Warning: Spoilers for Legacies season 4, episode 10, "The Story of My Life"
Legacies just introduced a new character, Ben, who was revealed to be the mythical Prometheus, and his story retcons The Vampire Diaries' origins of magic. This season has seemingly been trying to do a better job of fleshing out the show's neglected supporting characters, which often got lost in a cast of characters that had grown too sprawling. To that effect, new characters in Legacies season 4 have been few and far between, and those that have been introduced mostly had one-and-done stories. But Legacies season 4, episode 10, "The Story of My Life," added two new characters that appear to be in it for the long haul, or at least a multi-episode arc. One of those was Jen (Piper Curda), revealed to be a god. The other was Ben (Zane Phillips), who was introduced in the previous episode but whose story was finally revealed this week.
As it turns out, "Ben" is really Prometheus, the legendary god of ancient Greek myth. In the classical myths, Prometheus is one of the Titans, a trickster god (often associated with the later Loki of Norse mythology) who is sympathetic to humans. He steals fire from the gods and gives it to humanity, infuriating the other gods, particularly Zeus, who enacted a typically brutal punishment for Prometheus. Legacies touches upon this but considerably changes his story. The TV show version is not a Titan, but a demigod, the offspring of a god and a human woman. He steals the "fire" from the gods initially intending to use it in order to save his dying lover, but his pleas go unheard. In his rage at the gods and his grief, he gave the gift to other humans instead of returning it to the gods.
However, in changing Prometheus' story from classic mythology, Legacies also changes the origin of magic and retcons The Vampire Diaries' explanation of magic. Jed pretty quickly figures out that what Ben calls "fire" is really magic, meaning that Prometheus is technically the one who introduced magic to the world and gifted it to humanity. This is wildly different from how magic is viewed in The Vampire Diaries. Granted, there are various kinds of magic in the Vampire Diaries universe, but the most basic and oldest form of magic is known as Traditional Magic (or Earth Magic), and it's the kind most commonly practiced by witches. Magic has historically been believed to have been around since the very creation of the world and is Earth's energy itself, the essence that binds all things. Magic just is and always has been according to TVD lore. But Ben's story upends all of that, revealing that magic did not spring forth naturally from the earth, but was given to humanity by the rogue Prometheus.
As a standalone story, it's interesting, but as a story that exists in the Vampire Diaries universe, it creates a number of issues. Not only does it retcon established lore, but it also raises questions about the historical timeline of magic. Vampire Diaries purports that magic has always existed, long before humanity did. But Ben's story in Legacies contradicts this and offers an origin of magic in the world that came much, much later than the witches of Vampire Diaries ever realized. In Legacies' version of events, humanity had already been around for quite some time when magic was introduced to them. Technically, it could be argued that humanity didn't necessarily discover magic in Vampire Diaries right away, either, though it had always existed. But that's a pretty flimsy argument for a pretty significant retcon.
It will be interesting to see how Legacies handles this arc moving forward. Right now, it's just another example of how Legacies too often seems to forget it exists in the same universe as The Vampire Diaries, ignoring all the previously established lore. With Legacies season 4 finally starting to address these issues and tie itself more closely to its predecessor, this magic origin retcon seems like a big step back. Hopefully, it will ultimately serve to add to the lore of the universe rather than contradicting it once again.
Legacies releases new episodes Thursdays on the CW.