Over the eight years that The Vampire Diaries
was on television, the show underwent a lot of changes. TVD is easily one of the most popular shows to come out of the CW during the height of the channel’s popularity. From 2009 to 2017, fans of the show were enthralled by Damon and Stefan Salvatore as the vampiric brothers found themselves struggling with each other, other supernatural creatures and their peers in Mystic Falls.
However, while the show started life as a series where a love triangle puts two brothers at odds, the series turned into something very different by the time the show entered its final season. Not only did the core cast have some big shifts, but the stories, the tone of the show, and the supernatural lore all underwent a significant shift from the start of TVDuntil the end. And despite the changes, it still worked in the world of TVD and Mystic Falls.
10
The Vampire Diaries became darker, broodier and more violent
Yes, the show kicks off with a young couple being murdered as they stop in the middle of a quiet dark road, but the scene is largely suggestive and avoids showing the couples dead. As the show progressed, the subtlety surrounding the vampires’ killings also faded away. In later seasons, there are brutal scenes where people are literally ripped apart, and TVD really leans into that darker tone in later seasons.
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In fact, throughout the last season, the show sweeps between a dystopian future where death and destruction run rampant, and the bleak present, where Mystic Falls is a ghost town run by heretics. The show doesn’t hold back in showing the hopeless state of Mystic Falls, the brutality of vampires like the Heretics Coven, and the potentially imminent deaths of some fan favorite characters.
9
TVD focused more on the supernatural
It felt like a natural progression for the series, as it quickly moved beyond the show’s central figures, the Salvatore brothers, and spent time building the supernatural world. Witches were introduced early, but before long, werewolves, hybrids, the originals, and many other fringe supernatural figures joined the party. The transition from a story about a young girl in high school and her romance with a vampire then became a show that explored many corners of mythology and lore.
About halfway through the series, every character the show focuses on is supernatural in some way. Whether they are vampires, doppelgängers, hunters, witches or hybrids, the show left behind the somewhat grounded story it started with and adopted a more mystical approach. Again, this felt like a natural progression, because those closest to the Salvatore could not escape from the supernatural, and it took His number.
8
Damon became the softer, more emotional brother
When the show first started, Damon was established early on to be the villain. His reckless, reckless, and destructive ways impacted countless lives, and he gladly played that role. Meanwhile, Stefan was the more level-headed, straight-laced brother, sacrificing greater powers to ensure he never harmed people by going on the vampire vegetarian diet. Before long, the show unpacks why Stefan avoids drinking blood, and Damon drops his selfish facade to reveal a much more emotional and caring person.
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Stefan avoids blood because he has no self-control, and when he starts drinking he drinks until the people he feeds on are completely passed out. Meanwhile, Damon likes to party, and often allows himself to cross lines that others do not, but he always has the strength to stop. As the show reveals more of the brothers’ history, it reveals that Stefan is actually the one who pushed his brother to turn, and made a lot of terrible choices, but Damon is struggling to live as something he finally feels like he was. Forced. to become, and he feels the need to claim it as his own.
7
Caroline grew from the poor girl to become self-assured and strong
Another character who undergoes a complete transformation from start to finish is Caroline. In the beginning of TVDCaroline is extremely jealous, rude, selfish and clueless. She becomes a victim of Damon early on, and her home life is difficult considering the distance between her and her mother. All of this adds up to make Caroline an extremely pitiful character who can be annoying and disdainful, but is ultimately just a struggling young girl with no control.
All this changes, however, when she transitions into a vampire. Most new vampires struggle when they change to get a handle on their newfound appetite. Caroline has an uncanny ability to maintain control, however, and learned to adapt to the vampire lifestyle in record time. This talent continued to benefit her, and she was able to lead and help other vampires better transition. As a vampire, Caroline reached her full potential and became a more well-rounded, confident, and generally better person who became one of the most interesting characters on TVD.
6
Elena stopped being the main character
While others like Caroline and Damon stepped into a main character role, Elena, the original protagonist, disappeared as the show progressed. The show surpasses the love triangle plot, and although the presence of Elena is felt thanks to Damon’s continued love for her, the character has been largely absent in the last couple of seasons. While Elena was an interesting character to follow, she wasn’t the most compelling person in Mystic Falls, and her absence didn’t detract from the story.
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Of course, it relied more on other characters to take the lead, and the eclectic cast meant the story jumped between groups, but arguably the song of the show became Damon and Stefan. Damon is often seen as the hero, and the figure who is able to right wrongs when others let things fall apart. His stepping up as the new main character makes perfect sense for the story, and when he’s finally reunited with his love, it feels like the moment was thoroughly earned.
5
Stefan and Damon grew to respect and fight for each other
Early on, Stefan and Damon are brothers with a clear distrust of one another. In some ways, they bring out the worst in each other as they seek to compete and argue. But, under all this, there was always a feeling that the Salvator’s loved one another. So it didn’t take long until the brothers started fighting each other instead of against them.
When threats arise, Damon and Stefan would do everything in their power to protect and keep the other safe. Often, this comes at great personal cost, and can lead to further danger and problems down the road. However, by the time the show ends, the brothers have grown to understand each other’s motives, and feel empathy for their traumatic pasts. And, as a result, they are closer than ever before.
4
Vampires stopped being the biggest threat in Mystic Falls
Of course, when Damon stopped being the biggest threat in Mystic Falls, the show had to introduce other elements to keep the tension going. While Catherine was one of the first other vampires to present a threat to the community, the show has moved beyond her figures as the primary threat to the community of Mystic Falls. The founders have been dealing with vampires for hundreds of years, but when the originals arrived, and later the heretics, the city was not equipped to fight back.
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The monsters proved significantly harder to kill, more powerful and with a greater array of abilities at their disposal. The poor town of Mystic Falls even became a desolate hunting ground for the heretics at the end of the show, before the core group was able to wipe out the threat and restore their home to its former glory. But the case was made even worse by the fact that, immediately before, the town had a shelter, which provided the community with greater peace than it had ever known.
3
The town of Mystic Falls was destroyed and rebuilt
As briefly mentioned above, Mystic Falls went through a lot of changes in the series as well. The town historically has a connection to vampires, but due to the determination and knowledge of the founders, they were able to trap a large group of vampires in a crypt. Hundreds of years later, conflict brews in Mystic Falls as the spells begin to fall apart, and old faces return to threaten the community once again. Mystic Falls has gone through periods of great tragedy, with many students being killed, and prosperity, when the city was protected and safe from something supernatural.
But after that point, the town suffered the worst times, with the heretics entering and destroying the shelter. The entire town was evacuated, and the deserted streets of Mystic Falls became a lawless hunting ground for the heretics. Fortunately, Damon and the others were able to find a way to overpower the heretics and make Mystic Falls safe for humans to return to. With the help of core members of the community, like Matt Donovan, the city was rebuilt, stronger and better than before.
2
Bonnie learned to love vampires
Initially, Bonnie was unaware of her heritage and witch powers, but when the Salvator’s moved back to Mystic Falls, her grandmother was forced to share the secrets of the Bennett witches in order to protect her. However, her lessons in magic also came with a burning hatred for the vampires that plagued the community. The anger only grew when her grandmother was killed, and vampires stole the heart of her best friend, Elena Gilbert, figuratively speaking.
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However, eventually, Bonnie turned her biological mother into a vampire. She was trapped in a mirror dimension with her nemesis, Damon Salvatore, and she later found herself stuck with Enzo. All these moments could have intensified her hatred of the vampires, but instead, she learned to embrace them and see them as individuals who were victims of their transformation.
1
TVD spends less time exploring the past and more time in the future
in early TVD Often time was spent establishing the story of the Salvatores, as it included many flashbacks to when the boys were growing up before they became vampires. This continued when the originals were introduced, and it helped to establish their history as the first vampires, and again when Damon and Stefan’s mother came back. However, the last season of the show changed this.
Rather than constantly showing flashbacks to establish characters’ backstories, it included a flash forward in each episode detailing a dystopian future. In these scenes, Stefan was hunted by a mysterious figure, and relationships that had been established before were broken. Eventually, the show caught the flash forward moments, and the series ended. leading to a satisfying end for The Vampire Diaries Where the timelines are lined up, characters have their happily ever after, and nothing was quite the same as it was in the beginning.