Been thinking about how I would do BBC Merlin differently and honestly, I think Gaius should have died at the beginning of series 4, not Lancelot.
Series 4 really should have been the season for the changing of the old guard, not just for Arthur but Merlin as well. Uther and Gaius have been constant forces in these two young men’s lives series 1-3, arguably to the detriment of Merlin’s and Arthur’s shared destiny. During that time, they’ve reinforced that fear and self-preservation should be Merlin’s and Arthur’s sole motivators, that great change isn’t worth the risk.
Gaius knows what Uther is doing is wrong, but he rarely takes any action to stop the king’s carnage unless Merlin insists that they intervene or Merlin’s own life is on the line. As Kilgharrah states as early as 1x06 Gaius, often turns “a blind eye,” “struggle[s] against (Merlin’s) destiny” and his main characteristics, besides his wisdom and wit, are that he is cowardly and unchanging. This not only impedes Merlin’s progress, but it makes Gaius’ role as a character mostly useless in terms of servicing the plot, especially once Merlin becomes more and more knowledgeable about magic; he has an easy mastery of his abilities by series 4. Beyond filling in as the father Merlin never got to have (RIP Balinor), Gaius doesn’t do much.
Arthur and Merlin losing the most important elders in their lives around the same time would have been an excellent parallel that would have reinforced that coin metaphor, and their shared grief would have brought them closer together than ever. It would have also expanded a lot of story opportunities for Merlin (for instance, does he have to give up being Arthur’s servant to become the Court Physician, or does a new character take on the role?)
In argument of Lancelot staying alive: Lancelot, on the other hand, perfectly represents the radical change Camelot needs to see. He’s a knight who didn’t come from a royal family, and he accepts magic wholeheartedly from his first encounter with it. He knows that magic can be both a force for good and evil; he implicitly understands that its users have nuance, just like all warriors. His perspective as a non-magic user and a trusted friend of Arthur’s would have been invaluable to Arthur accepting Merlin’s magic and, more importantly, the potential for magic to be used as a force of good.
There’s a number of fascinating dynamics you could have established between Lancelot and the rest of the Knights as well, not just his relationships with Arthur, Merlin and Guinevere. It also cuts out the possibility of 4x09 happening, which in my book, is only a good thing considering how shoddily Lancelot’s resurrection was handled.
This isn’t to say that Gaius was necessarily a bad person, but there’s no arguing his advice led to a score of Merlin’s terrible decisions, when if Merlin had trusted his gut instinct, things probably would have turned out at least a little better for him.
Tldr: If we wanted to see Arthur and Merlin grow into their destiny together, they both had to lose their problematic mentors who were keeping them rooted in the past.
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