Lazuli

Okay so like I was wrong before... I do realize that in s4 when Elena was all Hunters' Curse mad and she killed Jeremy he wasn't full hunter yet to be supernatural and so he could come back to life. But! I really don't like that Jeremey became the hunter because I think that planted all the seeds with where s4 falls apart. Its too convenient that they get the cure for the curse, it's too convenient they get the map, and it's too convenient to kill off Jeremey fully when they will just yoink him back in. Frankly, it would be much better if he stayed the medium and conflict fo s4 was less uh oh sire bond, but uh oh Elena is off her rockers and they need to find a new hunter, who they can convince to kill a vampire, then that hunter becomes the new semi-antagonist, and like also who they need to still kill a bunch of vamps to get the map. And that creates tension because its also a character who can just be an antagonist, who is also a victim of being dragged into this, they can't kill or need a human/witch to kill, and also they need but doesn't need them except for the fact the hunter also wants the map, but also the slow discovery that the tattoo is the map. But then also Elena is going mad for longer and that is in of it self a form of tension. But also five humans in the whole world they would have to journey to find this, and bonus if they idea is MF gang wants cure to get rid of curse, Klaus wants his human doppelgänger, and imagine if Elena in her madness is someone who kills twelve sacrifices and isn't even aware. Like what if instead of Klaus killing all the Hybrids (they still do liberate their own sire bond), Elena ends up in a situation where she kills 12 vampires. You could have Klaus also in a strange way wanting to cure her of the suffering he felt as a thread of remorse that brings the teams together. What if Bonnie's Expression is the only thing that can find/track a hunter. Also what if the recovery from the madness is slow after making a hunter, or it's a lie a witch made in the spell to trick vampires into making another hunter? What if the cure is the only way? And the truth is Klaus just learned to ignore the hallucinations and just outlived it. And truthfully if I could make any overhaul I wanted, it would be only the cure could save her, and that the cure isn't more immortality but a cure for a curse, any of only one curse, specifically the most recent one. If the only curse someone has is vampirism that is undone, but I imagine it kills them. Silas isn't undead, so the cure undoing his immortality just makes him a witch. If Elena takes it with the hunters curse, that goes away, but she is still a vampire. If Katherine took it her neck snaps and she is a dead human. If Rebekah takes it, well, who knows what the last curse on her is, if it's just the vampirism then she would die. If Klaus took it, the hunters curse he slowly learned to live with would go away? I also like to imagine this would thread the plotline of the Originals without magical babies into s4 as like part of the whole travel the world to find hunter thing, but there is like no magical babies... and so my guilty pleasure of Klaroline can blossom. I say all this because I truly believe that the only actually cure for vampirism would have to be made by sacrificing a human doppelganger, simply because Tatia's blood was in the wine that made vampires. The doppelganger should be just as part of that curse as the sun and the moon curse.

He was an okay character season 1, and he was a whatever character in season 2, but in season 3 he was a good character, like I like season 3 Matt, I think about season 3 Matt, I even root for a season 3 Matt, then there’s season four Matt where he is just okay again, and the in season 5 he is the worst character.

But I was then realizing, in season 3 his character was actually functioning for his purpose of a character, especially in his little murder mystery side quest with Elena.

And I think it isn’t all that controversial to say Elena is a good character seasons 1-3 as well, and season 4 she is a bit all over the place, but it is excusable to some extent. Until season 5…

And it was the horrible epiphany that had me realize, Alaric too is another character that starts off an interesting character season 1, great in season 2, and a good character in season 3, and yeah from then it’s all iffy.

And the thing is, these three characters are all the characters never allowed a consistent arc.

Other characters have the too, but in very different ways.

Matt is a character who thrives when he is assisting a main narrative. Matt foils Elena very well, while Elena foils Alaric. I think Matt works as an in the dark character. We see that in season 1 as he is the unknowing victim of the supernatural chaos. in season 2 he finds out and realizes all his pain is because of the supernatural and has to slowly uncover the nuance alone because of his unfortunate situation which is what allows him to be manipulated. By season three he is just as involved as the others, included in the mystery, has character agency, while also on the same side as the main characters. He knows the nuance of the supernatural world, but he is also represents the human side of it. Which is why it makes sense he is working with Liz and Elena to solve the whole whodunnit side plot of the season. He and Elena are both “human” ignoring she is a doppelgänger, but they both can relate to being attracted to vampires, to being victims of this world, and that sort of cluelessness moving forward. But any antagonism he has towards the supernatural world he has is more to the pain it causes and less the individuals, which was what he learned from the previous season with Caroline.

Matt and Liz are direct foils, and I think it is interesting how his character reaches his lowest post Liz’s death. If there was an actual rhetorical or corruption arc post this that the writers committed to for Matt this would have been genuinely such a good storyline but it was so messy and poorly executed.

But I think Matt suffered also when Elena was turned because of what his character was. And I am not saying he was her link to humanity or her past, which is something the show may have tried to accomplish, but really he is more a character whose arc should have mirrored Elena more. His next arc should have been realizing, which he almost did, that he was the only one who had the choice to be in that world, while realizing Elena didn’t. She was trapped in the supernatural world and it keeps hurting her, while Matt isn’t trapped, but there, because it has hurt him.

I think his character would have been more interesting if Elena were to stay human, but Elena narratively had to turn into a vampire, unless they continued the doppelgänger plot line in the other way. Where they realized ‘oh shit if doppelgänger blood was part of the binding curse and broke it, what other curse is it connect to that it could break…’ if they wanted a cure plotline, that would have been a more interesting, and it would be super satisfying to see a Bennet witch do that… just saying. Especially if say Alaric was a whole season big bag instead of Silas… what???

Anywho!!! Matt’s character also would have been better if he remained in Elena’s storyline as well, since they are foils. Like am I lowkey saying that I ship season 3 Elena and Matt, yeah I lowkey do, because that kind of compliments an arc better. But because Vampire Diaries is literally about Elena and the Salvatore’s that is impossible, which yeah.

But in my vampire diaries the main romance is Klaus and Caroline, and Elena is not the protagonist, and her story is not cemented in canon expectations.

But Matt either need an acceptance arc of choosing his friends despite the circumstances and not condemn them, and realize he has a privilege they don’t. Or he should have had a full villain arc. His character, as well as Elena’s, and Alaric’s all suffer because they are never allowed to have a full storyline, and the writers are never sure what to do with them.

Like let Stefan be with Rebekah, and Damon be with a stake in his heart, and let Alaric have a closed story arc at the end of s4, and let Matt and Elena have a finished arc as side characters, let Bonnie have a love interest who lives (Enzo? Kol?) a happy ending, a heroic feat, and let Caroline be with Klaus!

No humanity Ripper Stefan is safer than humanity ripper Stefan.

Because watching the 1920’s scenes he shows control and more of a focus in the hunt and the game of bloodlust more than the addiction. I think this supports my theory that no humanity is less about actually turning of emotions and morals but it it is almost like it turns on the hunt in their brain. The vampire is able to pin point on a singular goal and not let any other feelings get in the way of it. So when Stefan in particular turns off his humanity he becomes the perfect archetype of the vampire as in the game of it is all he cares about, the getting of the food, and to keep getting it, but because all the emotions and feelings that threaten that are pushed aside with that is the actual blood addiction. While I think when his humanity is on, he feels the need and desire so much worse, and the feeling of satisfying the urge is such an amazing feeling for him, that it becomes more the debilitating thing we see with him. So he becomes the decapitating put the bodies back together vampire we see when his humanity is on. I also think when he starts pulling back when his humanity is on and he in an in between he struggles the most with figuring out what to focus on. The ripper Monterey act was pre 1920s and I think wrecked him so bad he flipped his switch and became arguably a safer vampire which is why he wasn’t hunted to death like most rippers. I think Lexi is so important because she is what helps him have guidance during the recovery periods, because she knows how more how the flip works than say Damon and Stefan ever did.

I also think the reason he had an easier recovery after s3 post ripper Stefan was because he suddenly had a goal that was not about food. It was about vengeance. Which is also why I think Lexi’s ghost intervention was less effective than she was expecting it too. She was 1) rushing bc she had limited time and 2) she was using tactics that may have worked on Stefan in his typical patterns of being a ripper, but because it wasn’t the typical situation it was less effective. Also because he was in the between stages already, and usually that’s at his most dangerous as a ripper, and yeah he was a bit of an ass then, but really the issue was more that he was acting very differently then he would in that stage of progress because he was using a much different coping mechanism than he had in the past; revenge. He wasn’t focused on hunger the same way bc of past actions to grow a tolerance, but also Stefan was in such a different environment than he’s ever been before. Both less and more alone than ever.

But also imagine if older vampires (300+) just reach a point where they are like fuck yeah this is important for timekeeping and shit and they just swear by it bc by this point they have seen it just be right consistently.

And so yeah I feel like we are all picturing a really funny Lexi and Rebekah being into it.

And obviously Kol. I feel like regardless of this headcanon he would be into astrology.

But I give you Elijah specifically be really deferential of astrology. “I apologize, you see I rather not make a word during a scorpio Jupiter retrograde, it would be ill suited for the both of us.”

I give you Klaus checking to see if Caroline and him are compatible on her birthday after he leaves. (This makes me laugh everytime I picture it).

Because if it were an all the time sense, which it kinda appears to be a passive skill, as when she accidentally makes contact and she isn’t expecting to feel whatever she feels each time, and she has a look of shock when she feels the magic of a witch or a vampire. The only time she really sought it out was I think Caroline? But I think because it’s a passive skill, it’s also not an every time skill, a premonition of what this entity means for her specifically, and it’s a warning on the first time. Because if it isn’t, imagine feeling death every time she hugs Caroline? Elena later on? And even including her friendship with Damon, how does she handle that? Especially Damon. And there are the moments she is fooled by Katherine (I think. I do think Caroline and Bonnie win still at least fooled, but even then, it’s hard to tell. I do excuse them for the Katherine taking over Elena’s body for a few reasons, but I can get into that later).

But I also think the reason why this skill appears less and less is because her life gets so encroached by death, on and on and on. She is so steeped into it, the warning becomes moot. And it’s why other witches can sense her being so surrounded by death later on.

And the words “It’s how I imagine death to feel like” and not “it felt like he was dead” makes me think of her becoming the anchor later, and how instinctually tied to death she becomes (I do think we as a fandom should probably discuss how Bonnie was briefly a minor deity in a way. But also the whole Silas and Amara plot line was so iffy that I can excuse that we don’t discuss that. But I do think it was really cool how Bonnie technically was that for a moment).

This whole thought is kinda of messy, so I understand not really want to adopt it lol, but just a thought I had.

Especially since I think Stefan is the reaper in her life more than anyone else. The other reason I say it’s more likely a warning, is because of Elena and Tyler themself. I wonder if she as a young kid felt the magic of them, but young as she was didn’t really think about it. Maybe it’s why she never really connected with Tyler. Maybe the fact that a doppelgänger and a Bennet witch are intertwined is why she connected to Elena despite it, or maybe she was too young to think of it.

Lexi right when she meets Stefan convinces Stefan to write his experiences and to journal right to get him out of no humanity mode. And he does and she is like (and imagine this in a much less modern tone, “you’re really talented you should publish your work. People will assume you’re a fantasy writer, the rumination of the supernatural are quite popular right now.”

And Stefan is like sure why not, and they are visiting another country right now, so he takes his recount of his journals, and decides that instead Mystic Falls he will have his take place here, as it’s more gothic and he likes the castle. Then he realizes that to separate it from him he makes the protagonist of his novel a woman. Lexi agrees and convinces him to keep the Katherine character a woman. Because she is over a century old and she supports the gays—- she is bisexual obviously. (You know Lexi made sure Stefan wasn’t homophobic very quickly, as early as the 1870s. A good thing bc Stefan is also a bisexual.) He describes his protagonist who is technically him but now a woman looking like Lexi as a joke. And he is like makes her more innocent. Because Stefan isn’t super creative the girl name of his character is Laura. Because Stefan means Laural crown and Stefanie was not the vibe. And the Katherine name he chooses is Carmilla. Bc red. He and Lexi make up a ton of new vampire lore, and the write the book Carmilla based on his experiences. He then compels Sheridan Le Fanu to publish it himself and claim it as his own, but unfortunately he didn’t think to compel Sheridan not to change anything in the novel. Sheridan made the vampirism an allegory for sapphic love to Stefan and Lexi’s great anguish.

I have no idea if this is actually fanon, but I love in Klaroline fics is how eyes are described, and the fact that they give away the ancient quality of the vampire.

But I kind of been loving this headcanon that it’s a skill one can develop after knowing a bunch of vampires, the ability to see the age of a vampire based on their eyes. And I like the headcanon that Caroline is very good at that specifically, better than even Stefan and Damon. And yes it’s because of all her intense eye contact with Klaus, but also the hypervigilance she has developed. I also think each character has a different thing they look for when trying to differentiate Katherine and Elena and Caroline looks at the eyes.

Like pick a year, and use the conflicts of that era, to influence the conflict of an Original vampire, and spin it, so it reveals that somehow this historical event is tied to one of them or their conflicts.

That is your oneshot prompt for TVDU!

Bonus points if you somehow weave Klaroline in it.

Someone made a post and I wish I had it to link but they were saying the MF gang was clearly gossiping about Klaus and Hayley’s baby, and that is so funny. But imagine if like hearing all the other weird shit going on between the shows. Like imagine if even if Caroline didn’t appear in the show they have a gag between both that they still text and keep each other updated, or Elena and Elijah are pen pals for no reason but they just give yay friendship energy.

Or like Klaus, Stefan, Caroline, have a group chat that they use for updates on the stuff, but Klaus is paranoid so Caroline spends half her days like cracking his ridiculous codes. And when Stefan was just ignoring everyone I imagine the chat fell off a little bit which is why Klaus was surprised by her magical babies.

You know Klaroline aside, Klaus and Caroline are friends, and I imagine he was confused why she didn’t reach other when he clearly was the only one to go through the impossible baby despite vampirism thing in the world. And like I dislike both tropes, but I do like the poetry of them being the only ones (with Hayley and also ew Alaric) to do with this. But yeah on a friendship level crazy that wasn’t like a thing discussed between them. So Klaus was probably surprised to hear from Stefan of all people.

But ignoring that, imagine Elijah being like oh my friend Elena is in a coma. And Klaus being oh so you have no friends now. Or in MF Jeremey hearing that Kol is alive now and being like oh shit, I’m fucked. Matt didn’t even seem that surprised to seem Finn alive, just got all “I’m macho police officer and somehow less badass now after training…” but like they clearly had some gossip chain between them.

Also I sometimes wish instead of Katherine dying, when Elena went coma it would have been so funny if a Katherine just started effing around with the Original crew.

If the actors and contracts didn’t exist and we didn’t need to respect those, that would have been fun. Because I totally understand Nina wanted to leave the whole ting behind for a little but there.

Also just Bonnie being more coveted between the show as a Bennet witch. Imagine if her being “dead” or the “anchor” was discussed more in the Originals to show how important that bloodline is. Or even Elijah talking to Davina like, “in my experience the most powerful witches show their potential young. I just fought a power witch like yourself, who is not much older than you.”

Like it’s crazy that Elena is not mentioned once in the Originals, and like don’t get me wrong, Elena is a little center of everything to a point of it getting annoying, but also they did sort of really hinge the supernatural hinging a lot on the doppelgänger especially the original family, it would have made just a tad bit of sense to mention her. Especially in the broken sire line episode which had Stefan in it for a cameo. They were mentioning TVD characters in that episode.