Stefan Salvatore

Stefan Salvatore is the lead male protagonist and overall deuteragonist of The Vampire Diaries. Stefan is a 166-year-old vampire and the distant descendant anddoppelganger of Silas. Stefan was born and raised in the supernatural town ofMystic Falls, Virginia and came of age during the time of the Civil War. Stefan is the youngest son of Giuseppe Salvatore and Lillian Salvatore. He has an older brother,Damon Salvatore, who is also a vampire and whom he shares a strained relationshipwith, stemming from the appearance of Katherine Pierce in which they fought over whilst human.

During the years following his transition, despite the help from close friend Lexi Branson, Stefan has constantly battled with his bloodlust, and during the 1900's after "falling off the wagon" due to Damon's unhealthy influence, he widely became known as the Ripper of Monterrey due to his inability to control his blood thirst. For a brief time, Stefan was romantically involved with the Original, Rebekah Mikaelson, and shared a close friendship with her brother, Niklaus.

After many years away, Stefan returned to his hometown of Mystic Falls to visit his distant nephew, Zach. Stefan saw Elena Gilbert for the first time while rescuing her after her parents' car drove off Wickery Bridge. After finding her personal records and observing her from afar, Stefan determined that Elena was definitely not Katherine. Still, he was strongly intrigued by her and decided to pose as a new transfer student at Mystic Falls High School to get to know her. They are instantly drawn to each other and they immediately bond, beginning a romantic relationship shortly afterwards. However, despite them becoming romantically involved, various and numerous obstacles begin to come between the two, making Stefan and Elena struggle and fight to be together. They grow distance after Elena's transition, and later break up, due to Elena's heightened feelings for Damon. He later discovers that this is due to the creation of a sire bond between Elena and Damon after Elena's transition to a vampire. He then embarks on a journey to Nova Scotia with Elena,Damon, Bonnie, Jeremy, and Rebekah to seek the the cure that can help break the sire bond.

At the end of the fourth season, Stefan ends up heartbroken when the sire bond is broken and Elena still decided to choose Damon over him. Stefan decides to leave town and start over elsewhere. However, Stefan ends up being confronted by Silas, finally revealing his true form and locks him in a safe underwater.

Throughout the fifth season, Stefan loses his memories due to Qetsiyah's attempt at incapacitating Silas and suffering effects due to Silas' confrontation, he slowly finds closure with Katherine as she helps him overcome his demons. Being a doppelganger, Stefan's blood is used for a spell by The Travelers in order to resurrect their leader, Markos. During this time, he begins to grow close to Elena again and they are able to form a close friendship. As things begin to spiral out of control, Stefan was unexpectedly killed by Julian, a Traveler warlock, while trying to protect Caroline, but he was resurrected after Damon, Caroline and Elena's plan to bring him back from The Other Side is a success. However after Damon fails to return, he is left devastated at the loss of his brother as the Other Side collapses.Following this, Stefan moved away from Mystic Falls and had tried to start over and move on from the loss, pain and tragedy. Unfortunately, for Stefan, he ended up being dragged back to Mystic Falls due to unexpected drama.

Stefan's life has been fraught with constant change and various complications: from falling in love and being with Elena to mending his complicated relationship with Damon; from sacrificing his freedom for his brother's life to growing apart from Elena after her transition to a vampire, and suffering the guilt that came from making a split-second decision that resulted in Elena becoming a vampire.

He was best friends with Lexi Branson until her death, and eventually became best friends with Caroline Forbes. He is also close friends with Elena Gilbert and Bonnie Bennett.