Warning: Spoilers for Legacies season 4, episode 7, "Someplace Far Away From All This Violence."
If the Super Squad resorts to their backup plan to stop Hope in The Originals spinoff is all the more enjoyable for this tonal shift.
As if to prove that the darker tone is here to stay, one Legacies season 4 episode saw the Super Squad debating whether to put former show heroine Hope through a particularly brutal form of torture. To be fair to Hope’s former friends, they have tried everything to reach her to no avail, and the method may work. Nonetheless, Finch suggesting that the group use the harshest method of punishment in the Vampire Diaries universe still comes as a surprise.
In Legacies season 4, episode 7 (“Someplace Far Away from All This Violence”), the Squad is at their wit’s end after multiple failed attempts to find a way to get Hope to switch her humanity back on. When Josie’s love interest Finch and Ethan start researching vampires, Finch tells Josie she has a way to get Hope to pull off this feat, but what she describes is one of the worst tortures in the world of The Vampire Diaries. Finch claims it is easier to get a vampire to flip their humanity switch if they're physically weakened, meaning they could use a process known as “desiccation.” The worst pain that a vampire can endure, this process involves not letting them drink blood for an extended time, causing an agonizing, burning pain as they dry out. This eventually leads to mummification.
Hope’s quick (simulated) Super Squad killing in Legacies season 4 episode 5 proves that they have no chance against her without the character turning her humanity back on, something that was reaffirmed by Dark Josie’s inability to beat Tribrid Hope. However, the Super Squad would be gambling on Hope switching her humanity on to avoid being mummified and could end up putting the former heroine through horrific torture for no reason if this gambit fails. This is particularly pertinent because Tribrid Hope has not responded to physical threats as much as the fear of having her humanity switched back on.
The fact that Hope was horrified by Dark Josie’s empty threat to turn her humanity back on proves Legacies revealed how to beat the Tribrid or at least offered the most likely route to disarm her. However, if this proves true then the process of desiccation could prove a painful folly. For one thing, it would require the group to stop Tribrid Hope from feeding (a challenge, since none of them can overpower her). For another, depriving Hope of food does not seem likely to sway her when she appears to fear her human emotions far more than psychical pain. Only time will tell what plan the Super Squad goes for in Legacies season 4, but the most agonizing torture in the world of The Vampire Diaries is now one of the options on the table.
Legacies releases new episodes Thursdays on the CW.