Rafael Waithe

**Notice:** This **article** uses content directly taken from the Rafael Waithe **article** at the Vampire Diaries Wiki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

## Biographical Information

### Turned

* By killing Cassie (unintentionally/in a car accident)

### Occupation

* Student and Honor Council Member (Currently/Former Werewolf Representative)

* Alpha of the Salvatore Boarding School Pack (Currently)

### Title(s)

* Rafi (by Landon, Nina, and Lily)

* Raf (by Landon, Hope, Cassie and Josie)

* Foster Kid (by Jed)

* Werewolf Prince Charming (by Penelope)

* Prince Charming (by MG)

## Family Information

### Family Members

* Walt (Biological Father)

* Lucia (Biological Mother)

* Kurt (Foster Father)

* Hector Gonzales (Foster Father)

* Maria Gonzales (Foster Mother)

* Landon Kirby (Foster Brother)

## Physical Appearance

### Height

* 6'0" (Feet)

* 1.83 (Meters)

## Appearance

### Played By

* Peyton Alex Smith

**Rafael Waithe** is a main character who made his debut on the first episode of *Legacies*. He is a young werewolf and the foster brother of Landon Kirby. He triggered his curse when he unintentionally killed his girlfriend Cassie, in a car accident.

## Early History

Rafael was born to Walt and Lucia, the latter of whom was a werewolf who triggered her curse while serving her country in Afghanistan. For unknown reasons Lucia left Walt after discovering she was pregnant with their child. Sometime after he was born, Rafael was given up for adoption. His adoptive parents raised him until their deaths and he was orphaned yet again at the age of ten. Throughout his adolescence, he bounce around from one foster home to the next, six in seven years, before finally being fostered by Hector and Maria Gonzales and gaining a brother, Landon Kirby.

Six weeks before his arrival to the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted, he accidentally killed his girlfriend, Cassie. The two were driving and — during a heated argument over his assumption that she was flirting with another guy — Rafael lost control of the car, killing Cassie instantly, and triggering his werewolf side. He still blames himself for her death as he was driving at the time.

## Personality

Rafael is a dangerously charismatic and newly-triggered werewolf. With a combination of a pure and loyal heart mixed with a lifetime of abuse and anger, Rafael wants to be a good person but lives in a constant struggle with the emotional demons that have plagued him through a difficult childhood.

"Rafael is charismatic, loyal to a fault and values the truth above all else, no matter how hard the truth can be. His upbringing from unstable family followed by foster care has left him with some anger issues that he can't seem to shake. He was hoping the fact that him being supernatural would be the easy solution for his problems, but it's not. He believes that learning how to harness this inner monster at the school could solve all his problems and allow him to live life like the man he wants to be."

## Physical Appearance

He is a young man with a tall stature and an athletic build. He wears dark or light-colored clothing while not wearing the standard boarding school attire. He has dark brown eyes and short, slightly curled black hair.

In his wolf form, Rafael possesses black fur and has the typical glowing yellow eyes that comes with lycanthropy.

## Powers and Abilities

Rafael possesses all the standard powers and abilities of a non-evolved werewolf. He has shown to be a capable fighter despite the newness of his triggering, as he was able to challenge and defeat Jed for the title of alpha, hold his own against Nina in a sparring match, and overpower Kurutta whilst under the possession of an oni.

## Weaknesses

Rafael has the typical weaknesses of a non-evolved werewolf.

## Relationships

### Landon Kirby

It is unknown how long Rafael has been foster brothers with Landon, but they have grown close in friendship to that of actual brothers. Landon stood by Rafael's side when he first turned into a werewolf. Despite Landon going against his new school by taking a supernatural knife, Rafael still trusted, ran away with, and ran from the Salvatore Boarding School with Landon. They were on the run together and "lived off the land" as they described it jokingly. However, they returned to the school when their idea to scam money using Rafael's werewolf abilities attracted unwanted attention and Jeremy Gilbert and Valentina Gilbert ended up saving them. They are both currently living at the school and helping their new classmates with supernatural problems surrounding the supernatural knife Landon took when he first arrived at the boarding school. Rafael, however, is currently trapped within his werewolf form, and with Hope erased from the collective consciousness, and cannot return to his human form.

### Hope Mikaelson

Hope is Rafael's close friend. Rafael first met Hope after she and her sister Lily rescued him and Landon from a church, where he turns into a werewolf for the first time. They later bond when he goes with her and Lily to find Landon. Once they reach Landon's location, Rafael requests them to give him some time to talk to Landon, to which they agree. While Hope and Lily are fighting the dragon, Landon and Rafael escape. Hope would later teach Rafael how to dance. In his nightmare orchestrated by the Dream Demon, Hope and Nina appears and the Dream Demon reveals that Rafael wants to be with Nina, and says that makes him the biggest monster as he knows about MG's feelings for Nina. At the end of the episode, Rafael tries to repress his feelings for Hope and Nina for Landon and MG's sake and tells them that they couldn't be friends anymore. Hope shows great anxiety when she and Nina finds Rafael all alone and without his memories about his trip. Together they try to restore it, to understand what happened to Landon and MG. When they find out that MG accidentally killed Landon, Rafael and Hope are both heartbroken.

### Nikolina Gilbert-Salvatore

Nina is Rafael's close friend. Rafael first met Nina at the school after he left Lizzie on the bleachers. They walked and she talked about the school and how it's good for him here. Rafael comes to realize that he is romantically attracted towards Nina when he dreams about kissing her. In his nightmare orchestrated by the Dream Demon, Nina appears again with Hope, and the Dream Demon reveals that Rafael wants to be with Nina, and says that that makes him the biggest monster as he knows about MG's feelings for Nina. At the end of the episode, Rafael tries to repress his feelings for Hope and Nina for Landon and MG's sake and tells them that they couldn't be friends anymore. Despite his desire to stay away from them, Rafael helps Nina in the class when she needs an assistant. Nina hugs Rafael, thanking him for being the true friend she can count on. Rafael looks somewhat confused, but still hugs her back. Influenced by the slugs, he publicly acknowledges his feelings for Nina. Nina shows great anxiety when she and Hope finds Rafael all alone and without his memories about his trip. Together they try to restore it, to understand what happened to Landon, MG, and Jax. When they find out that MG accidentally killed Landon, both Hope and Rafael are heartbroken. Being angry, Rafael is eager to take revenge on MG, but Nina stops him. He hugs her tightly with Hope restraining his fervor. In an unsuccessful attempt to suppress his feelings for Nina, Raf even tries to avoid her for a while, but, having learned that she and Hope are going on a mission to save the missing Landon, he confronts her. Nina won't him to go with them because he is still very weak because of the potion they used on him. She asks why he did not tell her about his state of health before. Rafael confusedly replies that she knows why. He explains that he does not know how to act around her and that he does not want to have feelings for her, but because of problems with his mind, everything is only aggravated. Then Nina gives him a ring that will help him turn into a wolf at any time, but in order to become a human again, he will need to find her. They smile at each other when Rafael says that he is really glad that he knows her. Rafael uses the ring when Triad attacks the school, but remains unable to return to human form given that Hope and Nina sacrificed themselves by jumping into Malivore.

### Lillian Gilbert-Salvatore

During the summer when everyone forgot Hope and Nina she has been finding a way to bring Rafael back to his human form. She's been to the Old Mill talking with him, telling him that she won't stop until she reverts him back. After Nina brings him back to his human form Lily and Rafael have been hanging out a lot more than they use too. They eventually become really good friends and he sees her as a little sister that he's always wanted.

### Cassie

Cassie was Rafael's girlfriend and the love of his life. Rafael has stated multiple times that he still is in love with Cassie even though she is deceased. Rafael and Cassie's relationship ended when he crashed their car and accidentally killed Cassie, which triggered his werewolf curse. In *Death Keeps Knocking On My Door*, the Necromancer resurrects Cassie and she shares a heartfelt reunion with Rafael. Rafael and Alaric both help Cassie figure out what was going on and Rafael helps Cassie discover the supernatural world while she is still alive. Alaric suggests Rafael to find closure with Cassie being she could disappear into peace again at any moment. Although they get into an argument about her death Cassie later forgives Rafael, which helps him on his journey to find closure with her death, before she finds peace once again.

### Josie Saltzman

As soon as Rafael met Josie, she and her twin sister, Lizzie, took an immediate liking to him. Rafael hesitantly let Josie and her sister give him a tour of the Salvatore Boarding School. Josie soon acknowledges that Lizzie can go for a romantic relationship with Rafael, but this still disappoints Josie being she took a liking to Rafael too. Rafael later met up with Josie at a school party (that wasn't allowed by staff) and they bond for a bit, which causes Josie to ponder for a bit after their conversation. Two episodes later, Josie rescues Rafael from a brutal werewolf fight in which he emotional excuses himself away from her afterwards. Soon after, Josie goes to look for Rafael, finds him in the nearly-burnt down house, and he yells at her in tears and in physical pain to leave him alone, but she doesn't. Josie then helps Rafael to calm down, in which he's grateful for afterwards and this bonds them even more. Shortly after this, they discover the unconscious body of a teen girl who was abducted by a life-sized spider-monster and they too become captured. Rafael tells Josie to magically rescue them, but she explains that she can't without a magical source. Impulsively, Josie kisses Rafael to siphon his werewolf magic, which he admits that he was completely fine with it. Their kiss enables Josie to receive the magic she needs to rescue them both. After their fight with the giant spider, Josie helps Rafael establish himself amongst the werewolf clique of the school.

While Josie is helping Lizzie in campaigning for the student council, Rafael feels awkward with Josie in the room when Lizzie asks Rafael to be her date to a party. Rafael glances at Josie, hesitating, before accepting Lizzie's date request. However, Rafael and Josie are later elected into the student council; Rafael is surprised about Josie being elected along with the rest of the voters. Later while voting to keep Landon at the school, Rafael desperately watches Josie when she finds the decision hard to make about whether or not she should vote to keep Landon at their school. Rafael begs Josie to vote 'yes,' but she gives her reasons to the council that Landon has put her family in danger and she voted 'no.' This angers and upsets Rafael and he claims that he is done with her and the rest of the members of the council before storming out of the meeting.

### Lizzie Saltzman

Rafael first meets Lizzie along with her twin sister, Josie, when he first arrives at the Salvatore Boarding School. Lizzie enthusiastically gives him a tour of the school, with Josie. Lizzie almost immediately admits she has a crush on Rafael. She attempts to flirt and bond with him at a school sports game, but he immediately turns her down, which shocks and angers Lizzie. Despite Rafael wanting little to nothing to do with Lizzie, she still makes it clear that she wants him and even calls "dibs" on him when Josie asks about Rafael. In *Mombie Dearest*, Lizzie tells Josie that she slept with Rafael in the episode prior and Rafael and Lizzie are each other's dates to Lizzie's birthday party. However, Rafael is late to the party and admits to Lizzie, while dancing, that sleeping with her was a mistake, which he knows upset her.

### Other Relationships

* Rafael and Alaric (Teacher-Student/Allies)
* Rafael and Jed (Alpha-Subordinate/Ex-Friends/Classmates/Former Enemies)
* Rafael and Jeremy (Former Allies)
* Rafael and Valentina (Former Allies)
* Rafael and Jax (Friends)

## Name

* **Rafael** is a name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is Healer" or "God has Healed".
* **Waithe** is an English habitational name from a place named with Old Norse vað 'ford'.