When The Vampire Diaries premiered in 2009, Elena Gilbert was front and center as its star. The original idea was her as an innocent woman pulled into a supernatural world with two vampire brothers vying for her affections. Nina Dobrev was fun in the role to make Elena a good character and help the show be a hit. There were turns such as Elena running into her evil vampire doppelganger Katherine and later becoming a vampire herself.
Yet it has to be acknowledged that there were a lot of times when Elena was no heroine. Even when she was human, Elena could show some bad stuff from her selfishness to some harsh treatment of her friends. Elena did have a lot of great moments, yet several times she was clearly in the wrong with her behavior. Here are 15 TVD moments where Elena really wasnt the best person and coming off terribly to mar the shows otherwise good run.
When Elena becomes a humanity-free vampire, she rejoins the cheerleading squad just to show Caroline up. Elena lives up to every mean girl stereotype possible.
The worst is when she runs into a rival cheerleader, and the next scene has the woman wearing a scarf around her neck to cover up bite marks. Elena never apologizes for turning a random cheerleader into a meal.
Elena has a bad habit of thinking everything in Mystic Falls revolves around her. When Stefan gets amnesia in season 5, Elena tries to help by talking of all the good times theyve had and using that to jog his memories.
Keep in mind, Stefan was alive for a century before Elena was born, yet shes ignoring anything else in his past and using just her to get his memory back.
Elena claims Bonnie is her best friend and that she is always there for her. Yet when one looks at the series, it becomes evident that Elena only really needs Bonnie whenever magic is involved. Shell often push Bonnie to her limits, even if it risks her life.
Too often, Elena ignores how Bonnie is suffering from her magic, but Elena just tells her to suck it up and keep going. This friendship is very one-sided.
When Damon sacrifices himself in the season 5 finale, Elena is heartbroken. She makes Alaric compel her to forget all about her love for Damon and to only remember him as a random vampire.
Alaric cites how all Elena is doing is running from her pain rather than embracing it. When Damon returned, he had to fight to get Elena to remember him as choosing to just forget about their love was a wrong move.
When the series began, Elena was caring for her younger brother, Jeremy. This could be rather controlling at times with Elena going to extremes to keep her brother safe.
But that was better than when Elena starts ignoring Jeremys issues, especially when he comes backfrom death. The guy is a mess, yet Elena is too busy with her personal drama to be a supportive sister.
Related: 15 Fun Facts Of Nina Dobrev's Time On The Vampire Diaries
When an Original dies, every vampire theyve ever sired also goes. Elena knows this when she sets up Kol in season 4. Granted, the man is a monster, but Elena has to know the enormous cost killing him entails.
Worse is that Elena doesnt even do it herself. Instead, she allows Jeremy to kill Kol, despite the risk to her brother. Its a showcase for how Elena can be selfish in her games.
Maybe it's a bit unfair, but it can't be ignored how scores of the bad stuff that happens on the show is somehow because of Elena.Bonnie lost both her mother and grandmother in part because of Elena.
Then there's poor Aunt Jenna who was first turned into a vampire and then sacrificed by Klaus. That's just scraping the surface as the truth is nearly half the show's body count is somehow tied in to Elena.
Even before she got involved with the Salvatores, Elena tended to get jealous of others. She seemed annoyed Caroline was moving on with Matt and when one Salvatore was intrigued by another woman, Elenas jealousy was apparent.
It got worse when she became a vampire, as Elena became angry whena Salvatore seemed to go for someone else. It was never pretty when Elena got jealous.
When Bonnie sacrificed herself to bring Jeremy back to life, Jeremy made everyone think she was in Europe. Somehow, Elena just accepts Bonnie only dropping in text messages rather than being home.
The fact Bonnie didnt come to her own fathers funeral should have been a huge warning sign. Yet her best friend never suspected something was wrong which is amazingly self-absorbed.
Related: 15 Things Most People Don't Know About The Making Of The Vampire Diaries
In season six, Caroline, driven by the passing of her mother, turns off her humanity. She embarks on some nasty actions, and her friends try to help her out. Elena presses Caroline, using her own experience with no humanity a few seasons earlier.
This is an excellentexample of how Elena tends to put herself in the middle of anything and everything.
Throughout season 4, the gang is on the hunt for a possible cure for vampirism. Elena gets it, and it looks like shell use it. Instead, in a fight with doppelganger Katherine, Elena feeds her the cure.
Sure, its a bit of poetic justice for the one person who loved being a vampire to now be human. Yet it was a shallow move by Elena that wasted the cure for some petty revenge.
In season 1, Damon uses Caroline horribly. He compels her to not only be his lover but also feeding on her when he wants. The very first thing Caroline does when she becomes a vampire is to beat down Damon for some justifiable payback.
Elena never seems upset that her boyfriend used her best friend in such a way.Even Caroline forgave Damon fast for that, but Elena should have been wary of him for treating Caroline so poorly.
Related: 18 Facts About Nina Dobrev And Her Vampire Diaries Costars BTS
In season 4, Elena has given up on her humanity and is trying to live a new life. The Salvatores track her to a small diner to try together back to normal.
Elena sends a message by snapping the neck of the innocent waitress serving them and warns the duo to back off. That shes never called out on this dark move later on just makes it worse.
On TVD, vampires can switch off their humanity, so they dont feel the pain of their actions. Elena did so in season 4, which led to some nasty stuff. Eventually, the gang got her to flip back the switch.
Did Elena even try to apologize for anything shed done with no humanity? No. In fact, she openly said she couldnt because its too hard. That seems a cop-out for her behavior.
Elena can mean well, but goes a bit too far deciding whats best for people. When Jeremy was devastated over the loss of his beloved Vicki, Elena had Damon compel Jeremy to forget vampires, which is understandable.
What wasnt was Elena adding that Damon should compel away Jeremys feelings for Vicki. That was a step too far as it hurt the memory of Vicki and was way too controlling.
Next: 15 Reasons We'd Rather Watch The Originals Than Vampire Dairies
Next15 That '70s Show Fan Theories That Make Too Much Sense To Ignore
More:
15 Times We Really Didn't Like Elena Gilbert On The Vampire Diaries - TheThings
- AMC's 'Interview With the Vampire' Fans Just Got a New Way to Watch the Hit Series - Collider - July 17th, 2024
- Pizza Hero is Vampire Survivors with toppings as upgrades, and its free on Steam for a limited time - Rock Paper Shotgun - July 17th, 2024
- The Prison Worlds in The Vampire Diaries, Explained - CBR - July 17th, 2024
- Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon & Interview With The Vampire Among 13 AMC Shows Heading To Netflix - Screen Rant - July 17th, 2024
- No Season 3 for 'Reginald the Vampire' on Syfy, USA - UPI News - July 17th, 2024
- What Kind of Rockstar Will Lestat Be in Interview with the Vampire Season 3 - Fangirlish - July 17th, 2024
- Blue Bloods: New Young Adult Vampire Series in the Works Based on Popular Novels - CBR - July 17th, 2024
- Reginald The Vampire Canceled After 2 Seasons At Syfy - Deadline - July 17th, 2024
- Interview With The Vampire is coming to Netflix in August and you all should watch it - Winter is Coming - July 17th, 2024
- SCAD is Twisted Metal meets Vampire Survivors and I want it now - GamingOnLinux - July 17th, 2024
- 'REVELATIONS OF THE DARK MOTHER' COMING FOR 'VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE RPG' - ICv2 - July 17th, 2024
- Fear the Walking Dead, Interview With the Vampire, & 11 More AMC Shows Are Headed to Netflix - ComingSoon.net - July 17th, 2024
- Vampire Co-Op Shooter EvilvEvil Launches On Steam: To Fight Evil, Sometimes You Have To Become Evil - MMOBomb - July 17th, 2024
- Would You Rather Be a Werewolf or Vampire in Skyrim, And Why - GameRant - July 17th, 2024
- "I dont know what it feels like to make out with my vampire boyfriend": Kristen Stewart's On-screen Romance With Her Ex-boyfriend Robert... - July 17th, 2024
- Syfy's Beloved Horror Comedy Reginald the Vampire Gets Heartbreaking Update - MovieWeb - July 17th, 2024
- 'Reginald the Vampire' Bites the Dust at Syfy - Collider - July 17th, 2024
- REGINALD THE VAMPIRE Season 3 Is Not Happening At Syfy - FANGORIA - July 17th, 2024
- Reginald the Vampire Has Been Cancelled by Syfy after Two Seasons - Cancelled Sci Fi - July 17th, 2024
- Suspected 'Vampire' Serial Killer Confessed To Killing 42 Women - iHeartRadio - July 17th, 2024
- SYFYs Reginald the Vampire Wont Sink Its Teeth Into a Third Season - Reactor - July 17th, 2024
- 12 Vampire Movies That Suck, According to Their Rotten Tomatoes Scores - MovieWeb - July 17th, 2024
- Interview With The Vampire Season 3 Will Be The Lestat Story I've Been Waiting For Since Tom Cruise's Movie - Screen Rant - July 17th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire, Walking Dead spinoffs & more headed to Netflix through new deal with AMC - JoBlo.com - July 17th, 2024
- Death Must Die: One Of The Best Vampire Survivors-likes Out There - Green Man Gaming Newsroom - July 17th, 2024
- Reginald the Vampire Cancelled at Syfy One Week After Season 2 Finale - ComicBook.com - July 17th, 2024
- 'Interview With the Vampire' Gaslit Me and I Loved It - Collider - July 17th, 2024
- Reginald the Vampire Canceled After Two Seasons on Syfy - imdb - July 17th, 2024
- 5 reasons to binge AMC's Interview with a Vampire - Winter is Coming - July 17th, 2024
- Reginald The Vampire Season 3: Everything we know so far - The Economic Times - July 17th, 2024
- Who Are the Talamasca? 'Interview with the Vampire's Secret Society Explained - Collider - June 20th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire EP Reveals the Anne Rice Book the Series Will Adapt Next - MSN - June 20th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Like the Light by Which God Made the World Before He Made ... - TV Fanatic - June 20th, 2024
- 'Interview With the Vampire' stars dissect episode 6's tragic betrayal - Entertainment Weekly News - June 20th, 2024
- Interview With the Vampire Season 3 Will Possibly Be Inspired by This Anne Rice Book - ComingSoon.net - June 20th, 2024
- AMC's Interview With the Vampire is Coming to Netflix - ComicBook.com - June 20th, 2024
- Interview With the Vampire season 2 episode 6 recap and review: Claudia's no longer alone - Show Snob - June 20th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 7 Images: The Trial Begins - Bleeding Cool News - June 20th, 2024
- Watch: Nikki & Ashley get smoochy under the mistletoe in 'Reginald the Vampire' clip (exclusive) - Pride.com - June 20th, 2024
- Interview With The Vampire gives us hope and snatches it back in Episode 206 - Winter is Coming - June 20th, 2024
- What the TV Version of 'Interview With the Vampire' Does Better Than the Books - Pajiba Entertainment News - June 20th, 2024
- Interview With the Vampire Director on Casting Tom Cruise Over Daniel Day-Lewis and the Backlash That Followed: The Entire World Said You Are Miscast... - June 20th, 2024
- 'Interview With the Vampire' Stars on Armand's Betrayal, Madeleine's Transformation & That Major Twist - TV Insider - June 20th, 2024
- Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person Will Warm Even the Coldest of Undead Hearts - 25YearsLaterSite.com - June 20th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire S02E07 Trailer; Jones on Season 3 Vision - Bleeding Cool News - June 20th, 2024
- Vampire Weekend delivers a terrific set of hits and humor at the Hollywood Bowl - LA Daily News - June 20th, 2024
- 'Interview with the Vampire' Creator on a Season 2 That Will "Stay in Your Bones" - Collider - June 20th, 2024
- Interview With the Vampire Season 2 Episode 6 Recap With Spoilers: "Like the Light By Which God Made the World ... - ComicBook.com - June 20th, 2024
- 'Interview with the Vampire' 206 Review: Like The Light By Which God Made The World Before He Made Light - Fangirlish - June 20th, 2024
- Vampire Weekend brings Ska Night to the Hollywood Bowl - Los Angeles Times - June 20th, 2024
- The latest trendy skin care treatment replacing the viral 'vampire facial' - New York Post - June 20th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire and More AMC Shows Coming to Netflix - Nerds and Beyond - June 20th, 2024
- 'Interview With the Vampire' Stars on Film: See Photos Taken by Jacob Anderson & More (VIDEO) - TV Insider - June 20th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire EPs Address Possible Crossovers With Mayfair Witches and The Talamasca - CBR - June 20th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire 206: Like the light by which God made the world before he made light - Cape & Castle - June 20th, 2024
- Sink your teeth into season 2 of 'Reginald the Vampire' - KUTV 2News - June 20th, 2024
- #BLUD Review - Becky the Vampire Slayer - Checkpoint - Checkpoint - June 20th, 2024
- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Director Talks About the Backlash He Faced After Casting Tom Cruise GeekTyrant - GeekTyrant - June 20th, 2024
- Interview With the Vampire Season 2: Sneaky Best Show on TV Right Now - The Ringer - June 20th, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire might be the best show you aren't watching - MovieWeb - June 20th, 2024
- How Interview With the Vampire Used Sacreligious Statues, Projection Animation to Create the Thtre des Vampires - Variety - June 1st, 2024
- How 'The Vampire Lestat' comes to play into 'Interview with the Vampire: Part II' - Mashable - June 1st, 2024
- Interview with the Vampire Episode 3: What Are the Five Laws of Vampires? - Den of Geek - June 1st, 2024
- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Season 2 Continues With The The Five Vampire Laws - FANGORIA - June 1st, 2024
- Interview With The Vampire 203: No pain Review - Cape & Castle - June 1st, 2024
- The Vampire Diaries: Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley and three other stars of the series reunited in Paris - Roster Con - June 1st, 2024
- Slushie Guy Is an Angel: Reginald the Vampire S2 E4 Sneak Peek - Syfy - June 1st, 2024
- Interview With The Vampire recap: season 2, episode 3 - The A.V. Club - June 1st, 2024
- Emmys spotlight: Harvey Guilln (What We Do in the Shadows) brings human touch to vampire comedy - Gold Derby - June 1st, 2024
- 'Reginald the Vampire' season 2 episode 4 review: A bitter and sweet gathering of the entire gang AIPT - AIPT - June 1st, 2024
- Cancellation Watch: Dead Boy Detectives Enters the Nielsen Rankings; Reginald the Vampire Moves to Bubble Status ... - Cancelled Sci Fi - June 1st, 2024
- In Interview With the Vampire's Latest Episode, the Paris Coven Lets the Right One In - Gizmodo - June 1st, 2024
- 'Interview With the Vampire' Season 2, Episodes 1-3, Recap & Review - Horror Geek Life - June 1st, 2024
- New Co-Op Vampire Shooter Game Coming to PS5 and Xbox - GameRant - June 1st, 2024
- Sounds Like Bill Skarsgrd Top-Secret Vampire Look In Nosferatu Will Either Gross People Out Or Turn Them On - CinemaBlend - June 1st, 2024
- Interview With the Vampire season 2 episode 3 recap and review: Louis plays with fire as Claudia joins the coven - Show Snob - June 1st, 2024
- Tell that to Mahershala Ali & Blade: Florence Pugh Praising Kevin Feige Severely Backfires as Marvel's Vampire ... - FandomWire - June 1st, 2024
- 'Interview With the Vampire' star Jacob Anderson reacts to Louis' violent hookup - Entertainment Weekly News - June 1st, 2024
- The Vampire Horror Novel From Game Of Thrones Author Begging To Become A Movie - Giant Freakin Robot - June 1st, 2024
- Nosferatu Star Bill Skarsgrd Teases His Vampire as "Gross" and "Sexualized" - ComicBook.com - June 1st, 2024
Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero