The Originals: How the Mikaelsons Became the First Vampires | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

The Originals from The Vampire Diaries were a viking family, whose matriarch turned them into the first vampires.

The Vampire Diaries was about two vampire brothers battling over the love of a human woman while dealing with vampire problems, like hunters, bloodlust and the vampiric hierarchy. In the second season, the original vampires, from which all vampires are descended from, were introduced. They were introduced as part of Katerina Petrova's storyline after it was revealed she's been runningfrom someone named Klaus ever since her very first days of being a vampire.

The Originals are a family of siblings who were turned into vampires by their parents centuries ago. The first of the Originals to be shown is Elijah Mikaelson, introduced in Season 2, Episode 8, "Rose," with the others gradually appearing throughout the season. Introduced as several antagonists that lingered for multiple seasons, they eventually left to star in their own spin-off, The Originals.

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TheMikaelson family hails from Norway, where the young witches Esther and Dahlia were captured by Viking raiders during the 10th Century. Kept alive so Dahlia could aid them using witchcraft, Esther was allowed to live freely butfell in love with one of the Vikings, Mikael. They marriedonly for Estherto discover shewasbarren. She turned to her sister for help, and for a high price, she wasmade fertile.Esther had seven children: Freya, Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik, but the price fortheir existencewas the life of the first child, Freya. The price was also extended to the first child of every generation to follow.

After the "death" of Freya, the family seemed to be in a state of permanent grieving. It got worse when in the autumn of 1001 AD, the youngest child, Hendrik, was killed by werewolves.Determined to never lose another child, Esther performed a powerful ritual in order to protect her remaining children and husband.

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The ritual turned them into creatures faster and stronger than the wolves. They'd also be resistant to death. Esther called on the power of the sun for life, the ancient white oak tree for immortalityand themagic blood of the Petrova doppelganger, which wouldallow them to be reborn as a new species. They then became the world's first vampires.

However, nature is a balancing act. For every strength granted, there wasalso aweakness. The sun that granted life now burned them upon touch and kept them forever in the dark. The vervain grown from the white oak tree burned them and prevented mind compulsion. Finally, for being born from blood, theywere cursed with aterrible bloodlust that consumed their every waking moment. In their hunger, they massacred half of their village, including the doppelganger Taita, whose blood created them.

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Rachel Roth is a graduate of the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. Her work has been featured in multiple literary journals and anthologies. In addition to CBR, she also writes for Hidden Remote and Haunted MTL. In her spare time, she watches horror movies and reads Stephen King.

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The Originals: How the Mikaelsons Became the First Vampires | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources