Posted by Christina and Cin | June 15, 2011, 14:38 (EST) | 42 Comments
Category: TV Series

It’s the summer hiatus – and IT SUCKS. So to help wile away those lonely TVD-less hours as we await Vampire Diaries Season 3, we’ve rounded up a slew of guest bloggers (and huge Vampire Diaries fans) for a series called Ripping Open TVD. Each blogger will be focusing on one particular aspect of what we’ve just experienced in Vampire Diaries Season 2 and adding a hefty dose of Season 3 speculation. Remember: These are guest posts, so these are the opinions of the person writing them, not necessarily Vampire-Diaries.net. Cool? Cool. This week, Cin & Christina of the Salvatore Boarding House explore the past, present, and possible future of everyone’s favorite heart-snatching bad ass Original: Elijah.

Boy, those Original vamps sure opened up a can of worms, didn’t they? Last summer, all we could think or speculate about was what kind of havoc Katherine was going to rain down upon the once-sleepy town of Mystic Falls. But now? The introduction of the Original vampires has us running mental marathons as we head into Season 3, and no Original has captured our attention more than Elijah. The faint smile. The precise pronunciation. The deftness with which he extracts vital organs. Not to mention the part, DEAR LORD, THE PART! We never stood a chance. He had us at, “Hello, there.”

We could wax poetic for hours about what Elijah does that makes him such a great character, or why he is the true dark horse in The Vampire Diaries race – that minor character that unexpectedly captures more attention than even the writers bargained for. Elijah is the vampire that other vamps (like Damon) want to be and the fans want to see. He’s powerful, menacing, and he can speak volumes with a single weighted glance. But there’s also a hint of depth and complexity just begging to be revealed. So when he kept getting stabbed in Season 2, we believed it was a test. Like Old Testament Job, we’re being tested and have to rely on not much more than blind faith that he will be back to us all very soon. (Please, show, STOP THE MADNESS.)

We all have our opinions on Elijah, and the only right opinion is that he’s awesome. (We kid, we kid. But seriously.) But we have questions. What drives or motivates him? We can’t believe that honor and promises alone have kept him alive and vibrant for over a thousand years. So, what has? One thing The Vampire Diaries does almost too well is open up possibilities – limitless possibilities. It’s like an Elijah Choose Your Own Adventure. How his past influenced and shaped Elijah, what’s happening now and what lies ahead – that’s the story we’re dying for. To continue, turn to page 82…

The Adventure Begins
When Daddy Original discovered that one of his children was not of his bloodline, but instead born of betrayal, his honor and that of his family was compromised. He exacted vengeance and most likely set in motion the werewolf/vampire feud that has festered and grown in the time since. It was during this time that family lines were probably drawn – Elijah and Niklaus on one side and everyone else on the other. In standing so closely to Klaus, Elijah found himself alienated from the remainder of his family. Then the witches got involved (or were they employed?) to summon the curse and prevent Klaus from becoming a werepire hybrid. Nature’s balance was in jeopardy and whatever the motivation, it still had to be restored, or at the very least held in check, and who more likely to want to hold him in check than the rest of his family?

Even years after they split off from their pack (pun!), Elijah must have seen how out of control Klaus was, so why did he remain so loyal to him? To keep him in check and clean up his messes? To try to subtly tame him and keep the madness at bay? Or did he make a promise to someone long ago that he would stand with Klaus and possibly act as a preservationist for the curse? Or, like we’ve seen with Stefan and Damon, did Elijah once lead Klaus astray, see the error of his ways, and come back with an arm around his brother to protect him? A lot of questions. But when looking at those possible motivations, we can’t help thinking that maybe it was a small bit of all of those factors that bound Elijah to Klaus for so long.

The possibility also arises that Elijah and Klaus shared a Stefan/Elena/Damon type of relationship with the original Petrova, whose blood was used to bind the curse. Wouldn’t that have been interesting? If so, was she used because Elijah chose to help Klaus or showed loyalty to him? Whoever chose her for that first ritual, be it the witches or Daddy Original, she was chosen for a reason. In the spirit of the love triangle, perhaps Klaus and Elijah had some pull to her. Or perhaps the original Petrova was Klaus’ girl, and after the werewolf/vampire thing went down, she was used as a sort of punishment and, because Elijah also loved her, he was a casualty of the ritual as well. Conversely, if she was Elijah’s love, maybe she was chosen solely to punish him because he aligned himself with Klaus. Whatever the true reason, she was used as a consequence for these brothers. Fierce guilt seems like a consistent theme on the show, so maybe. We have also heard it theorized that Elijah’s mother was a Petrova by blood. Seeing as how Mama Original was the one who mixed the werepire cocktail in utero, her blood was already a key ingredient. Hmmmm…

Whatever happened when the curse was set in place, it is clear from the 1492 flashbacks that Lord Elijah had become Klaus’ #2 for centuries. He was always by his side, offering counsel, encouragement, a partner in crime (and there were some crimes committed, we’re sure). But it also seems reasonable enough to assume that Elijah was honor-bound to stay by Klaus’ side to make sure he didn’t expose their superhuman nature. At the same time, we think he acted in a way that would keep Klaus trusting him. Everyone knows the way to make a lunatic trust you is to agree with them. So Elijah agreed, he played along and helped plant the “The Curse of the Sun and the Moon” legends. But even as Elijah acted as though he wanted to help Klaus break the true curse, we don’t think he ever expected all of the components to align. Even to an Original vampire, a doppelganger is still a pretty big stretch. And if a doppelganger did in fact exist, what where the chances of Klaus finding the one girl in all the wide world? Whatever blood line the original Petrova belonged to must have been lost or the Brothers Original would have stalked through the centuries waiting for a doppelganger to make an appearance, right? Right.

When Elijah saw Katerina, everything shifted. His look of recognition when he first laid eyes on her was very telling. Was the original Petrova a past lover or a long lost relative? Time will tell, but it is safe to assume that he had deep feelings for whoever it was. He was drawn to Katerina, and whether he meant to or not, developed an affection for her. Or maybe it was a protective streak? It is unclear how or if Elijah truly intended to interfere with Klaus’ plans to break the curse in 1492, but one theory we’ve thrown back and forth is that he actually allowed Katerina to escape Klaus’ ritual when he refused to let Elijah try the elixir that could have saved her life. DRAMA!

We do know that some time after Katerina’s escape, the relationship between Klaus and Elijah began to sour. They didn’t totally disconnect, but most likely suffered a short-term falling out. Over 500 years later, lesser vampires still thought Elijah was the only direct line to Klaus; Elijah was at least still playing his part, even if he and Klaus knew the truth. Elijah knew that he had to keep Klaus close and was most likely, at least in Klaus’ view, kept in check by the threat against the rest of their Original family, whom Klaus knew were so important to his brother. To make this threat effective, Klaus also had to keep Elijah under close watch. It was some time after this that Klaus must have lost his patience and decided to lock up his kin to punish Elijah, making him think they had suffered the “final death”. Oh, the slow burn of mutual mistrust.

The Plot Thickens
When Klaus began committing familicide, shit got real for Elijah. Real fast. What motivated him to stay alive after hearing of the “final death” of his family at the hands of his closest companion for the better part of a millennium? As Elijah said to Stefan in The Sun Also Rises, “Sometimes there is honor in revenge.” Best served ice cold, my friends.

In the meantime, where and how has Elijah been keeping himself busy? Master of Craigslist aside, we don’t know a single thing about Elijah’s years of limbo. Allow us this moment to tickle your brains. Was he raising alpacas on a farm in Peru? Did he have a harem in Istanbul? Maybe he was a notorious high roller in Monte Carlo. Or perhaps a very reclusive, but amazingly hot, professor at some obscure university (if this is the case, when’s registration?). Elijah could very well have spent his years doing anything anywhere. Elijah is seamlessly adaptable to almost any situation or environment. He’s over one thousand years old, and yet is very current. He wears designer suits, uses cell phones, answers emails. He clearly knows his way around humans, charming his way into houses and hearts.

Regardless of where he has been or what he has been doing, it is safe to assume that he has always kept an eye on what Klaus was up to and who he was getting up to it with. Elijah knew Greta was one of Klaus’ top witches, which led to Elijah’s enlisting Jonas Martin’s help. Unlike Klaus, Elijah seems to use a less tyrant/henchmen approach. Instead he gets people, witches, etc., to help him because it serves their needs as well. He doesn’t have to make witches feel as if they have lost their control or don’t have any other choice but to help him. Elijah seems to employ the “catch more flies with honey” approach to dealing with people. Vampires and werewolves? Not so much. Charm plays a huge role in who Elijah is and what he is about. He has become the master at creating a false sense of ease in everyone he encounters. That’s how he conned his way into the good graces of the Mrs. Lockwood and into the Gilbert House.

Speaking of which, we have noticed that he seems to be drawn to the fairer sex (hubba-hubba). No, seriously: Elijah likes the ladies. He flirts unabashedly and gravitates towards them in mixed company. All “younger women” jokes aside, you cannot tell us Elijah has been living as a monk. His old-world style and panache lends itself to the very romantic — not just kissy-kissy romantic, but also Victorian England romantic. We think he has probably allowed himself periods of time where he let go of his finely woven control and permitted himself to feel. He claims that the lessons of his past have cost him his faith in love itself, and Elijah has clearly learned to detach from emotion. He seems sorry for that.

Instead of love, he holds on to what he knows: honor. Elijah is an honorable man, and he respects honorable people. We all saw how he reacted when Elena kept her word and came back to him at the Lockwood mansion. He recognized in her an kindred spirit, and it was kind of a defining moment in the Facial Expressions of Elijah (Bless you, Daniel Gillies!). Unfortunately, Elijah’s honor is also his Achilles heel; every time the magic dagger has gotten him, it was because he trusted someone else’s honor.

Pick a Page
Although there is technically a dagger in his chest at this very moment (#pullthedaggerout, please) we have complete faith that Elijah will be back and better than ever before. He was plenty mad when Elena & Co. “killed” him – both times – what’s going to happen to his usual calm façade when he awakes this time? How will he handle the knowledge that his beloved brother Klaus not only broke his word (not technically, but whatever, just go with it) but also daggered him and boxed him up like antique furniture? It won’t be pretty, folks. When Elijah wakes from this latest bout of dagger death, he’s going to be extra, super, righteously pissed off. The inevitable confrontation is sure to be epic. We can’t wait!

Meanwhile, what will his place be in Mystic Falls? Like we said, Elijah is adaptable. The possibilities are endless, but our brains go to super fun places when we think about his possible run for public office, the Elijah for Mayor campaign has kind of run away with itself. Jokes aside, though, how and why would Elijah stick around with our crew of regular characters? He could go anywhere, do anything – what will keep him in Mystic Falls? (And please, keep him in Mystic Falls! Sorry, but we suffer from random freak outs when we think about him not on our television weekly – can you say rage blackout?) We have some thoughts outside of taking over the mayoral position that might come into play.

For starters, we’re not completely sure that the werepire curse is done with the doppelganger yet. WHAT?! Crazy, right? But indulge us here: What if because the blood of the Petrova doppelganger bound and released the curse, her blood is also needed to kill a werepire or original werepire like Klaus? Let’s assume that regular underling werepires can be killed using conventional methods (heart snatches for everyone!). Being an Original, we already know that Klaus will need a bigger and badder method than that, and he doesn’t know Elena is alive. What if Elena’s place has evolved from being a pawn in this war to being THE weapon?

We believe that after Elijah met Katerina and she got away, he learned everything he could about doppelgangers and, in particular, how the Petrova doppelgangers could impact a werepire hybrid. He just hasn’t shared this info with anyone yet. Maybe that’s why he got that elixir to keep Katerina alive. He wanted to use her, but the appeal to Klaus was futile, and then Katerina was gone. It makes sense that Elena and Damon will be searching for Elijah to enlist his help in tracking Klaus down to save Stefan, and once he’s resuscitated, we think Elena may be his second chance to pull it off. Keeping her safe would still be his goal, and that’s easier done in Mystic Falls. Also something to keep in mind: Both Elijah and Klaus seemed keen to locate Katerina and keep her under thumb. Why? To slowly torture her is too easy an answer. Maybe even as a vampire she possesses something of value to them. We are definitely not convinced either one of them is through with her.

What else might keep Elijah in town? Well, it’s a pretty good guess that once Elijah is un-daggered his family of Originals will be as well. What if they want to stay in Mystic Falls? We have no idea how long they have been the dead un-dead, but it’s logical to assume that a cultural adjustment will be needed. Remember when the tomb vampires were released from under the church? They were shell-shocked by our technology and way of life. It’s fair to think that some of the Originals have been in stasis for much longer than a 145 years. Elijah may be all regal and dapper, but he knows his way around technology and is comfortable in modern times. Maybe helping them acclimate to this new way of life will be a reason for him to stay. He may even need help from some of the locals, or need some witches to work their juju. And we can’t totally rule out that one of his Original sisters could develop a relationship with, say, Alaric. We’d actually even cheer this on. Boy needs some good lovin’. Since all his lady friends seem to end up as vamps anyway, maybe he should just cut out the middle man and start dating one! But we digress.

There is always the possibility of a romance of his own. Yeah, yeah, detached emotion and all that. But romance is one thing that keeps or draws everyone exactly where he or she is meant to be, right? It’s safe to say that he feels a definite pull towards Elena, just as he did to Katerina; a need to know and protect them which was most likely planted over a thousand years ago with the original Petrova. Much like Stefan was drawn to know Elena, Elijah is fascinated by seeing their humanity. Let’s open that up, though: Elijah could conceivably have that fascination for any female he allowed himself to get to know. Just imagining him spending time with and developing feelings for Caroline makes our hearts start beating a mutual samba of awesomeness. Because, really, that would be like… nirvana.

We could prattle like this forever; we really could. There are endless ways in which a character like Elijah could impact this show in a positive way. It would be just a shame to let all of that awesome potential go to waste. We both live in hope that Daniel Gillies has charmed the writing and producing staff as thoroughly as he has the fandom, and based on what we’ve read, we think he has. Season 2 was supposed to be the year of Katherine and Klaus. For us, it was the year of ELIJAH (Well, and Caroline, but that’s another story altogether…). He has charmed us all and now a show without him just seems not nearly as delicious.

So there you go, everybody; An entire essay written by the SBH without once using the word “BAMF.” And here nobody thought we could reign in the worship. HA! #Elijah4Mayor!
 

Christina & Cin co-run The Salvatore Boarding House, where every day is a party (yeah, thanks, Damon). Together they scheme, write recaps and reactions, man the VD Bingo table every live-episode Thursday, and organize candle-lit vigils and eulogies whenever needed. They also helm the tongue-in-cheek #Elijah4Mayor campaign. They split their time between Mystic Falls and their real lives where one’s a twenty-something word-monger, and the other is a thirty-something working-class wife and mother. But they still share a brain and a blog. You can follow them on Twitter at @TheSBH, or individually at @clrumbaugh and @cinjudes.

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