so like literally everyone else i absolutely hAtE the finale. the more i think about the more i am certain that arthur could be saved but no one wanted him saved.
in the s3 finale, merlin used the Excalibur to spill the blood of morgana’s army. the assumption therefore is that the cup was eventually recovered from the rubble (caused by morgana’s fErAl scream). well then, where the hell did it go?? my guess is that gaius kept it since he is so much better at keeping things safe. he probably didn’t give it to uther because post morgana’s betrayal he was so broken i don’t think he’d give two shits about the cup at that point.
so here’s the thing, the cup was at their disposal. when gaius travelled to tend to arthur’s wounds why didn’t he bring the bloody cup?? despite arthur’s mortal wound being at the hands of a blade forged in a dragon’s breath, the Excalibur (a similar sword) did not destroy the cup because it simply can’t be destroyed. meaning the cup’s power trumps the sword’s power. drinking from the cup would have worked.
now the whole ominous life for a life part. at this point merlin didn’t care about sparing morgana and he did kill her. he’s also poisoned her in that past to save camelot. he only revived her in the crystal cave episode because he didn’t want to see the grief of others. now that none of them give a shit about her merlin should have NO issues sacrificing her life in exchange for arthur’s. now there’s also the whole business with why didn’t he call the dragon earlier etc but I won’t get into that. the point being that there were so many ways for arthur to be saved but they didn’t want to save him to be dRaMatIc. they should have tied up this HUGE loose end though because the cup legit brings you back from death. gaius/merlin HAD the cup. gaius travelled from camelot to wherever arthur was casually dying so he could have BROUGHT the cup. merlin being merlin and sacrificing nimueh and just by being EMRYS knows how to use it. so like come on why wouldn’t they use it ooof.
