“ | You know, as much as I've savored tormenting you throughout the years. I must confess, you all mean everything to me. Your loyalty and your counsel and your love is probably the only reason I've survived as long as I have. Which is how I know no matter where our lives may lead us, we will come together time and time again to take care of each other. And that is why I'm not afraid. For your future. | ” |
— Klaus in When The Saints Go Marching In
|
Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson (Elder Futhark: ᚾᛁᚲᛚᚨᚢᛋ ᛗᛁᚲᚨᛖᛚᛋᛟᚾ) was the main protagonist (and sometimes antagonist/anti-hero) of The Originals. He was a former main character, antagonist/anti-hero of The Vampire Diaries. He is a guest star on Legacies. Klaus is an Original vampire and a werewolf, making him the Original Hybrid.
Klaus is the biological son of Ansel and Esther Mikaelson, the step-son of Mikael, and nephew of Dahlia. Klaus is the maternal younger half-brother of Freya, Finn, Elijah Mikaelson; and the maternal older half-brother of Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik Mikaelson. Klaus is the uncle of Freya and Mathias' unborn son; Freya and Keelin's son, Finn; Rebekah and Marcel's son, Mason; Kol and Davina's twins, Ace and Bella; and Elijah and Katherine's daughter, Victoria. He is the father to Hope, Miranda, Jenna, and Nik Mikaelson. He is the step-father to Jax, Nina, and Lily. He is also the adoptive father to Adella and Marcel, an orphan boy he rescued and eventually turned into a vampire.
Klaus was first mentioned in the second season of The Vampire Diaries in Rose, during a conversation between Rose and Stefan Salvatore. Rose warns Stefan about the Original Vampires which led to Elena and Alex Gilbert believing Klaus was the oldest vampire in history. Elijah later mentions that Klaus is a recluse and trusts very few people, usually only in his inner circle.
For over a thousand years, Klaus had been trying to break a curse placed on him. He created the myth of the sun and moon curse in order to find the moonstone and the Petrova Doppelgänger, both of which were needed to break the actual curse. His goal was to liberate his werewolf side so he could sire his own super species of werewolf-vampire hybrids.
In 1492, he finally got the chance to break his curse when he met Katerina Petrova, the final piece necessary to break the curse. However, Katerina managed to foil his plan to use her in the sacrifice by turning into a vampire. For the next 500 years, Klaus searched for a way to break the curse without the doppelgänger, forcing generations of witches to help him. During his search for a way to break the curse, Klaus hunted down his family and neutralized them. He also hunted Katerina, who had escaped him and stolen his moonstone. However, it should also be noted that he was also on the run from his step-father, Mikael, as Klaus had an abusive childhood.
Besides his family, during the 1920's, Klaus formed a strong bond and brotherly relationship with Stefan. In New Orleans, he had a father/son bond relationship with Marcel whom he works with in ruling New Orleans until Klaus discovered his treachery for bringing Mikael to New Orleans. They reformed their friendship when Marcel saved his daughter and they worked together to bring down their enemies. He also cared for the bartender Camille O'Connell, with whom he had been good friends with before her death.
Klaus is primarily a member of the Mikaelson Family, and a member of an unnamed family of werewolves. He is also a member of the North East Atlantic Pack as well as an unnamed witch family. He is connected to the Gilbert Family, Petrova Family, and Labonair Family, a royal werewolf family via his marriage to Alex. He also has ties to the Salvatore Family through his step children.
Personality[]
Untriggered Werewolf-Witch Hybrid[]
- "I never answered your question, if I'd ever thought about being human. Once. I was on a trek in the Andes, and a hummingbird flew up to me and just hovered there staring at me. Its tiny heart was pattering like a machine gun. And I thought, what a thing, you know, to have to work that hard every day just to stay alive, to be constantly on the verge of death, and how satisfying every day must be that it survived. And that was the only time I thought about being human."
- —Klaus to Alex about being human
While he was still an untriggered Werewolf-Witch hybrid, Klaus had a complicated life. He was close with his half-sister Rebekah, whom he affectionately called "Bekah", and with his half-brothers Elijah and Henrik. He also had a close relationship with his half-brother, Kol, but he did not get along at all with his half-brother, Finn, since childhood. However, he had a bad relationship with his overbearing step-father Mikael who was harder on him than any of his siblings. He was a victim of his step-father's physical and verbal abuse since childhood. Klaus even admitted to Rebekah that Mikael frightened him which made him constantly seek his approval without ever finding it. His mother Esther often tried to calm Mikael when he became angry with Klaus, but she never tried to stop him from humiliating or from physically/mentally abusing her son. Also as an untriggered werewolf, Klaus had the aggressive behavior of one, but he could not act on it due to his mother making him wear a magical necklace, created to weaken his strength and thus leaving him vulnerable to Mikael's abuse. These following reasons led him to resent both his parents and possibly to be jealous of his maternal half-siblings for having their approval. In the director's cut of the backdoor pilot of The Originals, Elijah pointed out that as an untriggered werewolf, Klaus was so full of love and life, and that all he ever wanted was to be loved in return, especially by his step-father. This belief that no one loved him and that he was doomed to be alone forever was the main factor that changed Klaus' personality.
Original Vampire-Original Hybrid[]
When Klaus was just in the early stages of being a hybrid, he slaughtered six villagers. Which afterwards, he was devastated and cried into Elijah's shoulder. After finding out that Mikael is not his biological father, he was shocked and betrayed. Klaus is continuously described as being cruel, sadistic, careless, paranoid, reckless, impulsive, short-tempered, aggressive, volatile, unpredictable, slightly unreasonable, narcissistic, manipulative, jealous, obsessive and competitive. Though he shows little to no regard for human life in general, Klaus feels guilt and remorse for most of his actions, he just does not show it, and he also has morals. Despite his negative traits, Klaus has shown to be very protective of his younger half-sister Rebekah, who stayed by his side for centuries, and he is not pure evil, he is just sadistic. Unbeknownst to any, Klaus was not the son of Mikael, but the son of an alpha werewolf named Ansel, in another village which made Klaus aggressive, violent and angry. When he became a vampire, all these emotions were heightened and Klaus' temper became worse than ever. Years of humiliation and physical/emotional abuses at Mikael's hands and Esther's indifference, coupled with her rejection of him as her son, led Klaus to kill his own mother in revenge and for betraying him. After this, Klaus shut off his humanity to any but his family, killing any who crossed his path. Vengeful and power-hungry, he will stop at nothing to achieve his ends and remove those who stand in his way. However, Klaus does not believe that death is a punishment as seen when he denies Katherine death, instead keeping her alive so that she will suffer for having betrayed him. He will also place usefulness before pleasure and keeps people alive when it suits his needs. He has also shown a penchant for working with witches which was mentioned by Katherine in Know Thy Enemy. Klaus also has a sense of honor and will not go back on his word although, he will always look for loopholes in the deals he makes.
In 1933, despite the fact that his werewolf side was dormant at the time, Klaus still held werewolves in high regard. When he discovered August Müller, a vampire, had been massacring innocent werewolves as well as spreading his beliefs about the purity of species, i.e. that vampires are the apex predators, Klaus ruthlessly killed August and his followers. Despite this, he would spare August's wife and children.
Physical Appearance[]
Klaus is an attractive man. His height is 5'11 (1.80 cm). Klaus possesses curled dirty-blonde hair and dark blue eyes that contrasts with his pearl-white skin. His physical appearance is that of a man between 22 year-old, despite being over 1000 years old. As a vampire and a warrior (from the 10th century), he is well-built. Klaus possesses a delicate and yet masculine face, possibly due to the fact that he was a nobleman between the 11th and the 18th century's.
Klaus' clothing style is quite casual, usually seen wearing shirts, jeans and jackets, although he can also use a more classic and refined outfit if the situation requires it (ex: the ritual of the moonstone; the Original ball thrown by Esther). He uses accessories, such as leather bracelets or necklaces as seen in most of his scenes on both shows.
Powers and Abilities[]
As an Original Vampire, later the Original Hybrid, Klaus is the second strongest of the Original Vampires, second only to his step-father. His Werewolf side has given him additional powers and advantages the others do not possess, making him the one of the most physically powerful immortal beings in the world. Although stronger than his maternal half-sibling due to his werewolf heritage, some of his siblings have been shown to be willing to fight with him with no fear, with Elijah actually able to do so on almost even terms, Elijah seems to have no difficulty trying to start and end fights with Klaus, usually having the upper hand on Klaus himself for a short period of time; before the latter turns the tables on Elijah. Klaus' step-father being notable for surpassing him and whom he initially feared greatly; made worse when Mikael had possessed the White Oak Stake.
Klaus' powers improve with the consumption of human blood, assuming his werewolf form or utilizing his lycanthropic enhancements and the full moon. In Live and Let Die, it is shown that Mikael was slightly stronger than Klaus, and it should be noted that Mikael was still affected with werewolf venom and Papa Tunde's Blade, therefore not even at full strength yet still demonstrated superior strength than his son. With the death of Mikael, Klaus was at the time the single most physically strongest being around, however, after Lucien and Marcel took the serum and become the Beasts, they had outmatched him in sheer power. Alex at her full strength is able to beat Klaus in a fight with no problem. Klaus currently remains the third strongest.
Even before Klaus became an Original Vampire, later the Original Hybrid, he was a fairly skilled swordsman, even though he rarely uses a sword, due to his supernatural powers, Klaus' swordsman skills have not diminished.
Klaus has shown to be an expert fighter even when unarmed; When Marcel's army took him on, despite being overwhelmed to begin with, he was able to fight them, almost evenly and overpowered most of them, through his fighting skills and original hybrid powers. In that single fight, he killed roughly twenty four non-Original vampires single-handedly, showing his skills as a combatant even further. Klaus is far less calm, composed, and strategic in battle than Elijah but has a better mind for coming up with long term plans and back ups, being nearly always one step ahead of his enemies. Due to his long existence, Klaus has seen countless battles and is very experienced in battle. In Fire with Fire, Klaus was able to take out six evolved werewolves without any difficulty, when he faced off against Katherine, Alex, and Jackson, although he had some difficulty taking them all on at the same time, he ultimately got the upper hand; overpowers and defeats them.
His supernatural attributes aside, Klaus' greatest asset is his sharp intellect. His penchant for strategies and forming contingencies way ahead of time, despite the fact that Elijah's penchant for strategies and forming contingencies surpasses his, Klaus has outsmarted Elijah on more than one occasion, Klaus is able to discern a great deal of whatever or whoever is presented to him after only a few keen observations, he was able to figure out that Hope would be sacrificed at the cemetery because it was where the Harvest and the Reaping took place as well as the location of the ancestral witches' burial place, He was able to deduce that his mother was possessing Cassie, he also came up with a plan, to make it look like he has turned against his maternal half-siblings and Alex, after Elijah daggered him, and after Alex tried to take his daughter Hope away from him, in order to gain Dahlia's trust to take her down. According to Dahlia, Klaus is arguably the most intelligent of his maternal half-siblings with Elijah occasionally rivaling him.
Weaknesses[]
Klaus has some of the typical weaknesses of an Original Vampire and a Werewolf.
Relationships[]
Elijah Mikaelson[]
Main Article: Elijah and Klaus
Elijah is Klaus' maternal older half-brother. As humans, they were close, engaging in friendly sword fights, however their relationship became strained due to both falling for the same woman, Tatia. After transitioning into vampires, along with their sister, Rebekah, they made a pact to always stick by each other "Always and Forever". In 1492, their close relationship crumbled upon the arrival of the doppelgänger Katerina Petrova. Klaus wanted to use her blood to break the Hybrid Curse, but after her escape, Klaus was furious and blamed his half-brother. Although Elijah promised he would find her, their relationship never recovered as in 2010, Elijah planned to help the Salvatore's, Elena and Alexandria Gilbert kill Klaus. After Klaus broke the curse, at Elijah's mercy, he revealed that he didn't kill their family and that their bodies were safe. Elijah saved his half-brother's life, however was neutralized in return. Their bitter relationship continued after Elijah was un-daggered by Damon Salvatore. However, the half-brothers became allies after their mother returned and were unsure of her intentions regarding their family. In the Season Three finale, Elijah bargained for his half-brother's body back and was clearly devastated by his "death". Throughout the trials and tribulations which threatened to rip their brotherly bond, they have recently begun mending their relationship and even though Klaus refused to grant Katherine freedom by Elijah's request, Elijah has stated he won't give up on finding Klaus' redemption.
Unfortunately, Klaus' relationship with Elijah takes a turn for the worst when Elijah chose to believe Tyler's lies over him, that he is (supposedly) aware that his child's blood can make hybrids, and he plans to use his child's blood once she is born to make an army of hybrids, to take over New Orleans, Elijah falsely accused him of only caring about his unborn child, so he could use her to sire more hybrids, Klaus became hurt/enraged by the accusation, he violently bit Elijah in retaliation, their relationship became damaged after this. Klaus eventually forgave Elijah, when he apologized to Klaus for his accusation. Despite the fact that their relationship is now repaired, Klaus is barely on speaking terms with Elijah.
Unfortunately, their relationship becomes worse than ever, when Elijah daggered Klaus and allowed Hayley to try and take Hope away from him, in retaliation Klaus kills his half-brother's girlfriend Gia, and daggered Elijah with Papa Tunde's Blade, their relationship becomes estranged/broken after this, as they both want nothing to do with each other any more.
They reconcile by the end of the third season after allying together to stop the Trinity.
Rebekah Mikaelson[]
Main Article: Klaus and Rebekah
Rebekah is Klaus' maternal younger half-sister. Out of all his half-siblings, he is closest to her, and very protective of her. Klaus cares very deeply for Rebekah, but he seems to have a lot difficulty showing her that it is true. They are loyal to each other. Before she left New Orleans, thus separating, they had never left each other's side and stood by one another no matter what happened. After Klaus was "supposedly" killed by Alaric in The Departed, Rebekah was heartbroken over losing her older half-brother whom she loved and never left her. When she finds out in the Season Four premiere that he was still alive, their relationship started to completely and totally fall apart when he chose to save Caroline over his own half-sister. Rebekah confronted him about how she never stopped loving him through everything. It was always her that was there for him when Finn, Kol and Elijah weren't. She then realized that he truly doesn't love her when he told her they are no longer family, and disowned her. But later in the season, Klaus saves her when Kol nearly kills her with a White Oak Stake. Even when she hates him, Klaus shows that he still cares and loves her regardless of what has happened between them. After Klaus is again the King of New Orleans, she begins to form her own army and so to defeat Klaus and Marcel, since she tired of always being used by them. Nevertheless, Rebekah has tried to protect the daughter of Klaus at all costs. When discovering that it was Rebekah who brought their father to New Orleans, he decided to get revenge and wanted answers. She admitted that she wanted him dead as he robbed her of love and happiness. Klaus chooses not to kill Rebekah, but he exiles her from New Orleans permanently, possibly Klaus sees killing Rebekah too merciful; he indirectly threatens to kill Rebekah with the White Oak Stake, if she ever returns to New Orleans. Klaus decided to entrust the safety of her daughter to Rebekah, she returned to New Orleans to take Hope with her and care for her.
Kol Mikaelson[]
Main Article: Klaus and Kol
Kol is Klaus' maternal younger half-brother. Kol and Klaus both have a short temper. It is known that Klaus daggered Kol over a century ago. Kol and Klaus seem to argue every time they talk to each other, Kol even joked to Klaus about his dagger threats showing he was not over being daggered for a century. Even though he had been daggered for a century, he quickly got with times as he was seeing playing a video game perfectly. Klaus and Kol both like to drink together and have brotherly bond. Klaus cares deeply for Kol as he was rushing to his body when the Mystic Falls Gang daggered Kol. Kol seems to ruin many of Klaus plans like finding the cure for vampirism, by killing Shane and the newly turned vampires. In Every Mother's Son Finn reveals to his brothers that Kol is alive, and Klaus expresses disbelief that Kol would have gone along with Esther, stating that the only thing Kol listens to is his ego, but Finn confirmed Kol's supposed loyalty, saying that their mother's proposition had brought even the wildest of Mikaelsons onto her side. Kol later switches loyalties over to Klaus and Elijah. Klaus and Kol have been seen getting along at time since then, and fighting at others. They seem to banter often and in good fun. Klaus was furious with Kol for hiding where he hid Rebekah, and threw him to hungry vampires in his anger. But Klaus forgave him, when Kol was cursed by Finn. After all, everything Kol has ever wanted was his family to care about him. This wish came true when Kol died because of the curse. Klaus was there on his side, together with Elijah, Rebekah, and Alex. Before Kol died he wanted Davina to leave him alone, but his three siblings and Alex came and Klaus said that Kol can't just flee from "Always and Forever". He died in their arms, as a part of the family. When Kol was brought back, Klaus hugged him even though Kol protected Davina who Klaus wanted to kill.
Alexandria Gilbert[]
Main Article: Klaus and Alexandria
Alex and Klaus are husband and wife. They've had a complicated relationship for several years until the year 2019. Alex since she first met Klaus wanted to help him show him that he's not alone and that he deserves love.