Yeah, I'd be curious to read more meta on women overall in Merlin. Maybe I'll try to order my thoughts after I finish this season 3 rewatch. Watching the episode with Elena made me cringe so much because of the weird way women were portrayed.

I was definitely reminded of your comparison between Uther and Merlin! And how Merlin uses opportunities to get Arthur to become King - which Uther definitely does too. I'm not sure there's ever a point where Arthur affirmatively wants the thrown until Season 4 when he has the Knights around him.