History YMMV / Merlin2008

** Aredian, a witchfinder played by Charles Dance who was one of the memorable non-magic threats with a murky backstory and history with Gaius had a lot of potential drama.
** Most of the Knights like Elyan, Percival, and Gwaine were mostly stuck in the background after their introductions. At least Elyan and Gwaine got moments in the limelight; Percival never got an episode to himself!

** Surely more could have been down with Gwen's treacherous handmaiden Sefa, either before or after she's exposed as a spy. She gave Gwen the opportunity to interact with another woman, she had interesting bonds with a variety of other characters, and she was sympathetic in her own way. In particular, her feelings toward Gwen after what happened to her father and what she planned to do about it could have made for an episode in itself.

** Morgana is never conflicted after her FaceHeelTurn. She disappears between Seasons 2 and 3, and is a complete pantomime villain when she returns. She's even perfectly willing to have Gwen executed - when she was her OnlyFriend. What's more is that her entire transition to villainy is off screen. It's not even said how Morgause corrupted her.
** Merlin appears to develop feelings for Morgana, and a couple of Season 2 episodes hint at a ShipTease. Him playing the part of her lover versus Morgause's corruptions could have made for some nice conflicts in Morgana's arc - especially if Morgana discovered that Merlin hid his magic from her.

** Merlin gets a lot of this regarding Morgana in Season 2. Other characters tell him she's not to be trusted - even though she's a scared and confused young girl who doesn't know what's happening to her. He considers revealing his magic to her to help her deal with her own and...he just doesn't. Because the dragon says she shouldn't be trusted. Morgana nearly murdering Uther doesn't stand because Merlin has killed his enemies multiple times. So rather than trying to help a friend, Merlin decides to save his own skin. If he weren't the protagonist, these actions would make him the villain.
** And in the Season 2 finale, his sympathetic status in that episode was somewhat diminished by the fact that he had just deliberately [[spoiler: released a dragon who then explicitly killed hundreds of innocent people]], yet the majority of his angst in that episode revolved around his dad. Instead of the fact that he'd, again, [[spoiler: caused the foreseeable deaths of hundreds of innocent people.]]

** Morgana throughout Season 2. Her terror at her magic being discovered is palpable, and it takes a heart of stone not to be affected when she begs Merlin for understanding in "The Nightmare Begins."

** Interest in Arthur/Morgana had already begun to wane after their dramatic decrease in scenes together during Season 2, but the third series revelation that they were secret half-siblings ended it for a lot of viewers -- though there are still some fans out there.

** Destiny completely ruins Merlin's, Arthur's, and Morgana's lives, and Gwen, TheUnchosenOne [[spoiler:is the one to free magic and unite the kingdoms in a golden age.]] Every single bad thing in the series short of The Great Purge happens due to SelfFulfillingProphecy, and the only good things that result are due to people [[ScrewDestiny ignoring what's expected from them]] and just focusing on doing what's right and reasonable.

* TooCoolToLive: Ruadan. Finna. Isolde. Aglaine. Alator. Balinor. Kara. The writers were ''way'' too fond of this trope.

* BileFascination: Rather than being put off by the sheer amount of plot contrivances or characterization mistakes, some of the fans embrace this as part of the show's charm.

** "[[Recap/MerlinS02E07TheWitchfinder The Witchfinder]]": [[ManipulativeBastard Aredian]], the titular [[TheWitchHunter Witchfinder]], is a charlatan out solely to profit off King Uther's hatred of sorcery. Aredian frames innocents as witches and sorcerers, planting evidence and breaking them through physical or psychological torture in order to obtain [[FalseConfession confessions]] before seeing them burnt and moving on. Framing the court physician Gaius, he lies to Gaius that his closest loved ones, [[Characters/MerlinTheCharacter Merlin]] and Morgana, will be safe should he confess, only to gloatingly reveal he makes no bargains with "sorcerers", even forcing others to assist him on the threat of burning them as well.

** "[[Recap/MerlinS02E07TheWitchfinder The Witchfinder]]": [[ManipulativeBastard Aredian]], the titular [[TheWitchHunter Witchfinder]], is a charlatan out solely to profit off King Uther's hatred of sorcery. Aredian frames innocents as witches and sorcerers, planting evidence and breaking them through physical or psychological torture in order to obtain [[FalseConfession confessions]] before seeing them burnt and moving on. Framing the court physician Gaius, he lies to Gaius that his closest loved ones, [[Characters/MerlinTheCharacter Merlin]] and [[Characters/MerlinMorgana Morgana]], will be safe should he confess, only to gloatingly reveal he makes no bargains with "sorcerers", even forcing others to assist him on the threat of burning them as well.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Lancelot's theme.

* SeasonalRot: Seasons 4 and 5, due to the writers not caring about previous plot details, like Arthur knowing his mom died due to magic, despite Uther going to great lengths in Season 2 to hide that fact. This also applies to the Dragon's prophecy falling apart because of Mordred showing that Arthur will die on the fields of Camlann by a druid's hand. And on top of that, the dream of Morgana's death in Season 4 is nothing like her death in the finale. That, and Arthur can't remember Mordred at all. Not to mention the whole Aithusa debacle.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The legends of Merlin are younger than the legends of King Arthur. If they two lived at the same time, it would have been when Arthur was an extraordinarily old man and Merlin was just a boy. So the age difference of the characters is, if anything, not wide enough. In fact, one account states that Arthur perished in 537 A.D., while Myrddin Wyllt (one of the inspirations for the character of Merlin) was stated to have been more three years after in 540 A.D., meaning they literally wouldn't have met if they had truly existed.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The legends of Merlin are younger than the legends of King Arthur. If they two lived at the same time, it would have been when Arthur was an extraordinarily old man and Merlin was just a boy. So the age difference of the characters is, if anything, not wide enough.