The Mikaelson Family

The **Mikaelson Family** *(**Elder Futhark:** ᛗᛁᚲᚨᛖᛚᛋᛟᚾ)* is a ancient and powerful family of witches and vampires dating back at least to the then Kingdom of Norway in the late 10th century . At the beginning of the 11th century, the family was mortal until the loss of Esther and Mikael's youngest child, Henrik, to a werewolf attack spurred them to use Esther's magic to turn Mikael and the rest of their living children into the world's first vampires, from whom all vampires are descended. The Original vampires are known as some of the most powerful supernatural beings in the world, but the Mikaelson family is also known for having members who are witches and hybrids well now Enhance Vampire and Hybrids, Tribrids, and Tribrums.

## Early History

The first members of this family were a man named Mikael and his wife Esther. Esther longed for a family, though, after over a year of marriage, she found herself barren. She went to her sister, Dahlia, and begged her to use her magic to grant Esther the ability to have children. Dahlia granted this request, but made it clear that the magic had a price, and it was a price that Esther was forced to pay years later— her payment to her sister would be her first-born child, and the first-born of her children's children, and their children's children, for as long as Esther's line shall live. She then ordered Esther to pretend that her first-born, Freya, had died of a plague so that Mikael would never know what truly had happened to his daughter when he returned from battle. Afterward, Esther and Mikael heard from a Witch called Ayana, Esther's best friend and mentor, that there was a land where everyone was healthy and strong, a land that ended up being the New World, specifically what is now modern-day Mystic Falls. Mikael and Esther with Freya's surviving brother, Finn, and their recently born son Elijah traveled to this paradise with Ayana, where they settled in a village full of the healthy people they had learned about, who were revealed to be werewolves, and lived peacefully for years. In the years to follow, Esther bore 6 more children Niklaus, Neveah, Katie, Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik.

Mikael often clashed with his middle son, Niklaus, with whom he had an antagonistic and abusive relationship which only became worse when Klaus and Henrik snuck out to watch the werewolves transform one night, where Henrik was accidentally mauled and killed. Grief-stricken, Mikael decided to search for a way to protect his family from the werewolves. Though their family friend Ayana refused to help him in fear of upsetting the balance of nature, Mikael soon found another witch who would help him – his wife, Esther. Somehow, they were able to learn of the immortality spell created by Qetsiyah a thousand years previously, and adapted the spell in order to give their children abilities of superhuman strength, speed, agility and healing that would be even stronger than those of the werewolves. Esther drew on mystic symbols in order to fuel her spell; she called upon the Sun for life, and the white oak tree, long known for being one of the earth's eternal objects, for immortality, so that she and Mikael would never again have to suffer the grief of losing a child. In order to complete the ritual, Mikael had his children and their friend; Dianna drink wine laced with the blood of Tatia, a Petrova doppelgänger and distant descendant of the world's first immortal woman, Amara before he then thrust his sword through their chests. They awoke in transition, and on their father's orders, drank Human blood from a village girl in order to complete their transformation into the Original vampires. Unfortunately for them, there were consequences for this transformation, and Nature sought to try to restore the balance they upset by giving them a weakness for every new strength they had gained.

The sun that gave them life burned them, their thirst for human blood was insatiable, and their neighbors could lose their homes to them by not inviting them inside. Vervain flowers, which grew at the base of the white oak tree, burned them and protected against compulsion. Finally, the White Oak Tree, which gave them immortality, was also the one substance on earth that could actually destroy them for good. In the end, they burned the tree down to ensure their survival, though the ashes were saved to later be used against them. When Nevah, Klaus, and Katie made their first kill after being turned into a vampire, it triggered their werewolf gene, which ultimately revealed the truth of their parentage to their family and friend Dianna - Klaus, Katie, and Neveah was not Mikael's children but was instead the children of the chief of their village's werewolf clan, with whom Esther had an affair. Once Mikael learned of Esther's infidelity and realized that her lover's pack were the werewolves who had killed Henrik, Mikael hunted down and killed Klaus, Neveah, and Katie's father and his entire family, igniting a war between Vampires and werewolves that still exists to this day. Soon after the Mikaelsons also Dianna were turned into vampires and learned of Katie, Neveah, and Katie's werewolf heritage, Esther was obligated to curse Neveah, Katie, and Klaus in order to make their werewolf nature dormant so that they would not upset nature further by possessing so much power. However, Klaus and the others felt betrayed by this punishment, and in retaliation, Klaus murdered his mother and framed Mikael for the act.