The Spirits

**The Spirits** were the totality of all non-living witches who inhabited the Other Side. The Spirits are extremely powerful and are considered the binding force between the elements of the Earth and the forces of nature.

## Purpose

As powerful spiritual beings, the Spirits are known to possess an ethereal field of collective knowledge that can be accessed by any witch who calls upon their assistance. It is known that witches who call upon the Spirits for help must practice a form of Magic called Spirit Magic. This type of Magic draws energy from the Spirits and may be used for either negative or positive purposes. Unlike other forms of magic, Spirit Magic is highly dependent on the cooperation of the Spirits and can only be used as the Spirits see fit. If a witch abuses the magic bestowed upon them, the Spirits may break the connection, preventing the witch from harnessing their power. This most notably seen with Bonnie Bennett when she channeled the spirits inhabiting the Witch Burial Ground.

## History

In ancient Greece, after being left at the altar of her wedding by a fellow witch and husband-to-be; Silas, for his mistress; Amara, the Traveler witch Qetsiyah as punishment, created The Other Side to serve as a mystical trap that would prevent his Spirit from finding peace with his supposed murdered lover (which was in fact a lie that he believed) if he ever took the Cure to Immortality (thus rendering him mortal again) and died. This very act of her's subsequently created The Spirits, as any supernatural species that had died afterwards, could not find peace and any with unfinished business would be trapped on the other side of the Veil as Ghosts, alone from one another, though it should be noted that only Witch Spirits have free reign on the Other Side; can communicate with each other freely and can (with the right conditions) use magic to affect the mortal plane.

In The Originals: The Rise it is revealed that, Ysabelle Dalliencourt was able to teach the New Orleans community magic from Esther's grimoires. One such spell was used to penetrate hole-like elements in the wall of The Other Side and which she utilized to locate the spirits of her ancestors behind it, thus being able to connect and communicate with them. This gave rise to the Ancestral Plane which is assumed to come into existence some 300 years prior to the current time period. This is estimated on the fact that The Harvest has only been performed twice, and many of the modern day witches lost faith that the Ancestors would resurrect the four chosen Harvest Witches.

Papa Tunde states that he has practiced Ancestral Magic apart from the New Orlean's Covens. This implies that other witches have found loopholes within the Veil to bring the spirits into a collective ancestral plane, possibly even separate from each other.

## Known Former Spirits

*Note: \* indicates the witch is a former spirit.*

* Aja's Coven members
* Ayana
* Beatrice Bennett
* Beatrice Bennett's Mother
* Bonnie Bennett\*
* Bree
* Caitlin Shane
* Emily Bennett
* Esther Mikaelson\*
* Gloria
* Gregor
* Greta Martin
* Hazel
* Jonas Martin
* Julian
* Lucas Parker\*
* Luka Martin
* Maria
* Markos
* Mia
* Sheila Bennett
* Silas
* Sloan
* The Travelers
* The Witch of The Five
* Qetsiyah
* 100 Burial Site Spirits
* Other Spirits

## Appearances

**Season One**

* *Fool Me Once* (Mentioned) (The Vampire Diaries)

**Season Two**

* *As I Lay Dying (The Vampire Diaries)*

**Season Three**

* *Ghost World (The Vampire Diaries)*

**Season Four**

* *Growing Pains (The Vampire Diaries)*

**Season Five**

* *Home (The Vampire Diaries)*

## Trivia

* Qetsiyah was indirectly responsible for the existence of spirits. By creating the Other Side, she prevented the souls of deceased supernatural beings from finding peace, thus trapping deceased witches on the Other Side.

* While spirits and ghosts are similar, they are not the same thing.
	+ While ghosts are able to appear to those on the physical plane, spirits cannot directly manifest themselves.
* Spirits retain their ability to use magic on the Other Side even going as far as having the ability to give other ghosts a physical foothold with the right circumstance.
	+ As such, spirits are able to inhabit the bodies of the living although they prefer to possess their descendants.
	+ However, they require a talisman in order to interact mystically with the physical world.
* The two oldest known spirits inhabiting the Other Side were Qetsiyah and Silas at the time of its collapse.
* Since the Other Side has been destroyed, it is currently unknown if spirits can still exist, at least on Earth.
* Witches have the power to transport spirits into other bodies.
* Witches who enter the Ancestral Plane through consecration are exempted from this rule.
	+ These spirits are known as the Ancestors instead and reside in New Orleans.
* The Spirits tortured Sheila Bennett as a result of Bonnie Bennett's use of Dark Magic.
* According to Sheila, the Spirits talk, the fact that she knew this could mean that she was able to hear them or all witches are able to hear the Spirits of the Other Side.
* The Anchor is exempt from becoming a spirit, but withholds the ability to communicate with the Spirits.
	+ Should the Anchor be transferred to a spirit, they will gain a foothold on the mortal plane, as seen with Bonnie.