The Vampire Diaries universe had introduced many immortal beings to us. We all know about vampires and how they came to be, because their origin was explained many times during the shows. But vampirism is not the only way of immortality in TVD universe. There are older and more powerful immortals in TVD. So who are the immortal beings in the Vampire Diaries universe beside vampires?
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Arcadius “Cade” – the Devil and the Devil granted immortality.
Oldest known immortal being in the Vampire Diaries universe is the Devil himself. Well, he is not a fallen angel like Lucifer. So TVD devil is pale in comparison to the biblical Devil. More than 4000 years ago TVD Devil was a human with a supernatural ability. He was the first known psychic in TVD. He was a compassionate and kind person who was using his psychic abilities to help his community. But misunderstood townsfolk got afraid of his powers and burned him at the stake. This act of prejudice from his own people made him lose all hope for humanity. Enraged and broken hearted Arcadius released a powerful psychic blast right before his death. That psychic blast created an alternate plane of existence to contain his soul. From this fiery dimension he seeks out for wicked souls to claim them so he could punish them for eternity.
He chooses emissaries to roam the living world in order to find corrupt people and kill them in order to claim their souls. Arcadius has the ability to grant immortality for his emissaries by sending their souls back into their bodies and resurrecting them. The Devil granted immortality is so powerful because it won’t stop you from dying instead it automatically resurrect you whenever you get killed. Also Arcadius has the power to revoke this granted immortality at any time he wishes.
People who got immortality from the Devil:
Sirens – Sybil and Seline
In 750 B.C. Sybil and Seline were still young girls who were psychics just like Cade before them. As with Cade, people got afraid of Sybil and Seline’s powers. So they were banished to live in an isolated island. Since the island was scarce of foods, two young psychics developed a method to use their powers to lure nearby sailing ships to the island. But the island was surrounded by rocks, so lured ships had ended up shipwrecked. Two girls had been looting wrecked ships for food for their survival. Unbeknown to the Sybil, Seline was gathering meat from dead sailors to feed upon claiming they were wild boar meat. When Sybil found out about this act of cannibalism she tried to kill herself. At that moment the Devil appeared before two girls to offer them a deal. Devil offered them immortality in return of wicked souls. Thus Sybil and Seline became the oldest known immortal creatures in TVD universe who seek out corrupt people to feed upon their flesh so the Devil could claim their killed victims’ souls. And with time their story twisted into create the myth of the Sirens.
Stefan and Damon Salvatore
After serving the Devil nearly for a three millennia Sirens wanted to get out of their deal. So initially they tried to offer Alaric Saltzman’s twin daughters; Josie and Lizzie as the Devils new emissaries. But Stefan and Damon stepped up to sacrifice themselves instead of two little girls. So for a brief time period two brothers had the Devil granted immortality.
The Devil himself
After his human death Arcadius was living in his spirit form for millenniums. Then he manipulated Maxwell ancestors to create a magical bell which would open a portal to hell on its twelfth ring. Compelled Matt Donovan who is a Maxwell descendant rang it eleven times before he got stopped. Even though it prevented hell breaking loose on Mystic Falls, Arcadius used the opportunity to slip into the living world. In his resurrected form he was indestructible like Sirens. He showed Damon that he can’t be killed by fire or even heart extraction.
The Immortality Elixir created by Qetsiyah
Qetsiyah aka Tessa was one of the most powerful witches in the Vampire Diaries universe and also the one who indirectly responsible for the creation of the vampire race. She was the oldest known ancestor of the Bennett bloodline. Hoping to be with her betrothed for forever, she created a powerful elixir which would grant immortality to its drinker. Person who drinks it would not get any additional perks or weaknesses like from vampirism. They can function like normal human beings. Only downside is they have to consume human blood or otherwise they will be desiccated. As part of a questionable revenge plan, Qetsiyah made an antidote for the elixir. It was the only method mentioned in TVD to revert back an immortal being into a mortal. Apart from the Cure there are no known method which could kill them.
However this love triangle/ revenge saga had laid down most of the ground work for the supernatural events in TVD universe. It created the inspiration for vampirism, the Other Side and doppelgangers.
Weaknesses: No known weaknesses. Only the Cure could undo the immortality effect.
Silas and Amara
Silas was a powerful warlock in his time. Nearly 2000 years ago he was promised to marry Qetsiyah. At his request, Qetsiyah discovered a way to achieve immortality. But he deceived her and took the Immortality Elixir for himself and his secret lover Amara who was one of the handmaidens of Quetsiyah. Silas and Amara becoming immortals was such an oddity, so the nature had to produce doppelgangers of Silas and Amara to balance things out. After finding out about Silas’s betrayal, Qetsiyah created the Other Side using Amara as the anchor and hid her away. Then she made the Cure and imprisoned Silas on an island with it, so either he could drink the Cure and kill himself to be trapped in the Other Side or remain an immortal only to desiccate for eternity.
In his desiccated state Silas had developed a powerful psychic ability and used it to manipulate unsuspected people to free him. Finally he got awaken in the modern day. He later found Amara and both of them took the Cure to become mortal again and died soon after.
Esther Mikaelson’s Vampirism spell
Esther and her Viking husband moved into the New World in order to escape from the Plague only to discover that they had moved into a werewolf territory. When the youngest Mikaelson child got mauled to death by a werewolf, Mikael asked his wife Esther and her friend Ayana to make him and his children better and powerful than werewolves. Esther and Ayana both were witches and Ayana was a descendent of Qetsiyah. Ayana opposed to Mikael’s idea by stating that such a spell is a makings of a plague. Without adhering to Ayana’s warning, Esther agreed to do the spell in order to protect her family. Being an exceptionally powerful and clever witch, Esther took Quetsiyah’s immortality spell and modified it to grant supernatural abilities to her husband and children.
Unlike Qetsiyah’s original spell, Esther’s version enhances the strength, the speed, the durability, the agility and the senses of the subject. But as Ayana had predicted, the spirits and the nature fought back against this new abomination. Even though they were able to achieve immortality, Mikaelsons could no longer step into the sunlight and they could not go into other people’s homes without an invitation. Also they got terrible hunger for human blood. Unintendedly Esther created the Vampire Race.
Weaknesses: As per a condition of the spell, the binding agent which gives the immortal life to the Mikaelsons aka the Original Vampires could also take it away. Esther had used the White Oak Tree as the binding agent, so only White Oak Stakes could kill an Original Vampire.
As a side effect, flowers that were blooming under the White Oak Tree became poisonous to vampires. That is how Vervain plant got its magical properties against vampires and their compulsion.
Sunlight burns their skin. If an Original Vampire exposes longer to the sunlight they get spontaneously combust into flames. So Esther had to create Daylight Rings to allow vampires to roam in the daylight.
Esther’s vampirism not only created the Originals but also gave birth to few other immortal supernatural species as a side effect.
Mikaelsons – The Original Vampires
Mikael and his five children: Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Rebekah, Kol were the very first vampires on the Earth. Every other vampire except Alaric, were sired to one of the Originals. Because of that if an Original Vampire dies his entire sire line die with him. However Davina Claire found a way to break this sire link and severed the link between Klaus and his sire line.
Sired vampires
The Originals later discovered that they could turn humans into vampires like themselves. Every other vampire in the Vampire Diaries universe except Alaric, were sired vampires. Immortality of sired vampires is fragile compared to the Original Vampires. Sired vampires could be killed by any wooden stake. If they exposed to the sunlight without a Daylight Ring, they get burn to death.
Niklaus Mikaelson and werewolf – vampire hybrids
Klaus was not a biological son of Mikael. Esther had an affair with a werewolf named Ansel and he was Klaus’s biological father. Because of that Klaus had inherited the werewolf gene from Ansel. In order to keep her affair a secret Esther had to hide the fact that Klaus is a werewolf. So she enchanted a neckless (the Starling Necklace) and put it on Klaus to weaken him so he would not accidently trigger his werewolf curse by killing another human. But after turning into a vampire Klaus had to kill in order to feed. And that triggered his werewolf side and he started to turn into a unique werewolf – vampire hybrid with more power than any werewolf or a vampire. Klaus could not enjoy his new powers for much longer because infuriated Mikael asked Esther to subdue Klaus’s werewolf side and Esther complied by binding Klaus’s hybrid nature by placing the Sun and the Moon Curse upon him.
Klaus finally managed to break the Hybrid Curse and become the Original Hybrid, first of his kind. Soon after he figured out a way to successfully sire werewolf – vampire hybrids using Elena’s doppelganger blood. Werewolves are mortal. They grow old and eventually die. But the hybrids are immortal because they inherit Esther’s vampirism magic.
Alaric Saltzman – the enhanced Original Vampire
Esther was killed by the hand of her own son, Klaus. After her death, from the Other Side, She was witnessing the horrors which were being caused by her creation, the Originals and their sired vampires. Later she started to regret her decision to create Vampirism and wanted to get rid of them from the world. So she started to find ways to do that. First she started to poison the minds of temporarily dead people who were wearing Gilbert Rings. That way she created a vampire hating alter ego in Alaric Saltzman.
Later Esther was resurrected and tried to kill her children by linking them together, but she failed. Then she turned Alaric into a vampire using a modified version of her original vampirism spell. As an Enhanced Original Vampire Alaric was more powerful than an Original Vampire and could not be killed by any means, even with a White Oak Stake. But to avoid creating another plague like Original Vampires, Esther bound Alaric’s life to Elena Gilbert’s life. Then Elena died causing the death of the Enhanced Original Vampire. But Elena got resurrected as a vampire and later Alaric became alive by passing through Bonnie from the Other Side. It was unclear whether his immortality was still bound to Elena or not. Since Alaric became human by some unbelievable logic, we will never know it.
Heretics – witch – vampire hybrids
Heretics were originally a group of banished Gemini Coven Siphoners. They did not have the ability to generate their own magic, instead they had to suck out magic from magical creatures or magical objects to empower themselves so they could perform magic for a brief time. When Lily Salvatore accidently turned Valerie Tulle into a vampire, Valerie had retained her siphon powers due to nature’s loopholes. She and other vampires who were former Siponers became witch – vampire hybrids. Esther’s vampirism magic made them immortals, at the same time their siphon ability allowed them to channel vampirism magic to perpetually empower themselves without losing power. So with vampire powers and siphon ability and witch powers coupled with unique Gemini Coven spells, Heretics was one of the most powerful groups in the Vampire Diaries universe. However they did not live up to their full potential due to family drama.
Lucien and Marcel – Upgraded Original Vampires
Lucien Castle and Marcel Gerard both were sired by Klaus himself. They both had a similar relationship with Klaus. Klaus took both of them under his wing, showed the ropes to the vampire world and eventually abandoned them when Klaus’s father was closing on him.
Lucien was the oldest vampire to be sired by any Original Vampire. So he was the oldest and most powerful sired vampire closely followed by Aurora de Martel (sired by Rebekah Mikaelson) and Tristan de Martel (sired by Elijah Mikaelson). This three oldest vampires, also known as The Trinity were amassing power and wealth overtime and researching ways to kill Original Vampires. They had their own coven of witches to do their biddings. Finally they succeeded in severing Klaus’s sire bond to his sire line.
Lucien was secretly trying to upgrade himself to be better than an Original Vampire. Finally he manage to hack Esther’s immortality spell and modify it to become an Upgraded Original Vampire. With the upgraded immortality spell the subject gets standard Original Vampire powers plus a potent werewolf bite with specifically engineered strain of werewolf venom by incorporating venom from all seven werewolf packs. Most important part is that upgrading spell uses a piece of White Oak Stake to make the bite lethal to even an Original Vampire.
There was only two doses of the serum which could turn a sired vampire into an Upgraded Original Vampire. Lucien took one dose for himself and gifted other one for Aurora. But Aurora was put into a coma before she could transition and later a witch named Vincent Griffith extracted the serum from her body and gave it to the Marcel Gerard whom used it to become an Upgraded Original Vampire himself.
Hope Mikaelson and her sired hybrids
Hope is the daughter of the Original Hybrid, Klaus and a Werewolf, Hayley Marshall. Hope is a result of many Nature’s loopholes. She inherited Esther’s immortality and access to the magic from Esther’s bloodline and werewolf nature from both her parent. So she is known as the Tribrid.
Her blood could turn a werewolf into a werewolf – vampire hybrid. Unlike Klaus’s hybrids, Hope’s hybrids do not need doppelganger blood to complete the transition. Hope’s sired hybrids are also immortal like regular vampires.
Dahlia and her sleeping spell
Dahlia is the big bad elder sister of Esther. In their bloodline, eldest children are exceptionally powerful. Dahlia had found a way to leverage this to make herself extra powerful and immortal. In early years of her marriage Esther could not get pregnant, so she asked help from Dahlia. Dahlia granted Esther’s wish to have children but in return she asked to have first born child from every generation of Esther’s descendants.
As promised, Dahlia came to collect Esther’s first born child and took Freya Mikaelson away from her. She trained Freya in witchcraft. Later Dahlia created a new branch of connective magic and used it to link her power to Freya, making both of them more powerful. Unlike other form of magic where one witch draw power from others, Dahlia’s connective magic increases the power in all connected parties.
Dahlia then created her own version of immortality spell independent to Esther’s immortality spell. However Dahlia’s and Freya’s power wasn’t enough to keep them awake all the time. So as a downside to being immortals Dahlia and Freya had to undergo a hibernation like sleep for hundred years after being awake for a one year alternatively. In this century long magical slumber they accrue power thus making them extremely powerful witches.
Dahlia believed that by binding with Hope Mikaelson would finally increase their collective power to a point, so they could finally break free from the Sleeping Spell.
Prison Worlds
First Prison World was originally created by Gemini Coven with help from a Bennett witch. They created it in 1903 to imprison Lily Salvatore and the Heretics. Then again in 1994 another Prison World was created to imprison Malachai “Kai” Parker.
Nature of Prison Worlds are bit confusing. They are parallel planes of existence to the real world. A Prison world is an exact snapshot or a copy of the real world. They are stuck in a time loop, so a prison world repeats the same day which it was created. And it seems like they do not have any living creatures in them except the prisoners.
Prisoners in the Prison World cannot kill themselves to escape from their misery. Kai Parker said he tried many times but only to come back to life. As long as they are in the prison world, prisoners do not die and do not age. Downside is Prison Worlds are vacant, there are not another soul to keep you company. And even though a Prison World repeats the same day, it does not replenish its resources. So when all the food sources are dried out, Prisoners would have to starve but unable to die.
Cheating death
In above methods subjects won’t die or age as long as they do not violate the conditions of their immortality. But there are other ways to cheat death in TVD universe.
The Huntress
Rayna Cruz the Vampire Huntress had the most powerful form of resurrection ability in the TVD universe. She could resurrect even after her body got completely destroyed. She got this ability from Shamanic magic. Lily Salvatore’s lover Julian compelled Rayna Cruz to kill her own father who was one of the supernatural vampire hunters known as the Brotherhood of the Five. Julian did it to avoid the Hunter’s Curse. Traumatized Rayna sought help from a group of Native American shamans. They called upon the Spirits to grant Rayna with resurrection ability and power to hunt vampires. They also gifted her a magical sword with embedded Phoenix Stone. The sword could mark vampires for her to track and kill. Her fallen victims’ souls get trapped in the Phoenix Stone. And the Shamans sacrificed themselves to bind the magic to the Huntress.
She was not immortal. She could grow old and die of old age. She got life spans of each sacrificed Shaman added into her life. In total she had 8 chances to be resurrected.
Gilbert Rings
Gilbert Rings were created by Emily Bennett to protect their wearers from deaths caused by supernatural means. As an example if a wearer get killed by a vampire, they will remain dead for a little while and come back to life like nothing happened. Rings achieve this feat by sending wearer’s soul to the Other Side and bringing it back to the body. However there are two conditions; ring wearer has to be a normal human and the death should have caused by a supernatural being. Otherwise the rings won’t work.
The Other Side was created by Quetsiyah to trap the souls of supernatural beings. Gilbert Rings allow normal people to temporarily visit the Other Side. In their spirit form they had to find their body in order to resurrect. It says that with each death, a person’s soul awake further and further to their body, thus making resurrecting time period longer and longer. After they wake up wearer forgets everything happened in the Other Side. Esther used this phenomena to corrupt Alaric’s mind when he was in the Other Side.
Rings functionality depends on the Other Side. Since the Other Side got destroyed, Gilbert Rings became powerless.
Body jumping
Witches have the ability to put one person’s soul into another person’s body. In the Vampire Diaries Bonnie saved Klaus from Enhanced Original Vampire Alaric by placing Klaus’s soul into Tyler Lockwood’s body.
Travelers, a subsect of witches also have the ability to jump from body to body. Travelers who practice body jump are called Passengers. Passengers could stay dormant in someone else’s body without completely possessing it. A magical knife which was known as the Traveler’s Knife has the ability to remove passenger spirits from the host. A simple non critical stab from the Traveler’s Knife would kill a passenger spirit without killing the host.
In the Originals series Céleste Dubois, Esther Mikaelson and few of her children: Finn, Kol and Rebekah used body jumping to possess another person’s body. All of them except Rebekah were dead and their original bodies were not preserved. They used body jumping to come back from the Other Side and linger in the living world. They always used witches’ bodies to jump in. Were they only able to possess witch bodies? Or is it a simple preference? The reason is not clear. There are hexes and spells to lock a body jumper in their current body so they could no longer escape death.
Protection Spells
In the Vampire Diaries Bonnie used a protection spell on Elena to save her from Klaus. Klaus killed Elena during his ritual to break the Sun and Moon Curse in order to become the Original Hybrid. Protection spell brought Elena back to life.
In the Originals series Sabine Laurent (at the time she was being possessed by Céleste Dubois) went up against the Harvest powered Davina. Davina easily defeated Sabine and few other witches by snapping their necks. Later Sabine (Céleste) came back to life because she had taken precautions to use a protective spell on herself.
Right as Sabine got revived from her broken neck, Marcel was waiting there for her to wake up. He ordered Sabine to put same protective spell on Davina in order to save her from Klaus. Marcel’s precautions paid back later because as predicted Klaus killed Davina and her friend Tim by poisoning them. But thanks to Sabine’s protective spell Davina got revived. Sadly Timothy did not survive.
These protection spells seems to be single use spells. In above examples protective spells only worked once on their subjects and did not have any lingering protection. And in those cases they were casted right before heading into a certain death.
Also in the Originals, Dominic who was the High Priest of the Hollows was able to regenerate and revive after Elijah killed and burned his body. He also had casted a protection spell on himself before he went to meet the Mikaelsons. His protection spell seems like very powerful and not a onetime thing. Freya had to strip his protection spell from him. Considering the power level of the Hollow, it is not a surprise that her disciples have such amped up powers.
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