Series 2 (part 1): What Would Have Happened If...

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.)!