Know Your Furniture

Know the Difference between Right and Wrong

Understand the Relationship between Set Up and Payoff

How It Should Have Happened

So my last Merlin post was quite positive, looking back on some of my favourite episodes ofand why they worked so well. Now I’m talking about the stuff that didn’t work out too good. I was dithering for a while about whether or not to post this, as there’s a fine line between critique and complaining, and no one really wants to read the latter (well, some do, but I’m not one of them) but in a few years I want to be able to watch the first three seasons ofwithout being too jaded by the final two, and that’s only going to happen if I get all this out of my system.So this is a look at where (I think) the show went wrong, and what can be taken out of that.Season 1The first season ofwas a little patchy, but it made for a relatively good start; one that really got going with, which remains one of the best episodes of the entire series. There were a few duds along the way:; but even these avoided being total filler by providing background details and strong character moments. For instance,gave us two clichéd villains and a litany of plot-holes, but also brought to light Morgana’s latent powers and how they worked. And even the episodes that were filler were at leastfiller:anddidn’t add anything to the over-arching storylines of the show, but are so rich in character development and interaction that everyone loves them.Character dynamics were pretty good, and with tons of potential. The slow boil between Merlin and Morgana began, with plenty of sideways glances and unspoken subtext. Arthur and Uther’s relationship was fraught with tension, but takes an unexpected turn in. Morgana and Uther butt heads constantly: two stubborn individuals with drastically opposing points of view, each with a fair amount of darkness inside them. Morgana and Guinevere are sweet and lovely together, and towards the end, we got our first traces of ship tease between Arthur and Gwen. And of course, there was Merlin and Arthur.You should know by now that I’m not generally a huge fan of bromances. There are no shortage of white dudes in media that have The Most Important Friendship of All Time and who Will Change the World Together with the Power of their Dudebro Awesomeness, and that dynamic rarely interests me. But Merlin and Arthur were initially rather special.After hearing it from the dragon, Merlin didn't justthat Arthur is going to be the best king ever - Arthur has to prove himself, albeit unknowingly. And he does. There were episodes set aside in which Arthur has to care for Merlin in the same way Merlin cares for him:and. You get the sense that Merlin's task isn't just to protect Arthur, but to groom him into becoming a better person, and you can see the visible improvement in Arthur throughout the course of the first series. Yet at the same time Merlin comes to learn more about him and realize that the arrogant prat persona is just a front to hide his insecurities. First season Arthur is under a lot of pressure to live up to his father, but is nonetheless more open-minded and temperate, as well as good at diffusing dangerous situations, at leadership and strategy, at making sound decisions and following through on them. He’s intelligent (though a tad unobservant), quick-thinking and reasonable. In light of his later characterization, it’s downright astounding to watch him inwhere he immediately believes Merlin’s claim that Valiant using magic to cheat in the tournament.Merlin was also a rather different character back then. Merlin of S1 has interests, relationships and commitments that rank higher than Arthur. In, he was willing to expose his secret to the court in order to save Gwen's life. Inhe puts aside his relationship with Arthur because his duty to his mother comes first. Inand, Merlin refuses to let Arthur's destiny dictate his own personal code of right and wrong. He's (rightfully) furious with the dragon when he learns that the truth was withheld about how his mother's life would be forfeit if he made a deal with Nimueh to save Arthur. Back then, Merlin knew that a great destiny wasn't worth it if innocent (or even guilty) people had to die along the way.There were also times when the writers toyed with the magical reveal: they came close in(granted, it was a reset, but Merlin was seriously considering it, in part because he placed the lives of his fellow villagers above his vaunted “destiny”), Lancelot found out, Nimueh knew. You actually felt that it COULD happen at any time and that Merlin had a few close shaves. The season ended on an intriguing note: with Merlin rejecting the dragon’s guidance, citing him as a cruel manipulator that he wanted nothing more to do with. It feels like he’s rejecting the dragon’s “ends justify the means” mentality in order to pursue his own understanding of how to best use his powers. Pity that this brave decision to strike out on his own was not to last.Season 2Season 2 is my favourite season: it has all my favourite episodes and for the most part every individual episode is good. There are three exceptions: the season opener and the two-part troll episode, for perhaps not coincidentally, these contain the flaws that later devoured the show: the use of the reset button and the reliance on pointless filler, two aspects that led directly to the stagnation of storylines, characters and relationships.not only pressed the reset button on Merlin/Arthur’s relationship, but on the Merlin/Kilgharrah one as well. We’re never given a clear answer on why Merlin would continue to trust the dragon’s word after he withheld the truth about the danger posed to Hunith’s life, and despite a few moments of bonding over the next four seasons, Arthur/Merlin never really recaptured the connection that was apparent in the first. The oddball friendship, with its growing respect and reliance on each other, is retooled into an Abusive Boss/Downtrodden Servant dynamic with a huge power imbalance and complete lack of respect on either side.Storywise, the worst use of the reset button would have to be in, when Merlin convinces Arthur that Morgause tricked him with a false vision of his mother in order to turn him against his father. Arthur learning the truth about Ygraine and the reasons behind Uther’s vendetta should have been a pivotal moment in the show’s history, and it didn’t necessarily have to shake things upmuch. Arthur could have kept his distrust of magic whilst still realizing his own history and rethinking his core beliefs. Uther could have fallen from his pedestal without Arthur disowning him (or trying to kill him), resulting in Arthur beginning to grow away from his father’s influence whilst still respecting him. But instead Arthur is forced to hang on to his Daddy Issues well into the fifth season, preventing him from ever making the changes to Camelot and its laws that awareness of the truth could have wrought.Regarding filler,andare two nonsensical episodes that waste precious time that could have been better spent elsewhere: on extending Merlin/Freya’s relationship, on better pacing for Arthur/Gwen’s budding romance, or to give Morgana’s arc more attention. She more or less went missing betweenand, resulting in the loss of momentum in her storyline. At the very, she needed a post-meeting with Morgause, one in which she is told of their familial connection, is entranced by the promise of being able to control her powers, and begins to feel estranged from the likes of Gwen and Arthur.But the season ends on a high note, and for the most part, it all works., andare all solid episodes that add to the mythos.is enjoyable.is possibly the only comedy episode they ever did that is genuinely funny.andare dark and moody and intriguing, particularly the middle one. And despite the patchy nature of Morgana’s fall into darkness, what was shown on-screen was fantastic stuff.Following on from her conduct in, Morgana’s characterization inandis fascinating. Morgana was characterized as passionate, angry, confused, fearful. She had great capacity for kindness and justice, but also selfishness and narcissism. We had seen how dangerous she could be when piqued and how gifted she was with the art of manipulation. She was in the fascinating position of being part of the privileged class as well as the persecuted one, belonging to both worlds yet neither, generating her somewhat spoilt nature and sense of entitlement, but also all the fear and terror that came with living under a regime that would have her burnt at the stake were her increasingly-difficult-to-control powers ever to be discovered. There is a physical toll to her ordeal as well. Gaius tries to handle the situation by drugging her, condescending to her, and keeping the truth from her (and who knows what other side-effects all those sleeping potions had). She’s having horrific nightmares every night. She’s tired and stressed. Fear starts to eat into her. Unlike the druids out in the forest, Morgana actually has towith the genocidal maniac that wants all magic-users dead. The Witchfinder frightens her profoundly, so much so that she’s willing to deflect his attention onto Gaius. She wants an out –out – so much so that she’s desperate to stay with the druids, regardless of the innocent lives that Uther is threatening should she not return (believing her to have been kidnapped).You could quite clearly see the cracks in her personality through which corruption and vengeance could pour in, and hers was a personality that could quite easily be corrupted by fear and hatred, whilst still remaining sympathetic and defensible given her circumstances.Being such a passionate person (and perhaps inherently selfish due to her upbringing) with a temper and a desire to be loved, she makes every decision on a deeply personal level (a striking comparison to Arthur, who aims to be cool and rational and measured). She didn’t try to assassinate Uther inbecause she believed it was the right thing to do – she did so because she felt angry and betrayed, and then backed off when he apologised to her personally. She didn’t steal the crystal to help the druids’ cause, she did so because Mordred asks her to. When Morgause meets with her in the forest, Morgana says of Uther: “I believed that he cared for me. But I was wrong. He cares for no one but himself.” We the audience know that this is blatantly untrue – but Morgana hasit her truth. She sees things only from her own point of view, and she always runs the risk of becoming utterly fixated on her own pain, her own grievances.And the delicious twist is Merlin’s involvement. To her, Merlin is a friend. She knowsknows her secret, she has stated on more than one occasion that she trusts him, and there’s that ever-so-subtle attraction between the two of them. Merlin watches, sympathetic and frustrated and caught between wanting to share his secret with her and being unable to fully ignore the warnings of Gaius and the dragon rattling around in his head. He flounders about, trying to offer her various ways out, only to find himself boxed into a corner and forced to poison her. The look on her face when she figures out what’s happening to her is unforgettable: it’s not only her long-held fear of death being realized, but her awareness that someone she trusted – truly trusted – has tried to kill her. And if Merlin can betray her,can.Getting spirited away from Camelot by Morgause after her poisoning at Merlin’s hands was a brilliant cliff-hanger. Everyone was looking forward to seeing Morgana thrown back into the mix, complete with divided loyalties and newfound power and a grudge against Merlin. Season 3 had the potential to be the best one yet.Season 3Yet by this point the show could no longer maintain standalone episodes. It HAD to start building on its history. Characters HAD to begin discovering the truth. The status quo HAD to start changing. And since it didn’t, the cracks began to open.Characters grew stupid in not realizing a magic-user was in their midst. Time was wasted with too much filler. Potential was being poured down the drain. And it was a bitter disappointment to discover that the Morgana who returns to Camelot was not a dangerous and intelligent adversary with justifiable goals, divided loyalties and complex motivation, but rather nothing more than a petty caricature of evil.For reasons best known to them, the writers took their most fascinating character and turned her into their most one-dimensional. The potential for an on-going arc in which Morgana goes from a well-intended extremist in pursuit of justice, reluctant but capable of harming innocent people, to an Uther duplicate who is devoured by her lust for vengeance and power (which is of course the great tragedy of Morgana’s arc: that she becomes the very thing she’s fighting against) was squandered. Things such as her anger toward Merlin and her jealousy toward Guinevere could have supplemented this fall, but are largely ignored or glossed over.Guinevere and Morgana’s relationship needed more attention, in which the two women become gradually estranged. Morgause needed to follow-up her curiosity about Merlin, especially after he escaped her magical chains in the forest. That there was never any continuation of the “traitor in our midst” revelation at the end ofwas a huge oversight, and could have informed the plot of several episodes, perhaps with the hunt for the traitor resulting in a resurgence of Uther’s tyranny. Come to think of it, the plot ofwould have worked extremely well inseason, further pushing Morgana toward the edge and giving her vendetta more justification. Merlin could have been caught between two poles: his loyalty to Arthur set against his desire to see Uther off the throne. He should have been very severely tempted by Morgana’s crusade, as well as questioning the dragon’s trustworthiness and his own involvement in Morgana’s turn. Arthur would have to step up and start proving himself a worthy king-in-waiting in order to keep Merlin on his side. Morgause (and Morgana) could have been honing in on Merlin’s secret, as well as Arthur and Uther, putting him in even more of a precarious situation.Instead we got a bunch of filler.– all rather pointless. Even the episodes in which Elyan and Gwaine are introduced are otherwise superfluous. Morgana taking over Camelot should have happened at the halfway mark of the season, or just past it. By cutting out all the extraneous bits, there could have been at least seven episodes in which to see Arthur and his allies escaping from the castle, foraging in the countryside, hiding out, learning to work with each other, going on reconnaissance missions, organizing their counterattack. There could have been more Morgana/Uther recriminations, Gwen acting as a spy on the inside, Arthur/Merlin forced by circumstances into behaving as equals, Arthur going to his allies for help and shelter. Places like Stonehenge and Tintagel could have been visited. The druids could have been involved somehow. Arthur could learn first-hand that magic could be a thing of beauty as well as destruction. Gah, it could have been great!I also feel that the magical reveal rightly belonged in this season. A number of things could have been done with it. Morgause could have figured it out, and passed on the information for Morgana to blackmail Merlin with. For her part, Morgana could have been vengeful over the fact that Merlin never saw fit to confide in her, and perhaps start dripping (figurative) poison into Arthur’s ear about Merlin’s strange behaviour. Arthur could notice Merlin doing something suspicious, leading him to investigate further, and discovering Merlin’s magical abilities without Merlinthat he knows. There didn’t necessarily have to be a confrontation between the two of them straight away, but Arthur would have to make a personal, secret choice: to continue to trust Merlin, or to obey his father and the laws of the land. With the search for the traitor going on in the background, it could have led to all sorts of suspenseful storylines.For what ultimately crippled the show was its steadfast refusal to go ahead with the magical reveal, even if it had just been metered out in small doses. What could have invigorated the Arthur/Merlin dynamic as well as the entire show was pushed back and back and, resulting not only in the stagnation of the relationship, but the repetitiveness of the plots and the frustration of the audience.There was also another strain in the proceedings: a loosening of the show’s moral fibre. In S1 Merlin refused to let Morgana kill Uther because it was wrong. As Guinevere points out to him, if people start taking vengeance and killing people just because they’re angry, then they’ll end up no different than those who they’re fighting against. Yet in S3, when presented with another opportunity to rid himself of Uther without getting his own hands dirty, Merlin refuses to let Gilli go through with it because it would harden Arthur’s heart against magic. One is a moral decision, the other is a pragmatic one. There are other questionable choices: that Merlin continues to treat the dragon as a source of advice and wisdom despite Kilgharrah’s actions inand, and that he chooses to heal Morgana not out of a desire to save her life and give her a second chance, but because he feels guilty and sorry for her loved ones. By this point, Merlin is increasingly compromised, and only remained the “good guy” because the writers had made Morgana so morally bankrupt in comparison. But I’ll have more on this later.And yet season 3 holds up, just barely. Even the filler has some nice moments and good characters. Despite Morgana’s characterization,andare well- plotted, perhaps the best of the show’s run.was great fun. Princess Elena is charming. Gilli provides an interesting foil for Merlin who isn’t pure evil. There are plenty of iconic moments, particularly in the last two episodes with the gathering of the Knights of the Round Table and Freya delivering Excalibur from the lake.Season 4Season 4 was the show-runners’ chance to get things back on track. There was a ton of potential still left, and still time to right the wrongs. And they seemed to be doing just that in the first seven episodes (minus, which was bad then, and awful now). Episodes unravelled at a good pace, there was a stronger sense of continuity, and quite a lot of interesting set-up: the circumstances of Uther’s death, Arthur becoming king, Guinevere’s reaction to Lancelot’s “death”, Morgana learning of Emrys and beginning her hunt for him.The knights were around, their backstories just waiting to be told. The Merlin/Lancelot friendship was sweet, with each privy to the other’s secrets concerning magic and unrequited love. The presence of Agravaine suggested that the circumstances of Arthur’s birth would finally come to light. Queen Annis was a great guest character, particularly in how she magnified the differences between the Pendragon siblings and their similarities/differences to Uther.was fun, anda decent enough follow-on from that.But then it all went downhill with episode 8, and the lack of pay-off diminished the strong set-up.By this point Morgana is cartoonishly evil – she looks, sounds and acts like a walking cliché, and with each passing episode she feels like less of a threat. Agravaine ends up being pointless and without any discernable motivation. Aithusa is introduced, but the writers clearly have no idea what to do with a baby dragon once it’s there. Another “traitor in our midst” plotline is initiated, only to again be dropped. The Arthurian love triangle is ham-fisted and unresolved, and in the greater scheme of things didn’t add anything to the show or characters – it may as well have not happened at all for all the difference it made. Lancelot is given a disappointing, ignoble end and Merlin never bothers to exonerate him, despite knowing the truth (or at least half) of what was really going on. Episodes 10 and 11 were filler (despite my appreciation of Princess Mithian). The season finale was just a rehash of the year before, in which Morgana takes over Camelot with ease and Arthur wins it back just as effortlessly, with the added bonus of yet another evil black villain as well as our first (and last) heroic warrior woman dead on the floor.There was a chance to see the knights as individuals, learning and growing and bonding together – but any focus they got involved them brainwashed, possessed, or as an interchangeable red-cloaked hoard. Guinevere's rise to power was ignored after her first confrontation with Agravaine in favour of enchanting her, humiliating her, exiling her, and then not even bothering to clear her good name. Tristan and Isolde were utterly pointless. In hindsight, so was Agravaine.And Arthur remained completely oblivious to pretty much everything that went on around him: a manipulated puppet first to Agravaine, and then to Merlin. His only clean victory is when he releases Elyan from the control of the druid ghost by promising to give his people their rights and freedom – at which point we reach the very heights of irony considering a) Elyan dies later anyway, and b) Arthur never actually follows through with this promise, a failing on his part which leads directly to his own death.Season 5Series 5 lost it. By this point ten years had passed in-show since Merlin’s arrival in Camelot, and virtually nothing about his life or the kingdom had changed. Despite Arthur becoming king and making Guinevere his queen, there was still no Golden Age, no unification of Albion, no forward momentum on accepting or legalizing magic, and Merlin is no closer to revealing his secret than he was at the very start of the show. Yes, there was a Round Table, but this is plonked into the story with no real explanation, and nothing is done with the theme of all the knights being equal.There was only one way to salvage things at this point, and that was to make every second count. The magical reveal had to happen, and quickly. Arthur and Merlin would have to deal with the ramifications of not just Merlin’s abilities, but the years of deceit and lies that went with them. Arthur had to be given full disclosure on everything that had ever happened to himself and his family so that he could make an INFORMED decision on what to do next. After perhaps a short period of (self-imposed?) exile, Merlin would return to Camelot at full strength and demand that a judgment be made on whether or not the ban on magic should be lifted. There had to be a very real threat to the future of Albion – not just Camelot, but every kingdom – one that Arthur would have to use all his power and skill to resolve. The rights and freedom of the druids would have to be explored, giving us a clear idea of where they stood in regards to Camelot’s laws and what they expected from Emrys. Those with magical abilities would have to choose a side: Arthur or Morgana. The danger posed to the kingdom would run parallel to the estrangement of Arthur and Merlin’s friendship, with the clear subtext that one conflict could not possibly be resolved unless both were. And at the back of it all, Mordred would be lurking away, an ambiguous presence that keeps Merlin on his toes. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There was so much ground they could have (should have) covered.Needless to say, none of this happened. As with season 3, most of the episodes in season 5 are filler, and by this point it was far too late in the game for wasting time. There was also a lot of general sloppiness: Arthur not remembering that Mordred was a druid, a homicidal Ghost!Uther who inexplicably wants to kill Arthur, no continuity on Mithian’s status as Arthur’s ex-fiancée, Merlin forgetting how self-fulfilling prophesies work despite all his experience, Gwen hearing the screams of the mandrake root in the Dark Tower even though only magic-users are able to, Merlin never opening up a conversation with Kilgharrah about just what the heck was going on with Aithusa...Their treatment of female characters was as bad as it ever was. In this series alone we had Gwen (psychologically tortured; brainwashed), Morgana (trapped down a well for two years for no apparent reason), Mithian (thrown around, badly burnt, and coerced into betraying her friends), Kara (an excuse for Mordred to turn evil, then duly hanged) and Eira (evil slut #67, also hanged). Sefa had the potential to be fascinating (and so was never seen again), Finna was cool (and therefore had to die) and there was a reappearance by Queen Annis, but after four consecutive years of relentless victimization (Ygraine, Isolde, Freya, Vivian, Alice) and demonization (Nimueh, Morgause, Sophia, Catrina, Grunhilda, Lamia) all I can do now is pray that these people are never allowed to write a female character ever again. They seem to be genuinely blind to the fact that a woman can be something other than a helpless victim or an evil bitch, and far too fixated on the belief that when unable to come up with any better idea, a dead girl solves any plot conundrum.In fact, it struck me the other day that Ygraine's death is what initially caused the outlawing of magic and the Great Purge, whilst Kara's death turned Mordred to the Dark Side. Essentially, the two most pivotal elements of the show (occurring at its onset and conclusion) hinge on a dead woman. How fitting.So basically, there was too must stalling, too much stupidity, too many plot holes, too much ignoring of canon. It was just this morass of confusion.HOWEVER, there’s something to be taken away from all this. Sometimes, when you watch or read something that isn’t up to scratch, you can find inspiration in the cracks, or learn valuable lessons about what not to do with your own material. It’s not a case of learning from your mistakes, but learning from THEIR mistakes.So here are three golden rules about writing that I have learnt from Merlin:This is a minor one, but important. Every story set in a fantasy world involves a certain amount of world-building, and it’s important to keep your all your established rules and geography (or your “furniture”) straight.In this case, it was an incohesive muddle. Surrounding Camelot were several neighbouring kingdoms, which Arthur was apparently supposed to unite, but we never get a clear idea of where they were situated, what they were called, or why it was so important that Arthur unite them considering they seemed to be getting on pretty well by themselves. People kept mentioning the Five Kingdoms, but we’re given no idea of what they’re called or who rules over them. And there seemed to be about twenty of them, with a new one materializing every time the writers needed it. Let’s see, there was King Carleon (deceased) and Queen Annis from Carleon, King Rodor and Princess Mithian from Nemeth, Lord Godwyn and Princess Elena from Gawant, King Cenred (deceased) from Cenred’s kingdom who was replaced by King Lot (never seen, though apparently not a fan of the Pendragons), King Odin of Odin’s kingdom, King Bayard of Mercia, King Olaf and Lady Vivian from an unnamed kingdom, King Alined from another unnamed kingdom, the Sarrum of Amata, and the Fisher King of the Perilous Lands. That’s ten altogether. Presumably they made up Albion (another word that was thrown around without any clear explanation) but where they all are and how they fit together is a mystery.The rules concerning Merlin’s magic was always arbitrary and completely dependent on the needs of the plot, but the world of magic was equally murky. There were so many mystical creatures that suggested a world of depth and mystery: the Druids, the Sidhe, Anhora, Spirit!Freya, Taliesin, Grettir, the Fisher King, the Callieach, the Vilia, the Dochraid, the Disir, Queen Mab – but most are plot devices, and there’s never a clear sense of where these creatures come from or how they live their lives. Concepts like the High Priestesses, the Cathas, the Triple Goddess and so forth are never explained or elaborated upon (seriously, what did Morgana being a High Priestess actually MEAN?)So basically, when creating an imaginary world, not everything has to be explained in great detail, but there does need to be a basic clarity and logic to it, otherwise it appears ill-formed and unrealistic. The world that the Merlin producers created was certainly very beautiful, but had no real substance or weight.There is a character inwho commits the following crimes: manipulates people, constantly lies to their loved ones, uses magic for personal gain, makes crucial decisions on behalf of other people without their knowledge or permission, kills in order to keep their magic a secret, regularly throws fellow magic-users under the proverbial bus, unleashes a powerful magical force that kills dozens of innocent people, uses magic to brainwash people into acting against their will (and derives enjoyment from it), makes pre-emptive strikes against individuals who have yet to threaten them in any way, murders in cold blood, and remains single-mindedly devoted to a dubious cause on the insistence of an equally dubious mentor-figure.I just described Merlin.Of course, Morgana did all those things as well, but the fact remains is that she is cast into the role of villain whilst Merlin remains a heroic figure. Now, we could argue the nuances of this double standard: that Merlin has good intentions whilst Morgana doesn’t, that Merlin also does plenty of good things whilst Morgana is almost entirely destructive, that Merlin often feels guilt or remorse whilst Morgana has a perpetual evil smirk – but that’s not really my point.My point is this: that it’s important to set up a moral framework for your story, one in which your definition of right and wrong is clearly delineated. Due to the time period or culture that you’re writing about, it may not necessarily match up with our current understanding of morality, but once it exists – even if it’s just in your own head – you must be consistent with it.Both heroes and villains alike should be held accountable to it, as there’s nothing more grating than when a hero and a villain commit the same atrocities, only to have the hero remain in a positive light whilst the villain is – well, vilified. And that’s not to say that it has to be a simplistic rendering of goodies versus baddies. Heroes can make bad decisions or act selfishly. Villains can demonstrate kindness or mercy. Once the moral framework is in place, it can be played with. But the key is. There must be an internal logic to your personal understanding of good and bad. Even if the characters break all the rules surrounding what constitutes good and bad, an understanding of each one needs to be there in the first place.The problem withwas that the writers set up a very complex and morally ambiguous situation which they then tried to force into a very simplistic conflict. It didn’t work, especially not when they later contradicted their original definitions of right and wrong.Let’s take Camelot, for example, the bastion of freedom and safety and lofty ideals of equality and chivalry. NOT. There, people are executed not for doing something wrong but for. A person could use their magical abilities to heal sick people or make their harvest plentiful or simply make pictures out of smoke, and the king would immediately have them executed. Heck, you could be executed forthan that. In, Mordred’s father is just trying to leave the city quietly when Uther executes him, and later more men are arrested just for having given him lodging. In, Gwen is sentenced to death just on suspicion of witchcraft. In, we learn that Uther had children drowned for having magical parents. This is the type of tyrannical regime that any self-respecting hero should try to overturn and the type of ruler that needs to be disposed of (especially once we learn of Uther’s reasons for hating magic).But instead of fighting the oppressive, genocidal regime he lives in, Merlin actively supports it, eliminates any threats to it, and for the most part doesn’t do anything to change it – instead he just holds out for the day when Arthur will become king and finally lift the ban on magic and all the cruelty that goes with it. Now granted, the show had to inevitably keep this up for a while considering its format as a prequel, and the writers do initially try to give the stalling some justification: that assassinating Uther is morally wrong, that Arthur isn’t ready to be king, that most magic-users are in fact bad news and that if Uther is killed by someone with magic, it’ll only harden Arthur’s heart against it.But eventually it begins to pall, especially when the moral complexity that drove the first couple of series is lost. Because of the writers’ (baffling) refusal to move forward with Merlin’s magic reveal (which in turn would have influenced Arthur’s stance on magic), to deal with the real consequences of Uther’s reign and the characters’ histories, to cut out all of the filler and resets, and actually allow characters to grow and change, the show loses its chance of saying something profound and important about tolerance, open-mindedness and the responsibilities inherent in possessing great power. Instead, they took their moral framework, and constantly distorted it in favour of the heroes in order to keep the status quo running for as long as possible. Even when things changed, they never really changed, as the central premise of the show – keep the magic secret – had to remain intact.Yet the writers KNEW that the magic-users had the moral high ground as the victims of genocide, which is why most of them were characterized as morally ambiguous at best and totally evil at worst. They couldn’t risk Arthur not being the hero, which is why Nimueh and Morgause had their nuance stripped away in order to make them wicked witches, why Mary Collins killed two innocent women in her attempt to punish Uther by assassinating Arthur, why Gaius had to inform Edwin Muirden that his burnt-to-death parents deserved their fate because they were "dark practitioners", why Alvarr was a sleazy womanizer on the side, why Morgana became a raging psychopath for no apparent reason, and why Ruadan – actually, Ruadan was pretty cool. This is presumably why they had to kill him off quickly.This agenda was never more apparent (or worse) than with Kara. As she points out, she's been persecuted for her beliefs, watched those she's loved die, and has been forced to living in hiding because of a set of unjust laws that take offense at her existence. If she and Mordred were children together, then she was presumably present at one (or both) of the Arthur-led attacks on druid camps inand. Or maybe she was in the cave that time that Arthur stormed in, held a terrified child at sword-point and nicked off with the Cup of Life. Remember that? Or perhaps she narrowly escaped the massacre (once again led by Arthur) that resulted in a bunch of dead kids. But of course, the writers can't let anyone who isn't on the good team have any sort of moral high-ground when dealing with a guy who thinks magic is evil. So Kara had to be turned into a villain by making her a knife-happy extremist.Sympathetic magic-users are either innately passive individuals who are content to wait for things to get better (Aglaine, Alator, Finna, the druids) or are eventually convinced by Merlin/Gaius to abandon their plans of ridding the magical community of Uther (Alice and Gilli) and just wait for things to improve. Did the writers ever stop to consider how this would sound? To quote someone from TWP:That’s the kicker though, because for all the talk about The Golden Age of Camelot, it never actually happened, did it? Magical folks were screwed in season 1 and were just as screwed in season 5, Arthur never having done anything to change things and Merlin never giving much of a damn about the people who were counting on him to make things better for them. Throughout the entire course of the show, Arthur was NEVER allowed to be confronted with a completely sympathetic magic-user who was opposed to his laws – if they did that, then the writers would be forced to concede that their hero was enforcing a set of laws that made him a prejudiced tyrant. The closest they got was the witch in, and she was just a device to get the Plot Coupon into Arthur’s hands. The questions raised by his rescue of her and his subsequent hypocrisy are never examined. His treatment of the druids was explored with in, but it’s clear that he never followed up on his promise, so what was the point? Merlin conceals so much information from Arthur – about Uther’s motivation, Ygraine’s death, Morgana’s condition, his own abilities – that he can never grow or learn or make informed decisions aboutconcerning magic.So Arthur becomes the hero not through any innate worthiness, but by default. Kilgharrah is “good” even though he was destructive and manipulative. Morgana is “bad” even though she was abused and persecuted and trying to topple a genocidal regime. Uther was a vindictive maniac, Gaius was a collaborator, and Arthur spent many years as his primary enforcer, but all are treated as relatively sympathetic by the narrative.Meanwhile Merlin was presuming guilt before any crimes occurred in regards to both Mordred and Morgana, and by the fifth season he could easily be described as a traitor to his own people and a religious fanatic with his misplaced faith in Arthur and Destiny as his only concern. According to him, it’s better to hide your abilities and deny who you are and devote your life to the leaders of a regime that persecutes your people than to accept who you are and fight openly against oppression.My advice to you? DON’T WRITE LIKE THIS. If you create a complex and morally ambiguous situation, then. Decide for yourself what constitutes right and wrong and have your characters (the ones that you want your readers/viewers to root for) adhere to it. Or if they don’t, then explore the consequences and ramifications of it, giving depth to both the characters and the world they inhabit – forcing them to grow and change and adapt. Again, to quote from TWP:From the inception of this show, a promise was made. That Arthur and Merlin had a shared destiny in several respects: 1. That Merlin and Arthur were "two sides of the same coin" and that "the half cannot hate that which makes it whole," 2. That Merlin and Arthur would bring back magic to the land, 3. That Arthur and Merlin would unite Albion, 4. That Arthur would be the greatest king that Albion had ever known. These prophesies were repeated with consistency and regularity.But none of this ever happened. I repeat: it never happened. In the episode, Merlin says to Gaius over the body of a dying Arthur: “we haven’t done all the things we’re meant to do.” That’s as true at the end of the show as it was at the beginning.Destiny is a difficult trope to work with. You can use it as an easy way of making things happen, or to foreshadow events to come, to demonstrate the irrevocability of fate, or to vindicate the power of free will. There have been some great uses of prophesy throughout fiction: Buffy’s death at the Master’s hands inin which she realizes that going to fight him only provides him with the tools he needs in order to escape, or the cryptic prophesies inthat make no sense until they begin to come true. Evenmanages to get in a few clever uses of the trope, such as Merlin’s scrambling throughoutas he tries to thwart the visions, only to realize that he’s ensured their fulfilment.But here is the Golden Rule when it comes to Destiny. If you introduce the concept of fate, if you make a promise concerning something that your narrative is heading toward, if you make this impending future the– then you CANNOT fail to deliver on it – at least, not without a very good reason. That is clearly not the case here, and it has a devastating effect on characters, their storylines, and their relationships with each other – especially Arthur and Merlin.No one can be in any doubt that Arthur/Merlin’s relationship was the touchstone of the show, and as I said earlier, I liked how it was played out in season 1. There was a nice dynamic between these two young men being thrown together against their will and gradually coming to trust and rely on each other. Merlin didn’t simply take it on blind fate that Arthur would be the best king ever – Arthur had to (unknowingly) prove himself until Merlin was satisfied that the dragon’s prophesies had a strong foundation and the likelihood of coming true. Through Merlin’s influence, Arthur became a better man, and though Merlin had to hide his abilities and identity, he gradually came to trust Arthur and consider him a friend that would one day accept him and free his people. In other words: their burgeoning friendship was GOOD for them.And yet, somewhere along the line, Merlin got DEVOURED by a single-minded obsession with Arthur and Destiny, neither of which ever lived up to his expectations. Arthur was reduced to an oblivious fool (at one point, quite literally) who is completely incapable of achieving anything without help, who is followed about by a servant that he constantly disdains yet who does all the work for him.In other words, they were turned into these two:Over the course of the series, Merlin’s hopefulness and enthusiasm began to be replaced by reiterations of "this is the way it has to be" and "one day things will be better" – which rang more and more hollow as the years went by. He shows no interest whatsoever in the rights or wellbeing of the magical community, he's too hung up on his belief that one day Arthur will one day just wave his hands and make everything better. His tunnel-vision regarding Arthur reaches genuinely disturbing heights inwhen he effectively throws all his people under the proverbial bus when weighing their freedom up against Arthur’s life, and again in, when he glares at Guinevere (a woman who is not only his friend, but someone that he KNOWS is brainwashed by Morgana) with a creepy "imma kill you!" look on his face. At this point, the youth who once left Arthur’s service because the needs of his mother were paramount now seems totally capable of using Hunith as a human shield to protect Arthur. And no, that’s not a good thing.Plus it gets increasingly hard to understand where Merlin’s utter faith in Arthur and their glorious future together comes from. The treatment he gets at Arthur's hands makes it impossible to fathom how Merlin squares his idea of the Best King Ever with a guy who uses him as target practice, throws heavy objects at the back of his head, verbally and physically abuses him (“you’re as stupid as you are ugly”), uses him as a footstool, deprives him of food and sleep, smears dirty wash cloths over his face and constantly dismisses him as "just a servant/idiot/waste of space." As late as 5x10, Arthur completely forgets Merlin's predicament/existence whilst he’s supposedly being held hostage by a sorceress. Why does Merlin put up with it?Yet right to the bitter end, Merlin was telling the likes of Mordred and Finna that things would change, that things would get better, that the prophesies would come true, that one day Arthur would know the truth and lift the ban on magic. As late asMerlin was attempting to demonstrate to Arthur that magic could be a force for good. It was the crux of several other episodes such asandandand. And these were late episodes, so it’s not like the writers had forgotten this storyline, or moved on to different themes.But unfortunately for Merlin, every chance that presents itself to actually DO something to make his destiny actually HAPPEN ends in disaster. He screws up every chance he gets, either deliberately or accidentally (convincing Arthur that Morgause was lying in, being unable to save Uther's life in, rejecting the deal offered by the Disir in) and he never makes any moves of his own – he just seizes on opportunities that present themselves. In ten years, he only makes two assertive attempts to change Arthur's opinion on magic. TWO. He never points out Arthur's hypocrisy to him when he uses magic to his own ends, he never opens up a conversation with him about Morgana and the cycle of vengeance that Uther's laws created, he never gets Gaius to explain to Arthur just what happened with Ygraine/Uther/Nimueh/Arthur's birth. He’s probably the least proactive hero I’ve ever come across. On an estimate, about 95% of his actions taken throughout the series are reactive.And Arthur and Merlin could never be friends as long as the secret lay between them. They could never be equals as long as the class difference lay between them. And without becoming friends and equals, they could never join their skills and talents together in order to unite Albion, legalize magic, make Arthur the greatest king of all time and reign peacefully over the Golden Age.And whatdaya know – they didn’t.The show’s greatest irony is that Merlin, who makes it his destiny to shape Arthur into the Greatest King of All Time is the one who ends up preventing this destiny from ever happening. If the fates of Mordred/Morgana were classic self-fulfilling prophesies (having been warned about their imminent evil, Merlin helps shape each one into the player he feared) then Arthur/Merlin’s destiny ends up being a bizarre, one in which Merlin’s deceit and on-going protection of Arthur – to the point where he made all the hard decisions for him and denied him knowledge of 90% of what was going on around him – prevented Arthur from ever reaching his true potential. Merlin never trusted Arthur with his secret because Arthur enforced a regime of anti-magical laws. And Arthur enforced a regime of anti-magical laws because Merlin never gave him a reason not to. They cancelled each other out when they should have grown and moved forward together.Or perhaps the greatest irony is that the two aspects that most damaged the show (holding back on the magical reveal and endless stalling in regards to character development) were also the fatal flaws inherent in both Merlin and Arthur that destroyed them both. If Merlin had come out with the magical reveal sooner, perhaps the magical ban would have been lifted before the druids took decisive action against Arthur. If Arthur had followed through on his promise into free the druids, if he had been a better king in extending his protection to all his people, if he had been more perceptive and wise in regards to his father’s laws and his half-sister’s predicament (though to be fair, Merlin was shielding him from a lot of the truth about these things) then he could have averted disaster. In the legends, Camelot fell because of human fallibility. In the show it fell (or at least did not come to fruition under Arthur’s control) because of a lack of progress, too many lies, and procrastination.Or MAYBE the greatest irony is that Aithusa, originally described as a good omen for Arthur’s reign and the kingdom that Merlin and Arthur would build together, ends up being the perfect visual metaphor for how awful their relationship was: a malformed, malnourished, sickly, mute (and white!) disaster that despite being initially described as important and wonderful, ultimately achieves nothing and flies away anti-climactically (perhaps to die off-screen somewhere in an equally confusing and pointless way).Basically, DON’T DO THIS. If you have an implicit goal in your work, if you encourage your audience to invest themselves in a promise, then you MUST fulfil it – or at least have agood reason not to. Otherwise, your audience will feel cheated.Because it hurts to think that Merlin will never be recognised – he’ll never be the court wizard, he’ll never sit at the Round Table, he’ll never see his people live in peace and freedom. All those times he told himself and others: “one day things will change,” all those people who died for him and his destiny, all those bad decisions that he made on the behest of a manipulative dragon and in pursuit of his ever-elusive destiny and for a man who never truly appreciated him until the very end – all came to naught.Time for one lastSo these writers wanted to fulfil the prophesy of Mordred killing Arthur but still get their Golden Age? Mordred could have wounded Arthur with his sword just prior to his own death. Merlin rushes to his side and openly uses his power to try and heal him – but it’s not enough. They make the journey to Avalon and its healing waters in the attempt to save him, and the combined efforts of Merlin, Kilgharrah, Freya, the Sidhe, and/or Morgana (because a part of me wanted to see her redeemed and fulfil her role as one of the four women who heal Arthur and take him to Avalon) saves his life. But there’s a price: the poison is still in Arthur’s system. They’ve just delayed the inevitable.The two of them return to Camelot to the sound of much rejoicing and Guinevere’s profound relief. But a quick once-over from Gaius reveals the truth: he’s living on borrowed time. And yet it’s not all doom and gloom: Gaius suggests that with magic and medicine, Arthur still has about twenty years to live. He looks over at a tearful Guinevere and Merlin, and tells them: “if I only have twenty years, let’s make them good ones.” We cut to a scene in the grand hall in which Merlin is being appointed the court advisor and granted full honours. There is a delegation of druids presence, identified by their robes and tattoos. As Merlin turns to face the assembly, he lifts his arms and fills the room with light (or flowers or butterflies or something) indicating that the ban on magic has finally been lifted, and Merlin is finally allowed to live in freedom.And then – because the writers were so obviously hooked on the idea of Arthur’s death – we could have fast-forwarded twenty years to the lake of Avalon. Bradley could have grown a beard, Colin could appear visibly older, and Arthur finally dies in Merlin’s arms with much the same dialogue used in the actual episode. Excalibur is thrown back to Freya, Arthur’s body is placed on the barge, and everyone cries – but cathartically, not bitterly. Back in Camelot, Guinevere is declared Queen Regnant, and her son/daughter the heir to the throne.And if they had treated Morgana’s story arc with more respect, leaving her room for a redemptive note, then she could have been a part of all this – a cloaked and hooded figure in the mists, waiting to accompany her half-brother’s body to Avalon.