Like other vampire genre shows, Vampire Diaries also suffers from a glaring plot hole that most people have no answer for: the age gap. Vampires are by nature beings that are hundreds of years old in most media, but they retain their youthful appearance. Almost always, they end up pairing up with humans who are also in their teens or early twenties. This was also the case in Vampire Diarieswhere the protagonists, Damon and Stefan, appeared to be in high school, but were almost two centuries older since their transformation.
Vampire lore varies between series and movies, and there are different ways to turn a human into a vampire. Vampire DiariesA human would transition if they were killed or otherwise died while they had vampire blood in their system. This would count if the human had ingested vampire blood willingly or had been injected with it in some way. In the series, vampire blood had healing properties, making it more likely that humans would have it in their systems. Otherwise, vampires like Katherine would feed their blood to humans they knew with the intention of turning them into vampires at some point. All regular vampires were descended from the Originals, who were the very first vampires, and all sire bloodlines traced back to them. They were ancient creatures, so almost all vampires in the series, with the exception of newbies like Elena, had survived normal human life.
The vampires were centuries old but still interacted with human teenagers
|
Vampire |
Age (in years) |
|---|---|
|
Damon |
178 |
|
Stephane |
171 |
|
Nicholas |
1034+ |
|
Caroline |
36+ |
|
Catherine |
500+ |
Although these ancient supernatural creatures added a lot of depth and richness to Vampire DiariesThey also introduced a confusing plot hole into the story. Despite being centuries old, almost all vampires (at least the main characters) chose to be associated with high school-aged humans. When Stefan returned to Mystic Falls, his disguise of choice was that of a high school student, which is where he met and fell in love with Elena Gilbert. While Damon didn’t come as a student, he did spend time with his brother’s girlfriend, as well as the rest of his friends, including Bonnie, Caroline, Vicki, Matt, and Tyler. Even Klaus, who was thousands of years old, enjoyed delving into the teenage affairs of Elena’s love life and later fell in love with Caroline.
Another problematic character, Rebekah, who was the same age as Klaus, desperately wanted to experience the high school life and all its trappings, like prom and dances. Whether they were a hundred or a thousand years old, vampires not only interacted with teenagers, they also acted like them. You would think that they would possess incredible wisdom because they had seen so much of the world, but TVD The TV series proved that this wasn’t the case. Damon, Stefan, Klaus, and Rebekah tended to behave exactly like their human counterparts, making romantic mistakes, acting vengeful, and putting the teens in meaningless situations that didn’t fit with the number of years they had been on Earth. Many viewers found this to be a plot hole that made no sense. Additionally, the age gap between humans and vampires also became a bit controversial.
A popular theory offers an answer
|
Vampire |
Human age they turned (in years) |
|---|---|
|
Damon |
25 |
|
Stephane |
17 |
|
Nicholas |
Early 20s |
|
Caroline |
17 |
|
Catherine |
18 |
“Mom made us vampires. She didn’t make us monsters. We did.” — Elijah
While Vampire Diaries While the show didn’t answer many burning questions, one popular theory neatly fills this plot hole. When humans are turned into vampires, they are frozen at the age they were at that time. This is what makes them immortal: all of the vampires in the show were frozen at the stage of physical development they reached at the age they died with vampire blood inside them. It’s very likely that the vampires were also mentally locked in this stage for the rest of their lives. For example, Stefan was turned at the age of 17, so he remained frozen at 17 in his mind as well.
Similarly, Rebekah, the second youngest Mikaelson, was likely a teenager when Esther turned her into an Original. Klaus was around 20 years old, and Kol was likely a teenager at the time of his transformation. Becoming undead at these ages left vampires with limited emotional development and intelligence, and just as they did not change physically, they also remained mentally stagnant. This is further evidenced by the fact that Damon and Elijah, who were in their twenties when they turned, displayed more mature behavior and wisdom, and had adult interests.
Stefan Salvatore: How long was Elena here? Damon Salvatore: Were you worried, Stefan? Afraid that we’re doomed to repeat the past? Isn’t that why you’re playing your little “I’m a high school human” game?
Vampires who were younger when they turned retained their innocence and interests from their past human lives. It didn’t matter that they had roamed the planet for hundreds of years, as vampires were immutable beings. They could not grow any further or evolve in any way, remaining immortal in the states they were in when they transitioned. They longed to be surrounded by familiarity and environments that their teenage selves wanted to experience or had already experienced. Katherine Pierce was the most relevant example that supported this theory. Despite being 500 years old, she was manipulative, mean, and petty, just like a high school student would be. She was jealous of Elena and Caroline in a childish way, which made sense since she was only 18 when she tricked Rose into turning her into a vampire. These vampires felt more comfortable around humans who were also teenagers, as they could only relate to them.
There was the only exception to this rule
- Caroline Forbes appeared in 156 episodes of Vampire Diarieswho comes right after the Salvatores themselves. Caroline also appeared in all three TVD, Legacies And The OriginalsShe was the only main character whose death (or future death) was not shown in the series, meaning she is still alive and very much immortal.
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Related
10 The Vampire Diaries Plots That Would Make a Spinoff Series
The Vampire Diaries has a fanbase hungry for new stories, and plots like Elena and Damon’s happy ending or Bennett’s witch trials would be perfect.
This theory applies to every vampire and every Original in
Vampire Diaries
Universe, except one. In fact, this character managed to break many established laws and traditions regarding vampires in her time, which made her a fan favorite. Caroline Forbes, known for her mean girl character as a human in
Season 1 of Vampire Diaries
had a rather unique character development after her transformation into a vampire. She was jealous of Elena since the pilot episode and often turned on Bonnie, even when the witch Bennett wanted the best for her friend. She was impulsive, short-tempered, and made poor decisions, which made Caroline a rather hated character at first. The transition usually caused a negative change in most humans, who leaned towards their darker sides once they transformed. This even happened to Elena, who was one of the most empathetic and kind characters in the series. However, Caroline’s best traits, such as her patience, organization, loyalty, and courage, shone even brighter after she became a vampire. It was an unexpected turn that set her apart from other vampires. All of her negative traits disappeared after her vampiric transformation, which was brought about quite violently by a vengeful Katherine Pierce. However, this exception only proves the rule. Caroline was a very special young woman, as she continued to defy expectations as a vampire. As a new vampire, Caroline was able to control herself and her thirst remarkably well. So much so that she was able to help Tyler transform into a werewolf, who was considered the vampire’s mortal enemy. When she turned off her humanity, she didn’t turn into a murderous ripper, which was even more shocking. Furthermore, Caroline was able to get pregnant with Gemini twins and nurse them until they were born. Therefore, Caroline was an exceptional vampire to whom the usual rules did not apply. However, it makes perfect sense that other vampires, once turned, would remain stuck in the same mindset as them as teenagers. This is what drew them to other humans of the same age, both romantically and platonically.
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Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries follows the lives, loves, dangers and disasters of the town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Creatures of unspeakable horror lurk beneath the town as a teenage girl is suddenly torn between two vampire brothers.
Features
- Release date
- 10/09/2009
- Casting
- Nina Dobrev (Nobody), Paul Wesley (Nobody), Ian Somerhalder (Nobody), Kat Graham (Nobody)
- Main genre
- Drama (Genre)
- Genres
- Fantasy (Genre), Horror (Genre), Romance (Genre)
- Rating
- TV-14
- Seasons
- 8 seasons
- Creator
- Julie Plec, Kevin Williamson
- Production company
- Outerbanks Entertainment, Alloy Entertainment, CBS Television Studios