First of all, my heartfelt compliments for even attempting to make Uther something more than the one dimensional foil he's been portrayed as on the show (for understandable reasons). You've fleshed out, perhaps not completely convincingly, his complex relationship with magic, by using the metaphore of his relationship with Nimueh, and then Merlin---very clever.
I see a few weak points in this fic, however. I'll try to specifically focus on the dramatic impact of the end, and how I feel it might be enhanced.
For instance, I say "not completely convincingly", because for me, it seems like you spent a lot of time giving us the back story of Igraine, Nimueh and Uther, and then I feel like you sort of missed the dramatic climactic point of Arthur's birth. Arthur's birth *is* the turning point, Igraine's death, Uther realizing Nimueh's complete devotion to Igraine.
From a dramatic point of view, this is when Uther should be at his most irrational, this is when he should go berserk on magic, I think.
It is understandable that you wish to go another, more interesting (but delicate path), of having the fallout being deferred, by letting the feelings fester, and the big blow-out be the culmination. The problem is that when it happens, it doesn't happen progressively enough, and then scene where Nimueh is banished falls a bit flat.
Great fic; a few comments about the end (1/2).
First of all, my heartfelt compliments for even attempting to make Uther something more than the one dimensional foil he's been portrayed as on the show (for understandable reasons). You've fleshed out, perhaps not completely convincingly, his complex relationship with magic, by using the metaphore of his relationship with Nimueh, and then Merlin---very clever.
I see a few weak points in this fic, however. I'll try to specifically focus on the dramatic impact of the end, and how I feel it might be enhanced.
For instance, I say "not completely convincingly", because for me, it seems like you spent a lot of time giving us the back story of Igraine, Nimueh and Uther, and then I feel like you sort of missed the dramatic climactic point of Arthur's birth. Arthur's birth *is* the turning point, Igraine's death, Uther realizing Nimueh's complete devotion to Igraine.
From a dramatic point of view, this is when Uther should be at his most irrational, this is when he should go berserk on magic, I think.
It is understandable that you wish to go another, more interesting (but delicate path), of having the fallout being deferred, by letting the feelings fester, and the big blow-out be the culmination. The problem is that when it happens, it doesn't happen progressively enough, and then scene where Nimueh is banished falls a bit flat.
So that is one issue I had.