It is a serious question. I know you don't like the baby storyline and I just don't see why? To me, it's quite in character for Klaus to want unconditional love from someone and I think he believes Hope will be it for him. It's really amazing to see how much he loves her and wants to protect her at all costs. It shows that he is capable of selflessness and I just think that's really nice and it's refreshing that they're not redeeming him through a love interest.

Hmmm, okay. Well obviously you’re asking me about something you know I strongly dislike (which is REALLY putting it mildly) and frankly I’m not feeling that great right now so forgive me for being abrupt in my response, but you’re asking so I’m telling. Quite honestly I find absolutely nothing remotely redeeming about this absurdly, embarrassingly infantile plot device that the writers have used to literally avoid doing any actual writing at all. Every step in the show that should be explained through plot development and character development is instead explained away by the baby even though it makes no sense whatsoever, and the epic baby drama has given the show such singular dimension that I personally find it borderline unbearable to watch. It’s idiotic beyond my comprehension and on every critical level I can possibly imagine, and I’m sincerely embarrassed to watch what should have been an amazing show dragged down by such an absurdly off putting and juvenile plot device. 

However, when it comes to Klaus I find it to be exceptionally absurd. The baby has basically been used to replace every single shred of nuance and complexity that Klaus had as a character and has forced him into a ridiculous “redemption arc” that makes no sense within the TVD universe and especially makes no sense in relation to Klaus Mikaelson. The notion of redemption when applied to this survival-of-the-fittest universe that TVD exists in and that Klaus is the most potent example of simply doesn’t make sense. It’s frankly just a bad ripoff of Angel, and it’s something that the writers are using as an excuse to avoid actually telling Klaus’ story thoughtfully and complexly. Aside from it being a shitty plot device for Klaus the writers don’t even use it logically, they don’t consider Klaus’ characterization and how the baby might influence that and use that knowledge to drive Klaus’ story, they simply have Klaus do whatever they want him to do no matter how illogical and brush away the lack of logic by saying “it’s for the baby!” 

And if the entire notion of Hope as Klaus’ redemption wasn’t stupid enough, the writers actually have managed to already completely undermine it in the TO narrative. Klaus HAS ALREADY RAISED A CHILD, Marcel. Klaus raised Marcel and it hardly changed him at all as a person, he simply just raised a child in his own image, someone who was every bit as conniving, manipulative, and thirsty for power as he was. AND THAT’S WHAT MAKES SENSE FOR KLAUS. KLAUS DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO LOVE SELFLESSLY, every love he’s ever experienced has been selfish and manipulative in some way, that’s who he is as a character and the simple existence of a baby isn’t going to change that, ESPECIALLY WHEN WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN KLAUS ACTUALLY RAISE A CHILD BEFORE AND IT DID NOTHING. Klaus had more real fatherly experience with Marcel than he’s ever had with Hope, and it’s just absolute dog shit writing to say that the mere knowledge of a pregnancy would dramatically change Klaus overnight when every other deep and meaningful relationship he’s ever had hasn’t. 

So, the tl;dr version of this is basically that I hate the baby and what it does to Klaus because it’s the cheapest, dumbest, most nonsensical plot device to ever introduce into a story line as complex as the past and future of the Mikaelson family, and it’s being used in the cheapest, dumbest, and most nonsensical way possible. The writers are using it as a blanket excuse for absolutely everything in TO and it’s drowning the show in it’s own cutesy idiocy. To say that I dislike the baby or Klope is not how I’d describe it, I hate it on a level that I really can’t describe, I get so much second hand embarrassment from it I can’t even stand it, and I feel like just the knowledge of it’s existence is actually making me a dumber human being. It’s one of the worst plot devices I’ve ever seen on every intellectual and critical level I can think of, and I think the only sane solution to this embarrassment the writers like to call a story line is to get rid of Hope and entirely reboot the series.