Character Analysis - Hayley Marshall-Kenner (The Originals & The Vampire Diaries)

Since some people have told me, that I always write these about characters that I like I have decided to change that and pick a character I don't like: Hayley Marshall-Kenner. Before getting into the character in details, let's clear something up: While I dislike the character, I find it is very well crafted and Phoebe Tonkin portrays her excellently. She is a stunningly beautiful woman yet manages to believably pull off the tomboy and though girl. She also does justice to the emotional range of Hayley. But let's take a closer look at the character itself. 

When we meet Hayley in "The Vampire Diaries" we learn that she has helped Tyler break the sire bond, meaning that although she grew up outside of the werewolf community she has learnt about the supernatural world. Not much is known about the family that adopted her only that when she turned into a wolf her parents kicked her out. 

Hayley is what can be called street smart, which makes sense since she spend time living on the street. Although it is never addressed on either shows it can be assumed that she has little formal education due to this, which is in stark contract to the Mikaelsons, who due to their long life are very well educated. She therefore tends to feel very uncomfortable at formal events at the beginning of "The Originals". Over the course of the show she becomes more confident in such setting, which shows her development. 

She is a strong character, always willing to fight for those she cares about, her family, her pack and  especially her daughter, whose safety turns her into a proper mama wolf. Hayley loves deeply and usually unconditionally, which at times make her very dangerous. She spends 5 years looking for all the ingredients to save the Mikaelsons. 

Despite this obvious positive traits Hayley is also extremely selfish, as can be seen, when she chooses to tell Jackson about sleeping with Elijah. In a beautiful scene between her and Klaus, he explains to her that nothing can be gained by her telling Jackson, in fact she was only hurting Jackson by telling him, which is one of my favourite Klaus' scenes, as he is genuinely trying to help without a secret agenda, unfortunately Hayley chooses to ignore his advice and tells Jackson. One could argue that she wanted to be honest with him, but Jackson was already aware of her feelings for Elijah and knew the were entering an arranged marriage, so why hurting him further? Because it made HER feel better! She wanted to get it off her chest, regardless of what it did to Jackson. 

She later does a similar thing to Elijah, when she keeps him from telling her how he feels. She was already hurting him by marrying another man (He even gave her his blessing!),  yet she couldn't give him the closure he needed because it was tough for HER. In this moment she denied him the proper chance to move on, regardless of the fact that she made it clear to him, that any romance between them was a thing of the past. Instead she choose to constantly parade her marriage to Jackson in front of him. She keeps constantly rebuffing his kindness in almost brutal ways, as if he was the one responsible for all the problems, although he never retaliates for her cruelty. She never allows him closure and even after Jackson's death keeps pushing away and indirectly blames him again because he founded the Stix.

She is also disrespectful of other people, as when she not only reads Elijah's journals but also divulges the secret burial side of his lover Celeste to Sophie Deveraux. When she finally tells him at first she doesn't even apologize but instead tries to justify her actions. On top of it she judges his desire to keep a promise he made 200 years ago. 

But what is her worst character trait from my point of view is that she is a hypocrite. At the beginning of season 3 when she is ordered by Davina to kill witches in order to remain human, she not only kills them but tears them apart in what is probably to goriest scene of the entire show. Since the witches hadn't done anything to her, she is literally a mercenary. Of course she felt forced to do it in order to become constantly human, but Davina never asks her to be this brutal. Hayley never shows the slightest remorse over her actions and simply moves on. 

When during season 4 however, she enters Elijah's mind and sees the atrocities he had committed hundreds of years ago she judges him to the point where she even rejects him. In contrast to her, Elijah however feels shame and remorse over his actions and even suffers from PTSD, as he cannot deal with his own guilt, which in my opinion makes his character superior to her. Yes, he has been cruel but he knows it was wrong and he hates what he has done, Hayley however doesn't even think twice about it yet decides to judge Elijah, which is the definition of hypocrisy.  

Down the line Hayley's moral compass is compromised and while her motives might be often honorable like saving her pack or protecting her daughter she usually puts herself first, applying double standards and changing her morals when it suits her. She has two men in her life who adore her and whom she treats poorly, always letting them know that there is also someone else. 

What do you think? Did I judged her too harshly? Let me know in the comments!