The final spin-off of The Vampire Diaries franchise is an outlier in more ways than one. Following Hope Mikaelson, daughter of the infamous Klaus, Legacies is a far cry from the flagship series. While The Vampire Diaries and the subsequent series, The Originals, were steeped in drama, romance, and horror, Legacies takes a more campy avenue. It also has the least amount of connective tissue to the characters of the original show. The series follows the offspring of many known characters, with Alaric Saltzman being the only main character from the original show in a leading role.
On its best days, Legacies is a fun and lighthearted series with promising performances. However, the series tends to stumble when it comes to the strength of its characters. Danielle Rose Russell shines as the mythical hybrid Hope, but that doesn’t mean she makes the most sense as a main character. She fills the archetype of the Chosen One, meant to fight a specific battle, but many other characters are more interesting choices to lead the series.
Raf Is a Natural Entry Point for Legacies
Hope is the shining star of Legacies, but any viewer watching the series with no context would have a hard time keeping up. While it’s unlikely that watchers who hadn’t seen the other shows would tune in, Legacies should still have a strong jumping-off point. Hope is a well-practiced witch in the first episode as she goes to recruit some students for the Salvatore School For the Young and Gifted. But fans have far more in common with Raf, who has no understanding of what is about to occur. He would be a prime choice for the main character as he learns about the supernatural world along with the rest of the audience.
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When Hope and Ric find him, he is undergoing religious trauma. His foster family believes that he has been possessed, unaware that he has actually been exhibiting symptoms of lycanthropy. After his rescue, he learns about what he is becoming and a school made specifically for people like him. Raf also has a tragic backstory, as any hero should. Hope has already come to terms with the deaths of her parents, but Raf still has to contend with the accidental death of his girlfriend, which triggered his werewolf curse. Raf has the charisma to carry such an endeavor and isn’t an all-powerful being with very few weaknesses.
MG Has a Compelling Narrative
If there is a beating heart in Legacies, it is Milton Greasley. The sweet-tempered cinnamon roll of a vampire is the exact type of person that the Salvatore School has in mind for its graduates. Turned into a vampire against his will, MG needs the instruction of such an institution. He is one of many vampires who have to contend with the trials of being a teenager as well as the difficulties of being dead. A proxy for Stefan Salvatore, MG demonstrates the character’s inherent goodness while also struggling with his Ripper tendencies. MG proves that anyone can fall off the path, no matter what their sensibilities. His blood lust isn’t as touched on as much as it should be, even though the storyline has immense potential.
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MG is a character who struggles with dependency issues and a traumatic home life, which is the secret sauce to a compelling main character. In the first season, MG is effectively banned from his household and only briefly interacts with his mother. Under the impression that his father is aware of his vampirism, MG is disheartened to learn that his mother never told him that his son came back from the dead. When MG reveals his true nature, he is cruelly rejected. Abandonment issues crop up in young adult dramas quite frequently, and if MG had more of a leading role, his trauma would be a significant plotline.
Penelope Is a Love Interest Who Actually Works
Legacies has its virtues, but one of its weaker points is its romances. The audience should want to root for the main couple, Hope and Landon, but many seem to ask themselves where the spark is between them. It is difficult to see what Hope sees in Landon, who has one of the weaker characterizations in the series. Penelope does not have this issue as she has a nuanced character and a relationship full of drama with Josie. First portrayed as a vicious ex-girlfriend, Penelope opens up the more she is in the series. Though she only lasts one season, she has the “It Factor” that some characters are missing.
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Later in the season, it is revealed that the only reason Penelope broke up with Josie in the first place was because Lizzie kept getting in between them. There was no room for Penelope in the relationship since Josie would always prioritize her twin sister. Most of what can be perceived as crimes on Penelope’s part were attempts to get Josie to break from the codependent relationship. Penelope also has a deft hand at magic, implementing unique spells that even Hope had not attempted to pull off. All in all, it was a tragedy to see Penelope phased out of the series when she had so much potential.
Kaleb Defies Vampire Clichés
Just as MG is a commentary on Stefan, Kaleb’s character is in conversation with the Damon Salvatore arc. A vampire who doesn’t apologize for who he is, Kaleb revels in his abilities. Savvy fans may think that his character is going a certain way because of this, but Legacies does a clever hat-trick with him. In The Vampire Diaries, Damon often spirals out of control, gorging himself on blood. It seems that this is where Kaleb is going in the first season of Legacies, but he is actually one of the most well-adjusted students at the Salvatore School.
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Kaleb uses his powers freely and supports drinking human blood. But while MG struggles with his blood intake, Kaleb practices moderation. He does not fall into the vampire cliché of losing control. Kaleb knows how to feed healthily without killing the person and compelling the memories away afterward. Legacies sets up the character to be almost a burgeoning antagonist, but Alaric soon learns that Kaleb is one of the most trustworthy vampires on campus. He gets elected to the student council and, interestingly enough, becomes one of the biggest voices of reason. Kaleb has an interesting perspective rarely seen in the franchise and would have given a different flavor to the series if he was in a starring role.
Alyssa Has More Tragedy In Her Backstory Than Hope
Alyssa Chang was a Season 2 addition that brought life to the world of Legacies. She crops up after Hope’s return to the Salvatore school and, like many characters in The Vampire Diaries universe, is complicated. Her arrival heralds Alaric’s more villainous actions in the series as it sheds light on his controversial actions of the past decade. Alyssa is brought to the school at a young age after her witchcraft causes the death of her family. This traumatic event causes her to act out and, in turn, motivates Ric and Emma to erase her memories.
Ric’s decision curbs Alyssa’s behavioral problems, but it doesn’t stick. Alyssa’s memories get triggered, causing her to act out as any teenager would. Her quest for revenge against Ric is valid, considering it was only one of many of his crimes against minors at his school. Alyssa’s upbringing is tragic, and she is the type of character who is ripe for redemption. There is space for Alyssa to have a great character arc, while Hope rarely changes throughout the series.
Pedro Is Worldly for Such a Young Age
Pedro first appears in the third episode of the series, aptly titled: “We’re Being Punk’d, Pedro.” An obvious source of comic relief, the episode shows Lizzie protecting the young witch when a Gargoyle attacks the school. But Pedro is so much more than a running gag in the series. He is a source of light in the darkness, being one of the characters who implores Hope to turn her humanity back on.
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More than that, however, Pedro has potential. He is part of the underclass that somehow inexplicably also fits on the Salvatore grounds. His character brings up a lot of questions, like why a high school for the supernatural has so many students at a young age. What parent would send their young son to boarding school, and a witch at that? He doesn’t pose a danger like a powerful werewolf or a vampire turned too soon. Pedro doesn’t appear to have a coven of his own and opens the door to many interesting questions that could be answered if he was thrown into the mix.
Jed Has Layers Revealed Throughout the Series
Like many characters in The Vampire Diaries mythos, Jed isn’t what he appears to be. Fulfilling a Tyler Lockwood-type role, Jed is initially a confrontational werewolf and a borderline bully. But just as Tyler accepts his character progression, so too does Jed. Werewolves are often characterized by repressed rage that reaches a breaking point, and Jed is guilty of this more than anyone. Season 4, however, tips the scales in his direction as it reveals the brutal way he turned into a werewolf.
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Jed’s family was aware of the curse, and in a bid to make him turn into a werewolf, his father pushed him to kill his best friend. Jed instead turns on his father, who was abusive, and kills him instead. Throughout his time at the Salvatore School, Jed is haunted by his actions and, like many abuse victims, falls into similar traps where violence is the only way he can communicate. Jed’s backstory is revealed late in the game, but had he been given room to develop, he could have been a touching protagonist with room for growth. He also would have been the rare werewolf to get a long-form leading role. As Legacies isn’t The Vampire Diaries, there would have been room for a werewolf to be front and center.
Wade Puts a Unique Face on Legacies Lore
When it comes to the lore of The Vampire Diaries, Legacies attempts to reinvent the wheel by retconning the mythology of the series. Some of these choices work out better than others, and the better goes to the underrated character of Wade Rivers. His entire arc revolves around his confidence in himself, which springs up in Season 2. As it turns out, Wade isn’t a witch like some thought, but the spawn of one of the creatures from the Malivore pit. He demonstrates some magical ability, but only when the entire class chants that they believe in him do his powers as a fairy materialize.
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Wade is not featured in Legacies nearly as much as he should be and is far too interesting just to be a side character. Hope may have some interesting mythology of her own, but viewers can’t simply ignore that one of the students is fae folk. Wade’s status brings up questions similar to Landon’s parentage and benefits some more introspection. The tertiary character’s discovery of his sense of self is a story worthy of a main character.
Ethan Is One of the Few Human Characters In Legacies
Every supernatural series has one. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had Xander. Teen Wolf had Stiles. The Vampire Diaries, of course, had Elena. The big thing that Legacies is missing is the human character in a crowd full of supernatural friends. At one time, the series had Ethan, but like any good human friend, he ultimately goes in the other direction and turns into a supernatural creature. Regardless, his origins are a fascinating deviation from typical hero tales in this type of fare.
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Ethan eventually gets taken over by Malivore and turned into a pukwudgie — a mythical woodland spirit. His transformation is on the outskirts of what viewers have come to expect from magical creatures and brings about an interesting origin. Ethan becomes the hero of his own story after this change and his eventual inclusion at the Salvatore School. Bringing Ethan to the forefront makes the most sense for a series that needs to establish an entirely new scope of mythology. Changing Ethan into a pukwudgie could have been the first episode and easily explored an entirely new mythos.
Lizzie and Josie Are the Obvious Choices to Lead Legacies
Hope has a mythical calling and a powerful set of abilities, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she makes the best hero of the series. Though she naturally has some loneliness because she is entirely unique to the world of The Vampire Diaries, much of this is of her own making. Hope pushes people away, thinking they can never understand her when many people simply want to be her friend. A more relatable lead would be characters that The Vampire Diaries fans are intimately aware of and who struggle to get where they are.
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Josie and Lizzie Saltzman have a fully fleshed-out backstory, starting with Jo Laughlin’s conception of them in Season 6. They are the closest tie to the original series in the franchise, harkening back to the golden age of The Vampire Diaries. While Klaus Mikaelson is undoubtedly a fan favorite, no one can deny that the best character in the series is Caroline Forbes. Watching her daughters mature with the stigma of being magic siphoners is a perfect allegory for life in high school. They are far more relatable than Hope and aren’t handcuffed by a mythos full of plotholes. They deserve their time in the spotlight, something that Hope so often takes from them. The Saltzman twins are the true stars of Legacies, even if the series fails to see it.
