What Exactly IS Landon? His Malivore DNA Explained

As the spinoff Legacies emerges from the shadow of its predecessors The Originals and The Vampire Diaries, the question of "what exactly the show’s hero Landon is" still looms large now that his Malivore DNA has been revealed. Debuting in late 2018, Legacies is a supernatural teen soap and a spin-off from The Originals, which was itself a spin-off of the CW’s earlier ‘00s hit The Vampire Diaries.

Now entering its third season, so far Legacies has struggled to recapture the popularity of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Some fans blame the lighter tone, others the younger cast, and some say that the show’s convoluted mythology is to blame. While an excessive focus on one plotline at the expense of the rest is also a factor, there is no denying that understanding all the many paranormal beings featured in Legacies requires numerous lengthy excursions into franchise lore.

Take Landon, for example, the ostensible deuteragonist of Legacies. Despite being the lead character’s love interest, Landon has not had a lot to do in the plots of seasons 1 and 2 beyond being rescued by Hope Mikaleson, the show’s heroine. However, what Landon lacked in compelling character growth, the character more than made up for in byzantine backstory. The exact specifics of what Landon is, be it human, Phoenix, Malivore (or golem), or a hybrid of all the above, remains unclear, but untangling the mess of his timeline on the show does shed some light on what the Legacies lead may be—and where his story could be heading as the series continues its third season.

Landon's Legacies Timeline (So Far)

One of the few things that can be said for certain about Landon is that the character has had a complicated story so far on Legacies. Initially, when the character was introduced, Landon was thought to be a normal human. Then, way back near the end of season 1, being killed by MG gave sufficient weight to Landon's Legacies story arc for the character to discover that he was, in fact, a Phoenix, as he rose from the ashes and revived himself. However, the character soon learned things were not so simple when the series revealed that he was also part-golem, as Malivore was his father and therefore responsible for some of his DNA. That being said, Landon was with flesh & blood, rather than mud & clay, so he may not have had the same powers as typical Golems like Ryan (his decapitated and since mostly-forgotten-about half-brother, also Malivore's offspring but less powerful). This setup was already complicated, (as is self-evident at this point) but soon grew more convoluted with Landon’s second death.

This time, when resurrected, Landon lost the Phoenix elements of his powers, those being regeneration, immortality, fire wings, and a barely-used ability to levitate when he and Hope hook up (and presumably at other times). Now part-golem and part-human but no longer Phoenix, Landon then let Malivore use his body as a vessel, leading to yet another inevitable death and his season 3 problem of being trapped in the prison world. Complicating this storyline slightly is the fact that he was seemingly resurrected, but this was then revealed to be Hope's sculpture come to life rather than the real deal, so it doesn’t count. So now, the real Landon is back from the prison world and understandably entirely unclear on what he actually is. But while the man himself may not know, there could be an answer available to eagle-eyed fans of the series.

Landon's Weird DNA Explained

Given the host of returning characters from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, the question remains whether Landon is still wholly human, or if he gained powers when Malivore possessed him? It seems likely that the Legacies lead still has some form of supernatural powers, as he would need all the help he could get to survive and escape the prison world. These powers can’t be those of a Phoenix, as they were stripped from him by the Golden Arrow. However, the fact that Landon’s father is Malivore means that, like that Golem, he may be able to absorb the powers of other supernatural beings. Now, this comes at a cost, as Malivore’s ability to absorb paranormal powers destroyed those who held them and reduced them to mere memory as they were trapped in a dark purgatorial pit for all eternity. So, not a power Landon will likely want to tap into, being surrounded by magical peers. However, the hero of The Vampire Diaries' spinoff has been singled out among Malivore’s children as the only one who can set him free, meaning there must be something about him that is not typical to, for example, a more "normal" pure Golem like the late Ryan.

What Landon Could Be Now

It is impossible to know for now, but this atypical element of Landon's makeup could well be that his part-golem, part-human DNA allows him to hold onto his powers as a Phoenix despite seemingly being stripped of them, thus explaining how he survived his tenure in the prison world. Given how long it took Landon to discover his status as a Phoenix and begin exploring his powers, it is not inconceivable that the character’s powers could still be dormant and he may be mistaken about losing them. More intriguingly, his father’s ability (and the ability of all golems) to absorb the powers of those they consume could mean that as a Malivore-human hybrid. This would mean Landon can take in the powers of those around him, be they vampire, zombie, dragon, or golem without having to condemn them to a lifetime of nothingness in the process, a development that could make the character a stronger figure than he previously seemed.

Whatever unknown quality convinced Malivore that Landon specifically was uniquely suited to freeing him could also be key to the character’s mysterious status. Landon could still be a phoenix and unaware of the fact, but he could also be an inversion of his golem father who can use the powers of others without stripping them from their original holders. In thematic terms, this is the direction that could make the most sense for Legacies to take the character’s plotline in. Landon has been a disempowered dude in distress since the series began and only started showing a promising ability to fight his own battles in recent episodes. As a result of this, illustrating that he was dealing with being a hitherto-unseen type of paranormal being could go far towards explaining the character’s apparent lack of agency, and could make the question of what Landon is exactly an engaging and exciting one for Legacies viewers, rather than a confusing and frustrating one.

More: The One Thing Legacies Does Better Than The Vampire Diaries & The Originals