What a better way to introduce an article about why I like a character than to mention how much I loved said characters introduction. Excuse my language but Morgause's entrance was completely badass. When she first appears on screen you see her stating that Arthur's life was going to change...nothing too special. But her official introduction, the second time we see her, she's dropping guards to the floor like it's no problem. And she did it with only a sword and no magic. She proceeds to stomp right up to the castle like she owns the place and interrupts the knighting ceremony with a rather admirable degree of confidence. Like hot damn! As if that isn't completely kickass enough, Morgouse then stands before Arthur and is pretty much "bitch, fight me!" without an vocalization. After he asks her to reveal her identity and he does that whole 'omg ur a woman!1!!' thing she's pretty much like 'yeah I'm a woman, what of it.' Honestly this has got to be one of best character introductions I have seen next to maybe Azula's. Not only was it just intense but it was also an amazing show of character; her confidence, her abilities, and her general personality. All in one appearance. At this point she had spoken maybe 2 or 3 sentences. But lordy, lordy, that was all she needed to get her point across.
Which leads me to another point; while Morgause may not have had as much screentime as other characters, she sure made the most of her time. To be honest, up until Morgause, Merlin was something I was a casual fan of, like I watched it when I had time, I wasn't eager for the next episode; after Morgause made her debut that changed. Her character just pulled me in, even if she only had a single scene, it really made the whole episode for me.
Another huge factor for me, I touched on this in the first paragraph, was her 'so what, I'm a woman' attitude. I like how when Merlin told her that Arthur wasn't going to go easy on her if she didn't withdraw her challenge, she stated she didn't expect special treatment...nor did she want it. I've seen female characters who wanted to be tough and fight but at the same time they did expect special treatment, I don't mind this kind of character but I tend to enjoy Morgause's type more. She's tough and she doesn't want to be treated like this fragile breakable thing.
Which leads to another point, one that is also reoccurring in the above paragraphs. Her confidence. Damn, do I admire a confident character. Morgause has a mind of her own and when she has it set on something...it is set on the thing. And she never second guesses her plans to achieve whatever it is that Morgause aims to achieve. She has her plans and she doesn't go back on them, and seldom does she think that her plans will fail. Of course this does kind of walk into overconfidence and thus she ended up bringing upon her own downfall, but until then...
Heck, even after getting seriously injured she maintained this strange sort of confidence as she still had a plan she wanted to carry out and she did it, confident that it'd work.
And this plan took a good degree of courage, considering her plan was to, oh you know...sacrifice herself. A lot of the stuff she did was super bold and rather brave. She wasn't a coward, not in the slightest.
Of course to formulate any sort of plan, one needs brains. Which is another reason I like Morgause; she's smart. She isn't one of those cackling, 'lol, I'm so evil' villains. The woman was intelligent. After breaking into the castle that first time she didn't do it again, because that would just be stupidly risky. She was clever enough to get Morgana's assistance in this. And of course she had tact when meeting up with Morgana, such tact included an alias (at one point) and using magic to alter her appearance. For plot's sake though, of course she was exposed--now don't get me wrong, I love Morgana, but technically it was her fault as Merlin always followed her and such. Morgause also displays her chess-master side with Cenred; by getting on his good side she got his army. And she had him on a leash, knowing exactly what she'd do if he turned on her. And it worked. Like a charm I must say. And those are just a few examples.
Another reason I like Morgause is because she's simply a powerful character. She is very skilled in many areas. Not only is she one of the more dangerous sorceresses Merlin faced (raising the dead, creating two different types of immortal armies, ect) but she's also got craft with her sword. I mean she beat Arthur, up until her, he hadn't really been beaten in a one on one duel. The woman is talented.
I also really like that soft spot she has for Morgana. It shows that she isn't as heartless as she seems. This showed that her motives weren't completely vengeance and power driven; she wanted what was best for Morgana...for her little half-sister. She gave her life in hopes that it would make things better and easier for Morgana. I enjoy a villain who has some complexity and some humanity. Contrary to popular belief I don't think that Morgause is completely evil. Not at all. I also don't think she's self serving, as I said, a lot of what she did was for Morgana. Which leads to another thing; I don't think she was just using an manipulating Morgana. Morgause was manipulating and using Cenred. With Morgana, she called off her attack (even though she could have won) when she found out Merlin had poisoned Morgana. Basically I think Morgause is a well-rounded character.
She's pretty. Yup, that's another reason. I'd be lying if I said physical attractiveness has no role in this. To be even more honest, the fact that she looked like a character from a show I loved as a child is what initially baited me in. However, as far as physical appeal goes, I find that the more I like a character, the more physically appealing he/she becomes to me...
And finally Emilia Fox. She's a wonderful actress and she plays Morgause so well. I couldn't have cast her better. Her mannerisms, her gestures, and her facial expressions are on point. When she was holding Morgana, you can see the desperateness in her eyes...feel the emotion. Emilia is just brilliant.
Morgause, for me is just a wonderful character all around, I'm surprised it took so long for it to hit me in full swing how cool her character is.
