The Merge

* McKinley, Virginia

* Mystic Falls, Virginia

* February 4, 2013 (Interrupted; twice)

* February 4, 2013 (Successful)

* March 15, 2030 (Successful)

* Luke and Liv (2013)

* Jo and Kai (2013)

* Luke and Kai (2013)

* Lizzie and Josie (2030)

**The Merge** is a powerful ritual performed as a practiced tradition by the Gemini Coven that determined who will be their next leader. It takes place in the Gemini Coven when two twins reach their 22nd birthday.

## Practice

Due to the twins being the first in line for the leadership of the coven, they are required to perform the Merge, through which their consciousness and strength would be merged together. The stronger twin survives the spell and is empowered by their magic as well as the magic of their twin. The weaker twin's consciousness and magic, however, is drained away and dies.

## Requirements for The Merge

* **To Begin the Merge Ritual:** Both twins must perform the spell together in order to begin the ritual. It's important that both twins hold each other's hands in order to maintain a connection and the blood drawn from the two witches will merge. Additionally, in their coven's tradition, they perform the Merger after their 22nd birthday. This time frame, however, is more of a guideline than a strict requirement.
	+ **Incantation:** *Sanguinem desimilus! Sanguinem generis fiantus!*
* **Celestial Event:** The power of an eclipse, a Mercury-Venus conjunction, or other celestial event, will merge both twins as one in order to channel each other's magic. The stronger twin survives and is empowered by their magic as well as the magic of their twin. The weaker twin is drained of all their magic and dies during or after the spell has been completed.

## Twins

* Joshua Parker and his twin brother.
* Malachai Parker and Josette Parker.
* Olivia Parker and Lucas Parker.
* Lizzie Saltzman and Josie Saltzman.

## Trivia

* The twins can be forced to merge as long as the witch who is merging them has hold of each of the twins' hands, regardless of whether or not they consent.
	+ Joshua Parker tried to forcibly merge Luke and Liv, though he was interrupted by Tyler before the ritual could be completed.
* Through a loophole, Luke and Kai performed the merge, as they were both biologically 22 years old and shared a bloodline as brothers despite the fact that they weren't actually each other's twin. The merge took place regardless, with Kai emerging as the winner.
	+ It was shown in *Let Her Go*, that the merge, although successful, was causing Kai to degenerate magically, as they were not born as each other's twin. Because of this, Jo was forced to give Kai her magic as well to ensure that Kai, as the leader of the coven, would not die, as it would cause the entirety of the Gemini Coven, including herself, to die along with him. However, because she gave him her magic voluntarily after Luke had already merged with Kai, Jo did not die from this transfer of magical power.
* After the merge, the stronger twin will absorb some of the qualities of the weaker twin, such as empathy. Kai even admits that would have been fine with any of Luke's other qualities, like his appearances, such as his hair, but perhaps not height, or even sexual orientation. However, it seems that Kai only took in Luke's empathetic tendencies, allowing him to actually feel emotions such as guilt and remorse.
* The exact reason for the Merge Ritual has not been revealed.
	+ In *I'll Tell You a Story*, Josie believes that the Merge goes deeper than the coven itself and assumes it to be a curse, specifically a curse on the Gemini twins. This has yet to be elaborated upon further.
* Siphoner Gemini twins, such as Lizzie and Josie, can complete the Merge Ritual as long as they have previously siphoned magic. Lizzie siphoned MG's vampirism and Josie was filled with dark magic from the mora miserium.
	+ During their Merge, despite the requirements, there was no mention of utilizing a celestial event and is likely a continuity error.