Immortal

**Immortals**, also called **Immortal Beings**, are a species of supernatural beings that are truly immortal and cannot be killed by any weapon. The term "immortal" is used to describe the species into which Silas and Amara, the very first immortal beings in history, were transformed when they consumed the immortality elixir created by the witch Qetsiyah.

Immortals can be considered as the template for the Original vampires and, in turn, all vampires. However, immortals differ to vampires in many different ways, and vice versa. The biggest of those differences being that they are still alive, rather than being undead like vampires, who must die after ingesting vampire blood so their bodies can be magically reanimated. They also do not possess superhuman physical powers to the same level as vampires; however, they do possess far superior range of psychic abilities than vampires.

## History

### Ancient History

Over 2,000 years ago in Ancient Greece, a young and powerful witch named Silas desired immortality, the ability to live forever without ever aging or dying. Silas was engaged to be married to another powerful witch named Qetsiyah. Silas told her that he wanted to be with her forever, and never wanted to be parted from her, even by death. Silas asked her to help him create the Elixir of Immortality, also known as the Immortality Spell. Qetsiyah created the elixir of Immortality and planned on consuming it (with Silas) during their wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, Qetsiyah quickly realized that the elixir had already been consumed when all of the plants around the altar began to wilt and die. She discovered that Silas did not intend to use immortality to spend eternity with her, but instead share it with another woman, one whom Silas was truly in love with: Qetsiyah's handmaiden, Amara. Qetsiyah immediately became enraged with jealousy and wanted instant revenge. Therefore, she created a cure for immortality prior to enacting her plan for vengeance. She confronted and desiccated Amara first before entombing her and making it look as though she had killed her to try to convince Silas to take the cure and spend the rest of their mortal lives together. After Silas angrily refused this offer, she lured Silas to a remote island, desiccated him like she did his lover, and buried him in a magically-protected tomb along with the cure deep underground. Qetsiyah then created the Other Side, a limbo or purgatory meant for the souls of dead supernatural beings, which she bound to the now-immortal and desiccated Amara, using her as a physical anchor between the living and the dead. Qetsiyah's main goal was for Silas to be forced to take the cure to avoid an eternity of entombment, die a mortal death (i.e. become a witch again), then die before being reunited with Qetsiyah on the Other Side for eternity, and therefore never allowing Silas to reunite with Amara in the afterlife. However, Silas knew this was Qetsiyah's intention, and, as a result, he resisted taking the cure for over two thousand years, hoping that someday he would be freed so he could destroy the Other Side, take the cure, and then die to reunite with Amara in the peaceful afterlife for eternity in spite of his vengeful ex-fiancée.

### Legacy

Since the burial of Silas and the desiccation of Amara, the immortality spell has been known to be replicated twice; once in the creation of what came to be known as the Original Vampires, and then a second time in the remaking of Alaric Saltzman as an Enhanced Original Vampire. Both these times imperfect variants of immortals were created that had had weaknesses that could lead to their demise, as Nature had deemed that everything on Earth must have a weakness and had already had to compensate for the creation of immortals by creating Doppelgängers to die in their place. Original vampires could be killed by the White Oak Stake, and Alaric died because his life-force was bound to Elena Gilbert's. Original vampires could turn humans into vampires using their blood but they would not be as strong, nor would they be immune to nature's wrath in the same way as the Originals - they could be killed by far more methods than Originals themselves.

### The Release of Silas

To get the cure, which was in Silas' fossilized hands, Bonnie Bennett stated that they had to wake him up in order to retrieve the cure from his hands. Later Katherine Pierce used Jeremy Gilbert to feed Silas enough to awaken him, leading Silas to ultimately Jeremy dry before snapping his neck. After he fed, Silas released himself from his cave. Silas was now free to initialize his ultimate plan to complete the Expression Triangle, and use Bonnie to permanently lower The Veil separating the Other Side from the living world, allowing all of the dead supernatural creatures to return to their corporeal bodies. Once the veil was down, Silas could safely take the cure and die so he could pass on to the afterlife and be reunited with his true love, Amara, whom he still believed to be dead. Because he planned to commit suicide, Silas did not care about the chaos and destruction that would be done to the earth by the return of two thousand years worth of resurrected supernatural beings returning to life. After Bonnie died, and Elena shoved the cure down Katherine' throat, Silas' plan to take the cure himself was ruined. He then roamed the earth freely while planning for his revenge.

### The End of the Immortals

Once Silas realized that the cure remained in the blood of the person who ingested it for the rest of their lives, Silas fed on Katherine in order to cure himself with her blood and returned to being a mortal witch as he was prior to drinking the immortality elixir. He later discovered that he had been deceived by Qetsiyah regarding Amara's death two thousand years earlier—instead of killing her like Qetsiyah claimed, she had actually desiccated her and bound the Other Side to her immortal life to ensure that even if Silas broke out of his tomb, he would never have the heart to destroy his true love. Silas found her and awakened her with the blood of a Traveler he had killed, but Amara, driven to near-insanity after acting as the Anchor to the Other Side and feeling the deaths of supernaturals for two millennia, Amara stabbed Silas and drank his blood, using the cure in his veins to render herself mortal as well. Silas, wishing for them both to die so they can go to the afterlife together, tried to kill Amara by slitting her throat as she asked, but Stefan interrupted him and killed Silas instead in punishment for Silas' torture against him. After Silas was killed, Amara took the same knife that Stefan threw at Silas to kill him and stabbed herself in the stomach, which resulted in Amara's death. Fortunately for Qetsiyah, the witch was able to transfer the status of Anchor to the Other Side to Bonnie, which meant that while Amara, as a human, was able to move on to find eternal peace in the afterlife, Silas was trapped on the Other Side, just as Qetsiyah had intended. Qetsiyah killed herself soon after, leaving Silas trapped with her for eternity. In 2012, Silas attempted to resurrect himself with the Travelers' resurrection spell to ensure that his spirit would not be lost when the Other Side inevitably collapsed due to the Magic Purification spell, but before he could be brought back, he was sucked into oblivion, leaving it next to impossible to bring him back and officially bringing the truly immortal species to an end.

## Nature

Immortals appear to have a physical form completely identical to that of a human, and do not have another form in addition to their human aspects, unlike their vampire cousins, who have a "true face" that causes the sclera of their eyes and the blood vessels surrounding them to swell and darken with blood.

Immortals, like vampires, require blood to live and maintain their supernatural abilities. However, unlike vampires, they have no fangs. When Silas had to feed he cut his victims with a knife (primarily on the wrists) in order for him to be able to feed on them, and Amara had to use a large glass shard to cut Silas' throat so she could drink the cure from his blood.

## Powers and Abilities

Immortals possess supernatural physical and psychic abilities. Although they are the first vampiric lifeforms to exist, their physical abilities e.g. their strength and speed etc. pale in comparison to that of vampires created from Esther's ritual, and do not increase over time. Their psychic powers however, are far more superior and the strongest seen thus far, having grow stronger with human blood and by simply honing them with intensive practice over time.

* **Immortality:** Immortals possess an infinite life span and are thus, immune to aging, all known diseases and illnesses, and death by any conventional means. Unlike all other known semi-immortal beings, such as Original and non-Original vampires, immortals are truly and unconditionally immortal and can't be killed by any means.
* **Advanced Healing Factor:** Immortals are able to regenerate from any damage sustained on their bodies as a result of their unconditional immortality. Their bones snap back into place after being broken, and they have been seen to fully recover from gunshots, stab wounds, snapped necks, and torso impalement.
* **Advanced Immunity:** Immortals possess a caliber of immortality that grants them immunity to all weaknesses. They're immune to wooden weapons, sunlight, vervain, werewolf bites, decapitation, heart extraction or fire and are able to walk freely into a home without being invited by the owner first. Their bodies are completely indestructible.

* **Psychic Powers:** Immortals possess various advanced psychic abilities which they can develop to affect any human or supernatural species, even at vast distances. In fact, immortals are the only known species who have abilities powerful enough to incapacitate or compel Original vampires. After intensive practice and consumption of exceptional amounts of blood, immortals can even affect multiple targets with their psychic abilities. Silas was once able to mind-control an entire crowd full of people and make them forget afterward. This ability seems to grow stronger with age, practice, and significant consumption of blood. Only Supernatural Hunters of the Brotherhood of the Five and those beings possessed by Travelers using Passenger spells are immune to these abilities.
	+ **Telepathy:** Immortals have the ability enter into the minds of another to read their thoughts and access their memories just by being in the same vicinity as them. However, it is not a passive ability, as Silas failed to realize that Damon was on to him until it was too late, suggesting that it takes conscious effort on his part to activate and sift through memories and thoughts. This ability can also have its drawbacks if the user accidentally reveals information that they are not supposed to know, which can blow their cover if they are trying to appear as someone else.
	+ **Illusions:** Immortals have the power to create powerful illusions. They are able to use these illusions on anyone they desire, no matter how powerful. The ability to cause illusions also allows a form of shapeshifting, since they can cause beings to believe that they are seeing the Immortal in the form of another. They can be used on multiple people in multiple locations simultaneously. They can keep themselves at a physically safe distance while casting illusions. The illusions have been proven sufficient against many vampires capable of brute force. Silas, despite in his weakened state after having just been awoken from desiccation, was able to cast illusions convincing enough to actually make Bonnie, a witch who is typically immune from all mental manipulation, into thinking that he was Atticus Shane. He also managed to convince the Original hybrid, Klaus, that he had broken the tip of the indestructible White Oak Stake into his back and left him on the verge of death as it scraped against his heart—it wasn't until he experienced great emotional upheaval with Caroline Forbes that Klaus was able to break himself free from it.
		- **Voice Mimicry:** When they use their illusions to appear as someone else, immortals are able to change their voice to whatever they want, using their voice in addition to their appearance to trick their victims into believing that they are truly who they are pretending to be.
		- **Psychic Pain Infliction:** Similar to witches with their pain infliction spells, immortals are able to inflict illusory psychic pain on their victims, as shown when Silas attacked Klaus and Caroline with it. By extension of this power, Silas was also able to make Bonnie think she was suffocating to death by inflicting the same kind of illusory pain; however, she was ultimately able to snap out of it by realizing that it was just an illusion, though it is unknown if being a witch gave her additional resistance than other beings.
	+ **Advanced Mind Compulsion:** Immortals can control thoughts, plague dreams, and erase memories of humans and supernatural creatures alike. They do not need eye contact, and can affect extremely powerful supernatural beings such as Qetsiyah and Klaus. Unlike vampires, vervain does not prevent an immortal from invading a victims mind. They are even able to control entire crowds from a distance with relative ease after feeding on a large enough quantity of blood. Immortals are the only known beings who can compel an Original vampire or hybrid.

* **Enhanced Strength:** Immortals have greater than average strength that makes them stronger than most humans, enhancing their strength to more or less similar levels as that of Supernatural Hunters of the Brotherhood of the Five. Silas was able to effortlessly break Jeremy Gilbert's neck with one hand, even after having just awoken from desiccation moments before. so their strength can vary on how much blood is in their system. However, their strength is inferior to that of regular vampires.
* **Enhanced Speed:** Immortals possess enhanced speed which allows them to move faster than humans, Silas was able to carry both Bonnie Bennett and Atticus Shane and get them all out of his tomb within a short span of time, and he was also able to carry Shane all the way to the shores of the island while still getting back to Bonnie before she woke up. However, like with their strength, immortal possess inferior speed to that of vampires; after Damon saved Katherine and heard Silas walking down the stairs to the foyer of the Salvatore Boarding House, Damon joked, "God, you're slow. Guess vamp-speed came with the upgrade."
* **Enhanced Reflexes:** Immortals possess enhanced reflexes which allows them to unconsciously react faster than humans to stimulus.

* **Super Durability:** Immortals are indestructible, they are highly resistant to pain and can take a great amount of damage without succumbing to physical injury. On one occasion, Silas stabbed himself through the chest with a tree limb in order to also stab Jeremy, who had him in a headlock, with only minimum flinching. He was also shot several times in the chest by a hunting rifle and was only annoyed by the hassle.
* **Enhanced Senses:** Immortals have a keen sense of hearing, sight, smell, taste, touch, and perception that exceed those of humans although, the degree of which is still unknown.

## Weaknesses

Despite being truly immortal and being incredibly powerful in their own right, immortals do possess some weaknesses, as Nature requires a balance and will not allow any living thing to be truly invulnerable.

* **Broken Neck:** Breaking an immortal's neck will result in unconsciousness of said immortal until their regenerative healing ability kicks in and repairs the damage to the spinal cord.
* **The Cure:** If an immortal takes the cure, they will become return to their mortal selves again. In Silas' case, since he was a witch prior to becoming an immortal, he returned to being a witch.
* **Desiccation:** Immortals who abstain from blood for extended amounts of time will eventually desiccate into mummification. Desiccation can also be caused by magic in order to incapacitate the immortal in question.
* **Doppelgängers:** This proved to be Silas and Amara's biggest weaknesses. As doppelgängers were created to offset the balance caused by the existence of a truly immortal being, they can be used to invoke linking spells that bind them to the immortal progenitor of their line, along with their fellow doppelgängers. If a powerful witch is able to link an immortal to one or more of their respective doppelgängers, it will allow them to take away the immortal's psychic abilities, leaving them, in the words of Jeremy Gilbert, less powerful than even a regular vampire.
* **Hunter's Curse:** While the Hunter's Curse still affects an immortal upon the death of a Supernatural hunter, Silas claimed to have found a way to beat it within minutes.

* **Magic:** Immortals are susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. Qetsiyah was able to bury and immobilize Silas in a tomb while Bonnie Bennett was able to petrify him. Qetsiyah also calcified Amara and anchored her to the Other Side to ensure that the supernatural purgatory could not be destroyed. In addition, the Hunter's Curse can affect an immortal, though the effects only seemed to be temporary.
* **Physical Trauma:** Minor physical injuries such as gunshots, stab wounds and broken bones will cause an immortal pain and also slow them down. However, this is momentary as they will heal completely within seconds, so long as they have fed recently. It seems physical trauma can hurt them anywhere on the body (i.e., eye gauging, drowning, etc).

## Trivia

* Julie Plec announced before Season Four the possibility that other vampires could have lived before the Mikaelsons. Depending on point of view, this could be proven both true and false, as Silas does refer to himself as a Vampire during season four, but later resents the title during season five.
* Immortals share many similarities with the character from L.J. Smith's other novel, Night World. The character Maya was once a powerful witch who became the first vampire through an immortality spell as well. However, unlike vampires in the *TVD*/*TO* television series, Maya kept all of her powers as a witch and was still capable of using powerful spells, such as shapeshifting into people or animals, and was regarded as another species of vampire entirely. However, Maya was not wholly immortal. Unlike the immortals from *The Vampire Diaries* series, she was still able to be killed.
* In *Death and the Maiden* Silas mentions to Stefan that he has never once died and thus didn't know what dying feels like, confirming that immortals are actually not undead. In the same conversation, Silas revealed that immortals also don't have heightened emotions and sensations like vampires do.