Cassandra Tlanta

> "Stay away from my daughter!"
>
> Cassandra to the Mikaelsons, minutes before her death.

**Cassandra Tlanta: (Elder Futhark: ᚲᚨᛊᛊᚨᚾᛞᚱᚨ ᛏᛚᚨᚾᛏᚨ**) was an extremely powerful witch, who led the Tlanta Coven of witches in the late 900s, until her death at the hands of Mikael Mikaelson, in 1001 A.D. Cassandra was the mother of Danae Tlanta, the grandmother of Conri Tlanta and Perseus, and the great grandmother of Eli Hale. She was the wife of Lucius Tlanta, and sister-in-law to Ansel.

Cassandra is a member of the **Tlanta Family**, and an **Unnamed Witch Family**. She was also the Regent of the **Tlanta Coven** and a member of the **Northeast Atlantic Pack**.

## Early History

Cassandra was born in 957 A.D. to the Regent of the Tlanta Coven, who lived with her and her younger brother in a cottage, that was built in a clearing of a forest, in modern day Virginia, in the United States. The cottage was the divider between the village that humans and witches lived in, and the village that belonged to the werewolves of the Northeast Atlantic Pack. Since Cassandra lived so close to the werewolves, she constantly spent time with the children of the pack, which included the heirs to the role of pack alpha; Lucius, the nephew of the pack alpha and his cousin, the son of the pack alpha, Ansel.

When Cassandra was ten years old, she came into her magical inheritance, and began training under her mother and the rest of the witches that lived in the human village. After six months of practicing magic, Cassandra was taken with the other members of the coven, to imbue the land with their magic, and after that, she showed more and more magical promise, excelling in boundary and protection spells, as well as elemental and offensive spells, which she proudly showed off to her family, and her younger brother got angry at her, since he was not magical, and was stuck with the rest of the humans, hunting for survival, while she could play with the elements.

### ca. 975 A.D.

For a number of years, Cassandra trained more and more, and by the time she was eighteen, she was estranged from her younger brother, who moved into the human village permanently, and desired nothing to do with his sister, while Cassandra grew closer to the werewolves, and began spending more and more time with Lucius again, who had triggered his werewolf gene on his fifteenth birthday, and came to her more often than not after the full moon, and she put healing spells on him, for a number of full moons, until Lucius told Cassandra that he was attracted to her, and when a blush formed on her cheeks, Lucius kissed her.

Cassandra and Lucius began to court each other in secret, because both the coven and the pack forbade witches and werewolves from marrying, mating and having relationships with one another, due to the fear of interspecies relationships, from the fear of a fate similar to that of Inadu, who had been born of the most powerful witch families, and ended up creating werewolves out of spite, during her death. Neither Lucius, nor Cassandra cared about this, and carried on their affair for another year, before they worked up the courage to tell their parents about their love. Lucius' uncle-the alpha-forbade their relationship, and although his cousin, Ansel loved him and Cassandra, he was initially against it, until on a full moon, Cassandra was able to subdue Lucius in his wolf form, using a mixture of soothing spells, and their mating bond.

After this, Lucius' uncle and parents granted them permission to marry, as did Cassandra's parents, and the two of them continued their courting in the public eye of both villages as the fall harvest began. The following year, the two of them got married in the spring, and began trying for a baby, despite Cassandra's slight problems with fertility, and the fear of a child like the Hollow.

## 977-Late 990 A.D.

At an unknown time after her marriage to Lucius in the spring of 976, Cassandra ascended to the role of Regent, with the death of her parents, and worked with the humans and witches of the village, to create a series of underground tunnels in an extensive cave system, that ran across the entire forest, where the witches and humans would hide during the full moon, while the werewolves transformed, and Cassandra would use protection spells to keep them from entering the cave system. During this time, Lucius' cousin, Ansel ascended as the pack alpha, and Lucius became his second in command, and his strongest warrior.

Cassandra got pregnant in the mid 980s, and halfway through her pregnancy, during the summer, a family of Vikings arrived from the Kingdom of Norway...where the Tlanta Coven came from, centuries before. Lucius brought a group of warrior werewolves to the edge of the village, where he met the family, and a couple other humans in the group, calling Ansel, who granted them access to their village, and one of the humans, a Viking named Mikael attempted to make a name for himself, by offering the talents of his witch wife, and her mentor, but Lucius and Ansel declined their chance to be the healers, and protectors of the village, and took them to meet Cassandra, who introduced herself as the coven leader, angering Mikael, who desired to become a powerful member of the community, but without his wife as one of the only healers, he could not achieve that.

Eventually, Cassandra went into labor on a cold winter night, while Lucius was transformed under the full moon, surrounded by her coven members, giving birth to her daughter, Danae. The next morning, Lucius arrived back at their cottage, and bonded with Danae, while Cassandra spent weeks healing from birth, before she had to lead the coven again, and with the next few months, Ansel began coming to their cottage for dinners, and revealed to Lucius and Cassandra, that he had fathered a child with Mikael's wife-Esther-and the child had been born a few months after Danae. Ansel begged Cassandra and Lucius to keep it a secret, and in return, Cassandra welcomed Esther into the coven as an apprentice, and organized playdates with Danae and Esther's children, which multiplied in the next coming years, with three more after Ansel's illegitimate son.

As Danae grew up, she came into her magical inheritance, and Cassandra began to teach her, alongside the young boy of Esther's, who had presented at four years old, while Danae presented at six years old. Due to Cassandra's inclusion of this boy-Kol-in Danae's lessons, his mother was also present, so Cassandra and Danae had to be around her a lot more than they would have liked to, and in turn, Cassandra developed a sour taste in her mouth for Esther, who suppressed Niklaus-Ansel's boy-werewolf gene, with a weakening charm, which made him meek and scared, so that he was an easy target for his stepfather-Mikael-to beat on. Luckily, Cassandra was able to expose Danae to Niklaus, and the two of them bonded extremely fast, spending almost all of their young years playing together, often bringing Niklaus' other siblings into their games.

### ca. 998 A.D.

When Danae was a teenager, Cassandra taught her more about her werewolf heritage, when the instinct to kill, in order to free the wolf began to take its toll on Danae's mental and physical health, since she was suppressing it in favor of magic. Cassandra worried for her, especially since she was pulling away from Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, Henrik, and Elijah. She went to her husband and Lucius promised her that he would do his best to talk to Danae about her heritage and what was happening to her, while Cassandra reached out to her estranged brother, who knew she had a child, but never met Danae, and who accepted Cassandra's invitation to visit with her and Lucius for dinner, when he met Danae, and they began spending more time together.

Months passed during the fall and winter, during which time, Danae spent more and more time with her uncle, and Cassandra researched everything she had on werewolf behavior, in conjunction with witch magic and history. She determined that the triggering of Danae's werewolf side would not impact her magic in a substantial way, and informed Lucius that it wouldn't be a problem if Danae killed someone, in order to transform on the full moon, and after this, Danae became happier that it wouldn't hurt her and that she wouldn't loose her power.

Tragedy struck in October, when Cassandra was brewing healing concoctions, after sending Danae and her brother into the woods, to find ingredients, and heard a scream in the woods, as Lucius ran out of the cottage, and when she went to follow, Lucius told her to stay, and he came back a few minutes later, with Ansel and Danae, who looked injured and crying. Lucius carried Danae in his arms, while Ansel carried the body of Cassandra's little brother, and the witch broke down crying, running to her brother as Danae began apologizing profusely, tears falling down her cheeks, and when she looked at Danae, Cassandra saw that her eyes were gold, like a werewolf. Lucius explained that Danae had been out with her uncle, and they had been attacked by a bobcat, and Danae had shoved her sword through her uncle's chest in a rage, thinking that he was the bobcat, and had triggered her werewolf gene, before Lucius and Ansel came to her, and helped her back to the cottage.

Cassandra buried her brother next to their parents, and helped Danae prepare for the full moon as much as she could, before Lucius took her to the werewolf village, and during the next full moon, Cassandra had to listen to her daughter's howls, cries, and screams, until she fell asleep, not knowing how long it went on, but knew that she listened for about five hours, before she fell into a fitful sleep. The next morning, she asked Ansel how it went, and he told her that Danae was able to keep herself in somewhat of a right mind as a wolf, and her transformation lasted a painful six hours, before she slept for two, and then woke up, ready to hunt, more alert than any new wolf on their first night. Cassandra and Ansel theorized that it was because of her magic soothing and healing the beast inside of her during the transformation, making it easier on her because of it.

## 1001 A.D.

By the spring, Cassandra and Lucius were trying for another baby, when Danae and Kol announced to them that they were courting, and intended to mate with one another, and after hearing this news, Cassandra hugged her daughter, and took both her and Kol, along with Lucius, to the pack village, where they publicly announced their mating, and the entire pack cheered for the next generation of werewolves, and the second generation of werewolf and witch hybrids, which had started with Danae and Niklaus.

Danae came to Cassandra in the middle of summer, and told her that she was pregnant with Kol's baby, and when Danae told her that she was worried about the next full moon, Cassandra vowed to help, and over the next few weeks, she went through intense protection spells for her daughter, and when they were all in place for the full moon, Danae told her that she wasn't going to tell Kol about the baby until after the full moon, and Cassandra respected her choice. When Danae left for the village, during the full moon, Cassandra helped the humans into the cave system, but neglected to check for Niklaus and Henrik, before sealing the cave, and going back to her cottage, to wait out her husband and daughter, which turned out to be a fatal mistake.

When the sun rose, Cassandra let the barrier spell on the cave systems lift, and when the humans came out, she heard a scream from the human village as Niklaus ran by with his brother, Henrik in his arms...dead. He told Esther and Mikael that it was the wolves, and Cassandra ran back to the pack village to find her daughter, and found Danae getting dressed, wiping blood off her face. Cassandra asked her who killed Henrik, and Danae reluctantly revealed that she did, and Cassandra shook her head, disappointed in her daughter, and took her back to the cottage, where Danae healed from the transformation, and left the cottage again a couple days later, letting Lucius and Cassandra relax.

Cassandra noticed that Danae became obsessed with her oldest books over the next few weeks, but she was in the middle of harvesting and working, so she was unable to check in on Danae, until she felt something strange in the air, like something or someone had been displaced, and after searching for Danae for a couple days, she couldn't find her, and after the next full moon, the pack and the coven were searching like mad for her, until Cassandra woke in the middle of the night to find Esther casting a spell in front of the White Oak Nemeton, and after that night, Cassandra didn't see her entire family for another month, during which time, they still were unable to find Danae. A week after the full moon, Cassandra found Danae asleep in the cottage, and interrogated her about where she was, and when Danae told her that she traveled through time, to find a way to be with Kol forever, Cassandra knew that she was in deep for him, and after she found out about the Mikaelsons becoming vampires, she tried to warn the werewolves, but it would be too late.

## Death

In the Winter of 1001, after Danae told Cassandra about the newfound vampirism of the Mikaelsons, in an attempt to become stronger than the wolves, Danae left to find Kol, while Cassandra tried to warn her coven and the pack. Unfortunately, she was not as fast as Mikael, who had smelled Danae's werewolf venom on Henrik's clothes and in his wounds, and massacred the entire pack, and most of the coven before Cassandra could get to them. She noticed that Lucius and Ansel were missing from the slaughter, and cast spells to try and locate them.

By the time she got to her brother-in-law, and husband, they were tied up by Mikael, who had the blood of most of Cassandra's coven on his face, and the blood of the pack on his sword. Cassandra cast a large number of wordless, curses and hexes on Mikael, including boiling his blood, turning it to acid, and making him go blind, but when he shoved his sword through Lucius' heart, Cassandra felt the pain of her husband and mate dying, and fell to her knees as Mikael wiped off her spells, and staked Ansel through the heart.

Mikael then grabbed her, driving his fangs into her, and drained her dry, but only before Cassandra let all of her magic flow into the earth, soothing the pain of the dead werewolves' spirits, and allowed them to rest peacefully. Cassandra looked up at the sky as she died, allowing her power to drain out of her, that had been gained by the deaths of the other witches in the coven, and allowed it to flow into Danae as she closed her eyes, still struggling against Mikael until he threw her to the ground, the force of it breaking her neck.

## Legacy

Danae inherited all of the combined power of the fallen members of the Tlanta Coven after her mother's death, and even though she didn't reform the coven for another couple hundred years, Danae passed Cassandra's power onto her son, Conri Tlanta, who would have dreams about Cassandra when he was a young child, and always wanted to meet her.

Cassandra's spread magic at the deaths of the werewolves allowed all ancestors of the Northeast Atlantic Pack to be protected in the territory, even if it belonged to another pack in the future, there was always going to be a touch of magic that remained from Cassandra's spells, and when in Mystic Falls, Conri and Danae were even more powerful than they were anywhere else in the world, except, possibly their ancestral land; Finland and Norway.

As a little kid, Eli Hale had dreams of his great-grandmother, and when he told Conri about them, Conri could feel his grandmother smiling at him and his son, from where her magic lived in him. Eli called Cassandra 'Cassie' and for a long time, she was his imaginary friend, and they would play in the forest together, and Eli would base their games around the stories Danae and Conri told him about Cassandra.

## Personality

Cassandra was a caring, vibrant, and firm mother, and a powerful woman, who could dominate any room she was in. Being the leader of a powerful coven, Cassandra was a natural and charismatic leader, who strived to make the coven stronger, and grow the community of werewolves and witches closer together, despite their history with one another. She was a joy to be around, and a very understanding and caring teacher of magical arts, and enjoyed teaching young witches how to perform the smallest and simplest of spells, and help them become better. She was fiercely loyal to the pack and to her husband and child, willing to give up relationships with her own family to do what she thought was right, and cared for every member of the coven and the pack, making sure to heal to the best of her ability. When provoked, Cassandra was a formidable opponent, as demonstrated when she fought to the death against Mikael, until he took what she loved, but she continued to fight as she was killed, and was remembered by her daughter and grandson as a kind, strong, and powerful mother, leader, and warrior, who defended her home until the end.

## Physical Appearance

Cassandra was a beautiful woman, who kept herself clean and presentable in an age where hygiene was lacking. She managed to keep her pale skin soft and fair throughout her life, and had a small number of scars that she got from Lucius during the full moon that they spent together, and a strong body, due to extensive harvesting and tending to her garden in front of the cottage, and keeping the cottage in good condition. She had a slender figure, with large breasts, and full hips when she was alive, due to her daughter's birth, and natural genes. Her hair was a rich auburn color, long, lustrous and full, reaching all the way down to her calves, and she always kept her hair in large braids that took it up to her hips, with twine and leaves. Cassandra's eyes were a solid blue, but were diluted slightly by Lucius' werewolf side, giving Danae soft blue eyes.

She stood at 5'8" at a time when most women were shorter, and she almost rivaled her husband in height, something that she teased him about, but Lucius loved her height, so that he didn't have to bend his back to kiss her. Cassandra's wardrobe consisted of long dresses that she made herself, with cloth from the Old World, that had been repurposed and dyed in berry juice, and most of her dresses were earthy colors, like green and orange. She made herself a corset from a cow, and boots from a cow, and kept a pouch on her waist, and a dagger on a belt. She also made and had many fur lined cloaks, courtesy of her husband and the rest of the wolf pack allowing her to use the hides and furs of the animals they killed.

## Powers and Abilities

As one of the most powerful witches of her time, and the leader of her own coven, Cassandra was incredibly talented and powerful, able to bend Lucius' wolf form to her will, due to their love for each other. She had trained herself with her parents and the rest of the coven from a very young age, rising through the metaphorical levels of magic, until she was on par with her parents, and when they died and she took over the coven, it grew in numbers and in power. Cassandra's wide range of abilities were sought after and respected.

* **Spell Casting:** One of the defining characteristics of a witch is their ability to cast spells; a "spell" being a word, a verse or incantation, ritual action, or any combination of these to carry out a magical action. On rare occasions such actions can be performed without the use of a verbal spell.
* **Channeling:** The power to invoke extra forms of energy by focusing on external forces.
* **Potion Brewing:** The power to brew and concoct potions, remedies, and elixirs that have supernatural properties with varying effects.
* **Telekinesis:** The power to move objects and persons through mental influence.
* **Pain Infliction:** The power to create excruciating migraines or aneurysms through supernatural means.
* **Elemental Control:** The power to control and manipulate the elements of air, earth, fire, and water.
* **Divination:** The power to divine future, past, and present events based on extrasensory perception.
	+ **Clairvoyance:** The power to divine future, past or present events through instinctive knowledge.
	+ **Intuition:** The power to divine future, past or present events through the use of instinctive knowledge.
	+ **Premonitions:** The power to divine future, past or present events through the observation and study of dreams.
	+ **Psychometry:** The power to divine future, past or present events through contact with or proximity to a certain object or person.
	+ **Projection:** The power to separate from one's body and project the mind to another location or to instantaneously travel from one point to another.
	+ **Transmogrification:** The unique power to alter the physical structure of objects living or dead, changing their form through spells.
	+ **Telepathy:** The power that allows witches to access the minds of others through spells.
* **Possession:** The power to jump one's spirit into the body of another, taking control of said host body through spells.
* **Illusions:** The power to alter the senses of others to perceive a false reality through spells.
* **Dream Manipulation:** The power to control people's dreams through spells.
* **Resurrection:** The power to bring someone or one's self back from the dead through spells.

## Weaknesses

All creatures have weaknesses, and since Cassandra is mortal, and is still a human, despite the magical powers she is able to possess, she is still able to be struck where it hurts, and it did end up being emotions that became her downfall.

* **Disbelief:** The act of denying or disbelieving in one's potential could cause a witch to inadvertently suppress their magical power.
* **Distraction:** Denying a witch from concentrating or giving full attention to their spells, may render them ineffective. Since most spells are spoken verbally and take time to take effect, witches are vulnerable to attack before their completion. Additionally, certain spells require items, tools, and or special events during casting, therefore they can't be invoked on a mere whim.
* **Emotions:** A witch's magic is subject to the influence of their emotional state and may fluctuate according to them, especially when untrained. According to Sheila Bennett, strong emotions such as worry and anger can fuel a witch's power while emotions such as fear may prevent a witch from properly accessing them.
* **Herbs:** Ingestion of certain herbs can cause a witch to lose consciousness and prevent them from using magic for an undetermined amount of time. The Lobelia flower prevents concentration and, therefore, the practice of magic and can be used to temporarily weaken a witch.
* **Witchcraft:** Witches are still susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. This is inclusive of mystical and dark objects. A siphoner can siphon the magic from a witch and prolonged exposure is said to lead to death.
* **Mortality:** Despite their mystical attributes, witches are still human and share many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings (e.g. age, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, snapped neck, etc.). However, witches can temporarily get around this weakness through the use of protection spells.
* **Overexertion:** The excessive use of magic can lead to disorientation, nose bleeds, unconsciousness, and if taken to the extreme, death.
* **Nature:** It is said that Nature will always find a balance when witchcraft is performed, thus spells will always have loopholes. This means, among other things, that no being can be truly immortal.

## Relationships

* Danae and Cassandra (Daughter/Mother)
* Lucius and Cassandra (Husband/Wife)
* Conri and Cassandra (Grandson/Grandmother)
* Perseus and Cassandra (Grandson/Grandmother)
* Eli and Cassandra (Great-Grandson/Great-Grandmother)
* Ansel and Cassandra (Son-in-law/Mother-in-law)
* Kol and Cassandra (Student/Teacher)
* Klaus and Cassandra (Nephew/Aunt)

## Etymology

* **Cassandra:** Cassandra is a feminine name of Greek origin meaning "shining upon man." This is a Latinized version of the Greek Kassandra—a name shared with a Trojan princess who was given the gift of prophecies by Apollo but cursed so that no one would believe her.
* **Tlanta:** The surname "Tlanta" is a spin off the name "Atlanta" which in Greek, means "The Sea of Atlas" derived from Atlas (bearing, tolerating, strength), the name of a mythological Titan who was made to support the heavens on his shoulders.