A thousand years ago the first ever witch, devastated after the loss of one child, decided to do whatever it takes to keep the rest of her family alive. She cast a dark spell that would turn her husband, Mikael and her five children; Elijah, Finn, Niklaus, Rebekah and Kol into what would prove to be the greatest abominations the world has ever known. She turned them into the first ever vampires—the Originals.
The family pledged to remain together always and forever, to eternity. This would prove much harder than it sounded to this cohort of immortals.
The siblings—actually just Elijah, Niklaus (Klaus) and Rebekah—have a troubled past. Something haunts and forces them to run away and seek refuge elsewhere. Klaus’ misdeeds force Elijah into searching for a new home elsewhere for the blood-bound trio. Rebekah, for the greater good of her family, penetrates a human camp full of soldiers in a quest to find allies. They arrive in New Orleans in 1722, hoping to start a new life.
They had found the city teeming with witches and werewolves—with the witches running the place. Klaus is as power-hungry as they come and to some extent, so are his elder brother and baby sister. The trio wants full control of New Orleans. After all, they are the Originals—powerful, ruthless and most importantly, immortal. This is their home and they will seize control of it regardless.
They want to end the lawlessness and chaos that arose from the unwillingness of the witches and werewolves to live together in harmony. This chaos is bothersome to the siblings as they seemingly have no place in it.
He is the main protagonist of the book. Klaus was born of the same mother (Esther) but different father (Ansel) to the rest of his siblings. His real father was of a lycanthrope bloodline, making Klaus a werewolf by birth. He had not yet triggered this side of him when his mother turned him and the rest into vampires.
The story of what Klaus had to endure to seize full control of both his vampire and werewolf sides is a long and complex one. However, the point is, he is a hybrid—the first ever—the Original Hybrid. His maternal siblings are Elijah, Rebekah, Kol, Finn, Henrik and Freya Mikaelson.
He is the deuteragonist of the Originals series. He is the third-born son of Mikael and Esther, brother of Klaus, Rebekah, et al. The reason for all his (relative) morality (because, how moral is a vampire, really?) and decency and honor is because of his strict upbringing—thanks to his father. The love Elijah has for his family—Rebekah and Klaus moreso—is unrivalled. In 1359, he noticed Klaus and Rebekah losing their humanity, therefore took it upon himself to try to lead the down the path he knew as right.
The tritagonist of the Originals is the youngest daughter and second to last child of Mikael and Esther. She is the closest person to Klaus, as most of her actions throughout her life have proven. Most of these actions were undertaken with his under his influence. Also, she has an undying desire to live a normal human life—marriage, kids, death. She and Klaus are a lot alike in their rashness and anger and tendencies to lose touch with humanity. Rebekah is the victim of Klaus’ protection of her and his own selfish desires over the years, which has resulted in extreme measures being taken.
Her story is a long, complex and very interesting one that is sure to intrigue any reader.
Mikael is the father of Freya, Finn, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah, Henrik and step-father of Niklaus. Due to the superior strength and power he had over his children as humans, Mikael became an unbelievably strong and powerful vampire. He was so domineering that he was easily the most powerful vampire ever in existence.
Mikael has such a complicated antagonistic relationship with Klaus. To put it plainly, he doesn’t like Klaus much because he is the son of a werewolf (Ansel). For any reader that sympathizes with the Original family (the siblings, at least), Mikael is an instantly despicable character. Even his children have a hard time loving him.
She was easily one of the most powerful witches in history. She is Mikael’s wife, Ansel’s former lover, Dahlia’s sister and Freya, Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik’s mother. Esther was close to Dahlia, but they both had differing stances and that made them grow apart. Whereas Dahlia was into dark magic, Esther was not interested in magic of any sort.
When she married Mikael, Esther found out she was barren. She didn’t practice magic, so she went to her sister for help. Dahlia cast a fertility spell on her and she gave birth to Freya and then Finn. Because fate had not intended for Esther to have children, Dahlia took Freya away to pay for the sin. The price was every first-born that would come from that bloodline. It was for this reason that Esther decided she wanted her magic back so Dahlia could pay for what she had done.
She was born (late in the 17th century) of a werewolf and a witch and was a powerful werewolf-witch hybrid that lived in the French Quarter. Vivianne practiced ancestral magic.
In 1820, Marcellus was a slave who was rescued and adopted and eventually turned into a vampire by Klaus.
A young Marcel had grown closer to Elijah as he was kind. Elijah taught Marcel to read and play the piano. He became Marcel’s idol.
In 1835, Marcel began training fencing with Rebekah and they grew so close they eventually fell in love. But Klaus, for his own reasons, forbade the relationship. Marcel and Klaus’ relationship started out really well as Klaus was his savior and now adopted father. But Klaus, being Klaus, proceeded to complicate things. At one point, when Marcel was learning from Elijah, Klaus got so jealous that he unleashed his ruthless brother Kol to scare Marcel. Kol, by the way, is far more callous than even Klaus is.
The Originals series is a wonderful read, and is sure to grip all its readers. It falls in the paranormal romance genre—always a good genre to find a worthy book. Julie Plec has based it on the Originals TV show, which is a huge hit all over the world. The series contains three books; The Originals: The Rise, The Originals: The Loss and The Originals: The Resurrection. Be sure to check them all out for gripping, heart-racing storytelling.