History Headscratchers / Merlin2008

* Ungh! Sins Of The Father. Just... WHY, WHY, WHY?!! Why did Merlin not try to TakeAThirdOption? Why is he and everyone else so insist on keeping the status quo? Why not just talk Arthur down from killing Uther and then get him to come clean? Why not tell the truth and then begin to make amends for the persecution of magic users?

* In Queen of Hearts, when Merlin is pretending to be the much older sorcerer who cast the love spell, why did Uther bother to ask if he's ever done anything to offend him? Aside from the obvious fact that, duh, yes he HAS - since when does he care???

** Also, Merlin has never ''deliberately'' revealed his magic to anyone who was not a doomed antagonist or a fellow magic-user. Gaius and Lancelot both found out more or less by accident.
* Mordred. The writers desperately want to make him into a villain, obviously because of canon, but he hasn't done anything villainous. Protecting yourself against people trying to kill you isn't considered villainous by this shows morality standards, and that's the most he's done. I would say Merlin's actions towards him- trying to keep him from escaping- are more villainous than Mordred's actions.

** And for that matter, Morgause. All throughout season 2, she didn't do anything villainous. She tried to kill Uther without killing anyone else in the city, now that was a good thing. When that didn't work, she tried an all out assault, something Uther has done before, against defenseless civilians no less. I'm simply not convinced of her villainy, and she still seems like a DesignatedVillain in this series, just like all the other so called "villains", except for Nimeuh [[EvilVersusEvil who did do some pretty villainous things (still nothing compared to Uther)]], but was [[DroppedABridgeOnHim unceremoniously]] [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter killed off at the end of season 1]].
*** Morgause's early attempt to kill Uther was not an unambiguously good act. Even setting aside the conversation between Gwen and Merlin where Gwen makes the point that tyrant or no tyrant, killing Uther would be murder, assassinating Uther at that point in the series would have led to widespread chaos and death. The enemies of Camelot would have rushed to take advantage of the situation, and Arthur was nowhere near ready to take the throne. Best case scenario, we're talking about a long drawn out war with many casualties on both sides. Worst case scenario, Camelot falls and Albion is never united.
*** Morgause also attempted to manipulate Arthur into killing Uther. As in she tried to get a boy to murder his own father. She demonstrates plenty of times that she enjoys seeing people suffer. She may care about Morgana but she wants Uther dead for her own selfish desires. Yep she's a villain.
* Morgana. Just Morgana. She's been traumatized time after time, is clearly suffering from a mental disorder, it's mostly Merlin (and Gauis') fault for not helping her, and we not only get [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot nothing]] out of it, we don't get any kind of redemption or sympathy. The writers freaking hate her! Jeeze, and WTF was the OOC-ness of that last ep? She's NOT EVIL! She's NOT going to go around being as bad as Uthur! IT IS PSYCHOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR HER! I've heard of [[DesignatedVillain designated villainy]] before, but this takes the cake.

*** If you notice this always happens to the [[DesignatedVillain antagonists]]. Almost to a character, they have one beef and that's the whole "Uther is trying to kill me." And yet every single one goes axecrazy and attempts to kill the entire kingdom. It's obviously because the villains have to actually be worse than Uther, because after three seasons there's no reason why anyone would actually bother defending Uther and his genocidal dictatorship (which directly threatens the protagonists), unless the alternative was something measurably worse. Hence why anyone who is a villain is also a genocidal psychopath even if there's literally no reason for them to act like that, as we've seen with Morgana.

** Merlin says "Women and children are dying!" and she replies "Good." In season 2, Morgana's not a villain. After what Merlin does to her, she becomes evil because she stops just wanting to hurt Uther and starts hurting everyone... Like Arthur and Gwen. ''Arthur and Gwen.'' They never did anything to her. That was really the MoralEventHorizon for me, when she stops caring who she hurts as long as she gets to Uther. And Uther's only evil depending on point of view... A lot of the "good guys" don't think he's evil. Gaius thinks he's actually good for the kingdom... Except for that little genocide thing.

** In a nutshell, the writers messed up when they had Merlin poison Morgana behind her back - which was an unbelievably low move on his part. Morgana didn't know that she was the catalyst for the spell, or what specifically would happen when Morgause began casting it. She wasn't 100% innocent, but she also wasn't 100% complicit. Merlin gave her no say in her own fate - he could have told her that she had to die for the spell to break (he doesn't have to reveal his magic to do so, he can make up any story he likes about how he knows). Then one of two things would have happened: a) Morgana takes the poison willingly as a HeroicSacrifice, b) Morgana refuses to do something selfless, forcing Merlin's hand and making a more effective SadisticChoice. The way it happened in the show, Merlin pretty much tried to murder one of his friends because it would be more convenient for him. But Merlin's the hero and he has to remain sympathetic - so Morgana has to become ridiculously evil when she returns. Her evil smirking and casual murder of innocent people - as well as plotting against Uther when he's suddenly showing a sofer side - is to prevent the audience from feeling any sympathy for her.

** Uther's decision with the chalice itself makes the complete opposite of sense. A servant comes running in and tells you another king is trying to poison your son. Okay, you don't believe the word of a servant, especially over that of a king (which is itself a bit odd, given that Uther is paranoid as hell, referring to the surrounding kingdoms as "our enemies" at least once where there wasn't a war even implied to be happening). So you have someone test the chalice to see if it IS poisoned by drinking it. The accused king intermediately offers to do so, but you say no because if he is guilty, you want him alive so you can really punish him. Understandable. So you choose... the servant who warned you? Let's look at the outcomes here. If the servant is lying, nothing happens and you hand him to the other king to be slowly killed. All fine and dandy. If he's telling the truth, and he just saved the life of your son (who you value more than your own life, and pretty much anything else, as repeatedly demonstrated)... you just had him killed. For saving your son. I repeat, your reward for him saving the person you value the most is to murder him. Why not choose one of the other king's servants? Same positives (you have the king alive if it was true, you have the accuser alive if it isn't), and you aren't murdering a member of your own household who just saved the prince. Uther may be a long way from a good guy, but he is meant to have some redeeming qualities, including recognition and reward of loyalty (in fact, Merlin's job was a reward for saving Arthur the first time). This decision would barely make sense for a thoroughly "ForTheEvulz" monster, let alone a not-all-bad king who relies somewhat on the loyalty of his servants.

* The spell he performed in ''Valiant'' shouldn't have worked, should it? He used the same spell to bring to live an ordinary statue, and the snakes on the shield. Which acted more like real (if smart) snakes that lived in a shield than painted snakes that came to life - when they left, the painted snakes remained, and they even needed to be fed.

*** [[WriterOnBoard Not all the episodes are by the same writer and the writer's have different opinions?]] It's not like the show exactly has perfect writers. It's also possible to interpret the Witcherfinder's actions as framing people for the money when he knows that they're innocent, whereas Uther genuinely thought his actions were just. The Witchfinder's actions were arguably worse than Uther's.
*** Somewhat offr topic, but I am of the opinion that television shows such as this should maybe try and establish some kind of... not a ''moral'' code, as such, but at least basic ''philosophy ''ealing with what the show is about, so that the writers don't end up morally contradicting themselves without reason. That's what ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' did. You shouldn't have to AGREE with whatever moral quandry was on the cards this week because ''that'' way of thinking is a slippery slope (many episodes of TNG revolved around ''subverting'' the suggested code or pointing out the ways in which it didn't work) but you should at least try to make sure your writers are on the same page about what the show is trying to say overall, before they start typing.

* Nothing major, but some of the character's dialogue is bugging me. Merlin used to call Arthur 'Arthur' all the time. In the first season, he called him sire sarcastically when they met and respectfully when he was resigning to go help his mum; those are the only two times I remember. Now, he's calling Arthur sire all the time. Lancelot never called Arthur by his first name until the second season; the closest he came was calling him Prince Arthur. I think the Lancelot one bothers me more than Merlin, however. However disillusioned he was, I just can't imagine him addressing Arthur, who he bloody idolised, so casually unless they had managed to become actual friends, which they hadn't.

*** Merlin convinced Arthur that that [[spoiler: Morgause was lying, remember?]]

** Would you really mention that The King got hoodwinked into marrying a Troll??? (Assuming you want to live that is:-)

** The status quo was pretty messed up in the second last episode of season 2.

*** Although [[spoiler: Morgana is now intermittedly trying to kill Uther, and Merlin's relationship with the Dragon is markedly different - as of the series three finale, he's a Dragonlord, and thus can make the Dragon do whatever the hell he likes.]]

** Essentially, this show seems to run into a lot of conflict between their reimagining of the characters in the legend, and the actual events of the Arthurian legends. For example, we see in season 1 that Gwen/Merlin or Arthur/Morgana seems a lot more likely than Gwen/Arthur, yet the original Arthurian legends seems to be the ultimate word of god here. The writers probably blush that they've made designated villains/pairings not particularly villainous/pairable, but word of god says so, so... they try to work with it.

* Man, I thought Supernatural had thematic difficulties, but this show really really doesn't know what story it's telling at any given moment. Don't get me wrong, I love it anyway, but still. For example: I'm kind of sympathetic to Uther's point of view on magic. I mean, they may have given it a ignoble origin, but considering what goes on every episode, he seems to have a point. And while I'm on the subject, the lack of continuity with certain bits of character development give the impression that all his extreme KickTheDog moments are just minor personal failings. Another thing that just bugs me: Why exactly is Merlin so uberly attached to Arthur? Ok, I can see that in the beginning he went from thinking he's an ass to seeing that he's more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but as far as I can see, the devotion kicks solely because Merlin's told it's his destiny to protect Arthur. So what's up with that?

** I always assumed that off-screen they became really great friends through missions and quests together and such, and Merlin and Arthur became kind of codependent of each other. Also, there is a chance that Arthur is subconsciously realizing that he doesn't die when Merlin's with him, so in his mind Merlin register's as good.

** Vivan's father may have been an Overprotective Dad and she seemed to be a bit of a Daddy's girl.

*** But most of the time the general perception was that a good marriage was exactly what any woman would want, and what would be most beneficial for them from every perspective. Having your daughter to marry a handsome, virtuous prince who is going to inherit one of the most powerful kingdoms in the land out of love would be like a dream come true to just about any realistic Medieval king imaginable.

** It must be noted that the dragon gave Merlin knowledge he claimed "few wizards" ever had. Merlin is on a different tier than most. I'd bet the druids likely have a pitiful level of magic, sans Mordred.

** Well they weren't in hiding in the days of the great purge, so he could probably get to them easier. Maybe he just did it all at once. Magic couldn't have been that widespread that a king couldn't stop them.

*** Agreed with the above. Merlin, Morgana, Morgause, and Mordred are all suggested to be exceptionally skilled and exceptionally powerful sorcerers, which is why they're at the centre of all the destiny-moving stuff. It sounds like your average magic-user is more on the level of Gaius - someone who's good with herbs and potions, can do household spells and healing magic, etc., but can't exactly rain death upon his enemies. Even in the first series when Gwen is accused of sorcery, Arthur clearly thinks she's either innocent or a young girl healing her dying father out of desperation - but not some magical warrior bent on taking down the Kingdom. On top of that, Gaius is shocked that Merlin, without any training, can just ''do magic'' without incantations - apparently that's a pretty rare skill even among magic-users. So even those who know how to to use magic may not necessarily know how to use it to fight, and may not know the spells needed to do so.

* How exactly has Arthur not discovered Merlin's magic yet? In The Fires of Idirsholas, Merlin uttered a spell to make the ceiling collapse whilst standing ''right behind him''. To be fair later events probably distracted Arthur a little, but once they got a moment to breathe don't you think Arthur would have confronted him or something?

*** Also Arthur must have problems with his hearing, in the episode Lady of the Lake you can audibly hear water boiling. Still he manages to stomp right into the water burning his foot.

** For all that Gaius claims the Sidhe are a long-lived race that like to play the LongGame, their leader actually seems incredibly impatient. And they seem to be more interested in having a Sidhe Queen of ''anywhere'', not specifically Camelot; Elena could probably have married someone else.

** I'm assuming it's their Mother they have in common. I mean, if Uther being Morgana's Father could have meant that Morgause was not her sister, Morgana would probably have realised and said something.

*** Ygraine wasn't the mother of Morgause and Morgana - Gorlois's wife's name was Vivian, as Uther tells Gaius: 'Vivian was growing lonely...'

*** You can plot out a sequence of events that allows for everyone to be born with the stated familial relationships, but it kind of requires Vivian to get around a lot, at least in terms of family-friendly television. So let's say Uther sent Gorlois on some kind of quest/crusade that takes a ''reeeeaally'' long time, at least two years. After he leaves, Vivian "gets lonely" and has Morgause with someone besides Uther (after all, Morgause explicitly ''doesn't'' have a claim on the throne). For obvious reasons, she can't keep the child, and so has her daughter placed as some kind of servant or something somewhere within Camelot or her household. Thus, Uther, Gorlois' best friend, would know about Morgause existing, and, if we assume Vivian had some sort of magic, would also know that Morgause is probably magical as well (if known, her magical status may not have been hidden, since it was before the purge), while Gorlois himself would know nothing of this illegitimate daughter. After a while, Uther is desperate for an heir. He goes to Vivian, conceives Morgana, and then goes to Nimueh for help with conceiving Arthur legitimately. The timeline for this particular series of events doesn't have to be exact; depending on the order, Uther is either a cad for cheating on his pregnant wife or else realizes his mistake for cheating on her in a moment of desperation and tries to make up for it by redoubling his efforts to impregnate her with magic. The point is that Morgana and Arthur are roughly the same age. Right after Uther impregnates Vivian, Gorlois comes back, and his return is soon enough that she can claim the child is legitimate even though Uther knows she isn't. It's also possible that Gorlois comes back before Morgana is born but after the pregnancy is obvious, realizes that his wife cheated on him with his best friend, and decides to be a nice guy by claiming Morgana as his own. Vivian presumably dies in childbirth or soon after Morgana is born, while Igraine dies giving birth to Arthur. Uther goes on his rampage, wanting to destroy Morgause for possibly/definitely having magic, but unable to go after Morgana because he can't/won't kill his own daughter, especially after the death of his wife. This [[FridgeBrilliance adds yet another layer]] to the Uther/Morgana relationship, because it implies that Uther ''knows'' that she probably has magic, but is either in denial out of loyalty to her or else ''just doesn't care'' because he loves he so much. He's exhibited that he's willing to use magic to save Morgana, it's quite possible that he already knows her secret but refuses to hurt her.

* I know I'm not going to get any sympathy with this one, but Gwaine. I'm sorry, but he sweeps in and everyone likes him except the bad people and he has a mysterious past and a ticket back for any episode and no discernible flaws and the estrogen brigade pawing him and he's accepted by Merlin and Arthur instantly and they're making a little trio/ot3 and he's such a brilliant fighter and he gets the best lines/loveable rogue persona and bluntly, he seems to me to be a great big GaryStu. And ''nobody seems to mind except me''. Nobody. And it seems so blatant. Arrr!
** They don't care because of apathy.
** Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but I didn't see Gwaine's introductory episode, which may have swayed my opinion. I first saw him-- and decided that I liked him-- in The Eye of the Phoenix; that is to say, around the "Arthur's lucky to have us"/"It wasn't for Arthur" conversation. Sure, he wasn't the first-- [[ForegoneConclusion and definitely won't be the last]]-- to provide unfaltering backup, but it was so ''great'' to see a character who was happy to stand by (and was even rather [[BigBrotherMentor protective]] of) Merlin. His character is completely different from Arthur's, which endears him to me even more; as great as the prince is, it gets tiring, seeing him pitch a goblet at Merlin for the seven hundredth time-- the sympathetic approach was a nice change of pace. As to the no discernible flaws thing, it could be argued that he's obviously a little too close to his alcohol, but credit where credit is due. (Translation: touche.)

** Because [[PositiveDiscrimination she's a girl]]? Seriously, though, Arthur is the future king, so Uther naturally thinks he has to scrutinise and push him extra hard.

** Presumably because the Round Table is only for knights, and not for advisors, servants, or other important people. Making Merlin a knight would likely change his relationship with Arthur and neither would want that. The same problems would apply if Merlin's advisor role ever became more formalized - for all the BrothersInArms stuff around Arthur and the knights, he's far more distant and formal with them most of the time than he is with Merlin, has defined roles and contexts for them, and usually deals with them as some sort of group. Same again for his advisors - they're a specific group of people with a specific role in the running of Camelot, and Agravaine aside, Arthur tends to treat them as a group. If Arthur dragged an advisor on battles, it would be a problem. If he put Sir Leon or any of the other knights on his advisory council, that could be a problem. If he had one knight or one advisor he was obviously super-tight with and [[HoYay taking on hunting trips and having daily private bedchamber conversations with while that knight/advisor helped him dress]] and consulting on stuff outside their purview, that would be a huge problem. Not to mention trying to keep Merlin as close as he does while having a different manservant. Keeping Merlin in a servant role keeps him from sitting at the Round Table, but allows Arthur to basically have Merlin with him everywhere at all times and talk to him about whatever he wants, including "unofficially" as both a knight and an advisor.