Klena

Klena is the het ship between Elena Gilbert and Klaus Mikaelson from the The Vampire Diaries fandom.

Season 2
After being rescued by Stefan and Damon from Elijah, an Original vampire, Elena discovered that her friends and family were all in grave danger. Klaus Mikaelson, the oldest vampire in the history of time, was after her to break The Curse of The Sun and Moon. In Katerina, Elena goes to the Salvatore Boarding House and learns more about Klaus from Rose. What she found out about Klaus scared her, so much as so to go to even Katherine to gain more information to try and stop him. Stefan assured her that he would protect her, but Katherine replied that no matter what he'd try to do, there was no stopping Klaus. She told them both of the tale of how he killed her entire family just to get back at her for running, and that terrified Elena. When she returned home, Stefan pleaded for her to talk to him and Elena revealed that she felt guilty for what was happening. She said that it wasn't his fault or it wasn't because they fell in love that all this was happening, but instead it was her fault and that everything was her fault. Stefan then embraced Elena and she cried in his arms.

Elena found out more about Klaus from his brother, Elijah, who she had become allies with to kill Klaus. Elijah revealed that The Curse of The Sun and Moon was fake, and the real curse was a curse placed on Klaus, a vampire born from a werewolf bloodline, thus making him the first hybrid. The curse placed on him by Mikael and Esther suppressed Klaus' werewolf side and kept it dormant, denying him any connection to his true self, and for centuries Klaus had been determined to break it. Elijah explained that for him to break the spell, he needed a vampire, a werewolf and the blood of the Petrova doppelgänger. Elijah had planned to save Katherine (Katerina Petrova) from her fate by giving her an elixir that would bring her back to life, but she had already taken matters into her own hands. Elena instead decided to take Elijah's deal and put her trust in him, and he gave her his word that he'd kill Klaus when the time would come.

Elena first met Klaus when he hijacked Alaric Saltzman's body and pretended to be him at the decade dance. He lead Elena and Bonnie into a trap and planned to kill Bonnie, Elena's best friend, who was a dangerous to him because of her powers as a witch. Maddox, Klaus' warlock, had informed him that while Bonnie was a threat to him, anyone who used the power of a hundred witches would easily die if provoked enough. Elena witnessed Bonnie's "death" as she fought Klaus, but it was later revealed by Damon that she had placed a spell on herself that would prevent her from dying, thus Klaus wouldn't realize that Bonnie would be the one to stop him during the ritual.

After a day with Stefan, Elena returned to the Boarding House where she first saw the real Klaus. He said to her “Are you ready, my dear?” and warned Stefan to not let him kill anyone else today when he refused to let Elena go. Eventually after an emotional goodbye, Elena separated from Stefan and went with Klaus. Because of Damon's interference in his plan, Klaus kidnapped Elena's aunt, Jenna, and used her as the vampire for the ritual. After Klaus injured Stefan when he tried to save Jenna, he thanked Elena, making her look him in the eye, but she told him to go to hell. Klaus then drained Elena of her blood, killing her, though she was revived by Bonnie using John Gilbert's life-force.

Season 3
"There's my girl. You were supposed to be dead, what are we gonna do about that?"

- Klaus upon seeing Elena

In Season 3, every time Klaus tried to turn a werewolf into a hybrid, they would die during transition. Because of of this, he suspected that Elena may have been alive and came back to Mystic Falls in search of her. He arrived at the school and took Elena while forcing Bonnie to find a way to fix his plan by giving Tyler his blood and snapping his neck. At the end of The Reckoning, Klaus had planned to take Elena with him however Damon and Katherine got him to leave without her, instead leaving Stefan to protect her. Klaus later met Elena at the Grill with Damon, and said that he needed to find Stefan as he stole something from him. Elena, with an irritated expression responded, “That sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem” to which Klaus replied “Well, this is me broadening the scopes, sweetheart.”

In 3x10, Elena bargained Rebekah's life for her brother Jeremy's. Klaus spared Jeremy and prepared to take Rebekah but Elena warned him that if he awakened her, he needed to know that Rebekah wanted her dead. Klaus assured her that he'd be able to control Rebekah since he still needed Elena to find Stefan. Upset, Elena said that Stefan did not care about her anymore, and he had made sure of that since he was the one who turned him into a monster. Just so he knew, Elena added that she wasn't the only one who Rebekah wanted to kill; as she knew what Klaus did to Esther. This caused Klaus to fall silent, seemingly upset. In 3x21 he arrives at Elena's house to take her with him, but discovered that Alaric had taken her and Caroline to kill them unless he turned himself over. Arriving at the school, he overpowered Alaric and saved Elena. When she woke up in chains, Klaus was by her, and explained that he was draining her of her blood so that he could create an army and still kill Alaric. Some time later, Tyler, Damon and Stefan help Elena escape and subdued Klaus.

Season 4
"What's wrong, love?"

- Klaus to Elena

In Season 4 Elena turned into a vampire, making her no longer any use to Klaus. Later, Stefan called Klaus to heal Elena, to which he seemed to show almost worry upon discovering that she was ill because of werewolf venom. He realized that he still needed Elena alive and cured her willingly with his hybrid blood. Klaus became allies with Stefan when he admitted there may have been a way for Elena to become human again. After Elena killed Connor, she began to hallucinate. Klaus reacted instantly and grabbed Elena to keep her safe in a closed room in his big house. They talk about the Hunter's Curse and how Klaus had killed all Five Original Hunters. Consequently, he was tormented just like Elena, the difference being that Klaus was a hybrid.

After Caroline told Klaus that Stefan had freed Elena, Klaus was not amused at all and told her to shut up. To stop the Hunter's Curse and Elena's tormenting, he sacrificed his hybrid so that Jeremy could kill him and become the new hunter.

In the end, Klaus eventually left Mystic Falls.

Quotes
"If you had told me a few hours ago, I wouldn't have cared a lick about her dying. But, as it turns out... You may be of use to me after all."

- Klaus to Stefan about Elena

Behind The Scenes
"Now Elena's a vampire so I think shag Elena."

- Joseph Morgan playing "Shag, Marry, Stake"

Fanon
Klena is a rare-pair ship in the fandom that has controversy surrounding it because of Klaus and Elena's antagonistic relationship. Some fans ship them because of the chemistry betwen Joseph Morgan (Klaus) and Nina Dobrev (Elena), and some think that Klaus and Elena could have had interesting development for a romantic relationship. It is Elena's fourth most popular ship and Klaus' fifth. Fans who also ship Klefan also ship the two which results in the poly ship Klefelena, the ship between Elena, Stefan and Klaus (though it is mostly shipped as a joke because of Klaus' interest in Stefan and Elena).

On AO3, Klena is Elena's fourth most written ship and Klaus' sixth.

Fandom
AO3

Elena/Klaus tag on AO3

TUMBLR

Klena tag on Tumblr

Trivia

 * Klaus often referred to Elena as "My Girl."
 * Klaus has a history with the Petrova doppelgänger's. He was in love with Tatia, the doppelgänger that was most alike to Elena, and was enemies with Katerina Petrova.
 * Joseph Morgan (Klaus) and Nina Dobrev (Elena) are close friends in real life and enjoy working with each other.


 * In the novel series of The Vampire Diaries, Elena is the only thing that can kill Klaus besides a white oak stake.
 * Joseph Morgan was interested in making Elena Klaus' love interest.