Rafael Waithe

Rafael Waithe is a main character who made his debut on the first episode of Legacies. He is a young werewolf and the foster brother of Landon Kirby. He triggered his curse when he unintentionally killed his girlfriend Cassie, in a car accident.

Early History
Rafael was born to Walt and Lucia, the latter of whom was a werewolf who triggered her curse while serving her country in Afghanistan. For unknown reasons Lucia left Walt after discovering she was pregnant with their child. Sometime after he was born, Rafael was given up for adoption. His adoptive parents raised him until their deaths and he was orphaned yet again at the age of ten. Throughout his adolescence, he bounce around from one foster home to the next, six in seven years, before finally being fostered by Hector and Maria Gonzales and gaining a brother, Landon Kirby.

Six weeks before his arrival to the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted, he accidentally killed his girlfriend, Cassie. The two were driving and — during a heated argument over his assumption that she was flirting with another guy — Rafael lost control of the car, killing Cassie instantly, and triggering his werewolf side. He still blames himself for her death as he was driving at the time.

Throughout Legacies Series
In This is the Part Where You Run, he and Landon head to a church in Atlanta, Georgia, so he could get their foster parents, Maria and Hector Gonzalez, off his back. He greets Father Pietro and is asked to pray with him, kneeling down to do so, and then tells Landon that he has it. While saying a prayer, he notices that the priest is doing is not part of the usual prayer, he is held down by his foster parents as the priest goes on with an exorcism. His bones start to break and reform, and he reveals his black eyes with gold irises, which in turn shows he's a newly triggered werewolf. He begins transforming as the priest continues the exorcism. When Hope and Alaric arrive, he asks them to help him and what is happening. He then transforms fully into a werewolf, all the while being chained down so he won't hurt anybody. The next day, he is seen fast asleep in Ric's SUV as they drive toward the boarding school. When they arrive, Ric asks his two daughters, Lizzie and Josie, to show Rafael around the school while he talks to Landon. They explain to him that everyone gets along for the most part and that the werewolves are cliquey. They show him a classroom where Dorian Williams, the librarian, is subbing for. He asks who the twins are talking about when he notices that the two are rather not keen when Dorian calls on Penelope. They tell him she's Josie's evil ex and when the stink spell is cast, Lizzie states they'll show him the turret. He asks what they smoke, jokingly saying eye of newt, but Josie simply states weed.
 * -|Season One=

They then head towards the sports field and he listens as Lizzie explains a game to him. As Josie leaves to talk to MG, Lizzie flirts with Rafael and fails to make a good impression as she says the wrong things to him, and he tells her that he made it a point in life to keep clear of girls like her, and goes to find Landon.

At night, he goes to a party at the old mill and Josie does a summoning spell to bring Landon where they are. He tells Landon that all the emotion and what he is going through is normal as a werewolf and wants to introduce him to some of the werewolves at the party. When Landon says he wants to leave, Rafael suggests he go too as it's just them, and he wants to do it together. He and Josie are then sitting around a fire, and she tells him that he should give Lizzie another chance. She also tells him that they were sorry to hear about his girlfriend, Cassie.

The next day, Landon gets ready to go and Rafael comes outside to say goodbye to him. He asks him if he is sure and Landon tells him that he'll be fine. He then sets off and Rafael watches him leave the school.

In Some People Just Want To Watch The World Burn, he hears about Landon possibly stealing the knife and incinerating the bus he was on, killing everybody on board. While Hope tries to keep him from coming with her and Ric, Ric says it's a good idea and Rafael remains insistent on coming either way as Landon is his brother and knows him better. When they reach a secluded woods section, he and Hope run into a woman who doesn't talk. Ric tells them to go find Landon while he tries to help the woman. The two eventually find him and while Rafael is at first shocked Landon did indeed take the knife, he believes that he didn't do it on purpose. When Ric comes back and tells them about the woman being a possible pyromancer, they try to leave, but the woman has shown up, silently demanding the knife. She then breathes fire again and after Dorian reveals she is actually a dragon, the group comes up with a plan to defeat her. After Hope defeats her, Landon and Rafael head towards the car while Hope and Ric discuss what happened. When they come back to the car, they notice the boys are gone and they have left them.

In We're Being Punked, Pedro, he and Landon are out in the woods trying to survive on their own. When they try to eat an animal, Landon comes up with an idea that they can get money with Rafael's abilities. They go to town to get money and Rafael completes the challenge up racing up the building in seconds, they get a bunch of money. When a man bets for 10 seconds, Landon looks at Rafael, who is somewhat hesitant at first. They get a bite to eat and while Landon looks at a message saying "run or die wolf", he keeps it to himself as not to scare Rafael. He then gets suspicious when he sees that Landon wants to leave, and asks him what's going on. Before Landon can tell them, they are both shot with arrows to knock them out. When Rafael comes to, they both notice the man with the fedora is shot in the chest with an arrow laying near them, a man comes up and helps them. He reveals himself to be Jeremy Gilbert and he was sent by Ric to take them back. Rafael confronts Landon about the bill with the message on it and understands what he was trying to do. They then go back to the school for their own safety and Rafael becomes a student again.

In Hope is Not the Goal, he stays in his room talking to Landon while the other students attend an assembly involving the two missing girls. When he is asked why he wasn't there, he states that he's trying to get used to the school. At lunch, he sits next to Josie who is at first wondering why he's not with the wolves outside. He keeps talking to her until Jed, the alpha werewolf of the pack at the school, comes up and tells Josie to leave. Rafael stands up and starts talking to Jed, who wants him to submit into the pack. He refuses to tell them about was caused his triggered curse as he gets angry when Jed states it being an accident or not. He talks to Josie once more and Jed shows up with two other werewolves. They begin beating him up to make him submit and after Josie helps him, he goes to the old mill to release his anger. He starts throwing various things and when he yells at Josie to leave him alone, she calms him down. He then notices a weird substance up the stairs and sees it's a bunch of web. They see the missing girl, Sasha Stoteraux, wrapped up in a spider webbing and both get stuck to the sticky substance. They then see a boy, Connor, come in and when they see he is not human, but an arachne, Josie siphons a little from Rafael and burns the arachne, but to no avail. They then break free and try to escape, but are almost caught. After Hope, Lizzie and Josie defeat the arachne, Rafael looks at the girls in astonishment and shock. Back at the school, Josie tells Rafael in the gym to interact and join the wolves. When he goes to them and brings the ball they had with him, Jed comes up to him. Rafael reveals what triggered his curse, Jed tells him to kneel down, but reveals to be joking and Rafael joins them in the game.

In Malivore, Rafael is surprised when Lizzie attempts to make a deal with him. The deal was that she would vote for Landon to stay at the school council and in exchange, he would take her as his date to a party. He eventually accepted, but not before hesitantly looking at Josie, who was also in the room when Lizzie asked this of Rafael. Later, when Rafael angrily leaves the council on their own after voting 'no' to letting Landon stay at the school, he goes to the school's gym to try and blow off some steam. However, he finds Lizzie had the same idea, but she was crying on the gym floor when he finds her. Rafael attempts to excuse himself, but she stops him by apologizing that she had no idea Josie would vote 'no' to keeping Landon at the school. After Rafael says it's okay and attempts to leave the gym a second time, Rafael is surprised by her again when she desperately stops him and kisses him. Rafael hesitates to kiss her back, but they both ultimately give in after Lizzie states, "Don't think about it." They then sleep together in the gym.

In Mombie Dearest, Rafael prepares to dance with Lizzie by dancing with Hope but is trapped in the Gymnasium by Penelope. While trapped he reveals that he is only willing to be her date because he feels like he owes her and that he isn't ready for a relationship since he isn't over Cassie. When the barrier shuts down Rafael manages to get to dance with Lizzie but turns down her offer of a relationship. Rafael later meets up with Hope in the library and the two dance together.

In Death Keeps Knocking On My Door, he is surprised to see Cassie alive. He comforts her as she tries to comprehend what is happening as well and is then confronted by her asking why he was involved in her death. He comes back later in the room she is in and he gets angry as she talks about his anger and involvement in her death. After cooling off, he walks outside to talk to her again and admits that he did kill her and that he needs to work out his issues, and is somewhat relieved that she forgives him for what happened. He then leaves her when she asks to have some time to herself and later on at night, he talks to Alaric. He begins to cry about killing her and his regret of it, but he wants to become a better man after all the events that have happened.

In What Was Hope Doing In Your Dreams?, Rafael realizes that he has romantic feelings for Hope when he dreams about kissing her. When Hope kisses Landon, he looks away out of jealousy. In his nightmare orchestrated by the Night Hag, Hope appears again, and the Night Hag reveals that Rafael wants to be with Hope, and says that that makes him the biggest monster of all as he knows about Landon's feelings for Hope. At the end of the episode, Rafael tries to repress his feeling for Hope for Landon's sake and tells her that they can't be friends anymore.

In We're Gonna Need A Spotlight, he's talking to Landon when Hope shows up acting unusually happy and calling them both handsome, leaving Rafael looking at her. Then Josie and Lizzie also come up to them and Rafael asks about their trip, Hope leaves for class. Rafael comes up to Hope in the Healing with Magic class. She asks if she can cut him as he can heal faster and he acts nervous as she gets closer to apply the healing cream. He stares intently into her eyes. When Hope is done she hugs Rafael for being such a great friend and leaves to find Landon. He attends the talent show and recites a poem, revealing his feelings to Hope and his eyes glow green, indicating he's being controlled by a slug. After Emma does a spell to electrocute those who are being controlled to free them of the slugs, Rafael stomps on the slug that pops out of him. After this, he is confronted by Landon and he tells him that they are cool, and when Landon walks away, he has a worried and anxious look on him.

In The Boy Who Still Has a Lot of Good to Do, Rafael is missing from the werewolf transition space during the full moon. MG and Landon are also missing from campus. Hope and Alaric search the woods for them. Hope points out that since her locater spell didn't work they are either dead or cloaked. They find Rafael in his human form instead of a wolf. Emma diagnoses him in a state of lunar psychosis back at the school. His mind is trapped between his human and wolf form. Trauma caused him to change back to his human form.

In I'll Tell You a Story, in the hallway, Rafael saw Hope and his eyes turned into yellow until he heard the voice heads up and someone throws a ball at him. When Rafael asked how long he had been in the gym, Jed told him that he had been here almost an hour and asked if he was okay. Rafael replied with he didn't have to pretend to care just because he was the Alpha.

He later bumped into a vampire and the vampire started a fight. Alaric showed up but Rafael later pushed him into the wall. Roman and Jed later showed up thus the fight ended. Rafael apologized for his actions when the fight ended.

He was later seen with Jed. Jed came to him and told him that Jed doesn't really care about Rafael but only the pack. As he was already lost the pack while he was still their Alpha and Rafael shouldn't make the same mistake as he did and let his pride get in the way if he cares about them.

When he heard that his best friend Landon was in trouble he came into Hope's room and told her what he wants to come with as she couldn't go alone and the last time she went without him it was a disaster. Hope stated the fact that she wasn't going alone in the first place. She was taking the twins, MG and Kaleb with her and they would be back without Dr. Saltzman knowing they left. Though he insisted on coming along, Hope told him that Dr. Saltzman mentioned her about the side effects and that she couldn't let him come along. She asked him how he felt and he said like his brain split down the middle that he keeps having these flashes like he can't control himself. She asked him why not saying all of these sooner and he answered it that he couldn't and she knows why. He tells him that he doesn't want to feel this way, so he pushes it down, and that just makes the split in his brain worse, which makes it harder to hide. She tells him that he needs to put himself first for once gives him a ring that can let you turn at will but doesn't let you turn back at human form again. So if he wants to turn back he will have to find her. As Hope about to leave he tells her to save their boy and don't let anything stop her.

In There's Always a Loophole, in the hallway, his eyes can be seen turning yellow as Hope asks if he's okay he replies with that his mind still won't settle down and tells Hope that he can't join the fight.

In I'll Never Give Up Hope, Rafael is still stuck in wolf form, unable to turn back. Landon frequently visits him, feeding and talking to him about what is going on at the school. Landon promises to keep looking for a way to turn him back into his human form. Shortly after, Landon returns but is unable to find Rafael, which worries him. He enlists the help of Josie to cast a locator spell and track down Rafael, who is eventually revealed to have ran off and left Landon, which upsets him.
 * -|Season Two=

In You Remind Me of Someone I Used to Know,

Personality
Rafael is a dangerously charismatic and newly-triggered werewolf. With a combination of a pure and loyal heart mixed with a lifetime of abuse and anger, Rafael wants to be a good person but lives in a constant struggle with the emotional demons that have plagued him through a difficult childhood.

"Rafael is charismatic, loyal to a fault and values the truth above all else, no matter how hard the truth can be. His upbringing from unstable family followed by foster care has left him with some anger issues that he can't seem to shake. He was hoping the fact that him being supernatural would be the easy solution for his problems, but it's not. He believes that learning how to harness this inner monster at the school could solve all his problems and allow him to live life like the man he wants to be."

Physical Appearance
He is a young man with a tall stature and an athletic build. He wears dark or light-colored clothing while not wearing the standard boarding school attire. He has dark brown eyes and short, slightly curled black hair.

In his wolf form, Rafael possesses black fur and has the typical glowing yellow eyes that comes with lycanthropy.

Landon Kirby
It is unknown how long Rafael has been foster brothers with Landon, but they have grown close in friendship to that of actual brothers. Landon stood by Rafael's side when he first turned into a werewolf. Despite Landon going against his new school by taking a supernatural knife, Rafael still trusted, ran away with, and ran from the Salvatore Boarding School with Landon. They were on the run together and "lived off the land" as they described it jokingly. However, they returned to the school when their idea to scam money using Rafael's werewolf abilities attracted unwanted attention and Jeremy Gilbert ended up saving them. They are both currently living at the school and helping their new classmates with supernatural problems surrounding the supernatural knife Landon took when he first arrived at the boarding school. Rafael, however, is currently trapped within his werewolf form, and with Hope erased from the collective consciousness, and cannot return to his human form.

Hope Mikaelson
Hope is Rafael's close friend. Rafael first met Hope after she rescued him and Landon from a church, where he turns into a werewolf for the first time. They later bond when he goes with her to find Landon. Once they reach Landon's location, Rafael requests Hope to give him some time to talk to Landon, to which she agrees. While Hope is fighting the dragon, Landon and Rafael escape. Hope would later teach Rafael how to dance. Rafael comes to realize that he is romantically attracted towards Hope when he dreams about kissing her. When Hope kisses Landon, he looks away out of jealousy. In his nightmare orchestrated by the Dream Demon, Hope appears again, and the Dream Demon reveals that Rafael wants to be with Hope, and says that that makes him the biggest monster as he knows about Landon's feelings for Hope. At the end of the episode, Rafael tries to repress his feelings for Hope for Landon's sake and tells her that they couldn't be friends anymore. Despite his desire to stay away from Hope, Rafael helps her in the class when she needs an assistant. Hope hugs Rafael, thanking him for being the true friend she can count on. Rafael looks somewhat confused, but still hugs her back. Influenced by the slugs, he publicly acknowledges his feelings for Hope. Rafael is noticeably jealous of Hope every time he sees her with Landon, but he keeps his promise to himself and continues to try to suppress his feelings for her, which seems to progress with time. Landon notices it and makes Rafael confess. Rafael is not happy with what he had to tell, he swears to Landon that even if he has feelings for Hope, he will never act on their behalf because of respect for Landon. Hope shows great anxiety when she finds Rafael all alone and without his memories about his trip. Together they try to restore it, to understand what happened to Landon and MG. When they find out that MG accidentally killed Landon, they are both heartbroken. Being angry, Rafael is eager to take revenge on MG, but Hope stops him. He hugs her tightly, restraining his fervor. In an unsuccessful attempt to suppress his feelings for Hope, Raf even tries to avoid her for a while, but, having learned that she is going on a mission to save the missing Landon, he confronts her. Hope won't him to go with them because he is still very weak because of the potion they used on him. She asks why he did not tell her about his state of health before. Rafael confusedly replies that she knows why. He explains that he does not know how to act around her and that he does not want to have feelings for her, but because of problems with his mind, everything is only aggravated. Then Hope gives him a ring that will help him turn into a wolf at any time, but in order to become a human again, he will need to find her. They smile at each other when Rafael says that he is really glad that he knows her. Rafael uses the ring when Triad attacks the school, but remains unable to return to human form given that Hope sacrificed herself by jumping into Malivore.

Cassie
Cassie was Rafael's girlfriend and the love of his life. Rafael has stated multiple times that he still is in love with Cassie even though she is deceased. Rafael and Cassie's relationship ended when he crashed their car and accidentally killed Cassie, which triggered his werewolf curse. In Death Keeps Knocking On My Door, the Necromancer resurrects Cassie and she shares a heartfelt reunion with Rafael. Rafael and Alaric both help Cassie figure out what was going on and Rafael helps Cassie discover the supernatural world while she is still alive. Alaric suggests Rafael to find closure with Cassie being she could disappear into peace again at any moment. Although they get into an argument about her death Cassie later forgives Rafael, which helps him on his journey to find closure with her death, before she finds peace once again.

Josie Saltzman
As soon as Rafael met Josie, she and her twin sister, Lizzie, took an immediate liking to him. Rafael hesitantly let Josie and her sister give him a tour of the Salvatore Boarding School. Josie soon acknowledges that Lizzie can go for a romantic relationship with Rafael, but this still disappoints Josie being she took a liking to Rafael too. Rafael later met up with Josie at a school party (that wasn't allowed by staff) and they bond for a bit, which causes Josie to ponder for a bit after their conversation. Two episodes later, Josie rescues Rafael from a brutal werewolf fight in which he emotional excuses himself away from her afterwards. Soon after, Josie goes to look for Rafael, finds him in the nearly-burnt down house, and he yells at her in tears and in physical pain to leave him alone, but she doesn't. Josie then helps Rafael to calm down, in which he's grateful for afterwards and this bonds them even more. Shortly after this, they discover the unconscious body of a teen girl who was abducted by a life-sized spider-monster and they too become captured. Rafael tells Josie to magically rescue them, but she explains that she can't without a magical source. Impulsively, Josie kisses Rafael to siphon his werewolf magic, which he admits that he was completely fine with it. Their kiss enables Josie to receive the magic she needs to rescue them both. After their fight with the giant spider, Josie helps Rafael establish himself amongst the werewolf clique of the school.

While Josie is helping Lizzie in campaigning for the student council, Rafael feels awkward with Josie in the room when Lizzie asks Rafael to be her date to a party. Rafael glances at Josie, hesitating, before accepting Lizzie's date request. However, Rafael and Josie are later elected into the student council; Rafael is surprised about Josie being elected along with the rest of the voters. Later while voting to keep Landon at the school, Rafael desperately watches Josie when she finds the decision hard to make about whether or not she should vote to keep Landon at their school. Rafael begs Josie to vote 'yes,' but she gives her reasons to the council that Landon has put her family in danger and she voted 'no.' This angers and upsets Rafael and he claims that he is done with her and the rest of the members of the council before storming out of the meeting.

Lizzie Saltzman
""I sort of made a point in my life of keeping clear of girls like you.""

- - Rafael to Lizzie in This is the Part Where You Run.

Rafael first meets Lizzie along with her twin sister, Josie, when he first arrives at the Salvatore Boarding School. Lizzie enthusiastically gives him a tour of the school, with Josie. Lizzie almost immediately admits she has a crush on Rafael. She attempts to flirt and bond with him at a school sports game, but he immediately turns her down, which shocks and angers Lizzie. Despite Rafael wanting little to nothing to do with Lizzie, she still makes it clear that she wants him and even calls "dibs" on him when Josie asks about Rafael. In Mombie Dearest, Lizzie tells Josie that she slept with Rafael in the episode prior and Rafael and Lizzie are each other's dates to Lizzie's birthday party. However, Rafael is late to the party and admits to Lizzie, while dancing, that sleeping with her was a mistake, which he knows upset her.

Other Relationshps

 * Rafael and Alaric (Teacher/Student/Allies)
 * Rafael and Brianna (Friends/Allies)
 * Rafael and Jed (Alpha-Subordinate/Ex-Friends/Classmates/Former Enemies)
 * Rafael and Jeremy (Former Allies)
 * Rafael and Julius (Friends/Allies)

Powers and Abilities
Rafael possesses all the standard powers and abilities of a non-evolved werewolf.

Weaknesses
Rafael has the typical weaknesses of a non-evolved werewolf.

Name

 * Rafael is a name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is Healer" or "God has Healed".
 * Waithe is an English habitational name from a place named with Old Norse vað 'ford'.

Trivia

 * He is the first werewolf in Legacies to appear.
 * In This is the Part Where You Run, Landon reveals that Rafael isn't Catholic.
 * It's revealed in This Christmas Was Surprisingly Violent that Rafael was born in October.