Original Vampires (The Vampire Diaries)


Original Vampires — in the universe of The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Legacies — are extremely powerful and old vampires from which all vampires are descended. In the autumn 1001 AD, after werewolves killed her youngest son, Henrik, the powerful witch Esther performed a powerful ritual in order to protect her five remaining children—Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol, and Rebekah—and her husband, Mikael. The ritual turned them into the first vampires. Following the death of Esther, the family scattered across the world.

Family history

The family comes from the 10th century Viking-era Europe, from the Kingdom of Norway where a young witch named Esther and her sister Dahlia were captured by Viking raiders. They were the only survivors and were kept alive so Dahlia could aid them by using her witchcraft. Esther was allowed to live freely, given she was in love with one of the Vikings, Mikael. Believing herself to be in love, she turned her back on her magical heritage to marry Mikael, a wealthy landowner, and powerful Viking warrior. She and her sister Dahlia, who since childhood had been her best friend, had sworn an oath to protect each other always and forever. Dahlia was distraught that Esther would rather lay with their captors than escape with her, as she lived like a slave. A year later Esther discovers she is barren, and her desire for children ended in failure. Desperate, Esther turned for help to her sister. Dahlia performed the ritual at a high price, and Esther became fertile. She gave birth to a daughter named Freya, who was quickly followed by a boy named Finn. By the time they left the Old World for the New World, Esther was pregnant with their third child, a boy named Elijah. Mikael was a good husband and a doting father, who adored his children but especially loved his daughter Freya. However, during Esther's third pregnancy and while Mikael was away, Dahlia came to collect her price; the first child of the first generation, just as Esther had promised. She had also promised that she would give up every first child for every generation to come. Dahlia took Freya, and Esther lied to Mikael, telling him their daughter died of the plague and that she burned the body to stop its spread.
Not wanting to lose any other children to Dahlia, Esther convinced her husband Mikael, along with Finn, unborn Elijah, and Esther's friend and mentor Ayana, to leave Europe for the Americas, where several Viking colonies already existed. There, they settled in a village on the location of the future town of Mystic Falls in Virginia. Their neighbors were powerful werewolf warriors, and they quickly became a part of society. Mikael became a fierce warrior who helped the werewolves in battle while Ayana became the village healer and taught Esther how to use her magic. Esther quickly became a very powerful witch, even considered by some as being the most powerful of her time. However, the loss of Freya had badly hurt Mikael, and he grew distant from his wife. Eventually, Esther took a liking to the young werewolf leader of the village, Ansel. The two begun an affair, as Mikael still neglected Esther. Esther eventually became pregnant with Ansel's child; and, realizing what Mikael would do to them if he ever found out, she returned to her husband. When she gave birth to a third boy, Niklaus, it renewed his hope for a family. Three more children would be born to Mikael and Esther; two sons, Kol and Henrik, and a daughter, Rebekah. However, Mikael had become harsher as a result of Freya's loss. While he loved his children he wanted them to be fierce warriors, and his children came to fear him. To prevent Mikael from finding out her wedlock son's nature, Esther gave Klaus a cursed pendant, which weakened him and prevented him from triggering his curse. This led him to be viewed badly by Mikael, and he suffered the brunt of his violence. Esther also forbade Ansel from seeing their son; but the werewolf remained close, knowing that Klaus would one day trigger his curse and need him. Despite Mikael's contempt for Klaus, the family was a close one. When Klaus was abused Esther taught him to hum a song, sung by the starlings she'd brought to the new world long ago, the song that her sister Dahlia and she used to hum.
However, the family's happiness came to an end when Klaus and Henrik, fascinated by the werewolves, sneaked out of the caves to see them turn on the full moon, which was forbidden by their village's laws. Henrik was killed by the turned wolves. Desperate to protect their remaining children but refusing to run again, Mikael and Esther planned to use magic to prevent them from being hurt. Mikael had Esther turn him and their children into beings faster and stronger than werewolves, with their own fangs to attack, and heightened senses, and unable to be truly killed. Esther, upon her husband's request, called on the power of the sun for life, and the ancient white oak tree for immortality to make her children stronger and immortal while also using the magically spelled blood of a doppelganger to allow them to be reborn as a powerful new species. Mikael and his five remaining children turned while Esther remained a witch. However, for every new strength, a weakness plagued them, the sun that granted life would burn them and keep them inside until dark, vervain that grew on the white oak tree could burn them and prevent mind compulsion, a dagger dipped in white oak ash can keep them in an induced coma type state until the dagger is removed from their heart, while neighbors who had once invited them into their homes could now keep them out unless they are invited, and wood from the white oak tree is the one thing that can take their immortal lives away, by killing them. The worst of the weaknesses was the terrible hunger for blood. They had become the first of the vampire. In their hunger, they massacred half of their village. When Klaus made his first human kill, he triggered his werewolf curse, revealing his mother's infidelity. In his rage, Mikael slaughtered half the village before killing Ansel himself. He then forced his wife to suppress Klaus's werewolf side by using the blood of the doppelganger. Furious at his mother's betrayal, Klaus killed her and blamed his step-father for her death. Mikael fled from their village in his rage, followed by Finn and Kol. After burying their mother, Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah also left their hometown.
Despite originating in the 10th century pre-Christianized Norway, most members of the family carry non-Scandinavian names. The rest, apart from Niklaus, carry biblical Hebrew names: Mikael, Esther, Elijah, and Rebekah. The name Mikaelson, or any variants, would likely be anachronistic in 10th century Norway.

Members of the Mikaelson family

Mikael

Mikael is the patriarch of the Mikaelson family. He was portrayed by Sebastian Roché.
Mikael was searching for Klaus and the rest of his family for a thousand years. He desired to kill Klaus, in order to get revenge for the murder of his wife and him being framed for it. He always had a bad relationship with Klaus, but caring enough to save him by turning him into a vampire but otherwise being hard on him when he was growing up. Unlike the rest of children who fell inline, Klaus was the black sheep of the family and acted differently, this was because he was the product of an affair Klaus' mother had with a werewolf. As such, Mikael was condescending, cold and abusive towards Klaus for no apparent reason, though Mikael tried to justify this by claiming he was trying to toughen Klaus up. This treatment contributed greatly to Klaus' narcissism, hunger for power, paranoia and psychosis.
Mikael was imprisoned in a coffin by Bonnie Bennett's mother Abby, when he came to Mystic Falls looking for Elena Gilbert when she was a small child. He wanted to kill the Petrova doppelgänger in order to prevent Klaus from breaking the curse and creating a hybrid army. Katherine awoke him in order to get information on how to kill Klaus.
Klaus eventually killed Mikael using the white oak stake after being saved by Stefan Salvatore.
When the Original Vampires throw a ball in order to introduce themselves to the Mystic Falls community, they use the last name "Mikaelson", as a tribute to the patriarch. Ironically, Klaus also refers to himself as Mikaelson, despite his deep resentment of Mikael.
Mikael's ghost appears in New Orleans and convinces Davina to resurrect him, which is successful but found himself bound to Davina via a mystical bracelet or at least until Kol Mikaelson released him while Davina was knocked out.
Mikael is the oldest of the Original Family and considered the strongest and most powerful vampire in existence, easily able to overpower Elijah. Even Klaus after breaking the curse that prevented him from becoming an Original Vampire Werewolf Hybrid couldn't defeat Mikael, even with him weakened by werewolf bites, in a fight without blindsiding him with Papa Tunde's Blade and outright got himself overpowered and pinned down by Mikael just before he managed to catch him off-guard. However, Klaus gains the upper hand in the second fight with Mikael as he was further weakened by the dagger and haven't yet recovered from his werewolf bite wounds, with Klaus only to be thwarted in an attempt to save Camille.
Klaus kills Mikael a second time in a surprise attempt to use his Viking ashes for a spell to defeat his Aunt Dahlia.

Esther

Esther is the matriarch of the Mikaelson family. She is portrayed by actress Alice Evans in The Vampire Diaries and in The Originals. While possessing Cassie's body, she was played by Natalie Dreyfuss. She was played by Sonja Sohn while possessing Lenore's body. She was stuck in Lenore's body as a vampire.
She was not a vampire, but was a powerful witch. She was the apprentice of a very powerful Bennett witch, Ayanna, during her first years in the New World. Esther was responsible for turning her family into vampires. She did so by summoning life from the sun and immortality from a white oak tree, then making them drink the blood of Tatia, one of Amara's doppelgängers, before having Mikael kill them.
She was referred to as "The Original Witch", though she was not the first witch in the world. This was a reference to the fact that she was the witch who was a part of the Original Family.
Esther was murdered by Klaus in the early 11th century, because she used her powers, and those of some other fellow witches, to suppress his werewolf abilities and bind them to the moonstone through the use of a curse, and for making him the target of Mikael's hatred through her affair. Esther comes back to life in the 21st century, when she was awakened by Bonnie and Abby Bennett. Esther tries to kill all of her vampire children, whom she now believes to be abominations after seeing the violence that they embody. She obtains the help of her son Finn, who becomes willing to be sacrificed in order to end the pain that his siblings bring to the world. Esther also seeks the help of Bonnie Bennett and her mother Abby by channeling them and their bloodline, in order to gain more power to perform the spell that will kill her children. However, Esther's son Elijah finds out about the plan, and teams up with his siblings to force the Salvatore brothers to prevent his mother from killing the family by kidnapping Elena and threatening to kill her if the Salvatores do not stop Esther's endeavors. Damon Salvatore ends up turning Bonnie's mother into a vampire, which ends her witch abilities and thus destroys the spell. Esther then flees from Mystic Falls to avoid her family.
In the season three episode, "Heart of Darkness", Esther returns to Mystic Falls. She tells Rebekah that she was dying, and wanted to see her daughter one last time; however, she had ulterior motives for returning. She grabs Rebekah's hands, and performs a spell in order to switch bodies with Rebekah, using her as a cover for safety. Esther was desperate to stay safe from Klaus and her other Original Vampire children who want her dead after learning of her plans to kill them all and ending the vampire race. After she returns to her own body, she was killed by Alaric Saltzman's normal self, but not before she successfully performs the ritual on his dark side, and her body was put back into its coffin by Klaus.
Esther's remains are consecrated in New Orleans and as a result, she becomes a New Orleans witch, a witch that has or can use the collective power of all the dead New Orleans witches. She eventually becomes the leader of the Ancestors, the spirits of the dead witches who give their power to the living witches.

Freya Mikaelson

She is portrayed by an American-Canadian actress Riley Voelkel.
Mikael and Esther's firstborn child was a daughter. It was originally believed that she died in Europe at a very young age as the result of a plague that had struck their homeland. In reality, Esther's sister Dahlia took the child as the price for the magic used to allow Esther to bear children. Esther lies to Mikael, and Freya's supposed death is what caused Mikael and Esther to move to a village in a "mystical land" far away in the New World, which was later called Mystic Falls.
Dahlia took Freya and taught her many of her secrets and, over the years, she became a very powerful witch. Eventually, Dahlia cast a spell on both of them which would provide them with "the next best thing" to immortality: they would slumber for one hundred years before waking for a year of aging. Eventually, Freya escaped from Dahlia, later telling her brothers, Klaus and Elijah, that it hadn't been easy and that she had lost something in the process. Freya hid from Dahlia's wrath and, eventually, ended up in New Orleans where she wanted to meet her family. Invited to a party thrown by her brothers and her sister as her brother Kol's date, she witnessed Klaus daggering Kol. As his date, she was imprisoned in a cottage which had become an asylum for mad witches since Klaus had a spell placed on it which prevented witches from leaving. Once inside the asylum, Freya returned to her slumber, remaining as such for a hundred years.
As her slumber came to an end, Freya discovered that her sister, Rebekah, had been imprisoned in the asylum when her spirit was placed in a witch body by a vengeful Kol. Pretending to be another inmate, she finally met her sister properly, admiring her bravery when she stood up to the Kindred witches who ran the asylum. Later, when Rebekah planned to draw on Freya to break the spell on the asylum, the Kindred tried to stop her but Freya arrived and easily dispatched the Kindred with her magic before breaking the spell that contained the witches. Revealing her true identity to Rebekah, she told her that she would soon come to see their brothers. The first of them she met was her brother Finn, whom she had been close to as a child. Revealing what had happened to her after the kidnapping, Freya also learned that her younger brother, Klaus, had fathered a daughter, something that would draw Dahlia once she found out. Helping Finn to kill Hope, she cast a spell to protect her brother for his upcoming confrontation with Elijah, who was protecting Hope. She later brought Finn back thanks to her spell when he was killed by Elijah. She also told him that, once Hope started doing magic, Dahlia would sense it and come for what was hers.
Sometime afterwards, once Finn was strong enough, Freya asked him to take her to Mikael, their father, who Finn had been using as a sacrificial power source in his battle with their brothers. Although Mikael was secptical at first, he eventually recognized his long-lost daughter, and father and daughter happily reunited. Telling Mikael about the truth behind her disappearance and the threat posed by Dahlia, Freya then met with her brothers Klaus and Elijah, who had confronted Finn in the City of the Dead. Removing Finn's spirit from his host and placing him in her pendant, Freya told her brothers that Hope had nothing to fear from her or from Finn now that he was neutralized. She then told them that they needed to ally if they wanted to stop Dahlia, who was far more powerful than any witch they had ever come across. Although Klaus refused her help, especially when he learned of her alliance with Mikael, Elijah was willing to hear her out and even ally with her but he told her that he did not trust her. Freya hoped that she would be able to one day win her younger brother's trust.
Freya is one of the most powerful witches to ever walk the earth, along with Dahlia, her niece Hope and her mother Esther. However, Hope's power seems even greater than Freya's and Esther's, as she is capable of accomplishing feats even Esther and Freya could not. Even Rebekah, whose knowledge of magic was quite limited, knew that Freya was far more powerful than any other witch she had encountered. Freya knew and mastered a vast number of spells and could accomplish them at a greater degree than other witches; namely, she could locate someone despite them being protected by a cloaking spell. She could also use her magic in a fight, something that not even a Harvest witch like Davina can do.

Finn Mikaelson

He is portrayed by a British actor Casper Zafer and was played by American actor Yusuf Gatewood while possessing Vincent Griffith's body.
Finn is Mikael and Esther's second born child and was the oldest living Mikaelson family member, until his elder sister Freya woke up. He is shown to be even more noble and moral than Elijah, but is more distant to his siblings since he views them as monsters. Finn once had a loving relationship with his siblings, but that changed after they became vampires, and after seeing how they acted he emotionally distanced himself. He still cared about them enough that he stayed with them but held a judgemental attitude towards them, especially Niklaus, whose relationship with Finn became hostile. This made Klaus decide to leave the white oak ash dagger in Finn after The Brotherhood of the Five attacked them. However 900 years later, after Elijah undaggered him, he conspired with Esther to link all the remaining Original Vampires so they could all be destroyed.
Finn was responsible for turning the 900-year-old vampire, Sage, with whom he is in love. Sage and Finn reunite shortly before his death.
He is killed in The Vampire Diaries third-season episode "The Murder of One" by Stefan, Elena and Matt, who think that it will kill all of the Originals due to their "linked" status. However, Klaus manages to force Bonnie into unlinking the siblings moments before Finn is killed. It is revealed through Finn's death that when an Original dies, all vampires of his or her bloodline die as well.
As was revealed in the second season of The Originals, Finn returns along with his mother Esther and brother Kol in another body of a male witch named Vincent.

Elijah Mikaelson

He is portrayed by New Zealand actor Daniel Gillies
Elijah is the third born child to Esther and Mikael. Elijah first appears in "Rose", the eighth episode of the second season of The Vampire Diaries. He is brought into the circle by two vampires named Rose and Trevor. They make a deal to be allowed immunity from Elijah and the Originals if they hand over Elena Gilbert, the new Petrova doppelgänger. It is later revealed that Rose and Trevor were the vampires who failed to keep Katerina Petrova alive for Klaus to sacrifice in the ritual required to become a vampire/werewolf Hybrid. They were subsequently hunted by Klaus and Elijah for centuries.
Elijah had feelings for Katerina in 1492, and tried to save her from Klaus; however, she did not trust Elijah and chose to flee. Later, he would punish her for her betrayal by compelling her to stay in a tomb until he said otherwise.
Elena is rescued by the Salvatore brothers not long after Elijah kills Trevor, who had betrayed Elijah in the past by helping Katerina escape. The Salvatores attack Elijah and succeed in staking him; however, he comes back to life at the end of the episode because he is an Original Vampire who can not be killed by any wooden stake. Only wood from the ancient white oak, which his family burned when they became vampires, can kill Originals. Elijah then works with a witch to locate Elena.
The witch is able to locate her, so he goes to Mystic Falls to confront her, where he ends up saving her from a group of vampires who also wanted to take Elena. It is revealed that those vampires wanted to hand her over to Klaus. When Elijah discovers this, he makes peace with Elena and her friends, because he wants to use Elena as bait to draw out Klaus and kill him. He thus makes a deal with Elena that if she helps him kill Klaus, he will leave her family and her friends alone and keep them safe. However, he intends for Elena to be successfully sacrificed, as once Klaus breaks the curse and starts transforming, he will be left vulnerable enough to be killed. During a series of events, Elijah is temporarily "killed" when Elena stabs him with a mystical dagger that can kill an Original when dipped in ash from the white oak.
When Klaus comes to town, Elena un-daggers Elijah because she needs his help, and he then reveals to her his family's history, and the fact that Klaus killed the rest of his siblings. Elijah thus at first tries to help Elena and her friends kill Klaus, but ends up saving him instead in the Season 2 finale episode, because Klaus promises to take Elijah to their family if Elijah spares him. In season two's finale however, it is revealed that Klaus double-crossed Elijah once again, and daggered him to keep him close to him, like the rest of his daggered siblings.
Damon undaggers Elijah later in season 3 to help him find a way to kill Klaus. When Elijah awakes, he undaggers the rest of his siblings who were located in similar coffins in the same room. They begin to plot their revenge against Klaus; however, before they can make their move, their mother Esther, thought to be dead, reappears and convinces the siblings to be a family again .
After Elijah foils his mother's plans to kill him and his siblings, he leaves Mystic Falls a tortured soul, ashamed of his own barbaric actions and those of his family's. He is shown to be one of the most sophisticated and peaceful of the Original siblings, alongside his older brother Finn. He is the most compromising regarding Elena and her friends. Elijah and Elena develop a sort of understanding, and Elena comes to be fond of Elijah's company. She thus feels especially betrayed when earlier Elijah threatened to allow Rebekah to kill Elena if the Salvatore brothers are not able to stop Esther Mikaelson from killing the Original Family. However, in the 18th episode of season 3, Elena professes that she hopes that her vampire friends are descended from Elijah's bloodline, so that he can be spared. Elijah returns to town in the season three finale episode, "The Departed", in order to make a deal with Elena and her friends. Elijah proposes that he be allowed to take Klaus's desiccated body with him and his siblings and leave town, and in exchange, he would make sure that Klaus would not be resurrected within Elena's lifetime or even that of her children, stating: "perhaps that will teach him some manners". However, Klaus is staked, and Elijah and Rebekah believe him to be dead, even though Klaus actually possessed Tyler Lockwood's body and lives on.
In season four, Elijah reappears as Katherine's lover, and is making a deal with Katherine for her to be granted her freedom from Klaus in exchange for the cure for immortality, which Klaus wants to give to Silas, the world's first and most dangerous immortal being, to avoid Silas' psychic torture. Elijah refuses Klaus the cure for Rebekah to take before Silas re-claims it, denying Katherine's freedom. Elijah breaks up with Katherine when he learns Klaus has fathered a child and returns to New Orleans to keep Klaus' unborn baby safe and help his brother.
He follows his brother Klaus to New Orleans and finds out that Hayley is pregnant with Klaus' child. He begins to have feelings for Hayley and throughout 'The Originals' the two make their feelings for each other clear. When Esther returns, she reveals the truth about how Elaijah's first love, Tatia, was killed, proving it was in fact himself who had fed on her when they had newly been vampires. During one of Finn's spells Elaijah is trapped in a room with animal heads which represent each brother of the family. To escape, Elijah discovers you must ruin the representation of each other, thus causing him to share with Klaus that he killed Tatia. When Klaus proves he is capable of forgiveness the spell is broken and they are free.

Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson

He is portrayed by British actor Joseph Morgan.
Klaus is the middle child out of all his half-siblings. Klaus is the Original Hybrid. He is a werewolf-vampire hybrid being werewolf by birth because Mikael is not his biological father. Klaus was conceived through Esther's infidelity with a werewolf chief over at a time where her marriage with Mikael was struggling. The birth of Klaus brought back hope to Mikael, and Klaus was followed by Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik. Klaus first appears in The Vampire Diaries season 2 episode 17 titled "Know Thy Enemy" possessing Alaric's body. Klaus first appears in his own body on The Vampire Diaries in season 2 episode 19 titled "Klaus". He is mainly the head of the family when it comes to decisions and plans.
In The Vampire Diaries, Klaus is introduced as an antagonist for seasons 2-5. Klaus repeatedly tries to kill the Salvatore brothers, turns Tyler into a werewolf-vampire hybrid, uses Elena as a human blood bag, constantly puts Caroline Forbes in danger, kills Elena's aunt in a ceremony to regain his werewolf side, etc. Throughout his duration on TVD, he forms a soft spot for Caroline. He repeatedly put her in dangerous circumstances almost killing her a few times, but always saves her at the last minute. Once Klaus removed the spell suppressing his werewolf side, he is unable to make hybrids because Elena is still alive. Tyler becomes a test subject for Klaus, becoming his first successful hybrid. Klaus kills the rest of his hybrids after Tyler turns them against him. In TVD's 100th episode, he and his sister return to Mystic Falls, only for Klaus to find Caroline in the woods looking for Matt. He and Caroline hook up, then he leaves Mystic Falls to return to New Orleans.
In The Vampire Diaries' spin-off, The Originals, Klaus and his siblings are the centers of the show. Along for the ride, is a pregnant werewolf named Hayley Marshall. Back on TVD, Hayley came through town to help Tyler free the hybrids of their sire bond to Klaus. This leads to Hayley and Klaus hooking up, then parting ways. When Klaus moves to New Orleans, he finds out that his werewolf side allowed him to impregnate Hayley. Elijah and Rebekah join Klaus in New Orleans to help keep Hayley and the baby safe. Hayley is then officially welcomed into the Original family.
In season 2 of The Originals, Klaus faces challenges with keeping his daughter safe from his maternal aunt, his mother, and Finn. Season 3 brings the danger of a prophecy predicting the downfall of him and his siblings. Klaus is reunited with old friends, who cause problems, current friends who betray the Mikaelsons, and a Salvator brother in town while he is on the run from a huntress. Klaus' sire bond is broken, causing his enemies to come after him. In season 4, we skip to 5 years in the future. Hayley has been living in hiding with hers and Klaus' daughter, Hope. The Mikaelsons siblings are saved, and Klaus meets his daughter, not as an infant. Hope becomes possessed by a powerful immortal with a spirit called the Hallow, so they split the Hallow amongst the four remaining Original siblings. This meant that Kol, Rebekah, Elijah, and Klaus can no longer see Hope let alone be in the same city.
In season 5, it's now been roughly 7 years, and the old Salvatore home in Mystic Falls, VA that belonged to Stefan and Damon, is now a supernatural school called The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted where Hope is attending. Hope is 15 and enrolled in school with the last name Marshall instead of Mikaelson with Caroline, Alaric, an old friend of Alaric's who is also a teacher at the school, Dorian Williams, and a boy from Hope and Hayley's pack named Henry, being the only people in the school to know her real identity. Caroline goes to see Klaus. Klaus returns to New Orleans but not in time to save Hayley from vampire purists. Hayley dies from the purists with help from Elijah who has no memory of his past life. The immortal witch spirit, the Hallow, comes back into play trying to possess Hope again. As a last resort, Klaus takes on the dark magic completely, says his goodbyes to Caroline, friends, and family, then he and Elijah kill themselves to eradicate the spirit forever, saving Hope.

Kol Mikaelson

He is portrayed by Australian actor Nathaniel Buzolic and was played by British actor Daniel Sharman while possessing Kaleb's body.
Kol is the youngest surviving son of the Original Family, since the death of his younger brother Henrik and the second youngest child still living, being older than Rebekah.
He tries to kill Matt Donovan for entertainment during the Originals' family ball, but is stopped by Damon Salvatore.
In the season three episode, "Heart of Darkness", Kol appears in Denver, Colorado, where Elena and Damon had sent Jeremy, to get him away from Mystic Falls and protect his life. He threatens to hurt Jeremy, in order to prevent Elena and Damon from trying to find out the history of Damon's blood line;. Damon drives a baseball bat through Kol's body in order to debilitate him so that he, Elena, and Jeremy can escape. Kol later appears at the house of Mary Porter, the vampire who sired Rose. Kol kills Mary, so that she is not able to tell Elena and Damon about the history of her bloodline, which could lead them to find out which Original vampire Damon, Stefan, Caroline and Abby Bennett are descended from; Mary sired Rose, Katherine Pierce forced Rose to sire her, and Katherine later sired Damon and Stefan.
In season four, Kol returns to aid Rebekah in finding the rumored "cure" for vampirism. He tortures Professor Shane, who supposedly knows how to get the cure. When Kol realizes that Shane plans to release Silas, the first and most dangerous immortal being of all time, Kol stabs Shane through the torso with a wooden object, killing him. However, Bonnie is able to save Shane's life through an "expression", or dark magic spell.
Kol compels Damon to kill Jeremy so that they cannot find Silas, but Stefan locks Damon away so that he cannot. Elena and Jeremy decide to try and kill Kol because he is trying to stop them from getting the cure. Since Jeremy needs to kill vampires to complete the map to the cure, they conclude that if they kill Kol, which also kills his whole line of vampires, the map will be complete.
Elena lures Kol into the house and waits for Jeremy to bring Bonnie, but he does not make it in time. Elena and Jeremy are talking later when Kol appears, storms into the house and tries to cut off Jeremy's hunting arm. Elena corners him and showers him in water mixed with vervain. Jeremy stabs Kol with the white oak stake and he dies. Meanwhile, Klaus is watching furiously in the doorway, unable to help his brother because he has not been invited in. He vows to avenge his brother's death, swearing to kill Jeremy, Elena and anyone else involved.
Kol returned in the season four episode "The Walking Dead", along with several deceased characters as ghosts, longing for revenge against their killers and the residents of Mystic Falls. He clashes once more Matt Donovan, wounding him by throwing a glass bottle at his shoulder and taunting his sister, angered at her brief grieving period, before proceeding to attack Elena, grieving for her brother at his grave. His neck is snapped by Stefan before he managed to kill Elena, however appears in the next episode, "Graduation", threatening Bonnie into completely destroying the veil so he could return to life. Bonnie plays along with his plan, however deceives him by luring him into a trap, so he can't cause any more harm until the veil is returned.
Kol later appears to Matt Donovan while Matt is temporarily trapped on the Other Side. After Matt witnesses his sister Vicky being sucked into oblivion, Kol reveals that the Other Side is unraveling, slowly taking one spirit after the other. Soon, every spirit of the supernatural kind will be gone. Kol begs Matt for his help, before he, too, will be swept away. However, upon awaking, Matt doesn't remember. Soon, the Other Side completely disintegrates, and Kol's fate is left unknown.
Some time later in season 2 of The Originals, a young man named Kaleb appears in New Orleans, flirting with the young but powerful witch Davina Claire. He later meets up with Cassie and Vincent, two witches whose bodies have been taken over by Esther and Finn. It's revealed that Kaleb is actually Kol, having taken possession of a body as well. Kol continues his relationship with Davina Claire, originally because his mother told him to but develops feelings for her. He chooses to side with Davina over his mother Esther who he helps stop along with his siblings. However, this leads to his brother Finn casting a spell on him which eventually kills him, leaving Davina heartbroken. In season 3 Davina works to resurrect Kol which she succeeds in doing by aligning herself with the Strix to get the power she needed. Kol is later resurrected by Davina through the energy that was used in un-siring Klaus.

Rebekah Mikaelson

Rebekah is currently the youngest member of the original family since Henrik died over a thousand years ago. She is portrayed by Australian actress Claire Holt and was played by British actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers while possessing Eva Sinclair's body.
She and her living siblings, Finn, Elijah, Klaus and Kol were turned into vampires by their parents, Esther and Mikael Mikaelson. They made them drink the blood of Tatia, one of Amara's doppelgängers, before having Mikael kill them. Esther, their mother who is an original witch, performed a spell using white oak ash for eternal life. When they woke, their father forced them to drink human blood. With the intention of turning them into vampires was so that they could survive in their village and to be stronger, faster and even more vigilant than the werewolves, who killed their youngest brother. However, the great hunger and lust for blood was a bad effect that their parents didn't plan on. Vervain, a plant by the white oak tree, burned them as did sunlight, which caused them to be forced to wear daylight rings or necklaces. The only thing that can really kill an Original is a stake made of the actual white oak tree used to turn them, while a dagger dipped in the ash of the white oak can place them in a deathlike trance until the dagger is pulled out.
Rebekah shares a deep bond with her brother Klaus, and was the only family member that remained loyal to him throughout his vicious behavior. Klaus thus kept her by his side, while he kept the rest of his family daggered and stored in coffins for hundreds of years.
She had a romantic interest in Stefan Salvatore during their encounters in the early 1920s. During that time period, Klaus and Rebekah are once again forced to go on the run after the arrival of their vengeful father Mikael. Consequently, Rebekah professes an interest to stop running and desires to live a stable life with Stefan by her side. Klaus forces her to choose between himself and Stefan. She chooses the latter, leading Klaus to dagger her. He brings her back to life shortly thereafter, in order to obtain her necklace, which was originally Esther's. The same necklace is gifted to Elena by Stefan during the series first season. Rebekah and Klaus thus head to Mystic Falls. Rebekah develops a deep hatred and envy of Elena, and continually tries to hurt, kill, and emotionally distress her, until her brother makes her stop. Later on, Rebekah tries to be Elena's friend and helps with her and her friends' plan to kill Klaus once she found out he killed her mother, but is betrayed, and daggered by Elena, to simplify the Salvatore's plan to killing Klaus. In season three, Klaus makes Elena reveal Rebekah's location, and takes her body with him. She is eventually un-daggered by Elijah.
During her time in Mystic Falls, Rebekah enrolls at the local high school, much to the disgust of Elena and her friends. There, she at first makes romantic advances towards Tyler Lockwood, Caroline Forbes' boyfriend. She later develops a fondness for Matt Donovan, and invites him to her family's ball.
Rebekah is shown to be lonely and insecure, though she hides this by being cruel and violent. This is demonstrated quite well through her sexual rendezvouses with Damon Salvatore, an enemy of her family, and the subsequent torture she makes him endure after being betrayed and used by him.
Her mother Esther comes back and tells Rebekah and her siblings she wants them to unite and become a family again. However, she really came to kill them all by linking them with a spell that would cause each sibling to die only by killing one of them. Klaus forces Bonnie to undo the spell, but Elena, the Salvatore's and others kill Finn, Rebekah's brother.
Rebekah's body is temporarily taken over by her witch mother, Esther, through a spell which Esther performs. She invades Rebekah's body in order to be able to go unnoticed while scheming to kill all of her Original children. Esther later leaves Rebekah's body and stakes her; however, Klaus restores Rebekah by removing the stake.
Rebekah supposedly leaves Mystic Falls in the season three episode "Before Sunset", in order to avoid the vampiric version of Alaric Saltzman, who wants to kill her and all other vampires. However, she then returns to Mystic Falls after witnessing the supposed "death" of her brother. Grief-stricken, she decides to kill Elena, therefore killing Alaric and taking away the last threat to her and her family therefore saving her family. She causes both Elena and Matt Donovan to drive off of the Wickery Bridge and into the lake to drown, and Elena dies, along with Alaric. However, Elena had vampire blood in her system, something Rebekah was unaware of.
In season four, Rebekah is yet again daggered by Klaus, after he believes she will be an obstacle in finding The Cure. However, she is then un-daggered by April Young, and sets upon finding it herself. After developing a 'no strings attached' relationship with Stefan, she reveals she wants to be human, feeling miserable as a vampire.
In season one of The Originals, after Klaus's child is born she returns to New Orleans and is named the caretaker of Klaus's child. She promises to get a strong witch to protect her and her niece from Esther, who wants to kill the baby.
In the second season, Rebekah makes a return.

Henrik Mikaelson

Henrik was the child of Esther and Mikael. He was killed by werewolves a thousand years ago, before the family had been turned into vampires. He is portrayed by Devon Allowitz in season three.
His death created a war between the werewolf clan and his own family, causing his mother to turn the family into vampires, so they could defend themselves against the lycanthropic beasts.

Hope Mikaelson

Hope is portrayed by Alexandria and Victoria Collins in "Rebirth", later by toddlers in seasons 2 and 3, by Summer Fontana in season 4, and by Danielle Rose Russell in season 5 and the Hope-centric spin-off series Legacies.
Hope Andrea Mikaelson is the daughter of Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson and the former-werewolf Hayley Marshall-Kenner. Hope is the result of a one-night stand between her parents, and after her birth 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. Hope is returned to her parents later in Season 2.
Hope is extremely powerful and, apart from being a vampire-werewolf hybrid, is also a witch of the Mikaelson bloodline which is one of the most powerful witch lineages in the fictional world of The Vampire Diaries. Moreover, her vampire lineage is that of an Original, making her almost invincible and more powerful than average vampires. Her werewolf heritage is that of an alpha, through Hayley, making her royalty among the werewolves as the Princess of the Crescent pack. All of those combined makes her a vampire-werewolf-witch hybrid. Or, a tribrid. She is the only one of her kind.
At the end of season 4, Hope is sent to Mystic Falls to study magic at the Salvatore Boarding School, which provides the premise for Legacies. In Legacies, she struggles with anger and sadness after losing her parents. She cannot find peace and wonders if Klaus has found peace. She ends up in a romantic relationship with Landon Kirby. To protect him from his father, Malivore, she throws herself into Malivore Pit at the end of the final episode of the first season.

Dahlia

She is portrayed by Australian actress Claudia Black.
The older sister of Esther, sister-in-law of Mikael, aunt of Freya, Fin, Elijah, Niklaus "Klaus", Kol, Rebekah and Henrik Mikaelson and first-born witch of that generation of their family, Dahlia is one of the most powerful witches in history, far more than that of her sister, already regarded as one of the most powerful. Dahlia was taken, along with Esther from her homeland, which was destroyed by the Vikings who locked her away as a slave to do magic whilst allowing Esther to roam freely. When Ester decides to marry one of their captors instead of escape with her sister and best friend, Dahlia becomes a hate-filled woman. Years later Esther discovers she is infertile and in desperation seeks out her sister. Dahlia agrees to perform a ritual that will give her fertility, if Esther agrees to give her the first-born child of every generation, all of whom, like Dahlia, would possess immense magical power. Esther obliges and Dahlia comments that she would be able to help herself if Esther hadn't given up magic.
Years later Dahlia contacts her sister wishing to collect her fee, five-year-old Freya Mikaelson. Esther, upset, begs her sister not to take her daughter, and swears to grow in power until she is more powerful than Dahlia, claiming she did not know the love of a parent to a child when she made the deal. Dahlia commands Esther to tell Mikael that their daughter died from the bubonic plague and her body was burned.
Described by Freya as the most powerful witch she has ever seen, Dahlia first gained her enhanced powers by linking her magic to the magic possessed by her then five-year-old niece Freya. Once Freya reached adulthood, Dahlia then cast a spell that allows them both to gain pseudo-immortality by leap-frogging through time; the women were put into a magically-induced sleep for nearly a century, only to awaken for one single year of life and aging with all of the magic they accrued over their hundred-year-long slumber, before they would once again return to their sleep after the year had passed.
Dahlia's understanding of magic after so many years of study is extensive enough that she was able to create her own form of connective magic in the 10th century. She also has the ability to sense the magic of other witches, especially those of the first-born children of her and her sister Esther's bloodline, as the first-born witches of their lineage possess devastating amounts of power. According to Freya, Dahlia aims to be truly immortal without having to sleep for centuries, and she will not hesitate to come and claim the first-born Mikaelson witches to achieve this goal, even if it means destroying anyone who stands in her way.

Mythology and powers

Being the oldest and third most powerful vampires the Original Vampires are stronger and faster than all normal vampires, even the most ancient ones and hybrids, though it is implied they do not get stronger with age due to being created at the zenith of vampiric physical prowess.. It is possible that the spell used to make the Original Vampires, gives them the peak powers of vampirism. Also, werewolves prove little to no challenge for them, though they can be challenging in their wolf form as a pack of four are capable of overwhelming the Original Vampire and two human form werewolves with moonrings overpowered Elijah, though he was taken by surprise and briefly passed out from their venom. Original Vampires are somewhat immune to werewolf venom, which is fatal to normal vampires but it still affects Original Vampires, though they only experience weakness and hallucinations. However, the newly created Werewolf venom stored inside The Beast's fangs could kill an Original vampire within hours. Original Vampires have the power to "compel" or hypnotize ordinary vampires, hybrids because of their vampire side and in addition to humans, though they cannot compel each other.
Nothing can kill an Original Vampire, except for a heart-aimed stake made only of the Ancient White oak, the immense power of a very powerful witch and the Bite of The Beast. If an Original Vampire is stabbed with the White Oak Stake, he or she will die and burn to ashes. Using a silver dagger dipped in the ashes of the white oak tree will cause the Original Vampires to be neutralized as long as the dagger remains within them; however, that type of dagger would not work on Klaus due to his werewolf side, and only a pure white oak stake could kill him. However, Davina and Kol had created a gold dagger with the ability to subdue Klaus. Other stakes temporarily disable Original Vampires, but they recuperate in hours. This was demonstrated when Elijah pulled out the wooden stake that Damon had plunged into his chest when attempting to rescue Elena from Rose and Trevor.
When an Original Vampire dies, all of the vampires from his or her bloodline die as well. This is demonstrated when Damon, Stefan, Elena and Matt kill Finn, resulting in the deaths of Sage and Troy,. Thus, if all Original Vampires were to be killed, the entire vampire species would be rendered extinct, since all the vampires in the world are descended from the Original Vampires. However, in season 3 of the Originals, Klaus and his sireline are unlinked, meaning that if Klaus were to die, his sireline would continue to live on. It is unknown if any new Vampires that Klaus sired would be linked to him, or if they would also be unlinked, it is also unknown if Klaus' sireline can be relinked to him again.
However, it is necessary for the Original Vampire's spirit to cross the veil, in order for his or her bloodline to follow suit. In the season three finale episode "The Departed", Klaus manages to switch bodies with Tyler Lockwood before being staked and lives on; thus, even though his body supposedly burnt to ashes, none of his bloodline is affected.
In season four it was revealed that the spell Esther used to create the Original Vampires is a variation of the spell Qetsiyah, the ancestor of her friend Ayana, used to create the immortality elixir.
Klaus, the Original hybrid, was fertile due to his werewolf nature and thus impregnates Hayley, giving him a daughter named Hope. She has only shown witch powers and presumably would be a werewolf if she killed anyone, but her blood can create hybrids sired to her. She has created a new sire line by turning her mother. While initially it was unknown if her death would result in the death of her "descendants" as with any other Original vampires, Hayley was later described as an "unsired vampire", because she is not linked to any Original vampire.

TV series

On January 11, 2013, it was announced that a back-door pilot focused on the Originals, starring Joseph Morgan as Klaus titled The Originals would air April 25 for a potential series pick-up for the 2013–2014 season. This second spin-off attempt is carried out by Julie Plec. There is no involvement by Kevin Williamson.
In February 2013, it was announced that Daniella Pineda was cast as the witch Sophie for episode 4x20 of The Vampire Diaries. This episode serves as a backdoor-pilot for the spin-off series, revolving around the Originals and taking place in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She was a regular cast member for first thirteen episodes of the series.
On February 11, 2013 it was announced that Leah Pipes was cast as the human Camille. Although there has been talk of a love triangle between Marcel and Klaus with this bartender/college student, there isn't any evidence to support this. However the character was in a small love triangle for couple episodes in the first season. In the third season, she becomes a vampire and later dies after Lucien bites her. She's shown to love Klaus and she brings out the good in him. Pipes makes a special guest appearance in season 4 and 5.