Characters / The Vampire Diaries Universe Klaus Mikaelson

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Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson

"The world is a rather awful place. Best to meet it on its own terms."

Played By: Joseph Morgan & Aiden Flowers

Rebekah: "Klaus may be a miserable excuse for a sibling but there is none more diabolical."

Klaus is a 1,000+ year old hybrid, who is half vampire and half werewolf. Originally, Klaus, like all of the other Original vampires, was born a human until Esther and Mikael bestowed the curse of vampirism/immortality onto him and the rest of his siblings.

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Tropes applying to him in The Vampire Diaries

• Ax-Crazy: Klaus is psychologically unstable and rather dangerous. He is capable of extreme violence and murderous rage, especially if he is crossed.
• Breakout Villain: Klaus is a popular, established villain in his own right. He was originally intended to only be a villain for season two, but was seen to be popular with the viewers. Therefore, the writers have decided to not kill him off.
• The Casanova: Klaus likes to charm women, manipulate them, use them and then dump them.....or kill them.
• The Chessmaster: Rescue the werewolf and vampire and kill the witch that he needs to perform his ritual? Doesn't matter, he's got a back-up of each of them.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Klaus will never hesitate to backstab anyone, literally. Klaus has stabbed and daggered his entire family.
• Corrupt the Cutie: In the season two finale Klaus forces Stefan to become a blood addicted Ripper in order to save Damon.
• Deadpan Snarker: Klaus may be the bad guy, but he's still got his share of witty comebacks, lines and phrases.
• Determinator: Klaus NEVER gives up when he has a goal, agenda or plan that he wishes to achieve.
• The Dreaded: The very mention of his name is enough to paralyze even the toughest vampires with fear. And that's before he even appears on screen.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even though Klaus is a villain, he has been shown to be capable of love and affection. Klaus displays this with Caroline, Stefan, Rebekah and even Elijah at times. Caroline straight-up tells him that she knows he's in love with her, and he doesn't deny it. And though they had their differences, to put it mildly, Klaus is completely devastated (and furious) when he discovers that his little brother Kol has been killed.
• Evil Brit: Klaus has a British accent due to Joseph Morgan being from Britain.
• Faux Affably Evil: He'll politely smile while making you stab yourself over and over again for his amusement.
• Foil: To Elijah. Klaus is the immoral brother and Elijah is the moral brother. This mirrors the brother dynamic between the Salvatore brothers (with Klaus and Elijah paralleling Damon and Stefan respectively).
• Hybrid Power: Klaus is the most powerful being on the planet. He is a hybrid after all (vampire/werewolf). Because of this, he's extra strong and badass.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Doesn't appear until the end of season 2, but is so iconic that he gets his own spin-off in The Originals.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Seemingly a large part of his desire to create his own race. In The Hybrid he bitterly refers to Stefan as his only companion. Of course, any sympathy this might evoke rather vanishes when one remembers that the reason why he's so alone is he murdered his entire family.
• Immortality: Klaus is an Original vampire/hybrid. He is capable of living forever without physically aging. Although he physically looks like someone in their 20's, he is actually over 1,000 years old. He cannot die under normal circumstances.
• It's All About Me: Klaus is the epitome of selfish and everything is all about him; his pain, his power and his agenda.
• Love Epiphany: In 4x13, when Caroline tells him that she knows he's in love with her. His reaction suggests that he either didn't know the depths of his feelings for her, or he's been denying it until that moment when he's forced to confront his emotions.
• Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie: He's a werewolf and a vampire.
• Plot Armor: Despite virtually everyone in the cast constantly trying to kill him, and coming ridiculously close to being Killed Off for Real several times, the writers won't let him die. That is, until "Before Sunset", when he is finally put into a death-like torpor via the same spell that bound Mikael. But in the next episode he's back up again, though in a new body
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gets one from Damon, of all people, when he asks why Elena can forgive him for all the bad things he's done. Damon's words, more or less? "I do bad things when it's necessary. You do bad things for no reason at all." Keep in mind that the reason Klaus initiates the conversation is so he can find a way to apologize to Caroline for killing Tyler's mother, mainly out of spite/anger that Tyler had tried to lead the other hybrids against him., and he actually looks affected by Damon's words for a brief moment.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Klaus is the Red to Elijah's Blue. Klaus is much more passionate while Elijah is much more stoic.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Klaus' reaction when he sees that Elena and Jeremy have killed his little brother Kol? To burn the house to the ground. Good thing Bonnie got there just in time to stop him.
• Shipper on Deck: Klaus seems to have a habit of making his favoritism for Stefan and Elena's relationship rather obvious and known.
  "Crazy or not, that kind of love never dies." - Klaus to Damon about Stefan and Elena's relationship in 3x11
  "Now this is fascinating. The only thing stronger than your craving for blood is your love for this one girl." - Klaus to Stefan and Elena in 3x05
  "And that's what makes you [Stefan] her [Elena] better option." - Klaus to Stefan in 3x21
  "Personally, I think she's [Elena] wasting her time with Damon." - Klaus to Stefan in 3x21
  "That's love." - Klaus to Damon about Stefan/Elena in 4x12
  "Personally, I don't see a fairytale ending for you. All I see is Stefan and Elena." Klaus to Damon in 4x12
• The Sociopath: Despite all his claims to not wanting to be alone, he gleefully murders his own family members without regret or remorse. The only times he ever seems upset is when things go wrong for him on a personal level.
• The Unfavorite: His father, Mikael, hated him and had a preference for Elijah over him. The dynamic between Klaus and Elijah mirrors that of Damon and Stefan, with Klaus as Damon and Elijah as Stefan. Like Damon, Klaus was also the un-favourite son and like Stefan, Elijah was the favourite son.
• The Unfettered: Klaus doesn't care about morals and he is very ruthless; he will do anything and everything to achieve his desired goal or agenda, even if innocent people end up in danger or get killed. It also completely un-fazes him when someone gets killed.
• Unseen No More: He's mentioned frequently since the early episodes of season 2 as the Big Bad who's threatening Mystic Falls, but only appears in the last four episodes of the season. He becomes a regular in season 3 and 4.
• We Can Rule Together: Klaus seems sentimental about the brotherhood that he shared with Stefan back in the 1920's and believes that he and Stefan can be powerful together as True Companions.

Tropes applying to him in The Originals

• Above Good and Evil: How he sees himself; his status as one of the most powerful creatures in existence has given him delusions of being above the rest of humanity. Because he views himself as the most powerful supernatural being on earth, he has a tendency to brag and boast about it, feeling that he can dictate what happens, whether it be moral or immoral. Klaus also doesn't seem to particularly care about doing the right thing, but will do so at times if he finds that it would benefit him in the end somehow.
• Action Dad: Being the father of a tribrid girl who is one of the rarest supernatural being in the TVD universe, fighting skills are a requirement which it's easy for an Orginal Vampire with a werewolf side.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Hayley used to find him irresistible. Genevieve certainly does. Camille and Caroline have both found Klaus appealing as well. Most of the Nice Girls that fall for Klaus (like Camille and Caroline) have a tendency to deny that they are drawn to or attracted to Klaus out of both disgust and shame that they are attracted to someone who is so messed up and dysfunctional. Although Klaus is sociopathic, dark, and immoral, he is the epitome of The Casanova and a womanizer, someone who exudes dark charm and a seductive nature and aura about him. Klaus has tons of charisma, charm and he oozes sex appeal. Plus, that British accent also helps matters and gets him plenty of female admiration. Klaus is rich, powerful, strong and hot. How could any girl resist him in the first place?
• Aloof Big Brother: To both Rebekah and Kol. Klaus is significantly more powerful than the both of them, even with them being strong and powerful Original vampires themselves. This is because Klaus is the Original Hybrid, the first of his kind, someone who is half werewolf, half vampire. This makes him the most powerful supernatural being in the series' universe. Most of Klaus' family, including Elijah, Rebekah, and even their father Mikael, look down on Klaus and see him as a monster who might not be capable of being redeemed. It's not entirely unjustified, as Klaus continues to commit immoral deed after immoral deed and he never seems to stop repeating the same bad behaviour. Although Klaus has shown Big Brother Instinct and Knight Templar Big Brother tendencies towards both Rebekah and Kol, it does not change the fact that Klaus has overall treated his siblings, younger and older, and the rest of his family like garbage. Klaus may be stronger than all of them, including Elijah himself, but personality wise, he is not better than the rest of his siblings or his family.
• Ambition Is Evil: Klaus achieves his goals and plans through underhanded means. He has shown that he is greedy, selfish and wants everything that he can get his hands on. He also gets intensely jealous and possessive over those whom he holds dear to him and he will do anything, including acting immorally, to make sure he has a hold on the things that he cares about. Klaus often resorts to violence and killing if he does not get his way and he will also use violent tendencies or tactics to achieve he his goals or when he wants something. He has shown that he is incredibly ruthless when it comes to getting what he wants. Klaus always aims to be at the top and will do anything to get there. For example, Klaus wanted to be the Vampire King of New Orleans and take Marcel's place, so Klaus ended up killing a bunch of Marcel's army and loyal minions just so that he could get Marcel to succumb and submit to him. Klaus has shown that he wants power over people because it is power that makes him feel like he is important. This goes back to his self esteem issues stemming to his human life and hence, why Klaus proves to be so ambitious in regards to getting or achieving something that he really desires whether it is in the form of family, money, status or love.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: To Elijah, for whom he usually causes problems. Klaus has proven that in terms of personality and outlook, Elijah is more serious, stoic, calm, collected and rational while Klaus has proven that he is very hotheaded, impulsive, over emotional, troublesome and quick tempered. Because of the differences in their personalities, temperaments and outlooks, the two often clash and do not see eye to eye. Elijah tries to constantly talk sense into his hot headed brother but Klaus never seems to listen, which ends up causing major problems with Elijah in the long run. Even though Klaus has managed to consistently disappoint Elijah with his actions, Elijah still manages to be as loyal to Klaus as possible and even tries to believe that there might be a chance for Klaus to redeem himself and change his behaviour and his ways. In comparison to Elijah, Klaus comes off as very pouty, spoiled and bratty when he does not get his way and it seems as though Elijah becomes more of a paternal opt parent figure for Klaus rather than a brother figure.
  • He seems to become this for Freya. He takes an especial delight in scaring off her one-night stands and teasing her about her partying.
• Anti-Villain: Klaus is Type I and Type II. Klaus is Type I, a Noble Demon, as Klaus himself seems to have no problem with committing constant immoral acts and deeds and he seems to embrace the fact that he is a villain who will resort to underhanded and immoral means to achieve his agenda and his goals. However, there are times when Klaus actually has some standards and will not resort to killing all of the time to get what he wants. Klaus has shown that he is capable of doing things more diplomatically than violently. Klaus has shown that he Wouldn't Hurt a Child despite the fact that in the beginning, when he was very skeptical, he wanted Hayley and his unborn child to die. Klaus was also very shocked and disturbed when Caroline had asked Klaus if he was going to hurt her or kill her on her birthday. Klaus has also shown that he is capable of showing humanity, especially in his interactions with Elijah, Rebekah, Marcel, Camille, Hayley and his daughter Hope. His biggest Morality Pet seems to be Cami, as she has become The Conscience and a close friend for him to trust and confide in when he needs to. He also has plenty of Pet the Dog moments with Cami, as his interactions with her are very tender and heartwarming. He is very protective of Camille, always doing his best to protect her and keep her out of harm's way, even if means that keeping his distance.
  • Klaus is also a Type II, a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Although Klaus embraces the fact that he is a villain and that he constantly commits horrible deeds, it is obvious that Klaus became the way he is because of his Dark and Troubled Past. He comes from a highly dysfunctional family of abuse and psychological damage. His father, Mikael, has continuously abused him spiritually, physically, mentally, and psychologically, to the point where he became so inherently damaged that there was almost no point of return. Klaus tends to act out and commit immoral deeds for his family and his own survival. He is very ruthless when he wants to be but there are many circumstances which led him to become that way. Klaus is The Unfavorite in his family and everyone always turns their backs on him. He feels like the Black Sheep within the family and he never felt like he fit in within his family. Part of this is because Klaus is a Bastard Bastard due to the fact that his mother Esther had an affair on Mikael with an unknown man who was a werewolf. Therefore, Klaus was born an un-triggered werewolf. When his father Mikael turned the entire family into vampires and Klaus made his first human kill, it triggered the werewolf gene, which caused him to become hot headed, violent and angry. Klaus own inner demons of self esteem issues and growing up in an abusive household and upbringing has made Klaus become the violent, blood thirsty and dark character that he has come to be in the current times.
  • Despite having some positive traits, he is not above killing children. He has done this numerous times, sometimes for petty reasons too. He killed the two young twin children of Papa Tunde, though this was a tactical choice as Tunde used them to draw power from but Klaus tried to kill Tim and Davina, simply because she didn't want to be his weapon, he succeeded but Davina was brought back via a protection spell Marcel has arranged.
• Archnemesis Dad: This works both ways for Klaus. His own father (his stepfather really) Mikael is his greatest enemy. For centuries upon centuries, Mikael has hunted Klaus down and has made it his mission to kill Klaus. Mikael has always hated Klaus because he is the illegitimate offspring of his wife Esther and an unknown man who was a werewolf. For this, Mikael does not see Klaus as his son or his own since he is not his blood. Flashbacks show that Mikael was very abusive towards Klaus since childhood and often abused him spiritually, emotionally, and physically. His siblings would often have to stop Mikael's abusive ways towards Klaus so that Klaus would not be even more psychologically damaged. The major reason why Klaus becomes the way he does and goes from a fun loving, gentle and free spirited soul to someone who becomes so dark, twisted, sociopathic and vengeful is because of Mikael and his abuse and hatred against Klaus.
  • Also in regards to Marcel, whom he sees as a son. Technically, Marcel is considered to be Klaus' adopted son. While not related to each other biologically, Klaus did raise him. He brought him up when his real parents, his father being the Governor, had abandoned him because he was nothing more than a mere slave. Klaus saw a lot of himself in Marcel, someone who was treated horribly, abused and battered. Despite the fact that they share such things in common, Marcel and Klaus have also schemed to kill each other. It's also what Klaus fears his offspring will see him as, someone that she will grow to hate because of who he is and what he has done.
• Ax-Crazy: Klaus is the epitome of psychologically unstable, and he is rather dangerous. Klaus obviously presents a very clear danger to others. He threatens to kill or hurt others if he is either crossed or if he is angry. Klaus is capable of extreme violence and murderous rage, especially if he is crossed. Klaus is also the type to go off at any short second and he can go from calm, cool and collected to downright angry, crazy and murderous. Klaus has shown that he is Hot-Blooded and has a Hair-Trigger Temper and even minor things can set him off. Klaus is also into killing and going on murderous rampages and he always seems to be ready to fight someone in the most violent and gruesome way as he is a Blood Knight. He is capable of getting extremely jealous, homicidally so and he has shown that if he does not get his way, he will resort to violence and lashing out at others.
• Badass Boast: Basically all of the time. When is Klaus not boasting? He constantly makes threats towards others, including his own family. He says that if his family ever gets in the way of getting what he wants when he wants it, he will not hesitate to dagger them and put them in coffins, just like he has done for centuries upon centuries repeatedly. If anyone tries to get in Klaus' way in any way, shape or form, Klaus will not hesitate to threaten to kill them right on the spot. He also brags about how powerful he is and that he can take down anyone with much ease. Klaus even considers himself the most powerful supernatural being on earth, which he takes significant pride in. Klaus seems to thrive on being powerful and obtaining power at all cost, even by bragging about himself or making threats towards others to get it.
• Bad Boss: Very much so; either you're with him or you're dead. He tends to view his Vampire subjects as expendable and lost half of them when he gave a speech pretty much saying as much. He slaughtered his previous Hybrids for trying to take him down so they could be free, attempted to convince Marcel's followers to switch sides by threatening those who didn't with eternal torture, and seems to think that because he's the most powerful, he is due unwavering loyalty from those beneath him. However, this could be an unfortunate side effect of his Hybrid nature. The curse of heightened emotions from his Vampire side contribute to amplify his already berserker like Werewolf aggression. His father Mikael also use to literally beat Klaus for any form of weakness. Then you have an Immortal who thinks that might makes right and responds to any sort of challenge to that mindset with murderous rage.
  • Does this again with the newly enhanced werewolves who want to protect Hope, except he was never their boss. Hayley and Jackson are the alphas and married each other to empower their packs with Hayley's unique hybrid powers, Klaus has since then acted like they are his personal army and tries to order them about, he even says "if they are not fighting for me, they won't live to fight at all." He tries to get them to go after Mikael rather than protect Hope due to his own fear, Hayley promptly shuts this down.
• Barbarian Longhair: In the flashbacks to his human days.
• Bastard Bastard: Klaus is the illegitimate child of Esther and Ansel, a werewolf. Klaus never knew him before his death.
• Beast and Beauty: Downplayed. Klaus is the Beast to Camille's Beauty. Klaus physically looks like a human but he is technically a beast as he can shift into a werewolf. He is also an Original Hybrid which means that he is half vampire and half werewolf. This sort of makes Klaus sort of a Humanoid Abomination as with the exception of Tyler, who is no human again and Hayley who has now become a Hybrid, and his daughter hope, there is no one else of his kind. Klaus is also very dangerous and highly capable of violence and destruction. He has shown that he will go the lengths to protect Camille from harm. Camille is a human girl who is beautiful, sweet, kind, compassionate and caring. She also brings out the best in Klaus and serves as a Morality Pet for him. She is also highly naive and idealistic, believing that not everyone is fully evil and that circumstances make people the way they are whether they turn out good or bad.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Rebekah. Sometimes also with Hayley and Camille.
• The Berserker: Klaus is very impulsive and throws himself amidst violence without a second thought.
• Berserk Button: Never defy him, screw with one of his plans, and if you try to kill him and fail, you'd better start to run as fast as you can. Most importantly, no one, no one but him is allowed to hurt his loved ones, unless he gives you his consent. And if he does, follow the plan to the letter. Also, do not betray him. Ever.
  • Never, ever, ever try to keep him away from his daughter. You will suffer the consequences, no matter who you are. Especially if you're her mother.
  • Perhaps more importantly, never try to replace him as his daughter's father.
• Big Bad: For the entire series.
  • Big Bad Friend: To Marcel and Camille.
• Black Sheep: Klaus is this to his family, especially to his father Mikael. He doesn't really fit in and he seems to be ostracized by most of them.
• Blood Knight: Klaus has shown to be very violent and he gets a thrill out of fighting.
• Breakout Villain: Klaus was a very popular character on The Vampire Diaries, hence why he was given his own series, The Originals.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Klaus is the Brooding Boy to Camille's Gentle Girl. Klaus is a cynical Byronic Hero who has a very Dark and Troubled Past. He is sociopathic, dark and sinister in personality and he broods a lot because he comes from such a dysfunctional background. Klaus is obviously filled with much darkness and has many demons. Cami, on the hand, is a Nice Girl and a Girl Next Door, who is generally kind, compassionate, caring and understanding. Despite having her own inner demons and having suffered her own pain and trauma, Cami is still the Plucky Girl who still remains optimistic regardless, which serves as a bit of a foil for Klaus. Cami has shown that she brings out the nicer and kinder side of Klaus' personality and even manages to make a generally brooding Klaus crack a smile from time to time.
• Cain and Abel: Klaus is the Cain to Elijah's Abel. Klaus is the sociopathic, evil and darker brother and Elijah is the more noble, moral and upstanding brother, though the birth order is inverted. Interestingly enough, Klaus and Elijah's relationship with each other directly parallel's Damon and Stefan's relationship, with Damon being the Klaus (Cain) and Stefan being the Elijah (Abel). Similar to Klaus, Damon is sociopathic, dangerous, immoral, and sadistic. Similar to Elijah, Stefan is more noble, moral, compassionate, and upstanding. Klaus and Elijah often clash because of their opposing personalities and beliefs, which has led to a lifelong Sibling Rivalry, just like Damon and Stefan.
• The Casanova: Klaus likes to charm women, manipulate them, use them, and then dump them... or kill them.
• The Charmer: Comes with being The Casanova and a Manipulative Bastard.
• The Chessmaster: Klaus is very intelligent, manipulative, and scheming.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Klaus will never hesitate to backstab anyone, literally. He has daggered his entire family multiple times over the centuries. Small wonder nobody ever truly trusts him.
• Chronic Villainy: Klaus just can't help himself from committing bad or evil acts. Sometimes one wonders if he is capable of changing or being truly redeemed.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Klaus is sociopathic and manipulative, but he can be very funny and witty at the same time even amidst committing immoral acts.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Subverted. His interactions with Camille pull her dangerously close to the actual conflict of the series, but he seems to be aware of this and wants her out of harm's way.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Klaus has a strong tendency to get extremely jealous and envious, homicidally so. He has shown frequent jealousy in regards to Hayley and her relationship and bond with Elijah, mostly because Klaus feels threatened that Elijah is moving in on his family and his daughter. He also shows strong shades of jealousy and possessiveness over Camille. He even said that because Camille slept with Marcel, he told Camille to her face that he would kill Marcel. Klaus has also shown that he gets jealous over every single guy that Rebekah gets involved with, which only increases the Incest Subtext. Klaus has gotten so jealous over Rebekah's love interests that he has managed to kill almost every single one of them (with the exception of Stefan because Klaus actually loved Stefan himself).
• Crazy-Prepared: Klaus always has a plan. And if Plan A doesn't work out, then a Plan B, and a Plan C, etc.
• Cultured Badass: Klaus is Wicked Cultured, and is highly sophisticated, cultured and chic. Klaus is also rich and he spends money on lavish and expensive things. He seems to have a penchant for decorating, and obviously spends his time going to museums and art galleries. Klaus has also proven that he is a very good artist himself, as he loves to draw. He is also knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics, such as art, literature, food, and he has been exposed to many different cultures over the centuries due to travelling all around the world. Klaus even became a British nobleman during the 1400's and adopted the British way of living.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Put it this way: Marcel's vampire army did not stand a chance against Klaus.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He was abused and belittled by his father, tortured, and turned into a vampire hybrid.
• Dark Is Evil: Klaus is seen wearing a lot of darker clothing, particularly black. He is never seen wearing lighter clothing, indicating a dark and immoral character.
• Dark Messiah: Klaus is the only Original Hybrid on the planet, making him extremely powerful and dangerous.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has his share of witty comebacks, lines and phrases.
• The Determinator: Klaus NEVER gives up when he has a goal, agenda or plan that he wishes to achieve.
• Disproportionate Retribution: His punishment towards anyone who displeases him in the slightest.
• The Dreaded: Marcel's vampires are very, very nervous about the idea of him running loose in New Orleans.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: All Klaus has ever wanted was loyalty and respect from others, especially from his own family.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even though Klaus is a villain, he has been shown to be capable of love and affection. He does love his sister and brother, all things considered, and adores his daughter. He has also shown some affection for Hayley as the mother of his child and has also shown that he cares for Camille. Klaus also cares for Marcel and sees him as a son.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Seemed horrified when Caroline asked if he was going to kill her on her birthday.
  • While not even his favourite siblings are safe from his wrath, Klaus is extremely reluctant to ever harm his daughter, and never actively does so.
  • This tends to be what sets Klaus and the rest of the Originals apart from the various Big Bads each season as, while they are bad people, they have their own morality and there are some lines even they wont cross, whereas their enemies tend to have no lines.
• Evil Brit: Klaus has a British accent due to Joseph Morgan being from Britain.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: One of Klaus' biggest flaws. He thinks everyone is running an angle, which is why when he comes up against Marcel, who is willing to submit to him to protect Davina and his vampires and prevent a war in New Orleans that would endanger everyone, or Jackson, who is willing to die to protect Hayley and the wolves, his first instinct is to think they're trying to harm him.
• Evil Genius: Klaus is very intelligent, strategic and manipulative.
• Evil Gloating: When is Klaus not gloating? It could practically be his middle name (if he were to have one).
• Evil Is Hammy: Klaus is not always subtle and can be rather grandiose and over the top in his actions and mannerisms.
• Evil Is Petty: His occasional and casual cruelty speaks for itself.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: While Klaus is not a particularly good person most of the time his unconditional love for his daughter Hope is one of his genuinely admirable qualities. In Season 4 he actually tries to tone down his more homicidal tendencies to not break the image Hope has in her mind of her father being her hero.
• Evil Tastes Good: Well, Klaus is a vampire and a werewolf.
• Fallen Hero: If you look back at when Klaus was human, he was actually a kind, gentle soul who loved to have fun. All that changed when he felt responsible and blamed himself for the death of his younger brother Henrik, became a vampire and unleashed his werewolf side as well.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Marcel.
• First Of Its Kind: Klaus is the very first Original Hybrid.
• Foil: To Elijah. Klaus is the immoral brother and Elijah is the moral brother. This mirrors the brother dynamic between the Salvatore brothers (with Klaus and Elijah paralleling Damon and Stefan respectively). Like Klaus, Damon is immoral, sociopathic and dark in character whiles like Elijah, Stefan is moral, compassionate and upstanding.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Elijah and Rebecca tend to forgive him after a while for all the things he does to them, but they never forget, and they will every once in a while throw everything he has ever done in his face when he starts to go to far again.
• For the Evulz: Klaus will gleefully torture or kill anyone if it benefits his plans or even amuses him.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric
• Freudian Trio: Is part of five, actually. In promotional material, he's the Id to Elijah's Superego and Rebekah's Ego.
  • In The Vampire Diaries 3.15, he's the Ego to Kol's Id and Elijah's Superego.
  • In The Vampire Diaries 4.17, he's the Superego to Caroline's Id and Stefan's Ego.
  • In the Love Triangle he's part of, he's the Superego to Tyler's Id and Caroline's Ego.
  • He's could also be seen as the Id to Marcel's Superego and Camille's Ego.
• Generation Xerox: Klaus has a lot more in common with Mikael than he would like to think or believe.
• Good Parents: He adores his daughter and she is the only person safe from his temper.
• Godhood Seeker: "I want to be King."
• Godzilla Threshold: Klaus is this for the witches of New Orleans. They're so desperate to end Marcel's tyranny that they summon an Original vampire into their hometown just to even the odds.
  • Turns out to be a lie by the witches, Marcel was in fact a "good" guy using ruthless methods to protect Davina from said witches who wanted to sacrifice her, they just wanted Marcel out of the way so they could get to Davina.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Klaus is very quick tempered and gets angered very easily.
• Has a Type: Seems to have a "thing" for girls with blonde hair and blue eyes, who aren't cowed by him and can see what little goodness he has. Aka Rebekah and the like, Caroline and Camille both being Rebekah's substitutes.
  • Of course his past loves subvert this with brown-haired, brown-eyed Tatia and red-haired hazel-eyed Aurora.
• Heartbroken Badass: Klaus has had quite a bit of heartbreak along the way in regards to his family, his friends, and his love life. He has a very tumultuous relationship with his siblings, primarily Elijah and Rebekah, both of whom have tried to remain loyal to him, yet Klaus keeps disappointing them repaetdly in some way. This has caused Elijah and Rebekah to turn their back on him many times. His father, Mikael, hated him and abused him as a child; he also spent centuries upon centuries trying to hunt Klaus down and kill him. Not to mention that within the family, Klaus is the Black Sheep and The Unfavorite who is constantly looked down upon by everyone. Klaus is also a Bastard Bastard as he is the illegitimate child of his mother Esther and an unknown man who was a werewolf and whom his mother had an affair with behind Mikael's back. Because of this fact, Klaus has never felt like he fit in with the family and he has always felt 'different'. Klaus' family life and his upbringing has been complete and utter dysfunction. Nevermind his friendships and his love life. Every single friend or companion that Klaus has made has either died, has turned their back on him or has betrayed him somehow. Not to say that it is not without good reason why every single person that Klaus gets close to wants to or manages to turn their back on Klaus considering his constant immoral and evil acts and deeds and the way he treats others. Regardless, it paints Klaus in a sympathetic light that nobody seems to remain loyal to him for too long. It seems Klaus has a case of I Just Want to Be Loved and I Just Want to Have Friends, which is why Klaus tries to control others through the use of compulsion to gain respect and loyalty. Klaus' love life is also a disaster. His First Love (when he was human) was a young and beautiful woman named Tatia, who was a Petrova doppelgänger. According to Elijah, Klaus loved her more than anything, even though Elijah had feelings for her as well. When Tatia had died, Klaus became depressed and became cynical about love. It could be argued that Klaus' opinion regarding love and becoming cynical about the topic in general was because of Tatia and how the Love Triangle between himself, Tatia and Elijah sparked a Sibling Rivalry between the two brothers, with history repeating itself later on during the 15th century with a Love Triangle forming between himself, Katherine and Elijah. Although, Klaus was not really in love with Katherine the way he was in love with Tatia and only wanted Katherine so that eh could sacrifice her in order to break his hybrid curse. Klaus has engaged in many sexual flings with numerous women throughout the centuries but he has never really been in a serious romantic relationship with one woman for too long. the last woman that he ever had deep feelings for was Tatia, although he did have feelings for Caroline and could be showing some romantic feelings for Camille as well. He really becomes heartbroken in season 3 when Camille dies after they finally acknowledge their feelings for each other leading to them sleeping together and it turning out that she was compelled to kill herself by one of his first loves and he sees her dead body when he wakes up. Though of course it turns out she was fed vampire blood and eventually becomes a vampire, but becoming a vampire makes her cold towards him as she is dealing with the changes. Then eventually she is bitten by Lucien who has become a new breed of hybrid and she is poisoned with an incurable werewolf venom and she eventually dies again for real this time with Klaus spending the last moments of her life in the dream world with her to ease the pain of her death.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the season 3 finale he gives himself up to Marcel and manipulates him into stabbing him with Papa Tunde's knife, so that his body could be used as an anchor for a spell by Freya to preserve Kol, Rebecca, Elijah, and herself to prevent them from dying from the hybrid venom that was given to them by Marcel when he bit them.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Stefan (back in the 1920's).
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Klaus finally got what was coming to him after years of abusing his family with silver daggers. He is stabbed by Elijah with one of the many daggers he has used, this one being the one stolen by Kol years ago and recently transmuted to gold to work on Klaus.
• Hot-Blooded: Klaus is very impulsive, brash, and hot headed.
• Humiliation Conga: Has gone through this a lot all within a span of only 9 episodes.
• Hybrid Power: Klaus is, with the exception of Mikael, who is stronger, physically the most powerful being on the planet. He is the Original Hybrid after all (meaning that he is half vampire and half werewolf), and the first of his kind. Because of this, he's extra strong and badass. He possesses all the superhuman abilities that are given to an Original vampire such as Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Super-Senses, Immortality, Super-Reflexes, Healing Factor, Super-Toughness or Nigh-Invulnerability, Inhuman Emotion, Dream Weaver, Mind Manipulation, and Telepathy but because Klaus is a Hybrid, he also has some abilities which are unique to him such as Shapeshifting, Involuntary Shapeshifter, Daywalking Vampire, Immune to Bullets and cannot be neutralized with the silver Daggers or a regular stake (whick knocks out Orignals) Klaus is also slightly stronger than his siblings due to having werewolf strength (human-form version) to go with his vampire one, and has special blood which enables him to heal werewolf or hybrid bites for vampires and his blood is the only thing that can cure werewolf bites which is deemed fatal for all vampires.
• I Am Not My Father: Becoming like Mikael is Klaus' worse nightmare. Ironically, Klaus and Mikael share a lot of traits.
• I Did What I Had to Do: He justifies most of his actions as this, even the actions he takes to protect his daughter.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Seemingly a large part of his desire to create his own race. He bitterly refers to Stefan as his only companion. Of course, any sympathy this might evoke rather vanishes when one remembers that the reason why he's so alone is he murdered his entire family.
• Immortality: Klaus is an Original vampire/hybrid. He is capable of living forever without physically aging. Although he physically looks like someone in their 20's, he is actually over 1,000 years old. He cannot die under normal circumstances.
  • Klaus is Type V: The Undead. He is a living dead person.
  • He's also Type X: Life Drinker.
• Informed Attribute: Klaus will let you know that he's a hybrid, even though he has only transformed into a wolf once.
• Insane Equals Violent: Klaus can be crazy, vicious, and murderous when he wants to be.
• It's All About Me: Klaus is the epitome of selfish and everything is all about him; his pain, his power, and his agenda.
  • When Hayley and Jackson marry so that Hayley's powers can be shared with the entire packs of Hayley and Jackson, so they can free them from the witches' control, Klaus steps in and acts like they are his personal army, trying to order them about and even threatening to kill them all if they don't fight for him.
• Jerkass: Klaus can be deeply unpleasant, even without the murderous side of him.
• Joker Immunity: Has developed this because of his statuses as Breakout Villain, Ensemble Dark Horse and Creator's Pet.
• Kick the Morality Pet: He cares for Camille and is concerned about her safety in the upcoming war. That doesn't stop him from mind-wiping her once she's served his needs.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: To Rebekah.
• Lack of Empathy: To a great extent.
• Large Ham: Klaus can be rather over the top at times, especially when he gets angry and throws a tantrum.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Is given a taste of his own medicine for the first time in 1,000 years by being daggered with a gold dagger (Klaus is immune to the silver ones). Now the siblings have a dagger just for him in case he gets out of line, or at least until Dahlia destroys it.
  • Haley taking their daughter, Hope away from him and forbidding him from seeing her since he was the reason she was cursed to her wolf form which prevented her from being in the child's life for months with the exception of the nights of a full moon.
• Like a Son to Me: Marcel is for all intents and purposes Klaus' son. He raised him as his own and has been known to go to insane lengths to keep Marcel safe, even if it means expressly going against Marcel's wishes.
• Manipulative Bastard: Klaus is always manipulating somebody in order to achieve his goal or agenda.
• Meaningful Name: Niklaus (which is the German or Scandinavian version of Nicholas) means "victory of the people". It is derived from the Greek Nikolaos (Νικόλαος).
• Mind Rape: Does this to Camille so she doesn't remember any of their talks.
• Mirror Character: For Mikael. Both treat their family in cruel ways, have inventive ways of hurting people, are determined to their very core, and place high importance on family. They even look like each other, despite not being related by blood.
• Monster Lord: Klaus is the Original Hybrid and has created hybrids himself, though they tend to be Red Shirts and completely easy to kill despite the fact that they're supposed to be superior to vampires and werewolves.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: His go to move any problem, one that has caused more trouble than it's worth. His siblings and Cami are attempting to change Klaus out of that mindset. Even Klaus admits his tendency to drop bodies has caused more enemies and problems then results. As such he has been working to remedy that. Unfortunately nine out of ten times that is still his first instinct and Elijah barely prevented Klaus from beheading Jackson on his wedding day.
• Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie: He's a werewolf and a vampire.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: The Roguish to Elijah's Noble.
• Oh, Crap!: From time to time, when dealing with a true threat such as his father.
• Papa Wolf: To his daughter, Hope.
• Pet the Dog: His moments with Camille count. In the beginning of the series, he was much kinder to Hayley.
• Perma-Stubble: He keeps a bristly look.
• Plot Armor: Despite virtually everyone in the cast constantly trying to kill him, and coming ridiculously close to being Killed Off for Real several times, the writers won't let him die. That is, until "Before Sunset", when he is finally put into a death-like torpor via the same spell that bound Mikael. But in the next episode he's back up again, though in a new body and after that he back in his own again. Making his comeuppance void.
  • Happens again in the Originals, Mikael succeeds in staking Klaus with the white oak stake only for it to conveniently be depowered by Davina and Kol, resulting in it only neutralizing Klaus.
  • Finally got his comeuppance in The Levee Breaks when he is neutralized with the golden dagger by Elijah... but like before, this isn't going to last more than an episode, maybe less.
• Power Trio: See Freudian Trio above.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Klaus definitely qualifies, especially when he is angered and lashes out at others.
• Psychotic Smirk: He's a master of implying dangerous things are about to happen with a mere smile.
• Really 700 Years Old: Klaus was born in the 10th century. He is also immortal.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Klaus is definitely the Red to Elijah's Blue. Klaus is much more passionate while Elijah is much more stoic.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Klaus is the Savvy Guy to Camille's Energetic Girl.
• Self-Made Orphan: He killed his mother Esther after she placed the curse that suppressed his hybrid nature. He's also responsible for Mikael's death in The Vampire Diaries. And in season two, he kills his recently resurrected biological father Ansel because he knew Hope was aalive. Of course, he later kills Mikael and his mother Esther again, along with his aunt Dahlia. He lampshades this by saying, “Well, we're officially orphans.”
• Sharp-Dressed Man: When he wants to dress up for an event, he dresses very well.
• Starcrossed Lovers: With Tatia. According to Elijah, Klaus loved Tatia more than anyone, including Elijah himself. Tatia was Klaus' known First Love and she was also a Petrova doppelgänger. Both of the Mikaelson brothers were in love with Tatia, which only caused severe tension and a Sibling Rivalry between the two brothers. In order to stop the feuding between the brothers over Tatia, Esther apparently ended up using her by sacrificing her to bind Klaus' hybrid or werewolf side, turns out Elijah killed Tatia, Esther took the blame and wiped the memories to spare Elijah guilt.
• Took a Level in Badass: Seems to be even more badass than he was before on The Vampire Diaries.
• Took a Level in Kindness: As The Originals goes on the influence of several characters, most overtly Hope and Camille, as well as the prescence of his family (most of the time) turn Klaus into a kinder person then he was on The Vampire Diaries.
• Tranquil Fury: After Genevieve reveals to Klaus that Rebekah used to her to summon Mikael to New Orleans, he doesn't explode like he usually does. He continues to taunt and threaten Rebekah with a calm, chilling tone....
• True Companions: With his siblings, despite everything they've done to each other.
• The Strategist: Everything that Klaus does is strategic.
• Undying Loyalty: Klaus desires this from others more than anybody, especially from his family. Too bad he always manages to destroy every chance of it happening.
• The Un-Favourite: His father, Mikael, hated him and had a preference for Elijah over him. The dynamic between Klaus and Elijah mirrors that of Damon and Stefan, with Klaus as Damon and Elijah as Stefan. Like Damon, Klaus was also the un-favorite son and like Stefan, Elijah was the favorite son. Unlike Damon, however, Mikael's favoritism of Elijah was because Klaus isn't his biological son. However, he treated him like scum even before discovering that.
• The Unfettered: Klaus doesn't care about morals and he is very ruthless; he will do anything and everything to achieve his desired goal or agenda, even if innocent people end up in danger or get killed. It also completely un-fazes him when someone gets killed.
• Vampire Monarch: Klaus was the Vampire King of New Orleans after Marcel left.
• Villainous Breakdown: In 1.07, after Elijah accuses him of trying to use his baby's blood to create hybrids. It's mild compared to some of the more epic tantrums he's had, but it does end with him biting Elijah.
  • He goes through this a lot in season 2 because of the return of his mother and Mikael and the threat of his aunt Dahlia coming to take his child. Also generally everyone disagreeing with him on how to deal with the threats and of course this leads to him being betrayed by his siblings when they think he has become a danger to everybody because of his breakdowns.
• Villainous Crush: For Caroline of course. He also has this on Cami.
• Villain Protagonist: For The Originals of course.
• We Can Rule Together: Klaus' plan ends with him becoming the de facto ruler of New Orleans along with his siblings. He offers the same thing to Marcel in the mid-season finale when he asks Marcel to help him rule New Orleans together.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He is capable of anything when it comes to protecting his family, but especially when it comes to protecting his daughter Hope, even if it means having to hurt his siblings, the girl's mother Haley, and the people they care about which is shown by his actions in the final episodes of season 2.
• When He Smiles: He does grin and smirk sardonically, mischievously or psychotically quite a lot, but his genuine smiles are quite the sight. So far in this series, the only time he's smiled like this is when Hayley tells him that she thinks their baby is going to be a girl.
• Wicked Cultured: Klaus is well-educated and well-read.
• Willfully Weak: As the series put him in higher stakes than ever and give him the proper motivation to go all-out with the hybrid powers he had unlocked, Klaus reveals that he was holding back on his siblings after all, which is actually quite justified, as no matter how angry and vicious he is towards them, he does still love them deep down.
  • His fight with Mikael demonstrates what Klaus is capable of when he gets properly motivated: Mikael previously curb-stomped Elijah, but Klaus can put up an actually decent fight against him and even almost win in their second fight, when Mikael has already slightly recovered from werewolf venom since when he fought Elijah.
  • Elijah has repeatedly been able to give Klaus a hell of a fight and has even subdued him in some of their altercations.... Except on the three occasions where Klaus finally has had enough and is willing to use lethal force. At that point, the first time is when Klaus is angry and he gets the jump on Elijah, shrugs off all the hits Elijah lands, and proceeds to restrain him while he forces him to watch as he kills Gia. The second time is when Elijah is amnesiac and willing to let Hayley die and Klaus reminds Elijah that he's only ever taken him on when he is sure Klaus isn't using his full strength, goes hybrid mode, and throws him around with ease. The third time is when Klaus wants to sacrifice himself and will not let Elijah do it. It takes a fair bit more effort than the aformentioned two fights, but Klaus ends up winning and even goes as far as to toss Elijah with enough force to break his neck.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Caroline seems to think so. Stefan also agrees, but it doesn't stop him from trying to backstab him every time he has the chance. The fact that he was constantly belittled by his father and cursed and shunned by his mother does bring up an interesting case.
• Would Hit a Girl: Not in a case of Domestic Abuse, but when they pose a threat, and considering he slums about with supernatural creatures most of the women he knows are certainly dangerous.
• Would Hurt a Child: Poor Tim...
• The Worf Effect: Despite being the Original Hybrid, Klaus surprisingly tends to get just as overwhelmed by enemies as his siblings can, if not even more, to demonstrate that the enemies of the Vampire Diaries are nothing compared to the Originals antagonists. He tends to get repeatedly subdued by powerful witches to demonstrate they aren't acknowledged for their power for nothing, Papa Tunde even beating him physically with enough power, while Mikael demonstrates why Klaus used to fear him and proves he is the strongest of the Mikaelsons by defeating Klaus while he was weakened and Klaus was trying much harder than he did with Elijah. Lucien and Marcel after becoming the Beasts hand him his ass to demonstrate they have surpassed him as the world's most physically powerful immortal alive.
• Wrote the Book:
  Caroline: "Why do you always have to prove you're the alpha male?"
  Klaus: "I don't have to prove anything, love, I AM the alpha male!"

Tropes applying to him in Legacies

• The Cameo: He appears in the final episode with Landon having gotten a message from the afterlife to give to Hope.
• Posthumous Character: Despite being dead before the show even starts, he is constantly referenced and has a huge impact on Hope's life long afterwards.

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"And I regret a lot of things, but I don’t regret a single moment I spent with you. I love you so much. Always and forever."