Katherine von Swartzschild and Klaus

The relationship between the vampire, Katherine von Swartzschild and the Old One, Klaus.
==Characters==
right|250px|Katherine von Swartzchild on the novel cover.
*Katherine von Swartzschild: Born in Germany during the 1400s to the Baron von Swartzschild, Katherine was frail during her childhood and her last illness was terminal. She later recalled that she was unable to breathe and too weak to move, which devastated her father. Gudren, her maid, sought out a vampire named Klaus who was in the local village at the time, and he made her into a vampire, saving her from death and making her much stronger than she had ever been in life. Physically, Katherine was extremely beautiful and elegant, with very white skin and a flawless, pale, translucent complexion. Katherine has deep, blue jewel eyes, which have been said to strongly resemble a kitten's eyes. Katherine has golden blonde, ultra long hair, which is described to be fair, flaxen and like silk in appearance. While Katherine has blond hair, it is thick in abundance and it is curly/wavy. In the beginning, Katherine was sweet, docile, naive, childlike, fragile and an emotionally vulnerable girl but a little bit on the selfish, spoiled and immature side. However, in the centuries between the Italian Renaissance and the time of when she makes her first appearance in The Fury, Katherine had grown to be quite devious and insane, which is at least partly attributable to the influence of Klaus, her vampire maker. Katherine had become the complete and total opposite of her old self — evil, crazy, barbaric, inhumane, vicious, cold-blooded, cold-hearted, wicked, murderous, vengeful, jealous, manipulative, and malicious. She boasts about killing tons and tons of both humans and vampires over the past few centuries, displaying her psychopathic and murderous ways, and she has become fiercely hungry for power and revenge. However, despite her complete negative alteration in her characterization, Katherine still displays grief and heartbreak over what happened in the past with her and the both of the Salvatore brothers. She is revealed to be the "Other Power" that is damaging the town of Fells Church. In The Fury, Katherine becomes very antagonistic against Stefan, Damon and Elena.
*Klaus: Born at some point in the Bronze Age (4500-3200 BCE). Klaus is a pure-blood vampire, (an Original) who is one of the Old Ones. Klaus has never been human, and he existed long ago before the pyramids were built. According to his words, he fought in the Trojan war and even helped for the downfall of the Roman empire. In the late 15th century, he lived in a village in Germany. 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. Physical appearance wise, Klaus is tall and very Nordic in appearance, with electric blue eyes and short, close-cropped platinum blond hair. He is described as being handsome, muscular but lean. Klaus' personality is described as wise, extremely sinister, evil, vengeful, dangerous, 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.
==Throughout the novels==
===Early History===
Little is known about their interactions before the beginning of the novels. During his early years as an Old One, however, Klaus was a nomadic traveller, and only turned humans into vampires for fun; he and the other Old Ones never believed humans to be worthy of their appreciation or loyalty.
Eventually, Klaus settled in Germany and after centuries of living there, he met a young woman, Katherine von Swartzschild and her handmaiden, Gudren.
===The Awakening===
In The Awakening, Katherine details her meeting with Klaus at a time in which she was very ill and her handmaiden, Gudren, believed she would die. In turn, Gudren sought help from a man named Klaus. Katherine says that when she first met Klaus she felt a great fear and terror, however Klaus was willing to exchange blood with Katherine without hesitation. Secretly, Klaus kept an eye on Katherine from that day. Katherine's health improved and her father took her to journey to find a cure in the event that she would fall ill again.
===The Fury===
After a battle with Elena, Stefan, and Damon, Katherine becomes unstable with elements of insanity. She explains that after the death of Stefan and Damon (which turned them into vampires), she was once again approached by Klaus who taught her the extent of her true power. Katherine furthe remarks that Klaus manipulated her and as a result she had no choice but to kill him. At the end of the book, Elena's spirit communicates with Bonnie, who tells which a menacing power has come to Fell's Church, Klaus.
===Dark Reunion===
Just months after the death of Katherine at the hands of Stefan and Damon, Klaus returns to Fell's church. Klaus talks with Elena and Stefan and tells the two that Katherine was lost, but it appears that he has an element of loyalty to Katherine given he returned to Fell's Church to avenge her murder.
==Consequences and Victims==
:;Katherine's Victims
*Hundreds of vampires (Before the books)
*Hundreds of humans (Before the books)
*Elena Gilbert (Directly)
*Stefan Salvatore (Directly)
*Damon Salvatore (Directly)
*Bonnie McCullough (Directly)
*Meredith Sulez (Directly)
*Matthew Honeycutt (Indirectly)
*Alaric K. Saltzman (Indirectly)
*Caroline Forbes (Indirectly)
*Tyler Smallwood (Indirectly)
*Victoria Bennett (Directly)
*People of Fell's Church (Indirectly)
*The Original Pack (Directly)
:;Klaus' Victims
*Hundreds of vampires (Before the books)
*Hundreds of humans (Before the books)
*Elena Gilbert (Directly)
*Stefan Salvatore (Directly)
*Damon Salvatore (Directly)
*Zander (Directly)
*Bonnie McCullough (Directly)
*Meredith Sulez (Directly)
*Matthew Honeycutt (Directly)
*Alaric K. Saltzman (Directly)
*Caroline Forbes (Directly)
*Tyler Smallwood (Directly)
*Vickie Bennett (Directly)
*Sue Carson (Directly)
*Cristian Sulez (Directly)
*People of Fell's Church (Indirectly)
*The Original Pack (Directly)
*Ethan Crane (Directly)
*Vampire Army (Directly)
==Names==
The meaning of the names of both characters are related to their personalities and lives.
Names -
*Katherine is of Greek origin, and the meaning is "Pure".
*Klaus is a German name meaning "Victory of the People"
Surnames -
*von is in German a preposition which approximately means "Of" or "From".
*Swartzschild is a German surname meaning "Black sign" or "Black shield".
==Characters' Inspiration==
In the books, the Klaus' character was partially based on Rutger Hauer's character (John Ryder) in the 1986 movie The Hitcher.
*John Ryder "The Hitcher": It is not clear where he came from, who he is or what his motivation is, but the one thing that is known is that his name is John Ryder. He has a sadistic drive for killing everyone and anyone he comes across. From what it seems, he is suicidal and he's on the look out for someone to do the task for him.
*Katherine von Swartzschild and L.J. Smith share certain characteristics: both are blondes with beautiful eyes, beautiful appearance, as well as having a sweet and loving personality.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*Katherine was the only person that Klaus wanted as his student and possibly something more.
*Both were defeated by the same person, Elena Marie Gilbert (as human and spirit respectively).
*In spite of the madness, cruelty and evil, both showed loyalty to each other. As opposite from the The Vampire Diaries where, Niklaus wants to kill Katerina for her disobedience, in the books he protects her and wants revenge on her death.
*A curious fact is that both characters start with the letter "K", both are blond with blue eyes, attractive and beautiful, they are the only vampires that have fed on other vampires, humans and possibly werewolves and witches, as well as being the most powerful and old vampires in the original saga (The Awakening, The Struggle, The Fury and Dark Reunion).
**Interestingly, the creator of the original series: Lisa Jane Smith is blonde and her initials are L and J, where K is the letter that stands in the middle of both.
==See also==
Category:Novel Relationship
Category:Romantic Relationship
Category:Enemy Relationship