Desiccation

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**Desiccation** is a weakness of immortals, Original vampires, vampires and vampire-hybrids that occurs to their bodies. This can be an automated process where their bodies dry out due to lack of blood consumption or blood in their system. Alternatively, this can also be achieved by bleeding out the body, preventing the heart from beating or through various spells or rituals. Siphoning the magic from vampires can achieve a similar effection, though extended siphoning can also result in the vampire's death.

## The Effects of Desiccation

When a vampire does not drink blood their bodies begin to dry out, due to their physiology being forced to feed upon itself in order to survive. When this occurs, overtime the vampire in question becomes weak, and their skin becomes pale as a result, but this is not enough to kill them. Vampires who have been desiccated for a long time look disturbingly similar to mummified bodies.

After a long period of time, the body of a vampire undergoes a process similar to fossilization, and their limbs become impossible to move unless they are fed. Once a vampire begins to feed again, they return to normal. The color of their skin returns to normal, and they regain their strength. Apparently, desiccation can also happen if the vampire dies in what can be described as a "slow" death, and could also happen at the final stages of being bitten by a werewolf.

## Desiccation Spell

While it is possible to desiccate a vampire by simply withholding blood from them, there is one other method that can be used. Abby Bennett once used a spell to desiccate a vampire. Mikael, the vampire-vampire hunter, came to Mystic Falls 15 years ago looking for the Petrova doppelgängers. Abby states in *The Ties That Bind* that no one could kill Mikael, so she used a spell to incapacitate him. She then placed him in a cemetery in Charlotte.

The spell has been used a number of times, though it or variations of it may have been used by other witches. After Mikael, Abby's daughter, Bonnie attempts to use the spell on Alaric Saltzman, an Enhanced Original vampire, and Klaus, the Original hybrid. The first attempt failed, though her second attempt to desiccate Klaus succeeded. Like normal means of desiccation, a vampire that is desiccated using the desiccation spell can regain their strength when they feed again.

### Methodology

Abby explains in *Before Sunset* that the spell works by stopping a vampire's heart. The spell is considered Dark Magic because it does not rely upon magic that comes from the earth, which is pure, but rather it asks the witch to tap into dark places. Places of temptation. The spell allows the witch to stop a vampire's heart. The blood will stop flowing and his body will desiccate. However, to stop a vampire's heart, the witch must find a balance among the living - a human heart.

In addition to this stopping a human heart, one must also make a physical connection with the vampire that one wishes to desiccate. To do this you must make a physical connection with something that is connected with the heart of the vampire. It can be a vein or an artery or the heart of the vampire itself. You must also maintain the physical connection with that part of the body that you are touching. If the person in question is no longer touching that part of the body that is connected with the heart or if they are no longer touching the heart itself, then the connection will be broken and the witch performing the spell can no longer desiccate the vampire.

This can be clearly seen when Stefan, Theo, Alex, Damon and Klaus attempt to assist Bonnie in her performance of the desiccation spell. Alaric succeeds in fending off an attack from Klaus, Damon, Theo, Stefan, and Alex attempts to make a physical connection with Alaric so the spell can take effect. Klaus makes a connection with Alaric's heart by pushing his hand into his chest. Alaric removes his hand and the connection is immediately broken. You also need the blood of the witch performing the spell. If the witch's blood is ingested then it will connect the witch with the people helping the witch perform the spell. The witch's blood bridges them all together.

After a vampire is desiccated using this spell their skin becomes grey, and the vampire begins to lose their strength. Once the spell has been completed, the target can no longer talk, nor walk, nor move at all. They are completely immobilized. The only thing a vampire that has been desiccated can do is move their eyes, albeit a little. They can open and close their eyes whenever they wish, though all other parts of their body are completely immobile until they are given blood to revive.

### Petrification Spell

**Petrification** is an advanced form of desiccation, capable of witches utilizing Expression to forcefully turn beings into stone at unnatural speeds. It is a critical weakness of immortals, neutralizing them and their advanced psychic abilities and one of the few methods capable of stopping them, albeit temporarily.

In *The Walking Dead*, Sheila encouraged Bonnie to use Expression to stop Silas once and for all. She used her powers to petrify Silas, which trapped him in stone. However, it was revealed in *Graduation*, that when Bonnie died, the magic of the petrification spell used on Silas was undone, as the spell was bound to Bonnie's life, which expired when she died of overuse of magic.

## List of Witches

* Qetsiyah: She invented the spell with an unknown form of magic; most likely Traditional Magic, and she used it against Silas 2000 years later, at an unnatural speed.
* Abby Bennett Wilson: She adopted and duplicated the spell in the form of Dark Magic.
* Bonnie Bennett: She used the spell twice in both Dark Magic and Expression.
* Papa Tunde: He used a variant of Desiccation with Sacrificial Magic.
* Finn Mikaelson: He used the blade to dissect and channel the powers of Lenore's body.
* Dahlia: She most likely used Dark Magic to desiccate both Mikael and Klaus at equally an unnatural speed.
* Cassandra: She, presumably, used a spell to desiccate her vampire lover, Sebastian, in order to protect him from the Puritans and as well as from the croatoan that she summoned.
* Lily Salvatore: She siphoned Sebastian's magic, completely desiccating as a result, to detain him after he betrayed her.

## Victims

* Silas: Qestiyah used the spell on him twice for betraying her love.
* Mikael: Abby used the spell on him when he tormented her town. Dahlia used the spell on him during their confrontation.
* Niklaus Mikaelson: Bonnie used the spell on him in the form of Dark Magic when he tormented her town. Dahlia used the spell on him during their confrontation.
* Silas: Bonnie used this spell on him in the form of Expression when he tormented her friends.
* Rebekah Mikaelson: Papa Tunde used the Desiccation Touch on her in order to draw strength from her
* Esther/Lenore: Finn used the blade to dissect your body and channel their powers.
* Damon Salvatore: Self Desiccated
* Sebastian: Cassandra, presumably, used a spell on him to protect him from the Puritan colonists as well as from a croatoan that she summoned. He was also the victim of dessication once again when Lily Salvatore siphoned magic from him while banished to the 2018 Prison World. However, since he was bound to the dimension, he could not permanently die.