THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

MAIN CHARACTORS 

Stefan Salvatore is one of the main male leads and protagonist of The Vampire Diaries. Stefan is a 165 year old vampire, his older brother Damon Salvatore is also a vampire, and hates him as he promised him a lifetime of misery.

This was due to their shared love of Katherine Pierce, the Vampire who turned both of them into Vampires before her presumed death in 1864. New to his vampire life, Stefan was a ripper, as said by Alexia Branson, but learned to live more compassionately with her help.

In 2009, Stefan returned to his home of Mystic Falls to discover a girl that looked exactly like Katherine.     They started to date, but their lives were tangled with that of his brother Damon. With Katherine's return,   the revelation of the existence of the The Originals threaten to destroy Elena to break a curse, and Stefan and Damon are searching for ways to save her. At the end he is forced to become Klaus' right-hand man in exchange for saving his brother's life.

Damon Salvatore is the brother of Stefan Salvatore and a distant relative of Zach. He was born in the 1800s with his brother until he became a vampire. At the time of his return to Mystic Falls, Damon and Stefan hadn't seen each other in 15 years because of their bitter and violent relationship.

Damon's sole purpose for coming back to Mystic Falls was to free Katherine Pierce, the vampire who had turned him and the woman he loved. After the realization that Katherine never loved him, Damon started working with Stefan and Katherine's doppelgänger Elena Gilbert, with whom he fell in love with and has constantly tries to protect her.

Damon is also the head of the Founder's Council along with Sheriff Forbes and currently lives with Stefan in theSalvatore Boarding House. For the first season, Damon was the congeries's antagonist, but has reverted his status to help Stefan and protect Elena.

He had been bitten by Tyler Lockwood (now Hybrid) during a full moon which meant he was slowly dying but was later saved after being fed Klaus' blood by Katherine which healed him, which Stefan helped to save his only brother.

Elena Gilbert is the main female character, the main protagonist and the heroine of The Vampire Diaries. She is an 18 year old vampire who is yet to transition. She lives in the supernatural town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, with her adoptive brother and biological cousin Jeremy at 2104 Maple Street. Elena was in a romantic relationship with Stefan Salvatore, a 162 year old vampire, before losing him when he gave himself over to Klaus in exchange for the cure to a werewolf bite , hybrid blood, to save his brother. 
However, she also shares a complicated relationship with Stefan's elder vampire brother Damon Salvatore, who is both dangerous and seductive. She attends Mystic Falls High School, where she is a former cheerleader, honor student, and one of the most popular girls in the school. Elena wants to become a great writer; she stated this in a conversation with Stefan, and she has a diary in which she writes everything that happens in her life.

Elena has to deal with trying to lead a normal life ever since her adoptive parents died in a car accident and since she became involved in a romantic relationship with a vampire named Stefan Salvatore. Stefan unexpectedly saved Elena's life on May 23, 2009 when her adoptive parents, Grayson and Miranda Gilbert's car went off atWickery Bridge. He tried to save them but her father,Grayson, insisted on him saving Elena first.

When Stefan pulled Elena out of the car, he said that he was shocked and taken back when he saw that Elena looked like Katherine, he could not believe the uncanny resemblance between the two. Stefan then took Elena to the Mystic Falls General Hospital, and had been watching her ever since for about four months, and learning about her to make sure that she is safe and not at all Katherine Pierce, or like her. Elena said that it was a "miracle" that she had survived such a horrific and tragic car accident and she questioned how it was in any way possible that she survived and made it out of the car.

After she discovers the secret of the Salvatore brothers, Elena has to deal with murders and lies in her life as well as with supernatural events and characters. She is described as a star student. She is popular, sporty, smart, kind hearted, compassionate, selfless, empathetic, caring and nice. She can be rather vulnerable and a damsel in distress, although she does possess a strong-willed, determined, passionate and fiery streak.

Katerina Petrova, most commonly known as Katherine Pierce, is a vampire and former lover of Damon and Stefan Salvatore. She first appeared in recurring flashbacks, depicting her physically romantic relationship with the Salvatore brothers, eventually turning them, but was captured by the townspeople of Mystic Falls to be destroyed. To Klaus's knowledge she is also one of the Petrova Doppelgängers.

However, behind her sweet nature, Katherine revealed her deceptive side and escaped her would-be death with the help of George Lockwood. 145 years later, Katherine returned to Mystic Falls and started toying with the Salvatores again, cutting off her loose ends by destroying the tomb vampires. Katherine was deeply hated for the murder and the turning of Caroline Forbes into a vampire, and using a werewolf, Mason Lockwood, to retrieve the moonstone, an essential element to break The Sun and the Moon Curse. Katherine is exposed as a doppelgänger who spent her immortal life fleeing an Original named Klaus. And although she chose Stefan over Damon, she promised John Gilbert that she would help protect her descendant Elena Gilbert, who is the center of the Salvatore brothers hearts. She is initially portrayed as the main antagonist, but the arrival of Elijah, an Original vampire, diminishes her attitude and frightens her with the knowledge of Klaus. Her current whereabouts are unknown since Homecoming.

Reference: Vampirediarieswikia