Good point about Elijah reconnecting to his humanity via the squishy members of the family! :) He does tend to welcome those members in before anyone (Hayley, Hope, Marcel, Freya, even Davina herself!), I'm glad he started acting like a brother Kol deserved.
I personally think that a lot of the Mikaelsons' dysfunction comes from the fact that they're all somehow insanely committed to misunderstanding each other, hiding their true selves from each other and simultaneously thinking they all know each other best, on top of scheming against each other. I honestly think Klaus and Kol know most (not all of them!) members of the family best, but Kol is discreet about it where Klaus is so loud about it that you miss when he's actually right because he's wrong about like everyone else outside of his family or doing something to be an asshole, lol
I am a personal believer in not staying around family who abuses you and I see both Klaus and Elijah as Kol's abusers to a degree (frankly, everyone in the family except Marcel, Davina, Keelin and Hayley are) so I have always been a "hell yeah, kolvina can run away and live their life" kind of guy, but I was glad that even Klaus started changing his tune for Kol (I still think Klaus needs to get his head out of his ass most times, but I wanted more from them in canon. As hostile as they were, they also seemed to be the most physically affectionate with each other of Kol's brothers, and I take every Kol hug I can get). I thought it was so cute when he hugged Davina after he got arrested!
Thank you for such a lovely story!
Hello,
Elijah does have a soft spot for the squishier members of his family and is more accepting of their mortality and fragility than Klaus or Rebekah are. However, it did make it easier for Elijah to reconnect with Kol when Kol became mortal, they were tolerant of one another as immortals, but once Kol became mortal again it did shift the dynamic. Kol is, inarguably, more dangerous as a witch than vampire, but he's also more vulnerable, and Elijah has a soft spot for his mortal family members that exceeds what care he gives the immortal ones. I always thought it was unfair that the Originals couldn't connect with one another, but Kol being mortal did even the playing field for them.
I think that you're partially correct, they were committed to the mental images and understandings they had formulated, but they had over a thousand years of being together and that's bound to bungle up relationships. Also, throw in a familial trauma of being forced to become abominations in the eyes of the natural world, without support or guidance or compassion, it's amazing they didn't wipe out humanity. The Mikaelson siblings went through a lot of shit, and not all of it was bad, but it did mold their bonds in unhealthy ways. It was compounded though because they were dysfunctional before immortality, and as we learnt in TVD, vampirism just makes you more of who you already are, and time warps that. So they were warped after a thousand years of dealing with one another and their already complex dynamics.
Klaus is loud about what he understands, he always thinks he's 'top dog' so to speak, and immortality and invulnerability only inflated his sense of self-importance and ego when he's driven by his insecurities and fears. It made him an insufferable man child, and it did not help that when he was mortal he was coddled even as a grown man. That said, Klaus does have a deep understanding of people and those around him, and that understanding has given him an arrogance about dealing with others and his family, and that arrogance made him loud. He's certain in his judgements and his tactics, and if they fail him, well... he's invulnerable, what can his opponents actually do against him if he's wrong?
Kol on the other hand is quieter, he's flashier because he's willing to let people make a mistake around him and then capitalize on that mistake, whether it's his siblings or enemies. But the trade off is, Kol is 'the Worst of the Worst' and the 'Wildest of [the Mikaelsons]' and everyone is always trying to move ahead of him, because the only way you're going to beat him is by surprise. It's everyone's lack of understanding him that gave him the edge and made him the worst of the Mikaelson. That said, Kol's understanding of his family, and their connections and natures was always more discreet and quieter, because he was always trying to make them understand him and felt it was a failing on everyone because they lacked the connections. Kol lacked the understanding that those lack of connections were driven by his own envious views on his family's 'better bonds' and feeling excluded.
Everyone in the Mikaelson family is an abuser and abused, they are so beyond fucked up that it's pretty clear that the only reason they haven't killed each other is because they can't die. And leaving an abuser, whether it's a parent, partner, sibling, or friend, it's not easy, it's terrifying to strike off on your own when the devil you know is comforting because you know that one, you can predict it, move around it, manipulate it. The devil you don't know is far more terrifying with that in mind. So, leaving sometimes is the most difficult, terrifying decision, and for the Mikaelsons, it's also hard to do because literally no one else is going to understand the shit they've gone through. They're a thousand years old. They were born as Vikings. They have cultural standards and expectations that are no longer in practice or believed or understood, they've witnessed the best and worst of history, they've been hunted and hunters, tormented and tormentors, and they've outlived everyone that they've connected with. It's HARD to leave when no one else can understand that weight, it's easy to say you should when you're on the outside looking in, but it's hard to do when the outside has fucked you over before and the abusers around you are something you know, love and can predict.
Klaus is an insufferable man child, he needed his head ripped out off his ass resewn on his neck, and whacked with an ACME anvil and ACME safe before he might actually learn something. Fucking immature childish ASS! But Klaus canonically did have the biggest change for Kol, but that's because we're seeing the show from primarily Klaus' perspective, it's about Klaus and his evolution to become a semi-decent father for a daughter he did not want or intend to create. We're watching the show knowing Klaus will get his comeuppance and that's what drives the fucking plot unfortunately. The show is told from Klaus' perspective so of course it will be favorable for Klaus' growth. The Originals is not as Mikaelson focused as you think when you watch the show for growth and change, because everything is primarily focused on Klaus. Klaus though does need to grow and change, and it's important for him to learn to connect with his family.
A good portion of the reason I ended the story with Kol and Davina in the Armillary Sphere was because they always had the vibe of running away together.
