Sometimes the hardest thing to write about are the ships that you love the most. It’s not about the fact that you love them, it’s about if you write about them every emotion, every bit of feeling you have ever felt will resurface.
And that emotion is a lot.
I will be the first person to admit – I live and die by my ships. That’s the great thing about books and TV – they give me an ideal of what I would never settle for, and what I want. Ships give us something to believe in when there is nothing left to believe in. Ships give us hope – an ideal of love. Yes, we go in knowing that the love may not always be attainable, but it’s the idea.
That’s all we need.
I’ve fallen for many a character on television, but Klaus Mikaelson was one vampire that I felt drawn to. I wondered what it said about me that I was so attracted to a homicidal vampire. But – hey – we all have issues.
It’s never been that Klaus was bad – it was always about the way that he loved and he loved so deep that it overtook him. And there was no love that was greater for him than Caroline Forbes.
One of the greatest ships that ever existed, Klaus and Caroline may not have been meant to be each others forever, but they were meant to have a love that lasted forever – no matter how their love took them to someone else.
Now, there has never been a ship that I have wanted more than Klaus and Caroline. Maybe it’s the whole old fashioned story of a good girl and the possibility of taming the bad boy. Maybe it’s the allure of a bad boy – cause we all know that we’re going to fall for the bad boy at least once in our lives. But from the moment that these two came on screen together – to me – it was like seeing a spark. Hell, fireworks went off and I knew that was the ship I wanted to succeed. It was everything.
They were Always and Forever.
THE WAY THEY HATED EACH OTHER
I’ve always lived and died by the knowledge that you don’t choose the ship, the ship chooses you. On the surface Klaus and Caroline isn’t something easy to understand. Klaus is bat shit crazy and he’s always forcing himself into everyones life. Yes, sometimes it’s by a misguided sense of thinking he’s doing the right thing. But, what I have come to understand about Klaus is that his madness – his holier than thou attitude – is a facade for just wanting to be loved.
Caroline always kept her feelings in because guarded made her feel safe. And she had every reason to hate him for the shit he had done. Klaus was a horrible person. He hurt everyone around her.
But he did love her – no matter what she thought.
He didn’t know how to get her attention. He didn’t know how to get it. He didn’t like the fact that she challenged him and didn’t fall at his feet. But at the same time I know that they challenged each other and that was part of the beauty of their friendship and their love.
ONE DANCE
You know how you just see two people together and you just know. You know that they’d be willing to do anything for each other, even when they didn’t.
That’s the way I felt at the ball in season 3.
When the ball happened and Caroline was the guest of honor – my heart skipped a beat. When he gifted her that beautiful blue gown – it was as if you just knew that he wanted her to shine.
And that dance… those beautiful moments of him staring at her – you just knew that no matter what happened next, they would always have moments.
And the moments made up their love.
(and you know he gave her her prom dress too… so he had a thing for that).
I WANNA BE YOUR LAST
I admit – than in the middle of my ship – I got lost. I was detered by sitting back and watching a ship that I thought I wanted too. Stefan and Caroline. I mean cause where Klaus gives me the bad boy fantasy, Stefan gives the idea that falling in love with your best friend can happen. But in the back of mind it was always a passing phase because Stefan isn’t meant to be with Caroline. Sure, he’s helped her grow and maybe that’s what she needed.
She needed to know that when you move past all of the Tyler bullshit and the Klaus complications – she deserved love. She deserved to be more than just the best friend that helped everyone through. She deserved to be the person that had someone fighting for her.
She deserved to be loved unconditionally.
But I resigned myself to the fact that Klaus and Caroline were end game – so good on her that she’s living her life and having her fun. Everyone deserves to live their best life. But I always referred back to the “I intend to be your last” scene.
And my faith in their love was always renewed. The thing is – you can see that Klaus wants nothing more than to love Caroline. He may try and shut it off – and like her he moves on to other things in life.
HOW TO SAVE A LIFE
Was there any moment that you didn’t see the love between these two really shine through? Their chemistry was always everything.
But that’s the beauty of finding your always and forever.
When Tyler bit Caroline and she needed help – because you know, werewolf bites are lethal – it wasn’t an easy road. But if you’ve ever seen chemistry – you know that it shined through because no matter how stubborn these two were – what they wanted was each other.
The way that Klaus and Caroline got through it – the way that he wanted to show her the beauty of the world…
These two would give anything for each other.
He wasn’t going to let her die. He wanted nothing more than to have her live. She may have called him out for loving her, but you’ll never be able to convince me that his love for her didn’t help her live.
ONE LAST INTERACTION
You see – watching this scene did something that I didn’t know it would do. I got closure. Hell, I didn’t even know that I needed closure on this ship.
We can all see that there is an undying love between Klaus and Caroline – the way that their faces suddenly glow with the sound of each others voices. You can see the pain in their faces, feel the love in their hearts. But with his goodbye, something changed. It wasn’t the love that they share – I believe that it will always be there.
It was closure. It was hearing the words that they would never be able to say, without them saying it. It was knowing that love can live forever – but just because you are in love doesn’t mean that you have to be together.
Would I be happy if Klaus and Caroline got together. Sure, of course I would. Who doesn’t want to believe in love? I know I do. But what this crossover episode taught me is that it’s okay if my ship doesn’t sail. Sometimes it’s okay to just take the lessons that love can teach you. Sometimes it’s okay for a person to just love from a far.
Because together or apart – these two will always find some way to get back to each other – in some other lifetime.
They are the definitive ship.
I really loved your essay but also It was not closure. I do not know If you saw season 5 of TO but you can still see that caroline really cared and loved him and klaus still wanted to get a chance to be with her. he could not have been her last love but caroline was his last love.he really spent his last minutes with her rather than his family and hope. because of caroline he said goodbye to his family. caroline also convinced him to call hope again in 5×01. klaus always wanted caroline. caroline always hide it because she was a loyal person and klaus hurted many people who she loved so It would not be so right to be with him suddenly.they needed their time to get over some problems. caroline even saved his voicemail and the dress he gave to her so she really cared about him but she was afraid to show and accept that because ıt could be more than just “care” because deep down she knew that she wanted klaus too. for me ,after klaus died I really understood that they were endgame. the only women who can make him happy and joyful was caroline. he always wanted to be with her. he never loved someone else like he did with her.