Esther Mikaelson

""Esther Mikaelson was two things: a genius witch and an overprotective matriarch.""

- - Kol describes Esther to Davina in Heart Shaped Box

Esther Mikaelson (Elder Futhark: ᛖᛋᚦᛖᚱ ᛗᛁᚲᚨᛖᛚᛋᛟᚾ) was one of "the most powerful witches in history, and she was responsible for creating the Original vampires. She appeared in the third season of The Vampire Diaries as a recurring character and a main antagonist. She was also a major recurring character and a primary antagonist in the second season of The Originals.

Esther was the wife of Mikael and the former lover of Ansel. She was the mother of Freya, Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik. She was also the younger sister of Dahlia, and the grandmother of Hope Mikaelson and an unnamed grandson.

During the third season of The Vampire Diaries, Esther was revived thanks to the efforts of Bonnie and Abby Bennett. She planned to kill her children, linking them together and stripping them of their vampirism before killing Finn, who willingly helped her. To stop Esther's plan, Damon Salvatore was forced to kill Abby and turn her into a vampire, unlinking Esther from the Bennett witch line. Esther later helps Alaric Saltzman develop a dark, murderous, vampire hating alter-ego. She then turns him into an Enhanced Original vampire for the purpose of hunting down and killing the rest of her children with the indestructible white oak stake she crafted with his Gilbert ring. Alaric kills her soon after when his original personality briefly regained control after waking up in transition, stabbing her to save Jeremy and Matt from her magic attacks.

It was revealed in The Originals, that Klaus had been holding onto Esther's coffin. In New Orleans, when Klaus and Elijah helped Sophie Deveraux become an Elder, they offered her Esther's body. They consecrated Esther's remains, which later allowed her to revive herself in From a Cradle to a Grave and possess the last Harvest Girl, Cassie, with the completed Harvest Ritual. She also revived Finn and Kol, placing them in the body of two witches - Vincent and Kaleb, respectively.

In the second season of The Originals, Esther seeks to convince her children to give up their immortal lives and become mortal again. Finn willingly helps her and Kol follows his own agenda, eventually joining Klaus' side. Esther body jumps from Cassie to Lenore. In The Map of Moments, Esther's witchcraft is stripped after Rebekah put blood in her wine. Klaus eventually returns to her, informing her that she is no longer a witch and is now a vampire. Esther forms an alliance with Mikael and Finn, in an effort to kill Klaus and his allies.

Esther was, for a brief while, a vampire, while possessing the body of the witch Lenore, and was forced to transition without body jumping into a new witch host. She briefly became what she hated the most, a vampire. After reuniting with her eldest daughter, Freya, Esther aids her and Klaus in saving their sister Rebekah from her body host, the witch Eva Sinclair. After doing so, Esther warns Klaus that Freya will turn his siblings against him, and tells him that all her previous acts were only meant to undo her evil, in hope that he will love her again. Klaus mocks her and leaves her in the dark. Later, Esther is cold-heartedly executed at the hands of her daughter Freya, as punishment for giving her over to Dahlia over a thousand years ago.

In Ashes to Ashes, following her last resurrection in her original witch body - by the hands of unsuspecting Davina Claire, who thought she was bringing back her boyfriend, Kol Mikaelson - Esther was forced to participate in her children's plan to kill her sister, Dahlia. After begging with Dahlia to end her misdeeds, Esther allows herself to be killed together with her, by Klaus. She and Dahlia were shown to have found peace, with Esther asking for her older sister forgiveness, finally admitting that she did love her. Dahlia then forgives her younger sister, and the two of them finally make up.

Esther was the matriarch of the Mikaelson Family and was a member of an unnamed Norwegian family of powerful witches.

Early History
Esther was born in a witch family in the Kingdom of Norway some time during the 10th Century. Esther had an older sister named Dahlia. It's implied that Esther was close to her mother as she would later tell her son that her mother taught her about the starling bird's tune. She was once close to her sister but they had differing outlooks and different points of view which caused them to grow apart. Despite being born from a powerful witch bloodline, Esther was not interested in the practice of magic after meeting Mikael, who swore to protect her, unlike her sister, who devoted herself to the Black Arts.
 * -|The Middle Ages, 10th Century=

Esther favored being a wife and a mother and at some time her village was slaughtered by Vikings, with Dahlia and herself being the only survivors due to their witch powers. During her captivity, she met and fell in love with a Viking warrior and wealthy Eastern European landowner named Mikael, whom she married. However, after almost a year of marriage, she was still unable to conceive a child. As she didn't practice magic, she came to her sister Dahlia for help. After Esther discussed her issue of being barren and unable to conceive, Dahlia agreed to help her sister by casting a fertility spell which would help her to conceive and get pregnant. Esther soon fell pregnant and gave birth to a daughter Freya, her firstborn child. She later had another child, a son named Finn. From this moment, she lived happily with Mikael and even fell pregnant with a third child.

However, during her third pregnancy, Mikael temporarily left for a voyage and Dahlia asked to have Freya taken away. Esther tried to stand up for herself against Dahlia but Dahlia told her that fate decided that Esther will not have children. But they changed it and now Esther had to pay; by giving all the firstborn who will come from her bloodline (grandchild, great-grandchild, etc). Esther swore to have her magic back, to gain immense power and to make Dahlia pay for what she had done. But her sister mocked her, threatened to take all of her children, including Finn and the unborn Elijah. Dahlia took Freya away while Freya screamed for her mother. When Mikael came back, Esther told him that Freya had died from the Plague. They decided to leave their homeland to come to the New World. She gave birth to her third child Elijah but regardless, Esther was still devastated by Freya's "death". Mikael, still mourning his child's "death", became cold and estranged from his wife. At this time, Esther had met a young werewolf leader named Ansel and she fell in love with him. She began the construction of a Moonlight Ring for him. Soon, she fell pregnant with his son. However, she came back to Mikael, and forbade Ansel to be near his unborn child. She later gave birth to a son that Mikael named Niklaus and the birth helped to bring them together as a family once more. They would go on to have three other children: Kol, Rebekah and Henrik.

She later made a bird Necklace to make her son Niklaus weak and to prevent him from killing someone, which would trigger his werewolf gene. This became even more necessary when Mikael became abusive towards Klaus as he thought that his son was weak. And she became obsessed with the idea that Klaus always has to hold the necklace.

In the New World, Esther began to practice magic once more and became the best friend of the powerful witch Ayana (a descendant of Qetsiyah and an ancestor of the Bennett bloodline) who was also her mentor.

At some point, Niklaus and Henrik came to see the werewolves transformation during a full moon and Henrik was mauled by a werewolf from Ansel's pack. Klaus took his brother to Esther but it was too late and Henrik tragically died.

Later, Mikael asked Ayana for help so that they could make all of their children immortals but Ayana refused. As a result, Esther ended up performing The Immortality Spell herself by using the blood of Klaus and Elijah's lover, Tatia (a doppelgänger and descendant of Amara and a member of the Petrova bloodline) that would transform her family into the first known vampires.

However, the spell had complications and prices that came along with it. She had to make Daylight Jewelry for them and she had watched them feed and kill innocent humans all for the consumption of human blood. When Klaus finally killed his first human, he triggered his werewolf gene and later transformed, killing and slaughtering many people. Knowing from then that Klaus was not his biological son, Mikael forced Esther to suppress Klaus’ werewolf side, which she had done by using the blood of Tatia, whom Elijah accidentally killed.

She was then killed by Klaus who choked her to death and put the blame to Mikael. After she died, Esther's body was preserved and placed in a coffin by her witch friend, Ayana. Esther's spirit, however, was forced to watch her children wreak havoc on the world from the Other Side and feel the pain of every victim as nature's way of punishing her for her actions.

Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series
In The End of the Affair, Esther is first mentioned as "The Original Witch" who placed the hybrid curse on Klaus who is asking another witch Gloria for help to solve why his hybrids are dying. In order to contact her, Gloria says they need to get Rebekah's necklace.
 * -|Season Three=

In Disturbing Behavior, Gloria briefly mentions her saying that Rebekah's necklace is actually the talisman of "The Original Witch".

In The Reckoning, Klaus returns to Mystic Falls and tries to figure out why he can't create his hybrids and discovers Elena is still alive. Klaus forces Bonnie to try and discover why his hybrids aren't working. Esther, through Vicki, tries to get her a message. When Matt, Vicki's brother, drowns himself to see her so that he could deliver the message, Vicki tells him that it is because Elena is still alive and that she needs to die for the hybrids to live. However, Klaus, sensing his mother's deception, figures out that Elena's blood is the key to creating his hybrids and that he needs her alive.

In Smells Like Teen Spirit, Esther uses Matt Donovan to push Vicki over to the human side so that she can kill Elena and stop Klaus from creating more hybrids. However, realizing his mistake, Matt goes to Bonnie and asks her to send Vicki back. Bonnie sends Vicki away before she can kill Elena.

In Ghost World, it is revealed Esther broke open the door to the other side, allowing any ghost in all of Mystic Falls and beyond with unfinished business to cross it. She did this by taking advantage of Bonnie sending Vicki back to the other side. That event allowed her to use her power to tear open an already partially opened door. The spell she used to make Vicki corporeal/physical also worked on all the other ghosts giving them the ability to do whatever they wanted. In order to reverse it, Bonnie had to find and destroy Esther's talisman. Despite the fact, Bonnie with Sheila's aid destroyed the talisman it later reconstructed itself proving to be indestructible.

In Ordinary People, she appears for the first time in a flashback during the Middle Ages. To protect her children from death, she made a forbidden spell and turned all the family into vampires. Although she wanted everything to be all right, Esther had to put a curse on Klaus for suppressing his werewolf side. As revenge, she was attacked by Klaus who told his brothers that their father, Mikael, killed her.

In Bringing Out The Dead, it is revealed that Esther was the person in the sealed coffin which Abby and Bonnie Bennett managed to open. She arrives at her son, Klaus', home where she shocks her children with her presence. She declares that she forgives Klaus and wants them all to be a family again.

In Dangerous Liaisons, Esther and her children stay in the Niklaus' house in Mystic Falls. Due to the great resentment among the Originals, Esther attempts to control the situation, by organizing a ball to celebrate their union and return. However, Elijah and Niklaus doubt Esther's intentions. Esther sent an invitation to Elena Gilbert, asking to meet. At night, Elena, Stefan, Damon, Caroline, Matt and Carol attend the celebration. When all the guests are present, Elijah introduces guests to his family and invites them to join the ball dance. Elena tries to go and meet Esther but Damon gets in her way. Elena asks Stefan to take care of Damon, while she meets Esther. Elijah meets Elena and asks her to tell him about his mother's intentions. When Elena finally meets Esther, she uses her magic and herbs to prevent others overhearing their conversation, while Finn is made to guard the room from outside. Esther then reveals what happened after Klaus killed her and how she is still alive. Esther then reveals that her intention, when creating vampires, was to protect her family and not to create an abomination. Esther tells Elena that her present intention is to destroy the Originals. The Ball is just an excuse to get all her children together and perform a Linking spell. (Esther says: if one goes, they all go.). Esther needed Elena's blood to complete the ritual and Link all the Originals. In the end, Esther completes the spell with the blood of Finn and a scroll with the names of the Originals.

In All My Children, Esther meets Bonnie and Abby, hoping they would let her channel their ancestors. Her plan is to channel the whole Bennett witch line and turn her children back into humans before she kills them. Her children confront her after they learn the truth and she says she has no remorse in killing them because they were a curse, even the moral Elijah. When Abby was turned into a vampire by Damon, the spirits abandoned her and she fled with Finn.

In Heart of Darkness, she returns to tell Rebekah that she is dying. The spirits having abandoned her, she can no longer sustain her body and will die soon. Rebekah wants to know what she expects from her. Esther reveals that she hadn't been planning their deaths while on the other side: she had actually watched over her during all that time even when she had cried herself to sleep at nights calling her name. She then tells her that the only reason she was trying to kill them was that they shouldn't have lived for a thousand years as no one should live that long. She grabs Rebekah's hands and collapses on the floor. When Rebekah is watching Alaric find the Stake in the cave where no vampires are supposed to be able to enter, she crosses the barrier revealing that Esther had actually transferred her spirit into Rebekah earlier.

In Do Not Go Gentle, Rebekah/Esther gives Klaus "the last white oak stake" and he burns it without hesitation. Klaus tells her he wants to leave tonight but Rebekah/Esther convinces him to stay one last night. Esther then goes to Alaric's apartment where all of the coffins are, Esther says she'll give him the real White Oak Stake when he can't use it on her in Rebekah's body she then opens a coffin containing her real body. Esther gives Alaric a dagger to neutralize Rebekah, he does so and Esther returns to her real body. Esther and Alaric go to the old cemetery, this area is revealed to be the same place where Klaus killed her 1000 years ago.

The violence of her death marked the area of her power for all time. In the Salvatore tomb, Esther casts a spell to bind the protective magic in the Gilbert ring with the stake making the White Oak Stake indestructible. Alaric gives her the ring, she melts it and mixes it with the stake making it the ultimate weapon for the ultimate hunter. Later that night at the decade dance Esther arrives to get Elena she tells her she means no harm and if she wants to help Alaric she'll come with her willingly or not. Elena follows Esther, just as Damon, Stefan, and Jeremy leave to help Elena, Stefan and Damon stop realizing Esther spelled a circle around the school with salt making all vampires and hybrids trapped. At the cemetery Esther apologizes for taking her away from the dance, and tells her its the burden of being the doppelgänger, Alaric waits for them.

Esther then tells Elena she's turning Alaric into an Original like Mikael before him the vampire to end all vampires. Esther says that now he's in his darkest aspect it will be easier for him and his hatred toward vampires is what makes him strong. When Elena tries to tell Esther she doesn't know anything about him Esther reveals that every time he was killed wearing the ring she was there to nurture him, spoke to him, knowing every death would bring him closer to his true self, vampires took everything from him Esther's helping him get his vengeance. Esther then begins to perform The Immortality Spell. This was the same spell used to turn her children into vampires. Esther then attempts to use Elena blood for the spell though she refuses to give Esther her blood and says shell have to kill her to get it, Esther tells her death won't be necessary and forces Elena's blood out of her body and into the vial. Once Alaric drinks the blood Esther stabs him in the heart killing him, and completing the spell. Esther tells Elena that when Alaric wakes up he be his old self for a few moments, and if he is then Elena can say goodbye before the transition's complete, she gives Elena a tissue.

Elena tells Esther that she wanted to undo the evil she created but turning Alaric is just as evil. Esther tells her that Alaric will not be like her children, she granted him enough power to kill the originals but when the time is right he'll then die, Esther explains that she wants a world where Elena and her loved ones will not suffer at the hands of vampires like Jenna did. Esther also told her that Jenna also is not in the place Esther was on the other side, she doesn't know the torment, and that Jenna was pure, even when she turned she knew peace, which is what all of them can hope for. After hearing a noise outside Esther goes to find Jeremy and Matt pointing a gun and a crossbow at her. Elena tries to get them to put them down, but Esther instead has the weapons pointed at each other. Before Esther can kill Matt and Jeremy, Alaric comes up from behind and stabs Esther, killing her.

Klaus took Esther's body and pulls the dagger from Rebekah. He tells Esther her plan failed again and that he'll go on living and if the spirits preserve her again that he'll build an army so big that no one will touch him, and his survival will haunt her through eternity, and she will never destroy him. In Bonnie's dream Esther tells her that her sisters need her to finish what Esther started. Later, under Esther's control, Bonnie feeds Alaric her blood, completing the transition making Alaric an Enhanced Original and the ultimate hunter.

Throughout The Originals Series
In Always and Forever, Elijah shows Hayley some of his past with his family, 1000 years back when they were all humans. He told her that his mother, Esther, was doing dark magic and that once the tragedy of Henrik happened, his father, Mikael, convinced his wife to make him and their children into vampires, to protect themselves against the werewolves. But once Niklaus makes his first human kill, his father discovers the truth that his wife had been unfaithful many years before. Mikael then forced his wife to make Klaus' werewolf side dormant. Esther is then seen performing The Hybrid Curse on Klaus to suppress his Werewolf side which turned him from an Original Hybrid into an Original Vampire for 1,000 years.
 * -|Season One=

In Sinners and Saints, when Elijah finds out how powerful the witch Davina is, he tries to strike a deal with her and tells her about his mother and her Grimoires. ''Now, my mother was a very powerful witch. She left behind her grimoires, a legacy of books filled with spells. These books contain all of the tools that you might need to control your magic.''

In Fruit of the Poisoned Tree, Elijah sees through his mother's Grimoire, and gives Davina a page from that Grimoire, the spell of unknotting, an unlinking spell that would unlink both Hayley and Sophie. Elijah reveals to Davina that his mother created the unlinking spell with a Sanguinum Knot.

In Après Moi, Le Déluge, after Sophie Deveraux failed to absorb Céleste Dubois' powers, Elijah came up with the idea of burying his mother. Esther's dead body is currently in a coffin at the Mikaelson Mansion, in the basement. Elijah explains they need to bury their mother to complete The Harvest. Elijah explains to his siblings that if they bury their mother on land owned by one of her descendants, she becomes an New Orleans Witch. Then they will share in the Ancestral Magic, through Sophie, but for that to happen the siblings need to participate in The Harvest. Elijah also explains that Klaus's baby needs to own a property as it's a pure Hybrid. They then all agree to bury their mother outside The Mikaelson Family Mansion. When they are burying her, Kieran gives them a knife in with each of them must give some blood for it to work even Hayley must give blood to Esther. Kieran then takes the knife and throws it with Esther's coffin.

In Farewell to Storyville, Esther's daughter Rebekah along with Marcel Gerard visited her mother's resting place outside The Mikaelson Mansion, which had recently been burned by down Céleste Dubois. Rebekah is standing before her mother's grave and thought of while her mother is resting forever in New Orleans, she has to find herself another home. On Esther's tombstone, it says, "Our Beloved Mother."

In From a Cradle to a Grave, Esther is first mentioned by Genevieve as she reveals to Elijah and Hayley that since her consecration, Esther has been leading the Ancestors. With that, she also reveals it was Esther who ordered the witches to kill Klaus' child. Esther herself though is seen at the exact end of the episode. At first, it remains unknown that she is in possession of the teenage girl that rises from the dead-Cassie. As she walks out of the cemetery, she heads to the place of Esther's tombstone, with a man beside her, seemingly aware that she is in fact, Esther. As she places a rose on her tombstone, the other witch tells her to rest in peace, to which she responds saying it would be no fun. Then, she claims both he and her have much work to do as she starts walking, with the man behind her answering by calling her mother, confirming he is one of her sons, Finn.

In Rebirth, Esther, in the body of Cassie, is first seen commenting to Francesca Correa that, as she is no longer part of the coven, Davina's actions are not legislated by the other witches, only for Francesca to demand that "Cassie" make her. She's later seen walking with Finn, the two commenting on Klaus and Elijah's strategy to psyche Francesca out into making a wrong move. Esther comments that Francesca will be her own undoing. Esther is later seen when a vampire tells the wolves that the Originals no longer have the White Oak Stake. Esther attempts to perform a locator spell, but it blocking, to which she states that she'd love to know by who, while annoyed. Finally, she is seen with Finn, asking if Cami bought his act as Vincent to which he affirms. While commenting on the weakness of his mortal body, Esther responds that he should be lucky that he isn't in the body of a teenager. Just then another witch, Kaleb comes in, commenting that he loves his body and that Davina does as well. Esther, revealing that Kaleb is in fact Kol, comments that with the death of the Guerreras, she is now in a position to take over both the witches and the werewolves, and that with the vampires gone, The Original Family is in a position to "take root" within the city, she then instructs her sons to help her, as she has a family reunion planned.
 * -|Season Two=

In Alive and Kicking, Esther is still in Cassie's body. She is making moonlight rings in return for the werewolves allegiance. Klaus visits her and they talk. Klaus discovers Esther is possessing Cassie.

In Every Mother's Son, Esther attends a family dinner with her sons. She later leaves Cassie's body and possesses Lenore.

In Live and Let Die, with the help from Finn, she immobilizes Elijah with her magic with a stake to Elijah's back and went through his chest. She then brings him to the cemetery. When he woke up his hands were in chains. She tells him he must "be purified".

In Red Door, Esther still has Elijah held captive at the cemetery. She refuses to let him go. Even with him fighting against her restraints. Esther wanted Elijah to become a witch again so he could rejoin the family. She then starts her torment when she makes him relive when he and Klaus loved a girl from their childhood village named Tatia. She sent him back to flashbacks to reveal that even though the all the men in the village loved Tatia. She fell in love with Elijah. Esther tells Elijah she never killed Tatia and never wanted to. She wanted Tatia to marry Elijah. She wanted her to join her family. She shows Elijah how Tatia really died. He accidentally killed her as a new vampire from feeding on her to death. He refuses to believe her. He then realizes this is the truth. He killed his lover and the love of his life. Esther makes Elijah have nightmares about Tatia. And makes him believe Hayley killed Esther to save him.

In Wheel Inside the Wheel, a flashback reveals that Esther was not an only child and in fact had a sister, Dahlia. Esther sought help from Dahlia in order to get pregnant, stating that Dahlia was more powerful than she and she could not refuse her. It appears that Esther and Dahlia made a deal, Dahlia would perform a fertility spell, however, Esther would need to sacrifice her first born and the firstborn of each generation, this appears to be the reason Esther was bent on killing Hope, to stop Dahlia's return. Later on, it is revealed that Esther had pulled Klaus' father from the Other Side before it's demise. Trying to convince Klaus' to agree with her plans, Esther confronts him in Lafayette Cemetery, Klaus violently attacks Esther, grabbing her throat and reveals that he hates her because she came after his family and daughter, he swears he will hurt her as only he can.

In Chasing the Devil’s Tail, Esther is seen in the greenhouse of the Lycee, she is seen performing a spell in runic symbols while Finn, possessing Vincent, applauds her on her abilities. Esther compliments Finn on his respectfulness, comparing it to that of his younger brother Kol. Esther states that Finn should hurry and bring Camille to her, handing him a handful of spelled herbs to subdue her.

Esther is seen again at the greenhouse when Kol arrives to soothe the wound on his arm caused by Esther's earlier spell. After Kol makes a snide comment about teaching her to send text messages. Esther, aware of Mikael's return, questions Kol about the whereabouts of the white oak stake. Esther is furious with Kol and questions his ability to serve her while Davina is around.

Esther is seen briefly at Lafayette Cemetery, where she was keeping Elijah hostage, to see a deceased Ansel, hanging from the ceiling. Distraught, Esther drops the floor sobbing at the top of her lungs.

Esther is seen for the final time at Rousseau's, where she enters although the bar is closed. Camille, who is drinking alone, states that the bar is closed. After making a joke about them serving the best sazerac in town, Esther approaches Camille and subdues her with the spelled herbs seen earlier.

In The Map of Moments, Esther appears in the forest as Mikael is feeding on the werewolves. Esther tells Mikael that he is making a mess of her werewolf sentries while Mikael says that she is up to her old tricks. Both exchange snide comments about missing each other as Mikael is angry about the fact that Esther has resurrected Ansel. After enraged comments from Mikael about Klaus, Esther provokes him to strike her, saying that 'he has been waiting a thousand years to do so'. As Mikael strikes Esther, she is revealed to be a projection and goes unharmed.

Kol has returned to the Lycee where he hands Esther the newly acquired white oak stake. After Kol asks about Finn's whereabouts Esther explains that he has fallen victim to Klaus and Elijah, but she has a plan to help him while she searches for Rebekah, who appears behind her. Esther pours herself and Rebekah a glass of red wine to discuss Rebekah becoming human. Esther pitches the fact that Rebekah is happiest when she is around humans, that she yearns for a human life with love. Rebekah agrees to what Esther is offering as behind her back, Kol begins a spell with Esther's hourglass.

As Esther sets up the spell at Lafayette Cemetery, Rebekah notices the white oak stake, after Esther explains that she will destroy the vampire body once Rebekah is free, Rebekah pleads her to stop the spell. Esther states that she cannot stop the spell as it was locked in when the hourglass was turned, suddenly Klaus appears. Demanding that Esther stop the spell, Klaus asks Esther to take him instead, she refuses as he declined the first time and now she has made a deal with Mikael. As the sand leaves the hourglass, at the mark of Kol, Klaus stabs Esther and kills her. Esther wakes hours later and wonders what is happening and why she is still in the body of Lenore, she quickly puts the pieces together and realizes she is a vampire. A flashback shows us that Rebekah had bled into Esther's wine, and when she died, she became a vampire.

In Gonna Set Your Flag On Fire, Finn goes to Lafayette Cemetery to save his mother, Esther remarks that she knew he would come for her. However, as she goes to touch his face, she reveals her vampiric face. Finn disgusted, backs away from Esther, horrified as to what she has done. Esther pleads to Finn that she fought as long as she could but was so hungry while Finn remarks that she is a hypocrite. Finn, knowing that Esther would want him to finish what she had started, carves a sacrificial symbol into Esther's head which will allow him to channel her.

In Exquisite Corpse, Klaus takes Freya to seek help from their mother in order to penetrate the mind of Eva Sinclair and free Rebekah. Klaus takes Freya to Lafayette Cemetery where Esther is seen slowly desiccating. After feeding Esther two blood bags, Klaus reminds her that now as a vampire, she is vulnerable to his compulsion. Now, under the compulsion of Klaus, Esther could tell no lie. Klaus announces that they have come seeking a spell from her, one to allow a witch to penetrate the mind of another. While writing out the spell, Klaus remarks that it is taking considerably longer to write the spell than it did to try and kill his daughter. Esther explains that she took no joy in her actions, she was only trying to save them all from Dahlia. After writing the spell, Esther advises Klaus not to trust Freya, she explains that the light she saw in Freya before, is now gone, no doubt due to Dahlia. She explains that, like Dahlia did a millennium before, Freya has agreed to help in order to seek something in return. After examining the spell, Freya explains that she cannot perform the spell as she has nothing to anchor her magic to, thanks to Esther. Freya quickly offers Klaus as an anchor, Esther explains the consequences of what Freya wants to do.

Freya returns later, having successfully performing the spell. Freya explains that she saw inside Klaus' mind and continues to explain her plans. Esther questions why Freya is telling her this information and Freya explains that she will not be around to see it. Freya then turns Esther into a flock of crows and leaves.

In Ashes to Ashes, it is revealed that in order to kill Dahlia, Esther's blood is needed. Freya confesses that she has killed Esther so there is no way to get her blood, Elijah explains that Klaus' plan involves resurrecting Esther's original body. In order to do this, Esther's body was burned and swapped for the ashes of Kol. This lead to Davina resurrecting Esther and not Kol. Upon resurrection, Elijah quickly bound Esther with the handcuffs to suppress her magic. Later, Elijah states that he needs Esther's blood to kill Dahlia and will most likely take pleasure in getting it. Klaus enters and explains that Esther will not be dying so soon as he will use her as an emotional trigger of Dahlia's. Esther, Rebekah, and Klaus follow Dahlia to where she is to kill Freya and upon seeing her, Dahlia laughs. Dahlia continues to combust the White Oak Stake and force them to ingest it, burning them from the inside. Dahlia tells Esther that she is to watch while she kills her children and eventually Freya. Esther stops Dahlia and finally apologizes. As Dahlia stops, Esther begins to strangle Dahlia with the chain of the handcuffs, Freya uses this opportunity to save her siblings. Esther signals Klaus to drive the newly bound blade through both her and Dahlia, killing them both. Dahlia and Esther are seen in the afterlife, assumed to have found peace, Esther apologizes again and explains that seeing the way her children fought to protect each other, reminded her that she should have stuck by her side, Dahlia forgives Esther and they hug. The next day the ashes of both their bodies are blown away by the wind.

Personality
Esther was a devoted and loving mother to her children prior to them becoming vampires. She wanted the best for her children, and fearing they would die because of the werewolves, she used a spell which turned them into vampires.
 * -|Witch=

Unlike Mikael who was hard on Klaus, Esther treated him like the rest of his half-siblings, and occasionally defended him against Mikael, telling the latter that Klaus only means well when Mikael went to confront Klaus, who was sparring with Elijah, but she never tried to stop him from humiliating or from physically/emotionally abusing her son, it was likely she was afraid to challenge her husband when trying to defend Klaus; however, this was proven to be untrue, as the reason why she never challenges Mikael, was because she valued her marriage towards her husband more than one of her own children, this also reveals that she was a horrible mother, if anyone of her children were physically abused by her husband, she would not lift a finger to protect them from Mikael, she even created a Starling Necklace that would not only weaken Klaus' untriggered werewolf strength, but it also took away his will to fight back, which made her son a victim to Mikael's abuse. She was capable of being deceptive and was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill her goals despite facing the consequences. She was a skilled liar, and was far from a forgiving person, which ultimately caused her to attempt to kill her own children. It is unknown if Esther knew killing her children would wipe out vampires but this likely wouldn't have deterred her from doing so, regardless of whether any of these vampires fed on human blood. However, her plan to kill the Originals required turning them human first, its unknown, if vampires would remain connected to their progenitors, had it worked. She also tried to kill Jeremy and Matt, knowing full well they were only there to protect Elena. She was ruthless in her goals but still admitted to loving her children but acknowledged that they are monsters who have killed countless innocents and all because she made them immortal. She created vampires, which are considered abominations to nature, therefore, she would stop at nothing to correct this mistake. Despite her sometimes ruthless nature, her actions stem from a good heart. She believes she cursed her children to become abominations and genuinely believes vampires are evil, and wants no human to suffer at the hands of them.

Esther was delusional, she believes that everything she had done including the fact that she once tried to kill her children, was for their own good, she was also a hypocrite, as she blames both Elijah and Klaus for Hope's death, when she was the one who ordered her granddaughter's death in the first place (unaware that Hope is still alive).

No matter how harsh it was, when Klaus tells Esther that she was the monster who made the Original Vampires who they are, it was actually a true fact.

According to Finn and Klaus, Esther was a very smart strategist and skilled in making people suffer, traits she passed on to several of her children, including Klaus, despite this, she can sometimes underestimate her children.

Esther was extremely immoral, as she took over the body of Cassie, later Lenore without the two latter's consent; against their free will, even attempted to put Rebekah into the body of Camille, without any consent from the two latter.

Like Mikael, Esther had failed to acknowledge her mistakes as a parent, as most of her children (Freya, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah) eventually grew to despise her and turned their backs on Esther, partly because she tried to kill them, and mainly because she tries to kill Hope.

Esther looks very desperate and confused, now she was not witch, a vampire that was in transition, making her impotent against her sister Dahlia or any other evil, that may want to harm her family. Without her powers, Esther needed to make an important decision, die or become what she hates most.
 * -|Vampire=

When Esther completed the transition, her son Finn accused her and called her a hypocrite for giving into temptation. Esther seemed to have no remorse for becoming what they both hated and tried to defend herself by stating that she only drank the blood and implored to Finn that though she was still his mother. Finn merely replied with hatred and stabbed her with the blade to channel her power.

Even as a ghost, Esther was set on eradicating the world of her granddaughter. Esther ordered the witches of New Orleans to kill Hope at all costs. Although this made her children hate her more, she was doing so to save her children from her sister Dahlia, who would kill her children to get the power of the firstborn Hope.
 * -|Ghost=

After being resurrected by Davina Claire, Esther's personality changed drastically. Esther realized that what she had done to her children was wrong, and even so, leaving Dahlia a millennium ago was too wrong. Esther showed no retaliation to helping her children kill her sister, although knowing that she too would die in the process.

Physical Appearance
Esther was a tall, slim and beautiful woman in her mid to late 40's, somewhere between 45-49. She has long natural blond hair and brown eyes. She had fine facial features, which testified to her Scandinavian origins. She did not use makeup in 10/11 century, but after returning to the life she began to emphasize her beauty. Long, flowing dresses she turned on aristocratic dress - her taste alluded to taste of her husband and children. Freya and Rebekah greatly resemble her, inheriting her pale skin and blonde hair along with features. Her sons (except Klaus) inherited the color of her eyes.

Powers and Abilities
Esther was amongst the greatest and most powerful, dark witches in history, due to her various acts of great significance to the future, mostly negative.
 * -|Witch=

In her first life, Esther was an accomplished witch, being known as the creator of the moonlight rings by combining various spells into one (for her werewolf lover). Esther's most notable spell was turning her Husband and Children into the world's first original vampires. She drew on multiple sources of power, such as the sun and the white oak tree for power and immortality. Despite being warned against doing so, by her friend and mentor, Ayana, she tapped into dark magic and performed the spell, giving a rise to a predatory species that spread throughout the world like a plague. Shortly thereafter, with her infidelity exposed with Klaus' first kill, Nature would not allow such a powerful creature to exist, thus she bound him with the hybrid curse, locking away his werewolf side. After the creation of vampires, she also created the daylight rings, used as protection against the sun.

Eventually though Klaus ended her life.

During her time as a spirit in the afterlife, she still possessed great power, though only usable as long as her talisman in the living world remained intact. She managed to perform a spell from the other side to give Vicki a foothold in the world of the living, making her a corporeal ghost, though her magic was blocked by Bonnie who sent Vicki away.Esther then used Bonnie to wedge open a doorway between worlds, allowing various ghosts with unfinished business to return. Bonnie managed to undo this spell, with her Grams help by destroying Esther's only link to the living, her talisman, though it fixed itself immediately, much to Bonnie's surprise.

1,000 years after her death, Esther managed to resurrect herself in her preserved body, by channeling the entire Bennett witch Bloodline, including Qetsiyah, both living and dead. In her original body, she continued to demonstrate various feats of power and skill. She was able to link the original vampires with wine laced with Elena's Doppelgänger blood ( though the spell was reversed by Bonnie, who was forced by Klaus.) Esther planned on reversing her centuries-old curse thereby effectively curing all of her children, in the end, to kill them as humans, though due to Abby becoming a vampire, she lost her connection to the Bennett's Bloodline and unable to finish the spell. Do to her lost connection, she claimed that the spell that preserved her body and weakened and was dying. This was later shown to be a ploy in order to get close to Rebekah, whom she possessed Rebekah though she quickly returned to her body afterward once she obtained the white oak stake. Her skill allowed her to jump back into her own body. Even without channeling the Bennett bloodline, though using her own death spot, she was shown to have superior control over telekinesis and able to cloak and fight against a locator spell all the while to create the indestructible white oak by binding the protective magic, from Emily's protection spell on the Gilbert ring, to the stake. Prior to her second death, she channeled dark magic and the Doppelgänger once again in order to turn Alaric into an Enhanced Original Vampire, making him stronger and faster than her children, though she bound him to Elena, therefore, she was his only weakness. He too would turn against her and ended her second life.

Given her power, she was consecrated as a New Orleans witch, allowing Sophie to complete the Harvest ritual, which renews the power of hundreds of witches by reconnecting them to their dead ancestors. Even in spirit, she became leader of the New Orleans Ancestral Witches. Esther was also capable of bending the entire ancestral plane to her will, consequently controlling the New Orleans coven as a whole. Her control was so great, that she managed to force Genevive and the Quarter witches to kill Hope, in fear that Dahlia would come. Given a second attempt, she was able to perform another rare feat of self-resurrection, though this was more in the form of possession when instead of the last Harvest girl being resurrected, only her body was, though it was inhabited by Esther's spirit. Utilizing ancestral magic and knowledge of the other side, she was even able to pull and performed the same spell with her sons, Finn and Kol, by invoking their souls into the bodies of witches, Vincent and Kaleb, respectively. She ultimately 'purified' them by placing them into witch bodies, giving them back their magic.

According to Elijah, she was also a master of possession, with evidence provided by her possession of; Rebekah, Cassie, and the latest, Lenore. She was able to not only overwhelm the consciousness of each of the other women but able to leave them unharmed. Even in the bodies of other witches and not her original, she still displayed great power with pain infliction and telekinesis spells in order to harm original vampires. She would even use this skill in order to gain the upper hand over Kol. According to Klaus, Esther was also highly proficient in the art of producing magical talismans, evident by the indestructible White Oak Stake, an amulet that purposefully weakens werewolves, whom she had given to a young Klaus so that he would not trigger his Werewolf gene, and the creation of Daylight Rings. During her third life, she created a better moonlight ring for Werewolves for them to harness the full strength of their curse, an adapted version of Genevieve's crude spell. When the other side began to collapse she was able to resurrect her Werewolf lover, with no known balance. Other unusual feat, only she or various few other witches have been shown to be capable of controlling animals, specifically Starlings, creating minor Earth shakes with a wave of her hand, create a boundary with ashes within a matter of seconds with no incantation, Astral projection (while maintaining a conscious form), spells to invade the mind to sooth, block or to restore memories and (like her older sister and Bonnie) to control and disrupt electromagnetic signals of phones. She was also one of the first witches shown to utilize runes, as such when she sent Kol a message by marking his skin with a warning.

However, Esther was not always the great and powerful witch as known to the supernatural community. Instead, it was recently revealed that what led Esther to improve her power and tapping into dark magic again was the loss of her first-born child, her daughter Freya whom she had to give to her elder sister Dahlia, a much more powerful witch at the time as a part of their bargain. On that day, Esther angrily promised her sister that she will rise in the black arts and become a powerful witch in order to avenge her daughter, despite her achievements, Esther's powers and abilities are still inferior to that of her older sister Dahlia.

For a time, Esther had been turned (indirectly) by Rebekah into a vampire. Esther possessed all the standard powers and abilities of a non-original vampire.
 * -|Vampire=

Weaknesses
Esther had the typical weaknesses of a human/witch.
 * -|Human/Witch=

However, while she was possessing Lenore and became a vampire she had the typical weaknesses of an non-original vampire.
 * -|Vampire=

Dahlia
""Your power is nothing against mine, foolish girl! You knew the bargain you made. And should you defy me, then I will take all your children; including little Finn...even unborn Elijah.""

- - Dahlia to Esther Esther's relationship with her elder sister is a seemingly complicated one. Dahlia seemed to be disappointed and angered that Esther chose to devote her life to being a wife and mother instead of devoting life to witchcraft. In spite of that, she seemed to care about her sister when Esther begged Dahlia to use her magic to help her get pregnant and agreed to help her. However, Dahlia tricked Esther and took her oldest daughter and even went so far as to threaten taking all of her children if she did not cooperate.

Dahlia did not, however, kill Freya after taking her. Instead, the powerful witch groomed Freya and taught her niece to control her vast powers, eventually teaching her a spell that would allow Freya to preserve her life through a hundred years of hibernation and upon awakening only to a year of natural age and repeating the process after that. After learning more, Freya escaped Dahlia after discovering that "her truths were paired with lies" by unknown means and has been running from the older, more powerful witch ever since.

Esther correctly fears that her older sister could return and if her payment isn't given, she would destroy the entire Mikaelson Family.

Other Relationships

 * Esther and Finn (Mother and Son/Former Allies/Enemies)
 * Kol and Esther (Mother and Son/Former Allies/Enemies)
 * Esther and Elijah (Mother and Son/Former Enemies)
 * Klaus and Esther (Mother and Son/Former Enemies)
 * Hope and Esther (Granddaughter and Grandmother/Former Enemies)
 * Hayley and Esther (Family/Enemies)
 * Esther and Elena (Enemies)
 * Mikael and Esther (Husband and Wife/Enemies)
 * Esther and Freya (Mother and Daughter/Former Enemies)
 * Bonnie and Esther (Enemies/Former Allies)

Name

 * Esther is a female Persian name (استر) which means "star" or a Hebrew form of the Persian goddess Ishtar. In the Old Testament, Esther is the name of the Jewish queen of King Ahasuerus of Persia who saved her people from the wicked plans of Haman.

Trivia

 * Rebekah says that Esther is the Original Witch but she's not the first witch.
 * Her name is a title. The "Original Witch" stands for the Witch of the Original Family of Vampires, not the first witch ever. Her husband Mikael, and son Niklaus have titles, the Original Vampire Hunter and Original Hybrid, respectively.
 * Esther's signature of magic is represented as the European Starling just as her sister, Dahlia's, is the Woodland Merinda Dahlia.
 * Both symbols were prominently used to pinpoint Hope's location by their respective witches.
 * Esther has died four times in the series and all her deaths were violent.
 * Esther created the spells for both the Moonlight and Daylight rings. The Moonlight ring came first as she created it for Klaus' biological father.
 * Esther initially believed Nature will not permit her to find peace until all vampires are gone. However, in Ashes to Ashes, she eventually did find peace.
 * She is the first Caucasian female witch to be shown in the TV series.
 * She is the third oldest Caucasian witch to be in the TV series after Silas and Dahlia.
 * It's probable that she knew about Qetsiyah, Silas and Amara's existence because she used a variation of Qetsiyah's immortality spell.
 * She appears to have the closest relationship with Finn, however, she deemed Klaus to be her most special child.
 * According to her daughter she was the most powerful Witch in history.
 * In the Season Two Comic Con trailer, Esther corrects her own daughter's statement when she is revived by possessing Cassie by saying: "A thousand years ago, I was one of the greatest witches that has ever lived. Now, I've returned".
 * Both her second death and second resurrection occurred in a cemetery.
 * Kol accurately states that Esther was a genius witch, and an overprotective matriarch.
 * Esther is said to be a master in the skill of possession, a skill she has shown on a number of occasions; possessing Rebekah, Cassie, and, lastly, Lenore.
 * Esther was also skilled at protective magics, as she created spells to protect her lover from the werewolf curse, her children from sunlight, and even transferred and bound the protected magics within Emily's spelled Gilbert ring to create the indestructible white oak stake.
 * Esther was so gifted with her spellcraft that it took an entire coven of witches ages to reverse engineer the vampire creation spell in order for Lucien to become the Beast. Davina, working alone, periodically over the course of a year or two was able to reverse engineer and create a sire-line unlinking spell.
 * In Red Door, Esther is seen drinking tea for almost the entire time, which fits with Kol calling her 'as mad as a hatter'.
 * Esther is the second parent in the Originals to be turned into a vampire by their own child. In her case, it was her daughter, Rebekah.
 * The first was Hayley Marshall by her daughter Hope Mikaelson.
 * The nature of which she was turned while in Lenore's body draws parallels with how she initially turned her children. She was tricked into drinking wine laced with blood and stabbed.
 * All of her children have some sort of disdain to her; except Henrik who is dead.
 * Elijah, Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah all hate her for trying to kill them.
 * Finn thinks she's a hypocrite for becoming a vampire.
 * Freya hates her for sending her away as a child.
 * Esther is the second grandmother shown on screen, Sheila Bennett being first.
 * Esther was revealed to have been barren in Wheel Inside the Wheel; this was a problem that was fixed by her older sister, Dahlia.
 * In the same episode she was also revealed to have come from Norway.
 * According to her granddaughter Hope, in One Wrong Turn On Bourbon, Esther "practically invented Dark Magic".
 * Esther contributed to the creation of original vampire species:
 * Original Vampires - by turning her husband and her children into them.
 * Original Hybrid - by turning Klaus.
 * Enhanced Original Vampire - by turning Alaric.