Do you think Klaus believed he killed Camille in episode 9? The very first time I watched the show that cross my mind for a second. The way he was pacing down and breaking things trying to understand it was so intense, obviously because the woman he loved was dead, but it also seems like he was trying to put things together in he's brain, trying to remember it. I don't know if this makes sense at all. But what do you think it was going through his mind? Besides the obvious heartbreak, of course.
The scene was honestly framed very oddly to me tbh. Klaus isn’t some newbie vampire he was one for a thousand years, he’s consistently paranoid and on-gaurd because well he got hella people who’d want him dead. In addition to being a vampire he’s a werewolf-hybrid. His senses are far too sharp for someone lying NEXT TO HIM to die and not see it. But as you said Klaus does wake up terrified, and if you DO believe klamille had sex that ep then Klaus could be potentially thinking maybe he got too rough, lost himself and did harm Cami. Slept it off and forgot he harmed her… because hey.. the man is filled with many problems mentally he could’ve taken it there and “blocked” it out. I know it’s an ep from the later seasons in TO where Klaus is talking on the phone and a woman is dead in the back covered in blood. He seems consciously aware tho but… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
but honestly I just don’t think realistically think Klaus someone in defense mood 24/7 even in his happier moments would just not notice that detail (unless its kol im joking but lmao) of his girlfriend/esp after kissing her, laying next to her again dying lol it seemed like saying klaus was just that happy so the fear was outta him was just a crop out for their bad writing flaws LOL
That's a talk that keeps coming back ten years now.
My take, If we ignore the writers forgetting Klaus has superhearing, super-scent, and the paranoia of a thousand-year-old hybrid who sleeps like a cat with PTSD…
The scene is actually framed to show something very specific. Klaus isn’t trying to remember hurting her. He’s trying to understand the impossible. I don’t think “did I do this?” ever crosses his mind. Klaus may be impulsive and violent, but he’s not delusional.
He knows exactly what he is and what he’s capable of. And hurting Camille is the one thing he would never do. Even if they had slept together (they didn’t), even if he’d gotten carried away, she is not “just another lover.” She is his only exception.
The whole point of the scene is that being with her made him feel safe enough to do something he never does: he actually slept. Like, fully let his guard down. And then he woke up to his worst nightmare.
That’s why he’s pacing and breaking things, not because he thinks he killed her, but because someone managed to get into his home, into his bedroom, and kill the woman in his arms without him noticing.
It’s the horror of realizing his fear was right: being with him had cost her life. At that point Klaus is not thinking anything else but the obvious. She is dead; she died on his watch; he failed her… he is not expecting that she would wake up in transition.
Compulsion is not even a wild idea in his mind. That's why when she wakes up, the first thing he says is, "Tell me what happened."
For compulsion was another huge hole …the show never addresses it. She was missing for three days, kidnapped by Lucien and then Aurora, and no one checked if she still had vervain in her system or considered compulsion. Which is crazy because that’s literally Klaus’s go‑to move. He drains people from vervain and compels them to be his spies. But in the moment, he’s not thinking strategically. Klaus, he's in shock. Emotionally, the scene is about Klaus realizing the one thing he tried to prevent — losing her because of him — has happened in the most intimate, devastating way possible.
