I used to really love Marbekah. They were top 3 TVDU ships for me. But the more I think about it, the more I have to rewrite to keep loving them. And I do want to love them just because it is one of the two ships I loved that actually got an endgame. But in typical TVDU fashion, the ships that got endgames were so problematic.

I don't think anyone can say Marbekah isn't problematic. It's one thing to love them, but they are deeply problematic for several reasons. One of them will always be Marcel constantly choosing either Klaus or New Orleans over her.

But the bigger reason is Rebekah grooming him. Because there isn't another way to say it. Rebekah knew Marcel as a child, helped raise him, and then quickly got into a relationship with him. We don't really know how old he was but he was at least in his early twenties when they first got together.

For the most part, as you said, I just headcannon that Rebekah wasn't an active parent in Marcel's life. But the show actively tries to fight against that narrative. The scene where Marcel is a literal child saying he wants to marry Rebekah was meant to be cute, but it's gross considering they then have a romantic relationship. You do mention that it doesn't fit the traditional definition of grooming, but I think it does because of that scene. Marcel makes a comment about being attracted to Rebekah in a way that he wants to marry her as a child and instead of seeing Rebekah rebuke this, she is flattered and essentially gives him a goal, saying she wouldn't marry someone who couldn't beat her in a duel. Not that she couldn't marry a child or someone her brother was raising as a son. This is then paired with a flashback of them dueling when he is an adult and they begin to kiss. The fact that they are still dueling all those years later make it seem as if she had an active role in his life. Rebekah's failure to set boundaries and encouraging the crush is a form of grooming. As you said, she should have set him down and explained family. But also as you point out, Rebekah doesn't really understand healthy family.

Marcel being raised by the Mikaelsons turned him into a Mikaelson. In some good ways and some bad. Marcel definitely has a lot of similar traits to Klaus. I definitely think there is an aspect of Rebekah choosing Marcel because of that, but also simply because the Mikaelsons had to keep it in the family or Klaus would lose his mind. Even though he also lost his mind here. But at least Rebekah wasn't worried about Klaus killing Marcel like he had killed every other lover she had in the past.

Klaus stans will say he "punished" Rebekah because of the grooming, but that's really ignoring his entire character and the entire show. Rebekah took something that belonged to him, because he viewed Marcel as property more than a child. This is another reason people overlook the grooming, because people don't view Marcel as a Mikaelson or as a child of Klaus. I've always been curious of where the last name "Gerard" came from. Why wouldn't he go by Mikaelson if he was raised by them? Klaus gave him a first name but not their last name? Potentially Marcel dropped it to distance himself, but even in the flashbacks, we don't see him truly being regarded as a Mikaelson. The show did this because they understood they were walking a creepy line of predatory/incest.

I think Marbekah tends to get less judgment than the other ships because people think Marcel and Rebekah are morally superior than the other characters. This is not true for everyone, just something I've seen with both of their stans. I love Rebekah, but I get attacked if I ever criticize her for how she treated the teenagers in TVD. Or the fact that Rebekah dated teenage Matt and used money and the ability to travel to persuade him to be with her. Or when I compare Marcel to Klaus, because they do have a lot of similarities. I've noticed with a lot of characters who may have less terrible deeds under their belt get away with murder, literally. If you criticize them, people will respond with "You like x, and they've done worse," instead of holding their character accountable. Or like with Klaus, their abuse is used to excuse all of their misdeeds.

People will argue that Rebekah was turned as a a 16 year old teenager so she was a teenager and it was fine for her to date teenagers, but then Marcel being with her at 25 years old is problematic as he's an adult sleeping with a 16 year old. Or Even Damon who was turned at 24 years old. So that argument is still problematic.

I do think Marcel being a POC does play a role. POC children and teens tend to face "adultification" in media, so people are less concerned about them being groomed or taken advantage of by adults. I do also agree that Rebekah is often infantilized. I blame a lot of her behavior in TVD for that. She behaved like a child. But in TO, they matured her so much, even in the flashbacks. If TVD Rebekah was with Marcel, I think that would have felt creepy on his part.

Like I said, I do still enjoy Marbekah, but I can't think about it too much or it grosses me out. I do prefer my ships to be age appropriate and contain the least amount of toxicity we can expect from a series like TVDU.

Thanks for the ask!

I love both so much. I grew up with TVD and only discovered TO a few years ago. I still regularly re-watch them both.

But as much as I complain about the writing of TO, I prefer the storytelling of TO. It's one of the reasons I get so mad at how rushed and poorly done the last two seasons were. I wish they would have slowed down the pacing and had more seasons so that we could enjoy the stories more. But the seasons were so compelling. The enemies were complex characters who you kind of rooted for because they weren't wrong. The main characters weren't heroes and no one pretended they were. They were all super problematic people and even the best people did bad things at times. They all acknowledged this. The show acknowledged it better. It allowed the show to be more enjoyable than seeing characters posture and pretend the line between good and evil is distinct. The maturity of the show helped it be enjoyable because it allowed for more nuanced conversations.

Another big reason is simply the fact that TO aged everyone up. It felt more realistic watching people in their early twenties going through the events of TO, rather than watching teenagers behave like adults and get groomed by hundred year old vampires. It made the ships a little easier to root for too.

I also prefer the overall arc of TO over TVD. I love the early seasons of TVD and still enjoy the later seasons, but after a while the story began to feel repetitive. The whole show was based on a love triangle that they never tried to shake. In fact, they played into it. Even now, people still debate who Elena would have ended up with if Nina had stayed. Or Katherine for that matter. The villains all played into this. The fact that Katherine is supposed to be this 500 year old badass that will do anything to survive but is hung up on stealing a teenagers life and chasing after a guy who is just not that into her got old fast. She comes back from hell and is still obsessed. Everyone in the supernatural world being obsessed with a teenager and two baby vampires (because 175 is not old) was so wild.

TO tried the love triangle but it was hardly even a debate. Even with the different ships, it was always clear who the endgames of TO were. Which is because TO wasn't about the ships. I do wish we could have more time on the romance, but the arc of the show was about family. The ships were all secondary and largely centered on family as well. The ships weren't just a romance but finding found family.

On top of that, the enemies targeting the family made sense. Every season there was a different motivation but each one made sense. The Mikaelsons are the oldest vampire family who weren't good people. Of course they had enemies. The enemies had really good reasons to stay obsessed and seek revenge. The show could have just stopped there, each season bringing in a new enemy. But they mixed it up and kept it interesting. We had old family members coming back from the dead, a cult of vampires, faction wars, etc. The stories felt more organic because they weren't even always focused on the Mikaelsons, but rather supernatural conflict.

The TO lore was also more interesting to me. Dahlia, Inadu, the faction wars. We got to learn about more than just vampires, whereas TVD felt like all of the other supernatural were just to prop up the vampires. I will admit that TO slacked off on the wolves a bit in certain seasons, but for the most part, the factions were evenly represented.

I also loved the side characters in TO. Not that I don't in TVD. But I feel like TO had such a great collection of characters. TVD had the MF gang and everyone else was secondary unless accepted by the MF gang. The characters all just had so much depth.

All of this, is of course, opinions. Both shows have so much to offer. I critique them because I love them. But TO just has such a special place to me.

Thanks for the ask! I haven't really sat down and thought about this before!

Gilijah will always be so special to me. They are my second favorite Elijah ship, closely behind haylijah. I love Gia as a character and hated that they killed her off so unnecessarily. Much like Cami, she had so much more to offer. I wanted to know more about her past and see her help put New Orleans back together.

One thing I love about TO is that they dispensed with a lot of the "teen drama." While I loved the few jealous scenes between these two ships, I also loved how they were all so mature about it. Gia was willing to risk her life to protect Hayley and Hope for Elijah. Hayley was a bit petty with Gia but also was grateful to her. Elijah was respectful to Jackson and Jackson, while not always respectful, at least didn't throw a fit every time Hayley interacted with Elijah. They were all in a complicated situation and tried to make the best of it.

If the show wasn't in such a rush, I think it could have easily not killed off Jackson and Gia and still had a haylijah endgame. Gia knew she was not Elijah's endgame and what they had was temporary, even if she did truly fall for him. I don't know if she would have gone back to Marcel. She was interested in him but then he showed her no interest so she moved on. I initially did root for them even though I've always shipped marbekah (though less and less the more I think about it). But I just can't see Gia waiting around for Marcel. She would continue to help rebuild New Orleans and create her own family there. I like to think she would find a random vampire to love and create a life with. She needed to stay safe and get out of the Mikaelson drama. Maybe she and Cami could have run off together after spending so much time trying to save New Orleans.

Thanks for the ask! I love finding fellow Gia stans!

Like romantic ships? Incest ships aren't my cup of tea. Even if they were, they already have such problematic relationships, it would be so toxic. The Mikaelsons definitely give off Lannister vibes at times (I'm looking at Klaus and Rebekah especially). I definitely think it is because of their toxic codependency that they give off these vibes. I feel like half the time I get a haylijah edit idea and the same song could be applied to any number of the Mikaelson siblings.

But no, they all need to be less invovled in each other's lives, not more.

Thanks for the ask!

I have talked about how undervalued Cami is, but I will always talk about it more. My most elaborate analysis of Cami is here.

There are so many storylines Cami was meant to go down, but because of the fandom she didn't get the chance.

Although, I don't think she needed more ships. People are, of course, welcome to ship Cami with anyone. I have crack ships for her that I like. But I also hate when everyone is in love with one character and their entire storyline just becomes a messy lovefest. TVD did that with Caroline and Elena. Adding more love interest doesn't make a more compelling story or character. I like Klamille, but they didn't need to be endgame to make Cami an important character. She didn't need a love interest to make her more important.

Cami is an important character because of her family and her personality. As you said, Cami was slated to take over the human faction. It had been in her family for generations. Even as a vampire, she at least remembered what it was to be human. She should have gotten the opportunity to use her vampirism to protect humanity. She would have done an amazing job teaching vampires to maintain their humanity.

I disagree that the show reduced her down to "Klaus' love interest." The fandom definitely does, but this is purposeful. The fandom loves to reduce Cami to nothing and pretend she wasn't important for various reasons. But the fact that you listed a bunch of characters that loved Cami and wanted more with her shows she was so much more than that.

Cami and Klaus hardly even interacted for much of season 1 and 2. We knew they cared for each other in the background, but that wasn't the main focus of the show. All of TO's ships operated in the background. But that didn't mean Cami didn't have important storylines.

In Season 1, Cami's plot wasn't Klaus. It was learning about the supernatural world and her family's legacy. It was also her establishing so many important relationships: Marcel, Davina, Josh, etc. In Season 2, Cami's plot wasn't Klaus. It was working with Marcel and helping trap Finn. In Season 3, Cami's plot wasn't Klaus. It was working with the Detective and Vincent to catch a serial killer. Cami was probably one of the few characters that didn't seem to fully revolve around Klaus.

Cami and Vincent's friendship was so important to New Orleans. Whether it was ever romantic or not, their friendship was an important part of her storyline and even helped the Mikaelsons since Vincent cared for Cami. Cami's friendship with Marcel, the leader of vampires, is continuously underrated. Cami and Hayley, the alpha of the wolves, became friends as they were both new to this world and trying to navigate it together. Cami became a surrogate mother to Davina, the Reagent of the witches.

The entire Mikaelson family cared for her. Elijah had so much respect for her that he stood up to Klaus. Finn was obsessed with Cami. Rebekah loved Cami and encouraged Klaus to pursue her. We don't really see Kol with Cami, but I imagine he would have loved her just for how well Cami protected Davina. Cami was a maternal figure to Hope, the first ever tribrid.

Cami became one of the most important people in New Orleans. Not because Klaus loved her, but because everyone did. It didn't need to be romantic. Everyone loved her because she was a genuinely good person or tried to make the world a better place.

Her last episode is so sad, but I loved that we saw the entire city mourning her. Yes, they did make it about Klaus, because that's what TO does. Everything is centered on Klaus. But I loved that she had a chance to be scared and vulnerable. I loved that everyone showed up for her. I do hate that after she died, the only mentions of her are to applaud Klaus for doing the bare minimum. I hated that it didn't seem like anyone talked about Cami to the point that Hope didn't know who she was.

Thanks for the ask!

Elijah just isn't a jealous person.

He would feel secure in their relationship, especially if they were together long enough to be married. He's been around long enough to not be jealous by other people. He understands complicated friendships and relationships.

We see this with Jackson and Hayley. Elijah never really shows that he is jealous of Jackson, rather jealous that Jackson gets to behave romantically with Hayley. He even goes out of his way to talk Jackson up to Hayley. So if Elijah got to be in a romantic relationship with her, he wouldn't care that his wife was friends with an ex.

He would find the friend amusing, especially if the friend was actually trying to win his wife away. He would let the friend flirt and make moves but, as long as his wife wasn't uncomfortable, he wouldn't do anything. He would know his wife wasn't interested in anyone else. He would also find it amusing if his wife played into it to tease him. Part of him would even feel guilty for the friend. They would think they were getting somewhere but in reality it was all just a game.

He would appreciate his wife having a friend she feels comfortable with. He has spent much of his life not having that. He would never deny his wife the comfort of a friend.

Much like Hayley, Elijah doesn't do teen drama. If he has an issue, he'll just say it. He doesn't need to have a competition for his wife. He doesn't treat her like an object and knows she has a mind of her own. He trusts her completely.

Thanks for the ask!

Much like with any of the cross-over ships, I'm not a fan.

They just felt very random to me. Part of this is because Rebekah's character was just used to mirror Elena in TVD to cause conflict. Elena loved Stefan, so Rebekah did. Elena wanted the cure to be human, so Rebekah did. They even made Elena's necklace about Rebekah. So it's not surprising that they just threw her with the person that Elena was with when she was at her most human, normal life.

I'm not saying Rebekah was actively seeking Elena's life, rather the writers were doing it to cause conflict between the two. This is a very common storytelling tool to show parallels, but TVD relied on it far too often with Elena. We had Caroline season 1, Katherine most of the time, and then Rebekah. By the time it got to Rebekah, I was just done with one type of woman wanting the exact same things. We finally got to see Rebekah grow and become her own person in TO. But it's hard to picture the Rebekah from TO and Matt together.

I partly think they were thrown together so that Rebekah didn't get in the way of the love triangle with Stelena/Delena. Rebekah was just used by both Damon and Stefan to make Elena jealous and then discarded. She was partnered up with Matt because of course women need a man to focus on. I also feel like at this point we were getting a lot of Bonnie/Matt friendship. It's almost like the writers wanted to make sure no one started shipping them by throwing him with literally anyone. They didn't even get to further their friendship because of it.

My biggest issue with all of the MFG and TO cross over relationships is the "tension" everyone loves is actually just hatred. The MFG has every right to hate the Mikaelsons and the Mikaelsons never actually do anything to make it right or redeem themselves. Matt spent most of their courtship actively trying to kill Rebekah and her family. Matt doesn't treat Rebekah well (I don't blame him, he had every reason to hate vampires, especially the Mikaelsons), and Rebekah just seems desperate trying to make him like her for some reason. They never really show what she likes in him. The infatuation comes out of nowhere. She says she likes him because he's so "human" and I fully get that was his role in the show, but it felt very random for that to be enough for her obsession with him.

I also just don't buy her infatuation with Matt based on the timeline. Now I know most of the timeline was written after TVD but they didn't care to try and merge it together well. Marcel "dies" in 1919, she meets Stefan in 1920, and then is daggered until 2010. They don't give my girl a chance to breathe before throwing a different guy at her. It's also very clear that they didn't have Rebekah's backstory worked out at this point. She calls Matt "one of the good ones" like she hasn't dated good guys in the past. But Matt is not kind to her. He is a good guy to other people and she just keeps waiting for him to be good to her, but it never happens. Which, again, I don't blame him. Rebekah came into town trying to murder his friends and caused him to drive off a bridge, killing his childhood best friend. He has every right to hate her. I just hated how the writers made her obsessed with someone who hated her.

I do like that Rebekah saw Matt struggling even when his friends didn't. I also like that Matt gets to travel. I've talked about it before, but Matt's friends overlook his financial struggles so much. Everyone in the town does. How did none of the parents take Matt and Vicki in when their mom left? At least Rebekah tried to help. But again, it felt like Matt was getting all of the benefits and Rebekah got very little from their interactions. She liked him for being human and, for some reason, 'wanted to be human,' but he never treated her like a human. He never made her feel accepted or like she was getting a human experience for being with him.

It was a ship with no endgame possible and not even a "for now" scenario. Matt didn't want to be around supernaturals and Rebekah didn't do anything to make him feel safer in that world. If anything, she furthered his hatred. It was never going to be anything more than a fling and even that felt very forced by the writers. Rebekah needed someone who loved her for her. And Matt needed someone human who could pull him away from the supernatural world.

I also have to point out that Matt is 17/18 years old and Rebekah is over 1,000 years old. These ancient vampires really need to stop finding their significant others in high schools. They do try to make Matt seem more mature and Rebekah seemed less mature in TVD, but it doesn't erase the problems.

Thanks for the ask!

First, thank you so much! I'm glad you like my posts <3

Second, I'm going to try and answer this in a way that I offend the least amount of people possible. But remember, these are just my opinions and interpretations of the show. You can like/dislike whatever character you want. My opinion doesn't need to matter to you.

The fandom in general has a lot of misogyny in it and I do think we can blame a lot of it on the writers for encouraging it. But, yes, each of the women in the show are treated very differently for various reasons.

I like Caroline, but I'll talk about my feelings on her more in another post. I know there is a lot of discussion in the fandom of Caroline being a self-insert for JP and it allows others to have her be a self-insert for themselves. Therefore, the fandom tends to be more understand with her because they see themselves in her. I agree with this to an extent. I do think that Caroline is easier for the audience to understand because her problems feel more human. Most people can understand being an insecure teenager or feeling left out by her friends, a girl who has boy drama and fights with her mom. Season 1 really cemented Caroline as the teenage human girl. While Bonnie and Elena were dealing with supernatural problems. While, as an audience, we can appreciate them, we can't fully understand what they were going through.

This plays a part throughout the series for a lot of people. I see fans often forget the struggles of other characters but hold on to Caroline. To me, it's because they related to Caroline on a personal level they just aren't able to do with the others. A lot of girls are watching Caroline struggle through the same issues they are as they are struggling through them. While I don't necessarily think it's in a self-insert type of way, Caroline does represent the average teenage girl, even after she is turned. I don't think this is a problem per se, people will always find ways to relate to a character. It's the point of media.

I hate discussions on who is the better friend between the three because they all have moments where they are amazing friends and moments where they had issues to different extents.

We also can't discuss how everyone is treated without mentioning race. Bonnie is constantly held to a higher standard because of this. As the only black/POC character for the vast majority of the show, Bonnie has to represent the whole community. She's not allowed to be angry or loud or rude because then it furthers stereotypes. And when she is, people jump on these stereotypes and write her off as a character in general to make it seem like it's not just their racism.

Now for the rest of the women, I have seen hate for every single woman on this show get unnecessary hate. Including Caroline. I do think Caroline stans let her slide on a lot and will defend her like their lives depend on it, but so will Katherine stans and Elena stans, etc. We tend to want to see our favorite characters as perfect and any critique is seen as an attack on their choice of favorites instead of just that, a critique. There is not a single character alive that cannot be critiqued.

Caroline sleeping with Klaus after everything he did was wrong. Just like Elena sleeping with Damon after everything he did was wrong. Caroline was wrong for murdering 12 witches to save her friend just as Hayley was wrong for helping get 12 hybrids killed to find her family. These things don't cancel each other out or make one alright.

Bonnie is perfect and has never done anything wrong.

I do think Caroline stans tend to make up a very large and vocal part of the fandom so it does come across that Caroline is allowed to do anything without critique, but I feel like I've seen a shift in the fandom (or maybe just the side I'm on) where she does get called out. And this is coming from someone who has gotten some nasty inbox messages from Care stans. But some of my favorite mutuals are also Care stans. I've seen so many people love the villains but criticize the teenagers for absolutely everything they do. People just want their faves to be perfect and for everyone to love them. Don't let the problematic, toxic stans represent the character or the fandom as a whole.

Thanks for the ask!

I guess it depends on what you mean by "into" Bonnie.

I personally don't think Klaus would have been romantically into anyone in TVD and anything else was just random fanservice. Klaus had spent a thousand years attempting to undue his curse and 100 years running from his own family. He finally breaks the curse and is reunited with his family, only to do nothing? To sit around town and go to high school dances? This man is over 1,000 years old. I'm sorry, but he's not hanging out in a town with one bar and all the patrons are on vervain.

Klaus is power hungry and finally got all of the power he wanted. Why would he settle down in a small town? In the past, we saw him happiest when he was taking over cities like Chicago and New Orleans. Klaus wasn't in the mind to look for romance, he was looking to reclaim the power he felt was taken from him. Honestly, the only connection in TVD that made sense was "hate-banging" Hayley because there was zero love there. This fits Klaus' character at that time. He was still the man who felt like love was a weakness. Nothing that happened in TVD would have persuaded him overwise. TO had to spend the time and energy to convince him that loving someone else was worth it, something TVD didn't do because he was actively the villain.

Now if you're asking why he wasn't into Bonnie as a Bennett witch, it's cause of bad writing. Klaus loved powerful witches. He needed powerful witches. It would have been a better story line to watch him try to charm Bonnie into helping him (much like he did with Genevieve or Greta). But I can't see Bonnie falling for it and helping him in any shape or form without threats to her family. Even when he did threaten her, she hated him and tried not to help. Klaus was actively murdering people she cared about, torturing her and her friends, and all of his goals went directly against her own. Her mom got caught up in it all and killed. Hell, her mom abandoned her trying to keep Klaus' dad locked up. They were always on the opposite side of things, which would have made a team up hard, but no impossible.

I definitely find it out of character and just bad writing that he wasn't more focused on Bonnie while in town. If they just had to do another pedophilic story of minors getting with 100+ year old men, this would have been the one to tease. Like I said, Klaus liked to charm and flirt with his witches to get things done. The tension could have been fun, but I just can't see Bonnie taking it any further. The fact that Caroline did made me lose so much respect for her character. But at least with Bonnie, there would have been plot reasons for Klaus interacting with Bonnie. Cause again, Klaus seemed to have no plot or reason to be in TVD after Elena was turned. His presence made no sense, but maybe him trying to recruit Bonnie could have been something. But this would have given Bonnie a lot more storylines which the writers/producers hated to do.

I will say, I could see like an AU world of Klaus meeting Bonnie as an adult later in life, he would likely be into her. Bonnie and Cami have always reminded me of each other. And the qualities they share are the qualities Klaus loved in Cami.

Thanks for the ask!

This ship definitely had me rooting for them in the beginning. We know, I'm a sucker for any kind of friends-to-lovers. They also had one of the few relationships that felt very age appropriate. Maybe because they were one of the few that were basically the same age. But mainly because a lot of their joys and issues felt human.

We got a lot of great tropes with them. We got them falling for each other as they worked together for the people they loved. We got a fun little jealousy storyline with Luka. The best-friend's brother trope. The will they/won't they trope. They are both incredibly protective of each other and put each other first. This ship was so good for both of them, but unfortunately the writers really liked to put Bonnie and Jeremy through the ringer when it comes to romantic ships, so they really didn't stand a chance. Literally all of their love interests died, including each other.

One thing I really loved about them was, even before and after they were together, they still cared for each other. For so long, Jeremy seemed to be the only person who really saw what Bonnie gave for her friends, constantly trying to stop her from sacrificing herself. There are multiple times he even tried to stop Bonnie when Bonnie was sacrificing herself for his sister. Bonnie also sacrificed so much for Jeremy, even though he never wanted her to. It's one of the few ships where we actually see an exchange of sacrifice.

While I hate that Jeremy cheated on Bonnie with Anna and it did kind of ruin the ship, I can understand it more than a lot of the issues in other ships that completely made me hate the ship. Jeremy was a 16 year old kid who had lost so much, including Anna. When a loved one comes back from the dead, it complicates things. No, he didn't handle it well, but he also didn't do anything worse than what a lot of these 100+ year old men would do. I think it's also important to remember that Anna is 500+ years old and was essentially grooming and using Jeremy. I'm not justifying his behavior by any means, and Bonnie had every right to be mad and breakup with him, but I just feel like people are harder on Jeremy than all of the other adult characters who cheated or abused their partners/potential ships.

But again, even after this, Bonnie is still defending Jeremy's right to make his own decisions to Elena. Jeremy spends the summer being there for Bonnie when everyone else thinks she's dead. Jeremy is also the only person who really seems to miss Bonnie when she is in the prison world with Damon. He is the one that saves Bonnie and gives her hope. While I hate that Jeremy hurt Bonnie, he actually grew and evolved as a character, making sure to put Bonnie first, even just as a friend, for the rest of the show. I hated how they ended though. It felt very unresolved, especially given what everyone was going through. The show just didn't put any effort into it.

Basically, I thought Beremy was cute for what it was, a high school romance. Should it have been endgame? Not in my opinion because they both became very different people as they grew. I do prefer them to some of the canon endgames though. They would have been better off if they had begun dating later in life, when Jeremy wasn't so traumatized from losing nearly every person he cared for and was more emotionally mature. But I love to think that they stayed close after they both left town. They care about each other and check in on each other, but are ultimately happy for the other for moving on and finding their own joy in life.

Thanks for the ask! I haven't thought about this ship in a minute.

There are a lot of similarities between Katherine and Hayley's backgrounds. They both lost their families and were forced from their home, had to send their newborn child away, and spent a lot of their life looking for a home but never really finding a place to settle. They both did some questionable and even terrible things throughout their lives. Hayley definitely could have gone down the path to become like Katherine.

In TVD, Hayley is willing to help 12 hybrids get killed in order for information on her family. We see that in Katherine a lot, willing to sacrifice everyone and anyone to survive. But Hayley's motivation was slightly different as she wasn't necessarily killing to survive, but for family. Even throughout TO, Hayley puts aside her morals, not for her own life, but for that of her loved ones. Multiple times, she says that she doesn't care about her own life and will risk it to save others. Hayley's family is a big reason she grows as a character.

While Hayley's motivation for family is still selfish, I tend to view it as less so than Katherine. Katherine had multiple opportunities to be a better person and even create a new family. Even when her daughter finds her, Katherine is more focused on Elena's life. If Hayley had been given any more time with Hope, she would have sacrificed anything for it. Hayley becomes a better person for Hope.

Both Katherine and Hayley do end up dying for their children, Hayley sacrificing her life and Katherine going to Nadia's death bed, it took a lot more for Katherine to put aside her selfishness.

So while they both have similar backgrounds, when Hayley was given the chance to turn her life around, she took it. Katherine on the other hand became such a selfish person that she often sabotaged her own happiness.

Thanks for the ask!

Ranking of TVDU Fathers, Worst to Best:

14. Giuseppe Salvatore

Giuseppe did almost nothing redeemable as a father. He emotional and physically abused his family and then killed them when they tried to help the vampires. At no point did it seem like he loved his children. Maybe when he tried to stop Damon from running out to save Katherine, but even that felt more like a reflex than fatherly affection. There's literally nothing positive I can think to say about him which puts him at the very bottom.

13. Joshua Parker

Similar to Giuseppe, Joshua does very little to show love for any of his kids, let alone Kai. I also always have wondered where the Parker parents were as their children were running for their lives from Kai. Jo was stabbed in the stomach as she attempted to save them, but no parent came to help.

Joshua always put the the coven over his own children. He gets points over Giuseppe because I think he did care about his children, other than Kai, but just cared about the coven more. Still a terrible father who was willing to risk his children for the good of the coven.

12. Mikael

Mikael was awful, but he isn't the worst simply because, at some point, he did care for his children. All of them, including Klaus. He beat and abused them in his own twisted way to make them stronger so he wouldn't lose them like he lost Freya. He went about it in a terrible way, partly we can blame on his own upbringing and the time they lived, but then he spent a thousand years hunting down his children and tormenting them. While his main goal was Klaus, he still was willing to kill the rest of them for standing by Klaus.

None of this justifies his behavior, but he gets points over the other fathers simply for caring to some extent about his children.

11. Richard Lockwood

Yet another toxic masculine father who emotionally and physically abuses his child. Richard is Mikael if he had been born in the 20th Century. Richard is such a great example of an abusive parent because he is closer to what we see in reality. He is a textbook narcissist who could charm the whole town while abusing his son in the shadows. Tyler and Carol were better off after he died.

These bottom four are honestly all interchangeable. They are all the same character, just different fonts.

10. Bill Forbes

Bill not only tortured his daughter but also abandoned her before she became the thing he hated. While Liz initially is scared of Caroline, she comes around and protects her daughter from Bill. While Bill comes around at the very end of his life, he never apologizes for torturing her or trying to kill her. He potentially could have been a better father if he had lived longer, but during his life, he was pretty terrible.

9. John Gilbert

Yes, John sucks. But not because he wanted to keep Elena away from vampires. That actually moves him up the list. He sucks because of his lack of involvement in Elena's life. It's fine that he wasn't ready to have a child when Isobel got pregnant, but the fact that he didn't bother stepping up, even as Uncle John, when Elena and Jeremy lost their parents really shows his character. Then when he did get invovled, all he wanted to do was control her.

He does end up sacrificing his life for Elena, which also earns him so points. For the most part, he was an absentee father, but he showed up at the end when it mattered.

8. Klaus Mikaelson

While Klaus is typically viewed as one of the best parents in TVDU, there is a lot to be desired. Especially when you actually focus on his first child, Marcel. Klaus made the decision to adopt Marcel and then continued to throw it in his face, even getting angry at Marcel for succeeding in his control over New Orleans.

With Hope, we do see him be more loving, but this love tends to come off as controlling and possessive. Klaus is so worried about being a bad father to Hope, clearly showing us he didn't view himself as Marcel's father or his understanding that he was a bad father to Marcel. He then proceeds to put himself over Hope's needs for most of her life. Ending with him, unnecessarily, sacrificing himself when Hope needed him most.

I did have trouble placing him since he does seem to want to do right by Hope, which is more than most of the fathers on this list. So he gets points because he does love his children (bare minimum) and would do a lot for them, but at the end of the day, his narcissism wins out.

I'm including a link to a longer discussion I've had regarding Klaus here.

7. Jackson Kenner

Jackson was a good stepfather to Hope, but he could have been a better father. There were numerous times that he walked out on Hope and Hayley, including one time when he calls Mary in without letting Hayley know he is leaving Hope. Jackson tended to hold the Mikaelsons against Hope. He definitely loved her, but he often viewed his role as her babysitter rather than a father. We never really get a moment between Hope and Jackson where it is clear he views her as anything other than Hayley's daughter.

Jackson and Klaus are fairly tied, but at least Jackson never murdered anyone in front of her or tortured her mother. They both love their children, but hold things over their children that aren't necessarily fair. They also both let their pride get in the way of what is best for the child, creating more instability in the child's life.

I go more into this discussion here.

6. Rudy Hopkins

Rudy essentially abandoned Bonnie after Abby had already abandoned Bonnie, leaving her in the hands of Grams because he didn't like witchcraft. He only comes back when Carol dies and they ask him to be mayor. While he does say he agreed to take the position to be close to Bonnie, it seems odd since he's been missing from her life for years, even after Grams died. But when he comes back, he is probably the most present parent we get outside of Liz.

Rudy tries to protect Bonnie from the supernatural world and even herself, trying to stop her from harming herself to help her friends. He does lose some points for abandoning her and trying to control her, but at the same time she was just a teenager so I get him wanting to protect her from the supernatural. I hated that he never even knew Bonnie was dead since they had been rebuilding their relationship. The scene of him being killed broke my heart for Bonnie.

He is leagues better than most of the fathers on this list simply for loving his daughter and showing her how proud he was of her. I mean, he was one of like two parents at graduation (granted most of them were dead at this point).

5. Alaric Saltzman

This is a hard one, mainly because I've not fully watched Legacies. I did once love Alaric with his relationship with Jeremy and Elena. He stepped up just because of his relationship with Jenna, but it was clear he cared for them outside of that. He stuck around after Jenna was killed and even was still there for them when Jenna needed a break. However, he doesn't seem to carry that same loyalty to his own children.

While I have issues with how he treated Caroline in TVD in the last couple of seasons, it was clear he would do anything for the twins. But then in Legacies, from what I've seen, he seems to prioritize Hope over his children. He runs the school and barely helps his own children feel comfortable, let alone the others kids. My theory was always that it was his way of getting the last win over Klaus. He stepped in and raised her to be his weapon, which he knew Klaus would hate. Even his relationship with Hope seems problematic.

He's fairly high on the list for his behavior in TVD but loses massive points for his behavior in Legacies.

4. Declan

I'll be honest, the timeline with Declan confuses me a lot. It seemed like Hayley and Declan were still in early stages of dating, yet he seemed to have a long relationship with Hope. This could make sense if Hayley and him had started off friends, but Hayley breaking up with him in order to focus on Hope confuses me more. If he was so invovled in Hope's life, this wouldn't be necessary and I would think he would have reacted differently, like trying to get invovled with Hope. But season 5 is terrible writing so moving on.

It does seem that he was an active father figure to Hope. Likely the only one she really remembered. From his conversation with Klaus, it sounds like he's known Hope for a few years at least and was still invovled in her life while she was away at school, even teaching her to drive. Hope also is very protective of Declan, showing how much she cares for him. I wish he would have been more focused on Hope after Hayley died, I get he just lost his girlfriend, but as a father figure, he should have stepped up for her because lord knows no one did.

I honestly ranked him this high more for what the show wanted him to be rather than what they allowed him to be. Season 5 was too short to bring in another father figure for Hope when they could have just used Alaric to make Klaus jealous. But, Declan gets extreme points for being willing to fight Elijah and Klaus to protect Hope.

3. Father Kieran

Kieran may not have been their parent, but it is clear he stepped up and took care of Cami and her twin brother. And then when they lost Sean, he helped Cami through her grief. In his last moments, he spent them trying to protect Cami.

While he valued his role in the city, he valued Cami more. Even threatening the vampires to stay away from her. I only wish he would have told Cami the truth when she confided in him that she was losing her mind.

2. Jonas Martin

The Martin family deserved so much better. Jonas had a moral code, but he had to bend it to "rescue" his daughter. He would do anything for his children and proved it time and time again. Losing Luka broke him and I'm almost thankful that he died before finding out his daughter was willingly working for Klaus. Even in his anger he was still focused on saving his children, restoring Bonnie's powers and telling her how to defeat Klaus.

My only issue is that he seemed to put Luka in jeopardy in order to rescue Greta. But he was desperate to save his child, so I can understand it.

1. Marcel Gerard

I love an accidental father and Marcel is the perfect example. He rescued Davina and took her in, yes partly because he wanted a powerful witch, but he grew to love her and became incredibly protective over her. My only complaint is that he seemed to pull away at times and leave Davina to her own devices when she definitely needed a parental figure or some adult guidance. But I love that he made Vincent step up when he couldn't.

Marcel would do anything for Davina and he proved it. He went up against his own family for her. He protected her from their enemies. He loved her no matter what she did, even when he disagreed with her. They have one of the best bonds in TO. I wish we could have seen more of them in season 5 or in Legacies.

Honorable Mentions

Y'all already know you aren't going to like this one.

But Kolvina is probably my least favorite of the Mikaelson canon ships. And yes some of that is due to the fact that Kol is my least favorite Mikaelson. But a lot of it is just based on how young Davina is and how young the show continues to remind us she is. Also, how little effort was put into this ship.

In season 1, Davina is 16 years old, only a year younger than Elena was in season 1 of TVD. Davina, I believe is the same age as Jeremy. However, with everything being aged up in TO (the characters, the love interests, the maturity/violence), Davina comes across as even younger. And this is done purposefully. Davina in season 1 is put into these white, babydoll dresses for most of the season, despite it being unnecessary as she's living in an attic. Her hair is typically very simple and her makeup minimal to give her a youthful look. The show is trying to remind us how young she truly is.

This is not only done with her clothes, makeup, hair, etc. But also with how the characters talk about her. I made an edit one time of how differently Rebekah treated Elena and her friends versus Davina. She treats Davina like a child, like a daughter, when Davina is only a year or two younger than the teenagers Rebekah and her siblings had just spent a couple of years harassing/killing. You also have Vincent, Cami, and Marcel treating her like a child (cause she is one) and worrying about the responsibility that has been put on her. Even her relationship with Josh keeps reminding us of how young and even naïve she is when she isn't aware of things he talks about because she's been so sheltered and is a literal teenager.

The show is reminding us how young and innocent she is so she appears much younger than the characters in the show we just watched (TVD). This is because we need to be angry at the ancestors and the witches for what they've done to her. But mostly because we need to separate it from Klaus sacrificing a 17 year old just a couple of seasons before. Elena was made to seem older so that we could set aside the fact that these 100+ year old men were not only sleeping with her, but continually putting her life in danger. But the opposite is true for Davina.

So then when, in season 2, Kol is brought back as a witch sent to charm Davina, she is still a child to the audience. Yes, she's gained more agency, but you can't just erase all of the footwork the show did to make her appear so much younger than everyone else. And yes, I know the argument that Kol was turned at 17 so they are basically the same age. But I've already discussed how that argument doesn't hold weight with me here.

I'll move on from the age thing though. Another one of my issues with the ship is the bait-and-switch Kol essentially does to Davina. Davina was the biggest Mikaelson-anti. Some of it I think was exaggerated to create conflict in season 1, but no matter what the reason was, she wanted them dead. Kol enters, lying to her about who he is and she is swept away by his charm. Kol spends the better part of a month manipulating a teenager who feels abandoned by everyone. Only to learn the truth and feel betrayed by him. He winds up winning her over because he wants her help to take down Klaus. Only to then betray her once again as soon as Klaus gives him any attention. Where is the Davina we know and love from season 1 who had Marcel, Elijah, and Klaus literally on their knees for lying and betraying her??

I've talked about Kol's development falling flat to me before, so I won't go into too much depth here. But Kol was the stereotypical younger brother. He pretends he is too good for his family, but as soon as Klaus gives Kol any type of attention, even negative, Kol is buddy-buddy with him again. The scene where Davina is watching Kol hug Klaus after Klaus nearly attacked her will always stand out to me. The look of betrayal in her face.

We never really see Kol work to gain Davina's trust or love. He just has it. It doesn't help that a lot of their relationship happens off screen, but what we do see just makes me sad for Davina. Also just the fact that Kol is Marcel's least favorite of the Mikaelsons since, you know, he actively tried to kill Marcel as a child, would make it even harder for Davina. She is constantly being pulled in different directions and at no point do we see Kol trying to make it easier on her. He doesn't work to rebuild his relationship with Marcel or the witches or even Josh. He just pops in and out (yes, I know it was partly due to them both dying constantly) of her life and her feelings are just expected to be there.

This idea that Davina sees Kol as "the best of the Mikaelsons" also just highlights how little she actually knows about him. At least with Cami and Klaus, Klaus has told Cami nearly every awful thing he's done. She is going in with eyes wide open. Even Elijah and Hayley, Hayley knows who he is and even goes into his mind and sees it first hand. Whether they would have ever gotten back together after that is up for debate (they would have, there's no debate), but again, she is making an informed decision. Davina sees Kol in isolated instances where their goals align. And when they don't Davina is just expected to put hers aside and go along with Kol, which the audience is okay with since it's supporting the fan fav family.

The version of Kol we get in season 4 and 5, the small glimpses we see, are don't have anything in common with the Kol we knew throughout TVDU. Like I said in my post about Kol's development, he essentially becomes whatever character the show wants him to be. There is zero reason given for his development other than him falling for Davina. I'm sorry, but men do not just change who they fundamentally are because they fall in love and that is a dangerous message to put out there.

To me Kol and Davina were a plot device to make Davina more hesitant to go after the Mikaelsons and to also cause conflict within the family. They have some cute moments, but I never truly believed their love for each other was anything more than infatuation.

Thanks for the ask! Sorry if it wasn't what you wanted

<3

*Marcel when he finds out Kol is the witch Davina's been seeing*

This took me a while to think of unique skills that wouldn't be based on her upbringing.

I could see Hayley being oddly good at like carving pumpkins or making gingerbread houses at the holidays with Hope. It would be amusing to watch Klaus get annoyed since he's supposed to be the artistic one but he would be impatient trying to learn a new medium. We also kind of see her photography skills when she shows off her pictures of Hope. I could see her taking photos out in the bayou and of her pack as well as Hope.

I also just headcanon that Hayley is a terrible singer. I have no reason for this, but it's just funny for me to imagine. Especially as Hope grows up. DRR is, from what I've heard, a good singer, so I think it would be cute for Hayley to try to sing with Hope and watch Hope judge her, lovingly of course. Also, that she's a terrible listener. Hayley is a very compassionate person, but gets bored and has trouble focusing when people go on long monologues. She tries, but her thoughts tend to wander when others are speaking about things that she isn't particularly interested in.

I think it's so important for characters to have flaws, especially just random ones that aren't apart of their development but just who they are.

Thanks for the ask!

The thing with the Mikaelsons is they never actually forgive each other for anything. They live by 'forget, but never forgive.'

It's why their relationships are all so fragile and easy to wedge apart. But this policy is also why you cannot actually come between them. We see it time and time again. They fight with each other and even betray each other, but when it comes down to it, they will always choose each other over everyone else. They each love the other siblings, but also harbor an incredible amount of resentment for them.

Elijah never actually forgave Klaus for killing Celeste or Gia. They just moved on. He wouldn't forgive Klaus from cursing Hayley. But, inevitably, something would threaten their family and they would have to come together, putting their anger aside. Much like Klaus had to do when he found out what Elijah did to Aurora.

The biggest difference here is that Elijah would still have to face what Klaus did everyday. At least in the past, they could all operate on "out of sight, out of mind." But with Hayley, Elijah would watch Hope everyday growing up without her mother. He would go to the bayou once a month with Hope and watch how it was wearing on Hayley.

Elijah wouldn't abandon Klaus like he planned to because Hayley asked him not for Hope. Elijah would never stop looking for a way to break the curse, much like he helped Klaus for a thousand years trying to break his own curse. It would end up consuming him. I do believe Klaus would eventually start to help. Whether it was because he was trying to earn Elijah's forgiveness after being isolated for so long or because he eventually calmed down and realized he overstepped.

But Elijah's anger would run deep. Not only for himself and for Hayley, but also for Hope. He would never allow anything to happen to Klaus, being on his side as their enemies come up. But their relationship would never be as close as it once was. Even as Klaus attempted to fix it, Elijah wouldn't forgive him until Hayley was back.

In TVD Elijah had all but lost faith in Klaus. The idea of Klaus being a better person for Hope was the only thing that pulled Elijah back to Klaus' side and made him believe Klaus still had some humanity left in him. Watching his brother torment the mother of his child and being unbothered as Hope suffer missing her mom would be a final straw for Elijah. Klaus would actually have to work for his forgiveness this time, unlike with everything else. But again, until Hayley was back, Elijah would always resent Klaus and believe he was past the point of saving.

Thanks for the ask!

I'm actually so shocked I've never discussed this here because I was obsessed with Stefonnie for the longest time and this post is making me fall back into it.

Stefan and Bonnie had such a beautiful friendship in the early seasons. It was very similar to Caroline and Stefan. I was actually rooting for Bonnie over Caroline initially when it was clear Delena was going to be endgame. I love Steroline, but Stefonnie would have been such an organic friends-to-lovers ship (we know I love a good friend-to-lovers over enemies-to-lovers). Especially, since this was the time Forewood was still going strong and I loved them too. It would have been such a great time in TVD with these ships.

But of course, the writers refused to let Bonnie have everything and eventually shifted Stefan's attention from being split between his two friendships with Caroline and Bonnie to only Caroline. They only ever really get it back in the final season and it was essentially just to rub it in for Bonnie that Stefan, her once friend, murdered her love. This whole storyline was clearly just designed to isolate Bonnie completely from the group. Stefan was supposed to spend the rest of his life making it up to her and then died so we didn't even get to see them repairing their relationship. If they were going to get together, it would have to be before this.

Stefan is the first vampire that Bonnie starts to feel comfortable with after her, very reasonable, hatred of vampires. Because he put in the effort. Even Caroline just wanted Bonnie to get over her fear/hatred without putting in too much effort. But Stefan spent time making her feel comfortable. And the fact that he had Grams approval goes a long way with Bonnie. Stefan on multiple occasions attempts to stop Bonnie from doing dangerous spells that he does want to happen, but he prioritizes her safety. He had so much respect and love for her from the beginning.

Him asking so gently if he can come in and her little nod. This right here shows that their friendship at the bare minimum should have been prioritized. How do you not see romantic potential in this??

Even when he was a ripper, he never harms Bonnie. Or when Stefan and Damon had to kill her mom but Damon does it so *Elena* won't hold it against Stefan. Let's be honest, if Elena can forgive Damon for murdering her brother, she would have quickly moved on from Abby's death. But, to me, it was so important for it not to be Stefan because *Bonnie* never would have forgiven him.

I would have much rathered Stefan getting stuck on the otherside/prison world with Bonnie and repairing their friendship and developing a romantic relationship. Stefan was so protective of Bonnie that it would have given Bonnie a lot more support than she initially got from Damon. I know I am just biased and hate Damon, but I felt like their development was forced. Literally. They never would have interacted like that in other circumstances. I do think Damon needed that friendship, since the only time we see him have any character development is with Bonnie, but that wasn't Bonnie's job. Forcing her to befriend a man she hated, a man who murdered her mom, for his development was just never a favorite story of mine. But Stefan with her would have given her some comfort. I think she also would have had more faith in Stefan coming back for her and saving her if he was forced to leave her behind.

They fit so well together. They both have similar morals and a strong sense of righteousness. They both will sacrifice themselves for those they love and will bend their morals for their loved ones, but at the end of the day they are the heart of the friend group. They also were always trying to stop the other one from sacrificing themselves, understanding that the people the other was harming themselves for wasn't necessarily worth it.

Bonnie deserved to be loved like that. After losing her entire family and everyone she cared about, she deserved to have someone love her the way Stefan loves. And Stefan wanted to be human again. He would have taken the cure and they could have left Mystic Falls behind, coming back for holidays, but getting away from the toxic relationships they had with their family and friends.

As for storytelling purposes, this just shows that the show prioritized ships they viewed would be the most popular (which was based in racism) over the actual storytelling. Bonnie and Stefan has so many similar stories that they could have bonded over, like their summer that no one knew they were missing and their parental issues. But also their history. Elena and Stefan were not the only two reflected in the story with Silas and Amara. There was also Qetsiyah. The full circle story that could have been if they had Silas' shadow-self (Stefan) fall for Qetsiyah's descendant (Bonnie), leaving Amara's shadow-self (Elena). Instead the show spent time forcing parallels by retconning itself with flashbacks.

I loved Bonenzo and Steroline, but if they had done Stefonnie right, it would have been my top ship. They had so much potential to show the development and to actually allow the characters to experience their emotions and work through their trauma. They would have helped each other as friends and fallen in love as they did. They are two of my favorite characters from TVD so it is no wonder I would love them together.

Now excuse me while I go find some fics to read!

Thanks for the ask!

Oh I love this idea. Y'all know how much I love a good reincarnation story!

So in this situation, I'm going to imagine the 1500s was the first time Tatia and Elijah ran into each other as a reincarnation. We are also going to assume she knows who he is and what he is, or at least what she knew at the very end of her life.

This would be such an interesting story and I kind of want to write it now. I imagine Tatia would be furious and scared of Elijah. Her last memories are of him killing her. They would see each other and Tatia would flee. Elijah would think he is losing his mind, much like the shock he felt upon seeing Katherine the first time. He would pursue her, hoping to catch another glimpse of the woman he lost. He would inevitably catch up as he's a vampire and he would realize how terrified she is. He would quickly realize how fearful she was and he would reassure her that his mother was no longer living and couldn't hurt her. She would angrily tell him that it was him that she was afraid of and he would be stunned. She would use his shock to attempt to run again and he would pursue her, begging her to explain. In tears, she would tell him what he did, breaking through the red door his mother had built. He would break down and Tatia would flee for her life.

Elijah would go to Klaus and confess what had happened and what he had done. Instead of being relieved that Tatia was alive or even angry at finding out what Elijah did, Klaus would be excited that they could finally unbind his werewolf side. Elijah in his emotional state would beg his brother not to, to spare her, to find another way. But Klaus being Klaus would refuse.

Elijah would help Tatia escape.

Unlike with Katherine, Tatia and Elijah have a history. She is not just some poor girl that happened to be the final ingredient to break Klaus' curse. She was the woman that Elijah had loved. Something he hadn't found since. He had also just discovered that he killed her. His guilt would drive him.

There's not a lot of people in Elijah's life that he would put over Klaus, almost no one. But he had put his love for Tatia over Klaus before when they were human. While he felt guilty for his part in Klaus' werewolf side being bound, his guilt for killing his love would outweigh that.

He would help her flee, giving her money to escape. Klaus would never forgive him. Promising to hunt Tatia down for centuries, throughout her reincarnations, until he breaks his curse. I would love to say Elijah would abandon Klaus and go after Tatia to get his own happy ending, but Elijah would likely spend every day attempting to make it up to Klaus, seeking another way to break the curse.

Also, side note, if they could ensure Tatia would be reincarnated after Klaus killed her, Elijah would likely be convinced. However, he would need that reassurance that the reincarnation wouldn't end because it served its purpose to break the curse.

If Tatia hadn't told Elijah what he had done, he likely would have still fought harder for her survival than he did for Katherine. But maybe not fully help her escape. Back then he had found a way that he believed would allow Katherine to survive and then again offered it to Elena. He likely would have fallen back on that, hoping for the best. His guilt for Klaus was so intense that it outweighed most things, becoming an obsession. I think only his guilt for what he did to Tatia could come close.

Thanks for the ask! Sorry I went into so much detail, but I could just envision the scenes so clearly.