Stefan Salvatore

Stefan Salvatore was one of the two main male protagonists of The Vampire Diaries. Stefan was a 171-year-old cured vampire and the distant descendant and doppelgänger of Silas. Stefan was born and raised in the supernatural town of Mystic Falls, Virginia and came of age during the time of the Civil War. Stefan was the youngest child of Giuseppe Salvatore and Lillian Salvatore. He had an older brother, Damon Salvatore, who is also a cured vampire and whom he shared a strained relationship with, stemming from the appearance of Katherine Pierce over whom they fought 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 1900s after "falling off the wagon" due to Damon's unhealthy influence, he widely became known as the Ripper of Monterey 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 then 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 were 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 discovered that this is due to the creation of a sire bond between Elena and Damon after Elena's transition to a vampire. He then embarked on a journey to Nova Scotia with Elena, Shane, 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 doppelgänger, 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. 
During the sixth season Stefan after having given up on his search for a way to revive Damon gets dragged in by a vengeful Enzo (angry at Stefan for giving up, and envious of how others regard him highly), when he kills and turns his new girlfriend Ivy. This results in their initially stable relationship into an antagonistic one before she was captured and killed. Stefan later has a heartfelt reunion with Damon when he escapes the Prison World he was sent to following the Other Side's destruction. Later when it's revealed that Stefan has another living relative Sarah Nelson (who was born as Sarah Salvatore), Enzo tries to use the information as leverage before Stefan shoots down his hopes of it ruining his relationship with Damon. Stefan also begins to develop feelings and a relationship with Caroline but things go awry when her mother is diagnosed with inoperable cancer and dies, causing Caroline to turn her humanity off and forces Stefan to do the same by kidnapping Sarah and threatening to have her killed due to Stefan being Caroline's "humanity trigger". They then continue their relationship (albeit physically only) as they go on a killing spree. Stefan is reunited with his mother Lillian, thanks to Damon and Elena causing his humanity to turn back on. Stefan then helps Caroline turn hers back on by showing her one of his last memories with her mother. 
During the eighth season, Stefan worked for Cade, the Devil. To keep both him and Damon out of Hell, he flipped his humanity switch off. While a ripper again, he attempted to murder Elena in her coffin, ripping out Enzo's heart, killing him as he was in his way. He then attacks Bonnie before going after Elena, only for Bonnie to use the Cure, taken from Elena's blood, on Stefan in revenge and self-defense. Stefan faints from being cured of his vampirism. When he awakens his emotions immediately turn back on and he feels the full weight of everything he did while his emotions were off, filling him with immense guilt. He then has to face the consequences of his actions when his compulsion on others wears off and is temporarily detained before Caroline has him freed. He then sets out to redeem himself for his past actions and succeeds by killing Cade. Despite this Stefan ends up making the ultimate sacrifice when Katherine Pierce tries to destroy Mystic Falls with hellfire, killing both of them after he gives Damon the cure so that he can live a happy human life. While in Limbo he talks to Elena and informs her of his death and sacrifice before giving her a message to Caroline who he had just married on the day of his death. After saying their final goodbyes Stefan finds peace and had a joyful reunion with Lexi. 
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 (now reunited in death), and eventually became best friends and married to Caroline Forbes. He was also close friends with Bonnie Bennett and his ex-girlfriend, Elena Gilbert.
Throughout the series, outside forces threaten those he loved and what he most desired: a normal, human life.
Stefan was a member of the Salvatore Family.
==Early History==
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|-|Human Life=
|-|1863=
Stefan met Valerie and Julian in 1863, at the County Fair in Mystic Falls. Unbeknownst to Stefan - who was still human at the time - Valerie and Julian was a siphoner witch and a vampire, respectively, who, per his mother's orders, came to Mystic Falls to make sure Stefan was doing well before they left for Europe. Valerie introduced herself to Stefan, despite Lily's instructions to simply observe him and not interact with him, and the two quickly became smitten with each other. Julian attempted to separate them early on, but Valerie used her magical amulet to cast a cloaking spell so they wouldn't be seen. Stefan ultimately lost his virginity to Valerie that night, though he was not aware that they had conceived a child during their lovemaking. Julian eventually caught them afterward and forced Valerie to leave with him, but before she left, she assured Stefan that she would find her way back to him. At the end of the summer that year, Valerie sent Stefan a telegram asking him to run away with her - Stefan then arrived at their meeting place two hours early with a bouquet of flowers and waited for her there, only to be devastated when she didn't show up. Stefan didn't know that Julian caught her trying to leave and then beat her, causing her to miscarriage - Stefan would only learn the truth about it a 150 years later.
|-|1864=
|-|1912=
In 1912, Stefan returned to Mystic Falls to attend the funeral of his half-nephew, Zachariah. It was there that Stefan saw Damon for the first time in almost fifty years. Damon initially had no desire to rekindle any brotherly relationship with Stefan, but Stefan convinced Damon to join him for a drink, saying he had missed him.
Later, while at a boxing ring, Damon tried to persuade a very resistant Stefan to have a drink of human blood with him again, selecting Marianna Lockwood and luring her away from the crowd. Stefan fed on her, but quickly lost control of himself and accidentally ripped her head off, astonishing both of them. Out of extreme guilt and remorse, Stefan irrationally apologized and tried to put her head back onto her body. Stefan, angry with Damon for forcing him to drink human blood, refused Damon's offer to help him learn to control it, then ran off into the woods. Damon watched him go, concerned for his brother's well-being, though not enough to pursue him. After drinking human blood in 1912, Stefan fell off the wagon and returned to his former Ripper lifestyle.
|-|1917=
Klaus revealed that Stefan had become notorious for his horrific killing sprees, including the massacre of an entire migrant village in Monterey in 1917, after which he became known among the vampires as the "Ripper of Monterey". 100 years later, Arcadius told Stefan that he actually attacked the village on Christmas Eve. Stefan was reluctant to believe him at first, but then Cade showed him that Seline had met him after the massacre. Instead of giving Stefan's soul to Cade, she took pity on him. After seeing how regretful he was, she altered his subconscious and made him forget, convincing him that he was worth living.
|-|1922=
After he left Mexico, Stefan traveled to Chicago in 1922. It was there that he frequented a particular speakeasy, and one day caught the eye of a beautiful blonde vampire, Rebekah. She initially resisted his interest, but not long after that, they became romantically involved.
Stefan eventually met Rebekah's older half-brother, Nik. At first, Nik disliked Stefan because of his relationship with Rebekah. As time went on, however, they bonded over their similar family histories, as well as Stefan's penchant for petty cruelty toward humans, and became best friends who enjoyed each other's company immensely. The three of them frequently partied together at the speakeasy, enjoying booze, blood and dancing all night long.
On one such night of revelry, the club was attacked by what appeared to be the police. Discovering that the police were using wooden bullets, Stefan realized they knew there were vampires inside. He sensed Rebekah's panic when she responded cryptically "He's here," but before he could find anything out, Nik compelled Stefan to forget about him and Rebekah. Unbeknownst to Stefan, Katherine was in the club while the police were searching it; she spotted Rebekah's necklace on the floor and went to pick it up, but fled when she heard Stefan approaching. He in turn saw the necklace and picked it up, observing it carefully. A detective then approached him, showed him a sketch of Nik and Rebekah and asked if he had ever seen them before. Stefan told him what he believed to be the truth: that he had never seen those people before in his life.
In April of this year, Lexi found Stefan again, "dragged him off the train tracks" and started to help him recover his humanity and get off of human blood. According to Stefan's journal entries, it took the better part of a decade to do so; around 1935 he still felt cravings for human blood, but it was getting easier, and by the 1940's, still under Lexi's guidance, he continued to make progress with his rehabilitation.
|-|1942=
Before he left for the war, Stefan, at Lexi's insistence, sought out his brother Damon in New Orleans in order to make amends with him. He approached his brother in a bar, and after an initial skepticism, Damon welcomed the reunion and seemed glad to have Stefan back in his life after thirty years apart. After Stefan told Damon about his plans to join the war effort as an ambulance driver, Damon proposed spur-of-the-moment that he could join Stefan. Unknown to Stefan at the time, Lexi talked Damon out of leaving with Stefan, citing his profligate lifestyle and how Damon's behavior would not be good for Stefan's rehabilitation. She seemed to be proven right when, after Charlotte had brought a bleeding victim back to the bar, Stefan started to lose himself at the sight and smell of human blood. Lexi's interference proved instrumental in the brothers' long estrangement, as Stefan left for the North African campaign believing Damon had abandoned him yet again.
|-|1960=
As the elections for a new president go under way, a lady is walking alone through an alley, Stefan appears and attacks her, biting her and drinking her blood, he lets her go alive and compels her to forget everything, then a woman who seems to know everything about vampires appears and she knows who he is, she knows he is the brother of Damon Salvatore, who she is looking for. Stefan asks who she is and she tells him that her name is Maggie James, Stefan advised her to stay away from Damon as he is lost by his comportment, she confesses that she is looking for Damon only to kill him because he is a monster, so Stefan decides to attack her but only to scare her and leave the town.
|-|1977=
Stefan returned to Mystic Falls this year along with Lexi. Stefan asked Lexi to go to New York City to help Damon get his humanity back and to get his act together.
|-|1987=
He was in Chicago with Lexi at a Bon Jovi concert, which unbeknownst to them was Katherine watching them from afar.
|-|1994=
The brothers met again in May, 1994, when Stefan came back to Mystic Falls to be with his great nephew Zach. Damon, who didn't see Stefan for nearly 50 years, and has had his humanity switch shut, claimed he wanted to go straight and narrow. Stefan, who knew that Damon had sent Lexi flowers to apologize for leaving her to burn on a rooftop 17 years earlier, reluctantly let him back into his life. He thought Damon was living on animal's blood until he saw bite marks on the wrist of Zach's pregnant girlfriend Gail. It turns out Damon had weened Zach and Gail off their vervain and didn't consider feeding on his relative and a pregnant women bad, since he was keeping it all inside the house. Stefan had snapped his neck and had taken him to the shed of the boarding house, where he could take off his daylight ring, gave him time to cool off, and berate him for always ruining his life. Damon, who just missed his little brother and wanted him to go off on a road trip with him, snapped. That's when he killed all the people at the party, including Gail. He promised Stefan an eternity of misery—resentment for Stefan turning him into a vampire so he wouldn't be alone, but then not wanting to be the kind of vampire Damon became and left him all alone. Damon them left his brother. Stefan was able to compel Zach to forget about Gail and the deaths, but he couldn't hide the body count. Stefan then took Gail to the hospital, and all though the doctors couldn't save her, they saved her baby girl. He then made sure that the baby was adopted right out of the hospital by a great family, who named her Sarah Nelson. Stefan left town right after, and looked out for Sarah all her life, without Damon knowing anything, so he wouldn't jeopardize her life with the supernatural world.
</tabber>
==Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series==
<tabber>
|-|Season 1=
|-|Season 2=
|-|Season 3=
|-|Season 4=
|-|Season 5=
|-|Season 6=
|-|Season 7=
|-|Season 8=
In Hello, Brother,
In Today Will Be Different,
In You Decided That I Was Worth Saving,
In An Eternity of Misery,
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 It's Been a Hell of a Ride,
In We're Planning a June Wedding,
In I Was Feeling Epic, 
</tabber>
==Throughout The Originals Series==
<tabber>
|-|Season Three=
In A Streetcar Named Desire, Stefan goes with Klaus to the compound so he can ask Freya to help him hide from Rayna. While Elijah and Klaus discuss the events that are going on, Stefan tells Freya he dated Rebekah for a little bit and she puts a herb paste on that will keep Rayna from tracking him. He asks what is going on and Freya tells him about the white oak bullets and the sireline situation. Afterwards, Stefan appears when Marcel, Hayley and Lucien are talking about their lives being tied to Klaus and that his is in danger as well. He and Lucien plan an attack, but they end up throwing banter at each other and Freya tells them she has a way to get them and she wants to use Lucien. After Freya magically snaps Lucien's neck, Stefan thanks her and they begin their plan. Stefan and Hayley are in the trunk of the car Marcel is driving and they talk. She tells him about her daughter and he shows her a picture of Caroline, who Hayley remembers and they arrive at their destination. While talking, Stefan peels off the paste and Rayna instantly comes after the beacon. Before the others can save Klaus from the spell, Davina finishes it and Lucien, Marcel and Stefan began to feel a burning and the sireline is broken. Afterwards, Stefan is seen sitting outside near the tomb Klaus put Aurora in and he asks if this will be the last they will see of each other. Klaus says it depends if he can do right by Caroline and he tells him he will. He tells Klaus he needs to do right by Hayley and that she cares for him, as she went out of her way to help. They then bid farewell to each other and Stefan leaves.
</tabber>
==Personality==
<tabber>
|-|Human/Doppelgänger=
1850s (1st Time)
As a human, Stefan was compassionate, kind, noble, honorable, intelligent, athletic, responsible, academic, dutiful, and a gentleman. He was definitely seen as the 'Golden Boy' and he had the admiration and respect of the entire town of Mystic Falls and most of all, of his father Giuseppe. Stefan was also seen to be ambitious and studious and he desired to become a doctor during his human life and this was his profession or career of choice before he was turned into a vampire against his will. In his human years, when it came to love and romance, Stefan was liked, admired by and popular with women. He was seen to be chivalrous, gallant, romantic, well-mannered, courteous and polite, traits which made Katherine Pierce fall deeply for the younger Salvatore.
In regards to Katherine, Stefan was much harder to get and challenging unlike Damon, who persistently chased and pursued Katherine as much as possible. Unlike Damon, Stefan had a very close relationship with his father Giuseppe and Stefan was Giuseppe's favorite son. Stefan was also close with his mother, before she had died when he was 10 years old. Before turning into a vampire in 1864, Stefan was seen to be happy, optimistic, light-hearted, playful, mischievous and naive. He was also seen as athletic, dutiful, respectful, intelligent, scholarly, noble, chivalrous and even-tempered. Stefan was very close to his older brother Damon growing up. Although Stefan was very popular and had many male friends during his human life, Stefan always considered Damon to be his best friend and companion. Stefan was also a bit idealistic when it came to love and romance, even naive at times. This is evident in Stefan when he very quickly and easily became infatuated and fell in love with Katherine Pierce, which is evidence of his youthfulness, naivety and simplicity as a regular teenage human. Although Stefan was only 17 years old, he displayed maturity, responsibility and had a wisdom beyond his years. Because of this, Stefan always seemed to be much older than his actual age.
Present Time -2017- (2nd Time)
After Bonnie injected the Cure into him while he attempted to kill her, Stefan was reverted back to his human self. As a human again. he was overwhelmed by his guilt of all the horrible things he had done while a servant to Arcadius without his humanity, most recently killing Enzo. He attempted to make things right with Bonnie though he claimed he'd have to live with the guilt and he'd spend the rest of his life trying to make it right with her, starting with killing Arcadius. In the end, he redeemed his actions by passing along the cure within him to Damon and making the ultimate sacrifice to ensure Katherine, the new ruler of Hell, would be in Hell when Bonnie redirected hellfire to destroy Hell. 
|-|Vampire=
|-|Without Memory=
After Tessa strips away Stefan's memories in order to take away Silas' own mental powers, his personality developed obvious changes for a brief period of time. Stefan's naturally serious and broody demeanor lessened considerably, becoming more gregarious and even easygoing. He was also more inclined to bold bluntness and his sense of humor was slightly more sarcastic as well as almost taunting, particularly to Damon and Tessa. He also showed little reluctance to dancing in public with others,Monster's Ball a sharp contrast to his old self who felt extremely uncomfortable with dancing. Stefan's personality was able to emerge more fully into itself without all of his guilt weighing him down, prompting to show sides of himself he would have had if he had never killed so many people as the Ripper or turned Damon into a vampire.
One of Stefan's most marked differences without memory was his opinion on being a vampire and giving in to the bloodlust. Upon the discovery of what he was, Stefan expressed confusion over not feeding on people and failed to see what was wrong with it, as going as far to say since he was a vampire he should act like one.For Whom the Bell Tolls This was a drastic change from Stefan with his memories who had both moral and practical reservations, and consistently refrained from feeding because he feared he would lose control and kill. Without memory Stefan wanted to feed on people, and theorized that the reason he had lost control was an attempt to escape the constant feelings of guilt and responsibility he bore after turning Damon but that would no longer be a problem since he didn't have those terrible memories; interestingly enough, Memories Stefan had once confirmed this. Ironically, Stefan's initial naivety and desire to feed paralleled his behavior after being turned into a vampire in 1864.Blood Brothers In both cases he had been in awe of being a vampire and sought to embrace it.
Stefan had also briefly displayed much more dismissive and almost callous behavior towards the victims he had supposedly murdered in the past since he was unable to feel sorry for things he couldn't remember. He had reacted calmly to being told he killed his own father, and showed no reaction being informed he had murdered Honoria Fell while walking past her gravestone. Stefan had also asked half-jokingly once entering the Salvatore tomb if there was anyone he didn't kill in their family. However, not too long afterwards he began to display remorse for the horrible person he at some point seemed to be, openly calling himself a monster and admitting that he even scared himself once he nearly killed a innocent girl while thinking he could handle it. This stuck true to Memories' Stefan's pattern soon after he became a vampire.
However, Stefan was not entirely different from the person he had been before the memory loss. He retained his intelligence and logical nature, shown when he figured on his own he had once dated Elena and had come back to Mystic Falls because of her as well as pointing re-enacting their first meeting would not make him remember her. Stefan still carried his caring and kind interior as well, though on the outside he was somewhat more rude and less polite than before. Another trait he kept was his attraction to Elena. In only after seeing her a few times, Stefan started to flirt with her and began having jokey and teasing conversations. When Elena reminisced about their relationship to jog his memories, he even declared she made his bloodlust fade and he could understand why he felt different around her.
After Elena rejected Stefan's attempt to kiss her and informed him she was dating his brother, he was thoroughly confused and hurt to know she had not told him beforehand. This caused him to display clear differences from who he was with memories albeit briefly. Feeling betrayed by this realization despite having no memories, Stefan impulsively attempted to attack Jesse and stated he saw no point in being good if he had nothing to show for it and that his brother had "stole" his girlfriend. This was a sharp difference from the Stefan who had his memories since he maintained his morals despite Elena choosing Damon and did not want to stop being good for even a moment.
Stung by this event, Stefan was cold towards Elena and Damon. He had insisted he wanted nothing to do with either of them, and he rather wanted to forge his own path away from them. Stefan had even gone as far to say the only one he truly trusted was his best friend, Caroline. Despite this, he would later clarify he did not hate Elena and still cared for her, shown when he had stood up against Tessa so she wouldn't be killed. Stefan would justify this by telling Elena he had simply followed his instincts, and would not let someone good get killed if he could help it, proving he still maintained his heroic and chivalrous disposition somewhere inside him. Elena had recognized this, and responded by noting he was still him in some ways since his first instinct had always been to protect her.Handle with Care
</tabber>
==Physical Appearance==
Physically, Stefan was described to be classically handsome and athletic, with a brooding, mysterious and intense aura. Stefan had a pale complexion, broad forehead, strong bone structure (angular jawline), deep-set, forest green eyes, a straight nose and a well-formed mouth. He had straight, short, dark blonde hair which is often gelled or spiked. Stefan also had straight teeth with a heartwarming smile. Stefan is of slightly above average height, about 5'11", and he has a lean, flat-muscled and athletic physique. In regards to his clothing and fashion sense, Stefan was generally trendy and casual.
He was often seen wearing darker colors such as black, grey and dark blue, although sometimes he wears lighter colors. Stefan had also been seen wearing plaid shirts in lighter tones from time to time. He was often seen wearing t-shirts, shirts or sweaters of darker colors and in various styles (such as short-sleeved, round-necked and v-necked shirts). Stefan was a casual, yet trendy dresser and he always looks neat, clean and well put together. He often wears dark or black jeans with a belt with black, leather boots with a buckle. On occasion, Stefan will sometimes wear black leather jackets and dark sunglasses, which give him a mysterious and rebellious aura. Stefan will wear more formal clothing, such as suits and tuxedos, if he was either attending a formal gathering/event or a special occasion.
Stefan had a tattoo of a rose on his right shoulder. However, the origin of the tattoo, its significance and when Stefan got the tattoo was all unknown. He also wears a large, silver lapis lazuli daylight ring on the middle finger of his right hand in order for him to walk around in the sunlight. On his lapis lazuli stone bears the Salvatore family crest with the letter "S" for the first letter of his first name. During his human years in the 1860s, Stefan's sense of style was "Victorian" and old-fashioned. In the 1864 flashbacks, Stefan was often seen wearing long pants, overalls made of denim with suspenders with a shirt underneath, dress shirts (often white in color), dress coats, vests (of various colors), trousers (normally in beige), waistcoats, and cravats with laced-leather boots (often beige in color). Stefan's hair was styled much differently; flatter and much longer in length with a part in the side.
Although Stefan was only a 17 year old teenager, Stefan appeared to look much older than his actual age because of the fashion at the time. It was assumed that Stefan's sense of fashion changed with the times. Damon mentions to Stefan in the Pilot after 15 years of not seeing each other, that the 90s "grunge" look did not suit Stefan, implying that Stefan went through a grunge phase in terms of his personality, attitude and his sense of style.
==Powers and Abilities==
Stefan possessed all the standard powers and abilities of a non-Original vampire. Stefan has shown himself to be an experienced fighter, able to subdue his enemies easily. As a vampire over 170 years old, this makes Stefan one of the oldest vampires shown throughout the series. Although his age allows him to best younger vampires, Stefan is highly inferior to vampires such as Katherine and Anna.
As a ripper Stefan is prone to losing control when drinking human blood, making him stronger and emotionally unstable — even to the point where Damon, an older vampire, feared him. As a ripper, Stefan once wiped out a whole village in Monterey, earning himself the title 'The Ripper of Monterey' to which even Klaus was impressed. 
Stefan, unlike many other vampires, has shown the ability to resist the effects of compulsion when it comes to matters regarding Elena Gilbert, much like his brother. Much to others dismay, Stefan can become dangerous when emotionally unstable as seen in Best Served Cold, Stefan was able to fight on par, and best Julian a vampire over 475 years old, to the point where it was likely Stefan would of killed him if it weren't for the intervention of Lily.
Due to his lack of human blood consumption over the centuries, Stefan had become inferior to his brother Damon. In Pilot, Stefan and Damon engaged in a spar upon Damon's return to Mystic Falls. Damon stated himself that Stefan gave up the fight against him when he stopped drinking human blood. Despite this, Stefan has engaged in fights with Damon numerous times since, sometimes besting him easily.
Unlike other vampires, Stefan had also shown the ability to enhance his use of dream manipulation. While most vampires are only able to cast a dream upon someone, Stefan has shown the ability to go beneath 'the surface' and interact with the subconscious manipulation of Sybil.
Furthermore, during his time working for Arcadius, he was temporarily granted the ability to return from death, even matters regarding a stake to the heart. This was an ability he shared with Damon, and was thought to be achieved through Cade's intervention post-death. Following Cade's death and Stefan being cured of his vampirism, he lost this ability along with his vampric abilities and enhancements.
==Weaknesses==
<tabber>
|-|Human=
Stefan had all the typical weaknesses of a human/doppelgänger.
|-|Vampire=
Stefan had the typical weaknesses of a non-Original vampire.
</tabber>
==Relationships==
===Damon Salvatore===
Damon is Stefan's older brother. As humans, they were very close- best friends up until the arrival of the beautiful Katherine Pierce. After Katherine's "death", Damon swore to make Stefan's life miserable and ultimately succeeded in 1912 by making him lose control of himself fifty years later. Before season one, the brothers had not seen each other since the early 1990s; their relationship having taken a steep turn for the worse- their relationship was described as "violent and bitter". Through the seasons, both fell in love with Elena and whilst she was the factor bringing them together, she has also been the biggest strain in the brothers' complex relationship. In the season four finale, Stefan was heartbroken at Elena's choice, but he also admitted that he was happy for Damon. Through this, they have proven just how far their relationship has grown from their violent past. Whilst their relationship will continue to be tested through highs and lows, it is clear that the two share a strong brotherly bond. They became separated due to Damon's death in Home, and reunited in The World Has Turned and Left Me Here.
===Elena Gilbert===
Elena is the ex-girlfriend and close friend of Stefan. When Stefan returned home to Mystic Falls after many years, he unexpectedly "met" Elena on May 23, 2009, after he heard Elena and her parents' car accident while he was out at Wickery Bridge. The Gilberts' car had submerged deep into the water under the bridge, where Elena and her parents were facing death by drowning. It was then that Stefan miraculously saved Elena's life, but was unable to save Elena's parents, Grayson and Miranda, who did not survive the tragedy. Elena fatefully meets Stefan for the first time at the beginning of the new school year outside of the men's washroom. Elena is undeniably drawn to Stefan and the two have an instant, deep and indescribable connection. Stefan and Elena begin to bond and slowly start to develop a romantic relationship. They both realize that they share many qualities, hobbies, traits, values and beliefs in common. As Elena and Stefan start falling deeper in love with each other, Elena discovers Stefan's deep, dark secret: Stefan is a century old vampire with a mysterious past. Although Elena is initially afraid of Stefan and what he is, she gradually accepts Stefan's vampirism. Stefan ended their relationship in Season 4 when she revealed that she was in love with Damon. Despite everything that's happened, they still care about each other deeply and are supportive of one another. Stefan sacrificed himself before Bonnie was able to break the sleeping spell bound to their lives, though before he found peace, he was able to briefly see her and pass a message along to Caroline through her. They exchanged their final, heartfelt goodbyes to one another.
===Katherine Pierce===
Katherine fell in love with Stefan when she met him in Mystic Falls in 1864. Although she was also seeing Damon, she had a clear preference for Stefan. Stefan, in return, was thoroughly infatuated with her and believed he had fallen in love with Katherine. As their relationship progressed, he discovered her vampiric nature and became frightened of her. Katherine had then compelled him to not be afraid of her and after she faked her death. Over the century, Stefan came to believe his love for Katherine was never real and she had simply compelled him to love her. Katherine disputed this and insisted both of their feelings were genuine, she had only compelled him to not be scared of her. Stefan remained in denial of her claims, and stated that even if Katherine was right, all of his love had turned to hate. After Katherine returned to Mystic Falls in the 21st century, Stefan and Katherine became one-sided bitter enemies for some time, mainly due to their conflicting actions regarding Elena. Stefan viewed Katherine in disdain and rejected any attempt she gave for him to see her positively. Throughout Season Five, their relationship progresses after a desperate Katherine, trying to escape death attempted to throw herself off the clock tower and Stefan saved her. Katherine tried to return the favor by helping Stefan through his PTSD in the next episode, where sparks flew while locked in the safe. Stefan revealed he desired to move on from Elena, then ended up sleeping with Katherine. Although he appears to care for her, he still cannot forget her past deeds. In the end, he was the one to kill her. They briefly reunite when Katherine comes back to try and destroy Mystic Falls, which classified them as enemies once again. Stefan is able to stop Katherine by sacrificing his life to make sure she dies (along with himself) in hellfire from hell.
===Caroline Forbes===
Caroline and Stefan at first had no close relationship. After she became a vampire, Stefan saved her from Damon and promised her that he would never let anything happen to her. Since then, Stefan has been taking care of Caroline like her mentor, helping her to be a good vampire. He has saved her several times and cares about her. Caroline told him that every time he feels he's about to lose control she will be there for him. Their relationship has intensified to the point of being best friends. Caroline has given Stefan pivotal emotional support to the point where they now have a great friendship. Caroline has always supported his relationship with Elena and she was the person who revealed to Stefan that Elena was sired to Damon. By Caroline, Stefan also learned that Elena had had sex with Damon. When Stefan lost his memories for a spell, Caroline was the only person that he trusts immediately, upon learning about Bonnie's death, Stefan told Caroline that he would always be for her as she has always been for him, Caroline helped to Stefan with all his problems lately. After Lexi's, she is his best friend. But after Damon's death he decides to break all his connections with his old friends, including Caroline, and start over, breaking her heart in the process. When Damon returns, he tries to make it up to her by apologizing to her and they grow close again. After much heartbreak, between Caroline losing her mom and Stefan trying to prove himself worthy of their friendship, which blossomed into romance, they become romantically involved and are currently in love. Their first relationship during Season Seven is strained a bit until Stefan and Caroline are forced to breakup for three years. This limits their communication with each other. However, shortly after Stefan's breakup with Valerie, Stefan goes to Alaric and Caroline's home and sees that she is happy raising children with Alaric. After allying together to kill Rayna Cruz and by saving Bonnie's life, Caroline realizes that she only truly loves Stefan and the two get back together again, three years after ending their first relationship. In Season Eight Stefan proposed to Caroline and she said yes but they are briefly separated when Stefan agreed to turn off his humanity and work for Cade to protect Caroline's daughters Lizzie and Josie. It was also during this time that Stefan became human again when Bonnie gave him the cure after he killed Enzo as he struggled with his guilt he planned to leave Caroline until he realized he wanted to spend what years he had left as a human with her. They later marry hoping to lure Katherine out, at their wedding who had become the Queen of Hell following Cade's death. It was after their wedding that Stefan sacrificed his life to save Mystic Falls from hellfire and when Caroline learned of this called Stefan leaving him a message telling him, she understood his decision and would love him forever hoping he would get her message before he died which he did. He later asked Elena to pass on a message to Caroline to tell her he heard her and would love her forever too before he went into the afterlife. 
===Lexi Branson===
In 1864, Lexi met young and new vampire Stefan Salvatore when he tried to feed on her, as he was unable to distinguish his kind from human. Discovering that Stefan was a ripper- meaning he only fed and hunted and has lost his humanity, Lexi took it upon herself to help Stefan regain his humanity by not turning his feelings off, where she succeeded eventually. Lexi found Stefan, now back to his ripper ways in April 1922 before getting him off human blood around 1935. They would spend every birthday of his together, once attending a Bon Jovi concert. Lexi returns to Mystic Falls for Stefan's 162nd birthday, trying to renew her relationship with Stefan. On that night, Damon frames Lexi for the death of a local boy and the police apprehend Lexi. She is later staked by Damon and dies before she can attack the sheriff and/or reveal his secret. When Lexi returns from The Other Side, she enjoys her time with Stefan and talks to him about moving on from Elena and how he will find someone else. When the Veil is restored, Lexi disappears, leaving Stefan alone. Seasons later, after Stefan sacrificed his life to help save Mystic Falls from hellfire, they are reunited in peace, in death.
===Valerie Tulle===
Valerie and Stefan's relationship started out complicated. Decades ago, Stefan's mother, asked Valerie to see how Stefan was doing after the mother's death, as a human. Stefan and Valerie meet at a fair and immediately take a liking to each other. Julian however tried to stop their growing friendship and even romance, but they eventually have sex for the first time. Later on, they plan to run away together, but Julian wouldn't allow her leave with Stefan. Julian beat her up until she miscarried Stefan and Valerie's conceived-child and forced her to come back with him to London, England. Stefan was left behind to believe that Valerie just used him and eventually moved on from her. However, they reunite in modern day and things become complicated between them due to their history and Stefan's romantic relationship with Caroline. Valerie becomes Stefan's friend and closest ally, which irritates Caroline. Stefan and Valerie eventually get back together again once Stefan is forced to go on the run with her, from Rayna Cruz. Stefan breaks up with Caroline some time before Valerie and Stefan begin a romantic relationship. Stefan has been with Valerie romantically for three years, and it is stated that they have been happy together. However, Valerie realizes that she will never be first to him and she breaks up with Stefan because he cannot get over his love for Caroline. 
===Other Relationships===
Salvatore Family, Forbes Family, Mystic Falls Gang, Mystic Falls High School
*Silas and Stefan (Enemies/Ancestor)
*Stefan and Lily (Mother and Son/Frenemies)
*Stefan, Katherine, and Damon (Former Love Triangle/Enemies/Frenemies)
*Stefan, Elena, and Damon (Former Love Triangle/Former Allies)
*Stefan and Bonnie (Former Close Friends/Former Allies)
*Matt and Stefan (Former Friends/Enemies)
*Tyler and Stefan (Friends/Former Allies)
*Alaric and Stefan (Friends/Frenemies/Former Allies)
*Stefan and Elijah (Frenemies/Former Allies)
*Stefan and Klaus (Friends/Frenemies/Former Allies/Were Partners in Crime)
*Stefan and Rebekah (Ex-Girlfriend/Friends/Frenemies/Former Allies)
*Stefan and Meredith (Friends/Former Allies)
*Qetsiyah and Stefan (Former Friends/Enemies)
*Enzo and Stefan (Enemies/Frenemies/Former Rivals)
*Stefan and Ivy (Ex-Girlfriend/Frenemies)
*Stefan and Julian (Frenemies/Enemies)
*Stefan, Caroline and Valerie (Former Love Triangle/Former Allies)
*Stefan, Caroline and Alaric (Former Love Triangle/Friends/Former Allies)
==Appearances==
===The Vampire Diaries===
===The Originals===
Season Three
*A Streetcar Named Desire
*Behind the Black Horizon (Indirectly Mentioned)
Season Five
*Where You Left Your Heart (Indirectly Mentioned)
*Don't It Just Break Your Heart (Mentioned) 
*The Tale of Two Wolves (Mentioned)
===Legacies===
Season One
*This is the Part Where You Run (Indirectly Mentioned)
*Mombie Dearest (Mentioned)
*Death Keeps Knocking On My Door (Indirectly Mentioned)
Season Two
*This Year Will Be Different (Mentioned)
Season Three
*Salvatore: The Musical! (Mentioned)
Season Four
*I Thought You'd Be Happier To See Me (Mentioned)
*Someplace Far Away From All This Violence (Mentioned)
==Stefan's Diaries==
Stefan's Diaries is a trilogy of novels based and written according to the TV series version of the Vampire Diaries. The books are narrated by Stefan and therefore, are from Stefan's point of view. It is a retelling of Stefan's history before and after he transformed from a wealthy, well adjusted youth to a vicious immortal.
<tabber>
|-|Origin=
It is said that he had a horse named Mezzanotte (Midnight in Italian) when he was human. Stefan knows four languages, English, French, Latin, and Italian, the later two less fluently. He said he learned French at his mother's knee. He had nanny named Cordelia and his ex-fiancée, Rosalyn Cartwright, was killed by a jealous Katherine. Stefan is the first of the two brothers to embrace his nature and accidentally killed his father, later purposely killing the barmaid, Alice, and forcing Damon to change to feed in order to complete his transition. 
Stefan is, at first, confused, but understands what has happened to himself. Emily answers a few of his questions and confirms that Katherine had indeed killed Rosalyn. Stefan goes to see his father, who reveals that he was the one to kill him. He tries again, and in self-defense and underestimating the strength of his newborn vampire abilities, Stefan throws him off and Giuseppe is mortally wounded. Stefan tries to help his father take the stake out of him, but his bloodlust takes over his rationality. Stefan tastes his father's blood and transitions into a vampire, but when he offers to save Giuseppe, his father refuses and dies. Stefan later attacks Alice, a barmaid, and takes her to Damon. He gets Damon to feed, completing his transformation into a vampire.
|-|Bloodlust=
In Stefan's Diaries: Bloodlust, it is shown that Stefan originally acted like Damon when they were turned, feeding on whomever, whenever, wherever, with no regards for the consequences. He had trouble with compulsion at first and killed as a "more permanent style of memory erasing". Damon swore to avenge all of Stefan's murders. He met Lexi in New Orleans and she got him to feed on animal blood. He dated a human, Callie Gallagher, as he tried to free Damon from Callie's father's imprisonment. After the brothers escaped, Stefan wanted to run away with Callie who was killed by Damon, much to Stefan's horror. When he notice Damon has been waiting for the day they had a fight because Stefan made him turn.
|-|The Craving=
After leaving New Orleans, Stefan moved to New York and while hunting a squirrel, he found the body of a young girl who was bleeding to death. Despite his raging hunger, he fed her some of his blood and took her to her home. The girl, Bridget, was healed by the little blood Stefan could spare and her father insisted on giving Stefan room in his household, even though Stefan appeared to be a vagrant. Once he cleaned up, the family was surprised to find that Stefan looked like a perfect gentleman. However, Stefan's hunger grew and he attempted many times to escape the family's hospitality due to his thirst for their blood. It turns out that it was Damon's plan all along to bring Stefan to the family. He was determined to make him suffer as he was still mad at him for making him turn. Stefan was forced to marry Bridget because of Damon as he wanted to mess with his little brother. But the Family was later killed by an enemy they were not aware of.
</tabber>
==Novels==
In the novels, Stefan is Damon's moral, benevolent younger brother. Stefan Salvatore was the hero, the male protagonist (opposite of Elena, the female protagonist), the deuteragonist, and a main character of The Vampire Diaries novel series. He is a 500 plus year old vampire born during the time of The Renaissance, who was one of the Salvatore brothers that fell in love with Katherine von Swartzschild during his human life (which was the time of the Italian Renaissance) and before he was transformed into a vampire. Stefan is the son of (Conti Di) Giuseppe Salvatore and his unnamed mother (who died a few years after he was born), the younger brother of Damon Salvatore, the past love and object of obsession of Katherine von Swartzschild, the one true beloved, ultimate soulmate, and love interest of Elena Gilbert, close friend with Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez, best friends with Matt Honeycutt, ally of Zander, former fling of Caroline Forbes, a rival of Tyler Smallwood and enemies with Misao, Shinichi, and Klaus. Katherine was Stefan's, as well as his brother Damon's creator. Katherine was the one who transformed both of the Salvatore brothers into vampires. After Katherine's "fake death", the heartbreak he endured after thinking he lost her and the continuous tumultuous relationship in which he had shared with his elder brother, Damon, Stefan makes an attempt to run far away and start a new life somewhere else, away from his dark and haunting past. Stefan runs away and attempts to start a new life on his own in a town called Fells Church, a town located in the American state of Virginia (it is later said that a powerful force of some sorts drew Stefan to Fells Church, although he couldn't understand why he was drawn to the town in the first place).
Stefan arrives in Fells Church and enrolls as a high school student at Robert E. Lee High School in order to blend in like a regular 17-year-old human teenager (even though Stefan is really 500+ years old). It is there, where Stefan fatefully and inevitably meets Elena Gilbert. He is intensely, immediately and indescribably drawn to her. Stefan is immediately able to "sense" Elena's mind and presence out of everyone else's minds within the entire school and he notices that her mind is significantly different then everyone else's, although, Stefan cannot understand why is able to feel this way towards Elena, who happens to be a complete and total stranger to him. Stefan was able to sense Elena's mind long before he met her in person and he sensed her presence immediately after arriving in Fells Church. He easily recognized it once he came to school that it was the presence of Elena. Elena bears a strong resemblance to his old and first love, Katherine, and because of this, he repeatedly tries to avoid her at all costs during the beginning of the series, feeling that her uncanny resemblance to Katherine brings up painful, sorrowful memories of his dark, mysterious past. Stefan fell deeply and strongly in love with Elena at first sight but later on, Stefan eventually lets his walls crumble even more and falls in even deeper and passionate love with Elena. However, despite the fact that Stefan falls for Elena and Elena reciprocates his love, his elder and malevolent brother Damon follows him to Fells Church in order to make his life chaos and repeatedly makes attempts to try to steal Elena away from him out of revenge against him. Throughout the course of the series, Stefan has been strewn out of Fells Church, mostly out of his control, causing him and Elena to repeatedly become separated from each other. Because of this, it has caused Stefan to leave Elena's well-being and life in the hands of his impulsive, amoral and dangerous older brother, Damon Salvatore.
==Name==
*Stefan is a masculine first name of Greek origin 'Στεφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown", "garland", or invested with a "crown of martyrdom". In turn, Stephen or Stefan comes from the Greek word "στέφανος", meaning "wreath", "crown", "honor", "reward", literally "that which surrounds or encompasses".https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen
*Stefan is a very common name in Serbia.
*Salvatore means "savior" and is of Italian origin.https://www.babynames.com/name/Salvatore
==Trivia==
*Stefan enjoys listening to music by: Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Kanye West and he even likes one of ' songs.
*Stefan was supposed to be the one to take over the Salvatore family business from Giuseppe when he turned 18. Hence why his father wanted him to get married to Rosalyn Cartwright. But he was in love with a girl named Callie Gallagher. Besides Rosalyn Cartwright, he was also engaged to Bridget Sutherland.Stefan's Diaries: Origins
* Stefan's childhood and best friends during his human life were named Ethan Giffin, Brian Walsh and Matthew Harnett. Other than Lexi, Stefan's best friend was a girl named Cora, who was a human girl.
*Stefan died when he was 17 years old. He transitioned into a vampire between October 7 to October 27, 1864, just a few weeks shy of his 18th birthday. Although Stefan's Diaries: Origins seems to suggest that Stefan was turned or transitioned into a vampire on September 25, 1864, slightly over month shy of his 18th birthday.
*In The Last Day, Stefan confesses that he has climbed Mount Everest.
*In This is the Part Where You Run, the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted's library was named in memoriam after him.
==Gallery==
==References==
==See also==
Category:Characters
Category:Main Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries (series)
Category:The Vampire Diaries Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season One Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Two Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Three Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Four Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Five Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Six Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Seven Characters
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Eight Characters
Category:The Originals (series)
Category:The Originals Characters
Category:The Originals Season Three Characters
Category:Male Characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Antagonists
Category:Salvatore Family
Category:Mystic Falls Residents
Category:Mystic Falls Gang
Category:Supernatural
Category:Doppelgängers
Category:Vampires
Category:Humans
Category:Ghosts
Category:Resurrected Characters
Category:Deceased
Category:Spirits