Tristan De Martel's History
Early History
Tristan was the son of Count de Martel and lived in his castle with his sister, Aurora. In the year 1002, he and his family met the Mikaelson siblings when they, aided by Lucien, pretended to be the wealthy children of a friend of the Count's.
Later that year, when Aurora was secretly meeting with one of the Original Vampires, Niklaus Mikaelson, Tristan caught her with their servant Lucien, who had always loved Aurora and had discovered her affair with Klaus. Tristan, believing that it was Lucien whom Aurora was having the affair with, ordered the guards to take him.
Tristan tortured Lucien in the dungeons when Klaus and his brother Elijah attempted to stop him. Tristan revealed that he learned the truth about them from a woman who had survived an attack from their brother, Kol. He threatened that he would expose them if they did anything to him and then pulled out a dagger, slashing Lucien across the mouth, scarring him. After the torture, Tristan spoke to Aurora but was attacked by a healed Lucien, who, unknown to him, had been healed by Klaus' blood. One of the guards stabbed Lucien in the back, killing him, though it would not last as Lucien had begun his transition into the first sired vampire.
Tristan was turned into a vampire by Elijah in the year 1002, and he, along with Lucien and Aurora, were compelled in believe that they were the Mikaelson siblings, and were used as a diversion for Mikael to hunt while his children escaped to Tuscany. However, in the year 1114, they were released from the compulsion via the daggering of Elijah by the Brotherhood of the Five. Enraged, the three swore an oath of their own; an oath of vengeance against the family that had ruined their lives.
After Elijah had created The Strix, in hopes of a building a better future for the world, he was forced to flee from the society when Mikael came for him. Tristan arrived in the aftermath of the attack and took command the of The Strix, forging them into a violent secret society responsible for conducting world events from behind the scenes.
Tristan continued to try and find a way to kill the Originals with Aurora and Lucien but after Finn and Kol died, they learned that they and their sirelines would die along with them if the Originals died. Tristan instead focused on trying to trap the Originals, hoping to contain them permanently somewhere safe, where their deaths could never effect him or his sireline. When he learned about the Serratura, he planned to travel to New Orleans under the pretense that he and Lucien were at war, not wanting the Mikaelsons to suspect that he and Lucien were actually planning to seal them away.
TO Season 3
In You Hung the Moon, Tristan sparred with his sister Aurora in the monastery where she was being kept. He told her he knew about an incident the previous day where she had killed one of the monks. She explained that she had received a letter saying he was unavailable for his usual visit and grew angry. Tristan wished she had handled it better and realized he couldn't let her out of the monastery in the mental state she was in, telling her he would miss her while he he was gone. She grew angry at the idea of him leaving and attacked him. Tristan injected her with a sedative while she begged for him to take her with him, passing out. He asked the monks to increase her dosage, saying she could be a danger to others or herself and that he'd be back soon and bring her a souvenir from New Orleans.
In I'll See You in Hell or New Orleans, Tristan had arrived in New Orleans, sending Aya to make an offer to Marcel Gerard, the head of the vampires in New Orleans. Elijah tracked Marcel down to where Aya had taken him and threatened Aya for information, where she revealed at the Strix had been responsible for his abduction. Elijah shoved his hand into Aya when Tristan appeared, wanting to have a word with Elijah, saying the safety of his sire line was at stake. Once they had a moment alone, Tristan revealed that Marcel had been a potential recruit for The Strix and wasn't a part of the larger issue; the war between the sire lines. He explained that Lucien had been pushed into a corner by The Strix and as a result, he was desperate to exterminate Elijah's line to get rid of Tristan by targeting Elijah. Elijah remained skeptical but Tristan reminded him that Lucien may not try to attack Elijah directly but may have someone else do it for him, like Klaus. Tristan warned that Klaus may choose Lucien over his own family. When Elijah assured him that it would all be fine since Klaus was disposing of Lucien while they spoke, Tristan suddenly told him that Klaus shouldn't do that since Lucien's ally Alexis believed there was an object capable of killing Originals and if that Lucien died, no one would be able to find it.
Thanks to Tristan's warning, Elijah managed to stop Klaus. Later on in the night, Tristan was out in the streets near a crime scene looking on at the latest murder victim with a scarred smile proudly. Tristan seemingly was the one truly responsible for the murders, wanting to frame Lucien to make him appear mentally unstable, which could undermine his attempts to protect his sire Klaus by making Klaus not want to trust Lucien. He received a call from Aurora but ignored it. She left him a voicemail, saying she was cutting her stay in the monastery short, having killed all of the guards, and that she was coming to New Orleans.
In A Walk on the Wild Side, Tristan contacted Marcel after sending him a mask and tuxedo, inviting him to gala thrown by The Strix. He also sent Elijah an invitation, hoping that he'd be able to attend. During the gala, when it became clear that it was no party, but rather Marcel's initiation into The Strix, Tristan entered the ballroom and got the attendees' attention. He told Marcel how he would have to prove his worth if he were to join The Strix, noting that Marcel's daylight ring had gone missing during the party, much to Marcel's surprise. He told him that he'd have until sunrise to try and figure out who took his ring and then get it from them, despite The Strix members mostly being far older than Marcel. While Marcel was busy, Tristan greeted Elijah who was attending with Hayley. Tristan requested to have a dance with Hayley, and during the dance, explained that he was interested in her due to being one of the only beings who the sire war didn't affect, since she was not part of any Originals' sireline.
The party was briefly interrupted by the arrival of Klaus and Lucien, with inappropriately dressed women in tow. Tristan was quick to confront them and told them that they should move along as they were not welcomed. Klaus and Lucien loudly scoffed at the idea, with Lucien taunting Tristan and the fact that Tristan only valued people that were born with worth. Elijah managed to convince Klaus to leave with Lucien and they did, having secretly slipped Freya into the gala to rescue Alexis, who had been abducted by Tristan.
Later, he summoned Marcel an hour earlier than Marcel had expected, reminding him that being able to adapt to the unexpected was an essential trait. After much deliberation, Marcel revealed that he knew Mohinder had his ring. Mohinder showed that Marcel was correct but Tristan was quick to remind him that that was only half of the challenge. While Marcel prepared to fight the much older Mohinder, Tristan anxiously anticipated what Marcel would do. After a brutal fight, Marcel incapacitated Mohinder with the werewolf venom in his blood that he had let Hayley poison him with, knowing from Aya that Mohinder liked to feed on his victims. Marcel deduced that Tristan and Aya wanted Mohinder dead, considering all of the hints they had given Marcel that would aid him in his fight. However, Marcel refused to kill Mohinder himself, a trait that Tristan openly admired before ripping out Mohinder's heart, saying that he had been plotting for some time against The Strix. With that, Tristan tossed Marcel his ring and welcomed him to The Strix.
The next morning, Tristan sat at a table in New Orleans when Elijah approached him. Alexis had been poisoned the previous night and Tristan stated his belief that it was Lucien who was in fact responsible for the attack, since Alexis' continued existence would have allowed her visions to become specific enough to refute. However, with her dead, the threat remains, but Lucien's claims can't be countermanded. Elijah however, simply responded that he wanted proof.
In The Axeman's Letter, Tristan was eating at a restaurant when he was approached by Elijah, sarcastically lamenting that he didn't know they had an appointment. Elijah claimed that Tristan had been lying about his intentions for Elijah's family, showing him a note that suggested Aurora was in town. Tristan assured him that he didn't know his sister was in town and if she was, she'd see him first. As he left, Elijah told him not to be so sure of that. Tristan read the note that Elijah left behind, checking to see if it was really from his sister. Later, Tristan went to a building recently purchased by Kingmaker Land Development, followed by Marcel who told Elijah, leading them to believe that Tristan and Lucien may be working together.
In Beautiful Mistake, Aurora reveals that Lucien and Tristan are indeed working together, however their mutual hatred remains in tact, in order to trap the Originals within an impenetrable barrier for all eternity, ensuring that they can never be killed. Tristan also sends Aya and a legion of Strix to hunt down Rebekah in Morocco; a mission they eventually manage to succeed in with the aid of a local witch.
In Out of the Easy, Tristan went to a hangar where Rebekah's body was supposed to be only to be met by Aurora who revealed that she was in possession of Rebekah. Tristan, already frustrated by Aurora not coming to see him when she arrived in New Orleans, was even more annoyed that she interfered with his plans. Aurora explained that she didn't like being locked up in the monastery and wanted to control her own fate. When they discussed how they had both been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at the Mikaelson's, Tristan was adamant that it was a trap but Aurora reminded him that he was her family, and she would return the favor of him taking care of her for centuries.
Tristan arrived to the Mikaelson compound to find that Lucien was already there. Aurora arrived soon after and Elijah and Klaus welcomed them to their home, Elijah telling them they all faced the threat of the prophecy and chastised them for what happened to Rebekah, while Tristan countered that it was just a precautionary measure. Tristan was just as surprised as Lucien to learn that the Mikaelsons were aware of their alliance. They all set down for dinner where Tristan also learned that Aurora had told the Mikaelsons about the Serratura. The Mikaelsons demanded that they hand it over and release Rebekah. Tristan explained that in a perfect world, the Originals would allow them to seal them up forever, so the looming threat of them dying would no longer be a problem and the sire lines would settle down. When Freya arrived, Aurora revealed that Rebekah was at the bottom of the ocean, surprising most of the guests.
When Klaus was infuriated by the revelation, Tristan grabbed Freya and held a knife to her throat, saying that if Klaus hurt his sister, he'd return the favor. Elijah grabbed Tristan and pinned him against a wall while Freya snapped Aurora's neck with magic. Tristan was then dragged back to the table where Klaus volunteered to torture him since they were long overdue for catching up. Klaus brought Tristan to another room and told him that he was going to convince his sister to give back Rebekah but Tristan assured him that Aurora was out of his control. Klaus threatened to torture Tristan in front of Aurora but Tristan explained that if anything happened to him, the Strix would descend upon New Orleans and kill anyone that stood in their way. Tristan proposed that Klaus let them seal his Rebekah and Elijah away, leaving himself free to personally stand guard over them for a year. Tristan revealed that he had been given half of the coordinates to Rebekah's location in the sea while Aurora had the other. Rather than go along with Tristan's plan, Klaus snapped Tristan's neck and took him hostage, demanding Aurora trade his sibling for hers.
In The Other Girl in New Orleans, Tristan remained captive in the Mikaelson compound, unconscious and tied to a chair while Freya and Elijah formed a boundary circle that Tristan couldn't escape. They pondered how to get the longitude to Rebekah's location that Tristan had, wondering if he was telling the truth about being immune to compulsion. They decided the best way to deal with him would be to hurt him and damage his body enough, that he'd be too weak to resist Elijah entering his mind and finding the longitude. Hayley arrived and began biting Tristan, infecting him with her werewolf venom. Tristan threatened to tear Hayley's eyes out for her daring to harm him while Elijah continued to threaten him but Tristan remained adamant that The Strix would come to free him and refused to give in to their interrogation. Freya helped weaken him with her magic but was worried if she pushed further, he could be killed. Elijah took the opportunity to delve into Tristan's mind and managed to see flashes of his memories including the word "cepheus".
Marcel arrived, representing The Strix, and explained that he wasn't leaving without Tristan, much to Tristan's relief. While Marcel tried to convince Elijah to hand over Tristan, Tristan pointed how to Freya that she spent so long looking for her family only to discover that they were treacherous monsters. He admired her devotion to them but wondered why it didn't extend to her brother Finn. Tristan and Finn had been acquaintances a thousand years ago, saying that he saw Finn as the noblest Original Vampire and Finn knew him as a man of his word. Tristan further taunted Freya by telling her to ask Finn's opinion, if he would still speak to her after trapping him in her talisman. Shortly after, The Strix arrived and after a fierce battle, Tristan was freed by Aya and Marcel. After Marcel gave Tristan a vial of Klaus' blood to cure his werewolf venom, Tristan gave Marcel his gratitude, telling him that he had earned a place at their side and that he should come with them.
In Savior, Tristan was at Marcel's jazz bar, having taken it as a base of operations, a neutral ground where magic couldn't be used. Tristan explained that he wanted to install a new Regent for the New Orleans witches, Van Nguyen so they could use his powers for their own purposes. Later, Aurora came down the stairs after having been sedated yet again by Tristan so she wouldn't have any more unpredictable episodes. When Aurora angrily vowed to trap the Mikaelsons with the Serratura, Tristan showed her that they had been spying on Freya after she had been researching the Serratura, believing she would lead them to it.
Tristan later went to Marcel and learned that Vincent Griffith would be ascending to the regency instead of Van and that Vincent wouldn't be so easily bought. Tristan stole the necklace containing the spirit of Finn Mikaelson, knowing that Vincent was once inhabited by it. Tristan then went to the cemetery and boldly threatened to reunite Vincent with Finn, if he didn't do exactly as The Strix demanded. Tristan then spent a quiet moment with Aurora on Christmas Eve, looking forward to the future.
In A Ghost Along the Mississippi, after continuing to threaten Vincent Griffith with the prospect of being possessed again by Finn, Vincent used the powers of the regency to activate the Serratura. Tristan then sent the Strix to capture Hayley and Jackson, injecting them with wolfsbane. Once captured, Tristan taunted Hayley, reminding her that she had tortured him when he was a prisoner of the Mikaelsons. Realizing the only way to truly hurt her was to hurt Jackson, Tristan plunged his hand into Jackson's chest and tore out his heart, killing him in front of Hayley.
After the Mikaelsons captured Aurora, Tristan bartered to have her returned and an exchange of prisoners was arranged. However, with the Serratura activated, Tristan planned on trapping the Originals once he got his sister back by having the Strix subdue them with their superior numbers. They met at a warehouse where Aurora was being kept in a shipping container. Tristan had brought many Strix members with him but despite his superior numbers, the Mikaelsons seemed unintimidated. After revealing Hayley, Tristan was shown Aurora who was tied to a chair in the shipping container. Tristan went to his sister and unbound her. However, Aurora was revealed to actually be Camille O'Connell, who was in the middle of transitioning into a vampire, and disguised by Freya and Vincent's spell. Caught off guard, Cami snatched the Serratura from Tristan's pocket and threw it against the shipping container, creating an unbreakable barrier.
Cami was able to leave the barrier due to being at the crossroads between life and death. Tristan, however, was unable to leave. Furious with the deception, he ordered The Strix to attack but they were persuaded to leave by Elijah, and Marcel, as Marcel told Aya their moment was over and to be smarter than Tristan so they wouldn't loose anymore Strix members. Tristan angrily called to Aya as she and his vampire society abandoned him to his fate of being trapped forever. The Mikaelsons decided to drop the shipping container in the bottom of the sea with Tristan trapped inside, to spend eternity endlessly drowning, unable to escape.
In Heart Shaped Box, Aurora planned to kill Elijah with her newly acquired white oak bullets, knowing that killing him would mean killing Tristan. She wanted to end her brother's suffering, realizing that the only love that mattered, was the love of family. Her plan failed, however, and Elijah survived, leaving Tristan still drowning in the sea.
Camille comes to the church and walks into the attic and sees her uncle putting chains around his ankles, she asks "If it is really necessary?" Her uncle says that the sickness, is overtaking his inclination to forgive, replacing it with one thought that he could barely contain at the summit. Kill every last one of them. he says, they will figure it out.he tried to figure it out with Sean, but he was focused on him. He was too much on that instead of trying to stop him, and says that he's not gonna let that happen to him. He tells since she is an O'Connell The Faction are going to ask her to take his place at the table. he tells her to just leave and start over. Cami wouldn't leave him she said. This angers Kieran and he tells her of how many times does he have to tell her, he can't be fixed? She tells that she won't stop trying. He says that is just her stubbornness like when she was a little girl, she always had to be right she never listened. he said that he prayed for her, And I got no answer. Then he says that there is only blackness, there is only death, it is his And hers. (Kieran then reaches out and grabs Cami trying to kill her, They both fall over, Cami tries to get away, Kieran grabs her by the ankle, while Cami is desperately reaching for a knocked over lamp. She finally gets a hold of it and breaks it over Kieran's head knocking him unconscious.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, Aya revealed to Aurora that she and the Sisters had created an astral plane made of representational magic that allowed Tristan's consciousness to dwell peacefully instead of having to be aware of his body drowning. The Sisters allowed Aurora's mind inside, reuniting with her brother happily. Soon after, once Klaus and Elijah were captured by The Strix, their minds were sent to the astral plane, so that they would be unconscious while their sirelines were unlinked by Davina.
Inside the astral plane, they were met by Tristan and Aurora. Tristan and Aurora taunted them, saying that something inside of the plane represented all of them and they'd have to break what represented them in order to escape, but confident that they wouldn't. After some time, Klaus and Elijah escaped from the astral plane and Aya was killed. The astral plane began to fall apart and Tristan, began puking up water and bid his sister a final farewell, his consciousness being sent back to his drowning body.
