"The Real Merlin and Arthur" Is a 30 minute documentary I found ages ago when I was scouting around on Youtube.
Basically, Colin Morgan ad Bradley James go on a 300 mile road trip across Wales to discover all they can about the Real Merlin and Arthur.
You cannot get this on DVD, but it is found easily on YouTube.
So, here are 10 reasons to watch it, in no particular order:
Colin Morgan is in it!
Bradley James is in it!
You do get some behind the scenes info about Merlin (ish).
You get to learn more about the history of the Arthurian legend.
You discover that (as of 2008/9) ___________ had not yet got a driving licence.
Colin Morgan decides to take a scenic route... meaning that they are late for their first stop...
You get to see a lot of locations which are linked to the Arthurian legend.
You know how in every behind the scenes video, Bradley says "Hi Merlin fans"? well this time its "Hi Arthurian Legend Seekers"!
There are funny Colin and Bradley moments, of course!
There is a man at the end who is suspiciously like Emrys... who may even have magic...
Its good to watch if you are a Mega Merlin Fan like me, and are happy to watch anything with Colin Morgan and Bradley James in!
Many years ago, a child was born to the Lady of the House of Gorlois.
Uther wanted this child dead, and was lead to believe exactly that: that the child had died.
But she lived. She was smuggled out of Camelot by Gaius, who entrusted he to the high priestesses of the old religion.
... And many years later, Morgause returned.
Gaius was never the type of person to let an innocent child die, but what if he was unaware of Uther's plans? Then Morgause would have died as a baby. A horrible fate, but it would have saved many lives: think of all the people who died as a result of Morgause training Morgana!
If Morgause had died, then for a long time, everything would remain unchanged, but when Morgana discovered her own magic...
By the end of episode 3 series 2 (the nightmare begins), Morgana had accepted her magic, and even said that she hoped one day that people would come to see magic as a force for good.
If she hadn't met Morgause, her half-sister, then Morgana wouldn't have been trained for evil.
And if she had also never met Mordred, then Morgana wouldn't have become evil full stop!
... That person in the lower town wasn't ill that night?
Halig the Bounty Hunter had caught a young druid girl, and arrived in Camelot late at night.
If that person in the lower town hadn't been ill on that same night, then Gaius and Merlin would have been inside the Castle, probably sleeping (unless Merlin was still servant-ing at that hour).
That druid girl would have be executed the next day.
That Druid Girl was Freya. She and Merlin would have never met, and she would never have become the Lady of the Lake.
Right now, this may seem to have little impact on the long term: but if Merlin hadn't met Freya, then Camelot would have fallen.
If Freya had been executed in Camelot, think what would have happened when Morgana took the city at the end of Series 3!
Merlin, Arthur, Gwaine, Elyan, and Gaius would have still been hiding out in that cave, and Merlin still would have sent for Lancelot in Haldor.
Gwen and Leon would have still found them. Arthur would still probably have attempted to re-take Camelot, but they would fail... because Merlin hadn't got Excalibur.
Freya was the one to contact Merlin via the water from the lake of Avalon which the Fisher-king gave to him.
Freya was the one to return the sword from the depths of the Lake.
And even if by some chance they managed to reclaim the city without the help of the sword, what would happen at the ned of Series 4? Arthur wouldn't have faith in himself, and the sword wouldn't be in the stone to set things right!
Oh! and if they had somehow gotten through that, then Morgana wouldn't have died at the end of Series 5, because they didn't have Excalibur, and Camelot would still be in danger even after Arthur's death (NOOOOOOOOO!)
Thank goodness that citizen was ill that night!
... Merlin never released the Great Dragon or met his Father?
Merlin promised to release the Great Dragon in exchange for his help to save Camelot, and he released him at the end of Series 2. If Merlin didn't release Kilgharrah, then what would have happened?
Without the Great Dragon free to rescue him, then Merlin would have died out in that forest from the Serkets' poison. Camelot would fall because Merlin wasn't there to stop Morgana.
And if they somehow survived that without the Dragon, then what about the other time at the end of series 3 when Morgana took the city? How would Merlin get the sword? And the Darrocha? How would Merlin and Lancelot outrun them? The Dragon's egg? The Finale of series 4? Of Series 5?
All these event's would be changed.
But this wouldn't have happened, because sooner or later, the Dragon would begin to get very tricky to wheedle information out of: he would begin to refuse to help until he was free.
Maybe Merlin would have been able to hold out for a few more weeks, but one day, the time would come when then Dragon would point blank refuse to help, and Merlin would have no choice but to release him: it would be either that, or the Kingdom would fall.
And then, of course, the Dragon would attack Camelot. But what about the events that followed? Arthur and Merlin would go in search of Balinor. What if they never found him?
Merlin would be left wondering about what his father was like, and he would never realise his full potential as a Dragon Lord.
And when, in Series 5, Merlin in left without his magic in the Crystal caves, trapped, Balinor wouldn't have been able to return to help him.
The Great Dragon (,as he would always be known, as Balinor didn't tell Merlin Kilgharrah's name,) wouldn't stop until Camelot was in ruins and Uther Pendragon was dead.
Then he would have flown off, never to be seen again...
Add to what else might have been different in the comments!
As well as filling in the main pages of the book, I have created loose sheets inside, just like Merlin's magic book.
Here is a sheet about the Sorcerer's Chime, a totem of Healing which Alice used in series 3 episode 9, Love in a time of Dragons. I keep it folded up somewhere in the Healing section. If you want to know what the symbol means, go to "More Pages in My Magic Book" (link above).
And here is the spell which Mordred and Morgana used in series 5 episode 12 to launch a fire bomb at a town in the Kingdom of Camelot, when they were at last united in evil, as the prophets foretold.
"Thurh minum gewealde on thinum maegen geclippath we thone lieg the ealla awestath!"
But t is not just spells I use these sheets for: at the back of the book, there is a pocket where I keep sheets of pronunciation guides for difficult spells.
You will notice in the book, that near to long, difficult spells, there are numbers. That number corresponds with the relative pronunciation guide at the back of the book - and it is also the spell number for when it appeared in the show!
For example, here is a Sidhe spell and guide:
So that's the latest that is going on in my Magic book!
Welcome to another "What Would have happened If..." post, where I will be exploring what could have happened if the story line in Merlin changed slightly. If you haven't seen the "Series 1: What Would have Happened If..." post, see it now!
What Would Have Happened If...
...Sir Leon didn't let Arthur win?
When Arthur discovered that Sir Leon and most of his other knights were letting him win in competitions and practices, he suddenly got fed up with being Prince Arthur, always treated differently.
If Arthur never discovered this, then he would never have had the brilliant idea of competing in the Camelot jousting tournament anonymously. He would have never stayed at Gwen's.
This beautiful scene wouldn't exist....
... and maybe Arthur and Gwen wouldn't have got together at all if it wasn't for that time together.
This time together was also a time when Arthur started to become less of an arrogant "dollop-head". I think it would have taken a LOT longer if it wasn't for Gwen!
Arthur deciding to compete undercover also coincidentally helped him escape from an assassin without him realizing it.
If Leon jousted fairly, then the assassin surely would have found Arthur an easy target. I don't think he would have been killed: Merlin would save him, but I think he would need to use a very strong healing spell such as: "Efay cume, ete gaedre. Eala gastas craeftesh getrice pis lic forod."
Yes. That strong.
From then on, many events would have turned out differently: When Morgana went on a pilgrimage to her "father's" grave with Gwen, bandits would still have attacked them, Gwen would still have been taken. But would Arthur have been riding non stop through the days and nights, barely resting, to save her? I don't think so. He still would have gone, if not out of his own good heart, then because Morgana would have persuaded him. But he wouldn't have been half as persistent. Maybe they would have arrived too late to save her, and Gwen would have died alongside Lancelot, and the mercy of that horrid man.
Then later, Trickler would enchant Arthur and Lady Vivian to fall in love, and King Alined would have the war he so desired. Arthur might have been killed by King Olaf in that one to one tourney!
If both Arthur and Gwen survived these events, then when the Dragon attacked Camelot, would Arthur have risked his life to save Gwen? Most possibly not. And then later on still, Uther would have forced Arthur to marry Princess Elena! Even though Merlin would have delt with the Sidhe inside her, Arthur would have been unhappily married fro the rest of his life (even though he wouldn't have loved Gwen, he didn't love Elena).
Gwen wouldn't have been kidnapped in series 3 ep 7, and wouldn't have had to chose between her brother and her lover. She would probably have never seen her brother since he left home 4 years previously.
Oh, so many more events would have changed, so many kisses would never have been...
Thank Goodness Sir Leon let Arthur win!
... Gauis convinced Morgana it was only a Dream?
Morgana's magic suddenly became active when she woke from a nightmare in a storm. She went to tell Gauis, telling him she thought it was her magic, but he denied it, saying that it was nothing to do with her.
If Merlin hadn't intervened, sending her to the druids, if they could keep up the pretense for just a few more weeks or months...
At first Morgana would remain afraid, and would doubt herself. Her dreams and seers power wouldn't help her fears.
If her uncontrolled magic continued to leap out at her, then it would only strengthen Uther's belief that Morgana was being attacked by sorcery. Maybe he would have called the Witch-finder there and then. It would be a dangerous time in Camelot.
But if they got through all this and Morgana was still uncertain about her powers...
Then Morgause would arrive.
She would have given Morgana her healing bracelet, which would mean Morgana would no longer
Morgana's Healing Bracelet
be troubled by her nightmares. She would sleep. it would effectively hide her own powers from her! Maybe then she would have excepted that the events surrounding the candle were only part of an old nightmare.
I don't think that this would have stopped her from becoming an enemy of Camelot in the long run, yet this may have done something towards preventing or delaying her from realizing the true extent of her powers.
It would have taken longer for Morgause to train her.
Maybe she wouldn't have been powerful enough to release the Darocha. Who knows?
... Merlin didn't get bored collecting firewood?
A galloping Horse conjured out of smoke
If Merlin didn't get bored, and didn't play with the smoke, shaping it into a horse with his magic, then Uther wouldn't have called... The Witch Finder!!!!
Gaius wouldn't have been arrested and tortured. The only sort-of-good that came from the witch finder's coming was that Uther was taught a lesson.
Sentencing Gauis to death as a sorcerer, his trusted friend, must have hurt him, and it showed how utterly ruthless he could be.
When Gauis was found innocent, he went to personally apologize.
This talk may have had only a temporary effect, as the next episode along Morgause arrived, claiming that she knew Arthur's mother and the TRUTH of Arthur's birth... but at least for a short time Uther became just a little bit more aware of how irrational he can get.
However, I do think that this alone is a good enough reason to say that the Witch-finder's visit was a good thing.
If Merlin hadn't used his magic like that, then he wouldn't have caused suffering, albeit indirectly. Nonetheless I do not blame him. He wasn't to know the magic would be observed, he didn't cause hurt deliberately. In fact, he may have prevented more suffering than he indirectly created: for the witch-finder came, and is now dead, never to hound and torture sorcerers ever again!
If Merlin didn't get bored collecting firewood, he would still be at large...
So what else do you think would have been different? Have your say in the comments (which, by the way, are monitored if a post is more than 3 months old.)!
A while ago, you may remember I wrote a post called A Book of Magic, which was about the magic book I am creating filled with all the Merlin spells! It wasn't finished then, and it still isn't now! I have been working on this for about 2 years! But I don't want to rush it: It is special to me.
Here are the pages I have finished since the last post:
I have finished the healing spells section!
The left hand page has the healing spell which Gaius used in series 1 "The poisoned Chalice", and the right hand page has the Healing spell which Merlin used on Uther while he was disguised.
And here is a healing spell which can be extended: You can either say only the top half :
"Ic the thurhaele thinu licsar"
...or you can say the top half, then continue to chant your way through to the last half:
"Ic the thurhaele thinu licsar mid tham sundorcraeft thaere ealdan ae!"
<<<This spell is unfortunately incorrect, as I wrote it before I re-watched the episode and realised that the spell was pronounced differently, meaning it would be spelt differently. It is actually pronounced:
"Hurouf fram biste reo Framuman".
The episode didn't provide subtitles, so I have to guess at the spelling!
The other spells are correct.
You will see that usually instead of descriptions of what each spell does, I have put symbols instead. Here are their meanings:
The reason for the bird icon is because of this:
"Thurhaele" healing spell in Merlin's Spell Book
Do you see the birds in the tree? I needed a symbol that didn't really mean anything much, but was still linked to Merlin in some way, however small the link!
After the healing spell section, I made a section about the Sidhe.
Again, you see I try to use illustrations rather than descriptions in my spell book.
I am currently working on the enchantments section. Here are the pages I have completed so far:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Here, above, are the symbols for this section.
And here are two pages which I rather think are too crowded. They have love enchantments written on them, with symbols instead of too much descriptions.
So that's all that I've done since the last time! Has anyone else made, or is anyone making, a spell book?
Welcome to a new series of posts where I will be exploring what would have happened if certain events in Merlin were different, or never happened in the first place! There will be 6 posts in total for now, each one looking at 3 or 4 events from each series (series 2 has two posts because I found more events to explore).
In later posts, you may find that I have seemingly missed some very important events, such as "what would have happened if... Aithusar never saved Morgana?" (series 4 ep 13). The reason for this is probably because I had already covered it, because the event links way back to an earlier point, such as, in this case, "w.w.h.h if... Merlin hadn't met his father?".
In this post, I will be looking at 3 events from series 1.
What would have happened if...
... Hunith didn't send Merlin to Camelot?
Merlin Arrives in Camelot
Merlin was sent to Camelot by his mother, Hunith, because she discovered Merlin's friend William knew that Merlin had magic. If she decided to send Merlin somewhere else, or to keep him at home in Ealdor, much would have been different.
Arthur would have remained an arrogant condescending "clotpole" for the rest of his life - which wouldn't have been very long, because as Merlin wouldn't be in Camelot, Arthur would be killed by Mary Collins (disguised as Lady Helen) in the first episode.
Camelot would be left without an heir, and Uther would triple his efforts to irradiate all magic as a witch killed his only son.
The Great Dragon would never be released, and would have died in his prison, as the last of his kind.
Gaius might have fallen from that shelf and died, or if not, he would have been dismissed, retired, when Edwin Muirden arrived. Who knows where he would have gone. Ealdor? Maybe, seeing as Hunith was an old friend of his. Maybe he would have met Merlin there.
Gwen would probably stay a servant for the rest of her life... which probably wouldn't be very long either. The earliest occasion she could have died was episode 3, when Nimueh spread a magical plague in Camelot using an avanc.
Uther, if he survived Edwin, maybe would have named Morgana as his heir, or would have found himself married to troll Catrina for Queen! He would have been killed by somebody anyhow.
Then as soon as Uther was dead, Camelot would most probably have been at war with other rulers trying to claim the Kingdom. Merlin himself wouldn't have fared much better:
if he stayed in Ealdor, he would have been fine at first, but then Kanen and his bandits would have come and started terrorizing the village, stealing their crops. Camelot wouldn't have helped. There would be starvation.
Merlin wouldn't study magic, never learn any spells: he wouldn't furfill his destiny.
Camelot would be in ruins. Albion would never be born.
Of course, a million more things would be different, but I can't list all of them here! It would take up over 100 pages!
...Merlin left the elanthia beetle inside Uther?
Edwin Muirden enchanted an elanthia beetle to climb inside Uther's brain and devour him. If it wasn't for Merlin removing it, Uther would have died.
Merlin didn't have to save Uther. In fact, he had a very strong reason NOT to save him, primarily the fact that Uther persecuted his kind!
What if Merlin had refused to save him?
Then Uther would have died, and those would magic would rejoice... Until they realised nothing had changed.
Arthur would never accept magic.
He wasn't ready to be king back then. He wasn't even Crown Prince. What kind of ruler would he have been?
Arthur had already lost one parent "to magic". If Uther died due to the same cause at that point, Arthur's mind would be set forever that magic was evil and should be irradiated from the face of the earth.
Merlin 98.7% certainly wouldn't have been able to tell him he was a sorcerer. Not ever.
Luckily, Merlin must have realised this, and chose to save Uther's life, for Arthur's sake, and that of the kingdom.
...That Stall-holder didn't betray the Druid?
Oh, if Only! If only that stallholder kept quite! He might have saved Arthur's life.
Mordred and (possibly) his father (or just an adult druid) would have collected their supplies and passed through Camelot peacefully, unnoticed.
Mordred wouldn't have met Morgana.
When Morgana suspected she had magic, and Merlin sent her to the druids, maybe she would have seen him their, but only in passing, that's all - if she survived the serkets.
Arthur would still be sent after her to raid the camp, Mordred would have still run off into the forest if he escaped. Alvarr wouldn't have been able to use Mordred to get Morgana to steal the crystal of Neahtid.
When Morgause turned up, it could have gone either way, but if she refused to help her bring down the city, Morgana would use her magic for good, I think. Maybe she would hold to Aglain's belief that she should pity Uther, not hate him.
Morgana might have never become an enemy of Camelot. Mordred's friend (and most likely childhood sweetheart) Kara wouldn't have been corrupted and sentenced to death.
Mordred would have never been in the battle of Camlann because the battle of Camlann wouldn't exist. He wouldn't have killed Arthur.
This is of course only one possible outcome of what could have happened, but...
Arthur could have been saved! If only...
What do you think would have turned out differently? Say what you think in the comments!
Mordred was a druid boy who was either born a druid, or selected for his magical abilities to become an apprentice of the druids.
He first appeared in series 1 episode 8, "The Beginning of the End", when he was journeying through Camelot with the druid Cerdan, possibly his father, to collect supplies. The supplier betrayed them to the guards, and Cerdan was arrested, but Mordred escaped, though he was wounded. He called out in his mind, and Merlin heard him, and smuggled him to Morgana's chambers. The boy called him Emrys, and Merlin discovered this name for the first time.
Shortly after this, his (possible) father was executed.
Morgana always felt that that she and the boy had a bond, and for this reason, she did whatever she had to do to help smuggle the boy out of Camelot, and eventually, with Arthur's help, they succeeded, and Mordred was returned to three druids, the leader amoung them.
Leader of the druids
From then on, Mordred lived in druid camps. He either was taken strait to the druid camp in the forest of Ascetir and the leader moved on to a different camp, or he lived in the druid camp which lies in Cenred's kingdom (where the leader dwelt for a while during series 3) before he lived in the forest of Ascetir.
Whilst he grew up in one of the druid camps, he would have met Kara as a child, and they became friends. Of this friendship, or of where they met, I cannot say much more, as I only have information from what was mentioned in episodes, but Mordred cared for Kara deeply.
After about a year, Mordred met Morgana again, when she came to the druids in search of answers about her magic (series 2 episode 3, the nightmare begins). She had hurt her leg. Mordred was able to care for her "as you did me", he said. Morgana felt at home there, and didn't intend to return... but Merlin had followed her, and Arthur and his men had followed his trail.
They had to run, as Arthur's men attacked the druid camp. Morgana passed out because of a wound to her leg, and the leader of the camp, Aglain, was killed, but Mordred escaped.
Alvarr
He wandered in the wild until a man called Alvarr found him. Alvarr had magic, and was the leader of a band of renegades sworn to bring down the king, possibly taken over from Tauren, who was killed in series 1 episode 12.
When Alvarr found Mordred and discovered the boy's power, he hoped that Mordred would be able to master the crystal of Neahtid, which was locked in the Camelot vaults. He used Mordred to get to Morgana so that she would help them steal the crystal, which she did, but not unnoticed by Merlin.
Shortly after the crystal was captured, Alvarr's camp was raided by Arthur's men, and the crystal recaptured.
During the raid, Mordred tried to run from the battle, but Merlin used his magic to trip him up, and two of the Camelot soldiers came up to him. Mordred used magic to throw two spears, and killed them.
He turned to look at Merlin, and in his head, he said:
Then he fled from the camp, and we didn't see him again for a long time...
I often wonder what would have happened if Mordred was told that it was his destiny to kill Arthur right after Arthur helped to save him, or when he was a loyal knight of Camelot. Would he have wanted that? I don't think he would have. Would he have been able to change his fate?
