Anti-Heroes have to be my favorite archetype. Oedipus, Lucifer from Paradise Lost, and Damon from The Vampire Diaries have enthralled me for a long time. Why? No real reason except... well you grow up reading these stories about good vs evil and the fight seems so cut and dry, but what about the villains? No one is bad for no reason. Monsters aren't born they are made over the course of a hard childhood and a bleak look on life. Now one of my new favorite antagonists have switched to the role of anti-hero and that character is: Klaus (played by Joseph Morgan) from The Vampire Diaries.
I'm so happy that The Original Family gets its own show. The Originals looks darker and more mature, which already grabs me. TVD is great but that's high school where the drama and angst are over flowing and somewhat annoying. The Originals will be a sort of family drama with more blood and guts and some vendettas all while trying to grab control of the empire of the alluring city of New Orleans.
When Klaus first made his appearance onto the scene, he came off as a cut and dry villain set on getting what he wants no matter the collateral damage. Yet over the course of Season 3, we got to see more into Klaus's character, making him less a black and white villain and more an antagonist (a character not necessarily evil but just set against the protagonist). We began to see Klaus's more vulnerable side. What he really wanted was a family. His biggest fear is being alone. This was why Klaus wanted to make hybrids and since they had a sire bond they would do everything he said because they feel indebted to him for saving them from their agony. Klaus felt that his real family let him down that they didn't want him so he went off to make his own, but that was an epic failure. In Klaus's mind, Tyler, his first hybrid, betrayed him and made Klaus kill all of his hybrids. So in an act of revenge, Klaus killed Tyler's mother. The Immortal Hybrid thought it was perfect symmetry: Tyler took all the "family" that Klaus had so in return he would take all the family Tyler had.
Klaus is artistic (a talent to fall back on if he decides to give up the villain life), charming, intense, and a romantic when it comes to the woman of his affections. Yet he is also possessive, easily jealous, selfish, an all around user, and ruthless. He went so far as to give himself a new name, going from Niklaus to simply Klaus, which sounds much more evil. Nevertheless, Elijah and Rebekah in times of affection, call him Niklaus or Nik. Whenever one of Klaus's siblings tries to find happiness, he daggers them and carries their corpses around like cargo.
Yet looking at how Klaus grew up it's not hard to believe that he'd be like this. Klaus saw himself as more a victim than as a survivor of Mikael's cruelty. Klaus was beaten by his father on a regular basis and Esther didn't really do much to stop it. Klaus still called Mikael father in Season 3 when he finally killed him. Klaus didn't seem relieved at all, but became in a way, angrier, as Elijah has described him. Klaus learned cruelty from Mikael, which taught him that fear is the only way people won't come against you or that fear will prevent someone from leaving him.
When Finn fell in love, Klaus figured he would leave the family and by definition Klaus. Rebekah made a habit of falling love and Klaus in turn would kill that object of his little sister's affections. His excuse was that no man was good enough for her, that men came and went but Klaus was the only constant in her life. Rebekah never saw it that way. Klaus loves to be the center of attention and is immediately threatened by any outside force that threatens to emotionally take away his family members.
Yet Elijah seems to be the only one in the Mikaelson Family willing to give his black sheep brother chances to redeem himself and find his humanity. Most sane people would call Elijah a fool, even Klaus thinks Elijah is looking for redemption where there isn't any.
But Elijah continues to swoop in to save the day and clean up Klaus's messes. The dynamic between the Mikaelson brothers is always interesting, they always seem to fall for the same woman but while for a time that would tear them apart, Klaus and Elijah manage to come back together. Rebekah is the same way. She and Niklaus have the most friction; they insult each other, exchange barbs, but in a crisis they manage to close ranks.
Klaus did show some compassion for people not related to him. Klaus made Stefan come and be his wingman because he wanted his friend back. He even thought of Stefan (or Ripper Stefan) as a brother! That's high praise from a man like Klaus.
Stefan was probably the only one of Rebekah's boyfriends (besides Marcel) that he didn't kill. The Immortal Hybrid admitted that he didn't want to compel Stefan because he wanted things to be how they were in the 1920s. Klaus even went so far as to give Stefan a person to hate so that he wouldn't turn it on himself. Listening to Klaus say that to Stefan, I thought, Klaus still has hope that Stefan would come back to him. Klaus can't dagger Stefan so he plays a patient friend and in his own twisted way helps Stefan focus his self-destructive anger on himself. Yet Stefan broke Klaus's hopes for a reconciliation so Klaus had to move on.
Klaus managed to play the father to his adoptive son, Marcel. He even gave his protege his name. That was heart warming to see. Again Klaus feels a connection with someone other than his blood relatives. Yet Klaus is possessive and he feared that Rebekah and Marcel would go off without him. Klaus told Rebekah as he drove a dagger through her heart that she shouldn't steal something that was his. So Klaus doesn't view people as individuals but as his property.
When Klaus came back to New Orleans and saw how Marcel ruled a kingdom that Klaus has always tried to build but failed to do. Klaus once saw in Marcel a version of himself who was brutalized by his father and unloved, which was why Klaus played the father-figure for the young Marcel. Yet instead of being happy for is surrogate son, the green monster reared it's ugly head as it always does and Klaus vowed to take down Marcel and rule New Orleans. Later he reveals that Marcel was like family and that it hurt Klaus that Marcel didn't come to find him. Klaus said he mourned Marcel because he thought he was dead. Marcel was the closest thing Klaus had to a son but now he feels betrayed. Klaus doesn't like people telling him what he can and cannot do either so as he usually does, Klaus acted out violently.
Klaus made Marcel in "his" image and has surpassed him in every way. In the back door Pilot I felt that Marcel was at first trying to show Klaus what he's done and be a little proud. Marcel likes to remind his "father" that he taught him everything, which makes the friction between them even worse.
A deeper issue Klaus probably has is how everyone naturally likes Marcel. Marcel doesn't need fear to rule the vampires in his kingdom, but on occasion Marcel puts the hammer down. Still the party keeps going and people don't hold Marcel's merciless acts against him.
Yet we've seen Klaus in a less ugly light when it came to his heart. Caroline seemed to provoke a merciful (well by his standards) attitude. Klaus let Tyler run away and didn't even try to look for him. Then when Tyler came back for Caroline's Prom, Klaus let him go for the sake of giving Caroline a happy prom night memory. Then in the Season 4 finale, Klaus allowed for Tyler to come back to Mystic Falls. Klaus said, "He is your first love, I intend to be your last." Such a romantic promise but can Klaus keep it?
Now that Klaus is going to be an actual father, perhaps that will help him become the man Caroline deserves. The sex of the Mikaelson baby was revealed to be a girl. Maybe Klaus having a daughter will make him softer. He already is treating Hayley like family, being considerate of her needs (like putting in air conditioning because the heat bothered her). I know Cami is having a sobering affect on the hardened Klaus. I doubt that Klaus will pursue a romantic relationship with Cami (not that it wouldn't be unthinkable for Klaus to pursue other women as Caroline will pursue other men). Klaus doesn't have any friends and his friendship with Cami will most likely result in a more considerate Klaus.
Klaus is that likable guy with 1,000 years of emotional baggage. You know he has the ability to know what's right and what's wrong but his vanity makes him believe that everything is a personal slight against him. Yet I still love Klaus.
I think that's why we love anti-heroes. While we are repulsed by their behavior at the same time we get where they are coming from. We are averse to Klaus's acts of violence but see that he's a tragic figure who has been abused his entire childhood and doesn't know how else to be.
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