Talismans are ordinary objects, normally jewelry such as necklaces, which are created by Witches mostly to focus their magic. Typically, talismans allow a witch to draw more power and focus their own in order to cast more difficult spells that would otherwise be very taxing for anyone witch.
Talismans can also come in other forms such as personal items and spelled objects to grant magic to other witches, such as Siphoners.
The talismans shown in the series are primarily in the form of necklaces where they function to direct, focus or enhance a witch's magic. In two cases shown, a witch's talisman has also been used to allow a witch on The Other Side to use their magic to interact with the physical world.
Emily's Talisman: Emily's Talisman is an antique iron necklace attached with an amber crystal for a pendant created by Emily Bennett. It was a mystical object that could unlock the tomb where twenty-six vampires were imprisoned. However, realizing the dangers the vampires would cause if they were set free, Emily destroyed the talisman 145 years later after she possessed Bonnie Bennett. Though Emily tried her best to prevent the crystal from being used to free the vampires from the tomb, it ultimately was opened anyway by Bonnie and Sheila even without the power of the talisman.
Esther's Talisman: Esther's Talisman is a silver necklace that was created by Esther after being passed down to her mentor, Ayana. The talisman was shown to be indestructible, having reconstructed itself after Sheila and Bonnie melted it in front of a fire. At some point before her death, Esther had handed the amulet down to her daughter, Rebekah, for safe-keeping. She eventually lost it during the early 1920s when she and Klaus tried to evade their vengeful father, Mikael. It was then found by Stefan Salvatore, having forgotten it was Rebekah's due to Klaus' compulsion, and gave it to Elena Gilbert many decades later. It is now located in a Secret Cave where no vampires can enter.
Qetsiyah's Talisman: Qetsiyah's Talisman is an ancient necklace with a pendant made out of a human bone. It originally belonged to one of the world's most powerful witches, Qetsiyah some 2,000 years ago. She was known to draw on it for strength, having used it in current times to successfully locate Amara, The Anchor, something that The Travelers carefully hid away for the past 2,000 years. It was briefly under the possession of her descendant, Bonnie Bennett, during her time practicing Expression.
Freya's Talisman: Freya's Talisman is a metal necklace attached with a blue jeweled pendant belonging to the witch Freya. It was created by her mentor Dahlia and was said by Freya herself to focuses her magic and makes her stronger. It was designed to house the spirits of her family such as when she was shown to expel Finn's spirit from Vincent Griffith's body, used a spell to place his spirit within it.
Other Talismans[]
Other named objects that are shown in the series have been referred to as a talisman, or share similar enchantment, but did not share the conventional functions of one such as to link witches together in order to channel one another or to store magic.
Bonnie and Luka channeling each other's Talismans
Luka's Dog Tags and Bonnie's Bracelet: In The Sacrifice, Luka Martin was shown teaching Bonnie how to channel, telling her that Channeling another witch can double their strength. In order to directly channel another witch, he asked to see the bracelet she was wearing as he removed and gave her his dog tags. He continued to tell her that personal items will act as a talisman as they concentrated on drawing strength from one another. Together they were able to generate strong gusts of wind.
Bonnie's attempt to unbind the moonstone
The Moonstone: In By the Light of the Moon, the moonstone was first referred to as a talisman by Bonnie when she asked Luka to help her "break the bond between a talisman and a spell" after which Luka called it such as well. They went on to destroy it under the full moon although it was later revealed to have been faked as Luka was working for Elijah with his father. Unlike other talismans, this stone was bound with a curse, created by the Original Witch centuries ago.
Bonnie's Grimoire
Bonnie's Grimoire: In Death and the Maiden, Qetsiyah referred to Bonnie's grimoire as a talisman, specifically claiming that "since Bonnie can't be here, her grimoire will have to do". Unlike other talismans, her grimoire contains no known magical properties, nor has been imbued with magic; however, it was used by Qetsiyah to give her transference ritual a focus, a representation of Bonnie who could not be physically present for the spell as she was a spirit trapped on the Other Side. As Bonnie was made into the Anchor, the grimoire was magically set on fire to finish the spell. It remains unknown if the grimoire was completely destroyed.
Valerie's spelled amulet
Valerie's Amulet: It was a pink Victorian cameo pendant attached to a metal necklace, belonging to the siphoner, Valerie Tulle. Having being born without any personal magic, Valerie used it to store magic following her exile from her coven for said mutation in Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. This allowed her to siphon it off and cast minor spells in times of need. However, it was eventually crushed by Julian so she couldn't perform magic to defend herself. The creation of this talisman is unknown, but one can assume that either she or a loved one created it for her protection.
Valerie's spelled bracelet
Valerie's Bracelet: It was a dark colored stone fixed a top of a silver, metal clasp. Valerie created this talisman for Caroline, in Postcards from the Edge, so that she could give the siphoner twins she was carrying an alternate source of magic to siphon instead of the magic in her vampirism. It is presumed that the bracelet is no longer spelled as Caroline continued to desiccate sometime later, suggesting that the twins siphoned all the magic from the bracelet and continued to siphon Caroline.
Witch Talisman from the Bennett Coven
Witch Talisman: It is a small round metalwork inscribed with the Maxwell family insignia hung from a cloth or leather string. This talisman belonged to the Bennett Coven back in 1790 as well as tied to the Maxwell bloodline. Its mystical properties allowed living descendants to be psychically linked to its ancestors in order to "contact" them. Alaric mentions that this is similar to what Latvian witches would do to communicate with their ancestors. Since it was linked to Ethan Maxwell and stored with a time capsule from that period, it is highly likely that Beatrice Bennett created this talisman. As of What Are You?, it is currently in Matt Donovan's possession.
Maxine's Protection Charm
Maxine's Protection Charm: It is a small, ornately carved, diamond-shaped piece of wood. On its face, it embellishes an unknown woman. This amulet was spelled with a powerful protection enchantment and the love a mother has for her son. In No Quarter, Maxine freely gives the charm to Vincent to which the magic instilled within the charm can protect him against powerful Dark Magic. Maxine gives the charm back to Vincent in Queen Death, in the hope it will protect him against the Hollow.
The Hollow's Talisman
Talisman of the Hollow: A medium sized wooden medallion. It is inscribed with an unknown sigil, likely related to Sacrificial Magic and adorned with a metal ouroboros. The origin of this talisman remains unknown though it's been touched by the Hollow and, with it, contains a token of her dark power. Followers of the Hollow can act as conduits of the Hollow itself, allowing non-magical beings able to perform magic via the Hollow, such as Will Kinney using it to do the Hollow's bidding in Keepers of the House.
Talisman of Sound
Talisman of Sound: A medium sized, silver metal locket. It is ornately inscribed with various depictions, such as a sailing ship, a large shield-like crest, an anchor, and a Caduceus. In Mombie Dearest, Hope Mikaelson gifts this talisman to Josie Saltzman as a present for her sweet sixteen birthday party. She later details that the function of this particular talisman is to "make quiet things heard" as it allowed MG to hear her when she was buried alive by the Necromancer. Despite knowing its function, it appears that Hope did not believe in the authenticity of its abilities as she attributes the talisman as to how MG found Josie, exclaiming that "it worked". Additionally, the origins of this talisman or how it came into Hope's possession remains unknown.
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Trivia[]
The material in which a talisman consist are usually unique (i.e, Qetsiyah's bone talisman, Emily's amber talisman, Freya's blue jeweled talisman). This may possibly mean that they have magical properties though this has not been confirmed.
The talisman, also, has the power to incorporate external energy and be used if required by the witch, as demonstrated by Freya.
A talisman can be used to store magic instead of focusing magic, as shown by Valerie's Amulet and Bracelet.
In Never Let Me Go, Bonnie mentions how sometimes witches will conceal a powerful talisman or relic by hiding the magic inside of it.
