Mikael

He has lots of grandchildren.

Mikael

He was an Original Vampire and a powerful vampire hunter. Mikael is the father of the Originals, and the father of the vampire race as a whole. Mikael is the reason vampires came to exist, it was his idea to turn his children and himself into immortals with superpowers superior to werewolves, where they could then sire more of their kind as ordinary vampires. As the father of the Original Vampires, he was the oldest and one of the most powerful vampires in the TVD/TO universe.

Mikael was the husband of Esther. He was the father of Freya, Finn, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik and step-father of Klaus. He was the grandfather of Freya and Mathias' unborn son, step-grandfather of Klaus and Hayley's daughter, Hope, and grandfather of Freya and Keelin's son, Nik. Mikael was also the brother-in-law of Dahlia.

Mikael was considered the strongest vampire in existence, due to his superior strength as a human over his children. He had an antagonistic relationship with his step-son, Klaus, as he was the son of a Werewolf named Ansel. In the 1990s, Mikael was desiccated and entombed by Abby Bennett Wilson when he came to town in search of the baby doppelgänger, Elena Gilbert. However, he was revived by Katerina Petrova and Jeremy Gilbert. He then sought out Damon and Stefan Salvatore and formed a plan with them to kill Klaus. Mikael was killed by Klaus due to Stefan's interference.

Mikael was revived by his long lost daughter Freya, reuniting a delighted Mikael with the child he thought he had lost. They formed an alliance to kill Dahlia, who poses a threat to Freya and Hope. Mikael, after a failed team up with his children against Dahlia, was executed by Klaus for a second time, in order to procure the Viking ash Mikael's corpse would leave behind, to make another weapon against Dahlia, all in front of Freya, which devastated her.

Mikael was the patriarch of the Mikaelson Family and other families.

Early Life
{|
 * The Middle Ages
 * Becoming a Vampire Hunter
 * 1702
 * 1919
 * 1922
 * 1990s

Human Life

 * }

During a raid on a village, he met a Witch named Esther, and the two fell in love. They married and were wealthy landowners. They tried to start a family but to no avail, as Esther believed she was cursed and went to her sister for help. Unknown to Mikael, Esther's sister Dahlia put a spell on her so she could have children but there would be sacrifices. They then started a family with the birth of their children Freya and Finn. He was a loving and caring father for both of his children, but his favorite was his beloved daughter. Mikael named his Viking sword Rathul, after the early morning sun. Its hilt was golden, like the color of Freya's hair. He had said it  would remind him of her while he was in battle, and that she would be by his side no matter how far afield he traveled. Some time later, Esther was pregnant with their son Elijah. Years had passed, and the night before Mikael left for war, he christened his sword with goat's blood. When Freya awoke, he was no longer there as he had gone out to war. A plague hit Europe, and Esther claimed it killed Freya while Mikael was in battle; in reality, Freya was taken as the payment of a magical bargain Esther made with her sister Dahlia, to cure her of her infertility. Desperate to escape their homeland, Esther turned to her witch friend and mentor, Ayana, who told her of a land beyond the seas where the natives were all healthy and blessed with the gifts of speed and strength. At this point, Mikael became a more strict father, becoming more cruel in teaching his children to survive, so he would not lose anymore children like he thought he lost Freya. Mikael, Esther, Ayana and other (possibly Viking) settlers left Norway for the New World (later known as North America), settling in the area now known as Mystic Falls in the present day.

However, the New World wasn't as peaceful as the couple had expected, especially during the full moon, as their neighbors were werewolves. They lived in peace with their neighbors at first, hiding in caves during the wolves' transformations, during which time Mikael and Esther had more children: Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik.

Once, as kids, Elijah took Niklaus into the woods to teach him how to hunt. Elijah encouraged his brother, stating that his aim was improving when he misses a shot at a doe. However, Mikael soon arrived and scolded Elijah for encouraging his brother, snatching the bow from Niklaus and stating that he wasn't man enough to hold a weapon. Niklaus tried to apologize, but Mikael saw him as a weakling and starts severely beating him, using the justification that his punishments would make Niklaus stronger. Elijah tried to stop his father from hurting his brother, but was scared off by Mikael, who stated that Elijah would be next if he intervened. He once beat Niklaus half to death as a boy because he was so sure that Niklaus had taken his blades, unaware that it was actually Rebekah who had taken them.

One day, Mikael caught Klaus carving chess pieces with his hunting knife, and Mikael whipped and beat Klaus half to death. Klaus was beaten so badly his siblings actually feared he would die. Elijah entered the room and tried to stop his father, but he pushed Elijah away and continued to punish Klaus until Rebekah eventually ran in with his sword and pointed it at him. Mikael became furious and grabbed his sword from her before leaving the room. Then, one night, Rebekah, who had enough of Mikael's abuse toward Klaus, took a knife with the intention of killing her father while he slept, but Elijah ultimately stopped her; however, he later admitted that he wished he had done the deed himself, wishing he could go back to that moment.

One day, while Elijah and Klaus were sparring, Mikael watched them. Mikael was enraged that Klaus was showing off and being foolish when the Vikings were fighting for their survival. Once they were done, he came to Elijah for his sword and then attacked Klaus and humiliated him in front of the village. He then wondered aloud how Klaus was able to remain alive due to his impulsive and foolish behavior.

At some point, Niklaus challenged Mikael to a duel, which Mikael initially won. However, when Mikael cut Klaus' starling necklace (which was meant to weaken him to prevent him from triggering his werewolf curse), Klaus became so enraged that he attacked Mikael, Mikael was so furious that Klaus had gained the upper hand, that he impaled Klaus' shoulder with his sword and pinned him to a tree in his blind rage.

Curious about the werewolves' transformations, Klaus and Henrik went to spy on them one night during a full moon. Unfortunately, their presence was ultimately discovered by the werewolves, who were unable to control themselves and ended up mauling Henrik to death. Overwhelmed by the loss of another child, Mikael and Esther were desperate to cast a spell that would protect the family from more deaths. After Ayana refused to help them, citing the fact that The Spirits and Nature itself would not stand for such an imbalance, Mikael begged his wife Esther to do something using her powers as a witch. Esther obeyed Mikael's wishes and performed a variation of The Immortality Spell created by Qetsiyah, which involved calling upon the Sun for life and the eternal white oak tree for Immortality, and also added traits like super strength, super speed, fangs, and heightened senses that would all be superior to werewolf powers, so his family could fight back against the beasts that mauled his youngest son to death.

He then offered his children wine laced with the doppelgänger Tatia's enchanted blood (as revealed and killed them soon after by driving his sword through their hearts. The Spirits of Nature, in order to try to maintain the balance, turned nature against them; the sun became their enemy, the flowers that grew at the base of the white oak tree, Vervain, caused them pain upon contact and prevented compulsion, and the white oak tree that granted them immortality became the one thing on earth that could take it away by killing them permanently. Mikael and his family later burned down the white oak tree to prevent it ever being used against them, but not before Mikael had secretly carved a stake as  insurance in case one was needed for future use.

But, they soon learned with all this power came a terrible hunger, and none felt it more then Niklaus and Kol as shown in their life as vampires, with each having brought Mikael to their hiding places over the centuries, forcing the siblings to flee multiple times. Once Klaus had killed a human, Mikael and the rest of the family found out that he was actually a werewolf, born of an affair Esther had with a werewolf villager named Ansel. Upon seeing Klaus' first transformation as a true Hybrid, Mikael stated, "He's a beast. An abomination!" Mikael realized that his wife was unfaithful to him and that Niklaus wasn't his son, and in his anger, he convinced Esther to cast a spell to keep Klaus's werewolf side  dormant. While Esther prepared the spell, Mikael tied Klaus up in chains, demanding that Elijah help him when he stood nearby and looked guilty. Despite Klaus' pleas for Elijah to help him, he ended up listening to his father and helping Mikael chain Klaus to a post. Mikael later went out into the village to hunt down and kill Ansel, Klaus' father, as well as his entire family, not realizing that he was igniting an inter-species war that rages on even in the present day.

Klaus was furious with his mother for making his werewolf side dormant and seemed to murder her in revenge, putting the blame on Mikael. Klaus convinced his siblings that Mikael had murdered their mother, probably out of anger for her infidelity, and they all ran from their father, fleeing back to the Old World. Mikael knew the truth of Esther's murder and his hate for Klaus only grew more intense, vowing to kill him for destroying his family.

Powers and Abilities
Mikael was a strong and skilled Viking warrior before his transition to becoming the first vampire in the world. Mikael's skills were impressive enough that he had seemed to have single handedly slaughtered other raiders who had come to pillage and raid the village that he and his family lived in.
 * Human
 * Original Vampire

Weaknesses
Mikael had the typical weaknesses of an Original Vampire though he was able to tolerate the effects of Werewolf venom and even overcome Papa Tunde's blade. To compare, Elijah was rendered unconscious after two bites from two werewolves, while Mikael sustained more injuries from a horde and managed to kill them all. His ability to overcome Papa Tunde's blade came from his training, as he learned to master his pain.

Main article: Mikael and Freya

 * He is still my father."
 * —Freya to Finn about Mikael

Unlike the relationships Mikael had with his other children, this one was the most profound as was the apparent loss of Freya that shaped Mikael into a cold and vicious man. The loss of his first-born child negatively impacted the relationship with each of his future children and shaped him up to become "the Destroyer". After the loss of Freya - according to Esther - Mikael distance himself from Esther, hurting from the loss and grief. Which caused Esther to seek comfort in the hands of Ansel - and resulted in the birth of Klaus. This shows how much Freya's "death" impacted Mikael. As a man with so much commitment to his family, Mikael turned into an abusive father - hiding his grief behind anger. He also was never shown talking about Freya. Not even once - not to his wife or children, (although the loss of his first born child was understandable, this did not excuse his behavior for what he did to Klaus and his other children). After reuniting, Mikael was made aware of Dahlia's return, and was  helping his daughter with her plan to kill  Dahlia in a combined effort, even working together with Klaus. Before being executed by Klaus, without a fight in a sneak attack, Mikael's last words were how he was sorry and loved Freya.

Niklaus Mikaelson

 * Main article: Mikael and Klaus


 * "No, I wasn't born like this. Her you fight for; lovely Freya, the daughter you barely know. But there was a time when you knew me as your son! A time before all the disappointments, the revelations of betrayal, there were moments where all you had to do was be my father! And even then you despised me didn't you? I want to know why."
 * —Klaus to Mikael.

Mikael was the step-father of Klaus. Mikael and Klaus have a complicated and antagonistic relationship. However, it was Mikael who chose a name for him. Mikael did not always hate Klaus as he confessed when Klaus was born he was very happy, but when he proved to be different than the rest of his children, he changed his attitude toward his step-son. Mikael physically assaulted Klaus in his childhood, for which Klaus despises him. However, despite how abusive Mikael was, in his mind, he genuinely was trying to make Klaus stronger in order to be able to survive and even  though he was angry at Klaus for taking Henrik with him to watch the werewolves turn, which led to Henrik dying, he cared for Klaus enough to include him among the rest of his children to be turned into immortals. After all the children of Mikael and Esther turned into immortals, it was revealed that Klaus is not the son of Mikael and when Mikael found out about this, he felt relief but even after learning Klaus was not his son, he still did not want to kill him and only had Esther suppress his wolf side. However, when Klaus killed Esther, Klaus turned his family against their father by framing Mikael for the murder of their mother, and the siblings ran away from Mikael, Mikael hunted down Klaus for centuries, trying to destroy him until finally he was killed. Mikael is the only one who still has emotional control over Klaus, and not looking at the fact that they hate each other, they still look at each other as father and son, even after Klaus met Ansel, his biological father. He still considers Mikael as his only true father, despite not being biologically related, because only a father could inflict as much pain as Mikael did to Klaus, as well as the fact Mikael raised Klaus. Mikael and Klaus first worked together against Dahlia to save their daughters. They almost overcame Dahlia together, but she was too strong and destroyed their weapon to kill her. The alliance between Klaus and Mikael did not last partly because of Klaus' jealousy of Mikael's relationship with Freya, and mainly because Klaus could not forgive Mikael for what he did to him as a child. Before killing him, Klaus asked why Mikael was so cruel to him, and Mikael said that he did not know, that he just did, and this seemed to have saddened Klaus. Once Klaus staked Mikael, Mikael appeared to extend his hand toward Klaus' face as a sign of affection before his corpse burned to ash, giving Klaus a shocked expression as his step-father did not always hate him completely and he appeared sad for a moment. Klaus also killed Mikael as a way to acquire more Viking ash to make more weapons against Dahlia.

Other Relationships

 * Mikael and Esther (Husband and Wife)
 * Elijah and Mikael (Father and Son/Enemies)
 * Mikael and Rebekah (Father and Daughter/Enemies)
 * Mikael and Kol (Father and Son/Enemies)
 * Mikael and Finn (Father and Son/Former Allies)
 * Hayley and Mikael (Enemies)
 * Mikael and Katherine (Enemies)
 * Mikael and Davina (Former Allies/Enemies)

Name

 * Mikael (In Ancient Norse: ᛗᛁᚲᚨᛖᛚ) is a Scandinavian form of "Michael ", from the Hebrew מִיכָאֵל(Mikha'el) meaning "Who is like God". Saint Michael is one of the seven Archangels, and the only one mentioned in the Bible. He is the leader of heaven's armies, and for this is the patron saint of soldiers.

Trivia

 * Mikael is the first of many parents to be turned into vampires, followed by Pearl, Katerina (Katherine), Isobeland Abby, Jenna, Bill Forbes, and formerly Alaric.
 * Mikael was the one that caused the 1000+ blood feud between vampires and werewolves after he not only killed Klaus' father Ansel, and his entire family, but destroyed half of a village filled with the creatures too.
 * Mikael was the first to show that an Original Vampire could compel a hybrid due to them still being part vampire.
 * Mikael was the only Original vampire that wasn't neutralized by the Brotherhood of the Five as he was not in Italy at the time of the ambush.
 * Mikael is the first vampire shown to drink other vampires' blood in the series, and does not feed on living things, but from the predators themselves. In the novels Katherine and Klaus also drained vampires of their blood.
 * Elijah claims that Mikael despises the vampires as a species, despite having a hand in creating them, therefore he kills them and feeds on them for food.
 * Though usually choosing not to, Mikael will feed on humans if he needs to or if he wants to use them as bait.
 * Mikael has killed more werewolves than anyone else, Like Klaus, all of his kills were shown off, He fiercely hates them. He considers their bloodlines as filth.


 * Mikael is the first Original Vampire to be destroyed by a White Oak Stake twice (by Klaus).
 * Of all the Original vampires, Mikael can be considered the most threatening and proud.
 * As Esther is called the Original Witch, and Klaus the Original Hybrid, Mikael can be considered the Original Vampire Hunter.
 * Mikael's title has three meanings to it. It refers to him as a Hunter of Original Vampires, as well as being the first vampire hunter to exist, as well as identifying he is an Original Vampire, who hunts other vampires.
 * He is also known as The Destroyer as he has burnt many cities to the ground hunting his children, including half of Europe over 1,000 years according to Elijah. He is known as The Hunter of Vampires, or the vampire that hunts vampires.
 * Mikael sees werewolves and hybrids as abominations. Like when he sees Klaus transform, he calls him a beast and an abomination.
 * According to Klaus, New Orleans have been burned down twice, the second time by Mikael himself.