Vampires · Era II, The Mikaelsons
The Four Sirelines
Every vampire alive descends from one Original. Kill that Original with white oak and the entire line dies with them. Klaus's line is by far the largest, which makes him functionally unkillable — killing him would wipe out most vampires on Earth, including nearly everyone the audience likes.
Details
- The Originals maps the modern lines onto the first three vampires the family made: Lucien for Klaus's line, Tristan for Elijah's, Aurora for Rebekah's. Five Originals sired lines in all — Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol and Rebekah.
- The rule is applied inconsistently across the two shows. The version that survives: a line dies with its Original however he is killed — the exception is an Original whose spirit outlives his body, which is how Klaus's line survives his corpse more than once.
- Finn's death in 2012 proves the rule by killing his entire line, including Sage, on screen.
- Because Klaus's line contains Stefan, Damon, Caroline and almost everybody else, killing Klaus becomes narratively impossible for years.
- Lucien's serum is the loophole: his bite, and later Marcel's, kills an Original without triggering the sireline collapse.