(no subject)
Here, have a super disjointed essay r. . . amblings on Elijah and feelings and all that gross human stuff.
Elijah is really, really bad at having comrades, friends, and anything like that. It's hard to tell if he likes someone! He is pretty weird about ~feelings~ more often than not, and comes off as being fairly cold most of the time. This is, in part, because he is an obscenely old vampire and has had way too long to have this sort of "don't be human, feelings make you weak" mentality instilled into him.
Things to know about TVD vampires:
- When they initially turn, there's a "switch" they can flip to turn their emotions off.
- After awhile, however (at least five centuries?), they can no longer flip them off. It's all mental conditioning and whatnot.
- Being a vampire actually heightens certain emotions. Caroline was neurotic as a human and is now a super neurotic vampire, for example.
So, Elijah! He has spent most of his lifespan with Klaus and until canon tells me otherwise (which . . . I assume it will at some point this season), I'm running on the assumption that Elijah broke away from Klaus around 1500, which gives him a good five hundred years on his own. But they've been alive since at least around ancient Egyptian times. They were turned into vampires and they presumably stuck together until the ritual attempt in 1492, where the brothers had a falling out over Katerina Petrova / Katherine Pierce. That's thousands of years Elijah's spent with Klaus, pretty much being his yes man! And Klaus' attitude was this:
"Love is a vampire's greatest weakness. And we are not weak, Elijah. We do not feel and we do not care."
Elijah, on the other hand . . . cares! He cares a lot. He was probably that big brother who really loved his family when he was a human, so when he was turned- well, yes. He also tries to quash this caring down repeatedly for a number of reasons. He's been burned by Katherine ("You cared for her, didn't you." "It's a common mistake, I'm told. It's one I won't make again."), and Klaus, who is now his enemy, has sort of engrained this idea into his head that feelings do make a vampire weak. And to an extent, he can see it - Klaus used his feelings for his family to gain the upper hand against him.
In camp, he has been pretty much attempting to shove any feelings he may have to the side. He's not interested in having any friends! He doesn't really care about anyone here! Comrades are okay, he guesses. Except a lot of that is Elijah lying to himself to get through things. He is, truth be told, insanely lonely. He's sort of learned to just live with it over the past five hundred years, though. It didn't bother him! . . . as long as he didn't think too hard about it.
The problem is that he is starting to think too hard about it. It didn't help that he's been human for a few days, which made him more keenly aware of his feelings in general. Fucking feelings, how do they work. And he's slowly starting to realize a few things that he is promptly going to attempt to shove to the side and never think about again. He kind of digs some people here! He still carries a torch for Katherine, even though she's become this incredibly cutthroat woman! He really hates his brother and misses his family! And he would honestly not mind being around people, getting to know them and everything. It's like . . . he'll be concerned about someone briefly, and then go, "why am I concerned, stop that."
He's sort of driving himself nuts, basically!
Elijah likes people. He also feels it's a sign of weakness to actually share a part of himself with someone or have to rely on another person for something. I mean, a lot of the problems the group ran into in season two could have been avoided if Elijah had actually opened up and talked to them. He's lost a lot of trust in people in general thanks to Klaus, and he's not someone who particularly . . . gets how to function in society as a whole. Or, rather, he knows how to go through the motions! He can be that charming interloper; he's quite good at acting. But when it's functioning as Elijah and not Elijah Smith, that's a different story. He just, uh, knows how to step in and tear out people's hearts and scare them into doing whatever. Elijah is good at functioning as a spook and using fear and intimidation. He gets a sick sort of pleasure out of it! HI SOPHIE-ANNE! And that does, on some level, protect him.
The biggest thing is that when he does feel, it hurts like hell! That sort of pain is something that Elijah didn't really have to deal with prior to 1492. But when he allowed himself to fall for Katherine, which then led to him begging Klaus to allow him to save her (which he refused, and then Katherine ran off), everything went to hell for him. He cared deeply for his family, and Klaus killed them all! At this point, Elijah shuts himself off in part as a defense mechanism. If he can be cold and calculating, then he doesn't get hurt in the process. But it does, on some level, bother him.
tl;dr, Elijah does like some people here in camp. Actually showing that is a completely different story because he is absolutely godawful at it and pretty much refuses to even try. Ish. He is slowly . . . slowly starting to shift, though. He's torn! If we ever get an Elena, he will probably shift even more.
Also, Klaus sucks.
Q...UESTIONS? BEING AN OLD VAMPIRE IS SO HARD, YOU GUYS!
Elijah is really, really bad at having comrades, friends, and anything like that. It's hard to tell if he likes someone! He is pretty weird about ~feelings~ more often than not, and comes off as being fairly cold most of the time. This is, in part, because he is an obscenely old vampire and has had way too long to have this sort of "don't be human, feelings make you weak" mentality instilled into him.
Things to know about TVD vampires:
- When they initially turn, there's a "switch" they can flip to turn their emotions off.
- After awhile, however (at least five centuries?), they can no longer flip them off. It's all mental conditioning and whatnot.
- Being a vampire actually heightens certain emotions. Caroline was neurotic as a human and is now a super neurotic vampire, for example.
So, Elijah! He has spent most of his lifespan with Klaus and until canon tells me otherwise (which . . . I assume it will at some point this season), I'm running on the assumption that Elijah broke away from Klaus around 1500, which gives him a good five hundred years on his own. But they've been alive since at least around ancient Egyptian times. They were turned into vampires and they presumably stuck together until the ritual attempt in 1492, where the brothers had a falling out over Katerina Petrova / Katherine Pierce. That's thousands of years Elijah's spent with Klaus, pretty much being his yes man! And Klaus' attitude was this:
"Love is a vampire's greatest weakness. And we are not weak, Elijah. We do not feel and we do not care."
Elijah, on the other hand . . . cares! He cares a lot. He was probably that big brother who really loved his family when he was a human, so when he was turned- well, yes. He also tries to quash this caring down repeatedly for a number of reasons. He's been burned by Katherine ("You cared for her, didn't you." "It's a common mistake, I'm told. It's one I won't make again."), and Klaus, who is now his enemy, has sort of engrained this idea into his head that feelings do make a vampire weak. And to an extent, he can see it - Klaus used his feelings for his family to gain the upper hand against him.
In camp, he has been pretty much attempting to shove any feelings he may have to the side. He's not interested in having any friends! He doesn't really care about anyone here! Comrades are okay, he guesses. Except a lot of that is Elijah lying to himself to get through things. He is, truth be told, insanely lonely. He's sort of learned to just live with it over the past five hundred years, though. It didn't bother him! . . . as long as he didn't think too hard about it.
The problem is that he is starting to think too hard about it. It didn't help that he's been human for a few days, which made him more keenly aware of his feelings in general. Fucking feelings, how do they work. And he's slowly starting to realize a few things that he is promptly going to attempt to shove to the side and never think about again. He kind of digs some people here! He still carries a torch for Katherine, even though she's become this incredibly cutthroat woman! He really hates his brother and misses his family! And he would honestly not mind being around people, getting to know them and everything. It's like . . . he'll be concerned about someone briefly, and then go, "why am I concerned, stop that."
He's sort of driving himself nuts, basically!
Elijah likes people. He also feels it's a sign of weakness to actually share a part of himself with someone or have to rely on another person for something. I mean, a lot of the problems the group ran into in season two could have been avoided if Elijah had actually opened up and talked to them. He's lost a lot of trust in people in general thanks to Klaus, and he's not someone who particularly . . . gets how to function in society as a whole. Or, rather, he knows how to go through the motions! He can be that charming interloper; he's quite good at acting. But when it's functioning as Elijah and not Elijah Smith, that's a different story. He just, uh, knows how to step in and tear out people's hearts and scare them into doing whatever. Elijah is good at functioning as a spook and using fear and intimidation. He gets a sick sort of pleasure out of it! HI SOPHIE-ANNE! And that does, on some level, protect him.
The biggest thing is that when he does feel, it hurts like hell! That sort of pain is something that Elijah didn't really have to deal with prior to 1492. But when he allowed himself to fall for Katherine, which then led to him begging Klaus to allow him to save her (which he refused, and then Katherine ran off), everything went to hell for him. He cared deeply for his family, and Klaus killed them all! At this point, Elijah shuts himself off in part as a defense mechanism. If he can be cold and calculating, then he doesn't get hurt in the process. But it does, on some level, bother him.
tl;dr, Elijah does like some people here in camp. Actually showing that is a completely different story because he is absolutely godawful at it and pretty much refuses to even try. Ish. He is slowly . . . slowly starting to shift, though. He's torn! If we ever get an Elena, he will probably shift even more.
Also, Klaus sucks.
Q...UESTIONS? BEING AN OLD VAMPIRE IS SO HARD, YOU GUYS!