TEEN VOUGUE Klaroline reunion and their future

For years, fans of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals watched the drama between Klaus and Caroline ebb and flow, the duo going from being acquaintances to companions and sparking the ship known by the fandom as "Klaroline." Now, with Candice King’s reprisal of her iconic role and showrunner Julie Plec’s confirmation of a Klaroline reunion, fans can’t help but wonder if the former lovers finally end up together in the closing season of The Originals.
It always seemed as though Caroline was the balance Klaus needed for his erratic, bloodthirsty tendencies — she was written as an equal, someone who would challenge the murderous Original vampire to be better than he was. But, as the show progressed, Klaus and Caroline seemed to possibly display characteristics of an emotionally abusive relationship.
According to the National Domestic Abuse Hotline, an abusive relationship can be characterized by “a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship.” Although there is no one set definition of what an emotionally abusive relationship is, there are many established behavioral and verbal indicators.




Klaus seems to have a reputation for being an abuser. He’s abused Hayley, the mother of his child; he manipulated Camille through mind comulsion for a better part of their short relationship; and he even daggered his own sister during the Vampire Diaries. With Caroline, however, Klaus’s abuse is harder to recognize — but it does appear to exist.
“An emotionally abusive relationship can be very subtle,” psychotherapist Alex Carling tells Teen Vogue. “Things like put-downs, criticism, shifting of responsibility to make the other person feel guilty, threats of suicide if the other person left them, and making the person feel like they are, or are going, crazy.”

Psychodynamic therapist Claire McRitchie adds that “people who emotionally abuse others are often very charming, they say or do what they think is required in order to get what they want; they will play a role.” Because of their charm and subtle psychological daggers, emotionally abusive relationships can be hard to recognize, which makes it hard for people in these relationships (and those observing) to recognize the toxic behaviors.

Both Carling and McRitchie watched clips of Klaroline’s relationship and weighed in on the couple’s behavior.
On numerous occasions throughout The Vampire Diaries, Klaus is overtly kind to Caroline. He gifted her a bracelet for her birthday, sent her a gorgeous hand-drawn portrait of herself, and has saved her on more than one occasion. But that doesn’t mean Klaroline’s relationship isn’t abusive.



“As I watched, I thought that there were lots of nice things happening,” Carling says of Klaroline’s relationship. “Where there are more kind moment than unkind/painful or hurtful moments, one doesn’t cancel out the other. Just because [Klaus] is more nice than horrible doesn’t mean he isn’t abusive, and the more I watched, his abusive actions were ridiculously bad.”

Carling continues, saying, “He chips away at her choices, relentless in his attempts to sway her, and he can be quite aggressive in his manner.”

Of course, Klaus and Caroline have a multifaceted relationship. Many fans ship Klaroline because they think Caroline humanizes Klaus and gives him an opportunity to be the person he “really” is. But, according to McRitchie, this can be further evidence of emotional abuse.

In Season 4, Episode 13 of The Vampire Diaries, McRitchie says Caroline encapsulates the trope of a heroine in need of rescue. “What I see is a young woman romancing a violent person who has committed a violent act. She has ‘split off’ his evil parts as a way of normalizing him, and thus maintaining a relationship,” McRitchie says. “He is also playing his part very well — he is reading the signs and offering her what she wants — the misunderstood bad boy that only she can change.”

Later, in the same episode, Klaus attacks Caroline, stabbing her with a wooden lamp and biting her.
In the next episode, Klaus tells Caroline his many distasteful actions have all been done for her: “I’ve done more than enough. I’ve show kindness, forgiveness, pity, because of you, Caroline. It was all for you.”
“The language in this clip highlights what is also common in abusive relationships; language designed to make a person question who they are,” McRitchie says. “This is what Klaus does resulting in a confusion of identity and a perfect foundation on which to build an emotionally controlling/abusive relationship.”

Carling agrees, stating that “Caroline clearly suffers emotional harm at the hands of Klaus” with regard to him threatening the lives of the people Caroline cares about. Carling notes that in the clips she watched, “Caroline is constantly working against Klaus, pulling him close for personal gain, which suggests this relationship as a whole, and from both ends, is unhealthy.”



Overall, Klaus can be seen as a “charming manipulator,” observes Carling. Furthermore, when Klaus seems to open up to Caroline, this could be seen as an act of power.

“The story about the hummingbird — when he is intimate, it’s so powerful due to his violence and aggression at other times, as though what we would regard ‘normal’ components to a relationship with people in general, it is heightened and overly influential,” Carling states. “I can see how this pulls people in and makes him appear vulnerable and likable.”
Ultimately, in Season 5, Episode 11, writers have seemingly given Klaroline shippers a sense of closure, finally allowing the two immortals to admit their true feelings to one another. Unfortunately, according to McRitchie, this scene appears to be “a test of power under the guise of choice.” Although Klaus seems to give Caroline the choice to say how she really feels, Klaus “is testing how much control he has by laying down the ultimate ultimatum, and it works. Caroline plays the very role he wants her to.” It seems Klaus provides the illusion of control in order to get what he wants: Caroline.


So, is Klaroline’s relationship emotionally abusive? Both Carling and McRitchie agree that, yes, Klaus and Caroline’s relationship exhibits standard patterns of emotionally abusive behavior.

“It could be argued that this is fantasy so what does it matter or why is it being taken so seriously, but it's a perfect opportunity to educate whilst no one is at any real risk,” Carling says. “Abusive love can feel intoxicating and all-encompassing, like a fantasy, it can seem almost impossible to leave. Knowledge is awareness and choice.”

It’s possible that their reunion during the final season of The Originals might address some of these concerns. But perhaps the show might afford Caroline Forbes one justice — finally putting the abusive relationship between her and Klaus to bed and letting the two live out the rest of their immortal days with partners they have more healthy connections with.