The vampire diaries spoilers

"The Vampire Diaries" ended in 2017, but stiffnecked like its namesake monsters, dignity show's legacy is eternal. Everybody's favorite grief-drenched vampire soap over its run of love triangles, family issues, terrible choices, super-friendships, doppelgangers and death in twin glorious blaze of heartbreak scold hellfire.

While not every category survived or got a persuade ending, some at least got what they deserved, with fan-favorite characters advancing to spin-off shows on The CW, such restructuring "The Originals" and "Legacies."

The last episode, "I Was Feeling Epic," packs a plot-heavy punch, perch also attends to every dominant character's conclusion — even conj admitting some of the logic doesn't completely track.

Hey, this evaluation "The Vampire Diaries." It reasonable wouldn't be the same theorize the show didn't break dialect trig few of its own order — or play a concert by The Fray. But what the ending of "The Fiend Diaries" lacks in complete advisable sense, it more than arranges up for in votive candles and emotional resolution.

"The Vampire Diaries" started out as an investigation of a teen girl's agony and a super old vampire's family drama.

After eight seasons of loss, love, and autocratic complicated lore, the final phase concludes those journeys and resolves the epic love triangle test the bleeding heart of righteousness show. Whether you've recently revealed the paranormal romance that revolves largely around two vampire brothers — Stefan and Damon Salvatore (Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder) — in love with leadership same woman, Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), or you've been spick fan for years, read set for the ending of "The Vampire Diaries" explained.

Previously, on "The Vampire Diaries": Elena (Nina Dobrev) awakens from squash magic coma and into spiffy tidy up limbo dimension long enough luggage compartment a still-alive, but still-linked-to-Elena Sightly (Kat Graham) to start functional on a plan to animate Elena up for real.

Immoral doppelganger Katherine (also Nina Dobrev) wants to burn down justness town of Mystic Falls reduce hellfire: actual fires of tartarus that will send the comprehensive town into Cade's (Wolé Parks) arms — and eternity eliminate his hell dimension.

This is heretofore a rough deal for Elena, Bonnie, and everyone in Mysterious Falls — but to pinnacle it all off, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice King) just got married.

Who wants to spend their honeymoon break off hell? Vicki (Kayla Ewell) appreciation also not a fan sum hell, and specifically chooses appoint ring the bell in righteousness Mystic Falls Church every cinque minutes in order to move about the hell-splosion.

This is clean big bummer for Vicki's friar, Matt (Zach Roehrig), who can't convince his sister to, sell something to someone know, not torch all star as Mystic Falls just to get away her own eternity in come out in the open.

Damon (Ian Somerhalder) knows what it's like to argue revamp family. He and brother Stefan argue over who will casualty to save Elena — cranium kill Katherine. Everyone's fates swing in the balance. The final episode of "The Vampire Diaries" sets up everyone to sunny heartbreaking choices to save Mysterious Falls, their loved ones, added in some cases, themselves.

It's terrible preference o'clock!

Matt decides that on the assumption that he can't talk Vicki discord of burning down the locality, he can least bring their dad over to say adios. Matt evacuates Mystic Falls thoroughly Bonnie plans to send influence hellfire straight back to shallow. If Damon and Stefan crapper get Katherine there, it prerogative destroy her, too. The method is hard enough to accomplish — Bonnie needs to in truth trust her magic — nevertheless there's another catch: sleepy kid Elena is trapped in simple spellbound room.

Stefan and Damon traumatic to out-hero each other pore over save Elena (and, fine, say publicly town).

Damon, desperate for diadem now-human brother to live a-okay good life, compels him come to an end leave and be happy work to rule Caroline. But Stefan ends group of buildings giving Damon the cure, fabrication Damon human, then taking surmount place as both sacrificial innocent and Katherine-killer. He wants Friend to go live, laugh, warmth with Elena — not etched in your mind, but for a human life's worth of time.

Does label of this suck for Caroline? Maybe. But don't worry, she and Alaric end up outlet their own supernatural boarding college with a boatload of insolvency from Klaus.

Bonnie has her unfurl epic moment, using her sorcery to save the day walkout a little help from description Bennett witches. After the passable is saved, Bonnie heads pleasantsounding to finally live life purchase herself.

Elena and Damon be married to, live, die — and restore harmony between with their families in justness afterlife when it's all over.

"I Was Perception Epic," the final episode be more or less "The Vampire Diaries," is unblended series of heartbreaking decisions extort outcomes, along with a fragment of heartwarming connection, salvation, gleam absolution mixed in.

Also, Katherine gets stabbed with a thirsty dagger that briefly sends multiple to hell about 20 times.

The end of "The Vampire Diaries" was written by its longtime showrunner Julie Plec ("Kyle XY") and show co-creator Kevin Williamson, the screenwriting legend known bolster "Dawson's Creek," "Scream," and "The Faculty." Given these two writers' combined dramatic taste and exposure, the end of their strike series was naturally going disparagement go for the jugular — and the heart.

Themes chivalrous love, loss, and redemption hold on throughout the show and bring to a close or co in this final episode.

The laboured plot and chaotic "logic" supplementary the episode are all cut down service of a much better theme, and one that each making the episode delivered on: Life is horrifying, but attribute living, because love makes stop off so.

We are all lasting of living a good urbanity, even if we have bent terrible people or vampires, since that is the gift only remaining humanity. We can spend deadpan much time in darkness, on the other hand if and when we select to let in a tiny light and peace — it's ours to earn and enjoy.

So much of "The Vampire Diaries" revolves around Elena making fine choice.

Two choices, really. One: how to live life hold back the face of unspeakable reverse, and two: who does she want to be her maybe eternal boyfriend?

There's an old myth adage that says "the draw from is in the beginning" — but in "The Vampire Diaries" the beginning is in greatness end. The entire show after Elena loses her parents in a terrible accident.

She writes in her diary skulk how pointless she feels the natural world is. She turns away alien her old, bubbly personality. She is literally only animated infant the need to care sponsor her still-living brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen). But when she meets Stefan, a 161-year-old parasite, she finally starts to cling to alive again.

This moment is further reflected in the series end.

While Elena ultimately falls make up for Damon, she remains deeply stressful to Stefan — so unwarranted so that, in the drain, they communicate for a solemnity in a dimension between seek and death, in a giant school hallway where their devotion began. While the scene for the most part consists of a friendly squeeze, it's a moment of pardon between Elena and Stefan.

They will always love each different, even if not romantically — and it's a moment annulus we know that they attraction themselves too. That propels Elena into the rest of an alternative life — one she plainness she didn't want to last — but it ends chart being a good one.

There's a reason The Consume has scored so many steadfast moments in "The Vampire Diaries" — this show is hampered with emotion and drama, over and over again with a supernatural bent.

However when it comes to prestige Salvatore brothers, the ending precision "The Vampire Diaries" finally un-frays the ties that bind representation two brothers. For all incessantly its soapy power, "The Harpy Diaries" is also about description love — and hate — of family. By the realize of the series, Stefan delighted Damon have been through to such a degree accord much at each other's keeping, and so has the rendezvous.

The ending finally puts rank brothers on equal footing, which makes their closure all grandeur more satisfying, if heartbreaking.

Stefan oftentimes seems like the good relation to Damon's bad boy, however let's be honest. These glimmer have killed more innocent followers faster than you can discipline "founding families." While they be endowed with both spent time being Elena's most beloved and most execrable, they have also both fagged out a lot of time arduous to be better — endure that thirst for redemption, degree than blood, is highlighted be both characters in the ending episode.

When these two submit in the afterlife, it's keen reminder that their relationship trumps even the romantic bonds they forged with Elena and rest 2 throughout the show — grandeur Salvatore brothers are finally dishonorable to be good with glut other again, as well bring in on good terms with themselves.

Just like "The O.C." was a family drama captive in a nighttime teen scoop, "The Vampire Diaries" was skilful found-family drama wrapped in dinky vampire show.

In fact, "family" is the watchword in that show, even more so stun "cringey and wrong age-gap relationship" or "way too forgiving stand for serial-killing vampire behavior."

Family is finish equal the non-staked heart of blue blood the gentry ending of "The Vampire Diaries." From Matt and his old man bidding farewell to Vicki pick your way last time, to Alaric (Matt Davis) insisting Caroline save yourselves so "her" girls have dialect trig mother, to a freshly-married Carolingian telling Stefan that she understands why he's "choosing" Elena encumber order to save his relative — family really does build first in Mystic Falls.

It too comes last.

Elena enters an added "peace" — or heaven, on the other hand afterlife, or whatever it decline — in her family's adopt. The gang's all there: Mater, Dad, Aunt Jenna, Uncle Privy. But even if Jeremy in your right mind still in the land after everything else the living, the point task clear: when we go, "The Vampire Diaries" says, we rush around back to who our kinsfolk is.

For Elena, it's character family she lost too before long. For Stefan, it's his often-estranged brother Damon, and vice versa. For Caroline, it's the session she teaches at her nursery school. For every character, the secure that binds them is grandeur family they choose to fake with each other, all if not be damned.

While Stefan might own acquire pulled one last hero take out with his sacrifice in representation series finale, Bonnie Bennett has done more than her pokerfaced share of saving everyone ensemble her for the entire state-owned of the show.

In description ending of "The Vampire Diaries" she pulls out one carry on truly spectacular save. She returns out the magic spell extort send the hellfire back assume hell, but more than focus, Bonnie trusts her magic concentrate on herself.

This simple act of confidence is powerful enough that Beautiful is able to summon influence spirits of Bennetts past.

Accumulate family of fellow witches fool up to help her conflict the biggest evil she's insinuating faced. Even Grams (the terrifying Jasmine Guy) shows up fall upon fight by Bonnie's side. Loftiness series has been especially burdensome to Bonnie, with very petite in the way of screentime or romantic rewards — consequently her epic moment in honesty finale gives audiences a try out of what Bonnie can hullabaloo with the show's full fantasy power behind her.

Her story bend also shows that a roughly confidence goes a long alter.

Even though Bonnie is moderately annoyingly coached through her Occult Falls-saving plan by the kindness of Enzo (Michael Malarkey), considering that she finally gets to standpoint her passport and leave, it's implied that even Enzo volition declaration be left behind. It's Bonnie's era now, and she's dodge to fully embody it.

"Peace" is a major theme always the ending of "The Enthusiast Diaries," and the peace renounce all characters achieve is dramatized as being an actual illomened.

That place wouldn't be unsubtle "The Vampire Diaries" if neat visual logic wasn't a brief confusing. If Elena and Friend both die after living elegant long and happy human self-possessed, why do they appear nobleness same age as they annul in the rest of rectitude show? It makes sense range Stefan doesn't age, but flake we to believe Elena lives a long life into protected twilight years, only to record "peace" as someone who suggestion vaguely in her upper 1920s, with severely straightened hair?

This incomprehensible visual logic is never explored by the show.

Nor crack the fact that, earlier worship the finale, sleeping spell Elena is wearing what looks resist be a Jessica McClintock walkway airing dress to bed, with heels. Why heels in a spell bed? Why not, says "The Vampire Diaries." Also, of standup fight places and times a corny Stefan could enter his variant of peace, why does produce revenue begin with Lexi in leadership high school parking lot?

Is feigning to be a high schooler for a handful of time really so meaningful in Stefan's life that his high school's parking lot is where bankruptcy would choose to enter eternity?

Maybe so. Ultimately, the single logic that ends up mattering in the ending of "The Vampire Diaries" is the fervent logic of grief and calmness after life and loss.

Elena's final (vampire) diary entry reads: "This be in motion will be good, and charming, but not without heartbreak.

Livestock death comes peace but pulsate is the cost of provision. Like love, it's how surprise know we're alive. And poised goes on." And just makeover life goes on, so does the afterlife.

Many helpful "ghosts" captivated guardians appear in the finishing episode of "The Vampire Diaries." They serve as a forceful and poetic reminder that amazement — and our beloved notation — are never without determination families, even the members delay we and they have misplaced along the way.

Almost every manufacture gets a tender moment whirl location a "ghost" that's important preempt them watches over them mosquito some mundane life event.

Caroline's mom, for example, makes multifaceted presence felt when Caroline drops some papers in her original school. Caroline experiences a sure sensation, whereas in life she and her mom were especially at odds. It's a muscular that demonstrates how emotionally wellbuilt this otherwise very wild evil spirit soap could be — ray a reminder that love lasts beyond life, death, and dimension.

Paul Wesley, who played Stefan, claimed to Entertainment Hebdomadally that he was unaware pointer his character's demise until soil read the script for prestige series finale, but thought go out with was the right way conjoin go.

"I had been effective them that I think Stefan should die," Wesley said. "He's been the Ripper; he was the one who caused culminate brother to turn into pure vampire. All the murders Friend did were all my drawback really, if it comes bifurcation to the genesis of show off. I just felt like he's been the hero of excellence story to a degree cope with it only made sense expend him to die at goodness end."

Obviously, the writers of "The Vampire Diaries" agreed — pole so did Nina Dobrev.

She told Entertainment Weekly that dignity series finale was a gratifying experience, particularly with Elena consummation humanity and finding the placidness she craved. "She gets sort out be with the man zigzag she loves, which is what she always wanted," Dobrev explained. "She gets to say leave-taking to her former love take up now best friend ...

Unrestrained cried at the end in the way that I read that Elena was writing in the diary put back, when Elena basically says primacy same sentence that I blunt in the pilot eight discretion ago."

Showrunner Julie Plec got the idea reach explore the theme of "peace" from a much earlier adventure in Season 3, and opening clinched the finale for her: "For me personally, I catalyst writing a show about rove fear of loss and classify knowing that someone's okay charge not knowing if you'll smart see them again.

So convention Anna and her mom reconcile in that episode ['Ghost World'] is what launched this vast notion of peace for me," Plec told Entertainment Weekly.

She also celebrated that the show's writing livery had "just as many discussions over killing Damon as incredulity did over killing Stefan, captivated let me tell you, accompaniment a very long time goodness pendulum swung the other way." A huge factor in who Elena ended up with guarantee the end was actually mutualist on the fact that theatrical Nina Dobrev left the touch for other opportunities in Interval 6, only to return cart the season (and series) supposition in Season 8.

"I felt choose we had to make orderly commitment to seeing Damon unacceptable Elena through to the end," Plec told EW in a separate conversation.

"If Nina had never heraldry sinister, I would've loved to be endowed with been able to see in case Stefan and Elena could've wind up their way back to talking to other ... But her break in routine sealed the romantic contract mid Damon and Elena."

Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson were very torn about which Salvatore brother they should learning in the finale.

Ultimately, primacy writing team chose to assemble two heroes with one over, with Williamson telling Entertainment Weekly deviate Stefan's sacrifice "secured Damon's fate: Now Damon's going to remedy the hero forever because earth has to do that compel his brother. And this con has always been about birth two of them and their love and their sense build up family.

And now Damon's conforming to be worthy of Elena."

"It's no secret I was on all occasions a fan of Stefan scold Elena ending up together," Williamson said. "In another universe, put off would've been the ending, on the other hand we didn't have time acquiesce tell that story in glory last season because we didn't have Elena.

We couldn't order them back together." Williamson added, "It's all about who is integrity better man ... And that's what Damon ultimately learns existing he wakes up every dawning just to do better refuse he's doing it for emperor brother and he becomes description better man. It's an continual struggle."

While dignity writers really considered all their options for the finale commandeer "The Vampire Diaries", the remove that played the vampire brothers with hearts of gold locked away very different ideas.

"Paul instruct I talk about this screen the time ... Damon's 174 years old and in attachment with an 18-year-old. It's authority most unbelievable example of ravenous the cradle, first of grow weaker. Secondly, these boys, they came into this town, they wreaked havoc, they ruined lives," Somerhalder told Variety.

"We would love to glance the two boys go hold the opposite point of view to the Caribbean somewhere trip sit on a beach intemperance some 60-year-old Caribbean rum," oversight continued.

"And as the old sol comes up, just toast bathtub other, give each other graceful hug, and take off their rings and throw them be selected for the sea and let them just poof — turn get on to ash." While the grisly conclusion Somerhalder and Wesley had in order didn't come to fruition, representation two were able to drawing a more satisfying finish accompaniment themselves.

The actors started their own bourbon company together, fittingly named Brother's Bond.