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Esther & Elijah May Join Forces on 'The Originals'

by Christine DiStasio

Everything's coming unraveled on The Originals, as if we expect anything less from The CW's most dysfunctional, supernatural family. Two weeks ago, Rebekah returned to The Originals with baby Hope, but she wasn't met with the happiest of reunions when it came to Elijah, who's obviously been more affected by Esther's mind control than anyone believed possible. On Monday's midseason finale, "The Map of Moments," The Originals' Esther's going to make an alliance that "could prove dangerous to Klaus," according to the synopsis released by The CW. And we should be worried, terribly worried that Esther and Elijah might be on the same team leading up to The Originals' winter hiatus.

I know what you're thinking, Elijah would never do this — Elijah would never fall this far from his moral high ground. But he has, Originals fans, and we all saw it with Rebekah when she walked in on those piles of bloodless corpses. She didn't snap Elijah's neck for no reason — he's officially unhinged and he might've lost enough of himself to finally bend to Esther's will. Conveniently, The CW's synopsis for Monday night's midseason finale leaves out Elijah's fate (he's only mentioned in reference to Hayley's potential decision to have a supernatural marriage to Jackson), which absolutely opens the door to leading fans to believe that Esther broke him enough to get him to join her madness.

At first, I wanted to believe that Esther and Mikael might be getting together to take down their children — but with Rebekah and Klaus getting together to take down their witchy mother, all signs point to Elijah being Esther's alliance. Sure, Mikael would be dangerous for Klaus as well, but not quite as dangerous as Elijah — Klaus' closest ally over the past season — flipping sides in the middle of this war.

But, aside from the fact that Elijah could be the most dangerous because of his proximity to Klaus, Hope, and Hayley and the relationship he shares with his brother, there's another important factor point to Elijah joining Esther's team. He's clearly become a monster and, if there's anything we learned from his hallucinations during Esther's magical hold on him, he's not going to be able to live with himself this way. When Rebekah met him in the diner, he actually started trying to convince her that Esther's proposition might not be the worst possible thing for them. So, he's already started doubting whether or not he should stay a vampire and he's definitely starting to consider Esther's plan to turn her children human.

If his current mental state and the fact that he would be the most dangerous and heartbreaking alliance for Esther to acquire aren't enough, there's also the fact that Hayley is considering marrying Jackson. I can't imagine that, after learning Hayley's intentions (even if they are for the good of the cause), Elijah would be able to keep the last shreds of his sanity and reasoning. He's already weakened and after all of the nightmares he had about hurting Hayley — which possibly influenced his decision to believe the ideas Esther put into his head — it would kill Elijah to learn that she's given up on him. The once calm, cool, and morally sound Mikaelson brother would go off the deep-end, blame himself for being a vampire and not a hybrid — thus not good enough for Hayley, and then decide to join Esther.

Again, I know this seems totally unlikely and this is so out of character for Elijah that it almost hurts me to suggest it, but all the signs are pointing to him finally folding under the pressure of being a Mikaelson. And, of all of the things that could possibly go wrong for Klaus at this point, losing Elijah would be 100 percent the worst — which, obviously, makes it the most likely route for The Originals to take for its midseason finale. Not that it makes the idea hurt any less.

Images: Richard Ducree/The CW; dailytvdgifs, bloody-niklaus/Tumblr