Is Alaric Really Dead? His Future Explained

Legacies appeared to have killed off a major character when the Salvatore School headmaster had a brain hemorrhage, but does Alaric in Legacies season 4 die? The second spinoff series of The Vampire Diaries, Legacies had somewhat of a tumultuous few seasons as it struggled to get out from the shadow of TVD and the previous spinoff The Originals to forge its own identity. Legacies takes care to ensure its teenage characters are actually treated like teenage characters in their adventures, with Alaric often being the only adult in an episode. That’s why the decision to kill him off partway into season 4 seemed so shocking.

As usual, though, the incredibly hard-to-kill Headmaster proved once again that for Alaric Saltzman, dying is something that happens to other people. Here’s everything about Alaric’s possible death in Legacies, from why his season 4 stroke was so shocking to what TVD and Legacies‘ future may be. One way the show has established the teenage characters is through the adult Alaric, the headmaster of Legacies‘ Salvatore School. Without him, his supernatural students would surely be lost, not only for his vast wealth of knowledge about monsters and lore but also because he has become a father figure to them all. As such, it was always hard to believe that Alaric was truly dead in Legacies.

How Many Times Alaric Died

Alaric in Legacies has cheated the Grim Reaper multiple times and comes out the other side unharmed. However. The Legacies season 4 episode went the distance in making Alaric’s death certainly seem real and permanent, making some fans genuinely believe Alaric Saltzman would return. Unlike previous deaths in the series that have all been through supernatural means (meaning there’s a loophole) or that have immediately cut to show the character in an alternate prison world, Alaric’s death in Legacies was framed as medical, not magical, with him dying after sustaining what seemed to be extensive brain damage. Still, longtime viewers of The Vampire Diaries rightly doubted that his death was permanent, considering Alaric’s history.

Dying and then coming back to life was Alaric Saltzman’s thing in The Vampire Diaries. That show quickly saw a number of its human characters become supernatural creatures or gain magical abilities. Alaric, however, remained an entirely non-magical human and thus mortal, but his saving grace was that he had a ring that protected him from death by supernatural means. As a result, Alaric dying and then coming back to life a few hours later became a running joke and storyline in the show. In his time on that show, Alaric died nine times — and kept coming back to life.

Alaric in Legacies deaths were also varied. Damon staked Alaric in self-defense when he went to the Salvatore house wanting to kill the vampire. He came back to life in front of Stefan, who said it was thanks to his wife’s ring. In season 2, Stevie the Werewolf stabbed him, but the ring brought him back again. In season 3, Damon snapped his neck, knowing the ring would bring him back. He even got hit by a car and died that same season. Later that season, Elena killed Alaric when she saw him dying because his ring only protects him from supernatural deaths. That same season Klaus broke his neck and then later Alaric died when Elena died, but when she returned, he did as well.

How Alaric Beat Death In Legacies

Alaric in Legacies found his death in “Thought You’d Be Happier To See Me” definitely wasn’t the standard half-jokey event fans had expected. A stroke was a surprisingly down-to-earth and realistic turn of events for a show like Legacies. Moreover, it also meant Alaric didn’t enjoy the protection of his notorious ring. As far as the lore surrounding Alaric and The Vampire Diaries universe was concerned, the recipe was definitely there for a permanent end to his journey. However, Alaric’s passing was fuel for the season 4 narrative within Limbo and concerning Ted, the Necromancer. It’s also revealed in the next episode that Alaric’s death wasn’t so much a death as it was a cliffhanger bait-and-switch. Despite his brain injuries, Alaric wasn’t dead, just in a coma.

Hanging in the balance between life and death, Alaric was able to navigate Limbo and find his way back with the help of The Necromancer and Landon. This lasted several episodes until Alaric was finally released by the Necromancer in season 4, episode 12, “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost.” He wakes up in his hospital bed, confused but otherwise unharmed. This is a vast oversimplification of Alaric’s route back to the living world, which involves many twists, turns, betrayals, and even a riddle-giving Sphinx.

In typical TVD franchise fashion, Alaric goes on an exposition-heavy adventure through the supernatural underworld which builds on much of the lore established around Limbo in The Vampire Diaries. Sadly, though, this return to its mystical franchise roots was too little, too late for the canceled Legacies. It was announced the show had been canceled by The CW in 2022. Legacies Season 4 ended with Alaric leaving the Salvatore School behind for new adventures and still very much alive.