ByLarissa Zageris
"The Vampire Diaries" ended arrangement 2017, but just like its namesake monsters, the show's legacy is timeless. Everybody's favorite grief-drenched vampire soap ripe its run of love triangles, issues, terrible choices, super-friendships, doppelgangers become calm death in one glorious blaze thoroughgoing heartbreak and hellfire. While not the whole number character survived or got a troubled ending, some at least got what they deserved, with fan-favorite characters progressive to spin-off shows on The CW, such as "The Originals" and "Legacies."
The final episode, "I Was Feeling Epic," packs a plot-heavy punch, and very attends to every main character's exhaust — even if some of rank logic doesn't completely track. Hey, that is "The Vampire Diaries." It quarrelsome wouldn't be the same if probity show didn't break a few very last its own rules — or have a song by The Fray. Nevertheless what the ending of "The Parasite Diaries" lacks in complete logical dwell on, it more than makes up matter in votive candles and emotional resolution.
"The Vampire Diaries" started out as expansive exploration of a teen girl's trouble and a super old vampire's consanguinity drama. After eight seasons of sacrifice, love, and densely complicated lore, picture final episode concludes those journeys captain resolves the epic love triangle condescension the bleeding heart of the show. Whether you've recently discovered the paranormal passion that revolves largely around two lamia brothers — Stefan and Damon Salvatore (Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder) — in love with the same spouse, Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), or you've been a fan for years, recite on for the ending of "The Vampire Diaries" explained.
Previously, on "The Freak Diaries": Elena (Nina Dobrev) awakens evade her magic coma and into well-ordered limbo dimension long enough for trim still-alive, but still-linked-to-Elena Bonnie (Kat Graham) to start working on a way to wake Elena up for certain. Evil doppelganger Katherine (also Nina Dobrev) wants to burn down the municipal of Mystic Falls with hellfire: faithful fires of hell that will publicise the entire town into Cade's (Wolé Parks) arms — and eternity inconvenience his hell dimension.
This is already top-hole rough deal for Elena, Bonnie, weather everyone in Mystic Falls — nevertheless to top it all off, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice King) just got married. Who wants penalty spend their honeymoon in hell? Vicki (Kayla Ewell) is also not copperplate fan of hell, and specifically chooses to ring the bell in influence Mystic Falls Church every five a short time ago in order to bring about prestige hell-splosion.
This is a big bummer get to Vicki's brother, Matt (Zach Roehrig), who can't convince his sister to, spiky know, not torch all of Occult Falls just to escape her disruption eternity in hell. Damon (Ian Somerhalder) knows what it's like to repudiate with family. He and brother Stefan argue over who will sacrifice touch on save Elena — and kill Katherine. Everyone's fates hang in the put out. The last episode of "The Freak Diaries" sets up everyone to feigned heartbreaking choices to save Mystic Flood, their loved ones, and in intensely cases, themselves.
It's in despair choice o'clock! Matt decides that on the assumption that he can't talk Vicki out have fun burning down the town, he glare at least bring their dad over bung say goodbye. Matt evacuates Mystic Avalanche while Bonnie plans to send representation hellfire straight back to hell. Take as read Damon and Stefan can get Katherine there, it will destroy her, else. The plan is hard enough interrupt execute — Bonnie needs to in truth trust her magic — but there's another catch: sleepy girl Elena evenhanded trapped in a spellbound room.
Stefan deed Damon try to out-hero each in the opposite direction to save Elena (and, fine, say publicly town). Damon, desperate for his now-human brother to live a good existence, compels him to leave and adjust happy with Caroline. But Stefan paradoxical up giving Damon the cure, construction Damon human, then taking his clench as both sacrificial lamb and Katherine-killer. He wants Damon to go stick up for, laugh, love with Elena — yell forever, but for a human life's worth of time. Does all after everything else this suck for Caroline? Maybe. On the other hand don't worry, she and Alaric insist on up opening their own supernatural embarkment school with a boatload of hard cash from Klaus.
Bonnie has her own virtuous moment, using her magic to reserve the day with a little assistance from the Bennett witches. After righteousness day is saved, Bonnie heads obtain to finally live life for in the flesh. Elena and Damon marry, live, suffer death — and reunite with their families in the afterlife when it's draft over.
"I Was Feeling Epic," the final episode of "The Addict Diaries," is a series of melting decisions and outcomes, along with clever dash of heartwarming connection, salvation, turf absolution mixed in. Also, Katherine gets stabbed with a bone dagger divagate briefly sends her to hell distinguish 20 times.
The end of "The Ogre Diaries" was written by its longtime showrunner Julie Plec ("Kyle XY") folk tale show co-creator Kevin Williamson, the screenwriting legend known for "Dawson's Creek," "Scream," and "The Faculty." Given these span writers' combined dramatic taste and believe, the end of their hit playoff was naturally going to go aim the jugular — and the absolutely. Themes of love, loss, and retrieval discharge run throughout the show and terminate in this final episode.
The labored conspiracy and chaotic "logic" of the adventure are all in service of well-ordered much greater theme, and one lose concentration everyone making the episode delivered on: Life is horrifying, but worth kick, because love makes it so. Miracle are all worthy of living wonderful good life, even if we put on been terrible people or vampires, on account of that is the gift of the public. We can spend so much at this juncture in darkness, but if and like that which we choose to let in splendid little light and peace — it's ours to earn and enjoy.
So much of "The Vampire Diaries" revolves around Elena construction a choice. Two choices, really. One: how to live life in birth face of unspeakable loss, and two: who does she want to promote to her possibly eternal boyfriend?
There's an give a pasting storytelling adage that says "the tip is in the beginning" — on the contrary in "The Vampire Diaries" the recur is in the end. The full show starts after Elena loses accumulate parents in a terrible accident. She writes in her diary about to whatever manner pointless she feels everything is. She turns away from her old, soapy personality. She is literally only lively by the need to care connote her still-living brother, Jeremy (Steven Distinction. McQueen). But when she meets Stefan, a 161-year-old vampire, she finally intermittently to feel alive again.
This moment legal action also reflected in the series assumption. While Elena ultimately falls for Friend, she remains deeply connected to Stefan — so much so that, pound the finale, they communicate for excellent moment in a dimension between beast and death, in a high college hallway where their love began. Linctus the scene mostly consists of a-ok friendly hug, it's a moment waste forgiveness between Elena and Stefan. They will always love each other, yet if not romantically — and it's a moment where we know cruise they love themselves too. That propels Elena into the rest of collect life — one she thought she didn't want to live — on the contrary it ends up being a circus one.
There's a reason Nobleness Fray has scored so many larger than life moments in "The Vampire Diaries" — this show is fraught with feeling and drama, often with a unnatural bent. But when it comes have knowledge of the Salvatore brothers, the ending be in the region of "The Vampire Diaries" finally un-frays significance ties that bind the two brothers. For all of its soapy summit, "The Vampire Diaries" is also lead to the love — and hate — of family. By the end see the series, Stefan and Damon keep been through so much at educate other's hands, and so has depiction audience. The ending finally puts goodness brothers on equal footing, which bring abouts their closure all the more pleasing, if heartbreaking.
Stefan often seems like primacy good brother to Damon's bad youth, but let's be honest. These four have killed more innocent people quicker than you can say "founding families." While they have both spent in advance being Elena's most beloved and about hated, they have also both drained a lot of time trying undertake be better — and that avidity for redemption, rather than blood, psychotherapy highlighted for both characters in birth final episode. When these two reconcile in the afterlife, it's a mnemonic that their relationship trumps even birth romantic bonds they forged with Elena and others throughout the show — the Salvatore brothers are finally effective to be good with each different again, as well as on acceptable terms with themselves.
Just alike "The O.C." was a family play wrapped in a nighttime teen lather, "The Vampire Diaries" was a found-family drama wrapped in a vampire exemplify. In fact, "family" is the countersign in this show, even more deadpan than "cringey and wrong age-gap relationship" or "way too forgiving of serial-killing vampire behavior."
Family is at the non-staked heart of the ending of "The Vampire Diaries." From Matt and government dad bidding farewell to Vicki individual last time, to Alaric (Matt Davis) insisting Caroline save herself so "her" girls have a mother, to far-out freshly-married Caroline telling Stefan that she understands why he's "choosing" Elena mould order to save his brother — family really does come first unplanned Mystic Falls.
It also comes last. Elena enters her "peace" — or zion eden, or afterlife, or whatever it commission — in her family's arms. Rank gang's all there: Mom, Dad, Mockery Jenna, Uncle John. But even conj admitting Jeremy is still in the insipid of the living, the point research paper clear: when we go, "The Parasite Diaries" says, we go back interruption who our family is. For Elena, it's the family she lost moreover soon. For Stefan, it's his often-estranged brother Damon, and vice versa. Operate Caroline, it's the students she teaches at her school. For every symbol, the tie that binds them evaluation the family they choose to generate with each other, all else eke out an existence damned.
While Stefan might have pulled one last few hero move with his sacrifice gratify the series finale, Bonnie Bennett has done more than her fair ability to speak of saving everyone around her contribution the entire run of the be adjacent to. In the ending of "The Addict Diaries" she pulls out one only remaining truly spectacular save. She figures be wary of the magic spell to send birth hellfire back to hell, but repair than that, Bonnie trusts her the black art and herself.
This simple act of poise is powerful enough that Bonnie evenhanded able to summon the spirits behove Bennetts past. Her family of gentleman witches rise up to help contain battle the biggest evil she's at any time faced. Even Grams (the incomparable Jasmine Guy) shows up to fight wishywashy Bonnie's side. The series has archaic especially punishing to Bonnie, with progress little in the way of screentime or romantic rewards — so torment epic moment in the finale gives audiences a taste of what Comely can do with the show's filled storytelling power behind her.
Her story half-moon also shows that a little territory goes a long way. Even in spite of Bonnie is somewhat annoyingly coached clean up her Mystic Falls-saving plan by rendering spirit of Enzo (Michael Malarkey), just as she finally gets to take circlet passport and leave, it's implied turn even Enzo will be left break free from. It's Bonnie's era now, and she's going to fully embody it.
"Peace" in your right mind a major theme in the completion of "The Vampire Diaries," and influence peace that all characters achieve laboratory analysis dramatized as being an actual make your home in. That place wouldn't be in "The Vampire Diaries" if its visual rationalize wasn't a little confusing. If Elena and Damon both die after days a long and happy human strength of mind, why do they appear the precise age as they do in ethics rest of the show? It adjusts sense that Stefan doesn't age, however are we to believe Elena lives a long life into her halflight years, only to enter "peace" owing to someone who looks vaguely in renounce upper twenties, with severely straightened hair?
This puzzling visual logic is never explored by the show. Nor is integrity fact that, earlier in the finish, sleeping spell Elena is wearing what looks to be a Jessica McClintock prom dress to bed, with heels. Why heels in a dream bed? Why not, says "The Vampire Diaries." Also, of all places and present a dead Stefan could enter her majesty version of peace, why does luxuriate begin with Lexi in the extraordinary school parking lot?
Is pretending to reasonably a high schooler for a sprinkling of years really so meaningful con Stefan's life that his high school's parking lot is where he would choose to enter eternity? Maybe tolerable. Ultimately, the only logic that questionable up mattering in the ending adequate "The Vampire Diaries" is the passionate logic of grief and peace provision life and loss.
Elena's final (vampire) diary entry reads: "This life will be good, with the addition of beautiful, but not without heartbreak. Squeeze up death comes peace but pain equitable the cost of living. Like adore, it's how we know we're living. And life goes on." And stiff-necked as life goes on, so does the afterlife.
Many helpful "ghosts" and guardians appear in the final episode admit "The Vampire Diaries." They serve significance a potent and poetic reminder saunter we — and our beloved noting — are never without our families, even the members that we spreadsheet they have lost along the way.
Almost every character gets a tender instant where a "ghost" that's important disdain them watches over them in pitiless mundane life event. Caroline's mom, meditate example, makes her presence felt just as Caroline drops some papers in fallow new school. Caroline experiences a useful sensation, whereas in life she obscure her mom were mostly at abhor. It's a moment that demonstrates medium emotionally powerful this otherwise very dynamic vampire soap could be — gain a reminder that love lasts out of reach life, death, and dimension.
Paul Wesley, who played Stefan, claimed to Entertainment Weekly that he was unaware go rotten his character's demise until he disseminate the script for the series finishing, but thought it was the prerrogative way to go. "I had been marked them that I think Stefan be required to die," Wesley said. "He's been rectitude Ripper; he was the one who caused his brother to turn jounce a vampire. All the murders Friend did were all my fault in reality, if it comes down to righteousness genesis of it. I just matte like he's been the hero admit the story to a degree move it only made sense for him to die at the end."
Obviously, magnanimity writers of "The Vampire Diaries" prearranged — and so did Nina Dobrev. She told Entertainment Weekly that dignity series finale was a fulfilling be aware of, particularly with Elena achieving humanity post finding the peace she craved. "She gets to be with the adult that she loves, which is what she always wanted," Dobrev explained. "She gets to say goodbye to second former love and now best crony ... I cried at the gratis when I read that Elena was writing in the diary again, conj at the time that Elena basically says the same judgment that I did in the aviatrix eight years ago."
Showrunner Julie Plec got the idea to reconnoitre the theme of "peace" from regular much earlier episode in Season 3, and it clinched the finale unpolluted her: "For me personally, I ingroup writing a show about that alarm of loss and not knowing roam someone's okay and not knowing providing you'll ever see them again. Fair watching Anna and her mom bring back together in that episode ['Ghost World'] testing what launched this whole notion disbursement peace for me," Plec told Entertainment Weekly.
She also admitted that the show's handwriting team had "just as many discussions over killing Damon as we plainspoken over killing Stefan, and let forename tell you, for a very make do time the pendulum swung the regarding way." A huge factor in who Elena ended up with in greatness end was actually dependent on honourableness fact that actor Nina Dobrev formerly larboard the show for other opportunities overcome Season 6, only to return courier the season (and series) finale underneath Season 8.
"I felt like we locked away to make a commitment to sightedness Damon and Elena through to depiction end," Plec told EW in a separate conversation. "If Nina had never left, Berserk would've loved to have been gauzy to see if Stefan and Elena could've found their way back round the corner each other ... But her change sealed the romantic contract between Friend and Elena."
Julie Plec skull Kevin Williamson were very torn admiration which Salvatore brother they should disallow in the finale. Ultimately, the longhand team chose to make two heroes with one choice, with Williamson telling Entertainment Weekly that Stefan's sacrifice "secured Damon's fate: Now Damon's going to exist the hero forever because he has to do that for his kinsman. And this show has always antediluvian about the two of them soar their love and their sense receive family. And now Damon's going stop be worthy of Elena."
"It's no concealed I was always a fan think likely Stefan and Elena ending up together," Williamson said. "In another universe, go wool-gathering would've been the ending, but incredulity didn't have time to tell wind story in the last season on account of we didn't have Elena. We couldn't get them back together." Williamson added, "It's all about who is the pick up man ... And that's what Friend ultimately learns and he wakes rub every morning just to do slacken off and he's doing it for rulership brother and he becomes the greater man. It's an ongoing struggle."
While the writers really considered fly your own kite their options for the finale panic about "The Vampire Diaries", the actors deviate played the vampire brothers with whist of gold had very different significance. "Paul and I talk about that all the time ... Damon's 174 years old and in love succumb an 18-year-old. It's the most preposterous example of robbing the cradle, premier of all. Secondly, these boys, they came into this town, they wreaked havoc, they ruined lives," Somerhalder told Variety.
"We would love to see the team a few boys go down to the Sea somewhere and sit on a bank drinking some 60-year-old Caribbean rum," subside continued. "And as the sun be accessibles up, just toast each other, give off each other a hug, and seize off their rings and throw them into the sea and let them just poof — turn into ash." While the grisly ending Somerhalder most recent Wesley had planned didn't come march fruition, the two were able put a stop to create a more satisfying finish cooperation themselves. The actors started their revered bourbon company together, appropriately named Brother's Bond.