Becoming the Destroyer - A Psychological Analysis of Mikael
- Analyze
- Mar 4, 2018
- 6 min read
With Mikael's death in the most recent episode of "The Originals" and considering what his final conversation with Klaus was about, I thought it was time for me to write down some of my thoughts about what made Mikael who he is. We know him as the destroyer, the vampire who hunts vampires and he is reknowned for levelling half of Europe in pursuit of his children and his legendary hatred for Klaus. But what made him this way? As a psychology student this is a topic that interests me and as such here is my personal analysis of what I think that might be.
Mikael's Childhood
I think first and foremost we should look back at what Mikael's childhood might have been like. Though we have yet to see any flashbacks to this period of time, we do know one thing about Mikael's childhood for sure: Mikael had an admiration for his father and his father was a tough man. Mikael mentions that his father trained him from when he was a little child and had he shown any weakness his father would have corrected him, adding that "mothers love their children, fathers make them strong." We also have another hint at this sort of behaviour from Klaus when he says about Mikael that "perhaps his father made him the way he was." In short my image of Mikael's childhood is that his father was very rough on him and engrained in him a very warrior-like and practical mindset, drilling into his mind the importance of strength and of the idea that "fathers make their children strong."
Mikael Becomes a Parent but Loses Freya
We also know however that later when Mikael had his first children, Finn and Freya, he was kind to them. Loving both of them greatly, especially Freya. I suspect that while he admired his father all his life, he disagreed in part with his father's philosophy about what it meant to be a father. He would still make his children strong, but after looking into his first child's eyes for the first time he could not bring himself to not shower them with affection as well.
I think this backfired the moment Freya died (or at least when Mikael thought she'd died) of plague. I think at this point Mikael blamed himself. Freya had been too weak to resist the plague that had claimed her and this was his fault for not making her strong, for spoiling her with affection. He now knew his father had been right all along and he hadn't fulfilled his duty towards his children (making them strong like his father made him strong). He then slipped into a depression because of his grief and guilt, taking distance from those he loved in fear of failing them again and being himself hurt in the process (losing another loved one).
Klaus is Born
We also know from Esther that when Klaus was born, Mikael's spirits were renewed. Mikael himself said that he thought Klaus had "the eyes of the warrior." Based on this I suspect that upon Klaus' birth he saw something in Klaus, a strength that the others had lacked. He figured that this new child would become strong and he took it upon himself to raise him right this time, to do as his father had taught him. This time he would not fail. As such Klaus become the target of all of Mikael's expectations and came to play an important part in Mikael's self-esteem.
However, as we know Klaus wasn't particularly strong or good at hunting or the like. Instead, Klaus was artistic and sensitive. Instead of being good at fighting for survival, he occupied himself with worthless things (in Mikael's eyes) such as art. The potential Mikael saw in Klaus seemed to remain unrealised and at first Mikael once again blamed himself. Fearing losing Klaus as he did Freya, and failing as a father once again, he decided to push the boy even harder. He would make him strong, no matter what. However, as we know Klaus continuously failed to live up to Mikael's expectations of him. I think this had the dual effect of making him distance himself further emotionally from Klaus, whom he thought was doomed to die, and at the same time making Mikael hate himself (and thereby Klaus as the source of that hatred) more, feeling he had once again failed. In other words, over time Mikael's efforts to make Klaus strong turned to frustration and then to hatred (especially since his other children seemed to turn out just fine, so in an attempt to rescue his self-esteem and to cope with his percieved failure he attributed it to Klaus instead of placing the blame with himself).
Henrik Dies & The Truth is Revealed
When Henrik died not only did Mikael's feelings towards Klaus grow even darker, though not dark enough for him not to turn Klaus as well, but he had also had enough of it. This second child to die pushed him over the edge and to make sure it would never happen again he had Esther turn them all into vampires. Henrik's death also instilled in Mikael a hatred for the wolves, though he may have had some hatred for them already considering how prideful he is and that he and his people had to hide from the wolves every full moon. In other words I think it would've felt embarassing to Mikael, who had been trained by his father to be a fearless warrior, to have to run and hide from these wolves because they could not control themselves.
When Klaus' true heritage was revealed Mikael felt vindicated, relieved. Mikael now knew it wasn't his fault at all that Klaus had turned out the way he did, he hadn't failed as a father, instead it was Klaus' beast-like nature which was to blame. As such there was nothing he could've done, he believed, that could've changed how Klaus turned out ("You do not talk to abominations or try to change them, you erase them."). He could now attribute all of Klaus' bad attributes to the boy himself without internal conflict and release the doubts (is this my fault after all?) and feelings of guilt and shame he had about not being able to raise him right and not being able to live up to his father's philosophy. He also felt vindicated in his hatred for Klaus because he now knew that clearly Klaus deserved the hatred he'd felt for him all his life. Him having Esther put the hybrid curse on Klaus then, was a way of justifying these thoughts further. Note that Mikael still didn't kill Klaus, despite all this. So while he might've resented the boy to some degree, this indicates to me that he might still have had lingering paternal feelings towards him. Maybe even sympathising with the boy for having been afflicted with this beast-like nature. Offering, in his mind, a kindness to the boy in still letting him live eternally as a vampire and by cleansing him of this beast-like nature, this weakness and impulsiveness.
These last feelings were crushed however when Klaus, in Mikael's mind, betrayed him by killing his
wife and turning his own children, who he'd just given up everything for to protect and who were the last things he felt he had in the world, against him. Despite the fact that he'd been a father to Klaus all his life, despite the fact that he'd attempted to make Klaus strong even with Klaus' many failures, despite the fact that he'd given Klaus eternal life and that he'd helped Klaus be cleansed of his beast-like nature, Klaus had taken away everything from him now: the family he had loved and longed to protect and which he had feared losing ever since Freya had died. His mind was now made up, nothing could cleanse this evil from this boy, he'd always remain at the mercy of his beast-like nature (even with the curse).
With nothing left in this world Mikael gave himself a single goal: to kill the person who had caused all of this. And so his hatred consumed him as he wandered the world alone for centuries seeking Klaus. The more he invested in this goal, the harder it was to let it go, and the more bad things happened between the two of them (since they went around fighting each other) the more hatred he developed until it became what it was when we first met him.
I think Mikael was being truthful to Klaus in saying he didn't know why he hated him even when he was a child, but this is why I personally think he did.
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Copyright: The images used in this article are screenshots taken from the episodes of the show. We are allowed to use them under section 107 of the US Copyright Act of 1976. The Originals belongs to the CW and Alloy Entertainment.
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