The Masters of Good & Evil: A Detailed Meta of Klaus Mikaelson & Bonnie Bennett (Klonnie)
Hello Saints & Sinners!
I’ve shipped Klaus and Bonnie since Season 2 of The Vampire Diaries. While this ship was brutally snatched out of my cold, dead hands, I can still say today that Klaus and Bonnie were destined to be together, and if you stay a little while, I’ll tell you why I think so.
Grab a snack, I plan to yap for a minute.
Objective:
Summarize their backgrounds and explain how it shaped them.
Point out their similarities, differences, strengths, & weaknesses.
Explain how and why these work for and against them.
Remain on topic while being as concise as possible.
Origin Stories & How They Shape Them:
Klaus: Born in the 10th century to Esther and Ansel, Klaus believed Mikael was his biological father for the entirety of his human life.
After the death of his younger brother, Henrik, Esther stole a spell from Ayana Bennett’s grimoire and turned the entire family into vampires so that none of them would suffer the same fate.
Once turned, Klaus’s hybrid nature emerged when he triggered his werewolf curse, thus revealing Esther’s transgressions. He learned that she suppressed his werewolf nature for years with a spell, making him a target for Mikael’s abuse.
Seeing that her son was now a true abomination, Esther cursed him by binding his werewolf side. Klaus then killed Esther and framed Mikael for it before running away with his siblings.
Mikael’s relentless pursuit of Klaus for centuries compounded his trauma, fueling his paranoia and desire for power to protect himself and his family. This event became a foundational wound, fostering feelings of rejection, inferiority, and rage.
Bonnie: Born in the 20th century to Rudy Hopkins and Abby Bennett-Wilson, Bonnie was abandoned by her mother at an early age and emotionally neglected by her father, who traveled relentlessly for work.
She remained in the primary care of her Grandmother, Sheila Bennett, the alleged ‘town drunk’. While Grams did her best to care for Bonnie, she failed to teach her granddaughter about her family’s ancestry.
Bonnie descends from the oldest magical bloodline in the Vampire Diaries universe. Her heritage, initially believed to date back to the Salem Witch Trials, extends much farther and can be traced back to the 1st Century BC. Her ancestor, Qetsiyah, created the first Immortality spell, sparking the events of the series 2,000 years later. Her ancestors have been the catalysts in every supernatural plotline throughout the TVDU, and their magic and blood are often responsible for breaking curses, creating alternate dimensions, and creating creatures.
After discovering she was a witch, Bonnie was thrown into the supernatural and experienced the death of her beloved Grams early on, marking her hatred of vampires and the destruction they cause. She often received backlash from other characters, including the spirits, for her moral and magical obligations.
Her absentee mother briefly reappears, and Bonnie discovers that not only did her mother live a state away, but she was also raising another child who was not biologically hers. Abby's return reopens Bonnie's old wounds, and after being turned into a vampire, Abby disappears again, triggering more suffering and loss for Bonnie.
Bonnie is isolated from her friends and family while left to deal with the supernatural burden of being the only witch in a town that’s a magnet for destruction. As a result, she is burdened with responsibilities, selfless and loyal to a fault, has a martyr complex, and is often placed on a high moral pedestal. She is reserved, and though she is known to be ‘judgmental’, she is actually understanding when it comes to her friend’s decisions.
Whew. That was a lot, and I haven’t even gotten started. Brew some tea and meet me back here.
...Intermission...
This next part is partially borrowed from another Klonnie Meta I did, but this one is more in-depth.
Similarities:
There are so many commonalities between the two of them that make shipping Klonnie so fun.
Similar to how two siblings can grow up in the same house and face the same trauma but end up polar opposites, that's how I view Klonnie's commonalities (minus the sibling bit, obviously). They both faced similar traumas, but how they processed them turned them into different people. Klaus is the Yin to Bonnie's Yang.
Shared Traumas:
Parental Negligence
Bonnie: Rudy was negligent after Abby left and thus, Bonnie grew up alone with Grams, who failed to teach Bonnie about her heritage. (I'm aware it was against Rudy's wishes but I'm still side-eyeing lol.)
Klaus: Esther was negligent in keeping his father's identity from him and allowing her husband to abuse him. Also, she created the spell to weaken him for her own selfishness, thus putting the target on his back when it came to Mikael.
Abandonment
Bonnie: Her mother walked out on her for no legitimate reason. Her father was always gone, and Grams was an alcoholic (so they say). Even the people in her life were emotionally absent. Then you have her friends who left her to deal with the consequences of magic alone. Their absence, be it emotionally or physically, has taught Bonnie that love is very conditional and that if she can control the circumstances, she can minimize the pain their abandonment causes her.
Klaus: After killing their mother, he developed a deep fear of his siblings finding out and abandoning him for it. Therefore, he became obsessed with loyalty. His biological father was nowhere to be found until a thousand years later. Klaus’s abandonment issue shows up in the form of narcissism. If he can guilt his siblings and make them fear him, he’d never have to worry about them leaving him. (Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t work for either of these walruses.)
Internalization, Narcissism, & People Pleasing
Bonnie: Each time her friends are in trouble, she takes up the mantle to fix things. No one has ever asked, but she’s in-tune with those around her, so she thinks she knows exactly what they want. She then responds by ‘earning her keep’. This links back to her abandonment. To Bonnie, creating comfortable lives for those she loves directly translates to them staying in her life (not the case, but she believes it). She’s uncomfortable with others’ discomfort, and that is a major character flaw. She’s a grade-A people pleaser.
Klaus: This man sees every decision his siblings make as a direct threat to his person. He mistakes their boundaries and their desire to create their own identities outside of him as betrayal. Again, his abandonment issues make him respond with force, as he would with his enemies. And though he would never ‘kill’ them, he’ll cart them around in boxes for 900+ years. If Bonnie is a people pleaser, Klaus is the narcissist who can sniff her from miles away.
Shared Personalities:
Deep Emotional Capacity & Fierce Loyalty
Bonnie: Highly empathetic, Bonnie feels everyone’s pain and will prioritize it over her own suffering. We see this countless times with The Gilberts and The Salvatores. Because of this, she will go against her own morality. For example: The Gilbert Device debacle in which she risked the entire town’s jugulars because of Stefan’s love for Damon, she was willing to destroy the other side to bring Jeremy back for Elena, she tried to stop Elena’s transition at the expense of her Gram’s spirit being destroyed with aether.
Klaus: Despite his cruelty, Klaus loves his family and will destroy heaven and earth for them if necessary. Because of how deeply he feels for them, he looks for that same level of devotion in them and is often let down when they don’t return it with the same level he brings it. In his eyes, he gives more than he receives and this makes him paranoid about whether they truly love him or not. Mikaels abuse and manipulation causes him to second guess their loyalty often and so he does what he does best. Lashes out.
Klonnie: They both feel so deeply that they often suppress it to protect themselves. However, they both tend to ‘explode’. Klaus with his overreactive anger, and Bonnie with her willingness to sacrifice her life for the Mystic Falls Gang. They both make extreme sacrifices to protect those they love, even crossing moral lines to do so. Klaus will hurt his siblings to keep them safe, and in a way, so does Bonnie when she decides to die for them without their knowledge or consent. (Example: Klaus killing Elijah and Rebekah’s love interests, Bonnie telling Jeremy over the phone that she won’t survive the collapse.)
Survival & Isolation
Klaus: The World’s Only Original Hybrid (‘Life’)
Bonnie: The Last Surviving Bennett Witch (‘Death’)
Klonnie: I’ve touched on this earlier, but they’ve both experienced great pain and loss. They carry deep emotional scars, shaping how they see the world and interact with those they hold close. But let’s switch gears and talk about how their survival and power work against them. Their power alienates them, and because of it, they’re isolated. How poetic would it have been to have one of the world’s oldest creatures hook up with the last survivor of the very bloodline that created him!! The possibilities are endless. Klaus is isolated by fear, while Bonnie is isolated by duty. Them trying to kill each other is so romantic! My personal opinion: As much as Bonnie would try to destroy that bastard, Klaus would keep her around just because he’d like the idea of flirting with death. Being alive means nothing to an immortal creature. Throw in the threat of death, and life becomes so much sweeter. He’d never be able to get enough of her. Bonnie is often seen as life, while Klaus represents death, but the roles would be reversed in this scenario. Bonnie would be his cute little grim reaper. In conclusion, people either depend on them (Bonnie) or fear them (Klaus), but rarely do they understand them.
Growth & Redemption
Bonnie: People see Bonnie as a moral beacon that's full of light (and she is), but if you dig deep, Bonnie is a very dark character. She is the antithesis of evil, which does not always equate to what we define as 'good.' Bonnie's goodness is rooted in the way she masters evil, and she knows how and when to tap in (For example: Trying to kill Damon by fire). Most "good' characters we see in media today aren't actually good, they're harmless. Elena is a perfect example of this. Just because she was physically unable to hurt a fly doesn't mean she was a good person. Her selfishness placed Bonnie in ugly situations plenty of times, but it was brushed off because she ‘meant well’ and as a fellow black person, that is a very dangerous sentiment for our white friends to have. Additionally, our girl could learn boundaries, confidence in who tf she is, and how to put her desires over her sense of duty sometimes. She doesn’t always have to be the one to fix everything and everyone, and she could learn a lot from Klaus’s ‘selfishness’.
Klaus: If Bonnie is the antithesis of Evil, Klaus is… evil. One of my favorite sayings is “to be good, you must master evil”. I applied that to Bonnie’s character in the section above, but when applied to Klaus’s character, it’s so poetic and symmetrical to Bonnie. Klaus masters evil because he used to be good. Mikael and Esther showed him the worst in humanity, and because of their transgressions, they created a filthy, dark creature who, at his core, was a kind human being. The best villains once gave a fuck and Klaus is an example of that. Centuries of fear and persecution at the hands of Mikael created this dark, twisted, beautiful being, and if you flip Bonnie’s coin over, there you have Klaus. Additionally, this man could stand to be a bit more tender in his approach to love, and I think Bonnie would be the perfect person to remind him what tenderness feels like. His passion is overwhelming and suffocating, and while Bonnie can benefit from that, it would cause major roadblocks in their relationship. His control would stifle her and push her away, while Bonnie’s moral high ground would get on his absolute nerves. Especially when he knows she can be morally gray when necessary.
Klonnie: A fun little theory I’d like to mention is how their isolation makes them two of TVDU’s most touch-starved/deprived individuals. And Mwah. Imagine them in the sack. Their chemistry would be explosive because they both have what the other needs. Bonnie needs someone who wouldn’t play about her, and so does Klaus. Klaus needs someone whose loyalty he’d never have to question, and Bonnie is the perfect candidate. With a LOT of work, they’d both finally get the love they deserve and naturally, redemption (Klaus) and growth (Bonnie) would come to them, easily or hard won.
Take a nap. Tomorrow we fight another day.
...Intermission...
Or eat a sandwich and come right back...
Differences:
Strengths & Weaknesses
Moral Compass
Bonnie: Bonnie has a strong and almost fixed moral code. She is so rigid that she can’t bend it; therefore, she breaks it. She went from hating vampires to becoming best friends with one and even considered becoming one herself, which seems out of character, but again, she’s so rigid in her beliefs that she doesn’t always see when she’s… being a hypocrite. This is where I can see her and Klaus bumping heads because he’s more adaptable than she is, and her rigidity would annoy him and trigger his inferiority complex. Klaus, as fixed as he may seem to be in his anger, there is a method to his madness, and he has a reason for everything he does. He bases his reactions on past experiences, which I’ll highlight next. Bonnie does the same; only she doesn’t wait for evidence sometimes. She confronts you before the problem even occurs. She also uses her morality as a means of control for both herself and others. For Example: Planning to kill Klaus before the sacrifice (duh but, they could have attempted to come to an agreement our found a better solution), distancing herself from Caroline before seeing what kind of vampire she’ll be (though that had more to do with guilt than anything), and warning Damon that she’ll take him out if he steps out of line (assuming, correctly, he’ll fuck up soon).
Klaus: Regarding his family, I’d say he’s morally gray… on specific issues. Is he overbearing? Yes. Has he done things that I think they should disown him for? Also, yes. But he also goes to the ends of the earth for them, and that kind of devotion is rare (which is why they keep coming back to him). One of my favorite things to point out is how Klaus despises every man Rebekah brings home. In the beginning, it seems like Klaus is controlling, possessive, and at times, even incestuous lmao. But I always remember the flashback where he discovered he was immune to the daggers because REBEKAAAAH decided to fall in love with a hunter and nearly got them all killed/immobilized due to her incessant need for love and her incompetence when it comes to vetting her suitors. After seeing that, you understand why he is the way he is. His wickedness is his self-preservation, and his paranoia is what’s kept him (and his family) alive for a millennium.
Klonnie: These two are night and day, which is why they work. By the end of the series, Bonnie’s moral compass was frantically spinning while Klaus’s… well. His compass is pointing North-West (ish), and smashed into pieces beneath his foot. I think Klaus could learn how to make inclusive decisions regarding his family from Bonnie, and in turn, she could learn how to relax and realize her morality isn’t a weapon to wield.
Approach to Power
Bonnie: Sees Power as a burden and responsibility.
Klaus: Sees Power as control and longevity.
Klonnie: Klaus weilds power aggressively, and Bonnie wields it as a defense. She only operates in her power when she’s on the defense and never on the offense. This is the case with most “good” characters, which is annoying because so much could be prevented if you head off the problem before it becomes one, but… that’s when things become morally gray. Enter KNEEklaus. Though chaotic, he tends to play offense, which gives him the advantage in 90% of situations (like most villains). I haven’t figured out how yet, but these two could find a way to balance this perfectly. With many arguments and make-up...
Confidence & Self-Loathing
Bonnie: Underestimates her importance due to emotional neglect. Klaus is very self-loathing, and while Bonnie doesn't initially appear to be that way, she is too. Her strong moral code is just that, her way of torturing herself. For example: Constantly sacrificing herself for 'good' simply because she has the burden of wielding magic.
Klaus: Overestimates his importance to cope with rejection. Klaus is so used to being rejected that he expects it. That said, he’s spent his entire existence making sure that he is the answer to everyone’s problem… despite creating those very poblems.
Klonnie: Klaus hides his inferiority with arrogance, and Bonnie hides hers with humility and loyalty. Time and time again, we see Bonnie undervaluing her presence within the group by taking herself out of the equation because she was taught that her presence in her parents’ lives wasn’t necessary for them. (I want to bawl right now.) Klaus feels the same rejection from his parents, but he hides it with false bravado by wielding his status as the original hybrid who can’t be killed. They are both the ‘center of attention’ for completely different (negative) reasons. In conclusion, the confidence level for both of them is in hell, and while I think they could find a way to build confidence in each other... they’d need some serious help.
Interpersonal Style & Communication
Bonnie: Empathetic, supportive, and emotionally stable. She is exceptionally good at making connections with even the worst characters (Damon) and building trust. She has a way of growing on you even when you don’t want her to.
Klaus: Manipulative, controlling, and emotionally volatile. He isolates people through fear or force. He has a way of getting under your skin because, contrary to what most believe, the most manipulative people are also skilled at reading people, much like empaths. Klaus needs to control everyone around him to keep himself from getting hurt, while Bonnie refuses to be controlled.
Klonnie: Klaus pushes people away to protect himself. Bonnie pulls people closer, even when she’s hurting. That may sound false, but think about it. The more her friends distance themselves from her, the more she does for them. Because if she feels you pulling away, she sees that as you abandoning her, and if she thinks you’re abandoning her, she goes into full people-pleasing mode. For Example: When Elena wanted to stay behind on the other side while it was collapsing, Bonnie panicked and grabbed her to pull her to the other side. When she thought Elena would die as opposed to transitioning, she risked pissing off the spirits at the expense of her grams because the thought of losing anyone else terrified her. Klaus is the same way. Each time Rebekah tried to run off with a man, Klaus daggered her. He pushed Elijah away by doing the most amoral, irredeemable thing. For example: Telling the witches to kill Hayley and the baby and killing Gia (something I’ll never forgive!!!!!) In conclusion, Klaus lashes out, and Bonnie People-Pleases.
Romantic Expression
Bonnie: Can we call Bonnie’s canon relationship love? One was a ‘here damn!’ relationship and another was stockholm syndrome. (In my humble opinion, sorry Bonenzo girlies. Also, I recognize I stole a Bonenzo photo to make the edit above. So you can clock me for that.)
Klaus: It’s hard to peg since we haven’t really seen this man in love-love but I imagine it’s possessive, intense, and seductive. His romantic gestures would blur the line between devotion and obsession.
Klonnie: Klaus would use his love as a way to possess someone and anchor them to him while Bonnie awards her love like a hard-won gift. Even if it costs her something in return. For example: She gave up her love and freedom for Enzo, and revived Jeremy just to get cheated on. (My foot will remain cemented onto that lil boy’s neck.) At first, Bonnie would be disturbed (and fascinated) by Klaus’s possesiveness but as I said before, our girl could use someone that does not play about her. All he’d have to do is show her the man beneath the monster and she’d lowkey be a moth to the flame. They’d start off toxic of course because a people pleaser and a narcisist is never a good combo but in this case it would hurt so good. Because at their core, they’re good people. (Klaus’s is buried beneath centuries of trauma and stoicsism but it’s there)
In Conclusion (Or Denouement)
Klaus and Bonnie are both masters of good and evil, on the most extreme ends of the spectrum, and I think that’s the fun and beauty of this ship. The possibilities are endless, and there are so many different rabbit holes you can go down when it comes to them. Together, they could balance each other: Klaus learning patience and humility, Bonnie learning that power can be embraced, not just endured. As long-winded as this meta is, I’ve still barely scratched the surface so I’d love to hear what you all think about these two. What I’ve laid out for you here are reasons why I personally adore them.
If you’ve made it this far, you are a gem, and I wish you a lifetime of stocked refrigerators and Klonnie fanfics.
Thanks for reading!
-Nia
