I'm assuming this refers to the main cast and/or recurring characters.
And in that case, I'm going to have to go with Gaius.
Uh oh, he's giving me the Eyebrow of Doom.
I say Gaius because I have this problem with him where he's supposed to be this wise mentor figure, (and Merlin clearly thinks he is), but actually spends a good deal of the time not having a clue what he's doing, and then acting as if he's right.
For instance, the ever-talked-of issue about Morgana in season 2. Now, whether or not I think Merlin was to blame for Morgana's descent because of what he did or didn't do (spoiler alert: I don't), Gaius does actually have something to answer for here. And that's that he knew that Morgana had magic. And he refused to tell her, citing the "for her own good" spiel.
Which is pretty stupid, considering that A) even if Morgana was unaware of Merlin, Gaius does actually have prior experience protecting people from Uther's anti-magic laws and could have helped without endangering himself, since everyone already knows that he used to practise magic. And B): he already knows that Morgana's magic is out of control, and he knows that the only way Merlin got his own magic under control was learning how to harness it. And yet Gaius refuses to put two and two together here and help Morgana come to terms with herself.
Gaius also has a way of being willfully blind to certain things, and this becomes really irritating when Merlin, who is sort of the idealist to Gaius's realist, ends up being berated for following his morals - how can he not be like Gaius, who has had so much practice doing nothing about the horrible things Uther's done? Granted, that was how Gaius survived the Great Purge, but it seems to have developed into a habit.
And I'd be able to accept that - after all, the character flaws and distorted perceptions are often what make characters most interesting - except that the narrative seems determined to insist that Gaius Is Always Right. (When, actually, more often than not, the Great Dragon actually has more useful advice - not always, but often). But there's another, bigger, more real problem I have with Gaius, and it's this:
Gaius just bores me.
I've seen two, maybe three facial expressions from him. And that's not really the character's fault - the writers don't give him much to do besides read what the Monster of the Week is to Merlin out of a dusty-looking tome, and then make some happy-slappy joke at the end of the episode - and especially in the last couple seasons, Gaius is mostly useless. I completely accept that he was needed near the beginning, because Merlin needed someone to know who he was and to help him come into himself. But after that's been accomplished - and I think that happens fairly early, The Last Dragonlord representing the most significant first step in that direction - Gaius doesn't have much left to do. In fact, I fully expected him to be killed off before the end of the series. How great of a catalyst would that have been for Merlin to seek out Morgana? How great would it have been to see Merlin fight Morgana not with the usual righteousness, but with his own darkness? Then, perhaps, Gaius's character would have served an actual emotional purpose, rather than acting as exposition personified.
But I digress slightly. The point is, I think that after, say, season 3 (season 4 at the very latest), the show could have gone on pretty fine without him. And when a character gets to the point where they contribute pretty much nothing to my enjoyment of the show, it gets very difficult for me to support them.
Sorry, Gaius. You mean well, but that alone really isn't enough.
However, even I must admit: your eyebrows are impressive.
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