Enhanced Original Vampire

**Enhanced Original Vampire** is a term used to describe the type of Original vampire Alaric Saltzman became when Esther recast the Immortality Spell to turn him. She made changes such as binding Alaric's life to a doppelgänger, whereas the other Originals' immortality was granted by the white oak tree. This meant that he could not be killed at all, as long as Elena lived, thus meaning even the white oak stake or the white oak ash daggers have no effect on him, as it will not even neutralize him. The only way he could die is if someone killed Elena, which is why he had to guard her life. His darker personality was enhanced as well, as Alaric's true personality is now gone completely, replaced by the psychotic vampire-hating serial killer that was created as a result of using the Gilbert ring to come back to life too many times, along with Esther manipulating his mind every time he died.

The Enhanced Original vampire was purified in *The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get*, after Tripp dragged Alaric Saltzman across the border of Mystic Falls which stripped away the effects of Esther's spell that turned him into an Original. His life was saved by Josette Laughlin before he could die from the wound that Esther inflicted upon him.

## Creation

In *Do Not Go Gentle*, Esther modified her original spell and turned Alaric into an Enhanced Original vampire. The spell, however, had one major addition. Since Esther's spell called for the need of the doppelgänger's blood to cast the Immortality Spell, she took the opportunity to bind Alaric's life to Elena's. Her intention for doing so was to correct her first mistake and a means of ensuring that he would have eventually died as Esther did not intend to have any more vampires roaming the earth after the Originals and their descendants have been killed. If Elena was near death or dying, then it would affect Alaric. When Elena was dying as Alaric was fighting Damon, it allowed Damon to get the upper hand, and Alaric died as soon as Elena drowned underwater, rendering Enhanced Originals extinct.

Alaric was created to hunt down and kill all of the Originals, which quite possibly could have made him superior to all regular Originals, and possibly even Niklaus, the Original hybrid. His physical strength is shown when Klaus and Alaric fight in the school and the latter gains the upper hand by breaking Klaus' wrist, slamming Klaus against a locker, and then throwing him to the floor effortlessly. After Alaric gains the upper hand, he attempts to stake Klaus with the White Oak Stake while he is on the ground, however, Klaus manages to hold Alaric to a stalemate using all of his strength. Elena, fearing the consequence that Klaus' death would bring, decides she has to intervene to save Klaus, especially once she realizes Alaric's true weakness, Elena herself. She then threatens to cut her own throat to force Alaric to stand down, calling his bluff by starting to slit her throat. This causes Alaric to lose his composure, giving Klaus time to push Alaric off and take Elena away from the scene.

## Powers and Abilities

Due to the nature and purpose of the spell that created them, the Enhanced Original vampire's powers and abilities were at least on par if not superior to the Original vampires that came before. Alaric was created to become the ultimate hunter, capable of eradicating the vampire species as a whole. Similarly, he was endowed with superhuman physical abilities as strength, speed, agility, durability, healing and senses as well as powers of mind control. Given the relatively short time this being was in existence, it remains unknown if their physical or mental abilities grew stronger with age and experience.

* **Super Strength:** The Enhanced Original vampire was much stronger than other human and supernatural beings even possessing enough strength to overpower Original vampires, and even the Original Hybrid. An Enhanced Original vampire like Alaric was able to easily overpower non-Original vampires, Stefan and Damon and Original vampire, Rebekah. When Klaus attacked Alaric, Alaric quickly managed to beat and throw Klaus around though the former was able to hold him to a stalemate when they grappled for the White Oak Stake.
* **Super Speed:** The Enhanced Original vampire was much faster than other human and supernatural beings. Alaric was slightly faster than Original vampires, and was of similar speed to the Original hybrid. They are able to stop other supernatural species in their tracks and run miles in mere minutes. Alaric incapacitated both Damon and Stefan within seconds with his superior strength and speed, as the two vampires could not even hold Alaric longer than a few seconds before both were neutralized instantly.
* **Super Agility:** The Enhanced Original vampire possesses more superhuman agility, flexibility, and dexterity than humans and other supernatural beings. They can move, jump, climb, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion.
* **Super Senses:** The Enhanced Original vampire has extremely keen senses of hearing, sight, and smell, even greater than vampires and Original vampires.

* **Super Durability:** The Enhanced Original vampire can take far more trauma than humans and other supernatural beings without much discomfort or injury. Alaric could heal faster than normal vampires when exposed to vervain and sunlight. For example, Alaric was able to drag Caroline back inside while burning from the sun without even catching on fire. Wood does not seem to weaken them and even the White Oak Stake, a powerful enchanted object, will not kill the Enhanced Original vampire; likewise, it seems unlikely they would be affected by the white oak ash daggers. It is unknown if decapitation or heart extraction would have had any effect on him, although it is unlikely as the magic that protects them renders their body completely indestructible.
* **Semi-Immortality:** The Enhanced Original vampire will not physically age and is immune to all illnesses, toxins, poisons, and diseases. However, the only Enhanced Original had its life force tied to a doppelgänger, thus Alaric has the same lifespan as Elena's, meaning once she dies of old age or by any other means, he would immediately follow. After his resurrection, this facet of the spell became unknown as Elena had been turned into a vampire. He was, however, purified and was turned back into a human by the Magic Purification boundary spell that was cast over Mystic Falls.
* **Healing Factor:** The injuries of the Enhanced Original vampire healed faster than other human and supernatural beings. Human blood has also known to make the healing process faster.
* **Emotional Control:** The Enhanced Original vampire can control and manipulate the emotions of one's self. Alaric was completely devoid of humanity while as an Enhanced Original vampire, completely driven by "The Darkness", his split personality that hated all vampires and even humans who protected or ignored their presence.
* **Enhanced Emotions:** The Enhanced Original vampire experienced emotions more powerfully than humans. Emotions like love, joy, and happiness are intensified for vampires allowing them to live life more intensely. This ability allowed the Enhanced Original vampires to feel emotions at their peak regardless of their age.
* **Mind Compulsion:** The Enhanced Original vampire can compel the minds of humans, non-Original vampires, and non-Original werewolf-vampire hybrids.
* **Telepathy:** They have the ability to enter the minds of others as long as theirs is stronger than them although, as they are more powerful than Original vampires, they have one of the strongest minds in the world. Normally, this ability works in a tactile fashion and the vampire requires physical contact in order for it to work successfully.
	+ **Dream Manipulation:** The Enhanced Original vampire could control dreams and subconscious. The vampires can produce and modify dreams, bestow nightmares or lucid dreaming. Other effects of this ability is the distortion of reality and trapped in the dreams.
	+ **Illusions:** The Enhanced Original vampire had the power to trick the minds of others into seeing or feeling things that aren't actually happening.

* **True Face:** An Enhanced Original vampire's true face is the appearance they are hiding under their normal human face. When revealed, the sclera of their eyes turns blood-red, dark veins appear under their eyes as the blood pumps forcefully through them, and their canine teeth extend into razor-sharp fangs. An Enhanced Original vampire’s fangs are extremely sharp which gives them the ability to tear into almost any substance and tear off limbs.

## Weaknesses

* **Animal Blood:** Animal blood weakens an Enhanced Original vampire's strength.
* **Broken Neck:** Breaking an Enhanced Original vampire's neck will not kill them, but it will render them unconscious for several hours.
* **Desiccation:** Being completely drained of blood or the heart stopping will cause an Enhanced Original vampire to desiccate like any other vampire or Original, losing most of their strength and any ability to move. This process can be replicated artificially by a witch casting a desiccation spell.
* **Invitation:** In order to enter any house owned by humans, they had to be invited by that person. Once invited the vampire cannot be uninvited, only if ownership of the house is changed can they be removed until re-invited. If a vampire lives in a house, other vampires can enter freely and if a vampire is in the house without being invited in it will become disoriented and will begin to suffocate.
* **Link to Elena Gilbert:** If Elena dies, then so shall the Enhanced Original vampire that is bound to her. The status of this weakness was disputed after Alaric's resurrection and taking into account that Elena was biologically dead as a vampire.
* **Magic:** Enhanced Original vampires are susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. A witch with enough magical power at their disposal could harm or even kill it. Magic can also be used to trap an Original through boundary spells, and magic can also be used to desiccate an Original. This is inclusive of mystical and dark objects. Likewise, it is assumed that the Cure would have similar effects as with non-Original vampires.
* **Physical Trauma:** Minor physical injuries such as gunshots, stab wounds and broken bones will cause an Enhanced Original vampire pain and also slow them down.

* **Sunlight:** The sun also burns the Enhanced Original vampire but it cannot kill them. Alaric seemed to be able to tolerate sunlight better than Original and non-Original vampires. In one such incident, Rebekah quickly took cover upon being burnt, while Alaric calmly dragged Caroline into the school.
* **Vervain:** Vervain burns Enhanced Original vampires just like it does with the other vampires, although an Enhanced Original vampire will heal very fast to the point where the damage done by the vervain is gone within seconds.
* **Werewolf Venom and Enchanted Thorns:** Similar to Original vampires, it is assumed that werewolf venom can't kill an Enhanced Original vampire and will likely experience similar effects. It is unknown whether or not Lucien Castle's advanced werewolf venom or the Hollow's enchanted thorns could kill Alaric given the difference in the spells that created the two different, yet simlar species.

## Former Weaknesses

* **Doppelgänger Blood Magic:** If blood from the last pair of doppelgängers are used in the Magic Purification Spell, all vampires' abilities will be stripped from them little by little and then they will be brought back to the last stage of their human life: Death. They will then relive the way they died when they transitioned into vampirism. Kai absorbed the magic purification spell and its no longer there.

## Trivia

* In *Before Sunset*, it was demonstrated that vervain burns an Enhanced Original. The reason that vervain burns Original and non-Original vampires is because it grew at the base of the White Oak Tree. However, the Enhanced Original was created without drawing power from that tree, so it should logically not affect him. Since Alaric has the power of compulsion, then that could be a loophole in the spell to grant people protection from his compulsion and to defend themselves.
* Julie Plec stated in an interview that Alaric, at the time, became the most powerful villain on the show after his transformation into an Original Vampire, and even called him a "Super Original".
	+ When asked by a fan on which species is stronger, the Enhanced Original Alaric or Upgraded Original, like Marcel or Lucien, Michael Narducci replied via twitter that he personally felt they were just as strong as each other but that ultimately an Upgraded Original, with it's venomous bite and nigh invulnerability, would beat the Enhanced Original Alaric in terms of a fight and superiority