Nature

File:Earth2.png
**Nature** is the totality of phenomena of the physical world and is thought to be the invisible force behind all life that governs the universe. It functions as the source of a witch's power who through the use of witchcraft use spells to manipulate nature. The life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature is personified as "**Mother Nature**".

The **Earth** is considered to be the physical manifestation of Nature by the witches which constantly provides them with the resources, such as herbs and tools, to neutralize or resolve all types of threats. As a way to channel the power of Nature to witches, the Spirits have control of the world of the dead in order to monitor the actions of the servants.

## Mother Nature

Though metaphysical, there is evidence that Nature, in some form, has a consciousness being and a will. When natural laws are disrupted by witches, they violate Nature's plan and consequences must be paid. These can result from Nature directly or by the Spirits. Sheila told Bonnie that Jeremy's death was the will of Nature and despite her own arrogance, there was no magic in this world that was strong enough to challenge it. Ignoring her grandmother, Bonnie used, Spirit, Expression, and Dark magic to resurrect him, though forfeited her life as payment. In some instances, Nature fights back, such as creating doppelgängers and giving weakness to Original vampires. Klaus has personified the workings of nature as "Mother Nature" in *As I Lay Dying* while the witch Agatha St. Clair called Hope an "affront to Nature" *herself* in *You Will Remember Me*.

## Species

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Note: Free floating members have yet to be identified as to how they are connected, either to Nature, to witches, or something else. With the creation of Malivore, a number of supernatural species and beings have been erased from the collective consciousness of the world and have largely been forgotten and exist as legends.
## Laws and Balance

> Nature ensures a balance to everything.
>
> **Emilyin *As I Lay Dying***

As the governing force of life, Nature has a number of "laws" set in place, although some are not always absolute. Most of said laws deal with balance in which phenomenon can always be countered be it directly or indirectly.

* **Cycle of Life:** Every creature in the world is born, lives and dies uninterruptedly. The lives of every creature are of vital importance, since matter and energy is always flowing, creating new beings, and then dying, to restart the cycle again. If the cycle is interrupted in or by any individual, the consequences are chaotic and they can take a long time to restore. Vampires directly break this law. They may be born as humans and live as humans, but at some point, they die and come back. However, they are among the living and the dead, meaning there is no way to choose their path. Even after death, vampires cannot rest in peace because of their actions in the world of the living.
* **Respect of the Dead:** When you want to revive a human, it must be some time after their death, usually immediately after, because nature takes its course and the material begins to decompose. When the human is revived, the human essence returns to its material body, but causes a rift between the Veil between the material and the immaterial. This fissure causes malignant or benign ghosts, which can travel between worlds and directly affect the fate of the living as a result.
* **Own Acceptance:** Every creature on earth has skills and powers that characterize them. In the case of witches, any direct denial of their powers will cause nature to remove all of their magic until they accept their mistake and can fulfill their duty as servants of Nature.
* **Security of Species:** Nature does not stand for an imbalance of power. When a new species is created, it must be in order to maintain balance without compromising other creatures on the planet. Hybrids are creatures that often endangers the species of origin, deadlier then any werewolf, vampire, or witch on their own. In the case of Klaus, the witches saw to it that his werewolf side would become dormant with a curse. Elijah states that there's one way to kill any supernatural species and that is at the hands of the servants of Nature themselves. However, should a witch channel that much power, it would likely kill them in the process. Similarly, with the creation of Malivore, Hope's conception and birth was a loophole to maintain balance. With the creation of the fully realized tribrid, Nature created balance with the creation of the Red Oak Tree. Even between gods, Nature finds balance with the Furies and created a space that bridged between them so that they could confer, share council and warn one another.
* **Use of Magic:** Nature is the source of Traditional Magic. It comes from the earth and is pure. It is most commonly called upon by witches for power. However, this magic has limits, and if pushed, can be detrimental to the witch's health and can even be fatal. When spells tap into darker places, Nature can punish the witch who tries to use that power constantly. Witches such as Sheila, state that Dark Magic is "not Nature's plan". Markos and the Travelers viewed other forms of magic as a perversion of pure magic. Markos attempted restore balance by destroying that perversion so that only pure magic remained.

## Supernatural Laws

Main article: Loopholes
Although witches, vampires, and other supernatural creatures can bend the laws of Nature, there are some laws that cannot currently be broken. However, there are loopholes in some cases:

1. **There are rules to spells and objects:** While each spell works differently with various tools involved, they are bound by Nature. Since Nature demands balance, every spell has a loophole. Though described by Atticus Shane that Expression is unnatural mystical energy that isn't monitored by Nature or the Spirits, Silas indirectly states the opposite. Since the spell that petrified him was bound by a living witch, the spell broke when Bonnie died. Certain spelled objects contain their own rules. The Gilbert rings only work on humans, while the silver daggers do not work on Klaus, due to his hybrid nature.
2. **A witch can only channel so much power:** Each and every witch can only channel so much power before the power literally starts to disintegrate them from the inside, as stated by Kol. Such an example is Bonnie channeling the power of a hundred dead witches or Kol and Rebekah forcing Finn to channel more magic through his sacrifices.
3. **Species are limited:** In some cases, they can overdo the limit such as a werewolf that can change at will by being a hybrid or a vampire can be immune to sunlight burning with a daylight ring. But there still remain many weaknesses such as unable to take in certain abilities or unable to find the cure to certain weaknesses. One such limitation is that vampires must be invited into the home or property by the living owner; there is no *magical* loophole around this.
4. **Immortality:** No living being can ever be truly immortal. Nature won't allow it. There's always a loophole. With the creation of immortals by Qetsiyah, she also created the Cure for immortality while Nature created doppelgängers, mortal versions of their progenitors that could die as a means to maintain balance. Malivore was created by the blood of a werewolf, a witch, and a vampire. While it used to be that only they could destroy what they created, Nature found a loophole by creating the tribrid.

## Natural Phenomenons

### Elements

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The **elements** are representative of nature. The four elements are dependent on each other for their existence as well as the development of matter and energy on the planet. Because of its abundance, the elements are the most used by the servants of Nature. The four elements are used by witches.

### Weather

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**Weather** is the alteration of temperature and winds, causing rain, tornadoes, storms, and other meteorological effects. Generally, the climate is determined by the region; however, witches are capable of manipulating the weather and controlling the environment, harnessing the violent aspect of the weather. Altering the weather, even if it is minimal, can make the consequences very chaotic. Bonnie once used the violet aspects of the weather against Niklaus while channeling the power of a hundred witches when she attempted to defeat him.

### Celestial Events

**Celestial events** are astronomical phenomenons of interest that involves one or more celestial bodies. They are one of the most powerful sources of magic provided by Nature and used by witches. Examples of celestial events include the various phases of the Moon, meteor showers, comets, solar and lunar eclipses, and planetary oppositions, conjunctions, and occultations.

## The Servants

> I'm here because you upset the balance of Nature. And it's your duty to set it right.
>
> **Sheila** to **Bonnie** in *Ghost World*

Main article: Witch
The Witches are known as the servants of Nature, and as a result, these supernatural beings can channel and use the energy or magic of the planet. However, despite their gifts, witches can also be punished by Nature because of any actions that may lead to an imbalance of order on the planet. In some instance, the Spirits themselves are the ones punishing witches.

* Esther Mikaelson was one of the witches that was punished *harshly* by Nature (or presumably the Spirits). She directly disobeyed maintaining the balance of Nature because she created vampires; the direct violation of Nature's law that *all things must die*. After her son's first kill as a vampire triggered his werewolf gene she was forced to curse him because such a being was deemed too powerful to exist. In a fit of rage and betrayal, Klaus killed her. While on The Other Side Esther had been forced to watch the Mikaelson children and the plague that they spread across the Earth. For a thousand years, she felt the pain of every victim and suffered while they shed blood of the innocent. When she resurrected herself, she claimed to Elena that though she loved her family, they were *an abomination*. That since she betrayed Nature when she created them, it was also her duty to kill them.
* Abby Bennett Wilson was another witch who was punished for abandoning her family. She was able to defeat the first of the Originals, Mikael, though putting him down greatly weakened her, leaving her without her magic. With no magic and seeking a way out, she left Mystic Falls, leaving her young daughter and friends behind. Years later she confessed to Bonnie that she thought Nature was punishing her, because her magic never returned, for abandoning her. Nature restored Abby's powers as she reconnected with Bonnie while performing the spell to release Esther from her coffin. Whether or not it was Nature or the Spirits that took away her magic is disputed as she originally believes that Nature took away her magic, though later she stated that *"The spirits are angry with me. For leaving you. Maybe they didn't want me to have my powers again."* Once she started to believe that she could help Bonnie with undoing the spell, her magic slowly started to come back.
* Bonnie Bennett was once a former loyal witch that began to harness the powers of Dark Magic. In attempts to prevent Elena's transition into a vampire, she used a dark spell that would allow her to cross to the Other Side and bring Elena back from the dead. However, her grandmother Sheila, also a witch, stopped her and warned her that Nature would punish her for tapping into such darkness and dark forces and defying its plan. However, Bonnie later performs another dark spell in which the Spirits of Nature retaliate by consuming Sheila with the Darkness, causing her spirit agonizing suffering and pain.

### Allegiance

Although some of them have been involved with issues of vampires, they remain loyal to Nature and keeping balance. Despite this, some witches have also tried to disrupt Nature's order, either for their own selfish reasons or evil purposes.

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Loyal

* Ayana
* The Witch of The Five
* Emily Bennett
* Abby Bennett Wilson
* Sheila Bennett
* Lucy Bennett
* Bree
* Esther Mikaelson
* Nandi LaMarche
* Aja
* Agnes

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Disloyal

* Gloria
* Jonas Martin
* Silas
* Luka Martin
* Greta Martin
* The Travelers
* Maddox
* Valerie LaMarche
* Qetsiyah
* Silas

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## Etymology

The word nature is derived from the *Latin* word natura, or *"essential qualities, innate disposition"*, and in ancient times, it literally meant "birth". Natura was a *Latin* translation of the *Greek* word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord.