In the fictional universe of the TV series The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, original vampires are a family of vampires from which all current vampires descend, as well as being the most powerful and indestructible. In the series mythology, they were created in ancient times through an occult blood ritual performed by the powerful witch, Esther, after the death of her youngest son Henrik at the hands of werewolves. In order to protect them, she turned her husband, Mikael, and her five surviving children, from oldest to youngest (Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol, and Rebekah) into vampires.