Series 2 (part 2): What would have happened if...

(Happy independence day for those in America!)

Here are the links to the other "What Would have happened if" posts:

• Series 1
• Series 2 (part 1)

What Would Have Happened if...

... Gaius didn't smuggle a child out of Camelot?

   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!