Arthur is mortally wounded and Merlin makes a dangerous deal with Nimueh, thus repeats Uther's mistake when he agrees to the Life-for-Life-rule...
Please discuss here :-)
Arthur is mortally wounded and Merlin makes a dangerous deal with Nimueh, thus repeats Uther's mistake when he agrees to the Life-for-Life-rule...
Please discuss here :-)
To me he was not making a mistake because he has magic, and believes in it to solve his problems.
Uther once believed that magic could solve his problem by enabling his barren wife to give him a son. He ended up wishing that he hadn't sought a magical solution to his problem.
Merlin was using magic that he did not truly understand so, storywise and in terms of character development, I think that he should have had to suffer the consequences of tampering with the Balance of Life and Death. If nothing else, it would have been a much-needed lesson about the need for extreme care when it came to messing with powerful forces. It was a major cop-out on the writer's part to not only let him get away without having to lose somebody dear to him thanks to his choice to use magic to save Arthur, but to let him sacrifice an unwilling victim and act like it was okay by rolling back on what had been established in Excalibur and presenting Nimueh as having deliberately sacrificed Ygraine and Hunith, for no other reason than that she could.
- He was only following an advise from a manupilating dragon.
- Receiving help from Nimueh, who he still remembers from the Cara incident.
To me he was not making a mistake because he has magic, and believes in it to solve his problems. There is a conflict between Excalibur, Le Morte d'Arthur and The Sins of the Father.
That is true. And to me, all would have been fine if Merlin hadn't suddenly forgotten about it all later in "The Sins of the Father". As you've stated already, there is a conflict between those three epsiodes, and ReganX has pointed out some inconsistencies too.
In season one and two, up until "The Sins of the Father", I thought that the storyline was about the consequences of decisions without pointing a finger at just one person but by demonstrating all the shades of grey and also Merlin's own mistakes that broaden his mind and show him that he too was tempted by his powers/by magic and that things weren't always as they seemed to be. Sadly, they changed it in "The Sins of the Father" when they made Merlin claiming that Uther sacrificed Igraine willingly. Moreover, Gaius obviously didn't think it was necessary to clarify the situation to Merlin even though he knew the truth and witnessed the past happenings first hand. Yet he let Merlin believe that Uther sacrificed his own wife. Merlin should have remembered that he too ignored every warning and was willing to pay "any price" (his words) in order to have Arthur being healed. He had the nerve to blame Uther and ignored his own actions.
That was not only hypocritical but also illogical. Both he and Arthur put the word of a sorceress who slaughtered her way to the throne room and killed many innocents in the process over the word of Uther and over all logic and own experience. Neither Arthur nor Merlin could have been sure that Igraine was real and not only a trick by Morgause. And even if Igraine was real, Merlin should have immediately remembered what he was willing to do and what he indeed did when he saved Arthur, thus comparing his own actions to Uther's actions when he asked for magical help back then.
But no, Merlin played the innocent one and blamed another of whom he knew nothing about. Uther slaughtering sorcerers over guilt makes no sense if he allegedly sacrificed Igraine willingly. Why should he feel guilty then? And by not sacrifing her willingly but being convinced that Nimueh(the Old Religion) killed Igraine, he surely didn't blame entirely himself when Igraine was killed by magic and when he wanted her to be alive. Either way, it wasn't all only about guilt.
Shame that neither Arthur nor Merlin thought about it more carefully but ignored logic instead.
This is one of my absolute favourites. I found it incredibly awesome when Merlin and Nimueh had a showdown at the Isle of the Blessed. Especially Merlin's quote: "You should not have killed my friend!!!" Loved this episode. :D :D :D :D
The Questing Beast made me jump though especially when it leapt into view. O.O
I absolutely hate the inconsistencies created by the three episodes: Excalibur, Le Morte d'Arthur and The Sins of the Father. These three episodes are the main reason I believe there should be a prequel spin-off explaining the circumstances of the Great Purge, including Gaius' relationship with Alice and Nimueh, Morgana and Morgause's birth and whether Vivienne was a priestess of the Old Religion. This episode left me with a lot of mixed feelings. I also expected Merlin's duel with Nimueh to be a bit longer and more epic.
I agree. As a matter of fact, "The Sins of the Father" was the epsiode that created the inconsistency whereas it still makes sense that in "Le Morte d'Arthur" Nimueh was the one who killed Igraine. She simply could have lied to Uther in "Excalibur" in order to burden his conscience even more. Maybe she just didn't expect Uther to freak out when Igraine dies and maybe she had personal reasons for killing her but the show didn't bother to explain later, especially when "The Sins of the Father" ignored the previous storylines all of a sudden and made Uther sacrificing Igraine willingly.
Fimber wrote: I agree. As a matter of fact, "The Sins of the Father" was the epsiode that created the inconsistency whereas it still makes sense that in "Le Morte d'Arthur" Nimueh was the one who killed Igraine. She simply could have lied to Uther in "Excalibur" in order to burden his conscience even more. Maybe she just didn't expect Uther to freak out when Igraine dies and maybe she had personal reasons for killing her but the show didn't bother to explain later, especially when "The Sins of the Father" ignored the previous storylines all of a sudden and made Uther sacrificing Igraine willingly.
Based on what we know of Uther's love for Ygraine, that would be like going out in the rain without a coat or umbrella and then being surprised when you get wet.
That's why it never made sense to me that Nimueh would deliberately sacrifice Ygraine's life if she had the option of choosing somebody else. The Excalibur angle made the most sense to me, and there was a comparison to be drawn between Uther and Nimueh, who were perpetuating a cycle of vengeance that traced back to a tragedy that resulted from them both making an error in judgement by using magic to bring a life into the world that wasn't meant to be there. They were shouldering similar burdens; Uther knowing that his beloved wife died because he sought magical help to have a son, and Nimueh knowing that her attempt to help sparked the Great Purge that resulted in the deaths of her friends. Story wise, I found it very effective.
Fimber wrote: I agree. As a matter of fact, "The Sins of the Father" was the epsiode that created the inconsistency whereas it still makes sense that in "Le Morte d'Arthur" Nimueh was the one who killed Igraine. She simply could have lied to Uther in "Excalibur" in order to burden his conscience even more. Maybe she just didn't expect Uther to freak out when Igraine dies and maybe she had personal reasons for killing her but the show didn't bother to explain later, especially when "The Sins of the Father" ignored the previous storylines all of a sudden and made Uther sacrificing Igraine willingly.
Yes, we know that but maybe Nimueh didn't see it coming. Surely, a lot of people lost loved ones but the majority didn't start a Great Purge and killed countless sorcerers/people because of it.
Maybe it was the writers intention that Nimueh didn't like Igraine. Or maybe it was a test for Uther. Perhaps Nimueh was in love with him, perhaps she hated him due to whatever reason. Or maybe the entire Great Purge was indeed planned by the Old Religion, as weird as it sounds, given that Merlin's birth was planned in ancient times already which was necessary in order to help Arthur whose birth obviously was planned too and which caused the Great Purge...
Who knows, maybe Uther was supposed to accept really everything that the Old Religion did, even when losing his loved ones, in order to prove himself worthy. Like God demanded Abraham to kill his son Isaac in order to prove his faith in and love for God (not comparing Uther to Abraham or the Old Religion to God but only trying to think of some motives of a very mighty power and/or entity, given that the Triple Goddess demanded unconditional submission from Arthur). The Old Religion might have tested Uther's worship for them that way and then abandoned him when he didn't submit but fought the Old Religion instead.
And in case that this was the original intention of the show, it would make sense that Nimueh had Uther believe that it wasn't she who chose his wife but really the Old Religion that chose Igraine - but not due to some personal reasons but only randomly. That way she could make Uther believe that things just happen and that in the end, the Old Religion is the almighty power and the very thing that should be respected and accepted, if not being worshipped since it has the power over life and death but supposedly no evil intentions. It would show Uther that humans are imperfect and make mistakes but that the Old Religion doesn't and that every attempt to fight fate is supposed to be pure arrogance of minor human beings/mortals. That way she probably thought that Uther wouldn't condemn her but keep her in the castle by his side, plus he wouldn't think that magic corrupts but that it was just the way "nature" works and that there is no one to be held responsible.
Too bad that Uther saw it differently and decided to not submit and to fight the Old Religion since he put his own kind over magic and its evil powers and indeed held the Old Religion itself responsible for what happened.
When Merlin fought Nimueh in "Le Morte d'Arthur", he told her that he didn't want to have anything to do with her kind, which showed that he saw things differently too and disagreed with the dogmas of the Old Religion but obviously, at that point of time, wanted a better world with a mercyful and fair religion. He could have been the one to bring it on and to change the Old Ways into a new religion with magic that coexisted peacefully and respectfully with mortals/humans.
From this point of view, even Gaius' decision to stay in Camelot makes sense because he too was wary of the Old Ways but agreed with the "good" magic only and knew that Uther wasn't evil but only tried to fight what he thought was wrong, opressive and evil from the core. He didn't have to approve of the Great Purge, of course (and who could?) but he might have realised that the Old Ways and its dogmas were indeed not desirable anymore but that a new time had to come, something between Uther's hatred and Great Purge and the cruel Old Ways of the Old Religion.
Hadn't they changed it all later, starting with "The Sins of the Father" and continuing it in later seasons with Merlin suddenly changing, with Morgana becoming a comic strip-evil witch and with Uther being an evil psychopath all of a sudden in his last appearance while turning Arthur into a naive and sometimes even dumb king who didn't really know what to do and what was right and wrong, thus turning the show into a shallow action drama full of immature characters and black & white stories, the differences between "Excalibur" and "Le Morte d'Arthur" would have made perfect sense and could have been the beginning of a very intelligent and fascinating plotline.
Ok interesting posts... um, I would say that Merlin did make some very odd decisions in this episode yes :/
When I watched this episode I was surprised Gaius survived. I mean, that part about Merlin killing Nimueh and having Gaius back in return seemed like a forced Deus Ex Machina to me. It was very confusing how the person who would die in the life and death bargain was selected, and even less clear how Merlin killing Nimueh out of rage could change the matters about what seemed to be very complex magic issues. I mean, if Nimueh's death was always an option to solve the problem, why didn't the dragon tell Merlin to kill her from the very beginning? I know nobody knew this would happen, but that's exactly the problem here, what happens when he kills Nimueh and Gaius is brought back to life goes completely against the logic of the story. So it feels forced.
With this episode and The Disir I don't know what the show was trying to say about magic and the Old Religion. Nearly everything bad that happened to the characters in the show happened because of people who practiced the Old Religion. Nimueh seemed to take joy in the vengeance she was bringing to Uther's kingdom, and showed little regard for the lives of innocents. She goes full-on Vader on Merlin asking him to join her in ruling the world. The Pendragon dynasty continued, but was finally terminated by the ways of the Old Religion. And it's just painful to me that the show ended without exploring the rules and laws under which magic was to be practiced when Merlin and Arthur built the Golden Age of Albion.