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This here is hallowed ground, home to the nine covens of New Orleans. Y'all need to be on y'all's way.

Lafayette Cemetery, also known as City of the Dead, is located in the Garden District. While the cemetery is the burial ground for many of the citizens of New Orleans, it is known specifically for being used by the New Orleans covens of witches, who require access to their Ancestors' remains in order to continue practicing Ancestral Magic. Many notable spells by New Orleans witches have been performed at this location, including the Harvest ritual the coven performs in order to maintain the magical connection to their ancestors. It was also where the witches planned to sacrifice the recently-born Hope Mikaelson as an offering to their ancestors.

Lafayette Cemetery was first shown in Season Four of The Vampire Diaries and has been a frequent fixture on The Originals.

Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series[]

Season Four[]

In the backdoor pilot The Originals, Sophie and her sister Jane-Anne Deveraux went to the cemetery so Jane-Anne could perform a spell on Hayley. Their plan was to both link Sophie to the werewolf, Hayley Marshall, and confirm that Hayley was pregnant with Niklaus Mikaelson's child in order to gain leverage on him and the rest of the Originals and force them to help them in their plan to overthrow Marcel Gerard, the self-proclaimed King of New Orleans and the vampire progeny of Klaus. Jane-Anne successfully completed the spell, linking the two women and gaining the confirmation they needed to move forward with their plan, but she was ultimately killed for it by Marcel, as practicing magic in the Quarter without permission was a rule of Marcel's that was punishable by death if broken.

Later that night, Elijah Mikaelson, after having previously met with Sophie at Rousseau's, took his brother Klaus to a mausoleum in Lafayette Cemetery where he introduced him to Sophie and several other members of the French Quarter Coven. Sophie explained to the brothers that Marcel and the vampires were rigidly ruling the city to the point that the witches were essentially being held in subjugation, and admitted her plan to overthrow him by using Klaus to infiltrate his empire from within. Klaus was unconvinced of her scheme until she revealed her leverage and Klaus' potential motivation by bringing out Hayley, a werewolf with whom he had a one-night-stand several weeks earlier, and revealed to him that she was pregnant with his child. Klaus was clearly in shock and initially rejected this revelation, but after Elijah insisted that he listen to the heartbeat, he finally accepted that he had, in fact, conceived a child with Hayley. Sophie then revealed that since Jane-Anne died because she cast the spell to confirm Hayley's pregnancy and to link her to Sophie, the fate of Hayley and the unborn baby were in the hands of the witches, and if Klaus and Elijah didn't cooperate, she would kill them both through her magical link to Hayley. Klaus became so overwhelmed that he claimed he didn't care if they killed Hayley and the baby or not before he stormed away. Elijah left to chase after him and promised Hayley and the witches that he would fix this situation before he followed Klaus. The next day, Elijah returned to the cemetery to meet with Sophie and discuss how their plan would work, where Sophie informs him that their first step is getting Klaus to infiltrate Marcel's inner circle of daywalker vampires to bring down his empire from the inside.

Throughout The Originals Series[]

In Always and Forever, Sophie revealed to Elijah that the cemetery was sealed off so vampires could only enter with an invitation before she asked Elijah to come inside. Once they entered the tomb, Elijah was introduced to Hayley, and he asked Sophie for some privacy so that he and Hayley could discuss their current situation. Seeing how scared and overwhelmed Hayley was, Elijah used his vampire ability of telepathy to share his memories of Klaus after they had been turned into vampires to explain how his family came to be. He later brought Klaus to the cemetery to meet with Sophie and the witches of the French Quarter Coven and explain to him what he had learned from them. After the meeting ended with a furious Klaus storming away, Elijah assured the witches that he would make things right, but Sophie vowed that if Klaus didn't agree to help them by midnight that night, she would kill herself, and through their link, Hayley and the baby as well. Knowing that he needed to buy more time, Elijah met with Marcel to make a deal in which Elijah would convince Klaus to give his blood to heal Marcel's close friend Thierry, whom Klaus had bitten earlier in the evening out of anger, if in exchange, Marcel would release Jane-Anne's body so Elijah could use it as a gesture of good faith toward the witches. He returned to the cemetery to give the witches Jane-Anne's body in exchange for more time, and though the witch elder Agnes didn't want to extend his deadline, another witch, Sabine, along with Sophie, agreed to the terms. They then released Hayley to Elijah so she could live with him and Klaus. Later that night, the witches consecrated Jane-Anne's body at the cemetery to ensure that her spirit could be at peace by joining with the rest of the coven's ancestors and allowing the living members to draw on her magic.

In Tangled Up In Blue, Sophie and a fellow witch, Katie, went to the cemetery together so they could each perform a spell, knowing that the fact that vampires would be unable to enter without an invitation would provide them with protection as well as the additional power. First, Katie performed a spell that called upon the ancestors to augment her power so she could go after Marcel in order to protect her vampire boyfriend, Thierry, who had been accused of killing another vampire and who Marcel sentenced to 100 years in the Garden. This spell also doubled as a type of "smoke screen" for Sophie, who wanted to cast a locator spell for Elijah without the powerful Harvest witch Davina, who could sense any witch who was performing magic in New Orleans, knowing what she was doing. Once Katie had left to confront Marcel, Sophie began the locator spell while Rebekah Mikaelson watched from nearby; however, unfortunately for them, Katie was killed by Klaus before they could pinpoint Elijah's location, and they were unable to keep trying without risking Davina outing Sophie's use of magic to Marcel.

In Sinners and Saints, it was revealed in flashbacks that the Harvest ritual, a spell performed every three centuries to strengthen and renew the French Quarter Coven's connection to their ancestors magic, took place in the cemetery eight months prior to the beginning of the series. During the ritual, the four teenage female witches in their coven who were chosen as the offering to their ancestors were gathered in front of their elder, Bastianna, who was performing the spell while the families of the girls watched. The girls were not aware that their role in the sacrifice would entail being killed and magically preserved until the final stage of the ritual known as the Reaping, and so when Abigail, the first Harvest girl, had her throat slit by Bastianna, the event erupted into chaos as the remaining three girls began to scream in terror and beg for help. After the second Harvest girl, Cassie, was sacrificed, a large group of vampires, led by Marcel, invaded the cemetery and began killing all of the adult witches in attendance in order to protect the girls from being killed as part of the ritual. They were unable to save the third girl, Monique Deveraux, Jane-Anne's daughter and Sophie's niece, but Davina was rescued by Marcel before she could have her throat slit and he took her to safety.

It was the events that occurred in Lafayette Cemetery during the first attempt at the Harvest that catalyzed the tensions between vampires and witches in the city, and once Davina, who had felt betrayed by her coven after they lied to the girls, allied herself with Marcel, he was able to use her ability to sense magic to enforce his rule that witches were not allowed to practice magic in the Quarter without express permission from him. To counter Marcel's iron-fist rule over the supernatural community of New Orleans, Sophie and Jane-Anne began their plan to take down Marcel, with the intention to ultimately complete the Harvest by sacrificing Davina in hopes that all four girls would finally be resurrected by the ancestors as planned.

In Après Moi, Le Déluge, the deadline to finish the Harvest ritual was rapidly approaching, and when Davina began feeling the effects of the incomplete Harvest when she began losing control over all of the magic inside of her that was meant for the ancestors, it became clear that the witches only had hours to finish the ritual once and for all. However, to finish it, the witches needed an elder who could perform the spell, as all of their coven's elders had been killed over the past year. Sophie read in a history book that in the past, when covens had lost all of their elders before they could bestow their power upon another witch, a member of the coven who could consecrate the remains of the most powerful witch they can find can become an elder. To do this, Sophie first tried to consecrate the remains of Elijah's former lover Celeste Dubois at the cemetery, but when that didn't work, they were forced to use the remains of Esther Mikaelson, mother of the Mikaelson siblings and an extremely powerful witch. By the time Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah had convinced Davina and Marcel to allow the witches to finish the Harvest by sacrificing Davina, the city has already experienced a sequence of natural disasters that began with intense earthquakes, followed by powerful windstorms and torrential rainfall. When Marcel brought Davina to the cemetery to finish the ritual, fire trailed behind them to indicate that they were almost out of time. Sophie quickly used the ceremonial athame to slit Davina's throat, killing her and allowing the harvested magical power from the offered Harvest girls return to the Earth and the ancestors.

Though the Harvest ritual was successfully completed, when Sophie called upon the ancestors in the cemetery to resurrect their offerings for the Reaping, the Harvest girls did not revive as they were expected to do. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the cemetery, the witch Sabine cast her own spell to hijack the power of the Harvest and use it to increase her own power so she could resurrect three other deceased witches: their former leader, Bastianna, who died during the first attempt at the Harvest; Papa Tunde, a witch who was killed by Klaus in 1919; and Genevieve, a witch who was killed by Rebekah in 1919. After these witches rose from their graves at the cemetery, they sought out the person who resurrected them and eventually came upon Sabine, who confessed that she was actually Celeste Dubois, who had been possessing Sabine's body for over a year.

In Dance Back from the Grave, Genevieve and Celeste (still possessing Sabine's body) met with Bastianna and Papa Tunde at the cemetery to plan their next move against the Mikaelsons and the vampire community. While there, Genevieve and Celeste reminisced about their previous lives. In their flashbacks to 1919, Papa Tunde arrived in New Orleans and met with the French Quarter Coven, including Genevieve and Clara Summerlin (who was Celeste's vessel at the time), at Lafayette Cemetery to discuss an alliance. He explained to them that he practiced ancestral magic like they do, and then added that he also practiced Sacrificial Magic, for which he uses the power harvested from his offerings to vanquish his enemies. He then proposed a deal: if the coven welcomed him and his twin sons into the coven and allowed him to be their leader, he would help them take out all of the vampires, werewolves, and corrupt humans who got in their way. That night, Papa Tunde allowed Celeste to use him as the final sacrifice in their plan to imbue his bone blade with immense amounts of Dark Magic so it could be used against the Mikaelsons. After Celeste killed him with his own blade in the cemetery, his power was added to the blade, along with that taken by all of the vampires he had killed.

In Crescent City, since Papa Tunde (along with his cohorts Genevieve, Bastianna, and Celeste) was resurrected at the expense of the Harvest girls who were meant to be reborn after their sacrifice, his death resulted in Monique being resurrected as she was originally intended. Her spirit returned to her body, which was interred in the Deveraux tomb in Lafayette Cemetery, and when no one heard her cries for help, she used her magic to blow up the wall of the tomb so she could escape. The force of her blast knocked her out of the tomb and onto the ground in front of a group of tourists who were being led by Celeste. Sophie later arrived at the cemetery after being called by Celeste, and she broke down in tears after she saw her niece Monique alive after a year of being in limbo inside one of the tombs.

In Long Way Back From Hell, Monique was in the middle of consecrating her aunt Sophie's body (after she had killed Sophie the previous night) when Elijah arrived to demand to know where her coven was holding Klaus and Rebekah. Instead of telling him, Monique, who was instructed by Celeste on what to do if Elijah came to her, cast a Devinette spell on him that caused dozens of names to magically tattoo themselves all over his body. Monique instructed him to "follow the path that she left behind," indicating that the names were of all of the women who Celeste had possessed over the past three centuries.

In Le Grand Guignol, Rebekah and Marcel, who were about to flee town after their betrayal was revealed to Klaus by Genevieve, turned back so they could recover Davina's body, knowing that they needed a cloaking spell in order to successfully evade him. Monique went to one of the tombs in the cemetery so she could commune with the ancestors. Elijah arrived shortly afterward and mentioned that he had a theory that Celeste was working against the coven's interests and would ultimately jump into a new body and flee with the power of the Harvest. When Monique looked as though she was wondering if he may be right, Elijah gave her a page from one of Esther's Grimoires that would ensure that Celeste couldn't jump into another body and assured her that she could perform the spell just to be on the safe side; if Celeste really was being genuine, then the spell would be harmless. After Elijah tracked down Celeste in the Bayou and attacked her, he brought her back to the cemetery. Celeste then told Elijah that it was time for her to jump into another body and killed Sabine so she could possess a new vessel. However, the spell Monique cast for Elijah forced Celeste's spirit back into her old body, which was interred in a different tomb in the cemetery. Once she had awoken in her original body, she was magically trapped in it, making her unable to jump into a new vessel and allowing Elijah to kill her for good with Papa Tunde's blade. However, before she died, she cast a spell on the cemetery that created a boundary around it, trapping Elijah with Rebekah and Klaus, the latter of whom had the White Oak Stake with the intention of killing Rebekah with it for her betrayal.

In Farewell to Storyville, Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah were still trapped in the cemetery until sundown that night because of Celeste's boundary spell. While they were trapped, Klaus put her on "trial" to learn the reasoning behind Rebekah and Marcel summoning their father Mikael to New Orleans in 1919. Rebekah insisted that she simply wanted Klaus to be run out of town so she and Marcel could be together in peace, since Klaus had previously forbade them from being together. After Elijah ordered Rebekah to go elsewhere in the cemetery while he dealt with Klaus, the two brothers began fighting, which allowed Elijah to gain possession of the white oak stake as well as Papa Tunde's blade. Klaus mocked Elijah for being unable to kill him to protect Rebekah, but Elijah insisted that he was only holding onto the stake to ensure he wouldn't use it on their sister. Klaus ultimately stole the blade from Elijah and stabbed him in the heart with it to incapacitate him, and then took the stake and stabbed Rebekah with it just under her heart in order to make her afraid that she was going to die, just like he felt when Mikael found them in 1919. Afterward, Klaus and Rebekah seemed to come to an understanding, and Klaus decided to allow Rebekah to leave New Orleans and never come back as a compromise, since they both believed themselves to be too damaged to be together. Once the boundary spell lifted at sundown, Rebekah left town, and Klaus walked over to where Elijah was laying in the cemetery and removed the blade from his heart.

In From a Cradle to a Grave, Genevieve, Monique, and Abigail brought the newborn Hope Mikaelson to the cemetery in preparation to sacrifice her as an offering after she had been born, as the ancestors had promised to spare Genevieve's life if they would sacrifice Klaus and Hayley's child, who, along with having vampire and werewolf heritage, also was part witch. Klaus and Elijah arrived at the cemetery shortly after they figured out what the witches were planning following Hayley's death at their hands, but they were unable to find her due to an illusion spell cast by the witches that made the cemetery seem as though it was endless. It wasn't until Hayley, who had awoken in transition to become a hybrid after dying with Hope's blood in her system, arrived at the cemetery that they were finally able to find where the witches planned to sacrifice Hope, as Hayley was instinctively drawn to her daughter as a result of Hope's blood being the only thing that could successfully complete her transition. When Klaus, Elijah, and Hayley lunged toward the witches to stop the sacrifice, Monique and Abigail linked hands, and, using their Harvest girl status, called upon all of their ancestors to give them the power to defend themselves. Every single one of the ancestors appeared as apparitions to create a barrier between the Original vampire and hybrids while Genevieve prepared to stab Hope in the heart to kill her. Finally, Klaus throws a fence pike at Abigail, which impales her and pins her to the wall, cutting off hers and Monique's connection to the ancestors. Monique was killed shortly afterward by Marcel, who impaled her with the Devil's Star to protect Hope from being stabbed by her. Hayley and Elijah quickly overpowered Genevieve afterward and chained her up in one of the tombs to question her there. It was in that tomb that Genevieve confessed that it was decreed by the leader of the ancestors, Esther, that Hope had to die and be consecrated among her ancestors. Furious, Hayley stabbed and killed Genevieve to put her out of her misery before the ancestors could kill her themselves. That night, the Harvest girl Cassie finally rose from the grave after Genevieve's death led to her resurrection, and when she went to meet with a witch named Vincent in the cemetery, it was revealed that she and Vincent were actually being possessed by the spirits of Esther and Finn Mikaelson.

In Rebirth, Esther (possessing Cassie), Finn (possessing Vincent) and Kol Mikaelson (possessing Kaleb) met at the Lycée, located in Lafayette Cemetery, where they confirmed the fact that they had been resurrected and were working together in order to reunite their family.

In Alive and Kicking, Klaus went to the cemetery to confront "Cassie" about the witches creating moonlight rings for the werewolves without his permission, not knowing that the Harvest girl was possessed by his mother. She invited him into the cemetery's lycée for tea so they could discuss the current state of the supernatural community of New Orleans. During their meeting, Cassie explained that the moonlight rings were meant to level the playing field between the vampires and the werewolves, and her description of vampires as being solitary, violent beings who have no humanity led Klaus to realize that Cassie was being possessed by Esther, who shared identical views on the undead beings she created. However, when he tried to attack her, the werewolves who were under her control surrounded him, and since Klaus didn't want to kill any of the wolves he hoped to someday lead himself, he left without any further physical altercations.

In Every Mother's Son, Finn kidnaps the witch Lenore and is tortured by Esther in the cemetery with Oliver guarding her body. Hayley rescues her only to find out back at the shop she was prepared to become Esther's next Vessel.

In Red Door, Esther now possessing Lenore, holds Elijah captive in the of the tombs of the cemetery.

In For the Next Millennium, Davina hosts the covens in front of the lycée to conduct official witch business.

In You Hung the Moon, Hayley is drawn to the Dubois tomb by Davina's magic who wants the hybrid to kill a rogue witch in exchange for lifting The Crescent Curse. Hayley does, but Davina later attends the consecration of witnesses who belonged to The Ninth Ward Coven who witnessed Hayley killing Kara Nguyen.

In The Axeman's Letter, Fete de Cadeau is hosted in the heart of City Of The Dead by the various cities covens.

In Out of the Easy, Davina's shunned from her community and is removed as Regent.

In A Ghost Along the Mississippi, Vincent is forced to do a spell for The Strix. Vincent is seen that night visiting the graveyard. He encounters Camille O'Connell, who is still refusing to embrace her vampirism. Vincent inspires her, telling her she can change the world with the good of her heart and that the world is a much better place with her in it. He ends up slitting his wrist and allowing Cami to feed on his blood, thus completing her transition.

In Dead Angels, Vincent casts a cloaking spell in Lafayette Cemetery so Cami won't be found by the Mikaelsons. He tries to explain to her that she stole the one thing that could kill the Mikaelsons and she's bargaining her own life as well, since others could come after the weapon.

Vincent is seen leaning against one of the tombs and Klaus lunges at him, but he is blocked by the boundary spell Vincent put up. While Cami and Klaus bicker, Vincent decides to leave, but tells them they might want to finish it up before someone finds out about the weapon. Cami is walking anxiously and Vincent says Klaus has a lot of witch weapons to pack and a lot of pride to swallow. Cami asks if he feels sorry for him, and Vincent tells her no, but she irritated the wrong person and it will be different for them. He tells her that Klaus trusted her and let her into his life, and that girl wouldn't ever have stolen the one thing that could kill him, which Cami declares that girl died.

While night has fallen, Vincent and Cami are still oblivious that Klaus is outside because of the spell Madison has cast. A strong wind blows and Vincent is concerned and decides to step out to see what is happening. Vincent tells Cami they aren't alone and that the boundary spell is to keep a vampire out. Vincent confronts the Sisters who use magic against him and Cami.

In The Devil Comes Here and Sighs, Despite being shunned and restricted by their Ancestors Davina & Vincent use magic in the cemetery to undo Van's spell on St. James Infirmary.

In Where Nothing Stays Buried, Vincent and Kol kidnapped Van to force him to do a Resurrection on Davina which fails. Later after knowing Davina's gone for good Kol kills Van in a tomb where he was performing another set of spells.

In Give 'Em Hell Kid, Davina's wake is held at her family tomb. That same night Davina activates the dark object given to her by Vincent and the Lafayette Cemetery begins shaking, implying the end of the Ancestors' presence among the living witches. As the process is completed, Davina is blinded by a white light (similar to that of the Other Side when it was collapsing) as the Ancestral Plane is untethered from the mortal plane.

In High Water and a Devil's Daughter, Vincent performed the Harvest ritual and reestablished the link between the living witches and the Ancestors with the help of Davina Claire.

In Phantomesque, the Hollow resurrected Davina within one of the tombs and proceeded to link herself to Davina. She reveals to Kol that she's resurrected Davina and, if he wants to keep her safe, he'll do her bidding.

In Where You Left Your Heart,

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"I would write... Dear Diary"

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In The Kindness of Strangers,

In There in the Disappearing Light,

In Til the Day I Die,

Appearances[]

Season One

Season Two

Season Three

Season Four

Season Five

Trivia[]

  • In Always and Forever, Sophie revealed to Elijah that vampires and hybrids were unable to enter the cemetery without an invitation, and suggested it was because their cemetery was hallowed ground.
    • However, in Sinners and Saints, it was ultimately revealed via flashback that Sophie and Jane-Anne Deveraux were the witches who cast the spell to seal the cemetery off from uninvited vampires and hybrids, before Marcel had restricted the use of magic in the French Quarter. Though it was not outright stated, it could be assumed that Sophie and Jane-Anne, the casters, were the only two with the ability to invite vampires in, as the only vampires who were able to enter the cemetery prior to the deaths of Sophie and Jane-Anne were Elijah and Rebekah, both of whom were invited in by Sophie.
    • It also appears that, according to flashbacks from before the start of the series, vampires and werewolves were previously able to freely enter the cemetery as they pleased, which confirmed that the vampires' inability to access the cemetery was a result of Sophie and Jane-Anne's invitation spell. Now that both Sophie and Jane-Anne are dead, that the invitation spell on the cemetery has broken, allowing all vampires and hybrids to enter without invitation.
  • Lafayette Cemetery has served as a base of operations for a number of important individuals. Esther used the Lycée located there as her home base and converted several different tombs into makeshift prison cells, while Kol used another one of the cemetery's tombs as a "playhouse" for him and his witches to experiment with Kemiya by creating Dark Objects.
  • According to Kol, the majority of the Ancestors primarily hang out in Lafayette Cemetery as he knows this from living with them.
  • The Lycée was revealed to be located in Lafayette Cemetery in Wheel Inside the Wheel.
  • In Give 'Em Hell Kid, Vincent Griffith mentions how cemeteries in New Orleans such as the Lafayette Cemetery were designed to house the Ancestors and acts like a cell phone tower that helps them focus their energy so that they can access this world which is why it is considered sacred ground. They are described as the cornerstone of the link between the living and the dead where our world and the spirit world meet.
    • In the same episode, Davina cuts off the Ancestral Plane from the physical plane with the help of a dark object, creating a magical surge that exploded throughout all the New Orleans cemeteries.

Gallery[]

See also[]

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