Episode 19: Character Study: Gaius & Uther

cover art in which Merlin wears a headset with microphone and holds up a finger to his lips as if to tell you to be quiet

In today’s episode, MissSnowFox and momo, along with two guests,  take a closer look at Gaius and Uther, and how their characters developed over the seasons. The legendary Uther is introduced, and of course we also take a look at fanworks about these two.

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To stream or download the episode, and to find all relevant links, check below the cut. This episode got a bit long, so we provide you with two versions: One with news and talkbacks, and one without! The longer version is ~2h 15m long, and the short version only ~2h 4m. Embedded in this post will be the long version.

Download long version [Right click, save as] or short version [Right click, save as]


News:

Merlin Canon Fest Episode List
Podfic Big Bang
Merlisten Discord Server
Maryluis’ Artbook #MedievalHusbands
Pod-Together
Unconventional Courtship
Bottom-Arthur Fest

Resources

Saturne on AO3
Saturne on tumblr
CloudFactory
Archaeologist_D’s comment on Episode 14: Mordred
tumblr post on Merlin talking to Finna about the return of magic, first discussed in Merlisten Episode 14: Mordred
Podfic: Mr Emrys and the Prat/Brat
Episode Review: Gates of Avalon
Episode Review: Valiant [the one where Gaius hesitates when Merlin asks what he would do if it got out that Merlin has magic]

Statistics

AO3 stats on 17 May 2018:

  • Gaius
    • 3,493 works tagged with “Gaius (Merlin)” → 1,893 without Merthur
  • Uther
    • 2,759 works tagged with “Uther Pendragon (Merlin)” → 1,266 without Merthur

Top 5 pairings for Uther:

  • Ygraine/Uther (198)
  • Merlin/Uther (113)
  • Morgana/Uther (53)
  • Arthur/Uther (40)
  • Gaius/Uther (35)

Top 5 pairings for Gaius:

  • Uther/Gaius (35)
  • Alice/Gaius (27)
  • Gaius/Merlin (14)
  • Agravaine/Gaius (3)
  • And the rest is negligible because they all have 1 work

Recs & Mentioned Fanworks

Le dernier souffle de Kilgharrah by Saturne
Intended by new_kate, podfic by Lunchee
Rusty Spoons (And What to Do with Them) by comeseetheuniverse
Saturne’s comic about the Useless Guards of Camelot (TM)
Into His Own by sarcasticchik, Podfic by regonym
Remember Remember, the Fifth of November by AngelQueen, Podfic by hebecious [warning: non-explicit half-sibling incest]
Gluttony by Lilian_Cho
For Your Information by reni_days, Podfic by Ceebee
Experienced by lolafeist, only podfic by Sophinisba still available, Uther/Merlin
The Story Of King Uther edited by estaaaas
Uther Pendragon | Almost Perfect Dream edited by estaaaas
Gaius {By Your Side} edited by TwoSidesStudios
Uther Pendragon • Everybody loves me edited by estaaaas

10 thoughts on “Episode 19: Character Study: Gaius & Uther

  1. I also adore ‘For your information’. It’s my go-to fic whenever I need a smile. It’s just so cute.
    Obviously people need to write more Uther and Gaius stories. 🙂

  2. As for 5×03 Uther, I think that the last moment when we see his complete self is in the spirit realm. Even when he says that he’s disappointed in Arthur’s decisions, you can see that he still cares about him. He doesn’t want him to get trapped in the world of dead. “I will always love you, Arthur,” are the last words we hear from him.

    Everything after that is just some sort of an echo, a manifestation of Uther’s disappointment, but it’s not Uther because real Uther would never be able to harm Arthur.

  3. I don’t think Uther would execute Morgana for having magic. She is his daugher and he cares about her a lot. He did throw her into the dungeon for going against him, but he did the same when Arthur went against his order by getting a pretty flower for Merlin, and we know that Uther loves Arthur.

    You can see her importance to him in the fact that her betrayal broke him. That wouldn’t have happen if he didn’t truly care about her.

    So I’d say that he would have acted like a total hypocrite and pretended that Morgana doesn’t have magic. Maybe he’d keep her imprisoned and then he’d try to find a culprit who led his precious daughter on the path of magic (and that would be probably what would drive Morgana straight into arms of Morgause because she’d be able to free her and teach her about magic).

  4. Gaius isn’t a bad mentor though. Merlin is a trained physician in the later seasons and he clearly knows his stuff in that regard, so Gaius obviously taught him a lot. He’s just a bad mentor for magical stuff. 😀

    But lets be honest, if Merlin stayed with Hunith, he wouldn’t get any better magical mentoring. And Hunith probably didn’t know about druids, so Gaius must have seemed like the only possible choice, no matter how imperfect.

  5. When I was looking through my folder of older fic for recs for the Early fics episode, I found two Merthur fics concentrating on Uther’s character:

    “A Pendragons Heart (Is a Terrible Thing)” by pepperlandgirl4
    Uther has never understood his son’s relationship with his manservant and thinks it may just be a one-off fling. That is until one day when Merlin is found bloody and beaten and is fighting for his life. Uther finds his son huddled up in his chambers crying, and reminds him of how he felt when Ygraine was dying/ had died. Without saying a word he comforts his son and begins to understand their relationship

    And then there’s a modern AU remix:
    “a pendragon’s heart (is forever) [the five flashbacks remix]” by eyesofapanda
    A decade after Arthur hires Merlin as his personal assistant, a trip to the hospital forces Uther to look back thirty-five years, to when his son was born and his wife lost forever, in order to understand that the way his son feels is the same as his very own.

  6. I think this relationship is super interesting… I really wish they did a spinoff called Uther & Gaius (or Gaius & Uther) where they explore their younger years. I feel like their relationship would be similar (with obviously some distinctions) to Arthur & Merlin’s relationship when they were younger. I made a MyCast for this, but as I don’t know many British actors, I would love it if people help add cast members/characters!
    https://www.mycast.io/stories/the-adventures-of-uther-gaius

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