Unlocking the Mysteries: Unveiling the Secrets Behind the 5 Doppelgängers in The Vampire Diaries

Summary

The existence and connection of doppelgängers in The Vampire Diaries are a result of immortality and the disruption of the balance of nature.

The content fragment does not need to be rewritten as it already conveys the necessary information in a clear and concise manner.

The connection between the doppelgängers in The Vampire Diaries and the supernatural world was gradually revealed over the course of five seasons. Elena Gilbert, after falling in love with Stefan Salvatore in season 1, discovered that she bore a striking resemblance to his ex-partner, Katherine Pierce, also known as "Katerina Petrova." Elena's search for answers was initially fruitless, but subsequent seasons provided more information. In ancient times, there were powerful witches called Travelers, with Silas and Qetsiyah being the most formidable among them. Seeking eternal love, they created an elixir to achieve immortality.

However, on their wedding day, Qetsiyah discovered that Silas took the cure for immortality and gave the other dose to his true love, Qetsiyah's handmaiden, Amara. The consequences of their actions were far-reaching, as immortality disrupted the balance of nature. In order to restore balance, nature created doppelgängers - exact replicas of Amara and Silas who could die in their place. These doppelgängers were natural mystical beings but were vulnerable to magic, including compulsion and spells. While Katherine and Elena were the first introduced as doppelgängers on the show, they were not the last.

Tatia

The first Petrova doppelgänger, Tatia, lived in the late 10th/early 11th century. As Amara had no children, Tatia was connected to her through a child of one of Amara's siblings. Although it wasn't always explicitly stated, the series indicated that all Petrova doppelgängers were descendants of Amara, and it didn't explain how the bloodline remained intact through multiple generations. Tatia resided in the same village as the Mikaelsons - a Viking named Mikael, his witch wife Esther, and their six children. Two of the Mikaelson sons, Klaus and Elijah, fell in love with Tatia.

During season 3, Klaus and Elijah shared the story of Tatia with Damon and Stefan Salvatore, describing the allure of the Petrova doppelgänger. After the werewolf killing of the youngest Mikaelson, Henrik, Esther and Mikael made their children the first vampires, known as the Originals, through a spell. To do this, Esther killed Tatia and used her blood. Season 2 of The Originals revealed the truth about Tatia, who had willingly given her blood to Esther, unaware of her true intentions. Unable to control his thirst, Elijah ended up killing Tatia. After Klaus's transformation into a vampire, his werewolf side was triggered, so Esther used Tatia's blood to prevent him from turning.

Katherine Pierce

After giving birth to an illegitimate daughter in 1490, Katherine was banished by her father and sent to England, where she crossed paths with Klaus. Doubtful of Klaus' romantic interest, Katherine discovered his true motives from someone close to him: he desired to utilize her doppelgänger blood to suppress his werewolf side. Using this knowledge to her advantage, Katherine transformed herself into a vampire, rendering herself useless to Klaus. However, it is perplexing why Klaus would go to the lengths of annihilating Katherine's entire family, effectively putting an end to their bloodline, without knowing that she had a daughter named Nadia.

Katherine's daughter established the ancestral connection between herself and Elena, but Katherine's knowledge of doppelgängers was limited. She was also a descendant of the Travelers, but her father disassociated himself from the outcast witches and their magic. This explains her lack of awareness about Amara and the origins of the doppelgängers. Katherine knew that doppelgänger blood could suppress Klaus' werewolf side, but during season 2's "Katerina," she revealed to Elena that doppelgängers were also a means of undoing spells. Doppelgängers served a greater purpose and were created as a loophole.

Despite her animosity towards Elena, Katherine maintained a friendship with Elena's mother, Isobel Flemming. In season 1's "Isobel," Isobel revealed to Elena that Katherine sought her out shortly after turning into a vampire. Isobel believed that Katherine's interest was driven by genetic curiosity. Katherine used Isobel to acquire information about Elena, whom she intended to hand over to Klaus as a peace offering for escaping him fifty years earlier. It was surprising that Isobel, who dedicated her life to studying the supernatural, had a limited understanding of doppelgängers, especially considering she was a descendant of Amara. Isobel saw Elena merely as a subject of biological curiosity.

Elena Gilbert

Elena's bloodline was connected to Katherine and Isobel, although the exact link between them was unclear. In season 5, Katherine's daughter Nadia arrived in Mystic Falls as a vampire with the purpose of finding Katherine. Nadia, lacking the time, skills, and resources as a human, turned into a vampire to fulfill her mission. It was unclear whether Nadia had children, but with Klaus having killed Katherine's entire family, Nadia's offspring would be the only ones left to continue the bloodline. The plot hole was never addressed in The Vampire Diaries.

Elena, being a doppelgänger, possessed powerful blood that had magical properties. This blood, when combined with magic, could be used to create spells like the ones Esther used to try and kill her children in season 3, or Qetsiyah's attempt at completing the Anchor swap. Elena's blood could also be used to reverse magic, such as the Sun and Moon Curse. Some spells required the blood of a doppelgänger, while others did not. Before Elena became a vampire, her blood was highly coveted. Like Tatia and Katherine before her, Elena found herself in a love triangle between two brothers and experienced personal tragedy due to her connection with the Mikaelsons.

Stefan Salvatore

In "The Sun Also Rises," Elena's blood proved crucial in breaking Klaus' curse. To accomplish this, Klaus had to take Elena's life and employ her blood, but with the aid of timely magic and a selfless sacrifice by her biological father John Gilbert, she was resurrected. This unexpected turn of events created a loophole, amplifying the significance of her blood, as Klaus needed her presence to ensure the successful transformation of his hybrid army.

The Vampire Diaries' season 4 finale showcased that Elena and Katherine weren't the only ones who possessed doppelgängers. Stefan encountered Silas, who unveiled Stefan's identity as Silas' shadow self. Just like Amara, who was the originator of the Petrova line of doppelgängers, Silas also had his own lineage of doppelgängers - the Salvatores. Similar to Elena's tumultuous relationship with Katherine, Stefan's association with Silas was marked by animosity.

Season 5 established a strong connection between male and female doppelgängers, as they were destined to find one another and fall in love. Qetsiyah, who had been trapped on the Other Side for centuries, explained to Damon that she had witnessed destiny attempting to unite the doppelgängers forever. However, the series canon did not support the claim that there were more than five doppelgängers. It was later revealed by Markos, the leader of the Travelers, that the male and female doppelgängers were drawn together due to magic, debunking the idea of a romantic connection.

Season 5 primarily focused on the consequences of the Amara-Qetsiyah-Silas love triangle, which involved the Vampire cure. Doppelgängers were created by nature to restore the balance disrupted by Qetsiyah's and Silas' immortality spell. Additionally, witches exploited the existence of doppelgängers as a means to punish the Travelers for the actions of Silas and Qetsiyah. While the series explored the complexity of the Petrova doppelgängers and their relationships with one another over multiple seasons, the revelation that Stefan was also a doppelgänger felt like an afterthought. Being a part of the doppelgänger bloodline did not affect Stefan in the same way it did the Petrova doppelgängers. Above all else, Stefan remained a vampire and a "Ripper."

After discovering that Silas had bestowed immortality upon Amara, Qetsiyah took it upon herself to develop an antidote. In the fifth season, both Amara and Silas willingly consumed the cure for eternal life, thereby meeting their demise and effectively closing the chapter on the doppelgänger saga. Damon inflicted a fatal blow on Katherine, while Enzo St. John dealt a lethal blow to the other mortal doppelgänger, Tom. When the series finale unfolded, Stefan bravely sacrificed himself to eliminate Katherine and safeguard Mystic Falls, leaving Elena as the sole remaining doppelgänger. The bloodlines of Petrova and Salvatore would endure through the offspring of Damon and Elena, yet doppelgängers would ultimately face extinction.

Tom Avery

Due to the existence of multiple Petrova doppelgängers, it was expected that there would also be multiple Salvatore counterparts. Tom Avery emerged as a Salvatore descendant in season 5, being the result of an affair between Damon and Stefan's father. Unaware of his familial connection or his doppelgänger status, Tom resided in Atlanta and worked as a paramedic. Although Katherine and Elena's lives were intricately entwined, Tom and Stefan never crossed paths.

The discovery of Tom by the Travelers prompted them to send Caroline Forbes and Enzo St. John on a mission to eliminate him. The Travelers' strategy to overcome the witches relied on obtaining the blood of the final two doppelgängers. If taken literally, Tom would have been the last to fulfill this condition (being born after Stefan), thus making him crucial to the Travelers' success. Alternatively, if it referred to the remaining pair, Tom's demise would have been necessary for the Travelers' victory. Out of all the doppelgängers, Tom held the least significance.

Are Silas And Amara Doppelgängers?

The confusion arises because Silas and Amara, who are considered the progenitors of all doppelgängers, are not technically doppelgängers themselves. Instead, they can be described as proto-doppelgängers. Unlike true doppelgängers, Silas and Amara lack certain abilities. One crucial distinction is that doppelgänger blood possesses potent magical properties, such as the ability to connect supernatural beings and serve as a key ingredient in Witch's Spirit Magic. This magic can even revert a vampire to a human corpse or remove the lycanthropy gene from werewolves. Silas and Amara's blood, on the other hand, lacks these properties. Additionally, doppelgängers are susceptible to magic, unlike Silas and Amara who do not share this vulnerability. For instance, while a spell directed at a single doppelgänger will affect all of them, it will have no impact on Silas and Amara themselves.

Silas and Amara do not end up together. Despite numerous encounters between Silas and Amara doppelgängers throughout time, the original pair never achieves their happily ever after. Qetsiyah transformed Amara into the Anchor of the Other Side, a role she fulfilled for 2,000 years, while Silas was cursed to wander the Earth without his true soulmate.

In The Vampire Diaries season 5, the first immortal beings on Earth almost reconciled, but their reunion is cut short. Silas is banished to Hell and Amara meets a mortal death, entering a peaceful afterlife. With the destruction of Hell in season 8, there is a possibility that Silas reunited with Amara in some form. However, it is equally plausible that he never reached Heaven and his soul was obliterated along with the countless others condemned to eternal suffering in Hell.

Are There Doppelgangers In The Originals & Legacies?

The Vampire Diaries ended in 2017, but its universe continued with spin-off series The Originals and Legacies. While doppelgängers played a significant role in the original show, fans hoped to see or hear about them in the follow-up series. The Originals delved into the lore, particularly exploring Tatia's relationship with Klaus and Elijah, but after that, there was no further mention. On the other hand, Legacies introduced a wide range of supernatural beings through a "monster of the week" format, including necromancers, unicorns, dragons, and mummies. However, doppelgängers were noticeably absent. Though this may disappoint loyal fans, it does make sense. Doppelgängers are meant to be rare, and since they all resemble Elena and Stefan, they can only be featured if Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley were to make a return in some capacity.