before i start; above is an awesome edit made by an awesome youtuber that has a bunch of mikaelson video edits, this one is hayley and it's absolutely glorious and tells you all why she's the fucking best and shouldn't be treated the way she is in fics

first off:

Hayley is a Mikaelson

Elijah himself said so at the start of 4x02

So why is it that in every single Klaus fic during TO, they either

- kill Hayley off after Hope is born,

- write her off entirely and give the pregnant storyline to their OC

- bring in some random sister or cousin of her's that takes her pregnant storyline and then kill off Hayley

- Hayley's there except she's a bitch and tries to be evil and the whole pregnancy was either fake or transmitted to the OC bcuz of said evil?

- Or the worst one by far, they just write her off completely and change the entire story.

I mean, guys, I don't know if you haven't noticed, but,

HAYLEY ISN'T KLAUS' LOVE INTEREST.

If you wanna write a fic about Klaus during TO or maybe starting in TVD, you can work Hayley into it and still keep her and Hope around.

She isn't a love interest, but she does mean something to him. She's the mother of his child. Does he care about her? Hell yeah.

Season 1 of The Originals took some time to build the relationship but then he was determined to keep the mother of his child safe. (lets not address the cursing her to be a wolf all the time and human on full moons during s3 at the moment). He actually grieved her heavily when she died because he does love her, she raised their daughter, protected her, and he could never be more grateful for that. She's part of his family, but they were never going to be together. He and Hayley share something in common: undeniable and everlasting love for their little girl.

Keeping her around won't affect your OC's love story with Klaus.

And if you're starting from TVD in S3 or S4 with Klaus, then again, he and Hayley only have a one night stand, it could be that your OC and he aren't on good terms or they broke up temporarily, or they still haven't established their relationship or whatever the reason. So Klaus having a one night stand because the OC and he broke up or whatever can still work and Hope can still be there.

You have to remember that the whole entire show was based on Klaus and his family becoming better people for one sole purpose: Hope.

The whole show is about protecting her, making sure she grows up loved and safe.

So writing her mother out of the show?
Dick move.

Especially if you write off Hope as well, you are literally rewriting the entire show and its main reason for why the Mikaelsons do anything at all in it.

Now, for those of you that want her out of the way for an Elijah love interest story, then hey, you've got plenty of options.

You don't have to kill Hayley off to get her and Elijah's relationship out of the way. You could go down the Klayley road that the majority don't go to, or you could focus her with Jackson as much as possible.

Elijah and Hayley have plenty of plots and storylines that don't necessarily include their love story so whoever you want Elijah to be with, you can easily diminish the love story between her and Elijah as just an uncle looking out for his niece's mother because Elijah has always been faithful and loving towards his family and from the start he wanted that baby to have a mom.

The Mikaelsons didn't bring Hayley into their family because she and Elijah fell in love, they brought her in because she was carrying their brothers' child and she proved herself to be this unwavering force that wanted her child safe. She's Hope's mother, so of course, she'd have a place in the family even if she wasn't with Elijah or Klaus if you're going down that road.

Honestly, if you have to write her off, kill her off, or change her entire characterization for your story just because she 'poses a threat' to your OC's love story then you aren't mature enough to write about the Mikaelsons.

And finally,

Hayley is Hope's mother. She's a big deal. She has a whole storyline with the Bayou wolves and her being basically werewolf royalty. She goes through this very expected difficult mourning period when Hope goes into hiding with Rebekah. She is a damn awesome character and isn't some 'Elena version of The Originals' just because she's the female protagonist. Klaus himself (because you all seem to fawn at the word of the male protagonist of the show and give the female ones quips and point out their flaws and just give them dozens of ounces of hate for the stupidest of reasons) has said "I knew you were tough, I knew you were cunning, but I never knew you were a queen." and "There's your queen. Powerful, fearless, and unlike me, merciful."

so since all of you bend over backwards to give Klaus all the love in your heart rather than give five seconds to acknowledge the strong female characters on the show, why not see it from the brother's perspective? hm?

about how the Mikaelson's all consider Hayley to be one of them, not just because she gave birth to Hope, but because of what she did during her pregnancy and after it. she fought for that kid and protected herself and killed anything that posed a threat, and when Hope was born? When she was sent to Rebekah? Hayley stayed. Hayley fought alongside Klaus, Elijah, all of them. She integrated herself into the family and rightfully so.

And the top of the cherry, this iconic scene:

SHE'S THE ONE THAT SPENT FIVE YEARS LOOKING FOR THE INGREDIENTS TO SAVE FREYA, ELIJAH, KOL, AND REBEKAH'S LIVES ALL WHILST RAISING HER DAUGHTER AND KEEPING HER SAFELY HIDDEN FROM THE WORLD AND MADE SURE THAT HER DAUGHTER ONLY HAD GOOD STORIES OF HER FATHER.

Don't you ever try and write off Hayley Marshall.

Shame on you if you have.

Fuck you if you will.