so im writing this to shed some light on siphoner witches as well as heretics
but!
i hope this doesn't mean you decide to make your own OC one of these creatures before making a fanfic about a regular vampire, werewolf, witch, or human
if you ask me: it's better to walk before you run, especially if you're just starting out
take it slow, once you've gotten through one book, get bolder, start exploring hybrids, siphoners, and heretics
but no tribrids
that's off limits
there's a big 'do not cross' sign right below tribrids
okay
what is a siphoner witch?
it is a subsection of witches that were not born with the ability to harness their own magic but rather able to steal or take away magic from other sources by physical contact
these sources include all manner of things that are made up of magic or have been touched by magic
- witches
- vampires
- werewolves
- hybrids
- doppelgängers (human ones, vampire ones are just vampires to them)
- grimoires
- witch talisman's
- dark objects
- magical objects
- even locations or houses that been used to practice witchcraft constantly have a source of magic
- curses made by witches
- werewolf bites and venom
- compulsion
- vampire blood in a human
- spells in placed by witches including protective, cloaking, barrier, etc.
basically, if it's got magic or has been around magic for a long time, it's fair game
however, there are magical items that have been protected with anti-magic spells such as:
Rayna Cruz's sword
The sword is used with the phoenix stone to capture the hunted vampire's soul.
When the huntress couldn't capture the vampire, she could use the sword to leave a mark on them. A large 'X' wound that doesn't heal and links her to able to see what the marked vampire sees. Even as a fail safe it works, if she completely dies, but dead-dead, she takes all her marked vampires with her.
one of the heretics, Beau, had the X scar and kept it even after the Rayna lost her sword and the stone separated from it. The heretics weren't able to remove the mark with siphoning, so it was immune to their power.
this is the only thing that we've seen that couldn't be siphoned off
because even spells that are meant to behave as a 'no magic allowed' area, siphoners still had the ability to suck it out, such as when Kai was in Mystic Falls and his powers shouldn't have worked but he was able to siphon off the entire spell that covered the whole town against spirit magic.
so, I'm going to assume that this was because the shamans that spelled her sword didn't want any type of magic to touch it, just like how Rayna herself isn't affect by witch magic but the traveler's spell in the town was specifically against spirit magic
Rayna's blood was also proven to be highly toxic to witches and heretics, as both Bonnie and Mary Louise had consumed them for a long period and Mary Louise was told she had barely a week before eventually coming to death
other than that, the only thing that can't be siphoned off has been Malivore sludge made into bullets, like the time Josie got shot with one in the season 1 finale
Siphoners are incredibly rare, they barely occur. And so far we've only gotten to see nine. Nine. We don't even have double digits.
Siphoners can also siphon magic from other siphoners. We see this when Lizzie siphoned magic from Josie who had siphoned a boundary spell by Hope.
We don't know why they were created or how, whether it was simply a natural subsection born or intentionally made.
Siphoners are often faced with harsh treatment by witches as they see them as abominations even when siphoners were born this way. We see this isn't just with Kai, as with the heretics each one reveals their past with their own covens and being disowned and kicked out by them.
It's also shown that when a siphoner takes magic from a living source such as a vampire, werewolf or witch, it generally hurts the source and they feel pain.
But in Legacies we learn that it could also be applied with the consent or awareness of the siphoner about to take magic. We see this with Lizzie and Josie. As whenever either twin takes magic from Hope she isn't in pain, she barely has a reaction. Even when Lizzie siphoned magic from Pedro when the gargoyle was attacking. The same when either twin takes magic from another vampire, werewolf or witch on the show, they're made aware or they're asked and they don't feel pain. This could also be in part because of how the siphoner takes the magic, I think they can also choose to take it painfully or in a careful way.
We've also seen Lizzie take Sebastian and MG's magic by surprise and saw that they were in pain because of it. She siphoned them to the point of desiccation. This further supports that if the living magic source is made aware and give their consent to be siphoned they won't feel as much pain or discomfort.
Siphoners can also keep their magic somewhere else like witches can. We saw when Josie put her siphon power in a coin. It's not yet known if heretics can do the same. Or a siphoner without their power is turned into a vampire, it's still unknown if they can reclaim their stored power.
They also don't immediately have to use the magic they siphoned, they can keep it until they want to use it.
now, ya'll need to understand that siphoner witches aren't the super species of witches, they're just another type of witch, a subspecies or subsection (kind of like how travelers are also a subspecies, be on the look out for my travelers chapter)
any of you that make the argument "But, a siphoner witch can just suck out all the magic out of a magical creature and they'd win."
no no no, no no, no
there is a limit as to how much a siphoner can take from a magical creature or artifact
i know most of you don't remember or probably saw S7 but i actually rewatched it twice (dont ask why, i think it was my own brain trying to make sense of it, once in the present and then the second time just the flash forwards)
(which, by the way? the flash forwards sucked for storytelling, it felt so off for TVD)
anyway, remember the only gay couple we had in the whole show? Nora and Mary Louise?
because in total i believed we had like, what? four canon queer characters in the entire show?
- Bill Forbes, Caroline's dad (who sucked)
- Luke Parker (who died)
- Nora
- Mary Louise
( I guess Josie too? but she hadn't come out yet and tbh was barely a character in TVD)
but then you have the non-confirmed gays which have been confirmed by me so why not
- like every single Original siblings, don't @ me
- Stefan Salvatore
- Katherine Pierce
- April Young
- you know what screw it, everyone's queer
anyway, back to Nora and Mary Louise
well, they died in the process of siphoning off the phoenix stone so it couldn't be used ever again
now i actually liked this, but not because they died, i mean the one gay couple on your show and you blow them up, really Plague?
no, i liked this because we saw that siphoning could actually kill a witch or a heretic if they take too much and that made sense
too much of anything could lead to deadly consequences
so i liked this limit they set
i mean even regular witches have a limit on how much magic they can use or channel
remember during the sacrifice in TVD S2 where Bonnie was channeling a hundred dead witches to kill Klaus? all that power was going to kill her if Elijah hadn't taken him away. Or when she was almost killed by using Expression too much in S4.
if they just made siphoners fine with siphoning off someone like Klaus and then living to tell about it, it's basically saying that siphoner witches are on the highest tip of the food chain, they aren't, but they are high up
who or what is the highest on the food chain? that remains unknown and it's best to leave it that way, the minute we say this character or that character is more powerful than everything and everyone else we lose interest and have gained an OP OC that no one wants to read because if they can't die or seriously suffer consequences then there's no twist, no risk, no surprises
and in my own opinion, that's probably why i dont like Superman that much, the guys got only one weakness so it's no surprise when that's what's affecting him or that's what's trying to take him down
(well, he's also weakened by magic so- you know what sorry, that's my comic book mind going off the fritz)
also, please don't start in the comments about how
"well Hope is probably the most powerful"
"well Maliwhore sucks but he is pretty powerful"
"we dont even know what went inside Maliwhore so who knows whats the most powerful"
"what about Qetsiyah?"
"Shouldn't it be Dahlia or something?"
"what about Marcel now that he's an upgraded Original?"
"remember Silas, guys?"
"what about Cade?"
"what about Matt Donovan? the guy's stayed alive and human this entire time, he's probably on top"
"Kai Parker anyone?"
"im sticking with Klaus"
"my money's still on Hope"
"I think it's still siphoner witches or heretics"
you are all entitled to your opinion, but this is the internet, so whatever you say just know that there is some other TVD fan behind you ready to say the opposite, so please keep those discussions in the comments civilized and friendly, thank you
anyway, back to Nora and Mary Louise,
it took two heretics to be able to siphon the magic in that stone and they died in the process
one might argue the specifics like how Mary Louise was dying from a witch disease the Armory gave her, or how since they were heretics they already had been feeding off their own magic so there wasn't much 'space left' to siphon off but i don't think that matters
if you want to think about the specifics, a siphoner witch isn't immortal nor do they have a healing ability so who knows if they could even handle that much power, much like Bonnie back in S2 and S4
for those of you who are thinking about the heretics in S7 and how they died off so easily and quickly imma have to rebuttal
- Kai as a heretic died because his focus was on Bonnie, plus the sensory overload of being a newly transitioned vampire kept his focus on Bonnie and didn't think to keep his guard up as Damon came speeding in and sliced his head off.
[We're not counting the second time Kai died by Alaric's hand because it made no sense whatsoever and I am completely convinced that Kai got out and stayed there so he could make a glamour where Alaric just thought he killed him and now he's just off making the world a worse place with his karaoke covers.]
- Malcolm died facing Bonnie and Damon (woo hoo, Bamon for the win!) anyway, it was a lucky shot, usually heretics aren't alone as we've seen and Malcolm had his focus on Bonnie and in came Damon quickly ripping his heart out, no big speech, no gloating, just in and out
- Oscar died while strapped to a gurney attached to a vervain drip so he was already weakened and then came in Valerie (another heretic, also the eldest heretic) and she killed him
- Beau died because of the Huntress Rayna Cruz, which i understand because she wasn't affected by magic so for her it was like facing another vampire
- I just told ya'll how Nora and Mary Louise died
- and finally Valerie remains the only heretic still breathing
honestly she wasn't half bad, i kinda wish she coulda come back and taught at the school, like i get some uneasiness around her and Caroline, but Caroline's never there i mean why the hell not? she's got more years on the vampire students and has magical experience, all she has to do is hire a werewolf teacher and we got the whole band
so overall, please do not make your siphoner witch or heretic super powerful, even when they consume magic, the more and more they consume will eventually start showing.
think of it like you're filling a cup with water, eventually you get to the top but you keep pouring, what happens to the water? It overflows. It spills to the table and the floor. that's kinda like how they consume magic, at one point or another they're going to be full but if they add more and more to it, they will overfill and the consequences won't be pretty.
when it comes to writing a siphoner for your fanfic there are a few factors to consider
they're a siphoner witch, but are they a witch that belongs to a coven like the Gemini or the French Quarter witches? Or are they simply from a family that has witches but they have no actual coven, like Bonnie Bennett or Freya Mikaelson.
- they need to have physical contact with whatever they're siphoning
- witches often have a prejudice against siphoners, to the point of disowning them
- this doesn't have to be the way with your OC, as Bonnie held no ill will towards siphoners specifically, she loves Josie and Lizzie, she only hated those like Kai that used their power for evil
- Freya also knew Josie was a siphoner and didn't have anything against her,
so, there is a high possibility this prejudice comes from groups and covens of witches rather than sole families with no coven
- if your OC was the type from a coven and was thrown out or kept in the coven like Kai, there's a high chance they don't have full control of their abilities as they haven't had a chance to practice witchcraft. We learned Kai was isolated from the witches growing up as his parents didn't want him to take any magic, even with the barrier spell he sucked from the town, he still had trouble remembering all the magic incantations as he never actually practiced.
When Josie and Lizzie were kids, their power was also going haywire as they're surrounded by a bunch of magic in the Armory, Kai was the one to explain this Caroline. This is turn further inspired Caroline and Alaric to build the Salvatore School so their girls could learn and practice their powers in a controlled environment.
- case in point, your OC won't be as educated or controlled since they never got a chance to be
- you don't have to go this way, you could make your OC part of a family that supported them and taught them to control their powers
- you could make them an orphan that didn't even know they had this power
- you also don't have to point blank ask them 'do i have your consent to siphon magic from you?' you can make it more casual, like simply asking for their hand like Josie or Lizzie do with Hope or MG. Or how Lizzie asks Pedro to give her his hand, you could add a small bit of dialog to ease the source like "I'm going to take a little okay, don't worry it won't hurt." something like that, get creative people
Surprise siphon
Cooperative siphon
what are Heretics?
when a siphoner dies with vampire blood and wake up in transition, their ability to siphon magic makes them a loophole for a vampire/witch hybrid
these loopholes weren't even thought possible until Valerie Tulle, the oldest heretic, drowned with vampire blood in her system [i won't mention any specifics as to why she did because it could be triggering]
a heretic is able to siphon off their own vampire side so they now have their own magic, but they can still siphon other magical sources
if a heretic fully siphons off their vampire side it could kill them as that's what's keeping them alive; in turn, a heretic that's kept at bay could be killed by another heretic or siphoner by siphoning off the vampire side's
heretics are considered even bigger abominations than siphoners as there's nothing witches hate more than vampires
writing a heretic is more or less the same as a siphoner, as that's what they were before transitioning, they'll have the same background
my only advice is that with your siphoner and their established personality, you're going to have to magnify that times a hundred because of the vampire side, so whoever they were before, it's a hundred times more intense, their emotions, their reactions, their decisions, it's all more intense
they don't have bad control or a deeper hunger, Lily Salvatore's heretic family were just used to being spoiled and getting whatever they wanted, not to mention Lily herself being a ripper wasn't the best to be a teacher, despite that, Valerie and some of her fellow heretics weren't out of control or anything and had a good handle on their vampire side
there's also a big chance that siphoners and heretics have a disdain and don't like covens of witches because of their own bad history with them
i hope i covered all the basics, and you guys were hopefully inspired by this, please let me know if i missed anything, if you still have questions, please go ahead and ask and i'll include it