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In Defence of Katherine Pierce: Why Klaus Mikaelson Got Redeemed And She Never Did

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Klaus Mikaelson slaughtered thousands of people and got a redemption arc. Katherine Pierce survived five centuries of him hunting her and got called cold, manipulative, and irredeemable. This video breaks down the gendered double standard behind how The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, treat their two most controversial characters. Why did his trauma gets narrative sympathy while her survival gets read as proof she's a monster.

If you've ever wondered why Klaus is beloved despite the body count while Katherine's still remembered as the villain of her own story, this one's for you.
#KatherinePierce #KlausMikaelson #TheVampireDiaries #theoriginals

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
04:58 From Katerina to Katherine
16:30 The Double Standard (Klaus vs. Katherine)
21:03 What Violence Is Allowed to Mean
29:15 The Architecture of Forgiveness
36:52 The Girlboss Reckoning
40:56 Final Thoughts
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20 Comments

@Retrojulie 1 month ago (edited)

Can I just say that Damon constantly calling Katherine a slut was so hypocritical because he sleeps around way more than she did 💀

Also, I never noticed the lighting and music changes in the scenes! Glad you pointed out this detail; the showrunners were obviously biased.

@naries21 1 month ago

The fact they sent Katherine to hell and gave klaus peace PEAAACCCEEE . they should’ve reopened hell just for him

@MrVlogerGuy 1 month ago

Katherine was much more compelling than Klaus because like at the end of the day he was a broken boy looking for a father to love him, Katherine was broken women that CHOSE power for herself unapologetically and loved every second of it. I don't think she should be above being forgiven though I just think she works a lot better as a villain than Klaus does.

@kateglew580 1 month ago

I've been saying this!! Almost every evil man in this show gets a redemption arc whereas the evil women - sans Rebekah - either renege on their character development at the last minute or are killed off. This goes doubly for female villains whose primary offence - at least in the eyes of the other characters - is manipulating or "leading on" any male character, which is best exemplified with Katherine of course.

@theblackkittie13 1 month ago (edited)

I always thought it was weird how Klaus seemed to obsess over women who looked just like his sister and mother. The fact that he k*lled almost everyone that Rebecca romantically loved over the years just makes it even more gross...

@caribbeanadams3345 1 month ago

i love how you pointed out that as the show went on they denied katherine of complexity they just wanted her to be seen as a one dimensional villain but that wasn't the case

@caribbeanadams3345 1 month ago

katherine literally gave up her freedom to save damon's life and stefan's humanity in s3 but we're supposed to believe she's just fundamentally evil?? nah.

@MercenaryX84 1 month ago

Katherine got the Qetsiyah edit by the writers. Justice for Katherine.

@khuechuong 1 month ago (edited)

Most villains are elevated by the actors who played them. People love klaus and Damon bc of Joseph and Ian. Katherine is no different. The only difference is the writers elevates klaus and Damon while putting Katherine down.

Another is bc they didn’t want to give Nina equal pay as Paul and Ian for playing 2 different characters.

@queenloiskosher6119 1 month ago (edited)

The entire tvdu was very very very sexist. The grape/SA kink (Damon & Elena, Damon & Caroline, Damon & Andy, Stefan & Katherine), abuse kink (Klaroline), the bending lores to glaze male main characters while diminishing or making female characters weaker or lose to the males even when it negates the lore (Damon & Rose, Katherine & the Salvatore’s, Rebekah & the Salvatore’s, Pearl/Anna & Damon). Very weird.
People who love Klaus or Damon but hate Katherine ick me. Especially because the worst thing she did to Damon was stay true to what she already told him and he agreed to as a 25yr old with complete free will: she wanted him and his brother.
The only people who have a right to hate this woman is Pearl, Stefan who she graped and unwillingly turned into a blood bag and threw into a world of bloodlust, Jeremy who she killed and Elena whose loved ones she kept tormenting.
Klaus didn’t just slaughter her family, he did her entire village. It’s like Elena losing the entire mystic falls and her loved ones. It’s freaking insane how she didn’t go crazy.
Klaus did the bad things he did for power. Katherine’s was for freedom. If you rewatch, her bad deeds all had a reason: survival or as leverage for her freedom. It’s not the same. Even her stealing Elena’s body, very wrong and unforgivable but there’s a reason, she was dying and had never lived because of Klaus. She wanted to survive and finally get the family she wanted with Stefan and Nadia. Still wrong but it’s tied to wanting to finally live or survive. Not power or ego

@naries21 1 month ago

Klaus was HORRIBLE TO HIS FAMILY . punishing them as if he was the parent and they were the children decades on end and he’s the one who made Katherine the person she was

@corneliahanimann2173 1 month ago

Katherine deserved better, just because I am biased towards her. I was never really interested in the vampire diaries series, but this plotline was the only time I kinda tuned in to it. It showed that Dobrev really had it in her to act as a more interesting character overall, but instead was just tied to a script that was infatuated with a level of dullness that must have inspired her to depart early from the show.

@juracan-s4u 1 month ago

I’ve always said that Katherine deserved so much better than what she went through—honestly, she deserved way better than Klaus, if you really look at it. And yet, Klaus might be my favorite character... but in the story, Katherine is the victim between the two, so we have to be realistic about that. Plus, the characters judging her aren't exactly in a position to do so. Stefan wiped out entire villages—well, Damon doesn't judge her, so he doesn't really count. Elena judges her, even though she literally committed genocide; she killed Kol Mikaelson, and as a result, his entire bloodline died with him—so she literally committed genocide. The same goes for Jeremy, since he was an accomplice to the murder. Caroline didn't hesitate to slaughter an entire coven or snap a brother's neck in front of his sister to get what she wanted—or even sleep with Klaus, all while constantly criticizing Damon. And then they turn around and say Tyler is the problem because he gets angry, even though he's the victim in the situation. So, I'm sorry, but Katherine got a raw deal from characters who had no right to judge her. I feel like Damon is in the same boat; he gets hammered for every little thing he does, even though the people judging him don't really have the moral high ground—often, they're even worse.

@caribbeanadams3345 1 month ago

also I've always liked how katherine never victimized herself as much as the other characters she herself kinda brushes over her trauma we rarely see her just break down and cry while that could be a bug not a feature I think that's true to the character she's just that tough

@caribbeanadams3345 1 month ago

it really all comes back to misogyny in the story and irl nina not getting her just due the writer creating female characters without agency (elena mainly) and punishing the few that have it and use it without shame and katherine literally getting disowned because how dare she have sex and get pregnant without being married and don't get me started on how Elijah was mad at her because she didn't wait for him to save they hate despite katherine needing the most help out of everyone refused to be a damsel she didn't have any family to save her so she saved herself

@caribbeanadams3345 1 month ago

and katherine's intelligence is used to diminish her capacity to feel and people use it to frame her as manipulative even when she's right about something whereas with klaus he's the mastermind he's framed as the superior being

@skurinski 2 weeks ago (edited)

Also I understand Katherine pushing Nadia away, she knew she was dying and so she didnt want to get to know her to lose her all over again, Season 5 should've been her redemption arc. I loved her in the earlier seasons as a smart big bad, but the show portrayed her as more complex than that, and so when she returned in season 4/5 and turned human I thought they were redeeming her. She was funny, and was making amends with Stefan (probably the only one that really knows Stefan deep down and his fears). I hated the body snatching plot cause it was done before and so lame. Katherine should've been allowed to redeem herself and maybe be endgame with Stefan, find happiness with her daughter too. Also I agree her coming back as the queen of hell was cringe, specially cause they wrote her so weak in that final episode, she didnt even go down as a true big bad, she was taken out really easily. A lose lose situation. She deserved better

@danderson601 1 month ago

Thank you Jesus I have been arguing for years over this topic

@a.chantel192 11 days ago

I think if Katherine got her own show like the Originals did, she would have gotten a similar character development. Since the Originals was about the original family with Klaus being the focus, it was easier for him to get a redemption arch. Especially since the writers stop writing as much Katherine stories since they didnt want to pay Nina to do both parts.

@lizziehunterpaul1314 1 month ago

Dude, I kept expecting a more compelling reason for Katherine’s evil in s1/2 than she played with Damon and Stefan’s hearts. Like that’s it? Damon sired Caroline to him when they first met, but Katherine is irredeemable? The evil women on the show rarely got the empathy and understanding as their male counterparts. Like, I still don’t know why Vicki was treated so badly?