Morgan Le Fay

Morgan Le Fay
Character Details
Full name	Morgan Le Fay
Alias(es)	Lucinda McCabe
Relative(s)	King Arthur (brother, deceased)
Occupation	Sorceress
Status	Alive
Series Details
First appearance	"And the Rule of Three"
Last appearance	"And the Rule of Three"
Portrayed by	Alicia Witt

"Noli timere malum, sed time heroa."
—Morgan to Eve

Morgan Le Fay, also known as Lucinda McCabe, is a powerful immortal sorceress and the sister of King Arthur.

Biography

According to Jenkins, she was the sister of King Arthur. He blames her for both the death of King Arthur and the downfall of Camelot. He also said she had left "a trail of blood a thousand years long". However, she doesn't agree with his assessment of her role in the fall of Camelot, saying, "we both know that's not true."

In 2014, she ran a company called the McCabe Learning Foundation under her alias Lucinda McCabe. She hosted the Chicagoland STEM Fair to set up highly motivated students to compete against each other. She then provided them and their parents with the Advanced Learning Buddy, an app that contained a wish-fulfillment spell embedded in the code. The contestants and the parents used the app whilst wishing for their competitors to be unlucky, invoking the karmic Rule of Three. This would trigger a magical backlash with three times as much power as was expended to make the competition unlucky. Morgan could then feed from that magic to fuel her magical powers and keep herself young.

She welcomed the Librarians to the fair, believing them to be the county librarians who were judges. As "accidents" fuelled by the wish-fulfillment spell continued to happen, she came up with explanations that kept the crowds calm and allowed the fair to continue. She had also set up a magical Faraday cage at the booth of Amy Meyer, knowing that she was the front-runner and would attract most of the hatred from the users of the app. Keeping the fair running and protecting Amy from the effects of the spell allowed the magic to continue building.

While looking for the trophies, Morgan stumbled upon the Back Door and walked into the Annex, where she was confronted by Jenkins and later Eve Baird. Jenkins recognized her as Morgan Le Fay and wanted Eve to shoot her. She explained her plan to them and, after magically silencing Jenkins, froze the bullets Eve fired at her. Walking back to the fair, she explained to the Librarians that she merely provided the magic and let the selfishness of the kids do all the dirty work for her, meaning she was safe from the Rule of Three as she hadn't actually harmed anyone herself.

While watching the fair, she was surprised when Eve confronted her and was able to physically punch her. Eve explained that she had used Morgan's own magical app against her by wishing for an even playing field. Eve was prepared to kill Morgan, but chose to save the students and parents when Morgan pointed out that she only had time for one.

Once the backlash dissipated in the pentagram Faraday cage, Morgan pulled Eve into the space between the seconds. Eve tried to fight her using the app again, which Morgan responded to by simply breaking the phone. Eve asked what Morgan was up to and questioned if she wanted to rule the world and bring magic back. Morgan replied that she merely wanted to hide in preparation for what is coming. As she lefts, she gave Eve a message for Jenkins: "Noli timere malum, sed time heroa", which Jenkins translated as "Do not fear the villain, fear the hero". Morgan then snapped her fingers and was gone.

Morgan is spoken of again on a number of occasions but never seen. She is referenced by Jenkins, for example, when he is trying to alert Cassandra Cillian to the dangers of Mathemagic after her run-in with the Ladies of the Lake in "And the Cost of Education".

In the alternate timeline where Cassandra became the Librarian, she worked with Morgan, who warned her about the events surrounding the Loom of Fate, as well as teaching her to open doors to other dimensions..

Personality

Morgan comes across as calculating and power-hungry, but also highly clever and charismatic. She was able to disguise herself well as Lucinda McCabe, and only attracted the attention of the Librarians once she found the Annex.

She is highly cynical and was able to manipulate the students and parents into creating their own doom simply by giving them the app, knowing that they would do the dirty work themselves. In general, she seems to avoid direct attacks--she silenced Jenkins with a spell, but did not hurt Eve or anyone else, merely blocking the bullets and destroying the phone to prevent harm being done to her. She also mentioned she just wants to protect herself and that her goal in achieving power is simply to survive, although she was willing to let others come to harm in order to reach that goal.

She is highly honest and even Jenkins admitted that while she has many vices, lying is not one of them.

Morgan appears to enjoy a challenge, so long as the threat is a manageable one. She seemed to be genuinely excited by the fact that Eve had figured out a way to hurt her, and slightly disappointed that Eve chose to save the students rather than continue their fight. Once she had what she wanted, however, she easily removed Eve's ability to harm her.

Her role in mentoring Cassandra in the alternate timeline implies that she is willing to work with others if it suits her.

Powers and Abilities

• Sorceress: Morgan is a highly powerful magic user. She designed a wish-fulfillment spell that could be translated into an app, blending together advanced magic and technology. She was also able to silence Jenkins (who is nearly immune to magic) with a simple gesture, block bullets in midair, and disappear in an instant. When talking with Eve Baird, she demonstrated the ability to pause time. She also has the power to open portals to other dimensions.
• Immortality: Morgan is over 1000 years old.
• Manipulation: Morgan is able to make others do what she wants to achieve her own goals. She was able to create an entire fair just to make students use her app. 
• Strategist: According to Jenkins, Morgan was able to cause the fall of Camelot and kill King Arthur. She was also able to make her plan succeed despite the interference of the Librarians. When cornered by Eve, she managed to negotiate her way out of it and avoided being killed. Jenkins also said that she had not been surprised by anyone in the last century.
• Disguise: She was very convincing as Lucinda McCabe, even knowing the right words to rally a group of science fans. Had she not stumbled upon the Back Door, she could easily have gotten away with her scheme without the Librarians realizing who was behind it.

Appearances

The Librarians

Season 1

• "And the Rule of Three"

Quotes

• "I prefer 'sorceress'. 'Witch' has too much gender baggage."
• "When Tennyson became popular, it was a nightmare."
• "I never hurt anyone, darling. That's the scam. Put magic in the hands of mortals, and they will inevitably destroy each other."
• To Eve Baird: "I do believe you have a chance. It's the first time I've hurt in centures."
• "Guardian, on your best day, you might be able to muss up my hair, and you already had your best day."

Trivia

• In most versions of the Arthurian legends, Morgan is Arthur's half-sister and a creature of magic in a manner similar to Merlin.
• In the series, Morgan is the first major practitioner of Mathemagic the new Librarians encounter.
• Morgan is also one of the most powerful magic users encountered by the Librarians over the course of the series. Although they manage to mitigate some of the damage caused by her actions, they aren't able to prevent her from succeeding at replenishing her magic or escaping them. Even Eve's brief ability to cause her physical harm isn't a real threat, as Morgan simply destroys the phone that Eve was using to run the wish spell. She is also able to magically hurt Jenkins, who is essentially immune to magic, with what appears to be a simple hand gesture. Her use of magic has also made her immortal and nigh-invulnerable.
• There were multiple attempts made to bring Morgan back for later episodes, but Alicia Witt was unavailable due to other roles. At one point, there was a plan to have her appear in "And the Happily Ever Afters", playing a "frenemy"-type role where she would come to harrass the Librarians and instead find them trapped in the fantasy world. Unfortunately, Alicia had just been booked on another show on the same day the producers asked her about appearing. The role instead became the character of Ariel.
• John Rogers describes Morgan as "an eminently practical (and misunderstood) survivor in a brutal secret world."
• He also said that she would have crossed paths with other Librarians in the past, "including Judson. Whom she adored, after they worked together to handle that pixie problem."
• As with all legends, the truth of the fall of Camelot is complicated. Jenkins is not an unbiased source, and what he tells Eve in the episode is not the full story.