Warning: SPOILERS for Legacies season 4, episode 12, “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost.”

After being bonded to Hope for only a short while in Legacies, Lizzie managed to break Hope’s sire bond, and though the show never directly explained how, Lizzie’s history is why. A few episodes earlier in Legacies season 4, new vampire and Heretic Lizzie (Jenny Boyd) discovered the unpleasant truth that it was the blood of Tribrid, Hope (Danielle Rose Russell), that she had ingested and as a result, Hope was her sire. Worse, it forged a rare sire bond between them that forced Lizzie to do Hope’s bidding.

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While it’s the first time for Legacies, sire bonds were often used as both storyline and plot device in The Vampire Diaries and in The Originals. That’s with good reason, too. While the exact details of how sire bonds work and why they happen are a little unclear (as is much of the mythology of the Vampire Diaries universe), there’s no denying that it’s an incredibly strong link. It’s incredibly rare for a vampire to sire another, and the sire bond seems to be forged out of love for the vampire. Hybrids, however, create sire bonds more often, but it seems to be out of a sense of loyalty between the sired and their sire. Though sire bonds have been broken, it’s incredibly difficult to do, making it odd that the newly-fledged Legacies Heretic Lizzie should have been able to break her sire bond with the much more powerful Hope so quickly.

But to dismiss Lizzie breaking the bond as unrealistic ignores both who Lizzie is as well as how hybrid sire bonds are broken. Unlike most things in The Vampire Diaries universe, sire bonds are not technically the result of a magical spell or supernatural contract, but about simple emotion. At their very core, breaking a sire bond comes down to sheer willpower and prioritizing something more. “I used to think of my brain as a weakness,” Lizzie explained to Aurora (Rebecca Breeds), “but maybe all the issues I’ve struggled with are what allowed me to break the sire bond.” Lizzie has often been dismissed in Legacies as being mentally fragile, but in reality, her years of fighting herself have made her incredibly resilient and mentally strong. It’s never been openly confirmed, but indicated that Lizzie has bipolar disorder, and her ups and downs have been a recurring storyline. Lizzie fighting Hope’s sire bond and the mental hold it had on her was simply another version of the fight she has always waged with herself in her own mind.

Lizzie’s incredible force of will in Legacies was also helped due to the way a hybrid sire bond works. Simply speaking, sire bonds between hybrid supernatural creatures are forged out of gratitude. For example, in the case of Klaus (Joseph Morgan) turning werewolves into hybrids, they were so grateful that their new hybrid state allowed them to avoid the excruciating process of turning into werewolves every month that they were loyal to him. However, once they forced themselves to turn over and over in order to overcome the fear and pain of it, they were able to break their sire bond with Klaus.

Despite her resentment of Hope in Legacies, Lizzie still loves her. More, when she became sired to Hope, Lizzie was reeling from Josie (Kaylee Bryant) leaving Mystic Falls and her mental connection with her Gemini Twin being broken. So the opportunity forge a new mental and emotional connection with Hope through the sire bond was something that Lizzie initially hated, but soon came to be grateful for, as it made her feel less alone. But when Hope tried to use the sire bond to force Lizzie to kill Aurora, Lizzie’s emotional focus shifted. “No amount of lashing out will ever bring [Josie] back,” she explained to Aurora. “I think I learned that today thanks to Hope.” Lizzie’s fear of being alone was outmatched by her unwillingness to become a monster–or to make Hope more of one. Lizzie’s truly coming into her own in Legacies, and it will be fascinating to see how strong she gets.

Legacies releases new episodes Thursdays 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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