Celebrities
What the heck is a siren, and why is she terrorizing ‘The Vampire Diaries’?
We’ve got to hand it to “The Vampire Diaries” Season 8 premiere. Even in its final season, this show is managing to take us to new levels of gruesome, bloody horror.
The premiere also filled us in on a very important mystery, which we’re especially thankful for. The vault monster — aka Sybil (Nathalie Kelley) — is none other than a siren.
Those of you not up to scratch on your Greek mythology should immediately take Enzo’s (Michael Malarkey) advice and go read “The Odyssey” to get the skinny on the newest monster in “The Vampire Diaries” bestiary. Or you could just read our handy-dandy guide below:
RELATED: What kind of monster is Sybil in ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Season 8?
Physical description:
The mythology varies, but sirens are typically described as half woman half animal, the bottom half usually being a bird or a fish. Think mermaids, but way more deadly. We’re willing to bet the fish thing is probably why Sybil spent most of the summer chilling down in her blood-filled water pit. Maybe it’s good for the skin?
These ladies also had sharp teeth and claws — the better to eat you with, obviously — and sometimes even wings. If Sybil makes like a bird and is somehow able to fly, we will be 10 times more scared of her than we were before.
Powers:
Obviously a siren’s voice is her main weapon. The singing of sirens was said to make sailors jump overboard and captains steer their ships into rocky waters. Typical men, blaming their problems on a woman.
On top of that, some legends say they were shape-shifters, and you guessed it — mind readers. The ability to get inside someone’s head isn’t new to “The Vampire Diaries” universe, but we certainly hope Sybil doesn’t dig deep enough into Enzo’s head to figure out he’s been leaving breadcrumbs for Bonnie (Kat Graham) to find.
RELATED: ‘Vampire Diaries’ deadpool: Ranking the characters most likely to die in Season 8
Motive:
Like most monsters, sirens pretty much seem to kill for the fun of it. It’s just what they do. However, the bit of mythology “The Vampire Diaries” seems to be running with — not to mention the many references to hell Damon (Ian Somerhalder) has been spouting — lean more towards the idea that they’re minions of Satan. Literally.
Similar to the Greek legends about furies, sirens were said to specifically target evildoers and unfaithful men, dragging them into the ocean and down to hell to be punished for their sins.
Let’s hope Enzo and Damon don’t decide to get frisky with Sybil, seeing as their both spoken for.
“The Vampire Diaries” airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.