#elijah mikaelson is morally grey at best

[andreal831]

Do you consider Elijah to be redeemable?

It depends what you mean by redeemable.

If we are talking in terms of TVDU standards, sure. If we are talking in terms of normal standards for redemption, probably not.

In TVDU, there's this expression everyone likes to use, "they aren't evil, just broken." I hate this expression. Very few people in life or in fiction are straight evil because it is not very compelling. Villains with tragic backstories give complexity to the story. If you look at the vast majority of villains in any fiction, they will have origin stories that make them behave the way they do. But this doesn't excuse their evil acts. Which is why I hate the expression. Sure, they weren't born that way and we can blame whatever events made them that way, but until the character/writers take accountability, redemption is not possible.

A redemption arc needs a fleshed out character with a lot of dimension. Aka a good backstory with complex plots throughout with internal/external conflicts, accountability, and change of behavior. The Mikaelsons are set up decently for redemption arcs since the more dramatic/terrible their origin story is, the more likely people will root for them. That's why we see so many characters who honestly haven't done nearly as many bad things as the main characters get less chances from the audience for redemption. There needs to be something to make the audience sympathize with why they are behaving that way. It's also why we often see villains with tragic childhoods, because what tugs on the heartstrings more than seeing a broken child who can't protect themselves so they learn to be evil so they will never be hurt again.

Elijah has a good backstory, at least if you are paying attention to him. Some of his backstory gets lost in Klaus since the show focuses so hard on him. But Elijah canonically grew up in an abusive household. He was pretty neglected and given a lot of responsibility at a young age. He was also growing up in a very different time and likely didn't learn proper ways to cope with life/emotions. His brother dies and then his father kills him. He's then forced to turn into a vampire and loses the woman he loves and the future he hoped for. This is all just the first 1% of his life. Throughout his life, he is dealing with his siblings, his vampirism, losing people, being betrayed by the people he loves, etc. This all creates a pretty sympathetic villain. Especially when you look at his motivations.

Elijah's motivations change a bit throughout the shows. In TVD, he really comes across as a family man. He is ready to kill Klaus for what he did to their siblings and is constantly trying to reunite with all of them (including Finn and Kol). Now when we go over to TO, his motivation seems to revolve around Klaus and Hope with Rebekah not far behind. His motivations help with his redemption, even if his limited focus in TO is annoying. Killing for the thrill of it is harder to redeem than killing for the protection of family. While it doesn't make it okay, most people can understand the reasoning. I've said it before, I don't defend Elijah for all of his actions, but at the same time, I can't say most people wouldn't do anything to protect their families.

Unlike a lot of the Mikaelsons, Elijah does seem to take some accountability for his actions. He knows what he is. He's not proud of it and feels deep guilt for his actions. The issue we get into with Elijah is we don't see a lot of positive change of behavior. He has a moral code, one that was much stricter in TVD, and continues to get blurred the more his is pushed into a corner. I often blame the writers for switching out his personality traits with Klaus in order to build Klaus' redemption because we do see Klaus become more family focused and less blood thirsty in season 3/4 while Elijah seems to go off the rails, killing anything he perceives to be a threat (like a certain paranoid hybrid we know). The writers do this because, again, Elijah is the more redeemable of the two. Klaus's motivations have always held him back for that. It's hard to redeem a character who kills for fun and takes joy in abusing their family members. But a family man who acts to protect their family, even if it's by doing terrible things, is much easier to work in a redemption arch.

Since TO is focused on the Mikaelsons, I think they all could have had redemptions. Again redemption in the context of TVDU. Practically everyone but Elijah gets a redemption/chance at a happy ending. Although, I tend to disagree that Klaus actually had one. Elijah's positive motivation and fatal flaws were intertwined. His attachment to his family made him do terrible things. I've written a story, The Last Sacrifice, which I think gives Elijah a type of redemption that is possible for his character. Yes, it does involve him sacrificing himself for his family. I think this is the only true redemption for him since he was so willing to sacrifice others for his family, it needed to come full circle. He could improve his character and his behaviors in a lot of ways, but it's not truly a redemption since he isn't learning from his past behaviors. Again, his fatal flaw is harming people for his family to stay together, so for him, to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family to stay together, even without him, would be a sort of redemption.

The reason I say no for normal standards is because the Mikaelsons, each and every one of them, have all just done too many bad things. They could sacrifice themselves for the world but it still wouldn't really change anything. It wouldn't fix the harm they've caused in the world or their underlying questionable motivations. Now, I know redemption arcs don't need to solve all the past problems, but the Mikaelsons are inherently morally grey at best. It's hard to keep them in character while also truly redeeming them. I love them, but they are not good people.

Thanks for the ask!

[lunasdonnelly]

‘The Originals’, Episode Review

it’s been years since i first watched ‘the originals’ on the cw, but on my recent rewatch i decided i’d like to put down my thoughts about the show. now that i have the time to do so, i’m excited to finally give it a go! i realize these thoughts are mostly going to be for me--and i’m likely shouting into the abyss--but these days i don’t let thoughts like these stop me. so, here goes nothing!

episode number: season one, episode one

episode title: Always and Forever

favorite character: elijah mikaelson 

least favorite character: sophie devereaux

best song: how by the neighborhood

best quote: elijah asks klaus, “is it so important that people quake with fear at the sound of your name?” klaus responds with, not missing a beat, “people quake with fear because i have the power to make them afraid.”

as pilot episodes go, this is a fantastic start to a show. fans of ‘the vampire diaries’ have always known klaus mikaelson--and to an extent, the entire original family--as the villains of the story. they may have been interesting and compelling characters, but they were the villains. at the end of the day, fans were rooting for the elena gilbert and the gang--not klaus and his family. ‘the originals’ places these “former” villains at the forefront of their own show, and in order to get the fans to root for these characters, they have to have something redeemable about them--or, at the very least, there has to be something about them that is relatable to a viewer. enter hayley marshall and the “magical miracle baby.” 

a large part of the mikaelson family is their motto: “always and forever.” the overall message of this episode, that elijah is spearheading, is that they’ve essentially lost sight of this motto. elijah has always been deemed as “the honorable one”, even during his time as a so-called villain in ‘the vampire diaries’. that side of him is extremely prominent in this episode. his unwavering conviction that his brother is redeemable is something to be admired, and it makes the viewer think that there’s something redeemable about him too. so essentially, a prospect of having a child is meant to humanize him--though it is very obvious that he’s not fatherhood material. (yet, anyway.) 

marcel gerard is introduced in this episode, and at this point it’s unclear whether the writers want you to root for him or not. he certainly did his best to thwart the main characters at every turn, and it’s abundantly clear he’s unwilling to concede to klaus on anything, but klaus’s character is not yet fully fleshed out either. fans are used to characters in this universe being murderous and slightly morally grey, and marcel definitely fits this description.

i’m going to get into the habit of ending these reviews with my favorite scenes! in this episode, it occurs when sophie deveroux informs klaus that “there are rules”, and she’s the one who’ll be making them. you can just see klaus’s face shutter, and you immediately know that she has says something wrong. no matter what sophie had said before this to convince klaus he should help/care for haley and the baby, as soon as she attempted to dictate what he could and couldn’t do, nothing mattered. klaus walks to the beat of his own drum, and damn anyone who attempts to alter the tempo.

[hithelleth]

Ship history meme

Embrace your past and get to know your friends’ fandom origins!

Rules: Post gifs of your fandoms / ships starting with your most current hyperfixation and work backwards. (Bonus points if you share any stories about how or when you got into that ship! But not necessary!!) Then tag anyone whose fandom history you’d like to learn about!

I was tagged by @jadedbirch - thank you! <3

Under the cut, because my history of shipping, or multishipping (because you know me, but I only put in gifs of single ships, b/c tumblr gif inserting function hates me), is a bit long even with only hyperfixations.

1. Victoria Hughes/Lucas Ripley (Station 19)

Ah, yes, I’m back in this hellhole, rereading fanfic, because Grey’s & 19 are back and easy to watch legally without jumping through hoops and I know I’d said I wouldn’t but then I was bored and now I have all these feels again. (I’ll say a few things on it in a separate post when the season’s done in three eps.)

Anyway, this one slammed into me last spring out of the blue, but how could I not ship it when it checks all the right points? 

2. Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston (Timeless)

Another Kripke show, and third time being the charmed, Kripke and co. actually learned from their past mishaps and actually made a good show (except the finale, but what finale? I don’t know it.)

So, there’s this tall, dark, brood, and bad (or maybe not) and lil’ miss goody two shoes (or maybe not) who get each other, what’s not to ship?

3. Bellamy Blake/Roan (The 100)

(No gif, b/c it’s a minuscule ships with maybe 5 gis and tumblr is a bitch, nothing shows up in search and apparently now you can’t save & reupload gifs - which is a good thing, finally, should’ve done it sooner.)

Oh, boys! My boys. I love(d) them so much. The last ship I have written extensively for - even the most extensively after Revolution (I, mean I only published one short oneshot, but the 35K monsterfic that is 3/4 done is still there in my drafts and I still think about it and them, because dammnit.)

Also very good with Clarke thrown in, or just Roan and Clarke (which I also managed to publish a fic for and kudoses that still come on the regular keep my writing heart at least hibernating and warm - here’s to hoping it wakes up from hibernation one day and I can write again.)

4. Shelby Wyatt/the Haases (Quantico)

Yes, all of them. Even Claire, because why not. And I’m sure if they had had the sister on the show, I’d have shipped her with her, too. 

(I mean, I’d say I only shipped Shelby separately with each of them and I didn’t think of also poly shipping them, but that would be a lie and hardly the worst thing I’ve ever thought of shipping.

I hardly said anything about it on here because that was the peak of Moral Purity Wars time on here and Shelby was wildly hated across fandom, ugh, so I jsut squealed a lot inwardly. 

5. Grant Ward/Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons/Sunil Bakshi (Agents of Shield)

Ugh, then there was this shitshow I loathe. But for a while there, there were good things. And now we’re really getting into my multishipping tendencies. 

I started with Fitzward, surfed Skyeward, and then hurled straight into Bakshi/Simmons, also managed to write a ton of fic for the first and the last, but none for the middle. 

(That was also the era when I was into highly questionable stuff, like I may or may not have half a notebook of a Ward/Simmons/Rumlow fic somewhere, oops. But I have no regrets, so we understand each other. And that isn’t the worst thing that’s ever come across my shippery imagination, either.)

6. CM2 or Charlie/Miles/Bass (Revolution)

(gif mine)

The best fandom had the best ships! 

Who even got me into this show? It may even have been @lglorien​ who mentioned the new Kripke show when we were both binging SPN that summer. And then she didn’t even watch all of it and left me to suffer on my own. 

Well, not on my own, because I found the best fandom along the way, so yay!

Anyway.

If you think knowing Miles was Charlie’s uncle stopped from shipping them from the moment she stepped in The Grand in the pilot and he was an asshole to her, you don’t know me. Then Miloe flashbacks happened in ep. 3. And I simultaneously started shipping that and noticed Charlie and Bass have things in common (mainly, Miles being an asshole to them, as it turned out later.)

But there were so many other good ships (Jeremy x everyone, yes?) and some random minor ones, including one or two of only my own concoction. 

And nobody hated anyone for shipping. The best of times, really. 

7. Elijah Mikaelson x everyone (TVD/TO)

Elijah is very shippable with anyone, but Elijah/Elena - there’s a lady who’s not on tumblr anymore (Hazel) that got me into this, and Elijah/Elena/Klaus - the fault of Sandrine_Shaw on AO3′s fics - were on top of my faves (and still are, TBH.) 

You know, when itsy bitsy vulnerable human dares (the nerve! negotiate with a big bad original? Elijah was impressed. And so was I. The rest was history. 

And for the second, well, when the two Original dumbasses keep falling for the same version of one woman, the solution is rather obvious. 

8. Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester & Dean Winchester/Castiel (SPN)

Yes, I was a Wincest shipper, that shouldn't surprise anyone. Because the early seasons had their charm. And then Cas showed up and jumped onto a Destiel bandwagon as well. So, yeah. 

9.  Buffy Summer/Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) 

There were a few years when I had to much work and studying to watch things, so now this trip into shipping history brings us to early 2000s/1990s. 

I liked Buffy/Angel well enough, but Buffy/Spike was it! I mean, he went to get his soul back for her. That scene when he’s hugging the cross haunts me to this day. Enough said. 

10.  Harmon Rabb Jr./Sarah MacKenzie (JAG)

Oh, god, Harm and Mac! Ship of all ships. The show tried to throw three different women at him and the third stuck. And we had to go through 8 seasons of slowburn then. A+++++

And, um, yes I shipped Mac with Webb for a while, too, because it’s me. 

But yeah. As far as I’m concerned Harm and Mac are happily married and managing their careers and NCIS: LA can bite me with their BS in last season finale. . 

11. Xena/Gabrielle (Xena: Warrior Princess)

Back when my very catholic grandma watched Xena and Hercules with me and also shipped Xena/Gabrielle, because ‘sometimes girls like girls, it’s nice’. Good times. 

I also crosshiped her with Herc, a bit. and definitely had a thing for Xena/Ares. Yep, my ship type started showing early. 

***

I’ll stop here.

Obviously, there have been a lot of other ships, but I tried to stick with the major fixations, otherwise we’d be here all week. (I haven’t even mentioned Marvel, or for that matter, books, so many books.)

Tagging: @lglorien, of course, @eveningspirit​, @wellwhataboutme​, @bea2me​, @stargazerdaisy​, @vesperass-anuna​, @elemenopew​, and anyone else who wants to do it, my mind is drawing blank, forgive me. And, as always, feel free to ignore.

Anyway, this took a lot of work, but it was satisfying. What a trip down the memory lane! So many feels!

[janettesmyname]

why the originals is pissing me off rn

Warning: I rant with feeling so this probably reads as butthurtness or something I’m not really sure, but I promise this is more of a “questioning writing/theories” type post not a hate (insert character here) post. Nonetheless here’s your warning in case you don’t wanna see ^o^ 

Here’s to Season 5 being approved btw yaaas!

OKAY so I have a m a j o r issue with Davina’s death number one like, out of eVERY POSSiBLE pERsoN TO kiLL hEr I didn’t expect ELIJAH to have ANY PART OF IT and tbh neither did I expect Freya to and here’s why:

Kol is their brother.

Kol is ONLY ALIVE BECAUSE THIS WITCH LOVED HIM DESPITE YOUR BULLSHIT and BROUGHT HIM BACK TO LIFE

so wHy WOuLD MURdErING hEr evEN bE A pOSsiBiLiTY????????

I get it, okay. You needed power to defeat Lucien, I’m not denying that. But even KLAUS said to find another way. KLAUS. AND HE WAS WELL AWARE OF THE DANGER EVERYONE WAS IN BUT HE WAS LIKE “NO DON’T” BECAUSE HE DAMN WELL SAID AND KNEW THAT IF DAVINA WAS HURT KOL WOULD BE LOST TO THEM, AND MARCEL AND WHOOPS!!! GUESS WHAT HAPPENED??? KLAUS WAS RIGHT.

God it just reminds me of that powerpoint slide thingy about Klaus’ plans always being the best plans but no one listens and then people die and they blame Klaus

Found it.

(and this is rlly old by the way too so YEAH IT’S STILL RELEVANT THAT’S SAD)

Not only that but Klaus had just lost Cami too and I can only imagine how much her death destroyed him and opened his eyes too like has anyone else noticed how much more...light is always in him, like in everything he does? He values people more and relationships&stuff and I was watching the first few eps on DVD of S1 the other day and in one of their convos Cami said; “I don’t believe in evil as a diagnosis [...] you have unstable personal relationships, anger issues, stress related paranoia, fear of abandonment...” and just- it makes me think Klaus was trying to spare Marcel from losing his daughter to the Mikaelson feud (again) and his little brother who he just got back and had to watch die TWICE the pain of losing someone so purely precious to him the same way he lost Cami.

And then yanno Klaus is sitting by Hope’s crib and he just looks at Freya and basically says “bitch you didn’t listen df are you talking about there’s not shit to celebrate this is a failure with a capital Fuckyoujustdividedourfamilymorethanit’severbeen.”

AND JUST SO YOU KNOW FREYA IS (WAS?) LIKE MY MOST FAV MIKAELSON BESIDES KOL AT THAT POINT I JUST CAN’T BELIEVE SHE’D STRAIGHT UP MURDER DAVINA IN SUCH A HORRIBLE WAY LIKE YOU WERE STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER AND SHE WAS SCREAMING AND CRYING AND SHE WAS JUST A CHILD OKAY WHEN SHE SCREAMED FOR MARCEL AND THEN ELIJAH HELPED FREYA BY SNAPPING HIS NECK I WANTED TO SET MY TV ON FIRE

SO the fact that she’s dead at all is a major problem for me but then like ????? Marcel ???? WHY did you get SO ANGRY at Klaus like it was his fault she died???? KLAUS WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL MARCEL YOU TOLD FREYA+ELIJAH NOT TO KILL HER?????????????? It WASN’T KLAUS’ FAULT DAVINA DIED and EVERYTHING MARCEL DID IN THE FACE OF HER DEATH TOWARD KLAUS WAS EXTREMELY UNCALLED FOR ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU TIE IT BACK INTO THE EVENTS OF 4x01

Honestly Marcel’s always been a back-and-forth character for me; he can get SO DOUCHEY sometimes and it just always seems like he’s always fighting the war just for power, as opposed to the Mikaelsons who fight for their family’s safety and protection (since I noticed they really don’t start shit until someone threatens them tbqh) and even with Davina it’s like...I don’t know, s1 Marcel was ok (I guess? but even Klaus saw the bs with how Marcel was treating her kinda) but even after she came back he’s just always trying to keep her contained or out of the loop like when he helped shunned her from being regent.....I can see he did it for her by trying to protect her but on the other hand it’s like...do you not even see how much you just destroyed her spirit? It’s like Jeremy Gilbert all over again like, whiny teenage character only sucks when treated like a child but the second you clue them in they turn into super warrior badasses. And do not even get me started on the Strix and how Davina handled that. YES BREAKING KLAUS’ SIRELINE WAS BAD VERY BAD I UNDERSTAND BUT Marcel didn’t even try to discuss anything with her, or explain, or LEVEL WITH HER in a way she’d understand he just directly undermined her after promising to back her up and just I don’t understand the writers sometimes I really don’t.

Also based on 4x08 while the ending implied more Davina I don’t get why she was demonized, so obsessed with killing Klaus (again, why, writers?) especially because I don’t believe she’d just fucking kILL HIM when she has to know how much he means to Hope, and then have Hope shove her back into the Ancestral Plane and basically shoot down any HopexDavina friendship that could ever happen should Davina ever be resurrected.

ALSO ALSO WHERE THE FUCK IS KOL WE WERE PROMISED KOL AS A MAIN CAST MEMBER FOR SEASON 4 WHAT HAPPENED I MISS NATHANIEL BUZOLIC GDI I WANT HIM AND BEKAH SCENES THEY’RE CUTE AND I WANT BEKAH X HOPE + KOL X HOPE SCENES SIGH

P.S: I do not hate any of these characters or their relationships I just don’t understand the fluency in events at moments and I love the show it’s my most favorite show and it’s such an epicly divine story of grey-and-gray morality I love all the Mikaelsons (esp Hope AWW) and all the others this isn’t a hate post kthnx.

[leavepaw]

Rules: Tag Nine People you want to get to know Better :)

I got tagged by @idonthavehusbandsihavelovers. Thanks!

relationship status: single

favorite colour: green

Lipstick or Chapstick: Chapstick

Last song I listened to: The Afters - Light up the sky

Last Movie I Watched: Friends with Benefits (the one with Kunis and Timberlake). I didn’t thought I would like it, but it was pretty funny. Not extraordinary great and world-changing, but I liked it.

Top Three Tv Shows: 

1) Sense8. Seriously if you haven’t watched it yet, you should try. It’s very special in different kind of ways and it’s one of those “either you get it or you don’t” kind of series. It started really slow and is some kind of intense character-focused story. I started it half a year ago but just didn’t watched past the first episode. Then I tried again some weeks ago and I am addicted! Season 2 starts in May, so... ugh I hate waiting. But it is really worth it!

2) The Originals. Oh, my favorite vampires. The show has it’s flaws but the morally grey characters and all the family drama is my kind of thing and I can’t wait for this series to return!

3) Elementary. I’m only at season 2 but I already love it! While I inhaled the other two mentioned, this is just... something nice for in between that makes me feel positive. It’s the best Sherlock adaption next to the movies with RDJude in my opinion. And I did not see Moriarty coming, very well done!

Top Three Characters:

1) Tony Stark. I have talked about him so much already but it just doesn’t get tiring. I admire everything about him. His kindness, his bravery, his creativity, his wonder. And he has one feature most faves of mine have in some way - the willingness to become the bad one (in the eye of the public or for real) to do something good, to save people. For me it’s like one of the most inspirational things and a reason he will always be my favorite superhero. He is still fighting and he would never back down. Maybe it would be the best for him, but he cares more about everyone else than about himself. Excuse me while I go crying my eyes out.

2) Elijah Mikaelson. From the very first second he appeared on my screen I was like “yeah, my type of guy, I’ll protect him forever, everyone back off”. And everything he has done since than has only cemented how much I adore him. He gives everything up for the people he loves. Selflessness is something I really adore regarding real and fictional people all the same. Also, his subtle, dry humor is great.

3) Wolfgang Bogdanow. I love all the characters of sense8 (it’s kinda impossible not to) but he is my favorite. He fits in my type of favorites, though I didn’t liked him from the first second, but the more he appeared... the more he kind of grew on me. He is loyal to death, honest to death, an all or nothing type of person, also someone who would be like “Oh, me, dying? Pfh, could be worse” if he had to sacrifice himself to save his friends.

Yeah these faves scream all pain, thank you very much for noticing. It’s like a weird spell was cast on me.

Top Three Ships:

- Kalagang. Again, sense8 has many great ships, but like... the other ones are together and happy together although the surroundings may be complicated but in general... not much suffering. So yeah, somehow here we go again with the pain. These two are awesome together, they are completely different but in a way that fits. In a way of “nice mixture” not “explosive”. Though their chemistry is. Anyway, they are really complementing each other well and though their relationship for sure is not going to be easy... I guess it could be great. What we saw from it til now for sure is. 

- Haylijah. Yeah, and fitting to my first ship, why do people from my ships all start to marry some sidekick instead of being happy?!? Yeah, good reasons and everything, but duh, I really didn’t like that. Please stop, although I understand and it’s important for the character development (probably) and everything... but no just don’t. These two have really great chemistry and I think would really balance each other out... also fave/happiness, ya know? Their relationship is again, not easy, with his brother being the father of her child and everything, but easy doesn’t require happy. And them together does for me.

- Nomanita. And another sense8 ship. Yeah, everyone is rolling their eyes I guess. She just said they were happy and therefore too boring for her.. yeah, but, no. Not with these two. They are perfection. They are the perfect duo, and no one will be able to convince me otherwise bc why the hell would anyone. They have the greatest relationship I have ever seen (probably bc most of my ships only get to being together at the very end...)

And OMG thats gotten long and detailed... sorry. Anyway, my turn. I tag: @jeruk-lemon @sayruq, @lady-may-driu, @nonbinarytonystark, @perceptions3key, @i-gotta-go-good-day-pusscake, @itsagentromanoff, @alethiaii, @hedgehog-goulash7

[andreal831]

Esther "Mikaelson" and Misogyny

The misogyny in TVDU, in both the writing and the fandom, is exhausting. It comes out so much, especially when it comes to complex women versus complex men. Esther (yes, I know her last name is not Mikaelson), is not one of my favorite characters, she's not even a character I particularly like. But to act like she is an absolute villain with no redeeming qualities is a best misogynist, and at worst blaming a victim of abuse.

Most of the hate for Esther tends to come from certain character stans because they don't like how Esther treated their favorite character or want to shift the responsibility of their favs to Esther so that they don't have to deal with a complex, morally grey character.

Esther is a survivor many times over and we cannot talk about her without first acknowledging that. When she was just a teenager/young adult, her entire family was slaughtered and she and her sister were kidnapped. I know there is a lot of debate in the psychology community regarding Stockholm syndrome, but her falling for Mikael screams a manipulated, traumatized, naïve, young woman.

Esther and Mikael

Whether it was Mikael's intent initially or not, he took advantage of the mental place she was at when they met. People recently have wanted to argue whether or not Esther was abused, but this is not a debate. First, there are many different types of abuse, mental, physical, emotional, financial, etc.

During this time period, while Norse communities tended to give woman more power, Esther was from "outside" their community. Her rank in the community would come directly from her marriage. I personally don't know if she went into her relationship with Mikael in order to gain security or if she was just truly that naïve and wanted love and a family. There is nothing wrong with either. It reminds me of why Hayley decided to try and actually have a relationship with Jackson. Woman have historically had to make hard decisions in order to gain protection. And even if she just wanted to get married and have kids, that is fine. Esther reminds me of Meg March. Her dreams may have been different than Dahlia but that doesn't make them less important.

We see very little of their human lives and it is told from everyone else's perspective except for Esther. We also know that everyone's stories are not accurate. Klaus lied about Esther's death for a thousand years. He also has a tendency from not seeing things through other perspectives. Klaus, and even Elijah, when they talk about their human lives, focus on Mikael's abuse on Klaus because the show centers around Klaus and doing everything they can do to redeem him. There is no benefit to making Esther look complex or going into how living with Mikael impacted her. But it is naïve to say she didn't suffer abuse. She lived in a household with a violent, angry man. Even if he didn't physically hit her, which we honestly don't know but I would find that extremely hard to believe, it is clear he verbally, emotionally, and financially abused her.

People love to say she is a powerful witch and could have stopped him or left, but this is shifting the blame from the abuser to the victim. First, abuse isn't about who is stronger. This logic is completely dismissing so much abuse that happens, especially women abusing men. Yes, Esther is a powerful witch, but if she had no other options outside of Mikael, being powerful doesn't matter. We know she would put Mikael to sleep for long periods to protect her and her children. We don't know if she did anything else, but we have at least one example of her using her magic to intervene. We also know she stopped practicing for a long time because of her fear of dark magic and how the community treated Dahlia.

We also have to acknowledge that Esther had very few choices. Sure, she could kill Mikael but she would have gotten sentenced to death for that. Again, her position in the community came from her connection to Mikael, otherwise she was just another enslaved person from a village they raided. We know how Dahlia was treated. Maybe she could have run off with Ansel and they would have protected her from Mikael, or if he was dead, the villagers, but this is putting her, her children, and the pack in a dangerous situation. Potentially starting a war between the pack and the village for aiding and abetting a kin-slayer. She would also be acknowledging her affair and adultery by woman was met by serious punishments, usually death. After committing matricide, she also wouldn't have claims to Mikael's money or land as an outsider. Maybe in the "new world," but she would have to hide her involvement in his death. Esther would have no money or land of her own as her familial land and money would have been claimed when it was raided.

While women in Norse communities did experience more freedom than other areas of the world at that time, they were still far from free. This is especially true considering how Esther came to this community. While she wasn't enslaved in a way Dahlia was, it is wrong to say she wasn't still enslaved. Her entire village was killed and her and her sister were forced to come to their village and live amongst them as hostages. Esther was kept as a way to keep Dahlia in line. She was not welcomed into the community. This was a common practice during these raids.

The reason I get so angry when people attack Esther as if she wasn't a victim is because real-life victims hear this everyday. Esther's situation perfectly exemplifies the "non-perfect" victim and the fandom perfectly exemplifies how many of these victims are treated.

Esther and Dahlia

Dahlia gets way more slack than Esther because she is a "more perfect victim." But again, we are getting the story from everyone's perspective but Esther. Yes, what Dahlia went through was horrible, but what she put her sister through was also horrible. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

Dahlia had no right to expect Esther to give up her dreams for her, even though she did sacrifice a lot for Esther. She made that decision and took it on. Yes, it was noble, but again, she cannot expect anything for a choice she made. It is just like Klaus expecting his siblings to never leave him and punishing them when they do. Siblings do not owe each other their lives. I would also not blame Dahlia for leaving Esther behind to protect herself.

On top of that, when Esther went to Dahlia and asked for help, she took advantage of the situation and stole her child. I don't care what Esther promised or how much she understood of the situation, clearly at the moment Dahlia came for Freya, Esther did not want to give her up. If we look at it in a modern perspective, a mother who puts her child up for adoption has the right to change their mind because, morally, we understand it is impossible to understand how you will feel until that moment. If a person than steals the child after the mom changes their mind, that's kidnapping. If we look at it from a historical perspective, Norse communities were patriarchal and the children belonged to Mikael. Meaning Esther did not have the ability to "sell" her children.

Dahlia is given a lot of sympathy in the fandom because they relate her story to Klaus, who they spend a lot of time victimizing. So it makes an easy leap to paint Dahlia as the victim and Esther as the "evil" one. But again, we never see how Esther reacted to her sister casting her aside because she wanted love and a family. or how Mikael treated her throughout their relationship. Even if Dahlia ended up being right about Mikael, whether he was always evil or turned evil losing Freya, Dahlia doesn't get to make that decision for Esther. It is hard to watch someone you love get into an abusive relationship, but you can't tell someone what to do with their life. All you can do is try and be there for them when they need help.

Esther and Klaus

Another reason people hate on Esther is because of her relationship with Klaus. I personally think Esther loved Klaus the most because of who his father was. She babies him in a way she never did with the other's. We even see Finn resenting her treatment of Klaus because of it.

Yes, she does give him the necklace which ends up making Mikael target him to "make him strong." But, one, let's blame the abuser and not shift blame to a fellow victim. And two, what would you have her do? Sure the answer is probably, don't have an affair, but then your fav character wouldn't be there. Also, again, she was young and naïve. She also gets more blame for having an affair than Mikael does for beating a child. She made a mistake and did everything she could to protect Klaus from that mistake. Was it misguided, maybe, but her intention was good. She wanted to protect Klaus from Mikael finding out.

The fact that Esther can forgive Klaus for brutally murdering her shows how much she loved him. Her wanting to kill her kids later is honestly understandable. She never knew the side affects of the spell she performed. She watched her children become the worst versions of themselves for a thousand years and felt the guilt for every life they took. She also knew peace existed since she had been on the other side. When she first tried to take their lives, they would have all just gone to the other side. She didn't want them to suffer but wanted the pain they inflicted on the world to end.

The Misogyny of it all

The reason I say it is misogyny, is because every favorite character in this show has done absolutely terrible things. Klaus, and all of the Mikaelsons, are serial killers. It doesn't matter what reasons they had for doing it. Esther had her own reasons for her actions. The fact that people can't acknowledge Esther as a complex character but can do so for Klaus, Damon, Elijah, Stefan, etc. shows that it is based on misogyny. Even the fact that Dahlia, someone who kidnapped and abused a child, gets more love than Esther because Esther isn't a "perfect victim" shows it is rooted in misogyny. Men are allowed to be messy and complex but when it's a woman they are either a victim or pure evil.

I'm not saying there aren't things you can't hate her for. I hated her treatment of Elijah in Season 2 of TO and her plan to harm Hope. But to ignore the complexity of the character and pretend she wasn't a victim is just harmful rhetoric. Women are allowed to be complex and morally grey.