Take a seat :)

in the show’s lore if arthur is born “of magic” and therefore not “of uther” does that then make him only “of igraine” who bore him?

and then further, does that mean that, in truth, he is not related to morgana and she is the only “true” pendragon?

interesting i guess also that arthur was conceived in desperation for the pendragon line to continue and it was with his death that it ultimately ended heirless

i can hear the writers yelling being like you weren’t meant to think this hard about the show lmao

every aspect of arthur’s life being infected with tragedy hits as hard as the truck in the epilogue

anyway…as you were

“Born of magic” 🪄 likely doesn’t imply that he is not Uther’s son by blood, but rather that his soul/essence itself (which wasn’t brought into the world the traditional ways humans normally are) is what was created using magic.

To put it in another context, human souls are created when the woman gets pregnant thanks to her own fertility and then the normal process of child birth takes place.

Whereas Ygraine was barren (could not have babies naturally) and therefore magic had to be used to “help the process along”… so to speak.

So Arthur is the child of both Ygraine and Uther by blood (as is any childbirth), but the conception of bringing him into the world … and by therefore creating a soul that otherwise would not have been born, involved magic.

That is the reason Ygraine died.

To create a life, one must be taken.

Magic created Arthur’s soul/essence.

Therefore to balence the scales. Ygraine’s life was taken in return.

Ooh, I always love thinking about the implications of Arthur's soul being created by magic.

That's because we know that Merlin is magic itself! He's magic made human! Which essentially means that Merlin created Arthur's soul, even before he was born as a human.

Do you think that Merlin, on some level, recognized himself in Arthur the moment they met? That his soul and Arthur's were quite literally made from the same material? That Arthur is a part of himself in a literal sense, and he cannot be whole without him?

I just love all of the door that interpretation opens up for the story!

Exactly! Magic is the force holding the universe together (it’s in every person, every plant, animal, ect…), which is why he mentioned being able to sense the earth/nature pulsing with life.

Merlin before he was born into a human body, was that pure essence of magic and even in human form he is still that pure essence of magic (even if he doesn’t know it).

BALINOR: “Merlin, you are more than a son of you father. You are son of the earth, the sea, the sky. Magic is the fabric of this world, and you were born of that magic. You are magic itself. You cannot lose what you are.”

It was only a few months after the magic ban that magic went into the baby that was born between a human woman (Hunith) and one of the most powerful types of warlocks in existence… the dragonlords.

Please note that the large majority of humans don’t have magic (level: O) and can’t use it.

Nonetheless, it’s still used to hold them together, as is everything else in the universe.

According to Merlin cards, Balinor had a score of 49 magic wise and I’m assuming probably all dragonlords in general are similar level wise.

Magic wise that makes Balinor on the same level as Morgana.

Now I’m not saying that as a warlock Balinor was as powerful as Morgana (I don’t believe that), but by being a dragonlord in itself and being able to command dragons. 🐉 His magic level was already on a level few others could ever hope of reaching.

Note: Merlin (Emrys) and Kilgharrah both have a power of 50.

Being magic incarnate, Merlin is obviously more powerful then the Great Dragon and has shielded himself against his magic before when he attacked him, but Magic Level 50 is seemingly the highest anyone can be.

Unicorns are the most magical of creatures (discounting the dragons) and have an extremely high magic level as a result.

I need more of these cards

Lol, I used to joke that Nimue is Arthur's second parent because obviously Ygraine couldn't conceive from UTHER, so he needer HER help.

There is some underlying concept here about Nimue either using magic or other means to get Ygraine pregnant but I'll leave that out here for you to think about.

Also, I too need more cards.

Merlin 1x09 Excalibur

They were insane for this.

Uther: in a world where I'm not there, I don't just want my son to be save and alive, I want him to be happy too. I can see that he needs you. I'm glad he won't be alone.

Merlin: ...

Merlin: lmao, you'll allow gay marriage or what?!?!

2.08 — The Sins of the Father / 4.03 — The Wicked Day / 5.03 — The Death Song of Uther Pendragon

Okay, but that last one is insane.

What do you mean, Arthur, IF Merlin had the opportunity? That opportunity sits there RIGHT in your hands!!! That horn can be used more than once. You could BOTH go see your fathers!!! You could have offered, asshole! (I say this as someone who loves Arthur pendragon)

I'd have loved it if they both went in and saw them at the same time and Uther is like: hold on a second, your father is WHO?!!?!

Unpopular opinion but it always has and always will bother me that Arthur laughs at this. (Not that I blame him.)

Ok, to be fair, I'm differentiating canon, which is hilarious considering this is Uther and Catrina was a troll who was absolutely not into this, from the same thing applied to real life. And the latter would be more than fucked up.

Uther was mind controlled and therefore sort of r**ed in this episode. Sure, he initiated the intimacy, but the traumatic backlash is likely the same. I can imagine the shame he must be feeling, especially because he was the one who initiated it. You can even see it in his face how he's fighting with the experience. (Or maybe that's just Anthony Head doing a fantastic job.)

As much as I hate Uther, it does bother me a bit that they make light of this moment. This may be one of his key experiences with magic that hardens his heart against it and I can't even blame him. Having your control taken away, being betrayed and on top of that, learning he permitted the exploitation of his entire kingdom and abandoning his son because of a spell, that must suck. Say about Uther what you want but he did care about the wellbeing of his people.

It's also Uther's own teachings backfiring at him. He was the one who taught Arthur not to marry for love, not to follow his heart but his mind. He is the kind of man who would headcanonly say that people should suck it up (although in different words) when smth like this happens to them. Yet, he's the one who fell for both.

I am torn between empathy and laughter. The experience of it must have been horrifiying. On the other hand - Uther created the environment around him that makes him untouchable and unavailable to receive emotional support. Even from Arthur, who laughs because all he sees is the punch to Uther's ego. Because Arthur has never learned to see his father as an emotional available person. Never learned that Uther has a heart that had already been shattered and was now stamped on.

I mean, that very episode, Arthur learns that Uther cares about him at all.

Arthur doesn't know how emotional his father truly is and this scene shows how strongly Uther swallows all his pain and shame.

Y'know, tyranny aside, Uther is really not a bad father. I'm at like ep 8 and frankly the only thing holding him back from being the proud owner of one '#1 Dad' mug is whatever happened to him with magic to traumatize him. Because, he really does love Arthur and Morgana, he just can't see past his own prejudices as a ruler when it comes to magic and he exercises his power as king a bit too much in that regard.

Exactly.

Uther is a complicated character. He caused a genocide, he's sometimes harsh and cold even to his own people, but he is entirely convinced that he does it for them. He believes he's right and he believes he's making the best decisions he can make.

All the things we love about Arthur, his trust in his knights, his love for the people, even his ways of ruling a kingdom, they come from Uther's teachings.

And furthermore, I believe without Uther, Arthur would have never come this far, even if Arthur was still Prince under a different king.

People learn from mistakes but if Arthur had grown up in a crueller system, he'd never have learned what a peaceful kingdom could look like. How it looks when people believe in their king. How it looks when a king wholeheartedly cares for his people and how much better a kingdom is off for it. Arthur is the king he is because he has faith in those teachings and has seen where that system fails and decides to mend those failings.

That's why we never talk about ending monarchy within this show. Because BOTH Uther and Arthur show what a decent monarchy can do for the people.

The entire show we see confirmation bias at play. Every time something bad happens, it's magic. And it steadies Uther's beliefs. His heart hardens and his decisions become less and less rational. And Morgana betraying him, destroyed that last bit of sanity he had left and yet, and YET, he went in to fight for Camelot when it was attacked. Kings wouldn't normally go to the frontlines. It's not what kings do. But it's what Uther does and it's what Arthur does.

And this is why the entire time uther is king Merlin can live under Uther's rule. Because Uther sees magic where he sees evil. But Merlin isn't evil, isn't even considered an inconvenience despite his clumsyness. So, Uther remains oblivious.

If Morgana was Queen, WHEN Morgana was queen, none of this was possible.

I see so often that people like to excuse Morgana's behavior and condemn Uther's. It's really wild to me because Uther did what he thought was best for the people, even leaving room for Morgana and Arthur to defy him. Sure, he punished them, but when it wasn't about magic, he even listened to them and talked things through. Sometimes, rarely, he was even shown to change his mind (hence when Lancelot was nearly made a knight after the Griffin incident).

Morgana ends up torturing knights for entertainment, starving people as threats and exploiting them for what little they have.

Morgana's reasons are understandable, relatable even while Uther's sound petty. Uther is the man who started a genocide, Morgana is the one seeking revenge after she tried times and times again to trust in Uther. I understand that and I don't condemn it when people go there. Heck, I go there myself.

But I think when we want to talk about motivation and action, we need to be fair on both accounts.

I feel like Morgana and Arthur represent the good and bad sides of Uther while Uther himself was relatively balanced in that regard.

(i'll leave out ghost Uther in this because I mentioned before that I believe that death in BBC Merlin distorts the soul, hence why dorocha are practically dementors, even though they are human souls and why a child ghost is capable of murder.)

In the end, Uther had moments where he was a good father, he had moments where he was a terrible one. He had moments where he was a great king and moments when he eas a tyrant.

Uther is not a good man and I can't say he's inheritely evil either. He's a contrast in himself, not particularly middle ground, but polarized between great ideals and terrifying consequences.

Uther is terribly HUMAN and that makes me love his character in a way I never expected during my first run through of the series. That came later through writing fanfictions where I tried to explore his character. I don't excuse his genocide, I could never, especially not with my country's history. But I find him very fascinating and disturbingly reasonable and loving, all things considered.

1.04 ⋄ The Poisoned Chalice

1.05 — Lancelot

That's very ironic coming from Uther.

1.05 — Lancelot

Merlin: yeah, seriously, Arthur. How can you trust this doushbag?

Uther: weren't you the one who invited Lancelot-

Merlin: oh, I thought we were talking about you, Sire

Merlin and Uther: *intense glaring*

I'm a little obsessed with the knowledge that Uther and Merlin share secrets with each other. Like, national state concerning stuff. It's fantastic.

Morgana: they are both lying to you

Arthur: yeah, I know.

Roofied to safe his life.

Merlin: gaius, what exactly did you drug him with?

Gaius: merlin, no. If you give him that stuff too often he'll build up a resistance.

Merlin: yeah, I would like that one week of peace and quiet, please.