In The Vampire Diaries, it’s not always easy to divide the heroes from the villains. One brother (Stefan), deemed a hero is making amends from his Ripper-days where he had little control over his bloodlust. The other brother (Damon) deemed to be the big bad and often the villain later becomes a great friend. On top of this, when villains stuck around long enough on the show, they became character favorites and flawed heroes.
The world of Mystic Falls and The Vampire Diaries is murky in regards to the heroes and the villains, but no matter which way they are categorized, one thing stays the same. Everyone is trying to make amends and seek redemption.
Mary Louise & Nora Sacrifice Themselves
At first, Mary Louise and Nora don’t seem to have too many redeeming qualities. They enjoyed torturing people and vampires alike. However, the characters became more interesting when viewers learn more about them and their love. Forced to hide their love during their human lifetime, they are now able to express their love for each other.
Nora was marked by Rayna and the Phoenix Stone Sword. Rather than let Nora’s soul be trapped in the sword by Rayna and to stall Rayna, Mary Louise and Nora sacrifice themselves–siphoning its power, destroying the stone, and helping others.
Rebekah Saves Matt From Her Ex
In Season 3, Rebekah caused Matt and Elena to veer off the bridge and nearly drown to their deaths. Luckily, Stefan saved Matt, and Elena became a vampire due to Damon’s blood in her system.
Since Matt survived despite her intentions, she found ways to get in his good graces again and for redemption over her past action. Not only did she help him study in order to pass his classes, but she took him to Europe. However, even those great bits of redemption pale in comparison to when she sacrificed herself to save Matt from her resurrected ex. Rebekah would live since she was an original, but it was going to hurt.
Valerie Protects Caroline & The Twins
When viewers first meet Valerie, she appears to be the nicer one of Lily’s (Stefan and Damon’s mom) Heretic family. When Caroline is kidnapped by the other Heretics, it seems that Valerie did a spell to help Caroline. But really, she spelled Caroline’s skin to be like vervain to any vampire, including Stefan.
In the past, Valerie and Stefan had a fling, and she still wanted him back. So, Valerie literally spelled a barricade between the two lovebirds (Stefan and Caroline). Later, she redeems herself by helping Caroline survive her labor. During labor, the unborn Gemini twins are siphoning off Caroline’s magic, killing her. Valerie protects Caroline and the infants, even when it drains her to take on all that magic.
Damon Trains & Protects Jeremy
At one point, Damon killed Jeremy. Luckily, Jeremy had been wearing the magical ring, and so Jeremy came back to life. However, Damon didn’t know that at the time. When he killed Jeremy, he expected that Jeremy would be dead. Worse yet, he seemed to do it because he was upset with Elena – not caring that the death of her beloved brother would’ve broken her.
Later, once Jeremy becomes one of the supernatural Hunters meant to kill vampires, Damon trains Jeremy. Even when Damon was compelled to kill Jeremy, he put himself as far away as he could, so as not to harm him.
Klaus Becomes the Hero at Graduation
Klaus is one of the biggest villains, initially. He kills beloved characters like Elena’s Aunt Jenna, and he’s obsessed with Elena and her doppelganger blood. How could The Vampire Diaries work to redeem this character? In two words: family and Caroline. His attachment to his family makes him more human.
But his attachment to Caroline makes him more approachable and playful. He sees something in Caroline that has him alter his behavior. The greatest redemption was when he came to Caroline’s desperate call at graduation when she and her friends were being targeted, and he saved them. He would have more to atone for on the first spinoff, The Originals, but this was a good start.
Katherine Helps Stefan Face His Feelings
Once Katherine turns human, her story becomes even more interesting. For one, it becomes clear that she has true feelings for Stefan. So, when Stefan keeps on having problems facing his anxiety and trauma over the summer where he drowned repeatedly in a safe, Katherine puts her very human self in harm’s way to help him.
Stefan has been getting into the empty safe in order to work through his anxiety and feelings. Katherine puts herself in there with him, giving him the opportunity to save her (the hero) or to kill her. Then she breaks down the truth about his feelings in only a way that pragmatic Katherine could. While her redemption is mainly a moment and she becomes the devious big-bad again, this moment still shines, especially with what she put both brothers through over the years.
Damon’s Friendship with Alaric
When Alaric first comes to Mystic Falls, he is on the search for the vampire who killed his wife. All signs point to Damon. When Alaric confronts Damon, Damon pushes Alaric, telling him that he fed on Isobel (Alaric’s wife), and that, “she was delicious.” Damon tells Alaric that he turned Isobel into a vampire and that she must not have been happy with her married life. Then, he kills Alaric, picks up his drink, and sits to watch Alaric die. Fortunately, Alaric had a magic ring on that would bring him back to life.
Damon’s whole friendship with Alaric can be seen as redemption for how he treated and killed Alaric. They become best friends, and Damon mourns Alaric’s other brief death. On top of that, he had promised to look after everyone for Alari – showing yet again a great redemption through this friendship.
Damon & Stefan Offer Themselves to Cade
The two sirens have been linked to Cade for centuries, made to do his binding. Seline (one of the sirens) offers Cade the young Gemini twins. The two little girls are Caroline and Alaric’s daughters, and Damon and Stefan make a deal with Cade. Why not have two vampire brothers instead of these two little girl witches?
Both Damon and Stefan have a lot to atone for at this time. Damon had killed Tyler. Stefan had abandoned Caroline after she had the twins; true, he was on the run from Rayna, but he also didn’t keep in touch. While Stefan and Caroline had made amends, Stefan takes his guilt deep and would save the twins to make up for his past.
Stefan Makes Damon Human Again
The main tension between Stefan and Damon is that Stefan forced/coerced Damon to become a vampire. Damon didn’t want to feed and continue the transformation. Stefan convinced him in a way that seemed to take away Damon’s choice. Stefan brought him someone to feed on, opened her vein, and almost pushed Damon onto it.
While Damon is better at being a vampire than Stefan, he never really wanted to be one. By making Damon human again, Stefan is righting his past wrong, and giving Damon the chance to live a human life with the woman he loves.
Damon’s Whole Arc
In truth, Damon’s whole arc in The Vampire Diaries is one of redemption. First-season Damon didn’t care about the characters -aside from Elena and Katherine. He killed his brother’s best friend, Lexi, just for convenience in order to get the town council not to suspect him as a vampire and pin it on her. He didn’t think of Lexi or his brother, killing her was a cruel practicality.
The story credits Elena with Damon’s change – that if it weren’t for her, he’d be the same old Damon. However good Elena’s influence may have been though, that’s a lot to pin on one person. Simply put, Damon was ready for a change, and his actions gave him redemption from past crimes.
