‘The Vampire Diaries‘ stars Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, Kat Graham, and Candice King in the lead. It started as a classic love triangle involving two vampire brothers – Stefan Salvatore and Damon Salvatore – trying to win the heart of the beautiful human Elena Gilbert.
After much romance drama and terrifying surprises from the Salvatore brothers’ past, Elena also turned into a vampire. Here’s how that came about.
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Who Is Elena Gilbert On ‘The Vampire Diaries’?
Elena Gilbert played by Nina Dobrev is the show’s victim as well as the protagonist who falls in love with a century-old Vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore. She is loyal and a very compassionate friend of Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes. Orphaned at the age of 17, she took up the responsibility of her younger brother, Jeremy Gilbert. When all her friends are witches and vampires she appears to just be an ordinary human being. Surprisingly, that is not true, she is a Petrova Doppelganger. Her actions and beliefs throughout the series have been most influenced by her on-and-off romantic relationships with the Salvatore brothers.
In season six Elena was placed in sleep by Kai Parker, she would have remained that way until Bonnie died. However, Bonnie later found a way to wake her, and she reunited with her friends. In the season eight finale Elena said her goodbye to a dying Stefan, before living a long and happy life with Damon, whom she married. Elena achieved her dream of being a doctor before she died of old age and found peace, reuniting with her adoptive parents, Grayson and Miranda, her aunt Jenna and her biological father, John.
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How And When Does Elena Turn Into A Vampire?
Since the beginning of ‘The Vampire Diaries‘, Elena was sure of one thing – not becoming a Vampire. Unfortunately, in the season 4 “Growing Pains” episode, Elena became the one thing she dreaded the most – a vampire. She drowned in the lake with Damon’s blood in her system from the Wickery Bridge accident caused by Rebecca Mickelson. As Elena didn’t want to hurt any human, she stuck to the bunny diet strongly recommended by Stefan. But sadly, her body rejected blood from every source she ingests, except when Damon tells her to feed warm blood directly from the source.
Unknowingly, Elena becoming a vampire developed a sire bond between Damon and her, which is usually rare among vampires. Being a vampire magnifies the emotion one goes through as a human, which makes Elena completely opposite from her doppelganger Katrina Petrova.
After Elena became a vampire, her feelings were magnified, including her feelings for Damon, and they were much harder for her to ignore and forget. She also struggled with magnified grief from the loss of family members, and anger toward those who put her friends in danger. As she adjusted to adapting as a vampire, she discovered that she had more in common with Damon than she did with Stefan, and while it scared her, it also made things more exciting and opened her eyes.
These feelings eventually led to her break up with Stefan as well as the discovery of the sire bond, which pushed everyone to find the cure for vampirism, hidden with Silas in a tomb. Elena accepted being a vampire. With her humanity back, she became more determined about her wants, and she then went back to being tearful in situations of pain and suffering.
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