Was there anyone in Mystic Falls that did not end up dealing with severe trauma and tragedy? It seemed that season after season of Vampire Diaries, this group of people was forced to deal with those out to kill or torture them. That was not the end, though, as they also tended to face the constant deaths of their family and friends. While some of the central characters brought pain and suffering to others, such as Damon’s season one rampage and season eight return to the dark side, others could never catch a break from awful things. Elena Gilbert was constantly facing the deaths of loved ones, and Bonnie Bennett seemed to be getting tortured or losing someone somehow.
However, others may not have gotten the focus they deserve for all they went through. Jeremy lost just as many people as Elena; as many of their shared losses included relatives or close friends. Yet, his grief is never as heavily explored, except for how he handles his parents’ deaths in season one. Characters like Tyler and Matt face controversy for wanting revenge against those who have caused the deaths of their loved ones. Meanwhile, others, such as Stefan and Katherine, have a more considerable anguished past than a tragic present.
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10 Damon Salvatore
Warner Brothers Television Distribution
Damon does have his share of tragedy. Damon’s transition into a vampire had not happened because of his choice, but because Stefan forced him. He is tortured for years as an Augustine Vampire. Damon’s most significant motivation for returning to Mystic Falls results in massive heartbreak when he realizes Katherine was never in the tomb and continues to grow worse when he discovers Katherine never truly loved him the way he hoped.
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9 Matt Donovan
While Matt was never at the center of the supernatural plots, he starts the series already in a difficult place with an absent mother and father. Matt and Vicki must rely on each other, which is only made worse when Vicki is turned into a vampire and later killed. With Vicki’s death, Matt is more alone than ever. However, discovering the truth about the supernatural led him to understand what happened to Vicki. Later in his life, Matt lost his fiancé when he accidentally shot her.
8 Enzo St. John
Enzo is saved from dying by turning into a vampire. Sadly, he does not get much time to enjoy life before being captured and tortured for decades. He is left behind by Damon during an escape attempt from Augustine. When Enzo finally escapes, he is out for revenge. When Enzo is resurrected, he is desperate for a sense of family and love, which he later finds in Bonnie. Sadly, even that comes to a tragic end. After planning to take the cure for vampirism and join Bonnie in human life, Enzo is killed by Stefan, never able to have the life with Bonnie that they talked about.
7 Jeremy Gilbert
Because Elena was usually at the center of everything, Jeremy’s grief tended to get a backseat. Although Jeremy’s difficulty dealing with his parent’s death is a significant plot point in season one, Jeremy’s storylines eventually move on. While Jeremy did need to grow in his storylines beyond staying in mourning, he and Elena continue to lose people, including Jenna, Bonnie, and Alaric. While Jeremy’s grief is acknowledged, it never gets the same screen time as Elena’s. Jeremy’s death is even a plot point used to send Elena into a no-humanity arc.
6 Tyler Lockwood
Becoming a werewolf was scary enough for Tyler, but the sire bond created by Klaus, turning him into a Hybrid, brought on a whole new set of problems. Under Klaus’ command, Tyler was forced to leave Caroline with a lethal Hybrid bite and was unable to have access to the entirety of his free will. While Tyler showed strength in breaking the sire bond, Klaus killed Tyler’s mother after Klaus realized Tyler had unsired all the Hybrids. While Tyler’s revenge arc against Klaus takes up a lot of time, Tyler should not be at fault for wanting to avenge his mother’s death. Unfortunately, even after he moves on from his wish for vengeance, Tyler still breaks his werewolf curse for a second time and then is later brutally killed by Damon.
5 Caroline Forbes
Although Caroline is not very close with either of her parents initially, Caroline’s life takes a dangerous detour when she catches Damon’s attention. While she is human, Damon compels and abuses her. Damon treats Caroline horribly the first time, but due to his compulsion, she must also forget it later. All her memories of Damon’s abuse return when she transitions into a vampire, meaning she has to experience all of it again. Caroline’s trauma continues when her father tortures her for being a vampire, and Liz refuses to believe for some time that Caroline is still herself. When Liz died after her and Caroline’s relationship had improved, Caroline turned off her humanity. She later faced grief again when Stefan sacrificed himself hours after their wedding.
4 Stefan Salvatore
When Stefan becomes a vampire, he seems to view everything as going downhill. Stefan quickly becomes a Ripper after his transition until Lexi sets him straight. Afterward, Stefan jumps between extremes, either a Ripper on a human blood binge or broody and guilty on animal blood. He never finds a healthy balance between what it means to be a vampire and spends more time dealing with his guilt for his past actions. Stefan constantly sacrifices himself as if he can make everything right. Stefan is continuously willing to help Damon, obsessed with saving him, given Stefan forced vampirism on him in the first place. However, Stefan sees all of Damon’s worst actions as Stefan’s fault for his role in what happened in 1864. Damon’s interference ruins Stefan’s attempt to find happiness with Elena, and his later success in finding love with Caroline ends in his desire to sacrifice himself rather than allow Damon to die.
3 Elena Gilbert
Elena went through a lot, from losing her parents to a magical coma. Constantly at the center of everything, everyone around her usually ended up dead, injured, or sacrificing themselves somehow. Elena usually lost someone and seemed in a never-ending cycle of grief. Elena ended up transitioning into a vampire, something she desperately wanted to avoid. However, the transition came with a destructive side effect. Elena became sired to Damon, making it uncertain which feelings were her own and which were created by the sire bond. Elena’s ability to make her own choices was heavily influenced by whatever Damon wanted. When Jeremy died, Elena was overcome with grief. Rather than help her work through it, Damon used the sire bond to encourage Elena to turn off her humanity, sending her into a messy spiral.
2 Katherine Pierce
When Katherine got pregnant out of wedlock, her life was never the same. Quickly after giving birth to the baby, her father took the newborn away, leaving Katherine devastated at the loss of her child. After leaving her family, Katherine was unfortunate to meet Klaus and Elijah. While she initially believed them to be intrigued suitors, she later learned that they were vampires and their plan to use her in a sacrifice ritual. Katherine turned herself into a vampire to escape and survive and went on the run, determined to escape Klaus. She later found that Klaus had massacred her family in revenge for her ruining his chance to break his curse. Katherine spent five hundred years on the run in survival mode.
1 Bonnie Bennett
Bonnie seemed to always be in pain, whether through her mother’s abandonment years before, her grandmother’s death, or her father’s murder. Bonnie dies after resurrecting Jeremy, and the revival that turns her into the anchor to the Other Side results in Bonnie feeling the pain of each death that goes through her. Although Bonnie does not die with the Other Side collapsing, she is brought to a Prison World, where she sacrifices herself to send Damon back to the real world while she remains tortured by Kai Parker. Bonnie undergoes more pain than any other central character, losing someone close to her, such as Enzo, or having to hunt down her vampire friends when she becomes the Huntress.
