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This article is about Klaus from the novel series. You may be looking for Niklaus Mikaelson from the TV series.

I'm one of the Old Ones! An Original! Do you know what that means? I've never died. Every one of you has died, you gallery of spooks! But not me. Death can't touch me. I am invincible!
Klaus to Elena Gilbert in Dark Reunion


Klaus was a character of The Vampire Diaries novel series and an Old One, a pureblooded vampire. He is the main antagonist in Dark Reunion and The Hunters: Destiny Rising. Klaus is resurrected in The Hunters: Destiny Rising, on a mission to get revenge and destroy Elena and all of her friends. Klaus is a pureblood vampire, one of the 'Old Ones' who has never been a human, and he existed long ago before the Pyramids were built, which was c. 2500 B.C. According to him, he fought in the Trojan War and helped cause the downfall of the Roman Empire. In the late 15th century, he lived in a village in Germany, where the people thought that he was the devil himself.

Klaus is Nordic in appearance, with electric blue eyes and short, close-cropped, platinum blond hair. He is described as being handsome although his features are often contorted in madness. He wears a dusty long tan coat. Personality-wise, Klaus is extremely deranged, and the line between his evil and his madness are very blurry. When pressed, he is deadly serious and reminds everyone about his unfathomable old age, but usually, he seems unnaturally chipper, and his evil deeds during Dark Reunion are tinged with irony. He refers to everyone as "sport." He writes "Goodnight, sweetheart" on Vickie's mirror after brutally murdering her and leaving the same song playing in her room. He nearly kills Stefan with the white ash wood spear that was intended for him. His mood changes from cheerful and amused to enraged in seconds. Despite his seemingly erratic and scattered personality, he appears to be a patient and methodical killer capable of elaborate plans. One day, a maid begged for his help to save her dying mistress, Katherine von Swartzschild. Klaus turned her into a vampire and instructed her on how to be malevolent and despotic.

Centuries later, Katherine thought that she killed him, but Klaus arrives in Fell's Church, where he helps Tyler Smallwood become a werewolf. After that, he uses Tyler and his own enhanced vampire powers to play with the Salvatore brothers and their human friends. He murders Sue Carson, a friend of Bonnie and Meredith, and Vickie Bennett in an extremely violent manner. He offers Damon a truce if he will keep out of his way while he violently kills Stefan. Klaus also kidnaps Caroline Forbes and holds her hostage as bait to get Stefan to fight him. In the final showdown, all the weapons used against him fail. Stefan bravely faces Klaus in an attempt to battle him and defeat him to protect the people he cares about and the town of Fell's Church. However, despite Stefan's bravery, Klaus about almost kills Stefan and also, nearly kills Damon as well until there is an intervention from Elena's spirit, leading an army of Civil War ghosts. The ghosts carry a screaming Klaus away, and his current whereabouts (and state of being) are unknown. Klaus is reborn by Ethan Crane. Klaus awakens all the vampires he turned that are dead and creates an army. Klaus promises to kill Elena and all her friends for revenge. Klaus tries to kill Elena over and over again but he fails. When Klaus drinks Elena's blood, he dies. It is revealed that Elena is the one that can kill The Old Ones due to her sacred blood.

Appearance[]

"He wears. an old raincoat. It flaps around his legs in the wind. He makes the wind blow. His hair is blond. Almost white. It stands up all over his head. His eyes are blue - electric blue." Klaus is very tall and very Nordic in physical appearance, with piercing electric blue eyes and short, close-cropped white-platinum blond hair. He is described as being very handsome despite the fact that his features are often contorted in madness. He wears a dusty long tan coat. Vickie also describes Klaus as very tall in stature and very handsome.

Personality[]

Personality wise, Klaus is extremely sinister, sadistic, psychopathic, ruthless, evil, cruel, vindictive and dangerous. He is highly powerful and is highly intimidating and threatening. Klaus is extremely deranged, and the line between his evil and his madness is very blurry. When pressed, he is deadly serious and reminds everyone about his unfathomable old age, but most of the time he seems unnaturally chipper, and his evil deeds during Dark Reunion are always tinged with irony. He refers to everyone as "sport," he writes "Goodnight, sweetheart" on Vickie's mirror after brutally murdering her and leaving that same song playing in her room, and he kills (or nearly kills) Stefan with the same White Oak Tree spear that was intended for him. His mood changes from cheerful and amused to absolutely enraged in seconds, and he is very unpredictable. Despite his seemingly erratic and scattered personality, he seems to be a patient and methodical killer capable of elaborate plans.

Name[]

  • Klaus is a masculine name and the German form of Nicholas. It is a variant of Claus, which is a diminutive of the name Nicholas (Greek). The meaning of the name is "people of victory" or "victory of the people".

Powers and Abilities[]

Klaus possessed the common powers of an Old One.

  • Compulsion - The supernatural ability to control and manipulate the body, mind, and soul of an animal or person.
  • Weather Control - The supernatural ability allows influence meteorological energy patterns, creating rain, wind, hail, lightning, snow, sleet, fog and temperature changes.
  • Elemental Manipulation - The supernatural ability to control and manipulate the elements of air, earth, fire, water, lightning, etc.
  • Animal Control - The supernatural ability can handle all kinds of wild animals or domestic. Normally you can only control a species at a time.
  • Healing - The supernatural ability to heal all infections and injuries at an accelerated speed.
  • Immortality - The supernatural ability of eternal life and youth.
  • Senses - The supernatural ability to hear, see, smell, and taste beyond the human limit.
  • Shapeshifting - The supernatural ability to alter and change the physical form of one's self.
  • Speed - The supernatural ability to jump, move and run at superhuman velocity.
  • Strength - The supernatural ability of abnormal strength.
  • Illusion - It is capable of disrupting the reality of one or more things at once. The Illusion is limited, since it uses a short time but because the neutralization of the enemy and does not usually give orders to the victims.
  • Telepathy - The supernatural ability can communicate mentally with other vampires without physical contact and long distances.
  • Immunity - The Old Ones can not be destroyed by sunlight, fire, wood, werewolf bite, decapitation, extraction of heart, etc. The only thing that could hurt them is the White Ash Wood, and the Principal Guardian's blood can kill an Old One.
  • Aura - A subtle, "luminous radiation" that surrounds an Old One that could alter the emotions and energy levels of himself and others. The Old One can generate aura within oneself. The aura is created by the power, longevity, strength and personality/emotions of the ancient vampire. The color varies according to each Old One, but in general are pure colors, but with the bloody red color, giving the feeling of evil and fear of anyone approaching the ancient vampire.
  • Resurrection - The supernatural ability to return from the dead. In order to resurrect an Old One, they need the blood of the descendants. In case the body was destroyed, it is possible that the essence of the Old One occupies one of his/her descendant's body.

Weaknesses[]

  • Uninvited - A vampire cannot enter a home where they have not been invited.
  • Running Water - A vampire can not cross running water but can tunnel beneath it.
  • Veil Matter (Ghost) - A vampire can not hurt and defeat a ghost. But ghosts can manifest and send a vampire to a place where they can not do more damage.
  • White Oak Tree - It is known that the ashes of the white oak tree can hurt an old one. It's presumed an actual stake made of a white oak tree can hurt an old one.
  • Principal Guardian's Blood - The Old Ones can only be completely destroyed if they ingest the blood of a Principal Guardian or its descendants.

Early History[]

Klaus is of unknown age, earliest memory is of carrying a bronze ax, placing his inception in the Bronze Age (4500 BC - 3200 BC). He fought in the Trojan War (1194 BC to 1184 BC), was part of Alexander the Great's army (336 BC - 326 BC) and witnessed the death of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BC, and in the wars that led to the Roman Empire's downfall (on the Germanic side) in AD 456. During this time, probably, he met and gained the confidence of a being named The Devil, with which, later, signing a pact. He then, probably, decided to stick around the general area of Germany. In the late 15th century, he lived in a village in Germany, where the people thought that he was the devil himself. One day, a maid showed up and begged for his help, because her young mistress was dying. That girl was Katherine von Swartzschild aka Katherine. He then turned her into a vampire, feeding her with his blood, saving her from death and making her much stronger than she had been in life, and Gudren used more of her connections to find Katherine a spelled lapis lazuli ring so that she could walk in the daylight. Nothing more is known about Klaus' whereabouts when, one day, in 1491, Katherine return in the German village to find him, after faking her death in an attempts to get the Salvatore brothers to reconcile by fooling them into believing she had committed suicide. The two then spent the next five centuries together. The books suggest that Klaus abuses her while teaching her to become a significantly tougher, stronger vampire, and over time with his influence, she becomes power-hungry and insane, losing utterly her childlike innocence and naiveté. At some time, however, Katherine eventually attempts to kill Klaus, evidently believing that she has succeeded, but Klaus survived. His vernacular suggests that he's spent a lot of time in modern America, though - certainly enough to pick up slang like "sport" and use it comfortably and casually, and know (and use with effective irony) the song "Goodnight, Sweetheart." Probably during this time, in June 6, 1977, Klaus found the home of hunter-slayers Fernando and Gabriella Sulez and killed their guards with one blow. He then attacked Gabriella's parents, killing her mother and driving her father to insanity. Klaus then made her children, Meredith and Cristian, drink his blood, which presumably had a spell cast on it to start turning them into aging vampires without having to die. Their parents came home and Klaus tried to take the children, but Meredith fought back and bit him, so he let her stay and taunted her parents, saying to feed her a tablespoon of blood a week if they wanted her to stay alive. Klaus then sent them a picture of Cristian every June 6 (the children's birthday) until 1984 when they were 10. In each picture, he had fully elongated fangs like a real vampire, but he was still getting older, whereas Meredith only ever had "kitten teeth" since she was only getting the bare minimum amount of blood to survive. On June 6, 1991, the Sulez family received another photo of Cristian, possibly indicating that he had been killed and turned into a full vampire by Klaus. When the news of Katherine's death reaches him, he decides to go to Fell's Church to get revenge.

The Original Series[]

Dark Reunion[]

Klaus showed up in Fell's Church in 1992, where he encountered Tyler Smallwood and reveals his true origin and identity. During a surprise party for Meredith's eighteenth birthday he helped Tyler kill one of Bonnie and Meredith's friends, Sue Carson, to trigger Tyler's werewolf gene, and then they drank her blood together from her chest. Later Stefan hypnotizes Vickie, who was present during the murder, who tells him that Sue was thrown out the window by a tall blond man with blue eyes. Vickie is certain the man will come for her and kill her next. Her belief is reinforced in the next few minutes while objects in her room start to move, lightning cuts through the sky, and the words "Goodnight, Sweetheart" appear written on her mirror with lipstick. Stefan gives Vickie vervain to help her resist Klaus' influence and promises that they will all keep watch over her. The others realize that Stefan believes Sue's killer is a vampire and Damon is left to guard the girl. Stefan then comes up with a plan that the rest followed. Meredith and Bonnie stage a loud argument during graduation. Meredith says she will go alone to Elena's grave that night to lay a flower there. Their argument is overheard by the party intended to overhear it: Tyler Smallwood, who shows up and changes into a werewolf to attack Meredith. Stefan, Matt, and Bonnie are waiting for Tyler, though, and they appear and tie him up. They lead him to the ruined church and threaten to amputate a limb, which will have the effect of destroying his werewolf abilities, unless he tells them what he knows. Stefan explains that he knows that the killer cut Sue's chest to let Tyler drink her blood. The blood initiated Tyler into his hereditary powers as a werewolf. Tyler refuses to admit any involvement until Stefan feints with the ax. Hysterical with terror, Tyler tells them that the killer is an Old One, an Original vampire, who cannot be killed and can only be injured by one type of wood. Tyler doesn't know what type. He also says that the killer plans an attack on Vickie that night. Klaus successfully killed Vickie and offers Damon a truce if he'll keep out of his way while he kills Stefan.

When Stefan and the others return to where they left Tyler, he is nowhere to be seen, probably helped by the same Klaus. Instead of going home, Stefan tries to contact Elena, with Bonnie's help. When she finds Elena in a vision, though, Stefan and Elena have only a few minutes together before the Old One shows up and begins to control Bonnie's mind. The Old One identifies himself as Klaus, the vampire who turned Katherine. He destroys Elena's appearance to hurt both her and Stefan, but Stefan refuses to turn away from his beloved and uses his own Powers to restore her appearance. Before Klaus destroys Bonnie's dream-vision, Elena tells Stefan that one of Klaus' victims will know how to defeat him: Meredith's grandfather is the person. To figure out what type of wood need to kill Klaus, Meredith, Bonnie and Matt go to visit him and he just screams "white ash wood." On June 20, Klaus sends Stefan a package with Caroline's scarf in it and a note telling him to meet him alone to the Old Francher Place. Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt follow along, anyway, against Stefan's wishes. A confrontation occurs in the woods, with Klaus and Tyler fighting Stefan, Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt. Caroline is rescued. Bonnie knocks Tyler unconscious, but only after Tyler rakes Meredith's leg to the bone and gives Matt a concussion. Klaus stabs Stefan multiple times to kill him slowly. Damon shows up and throws his own spear at Klaus, distracting him. Damon and Bonnie try to help Stefan, who is too badly wounded to save. Stefan asks Damon to promise to save the others, and Damon agrees when he can find no way to save Stefan's life. The promise is made moot when Klaus reappears and hits Damon with lightning, knocking him unconscious. Klaus is about to kill Bonnie, who is vainly trying to shelter Stefan with her body when Bonnie suddenly calls upon Elena. Elena's ghost appears, along with the ghosts of the Civil War soldiers. The soldiers carry a screaming Klaus away, and eventually, he is destroyed.

The Hunters Series[]

At Dalcrest College's campus, the special fraternity called the Vitale Society, which Elena's parents were involved in, is led by a vampire named Ethan. He reveals to Stefan that one of Klaus' descendants turned him and that he plans to resurrect the Old One at the equinox. He needs, however, the blood of his descendants to do this. Luckily, the gang manages to win the fight against the Society, but not before Ethan gets a vial of Stefan and Damon's blood. Meredith kills him before he can do anything. In the epilogue, it is revealed that Meredith missed Ethan's heart and he is still alive with both of the Salvatore's blood and can complete the ritual as expected the equinox unknown to Elena and her friends.

Ethan and the Vitale Society are determined to resurrect the Old One. Klaus was later resurrected by Ethan Crane using the blood of vampires descended from him through Changing. After his resurrection, he kills Ethan, drinking his blood, and notices Elena. He tells her he wants to taste her and plants a kiss on her, walking away.

He used more blood to resurrect Katerina, and then used a vampire army to get revenge on Elena Gilbert. During a scuffle between the two sides, Klaus threatens Elena with a dagger and cuts her throat, but the cut heals no matter how many times he slashed. Angered, he threatens Elena and her friends with killing all of them, and kills Chad, one of the werewolves. He begins to antagonize Bonnie in her dreams to find answers and trying to ply Chloe into drinking human blood.

He takes Elena, planning on drinking her blood and killing her. However, he was killed when he drank her blood, which had the power to kill Old Ones.

The Vampire Diaries[]

Joseph Morgan as Niklaus Mikaelson
Main article: Niklaus Mikaelson

Klaus doesn't appear in the series, in his place is a descendant of the Werewolves Niklaus. He might be the main reason that Katherine came back to Mystic Falls. He was mentioned by Rose-Marie in Rose as the one who wanted Elena Gilbert. It is mentioned that he is the first and oldest vampire and is known to be one of "Original Vampires". He is part of the main characters during Season Three, and Season Four.

Niklaus Mikaelson (a.k.a. Nik or Klaus), born in the 10th century, is the Original Hybrid, and the son of a werewolf Ansel and the Original Witch Esther Mikaelson. He has six half-siblings that consist of four half-brothers and two half-sisters. An older half-sister named Freya, four half-brothers named Finn, Elijah, Kol and Henrik and a younger half-sister named Rebekah. Klaus is also the step-son of Mikael, with whom he had an extremely bad relationship with. He is first mentioned in a conversation between Rose and Stefan warning him about the Original Vampires. Klaus is believed to be the most hated and feared of all the Original Vampires and those who fear him are desperate for his approval. Over the centuries Klaus has become a recluse who confides in and trusts only the members of his inner circle. For over a thousand years Klaus has been trying to a break a curse that bound him to a moonstone. He created the myth of the sun and moon curse in order to help find the moonstone and the Petrova Doppelgänger that was needed to break the actual curse. His goal was to bring out his werewolf side so he could sire his own super race. For 1000 years, Klaus was searching for a way to break the curse without the doppelgänger and had forced generations of witches and warlocks to help him for centuries. Along with his search for a way to break his curse, Klaus hunted down his family and neutralized them. Also, he was searching for Katerina Petrova, who escaped him and stole his moonstone.

Trivia[]

John Ryder - The Hitcher

John Ryder

  • Physically, Klaus bears a strong resemblance to another character of L. J. Smith: Julian from The Forbidden Game.
  • In the novels, the character of Klaus was partially based on Rutger Hauer's character (John Ryder) in the 1986 movie The Hitcher.
    • John Ryder "The Hitcher": One of the few things John Ryder knows about himself is his name. He has a sadistic drive for killing everyone and anyone he comes across. He is debatably suicidal and is on the lookout for someone to do the task for him.
  • In the novels, Klaus is considered the most powerful and dangerous antagonist of the Original Series and of The Hunters Series.
  • Klaus has an age of between 4700 – 6500 years old.
  • Physically, Niklaus is significantly younger than his counterpart in the novels, who is literally many centuries old (around before the pyramids were built). Klaus on the show is only 1,000 years old.
  • In the books, Klaus remains in Germany for centuries, where he originally met Katherine, but in the TV series, Katherine meets Niklaus in England.
  • In the novels, Klaus is a Pure-blood Vampire.
  • In the books, Klaus feeds on vampires' blood as well as humans, although only as a form of humiliation. In the show he can feed off vampires blood, however, being a hybrid, his bite is lethal, and only he and his daughter can heal it.

See also[]

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