#the so called greatest sorcerer of his period and trapped his spirit in a stone bc he's obsessed with immortality

[fluffypotatey]

I think Nimueh is my fave underrated Merlin villain just because she could've been So Much More than what they did with her. Tbh she should've been a multi-season villain, or, just as a thought, gotten a redemption arc to mirror Morgana's descension. Because she has SO MUCH POTENTIAL to be a very complex character in terms of her relationship with magic, her loyalty to the Old Religion, but also her history with Uther (and whoa, kudos to the actors for making their 30 seconds of shared screen time so obviously charged with Backstory) and her relationship with Ygraine and how that would translate into her relationship with Arthur as well. Like, she helped create him in a way, and this is the only son of a woman she clearly felt deeply for, so why could she not have some very conflicting maternal feelings about him? Does she care about Arthur and want him to be safe? Yes. Does she want to fry Uther like an overgrown skeeter on a bug-zapper? Also yes. These two things can and should coexist, and I am salty.

you ever wonder if Nimueh was the writer's 1st trial for Morgana? just because i feel her character fits with the Morgan Le Fay in the mythos (to me at least). because our first introduction to her is "evil witch lady out to harm Arthur" and then you learn she's super powerful and is Merlin's arch-nemesis in s1.

THEN she has beef with Uther and said beef could be used for like a complicated relationship with Arthur because she definitely cared for Ygraine and Arthur has that issue of clinging to anything that's related to his mother.

because you know Morgan Le Fay in the mythos had like a complicated relationship with Arthur. she, too, represented the pagan religion in britain versus the christian religion that Arthur sort of represented (because these legends were written around that point; i think the earliest account we have of Arthurian legends is 900s??? could be wrong) so you got that Old vs New Religion thing going on.

i think in one version with Morgan Le Fay, she's the one who helps take Arthur to Avalon and by this point she's "mellowed" out and isn't as inclined to kill Arthur but rather she will sometimes help him.

anyway, my thing here is that I believe (to an extent) that Nimueh was the writer's Morgana 1.0 but then they later decided to create a Morgan before she was hardened and evil so we got Morgana.

and maybe (speculation) that is why Nimueh is only a one season villain because she's was supposed to represent who Morgana would become later down the line and possibly a little cameo for the behind the scenes people.

but yeah, she definitely had more potential for more seasons in this show.