'Legacies' Season 2: Who could the mystery red-hooded figure from the final moments of the premiere be?

In the last few moments of the season 2 premiere of 'Legacies', Clarke is pulled out of Malivore and we see a mysterious figure lighting up the Malivore symbol in the Mystic Falls Cemetary

Season 2 of 'Legacies' premiered on Thursday, October 10th, and the episode upped the stakes for Hope Mikaelson and the rest of Salvatore School. While Hope manages to make it out of the Malivore pit -- she may not have killed the thing, but she is toxic to it -- she comes back to a world that does not remember her or knew that she even existed. Amidst some heartbreaking moments between Hope and fake-Landon, we also got to see Clarke finding a way out after begging his "father" to stop torturing him, promising him in return that he would destroy Hope Mikaleson, the only thing that could destroy Malivore.

But did Malivore give Clarke a way out or was that courtesy of the mysterious red-hooded figure we saw in the closing moments of the episode? We see the hooded figure walking into Mystic Falls Cemetary (very Voldemort-like) and lighting up the Malivore symbol. While some are speculating that this hooded figure could be Malivore itself, most disagree. The most common theory everyone seems to agree on is that this figure is probably the ancient witch that helped create Malivore in the first place. We don't know much about this ancient witch so it might be hard to confirm this theory.

Alexis Denisof as Professor Vardemus on Season 2 of 'Legacies' (The CW)

However, the Salvatore School is getting a new Headmaster after Alaric was kicked out after what happened in the season 1 finale. The new Headmaster will be a character named Vardemus, played by Alexis Denisof whose credits include 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina', 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', and 'Grimm'. Vardemus has been described as “urbane British sorcerer” who is a "bit of a dandy". He will be winning over the students at the school "with his steadfast belief in the superiority of their supernatural world". 

Fans are jumping on the theory that Vardemus could, in fact, be the mysterious red-hooded figure. One thing we are not sure of yet is whether this mysterious figure is working with Malivore or against it. With Malivore more determined than ever to come back, this figure could be playing the long game in order to destroy it. We don't know much about Vardemus's history either and his dandiness might be a cover for something much more sinister. We can expect to know more by the midseason finale about the figure, Vardemus, and how Clarke fits into all of this.

'Legacies' airs on The CW on Thursday nights.

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