knights of legend application

[ofmyword]

Player Name: Raos
Player E-mail: Plasmachained@gmail.com
Instant message contact (AIM/MSN/etc): Plasma Chains @ AIM
Plurk (if applicable): agebinium
Is the player at least 18 years of age? Yes

Character's Full Name: Elijah Mikaelson
Canon The Vampire Diaries / The Originals
PB/Actor: Daniel Gillies
Character's Starting Level: 1
Character Age: 1000+
Physical Description:

Elijah stands at around 5'11" with a muscular and slightly lanky build. He has brown hair that he keeps clean and short and brown eyes that are accented by high cheekbones and a strong jawline. Facial hair tends to be kept to a minimum, though he grows it fairly quickly. He has no real distinguishing physical features besides being considered rather handsome, what really stands out about him is the way he dresses. Impeccably dressed at all times, Elijah favours dress suits and outfits that befit a "high society" man.

Character's Species/Race (aka human, elf, dragonblood human, etc): Original Vampire

Character History (Pre-Veil): Elijah Mikaelson @ the TVD wiki

Post Veil History:

As history repeats itself, so too will a Mikaelson find their way to New Orleans.

Being deposited just outside the city's limits by the Veil made it rather easy in this case, though. His long history with the city he formerly called his home quickly allowed him to realise that it wasn't his home, long before he found both the Abattoir and his family missing. Left with a particularly strong rage towards Niklaus for a reason he couldn't quite identify, the fact they all seemed to be in a better place for once in their centuries long lives and an unfamiliar sense of restlessness, Elijah instead chose to begin to set up a comfortable life for himself in this new New Orleans. It might not be the same one, but he's rather attached to it, after all. Compel the right assistant here, a few favours there and a fascimile of the Abattoir began to take shape. From there he'd be able to do something about rallying together whatever vampire community exists. Later, though.

Once he had somewhere he wouldn't be bothered, Elijah turned his attention to trying to find his family. Despite having all the time in the world to scour the globe, country by country, city by city to find them himself, having done that once before really turned him off that option. Instead, he chose to extend feelers all over the globe with the Mikaelson name attached, knowing that a Mikaelson in New Orleans should at least draw the attention of Niklaus, if nobody else. Drawing the attention of the Knights due to both his name and Niklaus' presence within the Order was an unintended side effect. One that Elijah was more than happy to take advantage of once he learned they'd managed to keep Niklaus in line. Or a semblance of it, anyway.

New, solitary life in New Orleans, or his brother. The choice is easy.

Chosen Canon Point: The Originals - 2x22 - Ashes to Ashes

Personality and Psychology:

In the simplest terms, Elijah Mikaelson is above all else, a man of honour and family.

Of course, nobody is that simple, especially not thousand year old vampires. One might think that a thousand years is an incredible amount of time to experience personal growth and change, well. They would be wrong, the only thing that changes is his hair.

Of course, there's one constant when it comes to being a thousand year old progenitor of the vampire race: family.

So let's start there.

Long before Elijah was doomed to a life of immortality and being eternally shackled to Niklaus' side (by choice. But more on that later.) Esther and Mikael were wealthy landowners who left Eastern Europe in the 10th century after their eldest and unnamed son was killed by a severe plague. Settling in an area of the New World that would eventually become known as Mystic Falls, Esther (an incredibly powerful witch) and Mikael soon have more children, with Elijah being the second born (after Finn) in the New World, a role he quickly settles into. Following Elijah are Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik, some who become more important to Elijah than others.

The bond of family is quickly cemented under Mikael's wrath, with Elijah consistently attempting to intervene when Mikael brutalises Niklaus for whatever slight he feels the boy had committed. Though we only see a few examples, such as Elijah trying to teach Niklaus how to hunt properly when he's still but a child, and subsequently trying and failing to stop Mikael from beating his brother because he isn't "man enough" to hold a weapon. It's unclear how many times over their lives this happens, but it happens enough times that it becomes a point of contention for Mikael that Elijah would dare choose Niklaus over him, their father. It goes far enough that once, after stopping Rebekah from killing their father in the night, Elijah mentions to Niklaus that he often wishes he could revisit that moment and kill their father himself.

However, it isn't their father that changes the history of the world forever. It is Elijah and Niklaus' curiosity over their werewolf neighbours that does that, while claiming Henrik's life. Their shared curiosity, that of mere children, changes their lives, and creates an entirely new supernatural race. To keep her family safe, Esther casts an Immortality Spell on her children, using the blood of the doppelgänger Tatia and drawing on the power of the White Oak tree. While the spell was originally meant to keep her children safe, unfortunately it did that by turning them into vampires.

After Niklaus makes his first kill as a vampire, it unlocks his werewolf gene, revealing that Esther had an affair with an unnamed neighbour that resulted in Niklaus. Despite Niklaus' newfound heritage, Elijah thinks no less of him and after Mikael (actually Niklaus, but Elijah doesn't find this out for over a thousand years) kills Esther after forcing her to perform a ritual to seal Niklaus' werewolf side, Elijah, Niklaus and Rebekah promise to stick together as one always and forever. Mikael, however, realised what a mistake he made by helping Esther turn them into monsters and begins a thousand year hunt for his children.

Where are Finn and Kol in this pact? We just don't know.

It is here that Elijah's obsession with family truly comes from.

Over the next thousand years, he spends whatever time he isn't daggered (which seems to be a lot, it's implied several times that out of the Mikaelson siblings, Elijah spent the least time trapped in a coffin) trying to keep the family together and preventing Niklaus and Rebekah's slow loss of humanity from causing their family legacy to fall into ruins. Not that Niklaus is the only one who leaves messes to clean up, Elijah is no slouch in the killing department either.

Despite the pact and constant repetition of always and forever, it's clear that Elijah has a bias for Niklaus over Rebekah. While they're often at odds over Niklaus' constant daggering and undaggering of their siblings, and at one point the doppelgänger Tatia, who they both fell in love with before she was killed for the Immortality Spell, Elijah truly loves his brother. In his own words, he will not stop looking for Niklaus' redemption until he's sure there is no redemption to be found. That doesn't stop him from plotting to kill Niklaus when he's tricked into thinking that the coffins containing the rest of their siblings have been dumped into the ocean. He gets as far as a tight grip on Niklaus' heart before the only thing that calls him off is the reveal that the coffins hadn't been dumped into the ocean, and that Niklaus would lead him to them.

Of course, he later gets a dagger stabbed into his chest and thrown into a coffin to rejoin his family, but that's what happens when you trust Klaus Mikaelson.

When Klaus' miracle baby is revealed, Elijah accompanies his brother to New Orleans and later comes to believe that the unborn child is their family's hope and vows to do everything he possibly can to protect both it and the mother, Hayley. Though he quickly develops feelings for Hayley, he's unwilling to do anything about them for fear of damaging his fractured relationship with Klaus. Despite being daggered shortly after arriving in New Orleans, Elijah continually devotes himself to Klaus' mission and keeping the family together. Rebekah repeatedly asks him to leave New Orleans with her, to get away from Niklaus and he continually declines.

Despite his constant choosing Klaus over her, Elijah is very close to his sister. Over the many years, he has constantly defended her from Klaus' aggressions and though he has sometimes failed and let her remain in her coffin with a dagger in her chest, he seems to truly trust Rebekah more than the others. She's the only one he mentions his suspicions about their mother to, and is the person Rebekah most often comes to when she has trouble of some kind. That isn't to say that when Elijah isn't choosing Klaus over her that their relationship is perfectly fine, though. He has a tendency to be overly critical of her actions, and looks down upon her desire to become human again. Elijah also isn't above manipulating her to get what he wants. He goes as far as to offer her a challenge, to see if she could go an entire day without using her vampire powers, in an attempt to get her to see the error of her ways. If she could, he would give her the cure and let her live her life as a human, despite his misgivings over the idea.

When all is said and done, however, Elijah will do almost anything to protect Rebekah, even from their brother. When it is revealed that Rebekah summoned their father to New Orleans and the three siblings are trapped in the Lafayette Cemetery with Klaus determined to kill Rebekah for her crime against their family, Elijah stands against him every step of the way until he's stabbed with a magical knife.

In Elijah's own words he was close to his entire family, but seeing as how Finn was trapped in a coffin for 900 years and died shortly after being awoken and never sharing a single line of dialogue with Kol, it's unclear how true this really is.

Despite being later proven right about his suspicions over their mother's claims of forgiveness and wanting to be a family again, Elijah is visibly on board with the idea, after centuries of trying to do that exact thing.

The only thing that even comes close to being as important to Elijah as his family is, is his word and by extension his honour. When Elijah gives someone his word, he not only holds himself to it, but fully expects the other party to hold themselves to it too. Breaking your word to Elijah is the highest form of disrespect, and he does not suffer it lightly. Trevor was killed 500 years after breaking his promise to Elijah to keep Katerina Petrova safe until the ritual, and Katerina herself was imprisoned in the tomb below Mystic Falls for Klaus to deal with after fleeing from the ritual, getting herself turned into a vampire and being on the run for 500 years.

That isn't to say Elijah is entirely above breaking his own word, though he greatly prefers not to if circumstances allow it. The first time he's seen breaking it is in season two, after he had promised to help Elena Gilbert kill Klaus for having dumped their family in the ocean. Though it clearly pains him to do so, the lure of being reunited with his family is enough to get him to break his word to Elena. He will willingly break his own deals if the other party lies to him about their intentions to manipulate him, as shown when he calls the deal he made with Sophie Deveraux after learning her true intentions. Despite his reaction, it highlights the fact that Elijah isn't as infallible as he seems. Due to how important he considers his word, it makes him rather easy to manipulate. Get him to promise you something, and generally he will fulfill it.

With that said, he isn't afraid to take advantage of loopholes in the deals he makes to get a favourable outcome. When Hayley's and subsequently the baby's lives are threatened, Elijah is prepared to go on the warpath because "nobody hurts my family and lives." Sophie Deveraux manages to get him to promise that he won't let Klaus kill Agnes, the witch behind the attack. Instead, he kills Agnes himself, noting that he only promised Klaus would not hurt her.

Indeed, it seems anger over his word being broken seems to be the only emotion he knows how to deal with. The pain and sadness of being separated from his family are turned into revenge against Klaus for what he believed his brother did to them, as one example. Romantic feelings are right out, too. After fighting with Klaus over Tatia and her subsequent death, Elijah loses faith in love itself for over five hundred years. It takes Tatia's ancestor Katerina, another doppelgänger to begin to change his mind. Unfortunately, she later betrays their family to save her own life, causing Elijah to close off his heart and setting off the second longest game of chase in the Vampire Diaries universe. He later seems to make up with her, after imprisoning her in the tomb and her being party to finally killing Mikael for good. Sadly, it's not to last. A level of constant distrust exists on Elijah's side, despite his feelings for her, leading him to choose to leave for New Orleans with Klaus instead of helping her. Ultimately, it just goes to show that there is nobody Elijah will choose over Klaus.

While living in New Orleans the first time with his family, Elijah meets a witch named Celeste. She's killed shortly afterwards due to Klaus' machinations, but she has such an effect on Elijah that he actually mentions being weary of constantly sacrificing his own joy for Klaus'. Later, when Hayley digs up her bones, he is furious with her. Not only because she violated his privacy, but because her actions broke a promise he made to Celeste to keep her remains hidden.

Hayley gets off rather lightly, considering how Elijah treats others who disrespect him. When Klaus' former protégé Marcel disobeys him, instead of killing Marcel himself, Elijah instead kills his best friend Thierry. Killing Marcel would be too light a punishment, instead he has to suffer the loss of his best friend forever. Of course, Hayley gets off lightly because Elijah doesn't know how to deal with his feelings for her. He refuses to act on them for fear of damaging his relationship with Klaus, but he can't help but appoint himself her protector.

Of course, this isn't the first time he's done that. As shown when he tries to get Klaus to spare Katerina's life in 1942, he has a bit of white knight syndrome in his blood. That particular act backfires on him, but it gives us insight into his mind. From his sister Rebekah, to Katerina and Hayley, he has a tendency to take it upon himself to protect and save the women in his life.

Being one of the five (well six, but it's unclear if Mikael ever turned anybody since he was too busy eating vampires and trying to kill his children instead) original vampires naturally comes with a bit of an attitude problem. Because of his age and strength, Elijah naturally thinks very little of other, 'normal' vampires. When dealing with other vampires, he demands respect and does not suffer disrespect lightly, as mentioned above. As far as he's concerned, he and his siblings are the superior vampires. He's more than happy to compel them to do his bidding if they refuse, too.

Of course, with that said, he doesn't entirely like being a vampire. He may not want to be human anymore, but he maintains a very high level of hypocrisy when it comes to his siblings vampiric nature vs his own. He isn't afraid to feed on people, or kill them, and yet constantly derides the rest of his family for doing the same thing. Being called on this by his mother when she attempts to wipe her children from the face of the Earth sends him into a shame spiral, during which he actually abandons his family for a brief time. Despite all of this, he maintains perfect control over his bloodlust and refuses to feed from children.

However, this control comes from a mental barrier, known as the "Red Door," put in place by Esther shortly after Elijah was turned into a vampire. Having no control, he murdered his first love Tatia and couldn't deal with the guilt so Esther taught him to suppress these emotions, along with memory of his human victims behind the door so he could remain in control, as well as teaching him to remain clean at all times so he won't unlock the Red Door and be tormented by the guilt.

For a thousand years, this works and Elijah maintains the previously mentioned control until Esther unlocks the door in an attempt to convince her family they're better off as humans. With the door open, Elijah's control begins to fray and he begins to lash out when he becomes even a tiny bit dirty. By the end of season two, he seems to be over this for the most part and back to his normal self, though there are vague hints he's still tormented by the guilt of centuries of repressed memories.

Memories Retained or Lost:

Elijah will retain everything except for what Klaus did to Hayley: putting her under the Crescent Curse. He will remember being on the outs with Klaus more than normal for whatever reason, though.

Powers and Abilities:

Elijah is an Original Vampire, meaning he is both incredibly old and incredibly powerful. Original Vampire here refers to a group a vampires that are part of the first generation of vampires and the progenitor of a vampiric bloodline. As the progenitors of the vampire race, they are more powerful than ordinary vampires in every way, up to and including only being able to be killed by the wood from one specific tree.

While it is unknown if an Original’s abilities increase with age as an ordinary vampire’s does, it is known that consuming human blood will strengthen their abilities to a slight degree.

• Super Strength : There are claims that the Original Family are the strongest creatures in the world, it’s unclear if this is actually true. However, they are exceedingly strong, and Elijah is no exception. Elijah’s strength is enough to decapitate another vampire with a slap of his hand, break a witch’s neck with a slight twist of his hand, shatter a large storefront window with a handful of change and rip out the hearts of lesser supernatural creatures and humans with little effort. The upper limits of his strength aren’t clearly defined, however, only that he is incredibly strong.

• Super Speed : Normal vampires are said to be the fastest supernatural creatures in the world, with Original Vampires being faster than that, with only the Original Hybrid (and Elijah’s brother) Klaus being faster. They’re fast enough to stop other species in their tracks and cover miles in a matter of minutes. Vampires as a whole seem to impart some sort of protection to passengers while using their speed, as ordinary humans are unharmed despite the incredible friction caused by the speed. Their reflexes are also heightened.

• Super Agility : Using their enhanced strength and speed, vampires are capable of jumping and climbing far higher and faster than an ordinary human without difficulty or suffering exhaustion.

• Super Senses : All vampires possess heightened senses of smell, sight and hearing. They're able to see in total darkness, smell blood and eavesdrop on whispered conversations in far-off buildings or over the phone.

• Super Durability : Original Vampires possess a durability that seems close to invincibility. While they can be stabbed with ordinary weapons, an Original Vampire has never been seen to be decapitated or have their heart removed, despite numerous opportunities to do so. Elijah has also been attacked with a flamethrower, which did little more than ruin his suit.

• Healing Factor : Potentially the strongest healing factor in the TVD universe, Original Vampires are capable of healing from any injury in anything from a matter of seconds to a matter of hours. They can even heal from a stake to the heart, normally fatal to other vampires. Magic can be used to slow the healing process, however.

• Enhanced Emotions : All vampires feel emotions far more powerfully than humans, and the Original Vampires are no exception.

• Emotion Control : Vampires have the innate ability to ‘turn off’ their emotions, leaving them free of guilt, anger, sadness, etc. However, it has been said that the ability fades over time and with Elijah being over a thousand years old, it’s unlikely he still retains it.

• Compulsion : Compulsion allows vampires to exert a form of mind control over others, letting them control another person, tamper with their memories or alter their very personality. In Elijah’s case, at least, it requires eye contact. The only species vulnerable to compulsion are ordinary humans, and in the case of an Original Vampire using compulsion, ordinary vampires too, meaning that witches, werewolves and other nonhuman species are completely immune to its power. Humans, as well, can become immune to compulsion if they ingest or wear the vervain plant somewhere on their person. If a person is made to forget something through compulsion, if they die and begin the transition to vampirism, they begin to remember everything.

• Dream Manipulation : All vampires possess the ability to manipulate dreams. They can produce and modify them, as well as induce nightmares or lucid dreaming.

• Immortality - Original Vampires do not age, and are immune to all illnesses, toxins, poisons and diseases.

• Eidetic Memory : It seems all of the Mikaelson family vampires possess perfect recall, as they are able to remember events that happened hundreds of years ago with perfect clarity.

• Bloodlust Control : Unique to Elijah, he possesses almost perfect control of his bloodlust, to the point where he was able to carry out a conversation with someone after waking from three months of being neutralized and blood-starved.

• Telepathy : While Elijah was recovering from being undaggered, he was able to mentally communicate with his sister Rebekah. He more commonly uses tactile telepathy, sharing his memories with others through touch.

Other;

To go with his immense list of abilities, Elijah also possesses a keen intellect, with a penchant for forming strategies and contingencies. He's also quite observant, able to tell that "Katherine" is actually Elena after only seeing her daylight ring, and that his dead lover Celeste was inhabiting the body of a Quarter Witch.

Roleplay Samples

Link to a sample of your character in action:

Various @ The Test Drive Meme
Katherine Pierce feat. Clarisse La Rue @ Eachdraidh

Link to a sample of your prose writing style:
Elijah @ A shared musebox
David Nolan @ My musebox

Any other important information (including special inventory items in their possession):

The only item of significance on Elijah's person is the lapis lazuli ring, spelled to him specifically, that protects him from being harmed by sunlight. Otherwise he has his suit, a thin metal bracelet on his right wrist and his phone.

Why do you think this character would join/work with the Knights?

If you need a Klaus-sitter, Elijah is the perfect person.

Niklaus' (and the rest of the Mikaelsons and Mikaelson-adjacent people's) presence in the Knights would be the biggest draw for Elijah, but on a more personal level, it would also be a place where he would be able to find a new purpose for himself that isn't quite so dependant on family. He might not consciously realise this, at least, considering he has a tendency to devote himself to everybody but himself but Elijah functions best when he has something to focus on. Whether it's manipulating a coven's matriarch into helping, or systematically murdering a werewolf pack to get at their magic rings, Elijah always sees things through to the end. It would be no different in the Knights.

As for what Wynn would see in him, his strategic mind and long, long history are both incredible assets. On a more personal level, Elijah is a man of incredible honour and his word is the second, sometimes the most important thing to him. While he isn't afraid to abuse loopholes or break it should someone lie to manipulate him, forcing him to break it is one of the worst things you can do. While it sounds a little harsh, this is perhaps his greatest asset as it can allow him to be used as necessary. Though he definitely has free will, once he's agreed to do something, he will get it done. Not necessarily the most heroic of things, but in the right hands, he's almost a weapon.

Truthfully, Elijah's potential is mostly shaped by those around him. Surround him with the Knights and it will only have a positive effect. It isn't willing, but he's far too damaged by his family to realise otherwise.

But mostly the Klaus thing.

Do you have a preference for which member of the Knights your character is squired to? Nope!