History Merlin / TropesQToZ

* SuperWeight:
** Type 0: Hunith, [[RedShirt Unnamed Knights of Camelot]]
** Type 1: Uther Pendragon, [[WarriorPrince Arthur Pendragon]], [[PlotArmour named Knights of Camelot]]
** Type 2: Gaius, Arthur with Excalibur, Balinor, Aithusa
** Type 3: Merlin (prior to series 4), Morgana, Morgause
** Type 4: Merlin (by series 4), Morgana (by series 5), the Great Dragon

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler: Morgause, who waltzes into Camelot, kills five guards, enters the Great Hall, [[ThrowingDownTheGauntlet challenges Arthur to a duel]] which he accepts, ''then'' removes her helmet. ''Win''.]].

* ThreeAmigos: Merlin (HeroProtagonist, TheHeart, MessianicArchetype), Arthur (RoyalBlood, BromanticFoil to Merlin, HeterosexualLifePartners with Merlin, LoveInterest to Gwen), and Guinevere ([[TheSmurfettePrinciple Token Chick]], TokenBlackFriend to Merlin, LoveInterest to Arthur).

* TeensAreShort: {{Averted}}. Merlin is taller than almost the entire cast.

* SpiritualAntithesis: In a way to ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', which appears to be the inspiration for the show. Both series take liberties with the source material and follow a young man forced to hide his special abilities from his friends and loved ones, battle [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villains of the Week]] to protect innocents, and slowly discovering that he has a great destiny as do his friends. However, while ''Smallville'' is a superhero origin story that is largely idealistic, despite also showing how Clark Kent and Lex Luthor went from close friends to sworn enemies, ''Merlin'' is much more cynical. Merlin is never able to open up to his friends since Camelot has a ban on magic and he fears being killed because of it, he's constantly forced into making a SadisticChoice which slowly hardens him into a much darker character, and in the GrandFinale [[spoiler:becoming the figure he's known as in the legend is in fact a depressing fate, as opposed to how triumphant it is shown when Clark finally becomes Superman]].

* SpiritualAntithesis: In a way to ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', which appears to be the inspiration for the show. Both series tke liberties with the source material and follow a young man forced to hide his special abilities from his friends and loved ones, battle [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villains of the Week]] to protect innocents, and slowly discovering that he has a great destiny as do his friends. However, while ''Smallville'' is a superhero origin story that is largely idealistic, despite also showing how Clark Kent and Lex Luthor went from close friends to sworn enemies, ''Merlin'' is much more cynical. Merlin is never able to open up to his friends since Camelot has a ban on magic and he fears being killed because of it, he's constantly forced into making a SadisticChoice which slowly hardens him into a much darker character, and in the GrandFinale [[spoiler:becoming the figure he's known as in the legend is in fact a depressing fate, as opposed to how triumphant it is shown when Clark finally becomes Superman]].

* SadlyMythtaken: The show takes several, uh, liberties with traditional Arthurian legend. It also sometimes uses less familiar versions of the legend (preferring Monmouth to Mallory - ironically, the former actually appears several times as a royal adviser and archivist).

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Magic-users. Even the ones that can qualify as villains were this trope before they [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope finally fell into blind villainy]].

* TheyDo: Uther and Catrina. [[spoiler:Arthur and Gwen]]

* ThreeAmigos: Merlin (HeroProtagonist, TheHeart, MessianicArchetype), Arthur (RoyalBlood, BromanticFoil to Merlin, HeterosexualLifePartners with Merlin, LoveInterest to Gwen), and Guinevere (TheChick, [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Token Chick]], TokenBlackFriend to Merlin, LoveInterest to Arthur).

* TwentyFourHourArmor: Arthur wears mail even around the castle.

** ‘’The Drawing of the Dark’’ is the title of a fantasy novel by Tim Powers.

* TwentyFourHourArmor: Arthur

* StockEpisodeTitles: Quite a few, including ''The Beginning of the End'' (5), ''The Kindness of Strangers'' (9), ''Queen of Hearts'' (13), ''Sweet Dreams'' (17), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (31), and ''Sins of the Father'' (59).

* SupernaturalIsPurple: Nimueh, Freya and Lamia wear purple dresses, and Alator wears a purple robe.
** Let's not forget Merlin's "purple shirt of sex" from 4X06.

** Several episodes are named after famous Arthurian texts: "Le Morte d'Arthur" is named after [[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Sir Thomas Malory's compilation of Arthurian tales]], ''The Once and Future Queen'' is a play on T.H. White's ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'', ''The Coming of Arthur'' is the first chapter/poem in Tennyson's ''Literature/IdyllsOfTheKing'' (as well as a chapter title in Roger Lancelyn Green's more contemporary retelling of the legend) and ''The Wicked Day'' is a quote from Malory's above-mentioned book, as well as the title of the fourth book in Mary Stewart's ''Merlin'' series.

** Several episodes are named after famous Arthurian texts: "Le Morte d'Arthur" is named after [[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Sir Thomas Malory's compilation of Arthurian tales]], ''The Once and Future Queen'' is a play on T.H. White's ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'', ''The Coming of Arthur'' is the first chapter/poem in Tennyson's ''Literature/IdyllsOfTheKing'' (as well as a chapter title in Roger Lancelyn Green's more contemporary retelling of the legend) and ''The Wicked Day'' is a quote from Malory's ''Literature/LeMorteDarthur'', as well as the title of the fourth book in Mary Stewart's ''Merlin'' series.