While the most talked-about part of The Vampire Diaries is probably the debate between Team Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Team Damon (Ian Somerhalder), fans also flocked to the show for its enticing, supernatural world-building and intricate lore. The show constructed its world of vampires, werewolves, and immortals in the small-town setting of Mystic Falls, which we explore through the human protagonist, Elena (Nina Dobrev). We learn about this brand-new world just as she does, stepping into a universe where doppelgängers are used in magical rituals and your quirky history teacher could be a vampire hunter.
However, The Vampire Diaries ran for eight long years, with each season pushing us further into the lore than the last. As such, it was inevitable that some cracks would start forming on the shiny surface. Sometimes, elements of the show that were set up at the start were forgotten later on, or the rules around particular magical concepts were conveniently changed to fit a new storyline. Other times, the show simply left details unexplained, leaving fans with a list of mysteries, big and small, to ponder over well after its conclusion in 2017.
10
Elena’s Diaries
You would think that in a show called The Vampire Diaries, diaries would play a decent part in the narrative, but here, the diaries lose relevance pretty quickly. During the first season, Elena’s diary is how we view the new paranormal developments in her world, as she narrates through her writing, divulging her thoughts and feelings. Stefan also has a habit of journaling, giving us glimpses into his side of the story, which was a wonderful way to flesh out the world. In fact, the reason these two even met was through Elena losing her diary.
These nifty, personal books may have played pivotal roles in the pilot and The Vampire Diaries‘ first season, but Elena slowly stops writing in her journal. Considering everything she went through, it absolutely makes sense that she would not have time to scribble some thoughts down, but it is mildly disappointing that the diaries essentially disappear. While not a huge plot hole in the show, it’s just an ironic mystery that The Vampire Diaries lacks diaries.
9
Vervain
Vervain is notoriously known for being a vampire’s biggest weakness, a herb that could practically incapacitate a vampire with a burning sensation and could protect humans from a vampire’s compulsion just by wearing it. But there is still a mystery around this potent substance, around its availability and its uses. In the beginning, the main characters had to go to a specific dealer to obtain this precious herb, but as the show continues and its creativity around the herb increases, vervain inexplicably becomes more readily available. The mayor even manages to lace the entire town’s water supply with it—that takes more than just one dealer’s stash. Where does all this new vervain come from? No one really knows, it’s just there when the plot needs it.
Additionally, vervain is supposed to be pretty damaging to vampires, where even a touch would render them burning in pain. Yet, somehow, multiple vampires have managed to micro-dose vervain for years to reduce its impact when used on them. This is most infamously used by Katherine Pierce (Gilbert), but we also see the first stages of micro-dosing with Stefan and Damon, and they are not in as much pain as they theoretically should be. It’s a minor inconsistency in the grand scheme of the show, yet still a mystery.
8
Bonnie’s Magic
In the pilot episode of TVD, Bonnie (Kat Graham) finds out about her ancestry in witchcraft, which she laughed about at first, not realizing how powerful of a witch she was destined to be, and an inconsistent one at that. Her storyline often involved Bonnie declaring a certain spell Elena or someone from the gang needed couldn’t be done, only to pull it off by herself on the first go, a couple of episodes later. There’s underestimating yourself, and then there’s having mysterious access to eons of power and knowledge while only being a witch for a few years.
Obviously, Bonnie’s powers were really a useful plot device to keep the narrative moving, but when she’s performing spells that allegedly only whole covens working together can do, and with only a fraction of the training and experience, it’s hard not to question her god-like powers. And, the age-old question: if Bonnie was that powerful, why didn’t she use magic to locate her estranged mother instead of manually searching for her name in the Yellow Pages like a mere mortal? Theories suggest that Bonnie assumed her mother would be cloaked by magic, and that may be true, but why not try casting a quick spell before resorting to manual mental labor?
7
The Humanity Switch
The Season 2 finale really had the first instance of a vampire turning their humanity off, though the concept of a “switch” wasn’t introduced until later on. Here, Stefan is turned back into a Ripper after Klaus (Joseph Morgan) blackmails Stefan into joining him and feeds him a bag of human blood. In this case, it’s as if the human blood awakens Stefan’s Ripper instincts, rather than him consciously turning his humanity off like we generally see later in the show.
There are also variations of the humanity switch. Stefan truly just loses control of his insatiable bloodlust, while most characters, including Damon or Elena, simply don’t care about the value of life anymore, but can still control their bloodlust if they want to. Caroline (Candice King) notably becomes a calm and collected version of herself, more reserved and dignified with hints of malice rather than the outright menace the others exude. The way humanity switches impacts each vampire differently is still somewhat of a mystery. We can guess it shifts based on the vampire’s personality, but it felt like something the show could have explored more.
6
Damon’s Powers
One of the most egregious, yet kind of hilarious, oversights in the early seasons of TVD is Damon’s powers—that’s right, Damon had powers. Notably, in the pilot, Damon was able to control the weather to a certain degree, creating a fog in the cemetery while Elena was there. In those scenes, he also demonstrates power over animals, specifically a crow, and uses them to haunt his brother. However, these powers are quickly abandoned, and we never see evidence of it again.
In the novels, Damon actually does have some semblance of these powers, where he can control the weather and can shape-shift into a crow. As such, this may have been the show’s way to pay homage to the character before getting rid of it after realizing how bizarre it translates to the screen, making the intimidating character look slightly cartoonish and goofy. While his powers are a vanished mystery, they are ones that should remain unsolved and buried away.
5
Sire-bonding
After Klaus achieved his goal of creating a line of hybrids like him, the hybrids in question became “sire-bonded” to Klaus, where they complied with his every direct and indirect command due to an innate loyalty. Damon first noticed this trait in Tyler (Michael Trevino), who was initially a werewolf, but then, after Klaus turned him into a hybrid, he was sired to the Original. Apparently, sire-bonds were common in the hybrid sireline but not in vampires, yet Damon managed to create two.
In the series, we see Elena forming a sire-bond with Damon after he turns her, and we find out about another woman in his past, too. The reasoning was that because they were so in love, the sire-bond was created. If this were true, why haven’t we seen other sire bonds? Plenty of characters were in love before turning, including Katherine Pierce with the Salvatore brothers, or Sage (Cassidy Freeman) and Finn Mikaelson (Casper Zafer). As romantic as the notion is, it’s hard to conceive that love is the only basis for the sire-bond, and we can only wish that the show explored the mystery of the sire-bonds more.
4
Brotherhood of the Five
The Brotherhood of the Five were five extremely skilled and supernaturally ordained hunters who were tasked to hunt down Silas (Wesley) and any immortal beings, including vampires. The original Brotherhood was created centuries ago and was killed by Klaus, but when Silas came back alive, the curse was invoked, and five new hunters came to be, represented by tattoos called the Hunter’s Mark. One of the more notable hunters was Elena’s brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), who was inducted after killing Kol Mikaelson (Nathaniel Buzolic).
In the series, the Mystic Falls gang essentially uses the Hunter’s Mark to find out where Silas’ tomb is and go after him by themselves. In the end, Stefan was the one who killed Silas, turning the Brotherhood into a narrative device, well, a map really. So, with the purpose of the Brotherhood being completed by someone else, where does that leave them? We have no idea because TVD never revisited or explained what happened to the hunters, leaving their fate a mystery to us.
3
Elena’s Sleeping Spell
When Dobrev decided against renewing her contract with TVD at the end of Season 6, the writers had to take Elena out of action but also leave the door ajar for a potential return, and thus, the sleeping curse was created. In the Season 6 finale, Elena was put under a very decisive and clear-cut sleeping curse by antagonist Kai (Chris Wood), where she would remain asleep as long as Bonnie was alive. So, once Bonnie’s life ended, Elena would wake up, and no amount of magical interference was supposed to mess with this.
Everyone said their farewells in the emotional finale, and they spent another two seasons forefronting other characters. But in the Season 8 finale, Elena wakes up from her curse, and Bonnie reveals she has found a magical loophole. The exact nature of this loophole or how Bonnie managed to find it is never explained, making it the final mystery of TVD. But considering that is why we got the whole gang together in the series finale, it’s a mystery we can possibly overlook.
2
The Cure
After the Brotherhood of the Five came into the series, we found out about the Cure, a way to reverse immortality or vampirism, turning the recipient into a human. In other words, a game-changer. However, the rules around the Cure kept changing, making it hard to keep track of what was happening.
Katherine was the first to be cured, which turned her blood into the Cure that other vampires took. First, people believed they would have to drain all of Katherine’s blood to get the cure, but it turns out that wasn’t true. Then afterward, Katherine’s long life started catching up with her, and her mortal body started buckling under the weight, but this was the only recipient this happened to. Later, when Bonnie found another version of the Cure via the prison world, this Cure could be taken through syringes and had little to no side effects. The lore around the Cure was constantly changing, making it one of the bigger mysteries in TVD.
1
The Doppelgänger Lines
When Katherine Pierce strutted into the series with a striking resemblance to Elena, it truly kicked off the doppelgänger storyline, making us wonder how they came to be. We find out that when the Original family turned into vampires, the matriarch used the blood of a woman called Tatia, who was the first doppelgänger. This is why doppelgänger blood was really powerful and why Klaus needed it to reverse his curse—it made sense. Then suddenly, the lore changes. We find out that the Original family were the first immortal vampires, not the first ever immortals.
Instead, the first Immortals were Silas and Amara, who spawned the Salvatore and Petrova doppelgängers, respectively, after the witch Qetsiyah gave them immortality. Since they were breaking the natural order, nature had to compensate by creating Shadow Selves that would die over and over again. However, we only discover five doppelgängers throughout the series, and Stefan and Elena were dubbed the “last-living doppelgängers.” Considering the original Immortals lived eons ago, shouldn’t there be far more spread across the globe? The doppelgängers and Immortals were always an interesting part of TVD lore that could’ve benefited from more of an explanation, especially when they themselves started turning into vampires.