Merlin "The Diamond of the Day" Season 5, Episode 12-13

 

   The Diamond of the Day Analysis

                                                                                                                               (Morgana in her court)

        The fifth series finale of "Merlin" was put into a two part episode finale. Starting atop the the mound that Morgana resides in, A powerful druid appears in Morgana's hall, this druid turns out to be the entire reveal and beginning of the goals of Morgana and why she needs powerful magic users. this seems to follow the same as every other Arthurian story by having a character of interest entering from another "world" to either assist or challenge the leader of the court to some sort of adventure. Even thought the court is also in the other world but its still the same idea as Meleagant entering the court to steal Guinevere, or the Green knight entering the court to challenge Gawain. Since Merlin is told through a different media then the old romances the concepts and components of the Arthurian world may be harder to find and much more diverse but just like every story if you look far enough look back into the past fantasy world that if you dig deep enough this bare skeleton of this story is the same as any other we read as fans of the genre.

(the Crystal cave Merlin goes too)

     The next component of the story that I want to talk about is the quest Morgana forced Merlin into by stealing his magic, in response Merlin and Gawain ride off to the Crystal Cave to try and find a place to regain Merlin's magic, during this time Morgana and her consults are trying to find ways to take over Camelot now that Merlin has lost his magic. As they consult they come to realize the abilities of the Crystal Cave and that it would be Merlin's most likely next step to go. After sending Gawain off and away, Merlin takes his time wandering through the cave before finally meeting his opponents that are the cause of his presence in the cave. After a short scuffle Merlin finally laid a stab onto Morgana before Morgana can get away. This moment in the story was very important when watching this, not only does it take the idea of having adversity in your noble adventures, but the opposition that is ran into turns out to be the final goal to reach at the end of the story weather Merlin knew it or not. When Merlin was able to lay injury to Morgana this was basically a symbol that even without the magic Merlin is still a threat.

 Lake Avalon and Excalibur 

    The final part that I wanted to touch base on was from the scene from Lake Avalon, aka the Lady of the Lake and the original place of Excalibur. This scene is the final conflict of the entire episodic finale, Morgana and Merlin face off magic versus Excalibur, Merlin exclaims his self disappointment in what she became before driving Excalibur through Morgana's chest finally laying the fatal blow. afterwards  Merlin approaches Arthur who is in a terrible condition. This end scene was drastically different compared to the first time we ever saw the death of King Arthur, instead of dying in the blazing and depleting glory of his courts personal civil war. Instead he dies peacefully in his most trusted companions arms. After Arthur's death two final things happen, Excalibur gets returned to the lady of the lake and merlin finally sets Arthur adrift atop of Lake Avalon where his body will be at peace. this final part of the show was terribly important when watching it reminded me of both the Christian scene of Moses being set afloat as a child, and the scene of the women being set adrift back to Camelot after dying.

   

      In conclusion the story of the Diamond of the Day in the show Merlin was a great modern adaptation of the Arthur stories, using new found ideas of plot points with the mediaeval components of story to finally create a beautiful mix to represent and show new coming generations to experience old human literature with easier medias.