Morgana (episode)

"Morgana" is the fourteenth episode of Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. It is the first episode of the show's second season, introducing its titular main antagonist, Morgana. Its international titles include French "Le Pacte maléfique" ("The Evil Pact") and Italian "La terribile Morgana" ("The Terrible Morgana").

With the Jewel Quest complete, the Jewel Riders learn about the newly enhanced magic of their Enchanted Jewels and of a new mission to retrieve the special Wizard Jewels that can return Merlin home. But a bad surprise awaits them as they learn their battle against darkness is not really over yet. Soon, the girls discover that both their recently defeated enemy Lady Kale and the long-gone ancient wizard Morgana have been just both revived in Morgana's lair by the power of the Dark Stone, and the two have joined their powers against the followers of Merlin.

Plot summary[]

The story picks up shortly following the events of "Full Circle". The Jewel Riders have just completed their Jewel Quest, saving Avalon from the witchLady Kale, now gone seemingly for good along with her mysterious Dark Stone after Merlin's heroic sacrifice to defeat her. It seems that the threat to their kingdom is no more. Celebrations did not last long, however, as the girls are needed to contain the strange continued outbreaks of wild magic through Avalon. Somehow, the magic still remains unstable even without any of Kale's malicious meddling and despite all the Crown Jewels having been collected.

The Jewel Riders arrive in the Riverdells to see that a new outbreak of wild magic has moved a river out of its bed. They girls manage to fix the river, but they also completely wreck the nearby village in the process and the local people are not happy about it. It turns out that their Enchanted Jewels now channel all of the Crown Jewels' power, and so they have much stronger magic powers and a new set of Jewel Armor. They will now have to learn to control their new magic without Merlin's help. For at least a time being, the outbreaks are going to continue.

Meanwhile, within the Wild Magic, the witch queen Morgana is restored to a physical form in her lair when she is finally reunited with her long lost jewel, which turns out to be the Dark Stone. But the power of the Dark Stone also summons Lady Kale, who materializes back to life and meets Morgana. After a struggle over the ownership of the Dark Stone, Kale proves to Morgana that the jewel has been now tuned to her. United only by their mutual hatred for Merlin, the both witches reluctantly agree to team up. As Morgana cannot leave the Wild Magic without her jewel, she sends Kale back to Avalon to retrieve a mysterious book of magic from the ancient Hall of Wizards inside Wizard's Peak.

Back at the Jewel Keep, Queen Anya decides to send the Jewel Riders back to Wizard's Peak in the hope they might find some way to return Merlin to Avalon after all. Soon, the girls learn the hard way that they can not ride the Wild Magic with the Travel Trees, since their new magic makes them ride the tunnels too fast. They end up having to blast out of a dead end tunnel into the perilous Wild Magic itself. After surviving a close call, they are lucky to reunite with the friendly Gliders who help them with navigation through the great void and back to the safety.

Elsewhere, Lady Kale picks up Grimm and the dweasels from the Dweasel Nook house they have been living in since the end of first season. They then manage to reach the Hall of Wizards, where they re-awaken the Guardian genie. But thanks to a magical projection from Morgana, Kale is able to command the Guardian to help her find the book that Morgana seeks.

The Jewel Riders' arrive and are shocked to discover Lady Kale, thought to be no more, is back. This leads to a massive magical battle between the girls and the genie, forced by Kale's order to attack the Jewel Riders and try to destroy them as Kale uses the chaos to run away. The fight ends when Archie manages to convince the genie that they are Merlin's students and he can, and should, follow them instead of Kale. They all run to chase after Kale who is fleeing in the tunnels with the book.

They manage to catch up with Kale and quickly capture her with their now-superior powers, but Morgana appears to send her own and even stronger magic through the Dark Stone, freeing Kale and trapping the girls. Luckily, the Guardian saves them, but he gets trapped in a magic mirror because he turned against a wizard. Now it is the Jewel Riders who free the genie in turn, allowing him to steal the book back from Kale. Kale ends up accidentally destroying the book with her Dark Stone, and the resulting magical explosion causes both her and Morgana to disintegrate.

Once the fight is finally over, the girls reward the genie by officially setting him free of the wizard control. He explains that the book was about the Wizard Jewels, the jewels that once belonged to the great wizards of Avalon. Without their jewels, the wizards can not return to Avalon after Merlin banished them to the Wild Magic a thousand years ago. The girls decide to retrieve the jewels so they might use them to bring Merlin home. The dweasels eavesdrop it all and run off to tell Kale (who again has not been really destroyed, and neither was Morgana).

Behind the scenes[]

Original script[]

Main article: Morgana (script)

The differences compared to the final version include an unfilmed scene of Morgana's magic-energy cloud form and her materialization at the beginning.

Avalon: Web of Magic connections[]

The Dark Sorceress and the Spider Witch have a villain (fallen hero) team-up during the second half of Avalon, as do Kale and Morgana.
Adriane (and Emily, temporarily) gets enhanced athletic abilities from her jewel. This assumes that the Jewel Riders’ athleticism in this episode is also magical in nature.
The party experiences a similar mishap as the Jewel Riders the first time they attempt to ride the Magic Web.
Early on in the series, the Dark Sorceress is interested in taking the party’s jewels, just like how Morgana wants to take the Jewel Riders' jewels and use their magic.
Avalon is just one of many magical (and non-magical) worlds on the Magic Web.
The Power Crystals, like the Wizard Jewels, are attracted to places of strong magic.
The party combines a number of fairy and warlock maps to make a comprehensive map of the Magic Web. Also, the manor library contains a map of the Magic Web like the one in the Jewel Keep.