10 Best 'Vampire Diaries' Plot Twists, Ranked (original) (raw)

Published Jul 4, 2023, 8:30 PM EDT

Ali is a former editor and seasoned list writer with Collider. She also has experience and bylines published by BridgeTower Media and Wealth of Geeks. While getting her Bachelor's in English and minor in creative writing, Ali studied film and literature at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. As a millennial and despite having just about every streaming service, Ali still maintains a large collection of DVDs and Blu-rays, with her all-time favorites including her box set of The Office and a 2-disc special features version of The Silence of the Lambs (yes, she's aware those are polar opposite genres). She's well-versed in navigating Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb scores because those windows are almost always open whenever she's watching a movie. Believing movies are best experienced in theaters, Ali still prints her tickets and has almost every stub from the last 15 years. Ali prefers movies to TV but never passes up the opportunity to binge through any limited Netflix series created by Mike Flanagan.

From 2009 to 2017, The Vampire Diaries captured the hearts of audiences from multiple generations. It became a worldwide phenomenon for its blending of horror, drama, romance, and supernatural, all centered around one of the most iconic love triangles of all time. Nina Dobrev starred as Elena Gilbert, a human teenager who captured the hearts of a pair of vampire brothers, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) Salvatore. The series was loosely based on the characters from the young adult series of the same name by L.J. Smith.

Airing on The CW, The Vampire Diaries didn't follow the exact storyline of the book series, which is not unusual for page-to-screen adaptations. The TV series took creative liberties as it strayed from its notable source material. TVD was known for cliffhanging season finales and mid-season plot twists that left fans desperate for the next episode. Audiences discovering the full catalog today—available to stream on Max—will never know the struggle of waiting a full week to see the next episode after one of these notorious plot twists.

10 Elena and Katherine Are Doppelgängers

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Before watching this series, many viewers had no idea what a doppelgänger was. After a few seasons of watching this series, it became a vocabulary term that solidified your status as a loyal fan. From season one's first introduction of Katherine's (Dobrev) photo and her appearance in 1864 flashbacks, there was no denying that she and Elena were supernaturally connected.

The plot twist led to a domino effect of equally jaw-dropping twists, like learning Elena's biological parents and Katherine's Petrova roots a few seasons later. It was a mic drop in season one that became the backbone of the series, establishing Elena as more than just a normal girl in Mystic Falls that had supernatural creatures from around the world curious to meet her for eight seasons.

9 Elijah's Betrayal

Throughout season two, TVD set up for the arrival of the baddest vampire of all time, Klaus (Joseph Morgan), as he attempted to break a curse containing his werewolf gene by sacrificing Elena. Learning Elijah (Daniel Gillies) was his brother was a plot twist, but Elijah's last-minute betrayal at the peak of the ritual was mind-blowing.

The people in Elena's life had gone to great lengths to protect her and ensure that her potential death would be for nothing if it meant Klaus would die. At the very last moment, Klaus dangled, reuniting their family in front of Elijah, thus sparking the betrayal. The reversal negated all the sacrifices everyone had made; the most devastating was Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning) as she died a vampire at Klaus's hands.

8 Stefan Is Also a Doppelgänger

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Arguably a surprise, but also seemingly a stretch as the long-running series wore onto its halfway point. Introducing a second set of doppelgängers for Stefan and Silas (Wesley) definitely through audiences for a loop. In season four, audiences were introduced to Silas, a witch of The Travelers who — alongside his love Amara (Dobrev) — became the first immortal. Through this twist, audiences learn the origins of the Salvatore line, as Stefan is one of Sila's many shadow selves and the Petrova doppelgänger with Amara.

The first doppelgänger romance explains why Stefan and Katherine were drawn to each other, and eventually Stefan and Elena. In TVD fashion, the plot twist thickened after Silas locked Stefan in the vault, continuously drowning him while he impersonated Stefan all summer right under the noses of Damon and Elena.

7 Klaus and Caroline

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Klaus's introduction in season two and his reign of terror in season three established him as one of the most destructive villains of the series, but the showrunners had a few redeeming tricks up their sleeves. The blossoming bond between Caroline (Candice King) and Klaus was a complete left turn for fans, but they quickly jumped on the couple shipping. It began with Klaus's attempts to ruin Tyler's life but evolved into deep feelings.

It was definitely a flawed situationship, but it humanized Klaus, the baddest supernatural creature Mystic Falls had ever seen. The pair shared many tender moments, with Klaus declaring he intended to be Caroline's last love. Klaus wouldn't stay for the series duration, rather leaving for his own spinoff, The Originals,after season four.

6 Katherine's Season 1 Finale Appearance

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Once the series revealed in another epic plot twist that Katherine wasn't in the tomb, it was only a matter of time before she showed up in Mystic Falls. With a thrilling first season just about wrapped up, audiences expected her present-day return to be a bombshell, and boy did the season finale deliver. Following the town's attempt to rid themselves of vampires and Damon's close encounter with death, everyone is emotionally volatile.

Delena fans thought they'd finally got their wishes with that front porch kiss only to realize moments later, as she chopped off John's (David Anders) fingers, that it was indeed Katherine locking lips with Damon, not Elena. The season-ending cliffhanging plot twist left audiences thirsting for season two.

5 Bonnie and Damon's Death

Audiences were no stranger to Bonnie dying thus far in the series — between her, Jeremy (Steven McQueen), and Alaric (Matt Davis), it was almost like a badge of honor. Damon, however, had yet to face an actual death removing him from the real world. Following the attempts to lift the anti-supernatural spell on Mystic Falls, Damon, and Bonnie end up in a prison world with no hope of breaking free, "dying" for all intents and purposes.

Their absence from Elena's life is met with intense grief and pain; however, their time in the prison world during season six brings Damon and Bonnie closer. The pair had been almost mortal enemies in the early seasons and worked together only to keep Elena safe. Their deaths and the development of a strong friendship were completely unexpected but welcomed by fans.

4 Katherine Taking the Cure

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After running for 500-plus years, Katherine finally got a taste of karma courtesy of Elena in the form of the cure. Highly coveted by the vampires of Mystic Falls, all desperate to turn Elena human again, it was a jaw-dropping plot twist when Elena forced it down Katherine's throat, turning the cunning vampire human.

As her lifetime began to catch up with her, Katherine began to deteriorate rather quickly, leading to the return of her daughter Nadia (Olga Fonda). Audiences were torn between feeling sympathetic for the long-running antagonist, who arguably was a victim of circumstance, or feeling relief when she met her demise for all the pain and destruction she'd caused.

3 Caroline's Pregnancy

Using a little cinematic magic to hide Candice King's real-life pregnancy, TVD showrunners threw fans for a loop when Caroline becomes pregnant with Jo (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) and Alaric's twins. Following Jo's death, the Gemini Coven used a magical fail-safe and transferred the pregnancy to Caroline, who seemingly couldn't procreate as a vampire.

King's pregnancy was announced just before the seventh season, so the writers opted to get creative with storylines instead of using camera work to hide her growing belly. The twist created a divisive storyline as some viewers rooted for while others thought it was the writer's room making yet another far-fetched stretch for the series; however, it did lead to the spinoff series Legacies .

2 Elena Turns Her Humanity Off

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This was a twist that was perhaps long overdue, but not one that audiences hadn't felt a sneaking suspicion would come at some point following Elena's turn as a vampire. After one of Jeremy's many deaths, this one at the hands of Katherine and Silas, it was clear he was actually gone this time. Dobrev was masterful at portraying Elena's breakdowns, but this one broke audiences.

As Elena comes to terms with Jeremy's death and the loss of her last remaining family member, the pain becomes so unbearable that Damon steps in, using their sire bond to get Elena to turn off her humanity. She does so and never looks back (for a few episodes, at least). Flipping her humanity switch was a drastic character reversal for the good, pure-hearted heroine, but audiences sympathized and understood, given the incomparable amount of loss she'd endured for four seasons.

1 Stefan Kills Enzo

Following a series of complicated twists and turns in the final season, Stefan's Ripper alter-ego makes one final appearance as he's forced to choose between killing Elena (who's under the "sleeping beauty"-eqsue spell) or 100 others with questionable pasts. Turning his humanity off to follow through with his end of the bargain with Cade (Wolé Parks) to save Elena and Caroline's twins, Stefan kills Enzo (Michael Malarkey) right in front of Bonnie.

The whole romance between Bonnie and Enzo was a complete plot twist for fans, but Bonnie was happy, and that was all that mattered. Enzo's death at the hands of Stefan was one of the greatest pains that Bonnie ever experienced, and to get revenge, she stabs Stefan with the cure and turns him human, allowing for the final twist domino effect of The Vampire Diaries.

KEEP READING: 'The Vampire Diaries': Every Season Finale, Ranked From Worst to Best