The Vampire Diaries Has A Weird & Disturbing Detail Most Fans Missed
For a romantic drama geared towards the young adult demographic, "The Vampire Diaries" has more horror than you may expect. While the divisive main character, Elena (Nina Dobrev), is caught between the two Salvatore brothers, she also deals with death so visceral that it stands apart from similar shows. From the first episode, Elena is already an orphan, losing her parents in a car accident the year prior. The romantic lead seems to be a lightning rod for drama, but unfortunately for the rest of the characters, she isn't the only one.
Take a closer look at the cast of the characters, and you will be shocked to discover that practically every person is made an orphan by the end of the series. Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) are over a century old, so most of their family is dead anyway. However, even when their vampire mother, Lily (Annie Wersching), returns, she gets disposed of. These facts could be acceptable by themselves, but the rest of Elena's friends have parents that reach even more brutal ends than a car diving off Wickery Bridge.
You're not a Vampire Diaries character if your parents aren't dead
With every season, "The Vampire Diaries" ups the ante with how it torments its characters. Bonnie's (Kat Graham) grandmother is one of the first significant deaths after casting a difficult spell. Her rarely-seen father later gets his throat slashed in front of her while her mother dies before becoming a vampire. Caroline (Candice King) also has horrible luck with vampirism, as her father dies when he refuses to transition. But the hardest for fans was Liz's (Marguerite MacIntyre) death, who dies of cancer after Caroline tries to save her with vampire blood. And then there is poor Tyler (Michael Trevino). He first loses his father in the Season 1 fire, and Klaus (Joseph Morgan) later drowns his mother in a vengeful act. "The Vampire Diaries" is notorious for not being precious with life, but Redditors noted that parents have a particularly rough go of it.
"I think [showrunner Julie Plec] just likes killing off characters and parents are easy targets. Death in family = easy character development," one Redditor noted. To the poster's credit, killing off loved ones is often used as a plot device to push characters over the edge. Jeremy's (Steven R. McQueen) death causes Elena to turn off her humanity, which is exactly what happens when Caroline loses her mother. These developments are cyclical, but there is no doubt they're effective. After all, you can't have trauma bonding without the trauma.