Alaric Saltzman

Dr. **Alaric J. "Ric" Saltzman** is a main character of *The Vampire Diaries* and *Legacies*. He is a former recurring character of first half of Season One, Season Four and Season Five. He also served as the main antagonist in Season Three along with the Mikaelson Family. Alaric is a Human, Vampire Hunter, former history teacher at Mystic Falls High School and a former Enhanced Original, not by being one of the first vampires as the Mikaelson Family is, but instead being turned through an altered version of the spell used on the Mikaelson family. He originally came to Mystic Falls to find the vampire who killed his wife, but learned that she voluntarily became a vampire and left him. He also learned that his wife had a child when she was a teenager, a daughter named Elena Gilbert, his student. Alaric began a romantic relationship with her adoptive aunt, Jenna. Following Jenna's tragic death, he seemed to step into his step-father role to Elena and is a father figure to her brother, Jeremy. He is also Damon's best friend alongside Bonnie; Damon even calling Alaric "brother" on occasions.

Through overuse of the Gilbert Ring, Esther manipulated his spirit while he was on the Other Side before he would resurrect, and as a result he developed an alter ego, called The Darkness by Bonnie and Dark Alaric or Evil Alaric to others, that hated vampires and vampire sympathizers; as the Darkness, Alaric killed several members of the Town Council. With a goal to create a monster to end all monsters — similar to her husband before him — Esther linked Alaric's life force to Elena's and, in the process, created an Enhanced Original Vampire with one true weapon, the final, indestructible white oak stake. Fearing for her families life, Rebekah Mikaelson caused Elena's death, thereby killing Alaric in the process. Following this, Alaric was resurrected as his Original vampire self without his alter-ego. While trying to save Damon from Tripp Cooke, Alaric was pulled into the magic purification zone over Mystic Falls. He temporarily died from the stab wound that killed him before his transition, when the magic that made him an Enhanced Original was stripped from his body. Jo Parker revived him with her medical skills, but upon resurrection, Alaric reverted back to his human self.

As a vampire hunter, he designed several different weapons to fight vampires which include vervain tranquilizers and arm vest stakes.

As a Ghost, he watched over Damon, Jeremy, and Elena. In the last two episodes of the fourth Season, his spirit was brought back into the world of the living (albeit confined within the Expression Triangle) where his presence proved crucial at off-setting the threat of the Hunters of the Five in their goal to kill Silas after curing him of his Immortality. His ghost was resurrected in *Home*, from the Other Side before its destruction, being the last to cross over to the land of the living.

After being resurrected, and though he retained his status as an Enhanced Original Vampire, he became a college professor at Whitmore College, teaching Occult Studies (taking up the same position that was held by both Sheila Bennett and Atticus Shane). He met and fell in love with Josette Parker, who saved his life when he crossed the magical border into Mystic Falls which stripped him of his supernatural powers and made him human again. Eventually, they came to find out that they were expecting twins. However, Josette was brutally murdered by Kai Parker at their wedding, seemingly along with their unborn children.

Alaric later became a father when his children, Lizzie and Josie, were saved by the Gemini Coven and carried by Caroline Forbes. They would later set up a home together and eventually became engaged. However, Stefan returned and they had to rejoin the supernatural world in Mystic Falls. Caroline broke off their engagement and Alaric helped Peter Maxwell and Dorian Williams at the Armory with the mystery of Sybil and the return of Katherine, who wanted to destroy Mystic Falls. When Mystic Falls was saved, Alaric, along with Caroline, set up the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted.

**Alaric** is a member of the **Saltzman Family** and a non-biological relative to the **Petrova Family** and the **Gilbert Family**, due to being Elena's step-father through his marriage to Isobel, and Jeremy's guardian.

## Personality

### Human

When introduced, Alaric was a mysterious man who seemed outwardly warm and friendly both with his students, and with strangers. He was quick to give Jeremy a second chance, and immediately started to bond with Jenna. However, this facade showed a darker side, one tinged with guilt and grief. Namely, he carried the burden of the disappearance of his wife and a fierce dedication to discover what had happened to her. He proved to be an intelligent and talented vampire hunter, shown when he killed Logan Fell. However, he was also stubborn and dedicated to finding out what happened to his wife. Namely, he ignored Stefan's warnings to stay away from Damon and attacked him, which led to his first death.

His fixation on Isobel eventually came to pass when he learned of her transformation into a vampire and he managed to let her go, namely after she compelled him to do so, so that he could go along with his life. This allowed him to develop his relationship with Jenna.

Alaric started to warm up to the others and started to form a sort of partnership with Damon as they investigated what happened to Isobel and her connection to John Gilbert. This partnership eventually evolved into a particularly strong friendship, some even considering Damon to be Alaric's best friend, and Alaric as Damon's only friend.

However, after Jenna's death, Alaric was unhinged and started to fall into a state of depression when he was seen drinking away the pain. While he was portrayed as a moderate drinker before the incident, Jenna's death led him to develop a rather severe drinking problem with Meredith Fell calling him a borderline alcoholic. He tried to take care of Elena and Jeremy, but had difficulty living up to the task. This dark part of him was also emphasized due to the many times that he had died and came back to life. It also connected to his suppressed guilt at the way his life had taken and all the pain that had resulted from it which made him fall prey to the darkness within him and turned him into a serial killer.

Alaric's drinking remained a large part of him when he returned from the dead, first as a vampire, then as a human. One of his nicknames was "Professor Bourbon", and Damon, his best friend and drinking buddy, once referred to him as a functioning alcoholic.

### The Darkness

Alaric's many deaths and resurrections brought about by the Gilbert Ring eventually caused him to develop a split personality. Each time he died with the ring on, he'd be met by Esther Mikaelson on the The Other Side, and in the brief period before the ring revived him, she would speak with him and nurture his negative feelings toward vampires and how they had affected his life; turning Isobel and killing Jenna. Alaric began to black out and his darker personality would take over, targeting vampires or vampire sympathizers. This Alaric was vindictive, hateful, and militant in his crusade against vampires and anyone who supporting them, not caring if they were once friends or family. He murdered members of the Founder's Council because he thought they were too weak to truly protect humanity from monsters.

This side of Alaric even hated his real self, seeing him as weak and hypocritical, befriending vampires rather than slaying them like he should. This alter-ego did care about self preservation, and would take control if he felt his life was in danger, like when he removed his ring and Stefan nearly killed him to draw him out. The darkness in Alaric's hatred of vampires led to him aligning with Esther when she returned to life, both of them wanting to eradicate the vampire species. This led to her transforming him into an Enhanced Original Vampire, which for a time let his darker side have complete, uninterrupted control.

### Enhanced Original Vampire

After Alaric was turned into an Enhanced Original, his darker aspect took complete control, and although now a vampire, was determined to hunt down the Original family and end the existence of vampires, showing that that was all he cared about by agreeing to be desiccated after he had finished his work. His hatred of vampires and vampire sympathizers was just as potent as it had been during his fits of insanity, outing former friends to the Town Council to be hunted down. He also considered his real personality a disgrace, who had befriended the very things that had ruined his life and also was disgusted by ever having been friends with Damon.

Since returning from the Other Side, Alaric seemingly retains his original personality, coupled with his vampiric abilities. He was there for Elena as she grieved the loss of Damon and stood by the rest of the gang as Bonnie and Damon pass on. He admits to Elena that he hates every single part of being a vampire. He drinks from blood bags not from the vein, he seems to not be able to control his hunger when he smells blood.

### Ghost

For unknown reasons, Alaric completely reverted to his original personality when he died. When Bonnie dropped the veil to the Other Side, Alaric retained his vampire powers as well as his personality as if his darker personality simply disappeared when he died. It is possible Esther used magic while encouraging his dark side when he would die with the ring, making it so that after he transitioned his dark side would have full control. As it could have been part of Esther's spell, then it makes sense that he regained his true personality upon death, which would break Esther's tampering with his mind.

### Supernatural Hunter

As a supernatural hunter Alaric was just like as he was like a human but when coming back he gained more hope and respect but some say he lost his determination aspect. But becoming one affected him deeply as though he was alive and himself again it was diffciult to control his urges to slay every superntual beast but he fought through it and turned out fine.

## Physical Appearance

Alaric can be described as tall, about 6'2 in height, with an athletic build. A handsome man with short, brown hair that is gelled on the top and has blue eyes. He often wears casual clothing, t-shirts, button downs, jackets, jeans, etc. He's mostly seen wearing dark colors, but occasionally wears brighter ones such as pink or white shirts. He appears between the ages of 34-36.

## Powers and Abilities

As supernaturally gifted hunters, members of the Brotherhood of the Five are endowed with peak or above human physical abilities, such as strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and endurance. This includes a natural affinity with weapons combat and hunting.

Prior to being a Hunter, he was able to see the 'invisible' Hunter's Mark tattoo on Connor's arm, which, according to Connor, meant that Jeremy was a potential vampire hunter. Once Connor died, the first part of the Hunter's Mark appeared on Jeremy's right hand, and after he killed a vampire-werewolf Hybrid, he activated his powers and became a full member of the Brotherhood of the Five. Becoming a supernatural hunter gave him increased strength and agility; in addition to these physical powers, Jeremy also became immune to Silas' psychic powers, vampire compulsion, and could not be a host to a Traveler as Passengers.

Jeremy is also an accomplished hand-to-hand fighter after being trained by Damon, Klaus and Alaric throughout the series, and has personally killed dozens of vampires, many even before he had activated his supernatural hunter abilities. In addition to his hand-to-hand skills, Jeremy has demonstrated that he is a capable marksman with both firearms and a crossbow, as he took a Hybrid down from a good distance with a crossbow, and shot Damon in the head with precision.

## Equipment

As a proficient vampire hunter, Alaric used many weapons and tools to aid in his one man war. These weapons were kept in his apartment, car, and even at the school; always close-by and ready for use. He would often loan his vampire slaying weapons to his friends and allies when they were in need of them. As a form of protection against supernatural creatures, Isobel Flemming gift to Alaric a magic ring of resurrection.

* **Stakes** - Alaric would primarily use stakes in combat, taking an element of surprise approach in his battles against deadly vampires like Logan Fell and Damon Salvatore.
* **Stake Launcher** - Alaric used an air propelled stake launcher that he'd keep nearby at the school. When he first met Stefan, he tried to kill him with the help of this weapon.
* **Arm Cuff Stake** - A hidden device under his sleeve which would allow you to either draw the stake from seemingly nowhere or if you punched an opponent with enough force, launch it forward. He taught Elena how to use this weapon effectively.
* **White Oak Stake** - Once he had been turned into an Original vampire by Esther, who wanted him to hunt down the Originals, he used the white oak stake along with his new powers to try and make all vampires extinct.
* **Vervain Darts**
* **Vervain Grenades**
* **Wolfsbane Grenades**
* **Gilbert Ring** - Alaric always wore the Gilbert Ring that his wife Isobel had given to him. (Isobel obtained it from John Gilbert) It allowed him to be resurrected after being killed by a supernatural creature or by supernatural means, a very handy trinket for someone hunting vampires, though it did end up having some negative effects. Alaric's Gilbert Ring was used to melt and bind its protective magic to the last White Oak Stake, making it indestructible, and the ring is now no more.