The Vampire Diaries (novel series)

This article is about the book series. For the television series, see The Vampire Diaries (TV series).

The Vampire Diaries

The Awakening The Struggle The Fury Dark Reunion The Return: Nightfall The Return: Shadow Souls The Return: Midnight
Author	L. J. Smith
Language	English
Genre	Horror, Fantasy, Romance, Young-adult fiction
Publisher	Harper Paperbacks
Published	September 1991 - 1992 February 2009 - present
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)

The Vampire Diaries is a young adult horror series of novels written by the NYT Bestselling author of the Night World series, L. J. Smith. The story centers around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl torn between two vampire brothers. The series was originally a trilogy published in 1991. However, pressure from readers led the author to write a fourth volume, Dark Reunion, released in 1992.

After taking a hiatus from writing for several years, L. J. Smith announced in 1998 a new spin-off trilogy entitled The Vampire Diaries: The Return, continuing the series, with Damon being the main protagonist. The first installment, The Return: Nightfall, was released on February 10, 2009. The Return: Shadow Souls and The Return: Midnight are tentatively slated for release in April, 2010 and 2011 respectively.

The Vampire Diaries has been adapted into a television series and premiered on September 10, 2009 on The CW.

Publishing history

The Vampire Diaries trilogy was first published in 1991, and the fourth book in 1992 by Harper Paperbacks. In 1999, all four books were reprinted by HarperPrism. In 2007, HarperTeen Publishing Company republished the entire series as two omnibus editions.

The novels

The original trilogy:

1. The Awakening (1991)

2. The Struggle (1991)

3. The Fury (1991)

The fourth volume in the original series:

4. Dark Reunion (1992)

The new trilogy, The Vampire Diaries: The Return:

5. Nightfall (February 10, 2009)

6. Shadow Souls (due March 16, 2010)

7. Midnight (not yet released)

Plot summary

The Awakening

The first book introduces the reader to Elena Gilbert, a popular and beautiful high school student in Fell's Church, Virginia, (a fictional town possibly named after the actual city of Falls Church, Virginia) and her friends Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt, along with Caroline, Elena's old friend who now is her competition. As their senior year begins, Elena pursues the mysterious new guy in town, Stefan Salvatore. Stefan's resistance is met with Elena's determination, and she eventually discovers his secret: that Stefan is a centuries-old vampire. As Elena and Stefan fall in love, strange attacks begin to happen in the town while a dark and seductive stranger appears to Elena. He is eventually revealed to be Stefan's older brother, Damon. In Renaissance Italy, the brothers both fell in love with a young vampire named Katherine choose them both as lovers and exchanged blood with them. Fueled with rage, the brothers killed each other but woke up as vampires. The Awakening ends with Elena seeking out Damon whom she believes to be the prime suspect for Stefan's disappearance after the townspeople begin to suspect the latter to be behind the recent murder of the school's social studies teacher during the Halloween Haunted House, and the strange attacks.

The Struggle

The second book picks up where The Awakening left, and delves further into Damon's ongoing attempts to win Elena's affections and Stefan's struggle to survive. When Stefan went missing, Elena seeks out Damon and confronts him in the graveyard, knowing that it will be dangerous. Damon claims he killed Stefan the previous night. Elena and her friends find Stefan in a well, near death, after Bonnie has a vision. Elena saves Stefan by giving him some of her blood. Elena also exchanges blood with Damon, making a secret deal with him she kept hidden from Stefan, knowing he would disapprove, tying herself to both brothers as Katherine did centuries ago. While waiting for Stefan one night, Elena feels as if a presence inside a storm is coming for her, and she frantically tries to escape by crossing the bridge over a river. The car, which she has borrowed from Matt, veers off the road and into the river, and she drowns.

The Fury

The third book deals with Elena's adjustment to her vampirism, as well as her confusion over loving both brothers. Stefan finds Elena dead, and believes that Damon was the force chasing Elena. They fight, and in the middle of it, Elena awakens, and attacks Stefan— Damon had given Elena more of his blood in the exchange, and, as such, Elena viewed Stefan as a threat to her creator. They stop the fight, Stefan is heart broken, assuming that her attack meant she loved Damon more, and Damon tries to clear everything up.

While having to stay out of the way of the town's new vampire hunter (the new teacher, Alaric), Stefan, Damon, Elena and her friends search for the source of the dark presence that has overtaken the town and which they also suspect to be behind Elena's death. They find the answer in Honoria Fell's tomb, and it turns out to be Katherine, who in fact did not die centuries before as the brothers had thought. Instead, she had faked her death, having her maid bring ashes from the kitchen, lay them out on her dress, and put her lapis lazuli ring on top, while she had another forged, making it looked as if she had killed herself. Since then, Stefan has lived with the guilt of her death, while Katherine has spent that time seething with anger. She decides to take revenge, and is jealous of Elena for "stealing" both brothers' love. Katherine reveals that she is the one who attacked Vickie and ran Elena off the bridge. They are all tortured brutally, and Elena ends this by knocking Katherine into the light of the tomb, but is unsuccessful in getting herself out of the sunshine fast enough. She dies in the end, saying that she wants both brothers' words that they would take care of each other because Damon is often misunderstood, and she wants the fraternal rivalry to end, also telling Stefan that she loved him, and that she did not want this to happen, causing pain for him as Katherine had.

Dark Reunion

The fourth book begins six months after Elena's death. This book is told primarily from Bonnie's point of view. At a surprise birthday party for Meredith, Bonnie and Caroline (along with Vickie and Sue Carson, a nice friend of the girls)contact Elena using a Ouija board. Elena warns them there is evil in town with them, and that they are all in danger. She tells them they need to summon someone but gets interrupted, presumably by an evil spirit, before telling the girls to run. Before all of the girls can get out of the house, Sue Carson is thrown from the second floor balcony and dies. Vickie goes insane after the ordeal. Damon and Stefan went to Italy after Elena died, but they return to Fell's Church after Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt psychically contact them. They begin investigating the awful events plaguing the town. They discover that Tyler Smallwood, a fellow classmate, is a werewolf and has been in league with Klaus, Katherine's powerful and twisted creator. Vickie is killed by Klaus. In a final showdown, Stefan and Damon fight Klaus, along with Matt, Bonnie, and Meredith pitching in to fight Tyler. Bonnie summons Elena's spirit to aid them once Stefan and Damon are badly injured. Elena sets an army of ghosts from the Civil War on Klaus, who is then effectively destroyed. Elena is now ready to move on for good, leaving this world and Stefan forever, since Stefan has agreed to remain as he is and keep fighting for goodness; but Elena is returned to him, weak, pale, human, and alive. She and Stefan offer Damon a spot with them among friends, but Damon declines, saying that the shadows are where he belongs.

The Return: Nightfall

The fifth book starts with Elena's return from the dead. She returns from the afterlife with super human powers which makes her blood irresistible to vampires. Stefan is determined to keep Elena safe and wants to leave Fells Church, though in the end he does not. Damon, being the power hungry vampire that he is, wants Elena to stay with him and rule as his princess of the dark. Damon struck a deal with a kitsune (fox demon), Shinichi—he would take care of Stefan, but in return, Shinichi would take over Fell's Church. When Stefan is lured away from Fell's Church, he tries to convince Elena that he is the brother that she should be with. Damon, always the hunter, is now the hunted when he becomes the prey to an evil insect that can possess anyone, and it desires not just Elena's blood, but also her death. Damon watched Elena's friends (Matt, Bonnie & Merideth) almost die, but he later on regained control. In particular, Bonnie was on the verge of death before Damon saved her, showing that he does care for humans, and that he has feelings for her, though he continually shows his love for Elena still. Afterward, Stefan mysteriously disappears, leaving a note in Elena's diary, which Damon deleted, instead saying that he left her for her own protection when the real note was to warn her that if he was to disappear, it was Damon to blame—he wanted to become a human again after Damon gave him a website address that was for Shi no Shi, meaning 'death of death', advertising a way for vampires to become humans again. As the town becomes infected by these evil creatures that possess humans, Matt is wanted for arrest, and Damon lapses in and out of control over his own body.

There are many new characters introduced, such as the Saitous, a Japanese family, consisting of Isobel, who becomes possessed by the evil creatures, her little brother, and her grandmother, Obaasan, who was a shrine keeper once. Ms. Flowers is now revealed to be more than a batty old woman—she is in fact a powerful white witch who knew all along that Stefan was a vampire. The new villains in town are the kitsune named Shinichi and Misao, Japanese twins, who came to Fell's Church because they were attracted to its evil aura. It is revealed that even after all this time, Matt continues to have feelings for Elena.

In the end, Damon gains control of his body, and Elena helps him remember everything he has done by removing the insect from his body. Damon is disgusted with himself, but he and Elena manage to subdue the twins, though they will return to Fell's Church. Matt, Elena and Damon set out to find where Shinichi has hidden Stefan—both men are attracted to her, though she is trying her best to resist Damon, she remembers her past with Matt.

Characters

Main characters

• Elena Gilbert A 17-year-old beautiful and popular girl in high school with long blonde hair and blue eyes. There are repeated references as to her looking like an angel. Over the course of the series, Elena transforms from a shallow, self-centered "ice queen" to a more loving, open-minded person; Bonnie has commented in Elena's diary when she died the first time that she was far from perfect, and she was never the angel, but she was a good person. She dumps Matt Honeycutt right around when school starts, feeling that though he is the perfect boyfriend, she feels no sparks in the relationship. Elena is madly in love with Stefan Salvatore, though she does recognize that she also has feelings for Damon, his brother. Stefan was the first to breeze by Elena, ignoring her beauty, though he was trying his best to stay away from her, making comparisons between her and Katherine, though he realizes that beneath the looks, they are totally different people. Her school reputation is important to her, so she made up a fake boyfriend she had over the summer to hide the fact that Stefan rejected her advances. She dies several times, becoming from human to vampire (after she gets enough blood from both brothers), to spirit (after an unknown power brings her back). In "The Return: Nightfall", she comes back perfectly normal (initially; until the 'Nightfall' was published, L.J. Smith left it at a 'happily ever after' setting), though she becomes an innocent, naive angel-spirit with wings, hovering, speaking the White Power's language, while she can't speak normally, feeling people's auras, and able to communicate with Stefan through her thoughts.

• Stefan Salvatore Is portrayed to be very handsome and will do anything for Elena. He loves her dearly and doesn't want her to get hurt so he does everything he can to protect Elena, even if it means killing his own brother. Stefan goes through a lot of terrible events and even though he might suffer he never gives up on trying to live a normal life with his beloved Elena.

• Damon Salvatore Events in The Fury and Dark Reunion show that Damon is also capable of fierce loyalty and affection, though he is often misunderstood, which Elena sees. In The Awakening He calls himself Damon Smith, attending college on a vacation. Back in the day in Italy, where the brothers come from, he graduated from university. He shows feelings towards Elena and Bonnie both, though Bonnie receives less attention. His 'goodness' is always in question—he is always the one that everyone suspects of doing something—feeding on locals, etc. Like in "The Fury", Katherine offers to let Damon live, for him to reign the shadows-both Elena and Stefan knew that he would accept, and didn't blame him, though in the end, he said to her, "Go to hell." Damon doesn't quit until he gets what he wants. Damon never takes danger too seriously and can be very humorous at the darkest times.

• Bonnie McCullough One of Elena's best friends, a bubbly, short redhead with brown eyes and a heart shaped face. She is a psychic and a descendant of druids. She always trys to warn Elena, and she always has weird visions about death and Elena. Bonnie, trying to get a hang of her powers is also trying to hide it from everybody. But nothing stays a secret.

• Meredith Sulez Another of Elena's best friends; she is tall with olive skin and dark hair. Meredith is beautiful and some what cautious, never listens to anybody , and she is often the voice of reason throughout the series. She falls in love with Alaric and has a long distance relationship with him. Even though it doesn't end well she still tries to hide the fact about what Damon told her and is still scared.

• Matt Honeycutt Elena's perfect ex-boyfriend, a typical All-American high school quarterback with blond hair and blue eyes. While Matt is heartbroken at losing Elena to Stefan, he accepts it. He continues to be very protective of Elena, but starts to have feelings for Bonnie.

• Caroline Forbes A former friend and current rival of Elena's, she is beautiful with green eyes and auburn hair. Caroline is manipulative, vengeful, and kind of desperate for attention from any boy she can find during much of the series. She first steals Elena's diary and planed to read it to the town on Founder's Day, revealing that Stefan was a vampire, though unsuccessful. She had a brief relationship with Tyler Smallwood, working together to plan revenge on Elena and Stefan; she was later kidnapped by Klaus and Tyler, and held hostage, but saved by Stefan and his friends.

• Katherine The young vampire with whom Damon and Stefan both fell in love when they were humans during the Italian Renaissance. Katherine turned the two brothers into vampires before her suicide over the two of them. Katherine supposedly killed herself when she told both brothers that she wanted to be happy with both brothers by going into the sunlight without her lapis lazuli ring, leaving behind a pile of ashes (that were from the kitchen) on one of her dresses. The two brothers fought to the 'death' because of her loss. She physically resembles Elena, which caused Stefan's initial attraction to Elena, though he later realized that Elena was made of stronger stuff then Katherine, who was the maiden in distress.

• Alaric The new young History teacher that was in suspicion of being a vampire hunter when he was in fact studying vampires ever since he discovered that they were real. He falls in love with Meredith later on, and has a long distance relationship with her while he goes abroad to further his studies.

• Klaus Is an Old One (one of the original vampires) who fights the Salvatore brothers, in the end losing. He was a mentor to Katherine, whom she thought she had killed.

Supporting characters

• Margaret Gilbert Elena's little sister and pretty much the only family she has left. Margaret is one of the first people Elena talks to in her new life as a vampire in "The Fury" other than Bonnie, Merideth, and Matt, Margaret is the only person Elena talks to in her family during her very short life as a vampire. Margaret believes that Elena will 'come back' because she had visited her, though she does not want to go to heaven because she knows that it is not her time.

• Judith Gilbert Elena's aunt. She moved in with Margaret right after the death of their parents. She is the sort of woman who always looked vaguely flustered; she had a thin, mild face and light flyaway hair pushed back untidily. She is engaged to, and by the end of the fourth book is married to, Robert, though she briefly broke the engagement after Elena's death, thinking it was the best for Margaret. She is caring and one of the last people Elena talks to before dying, the first time.

• Tyler Smallwood A direct descendant of the Smallwoods that were present at the founding of Fells Church. He is also in line with Caroline, by touring Elena and Stefan. In the first book, Tyler took Elena away to the graveyard where she saw his grandfather's grave. Tyler makes an aggressive move for Elena and to Meredith later on in the books. Stefan comes to save her and Tyler has hated the two ever since. He is later revealed to be a werewolf, turned by Klaus after he has had blood from one of Elena's friends after she died; it was dormant until he knew how to activate the werewolf gene.

• Vickie Bennett was at the cemetery with Elena when they left the dance. She had stayed there in the church with Dick. She was attacked and that caused her to go insane and she accused Elena of being part of it. Then she is accused of killing Sue because she relapsed after her death and she was the only one present. When Bonnie and Meredith go to her house, she says that the murderer said she is next. She is later murdered by Klaus.

Adaptations

In 1996, American Laser Games published a video game adaptation of the novels, also called The Vampire Diaries. The game was developed by Her Interactive, and was presented as a point-and-click adventure game with complex puzzles punctuated by full-motion video scenes.

On February 6, 2009, Variety announced that The CW Television Network greenlighted the pilot for a television series entitled The Vampire Diaries with Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec set as the writers and executive producers. On May 19, 2009, the pilot was officially ordered to series for the 2009-2010 season. The series cuts a few characters (like Ms. Flowers, Meredith, and Margaret Gilbert) and changes the looks of others (Elena is a brunette here). The series also added the character of Jeremy Gilbert, as Elena's brother. Matt Honeycutt is now Vicki Bennett's brother in the series and they have both taken the surname of "Donovan." Filming for the series began in July 2009 in Covington, Georgia. The shots of the high school and football scenes were produced at Walton Career Academy in Monroe, Georgia. The first episode of the series was aired on 10 September 2009.

External links

• The Vampire Diaries The Official Book Site.