Warning: Spoilers for Legacies season 4, episode 8, “You Will Remember Me.”

In Legacies season 4, episode 8, Klaus’ decision in The Originals to not kill Aurora was finally paid off. After being largely disconnected from the original two shows with The Originals and The Vampire Diaries, the past few episodes of Legacies season 4 have finally found the show seemingly remembering it’s part of the TVD universe. That’s meant increased callbacks to elements and storylines first set up in those shows, along with a few cameo appearances from characters from the other two shows. One of those characters is being set up for a villainous arc, and her appearance in Legacies is tied to Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and his actions in The Originals.

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Since becoming the Tribrid, Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) has been grappling with finding the identities of the new members of the Triad and killing them. After lots of buildup and mystery, the resolution of the plotline the show seemed to be setting up was a letdown, as Hope quickly found and easily killed the witch, then the werewolf. But when she got to the vampire, the third and final member of the supernatural Triad, the reveal of the identity of the person who had been calling Hope on the phone was revealed: Aurora de Martel (Rebecca Breeds). It was a reveal plenty of longtime viewers of The Originals have guessed, but for those unfamiliar, it finally answers one outstanding question from that show.

Klaus was not one to let his enemies off the hook, especially those who hurt his family members. Yet, despite Aurora having been a major antagonist of The Originals season 3 and hurting Elijah (Daniel Gillies), Rebekah (Claire Holt), and Cami (Leah Pipes), or at least contributing to them being hurt, Klaus refrained from killing her. Instead, he allowed her to be put under a Sleeping Beauty-like spell of permanent sleep by Freya (Riley Voelkel), and after that, her story just sort of ended with no real resolution. It was such an abrupt drop of a storyline that it almost appeared as though the writers had forgotten about her, and it’s remained unresolved since. Aurora’s reemergence in Legacies finally paid off Klaus’ decision not to kill her. Her return sets up a major villain storyline for Legacies, even if it doesn’t satisfactorily explain why Klaus showed such out-of-character mercy toward her back then.

Throughout The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, Klaus Mikaelson was a ruthless, unpredictable villain who reveled in slaughter. When presented with a choice between a diplomatic option and a violent one, he almost always chose the path of violence, such as in The Originals season 1 when he took over Marcel’s (Charles Michael Davis) position as the ruler of New Orleans’ vampires. Marcel urged diplomacy when dealing with New Orleans’ human council so as not to provoke a war; instead, Klaus murdered them all. After Hope was born, Klaus tried to be a better man for his daughter, but in some ways became even more ruthless when it came to protecting his family. So, as Aurora became more of a threat, plenty of fans wondered why Klaus didn’t just kill her.

The truth is that he secretly couldn’t bring himself to kill her as he’d once loved her (and maybe even still did). Klaus may have been vicious, but women he cared for were consistently his weakness, such as Caroline (Candice King) in The Vampire Diaries, or Cami in The Originals. Outside of his family, they were the only characters who were ever able to challenge him without being punished and he showed them mercy in scenarios where he would have just killed another character and been done with it. As Legacies reveals, Klaus clearly couldn’t bear to kill Aurora, either; instead, he boarded her up in the walls of his house. The irony, of course, is that the result of Klaus’s moment of mercy is now his daughter’s problem. With Aurora awake and on the loose, the title of Legacies comes home to roost. Even with Klaus long since gone, the decisions of his past are still echoing in Hope’s life in the present.

New episodes of Legacies release every Thursday on the CW.

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About The Author


Alisha Grauso
(255 Articles Published)

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Alisha Grauso is a features editor at Screen Rant, as well as the editorial lead for Atom Insider with Atom Tickets. Previously, she was the editor-at-large and editor-in-chief for Movie Pilot. Her work can be found, or expertise cited, at Forbes, CNN, CBS, Variety, CNBC, Marvel, Business Insider, Birth.Movies.Death, Film School Rejects, and more. She’s also the co-leader of California Freelance Writers United, a grassroots organization advocating for smarter legislation and forward-thinking labor law for freelance writers in California and across the country.

Alisha has a Master of Arts in English from the University of Dallas and spent her years before jumping into entertainment journalism as an adjunct professor, a background that has come in handy in her editing roles. As a kid, her nose was always in a book or eyes glued to a screen, so it was inevitable she’d end up in two different worlds that are all about storytelling.

When she’s not working, you can find her on Twitter chirping about movies & TV, books, politics, ADHD, history, and sharing pictures of her cats @alishagrauso. Or you can contact her directly at alishag(at)screenrant(dot)com.

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