The Uther-conundrum

[astri13]

Random Merlin thought that popped into my head today because work was sooo boring:

We have had a couple of character names for episode titles, most notably "the coming of Arthur" (all yeh who haven`t sniggered, cast the first stone) but Lancelot, Gwaine, Guinivere and Uther all had a go (or two or three) as well.

Only notice that in Uther`s case, it was always his full name aka The Tears of Uther Pendragon or The Death Song of Uther Pendragon.

I can maybe explain away Lance, Gwaine and Gwen on account of not having any last name, "du Lac" wasn`t Lancelot`s, just a pun on the legends and the episode in question. But Arthur most certainly has and his episode titles didn`t read as "The Coming of Arthur Pendragon" or "La Morte D`Arthur Pendragon".

So why go there with Uther? Did they think the audience would get really confused and go "there are so many Uthers running around, good thing the episode won`t be about Uther Smith then, or, god forbid, Uther Jones"? *g*

Yeah, like I said, work was really boring today. :)

Comments

[legoline.livejournal.com]

*rubs hands*

For one, I think it's because "Uther Pendragon" just has a nicer ring to it as plain old "Uther". Second and more importantly, it's quite a mouthful. It's a long and intimidating name, burdened with history and evil deeds, and it including the whole name automatically creates distance between the viewer and Uther. He is the king, after all, feared by many.

Arthur, Gwaine, Lancelot--they're all good guys. We like them. So only the first names are used to evoke the feeling of familiarity and some sort of intimacy; they're our friends, after all.

Gosh, I love overinterpreting things :-)

[astri13.livejournal.com]

Heh, that is a perfectly valid interpretation. :) Not sure the producers/writers thought that far but it makes perfect sense. And you are right "Uther Pendragon" does have a nice ring to it. I bet all the other characters in the show are so jealous of Arthur now for being the only one left with a last name, even other royals. *g*

[frogspace.livejournal.com]

My guess is that Uther isn't a name the common TV viewer who isn't a regular viewer of the series can be expected to know, Pendragon, however, is.

[astri13.livejournal.com]

Makes sense, too. I just found it really amusing for some reason, almost like Uther needs his full and proper title always and forever. :)