I started watching The Vampire Diaries at 9 years old. I was flipping through channels and saw two men—who I later found out to be Stefan and Damon—chained to the ground and was instantly enthralled. I watched every season religiously live on TV, and since ranking characters has been popular on Tik Tok, I wanted to bring my own opinions to the table.
- Klaus Mikaelson
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I cannot express my love for Klaus more. Yes, he was a villain, but he was a great villain. He is also a complex villain, which makes him all the more interesting. He was ruthless, and he killed people without a second thought. He was obsessed with power, and daggered his siblings whenever they did something he didn’t like. At first glance, he is horrible, but when you learn about his upbringing, it makes sense. He was the bastard child and physically and emotionally abused by his father (well, not his biological one). He had been weak for most of his childhood and always felt like the black sheep of the family. Him being this ruthless person allows him to never be seen as weak again. This is why he was obsessed with becoming a hybrid and being all powerful. He also daggers his siblings to have control over them, something he has never had growing up. I feel bad for him. And it wasn’t like he was all bad, whenever he was with Caroline his soft side came out. (Klaroline forever!) He also had great character development. He ended up having a baby, (which he didn’t want because he would have something his enemies could exploit), and that baby made him become a better person. Through protecting Hope (his baby) at all costs, he learned that he didn’t have to be the big bad wolf to be respected and loved. Klaus is amazing and I could go on, but we are going to stop there.
- Kai Parker
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I love Kai. I think he is tied with Klaus for my favorite villain. Also the actor Chris Wood…very good looking. I was so conflicted watching this psychopathic serial killer do bad things ,but he was also funny and good looking. At one point, I shipped him and Bonnie when they were trapped in the prison world together. I like how he will always back stab you and you know this, but there is always hope he will be a good person. He had an amazing personality despite being a psychopath. He added drama to the show. I mean, he killed Jo (his twin sister) on her wedding day. While she was pregnant. With twins. Ruthless. Plus, Chris Wood’s acting was amazing.
- Stefan Salvatore
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I have seen mixed reviews when it comes to Stefan. Personally, I will not tolerate any Stefan slander. I read the Stefan Diaries Books, so I feel like I have more insight into his character. I liked Stefan from the start—he was the vampire who didn’t want to kill. I liked how good he was. I even named my pet guinea pig Stefan because of how much I loved him as a kid. As I grew older, I saw the complexities in Stefan. He has his RIPPAH (for the Klaus lovers) past, and he is just trying to make up for his mistakes. I saw something recently about how Stefan was the selfish one, not Damon, because Damon made Elena forget them meeting because he knew coming into her life would disrupt everything and that Stefan didn’t care. Well, Stefan was just a boy in love who can blame him. Damon was older and wiser and was out killing people, he probably didn’t want to add to his list of mistakes. Also selfish Stefan sacrificed himself in the end, which I cried so much about. He was just an overall good person. Obviously I like Stefan a lot.
- Caroline Forbes
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Caroline was a bit weird in the beginning of the show. She was that uptight, boy-crazy, popular girl, but she was still nice. But after she became a vampire, she became a better version of herself. I feel like becoming a vampire was the best thing to happen to her. It’s like she gained some clarity to her life and silly high school problems didn’t matter anymore. One thing that stayed consistent is her being a loyal friend. She is still loyal if you watch the show Legacies. She was involuntarily made a surrogate mother and she gave birth and took care of those kids like her own. She was the one to make Klaus a good person. And I am still mad at Julie Plec for not continuing the Klaroline storyline.
- Bonnie Bennett
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Bonnie doesn’t get enough love. She lost everything, and yet she still always used her magic to save everyone else. She died and got trapped in the prison world and she still was selfless. Everytime she said, “Phesmatos,” I would get excited for her to do witch-y stuff. Also, sometimes her nose would bleed while doing magic, but she would do it anyway. She deserves more than what she got.
- Damon Salvatore
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In the beginning, he was that bad boy you love. He is witty and funny. He did things that made me mad, like killing Lexi. This is why Stefan ranked higher for me. But I got to say he went through some good character growth and he even considered sacrificing himself in the end, so all good. He was more of a grower for me. There are a lot of Damon lovers, so him being lower on the list might cause some people to be mad, but there were better “bad boys” in the show in my opinion. But I do love Damon. He was great and funny. I do really like him a lot.
- Katherine Petrova
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Katharine is a b*tch, but we love her. She was a very good villain for the show. Ms. Katarina Petrova is known for being a survivor. I like to use the term ‘Cockroach,’ in the best way possible: you try to kill her but she is coming right back. Her origins of her giving birth and becoming a vampire to survive are perfectly suited to her character. She always finds a way to survive. She lost her whole family and she still survived. Also, how badass is it that she had two men fighting over her. She played them to her advantage and I commend that.
- Rebekah Mikaelson
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I don’t have much to say about Rebekah. I just feel bad for her. All she wanted was a normal life. To be married and grow old with someone (Marcel). Klaus and other circumstances kept her from this. Eventually she got what she wanted but it took a while.
- Elijah Mikaelson
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Elijah is a cool original. He was always in a suit and would literally rip someone’s head off and not get a drop of blood on him. He was a classy vampire and he tried his best to help Klaus through his emotional baggage. He is iconic for his “word,” and he is an overall great character.
- Jeremy Gilbert
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I feel like I needed to include Jeremy on here, but I don’t have much to say about him. He was annoying when Bonnie was trapped in the prison world and he started drinking and stuff. He became a hunter in the end. He was someone that Elena had to take care of. Not much to say about him. No negative feelings or positive ones.
- Alaric Saltzman
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We are going to seperate the actor from the character here. (If you don’t know, the actor who plays him is a Trump supporter. He also got into a Twitter fight with Paul Wesley AKA Stefan, which is pretty funny so if you haven’t seen it look it up.) To be honest, I always had a love-hate relationship with Alaric. He was a little too black and white about vampires for me, which is weird because he was good friends with Damon. He always had vervain and stakes at the ready, which I guess protect yourself but still he was a little too overbearing for me. Other than that, I feel bad that his wife was murdered and he was stuck with the twins on his own. He went through a lot. He was a good father figure for Elena as well.
- Elena Gilbert
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Everyone hates Elena, and I have to join in on the Elena hate. She is pretty annoying. She was the “main character,” but in the worst way. (Like Tori in Victorious bad.) Everyone bent over backwards for her and the worst part is she expected everyone to do that. But when someone else had a problem, she suddenly couldn’t return the favor or whatever, her problem was always ranked higher.
- Tyler Lockwood
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To be honest, I think Tyler is lowkey irrelevant. He was more prominent in the beginning of the show, but he was just this a**hole. He didn’t treat Caroline right, and he thought he was all that. He was in and out of the show since becoming a werewolf and it seems like he only was there to introduce the concept of werewolves. Irrelevant but not as much as Matt.
- Matt Donovan
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Matt, Matt, Matt. Everyone HATES Matt. I don’t hate him, but I do think he is super irrelevant. He somehow managed to be the only person to stay human and alive in the show, and you know what kudos to him. He was just there. He didn’t add anything to the show.
So this is the list. Do you agree with my rankings?