What happened to Merlin at the end of the show, and did he ever get to live in a world where magic was accepted?

The question of which specific show you mean is important here, but given the context, this almost certainly refers to the BBC series Merlin that aired from 2008 to 2012, which ran for five seasons and told a reimagined version of the Arthurian legend with a young Merlin serving as a manservant to Prince Arthur before he became king. The ending of the BBC Merlin series is widely considered one of the most heartbreaking and controversial finales in British television history. In the final episode, Arthur is mortally wounded by Mordred during the Battle of Camlann, and Merlin desperately tries to get him to the Isle of Avalon in time to save his life. During this journey, Merlin finally reveals his magic to Arthur, a secret he had kept hidden throughout the entire series. Arthur's reaction is one of shock and a complicated mixture of emotions, but he does come to accept Merlin and even expresses gratitude and affection before he dies. Merlin fails to save Arthur in time, and the king dies in his arms on the shores of the lake. It is an enormously emotional scene that many fans found devastating precisely because the entire series had been building toward a world where magic would be accepted and Merlin could finally be free. The tragedy of the ending is compounded by the fact that Merlin never got to live in the world he had been promised and had worked toward for so long. Throughout the show, the Great Dragon repeatedly told Merlin that his destiny was to help Arthur create a golden age for Albion where magic would be restored and sorcerers could live openly. That golden age never arrived. Arthur died before he could lift the ban on magic that his father Uther had imposed, and the dream of a united, magic-accepting Camelot died with him. Merlin spent the entire series hiding who he was, making enormous sacrifices, and watching people he cared about suffer or die, all in service of a future that ultimately never materialized within the timeline of the show. The final scene of the series shows a brief flash-forward to the modern day, where an elderly Merlin is seen walking near what appears to be a contemporary road, suggesting he has been alive for centuries waiting for Arthur to return from Avalon as legend promises he will. This ending implies that Merlin is essentially immortal and still waiting, which some viewers found poetic and others found deeply sad. The show leaves open the possibility that Arthur will one day return when the world needs him most, and that Merlin will finally see his destiny fulfilled, but within the actual narrative of the series, none of that happens. Merlin is left alone, having outlived everyone he loved, still carrying his secret in a world that has moved on entirely. The reception to this ending was deeply divided among fans. Many felt it was a betrayal of the show's premise and the characters' journeys, particularly because Merlin's magic was only revealed to Arthur in the final hour and the promised golden age never came. Others appreciated the tragic dimension and felt it aligned with the melancholy undertones of Arthurian legend more broadly, since the traditional stories of Arthur are ultimately about the fall of a great civilization rather than its triumph. The showrunners have spoken about their intention to honor the mythological tradition in which Arthur's death is inevitable, but many fans felt the series had spent five years building toward something it ultimately refused to deliver, leaving Merlin's sacrifice feeling hollow rather than meaningful.