#i’ve always said marcel is basically stefan without any damon/elena baggage and he IS

[kylermalloy]

Your last answer got me curious, what’s your opinion on Marcel? His relationship with Klaus?

Pretty much the same as all the other Mikaelson dynamics and characters—Marcel is a complex, well-rounded individual. He’s a terrible person. He does good things. He cares deeply for his family and would do anything for them.

His relationship with Klaus is fraught, tense, Freudian in the best of ways, and sooo interesting.

I remember when we first met Marcel, I was dubious of the way they were presenting him. Like I said in my response to Christina’s ask, I was afraid the pilot was setting Marcel up to be The Monster Klaus Created Who Is Worse Than Him. But they weren’t, so my fears were unfounded!

I was also wary of his backstory—were they trying to tell me that of all the atrocities Klaus witnessed (and committed) throughout the ages, slavery was where he drew a line? And in a universe where mind compulsion exists? But again, this show proved me wrong! (Yay, Klaus…isn’t against slavery? Well, he’s Problematique. Get over it.)

Although our first impressions of Marcel are of a loud, showy, charismatic version of Klaus with way more friends—that’s not who he is. The tyrant we meet who tortures witches and murders them in public is merely punishing them for the wrongs they committed against their own children. That’s not who he is, fundamentally—although he can draw on that side of his personality easily, having grown up with Klaus.

Speaking of Klaus! Marcel has grown up to be a slightly more mentally healthy adult than Klaus, despite them both having horrifically abusive childhoods. I don’t want to give Klaus too much credit, because he created as many problems as he remedied, but Marcel did have an adult in his life who cared for him—more than one, if we can count Rebekah and Elijah (😔). While Marcel clearly has Issues with his surrogate family, he takes lessons he learned from them and uses them to build his own community, his own kingdom. Some lessons he borrows from the Mikaelsons, and some he does the exact opposite. He trusts people. He makes alliances. He kills (mostly) as a last resort. But he’s still ruthless toward his enemies. He punishes those who step out of line. He’s conniving and manipulative and he can do it all with a big smile on his face.

I do think there’s a fair amount of projection going on with Klaus when he takes Marcel in. He wants to give this kid (also an abused bastard child) something he never believed he had—someone to look out for him, someone to care for him and protect him. But as he sees himself in Marcel, it’s hard to give him the unconditional love Klaus can never believe he’s worthy of. (It’s complicated.)

And of course, the people Klaus cares for become possessions in his eyes. He expects everyone he considers family all to revolve around him. This is why he resents Elijah for showing Marcel too much kindness—they shouldn’t be allowed to have a bond separate from him! This is why he daggers Rebekah for winning Marcel’s affections; in his eyes, they cannot love each other and him.

This is something Marcel carries with him throughout his life, I think—he tries to treat his own friends as their own people, allowing them much more agency and freedom. (see: him allowing Thierry to date a witch, even though Klaus exploits this connection—it’s a worthy price, if that’s what they want. In the same vein, he allows Davina out on the town when the witches are hunting her.) Though he does not always succeed—he still uses Davina for her powers, lying to her about the danger the witches pose. He is still part Mikaelson.

1x20 is still my favorite klarcel episode, because So Much happens. So much is said, and unsaid.

“How did I fail?”

“Maybe the scars just ran too deep.”

(Is he talking about his own scars, or Klaus’s? You decide.)

But then:

“You didn’t fail me. You taught me everything I know. You taught me I can’t be weak, not when my enemies are stronger. […] And I will fight until I’m dead.”

Because underneath the war they’re waging against each other, they genuinely care about each other. They consider it unfortunate now, but Klaus poured himself into his little Marcellus, for better or worse. Marcel grew up with Klaus. He knew what kind of person Klaus was. He knew firsthand, and he chose to become a vampire like Klaus anyway. Because just like Klaus, immortality can be terrible and awful but it can also be beautiful.

Gonna go cry.

Let me skip ahead to season 3, where their dynamic changes fundamentally again. Some of the narrative choices made in this season were iffy, so I am still on the fence about Marcel’s turn. Part of me thinks it was justified, part of me thinks it should have happened differently, and part of me thinks it was a big misstep.

Marcel turning on Klaus and demanding he answer for his crimes would make sense in a different narrative than the one we were in. The events that turned Marcel against the Mikaelsons this time were committed not by Klaus, but by Freya and Elijah. Having Klaus be the target of his vengeance would’ve made sense…a season ago. Not now. Not with the moral code we’ve been going with.

But I digress.

I think this is a perfectly natural turn for the klarcel relationship to take—Marcel positions himself as a moral arbiter, above Klaus in every way, although…well, he’s not. Marcel has aided and abetted, he’s slaughtered indiscriminately before. There’s some truth to how he condemns Klaus, but there’s also some self-righteousness—as any conflict on TO should have. (These are all still, fundamentally, terrible people.)

Unfortunately, though, this conflict is much more about Klaus than it is Marcel, and their interactions during the trial are rather underwhelming. It’s not about Klaus relating to Marcel as the boy he raised, it’s about Klaus using his wits and his awfulness to stay alive.

I do think there is a certain poetry to Marcel *leveling up* and becoming more powerful than Klaus, and immediately becoming judge, jury, and executioner. Only he is powerful enough to punish the Mikaelsons for their crimes, and he will do so. Oh, he will do so. There’s a certain Mikaelson-esque arrogance in that. The god-king of New Orleans.

I shan’t go into how in season 4, Marcel has apparently ruled the city peacefully for five years now that the Mikaelsons are gone (what happened to the gang wars? Factions committing terrorism on each other?) and by then the show has strayed a lot from its original atmosphere. And its characterization.

I’ll say I like Klaus admitting in season 4 that he was not a good father to Marcel, but like. Come on. We knew that. He knew that. It seems more like a step in the writers’ plan to dismiss all Mikaelsons forever as Evil And Bad Because We Can’t Promote Bad Messages For The Kids On This Show About Murderous Immortal Bloodsuckers. Like, pick a lane, guys!

…okay, this ask has rather gone off the rails. Suffice to say I adore the angst, the ambiguity, the love/hate of klarcel. Wish there had been more nuance in the later seasons.