Morgana (Tales of Arcadia)

"The Eternal Night is here!"

- Morgana's most famous line.

Morgana (real name Morgan le Fay) is a major antagonist in the Tales of Arcadia trilogy, serving as the ultimate antagonist in Trollhunters and a background antagonist in 3 Below. She is a powerful sorceress who was Merlin's pupil before she betrayed him, and served as Claire's possessor as well as her arch-nemesis.

She was voiced by Lena Headey, who also played Ma-Ma in Dredd, Aunt Grandma in Uncle Grampa, Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, and Big Mama in TMNT 2018.

Background
Morgana was a wizard who once lived in the dead-filled forests of Bulgaria that exists before the creation of trolls and humans. She was also one of Merlin's students but with whom she experimented and developed all kinds of magical spells. But in time, she betrayed him and he became her sworn enemy, developing an intense hatred for the wizard for taking her left hand to forge the Amulet of Daylight. She subsequently utilized an emerald prosthetic to replace it.

Craving chaos, Morgana sowed the seeds of conflict between humans and trolls. This lead to the rotting of the hearth stone and birth of the evil troll Gunmar. Her ultimate goal is to bring forth the Eternal Night so she can use Gunmar and his armies to take over the world without the Sun burning them or turning them into stone.

However, during the Battle of Killahead, unseen by the trolls fighting over the Killahead Bridge in the Forest of Killahead, Morgana engaged Merlin an epic duel for the fate of the world. Merlin managed to triumph over Morgana, imprisoning her within the Heartstone beneath what would be called Arcadia, at the cost of most of his magic.

Part 1
It is shown that in the year 1297 A.D., Angor Rot sought out Morgana and asked for power so he can protect his village from Gunmar and his armies. However, the Pale Lady instead turned Angor's offering into a curse and made his soul a ring called the Inferna Copula, which she would use to enslave Angor Rot, using him to kill the Trollhunters. At some point in her life, she lost the Inferna Copula, which eventually came to the changling named Stricklander.

Part 2
It is shown that the Janus Order, an evil organization of changlings, led by Otto Scarrbach, are dedicated to freeing Gunmar. They worship Morgana, who speaks to them through an old turntable. However, she abandons them after Gunmar enters the Janus Order's secret base and kills them all before going to Troll market (except for Otto Scarrbach, who he uses as a vessel to distract the new Trollhunter, Jim Lake Jr., but Otto is killed by Jim).

In the final episode of Season 2, In the Hall of the Gumm-Gumm King, after Gunmar takes control of Troll market with Usurna's help, Claire Nuñez is linked to Morgana because of the Shadow Staff (which she took from Angor Rot in Part 1). She takes Angor's head and goes to Morgana to free her from her imprisonment.

Part 3
From the Janus Order's phonograph, Dictatious Maximus Galadrigal hears Morgana's voice, which repeatedly whispers, “I will return.” Morgana then creepily reaches out her right hand out of the phonograph's horn at Dictatious' ear. Dictatious tells this to Usurna, who believes Morgana to be nothing but a myth. Usurna throws the phonograph down a hole, saying it will be forgotten to the ages.

However, from her prison, Morgana is able to call out to Gunmar through a book in Blinky's library, and reveals to him a shrine in Bulgaria. At the said shrine, Morgana has Claire give her the head of Angor Rot, promising that her champion will find the way to bring forth the doomsday-scenario, the Eternal Night, upon the world. She also tells Gunmar that Dictatious is a fraud.

Morgana tries to use her connection with Claire on a murder attempt on Jim Lake, Jr., who is now the Trollhunter, but fails and gets subjugated by Jim and Toby with help from Blinky and Stricklander. Using Claire's body, she gloats about herself and tries to use it as a distraction, but Stricklander and Blinky are able to open a portal to the Shadow Realm, thus allowing Jim and Toby to return Claire's spirit to her body before she is lost for good. Morgana nearly succeeds in tempting Stricklander into closing the portal, but it is too late for her; the boys are able to return Claire's spirit to her body, thus severing her and Morgana's connection.

Morgana's spirit appears once again at the Temple of Aysa-Thoon toward Gunmar, a brainwashed Draal, and a chained Aaarrrggghhh. Gunmar gives her Angor's eye, thus restoring his soul and resurrecting him so she can use him as her assassin once again. Once resurrected, Angor vows to kill Jim Lake, Jr. once and for all. Morgana tells Gunmar and Angor to set up a trap for the Trollhunter and his friends.

At the time Gunmar takes the Staff of Avalon from Merlin's tomb, a wisp reveals that Morgana's body is trapped in a secret chamber beneath the Heartstone in Trollmarket. Angor soon arrives at Trollmarket to confront Gunmar for betraying him and leaving him for dead, but Morgana reminds Angor of who he truly serves, but threatens to destroy him if he fails her.

Gunmar attempts to use the Staff of Avalon to free Morgana's body, but realizes that only humans can wield the staff. With that, he demands that Ursuna kidnap a changeling, who fails. However, Gunmar is able to use his forces to kidnap both Stricklander and Barbara Lake, holding Barbara hostage to convince Stricklander into freeing Morgana in exchange for Barbara's life. While Stricklander holds the staff and speaks the incantation, he uses it to attack Gunmar. Then, he and Barbara escape, not realizing the Staff is still activated, thus unknowingly allowing Gunmar to use it to free Morgana's body. Morgana's spirit enters her body seconds before this happens. With Gunmar's help, Morgana is finally free of her imprisonment, where she proclaims, “The Eternal Night is here!”

Now that she is finally free after centuries of being imprisoned, Morgana begins to create the Eternal Night, starting with killing off a few of Gunmar's Gumm-Gumm soldiers to use their remains in her spell, declaring it a sacrifice. She also activates the Staff of Avalon. While Gunmar makes a speech about trollkind's dominance in the world, Morgana holds a private meeting with Angor Rot, in which she reveals that Gunmar is merely a pawn to do what she wants, and that he will be disposed of once he's outlived his usefulness.

Soon, cracks begin to form in the ground underneath the canal, and Claire and Toby, wearing new suits of armor gifted to them by Merlin, arrive at the Battle of the Bands once high school is over for the year. Once her, Darci, and Mary's performance starts, Claire tries to get everyone to evacuate from what is to come, but Darci and Mary don't believe it, believing it's just part of the performance. They realize it's too late and that Claire was right all along, as the ground shatters and a fiery twister shoots up into the air, covering Arcadia entirely in darkness and allowing Gunmar's army to emerge from underneath and attack the citizens. Meanwhile, both Merlin and Aaarrrggghhh try to ambush Morgana. They manage to regain the Staff of Avalon, but realize too late that she has drained it of its power and siphon Merlin's magic for herself. Morgana continues to brutalize Merlin without hesitation, but Aaarrrggghhh is able to summon the spirits of past Trollhunters, which possess the Gumm-Gumms guarding Trollmarket, using them to attack Morgana.

Presumably slaying all of the possessed Gumm-Gumms, Morgana proceeds to come from underground, and confronts Jim in his new half-troll form, who has just slain Gunmar. She uses her power to toss Jim from Arcadia square all the way to the bridge, where she begins to attack him mercilessly. When Jim asks her what her problem is with him, Morgana reveals that Merlin cut off her left hand and used it to create the Amulet of Daylight, but uses this as an excuse to her advantage. She tries to cast Jim into the fiery twister, only for the latter to be rescued by Toby, who has emerged from a portal. Soon, she sees that the Trollhunter and company are attacking her from all sides. She uses her magic to restrain them all, only to be confronted by Angor Rot. Morgana offers him a final blow to Jim, but he instead punches her, where he detests Morgana, claiming he's no one's pawn. Seeing that Angor was redeemed, Morgana demands Jim what he told Angor, and strikes Jim before fighting Angor, the latter of which is able to restrain her, allowing Jim to ram the Sword of Daylight through both of them. While Angor bids him farewell, Morgana gloats about how the Sword can only work on trolls, before she casts a deadly spell to attempt murder on Jim and his friends. However, Jim is able to take the full blast of her spell, which knocks him unconscious. In his final moments, Angor spots the Shadow Staff, urging Claire to use it. Claire opens a portal to the Shadow Realm and tries to force Morgana through, but the latter blasts Angor into pieces and takes Claire with her into the portal. However, Claire is able to make another portal out of the Shadow Realm, but is snatched by Morgana's magic, who tries to pull her into the Shadow Realm by force. Claire tells Toby to destroy the Shadow Staff and throws it to Aaarrrggghhh, who holds it on the ground so Toby can smash the Staff with his warhammer. The Shadow Staff is destroyed, thus causing an explosion of dark energy which forced Morgana to release Claire and enabled Blinky to pull Claire out. Morgana shrieks as the portal closes and she gets trapped in the Shadow Realm. With that, Merlin gets all his magic back, and uses it to end the Eternal Night.

Morgana's faith remains unknown, though it's possible that she remains in the Shadow Realm for life. However, at the end of the episode, Merlin got his magic back, but the only way he could get it back was that Morgana was killed. So, it's possible she died off-screen after being pulled back into the Shadow Realm.

3 Below
Morgana never appears in this series; however, her assault on Arcadia and the Eternal Night caused by her are shown onscreen. Aja, Krel, Varvatos Vex, and Zadra were shown to kill some of the Gumm-Gumms that Morgana used in her attack.

Personality
"She's beautiful… but totally evil. Yeah. Yeah. We have to stop her."

- Tobias Domzalski about Morgana.

Morgana is a being of pure evil. She is incredibly sadistic, treacherous, scheming and cruel, using Angor Rot to kill Merlin's Trollhunters with her Inferna Copula, and forcing him against his own will. Her hate even extends to Merlin himself as he created the Amulet of Daylight with her left hand, something he took away from her.

In spite of this, what makes her all the eviler are her destructive characteristics, as she wants to wreak havoc on the world by releasing the Eternal Night upon it, which would keep the Sun from shining on the Earth permanently and allow trollkind to consume mankind. However, she does not truly care about trolls, as evidenced when she killed some Gumm-Gumms to cause the Eternal Night. Thus, this makes Morgana an even worse threat than Gunmar as she is more powerful than him, and has moral agency, but she chooses evil over good.

Quotes
"(Claire: Pale Lady, I bring thee Angor Rot.) My champion! Again, you shall RISE and set me FREE!"

- Morgana receiving Angor Rot's head from Claire Nuñez, saying she wants to be free of her imprisonment.

"I will return. I will return. I will return."

- Morgana before creepily reaching out her right hand out of the Janus Order's phonograph at Dictatious' ear.

"My, you are strong! Strong enough to wield my weapon, strong enough to be my gracious host! You open a big-enough door, something's bound to escape! (…) You've already told Gunmar all he needs to know but since I'm out and about, I though we kill Merlin's Trollhunter as soon as we get him alone!"

- Morgana taunting Claire before possessing her.

"Gunmar is a pawn, a brute to get what I want. In time, he will be disposed of."

- Morgana revealing to Angor Rot that she is merely using Gunmar as a tool for her scheme.

"Merlin never told you how he made your amulet! He took my left hand!"

- Morgana reveals that Merlin removed her left hand in order to make the amulet.

"You! What did you tell him?"

- Morgana discovers that Jim told Angor his true past.

Trivia

 * When Morgana makes the Inferna Copula, she does so with her right hand. Ironically, in The Hall of the Gumm-Gumm King, her right-hand does not glow, unlike her face and her left hand.
 * This is because her right hand is actually part of her body, while her left hand is a prosthetic.
 * Despite Gunmar being the main antagonist, Morgana was the final antagonist to be defeated.
 * This version of Morgana is both Morgan le Fay from Authurian mythology and Baba Yaga from Russian folklore as one character.
 * Due to using Angor Rot to kill Merlin's Trollhunters with her Inferna Copula, and forcing him against his own will, Morgana is one of the four most evil DreamWorks Animation villains, along with Grimmel the Grisly, due to his madness to kill all dragons, Drago Bludvist, due to his madness to rule over the world and kill anyone who gets in his way and General Mandible, due to leading several soldier ants to their doom and attempting genocide on his own colony.