The Anchor

MANUFACTURER

Qetsiyah †

OWNER(S)

Qetsiyah † (Formerly)

The Travelers † (Formerly)

The Anchor to the Other Side, simply known as the Anchor, was a mystical object supernatural being to which the spell that created the Other Side was bound to. Qetsiyah bound the world's first immortal woman, Amara, to the Other Side for centuries. However, right before Qetsiyah died, she transferred the status to Bonnie Bennett, making the deceased witch the new Anchor. As of Home, the Anchor no longer exists with the destruction of the Other Side.

History

In 1st Century BC, Silas stole the Immortality Spell and left Qetsiyah, his fiancée, at the altar. When she found him in the wilderness with the secret young lady he gave her immortality to—her handmaiden and Silas' true beloved, Amara, she vowed vengeance. Not content to allow Silas and Amara to spend the rest of their lives happy together, Qetsiyah created the supernatural purgatory known as the Other Side and bound the spell to Amara, thereby making her the Anchor to the Other Side.

However, she had lied to Silas, and led him to believe that she had actually killed Amara by pretending that she had brutally slaughtered her by slitting her throat and cutting out her heart just in case there was a chance he would return to her. To add to Amara's suffering, Qetsiyah desiccated her and left her as a statue, unable to move as she was forced to feel and endure the pain of every supernatural being who died and passed through her to get to the Other Side. Qetsiyah then entombed Silas with the Cure for immortality on a lone and remote island off of Nova Scotia in hopes that he would take it, die a mortal death (as a witch), and be trapped on the Other Side with her forever. However, shortly afterward, Qetsiyah was killed by the Travelers for creating the immortality spell in the first place, as in doing so, she went against her duties as a servant of nature and upset its balance, which then caused a rift in the witch community. It was this rift that eventually led to the Travelers being cursed by the witches who were against Qetsiyah's actions, and the curse's side effects eventually gave the group their name. Shortly afterward, the Travelers gained possession of Amara's petrified body and spent over 2,000 years constantly moving it around to various hiding places to prevent it from ending up in the wrong hands.

Purpose

In order for the Other Side to continue existing (as it did for thousands of years), it had to be bound to something that was eternal. This is what prompted the witch; Qetsiyah, to create the first Anchor and placed it on Amara; one of the first immortals.

This ensured that the spell that created the Other Side continued to exist. If the Anchor was destroyed somehow, the spell would be broken and the Other Side would be destroyed, freeing every deceased supernatural ghost residing there to whatever dimension they are meant to go after death.

The Anchor was also used as a "gateway," or, as Qetsiyah referred to it, a "tollbooth" for ghosts to cross over to the Other Side. As a result of this role, the being who is the Anchor is forced to feel the death of the supernatural as they pass through them. In certain instances, such as when a particular spell is being cast by a witch, it is possible for a ghost to exit the Other Side (through the Anchor) and be resurrected in the world of the living again. However, doing so causes a lot of damage to the Anchor, which risks destroying the Other Side along with it.

Powers and Abilities

Mediumship: Being the Anchor allowed the bearer to perceive ghosts who are normally invisible, regardless of whether they had known the deceased when they were alive or not.

Co-Existence: The Anchor co-existed on both sides of the veil, giving the being a physical foothold in both the living world and the Other Side, and allowing him/her to interact (see, talk, hear and make physical contact with them) with the inhabitants of both planes.

Trivia

The last supernatural being to pass through Amara while she was still the Anchor was Silas, just moments before Qetsiyah transferred the position to Bonnie. Consequently, the first supernatural being to cross over through Bonnie was Qetsiyah.

Supernatural beings can be "denied" access to the Other Side through the Anchor. This was the case of Katherine, who was dragged away to Hell when she tried to gain access through Bonnie.

The spell that bound the Other Side to the Anchor was slowly undone by the mixed doppelgängers' (Stefan and Elena) blood used by the Travelers during their ritual to resurrect Markos, which ultimately led to its destruction.

The inhabitants of the Other Side all either were sucked into Hell or presumed to have found peace.

When Bonnie was the Anchor as a ghost, it was assumed she was eternal, as this was the primary requirement for anchoring the Other Side. Therefore, she was presumed unkillable by all conventional means, else Qetsiyah's statement would have been pointless.