After three seasons, Legacies finally saw Hope become the Tribrid, but her turn completely broke the rule about witchcraft first outlined in The Vampire Diaries. Despite the melodrama and the over-the-top nature of many of the show's plotlines, The Vampire Diaries universe was surprisingly good at establishing its rules regarding supernatural creatures and magic. It all pivots around nature always finding a balance, whether naturally occurring or through the help of witches.
True hybrids are so rare in the Vampire Diaries universe: nature abhors one creature having so much power. Thus, it will do anything to keep the balance between humans, werewolves, witches, and vampires. Each supernatural group has weaknesses to keep them in check: Vampires will die if bitten by a werewolf, but werewolves can only turn during the full moon, which limits their abilities. Witches are granted terrifying amounts of power, but as humans, they don't possess the superhuman characteristics of vampires and werewolves. Likewise, no matter how powerful a witch is, every spell has a loophole. In all ways, nature and the spirits maintain the balance. So, where does the Tribrid Hope fit in?
In Legacies, tribrid Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) is seemingly immune to a cardinal rule of witchcraft. In The Vampire Diaries, a witch is only granted powers as humans. If a witch is turned into a vampire, they lose their powers, as witches act as servants of nature. Nature considers vampires to be an abomination, so witches are stripped of magic if they turn (save for Siphoners, which is another matter). Yet, even though Hope's transformation involved her awakening her dormant vampire side, she was shown using magic after her vampire awakening to reform her clothes. In theory, the minute Hope Mikaelson activated her vampire powers in Legacies, she should have lost her ability to wield magic. Hope is nature's ultimate loophole, and it likely explains why she can still use her witch powers.
How Hope’s Tribrid Nature Sets Up The Legacies Season 4 Finale
Hope uses her Tribrid powers to face off with the formidable Malivore, resulting in her victory — though, beings return from death all the time in TVD and Legacies. Her victory isn't necessarily well-received, because the reality is, Hope shouldn't exist. She is nature's walking definition of too much power as a werewolf, witch, and vampire, and who possesses all of their powers but few of their weaknesses. Yet witches created her, and nature allowed them to because there is something in the world that is just as powerful as her, and that's Malivore. A thousand years ago, witches, vampires, and werewolves combined their blood to create Malivore, a golem that could help them defeat dragons. Still, he eventually grew too powerful for them to control and turned on them. As established, though, nature always creates a counter: Hope, the only being strong enough to defeat the Malivore golem in Legacies. She's only strong enough to defeat Malivore because she is a Tribrid and a combination of all three supernatural creatures.
There's even a loophole within the loophole that is Hope, that arguably allows the logic of The Vampire Diaries universe to remain intact. As a new vampire, Hope shouldn't have witch powers as vampires aren't human. However, Hope is also a werewolf, and werewolves are human. If Legacies were to reveal that the magic bypassed her inhuman vampire side and was granted to the still-human werewolf side, technically, that wouldn't break the rules of witchcraft laid forth by nature. Even with that allowance, Hope's tribrid powers and abilities are unstable, which the rest of Legacies season 4 explores.
Hope's Tribrid Story Wrapped Up In 4 Seasons To Protect It Against Cancelation
Hope's arc as a tribrid was wrapped up by the end of Legacies season 4 – a deliberate choice during production given the unconfirmed (and now non-existent) future of the series. Throughout season 4, Hope begins to miss her humanity because of her tribrid status, and in the end, she gets a final message from her father, Klaus, providing an emotional coda to her story. However, Hope survival by season 4's conclusion and the many interesting side characters provide ample opportunity for further storylines in a potential season 5, but Legacies came to an official end after the season 4 finale.
Hope's story was written before the announcement, as studios hinted that season 4 could be the show's last, so writers tried to play it safe by ending the main character's story before accepting the inevitable. Legacies' cancelation was announced in May 2022, with the last episode of the show airing on June 16th. Many were upset about the series' cancelation, and the creative team wasn't quite ready to let the show go either. Despite this, creator Julie Plec expected that the series wouldn't be renewed for a fifth season, and season 4 was written accordingly. The Vampire Diaries spinoff was mainly canceled because of the sale of CW, which also led to the axing of other shows like the Charmed reboot series, Batwoman, and Dynasty. Saying goodbye is never easy, but at least Legacies got to wrap up Hope's arc satisfyingly before its exit from the screen.