< The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries/Characters


Television Series

Main Characters

Elena Gilbert


"I don't question why everyone tries so hard to save me. You shouldn't question why I try so hard to save everyone else."
Portrayed by Nina Dobrev.

A pretty and popular girl who reassessed her priorities following the death of her parents in a car crash of which she was the only survivor. She starts dating a new arrival in town, Stefan Salvatore, only to discover after a series of eerie incidents that he is far from normal... Unbeknown to her, she is far from normal as well. As a Gilbert, she is a descendant of one of the town's Founding Families. She dies in "The Departed" before it was revealed that Meredith had given her vampire blood earlier in the night and she wakes in the transitional stage.

Stefan Salvatore


"I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother."
Portrayed by Paul Wesley

A hundred-and-sixtysomething vampire, Stefan is a Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire who avoids drinking human blood, choosing to feed from animals instead. As a result, he is weaker than most other vampires - in particular, his elder brother Damon, who bears a grudge against Stefan. Early in the series, Stefan meets and begins to develop feelings for Elena, and decides to pursue a relationship with her while protecting her both from his own nature and other vampires. As of the season 2 finale he is on a killing spree with The Big Bad Klaus.

"Hurt her again and you're dead."

Caroline: Why are you looking at him with your serious vampire look?
Stefan: My wha… my serious vampire look?
Caroline: Umhm… I mean it’s different from your worried vampire look. Neither of which stray too far from your "Hey, it’s Tuesday" look.

Damon Salvatore

"It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud."
Portrayed by Ian Somerhalder.

Stefan's older brother, and most certainly not a Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire. He long ago swore to make Stefan's life "an eternity of misery". At first, he kills a lot of people in Mystic Falls, but later moderates his behaviour for a number of reasons - though he remains dangerous. When he wants to, Damon can be charming and hilarious... but also cruel and capricious, and capable of killing on a whim. For the first season, Damon was the series's Antagonist, but has reverted his status to help Stefan and protect Elena.

  • All Love Is Unrequited: Damon is the epitome of this trope. He loves Elena, she doesn't love him back. He loves Katherine, who also doesn't love him back, but instead loves Stefan. Who is in love with Elena.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: To Elena at the Originals' Ball
  • Anti-Hero: Swings around between Type III and Type V.
  • Badass
  • Berserk Button: Elena, in every single way. Hurting Stefan is also not a good idea.
  • Big Brother Instinct: He may enjoy screwing with Stefan, but he's the only one allowed to do so, as the tomb vampires painfully learn.
  • Black Sheep
  • Blue and Orange Morality: At times he genuinely doesn't seem to comprehend that Elena might be upset because he murdered someone she didn't even know. Even when he attempts to kill Jeremy, he seems to class it as bad because it made Elena upset, not because he thought it was morally wrong.
  • Character Development
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Depending on the Writer: Is Damon a guy who's had a really tough life and just happens to be humanity's natural predator, is he a Complete Monster who only presents a soft side to manipulate people, or are vampires so unlike humans that it's impossible to determine his motivations? It can vary from episode to episode.
  • Forgot About His Powers: His abilities to extent his influence and senses via a tame raven and making a fog appear to confuse his victims, seems to have been written completely out of the show. While Damon himself kills the raven out of a desperate need of blood, the fog thing is just sort of forgotten, and is never brought up again
  • Fully-Embraced Fiend
  • Heartbroken Badass
  • Heel Face Turn
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Both subverted and played straight, due to the vampire conversion process being... somewhat complex. Damon loves Katherine dearly, but hates Stefan; he had chosen to die instead of completing the conversion, but Stefan talked him out of it, thus creating the monster we know today. It's only been touched on briefly, but all signs are that Damon deeply resents the whole affair.
    • Now that Katherine's back and proclaiming that Damon was only a byproduct of her obsession with Stefan, played pretty much entirely straight.
  • Jerkass Facade
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold
  • Karma Houdini: Has as of yet suffered no consequences for killing Lexi, raping Caroline, snapping Jeremy's neck, trying to kill Caroline, forcing his blood on Elena, and countless other crimes.
  • Ladykiller in Love: With Elena.
  • Love Hurts
  • Love Makes You Evil: His love for Katherine...
  • Love Redeems: ... And his love for Elena.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Enjoys wearing low neck shirts and walking around shirtless.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: A bad case. The number of their current, potential, and former allies that Damon has killed or tried to kill for very little reason is quite staggering, and greatly exceeds the number of definite enemies he's killed.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Damon loves to unnerve people by getting in their face.
  • Red Oni: to Stefan's Blue.
  • Romantic Runner-Up: Twice, towards Katherine and Elena, both times to Stefan.
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky: Oh so much.
  • Token Evil Teammate
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With both Alaric Saltzman and his brother, Stefan. Both are Type 2.

Bonnie Bennett

"You saw what I was able to do tonight. I know who I am now. If Damon spills one drop of human blood, I'll take him down."
Portrayed by Kat Graham.

Elena's best friend, Bonnie begins the series haunted by strange visions. She soon discovers that she is a witch, like her grandmother before her - but finds herself torn between her loyalty to Elena and her desire to protect the town from the vampires.

Jeremy Gilbert

"Why does everyone keep dying on me?"
Portrayed by Steven R. McQueen.

Elena's little brother took their parents' death poorly, falling into self-destruction and drug abuse. He also fell in love with the troubled and older Girl Next Door, Vicki Donovan. But he's far from stupid, and Elena's desperate attempts to protect him from the vampires only serve to make him suspicious and start to distrust her.


Caroline Forbes

"So you're saying now I'm an insecure, neurotic control freak... on crack?"
Portrayed by Candice Accola.

Elena and Bonnie's other friend (and uncomfortably aware of this), Caroline is a similarly rich and privileged young woman. She is a descendant of the founding families through her mother, Sheriff Liz Forbes, but the importance of her mother's job means that Caroline often feels neglected, leading to a troubled relationship between the two of them. Desperately insecure and somewhat resentful of existing in Elena's shadow, things get even worse for Caroline when the attractive older man who catches her eye turns out to be Damon Salvatore, who uses her as a minion/sex-toy/blood-bank. After she is freed from his control, she starts dating Elena's ex, Matt - which isn't especially good for her inferiority complex.

In the second season, she is turned into a vampire by Katherine, and actually manages to settle from comfortably into this life despite the difficulties.

Matt Donovan

"I get it, this is your life now. But you know what my life is, Caroline? My life is an absentee mom, and a bunch of bills to pay, and school, and a job, and it sucks sometimes, but it's my life and I think that I just want to live it without all this."
Portrayed by Zach Roerig.

Elena's childhood friend and ex, Matt was willing to give Elena space after the death of her parents, hoping that the two might eventually get back together. Naturally, he was somewhat upset when Elena then fell for Stefan... but was able work past it, befriending his 'love rival' and eventually beginning a new relationship with Caroline.

Perhaps the reason for his mature outlook is that he had to grow up fast - unlike most of the other characters, Matt isn't the descendant of an ancient family, but from the wrong side of the tracks; from an early age, he had to look after his irresponsible alcoholic mother and stoner big sister.

Tyler Lockwood

"I have no one else to tell. I’m sorry about earlier. It’s just, I’m alone with this. What’s gonna happen to me? I’m gonna turn on the next full moon, and I won’t be able to stop it. I’m scared."
Portrayed by Michael Trevino.

Matt's best friend, though the two couldn't be more different - Tyler seems to be nothing more than a Jerk Jock, and the son of the town's Mayor. But his parents are very unpleasant people... and Tyler has actually inherited more from his father than just womanizing ways and a hair-trigger temper...

The Lockwood bloodline are actually potential werewolves, and following Katherine's plan in the second season Tyler becomes a full werewolf himself.

Jenna Sommers

"I've become my worst nightmare. The authority figure."
Portrayed by Sara Canning.

In a better world, Jenna could have been an awesome aunt to Elena and Jeremy. With the tragic death of her sister and brother-in-law, however, she's had to step up into the role of guardian for the two of them, for which she is rather less suited. Still, she tries... and at least she has a nice love interest now in the form of Alaric, following the second mysterious disappearance of Logan "Scum" Fell. She was turned into a vampire and then sacrificed by Klaus.

  • Adults Are Useless: Made very, very clear in the first season finale.
  • Cool Big Sis: Fills this role much better than the one of "responsible parent".
  • Kick the Dog: Found out she was the last person to know about the vampires, was turned into one, and then staked by Klaus in order to complete his ritual.
  • Killed Off for Real: While attempting to throw a wrench into Klaus' plans.
  • Older Than They Look: If she looks just a year older than her niece... that's because in real life, she is.
  • Out of Focus: Is quickly demoted to a Plot Device for inviting vampires into the Gilbert house or getting compelled by them.
  • Promotion to Parent: After her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car crash, she becomes Elena and Jeremy's legal guardian.

Alaric Saltzman

"I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions."
Portrayed by Matt Davis.

The replacement history teacher after Mr Tanner was killed by a mountain lion, Alaric is much friendlier. But he's not without secrets - he came to Mystic Falls to hunt vampires, in particular the one that killed his wife. He finds rather more than he planned to... but settles into working with the heroes to protect the town from supernatural threats.

  • Actually Not a Vampire: In his first few episodes there are hints dropped that he is a vampire.
  • Ax Crazy: His alter ego.
  • Badass Normal: History teacher by day, vampire hunter by night.
  • Came Back Wrong: Developed a psycho killer alter-ego because of this.
  • Cool Teacher
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: His ring protects him from being killed supernaturals. Damon once killed him solely for this purpose
  • Grand Theft Me: Ends up on the receiving end of this.
  • Love Hurts
  • Parental Substitute: Looks to become this to Elena and Jeremy after Jenna's death.
  • Red Herring: When he is first introduced, there are many exceedingly obvious hints that he is a vampire, who has been behind the recent murders. His true identity as a vampire hunter is revealed when he kills the vampire that was actually behind them.
  • Took a Level In Badass: Pre-series, after losing his wife.
  • Serial Killer: During his blackouts.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 2 with Damon Salvatore. Damon may have killed him and turned his wife into a Vampire, but they have this weird friendship going on that even the writers love, and which they have named "Team Badass".
  • You Killed My Wife

Klaus Mikaelson

"Love is a vampire’s greatest weakness and we are not weak. We do not feel and we do not care."
Portrayed by Joseph Morgan/Matt Davis (when he was possessing Alaric)/ Michael Trevino also via possession

A hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Lord Niklaus (known pretty much universally as Klaus) is the main antagonist from Season Two onward. He's responsible for numerous character deaths and his manipulations stretch back all the way to Season One, before he made an onscreen appearance or was even mentioned.

put in the next episode he's back up again, though in a new body
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old
  • Villainous Breakdown: Had a small one in "The Hybrid" when he failed to make new hybrids for his army, then another in "Bring Out the Dead" when his siblings threatened to leave him forever alone and unloved, then again in "Do Not Go Gentle" when he ranted at Esther's corpse that she would never destroy him.

Vicki Donovan

"Don`t start with the little twelve-steps thing. School councilor has been down that road, it doesn`t work for me."
Portrayed by Kayla Ewell.

Matt’s older sister and Jeremy’s first girlfriend, Vicki is a compulsive drug user who gets high to avoid her crappy life. She is turned by Damon on a whim.


The Originals

Elijah Mikaelson

"Young vampires — so arrogant. How dare you come in here and challenge me?"
Portrayed by Daniel Gillies.

An Original vampire, Elijah is the most sophisticated member of his family. He alternately works for Klaus and against him throughout the series. He was once in love with Katherine and tried to save her from his brother but she betrayed him. He has developed a fondness for Elena as well.

"I'm a little behind the times but I believe the term you're looking for is 'OMG'."

Rebekah Mikaelson

"If you come after my brother, I will rip you apart."
Portrayed by Claire Holt.

An Original vampire, Rebekah is the only daughter of the Original family. She had a romance with Stefan in the 1920s. Klaus staked her when she chose Stefan over him. She was unstaked by Klaus in an effort to find out why his hybrids were failing. Her cruel nature masks her emotional insecurity.

Mikael

"I can kill Klaus and I will." he doesn't

Portrayed by Sebastian Roché.

Esther Mikaelson

"I love my family, Elena. But they are an abomination."
Portrayed by Alice Evans/ Claire Holt.

  • Big Bad: Could share this with Klaus but she have been more of a threat in recent episodes than Klaus.
  • Hot Mom
  • Knight Templar Parent: Wanted so badly to protect her children that she turned them into vampires, a plan which required killing them.
  • Mama Bear
  • The Stoic
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Has come to believe that she made a mistake turning her children into "monsters" and unleashing vampires upon the world. Hatches a plan to kill them all, for the greater good.

Kol Mikaelson

" Again with the dagger threats, don't you have any other tricks? "
Portrayed by Nathaniel Buzolic

Finn Mikaelson

" I will be ready to die."
Portrayed by Caspar Zafer


Salvatore Family

Giuseppe Salvatore

These creatures are of the darkest parts of hell, they have the ability to control your mind, seduce your spirit. They are deadly. They must be destroyed!
Portrayed by James Remar.

Zach Salvatore

Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires.

Portrayed by Chris William Martin

Forbes Family

Sheriff Elizabeth 'Liz' Forbes

I`m not going to let people get caught in the crossfire of a pissing contest between a hybrid and a vampire.
Portrayed by Marguerite MacIntyre.

Bill Forbes

You're a vampire, sweetheart. I don't think you'll ever be okay again.
Portrayed by Jack Coleman.

Lockwood Family

Mayor Richard Lockwood

Portrayed by Robert Pralgo.

Carol Lockwood

"You know, if you`re going to bring a girl home I wish she`d have the tact not to sneak out like a prostitute."
Portrayed by Susan Walters.

Mason Lockwood

"Oh, what am I? I apologize. I’m an animal."
Portrayed by Taylor Kinney.

Tyler: Your eyes, they glowed... what was that?
Mason: Reflection. Off car headlamps.

Martin Family

Jonas Martin

Portrayed by Randy J. Goodwin.

Luka Martin

Portrayed by Bryton James.

Greta Martin

Portrayed by Lisa Tucker.

Other Vampires

Logan Fell

Portrayed by Chris Johnson.


Katherine Pierce / Katerina Petrova

I will always look out for myself. If you're smart, you'll do the same.
Portrayed by Nina Dobrev.

  • Acting for Two
  • Ax Crazy: Subverted. It may seem so in the beginning, but flashbacks and interaction with other characters make it perfectly clear that Katherine is very much sane, just really obsessed with saving her skin from Klaus.
  • Badass
  • Bait And Switch Big Bad: After a season of build-up around her, her appearance right at the end of season one where she stabs John Gilbert (the previous seasons BigBad) in the gut seems to be setting her up as season two's Big Bad. However, it transpires that she is in fact only running away from the real Big Bad, Klaus.
  • Catch Phrase: Although she doesn't use it that often, "better you than I" has been coming up a lot.
  • The Chessmaster
  • Doomed Hometown: After she escaped the Originals, they got their revenge by murdering her entire family.
  • Evil Counterpart: to Elena.
  • Evil Tastes Good
  • Faux Affably Evil
  • Femme Fatale
  • I Love You, Vampire Son: To Stefan.
  • Manipulative Bitch
  • Of Corsets Sexy: In the flashbacks.
  • Pet the Dog: Has a few of these moments, such as mourning Stefan's death in a flashback, or bringing Damon his cure in the season finale.
  • Start of Darkness: Episode 2x09, "Katerina".
  • The Vamp
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In 2x09, "Katerine" we find out that she gave birth out of wedlock; wasn't even allowed to hold the baby before it is given away; and then she gets sent away to England ( keep in mind that she most likely was all alone when she first came); then she meets and falls for Klaus, and has feelings for/trusts Elijah, only to find out that they both wanted to kill her; and then she tries to kill herself in order to stay away from Klaus, only to have vampire blood forced into her system; then she uses that to kill herself and become a vampire; and when she returns home, her entire family, along with anyone else that she loved, and most likely, the whole village is dead, killed by Klaus. Wow.
  • Yandere: For Stefan oh so much,she even stalks him (as seen in "The End of The Affair").


Alexia ‘Lexi’ Branson

"Because when you can hurt, you can love... Love, Stefan, that's the point..."
Portrayed by Arielle Kebbel.

Anna

"Dracula was a complete wuss. Never showered. Very smelly."
Portrayed by Malese Jow.

Isobel Flemming-Saltzman

"I'm so sorry, Elena. I was such a disappointment to you."
Portrayed by Mia Kirshner.


Pearl

"Mystic Falls is our home, Damon! They took that from us, our land, our home. It's time we rebuild!"
Portrayed by Kelly Hu.


Rose

" I can never forget it, what it's like to be human. It haunts me. It's the only thing that’s kept me going."
Portrayed by Lauren Cohan.

Sage

"A woman isn’t just for food. She’s for pleasure.
Portrayed by Cassidy Freeman.

Other Recurring Characters

John Gilbert

"You know, Jeremy, I was taught to hate them, the vampires. It’s what I know. It’s what your father knew."
Portrayed by David Anders.

Maddox

Portrayed by Gino Anthony Pesi.


Dr. Meredith Fell

Portrayed by Torrey DeVitto.


Abby Bennet

Portrayed by Persia White


Book Characters

Book Series

Meredith Sulez

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