Marcellus Gerard

Marcellus "Marcel" Gerard is a protagonist/anti-hero in The Originals.
He is portrayed by Charles Michael Davis.
==Personality==
===Human===
As a human, Marcel is shown to be very brave as he fought back against the slave owner who whipped him, a gesture that earned him Klaus' respect and ultimately saved his life. Marcel was very moral, as he tried to stop another slave getting beaten which then resulted in Marcel getting shot by his own father. Back in his youth, Marcel was shown to be innocent; he was greatly disturbed when Kol decided to "educate" him about vampirism at the cost of several innocent lives. Marcel's innocence and bravery are what made Klaus very fond of the boy. These traits, coupled with the fact that they were both bastards presumably led Klaus into seeing Marcel as someone that Klaus himself was and could still be, given the right circumstances. And when Marcel expressed a desire to be sired, Klaus was very reluctant, as he feared that Marcel becoming something similar to himself would deprive him of all that Klaus prized in Marcel.
===Vampire===
Marcel can be described as being the life of the party. When he was introduced, Marcel was shown to apparently be diabolical and dangerous as well as wicked but has since proven himself to be even more moral than Klaus. Marcel is very charismatic and uses said charisma as much as his vampire powers to get what he wants from others. Marcel’s enjoys his vampiric life and likes living in the French Quarter, considering it to be a home to keep and fight for. He is also very brave, being one of the very few who can speak defiantly in Klaus' presence without worrying that he risks losing his own life in the process.
He takes his role as leader seriously and enforces the rules he made without fail, though he is not above getting carried away since he supposedly killed a witch in front of many viewers for this reason, though its revealed that the reason why he killed said witch was out of disgust that she took part in the harvest ritual where she had her own daughter sent to her death. He genuinely cares for his subordinates, having stayed at the side of one dying from Klaus' werewolf bite until the latter provided him with the cure. Marcel also seems to be understanding as shown in his quickness to forgive Klaus for biting his friend when Klaus gave him the cure and asked for forgiveness. He is also shown to be, unlike many people in positions of power and privilege, reasonable and approachable, willing to do favors for people. While not arrogant, he has displayed over-confidence when confronted by beings more powerful than him, such as when he spoke down to Klaus, disregarding that he would be nothing if it wasn't for Klaus, the Original Hybrid, who is much more powerful than any non-original vampire in his "army", though while Klaus did make him who he was, he also wasn't always benevolent, as he daggered Rebekah for getting too close to Marcel, this affected Marcel deeply and it caused him to resent Klaus as well as eventually turn against him.
Marcel is ruthless but has shown himself to be much less brutal and merciless than other vampires, best demonstrated by the fact that he prefers to kill his victims by snapping necks, as opposed to other Vampires, who use more inhumane methods like heart extraction, decapitation, and staking. In fact, Marcel has so far been seen to actually permanently kill someone only five times; One was with Jane-Anne, and the other was with Bastianna. The latter via decapitation, as he needed her death to resurrect Davina. The last witch he killed was Monique, as Marcel had to kill her in order to save Klaus' newborn child. The other two were Tina Josh's former friend and a werewolf who bit Gia. Marcel has only ever locked up the countless vampires who betrayed him in The Garden instead of killing them, which would take much less effort to do. He went out of his way to save the nightwalkers on his territory when the Faction incited an attack on them, and has yet to be seen dealing with other vampires in ways other than snapping their necks. He holds true to his code of morals, especially regarding with children, as Marcel would never harm or hurt a children nor would he tolerate any such acts. When he was made aware of the Harvest, Marcel was so disgusted by the witches callousness and willingness to kill 4 innocent children just to be able to gain the power needed to oppose him that he immediately retaliated brutally, leading the vampires into raiding the ritual and killing as many elders as he could to prevent any such act from happening again, showing that even towards his rivals, Marcel would never compromise his morals. When Tyler told him of the existence of Klaus' unborn child, along with the potential danger it may pose to the vampire race, Marcel refused to harm the baby, holding true to his morality. Marcel even saved Andrea Labonair from the Crescent Wolf Clan rebels just because he was good friends with her parents and refused to use her as leverage and likewise showed mercy towards the werewolves despite their attempts to take over the city by placing the Crescent Curse on their pack, even though he could have just slaughtered them, showing that while he may be on bad terms with the werewolves, he never intended to render them extinct.
He likes to have fun and enjoys being a vampire. He takes pride in who he is. Also, he's intelligent, being able to run a city and maintain it, being much better at it than Klaus, as the latter's leadership was not popular or respected by any faction. He’s very competitive too. Like Klaus, Marcel likes to think up contingencies; he requested Davina to figure out the fatal weakness of the Original Vampires, not aware that the death of an Original Vampire would also mean the deaths of all other vampires sired from their bloodline, including himself. Indeed, one of his weaknesses is that being a recently-introduced character, Marcel knows little about the nature of the Original Vampires, such as Klaus' blood acting as a cure for a werewolf bite and that if one Original Vampire dies, all of their bloodline die too in matter of hours, however, not even the Originals themselves knew of the bloodline problem as it was only revealed with the death of Finn. As with Klaus, Marcel also has very little tolerance for disloyalty, having killed a transitioning vampire purely because she opted to save herself over her companion.
Marcel is also a hypocrite for claiming that he dislikes people who have betrayed their friends, when he himself has betrayed Klaus.
In From a Cradle to a Grave, Marcel was forced to break one of his rules; against killing children, by killing Monique Deveraux, in order to save Hope Mikaelson. Previously, Marcel fought and managed to disarm Klaus to protect the newly resurrected Monique, though at this time Monique was a seemingly innocent witch who had not yet attempted to kill an innocent infant.
===Upgraded Original Vampire===
After transitioning into an Upgraded Original Vampire, Marcel's initial attitude was quiet and subdued, whilst being angry and upset, having been betrayed by those he considered his family. No longer being a normal vampire, thus unkillable to the Mikaelsons, Marcel quickly adopts a more arrogant and confrontational nature, over his more pragmatic tendencies, doing what he feels is necessary regardless of the consequences, such as fatally wounding Kol and Elijah. He also became more reckless, killing the rest of the Strix, haphazardly leaving their bodies in St. Anne's Church for anyone to find. As a result of this, Vincent turns his back on Marcel after a Strix member who survived seriously harmed Will Kinney. Vincent compares Marcel to how Klaus use to act; prior to the latter fathering Hope.
Marcel remained grief stricken from Davina's death which only fueled his anger at the Mikaelsons, no longer caring about ruling or partying like he used to, only caring about justice, however, this so-called justice is nothing more than revenge. His desire to see the Mikaelson pay for the crimes grew so great that he able to be goaded by Rebekah into stabbing Klaus with Papa Tunde's blade instead of killing him, Rebekah claiming that she wanted to see him suffer rather than die. His overconfidence increased to the point of arrogance, as he underestimated Freya's resourcefulness to keep her family alive, due to this; he was ultimately tricked by Klaus, yet again, this time into letting the latter live.
Marcel stated that he took the potion that turned him into an Upgraded Original Vampire (without the Mikaelson Family's knowledge), as he wanted to know how the Mikaelson Family truly felt about him and what would happen if they found him with the "serum", predicting that if he didn't take the potion, he would've been dead due to Elijah's obsession and fear with the prophecy. Though his anger and vengeance towards Elijah and Freya as well as Kol were justified, his belief that Klaus deserved what he got was not justified, as Klaus felt nothing but sympathy towards Marcel and tried to reason with him and even though after discovering that the serum in Marcel's possession, he immediately made demands towards Marcel and attempted to coerce him into handing it over, telling Marcel that he won't tolerate any threats to "his" family, which confirmed what Marcel believed and further angered him, Klaus never actually harmed or killed Marcel.
Five years after taking down the Mikaelsons, Marcel's anger subsided and he made a truce with Vincent, putting aside their differences and working towards keeping New Orleans safe, showing that Marcel had returned to his more level-headed ways. Marcel also continues to care for Hayley and Hope, as he refuses to allow them to be harmed, even despite hearing Hayley bringing the Mikaelsons back, and outright told Hayley to leave, not wanting to hurt her and leave Hope an orphan, when she stopped his fight with Elijah. In a way, he cared for Hope as he believed Hope was better off without Klaus as her father, although it is rather twisted. He also showed a level of mercy, as he removed Papa Tunde's Blade from Klaus and trapped him in the Abbatoir's dungeon. Upon meeting Josh at Rousseau's, Marcel greeted him as a friend and told him not to bow and to tone down the theatrics, display a level of humility despite what he has become. Despite his power and capability, when challenged by Alistair, Marcel first attempted a diplomatic solution which ultimately failed as the advise Klaus gave him only infuriated Alistair which Klaus had counted on. Instead, Marcel tried to reason with Klaus and used a confrontation to ruthlessly make an example of Alistair and justify keeping Klaus alive, once again showing a ruthless pragmatism. Marcel, however, still remains emotional as Klaus' taunts easily provoked Marcel into using Tunde's Dagger on Klaus.
As Marcel admits, he was so vengeful and filled with rage over Davina's death that he lost all sense of reason and that was why he was so ruthless towards the Mikaelsons but ultimately he came to see how little his vengeance meant and how pointless it was as Davina was still dead and would never come back at the time, suggesting a part of him may have came to subconsciously regret what he did but he just wasn't able to admit it, as he seemed to express some regret over daggering Klaus even before admitting so. Although still acting superior over it, Marcel decided to spare the Mikaelsons in exchange they leave and never return and was willing to allow them to return to save Hope. He did not want to kill Klaus despite the Hollow's taunts and Klaus being more than willing to kill Marcel. During their alliance, Marcel shows and gradually restores his old familial bond with the Mikaelsons, though he refuses to admit it: He refuses to sacrifice Klaus despite Davina, although he dismisses it as the fact they were allied, he isn't against Elijah being saved, only that they adapt the plan to be able to also take down the Hollow, unlike Vincent, who insisted Elijah be sacrificed, he appears to be reluctant and not at all relishing the fact he gets to take revenge on Elijah for murdering him by making him forget everything and is affected by Klaus's words of regret over his failure. When the family's vow was about to be torn apart, he didn't seem to be amused or pleased, remaining sardonic through the entire process. His love for Rebekah remains as strong as ever, as he ultimately could not have a working relationship with Sofya and left her to be with Rebekah. Although heart-broken by Rebekah's rejection of his proposal, Marcel was able to get around it and seems to have fully made peace with his old grudge with the Mikaelsons.
==Powers and Abilities==
===Vampire===
Marcel possesses all the standard powers and abilities of a non-original vampire but for a vampire of his age, he has proven to hold exceptional physical power and is an extremely skilled combatant. In his altercations with Klaus, Marcel has proven himself to be an astonishingly formidable foe for the Original Hybrid, as he has been able to catch Klaus off-guard and stagger Klaus with a single punch enough to knock him off balance, disarm Klaus of Papa Tunde's dagger when they were both using one hand and send him flying and could even briefly pummel Klaus in their last fight, able to knock him down with his blows and even be praised by Klaus. When Elijah pinned him down so Freya can sacrifice Davina, it was shown that Marcel was able to make Elijah struggle to hold him down and even break out of his grip, although it was clear his heightened emotions helped him, forcing Elijah to break his neck. He has also shown himself to be able to challenge ancient vampires, as shown by how he fought Aya and Monhinder well enough that both of them openly praised his surprisingly potent abilities.
===Upgraded Original Vampire===
After becoming an Upgraded Original Vampire, Marcel became the most physically powerful being alive in the series, due to Lucien Castle and Mikael both being dead, with physical prowess exceeding that of Alaric as an Enhanced Original, but apparently inferior to that of Lucien and Mikael. That said, Marcel still possess superior powers to the Original Vampires, having a lethal bite and his own base vampirism amplified by the original spell which coupled with his excellent fighting skills makes Marcel one of the most dangerous and deadliest beings thus far. Although, he still isn’t as powerful as Klaus when Klaus uses his full power. Although in their first brief encounter after Marcel’s transformation, and in their second match, Marcel fought against Klaus pretty well. The Werewolf Keelin also referred to Marcel as the deadliest Vampire on the planet. Josh Rosza also stated that Marcel wasn’t a Vampire anymore, indicating he has practically become a mutated Vampire 
*Superhuman Strength: Marcel's strength was amplified to levels that exceeded an Original, able to, albeit when he had them by surprise, overpower Klaus, Kol and Elijah at once, sending Klaus flying with a single punch and swiftly restraining and biting the latter two. Despite his strength, it doesn't seem that he is at the same level as Lucien and Mikael, though still stronger than Alaric, as both Elijah and Klaus held their own better against him than when they fought Lucien and even a weakened Mikael: In addition to Elijah momentarily lifting him and tossing him aside, while still winning, Marcel needed both hands to overpower Klaus and wasn't able to do so in a timely manner.
*Superhuman Speed and Reflexes: While Marcel's speed was amplified to where he could easily react to and outpace the Mikaelsons in a fight, he seems to have lesser speed than Lucien, as there has been some occasions where Elijah and Klaus were able to get the better of him and land some hits. In fact, it was shown even Rebekah could catch Marcel by surprise and steal the thorn he was holding when he wasn't focused.
*Superhuman Durability and Endurance: Marcel can now easily take blows from the Originals with little pain and no injury. He was even able to pull out Papa Tunde's Blade before it burrowed through his chest. However, in comparison to Lucien, though still greater than the other Originals, Marcel seems to be less resilient, as shown by how a simple metal bar were able to temporarily kill him and a wooden stake to the shoulder alone slightly hurt Marcel, though he only flinched, while a stab to the stomach left him on his knees. It was also shown that Klaus could punch him through a wall with enough force to send him flying and hurt him a bit.
*Compulsion: As an Upgraded Original, Marcel could presumably compel non-original-vampires now but despite being more powerful than an Original, he still cannot compel an Original, as he openly admitted he didn't have the power to make Elijah forget everything and it was only with Vincent's spell that he succeeded.
*Immortality: Marcel can no longer be killed by the means that would kill a mere vampire but he can still be killed by a specific dagger created by Freya to kill him, though it has never been used against him. It was also stated by Vincent that the thorn stakes created by the Hollow using Marcel's own blood could potentially kill him, though again it was never proved and the thorns have been destroyed. 
*Advanced Werewolf Bite: Marcel's greatest weapon as the Beast, his bite now holds the most potent strain of werewolf venom ever created that can kill Original Vampires and quickly kill mere vampires.
==Gallery==
===Images===
Marcellus Gerard.png
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