Marcel Gerard

Marcellus "Marcel" Gerard is a main character on The Originals. He was initially made out to be the antagonist and the big bad of the series during the early episodes of the first season before it was revealed that he is actually a caring vampire with no ill intention, who was simply trying to protect Davina Claire, a young witch along with his mother, whose imposing hatred toward her coven served to help enforce his rule in the French Quarter. Marcel is the adoptive son and former protégé of Niklaus Mikaelson, who turned him into a vampire. He is also the adoptive son to Vivian Mikaelson. He is the younger adoptive brother to Alexia Branson and adoptive older brother to Avani Mikaelson, Nora Hildegard, Davina Claire, Jesus, Valentina, Hope, and Lillian Mikaelson. He is also a close friend and confidante of Josh. In the episode Give 'Em Hell Kid, he became an Upgraded Original Vampire after taking Lucien's serum, and in The Bloody Crown, took over as New Orleans' ruler, effectively succeeding the Mikaelsons.

Marcel was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1810 to a female slave and her owner, the Governor of Louisiana. Despite being the Governor's son, he was enslaved and worked on the plantation until he happened to meet Klaus during his half-brother's funeral. Marcel caught Klaus' eye after he threw an apple at a slave overseer after being whipped. Klaus, impressed with his defiance, and feeling as though the two were kindred spirits, decided to adopt the boy into his family as his ward. Marcel's mother had chosen not to name him until she was sure he would survive the fever but ended up succumbing to it herself before she could choose a name for him. Klaus then gave him the name Marcellus, meaning "little warrior", which has been shortened to Marcel.

He then lived with the Mikaelson Family for the majority of the next century until he was enlisted in the Army during World War I and was deployed to France until the war ended in late 1918. He returned home and continued living with the Mikaelsons; Klaus and his siblings Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol at their compound. Marcel and Rebekah, taking a chance at love decided to summon Mikael, the Original Vampire vampire-hunter, who arrived in town to the terror of his children, who dreaded their father completely. As was the norm, the Mikaelson children fled New Orleans after his arrival, a long cat-and-mouse game they played with their father. During this time he met Vivian and they grew a close bond quickly. Following the Mikaelsons' absence and the subsequent power vacuum in the city's supernatural community, Marcel to eventually rose to be the leader of the vampire faction with his mother continuing to build up their numbers by carefully turning humans into his kind. The vampires quickly became more powerful. This made his vampire faction reign supreme over witches, humans, and werewolves during the next few decades until Marcel ultimately became the de facto King of New Orleans.

During Marcel's rule, he and his mother enforced a system of rules of their creation within the French Quarter, by which all supernatural residents must abide. At the beginning of the series, Marcel found himself at war with Klaus, who was trying to reclaim the French Quarter. He was trying to maintain order within the city, which meant dealing with the witches, who continued their pursuit of Davina after the Harvest ritual he and his army interrupted. He also began to rekindle his romance with Rebekah. Marcel and Rebekah sided together to take down Klaus once and for all so that they could finally be together, but their plan failed. Klaus killed many of Marcel's minions, forcing Marcel to ultimately choose to step down from the throne in order to save the rest of his people.

Soon after, Klaus asked Marcel to join him in ruling New Orleans and Marcel agrees to become the co-vampire King of New Orleans at his side. Rebekah ended their relationship and continued her own pursuit to defeat Klaus. Later, Davina learned of the secrets Marcel had been keeping from her and lost her trust in him. It was around that time that Davina's powers began to grow out of control and began to endanger the people of New Orleans, leaving them no other choice but to go through with the Harvest ritual to stop the plague of earthquakes, windstorms, torrential rain and wildfires that were intended to consume the town. Marcel went to desperate lengths to protect her as he loves her like his own sister, but the event could not be avoided and Davina eventually agreed to go along with it for the sake of the town's citizens. She was thankful that she had Marcel in her life, and it is clear that Marcel would do anything for her. Davina was then killed by Sophie Deveraux, but despite properly completing the ritual, Davina and the other three witches sacrificed as offerings to the Ancestors were not resurrected as they were intended to be, causing Marcel great anguish for her loss. Marcel deeply grieved Davina's death and avoided ruling the French Quarter for some time.

Camille came back into the picture after he avoided pursuing a relationship with her due to Father Kieran telling him to stay away from her. They grew closer as he told her of his dark past and provided her comfort as her uncle Kieran was cursed with a hex. Marcel was also banished from the French Quarter by Elijah due to Rebekah and his great betrayal from 1919. Marcel also left Davina in Genevieve's care in order to protect her. Marcel had began his plan to reclaim the French Quarter with Thierry, Diego, and many other vampires by his side leading to an all out war: Marcel's Army vs. Klaus, Elijah and the Crescent Wolf Pack. The war was interrupted due to Hayley Marshall (who was then pregnant with hers and Klaus' baby daughter) and Vivian (who was then pregnant with hers and Kol's twins) being kidnapped by the witches, as well as the witches' allies Francesca Correa and her brothers, who revealed they were not actually human, but untriggered werewolves descended from a member of the former Guerrera Pack. Once in possession of the moonlight rings they had stolen from Hayley and the Crescents, Francesca and their brothers triggered their curses and used the rings to control their transformation, allowing them to bite all of the vampires in Marcel's Army and leave them for dead. Marcel, who was also bitten himself by Klaus, was running out of time to save himself and his people. He then rescued his newly-born adoptive sister, hoping to use her as leverage to get Klaus to heal them all with his blood, but when he returned to the compound, the vampires were already dead. Regardless, Klaus forgave Marcel for his actions in gratitude for him saving Hope and decided to heal Marcel with his blood.

It had been revealed in the series that Marcel is the one who drove the werewolves out of the French Quarter in the 1990s, and was also the man who hired Brynne Deveraux (not knowing she was actually possessed by Céleste Dubois) to place the original Crescent Curse on the Crescent Wolf Clan. Despite the strife between the vampires and the werewolves, Marcel was said to have been friends with Hayley's mother and father, and when he found them dead and found the young baby Hayley in her cradle, he arranged for Father Kieran to find her an adoptive family and get her out of town, purposely excluding her from her family's curse due to his rule against hurting children. As he later told Hayley, he could have kept her to gain leverage over the wolves, but ultimately chose to ensure she had a good life. When Mikael was resurrected by Davina in From a Cradle to a Grave, he killed all of Marcel's vampire army while they were dying of werewolf bites, with the exception of Joshua Rosza, who had previously been healed by Davina. In the second season, Josh and Marcel began rebuilding their decimated vampire community by choosing the best candidates for vampirism and turning them to increase their numbers. Their first recruit was Gia, with whom both men, and especially Marcel, developed a close friendship.