Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore)

Born 28 June 1840, Damon Salvatore, portrayed by Ian Somerhalder since the pilot, serves as the series’ anti-hero and a main character. Damon was born and raised in Mystic Falls, Virginia to Giuseppe Salvatore and an unnamed mother. Not much is known about Damon while he was human, only that he served in the Confederate Army for three years as an officer. When Katherine Pierce came to town, both he and his younger brother, Stefan Salvatore, fell in love with her. In 1864 he is turned into a vampire after being shot by his father with Katherine’s blood in his system. His transitioning was completed after Stefan, also now a vampire, convinced him to kill a woman. Damon, angry that Stefan forced him to complete his transition to a vampire, vows to make Stefan’s life miserable. More than a hundred years later, Damon returns to Mystic Falls to free Katherine, who he believes is locked in a tomb there. Damon meets Elena Gilbert before Stefan (as shown in the season finale of season 3) but compels her to forget their meeting. Later, still hating his brother, he decides to bring havoc to her relationship with Stefan. When Damon finds out that Katherine is not in the tomb and has been alive the entire time, he finds comfort in Elena. He then starts to fall in love with her. His relationship with Stefan also improves and it is shown that Damon actually does care about his brother.

In the beginning of the series, Damon kills people impulsively, but as the series progresses he starts to act more humane and stops killing people. He even starts friendships with others, such as Alaric Saltzman and Sheriff Forbes. When Katherine returns in season two and tells him that she has always loved Stefan and not him, he starts to hate her. Damon becomes close to another vampire named Rose. When Rose is bitten by a werewolf, he is left with no other choice but to stake her and briefly falls back into his old ways, killing a young girl. Damon then starts a relationship with a reporter called Andie Star. He compels her to agree to him taking her blood and uses her to distract himself. However, she is later killed by Stefan. Despite these relationships, Damon still loves Elena deeply. When Damon is dying, due to Klaus werewolf bite, Elena tells him that she forgives him for everything and they share a “goodbye kiss”. However, Damon is cured after drinking Klaus’ blood, brought to him by Katherine after Stefan exchanges himself for his brother’s cure.

In season three, while trying to find and save Stefan, Damon and Elena grow closer to each other and they later even share a kiss. When Elena tells Damon that his love for her is a problem, Damon, in anger, has a one-night stand with Rebekah. However, in Denver, Elena kisses Damon. When Klaus drain Elena’s blood entirely to continue his hybrid obsession, Damon helps Stefan, Bonnie, Tyler, and Jermey stop Klaus’ heart. The vampire-hunting vampire Alaric Saltzman tries to find Klaus’ desecrated body and as Damon meets up with Rebekah Alaric finds them and kills Klaus, sending Rebbekah into anguish. Towards the end of the season 3 finale it is also revealed that Klaus isn’t actually dead but Bonnie has transferred his mind into of Tyler’s body. Damon calls Elena to see where she is and finds out that she is on her way to see Stefan and her friends instead of going to him in the storage building, he says he understands and requests she tell him who she chooses. Elena chooses Stefan over Damon because Stefan met her first and was there for her when she needed someone to love after her parents’ death. Alaric next tries to go after Rebekah but Damon protects her and she manages to esacpe. Alaric, angry with Damon, proceeds to brutally beat him until Damon starts to fight back. Then, Alaric suddenly dies due to Elena’s death, as Alaric and Elena’s lives are tied together. In a flashback during the season 3 finale, it is revealed that Damon met Elena the night of her parents’ crash, but compelled her to forget.

In the beginning of season four, Damon helps rescue Stefan, Elena and Rebekah from the council. Damon ends up trying to teach Elena how to feed effectively, since she cannot drink from human blood bags or digest animal blood.But after feeding on human, she regrets it and she tells Damon that she doesn’t want to be like him. In the next episode, though, Damon saves Elena´s life and she then tells Stefan that her feeling for Damon have magnified since she turned, which leads to their break-up. In the following episode “My Brother’s Keeper” Elena reveals to Damon that he is the reason she and Stefan broke up and at the end of the episode Damon and Elena have sex. Damon and Stefan try to find a way to break a vampires sire bond, and Damon is told that he must personally break the bond himself.