I don’t think it’s really a matter of disliking him. At this point I’m rather indifferent to him. I’d feel the same about Arthur at this point if it wasn’t for 4x09, which was the catalysis to go from indifference —> hate. Both of their character progression started to — well, regress during the third season. And I have no problem blaming this on the writers, but because of terrible writing, I can’t enjoy Arthur and Merlin as individual characters any more. There’s not enough growth with their characters. By series 4, Arthur is still bullying Merlin and Merlin, given the chance, bullies right back and these are not traits that I look for in a protagonist. Merlin actively regresses in his purpose to change the future for magic users. He’s even farther from his goal with opening Camelot up to a brighter future than he was in series 1. All he has is a destiny and it’s gotten stale for the past 4 seasons. ALSO HE STOOD BY GIVING LANCELOT A FANTASTIC FUNERAL WHILE NOT EVEN TELLING GWEN THAT LANCELOT WAS A PODFACE AND NOT REALLY LANCELOT AND MAYBE YOU WERE ENCHANTED BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THIS LANCELOT BUSINESS ISN’T SUSPICIOUS AT ALL UUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH YOU ARE THE WORST FRIEND, MERLIN. THE WORST FRIEND.

Okay, so he helped Gwen get to Ealdor safely after he pulled an arrow from her thigh in the freezing cold forest after she’d been laying there for hours because she was banished from her only home she’s ever known NBD.

I guess my biggest gripe with Merlin is that he’s so often used as comic relief (a long with Arthur) that his purpose becomes useless.