I was just wondering, obviously there's been a lot of discussion on this site about which original is most powerful physically, however power isn't just about physical power. There's many ways to be powerful or have power over people that aren't physical power such as psychological power (the power Mikael has over Klaus) or wealth (something Rebekah tried to use in season 4 episode 1 in bribing the guard to free her, though it was a ruse) or intelligence/deviousness (something which Klaus uses quite often) or social power (something which it seems to me Elijah wields quite well in befriending people and getting them on his side). For clarity the definition of power I'm using here is "the ability to exert your will over the will of another person" btw. So it got me wondering which original is most powerful in this regard, after all they've had 1000 years (give or take for people like Finn, Kol and Rebekah) to turn people, accumulate wealth, etc.

Personally my vote has to go to either Klaus or Elijah.

Finn it seems to me is immediately out of the game due to having been daggered for nearly 900 years and as such having had only a fraction of the time to do things like build up connections. Mikael it seems to me is too anti-vampire, too agressive and too feared to have built up many connections that still exist (especially since it seems to me he'd never create more vampires due to his mission to kill vampires). Kol I'm not sure of, while he is charming it's clear that he's been daggered by Klaus multiple times and he is a little petulant. Rebekah it seems to me isn't as much of the power-focused scheming type anyway, since what she seems to want most is a so called "normal life" though she did mention her wealth back in season 4 episode 1.

Then I come to Elijah, who it seems to me is one of the two likely winners. We know from Rose's reaction to him that Elijah commands great fear among vampires, as far as we know he's been daggered for a few months or years at most (he was active 900 years ago, 500 years ago, 300 years ago and all throughout the New Orleans and post-New Orleans years as we saw in flashbacks) and we know he's quite a good manipulator as well as someone who seems to have little trouble leading or befriending/recruiting people (Hayley and the Martin witches for example). He was also one of the orchestrators of the sun and the moon curse together with Klaus and is one of the few people that can reign his nearly invincible brother in and seems to have almost every other original on his side most of the time (Rebekah and Klaus both help him often, and Kol seemed to speak positively of him in season 4). He also ruled the supernatural denizens of New Orleans together with Klaus for quite some time in the 1700's to 1900's and again now.

Then Klaus, who has been noted as being the most feared and hated of the originals (by Elijah himself in season 2). Elijah also said in the same episode that many who fear him are desperate for his approval and as we saw before that several vampires were ready to hand Elena over to Klaus at a moment's notice. According to Elijah Klaus has also managed to enslave generations of witches to help him with the sun and the moon curse, giving him quite a bit of power in that way too potentially and proving that he too can get people on his side. In addition to that of course his mere name carries weight and he has proven many times that he is an expert manipulator. He's the main orchestrator of the sun and the moon curse, even convincing his brother to help him in his goal. From what we know he also has little problem turning others into vampires (which it seems to me increases his potential army size) and has little problem using immoral means to reach his goals. To top it all off in the 1700's to 1900's he ruled New Orleans, seemingly as the most powerful person in the city (after all Elijah says in season 1 episode 15 of the originals that the vision was all Klaus'). He also seemed to possibly have some degree of political power in New Orleans back in the 1800's as he seemed to have a hold over the person who was the governor at the time. However unlike Elijah it seems to me he doesn't inspire the same loyalty and long term bonds that Elijah does, while at the same time making quite a few enemies that would happily team up against him.

Still in the end, I'd personally go with Klaus. Anybody else got any thoughts on who the most powerful original is?