List of The Vampire Diaries characters


The Vampire Diaries is an American fantasy-drama television series which was first broadcast on The CW from 2009 to 2017, airing 171 episodes over 8 seasons. Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec adapted the TV series from L.J. Smith's novel series of the same name. Some of the characters appeared in the spin-off series, The Originals and Legacies.

Main cast

The following is a list of series regulars who have appeared in one or more of the series' eight seasons. The characters are listed in the order they were first credited in the series.
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Elena Gilbert

  • Played by Nina Dobrev
  • Starring seasons: 1–6
  • Voice only role season: 7
  • Guest starring season: 8

    Katherine Pierce

  • Played by Nina Dobrev
  • Starring seasons: 2-5
  • Recurring seasons: 1
  • Guest starring season: 8
Katherine Pierce is the main antagonist of the series, being a major antagonist in the first, second, fourth, fifth and eighth seasons of the show and a minor antagonist/anti-hero in the third season. She is the ancestor and doppelgänger of Elena Gilbert and the doppelgänger of Tatia and Amara. Katherine Pierce, born as Katerina Petrova on June 5, 1473, to a Bulgarian family but was disowned after having a child out of wedlock. She fled Bulgaria and reached England, where she met Klaus Mikaelson and his brother Elijah, members of the Original Vampire Family. She was attracted to Elijah but was horrified when she found out that Klaus planned to sacrifice her for a ritual. So, she charmed Trevor, a young man, and used him as a means of escape. This led to him sending her to Rose-Marie. Rose was shocked after hearing Trevor's betrayal and afraid of Klaus, told Katerina that she would turn her over to Klaus. This led to Katerina committing suicide, ultimately stabbing herself, forcing Rose to heal her with vampire blood. When Trevor arrived and Rose got distracted while talking to him, Katerina seized the opportunity and hung herself, successfully turning into a vampire by feeding on the human host of the house. Thereby sabotaging Klaus' plan because she was no longer human and her blood no longer was a viable component of the ritual to undo the curse. She then flees the place after taking a moonstone with her. Klaus was so infuriated with Katerina's sabotage that she was forced to live on the run for over 500 years as he hunted her down. In 1864, she arrived at Mystic Falls. Stayed with The Salvatore's gaining their trust. Eventually she lured both the Salvatore Brothers, played and used both them before feeding them her blood. Throughout the seasons she claims that she loved Stefan Salvatore.
In season 4, Elena Gilbert forces the cure down Katherine's throat in act of revenge, and Katherine becomes human again. Katherine’s long lost daughter, Nadia Petrova finds Katherine after 500 years of searching for her. Katherine pushes her away at first. However, in season 5, after the Cure is removed from her system by Silas, Katherine begins to rapidly age and find out that she'll die soon. Katherine's daughter Nadia reminds her that she is the daughter of a Traveler. Katherine possesses the untapped powers and uses them to become a Passenger in Elena’s body, causing her to not have to age any longer as her body has already been buried. Katherine makes amends with Nadia on her death bed, after being bitten by the hybrid Tyler Lockwood. After being caught, Stefan kills Katherine with the Travelers' Knife, expelling Katherine from Elena's body. Rather than going to the Other Side, Katherine's soul is dragged into Hell, but not before she injects Elena's body with a compound to make her go crazy in a final effort to get revenge upon her. However, her plan is foiled when Stefan and Caroline manage to get a cure with the help of Enzo and the Travelers.
In season 8, Katherine is resurrected from Hell when the Maxwell Bell is rung 11 times by Matt Donovan. After Cade's death, Kai Parker reveals that Katherine has become the new Queen of Hell while Katherine herself reveals to Stefan and Damon that she has spent the years since her death manipulating Cade, causing his interest in them. Much like Cade, she is now only vulnerable to a dagger made out of her own bones, but it can only send her back to Hell, not permanently kill Katherine. With Vicki Donovan ringing the bell 12 times to destroy Mystic Falls with hellfire, the gang comes up with a plan to redirect the hellfire back into Hell and destroy it for good. As the hellfire is unleashed, Stefan sacrifices himself to kill Katherine a final time, sending her soul back to Hell where it is destroyed along with the realm by the hellfire that is redirected by Bonnie, bringing a final end to Katherine Pierce.
Notably Katherine and Elena are distinguished by the hair styling, Elena usually opts for straight hair in comparison to Katherine's waves.

Stefan Salvatore

Stefan Salvatore is the younger brother of Damon Salvatore, and the two were best friends in life. However, this changed when the brothers fell in love with Katherine Pierce. Once Stefan discovered Katherine was a vampire, Stefan was both scared and repulsed by Katherine and vampirism in general. Katherine, however, compelled Stefan to not be afraid of her, to keep her secret, and to drink her vampire blood against his will. Born and raised in Mystic Falls to Giuseppe Salvatore and Lily Salvatore, he died when he was young with Katherine's blood on his system and later shot by his own father, thus turning into a vampire one hundred and forty-five years prior to the beginning of the main storyline.

Silas

  • Played by several cast members as illusions, true form played by Paul Wesley
  • Starring season: 5
  • Recurring season: 4
Silas is an ancient immortal Traveler witch and one of the world's first immortal beings. Unlike vampires, he is a true immortal alongside his love Amara. However, he was desiccated in ancient times and trapped on an island and sought to get free and find Amara. The true goal of the Brotherhood of the Five is to find Silas and bring a final end to him. Due to Nature's rules, over the millennia, a series of doppelgangers were created, born looking exactly identical to Silas and Amara and dying in their place. Stefan Salvatore is one of Silas' doppelgangers while Amara's include Katherine Pierce and Elena Gilbert.
In season four, Silas manipulates Professor Atticus Shane who visited Silas' resting place while grieving for his lost wife. Through Shane, Silas sets the stage for his return, including setting up several massacres so that Silas can create an Expression Triangle and bring down the Veil between life and the Other Side. After Jeremy Gilbert becomes one of the Brotherhood of the Five, he is able to complete his Hunter's Mark leading to Silas by killing Kol Mikaelson and thus all of the vampires in his bloodline. The group successfully finds Silas and the Cure to vampirism that he holds, but Katherine feeds Silas Jeremy's blood to fully revive him and Silas kills Jeremy. Taking on the form of Shane, who had actually died on the island, Silas manipulates Bonnie into doing his bidding by preying on her grief over the death of Jeremy. Silas' powers prove to be so great that not even Klaus Mikaelson, the Original Hybrid, is a match for him. Ultimately, Bonnie drops the Veil for Silas, but she uses dark magic to turn him to stone and Stefan attempts to drop Silas into a quarry after Bonnie raises the Veil once again. However, Bonnie dies in the process of resurrecting Jeremy, breaking her spell on Silas. Taking on the form of Elena, Silas explains to Stefan about the true nature of doppelgangers before turning into his true form, an exact likeness of Stefan and throwing Stefan into the quarry instead.
In season five, Silas poses as Stefan for months, killing Mayor Rudy Hopkins and seeking the Cure so that he can die and be at Peace with Amara. After discovering the truth, the Mystic Falls gang work to stop him, joined by the first witch Qetsiyah who had managed to resurrect herself while the Veil was down so that she could stop Silas in person. By drinking the blood of Katherine Pierce, who had taken the Cure, Silas is rendered mortal, but he still retains his immense other powers. Silas discovers that Amara is actually not dead, her death having been staged by Qetsiyah and transformed into the Anchor for the other side as a punishment. During Silas and Amara's reunion, she drinks Silas' blood in order to become mortal herself. After a struggle, Stefan manages to throw a knife into Silas' chest, killing him. Amara kills herself shortly thereafter, but not before Qetsiyah manages to transfer the Anchor to Bonnie, resurrecting her. Following his death, Silas is presumed to have reached Peace as he had desired.
In the season five finale, it's revealed that Silas had become stuck on the Other Side rather than reaching Peace. After searching for a Traveler who can teach them a resurrection spell, Enzo brings what at first appears to be Stefan to Bonnie, but it turns out to be Silas instead. Silas, who intends to be resurrected along with all of the fallen loved ones of the Mystic Falls gang, teaches Bonnie the Travelers' resurrection spell which she in turn passes on to Liv Parker. As he teaches Bonnie the spell, Silas gloats that he intends to resume his rampage and "kill a lot of people in an epic, all-inclusive way once I'm out of here." As the Other Side collapses, the souls trapped there start getting sucked into oblivion, including Silas. Bonnie initially reaches out to help Silas, before letting him go in revenge for his murder of her father. Silas is sucked into oblivion, bringing a final end to him.

Damon Salvatore

Damon Salvatore is a vampire, turned by Katherine Pierce one hundred and forty-five years prior to the beginning of the main storyline. He is the son of the late Giuseppe Salvatore & Lily Salvatore and the older brother of Stefan Salvatore. He is also turned with Katherine's blood on his system and later shot by his own father along with Stefan. He is portrayed as a charming, handsome and snide person who loves tricking humans, and takes pleasure in feeding on them and killing them during the early episodes of the first season. His character is developed drastically during the course of the show, he becomes more compassionate after falling in love with Elena Gilbert.