The show tries to point out, at least to me, that while Marcel is trying to be a better person than Klaus and is a better man he is still Klaus’s son and acts like him from time to time. Klaus more often than not says he saw himself in Marcel.

In the first season we see Marcel distrubt peace talks because he is not king, we know he let his ambitions come before Davina and even Rebekah, then we also know he killed witches for doing magic. Honestly protecting Davina with all that is no different from anything Klaus has or would do. We also know he cursed werewolves to be human only 12 nights out of the freakin year for the actions of one pack.

Now from season two onward we see Marcel develop into a far more moral and just leader. By the 4th season he is truly worthy of the title of king. Yet even he is aware of what he’s capable of, with Vincent saying he predicts Marcel could easily be just as bad as Klaus a season before.

I get we all love Marcel and he’s one of the most developed characters in the universe, but I honestly don’t get why people seem to hold him up like he’s the Jesus of vampires even from the 1st season. That title either belongs to Caroline or Kaleb if we’re being real.