I recently began watching the Series “The Originals”, at first, for entertainment but then as the series progresses I begin to analyse it in respect of reality. Because of that I began trying to understand the characters not as a story being told to the audience as art but what elements of the story become an unfortunate truth of the world we live in. It may be fiction, but it is fiction that relays some truth and ,oddly, lesson in how it is written.
For the most part, it is about a powerful immortal man who is plagued by his paranoia, that somewhat purports that any supposed threat, that can cause him harm, be it emotionally, physically or anyway he feels threatened by, is a betrayal of him trust. Oddly enough, his paranoia is the very reason for the threats of betrayal and hurt that, he himself often has to live through and survive. But the manner of his survival is all too often savage-like. It is as though he prides himself in his destructive paranoia, and it is that, that he himself hurts those who he cares about because he fears they’ll hurt him, otherwise.
The character is flawed in such a way that he believes he needs to prove a point that he is the monster that people think him to be, and so it is better not to provoke him. But the point of my writing is not to explain the issues I have with the character and the many flaws he has. But rather, how the intricacies of that world and how it is built, so relates to our own, more so, towards our family’s.
Klaus Mikelson is a bastard, blessed with impenetrable vampire powers, and werewolf powers, he is an immortal hybrid vampire werewolf. This means that he is stronger than his siblings and since werewolf bites are fatal to vampires, he gets the better of both vampires and werewolves. Herein lies my issue, his “father”(step-father) was a violent, aggressive, abusive man, who wanted him dead upon realising he is not his child. Albeit the father(Mikel), treated all his children like trash and so ended scarring them for life, Klaus felt that because he was the “Bastard child”, he got the greatest brunt of the abusive from Mikel.
and so, Klaus and his 4 half siblings were made into immortal vampires who could not die, felt their emotions 10-fold and basically had mental issues. But most importantly, a family vow, “Always and forever”.
This vow, that they shall always be family, forever. Allowed for Klaus to act very monstrously towards his siblings. Largely because from the moment the 5 siblings ran away from their father, because the father wanted to kill his son, Klaus(step-son). As the strongest(and most egocentric), Klaus did things that many would kill and abandon for.
He killed the prospective lovers of his siblings, he would not allow his own siblings to be free, and enjoy themselves, not if he is not responsible for their joy and happiness, indirectly or directly. Fearing that he would be left to fend for himself against his father, should his siblings ever leave him, he would dagger them(put them into a deathlike-sleep, that one can only awaken from, once the dagger is removed). There is nothing that he was not willing to do to ensure that his siblings remain with him, be it they chose to or not. It is in that they would not remain with him, that he did the most monstrous things towards them.
Now, how does this relate to us? Well… the devil is in the detail. In the end, his siblings did as he said. He got the loyalty his wanted, and although they hated Klaus for it, they valued the bond of family. Their vow, “Always and forever”, withstanding all the horrors that they would inflict on each other.
But that is the thing, they did so and the question would be, “Why do you not just get out of this mess?” As Rebekah responded, “What would you have me do? Hate my brother forever? I am immortal, I cannot die”
and it is this that I write about.
Are we so willing to not care about our families, disown, and blatantly wish dead, because we are mortal? Would we be more forgiving towards the sins of our family and friends, if our lives were eternal?
Basically what I am getting to, is that, are humans less forgiving because they live such short lives? Had we been immortal, would we be less permanent in removing people from our lives? Are we capable of cutting people off, solely because our lives are so short?
I ask this because, the Mikelson siblings remind me that I have such a short life, so much so, that hating someone be it they family, foe or friend, it feels all the more worth it, since I have such limited time to live
I doubt I would believe that if I was going to live forever
What comes to mind 