Runes

**Notice:** This **article** uses content directly taken from the Runes **article** at the Vampire Diaries Wiki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
**The Runes** are an ancient alphabet which were used to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. The Scandinavian variants are also known as Futhark or fuþark (derived from their first six letters of the alphabet: F, U, Þ, A, R, and K); the Anglo-Saxon variant is futhorc or fuþorc (due to sound changes undergone in Old English by the names of those six letters).

In terms of the television series, Runic script is often used in witchcraft, particularly that performed by the Norse witches Dahlia, Esther, Freya, and sometimes Hope.

## Throughout History

Esther planned to link her children together in order to finally kill them, but added that she would need Elena's doppelgänger blood in order to cast the spell, and after some consideration, Elena agreed to give it to her so she could move forward with her plans. That night, after all of the Mikaelson siblings had ingested the champagne laced with Elena's enchanted blood, Esther and Finn completed the spell so that they could all finally be bound together. Finn, who was acting as the "sacrificial lamb" for Esther's scheme, cut his hand to use his blood in the spell. Upon dripping his blood onto a sheet of parchment with the names of all five Mikaelson children written in Runic, Esther chanted the incantation, which resulted in the blood magically forming a tree on the parchment and sealing the spell, linking all five Mikaelsons as one.

The infamous Hunter's Mark, a bindrune loosely based on the real *Vegvisir*, a powerful seal of the Icelandic and magic that is the "right path to follow." The bindrune is part of a more complex pattern, a tattoo that begins at the dorsal face of the right hand and continues up the arm and across the chest, revealing the story of the first immortal Silas, the death of his lover at Qetsiyah's hands, his entrapment, and the ultimate mission of the Brotherhood. It serves many purposes - it's a map, a story, a coded message, an empowerment and a spell all at the same time.

The runes are mainly used by the witches in the Mikaelson family because of their Norwegian and Viking origins.

The powerful witch Esther uses runes drawn with a powder-like salt to brand the arm of her son Kol, as a warning that he should come back to her, possibly having completed his mission to recover the White Oak Stake. The runes in question are those that make up the name of Kol (Calc, Os and Laguz) together with a Triskelion, a symbol with three spiral arms.

Freya and Finn use the rune tiles, especially one that represents the child, to make a powerful spell localization allowing Finn to locate the hideout of Hope. Although the wooden tile was burned, Kol (in possession of Kaleb's body) with a spell brings it to its original state in order to discover its meaning.

Freya carved a rune into the stones for Mikael's memorial is called "gar," which is an adaptation of the Norse alphabet rune "Gebu", comparable to the English letter "G". The rune can mean "gift" or "spear", and has been used to refer to Odin's spear Gungnir in Norse Mythology. Gungnir was believed to have been given to Odin by Loki, and is known for always hitting its mark and always returning to the hand of its wielder. When used in Runic magic/divination, it can mean conflicts, arguments, anger, struggles, confusion, hostility, and confrontation. It is also the Mikaelson family crest, as seen when Mikael was seen carving the gar rune into a wooden staff.

Elijah and Klaus asking their sister Freya to discover the true nature of the prophecy made by the witch Alexis about the destruction of Mikaelson family. The Norse witch, then, sets up the candles on a table and fills a bowl with Klaus' blood and has pieces of paper on the table with runic lines written above. While she's chanting the spell and is shaken by terrible visions, the paper with runes catch fire.

Freya replicated and enhanced her Mother and Aunt's ancient spells; the Original Linking Ritual and The Immortality Slumber spell. Due to the imminent destruction of the Mikaelson, (Freya unable to heal herself from a deadly poison, Elijah and Kol's demise from the Beast's venom and an insanity curse on Rebekah), Freya performed a last ditch effort to save her family, ironically the same spells that initially was attempted to destroy the Originals and a spell that she ultimately despised. Given access to her Mother's grimoire, Freya augmented the spells and added her own personal touch, a Chambre de Chasse, to link the siblings together to Klaus and to suspend them in a protective slumber until cures for each of them could be found. Therefore as long as Klaus remains alive, so does the Mikaelsons.

In an attempt to defeat the Hollow, Vincent resorted to a desperate plan: splitting the Hollow's soul inside each of the four Original Vampires, Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol. To perform this ritual, he traced an intricate symbol with a black unknown powder, resembling iron filings, sand or soil. The symbol was formed by a rhombus inscribed within a square and four runes drawn, within the corners. Each of the four Mikaelsons were positioned at the center of each side of the quadrant, while the runes separated them. The runes were as follows: Hagalaz (ᚺ) between Kol and Elijah, Thurisaz (ᚦ) between Kol and Rebekah, Dagaz (ᛞ) between Rebekah and Klaus and Othal (ᛟ) between Klaus and Elijah. At each corner, a single candle was place and along the sides of the diagram, numerous, persumeably, dark objects were laid outside the square. Within the rhombus, Hayley held Hope in order to release the Cursed Shackles that kept the Hollow at bay.