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The Mikaelson Family

    Klaus Mikaelson 

Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mikaelson_klaus_6952.jpg
"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.


    Elijah Mikaelson 

Elijah Mikaelson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mikaelson_elijah_1872.jpg
"No-one threatens my family and lives."
Played By: Daniel Gillies & Perry Cox

Klaus: "The noble Elijah, tormented by long buried, shameful secrets."

An Original vampire, Elijah is the most sophisticated, noble and moral as well as highly hypocritical member of his family. He alternately works for Klaus and against him throughout the series. He was once in love with Katherine and tried to save her from his brother but she betrayed him. Elijah follows Klaus to New Orleans, convinced that there's a trap waiting for him. Once he finds out about Hayley being pregnant, he stays with his siblings in the hopes that Klaus' child will finally bring him some measure of peace and redeem him.


Tropes applying to him in The Vampire Diaries:

  • Affably Evil: He's an intelligent, charming man who strongly believes in honor and loyalty but he has a dark, dangerous side and he'll kill whenever it suits his needs.
  • Ascended Extra: All the Original vampires become increasingly more important in the story, but Elijah is a particularly extreme example. Julie Plec admits that Daniel Gillies' performance and the pull of Elijah's character inspired the writers to make the Originals un-killable to keep him around. And he was originally just a "foot soldier" before being made into Klaus's brother.
  • The Dandy: Elijah is always sharply and neatly dressed and never likes to look improper.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Elijah has a dry sense of humor and a quick wit. Even when he is being serious, he can be funny.
  • Foil: To Klaus. Klaus is the immoral brother and Elijah is the moral brother.
  • Heel Realization: After threatening Elena, he comes to agree with his mother's view of him as an abomination.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: Introduced in season 2, but becomes a very recognizable character along with his siblings, to the point they get a spin-off about their family.
  • Immortality: Elijah is an Original vampire. He is capable of living forever without physically aging. Although he is in his late 20s, he is technically over 1,000 years old. He cannot die under normal circumstances.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Elijah comes off as cold and uncaring but he's actually rather moral and honorable by nature.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He doesn't even need to use compulsion to get people to do what he wants.
  • Never Hurt an Innocent: He definitely tries to adhere to this. Notably the only vampire not seen feeding on a human at any point.
  • Noble Demon: He is reluctant to kill anyone and has a strong sense of nobility and morals, but he commits some immoral and morally questionable acts in order to preserve and protect the one thing he values the most: his family. However, despite his claim to nobility, he has ruthless killed many people for little reason, Trevor who was only asking for forgiveness was mercilessly decapitated and Slater, just for talking to Damon and Rose was compel by Elijah to kill himself.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Elijah is the Blue to Klaus' Red. Klaus is impulsive while Elijah is more logical.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Elijah has had an ongoing rivalry with his brother Klaus for centuries. Elijah has even gone as far as to attempt killing Klaus in order to stop him from breaking his hybrid curse and killing people in the process.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Elijah is the opposite of Klaus in terms of personality, outlook, values and beliefs. While Elijah is more moral, noble and upstanding, Klaus is more impulsive, immoral and reckless.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Elijah never fails to look dapper, neatly dressed and well-put together in his finest suits.
  • Super-Strength: Even by vampire standards, he's extremely strong and can rip other vampires' heads off with little effort. Justified because he is not a normal vampire but an original.
  • Tranquil Fury: Even when Elijah gets angry or enraged, he is calm and stoic.
  • Undying Loyalty: To his entire family of course. There is nothing that he wouldn't do for them. Elijah always puts his family above everything.
  • Villain Ball: Sometimes family comes first to him, even if it means sparing/helping his murderous siblings.

Tropes applying to him on The Originals:

  • Affably Evil: He's an intelligent, charming man who strongly believes in honor and loyalty but he has a dark, dangerous side and he'd be able to kill whenever it suits his needs.
  • Aloof Big Brother: To Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah.
  • Anti-Villain: Type I, with shades of Type III.
  • Ascended Extra: All the Originals vampires became increasingly more important in the story, but Elijah is a particularly extreme example. Julie Plec admits that Daniel Gillie's performance and the pull of Elijah's character inspired the writers to make the Originals un-killable to keep him around. And he was originally just a "foot soldier" before being made into Klaus's brother.
  • Awful Truth: He was the one who killed Tatia a thousand years ago, when he couldn't control his bloodlust and she got injured trying to run from him. Esther - with his consent - altered his memories so he would think his mother was the one who killed her to seal Klaus' hybrid nature. The revelation has deeply affected his psyche.
  • Badass Boast: Just as much as Klaus.
  • Berserk Button: Don't harm or kill any one of Elijah's family. He will get revenge.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Elijah is usually defined as the most noble out of Klaus and Rebekah but is not afraid to showcase his vicious side when his family is threatened, which Agnes discovers the hard way.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Towards Klaus and Rebekah.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: After Esther screws with his head, for a while Elijah starts going on unwilling Ax-Crazy murder sprees, usually triggered by something as simple as a drop of blood on his clothes.
  • Cain and Abel: Elijah is the Abel to Klaus' Cain.
  • Canon Foreigner: He does not appear in the books.
  • The Charmer: Elijah is suave and sophisticated. No wonder Hayley can't help herself.
  • The Chessmaster: Elijah is very strategic and logical by nature.
  • Cultured Badass: Elijah comes from wealth and is highly sophisticated.
  • The Dandy: Elijah is always sharply and neatly dressed and never likes to look improper.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Elijah has a dry sense of humour and a quick wit. Even when he is being serious, he can be funny.
  • Defector from Decadence: He reveals that the reason he started siring vampires and founded the Stryx was so he could bring together the best and brightest of minds and work to better the world. In the end, he himself grew disgusted by their sociopathy and renounced all ties to them.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: See Badass Boast above.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Even though Elijah has done immoral things, he is still considered to be rather honourable, noble and moral by nature. Elijah was extremely noble during his human life.
  • The Fettered: Elijah is known to be a very moral, honourable person by nature.
  • Foil: To Klaus. Klaus is the immoral brother and Elijah is the moral brother. See Red Oni, Blue Oni and Noble Male, Roguish Male.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic and Melancholic
  • Friendly Enemy: He develops a friendship and a sort of understanding with Elena.
  • Heartbroken Badass: Elijah has faced heartache in regards to both love and his family. He hasn't been lucky in either department.
  • Heel Realization/I Am a Monster: After threatening Elena, he comes to agree with his mother's view of him as an abomination.
  • Heroic BSoD: Has one in season two, after Esther forces him to confront his darker nature, as well as the Awful Truth.
  • Honor Before Reason: Elijah is a highly noble, honourable person. Or he comes across as such. Elijah seems to value the concept of honour, and expects it from anyone else who gives him their word. Part of the reason why he broke his oath with the New Orleans witches is because they weren't honest about their true intentions towards Klaus or Hayley. Also he's a murderer, who feeds on innocent blood. Oops.
  • I Gave My Word: He swears to protect Hayley and her child from Klaus.
    • Elijah is known for being honorable and keeping to his word but he always likes to use Loop Hole Abuse when it suits him.
  • Immortality: Elijah is an Original vampire. He is capable of living forever without physically aging. Although he is 23-24, he is technically over 1,000 years old. He cannot die under normal circumstances.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Especially in the beginning. Elijah came off as cold and uncaring but he's actually rather moral and honourable by nature.
  • Knight Templar Big Brother: To both Rebekah and Klaus. He is highly protective of both of them.
  • Never Hurt an Innocent: He definitely tries to adhere to this. Notably, he's the only vampire not seen feeding on a human at any point.
  • Noble Demon: He is reluctant to kill anyone and has a strong sense of nobility, honourability and morals, but he commits some immoral and morally questionable acts in order to preserve and protect the one thing he values the most: his family. However, despite his claim to nobility, he has ruthless killed many people for little reason. Trevor, who was only asking for forgiveness, was mercilessly decapitated and Slater, just for talking to Damon and Rose was compelled by Elijah to kill himself.
  • Noble Male, Roguish Male: Elijah is the Noble Male to Klaus' Roguish Male.
  • Oh, Crap!: Like Klaus, he only has this reaction when dealing with real threats such as the discovery that their parents Mikael and Esther have come back to life.
  • OOCIS Serious Business: Whatever Esther did to him has left him highly unstable and acting remarkably out of character. Klaus - the more impulsive, violent brother - has to restrain him when they deal with Kol and Finn.
  • Only Sane Man: Likes to think he is but this honour goes to Finn, though Elijah would be next in line, especially compared to Klaus, Kol and Rebekah.
  • Old Shame: Considers his creation of the Strix to be this. Originally attempted a group of immortals to ensure a better and more civilised future, instead he ended up creating a society of powerful and sociopathic ancients who play power games with nations.
  • The Patriarch: Self-proclaimed patriarch of Original family. Kind of usurped this position by boxing up Finn.
    • He's also considered the patriarch of the Stryx, and is still treated with awe by its members.
  • Power Trio
  • Really 700 Years Old: Elijah is an Original vampire who is really 1,000 years old and was born during the 10th century.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Elijah is the Blue to Klaus' Red. Klaus is impulsive while Elijah is more logical.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Celeste reveals herself and kidnaps Rebekah and Klaus, Elijah vows to kill all the witches in the French Quarter.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: He kills Marcel because of Freya's vision that he will be the end of his family when it is discovered that he has the blood that will turn him into a hybrid that can kill the originals, and it was believed that he hadn't taken it yet. Then it turns out that he had already taken it and Elijah killing him turns him. Marcel eventually bites Elijah and the rest of the family except for Klaus, causing the very thing he was trying to prevent.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Elijah has had an ongoing rivalry with his brother Klaus for centuries. Elijah has even gone as far as to attempt to kill Klaus in order to stop him from breaking his hybrid curse and killing people in the process.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Elijah is the opposite of Klaus in terms of personality, outlook, values and beliefs. While Elijah is more moral, noble and upstanding, Klaus is more impulsive, immoral and reckless.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Elijah never fails to look dapper, neatly dressed and well-put together in his finest suits.
  • Sophisticated as Hell: Elijah is the epitome of chic and fashionable.
    "I'm a little behind the times but I believe the term you're looking for is 'OMG'."
  • The Spock: Both to Rebekah's Kirk and Klaus' McCoy in promotional material and to Kol's McCoy and Klaus' Kirk in 3x15.
  • The Stoic: Elijah is very calm, composed and collected, even when he gets angry.
    • Not So Stoic: When the witches try to kill Hayley's baby, Elijah is constantly on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. This also serves as a clue as to how deep his feelings for her have become.
    • And then there's his wail of anguish after he finds the body of his witch lover Celeste.
  • Super-Strength: Even by vampire standards, he's extremely strong and can rip other vampires' heads off with little effort. Justified because he is not a normal vampire but an original.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Elijah is the epitome of being classically handsome and dapper.
  • Tranquil Fury: Even when Elijah gets angry or enraged, he is so calm and stoic.
  • Undying Loyalty: To his entire family of course. There is nothing that he wouldn't do for them. Elijah always puts his family above everything.
  • Villain Ball: Sometimes family comes first to him, even if it means sparing/helping his murderous siblings.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Elijah tries to do the right thing by being loyal to his family but some of his methods can be rather extreme. In most instances, Elijah's heart is in the right place.
  • Wicked Cultured: All the Originals can qualify, but mostly Elijah being the most sophisticated member of the family.

     Rebekah Mikaelson 

Rebekah Mikaelson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mikaelson_rebekah_919.jpg
"You do not want to end up on the wrong side of me."
Played By: Claire Holt, Maisie Richardson-Sellers & Callie Mc-Clincy

Klaus: "Fierce Rebekah, willing to risk everything on the chance that she might one day find happiness."

An Original vampire, Rebekah Mikaelson is a member of the Original Family. She had a romance with Stefan in the 1920s. Klaus staked her when she chose Stefan over him. She was unstaked by Klaus in an effort to find out why his hybrids were failing. Her cruel nature masks her emotional insecurity. Originally, Rebekah declined to come to New Orleans, and only showed up because she was convinced that Elijah had gotten in trouble due to his need to redeem Klaus. She says she wants to leave, but events conspire to keep her in this city that has such bittersweet memories for her.


Tropes applying to her on The Vampire Diaries:

  • Action Fashionista: Rebekah can kick ass. And normally she's doing it in rather expensive and chic clothing.
  • Canon Foreigner: Rebekah as a character doesn't exist in the novel series.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: When it comes to Stefan. In 3x05, Rebekah admits that she's jealous when she realizes that Stefan still loves Elena. She gets ultra infuriated when she sees a picture of Stefan and Elena on a phone with Elena wearing her necklace.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • While she's shaken by Kol attempting to stab her with the white oak stake, Rebekah tells Klaus to go to hell when he suggests that she needs to learn how to dagger her siblings.
    • When she hears about Jeremy's death, she actually feels sorry for Elena. "I'm not going to miss him, but he was Elena's only family. Even I'm not that heartless."
  • Evil Counterpart: She seemed like she was an evil version of Caroline at first but she's really just scarred from everyone in her life turning on her.
  • The Fashionista: Rebekah is shown to be quite trendy and fashionable. She seems to have an affinity with clothes.
  • Fake Guest Star: In season 3, she is in 17 out of 22 episodes. She also appears in most season 4 episodes, despite being, theoretically, still a recurring character.
  • Femme Fatale: She's beautiful, free-spirited and good at manipulating people.
  • Girly Girl: Rebekah is really feminine and enjoys all the girly things including fashion.
  • Hidden Depths: Despite her aggressive nature, she has shown to be emotionally fragile. She very much wants to be like a normal teenager, and longs to have the normal teenage life she missed out on. Before being turned into a vampire, she used to be a sweet and normal girl, as seen in the flashbacks.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: Introduced in season 3, but becomes iconic along with her two brothers, to the point they get a spin-off about their family.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: She actually does have a good reason for causing the accident that kills Elena as it would also kill Alaric and save the vampire race
  • Powers via Possession: Her mother being a Witch while possessing Rebekah still got access to her witch powers AND vampires abilities.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Rebekah looks like a teenager and she doesn't age physically, but she is really 1,000 years old and was born during the 10th century.
  • The Undead: Rebekah is an Original vampire. She is capable of living forever and cannot physically age. Even though she looks like a teenager, she is technically over 1,000 years old.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: In "Into the Wild", she finally calls out Stefan (and the rest of the cast, to an extent) about how he blames her (or they all) for Elena's death, when all she was doing was protecting her family from Alaric - in other words, she didn't do anything all that different from what everyone else has done in the name of their own families. And she also reminds Stefan that Elena had a hand to play in the deaths of her two brothers Finn and Kol, so her hatred of Elena is more than justified at this point.

Tropes Applying to her in The Originals:

  • Berserk Button: Hurting or killing any of her family members. If one messes with her family, she will no doubt get revenge. Also, betraying Rebekah in any way, shape or form is a huge NO-NO. If one betrays Rebekah, watch her wrath.
  • Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Camille's Betty for Marcel's Archie.
  • Break the Cutie: Her past qualifies.
  • Brutal Honesty: All the time.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Rebekah to Mikael.
  • Canon Foreigner: Rebekah as a character doesn't exist in the novel series.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: A common victim of this, it makes the fact that she's so bitchy understandable because she probably has problems trusting anyone.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: With Stefan in The Vampire Diaries and now with Marcel on The Originals.
  • Dark Action Girl: Rebekah is an Action Girl with a little bit of edge. She can be very ruthless when she needs to be and when she wants to be. She can easily put the male characters in their place without hesitation. If anyone so much as crosses her or her family in any way, shape, or form, Rebekah can prove to be a force to be reckoned with. Rebekah can actually prove to be quite cruel and sometimes she will show no mercy. She has shown that she is willing to let Klaus suffer from time to time in order to put him in his place if he crosses the line. However, she has shown that while she likes to be feared and intimidating to others, she also secretly yearns for companionship and love. She even admits that she wants to be human.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Not as much as her brothers but she certainly has her witty moments.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: She's all for betraying Klaus and keeping him locked away to rot for eternity, but she draws the line at anyone hurting Hayley's baby.
    • And while she's done some horrible things both on and offscreen, she's horrified by Eva St. Clair, the child-killing witch whose body she possessed.
  • Evil Feels Good
  • Evil Is Petty: Her brothers are schemers and manipulators with big plans. Rebekah seems content with being as unpleasant as possible to people she doesn't like, namely Elena.
  • The Fashionista: Rebekah is shown to be quite trendy and fashionable. She seems to have an affinity with clothes.
  • Femme Fatale: She's beautiful, free-spirited and good at manipulating people.
  • Has a Type: Nice, human men, as evidenced by the governor's son, Matt, and Marcel before he turned- though it should be noted she has contemplated turning her lovers before.
  • Hidden Depths: Despite her aggressive nature, Rebekah has shown to be emotionally fragile. She very much wants to be like a normal teenager, and longs to have the normal teenage life she missed out on. Before being turned into a vampire, she used to be a sweet and normal girl, as seen in the flashbacks.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: She actually does have a good reason for basically abandoning Marcel in New Orleans. Mostly because Mikael had rolled into town and laid siege to their home and for all appearances it appeared that Marcel had perished in the fire that lit up half of the Quarter.
  • I Just Want to Be Loved: The girl will go to some very self-destructive ends for even the slightest amount of affection.
  • Immortality: Rebekah is an Original vampire. She is capable of living forever and cannot physically age. Even though she looks like a teenager, she is technically over 1,000 years old.
  • The Kirk: In promotional material, with Klaus as The McCoy and Elijah as The Spock.
  • Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Rebekah is the Dark Feminine to Camille's Light Feminine.
  • Love Hungry: Rebekah seems to desire to be loved more than anything. Unfortunately, all she has gotten is heartache and betrayal. It is no wonder that Rebekah became the way she is.
  • Love Martyr: In regards to Klaus and her family. Even when Klaus treated Rebekah like crap for centuries, she never stopped loving him and remained loyal to him no matter what. She later grows more of a backbone in regards to Klaus and his behavior as of recently though.
  • Mama Bear: Rebekah is very protective of her family.
    • This protective streak is all the more apparent when it comes to her niece. She's willing to put down her own brother when she sees that he's not stable and could be a threat to the child.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Rebekah is very physically attractive and fashionable.
  • Pet the Dog: All of her scenes with Matt count as he is perhaps the first genuinely kind, affectionate and loving person she has ever been with. After a thousand years of abuse and heartbreak, it's desperately needed.
    • Her scenes with Hayley in The Originals would also count.
  • Power Trio: With herself, Klaus and Elijah. See The Kirk above.
  • Proper Lady: Especially in the flashbacks.
  • Put on a Bus: Rebekah is exiled by Klaus to give her the freedom she wants and to stop the toxic family dynamic that the two developed with one another.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Rebekah is really 1,000 years old and was born during the 10th century.
  • Remember the New Guy?: She was with Klaus and Elijah when Katherine was human, despite not being shown.
  • Rich Bitch: The Originals come from a wealthy background.

     Freya Mikaelson 

Freya Mikaelson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/07d0000f44948a945a72d25c6c55ab8f.jpg
"Not three months ago, you utterly despised me, and now you're playing protective brother."
Played By: Riley Voelkel & Elle Graham

Dahlia: "I actually pity you. Over the course of our long lives together, I could see you were broken. I used to think it was my fault, but in time, I learned your ability to love died long ago."

Freya Mikaelson is the oldest of the Mikaelson siblings. Her mother Esther made a deal with her aunt Dahlia so she could conceive children...in exchange for the life of her first-born and every first-born of each generation that carries Esther's bloodline. Sure enough, Dahlia came to collect and took Freya from her mother. To cover for her death, Esther told Mikael and her other children that their sister had died of the plague. Only Finn and Esther know the truth of what happened to her. Except that Freya's not dead as everyone thinks she is. She managed to grow into a young woman, and her body is currently kept in the secret witch asylum, while her spirit haunts the building. Rebekah - currently trapped in another woman's body and in the witch asylum itself - is the only one who's aware of her existence, though she doesn't know her name. Eventually, Freya breaks the seal on the Fauline mansions and helps Rebekah escape, but not before giving her a message that she'll be back to meet the rest of her siblings soon.


  • Aloof Older Brother: To all of her siblings of course, but primarily to Rebekah.
  • Antagonistic Offspring: She understandably despises Esther for letting Dahlia take her away. When Finn asks if Freya wants her woken up from the sleep he put her in, Freya says that Esther can rot for all she cares.
    • When they eventually talk, Freya has nothing but a millennium of scorn and hatred towards Esther. And then she - for lack of a better word - incapacitates her at the end of the episode.
  • Back from the Dead: She wakes up from a century of suspended animation not long after Rebekah finds her.
  • Badass Adorable: She's entranced by cartoons and has an air of childish innocence about her. She can also tear through a group of witches like they were wet paper.
  • Berserk Button: Freya despises traitors and people who turn on their friends, likely due to the first betrayal by Esther that resulted in her being raised by Dahlia. Which is why she kills Cassie in the most horrifyingly painful way, whereas she killed the other Kindred quickly.
  • Big Sister Instinct:
    • She's shown to be rather protective of Rebekah, who coincidentally is the youngest of the living family while Freya is the oldest of the family. Although, it seems that the Knight Templar Big Sister might be a better fit for Freya.
    • At the end of the second season, she offers to put Rebekah's soul back in Eva's body, so she can have a chance to live a normal life and have children of her own. Rebekah happily accepts.
    • After Klaus learns of a prophecy that foretells his doom, she leaves a bottle of whiskey for him, along with a handwritten note of support.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Since season 3, Freya has clearly gotten her magical powers reduced and dampened, which allows her to be outclassed by other particularly powerful witches. Wordof God has it while she retains her full massive powers, using it to the full extent could be dangerous for her now mortal body.
  • Daddy's Girl: The flashbacks to her childhood show that Mikael was especially fond of her. Esther even says she was 'the apple of his eye'. Their reunion in "They All Asked For You" shows how true this is. He hugs her when he realizes who she is, and calls her 'my beautiful Freya'.
    • Freya's also the only one who weeps openly when Klaus stakes Mikael in 2.18.
  • Despair Event Horizon: She was forced to watch her lover die and in a botched attempt to end her life, she accidentally aborted her baby. Freya now wants nothing more than Daliah dead.
  • Deus Exit Machina: Freya is second only to Dahlia in terms of magical power, and was able to turn Esther into a murder of ravens. She's even powerful enough to defeat Finn, making her a threat to Elijah and Klaus. The writers have used the "she is busy/out of town/drunk" excuse with her several times to stop her from being able to solve problems for the protagonists.
  • Exact Words: She promises Finn she'll keep him safe from Klaus, which she does by pulling his soul out of his witch body and trapping him in her pendant.
  • Hot Witch: She is an attractive young woman, and even in death she could still use her powers to communicate with her little sister.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: Freya drank poison in an attempt to free herself from Dahlia. It didn't work, as the spell that keeps them alive makes them completely invulnerable to any harm. As of season three she is no longer immortal
  • Immortality: A formal immortal, immune to death for her one year of life per century. Due to her breaking that curse, she is now fully mortal. The only one among her immortal siblings
  • Immortality Inducer: She and Dahlia are kept alive with a spell that requires them to sleep for a century, and then wake up to enjoy one year of life before going back to sleep again.
  • Knight Templar Big Brother: She kills the Kindred witch who broke Rebekah's hand, and then annihilates the remaining when they've got her cornered in the attic of the asylum.
  • Lady Drunk: She takes full advantage of being permanently free from Dahlia come season three, and is frequently seen in clubs either drinking or picking up guys. It's implied she's catching up on all the time she's lost.
  • Mirror Character: From Klaus. They were both raised and then hunted by abusive surrogate parents. As a result, they yearn for the security of family and will do anything to ensure their survival and that of those they love. It's for this reason that Klaus distrusts her so much, pointing out spending a thousand years with Dahlia must have twisted Freya the same way Mikael twisted him.
  • My Way or the Highway: She absolutely refuses to entertain the possibility of working with Klaus to protect Hope from Dahlia, and offers an ultimatum to each of her siblings: her or Klaus. They pick Freya.
  • Odd Friendship: She and Vincent are very close with one another and affectionate. Vincent has a very strong moral code refusing to kill unnecessary which lead him rejecting the Hollows offer of power. Freya is more flexible willing to kill,betray,torture and maim in the name of family. Despite this they kept New Orleans in check while the Originals where exiled working closely together and are more then happy to call out each others bull from time to time.
  • Only Sane Man: She didn't spend time with her siblings while under Dahlia's control. As such, she's not as affected by the deeply dysfunctional relationship they've shared for a thousand years and is pretty much the only level-headed sibling.
  • Parental Favoritism: She was the "apple" of Mikael's eye and still is if their reunion is anything to go by.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her mother Esther gave her away as part of a deal with Big Bad Dahlia so she could have a family. This inevitably leads Freya to her being an Antagonistic Offspring to Esther.
  • Person of Mass Destruction One of her first acts after waking up was to tear through the magic that had held dozens of witches prisoner, effortlessly, and with nothing more than a wave of her hand.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: The magic used to help Esther conceive called for the sacrifice of her first-born child.
  • Power Incontinence: If Dahlia's memories are to be trusted, Freya had great difficulty in controlling her power, to the point where she would bleed from her mouth and birds would drop from the sky, dead.
  • Really 700 Years Old: She's still kicking after a thousand years, even though she's still a mortal witch.
  • Redemption Demotion: Apparently, due to being too powerful had she been allowed to keep her full strength, her acceptance to the family comes with the price of her becoming mortal and thus not able to ultilize centuries worth of magical power and experience to the fullest to ensure she doesn't become a Story-Breaker Power.
  • Sadistic Choice: Her mother Esther had to make one - either she lost Freya or all her children. She chose Freya.
  • Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: She fulfills this trope, blonde hair aside, while trapped with Rebekah in what can be best described as a halfway house for powerful witches.
  • Squishy Witch: After Dahlia's death, Freya becomes mortal again. While that leaves her more vulnerable than the rest of her siblings, she's still a very powerful witch.
  • Token Human: Of the Mikaelson's as of season three, she is the only human being in her family of immortals.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Esther said there used to be a 'light' inside her when she was a child. A millennium of being captive by an abusive aunt has, understandably, snuffed it out.
  • Walking Spoiler: Well, her page ain't half-covered in white space for nothing.

    Kol Mikaelson 

Kol Mikaelson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kolseason3.jpg
"I appreciate you trying. But Aya never keeps her promises. Seriously, darling. But you have to let me go. The longer you stay in this coven, the more dangerous it becomes for you."

Played By: Nathaniel Buzolic, Formerly Daniel Sharman & Roman Spink

Kol: "I have been a witch, a vampire, a ghost, a witch in somebody else's body... And now, I am a bloody vampire again."

The third-youngest of the Originals, notable for being even more Ax-Crazy and violent than Klaus. He makes his first appearance in season two, after escaping the destruction of The Other Side in The Vampire Diaries, and have joined up with his mother and brother Finn to take out the rest of his siblings. His soul was in the body of a young witch named Kaleb, and he had set his sights on Davina.

In the fourteenth episode of season two, his older brother Finn cursed him to his witch body (meaning he could not body swap) to die a slow, painful, lonely death. He died surrounded by his siblings and girlfriend Davina Claire. Davina and his younger sister Rebekah swore to bring him back and in season 3, Davina was successful.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: He might have been responsible for some shady stuff in season 2, but after he helps save Hope his siblings show up to mourn his imminent passing, giving him the sense of inclusion in the family hed always wanted.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: To Finn, Elijah and Klaus.
  • Arch-Enemy: Hates Finn more than anyone.
  • Ax-Crazy: As an Original he was arguably even worse than Klaus, with zero impulse control and a fondness for random spree killings. Later episodes suggested this was his acting out due to both having his magic cut off by his vampirism and his siblings ignoring him.
  • Back from the Dead: He's killed by Jeremy Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries, but is here resurrected by his mother. Again in season 3 when Davina siphons enough magical energy from the breaking of Klaus' sire link to bring him back from the Ancestors' realm.
  • Barbarian Longhair: Has some in flashbacks to the 10th century, like his brothers.
  • Black Sheep: He's very much an outsider in the Mikaelson family dynamic, both for his blatant craziness being too much for his siblings and also due to his being left out of the original "Alwas and Forever" vow. Lampshaded when he gives Hope a little speech on the value of these in the family; she assumes he's talking about Klaus, when he's actually talking about himself
  • Brutally Honest: Like his sister Rebekah, Kol is honest with others even if he comes off as a jerk.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: An interesting case; he plots against Klaus constantly, but his perspective reveals it wasn't to gain power at Klaus' expense, but to protect himself from a brother who held the power of daggering over him constantly - and used it several times.
  • Co-Dragons: To Esther, with his brother Finn.
  • The Charmer: Even though Davina was originally furious at Kol for not being who he said he was, she eventually fell for his charm and good looks.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The biggest one in the family. Even Rebekah isn't quite as snarky.
  • Dies Wide Open: After Finn's hex takes its toll on him.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Is determined to get out from his family's thumb - regardless of whether it's his mother or Klaus. Consequently he feigns working for both of them at various points while both keeping certain information to himself (Mikael's return) and creating his own contingencies (a dagger to be used on Klaus). The only ones he proves loyal to is Davina.
  • Dying as Yourself: Kol as a vampire was crazier than Klaus. As a mortal witch, he is merely cheeky, snarky and wily. This is because vampirism heightens emotions and the aspects of one's personality, even the negative parts. He says he is glad to be himself with no bloodlust or heightened emotions.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Davina. In later episodes he'll do anything to get her back including working for the Hollow against his own family.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Kol is horrified at Davina's decision to work for the Strix, telling her that whatever power they promise her (i.e, the power to bring him back to life) isn't worth what they'll make her do.
  • Face Death with Dignity: As Kol was dying from the curse his own brother placed on him, he helped save his baby niece from suffering the same fate as him. He claimed that he would be damned if Finn gets what he wants.
  • Freudian Excuse: Constantly puts his Ax-Crazy nature and mistakes down to his family's ignoring and treating him as expendable, but it's clear he would have gone off the rails as a vampire with or without them.
  • Happily Married: To Davina, as of season 5.
  • Hidden Depths: He's astonishingly knowledgeable about magic despite beng unable to use it himself. In season 3 he's able to advise Freya on spells - and she learned from Dahlia, one of the most powerful witches ever.
  • Honey Trap: As Kaleb, he's sent to be a Honey Trap for Davina. Later averted, as he becomes fond of her.
  • Hot-Blooded: Impulsive, violent and tends to rush in without thinking.
  • Hot Witch: He's possessed the body of a young witch and quickly uses his good looks to ingratiate himself with Davina.
  • I Just Want to Be Loved: Klaus speculates his constant psychotic episodes are his way of getting his siblings to pay attention to him, and he confesses as much before his witch body passes away from Finn's hex.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: He actually prefers magic to vampirism. As a child, he displayed magical tendencies and would have likely followed his mother's footsteps if he hadn't been turned. Even during his vampire years, he mostly ran with witches and convinced a coven of New Orleans witches (the 'prettiest' one being Davina's ancestor) to create dark objects for him to practice magic.
  • In Love with the Mark: Gradually falls in love with Davina for real, much to the surprise of both.
  • Insane Equals Violent: Takes out all his anger towards his siblings and towards losing his magic on the innocent.
  • It's All About Me: At least until Davina comes along. Kol does what he wants and when he wants, regardless of the consequences. His first daggering was a result of his going so far out of control he attracted Mikael's attention to the family. When confronted, gleefully admitted he didn't give a damn.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: Kills Davina after the Ancestors' influence causes his hunger to grow out of control.
  • Living Forever Is Awesome: Played with. Loved the physical power and perks of being a vampire, but hated being cut off from his family's natural magical abilities.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: Instead of compelling or healing his victims, he drains their bodies, killing them.
  • The Nicknamer: He refers to his brother Klaus as "Nik," his sister Rebekah as "Bex," his girlfriend Davina Claire as "Darling" and "Love".
  • Oh, Crap!: Elijah's face when Klaus revealed he undaggered Kol says it all. Kol's antics become too much even for Klaus and so he put him back in the box.
  • Only Sane Man: Suggests they lure Marcel out the city when the Mikaelsons return to free Klaus, as going head-to-head with him as The Beast is suicide. Elijah overrules him and confronts Marcel directly - and the only reason any of them survive is Hayley's begging for mercy for all of them, and later Marcel showing that mercy.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Despite being over 1,000 years old, Kol still acts like a teenager and physically is one.
  • Psychotic Smirk: Kol is known for his signature smirk. Rebekah even said when seeing Kol in a different body that she "would know that smirk anywhere."
  • Really 700 Years Old: Like his siblings, Kol was born in the 10th century, making him over a thousand years old.
  • Remember the New Guy?: In many of the flashbacks of the Mikaelsons as humans, Kol was there, but never appeared on screen.
  • Sanity Slippage: Begins to crack after Davina brings him Back from the Dead in season 3, as he's never had to control his bloodlust and Ax-Crazy tendencies before, but deserately wants to for her. It's later revealed his being buried as an Ancestor allowed them to influence his hunger to grow out of control.
  • Seeks Another's Resurrection: His season 4 arc has the Hollow blackmail him into working for it because it can resurrect Davina.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: A trait shared with his father and older brothers.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Variously with Klaus, Rebekah and Finn.
  • Sour Supporter: When called upon to aid the family, he'll complain and point out the stupidity of what they're doing repeatedly - but he'll still do it.
  • The Starscream: Unquestionably the Mikaelson most likely to rebel against the Klaus-Elijah-Rebekah dynamic that dominates the family, he crafted a dagger to get Klaus out of the way as payback for his repeatedly experiencing it. When Esther resurrects him, she puts him in a weak witch body precisely because she didn't want him to betray her.
    Klaus: Our little brother has been plotting against me for years, and he hasn't got a lick of it right.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: A trait shared with his brother Elijah.
  • The Unfavorite: Kol believed that his mother (and the rest of his family) didn't care whether he lived or died.
  • Weak, but Skilled: In his witch body. His knowledge of magic is vast but Esther made sure to put him in the body of a relatively weak witch so he couldn't become The Starscream against her. Consequently he spends much of his time talking Davina and later Rebekah through the various spells they have to do.
  • Wild Card: Unpredictable and only out for himself. Best seen in season 2 where he's plotting against Klaus and his mother at the same time whilst cosying up to them both.

    Mikael 

Mikael

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mikael_8258.jpg
"I am Mikael, the Vampire who hunts Vampires!"
Played By: Sebastian Roché

"Mothers love their children. Fathers make them strong."

Mikael (also known in the supernatural world as The Hunter and The Destroyer, because of his pursuit of his children, and the destruction he leaves in his wake), is one of the Original Vampires, the Original Vampire Hunter, and is the vampire who hunts vampires. He is the husband of the Original Witch Esther, and the father of Freya, Finn, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik Mikaelson. Mikael is also the step-father of the Original Hybrid Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson, making Hope Mikaelson his step-granddaughter. With both Silas and Amara (the world's first immortal man and woman respectively) cured and dead, Mikael, being the father of the Original Vampires, is the oldest, most feared, and is the most dangerous and deadly vampire in the world.


  • Abusive Parent: To all his children (except Freya) to varying degrees. He's tyrannical and cold toward them, but Klaus is the one who gets physical as well as psychological/emotional abuse. In his final moments, Klaus asks why he hated him. Mikael himself says he doesn't know, he just did.
  • Abusive Parents: He himself had an abusive father, who would 'correct' him. This initially didn't affect Mikael as Esther tells Klaus (and flashbacks show) that Mikael doted on Finn and loved his daughter Freya. Freya's "death" made Mikael think his father's ways were the correct way. When Davina tells him she thinks his father is a "dick", Mikael explains that "Mothers love their children, Fathers make them strong"
  • Above Good and Evil: Ironically a trait he shares with his son. Sometimes he has noble aims and traits, and others he viciously murders the innocent without pause or regret. In the end, the only thing he thinks matters is strength.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: As capable of evil as he was, Mikael's last moments were deeply touching. He killed by a surprise attack by Klaus and gives his farewell to Freya, showing previously unknown depths of humanity and vulnerability. Out of all his children, only Freya mourns him.
  • Anti-Villain: He is a man who hunted his son for centuries for killing his wife, blaming him for it and turning his family against him, and also for being an immortal blot on his honor. His goal is to wipe out the vampire race he himself created, but he'll slaughter hundreds of innocent people indiscriminately if it ends in Klaus' death. He's every bit as much a mass murderer as any of his children, but believes it's all justified if he kills Klaus.
  • Archnemesis Dad: To Klaus - the two's mutual hatred goes back to even before they were vampires.
  • The Atoner: In a very bizarre way, he's atoning for the creation of vampires.
  • Back from the Dead: Courtesy of Davina, who altered the spell so she can gain control of him until she's ready to unleash him on Klaus. He is now completely free of the enslavement spell thanks to Kol.
    • Back for the Dead: Sadly only lasted one season before Klaus ended up killing him a second time.
  • Badass Boast: He has a tendency to make them. The scary thing is, they're often entirely accurate.
  • Badass in Distress: Finn neutralizes him midway through season 2 and uses him to fuel Finn's witch powers. He's stuck this way until Freya frees him.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: With Esther in the first half of Season 2; where she wants to persuade her children to give up their vampirism and convert to witch bodies, he just wants to kill them.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Klaus meets up with Mikael at a bar to discuss teaming up against Dahlia, and, being Klaus, he can't help but challenge Mikael. A fully recovered and fully powered Mikael offers to give him a repeat beating.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Mikael is a veteran warrior - a Viking who knows that only the rules in a fight are to survive and win. Anything else is just folly. Best exemplified when Klaus looks set to overpower him in their second season 2 fight; he throws the Tunde blade at Cami, then stakes Klaus while he was distracted saving her.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: A trained and highly skilled warrior, with an Original's strength, speed and toughness - most fights against him go this way. Even Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah are easily beaten by him in the flashback.
    • Curb Stomp Cushion: There were times where Mikael has been challenged by his enemies due to numerous situations. A group of werewolves managed to temporarily overwhelm him to bite him. The most prominent examples are his fights with Klaus: Klaus by this point has unlocked his hybrid powers, so while he is still no match for his father, he is still able to give him a much harder fight than before, regardless of Mikael being weakened by werewolf venom. Mikael still proves superior but Klaus manages to resist him just enough to catch him by surprise and briefly win by stabbing him with Tunde's blade. Their next fight has Mikael on the receiving end: Though Mikael is still a tough opponent, pinning Klaus to a wall and nearly pushing the White Oak Stake through Klaus's heart, Klaus eventually manages to overpower him, but Mikael holds on long enough to leverage Cami's life and then wins the fight once more.
  • Demoted to Dragon: Davina was smart enough to alter the resurrection spell to place him entirely under her control, which Mikael himself is very displeased with. When she temporarily loses the bracelet that keeps him under her power, he immediately tries to kill her and is only stopped due to Elijah's intervention.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Freya's death transformed him from a loving husband and father to a cold man, icily indifferent towards his family at best, raging and abusive at worst.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Mikael's wife was unfaithful to him, and he reacted by murdering her lover and his entire family. He proceeds to violently abuse the bastard child for his entire life - even BEFORE he found out that Klaus was a bastard.
  • The Dreaded: Klaus is immensely powerful, nigh-invincible and treats everyone around him like an insect who can't hurt him...and Mikael terrifies him to his very core. In-universe, he's referred to as The Destroyer, and numerous flashbacks show the mere prospect of him turning up is enough to have all his children fleeing for their lives immediately.
  • The Determinator: Nothing will stop Mikael from killing Klaus, not even the weakness caused by werewolf venom, the pain of Pape Tunde's dagger or even death itself. He came back from the latter and over-came the former to stake his step-son.
  • Disappointed in You: With Klaus; when he was born Mikael thought he had the potential to become a true warrior. When this turned out not to be the case, it contributed towards his crushing hatred of his bastard son.
  • The Dragon: Briefly this for Esther and then for his beloved daughter Freya, who he was recently reunited with.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: He was killed again by Klaus before the end of Season 2, much to many fans' displeasure. That said, flashbacks and hallucinations enabled him to maintain semi-regular appearances on the show until its end.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: He was already a formidable Viking warrior pre-Vampirism. Then Esther's curse turned him into arguably the strongest supernatural being on the planet.
  • Enemy Mine: Teams with Klaus to take out Dahlia, as both haved loved ones (Freya, Hope) they want to protect from her.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Freya, most obviously - he's even willing to team up with Klaus to protect her from Dahlia. It's also mentioned Rebekah was his favourite after Freya's death, and part of his enduring hatred of Klaus was for his murder of Esther - something he seems absolutely livid at to Cami, even knowing she's Back from the Dead.
  • Face–Heel Turn: He was a good man once upon a time - a doting father and loving husband. Then Freya's death shattered him, and he slid further and further into being an Abusive Parent. Then came vampirism, heigtening his hatred of Klaus to insane degrees.
  • Face Death with Dignity: He faces it stoically, only reaching out to his beloved daughter one last time. An interview at the time with the producers indicated that he realised that Klaus' killing him was likely the only way to get the ingredients to produce a Dahlia-killing weapons, and so accepted his fate to save his daughter.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Mikael is very polite to Davina, and in flashbacks is revealed to have reached out to both Elijah and Marcel, claiming his battle was only wth Klaus. But any time he's in range of the Hybrid, this instantly goes out the window, as evidenced by his crucifying Marcel and killing hundreds of theatre-goers just to get at his son.
  • Fatal Flaw: For all his intelligence and power, his dismissive nature of his son has killed him twice. He keeps underestimating Klaus' cunning and strength.
  • Food Chain of Evil: He only feeds on other vampires so he does not have to feed on humans - but we find out in season 2 that he will break this rule if he's desperate enough.
  • Freudian Excuse: Defied: even at White Oak Stake-point, when a raging Klaus demands to know why Mikael hated him so much, all Mikael's previous excuses - his role in Henrik's death, the murder of Esther, turning the rest of his family against him - fall away and he honestly looks genuinely confused as he admits he doesn't know why. He just did.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The reason the Mikaelsons became the Original vampires, the primary reason why Klaus ended up the way he did, and the reason the Originals were run out of New Orleans/Marcel became the King. Virtually everything in the series can be traced back to him in some form or another.
  • Hazy-Feel Turn: Still hates Klaus with a fiery passion, but ends up aligning with him out of fear of what Dahlia will do to Freya.
  • Heroic Willpower: Mikael's focus and willpower is so strong, he is able to tolerate the effects of werewolf venom and even pull out Papa Tunde's dagger, a weapon that paralyzes Originals (even Klaus) and leaves them in agony. He tells Davina that by fighting through pain and ignoring it, nothing can hold power over them cue him proving himself correct when he pulled out the dagger and could tolerate the affects of werewolf venom. He is also the only one able to wound Dahlia while being desiccated by her, something even Klaus couldn't do.
  • Hidden Depths: Reuniting with Freya lets the audience see traces of the loving father he once was.
  • Hunter of His Own Kind: Hunts and feeds nigh-exclusively on vampires after coming to regret his role in their creation.
  • Hypocrite: Condemns his children for acting like bloodthirsty animals, but he's as bad as them, if not worse. His New Orleans rampage sees him killing hundreds, if not thousands, of innocents to get Klaus, and his macabre theatre display shows he's every bit as much of a Sadist as Klaus.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: He'll kill innocents by the score and even nearly off his other children just to kill Klaus. To him, any means justify Klaus' death.
  • Immortality: The oldest and strongest Original Vampire.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Not normally, but he'll feed on humans when desperate - such as when Klaus is coming after him and he's severely weakened from Papa Tunde's blade.
  • Irrational Hatred: Even before finding out that Klaus wasn't his son Mikael displayed a disproportional amount of anger towards him growing up and abused him mercilessly. Right before he killed him for good Klaus asks why his father always hated him so much and Mikael admits that he doesn't know; he just did.
  • Kick the Dog: Most of the things he does to Klaus can be considered this - offing his favourite horse, creating a macabre theatre of his tortured and murdered loved ones - but threatening to kill Cami in front of Klaus out of sheer spite is a new low.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: "Freya, I'm so sorry. I lo-"
  • Lightning Bruiser: One of the strongest and fastest supernatural beings on the show. Even a fully Hybrid Klaus is capable only of stalemating him.
  • Might Makes Right: Mikael believed this fimly after Freya's death. He sought to toughen his children because in his mind, only the strong survived and his methods were occasionally quite harsh to say the least. Klaus was frequently the target for standing out from the rest of his siblings.
  • Morality Pet: Freya. When she "died" Mikael was so grief stricken that he become a completely different person, a darker and more abusive one. When she revealed to him her survival, he was willing to do anything for her - even working with Klaus to kill Dahlia.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Inadvertently created the plague of vampirism to protect his own children, and also kicked off the eternal war between vampires and werewolves by murdering his wife's lover and his family.
  • The Nicknamer: He refers to Davina was 'little witch' and less endearingly to Klaus as 'boy and 'bastard'.
  • Nominal Hero: Only in that as bad as he is, Klaus is frequently much worse.
  • Parental Favoritism: He doesn't bother hiding the fact he loves his daughters (particularly Freya) more than he can ever care for his sons.
  • Papa Wolf: Don't even try to hurt Freya in his presence. Dahlia found that out the hard way and got impaled for it, though it didn't really stick.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: He is a one man wrecking ball who has laid cities to ruin and fire...and he is proud of it.
  • Pet the Dog: Mikael named his sword with a word that meant "blonde" or "golden" and consecreted it in goat's blood, so that whenever he went out to battle, he could always be reminded of his daughter, his favourite child. He also praised Davina and Cami when they showed courage.
  • Posthumous Character: Even after his second death, keeps popping up in flashbacks, then as one of the Hollow's hallucinations.
  • Pride: Esther made the Mikaelsons vampires to protect her children. Mikael did it so not to look weak. As Rebekah pointed out, Mikael could have moved his family away from the werewolves. But that was too much for his ego, so he convinced Esther to make him and their children superhuman, with the power to surpass the wolves. Worst, he gave his family no choice in the matter, leading to not only the Vampire curse, but to the monsters both he and his children become. Rebekah at one point specifically notes this as the trait that vampirism heightened in Mikael.
  • Red Baron: He is called The Destroyer and the Vampire that hunts Vampires - and he damn well earned both of the titles.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Stongly hinted he saw Rebekah as this for Freya.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His entire motive behind trying to kill Klaus. Until Esther's murder, he might have hated Klaus but didn't want to kill him, as he was content to have Esther "cleanse" him of his werewolf side. After this it became a bitterly personal mission to off his bastard son - especially after the rest of the family sided with Klaus after he lied that Mikael killed Esther.
  • Spanner in the Works: To Esther's plan; his finding his way back to the land of living visibly shocks his once-wife when Klaus tells her of it, as having their father after them is a major hindrance to her plan of making her children take up witch bodies once more.
  • Super-Strength: The most powerful Original. Word of God says this is because Mikael was far stronger than them all when they were all human and so his strength was amplified more then theirs. Even Klaus with his Werewolf side can't defeat him while he is still weakened.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Klaus loathe one another, but Dahlia's threat to Freya and Hope is so great they willingly work together to bring her down.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: In terms of his portrayal as opposed to character evolution. He's portrayed far more negatively than in The Vampire Diaries, where Klaus was the Big Bad. Here he's far more unhinged after his resurrection, and we see the lengths he'll go to to kill Klaus - including murdering hundreds of innocents, and feeding on Cami.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After much build up, he was killed off by a sneak attack by Klaus in the third season of The Vampire Diaries, without getting to do a anything that made him feared. But after his resurrection we get to see his strength and determination, as he massacres a werewolf pack with ease, curb-stomps Elijah, manages to overcome the pain of Papa Tunde's dagger and defeats Klaus several times over. He only dies when taken by surprise.
  • Training from Hell: He was beginning to put Davina through it and praised her when she fought through pain to stand up.
  • Tragic Monster: When all is said and done he is as much of a tragedy as his children. A father that lost his favourite child and became hard and bitter as a result. A warrior that sought to protect his children by giving them the strength to fight the wolves, only to see them degenerate into monsters. A family man who was framed for his wife's death by the son who he hated so much. A mass-murderer fuelled by his rage and pride, driven to relentlessly pursue and try to kill his own family for a thousand years. And then, just as he got back the daughter he loved above all others, he was killed by Klaus.
  • Un-person: Mikael doesn't just want to kill Klaus; he wants to make him into an Un-person by destroying everything he built, killing everyone who knows him and essentially wiping him from history.
    "As I walked the streets, your name was spoken of in reverent tones by the city's finest. So after I kill you, I will remain here in New Orleans until every last person who remembers you is dead. The deeds of the mighty Klaus will be remembered by no one. And you, boy, will simply never have existed."
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: His intention to kill Klaus - long since degenerated into a monster whose humanity was as dead as Mikael's own - was a noble one. Yet he was willing to sacrifice thousands of innocents, burn whole cities to the ground and even kill his other children to do so.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Klaus was this to him, but it's heavily implied that Mikael had a similar relationship with his own father.
    "I was half your age the first time my father gave me the staff. I would have torn every muscle rather than let him see me strain, and had I, he would have corrected me."
  • Worf Had the Flu: Somewhat averted; despite suffering from Wolf venom and not having fed he still managed to fight Klaus on equal terms. When incapacitated by Papa Tunde's dagger he managed to power himself out of it. He even managed to outsmart Klaus in their second fight, using his son's affection for Cami to ditract then stake him. He would have most likely been able to finish off Klaus once and for all if Klaus' allies had not intervened.
  • World's Strongest Man: Leaving aside the Gods in Legacies, Mikael is heavily indicated to be the most physically powerful being in all of the series. Mikael started out as the father of the people who would become the Originals and the strongest of them all, far exceeding any of them in terms of willpower and raw strength. Due to that, after they all became Originals, Mikael remains heads and shoulders above all Original Vampires, so much so that he casually overwhelmed Elijah and Rebekah, the former being able to challenge even Klaus by the time he became a Hybrid, and it's even heavily indicated he may very well be capable of overpowering all'' of his children simultaneously, as Elijah stated that whenever Mikael has arrived, all they could do is flee. His strength is also shown by how he could overcome the pain of Werewolf Venom and Papa Tunde's Blade, the former being able to leave Rebekah heavily weakened and the latter leaving Elijah helpless, and after being put through all those debilitations, he could still overpower Klaus as the Original Hybrid! He's never actually defeated in a physical fight, and Klaus even noted with surprise that Mikael did not just beat him when he tried to kill him, which only ended him because he willingly sacrificed himself for his children. If anything, he's the first and only Mikaelson who was able to overcome Dahlia's magic and wound her directly. All his feats would definitely place him on a higher level than even Marcel as the Beast, who visibly struggled to handle Elijah and Klaus while at full strength and was shown to be helpless when faced by the Hollow, who's around Dahlia's power level, at best only slightly above her.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Aside from being abusive to a young Klaus, he doesn't hesitate to try and kill Davina when the opportunity arises to free himself from her control.
  • Villain Decay: Despite his fearsome and well deserved reputation as a threat, he has been killed off twice without much of a a fight in an almost anticlimactic nature by Klaus.

    Esther 

Esther

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3dab7da199bbcc12538b2ee163458547.jpg
"I will systematically destroy everything they hold dear."
Click to see Esther's original body. 
Played By: Natalie Dreyfuss, Alice Evans, Claire Holt, Hayley McCarthy & Sonja Sohn

A witch and one of the most powerful witches in history.

Esther is the wife of Mikael and former lover of Ansel. She is the mother of Freya, Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik. Esther is the sister of Dahlia and the grandmother of Hope Mikaelson.


  • Adaptational Jerkass: During her appearance in The Vampire Diaries, her desire to kill her children - thus removing vampires from existence - was somewhat justified, given the atrocities the Originals caused and the inbalance they created in nature. Here her fear of her sister is so great she's willing to sacrifice the wolves of the Quarter and kill a months-old baby to avoid visiting Dahlia's wrath on her family.
  • Always Someone Better: While she's a powerful witch in her own right, her older sister is much more powerful than she is, a fact that makes her scared for her family.
  • Back from the Dead: Returns in the body of the last harvest girl in the season 1 finale. After a few body hops, Freya kills her again midway through season 2 - then the Mikaelsons resurrect her in her original body as part of their plot to kill Dahlia.
    • Back for the Dead: She sacrifices herself to let her children kill her and her sister that same episode.
  • Bad Boss: Views the Crescent Wolves as little more than expendable foot soldiers - even using their children as prepubescent time bombs at one point. This eventually causes them to break with her as Hayley assumes her birthright as their queen.
  • Broken Pedestal: To all her children in season 2 - especially Finn, once she becomes a vampire.
  • Cassandra Truth: Warns Klaus Freya can't be trusted, something quite accurate at that stage.
  • The Chessmaster: She's running several schemes all at once: making moonlight rings for werewolves in exchange for their loyalty to her, and using her sons as spies to ingratiate themselves to the non-vampire allies of the Originals.
  • Dark Secret: The pendant she gifted Klaus as a gift to her favourite was actually a magical amulet that suppressed his werewolf side and kept him weak - the very thing Mikael despised so much. He's utterly distraught when he realises how she manipulated him.
  • Deal with the Devil: She couldn't have children originally, and turned to her older sister Dahlia for help to make her conceive. Dahlia agreed to help her, in return for the life of her firstborn and each firstborn of every subsequent generation that carries her bloodline.
  • The Determinator: Not even death will stop her from trying to wipe her children - and her grandchild - from the face of the earth.
  • Fantastic Racism: Against vampires, for good reasons of course.
  • Fatal Flaw: Her plans go wrong because she fails to understand how her children have changed since her death - the Always and Forever bond, Klaus' love for hope and Kol falling for Davina all contribute to her ultimate defeat.
  • Freudian Excuse: She believes that by terrorizing them so much they'll agree to transfer into mortal bodies she's saving her children from Dahlia - but it's clear from her interactions with her sons that it's as much about enforcing her warped vision of what her family should be.
  • Glass Cannon: One of the most powerful witches ever - but she's still as vulnerable as any human, as Klaus proves when he easily kills her by stabbing her in the neck.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The creator of the vampire race, admittedly at Mikael's behest. Everything in the series ultimately stems from her.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrifices herself to save her children in the season 2 finale, letting Klaus run her and Dahlia through.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Her plans repeatedly go awry because she continually fails to understand her children, be it Klaus' genuine love for his daughter Hope or Kol's falling in love with Davina.
  • Hypocrite: Spectacularly so. When Klaus and Rebekah turn her, her son gives her the choice to either die with her morals intact, or feed on a blood bag and become the thing she hates. To Finn's disgust, the hunger is so great she does the latter.
  • It's Not You, It's Your Vampirism: In 2.03, it's revealed that Esther plans on killing her children and then placing their souls into mortal bodies, like she did with Kol and Finn, to free them from the 'curse' she put on them.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: She becomes increasingly unhinged throughout the season, but making a deal with Mikael to let him kill Klaus is definitely the point where's there's no going back.
  • Karmic Transformation: Esther turned her children into vampires without their consent and later tried to kill them, believing them to be abominations. It is therefore rather fitting that Klaus kills her while she unknowingly had Rebekah's blood in her system therefore turning her into the very thing she hates most; a vampire.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Willingly gave away Freya to her sister Dahlia in order to have more children. A thousand years later, twisted by Dahlia's influence, Freya makes a point of killing her mother.
  • A Lighter Shade of Black: She might be bad, but as we later find out, Dahlia is so much worse. Her desperate attempts to kill Hope in the early part of the season are motivated by her fear Dahlia will come to collect on their deal.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: In Esther's mind, all that she has done to her children was borne out of love. In 2.03, Klaus tells Hayley that it was her love for them that led her into turning them into vampires - specifically, that the loss of his youngest brother 'drove her over the edge.' In her twisted way, her plans to have them give up their vampirism and kill Hope are to protect them from her sister.
  • Mama Bear:Deep, deep, deep down, she still loved her children. It took Dahlia nearly killing them in front of her to realize that, giving her the motive to willingly sacrifice herself so Dahlia could be killed.
  • My Greatest Failure: As they die, she apologizes to Dahlia for abandoning her when they were young, which started the chain of events that led to the Mikaelsons becoming vampires, calling it 'my most grievous sin.'
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By consecrating her bones in New Orleans soil, her children unwittingly let her take control of the ancestor witches and use her power to continue her vendetta against her family.
  • Never My Fault: Her season 2 appearances have her consistently failing to acknowledge her shortcomings, be it the hypocrisy of setting Klaus up for a lifetime of hatred from Mikael to protect the affair that produced him, her role in the creation of vampires or her Klaus-esque tactics of using the Wolves as cannon fodder.
  • The Nth Doctor: Played by three actresses in season 2.
  • Offing the Offspring: Her ultimate goal was seemingly to destroy her children and bring balance back to nature. This extends to her grandchild as well.
  • Proper Lady: She carries herself with a certain poise and speaks very eloquently, not even trying to act like a sixteen year-old girl living in the 21st century. It's how Klaus realizes who she truly is when he meets her.
  • Redemption Equals Death: In her final appearance, stops Dahlia killing her children and sacrifices herself to ensure her sister's death.
  • Sadistic Choice: In the mid-season finale, Klaus and Rebekah trick her into drinking vampire blood and then kill her. She wakes up in transition, stripped of her powers and her ability to jump into bodies, and is offered a choice by Klaus: drink the blood bag he leaves for her, thus becoming a vampire and everything she has hated for a millenium...or die permanently. He then adds this is still more than Esther offered her children, turning them into vampires without consent from any of them. The following episode reveals she chose vampirism, much to Finn's horror and disgust.
  • Taking You with Me: Does this to Dahlia in the season finale, so Klaus can kill them both.
  • Walking Spoiler: Her involvement in the series isn't meant to be known until the season 1 finale, let alone her resurrection.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: She's determined to save her children from Dahlia by returning them to mortal bodies - and if Hope has to die, so be it.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Is given one by Klaus, of all people, in 2.02. He tells her (while under the assumption that she's Cassie) that he and his siblings never agreed to become vampires and were turned against their will by their mother, and yet she called them 'abominations' as though she never had a part to play in their creation. For a moment, Esther seems to be affected by his words before she regains her composure.
    • Is given a chilling one by Finn in 2.10, when he sees that she chose to become an 'abomination' rather than die for her principles.

    Finn Mikaelson 

Finn Mikaelson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b24ed57924e2ce06bb4e5aaf5172c54e.jpg
"Change, dear brothers, is inevitable."
Click to see Finn's original body. 
Played By: Caspar Zafer & Yusuf Gatewood

Klaus: Finn, the devoted acolyte, his love all too easily warped by our mother's sick hate.

The second oldest of the Original siblings. He was notable amongst his siblings for being the most moral (even more so than Elijah initially) and quiet, as well as hating what he had become and plotted with his mother Esther to bring an end to the rest of his siblings. He - along with Esther and Kol - have been brought back from the dead to finish out what they'd started. His soul is in the body of a warlock; he has gone undercover as Cami's guidance counselor to get information about Klaus' movements.


  • And I Must Scream:
    • He spent 900 of his 1,000+ years as a vampire daggered and kept in a coffin thanks to Klaus. It's later revealed being like that for so long actually caused him to regain consciousness of a sort, trapped in his own mind and unable to do anything about it. When Klaus puts him back in it in season 2 as punishment, he does scream the whole time.
    • Once Freya brings him back he plans to possess a witch and live out his life as a mortal - then Davina curses him to be trapped in the vampire body he so despises.
  • Arch-Enemy: He and Kol despise each other, even more than his other brothers.
  • Back from the Dead: Esther resurrects him in the body of a warlock following his death in The Vampire Diaries. After he's removed from Vincent, in season 3 he is brought back in his original body by Freya.
  • Berserk Button: Taunting him about the fact he spent so long daggered always gets an angry reaction out of him.
  • Cassandra Truth: He's actually the first one to reveal Dahlia's existence to Klaus and Elijah. However, given all he's done to them by that point, they aren't inclined to listen.
  • Co-Dragons: To Esther, with his brother Kol.
    • Dragon Ascendant: After Esther becomes a vampire he takes over as the main threat to Hope until the middle of season 2.
  • Deadpan Snarker: About the only form of wit he ever displays.
    Finn: [to Klaus]: As for the seat across from me, that's reserved for another of our clan. Care to wager an educated guess? How about a paranoid one?
  • Disc-One Final Boss: After the defeat of Esther and Mikael vanishing, Finn takes over as the main villain for season 2 - and is defeated just in time for Dahlia's arrival.
  • Dies Wide Open: As Lucien's bite takes him.
  • Due to the Dead: After his death, his siblings scatter his ashes in the Mississipi, with even Kol commenting that he hopes Finn has finally found peace.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Totally devoted to his mother - at least until she becomes a vampire - and his sister Freya.
  • Face Death with Dignity: As his siblings' frantic attempts to save him with magic and Klaus' blood fail, he accepts his fate and only asks they stay with him as he dies.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Finn is unfailingly polite with Cami, but with his brothers it doesn't take much for him to drop the facade.
  • Glass Cannon: He's one of the most powerful witches seen in the series, but he's as vulnerable as any other witch to physical harm. Best seen when he goes head-to-head with Klaus in mid-season 2 and his brother mortally wounds him fairly easily.
  • Go Out with a Smile: As his siblings rush to save him from Lucien's bite, he notes with a smile he's finally seeing the "Always and Forever" devotion they always talk about, dying soon after.
  • Heel Realization: Downplayed in that he still doesn't regard himself as evil, but after he returns in season 3 he tells Elijah that after reflecting on what they've all become he's got no more desire to fight them, instead wishing to possess a witch body to live out his days in peace.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: His representational magic trap fails because he genuinely didn't expect Klaus to forgive Elijah for killing Tatia.
  • I Am a Monster: He certainly thinks this when he's a vampire.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: After discovering his mother chose to become a vampire to save her own life, he seeks to kill the months-old Hope himself.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Curses Kol to die after Kol tries to stop his schemes. The following season Davina traps him in his vampire body, ruining his plan to possess another witch and live out his life as a mortal, in retaliation.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: No matter how much he has suffered, no matter how much the people around him seem to conspire to make him suffer more, no matter how much his own family has wronged him, no matter how much the people he hates deserve retribution and revenge. From you. , WHENEVER Finn is involved, he automatically and instantly becomes the villain of the story, even though most of the characters are also villains. Particularly glaring is the fact that he is always treated as an ungrateful bastard when he doesn't want to help his family (You know, the same "family" that destroyed his life over and over again and trapped him in a coffin for 900 years)
  • Momma's Boy: The only sibling who knows the price Esther paid to have more children, he's totally devoted to her no matter what.
  • Morality Pet: He has one in the form of Cami, who he takes on Hayley and her wolves to save. Unluckily for him, it's a trap.
  • Mouth of Sauron: For his mother, Esther, when it comes to dealing with the wolves. Esther is usually busy with spells and schemes, so Finn relays her wishes.
  • Oh, Crap!: He makes this face when he realizes that Elijah had simply let him talk uninterrupted for several minutes while the house had time to be filled with methane from a broken heater.
  • Pet the Dog: Couldn't care less that Rebekah is burning up from the Strix curse as Freya tries to save her - but when he sees Elijah feed Freya his blood to keep her from dying in the effort, he lends her his own power, just this once.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives viciously accurate speeches to Klaus and Elijah.
    Finn: [to Elijah] Linens and silk can't disguise your pathetic self-loathing.
    Finn: [to Klaus] And you, despite the arrogant facade, you're still the same paranoid little boy full of hate and fear.
    Finn: [to Klaus and Elijah] Do tell me, what'd I miss? Regale me with your contributions to society. Medicine, philosophy, art? Or have you two merely cut a path of destruction across time?
  • Scary Black Man: When possessing Vincent. Not because he's particularly intimidating physically, but due to his power and ruthlessness.
  • Secret-Keeper: The only one of the Original siblings to know of their mother's deal with Dahlia and what really happened to Freya.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: He's always immaculately dressed when he's possessing Vincent.
  • Sibling Rivalry: As a boy, he was jealous of the attention that Klaus received from their mother. He also thought that Elijah coveted the role of the oldest brother so he could lead the other Originals, and that reason was why he went along with Klaus daggering him for nine hundred years. The subject still remains sensitive to him.
  • Spotting the Thread: When he's interrogating a captive Marcel, he realises that while Marcel keeps telling him Hope is dead, he can't remember how - hence, he's been compelled to forget the details. As the only ones able to compel vampires are Originals, he quickly works out this means Hope is still alive and his brothers know it.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: In his Original body.
  • Thwarted Coup de GrĂ¢ce: When he's got Elijah cornered in the safe house, he chooses to monologue for several minutes and taunt Elijah about his carnage and how he's failed to protect Hope. This gives enough time for the exposed gas leaking from the broken heater to saturate every room in the house, as Elijah calmly points out before taking off his sunlight ring and putting his hand in front of a clear window.
  • Undying Loyalty: To his mother, Esther. Until she becomes a vampire.
  • Villainous Crush: On Cami. Used against him when the non-Mikaelson regulars use it to lure him into a trap and capture him.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Like Esther, truly believes killing Hope will stop Dahlia's arrival.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Finn doesn't. When Davina traps him in his vampire body, he begs Elijah to let him use the last of the white oak to end his life, pleading that his current existence was a curse.
  • The Worf Effect: He's killed by Lucien to show that his bite can in fact kill the other Mikaelsons.
  • Would Hurt a Child: In 2.04, Finn plans to exploit a blood moon to activate the werewolf curse in untriggered prepubescent children by having them kill the humans who oppose the witch faction. Later, he's dead-set on killing Hope, who's only a few months old, to prevent Dahlia's arrival.

    Henrik Mikaelson 

Henrik Mikaelson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/henrik.PNG
"Years later, my brother Henrik was killed by the werewolves in our village. The loss of another child pushed my mother over the edge."
Played By: Devon Allowitz

"Our youngest brother was killed by our village's greatest threat."

Henrik Mikaelson was born in the 10th century and was a member of the Mikaelson Family, being the youngest child of Mikael and Esther Mikaelson. Henrik has six siblings consisting of three older brothers; Finn, Elijah, Kol, a maternal older half-brother named Niklaus and two older sisters, Freya, and Rebekah. He was also the uncle of his sister Freya's unborn son and his brother Klaus' daughter Hope. He was mauled by a werewolf, the village people's greatest threat and his death is what drove his mother to protect her other children by turning them into Original Vampires.


  • The Baby of the Bunch: Henrik is the youngest of the 7 Mikaelson siblings.
  • Barbarian Longhair: In the flashbacks to the 10th century.
  • Canon Foreigner: Henrik as a character doesn't exist in the novel series.
  • Dying as Yourself: Hernik died an untapped witch, and unlike his older brothers Finn and Kol, he did not return in another body.
  • Plot Device: His death was the reason for the creation of Original Vampires. He has only appeared in flashbacks and has been mentioned less than 5 times throughout the series. His voice has never been heard.
  • Plot-Triggering Death: Henrik's death by the hands of werewolves led Mikael and Esther to cast the immortality spell on their family, inadvertently creating the vampire race, and more or less leading to the events of the rest of the franchise.
  • Remember the New Guy?: In the flashbacks with the Mikaelson siblings as children, he was there despite not being shown.

    Hope Mikaelson 

Hope Mikaelson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5bcdaa8f41a58ddf527e557926db0af0.jpg
Played By: Alexandria & Victoria Collins, Charlie & Blake, Summer Fontana, Danielle Rose Russell and Rebecca Breeds

The daughter of Klaus and the vampire-werewolf hybrid Hayley Marshall. Hope is the result of a one-night-stand between her parents and after she was born her family agreed to fake her death to protect her from all those who wish her harm. Klaus, after promising to get Hope back one day, gives her to the only person he can trust to protect and raise his daughter: his sister, Rebekah.

In mid-season 2, Klaus and Hayley are reunited with Hope and after the threats of Finn, Esther and their aunt Dahlia have passed but Hayley and her Pack have been cursed, Hope now lives in New Orleans under the protection of Klaus and her aunt Freya.



Alternative Title(s): The Vampire Diaries The Originals, The Originals Mikaelson, The Vampire Diaries Mikaelsons

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