TRIGGER WARNING: This article will involve mentions of abuse
I’d also like to note before I continue that this is not some kind of attempt to convince you to like Landon if you’ve decided you don’t like him or hate him. That is your opinion and I can’t change that nor would I ever try to force a person to change their feelings on Landon. This is just me doing an in-depth character study, as she is one of my favorite characters to exist. So any feelings you have for him are allowed to still exist. We can both exist in this world and neither one of us is better than the other for liking or disliking Landon as a character 🤗🫡
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Landon Kirby, played by Aria Shahghasemi, was a character mostly known on Legacies (run time 2018 to 2022), but was first introduced in The Originals. He is most notably known as the character who played Hope Mikaelson’s boyfriend throughout the series of Legacies, up until near the end of the show.
Landon was an orphan from a very young age and was unfairly thrown into the foster care system due to his mother, Seylah, having a baby with a monster known as “Malivore,” which caused Landon to be forced into homes where he was unwanted and mistreated.
At a young age, Landon faced abuse from his foster parents. Mostly his foster father who locked him in a closet when he was angry, which caused Landon to develop fear of enclosed spaces, better known as claustrophobia.
The unfortunate thing about Landon is that he was mostly hated in the Legacies fandom. Mostly because of his romance with Hope and that the people who disliked him, wanted Hope with Josie. And on occasion, some fans wanted Hope with Lizzie (but we won’t go into that) — many fans didn’t understand the real reasons behind why he always left and I will admit that a few years ago, I was one of those fans who saw Landon as somebody who abandoned Hope when she needed him most. But after looking deeper into who Landon is as a person, I came to a realization that there is in fact a different reason he kept leaving. And it wasn’t because of why so many fans think he did.
I’d just like to clarify that this is how I’ve come to understand Landon as a character. He has a lot of depth to him and many fans choose to interpret who he is as a character based on what they see him as. Which is somebody who gets in the way of Hope ever being with Josie.
Granted, some of his fans aren’t the nicest people and will jump down your throat at the tiniest criticism of him, I don’t feel that it is necessary to go into another reason why he’s disliked, which is the level of toxicity his fans can be. But I won’t go into that as that is a completely different story.
Going back to where I was first discussing. Throughout the show, it’s been known that Landon will leave when Hope needs him most. And while to anyone who doesn’t fully understand his character, you need to fully understand his past.
Landon grew up with a lot of trauma. From a young age, he faced horrible abuse no child and no human ever deserves. He became more aware of who he trusted. He began to feel like he was unworthy of the people who cared for him. He felt unworthy of Hope Mikaeslon herself.
I’d like to clarify again that I’m not a handon shipper. I don’t know why I am, but yes, I am not a handon shipper. Thank you.
Landon, will all the trauma he has dealt with and knowing who Hope is as a person. Knowing all the loss, grief and trauma Hope has suffered, Landon felt like he was weighing her down. He felt like he wasn’t deserving of her. He felt like she deserved somebody else. Somebody who didn’t have the level of trauma he had dealt with. He felt unworthy and thought that somebody like him shouldn’t ever be with somebody like Hope.
Landon leaving wasn’t because he was purposely trying to constantly “abandon” Hope, the true reason why he kept leaving was because of how much he wanted to be with her, but felt deep down that he didn’t deserve her. That’s the actual reason. When you remove all your biases. When you remove the factor that you wanted Hope with Josie or Lizzie. When you take away the biases that Josie or Lizzie were the better partner, the truth is that Landon didn’t think he deserved Hope.
And while yes, Landon did cross some boundaries Hope set, he didn’t do it to cause any kind of harm upon her, he didn’t do it because he felt like he needed to disrespect her wishes, a lot of the things he did were him trying to help. He was never trying to do any wrong. He had a good heart, it was just hard to see due to him closing off because of his trauma. Because of his commitment issues. Because of him feeling like he attracts danger everywhere he goes.
Landon isn’t perfect, and the show never actually shows the deeper layers of who he is as a character and why he did the things he did. Why he left. Why he chose to do and say the things he did. He had flaws and was a very complex character with layers that you need to look into to fully understand him.
And just a side note, Landon is not abusive, I’m not entirely sure why people ever tried to make that claim, because it couldn’t be more false. I don’t know where people got this idea that he is abusive, but he’s not and it can become really damaging to water down a term like that, simply because you don’t like him.
I think this is enough for this character study.
Have a good day ❤
A.J
