Merlin (TV series)/Awesome

"Will: There's too many of them! Merlin: Not for me."
 * One for Uther in "The Gates to Avalon," in which he spectacularly shoots down Arthur's proposal to allow him and Sophia to marry. Particularly notable in that most of the time, Uther is just a bit lacking in the sympathetic portrayal department. If Sophia had been portrayed as even slightly sympathetic, this would have looked totally different - but because the audience is already aware, watching Uther tear into his son for being an idiot was extremely gratifying.
 * Speaking of Uther Pendragon and badassitude, his defeat of Tristan Dubois in episode 9 seems to prove that kicking ass in armor is an inherited trait.
 * Merlin gets one when he defeats an entire group of raiders invading his home town with a miniature tornado.


 * Will gets a CMOA for that episode. Despite having professed his dislike for Arthur he
 * Also, Gwen saving Merlin's mother by hitting her attacker over the head with a shovel.
 * Arthur gets one by.
 * Merlin also kills Nimueh with a lightning bolt, defeats an entire group of sorcerers trying to kill the king, and kills a sorcerer who has been training his whole life and just destroyed Gaius in less than 20 seconds.
 * Merlin killing Nimueh should get its own entry, because it really does require elaboration for you to get how awesome it was. To set things up, Nimueh has pushed three of Merlin's Berserk Buttons (his best friend, his mother, and his mentor), and he's finally had enough and fires a magic bolt at her. She absorbs it easily, mocks him about his "childish tricks" being useless against her, and throws a fireball at him. He dodges, and she sends the second straight into his chest, leaving him for dead on the ground with a smoking hole in his shirt. Then no less than three of these kick in in less than a minute. All are done without a single incantation, which gives us the impression that these are Merlin's instinctive abilities.
 * Merlin gets up, completely unscathed, from a fireball to his chest. And this was before he.
 * After delivering a Pre-Mortem One-Liner, Merlin lifts his hand towards the sky, summoning a massive storm. Then he pulls lightning down from the clouds, striking Nimueh repeating with it until she explodes in a flash of light.
 * Rain falls down from the clouds, and somehow Merlin harnesses the power of the Old Religion to trade Nimueh's life for Gaius'. No artifacts, no incantations, just Merlin manipulating an age-old magic by sheer force of will.
 * Gaius finally telling Uther off for the brutality of his anti-magic crusade in "The Witchfinder." Basically, any time Uther gets/almost gets what's coming to him.
 * Possibly defeated by Merlin's
 * Merlin is the most powerful warlock of all time, and despite being relatively untrained, he beats people in the league of Sigan, Nimueh, Morgana (while in his ancient form as well, making him much physically weaker than her, Morgause, Mordred (who confirmed to be strong than Morgana) sort of, and the great dragon.
 * Morgause's entrance into Camelot.
 * Arthur attacking Uther in "Sins of the Father," blaming him for and telling him that magic is not evil. Awesomeness is somewhat dulled by the fact that later, Arthur forgives his father and blames magic for deceiving him.
 * Episode 8 of Season 2. CMOA for both Merlin and Uther. Uther for
 * The finale of Season 2.
 * In series three -
 * Gwen is out shopping with Morgana when she sees the disguised Morgause reflected in the mirror behind her, followed swiftly by Morgana clearly lying about what she was up to with "the old woman" of a few moments ago. Gwen keeps her cool, smoothly bluffs Morgana into thinking everything's fine, successfully conceals herself in Morgana's chambers and sees her practising dark magic, and then goes straight to a Reasonable Authority Figure to share what she knows. In a show that so often pushes the Reset Button and seems stuck on Status Quo Is God, it's immensely fitting that sensible Gwen is the one to finally refuse to ignore the obvious.
 * Topped only by her magnificent poker face in 3X12, when she assures Morgana that she's loyal to the new regime.
 * Pretty much all of 3x13. This troper spent most of the episode yelling, "that is so cool!" and blathering unintelligibly because there were no words for how epic everything was. Special points of interest include the round table, the knighting scene, and the sword in the stone.
 * All the heroes get their very own Crowning Moment of Awesome in 3X13:
 * Arthur.
 * Gwen.
 * Leon.
 * Lancelot.
 * Percival.
 * Gaius.
 * Elyan.
 * Gwaine.
 * Merlin.
 * In a little bit of Fridge Brilliance, now that
 * Well done, everybody. You totally deserved that slow-motion Glory March into Camelot.
 * This troper would like to nominate pretty much any scene in which Merlin fights without magic and still handles himself fairly well. The fighting leading up to the tornado in The Moment of Truth, and the Good Old Fisticuffs in the bar brawl in Gwaine were notable examples of Merlin subverting the Squishy Wizard trope.
 * Similar to the above Merlin is pretty awesome in the Season Four premiere, despite the issue that . The fact that he went up against them at all is remarkable.
 * He doesn't just go up against them. He . Bad. Ass.
 * Gotta give Morgana her due in the opening.
 * In the same episode, Percival abandoning his torch--the only weapon against the Dorocha--to save three kids. And then Elyan shows up in the nick of time and saves him.
 * After Agravaine orders the city gates to be closed during a time of crisis, Gwen confronts the council and reasons that the refugees are bringing their own food to barter with the villagers, and that the city resources will only have to hold out for three more days before Arthur succeeds in his quest. Despite Agravaine, Gwen gets the entire council on her side, and wins the argument. That's the future queen right there!
 * The Wicked Day:


 * In the same episode,
 * In Aithusa, when Merlin's trying to stop Borden from taking the dragon's egg. As awesome as it sounds.

"Gwen: *angry face* GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!"
 * In A Servant of Two Masters, Merlin (in his Dragoon disguise) dispatches the knights of Camelot. With haste. The best part: due to the effects of aging, he'd been having trouble climbing onto his horse. Three of the knights landed on top of each other, and he used them like stairs.
 * Gwen and Merlin in Lamia. Since the knights of Camelot were somewhat occupied, it was their turn to shine.
 * Gwen got her Mama Bear on. It turns out that her Berserk Button is Merlin.

"Lamia: I could have killed you at any time. Merlin: What are you waiting for?"
 * Merlin showed off his Badass Bookworm by acting as physician and keeping his cool in the face of a Lamia.


 * Merlin owning Agravaine and his men in the season four finale. He decided that enough was enough and showed them exactly who they were dealing with.
 * Later he breaks into Camelot disguised as Dragoon, leaves a Voodoo Doll under Morgana's bed, and smiles quietly to himself during their confrontation scene when Morgana realizes that she can't call up her magical powers. And then when she's on the brink of slashing Gwen's throat, he sneaks up and sends her hurtling down a corridor backwards, once again proving that trying to harm Guinevere is the dumbest thing that any villain can ever do on this show.
 * Arthur pulls Excalibur out of the stone in full view of all his people, thus proving himself a worthy leader and king.