Do you ever think about how Merlin’s immortality was always implied (and teased) from the start but was never confirmed until the time skip?
1x04 The Poisoned Chalice: Merlin’s heart stops. Gaius and Gwen are already mourning when he wakes up from it. There is some plausible deniability here (a common theme for this arc), but Merlin dies with no resuscitation efforts made. The cure takes effect after he dies.
1x07 The Gates of Avalon: Merlin receives a hit from the Sidhe staff, a magical weapon which kills Aulfric and Sophia upon impact. Gaius claims that Merlin owes it to his powers that he survived, yet the (mortal) fae have great power and still die. Most likely, he died as he did from the Mortaeus poison, but resurrected with some recovery time. Merlin also sees Avalon itself, which is only meant to be visible to mortal humans in death. Merlin was not dead or dying, so he must not be mortal.
1x08 The Beginning of the End: Merlin is first referred to by the name of “Emrys,” which directly translates to “Immortal One.”
1x12 To Kill the King: Merlin hits two men with a staff blast, only for the third to be reflected back at him. The fates of the two men are unknown, but everyone quickly deems the situation resolved, so it’s likely they did not survive, whereas Merlin came back from a second hit.
2x01 The Curse of Cornelius Sigan: Gaius plainly states, “Sigan is immortal and you are not. If you face him, he will destroy you.” However, Merlin survives and defeats Sigan. Plausible deniability aside, Merlin’s immortality has been implied before this, so it’s likely an intentional hint.
3x06 The Changeling: Even the immortal fae can be killed with the Sidhe staff; they may have Merlin’s longevity, but they lack his invulnerability (if it can be called that—he does die, frequently).
3x08 The Eye of the Phoenix: Merlin is paralleled to The Fisher King, who has been confined to an unnatural long life and asks Merlin to aid him in his death. Merlin’s immortality likely has a different function than his, despite the parallel: it’s difficult but not impossible to kill The Fisher King, but if Merlin dies, he simply comes back.
3x13 The Coming of Arthur, Part 2: An ironic piece of dialogue between Lancelot and Merlin:
Lancelot: Aren’t you forgetting something? [The Cup of Life] is guarded by an immortal army.
Merlin: Aren’t you forgetting something? I have magic.
Lancelot: It doesn’t make you immortal.
This isn’t evidence of anything except that we were being strung along even during quiet, romantically lit mercelot moments.
4x01 The Darkest Hour, Part 1: Those who are struck by the Dorocha die instantly. Gaius informs Arthur, Merlin, and Agravaine, “No mortal has ever survived their touch.” All of the victims we are shown have died on impact, hence the high body counts with each night that passes. Merlin runs headlong into a Dorocha in order to save Arthur and is shown to have all of the same effects as the other casualties, yet survives.
4x02 The Darkest Hour, Part 2: Merlin is soon healed from his encounter with the Dorocha, but he plans to sacrifice himself to the Veil in Arthur’s place. While it’s uncertain to viewers if it is possible for Merlin to be the offering (it seems possible to the Cailleach, who phrases it not as a death, but a life lost: “Will you give yourself to the spirits to save your prince?”), the Cailleach tells Merlin, “Your time among men is not yet over, Emrys, even if you want it to be.” While this does not strictly indicate his immortality, it does foreshadow that his time among men is lengthy. 1,500 years lengthy and counting. Her words can also be interpreted as “Your time among men is not yet over, Immortal One, even if you want it to be,” which is a strong implication of immortality.
5x12 The Diamond of the Day, Part 1: Balinor tells Merlin, “Believe what your heart knows to be true: that you have always been… and always will be.” This has far-reaching implications. Merlin has always existed, even before his human incarnation. He is magic itself—son of the earth, sea, and sky. He is, essentially, a sentient piece of magic in human form. Just as energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred and transformed, you cannot kill Merlin in a way that matters. decay is an extant form of life 🍄 There is still some plausible deniability in Balinor’s insistence that “You will always be, just as I will always be.” Balinor is not immortal as Merlin is, which has the potential to mislead Merlin, but he lives on anyways—as a ghost and in Merlin’s memory.
5x13 The Diamond of the Day, Part 2: Kilgharrah leaves with final words of: “The story you have been a part of will live long in the minds of men.” After Arthur’s funeral and Gwen’s ascension as the sole ruler of Camelot, we cut to a disguised Merlin walking along a roadside, approximately 1,500 years after the events of Camlann, pausing where he laid Arthur to rest, the lake now a grassland. The memory does indeed live long in the minds of men, in Merlin’s mind at least.
Now, there are other events besides the mortaeus flower, the Sidhe staff blasts, and the Dorocha where Merlin may have died but come back, with both the audience and himself unaware of it due to plausible deniability.
The Serket sting in 3x01, which Kilgharrah heals him from
The poisoning in 5x08, which features a moment that is eerily similar to Merlin’s temporary death by poison in 1x04
Merlin’s fall from a cliff in 5x09: Arthur’s own fall is far less drastic. By all rights it should’ve killed Merlin, and it’s entirely possible it did
The arrow to the gut in 5x10; once again, Kilgharrah swoops in to save the day in just the nick of time… or does he?
He’s also left unconscious periodically throughout the series, with some cases deemed more severe, so pick and choose
I’m not the only one messed up by that, right?
