The Smart Brother: A Kol Meta Type Thing
Kol(/Original Familly) Meta/Headcanon/I don't even know what this is. Thinky thoughts I had to get out. Warning: I largely ignore Finn. jsyk.
So I've been thinking a lot about The Original Family and their dynamics. Particularly Kol and his relationship with his siblings.
Kol in general fascinates me. Why would he leave them? His family. I read a fanfic once where Kol and Rebekah were twins, and that's basically my head canon now, that they were always closest growing up, as obviously they would be if they were twins. So why would he leave her?
It's easy to write Finn off. He's obviously not as close to his siblings. 1000 years later he wants to kill them. But it's easy to believe they weren't as close even when they were young. It's not easy to believe that with Kol. Even without the twin theory. He's obviously close to his siblings and loves them. It's complicated, but he loves them. He sticks around. He leaves, but he's still there. Helps Klaus and Rebekah, does their bidding. He's part of the group.
I guess, coming from a big family like their's, and when I think about the five of them it's hard to imagine the three of them (Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah) splitting off like that, without Kol. But it's not really like that. They didn't split off, exclusive club type of thing, Kol went off on his own. But why? Why would he leave, go off on his own when Klaus and Elijah stayed behind?
You have the obvious answers. In that simply the writers hadn't yet introduced Kol, and Finn, as characters. It's easy to say, "They ran away." without establishing the relationships they have with the other characters. You also have that Kol is the smart brother. And honestly i think that is part of it. Klaus and Rebekah and even to some extent Elijah, are so completely co-dependent. And Kol runs away from that kind of dysfunction. Runs away, goes off on his own. Distances himself and tells himself that he doesn't need them so much that it starts to be true. And in doing so he creates a new type of dysfunction that's entirely his own. He's off on his own for long enough that he's someone else, someone darker, when they find him again.
In my head Klaus and Elijah and Rebekah largely stay together over the centuries (Finn is daggered) and Kol flits in and out of their life. Sometimes taking Rebekah with him. And when Elijah eventually leaves them, Kol still flits in and out. He and Rebekah are daggered fairly close together. Within a century. (That's canon right? "Kol for over half a century" Rebekah for 90 years.) Kol comes into their lives, bringing not just blood and bodies, which is nothing new for these three, but causing ruckus and general mayhem, and in the end I think that what get him daggered, that he calls too much attention to them. "Between you here and Kol in the East you have not been discrete." But, and this is the part I find most fascinating. While Kol is a lunatic, coming in and out of their lives trailing disaster in his wake, he isn't cruel the way Klaus is.
So, Kol is a lunatic. He's twisted and crazy and unpredictable. But his insanity always felt more mischievous than evil. Maybe mischievously evil. Klaus is cruel. I had this whole thing about how even after not seeing Kol for ages, even when he leaves them, comes back murderous, he's still Kol. Still wild and dangerous, up to no good, but still Kol. When Rebekah looks at Kol she see's herself, when she looks at Klaus she doesn't know what she sees. Because somewhere along the way Klaus has become someone unrecognizable. Unlike Kol who comes in and out of their lives, never staying long enough to hold on to, Rebekah and Elijah and Klaus have been holding on to each other tightly for centuries, and somewhere along the way Klaus has twisted and distorted and become something else entirely.
Klaus is cruel to the people he loves. But he craves their love more than anything. While Kol pushes his siblings away, Klaus clings to them so desperately he suffocates them. And they give him that power. They give him the power to hurt them. He gives them that power too. They have the power to hurt each other because they have given it to each other. They open up their chests and pull out their bleeding hearts and offer it up on the alter of their love. Kol has given no one that power. I think he see's how co-dependent his siblings are and doesn't want to be that. So he distances himself, spends so long building careful walls around himself from his siblings, that, ironically, in the end he is actually able to interact with them in (semi-) functional way. Because he doesn't depend on them, like they do on each other, or even him.
Maybe this is glamorizing Kol. Maybe he just doesn't love his siblings as much as they love each other. I mean obviously, they aren't avenging his death, so maybe there's some truth to that. Though obviously that's completely on the writers and not on the characters themselves. He ran away, wasn't part of their "Always and Forever" bond, and that's on the writers, too. But it's not because he loves them less. It's because:
Kol is the smart brother. In the beginning he ran away from his dysfunctional family. And he isn't as co-dependent as the rest of them. But he keeps coming back to them because he loves them. Because he'll always love them.
So I've been thinking a lot about The Original Family and their dynamics. Particularly Kol and his relationship with his siblings.
Kol in general fascinates me. Why would he leave them? His family. I read a fanfic once where Kol and Rebekah were twins, and that's basically my head canon now, that they were always closest growing up, as obviously they would be if they were twins. So why would he leave her?
It's easy to write Finn off. He's obviously not as close to his siblings. 1000 years later he wants to kill them. But it's easy to believe they weren't as close even when they were young. It's not easy to believe that with Kol. Even without the twin theory. He's obviously close to his siblings and loves them. It's complicated, but he loves them. He sticks around. He leaves, but he's still there. Helps Klaus and Rebekah, does their bidding. He's part of the group.
I guess, coming from a big family like their's, and when I think about the five of them it's hard to imagine the three of them (Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah) splitting off like that, without Kol. But it's not really like that. They didn't split off, exclusive club type of thing, Kol went off on his own. But why? Why would he leave, go off on his own when Klaus and Elijah stayed behind?
You have the obvious answers. In that simply the writers hadn't yet introduced Kol, and Finn, as characters. It's easy to say, "They ran away." without establishing the relationships they have with the other characters. You also have that Kol is the smart brother. And honestly i think that is part of it. Klaus and Rebekah and even to some extent Elijah, are so completely co-dependent. And Kol runs away from that kind of dysfunction. Runs away, goes off on his own. Distances himself and tells himself that he doesn't need them so much that it starts to be true. And in doing so he creates a new type of dysfunction that's entirely his own. He's off on his own for long enough that he's someone else, someone darker, when they find him again.
In my head Klaus and Elijah and Rebekah largely stay together over the centuries (Finn is daggered) and Kol flits in and out of their life. Sometimes taking Rebekah with him. And when Elijah eventually leaves them, Kol still flits in and out. He and Rebekah are daggered fairly close together. Within a century. (That's canon right? "Kol for over half a century" Rebekah for 90 years.) Kol comes into their lives, bringing not just blood and bodies, which is nothing new for these three, but causing ruckus and general mayhem, and in the end I think that what get him daggered, that he calls too much attention to them. "Between you here and Kol in the East you have not been discrete." But, and this is the part I find most fascinating. While Kol is a lunatic, coming in and out of their lives trailing disaster in his wake, he isn't cruel the way Klaus is.
So, Kol is a lunatic. He's twisted and crazy and unpredictable. But his insanity always felt more mischievous than evil. Maybe mischievously evil. Klaus is cruel. I had this whole thing about how even after not seeing Kol for ages, even when he leaves them, comes back murderous, he's still Kol. Still wild and dangerous, up to no good, but still Kol. When Rebekah looks at Kol she see's herself, when she looks at Klaus she doesn't know what she sees. Because somewhere along the way Klaus has become someone unrecognizable. Unlike Kol who comes in and out of their lives, never staying long enough to hold on to, Rebekah and Elijah and Klaus have been holding on to each other tightly for centuries, and somewhere along the way Klaus has twisted and distorted and become something else entirely.
Klaus is cruel to the people he loves. But he craves their love more than anything. While Kol pushes his siblings away, Klaus clings to them so desperately he suffocates them. And they give him that power. They give him the power to hurt them. He gives them that power too. They have the power to hurt each other because they have given it to each other. They open up their chests and pull out their bleeding hearts and offer it up on the alter of their love. Kol has given no one that power. I think he see's how co-dependent his siblings are and doesn't want to be that. So he distances himself, spends so long building careful walls around himself from his siblings, that, ironically, in the end he is actually able to interact with them in (semi-) functional way. Because he doesn't depend on them, like they do on each other, or even him.
Maybe this is glamorizing Kol. Maybe he just doesn't love his siblings as much as they love each other. I mean obviously, they aren't avenging his death, so maybe there's some truth to that. Though obviously that's completely on the writers and not on the characters themselves. He ran away, wasn't part of their "Always and Forever" bond, and that's on the writers, too. But it's not because he loves them less. It's because:
Kol is the smart brother. In the beginning he ran away from his dysfunctional family. And he isn't as co-dependent as the rest of them. But he keeps coming back to them because he loves them. Because he'll always love them.