answer me honestly?]]]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: ''[[MathematiciansAnswer Yes]]''.]]
%%* DiggingYourselfDeeper
* DamselInDistress: A couple of times, but [[MemeticMutation not nearly as often as you'd think]]. It's probably because the (very few) Gwen-centric episodes ''do'' [[NeverLiveItDown involve her in considerable distress]].
* DoggedNiceGirl[=/=]UnrequitedLove: Towards Merlin in Season 1.
* DudeMagnet: In this version, [[ForegoneConclusion Arthur and Lancelot]] have fallen in love with her, and Gwaine and Helios have shown brief interest.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Gwen's wardrobe changed drastically after she became Queen. She was seen wearing royal clothing.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Series/{{Smallville}} Chloe Sullivan]].
* TheFace: Gwen is more diplomatic in her approaches socially. See TheHeart.
* FantasticRacism: Subverted and PlayedWith. 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 inconspicuous KickTheDog moments.
** She tells Gaius what happened with Morgana after she used magic in front of her, [[LesCollaborateurs an act that could have gotten her mistress imprisoned]], even if she was declared the King's ward [[spoiler: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 [[ToBeLawfulOrGood 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 [[spoiler: pretending to sentence her to death while actually working to save her and getting her father, TheManBehindTheMan, imprisoned in her place]], an uncharacteristically harsh gambit [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman which she doesn't seem to regret]].
* FanServicePack: [[http://oi39.tinypic.com/2lwm890.jpg See for yourself]]. She starts out as a commoner, with the associated plain clothes and modest appearance but becomes ProgressivelyPrettier as the show goes on.
* TheFettered: Gwen strongly believes in laws and following the rules. She is all about doing the right thing as much as possible.
* ForcefulKiss: To Arthur in 2x10 in order to break him out of an enchantment.
* FreudianTrio: In the trio of herself, Merlin and Arthur, Gwen is TheKirk or Ego (TheHeart, motherly, nurturing, loved by both Arthur and Merlin as a LoveInterest/[[LikeBrotherAndSister Sister Figure]] to Merlin's TheSpock or Superego (Calm, secretive, logical, intelligent, has made at least one SadisticChoice in which he sacrificed a dear friend in order to save a greater number of people) and Arthur's TheMcCoy or Id (Arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, is driven by his emotions, usually puts the individual before the bigger picture to Arthur's). See TheKirk.
* GirlFriday: Can be this at times to Merlin, especially when they're teaming up to solve mysteries.
* GirlNextDoor: When Gwen was still a maid servant. This changed [[spoiler: after Gwen became Queen.]]
* GoodIsNotDumb: She's easily the most observant character in the show and knows how to talk people into action.
* GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler: 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 PapaWolf response from her father, who Gwen considered the actual threat. She just needed it to be convincing. It was a gamble, but it worked.]]
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Gwen wears a lot of purple dresses, especially when she becomes Queen. Gwen was seen wearing purple colours while she was a servant as well.
* GuileHero: She simply talks to people, using a blend of logic and guile to convince them to act according to her wishes.
* HairTropes:
** ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Her hair goes from practical buns to long, loose curls as she rises in status.
** LongHairIsFeminine: Her hair is long and curly.
** QuirkyCurls: In series 1 and 2.
** RegalRinglets: In series 5.
** MessyHair: In series 1.
* HappilyMarried: To Arthur in series 5.
* TheHeart: Gwen shares this role with Merlin.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Gwen has gone through a lot of hardships and pain in the name of love and romance and she hasn't had the best of luck in the love department. Especially in regards to her male suitors, Arthur and Lancelot.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Morgana. [[spoiler:This starts to deteriorate in series three.]]
* TheHighQueen: As of the end of series four. [[spoiler: This is even more true in the series finale considering that Gwen became the sole ruler of Camelot after King Arthur dies. In fact, the very last words of the entire series are '''"Long Live The Queen!"''', as cried by everyone present in the throne room.]]
* HonestAdvisor: Together with Merlin to Arthur.
* HotConsort: For King Arthur.
* HourglassPlot: With Morgana, essentially taking her place as the most powerful woman in Camelot.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: With Arthur.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: After Gwen becomes Queen.
* InSeriesNickname: Her full name is Guinevere but almost everyone calls her Gwen, except Arthur. Arthur always calls Gwen by her full name "Guinevere".
* InterClassRomance: With Arthur. Gwen was a poor servant/maid and Arthur is a rich noble. This is now subverted after Gwen married Arthur and became Queen.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Gaius.
* InterspeciesFriendship: With Merlin. Merlin is a warlock and a Dragon Lord; Gwen is a human.
* IWillWaitForYou: At the conclusion of ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS03E10QueenOfHearts}} Queen Of Hearts]]'', she promises to wait for Arthur to become King, at which point they can marry.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Especially when she becomes Queen.
* TheKirk/'''Ego''' (FreudianTrio): In the trio between herself, Arthur and Merlin, Gwen is TheKirk/Ego (motherly, nurturing, sensitive, TheHeart) to Arthur's TheMcCoy/Id (arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, HotBlooded) and Merlin's TheSpock/Superego (calm, logical, intelligent, TheChessmaster). See FreudianTrio.
* LadyAndKnight: Played remarkably straight with Lancelot and Guinevere, even though they aren't a lady or a knight when the show begins. However, Lancelot always makes a point of referring to Gwen as "my lady" and by the end of the third series he's been permanently knighted and by the end of the fourth season, she is "my lady" as she's Queen!
** There's a little of this with Gwen and Gwaine as well.
* LadyOfWar: The feminine, graceful young woman who is more than capable of using a sword.
* LadyInRed: A Queen, Gwen wore a lot of red dresses.
* LetsGetDangerous: 1x10, 2x04 and 5x01.
* LikeBrotherAndSister[=/=]PlatonicLifePartners: Gwen eventually becomes this with Merlin in series 2.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Light to Morgana's dark.
** In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} The Hunter's Heart]]'' she is the dark to Mithian's light.
* LimitedWardrobe: In the first series she (understandably) only had two outfits.
* LivingMacGuffin: There is nobody that wouldn't risk their life for Gwen if she is kidnapped, gone missing or is in trouble of some sort. Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot and the rest of the Knights would all come searching for her and risk their lives in order to find her without even a second thought.
* TheLoad: DependingOnTheWriter. On one hand, her quick mind has proven useful on several occasions, on the other, she's still a relatively small and untrained peasant girl who often winds up being a DamselInDistress.
* LoveHurts: 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 [[BackFromTheDead Lancelot]] - the kicker being only the audience and the bad guys know - and banished from Camelot forever. [[spoiler: To top it all, Gwen has to assume power at the cost of Arthur's death.]]
* LoveTriangle: At the centre of the most famous one of all (between herself, Arthur and Lancelot). [[spoiler: Gwen chooses Arthur.]]
%% * ActionFashionista: Gwen becomes one [[spoiler: after she becomes Queen of Camelot in season four.]]
* ActionSurvivor: She has ''survived'' a lot, including being being dragged before Uther for crimes she didn't commit twice, being kidnapped by Cenred, being exiled by the love of her life, Arthur, after Morgana enchanted her to kiss Lancelot, and being kidnapped, dragged by a horse, and psychologically tortured by Morgana, until the had her will taken from her. Gwen endured so much, but was still as kind as ever.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Gwen is given a RagsToRiches storyline by becoming the wife of King Arthur later on in the series.
%% * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: With both Lancelot and Arthur.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Gwen had feelings for Merlin in season one which were unreciprocated.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Gwen is crowned Queen of Camelot in the season four finale.
* BadassNormal: Gwen is completely human and therefore, she has no abilities whatsoever, yet she is highly capable of defending herself and others when the time calls for it.
* BatmanGambit: Pulls one off in 5.02 by gambling on Ruadan's PapaWolf instincts.
* BattleCouple: With Arthur, especially before she becomes Queen, but also after as well.
* BettyAndVeronica: Gwen is the Archie to Lancelot's Betty and Arthur's Veronica. Technically, Lancelot is considered to be Gwen's FirstLove and she fell in LoveAtFirstSight with him (and vice versa). Gwen starts to display romantic feelings for Arthur in series 2, but even in the beginning of series 2, she still had very strong feelings for Lancelot; this was evident in 2x04 when Lancelot and Gwen were reunited when Gwen was kidnapped. Lancelot rescued Gwen and Arthur was also on a mission to rescue Gwen. Both Arthur and Lancelot realize that Gwen has feelings for the both of them, but Lancelot decides to step aside and not come between Arthur and Gwen. As Lancelot ids gone, Gwen starts to fall deeper in love with Arthur to the point where she ends up choosing Arthur over Lancelot. In series 4, Lancelot dies after [[HeroicSacrifice he sacrifices himself to close the veil between worlds of the living and the dead]]. Gwen had made Lancelot promise to protect Arthur at all costs and Lancelot, being the noble and selfless person that he is, adhered to Gwen's wishes and promise.
** However, it seems that the triangle had come back in 4x09, when Lancelot made a return in the episode after Morgana had used magic to bring Lancelot back from the dead. Although, it was not the real Lancelot and was in fact, a shade version of Lancelot. Morgana had raised Lancelot from the dead in attempts to destroy Arthur and Gwen's relationship so that she would not get married to Arthur and become Queen of Camelot. Morgana used methods to manipulate a situation where Gwen would resist the love and the feelings that she had for Lancelot so that Arthur and Gwen would break up. Sadly, it ended up working as Arthur and Gwen break up in the episode. Fortunately, Arthur and Gwen do end up rekindling their relationship and the two get married at the end of series 4, becoming the RulingCouple of Camelot.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Gwen is normally a very nice and caring person who will go out of her way to help others without hesitation but she does not always extend that compassion, kindness and empathy to those she is suspicious of or those whom she considers to be her enemies. Gwen also will not hesitate to call out other people on their bad behaviour and she won't hesitate to kill those whom are posing as a serious threat to either her or those she loves and cares about. This is the same person who has stood up to both Uther and Arthur, calling them out on their behaviour. Gwen becomes even more stern when she becomes Queen in season five. She has shown that although she does have Camelot's bets interests at heart and wants to do right by her kingdom as Queen, she will resort to some rather ruthless methods when it comes time for her to do so. An example of this is in 5.01, [[spoiler: when she sentences her servant Sefa to ''death''.]]
* BigSisterInstinct: Towards Merlin and Elyan. She is highly protective of both of them. Merlin is even one of her weak spots -- threatening him is not a good idea. Gwen sees Merlin as someone who is very dear to her and there is nothing that she would not do for him. She has risked her life to look out for Merlin whenever he finds himself in trouble. Although Gwen was rather distant and estranged from Elyan and did not seem to have too much of a close relationship with him, she is still very protective towards him considering that is the only family that she has left.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Merlin. Both come from poor or commoner backgrounds. They both originally couldn't stand Arthur and thought that he was a bully, although both of their opinions of Arthur gradually change over the course of the series (Merlin develops a strong and intense friendship with Arthur; Gwen falls in love with Arthur). Both are servants to someone of status, nobility and wealth. Merlin is the personal man-servant of Arthur, the Prince of Camelot; Gwen is the maid-servant of Lady Morgana, the King's Ward). Also, Merlin and Gwen both share TheHeart role on the show. Merlin represents the male emotional aspect of the series, while Gwen is the female centrepiece of the series. Both Gwen and Merlin are advisors to Arthur and guide him to do the right thing as much as possible. Both Merlin and Gwen are compassionate, humble, kind, friendly and understanding in personality. It is no wonder that Merlin and Gwen "clicked" from the very beginning since they share so many traits in common.
* {{Brainwashed}}: [[spoiler: Post the events of 5.06. And all the resultant tropes:]]
** FaceHeelTurn: An involuntary variant.
** StockholmSyndrome: Morgana invokes this by torturing her into thinking all her loved ones hate her, and then offering comfort and help, thus allowing a...
** SymbioticPossession: 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...
*** DecoyDamsel: Puts on quite the show of helplessness to manipulate her enemies.
*** FemmeFatale: She definitely acts more coquettish than usual when under Morgana's power. Arthur and the knights are completely wrapped around her little finger.
*** ObviouslyEvil: [[SubvertedTrope But only to the audience]].
*** PsychoticSmirk: Again, only the audience sees it.
** ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: What helps to break the enchantment, with the help of Merlin [[DisguisedInDrag disguised as a woman]], Dolma]].
* BrainyBrunette: Gwen is quite smart, pragmatic and logical.
* BreakTheCutie: In ''Lancelot du Lac'', in which she is enchanted into betraying Arthur by Morgana, is banished from Camelot and none of her friends are there to see her off except Merlin. Not even her own brother wants to see her. The cherry on top? Only the audience and the villains know she was enchanted, so she believes everything is her fault. This isn't so much Break the Cutie as smash her to bits, stomp on the pieces, and grind them to dust. As if that isn't enough, she gets enchanted AGAIN by Morgana to kill Arthur and was probably tormented a bit while she was held captive.
* BrokenBird: At various points in the series. Most notably in season one, when Uther has Gwen's father, Tom, executed even though he was innocent; in season four, when Arthur banishes Gwen from Camelot; and also in season five when her brother Elyan unexpectedly dies. Gwen has lost all of her family and after her brother died, she was corrupted by Morgana.
* CassandraTruth: 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 TheHeart and Arthur's LoveInterest.
** Rectified in Season 3.
* CharacterDevelopment: From shy, stuttering maid to regal, confident queen.
* CleavageWindow: Sometimes, from Season 2 onward.
* CloserToEarth: She is one of the few minority characters on the show.
* TheConscience: 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.
* CoolBigSis: To Elyan.
* CoolCrown: Gets one at the end of the season four finale. Guinevere is lucky enough to wear a very elaborate, but still elegant-looking silver crown adorned with jewels.
* CorruptTheCutie: In season five, by Morgana.
* TheCutie: Primarily in season's 1 and 2.
* CrypticConversation: In [[spoiler: "Diamond of the Day Part 2"]], she has this type of conversation with Gaius, [[spoiler: confirming her suspicion that Merlin was indeed the Sorcerer that [[CurbStompBattle turned the tide]] at the Battle of Camlann in Camelot's favour.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: The Sorcerer in the battle, you knew who he was?]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: *''{{Beat}}''* [[CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer Yes]].]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: Do ''I'' know him? [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow Please Gaius, answer me honestly?]]]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: ''[[MathematiciansAnswer Yes]]''.]]
%%* DiggingYourselfDeeper
* DamselInDistress: A couple of times, but [[MemeticMutation not nearly as often as you'd think]]. It's probably because the (very few) Gwen-centric episodes ''do'' [[NeverLiveItDown involve her in considerable distress]].
* DoggedNiceGirl[=/=]UnrequitedLove: Towards Merlin in Season 1.
* DudeMagnet: In this version, [[ForegoneConclusion Arthur and Lancelot]] have fallen in love with her, and Gwaine and Helios have shown brief interest.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Gwen's wardrobe changed drastically after she became Queen. She was seen wearing royal clothing.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Series/{{Smallville}} Chloe Sullivan]].
* TheFace: Gwen is more diplomatic in her approaches socially. See TheHeart.
* FantasticRacism: Subverted and PlayedWith. 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 inconspicuous KickTheDog moments.
** She tells Gaius what happened with Morgana after she used magic in front of her, [[LesCollaborateurs an act that could have gotten her mistress imprisoned]], even if she was declared the King's ward [[spoiler: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 [[ToBeLawfulOrGood 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 [[spoiler: pretending to sentence her to death while actually working to save her and getting her father, TheManBehindTheMan, imprisoned in her place]], an uncharacteristically harsh gambit [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman which she doesn't seem to regret]].
* FanServicePack: [[http://oi39.tinypic.com/2lwm890.jpg See for yourself]]. She starts out as a commoner, with the associated plain clothes and modest appearance but becomes ProgressivelyPrettier as the show goes on.
* TheFettered: Gwen strongly believes in laws and following the rules. She is all about doing the right thing as much as possible.
* ForcefulKiss: To Arthur in 2x10 in order to break him out of an enchantment.
* FreudianTrio: In the trio of herself, Merlin and Arthur, Gwen is TheKirk or Ego (TheHeart, motherly, nurturing, loved by both Arthur and Merlin as a LoveInterest/[[LikeBrotherAndSister Sister Figure]] to Merlin's TheSpock or Superego (Calm, secretive, logical, intelligent, has made at least one SadisticChoice in which he sacrificed a dear friend in order to save a greater number of people) and Arthur's TheMcCoy or Id (Arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, is driven by his emotions, usually puts the individual before the bigger picture to Arthur's). See TheKirk.
* GirlFriday: Can be this at times to Merlin, especially when they're teaming up to solve mysteries.
* GirlNextDoor: When Gwen was still a maid servant. This changed [[spoiler: after Gwen became Queen.]]
* GoodIsNotDumb: She's easily the most observant character in the show and knows how to talk people into action.
* GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler: 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 PapaWolf response from her father, who Gwen considered the actual threat. She just needed it to be convincing. It was a gamble, but it worked.]]
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Gwen wears a lot of purple dresses, especially when she becomes Queen. Gwen was seen wearing purple colours while she was a servant as well.
* GuileHero: She simply talks to people, using a blend of logic and guile to convince them to act according to her wishes.
* HairTropes:
** ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Her hair goes from practical buns to long, loose curls as she rises in status.
** LongHairIsFeminine: Her hair is long and curly.
** QuirkyCurls: In series 1 and 2.
** RegalRinglets: In series 5.
** MessyHair: In series 1.
* HappilyMarried: To Arthur in series 5.
* TheHeart: Gwen shares this role with Merlin.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Gwen has gone through a lot of hardships and pain in the name of love and romance and she hasn't had the best of luck in the love department. Especially in regards to her male suitors, Arthur and Lancelot.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Morgana. [[spoiler:This starts to deteriorate in series three.]]
* TheHighQueen: As of the end of series four. [[spoiler: This is even more true in the series finale considering that Gwen became the sole ruler of Camelot after King Arthur dies. In fact, the very last words of the entire series are '''"Long Live The Queen!"''', as cried by everyone present in the throne room.]]
* HonestAdvisor: Together with Merlin to Arthur.
* HotConsort: For King Arthur.
* HourglassPlot: With Morgana, essentially taking her place as the most powerful woman in Camelot.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: With Arthur.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: After Gwen becomes Queen.
* InSeriesNickname: Her full name is Guinevere but almost everyone calls her Gwen, except Arthur. Arthur always calls Gwen by her full name "Guinevere".
* InterClassRomance: With Arthur. Gwen was a poor servant/maid and Arthur is a rich noble. This is now subverted after Gwen married Arthur and became Queen.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Gaius.
* InterspeciesFriendship: With Merlin. Merlin is a warlock and a Dragon Lord; Gwen is a human.
* IWillWaitForYou: At the conclusion of ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS03E10QueenOfHearts}} Queen Of Hearts]]'', she promises to wait for Arthur to become King, at which point they can marry.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Especially when she becomes Queen.
* TheKirk/'''Ego''' (FreudianTrio): In the trio between herself, Arthur and Merlin, Gwen is TheKirk/Ego (motherly, nurturing, sensitive, TheHeart) to Arthur's TheMcCoy/Id (arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, HotBlooded) and Merlin's TheSpock/Superego (calm, logical, intelligent, TheChessmaster). See FreudianTrio.
* LadyAndKnight: Played remarkably straight with Lancelot and Guinevere, even though they aren't a lady or a knight when the show begins. However, Lancelot always makes a point of referring to Gwen as "my lady" and by the end of the third series he's been permanently knighted and by the end of the fourth season, she is "my lady" as she's Queen!
** There's a little of this with Gwen and Gwaine as well.
* LadyOfWar: The feminine, graceful young woman who is more than capable of using a sword.
* LadyInRed: A Queen, Gwen wore a lot of red dresses.
* LetsGetDangerous: 1x10, 2x04 and 5x01.
* LikeBrotherAndSister[=/=]PlatonicLifePartners: Gwen eventually becomes this with Merlin in series 2.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Light to Morgana's dark.
** In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} The Hunter's Heart]]'' she is the dark to Mithian's light.
* LimitedWardrobe: In the first series she (understandably) only had two outfits.
* LivingMacGuffin: There is nobody that wouldn't risk their life for Gwen if she is kidnapped, gone missing or is in trouble of some sort. Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot and the rest of the Knights would all come searching for her and risk their lives in order to find her without even a second thought.
* TheLoad: DependingOnTheWriter. On one hand, her quick mind has proven useful on several occasions, on the other, she's still a relatively small and untrained peasant girl who often winds up being a DamselInDistress.
* LoveHurts: 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 [[BackFromTheDead Lancelot]] - the kicker being only the audience and the bad guys know - and banished from Camelot forever. [[spoiler: To top it all, Gwen has to assume power at the cost of Arthur's death.]]
* LoveTriangle: At the centre of the most famous one of all (between herself, Arthur and Lancelot). [[spoiler: Gwen chooses Arthur.]]
to:
* ActionGirl: Gwen AbortedDeclarationOfLove: 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.
* ActionHero: Combat ishighly capable his main way of defending herself solving problem. Too bad he's in a series where the most dangerous enemies are manipulative and can use subtle.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Arthur has serious DaddyIssues and issues with everyone lying to him and betraying him, including his own best friend, Merlin.
* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Most versions of the Arthurian Legend have Arthur be conceived through a BedTrick arranged by Merlin, who takes him away shortly after his birth and gives him to be raised by Sir Ector. Arthur is HappilyAdopted and unaware that he's Uther's son until he pulls the swordquite effectively.
%%from the stone as a boy. This version of Arthur was raised by Uther as a prince, with his parents having been married.
*ActionFashionista: Gwen becomes one AdaptationalBadass: Arthur in the show series comes off as more badass, strong and tough than his Arthurian legend counterpart.
* AdaptationalDumbass: Even when he's king, Arthur is incapable of dressing himself without Merlin's help.
* AdaptationalHeroism: As with most adaptions, the show makes him far more heroic and selfless if a little spoilt at the start.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: He might be classist and prejudice at times, but he's far better than his Arthurian Legend counterpart.
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Two major changes in his personality are caused by his AdaptationalBackstoryChange in this version. Arthur has grown up as the prince of a magic hating king, and therefore Arthur is pretty spoiled, especially at the start of the series, and has a strong distrust of sorcerers.
* AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul:
** Merlin has almost always been TheMentor to Arthur and his most trusted advisor. Here he's his manservant and HeterosexualLifePartner with a VitriolicBestBuds dynamic.
** Traditionally Arthur was HappilyAdopted and never knew Uther, while in this version he was raised in Camelot by Uther.
** Guinevere is a servant in this version instead of the daughter of a lord, meaning that there are issues that prevent their romance from happening at first.
** Because he was adopted, he never knew Morgana until they met after he became king. Here they grew up together with neither being aware they were actually siblings until they were adults.
* AdiposeRex: At the end of Series 4, Arthur seems to be getting fat and heading down this path. Thankfully - [[spoiler:after she or not, due to him dying?]] - it is stopped before it becomes too bad... though it does require an extra hole in his belt for "extra comfort and ease of use".
* AggressiveCategorism: In the beginning Arthur was rather prejudiced, bigoted and judgmental. [[CharacterDevelopment He changed as the series progressed, mostly thanks to Merlin and Gwen]]. However while he becomes more determined to create a more fair and equal society, he never comes to fully accept magic even though he doesn't hate it as much as Uther.
* AerithAndBob: Arthur and Merlin. While Arthur's name sounds rather normal and is considered to be quite common, the name Merlin is somewhat exotic and unique sounding by comparison.
* AlwaysSecondBest: 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.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Compares himself to Lancelot and believes that he's the better man. And for good reason.
* ARealManIsAKiller: Arthur describes himself as "the ultimate killing machine" and this is in no way an InformedAbility. 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.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: With Merlin and Morgana, sort of. Arthur may tease and make fun of Merlin constantly and he frequently calls Merlin many different insulting names, but it is very clear that despite all of that, Arthur deeply cares for Merlin and is strongly protective of him. Although, Arthur simply cannot admit how much he values Merlin and his friendship at first. It could be argued that Merlin is a LivingEmotionalCrutch for Arthur as without Merlin, Arthur would not only be dead a thousand times over but would eventually crack emotionally and psychologically without Merlin and his influence and presence. Series 5 really showed how dependent Arthur really is on Merlin for many things.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: When Arthur is crowned King in 4x03.
* BadassNormal: Arthur has no superhuman abilities and is completely human, yet he can still kick major ass and is a very skilled fighter and warrior.
* BadLiar: When he contemplates using [[spoiler: 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.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Arthur is destined to be the greatest king Albion has ever known. He's 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. He accepts this prophecy and does everything to realize it. [[spoiler:In a ProphecyTwist, he dies before he could achieve ''any'' of those. It's his Queen Guinevere who brings about a golden age]].
* TheBerserker: Arthur seems to be always willing to throw himself into a battle, regardless ofCamelot the consequences and dangers. Thankfully, he has Merlin watching his back and saving him constantly.
* BigGood: Except for his prejudice against magic and inseason four.spite of his Violence, Arthur stands for honour, chivalry, and compassion. His dreams and idealism are what reign Merlin in when the latter is on the verge of [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumping off the slippery slope]]. Arthur's also the one Morgana considers her main rival and seeks to destroy, and the prophesied great king that Merlin bets everything on. He is the opposite of [[EvilSorcerer Morgana]], who is the BigBad.
* BloodKnight: Arthur loves fighting and defending his kingdom. He believes that it is a part of his duty to do so.
* BoisterousBruiser: Arthur goes hunting or travels for quests with gusto, especially in the beginning of the series.
* BrainsAndBrawn: Arthur is the Brawn to Merlin's Brains. While Arthur is more of a fighter and a warrior, Merlin relies more on strategy, his brains, his intelligence and manipulation tactics in order to fight the enemy.
* BrokenPedestal: Arthur is a huge WellDoneSonGuy 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 [[{{Jerkass}} reams him out on all the]] [[SarcasmMode "stupid"]] [[{{Jerkass}} decisions he's made to bring equality to the land]]. Arthur's heartbroken, and accidentally lets Uther's spirit free, who proceeds to wreck the Round Table, attack Percival with an axe, and attempt to set Guinevere on fire. Arthur's in denial for a lot of this in the show, even when he tries to banish and later execute Guinevere for her relationship with Arthur, but it's only when dealing with Uther's ghost that he finally breaks and realizes just how terrible a man his father was.
* BrokenTears: When his father dies, and when confronted with the ghost of a boy who died in a raid led by him.
* BrotherSisterIncest: With Morgana. The show started out heavily hinting at a Arthur/Morgana pairing in series 1. In the pilot episode, Gwen tells Merlin that Morgana was born to be a queen, and it's assumed she'll marry Arthur. Then as series 2 started, all of the build-up was dropped and the pairing was completely ignored. Then in series 3, Arthur and Morgana were revealed to be half-brother and -sister.
* BrutalHonesty: Sometimes Arthur can be too blunt and harsh, especially towards Merlin. Luckily, Merlin is just as sarcastic and blunt as well, so it equates to constant SnarkToSnarkCombat between Arthur and Merlin.
* CainAndAbel: With his half-sister Morgana. In terms of roles, Arthur is the Abel (the BigGood) to Morgana's Cain (the BigBad). It doesn't help that Morgana spent much of her time plotting against Arthur and trying to kill him. See SiblingYinYang.
* CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem: His relationship with Merlin. Though it may seem that Arthur constantly picks on Merlin and teases him, it has been proven and shown that without Merlin, Arthur really doesn't function all that well, if not, ''at all''. Hell, Arthur can't even ''get dressed'' without Merlin.
* CannotSpitItOut:
** He can't bring himself to express his feelings for Gwen.
** He's infamous for frequently giving backhanded compliments to Merlin instead of acknowledging the guy's wisdom.
* CannotTalkToWomen: After asking [[RomanticFalseLead Princess Mithian]] out for a picnic lunch, he mutters to himself: "I've never been much good at this." Something of an InformedFlaw, as he never ''really'' seems that uneasy around the likes of Morgana, Guinevere, or any other visiting princess.
* CatchPhrase: "Shut up, Merlin."
* TheChainsOfCommanding: 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.
* TheChosenOne: ''The'' Chosen One of the series, destined to be The Once and Future King destined to unite the lands of Albion and return magic to the land. He has Merlin and Guinevere, who are chosen ones by their own rights one way or another, to protect and guide him.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Arthur has the constant need to save people as much as possible.
* CommonalityConnection: With Merlin. Originally, when Arthur first met Merlin, Arthur thinks of Merlin as a silly, incompetent, foolish and stupid peasant. But eventually Arthur comes to realize just how important Merlin is to him as the series progresses. On the outside, Arthur and Merlin don't share anything in common in terms of backgrounds, personalities, upbringings and outlooks, but what they do share in common is the same destiny.
* CompetitionFreak: Arthur is really competitive by nature.
* CompositeCharacter:
** With Gwaine, as elements of ''Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight'' are given to him by being the knight who makes a deal with a mysterious warrior and then being asks to put his head on a chopping block as a SecretTestOfCharacter.
** Also with Percival and Galahad to a lesser extent. Both are known as the knights to find the Holy Grail, while Arthur is the knight given the task of finding the [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Cup of Life]] in Series 3. Related to this is that he's the one to go on the quest to the Fisher King, which is unrelated to the Holy Grail in this version but was also a role given to Percival and Galahad.
* ConflictingLoyalty: 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.
* CoolCrown: 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 FlashForward, 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.
* TheCorruptible: Arthur is probably the most corruptible character in the entire series. It's mostly because Arthur is too easily trusting and naive in regards to others and their intentions.
* CorruptTheCutie: Arthur has been corrupted or deceived by almost every single person who was close to him. He is often the victim of much corruption from various characters (such as Agravaine and Morgana, for example).
* CostumePorn: Arthur wears highly impressive armour.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Arthur doesn't appreciate Guinevere having close friendships with any other males (except Merlin) and becomes [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] every time she seems particularly fond of any one other than him. When he catches her and Lancelot in an embrace, he attacks Lancelot and would have killed him had Guinevere not thrown herself between them.
* TheCynic: Subverted. Arthur was cynical in the beginning, the opposite of Merlin, who was TheIdealist. Later on, Arthur became [[CharacterDevelopment much more idealistic and hopeful]] while Merlin became [[JadeColoredGlasses more pragmatic, realistic and cynical in his thinking.]]
*ActionSurvivor: She has ''survived'' a lot, including being being dragged before Uther for crimes she didn't commit twice, being kidnapped by Cenred, being exiled by the love of her life, Arthur, after Morgana enchanted her to kiss Lancelot, and being kidnapped, dragged by a horse, and psychologically tortured by Morgana, until the had her will taken from her. Gwen endured so much, but was still as kind as ever.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Gwen is given a RagsToRiches storyline by becoming the wife of KingCulturedBadass: Arthur later on in is from royalty and enjoys all of the series.finer things in life that come along with it. For the badass side, he's a skilled knight who likes to fight.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Defrosting Ice Prince/Defrosting 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.
%% * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: With both Lancelot DarkSecret: [[spoiler:"A Herald of the New Age" reveals that as a young and Arthur.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Gwen had feelings for Merlin in season one which were unreciprocated.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Gwen is crowned Queeninexperienced man with a desire to prove himself he led the Knights of Camelot in the season four finale.
* BadassNormal: Gwen is completely human and therefore, she has no abilities whatsoever, yet she is highly capable of defending herself and others when the time calls for it.
* BatmanGambit: Pulls one off in 5.02 by gambling on Ruadan's PapaWolf instincts.
* BattleCouple: With Arthur, especially before she becomes Queen, but also after as well.
* BettyAndVeronica: Gwen is the Archie to Lancelot's Betty and Arthur's Veronica. Technically, Lancelot is considered to be Gwen's FirstLove and she fell in LoveAtFirstSight with him (and vice versa). Gwen starts to display romantic feelings for Arthur in series 2, but even in the beginning of series 2, she still had very strong feelings for Lancelot; this was evident in 2x04 when Lancelot and Gwen were reunited when Gwen was kidnapped. Lancelot rescued Gwen and Arthur was alsoon a mission raid on a Druid camp. Despite telling the Knights to rescue Gwen. Both Arthur spare the women and Lancelot realize that Gwen has feelings for the both of them, but Lancelot decides to step aside children, he knew some disobeyed and not come between Arthur and Gwen. As Lancelot ids gone, Gwen starts to fall deeper in love with Arthur to the point where she ends up choosing Arthur over Lancelot. In series 4, Lancelot dies after [[HeroicSacrifice he sacrifices himself to close the veil between worlds froze instead of the living and the dead]]. Gwen had made Lancelot promise to protect Arthur at all costs and Lancelot, being the noble and selfless person that he is, adhered to Gwen's wishes and promise.
** However, it seems that the triangle had come back in 4x09, when Lancelot made a return in the episode after Morgana had used magic to bring Lancelot back from the dead. Although, it was not the real Lancelot and was in fact, a shade version of Lancelot. Morgana had raised Lancelot from the dead in attempts to destroy Arthur and Gwen's relationship so that she would not get married to Arthur and become Queen of Camelot. Morgana used methods to manipulate a situation where Gwen would resist the love and the feelings that she had for Lancelot so that Arthur and Gwen would break up. Sadly, it ended up working as Arthur and Gwen break up in the episode. Fortunately, Arthur and Gwen do end up rekindling their relationship and the two get married at the end of series 4, becoming the RulingCouple of Camelot.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Gwen is normally a very nice and caring person who will go out of her way to help others without hesitation but she does not always extend that compassion, kindness and empathy to those she is suspicious of or those whom she considers to be her enemies. Gwen also will not hesitate to call out other people on their bad behaviour and she won't hesitate to kill those whom are posing as a serious threat to either her or those she loves and cares about. This is the same person who has stood up to both Uther and Arthur, callingtelling them out on their behaviour. Gwen becomes even more stern when she becomes Queen in season five. She has shown that although she does have Camelot's bets interests at heart and wants to do right by her kingdom as Queen, she will resort to some rather ruthless methods when it comes time for her to do so. An example of this is in 5.01, [[spoiler: when she sentences her servant Sefa to ''death''.stop.]]
*BigSisterInstinct: Towards DeliberateValuesDissonance: Arthur can be sexist and elitist at times.
* DesignatedVictim: In almost every single episode, Merlinand Elyan. She is highly protective of both of them. Merlin is even one of her weak spots -- threatening him is not a good idea. Gwen sees Merlin as someone who is very dear to her and there is nothing that she would not do for him. She always has risked her life to look out for Merlin whenever he finds himself in trouble. Although Gwen was rather distant and estranged save Arthur from Elyan many enemies and did not seem to have too much of dangers. It's a close relationship with him, she is still very protective towards him considering that is RunningGag in the only family that she has left.series.
*BirdsOfAFeather: With Merlin. Both come from poor or commoner backgrounds. They both originally couldn't stand TheDeterminator: Most of the time, Arthur is rather determined and thought that doesn't quit when he was a bully, although both of their opinions of Arthur gradually change over the course of the series (Merlin develops a strong and intense friendship with Arthur; Gwen falls in love with Arthur). Both are servants to someone of status, nobility and wealth. Merlin is the personal man-servant of Arthur, the Prince of Camelot; Gwen is the maid-servant of Lady Morgana, the King's Ward). Also, Merlin and Gwen both share TheHeart role on the show. Merlin represents the male emotional aspect of the series, while Gwen is the female centrepiece of the series. Both Gwen and Merlin are advisors to Arthur and guide him to do the right thing as much as possible. Both Merlin and Gwen are compassionate, humble, kind, friendly and understanding in personality. It is no wonder that Merlin and Gwen "clicked" from the very beginning since they share so many traits in common.really wants something.
*{{Brainwashed}}: DistressedDude: 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.
* DoesNotKnowHowToSayThanks: Arthur is never that good with expressing gratitude and appreciation towards others, notably Merlin. [[spoiler:Post This is up until the events of 5.06. And all the resultant tropes:]]
** FaceHeelTurn: An involuntary variant.
** StockholmSyndrome: Morgana invokes this by torturing her into thinking all her loved ones hate her, and then offering comfort and help, thus allowing a...
** SymbioticPossession: It is explained that her behavior is dueseries finale when Arthur's final words to Morgana taking over her will and replacing her will with her own, which causes the following behaviors...Merlin before he dies are, "thank you."]]
* DontYouDarePityMe: Arthur hates it when others feel sorry for him.
*** DecoyDamsel: Puts on quite the show of helplessness to manipulate her enemies.
*** FemmeFatale: She definitely acts more coquettish than usual when under Morgana's power. Arthur and the knights are completely wrapped around her little finger.
*** ObviouslyEvil: [[SubvertedTrope But only to the audience]].
*** PsychoticSmirk: Again, only the audience sees it.
** ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: What helps to break the enchantment, with the help of Merlin [[DisguisedInDrag disguised as a woman]], Dolma]].
* BrainyBrunette: Gwen is quite smart, pragmatic and logical.
* BreakTheCutie: In ''Lancelot du Lac'', in which she is enchanted into betraying Arthur by Morgana, is banished from Camelot and none of her friends are there to see her off except Merlin. Not even her own brother wants to see her. The cherry on top? Only the audience and the villains know sheDoomedByCanon: It was enchanted, so she believes everything is her fault. This isn't so much Break the Cutie as smash her to bits, stomp on the pieces, and grind them to dust. As if that isn't enough, she gets enchanted AGAIN by Morgana to kill Arthur and was probably tormented a bit while she was held captive.
* BrokenBird: At various points in the series. Most notably in season one, when Uther has Gwen's father, Tom, executed even though he was innocent; in season four, when Arthur banishes Gwen from Camelot; and also in season five when her brother Elyan unexpectedly dies. Gwen has lost all of her family and after her brother died, she was corrupted by Morgana.
* CassandraTruth: 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 ispretty much just TheHeart and Arthur's LoveInterest.
** Rectified in Season 3.
* CharacterDevelopment: From shy, stuttering maid to regal, confident queen.
* CleavageWindow: Sometimes, from Season 2 onward.
* CloserToEarth: She is one of the few minority characters on the show.
* TheConscience: She's the moral compass of the show. Withexpected that 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.
* CoolBigSis: To Elyan.
* CoolCrown: Gets onewould end up dying at the end of the season four finale. Guinevere is lucky enough to wear a very elaborate, but still elegant-looking silver crown adorned with jewels.
* CorruptTheCutie: In season five, by Morgana.
* TheCutie: Primarily in season's 1 and 2.
* CrypticConversation: Inseries. [[spoiler: "Diamond of the Day Part 2"]], she has this type of conversation with Gaius, [[spoiler: confirming her suspicion that Merlin was indeed the Sorcerer that [[CurbStompBattle turned the tide]] at the Battle of Camlann in Camelot's favour.And he does.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: The Sorcerer * DramaticallyMissingThePoint: 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.
* DumbMuscle: Unfortunately, for someone expected to be a wise ruler, perceptiveness isn't his strong point.
* EmotionalBruiser: He's a knight and king and very much a tough guy, but thanks to Merlin and Gwen, Arthur becomes more comfortable with opening up and expressing his feelings and vulnerability.
* EmotionallyTongueTied: Especially in thebattle, you knew who he was?]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: *''{{Beat}}''* [[CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer Yes]].beginning. Arthur always had issues with expressing his feelings. This changes later on though, thanks to both Merlin and Gwen.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: King Alined admits to being a bit attracted to him.
* ExtremeDoormat: Sometimes Arthur seemed this way in regards to Uther, much to Arthur's detriment. He had a tendency to follow his father and his orders blindly due to Arthur's strong desire to please his father.
* FamedInStory: 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.
* FatalFlaw: He just can't help trusting the wrong people. It's endearing, but also immensely frustrating.
* FlawExploitation:
** 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.
* FlirtyStepSiblings: Arthur and Morgana are like this during series 1 since Arthur's father 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's relationship to that of step-siblings. There is some attraction and flirting going on between them. [[spoiler:And it turns out, they're half-siblings.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': * {{Foil}}:
** To Lancelot. Lancelot's presence highlighted both Arthur's faults and his virtues. On the one hand, when Arthur realizes that there may be something between Lance/Gwen he pulls a massive sulk and makes an off-handed comment that he's only there because Morgana begged him; whilst Lancelot graciously admits defeat and bows out of the Love Triangle before there's any more trouble. On the other hand, the fact that Lancelot leaves in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye highlights Arthur's honesty with Gwen when he tells her that nothing can ever happen between them.
** To Merlin. Their backgrounds, upbringings, outlooks and personalities are entirely different. Arthur is rich, a noble and comes from RoyalBlood, while Merlin is a commoner who is poor and comes from humble beginnings. Personality wise, Arthur and Merlin could not be more different; Arthur starts off as more arrogant, entitled and spoiled while Merlin starts off as humble, selfless and idealistic. Arthur was also TheCynic while Merlin was TheIdealist (however, Arthur and Merlin start to switch roles in the later series as Arthur becomes more optimistic and hopeful while Merlin becomes more cynical and pragmatic). Arthur is a regular human, a BadassNormal who possesses no supernatural abilities whatsoever (he uses swords and combat to fight and defeat the enemy) while Merlin is TheArchmage who is a powerful warlock or sorcerer who possesses very strong magic (he uses his magic to help fight or defeat the enemy). Their contrasting personalities and their opposing backgrounds could have been the major reason why Arthur and Merlin had clashed so much in the beginning, but could also be the reason why Arthur and Merlin also complement each other in beneficial ways.
* ForGreatJustice: Basically Arthur's motto regarding his duty to Camelot and Albion -- he wants to rule with justice in his kingdom.
* FreudianExcuse: It's clear that many of Arthur's emotional and psychological issues and insecurities stem from the fact that he was raised by an emotionally distant and abusive father (Uther). It didn't help that Arthur was completely motherless growing up (thanks to Uther, of course - though unwittingly on Uther's part).
* FriendshipDenial: With Merlin in the beginning. Merlin would often acknowledge Arthur as his friend, but Arthur would often deny this and say that he is just his servant. Subverted now that Arthur has frequently addressed Merlin as his friend later on in the series.
* GoodIsNotDumb: 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 [[CardboardPrison vaults of Camelot]]
-->'''Arthur''': *stops and looks around worriedly* ItsQuietTooQuiet.
* TheGoodKing: What he is expected to be and what he eventually becomes [[spoiler:Do ''I'' in series 4]], despite him making some mistakes along the way. Arthur is destined to become the greatest king Albion has ever known. He is meant to unite the land of Albion during a Golden Age and free the magical people. Character and personality wise, Arthur has shown that he is noble, brave, honourable, virtuous, chivalrous, empathetic, and compassionate and stands for all that is right and good. He has shown that despite being a royal, he has compassion and understanding for those who are of lower status than him and he has shown to care immensely about the well being of the inhabitants of Camelot. HonorBeforeReason is basically Arthur's motto in everything that he does and stands for. He has shown to be a fair and just leader and he always respects the input from the people that surround him, people such as Merlin, Gwen, Gaius and the Knights of Camelot, etc).
* GreenEyedMonster: He gets very jealous a couple of times, when Lancelot or Gwaine look particularly friendly with Gwen.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Arthur is chivalrous, noble, brave and honourable and he is pure of heart. Despite originally starting off as selfish, spoiled and entitled, even from the start he shows a streak of nobility (in the very first episode when his and Merlin's second mock duel ends with Merlin being dumped on his arse, he tells the guards to let Merlin go, because "He's a fool, but a brave fool"). He eventually shows his real personality once he goes through CharacterDevelopment and learns to discard his {{Pride}}. His mother Ygraine, to whom he bears a StrongFamilyResemblance to, was the embodiment of this trope as she was seen to be kind, good hearted, caring, and nurturing. Therefore, it seems as though Arthur inherited his good and pure heart from his mother. Arthur has InnocentBlueEyes to match his HairOfGold.
* HairTriggerTemper: In the beginning of the series he gets angry very easily over minor things. An indication of his maturity throughout the series is the frequency of his temper tantrum, especially towards Merlin.
* HardHead: Arthur getting knocked out is both RunningGag and a convenient way to keep Merlin's magic from him.
* HeroAntagonist: 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 hesitate to arrest anyone caught using it, even though the penalty is death. What separates him from Uther is that he does this not out of maliciousness, but because [[MyMasterRightOrWrong it is his Father's law]] and he's honour bound to obey it.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Arthur always uses his sword, even though he's shown to be quite handy with a mace.
* HeroicBSOD:
** When his uncle betrays him, he breaks down very badly in 4x13 that he feels he must AbdicateTheThrone because he was such a horrible leader. If it weren't for Merlin, Arthur wouldn't just be dead a thousand times over, he'd be insane.
** Has a HUGE one in the series finale, when he discovers that the one person he trusts the most, his best friend (Merlin), is in fact a sorcerer and that Merlin had been lying to him for the whole time.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** Drinks the (supposedly) poison for Merlin in "The Labyrinth of Gedref".
** He intends to sacrifice himself to close the veil between the living and undead worlds in "The Darkest Hour"
** He [[TakeMeInstead offers his life for Mordred's]] in "The Disir".
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Merlin. Arthur and Merlin originally don't like each other. Although, eventually, the two become very close and start to bond with each other, mostly because of the fact that their destinies and their paths are intertwined. Arthur repeatedly teases Merlin and makes fun of him, but regardless of Arthur's constant teasing of Merlin, he has shown to be very protective of him and has repeatedly shown that he does care for and love Merlin. It is also apparent that there are plenty of deep HoYay moments between the two, especially when they have deep and meaningful conversations with each other (where they end up sharing deep and meaningful glances with each other). But this is mostly due to Bradley James and Colin Morgan's intense and palpable onscreen chemistry with each other.
* HiddenDepths: He first appears as a spoilt royal JerkJock but as Merlin gets to knowhim? [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow Please Gaius, answer me honestly?]]]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: ''[[MathematiciansAnswer Yes]]''.him better, his insecurities about his own worth as a leader and his genuine strong sense of honour surface.
* HomoeroticSubtext: With Merlin. Although Merlin and Arthur are HeterosexualLifePartners and even more accurately, VitriolicBestBuds, there is no doubt about it that Arthur and Merlin share the most HoYay moments of any duo in the series. Part of it has to do with the strong and undeniable onscreen (and off screen) chemistry between Bradley James and Colin Morgan. The other part of the reason for the strong homoerotic subtext and implications between the two is the fact that they frequently tease each other, seemingly having a love/hate relationship with each other. Therefore, their interactions with each other could be taken as BelligerentSexualTension. Also, there have been some sexual comments and innuendo that have been included in the dialogue between the two, although this is often PlayedForLaughs.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Honour? Chivalry? Bravery? Arthur has those qualities honed to perfection! Being capable of noticing if someone is ObviouslyEvil? He might need to work on that some more.
* HotBlooded: Arthur is hot headed, brash, impulsive and passionate by nature. He has a tendency to act before he thinks sometimes, especially when it comes to battle or fighting for Camelot. Both Merlin and Gwen often had to tame Arthur's impulsiveness and his brashness from time to time in order to prevent him from making impulsive decisions that could prove to be costly or detrimental. There is also the fact that Arthur has a bit of a temper, especially when he is angered, frustrated or irritated. His tendency towards throwing a tantrum, especially in the earlier seasons and before he became more pragmatic and went through CharacterDevelopment, showcased his trait of having a temper. Seems that Arthur inherited his hot headiness and his temper from his father, Uther.
* {{Hunk}}: Arthur is very physically appealing to the female fans or audience. Although, Arthur's good looks lean more on the masculine side and he is not a PrettyBoy like Merlin, who is shown to be very delicate and fragile looking physically. Arthur also has plenty of ShirtlessScenes, solidifying his status as MrFanservice.
* IconicOutfit: [[TwentyFourHourArmor Mail shirt]] with the Pendragon red cape.
* IncestSubtext:
** [[spoiler:Now that Morgana has been revealed to be his half-sister, their [[{{UST}} relationship]] in series 1 seems like this.]]
%%* DiggingYourselfDeeper
* DamselInDistress: A couple** In the episode [[{{Recap/MerlinS02E08SinsOfTheFather}} "Sins of times, but [[MemeticMutation not the Father"]], Arthur meets the (young and beautiful) ghost of his mother, whose words inspire him to gallop straight home and nearly as often as you'd think]]. It's probably because commit {{patricide}}.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: His {{Jerkass}} behaviour near the(very few) Gwen-centric episodes ''do'' [[NeverLiveItDown involve her start of the series is quickly put down to his FreudianExcuse of having a very demanding and emotionally distant father, and it's clear in considerable distress]].
* DoggedNiceGirl[=/=]UnrequitedLove: Towardshis 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 Season 1.
himself instead of following his father's examples during his HeroicBSOD moments.
*DudeMagnet: In IHaveNoIdeaWhatImDoing:
** Arthur wasn't entirely sure that his plan to smear himself in Gaia berries to confuse the Wilderen would be successful. Merlin is not hugely pleased when he finds out.
** Arthur gets a moment of thisversion, [[ForegoneConclusion when his father starts dying and he's about to be the new ruler.
** Arthur in 4x11 when faced with marriage to a lovely princess or seeking out the woman that (he thinks) betrayed him, tells Merlin that he has no idea what to do.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Arthur begins to fall for Guinevere after she calls him out on his rude behaviour and he realizes that she's the only one who doesn't just tell him what he wants to hear.
** Also the reason why Arthur andLancelot]] have fallen Merlin get along so well. Arthur acknowledges more than once in love with her, the series that he ''likes'' Merlin's impertinence, and Gwaine actually gets worried when Merlin gets too quiet and Helios have shown brief interest.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Gwen's wardrobe changed drastically after she became Queen. She was seen wearing royal clothing.deferential.
*{{Expy}}: Of [[Series/{{Smallville}} Chloe Sullivan]].
* TheFace: Gwen is more diplomatic in her approaches socially. See TheHeart.
* FantasticRacism: SubvertedInnocentBlueEyes: Has blue eyes that are appropriate to his heroic character. Matching his HairOfGoldHeartOfGold, fitting [[KnightInShiningArmor the honourable, chivalrous Once and PlayedWith. She Future King]].
* InnocentlyInsensitive: He doesn'thate magicians, unlike Uther, but like him, she is afraid of magic and tries to punish people who use it. It leads to several inconspicuous KickTheDog moments.
** She tells Gaius what happened with Morgana after she used magic in front of her, [[LesCollaborateurs an actrealize that could have gotten her mistress imprisoned]], even if she was declared the King's ward [[spoiler:and had all along actually been it is rude to refuse Hunith's breakfast in "The Moment of Truth" and his daughter]]. In her defense, what Morgana did was a curse stay inconveniences Gwen in "The Once and before that Morgana went off with someone who was not what they seemed.
** In 4x03, she toldFuture Queen". Gwen calls him out on both cases.
* InSeriesNickname: Merlin calls Arthurin 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 "Clotpole" or "Dollophead". Arthur is the equivalent of [[ToBeLawfulOrGood choosing lawful over good]]).never amused by this.
* InterclassFriendship:
**In 5x01, she sounded very angry (and had He's a frightening look on her face), just a short moment after learning that Sefa (her maid)'s father was a sorcerer, before [[spoiler: pretending to sentence her to death Prince, and later King, while actually working Merlin is his servant. While they are genuine friends with Arthur proving that he's ready to save her and getting her father, TheManBehindTheMan, imprisoned sacrifice himself for Merlin, this difference in her place]], an uncharacteristically harsh gambit [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman which she social class does create a serious power imbalance as Arthur doesn't seem to regret]].
* FanServicePack: [[http://oi39.tinypic.com/2lwm890.jpg See for yourself]]. She starts out as a commoner, with the associated plain clothes and modest appearance but becomes ProgressivelyPrettier as the show goes on.
* TheFettered: Gwen strongly believes in laws and following the rules. She is all about doing the right thing as much as possible.
* ForcefulKiss: To Arthur in 2x10 in order to break him out of an enchantment.
* FreudianTrio: In the trio of herself, Merlin and Arthur, Gwen is TheKirk or Ego (TheHeart, motherly, nurturing, loved by both Arthur andtreat Merlin as a LoveInterest/[[LikeBrotherAndSister Sister Figure]] an equal.
** Prior toMerlin's TheSpock or Superego (Calm, secretive, logical, intelligent, has made at least one SadisticChoice in which he sacrificed a dear friend in order to save a greater number of people) and Arthur's TheMcCoy or Id (Arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, is driven by his emotions, usually puts the individual before the bigger picture to Arthur's). See TheKirk.
* GirlFriday: Can betheir relationship becoming romantic this at times applied to Merlin, especially when they're teaming up to solve mysteries.
* GirlNextDoor: When Gwen was still a maid servant. This changed [[spoiler: after Gwen became Queen.]]
* GoodIsNotDumb: She's easily the most observant character in the showGuinevere, and knows how to talk people into action.
* GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler: 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.with Lancelot until he knighted him. However, it turned out to be a ruse to invoke a PapaWolf response from her father, who Gwen considered the actual threat. She just needed it to be convincing. It was a gamble, but it worked.]]
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Gwen wears a lot of purple dresses, especially when she becomes Queen. Gwen was seen wearing purple colourswhile she he got along with Elyan they seemingly didn't become friends until after he was a servant as well.
* GuileHero: She simply talks to people, using a blend of logicknighted and guile to convince them to act according to her wishes.
* HairTropes:
** ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Her hair goes from practical buns to long, loose curls as she rises in status.
** LongHairIsFeminine: Her hair is long and curly.
** QuirkyCurls: In series 1 and 2.
** RegalRinglets: In series 5.
** MessyHair: In series 1.
* HappilyMarried: Towhile Arthur never found out Gwaine was in series 5.
* TheHeart: Gwen shares this role with Merlin.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Gwen has gone through a lot of hardships and pain infact the name son of love and romance and she hasn't had the best of luck in the love department. Especially in regards to her male suitors, Arthur and Lancelot.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Morgana. [[spoiler:This starts to deteriorate in series three.]]
* TheHighQueen: As of the end of series four. [[spoiler: This is even more true in the series finale considering that Gwen became the sole ruler of Camelot after King Arthur dies. In fact, the very last words of the entire series are '''"Long Live The Queen!"''', as cried by everyone present in the throne room.]]
* HonestAdvisor: Together with Merlin to Arthur.
* HotConsort: For King Arthur.
* HourglassPlot: With Morgana, essentially taking her place as the most powerful woman in Camelot.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: With Arthur.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: After Gwen becomes Queen.
* InSeriesNickname: Her full name is Guinevere but almost everyone calls her Gwen, except Arthur. Arthur always calls Gwen by her full name "Guinevere".
* InterClassRomance: With Arthur. Gwen wasa poor servant/maid and Arthur is a rich noble. This is now subverted after Gwen married Arthur and became Queen.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Gaius.
knight.
* InterspeciesFriendship: With Merlin. Merlin is a warlock and a DragonLord; Gwen Lord with magical abilities and Arthur is a human.
*IWillWaitForYou: At the conclusion of ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS03E10QueenOfHearts}} Queen Of Hearts]]'', she promises to wait for IOweYouMyLife: Arthur infuriates his father early in Season 1 by going to become King, at which point they can marry.
insane lengths to save the life of a "servant boy" (Merlin) he hasn't even known for particularly long. Arthur points out repeatedly that Merlin was dying of a poisoning attempt intended for Arthur, and that Merlin's actions had saved Arthur's life.
*KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Especially when she becomes Queen.ItsAllAboutMe: 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.
*TheKirk/'''Ego''' (FreudianTrio): In the trio between herself, ItsAllMyFault: 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?"
* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: 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.
* IWorkAlone: Due to his father's influence, he believes that as a leader, he cannot afford to rely on anyone, especially emotionally. Merlin, Gwenis TheKirk/Ego (motherly, nurturing, sensitive, TheHeart) to Arthur's TheMcCoy/Id (arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, HotBlooded) and Merlin's TheSpock/Superego (calm, logical, intelligent, TheChessmaster). See FreudianTrio.
* LadyAndKnight: Played remarkably straight with Lancelot and Guinevere, even though they aren't a lady or a knight whenthe show begins. However, Lancelot always makes a point of referring to Gwen as "my lady" and by the end of the third series knights prove him wrong.
* JerkJock: In his first appearance, he'sbeen permanently knighted an athletic knight who bullies the scrawny Merlin.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Arrogant andby self-centered, but with a genuine sense of justice and near unshakeable loyalty to his friends, his people and his king. Nobody could really see the end noble and good side of Arthur in the fourth season, she is "my lady" as she's Queen!
** There'sbeginning because he had put up walls to prevent himself from appearing vulnerable to others. Hence why Arthur had such a little hard time expressing himself and showing emotion and vulnerability. A lot of this had to do with Gwen having to be TheStoic because Uther had basically instilled upon him to be tough, firm and Gwaine strong at all times and therefore, this made Arthur feel as well.
* LadyOfWar: The feminine, graceful young woman who is more than capable of using a sword.
* LadyInRed: A Queen, Gwen wore a lot of red dresses.if he was not able to show weakness when it was necessary.
*LetsGetDangerous: 1x10, 2x04 and 5x01.
* LikeBrotherAndSister[=/=]PlatonicLifePartners: Gwen eventually becomes this withKickTheDog: In one episode, Arthur went to go get a flower to cure Merlin against his father's orders. As soon as he came back, his own father imprisoned him for disobeying orders. Arthur didn't care if he stayed in series 2.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Light to Morgana's dark.
** In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} The Hunter's Heart]]'' she isprison for days or weeks, as long as the dark flower got to Mithian's light.
* LimitedWardrobe: InMerlin. He even begged his father to at least deliver the first series she (understandably) only had two outfits.
* LivingMacGuffin: There is nobody that wouldn't risk their life for Gwen if she is kidnapped, gone missing or isflower. Uther simply crushed the flower in trouble front of some sort. Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot told him to get another servant and dropped the rest of the Knights would all come searching for her and risk their lives in order to find her without even a second thought.
* TheLoad: DependingOnTheWriter. On one hand, her quick mind has proven useful on several occasions, on the other, she's still a relatively small and untrained peasant girl who often winds up being a DamselInDistress.
* LoveHurts: 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 [[BackFromTheDead Lancelot]] - the kicker being only the audience and the bad guys know - and banished from Camelot forever. [[spoiler: To top it all, Gwen has to assume power at the costflower just out of Arthur's death.reach, to underline the lesson that people will die for him and he'd better get used to it.
* LastGirlWins: Gender-Flipped Arthur may have known Gwen [[FirstGirlWins 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).
* LastRequest: [[spoiler: Not to be left alone. And Merlin doesn't, living up to the present day waiting for him to return.]]
*LoveTriangle: LivingEmotionalCrutch: PlayedWith between him and Merlin. Not that he wants to admit it, but Arthur becomes increasingly physically and emotionally reliant on Merlin, often devolving into panic or helplessness when he can't find Merlin or thinks he's in danger. This intensifies when he becomes King, to the point that Merlin becomes his constant companion and advisor and even foreigners (such as Mithian and Annis) pick up on Merlin's importance to him. While Uther, Agravaine, and others continually push Arthur to become more brutal, Merlin pushes him to stick to his ideals, which earns the respect of his rivals and helps usher in a golden era of peace.
** At thecentre of the most famous one of all (between herself, same time, Arthur provides Merlin with a sense of purpose from the very beginning, then becomes a comfort and Lancelot). [[spoiler: Gwen chooses Arthur.]]close friend to Merlin, until by Series 5 they nearly switch positions, with Arthur preventing an increasingly ruthless Merlin from JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.
* LongLostSibling: Revealed to be a long lost paternal half-brother to Morgana. But she does not appear out of nowhere, she is present in his life as his father's ward.
* MagneticHero: His biggest asset as a leader is his ability to inspire respect and loyalty in other people.
* ActionHero: Combat is
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Arthur has serious DaddyIssues and issues with everyone lying to him and betraying him, including his own best friend, Merlin.
* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Most versions of the Arthurian Legend have Arthur be conceived through a BedTrick arranged by Merlin, who takes him away shortly after his birth and gives him to be raised by Sir Ector. Arthur is HappilyAdopted and unaware that he's Uther's son until he pulls the sword
%%
*
* AdaptationalDumbass: Even when he's king, Arthur is incapable of dressing himself without Merlin's help.
* AdaptationalHeroism: As with most adaptions, the show makes him far more heroic and selfless if a little spoilt at the start.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: He might be classist and prejudice at times, but he's far better than his Arthurian Legend counterpart.
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Two major changes in his personality are caused by his AdaptationalBackstoryChange in this version. Arthur has grown up as the prince of a magic hating king, and therefore Arthur is pretty spoiled, especially at the start of the series, and has a strong distrust of sorcerers.
* AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul:
** Merlin has almost always been TheMentor to Arthur and his most trusted advisor. Here he's his manservant and HeterosexualLifePartner with a VitriolicBestBuds dynamic.
** Traditionally Arthur was HappilyAdopted and never knew Uther, while in this version he was raised in Camelot by Uther.
** Guinevere is a servant in this version instead of the daughter of a lord, meaning that there are issues that prevent their romance from happening at first.
** Because he was adopted, he never knew Morgana until they met after he became king. Here they grew up together with neither being aware they were actually siblings until they were adults.
* AdiposeRex: At the end of Series 4, Arthur seems to be getting fat and heading down this path. Thankfully - [[spoiler:
* AggressiveCategorism: In the beginning Arthur was rather prejudiced, bigoted and judgmental. [[CharacterDevelopment He changed as the series progressed, mostly thanks to Merlin and Gwen]]. However while he becomes more determined to create a more fair and equal society, he never comes to fully accept magic even though he doesn't hate it as much as Uther.
* AerithAndBob: Arthur and Merlin. While Arthur's name sounds rather normal and is considered to be quite common, the name Merlin is somewhat exotic and unique sounding by comparison.
* AlwaysSecondBest: 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.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Compares himself to Lancelot and believes that he's the better man. And for good reason.
* ARealManIsAKiller: Arthur describes himself as "the ultimate killing machine" and this is in no way an InformedAbility. 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.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: With Merlin and Morgana, sort of. Arthur may tease and make fun of Merlin constantly and he frequently calls Merlin many different insulting names, but it is very clear that despite all of that, Arthur deeply cares for Merlin and is strongly protective of him. Although, Arthur simply cannot admit how much he values Merlin and his friendship at first. It could be argued that Merlin is a LivingEmotionalCrutch for Arthur as without Merlin, Arthur would not only be dead a thousand times over but would eventually crack emotionally and psychologically without Merlin and his influence and presence. Series 5 really showed how dependent Arthur really is on Merlin for many things.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: When Arthur is crowned King in 4x03.
* BadassNormal: Arthur has no superhuman abilities and is completely human, yet he can still kick major ass and is a very skilled fighter and warrior.
* BadLiar: When he contemplates using [[spoiler: 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.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Arthur is destined to be the greatest king Albion has ever known. He's 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. He accepts this prophecy and does everything to realize it. [[spoiler:In a ProphecyTwist, he dies before he could achieve ''any'' of those. It's his Queen Guinevere who brings about a golden age]].
* TheBerserker: Arthur seems to be always willing to throw himself into a battle, regardless of
* BigGood: Except for his prejudice against magic and in
* BloodKnight: Arthur loves fighting and defending his kingdom. He believes that it is a part of his duty to do so.
* BoisterousBruiser: Arthur goes hunting or travels for quests with gusto, especially in the beginning of the series.
* BrainsAndBrawn: Arthur is the Brawn to Merlin's Brains. While Arthur is more of a fighter and a warrior, Merlin relies more on strategy, his brains, his intelligence and manipulation tactics in order to fight the enemy.
* BrokenPedestal: Arthur is a huge WellDoneSonGuy 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 [[{{Jerkass}} reams him out on all the]] [[SarcasmMode "stupid"]] [[{{Jerkass}} decisions he's made to bring equality to the land]]. Arthur's heartbroken, and accidentally lets Uther's spirit free, who proceeds to wreck the Round Table, attack Percival with an axe, and attempt to set Guinevere on fire. Arthur's in denial for a lot of this in the show, even when he tries to banish and later execute Guinevere for her relationship with Arthur, but it's only when dealing with Uther's ghost that he finally breaks and realizes just how terrible a man his father was.
* BrokenTears: When his father dies, and when confronted with the ghost of a boy who died in a raid led by him.
* BrotherSisterIncest: With Morgana. The show started out heavily hinting at a Arthur/Morgana pairing in series 1. In the pilot episode, Gwen tells Merlin that Morgana was born to be a queen, and it's assumed she'll marry Arthur. Then as series 2 started, all of the build-up was dropped and the pairing was completely ignored. Then in series 3, Arthur and Morgana were revealed to be half-brother and -sister.
* BrutalHonesty: Sometimes Arthur can be too blunt and harsh, especially towards Merlin. Luckily, Merlin is just as sarcastic and blunt as well, so it equates to constant SnarkToSnarkCombat between Arthur and Merlin.
* CainAndAbel: With his half-sister Morgana. In terms of roles, Arthur is the Abel (the BigGood) to Morgana's Cain (the BigBad). It doesn't help that Morgana spent much of her time plotting against Arthur and trying to kill him. See SiblingYinYang.
* CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem: His relationship with Merlin. Though it may seem that Arthur constantly picks on Merlin and teases him, it has been proven and shown that without Merlin, Arthur really doesn't function all that well, if not, ''at all''. Hell, Arthur can't even ''get dressed'' without Merlin.
* CannotSpitItOut:
** He can't bring himself to express his feelings for Gwen.
** He's infamous for frequently giving backhanded compliments to Merlin instead of acknowledging the guy's wisdom.
* CannotTalkToWomen: After asking [[RomanticFalseLead Princess Mithian]] out for a picnic lunch, he mutters to himself: "I've never been much good at this." Something of an InformedFlaw, as he never ''really'' seems that uneasy around the likes of Morgana, Guinevere, or any other visiting princess.
* CatchPhrase: "Shut up, Merlin."
* TheChainsOfCommanding: 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.
* TheChosenOne: ''The'' Chosen One of the series, destined to be The Once and Future King destined to unite the lands of Albion and return magic to the land. He has Merlin and Guinevere, who are chosen ones by their own rights one way or another, to protect and guide him.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Arthur has the constant need to save people as much as possible.
* CommonalityConnection: With Merlin. Originally, when Arthur first met Merlin, Arthur thinks of Merlin as a silly, incompetent, foolish and stupid peasant. But eventually Arthur comes to realize just how important Merlin is to him as the series progresses. On the outside, Arthur and Merlin don't share anything in common in terms of backgrounds, personalities, upbringings and outlooks, but what they do share in common is the same destiny.
* CompetitionFreak: Arthur is really competitive by nature.
* CompositeCharacter:
** With Gwaine, as elements of ''Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight'' are given to him by being the knight who makes a deal with a mysterious warrior and then being asks to put his head on a chopping block as a SecretTestOfCharacter.
** Also with Percival and Galahad to a lesser extent. Both are known as the knights to find the Holy Grail, while Arthur is the knight given the task of finding the [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Cup of Life]] in Series 3. Related to this is that he's the one to go on the quest to the Fisher King, which is unrelated to the Holy Grail in this version but was also a role given to Percival and Galahad.
* ConflictingLoyalty: 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.
* CoolCrown: 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 FlashForward, 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.
* TheCorruptible: Arthur is probably the most corruptible character in the entire series. It's mostly because Arthur is too easily trusting and naive in regards to others and their intentions.
* CorruptTheCutie: Arthur has been corrupted or deceived by almost every single person who was close to him. He is often the victim of much corruption from various characters (such as Agravaine and Morgana, for example).
* CostumePorn: Arthur wears highly impressive armour.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Arthur doesn't appreciate Guinevere having close friendships with any other males (except Merlin) and becomes [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] every time she seems particularly fond of any one other than him. When he catches her and Lancelot in an embrace, he attacks Lancelot and would have killed him had Guinevere not thrown herself between them.
* TheCynic: Subverted. Arthur was cynical in the beginning, the opposite of Merlin, who was TheIdealist. Later on, Arthur became [[CharacterDevelopment much more idealistic and hopeful]] while Merlin became [[JadeColoredGlasses more pragmatic, realistic and cynical in his thinking.]]
*
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Gwen is given a RagsToRiches storyline by becoming the wife of King
* DefrostingIceQueen: Defrosting Ice Prince/Defrosting 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.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Gwen had feelings for Merlin in season one which were unreciprocated.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Gwen is crowned Queen
* BadassNormal: Gwen is completely human and therefore, she has no abilities whatsoever, yet she is highly capable of defending herself and others when the time calls for it.
* BatmanGambit: Pulls one off in 5.02 by gambling on Ruadan's PapaWolf instincts.
* BattleCouple: With Arthur, especially before she becomes Queen, but also after as well.
* BettyAndVeronica: Gwen is the Archie to Lancelot's Betty and Arthur's Veronica. Technically, Lancelot is considered to be Gwen's FirstLove and she fell in LoveAtFirstSight with him (and vice versa). Gwen starts to display romantic feelings for Arthur in series 2, but even in the beginning of series 2, she still had very strong feelings for Lancelot; this was evident in 2x04 when Lancelot and Gwen were reunited when Gwen was kidnapped. Lancelot rescued Gwen and Arthur was also
** However, it seems that the triangle had come back in 4x09, when Lancelot made a return in the episode after Morgana had used magic to bring Lancelot back from the dead. Although, it was not the real Lancelot and was in fact, a shade version of Lancelot. Morgana had raised Lancelot from the dead in attempts to destroy Arthur and Gwen's relationship so that she would not get married to Arthur and become Queen of Camelot. Morgana used methods to manipulate a situation where Gwen would resist the love and the feelings that she had for Lancelot so that Arthur and Gwen would break up. Sadly, it ended up working as Arthur and Gwen break up in the episode. Fortunately, Arthur and Gwen do end up rekindling their relationship and the two get married at the end of series 4, becoming the RulingCouple of Camelot.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Gwen is normally a very nice and caring person who will go out of her way to help others without hesitation but she does not always extend that compassion, kindness and empathy to those she is suspicious of or those whom she considers to be her enemies. Gwen also will not hesitate to call out other people on their bad behaviour and she won't hesitate to kill those whom are posing as a serious threat to either her or those she loves and cares about. This is the same person who has stood up to both Uther and Arthur, calling
*
* DesignatedVictim: In almost every single episode, Merlin
*
*
* DoesNotKnowHowToSayThanks: Arthur is never that good with expressing gratitude and appreciation towards others, notably Merlin. [[spoiler:
** FaceHeelTurn: An involuntary variant.
** StockholmSyndrome: Morgana invokes this by torturing her into thinking all her loved ones hate her, and then offering comfort and help, thus allowing a...
** SymbioticPossession: It is explained that her behavior is due
* DontYouDarePityMe: Arthur hates it when others feel sorry for him.
*** FemmeFatale: She definitely acts more coquettish than usual when under Morgana's power. Arthur and the knights are completely wrapped around her little finger.
*** ObviouslyEvil: [[SubvertedTrope But only to the audience]].
*** PsychoticSmirk: Again, only the audience sees it.
** ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: What helps to break the enchantment, with the help of Merlin [[DisguisedInDrag disguised as a woman]], Dolma]].
* BreakTheCutie: In ''Lancelot du Lac'', in which she is enchanted into betraying Arthur by Morgana, is banished from Camelot and none of her friends are there to see her off except Merlin. Not even her own brother wants to see her. The cherry on top? Only the audience and the villains know she
* BrokenBird: At various points in the series. Most notably in season one, when Uther has Gwen's father, Tom, executed even though he was innocent; in season four, when Arthur banishes Gwen from Camelot; and also in season five when her brother Elyan unexpectedly dies. Gwen has lost all of her family and after her brother died, she was corrupted by Morgana.
* CassandraTruth: 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
** Rectified in Season 3.
* CharacterDevelopment: From shy, stuttering maid to regal, confident queen.
* CleavageWindow: Sometimes, from Season 2 onward.
* CloserToEarth: She is one of the few minority characters on the show.
* TheConscience: She's the moral compass of the show. With
* CoolBigSis: To Elyan.
* CoolCrown: Gets one
* CorruptTheCutie: In season five, by Morgana.
* TheCutie: Primarily in season's 1 and 2.
* CrypticConversation: In
* DumbMuscle: Unfortunately, for someone expected to be a wise ruler, perceptiveness isn't his strong point.
* EmotionalBruiser: He's a knight and king and very much a tough guy, but thanks to Merlin and Gwen, Arthur becomes more comfortable with opening up and expressing his feelings and vulnerability.
* EmotionallyTongueTied: Especially in the
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: *''{{Beat}}''* [[CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer Yes]].
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: King Alined admits to being a bit attracted to him.
* ExtremeDoormat: Sometimes Arthur seemed this way in regards to Uther, much to Arthur's detriment. He had a tendency to follow his father and his orders blindly due to Arthur's strong desire to please his father.
* FamedInStory: 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.
* FatalFlaw: He just can't help trusting the wrong people. It's endearing, but also immensely frustrating.
* FlawExploitation:
** 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.
* FlirtyStepSiblings: Arthur and Morgana are like this during series 1 since Arthur's father 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's relationship to that of step-siblings. There is some attraction and flirting going on between them. [[spoiler:And it turns out, they're half-siblings.]]
** To Lancelot. Lancelot's presence highlighted both Arthur's faults and his virtues. On the one hand, when Arthur realizes that there may be something between Lance/Gwen he pulls a massive sulk and makes an off-handed comment that he's only there because Morgana begged him; whilst Lancelot graciously admits defeat and bows out of the Love Triangle before there's any more trouble. On the other hand, the fact that Lancelot leaves in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye highlights Arthur's honesty with Gwen when he tells her that nothing can ever happen between them.
** To Merlin. Their backgrounds, upbringings, outlooks and personalities are entirely different. Arthur is rich, a noble and comes from RoyalBlood, while Merlin is a commoner who is poor and comes from humble beginnings. Personality wise, Arthur and Merlin could not be more different; Arthur starts off as more arrogant, entitled and spoiled while Merlin starts off as humble, selfless and idealistic. Arthur was also TheCynic while Merlin was TheIdealist (however, Arthur and Merlin start to switch roles in the later series as Arthur becomes more optimistic and hopeful while Merlin becomes more cynical and pragmatic). Arthur is a regular human, a BadassNormal who possesses no supernatural abilities whatsoever (he uses swords and combat to fight and defeat the enemy) while Merlin is TheArchmage who is a powerful warlock or sorcerer who possesses very strong magic (he uses his magic to help fight or defeat the enemy). Their contrasting personalities and their opposing backgrounds could have been the major reason why Arthur and Merlin had clashed so much in the beginning, but could also be the reason why Arthur and Merlin also complement each other in beneficial ways.
* ForGreatJustice: Basically Arthur's motto regarding his duty to Camelot and Albion -- he wants to rule with justice in his kingdom.
* FreudianExcuse: It's clear that many of Arthur's emotional and psychological issues and insecurities stem from the fact that he was raised by an emotionally distant and abusive father (Uther). It didn't help that Arthur was completely motherless growing up (thanks to Uther, of course - though unwittingly on Uther's part).
* FriendshipDenial: With Merlin in the beginning. Merlin would often acknowledge Arthur as his friend, but Arthur would often deny this and say that he is just his servant. Subverted now that Arthur has frequently addressed Merlin as his friend later on in the series.
* GoodIsNotDumb: 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 [[CardboardPrison vaults of Camelot]]
-->'''Arthur''': *stops and looks around worriedly* ItsQuietTooQuiet.
* TheGoodKing: What he is expected to be and what he eventually becomes [[spoiler:
* GreenEyedMonster: He gets very jealous a couple of times, when Lancelot or Gwaine look particularly friendly with Gwen.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Arthur is chivalrous, noble, brave and honourable and he is pure of heart. Despite originally starting off as selfish, spoiled and entitled, even from the start he shows a streak of nobility (in the very first episode when his and Merlin's second mock duel ends with Merlin being dumped on his arse, he tells the guards to let Merlin go, because "He's a fool, but a brave fool"). He eventually shows his real personality once he goes through CharacterDevelopment and learns to discard his {{Pride}}. His mother Ygraine, to whom he bears a StrongFamilyResemblance to, was the embodiment of this trope as she was seen to be kind, good hearted, caring, and nurturing. Therefore, it seems as though Arthur inherited his good and pure heart from his mother. Arthur has InnocentBlueEyes to match his HairOfGold.
* HairTriggerTemper: In the beginning of the series he gets angry very easily over minor things. An indication of his maturity throughout the series is the frequency of his temper tantrum, especially towards Merlin.
* HardHead: Arthur getting knocked out is both RunningGag and a convenient way to keep Merlin's magic from him.
* HeroAntagonist: 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 hesitate to arrest anyone caught using it, even though the penalty is death. What separates him from Uther is that he does this not out of maliciousness, but because [[MyMasterRightOrWrong it is his Father's law]] and he's honour bound to obey it.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Arthur always uses his sword, even though he's shown to be quite handy with a mace.
* HeroicBSOD:
** When his uncle betrays him, he breaks down very badly in 4x13 that he feels he must AbdicateTheThrone because he was such a horrible leader. If it weren't for Merlin, Arthur wouldn't just be dead a thousand times over, he'd be insane.
** Has a HUGE one in the series finale, when he discovers that the one person he trusts the most, his best friend (Merlin), is in fact a sorcerer and that Merlin had been lying to him for the whole time.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** Drinks the (supposedly) poison for Merlin in "The Labyrinth of Gedref".
** He intends to sacrifice himself to close the veil between the living and undead worlds in "The Darkest Hour"
** He [[TakeMeInstead offers his life for Mordred's]] in "The Disir".
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Merlin. Arthur and Merlin originally don't like each other. Although, eventually, the two become very close and start to bond with each other, mostly because of the fact that their destinies and their paths are intertwined. Arthur repeatedly teases Merlin and makes fun of him, but regardless of Arthur's constant teasing of Merlin, he has shown to be very protective of him and has repeatedly shown that he does care for and love Merlin. It is also apparent that there are plenty of deep HoYay moments between the two, especially when they have deep and meaningful conversations with each other (where they end up sharing deep and meaningful glances with each other). But this is mostly due to Bradley James and Colin Morgan's intense and palpable onscreen chemistry with each other.
* HiddenDepths: He first appears as a spoilt royal JerkJock but as Merlin gets to know
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: ''[[MathematiciansAnswer Yes]]''.
* HomoeroticSubtext: With Merlin. Although Merlin and Arthur are HeterosexualLifePartners and even more accurately, VitriolicBestBuds, there is no doubt about it that Arthur and Merlin share the most HoYay moments of any duo in the series. Part of it has to do with the strong and undeniable onscreen (and off screen) chemistry between Bradley James and Colin Morgan. The other part of the reason for the strong homoerotic subtext and implications between the two is the fact that they frequently tease each other, seemingly having a love/hate relationship with each other. Therefore, their interactions with each other could be taken as BelligerentSexualTension. Also, there have been some sexual comments and innuendo that have been included in the dialogue between the two, although this is often PlayedForLaughs.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Honour? Chivalry? Bravery? Arthur has those qualities honed to perfection! Being capable of noticing if someone is ObviouslyEvil? He might need to work on that some more.
* HotBlooded: Arthur is hot headed, brash, impulsive and passionate by nature. He has a tendency to act before he thinks sometimes, especially when it comes to battle or fighting for Camelot. Both Merlin and Gwen often had to tame Arthur's impulsiveness and his brashness from time to time in order to prevent him from making impulsive decisions that could prove to be costly or detrimental. There is also the fact that Arthur has a bit of a temper, especially when he is angered, frustrated or irritated. His tendency towards throwing a tantrum, especially in the earlier seasons and before he became more pragmatic and went through CharacterDevelopment, showcased his trait of having a temper. Seems that Arthur inherited his hot headiness and his temper from his father, Uther.
* {{Hunk}}: Arthur is very physically appealing to the female fans or audience. Although, Arthur's good looks lean more on the masculine side and he is not a PrettyBoy like Merlin, who is shown to be very delicate and fragile looking physically. Arthur also has plenty of ShirtlessScenes, solidifying his status as MrFanservice.
* IconicOutfit: [[TwentyFourHourArmor Mail shirt]] with the Pendragon red cape.
* IncestSubtext:
** [[spoiler:Now that Morgana has been revealed to be his half-sister, their [[{{UST}} relationship]] in series 1 seems like this.]]
* DamselInDistress: A couple
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: His {{Jerkass}} behaviour near the
* DoggedNiceGirl[=/=]UnrequitedLove: Towards
*
** Arthur wasn't entirely sure that his plan to smear himself in Gaia berries to confuse the Wilderen would be successful. Merlin is not hugely pleased when he finds out.
** Arthur gets a moment of this
** Arthur in 4x11 when faced with marriage to a lovely princess or seeking out the woman that (he thinks) betrayed him, tells Merlin that he has no idea what to do.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Arthur begins to fall for Guinevere after she calls him out on his rude behaviour and he realizes that she's the only one who doesn't just tell him what he wants to hear.
** Also the reason why Arthur and
* ErmineCapeEffect: Gwen's wardrobe changed drastically after she became Queen. She was seen wearing royal clothing.
*
* TheFace: Gwen is more diplomatic in her approaches socially. See TheHeart.
* FantasticRacism: Subverted
* InnocentlyInsensitive: He doesn't
** She tells Gaius what happened with Morgana after she used magic in front of her, [[LesCollaborateurs an act
** In 4x03, she told
* InSeriesNickname: Merlin calls Arthur
* InterclassFriendship:
**
* FanServicePack: [[http://oi39.tinypic.com/2lwm890.jpg See for yourself]]. She starts out as a commoner, with the associated plain clothes and modest appearance but becomes ProgressivelyPrettier as the show goes on.
* TheFettered: Gwen strongly believes in laws and following the rules. She is all about doing the right thing as much as possible.
* ForcefulKiss: To Arthur in 2x10 in order to break him out of an enchantment.
* FreudianTrio: In the trio of herself, Merlin and Arthur, Gwen is TheKirk or Ego (TheHeart, motherly, nurturing, loved by both Arthur and
** Prior to
* GirlFriday: Can be
* GirlNextDoor: When Gwen was still a maid servant. This changed [[spoiler: after Gwen became Queen.]]
* GoodIsNotDumb: She's easily the most observant character in the show
* GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler: 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.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Gwen wears a lot of purple dresses, especially when she becomes Queen. Gwen was seen wearing purple colours
* GuileHero: She simply talks to people, using a blend of logic
* HairTropes:
** ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Her hair goes from practical buns to long, loose curls as she rises in status.
** LongHairIsFeminine: Her hair is long and curly.
** QuirkyCurls: In series 1 and 2.
** RegalRinglets: In series 5.
** MessyHair: In series 1.
* HappilyMarried: To
* TheHeart: Gwen shares this role with Merlin.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Gwen has gone through a lot of hardships and pain in
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Morgana. [[spoiler:This starts to deteriorate in series three.]]
* TheHighQueen: As of the end of series four. [[spoiler: This is even more true in the series finale considering that Gwen became the sole ruler of Camelot after King Arthur dies. In fact, the very last words of the entire series are '''"Long Live The Queen!"''', as cried by everyone present in the throne room.]]
* HonestAdvisor: Together with Merlin to Arthur.
* HotConsort: For King Arthur.
* HourglassPlot: With Morgana, essentially taking her place as the most powerful woman in Camelot.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: With Arthur.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: After Gwen becomes Queen.
* InSeriesNickname: Her full name is Guinevere but almost everyone calls her Gwen, except Arthur. Arthur always calls Gwen by her full name "Guinevere".
* InterClassRomance: With Arthur. Gwen was
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Gaius.
* InterspeciesFriendship: With Merlin. Merlin is a warlock and a Dragon
*
*
*
* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: 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.
* IWorkAlone: Due to his father's influence, he believes that as a leader, he cannot afford to rely on anyone, especially emotionally. Merlin, Gwen
* LadyAndKnight: Played remarkably straight with Lancelot and Guinevere, even though they aren't a lady or a knight when
* JerkJock: In his first appearance, he's
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Arrogant and
** There's
* LadyOfWar: The feminine, graceful young woman who is more than capable of using a sword.
* LadyInRed: A Queen, Gwen wore a lot of red dresses.
*
* LikeBrotherAndSister[=/=]PlatonicLifePartners: Gwen eventually becomes this with
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Light to Morgana's dark.
** In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} The Hunter's Heart]]'' she is
* LimitedWardrobe: In
* LivingMacGuffin: There is nobody that wouldn't risk their life for Gwen if she is kidnapped, gone missing or is
* TheLoad: DependingOnTheWriter. On one hand, her quick mind has proven useful on several occasions, on the other, she's still a relatively small and untrained peasant girl who often winds up being a DamselInDistress.
* LoveHurts: 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 [[BackFromTheDead Lancelot]] - the kicker being only the audience and the bad guys know - and banished from Camelot forever. [[spoiler: To top it all, Gwen has to assume power at the cost
* LastGirlWins: Gender-Flipped Arthur may have known Gwen [[FirstGirlWins 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).
* LastRequest: [[spoiler: Not to be left alone. And Merlin doesn't, living up to the present day waiting for him to return.]]
*
** At the
* LongLostSibling: Revealed to be a long lost paternal half-brother to Morgana. But she does not appear out of nowhere, she is present in his life as his father's ward.
* MagneticHero: His biggest asset as a leader is his ability to inspire respect and loyalty in other people.
Changed line(s) 117,179 (click to see context) from:
* MartialPacifist: Guinevere dislikes violence and could under no circumstances be described as an ActionGirl (though she wields a sword on a couple of occasions, she's clearly not that good at it, and she remains the only main character to have never taken a life). However, she embodies the SilkHidingSteel trope, and at the beginning of series four, she witnesses the city gates being closed on refugees flocking to Camelot to escape the evil spirits invading the kingdom. She, a female servant, confronts the council of noble-born men, and using nothing but common sense and her own understanding of human nature, convinces all of them that their wisest choice of action is to re-open the gates and allow people to seek refuge in the city. They comply.
* MissingMom: The whereabouts of Gwen's mother are unknown. It is possible that she is deceased.
* ModestRoyalty: 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.
* MoralityChain[=/=]MoralityPet: Serves as this for Arthur.
* MsFanservice: Especially in the later seasons.
* MuggleBestFriend: To Merlin. While Merlin is a powerful sorcerer with magical abilities, Gwen i s a regular human.
* MythologyGag: She gets Arthur's conventional characterization in Arthurian legend: commoner to [[spoiler: ruler of the realm]], marriage to a royal, [[spoiler: leader of the kingdom to a Golden Age of justice and chivalry.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Arthur witnesses her and Lancelot kissing the night before her and Arthur's wedding. Made all the worse because only the audience knows that she was under a spell the entire time and she actually believes that she willingly betrayed Arthur even if she doesn't understand why.
* NamingConventions: 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 [[LoveInterest Love Interests]] usually called her by her full name), and by series 5, she's consistently called Guinevere to reflect her higher status.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: She often gives wise advice to Arthur and/or the Council on this principle.
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: The kingdom'd never benefit from Gwen's wise rule had Arthur not fallen in love with her.
* NiceGirl: Very much so. She becomes more struct after she becomes Queen, yet she still remains generally good and kind hearted.
* NinjaMaid: In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS01E10TheMomentOfTruth}} The Moment of Truth]]'' at least.
* NonActionSnarker: 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."''
* OccultDetective: Occasionally, with Merlin before she became Queen.
* OfficialCouple: With Arthur. [[spoiler: At the end of season four, Gwen marries Arthur and she and Arthur become the RulingCouple of Camelot.]]
* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Before she married Arthur, Gwen's last name was unknown. Given the time period and having a last name would have been anachronistic even for nobility, it's likely that she doesn't have one.
* OppositesAttract: Gwen is a poor servant and Arthur is a wealthy royal. They come from completely different backgrounds and social statuses.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Wears them as outerwear in series 2 and 3. She seems to be wearing them as underwear in series 4.
* TheOneThatGotAway: She is this to Lancelot.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father was executed at Uther's hand, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown.
* PimpedOutDress: Gwen gets a rather dramatic clothes upgrade after she becomes Queen at the end of season four. She starts to wear much fancier dresses in comparison to the plain dresses she wore when she was a maid and a servant.
* PluckyGirl: Gwen is very positive, optimistic, spirited and upbeat. She tries to believe the best in everyone and in everything, much like Merlin.
* [[PoliticallyActivePrincess Politically Active Queen]]
* ThePollyanna: Although she's also remarkably pragmatic.
* [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Heroine]]: Gwen is incredibly pragmatic and logical in her thinking, especially when [[spoiler: she became Queen in season four]].
* ProgressivelyPrettier: It's not that Gwen wasn't pretty before, but after Gwen became Queen in season four, her physical appearance and her wardrobe took a turn for the better.
* PromotionToParent: Elyan says of her: "she raised me."
* ProperLady: Especially as Queen. Even as a maid, she was very polite and courteous.
* RaceLift: In the Arthurian legends, Guinevere is Caucasian. But on the show, Guinevere is not.
* RagsToRiches: Gwen went from being Morgana's maid to being the Queen of Camelot.
* RagsToRoyalty: See RagsToRiches.
* TheReliableOne: Gwen is highly dependable and trustworthy. She is always there for her friends at a time of need. Even Merlin can be seen depending on Gwen from time to time.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: After Gwen became Queen of Camelot.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Their social classes aren't played into the LoveTriangle, but Arthur (rich suitor) and Lancelot (poor suitor) for Gwen.
* RingOnANecklace: After Gwen is banished from Camelot by Arthur for betraying him (albeit unwillingly, as she'd been under an enchantment), Gwen wears the engagement ring he gave to her around her neck as a reminder of their love. She loses it when Morgana rips the necklace off, although this results in Arthur finding the ring and being reminded that he still loves Gwen, prompting him to forgive her.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The first episode that showcases her as Queen makes a point of demonstrating how active she is: she gives advice at a council meeting, she rules the kingdom in her husband's absence, and she ferrets out a traitor that was leaking information to her enemies.
* RulingCouple: With King Arthur in season four and five.
* SatelliteCharacter: Gwen really has no real CharacterArc 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 Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, as her relationships with Merlin, Arthur and Morgana make up a significant part of the show.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: She is often accused of being "just a love interest" by detractors, and though it's true that most of her screen-time does indeed centre on her relationship with Arthur, the ultimate purpose of her CharacterArc was to become Queen of Camelot -- and it's unclear how her cynics expected this to happen ''without'' a relationship with Arthur arising (as you may have guessed, a lot of DieForOurShip was at work here). Her CharacterDevelopment involved a significant boost in confidence brought about by Arthur's love for her, and many of her strongest scenes [[note]]outsmarting the Witchfinder, freeing Sir Leon, confronting Agravaine, withstanding Morgana, trapping Ruadan[[/note]] occurred when Arthur was completely absent. And by the end of the series, [[spoiler:she assumes control over Camelot after Arthur's death]] with confirmation by WordOfGod that she successfully ruled over the Golden Age [[spoiler:in his stead]]. She could be described as a case of a SatelliteLoveInterest in the sense that she's NeverASelfMadeWoman, '''but''' her character was given plenty of personal development and independent power as a ''direct result'' of her role as Arthur's LoveInterest.
* SecondLove: As Gwen realizes her feelings for Merlin are unrequited in 1x05, she finds a brief romance with Lancelot.
* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler: 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.]]
* ShrinkingViolet: Gwen started out as shy, introverted and a bout on the timid side, although she eventually grows out of it.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Gwen's new look in Season 2. Not that she needed it, though.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: What attracted Gwen to all her three love interests.
* SilkHidingSteel: Gwen was a kind, caring, and shy castle maid who takes pride in her work. If necessary, Gwen is a capable fighter and can hold her own in battle reasonably well. More importantly, she's the firm moral compass of the series and the connection to common people of Arthur (Merlin is also the other connection to common people of Arthur as well).
* StarcrossedLovers: With Lancelot. [[spoiler: Her marriage to Arthur ends tragically short too because of his early death.]]
* StayInTheKitchen: Guinevere's job as Queen is to maintain control in Camelot while Arthur is away.
* SupportingLeader: To Arthur's TheLeader when she becomes Queen. While Arthur leads most of the battles, missions and plans, Gwen will step in whenever Arthur is unavailable in any way.
* TheStrategist: At times.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Several time it's mentioned that she's an excellent seamstress. [[InformedAbility That said, we don't ever get to see her doing any sewing]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Definitely seems to be the case in series 5 after [[spoiler: becoming High Queen]].
* TrueBlueFemininity: Many of her dresses are blue; particularly in series 4.
* {{Tsundere}}: She is a Type B, primarily towards Arthur in the earlier seasons.
* TheUnchosenOne: 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. [[spoiler: 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.]]
** Interestingly, in "The Hunter's Heart, Merlin does say that it is Arthur's "fate" to marry Gwen, but it's unclear if Merlin is referencing an actual prophecy or just voicing his own opinion.
* UnfazedEveryman: She's seen Merlin get up to some truly bizarre things over the years, but seldom reacts with anything more than a bemused smile.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Arthur and Lancelot. Her supposed crush on Merlin is more or less abandoned between series 1 and 2.
* WhiteStallion: In ''The Dark Tower''.
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: Gives one to Merlin, which encompasses the moral standing of the show, [[JustEatGilligan outlining why Uther can't just be killed]].
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Arthur and Gwen. Their budding relationship constantly grows strained because of their different social classes. They are finally married at the end of series four.
%%* WomenAreWiser
* MissingMom: The whereabouts of Gwen's mother are unknown. It is possible that she is deceased.
* ModestRoyalty: 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.
* MoralityChain[=/=]MoralityPet: Serves as this for Arthur.
* MsFanservice: Especially in the later seasons.
* MuggleBestFriend: To Merlin. While Merlin is a powerful sorcerer with magical abilities, Gwen i s a regular human.
* MythologyGag: She gets Arthur's conventional characterization in Arthurian legend: commoner to [[spoiler: ruler of the realm]], marriage to a royal, [[spoiler: leader of the kingdom to a Golden Age of justice and chivalry.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Arthur witnesses her and Lancelot kissing the night before her and Arthur's wedding. Made all the worse because only the audience knows that she was under a spell the entire time and she actually believes that she willingly betrayed Arthur even if she doesn't understand why.
* NamingConventions: 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 [[LoveInterest Love Interests]] usually called her by her full name), and by series 5, she's consistently called Guinevere to reflect her higher status.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: She often gives wise advice to Arthur and/or the Council on this principle.
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: The kingdom'd never benefit from Gwen's wise rule had Arthur not fallen in love with her.
* NiceGirl: Very much so. She becomes more struct after she becomes Queen, yet she still remains generally good and kind hearted.
* NinjaMaid: In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS01E10TheMomentOfTruth}} The Moment of Truth]]'' at least.
* NonActionSnarker: 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."''
* OccultDetective: Occasionally, with Merlin before she became Queen.
* OfficialCouple: With Arthur. [[spoiler: At the end of season four, Gwen marries Arthur and she and Arthur become the RulingCouple of Camelot.]]
* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Before she married Arthur, Gwen's last name was unknown. Given the time period and having a last name would have been anachronistic even for nobility, it's likely that she doesn't have one.
* OppositesAttract: Gwen is a poor servant and Arthur is a wealthy royal. They come from completely different backgrounds and social statuses.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Wears them as outerwear in series 2 and 3. She seems to be wearing them as underwear in series 4.
* TheOneThatGotAway: She is this to Lancelot.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father was executed at Uther's hand, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown.
* PimpedOutDress: Gwen gets a rather dramatic clothes upgrade after she becomes Queen at the end of season four. She starts to wear much fancier dresses in comparison to the plain dresses she wore when she was a maid and a servant.
* PluckyGirl: Gwen is very positive, optimistic, spirited and upbeat. She tries to believe the best in everyone and in everything, much like Merlin.
* [[PoliticallyActivePrincess Politically Active Queen]]
* ThePollyanna: Although she's also remarkably pragmatic.
* [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Heroine]]: Gwen is incredibly pragmatic and logical in her thinking, especially when [[spoiler: she became Queen in season four]].
* ProgressivelyPrettier: It's not that Gwen wasn't pretty before, but after Gwen became Queen in season four, her physical appearance and her wardrobe took a turn for the better.
* PromotionToParent: Elyan says of her: "she raised me."
* ProperLady: Especially as Queen. Even as a maid, she was very polite and courteous.
* RaceLift: In the Arthurian legends, Guinevere is Caucasian. But on the show, Guinevere is not.
* RagsToRiches: Gwen went from being Morgana's maid to being the Queen of Camelot.
* RagsToRoyalty: See RagsToRiches.
* TheReliableOne: Gwen is highly dependable and trustworthy. She is always there for her friends at a time of need. Even Merlin can be seen depending on Gwen from time to time.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: After Gwen became Queen of Camelot.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Their social classes aren't played into the LoveTriangle, but Arthur (rich suitor) and Lancelot (poor suitor) for Gwen.
* RingOnANecklace: After Gwen is banished from Camelot by Arthur for betraying him (albeit unwillingly, as she'd been under an enchantment), Gwen wears the engagement ring he gave to her around her neck as a reminder of their love. She loses it when Morgana rips the necklace off, although this results in Arthur finding the ring and being reminded that he still loves Gwen, prompting him to forgive her.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The first episode that showcases her as Queen makes a point of demonstrating how active she is: she gives advice at a council meeting, she rules the kingdom in her husband's absence, and she ferrets out a traitor that was leaking information to her enemies.
* RulingCouple: With King Arthur in season four and five.
* SatelliteCharacter: Gwen really has no real CharacterArc 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 Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, as her relationships with Merlin, Arthur and Morgana make up a significant part of the show.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: She is often accused of being "just a love interest" by detractors, and though it's true that most of her screen-time does indeed centre on her relationship with Arthur, the ultimate purpose of her CharacterArc was to become Queen of Camelot -- and it's unclear how her cynics expected this to happen ''without'' a relationship with Arthur arising (as you may have guessed, a lot of DieForOurShip was at work here). Her CharacterDevelopment involved a significant boost in confidence brought about by Arthur's love for her, and many of her strongest scenes [[note]]outsmarting the Witchfinder, freeing Sir Leon, confronting Agravaine, withstanding Morgana, trapping Ruadan[[/note]] occurred when Arthur was completely absent. And by the end of the series, [[spoiler:she assumes control over Camelot after Arthur's death]] with confirmation by WordOfGod that she successfully ruled over the Golden Age [[spoiler:in his stead]]. She could be described as a case of a SatelliteLoveInterest in the sense that she's NeverASelfMadeWoman, '''but''' her character was given plenty of personal development and independent power as a ''direct result'' of her role as Arthur's LoveInterest.
* SecondLove: As Gwen realizes her feelings for Merlin are unrequited in 1x05, she finds a brief romance with Lancelot.
* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler: 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.]]
* ShrinkingViolet: Gwen started out as shy, introverted and a bout on the timid side, although she eventually grows out of it.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Gwen's new look in Season 2. Not that she needed it, though.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: What attracted Gwen to all her three love interests.
* SilkHidingSteel: Gwen was a kind, caring, and shy castle maid who takes pride in her work. If necessary, Gwen is a capable fighter and can hold her own in battle reasonably well. More importantly, she's the firm moral compass of the series and the connection to common people of Arthur (Merlin is also the other connection to common people of Arthur as well).
* StarcrossedLovers: With Lancelot. [[spoiler: Her marriage to Arthur ends tragically short too because of his early death.]]
* StayInTheKitchen: Guinevere's job as Queen is to maintain control in Camelot while Arthur is away.
* SupportingLeader: To Arthur's TheLeader when she becomes Queen. While Arthur leads most of the battles, missions and plans, Gwen will step in whenever Arthur is unavailable in any way.
* TheStrategist: At times.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Several time it's mentioned that she's an excellent seamstress. [[InformedAbility That said, we don't ever get to see her doing any sewing]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Definitely seems to be the case in series 5 after [[spoiler: becoming High Queen]].
* TrueBlueFemininity: Many of her dresses are blue; particularly in series 4.
* {{Tsundere}}: She is a Type B, primarily towards Arthur in the earlier seasons.
* TheUnchosenOne: 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. [[spoiler: 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.]]
** Interestingly, in "The Hunter's Heart, Merlin does say that it is Arthur's "fate" to marry Gwen, but it's unclear if Merlin is referencing an actual prophecy or just voicing his own opinion.
* UnfazedEveryman: She's seen Merlin get up to some truly bizarre things over the years, but seldom reacts with anything more than a bemused smile.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Arthur and Lancelot. Her supposed crush on Merlin is more or less abandoned between series 1 and 2.
* WhiteStallion: In ''The Dark Tower''.
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: Gives one to Merlin, which encompasses the moral standing of the show, [[JustEatGilligan outlining why Uther can't just be killed]].
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Arthur and Gwen. Their budding relationship constantly grows strained because of their different social classes. They are finally married at the end of series four.
%%* WomenAreWiser
to:
* MartialPacifist: Guinevere dislikes violence ManlyMenCanHunt: At least six episodes and could under no circumstances be described as an ActionGirl (though she wields a sword on a couple of occasions, she's clearly not that good at it, and she remains the only main character to have never taken a life). However, she embodies the SilkHidingSteel trope, and at the beginning of series four, she witnesses the city gates being closed on refugees flocking to Camelot to escape the evil spirits invading the kingdom. She, a female servant, confronts the council of noble-born men, and using nothing but common sense and her own understanding of human nature, convinces all of them that their wisest choice of action is to re-open the gates and allow people to seek refuge one deleted scene involve him out hunting in the city. They comply.
* MissingMom: The whereabouts of Gwen's mother are unknown. It is possible that she is deceased.
* ModestRoyalty: 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.
* MoralityChain[=/=]MoralityPet: Serves as this for Arthur.
* MsFanservice: Especially in the later seasons.
* MuggleBestFriend: To Merlin. Whileforest with Merlin is or his knights, in fact it's a powerful sorcerer with crucial part of "[[{{Recap/MerlinS01E11TheLabyrinthOfGedref}} The Labyrinth of Gedref]]" and "[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} 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.
* MasterOfDelusion: He was completely stunned when Merlin finally confessed his magicalabilities, Gwen i s a regular human.
* MythologyGag: She gets Arthur's conventional characterization in Arthurian legend: commonerabilities to [[spoiler: ruler of the realm]], marriage to a royal, [[spoiler: leader of the kingdom to a Golden Age of justice and chivalry.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: AfterArthur witnesses her and Lancelot kissing the night before her and Arthur's wedding. Made all the worse because only the audience knows that she was under a spell the entire time and she actually believes that she willingly betrayed Arthur even if she doesn't understand why.
* NamingConventions: At the start of the show, she was invariably referred to as Gwen as a reflection of her status as a {{maid}}. This changed asin the series went finale. Despite the fact that by the final season, Merlin was straight-up doing magic right in front of him on (in particular, her [[LoveInterest Love Interests]] usually called her by her full name), multiple occasions. [[RuleOfFunny And once announced to Arthur and by series 5, she's a roomful of people that he was a sorcerer.]] [[note]] Some fans theorize that he ''must'' have been aware on some level, but couldn't reconcile it with his preconceptions that magic is evil, thus repressed the knowledge.[[/note]]
* MasterSwordsman: Arthur is the best swordsman in Camelot, with only Lancelot consistentlycalled Guinevere being his better.
* MarryForLove: He's determined toreflect her higher status.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: She often gives wise advicedo this, and even manages to Arthur and/or the Council on this principle.
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: The kingdom'd never benefit from Gwen's wise rule had Arthur not fallen in love with her.
* NiceGirl: Verymake it sound like a politically sensible idea: "I'll be a much so. She becomes more struct after she becomes Queen, yet she still remains generally good and kind hearted.
* NinjaMaid: In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS01E10TheMomentOfTruth}} The Moment of Truth]]'' at least.
* NonActionSnarker: 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."''
* OccultDetective: Occasionally, with Merlin before she became Queen.
* OfficialCouple: With Arthur. [[spoiler: At the end of season four, Gwen marries Arthur and she and Arthur become the RulingCouple of Camelot.]]
* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Before she married Arthur, Gwen's last name was unknown. Given the time period and having a last name would have been anachronistic even for nobility, it's likely that she doesn't have one.
* OppositesAttract: Gwen is a poor servant and Arthur is a wealthy royal. They come from completely different backgrounds and social statuses.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Wears them as outerwear in series 2 and 3. She seems to be wearing them as underwear in series 4.
* TheOneThatGotAway: She is this to Lancelot.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father was executed at Uther's hand, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown.
* PimpedOutDress: Gwen gets a rather dramatic clothes upgrade after she becomes Queen at the end of season four. She starts to wear much fancier dresses in comparison to the plain dresses she wore when she was a maid and a servant.
* PluckyGirl: Gwen is very positive, optimistic, spirited and upbeat. She tries to believe the best in everyone and in everything, much like Merlin.
* [[PoliticallyActivePrincess Politically Active Queen]]
* ThePollyanna: Although she's also remarkably pragmatic.
* [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Heroine]]: Gwen is incredibly pragmatic and logical in her thinking, especially when [[spoiler: she became Queen in season four]].
* ProgressivelyPrettier: It's not that Gwen wasn't pretty before, but after Gwen became Queen in season four, her physical appearance and her wardrobe took a turnbetter king for the better.
* PromotionToParent: Elyan saysstrength and support of her: "she raised me.a woman I love."
*ProperLady: Especially as Queen. Even as MartyrWithoutACause: Arthur is willing to die or sacrifice his life even when it isn't a maid, she was very polite wise thing.
* TheMcCoy (FreudianTrio): In the trio between himself, Merlin andcourteous.Gwen, Arthur is TheMcCoy (arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, HotBlooded) to Merlin's TheSpock (calm, logical, intelligent, TheChessmaster) and Gwen's TheKirk (motherly, nurturing, sensitive, TheHeart). See FreudianTrio.
*RaceLift: In MeaningfulName: The name ''Arthur'' means ''noble''. However, it also means ''bear''. His last name ''Pendragon'' means ''Head Dragon'' or ''Chief Dragon''.
* TheMenFirst: He is unwilling to risk his knights' lives, and can go to great lengths for them.
* TheMillstone: Aside from theArthurian legends, 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 ObviouslyEvil is...well..[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment evil]]... made the problem worse? He gets better throughout the show, but still refuses to believe he is wrong.
* MissingMom: She's long dead... and it's Uther's fault (though, to be fair, not his choice).
* ModestRoyalty: Even though Arthur can appear arrogant, he doesn't always believe that he is worthy of his position as leader and King of Camelot. Merlin and Guinevere have to constantly remind Arthur that he isCaucasian. But on the show, Guinevere is not.
* RagsToRiches: Gwen went from being Morgana's maid to being the Queenworthy of Camelot.his position.
*RagsToRoyalty: See RagsToRiches.
* TheReliableOne: Gwen is highly dependable and trustworthy. She is always there for her friends atMoralityChain: To Merlin. As a time of need. Even Merlin can be seen depending on Gwen from time contrast to time.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: After Gwen became Queen of Camelot.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Their social classes aren't played into the LoveTriangle, but Arthur (rich suitor) and Lancelot (poor suitor) for Gwen.
* RingOnANecklace: After Gwen is banished from Camelot by Arthur for betraying him (albeit unwillingly, as she'd been under an enchantment), Gwen wears the engagement ring he gave to her around her neck as a reminder of their love. She loses it when Morgana rips the necklace off, although this results in Arthur finding the ring and being reminded that he still loves Gwen, prompting him to forgive her.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The first episode that showcases her as Queen makes a point of demonstrating how active she is: she gives advice at a council meeting, she rules the kingdom in her husband's absence, and she ferrets out a traitor that was leaking information to her enemies.
* RulingCouple: With King Arthur in season four and five.
* SatelliteCharacter: Gwen really has no real CharacterArc of her own, at least not one that isn't connected to her relationships withMorgana, 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 Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, as who doesn't use her relationships with Merlin, Arthur and Morgana make up a significant part of the show.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: She is often accused of being "just a love interest" by detractors, and though it's true that most of her screen-time does indeed centre on her relationship with Arthur, the ultimate purpose of her CharacterArc was to become Queen of Camelot -- and it's unclear how her cynics expected this to happen ''without'' a relationship with Arthur arising (as you may have guessed, a lot of DieForOurShip was at work here). Her CharacterDevelopment involved a significant boost in confidence brought about by Arthur's love for her, and many of her strongest scenes [[note]]outsmarting the Witchfinder, freeing Sir Leon, confronting Agravaine, withstanding Morgana, trapping Ruadan[[/note]] occurred when Arthur was completely absent. And by the end of the series, [[spoiler:she assumes control over Camelot after Arthur's death]] with confirmation by WordOfGod that she successfully ruled over the Golden Age [[spoiler:in his stead]]. She could be described as a case of a SatelliteLoveInterest in the sense that she's NeverASelfMadeWoman, '''but''' her character was given plenty of personal development and independentpower as a ''direct result'' of her role as Arthur's LoveInterest.
* SecondLove: As Gwen realizes her feelingsfor Merlin are unrequited in 1x05, she finds a brief romance with Lancelot.
* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler: Reveals in the finale that she knows aboutanyone else, Merlin's magic. When she put it together is unknown, but as Merlin never found out she knew in loyalty to Arthur designates the finale.warlock as the "good" guy.
* MoralityPet: Was this to his father for most of the show, as most of Uther's more likable/redeeming moments involve Arthur [[spoiler:until season 5, at least, when Uther's spirit returns in one episode.]]
*ShrinkingViolet: Gwen started out as shy, introverted MrFanservice: With his endless shirtless scenes, he's a treat for anyone who appreciates male beauty.
* MuggleBestFriend: To Merlin.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Arthur's first reaction when he sees [[spoiler:Lancelot kissing Guinevere]].
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Can tell there's something about Merlin, looks worried after realizing the boy he liberated is Mordred, anda bout on guessing from the timid side, although she eventually grows out of it.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Gwen's new look in Season 2. Not that she needed it, though.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: What attracted Gwen to all her three love interests.
* SilkHidingSteel: Gwen was a kind, caring, and shy castle maid who takes pride in her work. If necessary, Gwen is a capable fighter andmusical cue, can hold her own in battle reasonably well. More importantly, she's sense the firm moral compass importance of the series and the connection to common people of Excalibur. However, he always thinks ItsProbablyNothing, so this is pretty much useless.
** Interestingly, on occasions where Merlin is upset about something he can't share with Arthur, Arthur(Merlin is also often able to guess at the other connection issue and land on an incorrect, but related, supposition that makes sense to common people of him. For example, when Merlin is depressed about Freya, Arthur as well).guesses he's upset that Arthur had dumped water on him earlier. When Merlin is worried about meeting Balinor, his father, Arthur guesses that Merlin misses Gaius, his foster-father.
*StarcrossedLovers: NamedWeapons: 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.
* NiceToTheWaiter: 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.
* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: It's subtle, but it's there, with Arthur getting rather stand-offish at the sight of any ActionGirl (or at least surprised by the activities of [[TomboyPrincess 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.
* NobleMaleRoguishMale: Arthur is the Noble Male to Merlin's Roguish Male. While Arthur is very noble and chivalrous, Merlin is more careless and is willing to use underhanded means from time to time to accomplish his goals or mission.
* NobleBigot: 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.
* NobodyCallsMeChicken: Never explicitly, but the best way to get Arthur to do something is to insult his bravery.
* TheNotLoveInterest: 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.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Arthur often seems to be deliberately ignoring things or making excuses to disguise anything strange. For instance, in an early episode he tries to suggest that Tom had some other illness rather than the currently deadly plague ravaging Camelot, knowing that otherwise he'll be accused of sorcery.
* OfficialCouple: WithLancelot. Gwen. [[spoiler: Her marriage to Arthur ends tragically short too because At the end of his early death.season four, they get married and become the RulingCouple of Camelot.]]
*StayInTheKitchen: Guinevere's job as Queen is to maintain control in Camelot while Arthur is away.
* SupportingLeader: To Arthur's TheLeader when she becomes Queen. While Arthur leads most ofOnlyMostlyDead: In several episodes, he's on the battles, missions and plans, Gwen will step in whenever Arthur is unavailable in any way.
* TheStrategist: At times.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Several time it's mentioned that she's an excellent seamstress. [[InformedAbility That said, we don't ever get to see her doing any sewing]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Definitely seems to be the case in series 5 afterverge of dying. [[spoiler: becoming High Queen]].
* TrueBlueFemininity: Many of her dresses are blue; particularly in series 4.
* {{Tsundere}}: She is a Type B, primarily towards Arthur in the earlier seasons.
* TheUnchosenOne: 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. [[spoiler: More importantly, by the very end, ''she'' is implied to be the monarch who will repeal the oppression on magic users and brings CamelotAnd it's true to the golden age instead of Arthur, who merely paves legend about coming back when the way and is ultimately killed off.world needs him the most.]]
** Interestingly, in "The Hunter's Heart, Merlin does say that it is Arthur's "fate" * OppositesAttract: In regards to marry Gwen, but it's unclear if Merlin is referencing an actual prophecy or just voicing his own opinion.
* UnfazedEveryman: She's seen Merlin get up to some truly bizarre things over the years, but seldom reactsromance with anything more than Gwen. While Gwen was a bemused smile.poor servant, Arthur is a wealthy royal.
* OverlordJr: Arthur qualifies completely. A bit of a WellDoneSonGuy, extremely loyal to his father, although he increasingly questions his most hardline policies, particularly on magic (which is logical, because Uther's stance on that particular matter is heavily irrational).
* PetTheDog: Arthur is particularly brutal to Merlin in the early part of the series before he [[CharacterDevelopment starts maturing]], but [[OnceAnEpisode once or twice in any given episode]] shows genuine friendship or concern towards him as well, including taking serious risks for Merlin or going against his father for him.
* PinballProtagonist: 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 FisherKing, 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.
* ThePowerOfTrust: ArbitrarySkepticism 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.
* PrinceCharming: Especially to visiting ladies.
* ThePromise: "When I am King, I promise you; things will be different. We can be together."
* TheProudElite: In the beginning. He becomes less arrogant as the series progressed.
* PuppetKing: 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 ExcaliburInTheStone, is in some way organised and controlled by Merlin.
* RageBreakingPoint: 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.
* RankScalesWithAsskicking: Uther's education philosophy. Arthur has to prove his worth as Crown Prince through tournaments and military leadership.
* RealMenGetShot: In ''The Fires Of Idirsholas'', Arthur is almost delighted by the fact that Merlin has sustained his "first battle wound!"
* RealMenHateAffection: He prefers to show fondness for Merlin and Morgana through backhanded compliments and snarking contests.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Arthur is a fair and just king, significantly more fair and just than his father, Uther.
* RedBaron: The King Of Camelot, Courage, The Once And Future King.
* RedIsHeroic: Arthur is a swordfighting knight with red as his wardrobe's most dominant color. His long cloak with the pendragon crest is especially noteworthy.
* RedOniBlueOni: Arthur is the Red to Merlin's Blue. Arthur is more hot-blooded, impulsive and passionate, while Merlin is more practical, logical and intelligent.
%%* ResurrectiveImmortality: When Albion needs him.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: 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.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: In regards to the love triangle between himself, Gwen and Lancelot. While Arthur is a wealthy royal (Rich Suitor), Lancelot is a poor commoner (Poor Suitor).
* RiskingTheKing: He usually jumps head first into dangers, to Merlin and Gwen's distress.
* RoyalBlood: Arthur comes from a family of royalty in which is father (Uther) is the King of Camelot. [[spoiler: Once Uther died, Arthur became King.]]
* RoyalBrat: Basically Arthur's middle name. One of Merlin's nicknames for him is "Royal Prat".
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The series shows him 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.
* RulingCouple: With Queen Guinevere since season four. [[spoiler: Subverted since Arthur dies at the end of the series.]]
* SayMyName: Says Merlin's name really quite frequently, including screaming it whenever Merlin isn't nearby, whispering or shouting it whenever he thinks Merlin's in danger, and also sometimes emphasizes the first syllable as "MUR-lin" when he's mocking him. He's even mumbled Merlin's name in his sleep on [[HoYay multiple occasions]], to the point that when he wakes up saying Merlin's name in 5x12, Gwen barely seems surprised.
** Always addresses and refers to Gwen by her proper name, "Guinevere", even after they marry.
* SelectiveObliviousness: 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.[[note]]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![[/note]]
* TheSpock/'''Superego''' (FreudianTrio): In the team of three consisting of himself (''Courage''), Merlin (''Magic'') and Gwaine (''Strength''), Arthur is TheSpock/Superego (serious, noble, honourable, TheStoic, TheStrategist, KnightInShiningArmor) to Merlin's TheKirk/Ego (balanced, neutral, peacemaker between the opposing personalities of Arthur and Gwaine, friends with both Arthur and Gwaine, TakeAThirdOption, TheHeart, TheConscience) and Gwaine's TheMcCoy/Id (fun loving, roguish, rebellious, LoveableRogue, KnightInSourArmor, PluckyComicRelief).
* SpoiledBrat: So much. Especially in the beginning.
* StayWithMeUntilIDie: [[spoiler: Arthur tells Merlin in the series finale before he knows he's about to die for Merlin to stay with him and hold him.]]
* TheStoic: Arthur didn't show all that much emotion early on in the series. Merlin and Gwen's influence manages to change that quite dramatically.
* TheStrategist
* SugarAndIcePersonality: 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.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: 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.
* SwordAndSorcerer: Arthur is the Sword to Merlin's Sorcerer.
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: ''The Herald of a New Age'' reveals that he has done pretty horrible things in the past before Merlin arrives in Camelot.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Chucks one at a cockatrice.
* TragicBromance: With Merlin. [[spoiler: Arthur dies at the end of the series while Merlin stays with him.]]
* TragicHero: Arthur grew up trying to please an emotionally distant father. Most of the people he trusts betray him one way or another for different reasons. All his efforts to be a good king turn out to be not enough and Camelot is repeatedly threatened because of his tendency to blindly trust the wrong person.
* TraumaCongaLine: 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 HeroicBSOD that Merlin has to find a MagicFeather for him to regain faith in himself.
%%* {{Tsundere}}: Arthur is '''Type A''', primarily towards Merlin.
* TwentyFourHourArmour: It's not very consistent, but sometimes he can wear his armour at the oddest times, including to banquets and other casual celebrations.
%%* UndyingLoyalty: To Camelot and Albion.
* TheUnfavorite: It seemed as though Uther favoured Morgana over him. Uther was more tough on Arthur than he was towards Morgana.
* UnfitForGreatness: Sometimes Arthur believes that he is not a worthy king or leader. He needs many pep talks from others, primarily Merlin and Gwen, in order to believe that he is a worthy king and leader of Camelot. In the season four finale, Arthur loses all hope in himself that he is worthy of being the King of Camelot, even agreeing with Tristan that there is nothing special about him that grants him worthy of his power and position. It takes [[HopeBringer Merlin]] getting Arthur to pull [[CoolSword Excalibur]] out of a stone for Arthur to believe and have faith in himself again.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Gwen. It's resolved by the end of series four when [[spoiler: they get married]].
* UnwittingMuggleFriend: For the whole series, Arthur was completely unaware andLancelot. Her supposed crush on in the dark about Merlin being a powerful warlock who possessed magic. Merlin kept his secret from Arthur out of fear that Arthur would banish him or execute him. This is more or less abandoned between now subverted [[spoiler: in the series 1 finale, when Merlin FINALLY reveals the truth to Arthur that he is a powerful sorcerer. Much to Merlin's surprise, Arthur comes to accept Merlin and 2.
his magic, despite being extremely shocked and disgusted at first.]]
%%* UptownGirl: A GenderFlipped case for Gwen.
*WhiteStallion: In ''The Dark Tower''.
VagueAge: 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.
*WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: Gives one to VitriolicBestBuds: With Merlin, which encompasses usually accompanied with throwing things on his side.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Arthur has plenty of them throughout themoral standing of series, that it's too many to count.
* WarriorPrince: Arthur may be theshow, [[JustEatGilligan outlining why Uther can't just Prince of Camelot but he is also a the best and strongest warrior in Camelot. His strength in combat and fighting is one of Arthur's defining characteristics and he is often known or regarded by others as the best warrior and fighter in the land.
* WasItAllALie: [[spoiler: After Merlin comes clean to him about having magic, he questions everything he knows about Merlin.]]
---> [[spoiler: '''Arthur''': So you're not an idiot, that was another lie]]
* WeUsedToBeFriends: In regards to Morgana, after she did a FaceHeelTurn.
* WeaponTwirling: Often does this with his sword, especially when he has the time to do so before he goes in for the kill. Arthur twirling his sword seems to bekilled]].
one of his trademarks or his signatures as a warrior and a fighter, since it is not seen amongst other characters, such as the Knights of Camelot.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Growing out of his desire to please his father is a big part of his characterisation.
* WillTheyOrWontThey:Arthur and Gwen.His relationship or romance with Guinevere. Their budding relationship constantly grows strained because of their different social classes. They Arthur and Gwen eventually become an OfficialCouple in series 4 once Uther, who had strongly disapproved of Arthur and Gwen's relationship because of their differing social statues, passes away and Arthur becomes King of Camelot. Arthur then asks Gwen to marry him and become his Queen. Arthur and Gwen are finally married HappilyMarried at the end of series four.
4 and they become the RulingCouple as King and Queen of Camelot.
** The magic reveal subplot with Merlin has shades of this too. For 5 series, Merlin's secret of being a sorcerer is kept secret from Arthur and from pretty much all of the major characters in the series (including Uther, Morgana, Gwen, Gwaine, etc) with the exception Gaius and Lancelot. However, in the series 5 finale, Arthur discovers Merlin's true identity as a very powerful sorcerer, when Merlin reveals his secret to Arthur as he is dying.
%%*WomenAreWiserWithFriendsLikeThese: Merlin.
* WouldntHitAGirl: Unlike [[CombatPragmatist Merlin]] or Uther. Arthur has shown that he has a very strong respect for the opposite sex and he would never resort to the use of violence or combat against women. He has shown this trait in his confrontations with Morgana. Even though Morgana is his ultimate enemy, Arthur still cannot find it in himself to physically attack Morgana in any way and would rather defeat Morgana by using more diplomatic approaches.
* YoungAndInCharge: Arthur becomes King of Camelot during his 20's. But this occurs, because his father ends up tragically dying at the beginning of season 4. Basically, Uther's death had forced the position of being the ruler of Camelot onto Arthur at a much earlier time then expected or prepared.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: It's hinted that Arthur, despite his arrogance, suffers from low self-esteem thanks to the high expectations of his father. It's usually Merlin and Guinevere who provide the moral support needed for him to really embrace his role as a leader and future king.
* MissingMom: The whereabouts of Gwen's mother are unknown. It is possible that she is deceased.
* ModestRoyalty: 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.
* MoralityChain[=/=]MoralityPet: Serves as this for Arthur.
* MsFanservice: Especially in the later seasons.
* MuggleBestFriend: To Merlin. While
--->'''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.
* MasterOfDelusion: He was completely stunned when Merlin finally confessed his magical
* MythologyGag: She gets Arthur's conventional characterization in Arthurian legend: commoner
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After
* NamingConventions: 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
* MasterSwordsman: Arthur is the best swordsman in Camelot, with only Lancelot consistently
* MarryForLove: He's determined to
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: She often gives wise advice
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: The kingdom'd never benefit from Gwen's wise rule had Arthur not fallen in love with her.
* NiceGirl: Very
* NinjaMaid: In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS01E10TheMomentOfTruth}} The Moment of Truth]]'' at least.
* NonActionSnarker: 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."''
* OccultDetective: Occasionally, with Merlin before she became Queen.
* OfficialCouple: With Arthur. [[spoiler: At the end of season four, Gwen marries Arthur and she and Arthur become the RulingCouple of Camelot.]]
* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Before she married Arthur, Gwen's last name was unknown. Given the time period and having a last name would have been anachronistic even for nobility, it's likely that she doesn't have one.
* OppositesAttract: Gwen is a poor servant and Arthur is a wealthy royal. They come from completely different backgrounds and social statuses.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Wears them as outerwear in series 2 and 3. She seems to be wearing them as underwear in series 4.
* TheOneThatGotAway: She is this to Lancelot.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father was executed at Uther's hand, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown.
* PimpedOutDress: Gwen gets a rather dramatic clothes upgrade after she becomes Queen at the end of season four. She starts to wear much fancier dresses in comparison to the plain dresses she wore when she was a maid and a servant.
* PluckyGirl: Gwen is very positive, optimistic, spirited and upbeat. She tries to believe the best in everyone and in everything, much like Merlin.
* [[PoliticallyActivePrincess Politically Active Queen]]
* ThePollyanna: Although she's also remarkably pragmatic.
* [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Heroine]]: Gwen is incredibly pragmatic and logical in her thinking, especially when [[spoiler: she became Queen in season four]].
* ProgressivelyPrettier: It's not that Gwen wasn't pretty before, but after Gwen became Queen in season four, her physical appearance and her wardrobe took a turn
* PromotionToParent: Elyan says
*
* TheMcCoy (FreudianTrio): In the trio between himself, Merlin and
*
* TheMenFirst: He is unwilling to risk his knights' lives, and can go to great lengths for them.
* TheMillstone: Aside from the
* MissingMom: She's long dead... and it's Uther's fault (though, to be fair, not his choice).
* ModestRoyalty: Even though Arthur can appear arrogant, he doesn't always believe that he is worthy of his position as leader and King of Camelot. Merlin and Guinevere have to constantly remind Arthur that he is
* RagsToRiches: Gwen went from being Morgana's maid to being the Queen
*
* TheReliableOne: Gwen is highly dependable and trustworthy. She is always there for her friends at
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: After Gwen became Queen of Camelot.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Their social classes aren't played into the LoveTriangle, but Arthur (rich suitor) and Lancelot (poor suitor) for Gwen.
* RingOnANecklace: After Gwen is banished from Camelot by Arthur for betraying him (albeit unwillingly, as she'd been under an enchantment), Gwen wears the engagement ring he gave to her around her neck as a reminder of their love. She loses it when Morgana rips the necklace off, although this results in Arthur finding the ring and being reminded that he still loves Gwen, prompting him to forgive her.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The first episode that showcases her as Queen makes a point of demonstrating how active she is: she gives advice at a council meeting, she rules the kingdom in her husband's absence, and she ferrets out a traitor that was leaking information to her enemies.
* RulingCouple: With King Arthur in season four and five.
* SatelliteCharacter: Gwen really has no real CharacterArc of her own, at least not one that isn't connected to her relationships with
* SatelliteLoveInterest: She is often accused of being "just a love interest" by detractors, and though it's true that most of her screen-time does indeed centre on her relationship with Arthur, the ultimate purpose of her CharacterArc was to become Queen of Camelot -- and it's unclear how her cynics expected this to happen ''without'' a relationship with Arthur arising (as you may have guessed, a lot of DieForOurShip was at work here). Her CharacterDevelopment involved a significant boost in confidence brought about by Arthur's love for her, and many of her strongest scenes [[note]]outsmarting the Witchfinder, freeing Sir Leon, confronting Agravaine, withstanding Morgana, trapping Ruadan[[/note]] occurred when Arthur was completely absent. And by the end of the series, [[spoiler:she assumes control over Camelot after Arthur's death]] with confirmation by WordOfGod that she successfully ruled over the Golden Age [[spoiler:in his stead]]. She could be described as a case of a SatelliteLoveInterest in the sense that she's NeverASelfMadeWoman, '''but''' her character was given plenty of personal development and independent
* SecondLove: As Gwen realizes her feelings
* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler: Reveals in the finale that she knows about
* MoralityPet: Was this to his father for most of the show, as most of Uther's more likable/redeeming moments involve Arthur [[spoiler:until season 5, at least, when Uther's spirit returns in one episode.]]
*
* MuggleBestFriend: To Merlin.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Arthur's first reaction when he sees [[spoiler:Lancelot kissing Guinevere]].
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Can tell there's something about Merlin, looks worried after realizing the boy he liberated is Mordred, and
* SheCleansUpNicely: Gwen's new look in Season 2. Not that she needed it, though.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: What attracted Gwen to all her three love interests.
* SilkHidingSteel: Gwen was a kind, caring, and shy castle maid who takes pride in her work. If necessary, Gwen is a capable fighter and
** Interestingly, on occasions where Merlin is upset about something he can't share with Arthur, Arthur
*
* NiceToTheWaiter: 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.
* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: It's subtle, but it's there, with Arthur getting rather stand-offish at the sight of any ActionGirl (or at least surprised by the activities of [[TomboyPrincess 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.
* NobleMaleRoguishMale: Arthur is the Noble Male to Merlin's Roguish Male. While Arthur is very noble and chivalrous, Merlin is more careless and is willing to use underhanded means from time to time to accomplish his goals or mission.
* NobleBigot: 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.
* NobodyCallsMeChicken: Never explicitly, but the best way to get Arthur to do something is to insult his bravery.
* TheNotLoveInterest: 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.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Arthur often seems to be deliberately ignoring things or making excuses to disguise anything strange. For instance, in an early episode he tries to suggest that Tom had some other illness rather than the currently deadly plague ravaging Camelot, knowing that otherwise he'll be accused of sorcery.
* OfficialCouple: With
*
* SupportingLeader: To Arthur's TheLeader when she becomes Queen. While Arthur leads most of
* TheStrategist: At times.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Several time it's mentioned that she's an excellent seamstress. [[InformedAbility That said, we don't ever get to see her doing any sewing]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Definitely seems to be the case in series 5 after
* TrueBlueFemininity: Many of her dresses are blue; particularly in series 4.
* {{Tsundere}}: She is a Type B, primarily towards Arthur in the earlier seasons.
* TheUnchosenOne: 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. [[spoiler: More importantly, by the very end, ''she'' is implied to be the monarch who will repeal the oppression on magic users and brings Camelot
* UnfazedEveryman: She's seen Merlin get up to some truly bizarre things over the years, but seldom reacts
* OverlordJr: Arthur qualifies completely. A bit of a WellDoneSonGuy, extremely loyal to his father, although he increasingly questions his most hardline policies, particularly on magic (which is logical, because Uther's stance on that particular matter is heavily irrational).
* PetTheDog: Arthur is particularly brutal to Merlin in the early part of the series before he [[CharacterDevelopment starts maturing]], but [[OnceAnEpisode once or twice in any given episode]] shows genuine friendship or concern towards him as well, including taking serious risks for Merlin or going against his father for him.
* PinballProtagonist: 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 FisherKing, 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.
* ThePowerOfTrust: ArbitrarySkepticism 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.
* PrinceCharming: Especially to visiting ladies.
* ThePromise: "When I am King, I promise you; things will be different. We can be together."
* TheProudElite: In the beginning. He becomes less arrogant as the series progressed.
* PuppetKing: 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 ExcaliburInTheStone, is in some way organised and controlled by Merlin.
* RageBreakingPoint: 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.
* RankScalesWithAsskicking: Uther's education philosophy. Arthur has to prove his worth as Crown Prince through tournaments and military leadership.
* RealMenGetShot: In ''The Fires Of Idirsholas'', Arthur is almost delighted by the fact that Merlin has sustained his "first battle wound!"
* RealMenHateAffection: He prefers to show fondness for Merlin and Morgana through backhanded compliments and snarking contests.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Arthur is a fair and just king, significantly more fair and just than his father, Uther.
* RedBaron: The King Of Camelot, Courage, The Once And Future King.
* RedIsHeroic: Arthur is a swordfighting knight with red as his wardrobe's most dominant color. His long cloak with the pendragon crest is especially noteworthy.
* RedOniBlueOni: Arthur is the Red to Merlin's Blue. Arthur is more hot-blooded, impulsive and passionate, while Merlin is more practical, logical and intelligent.
%%* ResurrectiveImmortality: When Albion needs him.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: 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.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: In regards to the love triangle between himself, Gwen and Lancelot. While Arthur is a wealthy royal (Rich Suitor), Lancelot is a poor commoner (Poor Suitor).
* RiskingTheKing: He usually jumps head first into dangers, to Merlin and Gwen's distress.
* RoyalBlood: Arthur comes from a family of royalty in which is father (Uther) is the King of Camelot. [[spoiler: Once Uther died, Arthur became King.]]
* RoyalBrat: Basically Arthur's middle name. One of Merlin's nicknames for him is "Royal Prat".
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The series shows him 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.
* RulingCouple: With Queen Guinevere since season four. [[spoiler: Subverted since Arthur dies at the end of the series.]]
* SayMyName: Says Merlin's name really quite frequently, including screaming it whenever Merlin isn't nearby, whispering or shouting it whenever he thinks Merlin's in danger, and also sometimes emphasizes the first syllable as "MUR-lin" when he's mocking him. He's even mumbled Merlin's name in his sleep on [[HoYay multiple occasions]], to the point that when he wakes up saying Merlin's name in 5x12, Gwen barely seems surprised.
** Always addresses and refers to Gwen by her proper name, "Guinevere", even after they marry.
* SelectiveObliviousness: 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.[[note]]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![[/note]]
* TheSpock/'''Superego''' (FreudianTrio): In the team of three consisting of himself (''Courage''), Merlin (''Magic'') and Gwaine (''Strength''), Arthur is TheSpock/Superego (serious, noble, honourable, TheStoic, TheStrategist, KnightInShiningArmor) to Merlin's TheKirk/Ego (balanced, neutral, peacemaker between the opposing personalities of Arthur and Gwaine, friends with both Arthur and Gwaine, TakeAThirdOption, TheHeart, TheConscience) and Gwaine's TheMcCoy/Id (fun loving, roguish, rebellious, LoveableRogue, KnightInSourArmor, PluckyComicRelief).
* SpoiledBrat: So much. Especially in the beginning.
* StayWithMeUntilIDie: [[spoiler: Arthur tells Merlin in the series finale before he knows he's about to die for Merlin to stay with him and hold him.]]
* TheStoic: Arthur didn't show all that much emotion early on in the series. Merlin and Gwen's influence manages to change that quite dramatically.
* TheStrategist
* SugarAndIcePersonality: 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.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: 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.
* SwordAndSorcerer: Arthur is the Sword to Merlin's Sorcerer.
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: ''The Herald of a New Age'' reveals that he has done pretty horrible things in the past before Merlin arrives in Camelot.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Chucks one at a cockatrice.
* TragicBromance: With Merlin. [[spoiler: Arthur dies at the end of the series while Merlin stays with him.]]
* TragicHero: Arthur grew up trying to please an emotionally distant father. Most of the people he trusts betray him one way or another for different reasons. All his efforts to be a good king turn out to be not enough and Camelot is repeatedly threatened because of his tendency to blindly trust the wrong person.
* TraumaCongaLine: 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 HeroicBSOD that Merlin has to find a MagicFeather for him to regain faith in himself.
%%* {{Tsundere}}: Arthur is '''Type A''', primarily towards Merlin.
* TwentyFourHourArmour: It's not very consistent, but sometimes he can wear his armour at the oddest times, including to banquets and other casual celebrations.
%%* UndyingLoyalty: To Camelot and Albion.
* TheUnfavorite: It seemed as though Uther favoured Morgana over him. Uther was more tough on Arthur than he was towards Morgana.
* UnfitForGreatness: Sometimes Arthur believes that he is not a worthy king or leader. He needs many pep talks from others, primarily Merlin and Gwen, in order to believe that he is a worthy king and leader of Camelot. In the season four finale, Arthur loses all hope in himself that he is worthy of being the King of Camelot, even agreeing with Tristan that there is nothing special about him that grants him worthy of his power and position. It takes [[HopeBringer Merlin]] getting Arthur to pull [[CoolSword Excalibur]] out of a stone for Arthur to believe and have faith in himself again.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Gwen. It's resolved by the end of series four when [[spoiler: they get married]].
* UnwittingMuggleFriend: For the whole series, Arthur was completely unaware and
%%* UptownGirl: A GenderFlipped case for Gwen.
*
*
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Arthur has plenty of them throughout the
* WarriorPrince: Arthur may be the
* WasItAllALie: [[spoiler: After Merlin comes clean to him about having magic, he questions everything he knows about Merlin.]]
---> [[spoiler: '''Arthur''': So you're not an idiot, that was another lie]]
* WeUsedToBeFriends: In regards to Morgana, after she did a FaceHeelTurn.
* WeaponTwirling: Often does this with his sword, especially when he has the time to do so before he goes in for the kill. Arthur twirling his sword seems to be
* WellDoneSonGuy: Growing out of his desire to please his father is a big part of his characterisation.
* WillTheyOrWontThey:
** The magic reveal subplot with Merlin has shades of this too. For 5 series, Merlin's secret of being a sorcerer is kept secret from Arthur and from pretty much all of the major characters in the series (including Uther, Morgana, Gwen, Gwaine, etc) with the exception Gaius and Lancelot. However, in the series 5 finale, Arthur discovers Merlin's true identity as a very powerful sorcerer, when Merlin reveals his secret to Arthur as he is dying.
%%*
* WouldntHitAGirl: Unlike [[CombatPragmatist Merlin]] or Uther. Arthur has shown that he has a very strong respect for the opposite sex and he would never resort to the use of violence or combat against women. He has shown this trait in his confrontations with Morgana. Even though Morgana is his ultimate enemy, Arthur still cannot find it in himself to physically attack Morgana in any way and would rather defeat Morgana by using more diplomatic approaches.
* YoungAndInCharge: Arthur becomes King of Camelot during his 20's. But this occurs, because his father ends up tragically dying at the beginning of season 4. Basically, Uther's death had forced the position of being the ruler of Camelot onto Arthur at a much earlier time then expected or prepared.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: It's hinted that Arthur, despite his arrogance, suffers from low self-esteem thanks to the high expectations of his father. It's usually Merlin and Guinevere who provide the moral support needed for him to really embrace his role as a leader and future king.
Changed line(s) 182,187 (click to see context) from:
[[folder:King Uther Pendragon]]
!!Uther Pendragon
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uther-pendragon_7142.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHead
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 for his people, and acknowledging loyalty from his subjects e.g. Gaius and Merlin (occasionally).
!!Uther Pendragon
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uther-pendragon_7142.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHead
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 for his people, and acknowledging loyalty from his subjects e.g. Gaius and Merlin (occasionally).
to:
!!Uther Pendragon
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.
!!!'''Portrayed By:'''
Uther Pendragon is
[-'''Merlin''': "You have such a good heart, Gwen. Don't ever lose that."-]
Guinevere -- nicknamed Gwen -- was the
Added DiffLines:
* ActionGirl: Gwen is highly capable of defending herself and can use a sword quite effectively.
%% * ActionFashionista: Gwen becomes one [[spoiler: after she becomes Queen of Camelot in season four.]]
* ActionSurvivor: She has ''survived'' a lot, including being being dragged before Uther for crimes she didn't commit twice, being kidnapped by Cenred, being exiled by the love of her life, Arthur, after Morgana enchanted her to kiss Lancelot, and being kidnapped, dragged by a horse, and psychologically tortured by Morgana, until the had her will taken from her. Gwen endured so much, but was still as kind as ever.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Gwen is given a RagsToRiches storyline by becoming the wife of King Arthur later on in the series.
%% * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: With both Lancelot and Arthur.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Gwen had feelings for Merlin in season one which were unreciprocated.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Gwen is crowned Queen of Camelot in the season four finale.
* BadassNormal: Gwen is completely human and therefore, she has no abilities whatsoever, yet she is highly capable of defending herself and others when the time calls for it.
* BatmanGambit: Pulls one off in 5.02 by gambling on Ruadan's PapaWolf instincts.
* BattleCouple: With Arthur, especially before she becomes Queen, but also after as well.
* BettyAndVeronica: Gwen is the Archie to Lancelot's Betty and Arthur's Veronica. Technically, Lancelot is considered to be Gwen's FirstLove and she fell in LoveAtFirstSight with him (and vice versa). Gwen starts to display romantic feelings for Arthur in series 2, but even in the beginning of series 2, she still had very strong feelings for Lancelot; this was evident in 2x04 when Lancelot and Gwen were reunited when Gwen was kidnapped. Lancelot rescued Gwen and Arthur was also on a mission to rescue Gwen. Both Arthur and Lancelot realize that Gwen has feelings for the both of them, but Lancelot decides to step aside and not come between Arthur and Gwen. As Lancelot ids gone, Gwen starts to fall deeper in love with Arthur to the point where she ends up choosing Arthur over Lancelot. In series 4, Lancelot dies after [[HeroicSacrifice he sacrifices himself to close the veil between worlds of the living and the dead]]. Gwen had made Lancelot promise to protect Arthur at all costs and Lancelot, being the noble and selfless person that he is, adhered to Gwen's wishes and promise.
** However, it seems that the triangle had come back in 4x09, when Lancelot made a return in the episode after Morgana had used magic to bring Lancelot back from the dead. Although, it was not the real Lancelot and was in fact, a shade version of Lancelot. Morgana had raised Lancelot from the dead in attempts to destroy Arthur and Gwen's relationship so that she would not get married to Arthur and become Queen of Camelot. Morgana used methods to manipulate a situation where Gwen would resist the love and the feelings that she had for Lancelot so that Arthur and Gwen would break up. Sadly, it ended up working as Arthur and Gwen break up in the episode. Fortunately, Arthur and Gwen do end up rekindling their relationship and the two get married at the end of series 4, becoming the RulingCouple of Camelot.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Gwen is normally a very nice and caring person who will go out of her way to help others without hesitation but she does not always extend that compassion, kindness and empathy to those she is suspicious of or those whom she considers to be her enemies. Gwen also will not hesitate to call out other people on their bad behaviour and she won't hesitate to kill those whom are posing as a serious threat to either her or those she loves and cares about. This is the same person who has stood up to both Uther and Arthur, calling them out on their behaviour. Gwen becomes even more stern when she becomes Queen in season five. She has shown that although she does have Camelot's bets interests at heart and wants to do right by her kingdom as Queen, she will resort to some rather ruthless methods when it comes time for her to do so. An example of this is in 5.01, [[spoiler: when she sentences her servant Sefa to ''death''.]]
* BigSisterInstinct: Towards Merlin and Elyan. She is highly protective of both of them. Merlin is even one of her weak spots -- threatening him is not a good idea. Gwen sees Merlin as someone who is very dear to her and there is nothing that she would not do for him. She has risked her life to look out for Merlin whenever he finds himself in trouble. Although Gwen was rather distant and estranged from Elyan and did not seem to have too much of a close relationship with him, she is still very protective towards him considering that is the only family that she has left.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Merlin. Both come from poor or commoner backgrounds. They both originally couldn't stand Arthur and thought that he was a bully, although both of their opinions of Arthur gradually change over the course of the series (Merlin develops a strong and intense friendship with Arthur; Gwen falls in love with Arthur). Both are servants to someone of status, nobility and wealth. Merlin is the personal man-servant of Arthur, the Prince of Camelot; Gwen is the maid-servant of Lady Morgana, the King's Ward). Also, Merlin and Gwen both share TheHeart role on the show. Merlin represents the male emotional aspect of the series, while Gwen is the female centrepiece of the series. Both Gwen and Merlin are advisors to Arthur and guide him to do the right thing as much as possible. Both Merlin and Gwen are compassionate, humble, kind, friendly and understanding in personality. It is no wonder that Merlin and Gwen "clicked" from the very beginning since they share so many traits in common.
* {{Brainwashed}}: [[spoiler: Post the events of 5.06. And all the resultant tropes:]]
** FaceHeelTurn: An involuntary variant.
** StockholmSyndrome: Morgana invokes this by torturing her into thinking all her loved ones hate her, and then offering comfort and help, thus allowing a...
** SymbioticPossession: 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...
*** DecoyDamsel: Puts on quite the show of helplessness to manipulate her enemies.
*** FemmeFatale: She definitely acts more coquettish than usual when under Morgana's power. Arthur and the knights are completely wrapped around her little finger.
*** ObviouslyEvil: [[SubvertedTrope But only to the audience]].
*** PsychoticSmirk: Again, only the audience sees it.
** ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: What helps to break the enchantment, with the help of Merlin [[DisguisedInDrag disguised as a woman]], Dolma]].
* BrainyBrunette: Gwen is quite smart, pragmatic and logical.
* BreakTheCutie: In ''Lancelot du Lac'', in which she is enchanted into betraying Arthur by Morgana, is banished from Camelot and none of her friends are there to see her off except Merlin. Not even her own brother wants to see her. The cherry on top? Only the audience and the villains know she was enchanted, so she believes everything is her fault. This isn't so much Break the Cutie as smash her to bits, stomp on the pieces, and grind them to dust. As if that isn't enough, she gets enchanted AGAIN by Morgana to kill Arthur and was probably tormented a bit while she was held captive.
* BrokenBird: At various points in the series. Most notably in season one, when Uther has Gwen's father, Tom, executed even though he was innocent; in season four, when Arthur banishes Gwen from Camelot; and also in season five when her brother Elyan unexpectedly dies. Gwen has lost all of her family and after her brother died, she was corrupted by Morgana.
* CassandraTruth: 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 TheHeart and Arthur's LoveInterest.
** Rectified in Season 3.
* CharacterDevelopment: From shy, stuttering maid to regal, confident queen.
* CleavageWindow: Sometimes, from Season 2 onward.
* CloserToEarth: She is one of the few minority characters on the show.
* TheConscience: 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.
* CoolBigSis: To Elyan.
* CoolCrown: Gets one at the end of the season four finale. Guinevere is lucky enough to wear a very elaborate, but still elegant-looking silver crown adorned with jewels.
* CorruptTheCutie: In season five, by Morgana.
* TheCutie: Primarily in season's 1 and 2.
* CrypticConversation: In [[spoiler: "Diamond of the Day Part 2"]], she has this type of conversation with Gaius, [[spoiler: confirming her suspicion that Merlin was indeed the Sorcerer that [[CurbStompBattle turned the tide]] at the Battle of Camlann in Camelot's favour.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: The Sorcerer in the battle, you knew who he was?]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: *''{{Beat}}''* [[CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer Yes]].]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: Do ''I'' know him? [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow Please Gaius, answer me honestly?]]]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: ''[[MathematiciansAnswer Yes]]''.]]
%%* DiggingYourselfDeeper
* DamselInDistress: A couple of times, but [[MemeticMutation not nearly as often as you'd think]]. It's probably because the (very few) Gwen-centric episodes ''do'' [[NeverLiveItDown involve her in considerable distress]].
* DoggedNiceGirl[=/=]UnrequitedLove: Towards Merlin in Season 1.
* DudeMagnet: In this version, [[ForegoneConclusion Arthur and Lancelot]] have fallen in love with her, and Gwaine and Helios have shown brief interest.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Gwen's wardrobe changed drastically after she became Queen. She was seen wearing royal clothing.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Series/{{Smallville}} Chloe Sullivan]].
* TheFace: Gwen is more diplomatic in her approaches socially. See TheHeart.
* FantasticRacism: Subverted and PlayedWith. 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 inconspicuous KickTheDog moments.
** She tells Gaius what happened with Morgana after she used magic in front of her, [[LesCollaborateurs an act that could have gotten her mistress imprisoned]], even if she was declared the King's ward [[spoiler: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 [[ToBeLawfulOrGood 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 [[spoiler: pretending to sentence her to death while actually working to save her and getting her father, TheManBehindTheMan, imprisoned in her place]], an uncharacteristically harsh gambit [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman which she doesn't seem to regret]].
* FanServicePack: [[http://oi39.tinypic.com/2lwm890.jpg See for yourself]]. She starts out as a commoner, with the associated plain clothes and modest appearance but becomes ProgressivelyPrettier as the show goes on.
* TheFettered: Gwen strongly believes in laws and following the rules. She is all about doing the right thing as much as possible.
* ForcefulKiss: To Arthur in 2x10 in order to break him out of an enchantment.
* FreudianTrio: In the trio of herself, Merlin and Arthur, Gwen is TheKirk or Ego (TheHeart, motherly, nurturing, loved by both Arthur and Merlin as a LoveInterest/[[LikeBrotherAndSister Sister Figure]] to Merlin's TheSpock or Superego (Calm, secretive, logical, intelligent, has made at least one SadisticChoice in which he sacrificed a dear friend in order to save a greater number of people) and Arthur's TheMcCoy or Id (Arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, is driven by his emotions, usually puts the individual before the bigger picture to Arthur's). See TheKirk.
* GirlFriday: Can be this at times to Merlin, especially when they're teaming up to solve mysteries.
* GirlNextDoor: When Gwen was still a maid servant. This changed [[spoiler: after Gwen became Queen.]]
* GoodIsNotDumb: She's easily the most observant character in the show and knows how to talk people into action.
* GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler: 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 PapaWolf response from her father, who Gwen considered the actual threat. She just needed it to be convincing. It was a gamble, but it worked.]]
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Gwen wears a lot of purple dresses, especially when she becomes Queen. Gwen was seen wearing purple colours while she was a servant as well.
* GuileHero: She simply talks to people, using a blend of logic and guile to convince them to act according to her wishes.
* HairTropes:
** ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Her hair goes from practical buns to long, loose curls as she rises in status.
** LongHairIsFeminine: Her hair is long and curly.
** QuirkyCurls: In series 1 and 2.
** RegalRinglets: In series 5.
** MessyHair: In series 1.
* HappilyMarried: To Arthur in series 5.
* TheHeart: Gwen shares this role with Merlin.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Gwen has gone through a lot of hardships and pain in the name of love and romance and she hasn't had the best of luck in the love department. Especially in regards to her male suitors, Arthur and Lancelot.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Morgana. [[spoiler:This starts to deteriorate in series three.]]
* TheHighQueen: As of the end of series four. [[spoiler: This is even more true in the series finale considering that Gwen became the sole ruler of Camelot after King Arthur dies. In fact, the very last words of the entire series are '''"Long Live The Queen!"''', as cried by everyone present in the throne room.]]
* HonestAdvisor: Together with Merlin to Arthur.
* HotConsort: For King Arthur.
* HourglassPlot: With Morgana, essentially taking her place as the most powerful woman in Camelot.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: With Arthur.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: After Gwen becomes Queen.
* InSeriesNickname: Her full name is Guinevere but almost everyone calls her Gwen, except Arthur. Arthur always calls Gwen by her full name "Guinevere".
* InterClassRomance: With Arthur. Gwen was a poor servant/maid and Arthur is a rich noble. This is now subverted after Gwen married Arthur and became Queen.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Gaius.
* InterspeciesFriendship: With Merlin. Merlin is a warlock and a Dragon Lord; Gwen is a human.
* IWillWaitForYou: At the conclusion of ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS03E10QueenOfHearts}} Queen Of Hearts]]'', she promises to wait for Arthur to become King, at which point they can marry.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Especially when she becomes Queen.
* TheKirk/'''Ego''' (FreudianTrio): In the trio between herself, Arthur and Merlin, Gwen is TheKirk/Ego (motherly, nurturing, sensitive, TheHeart) to Arthur's TheMcCoy/Id (arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, HotBlooded) and Merlin's TheSpock/Superego (calm, logical, intelligent, TheChessmaster). See FreudianTrio.
* LadyAndKnight: Played remarkably straight with Lancelot and Guinevere, even though they aren't a lady or a knight when the show begins. However, Lancelot always makes a point of referring to Gwen as "my lady" and by the end of the third series he's been permanently knighted and by the end of the fourth season, she is "my lady" as she's Queen!
** There's a little of this with Gwen and Gwaine as well.
* LadyOfWar: The feminine, graceful young woman who is more than capable of using a sword.
* LadyInRed: A Queen, Gwen wore a lot of red dresses.
* LetsGetDangerous: 1x10, 2x04 and 5x01.
* LikeBrotherAndSister[=/=]PlatonicLifePartners: Gwen eventually becomes this with Merlin in series 2.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Light to Morgana's dark.
** In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} The Hunter's Heart]]'' she is the dark to Mithian's light.
* LimitedWardrobe: In the first series she (understandably) only had two outfits.
* LivingMacGuffin: There is nobody that wouldn't risk their life for Gwen if she is kidnapped, gone missing or is in trouble of some sort. Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot and the rest of the Knights would all come searching for her and risk their lives in order to find her without even a second thought.
* TheLoad: DependingOnTheWriter. On one hand, her quick mind has proven useful on several occasions, on the other, she's still a relatively small and untrained peasant girl who often winds up being a DamselInDistress.
* LoveHurts: 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 [[BackFromTheDead Lancelot]] - the kicker being only the audience and the bad guys know - and banished from Camelot forever. [[spoiler: To top it all, Gwen has to assume power at the cost of Arthur's death.]]
* LoveTriangle: At the centre of the most famous one of all (between herself, Arthur and Lancelot). [[spoiler: Gwen chooses Arthur.]]
* MalignedMixedMarriage: Arthur and Gwen are essentially this trope because [[UptownGirl Arthur is royalty while Gwen is a servant girl]] and King Uther won't hear of a romance between them. Though Arthur is white and Gwen is mixed-race, race is not a factor in Uther's disapproval.
* MartialPacifist: Guinevere dislikes violence and could under no circumstances be described as an ActionGirl (though she wields a sword on a couple of occasions, she's clearly not that good at it, and she remains the only main character to have never taken a life). However, she embodies the SilkHidingSteel trope, and at the beginning of series four, she witnesses the city gates being closed on refugees flocking to Camelot to escape the evil spirits invading the kingdom. She, a female servant, confronts the council of noble-born men, and using nothing but common sense and her own understanding of human nature, convinces all of them that their wisest choice of action is to re-open the gates and allow people to seek refuge in the city. They comply.
* MissingMom: The whereabouts of Gwen's mother are unknown. It is possible that she is deceased.
* ModestRoyalty: 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.
* MoralityChain[=/=]MoralityPet: Serves as this for Arthur.
* MsFanservice: Especially in the later seasons.
* MuggleBestFriend: To Merlin. While Merlin is a powerful sorcerer with magical abilities, Gwen i s a regular human.
* MythologyGag: She gets Arthur's conventional characterization in Arthurian legend: commoner to [[spoiler: ruler of the realm]], marriage to a royal, [[spoiler: leader of the kingdom to a Golden Age of justice and chivalry.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Arthur witnesses her and Lancelot kissing the night before her and Arthur's wedding. Made all the worse because only the audience knows that she was under a spell the entire time and she actually believes that she willingly betrayed Arthur even if she doesn't understand why.
* NamingConventions: 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 [[LoveInterest Love Interests]] usually called her by her full name), and by series 5, she's consistently called Guinevere to reflect her higher status.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: She often gives wise advice to Arthur and/or the Council on this principle.
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: The kingdom'd never benefit from Gwen's wise rule had Arthur not fallen in love with her.
* NiceGirl: Very much so. She becomes more struct after she becomes Queen, yet she still remains generally good and kind hearted.
* NinjaMaid: In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS01E10TheMomentOfTruth}} The Moment of Truth]]'' at least.
* NonActionSnarker: 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."''
* OccultDetective: Occasionally, with Merlin before she became Queen.
* OfficialCouple: With Arthur. [[spoiler: At the end of season four, Gwen marries Arthur and she and Arthur become the RulingCouple of Camelot.]]
* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Before she married Arthur, Gwen's last name was unknown. Given the time period and having a last name would have been anachronistic even for nobility, it's likely that she doesn't have one.
* OppositesAttract: Gwen is a poor servant and Arthur is a wealthy royal. They come from completely different backgrounds and social statuses.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Wears them as outerwear in series 2 and 3. She seems to be wearing them as underwear in series 4.
* TheOneThatGotAway: She is this to Lancelot.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father was executed at Uther's hand, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown.
* PimpedOutDress: Gwen gets a rather dramatic clothes upgrade after she becomes Queen at the end of season four. She starts to wear much fancier dresses in comparison to the plain dresses she wore when she was a maid and a servant.
* PluckyGirl: Gwen is very positive, optimistic, spirited and upbeat. She tries to believe the best in everyone and in everything, much like Merlin.
* [[PoliticallyActivePrincess Politically Active Queen]]
* ThePollyanna: Although she's also remarkably pragmatic.
* [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Heroine]]: Gwen is incredibly pragmatic and logical in her thinking, especially when [[spoiler: she became Queen in season four]].
* ProgressivelyPrettier: It's not that Gwen wasn't pretty before, but after Gwen became Queen in season four, her physical appearance and her wardrobe took a turn for the better.
* PromotionToParent: Elyan says of her: "she raised me."
* ProperLady: Especially as Queen. Even as a maid, she was very polite and courteous.
* RaceLift: In the Arthurian legends, Guinevere is Caucasian. But on the show, Guinevere is not.
* RagsToRiches: Gwen went from being Morgana's maid to being the Queen of Camelot.
* RagsToRoyalty: See RagsToRiches.
* TheReliableOne: Gwen is highly dependable and trustworthy. She is always there for her friends at a time of need. Even Merlin can be seen depending on Gwen from time to time.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: After Gwen became Queen of Camelot.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Their social classes aren't played into the LoveTriangle, but Arthur (rich suitor) and Lancelot (poor suitor) for Gwen.
* RingOnANecklace: After Gwen is banished from Camelot by Arthur for betraying him (albeit unwillingly, as she'd been under an enchantment), Gwen wears the engagement ring he gave to her around her neck as a reminder of their love. She loses it when Morgana rips the necklace off, although this results in Arthur finding the ring and being reminded that he still loves Gwen, prompting him to forgive her.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The first episode that showcases her as Queen makes a point of demonstrating how active she is: she gives advice at a council meeting, she rules the kingdom in her husband's absence, and she ferrets out a traitor that was leaking information to her enemies.
* RulingCouple: With King Arthur in season four and five.
* SatelliteCharacter: Gwen really has no real CharacterArc 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 Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, as her relationships with Merlin, Arthur and Morgana make up a significant part of the show.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: She is often accused of being "just a love interest" by detractors, and though it's true that most of her screen-time does indeed centre on her relationship with Arthur, the ultimate purpose of her CharacterArc was to become Queen of Camelot -- and it's unclear how her cynics expected this to happen ''without'' a relationship with Arthur arising (as you may have guessed, a lot of DieForOurShip was at work here). Her CharacterDevelopment involved a significant boost in confidence brought about by Arthur's love for her, and many of her strongest scenes [[note]]outsmarting the Witchfinder, freeing Sir Leon, confronting Agravaine, withstanding Morgana, trapping Ruadan[[/note]] occurred when Arthur was completely absent. And by the end of the series, [[spoiler:she assumes control over Camelot after Arthur's death]] with confirmation by WordOfGod that she successfully ruled over the Golden Age [[spoiler:in his stead]]. She could be described as a case of a SatelliteLoveInterest in the sense that she's NeverASelfMadeWoman, '''but''' her character was given plenty of personal development and independent power as a ''direct result'' of her role as Arthur's LoveInterest.
* SecondLove: As Gwen realizes her feelings for Merlin are unrequited in 1x05, she finds a brief romance with Lancelot.
* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler: 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.]]
* ShrinkingViolet: Gwen started out as shy, introverted and a bout on the timid side, although she eventually grows out of it.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Gwen's new look in Season 2. Not that she needed it, though.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: What attracted Gwen to all her three love interests.
* SilkHidingSteel: Gwen was a kind, caring, and shy castle maid who takes pride in her work. If necessary, Gwen is a capable fighter and can hold her own in battle reasonably well. More importantly, she's the firm moral compass of the series and the connection to common people of Arthur (Merlin is also the other connection to common people of Arthur as well).
* StarcrossedLovers: With Lancelot. [[spoiler: Her marriage to Arthur ends tragically short too because of his early death.]]
* StayInTheKitchen: Guinevere's job as Queen is to maintain control in Camelot while Arthur is away.
* SupportingLeader: To Arthur's TheLeader when she becomes Queen. While Arthur leads most of the battles, missions and plans, Gwen will step in whenever Arthur is unavailable in any way.
* TheStrategist: At times.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Several time it's mentioned that she's an excellent seamstress. [[InformedAbility That said, we don't ever get to see her doing any sewing]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Definitely seems to be the case in series 5 after [[spoiler: becoming High Queen]].
* TrueBlueFemininity: Many of her dresses are blue; particularly in series 4.
* {{Tsundere}}: She is a Type B, primarily towards Arthur in the earlier seasons.
* TheUnchosenOne: 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. [[spoiler: 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.]]
** Interestingly, in "The Hunter's Heart, Merlin does say that it is Arthur's "fate" to marry Gwen, but it's unclear if Merlin is referencing an actual prophecy or just voicing his own opinion.
* UnfazedEveryman: She's seen Merlin get up to some truly bizarre things over the years, but seldom reacts with anything more than a bemused smile.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Arthur and Lancelot. Her supposed crush on Merlin is more or less abandoned between series 1 and 2.
* WhiteStallion: In ''The Dark Tower''.
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: Gives one to Merlin, which encompasses the moral standing of the show, [[JustEatGilligan outlining why Uther can't just be killed]].
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Arthur and Gwen. Their budding relationship constantly grows strained because of their different social classes. They are finally married at the end of series four.
%%* WomenAreWiser
[[/folder]]
[[folder:King Uther Pendragon]]
!!Uther Pendragon
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uther-pendragon_7142.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHead
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 for his people, and acknowledging loyalty from his subjects e.g. Gaius and Merlin (occasionally).
----
%% * ActionFashionista: Gwen becomes one [[spoiler: after she becomes Queen of Camelot in season four.]]
* ActionSurvivor: She has ''survived'' a lot, including being being dragged before Uther for crimes she didn't commit twice, being kidnapped by Cenred, being exiled by the love of her life, Arthur, after Morgana enchanted her to kiss Lancelot, and being kidnapped, dragged by a horse, and psychologically tortured by Morgana, until the had her will taken from her. Gwen endured so much, but was still as kind as ever.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Gwen is given a RagsToRiches storyline by becoming the wife of King Arthur later on in the series.
%% * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: With both Lancelot and Arthur.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Gwen had feelings for Merlin in season one which were unreciprocated.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Gwen is crowned Queen of Camelot in the season four finale.
* BadassNormal: Gwen is completely human and therefore, she has no abilities whatsoever, yet she is highly capable of defending herself and others when the time calls for it.
* BatmanGambit: Pulls one off in 5.02 by gambling on Ruadan's PapaWolf instincts.
* BattleCouple: With Arthur, especially before she becomes Queen, but also after as well.
* BettyAndVeronica: Gwen is the Archie to Lancelot's Betty and Arthur's Veronica. Technically, Lancelot is considered to be Gwen's FirstLove and she fell in LoveAtFirstSight with him (and vice versa). Gwen starts to display romantic feelings for Arthur in series 2, but even in the beginning of series 2, she still had very strong feelings for Lancelot; this was evident in 2x04 when Lancelot and Gwen were reunited when Gwen was kidnapped. Lancelot rescued Gwen and Arthur was also on a mission to rescue Gwen. Both Arthur and Lancelot realize that Gwen has feelings for the both of them, but Lancelot decides to step aside and not come between Arthur and Gwen. As Lancelot ids gone, Gwen starts to fall deeper in love with Arthur to the point where she ends up choosing Arthur over Lancelot. In series 4, Lancelot dies after [[HeroicSacrifice he sacrifices himself to close the veil between worlds of the living and the dead]]. Gwen had made Lancelot promise to protect Arthur at all costs and Lancelot, being the noble and selfless person that he is, adhered to Gwen's wishes and promise.
** However, it seems that the triangle had come back in 4x09, when Lancelot made a return in the episode after Morgana had used magic to bring Lancelot back from the dead. Although, it was not the real Lancelot and was in fact, a shade version of Lancelot. Morgana had raised Lancelot from the dead in attempts to destroy Arthur and Gwen's relationship so that she would not get married to Arthur and become Queen of Camelot. Morgana used methods to manipulate a situation where Gwen would resist the love and the feelings that she had for Lancelot so that Arthur and Gwen would break up. Sadly, it ended up working as Arthur and Gwen break up in the episode. Fortunately, Arthur and Gwen do end up rekindling their relationship and the two get married at the end of series 4, becoming the RulingCouple of Camelot.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Gwen is normally a very nice and caring person who will go out of her way to help others without hesitation but she does not always extend that compassion, kindness and empathy to those she is suspicious of or those whom she considers to be her enemies. Gwen also will not hesitate to call out other people on their bad behaviour and she won't hesitate to kill those whom are posing as a serious threat to either her or those she loves and cares about. This is the same person who has stood up to both Uther and Arthur, calling them out on their behaviour. Gwen becomes even more stern when she becomes Queen in season five. She has shown that although she does have Camelot's bets interests at heart and wants to do right by her kingdom as Queen, she will resort to some rather ruthless methods when it comes time for her to do so. An example of this is in 5.01, [[spoiler: when she sentences her servant Sefa to ''death''.]]
* BigSisterInstinct: Towards Merlin and Elyan. She is highly protective of both of them. Merlin is even one of her weak spots -- threatening him is not a good idea. Gwen sees Merlin as someone who is very dear to her and there is nothing that she would not do for him. She has risked her life to look out for Merlin whenever he finds himself in trouble. Although Gwen was rather distant and estranged from Elyan and did not seem to have too much of a close relationship with him, she is still very protective towards him considering that is the only family that she has left.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Merlin. Both come from poor or commoner backgrounds. They both originally couldn't stand Arthur and thought that he was a bully, although both of their opinions of Arthur gradually change over the course of the series (Merlin develops a strong and intense friendship with Arthur; Gwen falls in love with Arthur). Both are servants to someone of status, nobility and wealth. Merlin is the personal man-servant of Arthur, the Prince of Camelot; Gwen is the maid-servant of Lady Morgana, the King's Ward). Also, Merlin and Gwen both share TheHeart role on the show. Merlin represents the male emotional aspect of the series, while Gwen is the female centrepiece of the series. Both Gwen and Merlin are advisors to Arthur and guide him to do the right thing as much as possible. Both Merlin and Gwen are compassionate, humble, kind, friendly and understanding in personality. It is no wonder that Merlin and Gwen "clicked" from the very beginning since they share so many traits in common.
* {{Brainwashed}}: [[spoiler: Post the events of 5.06. And all the resultant tropes:]]
** FaceHeelTurn: An involuntary variant.
** StockholmSyndrome: Morgana invokes this by torturing her into thinking all her loved ones hate her, and then offering comfort and help, thus allowing a...
** SymbioticPossession: 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...
*** DecoyDamsel: Puts on quite the show of helplessness to manipulate her enemies.
*** FemmeFatale: She definitely acts more coquettish than usual when under Morgana's power. Arthur and the knights are completely wrapped around her little finger.
*** ObviouslyEvil: [[SubvertedTrope But only to the audience]].
*** PsychoticSmirk: Again, only the audience sees it.
** ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: What helps to break the enchantment, with the help of Merlin [[DisguisedInDrag disguised as a woman]], Dolma]].
* BrainyBrunette: Gwen is quite smart, pragmatic and logical.
* BreakTheCutie: In ''Lancelot du Lac'', in which she is enchanted into betraying Arthur by Morgana, is banished from Camelot and none of her friends are there to see her off except Merlin. Not even her own brother wants to see her. The cherry on top? Only the audience and the villains know she was enchanted, so she believes everything is her fault. This isn't so much Break the Cutie as smash her to bits, stomp on the pieces, and grind them to dust. As if that isn't enough, she gets enchanted AGAIN by Morgana to kill Arthur and was probably tormented a bit while she was held captive.
* BrokenBird: At various points in the series. Most notably in season one, when Uther has Gwen's father, Tom, executed even though he was innocent; in season four, when Arthur banishes Gwen from Camelot; and also in season five when her brother Elyan unexpectedly dies. Gwen has lost all of her family and after her brother died, she was corrupted by Morgana.
* CassandraTruth: 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 TheHeart and Arthur's LoveInterest.
** Rectified in Season 3.
* CharacterDevelopment: From shy, stuttering maid to regal, confident queen.
* CleavageWindow: Sometimes, from Season 2 onward.
* CloserToEarth: She is one of the few minority characters on the show.
* TheConscience: 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.
* CoolBigSis: To Elyan.
* CoolCrown: Gets one at the end of the season four finale. Guinevere is lucky enough to wear a very elaborate, but still elegant-looking silver crown adorned with jewels.
* CorruptTheCutie: In season five, by Morgana.
* TheCutie: Primarily in season's 1 and 2.
* CrypticConversation: In [[spoiler: "Diamond of the Day Part 2"]], she has this type of conversation with Gaius, [[spoiler: confirming her suspicion that Merlin was indeed the Sorcerer that [[CurbStompBattle turned the tide]] at the Battle of Camlann in Camelot's favour.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: The Sorcerer in the battle, you knew who he was?]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: *''{{Beat}}''* [[CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer Yes]].]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gwen]]''': [[spoiler: Do ''I'' know him? [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow Please Gaius, answer me honestly?]]]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Gaius]]''': [[spoiler: ''[[MathematiciansAnswer Yes]]''.]]
%%* DiggingYourselfDeeper
* DamselInDistress: A couple of times, but [[MemeticMutation not nearly as often as you'd think]]. It's probably because the (very few) Gwen-centric episodes ''do'' [[NeverLiveItDown involve her in considerable distress]].
* DoggedNiceGirl[=/=]UnrequitedLove: Towards Merlin in Season 1.
* DudeMagnet: In this version, [[ForegoneConclusion Arthur and Lancelot]] have fallen in love with her, and Gwaine and Helios have shown brief interest.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Gwen's wardrobe changed drastically after she became Queen. She was seen wearing royal clothing.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Series/{{Smallville}} Chloe Sullivan]].
* TheFace: Gwen is more diplomatic in her approaches socially. See TheHeart.
* FantasticRacism: Subverted and PlayedWith. 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 inconspicuous KickTheDog moments.
** She tells Gaius what happened with Morgana after she used magic in front of her, [[LesCollaborateurs an act that could have gotten her mistress imprisoned]], even if she was declared the King's ward [[spoiler: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 [[ToBeLawfulOrGood 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 [[spoiler: pretending to sentence her to death while actually working to save her and getting her father, TheManBehindTheMan, imprisoned in her place]], an uncharacteristically harsh gambit [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman which she doesn't seem to regret]].
* FanServicePack: [[http://oi39.tinypic.com/2lwm890.jpg See for yourself]]. She starts out as a commoner, with the associated plain clothes and modest appearance but becomes ProgressivelyPrettier as the show goes on.
* TheFettered: Gwen strongly believes in laws and following the rules. She is all about doing the right thing as much as possible.
* ForcefulKiss: To Arthur in 2x10 in order to break him out of an enchantment.
* FreudianTrio: In the trio of herself, Merlin and Arthur, Gwen is TheKirk or Ego (TheHeart, motherly, nurturing, loved by both Arthur and Merlin as a LoveInterest/[[LikeBrotherAndSister Sister Figure]] to Merlin's TheSpock or Superego (Calm, secretive, logical, intelligent, has made at least one SadisticChoice in which he sacrificed a dear friend in order to save a greater number of people) and Arthur's TheMcCoy or Id (Arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, is driven by his emotions, usually puts the individual before the bigger picture to Arthur's). See TheKirk.
* GirlFriday: Can be this at times to Merlin, especially when they're teaming up to solve mysteries.
* GirlNextDoor: When Gwen was still a maid servant. This changed [[spoiler: after Gwen became Queen.]]
* GoodIsNotDumb: She's easily the most observant character in the show and knows how to talk people into action.
* GoodIsNotSoft: [[spoiler: 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 PapaWolf response from her father, who Gwen considered the actual threat. She just needed it to be convincing. It was a gamble, but it worked.]]
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Gwen wears a lot of purple dresses, especially when she becomes Queen. Gwen was seen wearing purple colours while she was a servant as well.
* GuileHero: She simply talks to people, using a blend of logic and guile to convince them to act according to her wishes.
* HairTropes:
** ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Her hair goes from practical buns to long, loose curls as she rises in status.
** LongHairIsFeminine: Her hair is long and curly.
** QuirkyCurls: In series 1 and 2.
** RegalRinglets: In series 5.
** MessyHair: In series 1.
* HappilyMarried: To Arthur in series 5.
* TheHeart: Gwen shares this role with Merlin.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Gwen has gone through a lot of hardships and pain in the name of love and romance and she hasn't had the best of luck in the love department. Especially in regards to her male suitors, Arthur and Lancelot.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Morgana. [[spoiler:This starts to deteriorate in series three.]]
* TheHighQueen: As of the end of series four. [[spoiler: This is even more true in the series finale considering that Gwen became the sole ruler of Camelot after King Arthur dies. In fact, the very last words of the entire series are '''"Long Live The Queen!"''', as cried by everyone present in the throne room.]]
* HonestAdvisor: Together with Merlin to Arthur.
* HotConsort: For King Arthur.
* HourglassPlot: With Morgana, essentially taking her place as the most powerful woman in Camelot.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: With Arthur.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: After Gwen becomes Queen.
* InSeriesNickname: Her full name is Guinevere but almost everyone calls her Gwen, except Arthur. Arthur always calls Gwen by her full name "Guinevere".
* InterClassRomance: With Arthur. Gwen was a poor servant/maid and Arthur is a rich noble. This is now subverted after Gwen married Arthur and became Queen.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Gaius.
* InterspeciesFriendship: With Merlin. Merlin is a warlock and a Dragon Lord; Gwen is a human.
* IWillWaitForYou: At the conclusion of ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS03E10QueenOfHearts}} Queen Of Hearts]]'', she promises to wait for Arthur to become King, at which point they can marry.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Especially when she becomes Queen.
* TheKirk/'''Ego''' (FreudianTrio): In the trio between herself, Arthur and Merlin, Gwen is TheKirk/Ego (motherly, nurturing, sensitive, TheHeart) to Arthur's TheMcCoy/Id (arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, HotBlooded) and Merlin's TheSpock/Superego (calm, logical, intelligent, TheChessmaster). See FreudianTrio.
* LadyAndKnight: Played remarkably straight with Lancelot and Guinevere, even though they aren't a lady or a knight when the show begins. However, Lancelot always makes a point of referring to Gwen as "my lady" and by the end of the third series he's been permanently knighted and by the end of the fourth season, she is "my lady" as she's Queen!
** There's a little of this with Gwen and Gwaine as well.
* LadyOfWar: The feminine, graceful young woman who is more than capable of using a sword.
* LadyInRed: A Queen, Gwen wore a lot of red dresses.
* LetsGetDangerous: 1x10, 2x04 and 5x01.
* LikeBrotherAndSister[=/=]PlatonicLifePartners: Gwen eventually becomes this with Merlin in series 2.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Light to Morgana's dark.
** In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} The Hunter's Heart]]'' she is the dark to Mithian's light.
* LimitedWardrobe: In the first series she (understandably) only had two outfits.
* LivingMacGuffin: There is nobody that wouldn't risk their life for Gwen if she is kidnapped, gone missing or is in trouble of some sort. Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot and the rest of the Knights would all come searching for her and risk their lives in order to find her without even a second thought.
* TheLoad: DependingOnTheWriter. On one hand, her quick mind has proven useful on several occasions, on the other, she's still a relatively small and untrained peasant girl who often winds up being a DamselInDistress.
* LoveHurts: 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 [[BackFromTheDead Lancelot]] - the kicker being only the audience and the bad guys know - and banished from Camelot forever. [[spoiler: To top it all, Gwen has to assume power at the cost of Arthur's death.]]
* LoveTriangle: At the centre of the most famous one of all (between herself, Arthur and Lancelot). [[spoiler: Gwen chooses Arthur.]]
* MalignedMixedMarriage: Arthur and Gwen are essentially this trope because [[UptownGirl Arthur is royalty while Gwen is a servant girl]] and King Uther won't hear of a romance between them. Though Arthur is white and Gwen is mixed-race, race is not a factor in Uther's disapproval.
* MartialPacifist: Guinevere dislikes violence and could under no circumstances be described as an ActionGirl (though she wields a sword on a couple of occasions, she's clearly not that good at it, and she remains the only main character to have never taken a life). However, she embodies the SilkHidingSteel trope, and at the beginning of series four, she witnesses the city gates being closed on refugees flocking to Camelot to escape the evil spirits invading the kingdom. She, a female servant, confronts the council of noble-born men, and using nothing but common sense and her own understanding of human nature, convinces all of them that their wisest choice of action is to re-open the gates and allow people to seek refuge in the city. They comply.
* MissingMom: The whereabouts of Gwen's mother are unknown. It is possible that she is deceased.
* ModestRoyalty: 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.
* MoralityChain[=/=]MoralityPet: Serves as this for Arthur.
* MsFanservice: Especially in the later seasons.
* MuggleBestFriend: To Merlin. While Merlin is a powerful sorcerer with magical abilities, Gwen i s a regular human.
* MythologyGag: She gets Arthur's conventional characterization in Arthurian legend: commoner to [[spoiler: ruler of the realm]], marriage to a royal, [[spoiler: leader of the kingdom to a Golden Age of justice and chivalry.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Arthur witnesses her and Lancelot kissing the night before her and Arthur's wedding. Made all the worse because only the audience knows that she was under a spell the entire time and she actually believes that she willingly betrayed Arthur even if she doesn't understand why.
* NamingConventions: 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 [[LoveInterest Love Interests]] usually called her by her full name), and by series 5, she's consistently called Guinevere to reflect her higher status.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: She often gives wise advice to Arthur and/or the Council on this principle.
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: The kingdom'd never benefit from Gwen's wise rule had Arthur not fallen in love with her.
* NiceGirl: Very much so. She becomes more struct after she becomes Queen, yet she still remains generally good and kind hearted.
* NinjaMaid: In ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS01E10TheMomentOfTruth}} The Moment of Truth]]'' at least.
* NonActionSnarker: 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."''
* OccultDetective: Occasionally, with Merlin before she became Queen.
* OfficialCouple: With Arthur. [[spoiler: At the end of season four, Gwen marries Arthur and she and Arthur become the RulingCouple of Camelot.]]
* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Before she married Arthur, Gwen's last name was unknown. Given the time period and having a last name would have been anachronistic even for nobility, it's likely that she doesn't have one.
* OppositesAttract: Gwen is a poor servant and Arthur is a wealthy royal. They come from completely different backgrounds and social statuses.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Wears them as outerwear in series 2 and 3. She seems to be wearing them as underwear in series 4.
* TheOneThatGotAway: She is this to Lancelot.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father was executed at Uther's hand, and her mother's whereabouts are unknown.
* PimpedOutDress: Gwen gets a rather dramatic clothes upgrade after she becomes Queen at the end of season four. She starts to wear much fancier dresses in comparison to the plain dresses she wore when she was a maid and a servant.
* PluckyGirl: Gwen is very positive, optimistic, spirited and upbeat. She tries to believe the best in everyone and in everything, much like Merlin.
* [[PoliticallyActivePrincess Politically Active Queen]]
* ThePollyanna: Although she's also remarkably pragmatic.
* [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Heroine]]: Gwen is incredibly pragmatic and logical in her thinking, especially when [[spoiler: she became Queen in season four]].
* ProgressivelyPrettier: It's not that Gwen wasn't pretty before, but after Gwen became Queen in season four, her physical appearance and her wardrobe took a turn for the better.
* PromotionToParent: Elyan says of her: "she raised me."
* ProperLady: Especially as Queen. Even as a maid, she was very polite and courteous.
* RaceLift: In the Arthurian legends, Guinevere is Caucasian. But on the show, Guinevere is not.
* RagsToRiches: Gwen went from being Morgana's maid to being the Queen of Camelot.
* RagsToRoyalty: See RagsToRiches.
* TheReliableOne: Gwen is highly dependable and trustworthy. She is always there for her friends at a time of need. Even Merlin can be seen depending on Gwen from time to time.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: After Gwen became Queen of Camelot.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Their social classes aren't played into the LoveTriangle, but Arthur (rich suitor) and Lancelot (poor suitor) for Gwen.
* RingOnANecklace: After Gwen is banished from Camelot by Arthur for betraying him (albeit unwillingly, as she'd been under an enchantment), Gwen wears the engagement ring he gave to her around her neck as a reminder of their love. She loses it when Morgana rips the necklace off, although this results in Arthur finding the ring and being reminded that he still loves Gwen, prompting him to forgive her.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The first episode that showcases her as Queen makes a point of demonstrating how active she is: she gives advice at a council meeting, she rules the kingdom in her husband's absence, and she ferrets out a traitor that was leaking information to her enemies.
* RulingCouple: With King Arthur in season four and five.
* SatelliteCharacter: Gwen really has no real CharacterArc 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 Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, as her relationships with Merlin, Arthur and Morgana make up a significant part of the show.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: She is often accused of being "just a love interest" by detractors, and though it's true that most of her screen-time does indeed centre on her relationship with Arthur, the ultimate purpose of her CharacterArc was to become Queen of Camelot -- and it's unclear how her cynics expected this to happen ''without'' a relationship with Arthur arising (as you may have guessed, a lot of DieForOurShip was at work here). Her CharacterDevelopment involved a significant boost in confidence brought about by Arthur's love for her, and many of her strongest scenes [[note]]outsmarting the Witchfinder, freeing Sir Leon, confronting Agravaine, withstanding Morgana, trapping Ruadan[[/note]] occurred when Arthur was completely absent. And by the end of the series, [[spoiler:she assumes control over Camelot after Arthur's death]] with confirmation by WordOfGod that she successfully ruled over the Golden Age [[spoiler:in his stead]]. She could be described as a case of a SatelliteLoveInterest in the sense that she's NeverASelfMadeWoman, '''but''' her character was given plenty of personal development and independent power as a ''direct result'' of her role as Arthur's LoveInterest.
* SecondLove: As Gwen realizes her feelings for Merlin are unrequited in 1x05, she finds a brief romance with Lancelot.
* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler: 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.]]
* ShrinkingViolet: Gwen started out as shy, introverted and a bout on the timid side, although she eventually grows out of it.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Gwen's new look in Season 2. Not that she needed it, though.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: What attracted Gwen to all her three love interests.
* SilkHidingSteel: Gwen was a kind, caring, and shy castle maid who takes pride in her work. If necessary, Gwen is a capable fighter and can hold her own in battle reasonably well. More importantly, she's the firm moral compass of the series and the connection to common people of Arthur (Merlin is also the other connection to common people of Arthur as well).
* StarcrossedLovers: With Lancelot. [[spoiler: Her marriage to Arthur ends tragically short too because of his early death.]]
* StayInTheKitchen: Guinevere's job as Queen is to maintain control in Camelot while Arthur is away.
* SupportingLeader: To Arthur's TheLeader when she becomes Queen. While Arthur leads most of the battles, missions and plans, Gwen will step in whenever Arthur is unavailable in any way.
* TheStrategist: At times.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Several time it's mentioned that she's an excellent seamstress. [[InformedAbility That said, we don't ever get to see her doing any sewing]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Definitely seems to be the case in series 5 after [[spoiler: becoming High Queen]].
* TrueBlueFemininity: Many of her dresses are blue; particularly in series 4.
* {{Tsundere}}: She is a Type B, primarily towards Arthur in the earlier seasons.
* TheUnchosenOne: 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. [[spoiler: 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.]]
** Interestingly, in "The Hunter's Heart, Merlin does say that it is Arthur's "fate" to marry Gwen, but it's unclear if Merlin is referencing an actual prophecy or just voicing his own opinion.
* UnfazedEveryman: She's seen Merlin get up to some truly bizarre things over the years, but seldom reacts with anything more than a bemused smile.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Arthur and Lancelot. Her supposed crush on Merlin is more or less abandoned between series 1 and 2.
* WhiteStallion: In ''The Dark Tower''.
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: Gives one to Merlin, which encompasses the moral standing of the show, [[JustEatGilligan outlining why Uther can't just be killed]].
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Arthur and Gwen. Their budding relationship constantly grows strained because of their different social classes. They are finally married at the end of series four.
%%* WomenAreWiser
[[/folder]]
[[folder:King Uther Pendragon]]
!!Uther Pendragon
[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uther-pendragon_7142.jpg]]
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHead
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 for his people, and acknowledging loyalty from his subjects e.g. Gaius and Merlin (occasionally).
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* WomenAreWiser
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* DistressedDamsel: A couple of times, but [[MemeticMutation not nearly as often as you'd think]]. It's probably because the (very few) Gwen-centric episodes ''do'' [[NeverLiveItDown involve her in considerable distress]].
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* DistressedDamsel: DamselInDistress: A couple of times, but [[MemeticMutation not nearly as often as you'd think]]. It's probably because the (very few) Gwen-centric episodes ''do'' [[NeverLiveItDown involve her in considerable distress]].
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* TheLoad: DependingOnTheWriter. On one hand, her quick mind has proven useful on several occasions, on the other, she's still a relatively small and untrained peasant girl who often winds up being a DistressedDamsel.
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* TheLoad: DependingOnTheWriter. On one hand, her quick mind has proven useful on several occasions, on the other, she's still a relatively small and untrained peasant girl who often winds up being a DistressedDamsel.DamselInDistress.
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[[header:[-[[center:''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' '''[[Series/{{Merlin|2008}} Character Index]]'''\\
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[[header:[-[[center:''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' '''[[Series/{{Merlin|2008}} '''[[Characters/{{Merlin|2008}} Character Index]]'''\\
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* MythologyGag: Like in the original legend, Uther uses magic to get what he desires (to produce an heir and in the original legend, to sleep with Ygraine). However, and it comes at a price as Uther ends up family losing a member (Ygraine ends up dying in childbirth while in the original legend Merlin takes baby Arthur away as payment for Uther using Merlin’s magic to pull a BedTrick on Ygraine).
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* MythologyGag: Like in the original legend, Uther uses magic to get what he desires (to produce an heir and in the original legend, to sleep with Ygraine). However, and it comes at a price as Uther ends up family losing a family member (Ygraine ends up dying in childbirth while in the original legend Merlin takes baby Arthur away as payment for Uther using Merlin’s magic to pull a BedTrick on Ygraine).
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%% * BadassBoast
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%% * BerserkButton: The subject of magic under any circumstances.
%% More explanation is needed. In what way is magic his "button"? How angry he gets?
%% More explanation is needed. In what way is magic his "button"? How angry he gets?
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%% More explanation is needed. In what way is
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* MythologyGag: Like in the original legend, Uther uses magic to get what he desires (to produce an heir and in the original legend, to sleep with Ygraine). However, and it comes at a price as Uther ends up family losing a member (Ygraine ends up dying in childbirth while in the original legend Merlin takes baby Arthur away as payment for Uther using Merlin’s magic to pull a BedTrick on Ygraine).
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* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Surprisingly often, if he doesn't think that magic is involved in the situation at hand. Were it not for his hatred of magic, he'd probably be a very good King. For instance, he's more than willing to grant Merlin's mother an audience to hear about how her village was being attacked way back in Season 1, and is genuinely regretful that he can't do anything because the village is (just) in the land of a rival monarch. In comparison to most real life rulers, he's a rather good king by the standards of his time. It's also worth pointing out that he lives in a world with actual magic and villains who use it to harm others, so unlike real life kings he has a pretty valid excuse for being the way he is.
to:
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
** Surprisingly often, if he doesn't think that magic is involved in the situation at hand. Were it not for his hatred of magic, he'd probably be a very good King. For instance, he's more than willing to grant Merlin's mother an audience to hear about how her village was being attacked way back in Season 1, and is genuinely regretful that he can't do anything because the village is (just) in the land of a rival monarch. In comparison to most real life rulers, he's a rather good king by the standards of his time. It's also worth pointing out that he lives in a world with actual magic and villains who use it to harm others, so unlike real life kings he has a pretty valid excuse for being the way heis.is.
** It's zigzagged when it comes to commoners however. While he does treat them with some compassion, he overall doesn't consider them to be as important or trustworthy as a noble. He hates it when Lancelot and Gwaine both break the knight's code since they are commoners, not knowing that Gwaine was in fact a noble, while also being unable to understand why his son would develop feelings for a servant like Gwen. When he returns as a spirit, he's angered and disappointed that Arthur made commoners knights and married Gwen. However it's worth pointing out that outside his hatred for magic, it's clear that he was respected by the commoners and was likely a decent ruler.
** Surprisingly often, if he doesn't think that magic is involved in the situation at hand. Were it not for his hatred of magic, he'd probably be a very good King. For instance, he's more than willing to grant Merlin's mother an audience to hear about how her village was being attacked way back in Season 1, and is genuinely regretful that he can't do anything because the village is (just) in the land of a rival monarch. In comparison to most real life rulers, he's a rather good king by the standards of his time. It's also worth pointing out that he lives in a world with actual magic and villains who use it to harm others, so unlike real life kings he has a pretty valid excuse for being the way he
** It's zigzagged when it comes to commoners however. While he does treat them with some compassion, he overall doesn't consider them to be as important or trustworthy as a noble. He hates it when Lancelot and Gwaine both break the knight's code since they are commoners, not knowing that Gwaine was in fact a noble, while also being unable to understand why his son would develop feelings for a servant like Gwen. When he returns as a spirit, he's angered and disappointed that Arthur made commoners knights and married Gwen. However it's worth pointing out that outside his hatred for magic, it's clear that he was respected by the commoners and was likely a decent ruler.
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** While he takes it too far in his war against magic and he's a hypocrite since he used magic so Arthur could be born, it's worth acknowledging that magic truly is dangerous, capable of doing all kinds of harm including altering someone's mind, and that many sorcerers do use it for selfish reasons. Many of the villains in the show often don't care about the innocent people they kill or are even a SmugSuper like Morgana who believe their magic makes them superior, proving that he's not entirely wrong about the dangers of magic.
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** While he takes it too far in his war against magic and he's a hypocrite since he used magic so Arthur could be born, it's worth acknowledging that magic truly is dangerous, capable of doing all kinds of harm including altering someone's mind, and that many sorcerers do use it for selfish reasons. Many of the villains in the show often don't care about the innocent people they kill or are even a SmugSuper like Morgana who believe their magic makes them superior, proving that he's not entirely wrong about the dangers of magic. Even Merlin at one point used magic to remove Arthur's will and make him more compliant, proving that even good sorcerers have the potential to do horrific things.
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* SaltAndPepper: With Morgana. Gwen worked as Morgana's maid-servant while Morgana was the Kings Ward, and where Morgana is passionate, high-strung and easily corrupted, Gwen is down-to-earth, practical and calm.
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* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Before she married Arthur, Gwen's last name was unknown.
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* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Before she married Arthur, Gwen's last name was unknown. Given the time period and having a last name would have been anachronistic even for nobility, it's likely that she doesn't have one.
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* ActionDad: Uther was always involved in whatever is happening with Arthur and within Camelot.
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* ActionDad: Uther was always involved in whatever is happening with Arthur and within Camelot. [[spoiler:His death was caused when he was defending Arthur from an assassin, the two getting in a swordfight which resulted in both fatally wounding the other.]]
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[[folder: Uther Pendragon]]
!!King Uther Pendragon
!!King Uther Pendragon
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* KingOnHisDeathbed: In series 4 he isn't dying, but [[spoiler:the shock from Morgana's betrayal and learning how much she hates him had completely demoralised him and left him deeply depressed, to the point that Arthur had to take over as leader while Uther stays in his room rarely talking or eating and being looked after by Gwen]].
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* KingOnHisDeathbed: In series 4 he isn't dying, but [[spoiler:the shock from Morgana's betrayal and learning how much she hates him had completely demoralised him and left him deeply depressed, to the point that Arthur had to take over as leader while Uther stays in his room rarely talking or eating and being looked after by Gwen]].Gwen. However he does interact more when it concerns Arthur and immediately leaps to defend him against an assassin]].
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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: That might be pushing, but underneath his hatred for magic and classist attitudes, Uther is genuinely a benevolent ruler who cares about others. He cares about his subjects and the innocent, regrets being unable to help Hunith, grows to appreciate Merlin's loyalty to Arthur even if he never respects him as an equal, and genuinely considers Gaius to be a close friend despite being a former sorcerer. Whenever he realises that he has made a mistake, such as when he believed the witchfinder Aredian when he framed Gaius for sorcery and planned to have him executed, he shows real guilt and regret.
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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: That might be pushing, but underneath his hatred for magic and classist attitudes, Uther is genuinely a benevolent ruler who cares about others. He deeply loves both Arthur and Morgana, cares about his subjects and the innocent, regrets being unable to help Hunith, grows to appreciate Merlin's loyalty to Arthur even if he never respects him as an equal, and genuinely considers Gaius to be a close friend despite being a former sorcerer. Whenever he realises that he has made a mistake, such as when he believed the witchfinder Aredian when he framed Gaius for sorcery and planned to have him executed, he shows real guilt and regret.
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* KnightTemplar[=/=]KnightTemplarParent: See his hatred of magic.
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* KnightTemplar[=/=]KnightTemplarParent: KingOnHisDeathbed: In series 4 he isn't dying, but [[spoiler:the shock from Morgana's betrayal and learning how much she hates him had completely demoralised him and left him deeply depressed, to the point that Arthur had to take over as leader while Uther stays in his room rarely talking or eating and being looked after by Gwen]].
* KnightTemplarParent: See his hatred of magic.
* KnightTemplarParent: See his hatred of magic.
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* TheConqueror: It's hinted that he was this at some point in his past, as he mentions that when he was Arthur's age he conquered Camelot to become king.
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* ThePatriarch
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* ThePatriarchThePatriarch: He's the father of Arthur and guardian of Morgana, who later turns out to be his biological father.
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* JerkassHasAPoint: When Merlin is poisoned in season 1, he is quite right to tell Arthur that people are going to end up sacrificing themselves for him when he is king and he'd better get used to the idea.
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* JerkassHasAPoint: JerkassHasAPoint:
** When Merlin is poisoned in season 1, he is quite right to tell Arthur that people are going to end up sacrificing themselves for him when he is king and he'd better get used to theidea.idea.
** While he takes it too far in his war against magic and he's a hypocrite since he used magic so Arthur could be born, it's worth acknowledging that magic truly is dangerous, capable of doing all kinds of harm including altering someone's mind, and that many sorcerers do use it for selfish reasons. Many of the villains in the show often don't care about the innocent people they kill or are even a SmugSuper like Morgana who believe their magic makes them superior, proving that he's not entirely wrong about the dangers of magic.
** When Merlin is poisoned in season 1, he is quite right to tell Arthur that people are going to end up sacrificing themselves for him when he is king and he'd better get used to the
** While he takes it too far in his war against magic and he's a hypocrite since he used magic so Arthur could be born, it's worth acknowledging that magic truly is dangerous, capable of doing all kinds of harm including altering someone's mind, and that many sorcerers do use it for selfish reasons. Many of the villains in the show often don't care about the innocent people they kill or are even a SmugSuper like Morgana who believe their magic makes them superior, proving that he's not entirely wrong about the dangers of magic.
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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: That might be pushing, but underneath his hatred for magic and classist attitudes, Uther is genuinely a benevolent ruler who cares about others. He cares about his subjects and the innocent, regrets being unable to help Hunith, grows to appreciate Merlin's loyalty to Arthur even if he never respects him as an equal, and genuinely considers Gaius to be a close friend despite being a former sorcerer. Whenever he realises that he has made a mistake, such as when he believed the witchfinder Aredian when he framed Gaius for sorcery and planned to have him executed, he shows real guilt and regret.
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[[/folder]]
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----
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trope is about colorism IU
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* ButNotTooBlack: Gwen is portrayed by bi-racial actress Creator/AngelCoulby.
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'''Main Cast''' ([[Characters/MerlinTheCharacter Merlin]] | [[Characters/MerlinArthurPendragon Arthur Pendragon]] | [[Characters/MerlinMorgana Morgana]]) | [[Characters/MerlinOthers Others]]]]-]]]
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'''Main Cast''' ([[Characters/MerlinTheCharacter Merlin]] | [[Characters/MerlinArthurPendragon Arthur Pendragon]] | [[Characters/MerlinMorgana Morgana]]) | [[Characters/MerlinOthers Others]]]]-]]]Others]] ([[Characters/MerlinKnightsOfTheRoundTable Knights of the Round Table]])]]-]]]
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[[header:[-[[center:''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' '''[[Series/{{Merlin|2008}} Character Index]]'''\\
'''Main Cast''' ([[Characters/MerlinTheCharacter Merlin]] | [[Characters/MerlinArthurPendragon Arthur Pendragon]] | [[Characters/MerlinMorgana Morgana]]) | [[Characters/MerlinOthers Others]]]]-]]]
'''Main Cast''' ([[Characters/MerlinTheCharacter Merlin]] | [[Characters/MerlinArthurPendragon Arthur Pendragon]] | [[Characters/MerlinMorgana Morgana]]) | [[Characters/MerlinOthers Others]]]]-]]]
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This page features a listing of the main characters of ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}''.
Merlin, Arthur, and Morgana were big enough to have their own subpages.
[[index]]
* Characters/MerlinTheCharacter
* Characters/MerlinArthurPendragon
* Characters/MerlinMorgana
[[/index]]
The main character page for the series is [[Characters/{{Merlin|2008}} here]]. For other characters other than the main cast, go [[Characters/MerlinOthers here]].
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* NobleDemon: Uther might be a genocidal tyrant but he's also a loving parent and a brave warrior who cares for his people and will put himself in harm's way to protect his kingdom.
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* NobleDemon: Uther might be a genocidal tyrant but he's also a loving parent and a brave warrior who cares for his people and will put himself in harm's way to protect his kingdom. And it's worth noting that he's only a tyrant by modern standards; compared to real life medieval kings and rulers, Uther's is a rather good ruler.
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* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Surprisingly often, if he doesn't think that magic is involved in the situation at hand. Were it not for his hatred of magic, he'd probably be a very good King. For instance, he's more than willing to grant Merlin's mother an audience to hear about how her village was being attacked way back in Season 1, and is genuinely regretful that he can't do anything because the village is (just) in the land of a rival monarch. In comparison to most real life rulers, he's a rather good king by the standards of his time.
to:
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Surprisingly often, if he doesn't think that magic is involved in the situation at hand. Were it not for his hatred of magic, he'd probably be a very good King. For instance, he's more than willing to grant Merlin's mother an audience to hear about how her village was being attacked way back in Season 1, and is genuinely regretful that he can't do anything because the village is (just) in the land of a rival monarch. In comparison to most real life rulers, he's a rather good king by the standards of his time. It's also worth pointing out that he lives in a world with actual magic and villains who use it to harm others, so unlike real life kings he has a pretty valid excuse for being the way he is.
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[[folder: Guinevere (Gwen)]]
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere (Gwen) [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere (Gwen) [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
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!![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere
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* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Surprisingly often, if he doesn't think that magic is involved in the situation at hand. Were it not for his hatred of magic, he'd probably be a very good King. For instance, he's more than willing to grant Merlin's mother an audience to hear about how her village was being attacked way back in Season 1, and is genuinely regretful that he can't do anything because the village is (just) in the land of a rival monarch.
to:
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Surprisingly often, if he doesn't think that magic is involved in the situation at hand. Were it not for his hatred of magic, he'd probably be a very good King. For instance, he's more than willing to grant Merlin's mother an audience to hear about how her village was being attacked way back in Season 1, and is genuinely regretful that he can't do anything because the village is (just) in the land of a rival monarch. In comparison to most real life rulers, he's a rather good king by the standards of his time.
* RelatedDifferentlyInTheAdaptation: Morgana is his stepdaughter in most versions, but is eventually revealed to be his biological daughter.
* RoyallyScrewedUp: The second he finds even a hint of magic, Uther becomes obsessed with destroying it and disregards everything else.
* RelatedDifferentlyInTheAdaptation: Morgana is his stepdaughter in most versions, but is eventually revealed to be his biological daughter.
* RoyallyScrewedUp: The second he finds even a hint of magic, Uther becomes obsessed with destroying it and disregards everything else.
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* RoyallyScrewedUp
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* RoyallyScrewedUpUnrelatedInTheAdaptation: Mordred is just a random druid instead of his grandson in this version
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* CompositeCharacter: He takes a few aspects from the traditional Merlin, being an older man who acts as a friend and advisor to Uther.
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![[spoiler:Queen]] Guinevere (Gwen) [[spoiler:Pendragon]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
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->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
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!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AngelCoulby
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!King Uther Pendragon
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHead
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHead
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->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHead
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!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHead
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!Gaius
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RichardWilson
[-"I'd give my life for you, Merlin."-]
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!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RichardWilson
[-"I'd give my life for you, Merlin."-]
[-"I'd give my life for you, Merlin."-]
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spelling
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* DirtyCoward: Not in the present, but it's heavily implied during the Great Purge, that although he helped certain people like Balinor, Morgaus, and Alice escape Uther's prosecution, for the most part he sided with Uther in order to save his own skin (and might have given names as well, Uther mentions he's asked Gaius to do things he found difficult) as he watched countless witches and wizards be burned at the stake and did nothing. The Dragon cynically mentions that "turning a blind eye" is Gaius' talent in Series One.
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* DirtyCoward: Not in the present, but it's heavily implied during the Great Purge, that although he helped certain people like Balinor, Morgaus, Morgause, and Alice escape Uther's prosecution, for the most part he sided with Uther in order to save his own skin (and might have given names as well, Uther mentions he's asked Gaius to do things he found difficult) as he watched countless witches and wizards be burned at the stake and did nothing. The Dragon cynically mentions that "turning a blind eye" is Gaius' talent in Series One.
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Overprotective Dad has been disambiguated
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* OverprotectiveDad: Uther is shown to be overprotective of both Arthur and Morgana at times.
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* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: She has to act as regent of Camelot when Arthur heads into danger, and it is not easy for her.
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The Chick is now a disambig, dewicking
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* TheChick: She is the feminine centrepiece of the series. The opposite of Morgana, who is TheDarkChick.
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* TheKirk/'''Ego''' (FreudianTrio): In the trio between herself, Arthur and Merlin, Gwen is TheKirk/Ego (motherly, nurturing, sensitive, TheChick) to Arthur's TheMcCoy/Id (arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, HotBlooded) and Merlin's TheSpock/Superego (calm, logical, intelligent, TheChessmaster). See FreudianTrio.
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* TheKirk/'''Ego''' (FreudianTrio): In the trio between herself, Arthur and Merlin, Gwen is TheKirk/Ego (motherly, nurturing, sensitive, TheChick) TheHeart) to Arthur's TheMcCoy/Id (arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, HotBlooded) and Merlin's TheSpock/Superego (calm, logical, intelligent, TheChessmaster). See FreudianTrio.
