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That's exactly what I mean. If Kai gets out, he'll head straight for Jo. His ability to siphon magic will overwhelm Jo, and she will die, and our coven will be left to the whims of a madman.
Joshua to Damon about the dangers of siphoning in Fade Into You
Siphoning

A red glow is seen when siphoning

Siphoning is the distinct ability of siphoners and witch-vampire hybrids to absorb or consume magic from magical objects and other supernatural beings albeit temporarily. As hybrids, they keep their ability to siphon magic after being turned into vampires which allows them to cast magic as vampires. They can also siphon from their vampirism as a limited source of power. This ability typically requires physical contact and when it is performed, it gives off a faint, red glow. While in some instances the process of siphoning has been known to cause intense pain, others have been otherwise painless. It remains unknown why this ability can cause harm.

Throughout The Vampire Diaries[]

Malachai Parker[]

Malachai first showed his ability to siphon in Black Hole Sun, where he forcefully consumed Bonnie's magic as a means of intimidation against Damon. As he siphoned, he ignited a portion of the kitchen counter and chair near Damon causing it to burst into fire while given Damon an aneurysm. In The World Has Turned and Left Me Here, Bonnie wanted Kai to show her the spell for them to leave the 1994 prison world. When he wouldn't, she forced his hand and told him to go ahead and siphon all of her magic, as that was his big threat. He obliged and grabbed her shoulders and siphoned from her, causing her extreme anguish in the process. However, knew he wouldn't kill her because Kai didn't know the spell for them to leave. In Do You Remember the First Time?, Kai continues to hold Bonnie, still injured, hostage in the Salvatore Boarding House in the 1994 prison world. She refuses to perform the spell to free him as he'll kill her the moment he's free. However, he continues to siphon from her to prove his point. Nevertheless, she's able to overcome the pain and stabs him in the neck and makes her escape with the broken pieces of the ascendant. After Bonnie placed her magic into Ms. Cuddles and transported it out of the 1994 prison world, Kai attempted to siphon from her. However, without her magic, there was nothing for him to siphon. In Fade Into You, Kai remembers that Josette did something similar with her magic as when they attempted to Merge, he couldn't feel her magic and was subsequently banished to the prison world. Learning that Josette hid her magic in a hunting knife, Kai returned to Portlant and retrieved the knife that contained Josette's magic. Siphoning from it, he consumed the magic and stabbed Bonnie taking her blood to perform the spell to free himself from the prison world. In I Alone, now free from the prison world, he went after his sister, Olivia. He attacked her in the bar as she read his ID card. Realizing who he was, she attempted to run, but he grabbed her wrist and siphoned from her. She stabbed him in the shoulder and ran for the door, but he stopped her using her magic against her. She was rescued by Tyler who took her to Mystic Falls within the anti-magic border. In Christmas Through Your Eyes, Kai siphoned from Olivia and attempted to kill her with an aneurysm spell to force Josette to take her magic back. Threatening to set her on fire, Josette agreed and performed the spell to take her magic back. To prove that she did the spell, Kai placed his hands on Josette's cheeks and siphoned. Stuck within the anti-magic border of Mystic Falls, Kai siphoned the entirety of the Magic Purification Spell doing so in conjunction with his natural siphoning ability and a spell specific to siphoners. In Prayer For the Dying, Damon made a deal with Kai after waking him up. In exchange for him merging with Josette, he would siphon out the magic of the vampire blood within Liz. Despiting siphoning out the magic, Liz's heart couldn't take it and suffered a heart attack. Josette decided to go through with the Merge and under the celestial event Kai began to siphon from her as they performed the spell. Luke, however, intervened and knocked Josette out and decided to take her place. Siphoning from Luke, they performed the spell and Kai completed the Merge, beating Luke. In Let Her Go, Kai came to Josette sick and claimed he was dying. He believed since he was supposed to merge his magic with her, but got Luke's instead, he's now defective. However, accidentally siphoning from her, he instantly felt better. Afterwhich, he convinced her to give her magic to him and to spare the remainder of their coven. In I'm Thinking Of You All The While, Kai made the connection that since the only way for a person to turn into a wolf is magic, their venom must be magic too. Figuring this out, he siphoned away the werewolf bite, its venom and the ill effects that he suffered from.

Malcolm[]

In Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand, Give or Take, Malcolm was targeted by Bonnie and Damon in Mystic Falls after Stefan and Damon agreed to leave the town to Lily and her family, the Heretics. Malcolm was confronted by Bonnie first, the town witch. She attacked with an aneurysm spell but Malcolm was too strong and forced the distance between them to close. As Bonnie continued the spell, Malcolm closed in and siphoned from her as Damon appeared behind him and extracted his heart, killing him.

Valerie Tulle[]

In Age of Innocence, in 1863 Valerie possessed a talisman that stored magic. Prior to becoming a witch-vampire hybrid, the talisman's magic was the only magic she contained and it was only to be siphoned in times of need. She siphoned from it to escape Julian by cloaking herself and Stefan. In Live Through This Valerie and Stefan found Julian's coffin that Oscar hid and spelled shut. Wanting to destroy Julian before Lily could have him brought back, she siphoned the spell and attempted to burn his body. However, Lily and the others were already there and able to stop her. In Mommie Dearest, Caroline asks Valerie for her help. Julian has kidnapped and compelled a number of people and stored them at Mystic Grill. Valerie initially refuses, but agrees to Caroline's plea and begins to siphon the compulsion from each individual. However, their plan was cut short when Beau arrived. Valerie was able to temporarily stop him before cloaking herself and Caroline, giving them time to escape. Later, Valerie asked Caroline to test for her mystical pregnancy, again. Under conventional means, the test was negative. However, Valerie siphoned her stomach and revealed that the Gemini Coven cloaked the babies to protect them. In Postcards from the Edge, still developing in Caroline's vampiric womb, Lizzie and Josie begin to siphon from Caroline's vampirism. As a result, Caroline begins to slowly dessicate. Valerie is called by Stefan and Caroline and she attempts to stop what's happening to Caroline by siphoning the effects away. Uniquely, she does this without physical contact and as she siphons, the dessication begins to reverse. However, there was a mystical recoil between her siphoning and the babies, causing her to jerk her hand away. This leads her to believe that the unborn babies are siphons, like her, and they're feeding off of the magic in her blood. In I Would for You, Valerie attempts to siphon away the scar from the Phoenix Sword, but nothing she does works. In Days of Future Past, Damon is afflicted with werewolf venom. Stefan asks Valerie to save and heal him. She does so by siphoning the magic of the werewolf venom from his body.

Oscar[]

In Age of Innocence, Oscar made a deal with Damon. He would siphon Bonnie's visions and he wouldn't tell Lily that Oscar was avoiding the mission that Lily sent him on. Oscar agreed, however, after he siphoned Bonnie's visions, he learned they were from the Phoenix Stone and attacked Damon, Alaric and Bonnie. In Live Through This, Oscar's body was inhabited by a vampire spirit from the Phoenix Stone. After he began to suspect that they would put him back in the stone, he attacked Bonnie. He chased after her and Enzo but Bonnie spelled a door shut. The spirit possessing Oscar learned he could siphon the spell and made his way through the door.

Nora Hildegard[]

In I Carry Your Heart With Me, Nora is confronted by Stefan and Caroline. Stefan has Mary Louise unconscious and threatens to stake her if she doesn't remove the spell Valerie placed on Caroline. Nora attempted to save Mary Louise, but Caroline appeared behind her and used the spell to her advantage and grabbed Nora's write and covered her mouth so she couldn't cast another spell. Burning from the effects of the spell, Nora complied to Caroline's demands and siphoned Valerie's spell. In Cold as Ice, Julian informs Nora that Damona and Stefan have taken Mary Louise hostage. With Bonnie, she decided to take her anger out on her and siphoned her to the point where she fell unconscious. In Days of Future Past, unable to live without her love, Mary Louise, she helped her siphon from the Phoenix Stone while Mary Louise performed the spell. Together they were able to destroy the Phoenix Stone, causing it to explode and inadvertently releasing all of the vampire souls contained within.

Lizzie and Josie Saltzman[]

In Postcards from the Edge, still developing in Caroline's vampiric womb, Lizzie and Josie begin to siphon from Caroline's vampirism. As a result, Caroline begins to slowly dessicate. To slow the effects, Valerie gives Caroline a bracelet that contains magic so the babies would siphon the magic from the talisman instead of Caroline. While the talisman initially worked, the babies soon began to siphon from Caroline again causing her to dessicate once again.

Mary Louise[]

In Days of Future Past, to prevent Rayna from placing Nora into the Phoenix Stone, Mary Louise and Nora siphoned the Phoenix Stone while casting a spell to bring about it's destruction. Together, the spell caused the Phoenix Stone to explode, releasing all of the vampire souls contained within.

Throughout Legacies[]

Lizzie[]

Josie Saltzman[]

Trivia[]

  • Siphoners are capable of healing vampires from werewolf bites by siphoning the magic of the werewolf venom from their bodies. Likewise, they can siphon the magic properties of vampire blood, preventing a human from waking up in transition after death.
  • The ability to siphon can be willingly given up. Similar to how a witch can move their magic into objects, such as Josette or Bonnie, Josie did the same with her siphoning ability by moving it into a coin in Facing Darkness is Kinda My Thing.
  • Though non-Original vampirism can be a source of power for siphoners to siphon from, it is finite and can be siphoned to the point of physical issues and even death. This was first realized in Postcards from the Edge, when Caroline began to desiccate from her supernatural pregnancy whereas in One Way or Another, Valerie suffered physical side-effects, such as fatigue and a nose bleed, from siphoning from herself in order to execute a Gemini spell by herself. Finally, this was exemplified when Kai siphoned Damon up until he died in It's Been a Hell of a Ride. In Black Hole Sun, Kai states that if he consumed all of Bonnie's magic, he was just going to end up killing her, though it remains to be seen if it was his ability that would kill her, or other witches, or himself.
  • Siphoning has some limits and some magic cannot be siphoned.
    • In I Would for You, Valerie tried to siphon the curse mark from Stefan, as it was killing him as a result of the "Huntress Fail-safe" upon Rayna's last death, though Valerie was unsuccessful.
    • Individuals that have ingested the cure, or possibly by extension, Doppelgängers, cannot be siphoned. This was shown in It's Been a Hell of a Ride, when Kai attempted to siphon Stefan, a cured vampire and the last human doppelgänger of Silas, and nothing happened as a result.
    • It is unknown whether or not a siphoner could siphon the magic of Original vampires in order to kill them. It is, however, unlikely, as suggested by Nora in Days of Future Past that they have limits on how much they can siphon. Nora's statements were however in regards to Mary Louise attempting to siphon the magic of the Phoenix Stone and that it would kill her as a result. Whether it was the overwhelming amount of magic, Mary Louise's terminal illness from the magic suppression pills, the resulting explosion, or a combination thereof that killed Nora and Mary Louise, remains inconclusive. Additionally, there has been no attempt to siphon from an Original vampire.
    • Siphoning cannot reverse the effects of Triad's scientifically weaponized Malivore bullets. The bullets are capable of breaking the skin of any supernatural being causing the wound to fester and infect them to the point where it disintegrates them from the inside out.

Gallery[]

See also[]

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