| “ | Nature ensures a balance to everything. | ” |
— Emily to Stefan in As I Lay Dying
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Emily Bennett was "one of the most powerful witches"[2] of the Bennett family who lived during the 19th century. She was a handmaiden to Katherine Pierce and an ancestor of the Bennett bloodline.
Emily was a member of the Bennett Family.
Early History
Emily Bennett was born during the early 19th century, along the Bay Colony of New England, presumably Massachusetts. At some point in her life, she became the handmaiden of a vampire named Katherine Pierce. According to Emily, she and Katherine became close friends after Katherine saved her life in an event that was not elaborated upon. However, Katherine later betrayed Emily by informing the Founders' Council that Emily was a witch. Condemned to burn at the stake, Emily feared the fate of her children and in a desperate attempt to protect her family, Emily promised Damon Salvatore that she would cast a spell to protect his beloved Katherine in exchange for protecting her lineage.
Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series
In Haunted, Emily's family lineage is taught by Sheila to Bonnie, telling her that 'that piece of junk belonged to one of the most powerful witches of our family. Your great-great-great-great-grandmother. And there's your necklace.
In 162 Candles, Bonnie is still fighting her instincts about the Bennett Talisman, even asking Grams to wear it, though she recounts that it found her.
Later that night, Emily herself appears to Bonnie in her dreams telling her 'it's coming!'
In History Repeating, Emily continues to appear to Bonnie in her dreams. She pleads with Bonnie, asking her for help, she leads Bonnie to Fell's Church. She tells her that 'This is where it started. And this is where it has to end.' Emily asks again, though more forcibly telling Bonnie to Help her.
Damon eventually explains to Bonnie that Emily is getting to her through her talisman and that he wants to protect her.
Later that night Bonnie, with Elena and Caroline present, summons Emily spirit, through a séance. Though Bonnie indirectly wedges a door open, allowing Emily to possess her. Emily then proceed to head towards Fell Church, 'where it all began.' The refuses to give Damon the Talisman and sets out to destroy it rather than unleash the entombed vampires.
In Children of the Damned, a flash reveals that Emily created daylight jewelry for Katherine and Pearl. When the townsfolk were rounding up the vampires, Emily saved Anna when Pearl was taken. She consoles Anna and tells her that she knows how she will protect them.
In Isobel, Bonnie reveals that Emily spelled Johnathan Gilbert's ring (protection), a compass (locate vampires) and device (to take vampires down) and that he did not invent them.
In Founder's Day, Bonnie lies about removing Emily's spell upon the Gilbert Device.
In The Return, Damon compares Bonnie to Emily telling her that it took Emily years to learn healing spells.
In Bad Moon Rising, Stefan tells Bonnie that Emily created his and Damon's Daylight ring and that the spell to do it would be located in her Grimoire. Bonnie was reluctant to perform this spell on a piece of jewelry for Caroline, considering she just killed someone.
In Masquerade, Bonnie shows Jeremy Emily's grimoire and performed a similar spell to the tomb spell in order to seal Katherine in an isolated room during the Masquerade Ball.
In The House Guest, Katherine tells Damon that Emily told her about the massacres and how it was a big deal in witch folklore. She goes on to tell him that when a witch dies violently, they release a mystical energy marking the place of their death with power. In one of the Journals, it reads "Emily Bennett was taken by the Council today. They kidnapped her from her home and took her to the same location her ancestors were burned a hundred years ago." This confirmed that Emily died at the site of the massacre, too, though Damon does not say where it is located.
Damon pressed Katherine for further information by asking her how the town knew Emily Bennett was a witch. He concludes that, according to Johnathan Gilbert, he was the only other person who knew, besides himself, who was protecting her in order to get Katherine released from the tomb. She does not offer an answer, leading Damon to realize that Katherine turned her in because she saw her as 'a loose end that needed tying up'.
Katherine and Damon continue to argue that, for Damon, to care so much about protecting and keeping Emily safe, since she was the key to getting her out of the tomb, Damon didn't have a clue about where she was killed. Katherine calls him out about whom was being a liar now.
In Know Thy Enemy, Damon takes Bonnie and Jeremy to the massacre site. When Damon entered the premises, he was bewitched to prevent him from moving and his daylight ring to cease protecting him from the sun. Bonnie was able to release him and told him that, as a vampire, she didn't think he was welcomed. As he leaves, the front door is telekinetically slammed shut, causing Damon to response "Screw you too, Emily."
In The Sun Also Rises, Bonnie is searching through Emily's Grimoire for a spell to save Elena, where she finds the resuscitative spell she was working on prior to her death. It's revealed that, in Johnathan's Journal, that Emily bound the spell to a mother whose child was dying. When the child ultimately died, the mother's life force flowed from her to the child, bring her back.
In As I Lay Dying, Stefan begs Bonnie to perform a séance before and to contact Emily Bennett. He hoped that maybe one of the witches might know how to help Damon and cure his werewolf bite. Bonnie's spell works and Emily speaks through her to talk to Stefan. He pleads with Emily, asking for a spell to heal Damon, though she tells him that Nature ensures a balance, though he was not convinced due to her history with Damon. Emily then tells Stefan it is perhaps his time to die, in which Stefan counters by saying that is punishment and not a balance. Angered, Emily tells him that she will not give him what he seeks, implying that there is an answer to be given. At that point, Emily's spirit leaves her descendant, and the Witch Spirits believe that she is abusing their power. Bonnie, while possessed, though heard the witches say a name: Klaus.
Later after Jeremy is shot and died, Bonnie takes him back to the Witch Burial Ground, channeling the witches power and attempted to resurrect him. Her spell was failing and she called out to her ancestor, "Emily! I know you're there. Please help me. I love him." The surrounding candle flames cease and Bonnie believed that the spirits left her, though Emily did resurrect Jeremy, though the witches did cut her off from their power after that final act of 'abuse'.In 500 Years of Solitude, a flashback to 1864 shows Emily and Katherine entering Mystic Falls where Katherine meets the Salvatore brothers for the first time.
Personality
Little is known about Emily's personality based on the number of flashbacks she appeared in as she performed minimal roles in them, however, based on her appearances and deeds in the present, the things she was said to do in the past and her notable spells, one could conclude that she was a loyal person to all that she loved or considered friends and seemed to do whatever it would take to protect them, much like her descendant; Bonnie.
In life, she was said to enchant the Gilbert device, compass, and ring, to aid Johnathan Gilbert in his Vampire hunting ambition, and was believed to have done so because she had romantic feelings towards him.
Afraid for the safety of her children, she made a desperate deal with Damon, a vampire, to ensure their protection and in exchange cast a spell to protect his vampire-lover, Katherine, and also the daughter of her friend, Pearl, who were both vampires, from the founding families, despite witches and vampires being enemies.
In death and when her spirit possessed Bonnie she seemed to be strong-willed and unrelenting for she did not stop until she destroyed the Bennett Talisman when she got the chance. She also showed her loyalty and compassion to her descendant; Bonnie, by helping her resurrect Jeremy Gilbert despite his death being of no supernatural consequence to the living world, simply because Bonnie loved him, without regard to the Spirits and the Natural order and might have been punished for this much like how Sheila and Esther suffered.
Physical Appearance
Emily was a beautiful woman of African descent and a light-skin shade, and black hair.
Given that she was a handmaiden (to Katherine), she was always depicted in dresses and attire of the time (mid-19th century) that reflected her socioeconomic status.
Powers and Abilities
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According to Sheila, Emily was one of the most powerful witches of the Bennett bloodline. Emily is believed to be the only witch known to have enchanted protection spells upon jewellery that enables its human wearer to return to life after being killed by a supernatural creature. Similarly, she enchanted multiple devices that could help the townspeople of Mystic Falls to rid the city of "demons and monsters". While one of her enchantments included a compass with the ability to detect vampires, another invention had the power to incapacitate every vampire, and subsequently werewolves, within a five-block radius.
Another impressive feat was Emily's ability to use healing spells. Even among witches, the ability to use magic to heal wounds is difficult as Damon claimed it had taken her years to learn, even for a skilled witch like herself. This eventually culminated in the Life Force Linking spell that she would later perform on a mother's dying child; as the child died, the mother's life force flowed into and restored the child back to life, sacrificing her life as a result.
Among her many achievements, Emily was most notably known for imprisoning over two dozen vampires underneath the ruins of Fell's Church. Upon doing so, Emily channeled the energy of an over-passing comet to empower herself with enough strength to trap the vampires inside of the tomb for over 145 years.
Following her death, she resided on the Other Side, where she spoke to her descendant, Bonnie, through her dreams. Due to the young witch's ignorance in magic, this culminated in Bonnie's possession following a séance. While possessed, Emily, through Bonnie, was able to destroy her personal talisman and key to opening the tomb that contained the vampires as well as demonstrate her proficient abilities in both telekinesis and pyrokinesis.
Later, when Bonnie contacted the witch spirits of the Witch Burial Ground to resurrect Jeremy Gilbert; they denied her their power as they believed she was abusing it. Desperate, she called out to Emily, telling her that she loved Jeremy. Emily, however, answered her descendant's plea and he was resurrected, though not without consequences.
Weaknesses
Emily had the typical weaknesses of a human/witch.
Appearances
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Name
- Emily is from the Latin "Aemilius", meaning "rival". Emily also means "flatterer" in Latin" and "industrious" in German.[3]
- Bennett is an uncommon unisex name, which could be Latin or Hebrew in origin. The meaning of the name is "blessed".[4]
Trivia
- Emily Bennett was the first ghost shown in the series.
- Emily Bennett was the first witch shown to cast a resurrection spell.
- Before being called Emily, her original name was Birdie Mae. That was changed and there was a casting change as well.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Emily's Absence Explained; Julie intended for her to appear with the other Bennett witches, confirming that, after the collapse of the Other Side, she found peace.
- ↑ 162 Candles
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_(given_name)
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_(name)
See also
Template:VD Characters