Brianna Bellerose

> "I am myself a freak of nature. I don't belong anywhere."
>
> - Brianna to Julius Carter in *Hope is Not the Goal*

**Brianna Beatriz  Bellerose** is the main protagonist of *Legacies*. She is a hybrid: half-werewolf and half-witch. She is also the girlfriend of witch classmate Julius Carter. She made her debut in the first episode of the series.

## Early History

Brianna was born on December 16, 2012 deep in the Bayou of New Orleans, Louisiana. Brianna claims that both sides of her family were against Brianna's parents marriage though she claims that her mother's side was less bigoted towards the marriage.

She comes from a long line of powerful witches on her father's side as well as one of the seven original werewolf packs from her mother's side, the Deep Water Pack. Her mother's maiden name is Belmonte.

Her mother and father were both killed deep in the Bayou of New Orleans, her being snatched away to safety to many different relatives before being sent to California to live with a distant relative, Samuel Quinones, who was in and out and abusive physically and emotionally.

One day in 2021, a woman showed up at the door, Hayley Marshall-Kenner, who is Hope Mikaelson’s mother looking for the last of the Belmonte line of wolves. Samuel Quinones denied her to see Brianna, but through her powers as a witch, she mentally answered Hayley’s call to meet her that night in the backyard of her house.

When her relative found this out, he went after her and Hayley. To protect herself and try to make sure she helped Hayley, she instinctively stabbed him with a knife from the kitchen, triggering her curse.

Hayley, feeling empathy for the girl, brought her to the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted herself where she would later bring her daughter and Brianna’s future best friend, Hope Mikaelson.

## Throughout Legacies Series

* Season 1
* Season 2

In *This is the Part Where You Run* we are first introduced to Brianna when Josie introduces her to Rafael. Rafael is happy to meet her and holds out his hand for her to shake, which she refuses. Later at the Old Mill party, Julius comes up to talk to her and she mentions that she doesn't like big crowds because of the overwhelming emotions.

In *Some People Just Want To Watch The World Burn*,

In *We're Being Punked, Pedro*,

In *Hope is Not the Goal*,

In *Malivore*,

In *Mombie Dearest*,

In *Death Keeps Knocking On My Door*,

In *What Was Hope Doing In Your Dreams?*,

In *We're Gonna Need A Spotlight*,

In *I Wish Things Were Different*, Brianna is shown studying in the library while Landon asks Alaric and Julius questions.

In *Let's Just Finish the Dance*,

In *I'll Tell You a Story*,

In *There's Always a Loophole*,

In *I'll Never Give Up Hope*,

In *This Year Will Be Different*

In *You Remind Me of Someone*,
## Personality

Brianna is actually very reserved and shy when first meeting people. She is also very aware of her empathic abilities and knows that they will be triggered by skin-on-skin contact which she avoids almost all the time.

She is quick to anger, sharp, sarcastic, yet level headed and clever. She knows exactly which arsenal to knock others off a pedestal.

## Physical Appearance

Brianna is a pretty young woman with brown hair and eyes. She also has an athletic build and light skin. Based on some clues to her family and background we can assume she is Hispanic and French.

She is known for wearing a necklace of opalite shaped like a crescent moon.

## Powers and Abilities

> "I'm a certain kind of witch. An empath, like my father. I can sense emotions. And see others thoughts just by one touch."
>
> - Brianna to Rafael in *This is the Part Where You Run*

Brianna is a special type of witch called an empath, which her family is known for breeding. She can curb others emotions and or take them as a burden. This also makes her a great healer. Herbal remedies are her known specialty and she has used this many times in the past with other students and even other teachers.

It is known to be impossible to lie to her as she can sense when someone is lying with her empathic abilities.

## Weaknesses

As an empath, Brianna is vulnerable in big crowds. As seen in *I Wish Things Were Different* if someone nearby becomes overwhelmed with emotion, it can affect her as well. As her powers are activated by touch, she refrains from physical contact.

## Relationships

### Hope Mikaelson

> "You both are so much alike it's almost eerie. You don't even realize it."
>
> - Julius Carter, *What Was Hope Doing In Your Dreams?*

Hope and Brianna met when they were very young. They became roommates at the Salvatore School. Brianna considers Hope to be her best friend and always sticks by her side, no matter Hope's many attempts to push people away.

### Josie Saltzman

Josie and Brianna get along extremely well. They both are mild mannered and kind of shy when first meeting them. Unlike Hope and the Saltzman twins, Brianna does not participate in their rivalry and seems to be friends with both Hope and the Saltzman twins while the two are at odds with one another.

### Julius Carter

*Main article: Brianna and Julius*

Julius and Brianna presumingly met close to the time that Julius first started at the Salvatore School. Julius was known as a girl magnet and was approached by everyone in the school. However, Julius always was intrigued by Brianna and always wanted her to notice him. At the beginning of the series, they seem to be frenemies, but they get closer as the first season goes on. Because of Brianna's powers she is guarded when it comes to getting close to him, but he keeps showing her how much she means to him and that she can trust him. At one point in their relationship, Julius made it clear that Brianna was in charge of whether or not they got together or not.  They kissed for the first time in *What Was Hope Doing In Your Dreams?* and once again in *I Wish Things Were Different* before finally getting together in *There's Always a Loophole*.

### Landon Kirby

Landon and Brianna have become pretty good friends.

### Other Relationships

* Brianna and Lizzie
* Brianna and Alaric
* Brianna and MG
* Brianna and Kaleb

## Name

* **Brianna**: is a feminine English language form of the masculine Irish language name Brian as "Briana" is the original spelling. The name is a relatively modern one and was occasionally used in England from about the 16th century and on. It is believed to be of Celtic origin and of the meaning "strength."
* **Beatriz**: is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese female first name. It corresponds to the Latin name Beatrix and the English and Italian name Beatrice. The name in Latin means 'brings joy' and in other languages also means 'she who brings others happiness'.
* **Bellerose**: French: from Old French beu, bel 'lovely' + rose 'rose'; perhaps a metronymic or a soldier's nickname.
* **Belmonte**: Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places called Belmonte (‘beautiful mountain’), especially one in Portugal and another in Cuenca province, Spain.

## Trivia

* Though she refrains from touching others, she is known to be quite affectionate
* Out of all of Brianna's friends, Julius is the one with the biggest record of physical contact
	+ The second is Landon Kirby
	+ Most of the physical contact between the two has been initiated by Julius
* She is younger than Hope but older than Josie and Lizzie
* Most of the spells she uses are in either French or Spanish
	+ We can only assume that any spells in Latin are ones taught by the Salvatore School
* Brianna shares a lot of similarities with Hope Mikaelson:
	+ Both were born in New Orleans, Louisiana
	+ Both are orphans
		- However Brianna's parents died when she was an infant while Hope's died recently
	+ Both are more than one species
	+ Both are known for keeping people at a distance
* Landon is the only person who hasn't had their memories looked through by Brianna

## Tropes

* **Hybrid Power**: Brianna has shown the powers of both her witch and her werewolf side. She notes that she feels she doesn't belong anywhere as she can't totally fit in with the witches nor the werewolves.
* **Pacifist**: When it comes to altercations, Brianna has shown that she's more inclined to talk things out than fight.
* **Power Incontinence**: Brianna's empathic abilities make it so she can't control what she sees or feels from someone. As her father (another empath) had died before she was born, she never got a chance to learn how to control her powers.
* **Boomerang Bigot**: She's shown to be dismissive of the werewolf population of the Salvatore School even though she is half werewolf and belongs to the group as much as she belongs to the witch population.
* **Control Freak**: Because she has no control over her empathic abilities, she's shown to try and control other parts of her life as when she controls who she gets close and not close with at the Salvatore School.
* **Does Not Know His Own Strength**: Brianna has barely begun to understand the powers she posses as an empath.
* **Hates Being Touched**: As her powers are activated by touch, she refrains from physical contact. She says she feels it's an invasion of someone's privacy.

## References

1. ↑ I Wish Things Were Different
2. ↑ We know that her mother's maiden name is Belmonte which is of spanish origin and Bellerose is of French origin
3. ↑ Opalite, as she notes, is used for meditation as it improves all levels of communication, most especially the spiritual level. And it also removes the energy blockages of the meridians and chakras
4. ↑ I'll Tell You a Story
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brianna
6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatriz
7. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=bellerose
8. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=belmonte