Ansel

**Ansel** was a werewolf who first appeared in the sixth episode of the second season of *The Originals*. He was the former Alpha of the North East Atlantic Pack with whom Esther had an affair with and made for him the first moonlight ring. He was the biological father of Niklaus Mikaelson as well as at least one other child, whose descendants sired Cary, and the grandfather of Hope Mikaelson.

## Early History

Ansel lived in the 10th century, the alpha of a pack of werewolves in the land that would one day become the town of Mystic Falls. A powerful chief, Ansel followed what are now known to the wolves as the 'old ways'. These include a more warrior-like culture for the members of the pack and embracing one's wolf form by killing a human during the 'Blood Moon'. The pack would also hold the life of its own as more sacred than anything.

At some point in the late 900s, a new family came to the New World: the Viking Mikael and his wife, Esther, a witch. They came with their friend, a powerful witch named Ayana, and their two children: Finn and Elijah. The death of their first child, Freya, from the plague led them to their exile from Europe. The new family quickly integrated themselves into the life of the village, with Ayana becoming the village healer. This peaceful coexistence would continue for several years to come.

However, the death of Freya had driven Esther and her husband apart. As Mikael continued to shun his wife, Esther began to take an interest in the young werewolf leader of the village. She would later tell their son Niklaus that he was greatly admired by his pack and the others for his leadership. Esther quickly found herself falling in love with Ansel, feelings he reciprocated. They began an affair, one which resulted in the birth of Niklaus.

However, although she did not regret her decision or her love for Ansel, Esther knew that should Mikael learn of their affair that he would kill them all in his rage. Instead, she ended her relationship with Ansel and returned to Mikael so that he would believe that Niklaus was his son and not the son of another. Niklaus' birth renewed Mikael's hope of a family and Esther would later have three other children by him: Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik.

However, Esther's love for Ansel remained strong for she apparently started working on a ring which would allow the wolves to keep themselves from having to turn on the full moon. However, before she finished working on it, another death struck the Mikaelson family; Henrik was killed by the turned wolves the night he and Klaus went to see them turn, against the laws of the village. Another child's death led Mikael and Esther to try and protect their children through magic. Esther cast a spell which made her children into the first of the vampires. The bloodlust of this new species led them to slaughter half the village in their hunger.

When Niklaus made his first human kill, his werewolf side was triggered, making him the first hybrid. Mikael discovered that he was not his son and, in his rage, he slaughtered Ansel, his family, and half the village's werewolves before forcing Esther to suppress Niklaus' werewolf side. Ansel's death and the massacre of his family and pack, was the first seed for the war that started between vampires and werewolves, a war that continues to the present day.

## Throughout The Originals Series

In *Wheel Inside the Wheel*, Esther admitted to Klaus that she pulled him out from the Other Side right before it collapsed in order for him to be the father that Klaus never had. Ansel tells Klaus he was pulled from The Other Side four moons ago and knows nothing of Esther's plan.

In *Chasing the Devil's Tail*, he is following Klaus through the woods as he searches for an orchid, Klaus realizes that he's being followed and tells Ansel to leave him alone but instead he offers to help. He tells Klaus that he was forbade from seeing him by Esther, Ansel tells him that's why he waited because one day he knew that he would activate his wolf gene and need his real father but before he could help Klaus, Mikael kills him. He tells Klaus that he had watched him for centuries from the Other Side and that he knows what Klaus truly wants and he also tells him that he doesn't need to be afraid of him. Him and Klaus are now sitting around a fire, he tells Klaus that he wants him to take Esther's offer and become a werewolf, he also tells him that he knows Hope is still alive, so Klaus kills him because he wants to protect Hope.

## Personality

Ansel was a very strong, forgiving, and noble man. Despite knowing of the horrors his son had committed, he still wished to know him and bring him into his life. Ansel was also very devoted to his fellow werewolves, not wanting them to kill each other, even if it just meant the death of one he didn't even know. Ansel embraced his werewolf nature, delving into what it truly meant to be a wolf. As a father, he saw the best in Klaus, not believing that his son would kill him.

## Physical Appearance

Ansel was a man with short, dark slightly graying hair and facial stubble. He had blue eyes, a tall stature and medium build. Usually wearing flannel shirts, Ansel often wore his quiver of arrows on his back.

## Powers and Abilities

Ansel possessed all the standard powers and abilities of a werewolf. He also appears to be an expert swordsman as he was able to handle an entire group of werewolves armed with Moonlight rings all by himself.

## Weaknesses

Ansel had the typical weaknesses of a werewolf.

## Relationships

### Niklaus Mikaelson

*Main article: Klaus and Ansel*
Ansel and Klaus' relationship began centuries ago. Klaus first met Ansel when he found the father's deceased body impaled. Klaus was clearly heartbroken when he found his father's body, the father he never knew. In modern day, Esther Mikaelson resurrected Ansel from the crumbling Other Side and attempted to win over Klaus by using his biological father against him. Klaus clearly wanted to get to know Ansel and spend his time with him as a true son, but once Ansel revealed that he knew that Hope Mikaelson was still alive, Klaus was forced to end Ansel's life. In spite, Klaus boasted to Esther that he was glad to end Ansel's life, but that was clearly untrue.

### Esther Mikaelson

Esther began an affair with Ansel during the time after Freya Mikaelson's "death." Esther found passion within Ansel and her affair with him, but she ended it when she was revealed to be pregnant with Ansel's child. Ansel wanted to be there for her and the child, but Esther forbade it because of Mikael and her husband's violent ways.

## Trivia

* According to Elijah and Rebekah, he and his family were killed by Mikael.
* He and his family's death is the reason why vampires and werewolves are at war with each other.
* Elijah and Rebekah's stories about Klaus' father seem to contradict each other. However, Elijah could have simply meant that Mikael was unaware that the entire werewolf race would seek retribution for the slaughter, therefore igniting a war between vampires and werewolves.
* In *The Big Uneasy*, it's stated by Oliver that the Crescent Wolf Clan and Klaus' father's pack have been going at each other since the beginning of time.
* He shares similarities with Hayley's father;
	+ Both were werewolves.
	+ They were the leader/alpha of their pack.
	+ They couldn't raise their biological child; Klaus was raised by his mother and step-father and Hayley by an adoptive family.
	+ They are the two grandfathers of Hope Mikaelson.
	+ Their children became hybrids (but Klaus is the Original one, while Hayley was transformed by their daughter's blood).
* In *Wheel Inside the Wheel*, Ansel tells Klaus that he's watched him for the last 1,000 years. This sentiment is echoed from what Esther told Rebekah.
* With the Other Side's collapse and destruction of Hell, he either found peace or went to a dimension similar to Hell, if one exists.