Matt Donovan

Matthew G. "Matt" Donovan is a main character on The Vampire Diaries and a guest character in the third season of The Originals and first season of Legacies. He is the son of Kelly Donovan and Peter Maxwell. He had an older sister Vicki Donovan, who was turned into a vampire, and was later killed because she was unable to control her blood lust. Matt is also the ex-boyfriend of Elena Gilbert, Caroline Forbes and Rebekah Mikaelson and former fiancé of Penny Ares. 
He was born and raised in the town of Mystic Falls. After the death of Elena's parents, Elena broke up with Matt because she lost interest in him. Despite the way they broke up, Matt still cares about Elena deeply and they've managed to maintain a good friendship. At the beginning of the series, Matt struggles with his sister, Vicki, because she was a drug user, but then she tragically dies. Later on he begins dating Caroline Forbes, and encourages her to become a more caring, kind and selfless young woman. However, Caroline soon breaks up with him after her transition into a vampire - in order to protect him. 
Upon learning about the existence of supernatural creatures, he begins to distance himself from the Mystic Falls Gang. Eventually he starts to help his friends defeat their enemies and protect their hometown, and he fixes his friendship with Caroline. Later he becomes a Medium for a short while like Jeremy Gilbert, although he could only see his sister's ghost. He began a brief relationship with Rebekah Mikaelson, and went to Europe with her at the end of Season Four, but they ended things before she left Mystic Falls.
 
In Season Five, he was possessed by a Traveler for a brief time, and was also involved with Nadia Petrova, Katherine's daughter. Nadia later compelled him to forget that Elena was possessed by Katherine. After Nadia's death, Matt helps his friends deal with the destruction of The Other Side, assisted by the witch twins - Olivia and Lucas Parker. 
Later on, he decided to become a deputy in Mystic Falls Police Department, and a vampire hunter. 
When Elena Gilbert falls into a magical, coma-like slumber after Kai Parker links her to Bonnie Bennett, Matt is forced to step up his game and eventually becomes the sheriff of Mystic Falls. During this time, Matt kicks out all vampires from the newly-human populated Mystic Falls. During this time, Matt is briefly reunited with Elijah and Finn Mikaelson, the latter of whom he had previously killed and aids them in their efforts to defeat Lucien Castle.
He later falls in love with his partner, Penny Ares. After Penny's death, Matt is determined to get revenge on the vampire who made Matt impulsively, but accidentally kill Penny. However, after a series of events that forces Matt to try and save Bonnie from being a bloodthirsty Supernatural Huntress, Matt is done fighting the war between humans and vampires. Matt decides to leave Mystic Falls and start a normal life outside the world of vampires. 
After Matt left town, he went to look for his estranged father, Peter, and told him nothing of the supernatural creatures he dealt with for the last seven years of his life in Mystic Falls. He later returned to Mystic Falls and reunited with the spirits of his mother and sister, stopping them from helping Katherine destroy Mystic Falls. He took back the position of sheriff and became well-respected, thinking of running for mayor one day which he eventually became. 
He is best friends with Jeremy Gilbert, Tyler Lockwood, Elena Gilbert, and Bonnie Bennett. He is also close friends with Caroline Forbes.
Matt is a member of the Donovan Family.
==Early History==
Matt was born on February 26, 1993 in Mystic Falls. He is the son of Kelly Donovan and Peter Maxwell. He had an older sister, Vicki Donovan. Because Kelly and Miranda Gilbert, who was Elena's adoptive mother, were best friends since high school, Matt knew Elena since infancy, occasionally sharing a crib. They grew up together, being really close childhood friends, and began dating in their teenage years feeling they owed it to themselves to try. When Elena's parents died, she broke up with Matt because she needed time alone to figure out her feelings. Matt still hoped they could be together, but it was not likely to happen due to Elena's instant connection to the new student, Stefan Salvatore. It's something he might still mourn about.
==Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series==
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In An Eternity of Misery, Matt arrives at his father Peter's garage right after Damon had stabbed Peter in the stomach. Matt shoots Damon twice with wooden bullets and runs to examine Peter's wounds. He sees that they are pretty severe so Matt cuts Damon's wrist and tells his dad to drink the blood from it. Matt promises to explain later. His dad's wound is healed within seconds and Matt is demanding to know what Damon is doing there. Peter can't believe Matt knows Damon. Matt tells him that Damon isn't dead and apologizes for not telling him any of this when he tracked him down months ago. Matt tells his dad to get in the truck and he'll explain.
Matt has Damon all tied up and he's holding a broom handle-turned-stake. Damon tells him that they both know he isn't going to kill him. Matt ask "Why not?" He stabs Damon in the stomach and says that he doesn't care if he shuts his humanity off, he just wants to know why he tried to kill his father. Damon says he didn't know Peter was Matt's father. He also tells Matt that if he doesn't play along, Tyler Lockwood dies. Matt steps back and says that even Damon isn't that stupid because Elena would never forgive him. Damon tells Matt that he and Elena are through and he's been seeing another woman. Damon looks Matt in the eye and says "Am I lying or being completely truthful when I tell you that I ripped into Tyler's throat last night?"
Damon goes on to describe the car he left Tyler in to bleed out and where it's parked. Matt punches him in the face. Matt tells him that if he did hurt Tyler he will kill him.
Matt and Peter drive to where Tyler is supposed to be. Matt explains about vampires, mind compulsion and vervain. Then Peter says a little rhyme about a glass of vervain a day keeps the vampires at bay. Peter tells Matt that that's what his great-grandma used to say. Matt is hurt when Peter tells him that the hardest thing about leaving Mystic Falls was leaving his grandmother behind.
Matt finds the green Mustang, opens the trunk and there lies Tyler, dead. Peter comforts him.
In Coming Home Was a Mistake,
In Detoured On Some Random Backwoods Path to Hell,
In The Next Time I Hurt Somebody, It Could Be You,
In We Have History Together,
In The Simple Intimacy of the Near Touch,
In Nostalgia's a Bitch,
In You Made a Choice to Be Good,
In What Are You?,
In The Lies Will Catch Up To You,
In We're Planning a June Wedding,
In I Was Feeling Epic, in order to save the town from hellfire, he orders its immediate evacuation pretending to be a gas leak. Later, he and his father, spend one last moment with Vicki before what they think to be the end. It is then show, in a flashforward, that Matt is still an officer in Mystic Falls, he even gets his bench and thinks about running as the mayor. He also seems to be in good terms with his father.
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==Throughout The Originals Series==
===Season Three===
In Behind the Black Horizon, he confronts Elijah and Finn who have arrived in Mystic Falls to find Freya. He aims his gun at them and he is made aware that there is another Mikaelson sister. When Elijah gives him two options, Matt suggests a third one and he helps them find Freya. He has his gun aimed at Lucien and Finn puts his hand on his gun and fires at Lucien, killing him temporarily. Lucien rises as a beast and knocks Matt unconscious.
==Throughout Legacies Series==
===Season One===
In This is the Part Where You Run, Matt discovers a mysterious crime scene that can only be described as supernatural. He calls in a favor to a State Patrol buddy and has the scene locked down and calls Alaric, who brings Hope. He explains that the local PD believes it to be a chemical spill, but that is not the actual story; that is for Alaric to determine. Alaric thanks Matt for the heads up and approaches the bus, deceased riders as charred husks of their previous lives litter the sits. Alaric and Hope unsure of what transpired between Landon Kirby, a missing passenger, and the other people aboard the bus.
In Hope is Not the Goal, he arrives at the boarding school to let the students and faculty know about the missing teenagers Dana Lilien and Sasha Stoteraux. He then listens to what Alaric has to say and they later go into the woods together to look for the girls. They find Dana with a pale skin tone and a bite mark on her neck, which makes Matt think she was attacked by a vampire. Not long afterwards, they see Dana is gone and then a bit later find what is left of her in the bus compartment. Much later, he confronts Kaleb in the hallway with Alaric about him feeding on humans.
==Personality==
Matt is everyone's definition of the "everyday man". Out of the characters, he is the most "normal"; he does not possess any supernatural attribute, nor any supernatural artifact that makes him stand out of the rest of humanity and he wants it to stay that way (at least until he was given the Gilbert Ring previously worn by Jeremy). He is, however, aware of the supernatural world and has more than had his fair share of skirmishes with them in the past.
Matt is often seen by some people as a person who only cares about the sport, however, he is just the opposite, Matt is strong because he wants to protect his family and friends from the dangers that threaten them every day.
As far as personality goes, Matt is loyal, headstrong, and down-to-earth. According to Vicki, Matt is the "golden child" of their family, with a good future ahead of him. These qualities make it very hard for other characters not to like him, and he has captured the hearts of several females throughout the series. However, as the years have passed and he's lost more friends, Matt has become colder and even ruthless to a degree, as he has willingly tortured and hurt Damon and Stefan on several occasions.
==Physical Appearance==
Matt is a very handsome young man, who stands at approximately 6 feet tall with baby blue eyes and short dark blonde hair. He has an attractive face and can be considered as the stereotypical football player in regards to his personality and physical looks.
Matt's hairstyle over the seasons has remained similar, shortened with not much length except his hair was somewhat longer in the first season. On special occasions, Matt has been shown to gel his hair such as for the 60s Decade Dance, for a more formal style.
His clothing sense is that of a typical teenager, for school as he played football, he used to wear the school Timberwolves jacket however usually wore a range of different colored t-shirts and jeans with boots or sneaker shoes. Lately, he has been wearing checkered button-down shirts with a t-shirt underneath or shirts with an unbuttoned collar. He also wears a heavy jacket with hoods or light weight jackets, both of which are usually a darkened color. Working at the Grill, Matt has a uniform which consists of a dark blue t-shirt and black trousers. On occasions, he regularly wears a dark tuxedo and trousers with a tie.
==Relationships==
===Vicki Donovan===
Vicki is Matt's older sister, although it often seemed like the other way around since Matt was the one looking after Vicki, due to their mother not being around. Vicki started to act erratically after she turned into a vampire, which made Matt think she was on drugs. After Vicki's death, Matt believed that she had run away, until her body was found. In season three, Matt was able to see Vicki after Esther performed a spell and tried to bring her back, but he had to learn to accept her death. When Matt temporarily died in season five, he saw Vicki and tried to keep hold of her, but she reminded him that she was already dead and let go as she was sucked into hell.
Seasons later, Vicki appears once again as a spirit from hell with the intent on ringing the Maxwell bell, which would destroy hell and Mystic Falls along with it. Matt originally tried to stop her until he realized how tormenting hell was for her. He recognized that she wanted to find peace from hell and he let her ring the bell. Although unaware of her presence, a little bit after the events of the eighth season finale, Vicki watches over Matt one last time before finding peace in death.
===Tyler Lockwood===
Matt and Tyler are best friends, and have known each other for a long time. They were both on the football team, and they both also fell in love with Caroline, which strained their friendship for a while. In season six, Matt decides to join the police academy, and gets Tyler to join him. 
However, due to circumstances thanks to Kai Parker's influence during Season Six, Matt and Tyler were forced to say goodbye to each other temporarily while Tyler figured out his newfound werewolf life. Also, Matt moved up in the ranks of law enforcement due to the rising supernatural occurrences in Mystic Falls. They still remain close friends up until Tyler's final death. Matt still mourns Tyler's loss and is still mad at Damon for killing him. Although unaware, Tyler's spirit watches over Matt one last time before moving onto finding peace.
===Elena Gilbert===
Elena and Matt had a relationship throughout most of high school, but she had broken up with him after her parent's deaths. At first, it was evident that he still loved her and was jealous of her new relationship with Stefan Salvatore, but they remained good friends throughout the rest of the series. When Rebekah drove Elena and Matt off of Wickery Bridge, she had Stefan save him before herself. When Elena lost her humanity, Matt was the person who had flipped her switch after Damon had snapped his neck while he was wearing the Gilbert ring. When Matt said his goodbye to Elena after she was put into a sleeping coma, she told him that she hopes he spends his life fighting for people like himself: human, loyal, and kind. They end up reuniting in the series finale.
===Caroline Forbes===
Matt and Caroline have known each other since first grade. At first, he didn't like her very much, but they began to grow closer and started a romantic relationship. Their relationship was strained due to Caroline's frequent jealousy over Elena due to her and Matt's history. They start to drift apart after Caroline becomes a vampire, and also after she starts getting closer to his best friend, Tyler. They break up, and although they aren't together anymore, they still remain good friends and allies even after the series' end.
===Rebekah Mikaelson===
Matt and Rebekah's relationship was strained at first, especially after Rebekah drove him and Elena off of Wickery Bridge, killing Elena and almost killing Matt. She makes several attempts to make amends with Matt, but he's cold towards her. At Prom, she dances with Matt and tells him that she wants to be everything that he is, which is beautifully human. She tries to be a better person and continually tries to prove it to Matt. After they are in a dangerous predicament with Alexander, Rebekah takes Matt's place on the trigger that sets off explosives. She kisses him and tells him to run so he won't miss graduation. She vamp speeds away, and the bomb detonates, but neither of them are hurt. She then goes off with Matt, and they spend 3 months traveling together before she joins her brother in New Orleans.
===Penny Ares===
Matt first meets Penny when she pulls him over for driving drunk, which he argues with her against. The two have a rocky start when Penny insists the law doesn't bend for anyone. They eventually ally and become friends and partners against vampires. During this time, the two became engaged to each other. Unfortunately, Penny's involvement with the supernatural world and Matt eventually got her killed. Matt was shocked and hurt after her death, which influenced him to hunt all vampires that threatened his hometown because he believed a vampire caused her death. The last time Matt sees Penny is when he hallucinates seeing her and she tells him to move on with his life, without her. Matt does as she wishes of him: moves on.
===Other Relationships===
Donovan Family, Mystic Falls Gang, Mystic Falls High School, Mystic Grill, Mystic Falls Police Station
*Jeremy, Matt and Tyler (Best Friends/Former Allies)
*Jeremy and Matt (Best Friends/Were Roommates/Former Allies)
*Matt and Bonnie (Close Friends/Allies)
*Matt and Stefan (Former Friends/Enemies)
*Damon and Matt (Frenemies/Former Enemies)
*Matt and Alaric (Former Allies/Friends)
*Katherine and Matt (Former Enemies/Allies)
*Matt and Kol (Former Enemies)
*Matt and April (Distant Friends)
*Matt and Nadia (Ex-Fling/Former Allies)
*Matt and Enzo (Enemies/Frenemies)
*Sarah Nelson and Matt (Former Distant Friends)
*Matt, Nora and Mary Louise (Enemies)
*Matt and Rayna (Former Allies)
==Appearances==
===The Vampire Diaries===
===The Originals===
The Originals Season One
*House of the Rising Son (Mentioned)
The Originals Season Three
*For the Next Millennium (Indirectly Mentioned)
*Behind the Black Horizon
===Legacies===
Legacies Season One
*This is the Part Where You Run
*Hope is Not the Goal
*What Was Hope Doing In Your Dreams? (Mentioned)
Legacies Season Two
*That's Nothing I Had to Remember (Mentioned)
Season Four
*We All Knew This Day Was Coming (Document/Mentioned)
==Episode Absence==
==Novels==
In the novels, Matt's surname is Honeycutt, not "Donovan", and like the series, he is Elena's ex-boyfriend. Vicki is also not his sister in the novels. Matt Honeycutt's father is dead and his mother is only briefly mentioned and is completely dissimilar to Kelly Donovan.
==Name==
*Matt is a masculine name of Hebrew origin. It is from the Hebrew מַתִּתְיָהוּ (Mattiyahu) which means "Gift of Yaweh". Matt is a variation or short form for Matthew. In the English meaning, it means "Gift of God".
*Donovan is an anglicized form of the Gaelic Ó Donndubháin.http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/boy/donovan
==Trivia==
==Gallery==
==References==
==See also==
Category:Characters
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