Alaric K. Saltzman

Alaric K. Saltzman is a character of The Vampire Diaries novel series. He is Meredith Sulez's fiancé and a former teacher at Robert E. Lee High School. He attended Duke University and studies the supernatural.
==The Original Series==
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|-|The Struggle=
Alaric is hired by Robert E. Lee High School to be the new European History teacher after the death of Mr. Tanner. He was mistaken as someone who had experience with the supernatural since all he had done was research on the matter. In his first class, Alaric had the students seat themselves in a circle and talk about how the recent events had affected them and invited the class over to his house for further discussion.
|-|The Fury=
During Elena "funeral", Alaric witnesses dogs attack the townspeople and avoids the danger, but Stefan, Damon, and Elena distrust him. Alaric hypnotizes Caroline and Tyler, and while during the session, Tyler shows interest, bu it has no effect on. while Caroline reveals that Stefan is the attacker during hers. Alaric decides to throw a party to try to lessen the sadness of Elena's death. During the event, Meredith presents Alaric to Elena, Damon, and Bonnie in the attic. Alaric tells all about his studies as a psychologist and professor of the supernatural, also saying that Stefan is in danger and what Caroline said of his attacker.
Elena and Damon head to where Stefan is together with Alaric, Meredith, and Bonnie. Alaric and some of the others stand guard at the Snow Dance; when nothing happens, Alaric says they need a premonition and Bonnie reluctantly does but, in the end, it leads them to the graves of Thomas and Honoria Fell. In the presence of Honoria Fell, they realize all the danger is in the same grave and Alaric goes with some of the group to the dance to help the citizens.
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==The Return Series==
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|-|Shadow Souls=
With all the troubles happening in Fell's Church, Meredith said she called Alaric who was abroad doing research. He agreed to come back to the town after he did more research on the activities.
|-|Midnight=
He is researching for Meredith about the creatures attacking the town. Elena and Bonnie manage to give him a message during the time he's seen. They (Bonnie and Elena) are in an "out of body" experience caused by a deep longing for each other while separated.
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==The Hunters Series==
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|-|Phantom=
He had been spending several months in Japan working at Unmei no Shima with Dr. Celia Connor. He arrives back at Fell's Church with Celia at a train station and embraces Meredith when he sees her. After the scarf ordeal with Celia, he and the others head to Mrs. Flowers' house to recover. He and Meredith later get into her car to have a picnic and spend some time with each other. As she drives, he tells her about his research and Celia, saying he's worried about what's going in Fell's Church and how it's affecting her and the others. He talks about Celia's safety, not exactly noticing Meredith's hostility and yells at her to stop before she hits Celia with the car.
He wraps his arms around Meredith as she is visibly upset about almost hitting Celia, and the group later arrive at their destination. After Meredith's injury, he takes her to the hospital and when they return, he sits her next to Celia. He begins discussing the occurrences happening with the group and thinks they need to figure out what is causing it. After Bonnie sees her name in Mrs. Flowers' knitting, he helps Meredith bake cookies for Bonnie. He is later told by Meredith that she is a vampire hunter and while surprised, he is happy and kisses her.
Afterwards, he and the others eat breakfast until they hear Meredith scream, seeing Bonnie unconscious. He calls Celia for some help and also examines Caleb's notebook to prove Caleb was a magic user and planning vengeance. The group try finding some more answers and when Stefan comes with Elena's body, he follows with the rest upstairs. He and the others head for the Smallwoods' house to find Caleb and after watching out for anyone on the sidewalk, Alaric comes in for magic information that could help them. As they listen to Caleb, Alaric says he's telling the truth and he casted a low-level discord spell, and the negative emotions could be feeding the phantom. They go back to the boardinghouse to put Matt with Elena and Bonnie. They listen as Celia gives them an old book about phantoms. 
They then begin preparing for the ritual and go to the dimension where Elena, Bonnie and Matt are. He then ushers the three over the chalk line and manages to stop the phantom from crossing over. He tells everyone they need to declare the jealousies inside themselves and cast them out. After Elena, Bonnie and Matt cast their jealousies out, Alaric says he was jealous of Meredith and her friends seeing the supernatural for real, and being superheroes pretty much, casting his jealousy out. After realizing the phantom is an Original, the group begins fighting and weakening the rose inside the phantom while Alaric chants with Mrs. Flowers. After defeating the phantom, he and Celia supported Mrs. Flowers under an umbrella. The next day, he gives a Celia a lift to a train station to Boston.
|-|Moonsong=
He is staying in Fell's Church to study all the supernatural events that had happened in the town's history. He also says goodbye to Meredith before she gets into her car. He waves farewell in the driveway as she leaves for Dalcrest. He later talks to Meredith about Bonnie and the research he has been doing about Dalcrest. He tells her about the supernatural attacks and mysterious disappearances that have occurred at the college.
|-|Destiny Rising=
While he will be visiting Dalcrest soon, Meredith reveals that Alaric has been researching more about the earthly guardians. He later arrives at the campus and happily kisses Meredith, embracing her. He and Meredith talk about Klaus, her family and Samantha, and he reveals through his research that a white ash tree planted with a full moon should be more powerful against vampires. He also tells her he'll stay with her at the campus for as long as she wants him.
A day or so later, he goes with the group to a stream where the white ash tree is. They come upon the tree, unfortunately they are too late as it is engulfed in flames and black smoke, leaving Alaric devastated. After realizing Klaus compelled Tyler and Caroline, Alaric drives the group back and still thinks of possible solutions in his head on the way back to campus. He then pulls the car over on the side of the road as Bonnie receives another dream. He listens as Bonnie describes her dream to the others, being worried at what is going to happen. As they arrive at the campus, he joins in with the others to kill the remaining Vitale vampires. The group follows Elena into the woods when she finds an aura, and after seeing it's Damon, Alaric and Bonnie support the victim Damon was feeding on between them and walk away.
A few days later, the group goes off to fight Klaus and his vampires, with Alaric and Bonnie putting up a protection spell for everyone. After Andres Montez talks about Elena and her powers, Alaric promises not to tell anyone about it, with the rest of the group promising as well. He and Meredith later enjoy their time with each other until Matt comes in with Chloe, both of them bleeding and covered in ash. Sometime later, he and Bonnie stay on the sidelines to cast spells as the group fight Klaus and his followers. When Elena is taken, Alaric joins the group in finding and sees runes carved that predate Dalcrest. After Klaus is killed, he meets Meredith on a hill and talks to her about Cristian. He tells her she's the bravest person he's ever known and that it's an honor to fight beside her.
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==The Salvation Series==
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|-|Unseen=
He attends Bonnie's birthday party and it's revealed that he and Meredith have been married for six months. He listens as the guests make speeches to Bonnie about her growth over the years. After the party, the couple drink some tea before going to bed at their home. As she studies for her mock trial, he massages her back and muscles. After she sleepily said she wanted to taste all of the tea's ingredients, he carries her off to bed. After the death of Elena and Stefan's pet cat, Sammy, Alaric uses a small brass triangle with a crystal on a chain, and states that he's not picking up any paranormal resonating anywhere in the room.
As the group meets up with Jack, Alaric watches as Zander and Meredith examine the weapons. He heads with the group to find Solomon, but they end up being attacked by compelled humans. On another night of hunting down Solomon, Alaric accompanies the group and they encounter a storm caused by Solomon. After the storm caused them to stop pursuing, a day or so after, Alaric joins the group again with a weapon to go after Solomon near the Plantation Museum. After Trinity is possessed by Solomon, Alaric looks at the missing poster of Gabriel Dalton, the previous body Solomon was using.
Much later afterwards, he and the others greet Bonnie as she returns from her witch group. After the death of Solomon, Alaric celebrates with the others and for the end of the Old Ones. When Jack stabs Stefan with a stave, Alaric tries to pull it out for him, but is stopped by Meredith. After Stefan's death, Alaric begins researching on vampires that could hide their auras. He and Zander dig a grave for Stefan and stands with the others, giving a speech in Latin for Stefan. He, Matt and Zander then start shoveling dirt onto Stefan's body after Elena leaves.
|-|Unspoken=
He is deeply in sleep when Meredith arrives back home after her ordeal with Jack. As he lays asleep, Meredith realizes she is a vampire and can hear his heart beating. The two later go to a steakhouse for a date night, he asks if Damon is alright and wonders what is wrong with Meredith. She lies to him, not wanting to tell him her predicament, and he smiles, continuing to talk during their date.
He then has a look at an artificial vampire that Damon caught with the others and suggests that he should try finding Jack's history so they could learn more about him. He is equally surprised about Meredith's decision to go to Atlanta to talk to Darlene, but softens his expression in understanding, kissing her goodbye the next day.
He invites everyone who is still in town to a meeting at his apartment to discuss the new information that he has found on Jack. He reveals a piece of newspaper that is in Swiss and the name at the bottom being Henrik Goetsch. He reveals that Henrik is Jack's real name, and that the woman on the paper is his fiancee, Lucia. After Bonnie performs a spell to find the vampire whose blood is responsible for Henrik and the artificial vampires, Alaric mutters a charm of protection as the group gathers to hunt the vampire down.
After getting home from teaching a class at Dalcrest, he wonders why Meredith wants the light off and he listens as she tells him everything about being a vampire, and being with Jack, not in Atlanta as she said. While she thinks he's going to leave her, he embraces her and says they'll get through, with a cure or not, as they both love each other. The next day, Matt brings a heart charm bracelet for Meredith and Alaric helps her put it on as she chokes up with tears. Before getting ready to go after Siobhan, Alaric overhears Elena and Meredith talking about the bottle of water from the Fountain of Eternal Life and Youth, and thanks her.
He stands next to Meredith and the rest of the group, ready to attack Jack and his vampires at the warehouse, while also meeting Siobhan in the process. He goes with Meredith, Bonnie and Jasmine, managing to rescue Matt, who is leaning heavily against Alaric and ask if they used the poison yet. Arriving back at Elena and Damon's apartment, Alaric suggests they should stop hunting Jack and keep away if they don't have a chance of killing him.
After Jack and Siobhan are killed, Alaric attends Bonnie's wedding to Zander with Meredith. They dance and talk about their own wedding, he tells her she's not a monster and they'll find a cure. If they don't, he's in it until death do us part.
|-|Unmasked=
He was on his way from an academic conference to Elena's apartment as she has been slowly dwindling due to Jack's death and protecting Damon.
After Elena changes some of the past, Alaric didn't replace Mr. Tanner, but was instead called in by the High Wolf Council to consult a problem they had. He meets Meredith at Bonnie and Zander's wedding, and the two dance with each other.
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==Appearance==
Alaric is in his early twenties and is said to be handsome. He has hazel brown eyes, sandy brown hair and a "boyish smile".
==Personality==
Alaric is a kind person, willing to help others. He is friendly and understanding, but is serious when the time calls for it. He is also very curious as shown in The Struggle, when he was quizzing the students on Mr. Tanner's death.
==The Vampire Diaries==
In the television series, Alaric Saltzman is portrayed by Matthew Davis.
Alaric "Ric" Saltzman is introduced as the new history teacher for Jeremy's class and also knows that vampires exist in the small town of Mystic Falls. Once he learns of Mystic Falls, he becomes a hunter. While vampires can easily overpower him, he has an athletic strength and is shown to able to defend himself in a fight. And because of his wife, Isobel who studied Paranormal activity, he knows what weakens vampires and uses it. He was until recently dating Jenna Sommers, Jeremy's aunt. In Season Four to Six, Alaric is an Original Vampire. However, he has recently become a human again.
==Name==
*Alaric is a Gothic name meaning "ruler of all". It was the name of the king of the Visigoths who sacked Rome in 410 and might have precipitated the fall of Rome.
*Saltzman is an Ashkenazic Jewish occupational name for a producer or seller of salt, from German Salz "salt" + Mann "man". Altered spelling of German Salzmann.
==Trivia==
*In the novels, Alaric is between mid-twenties to late twenties. In the TV series, he is in his thirties.
*Both counterparts have dated someone called Meredith. Book Alaric dates Meredith Sulez, Elena's best friend, while TV Alaric dates Meredith Fell, a Mystic Falls doctor and a founding family member, before his death in The Departed.
==See also==
Category:Novel Characters
Category:Male Characters
Category:Humans