Matt Honeycutt

Matthew "Matt" Honeycutt (Full Name: Matthew Jeffrey Honeycutt) is a main male character of The Vampire Diaries novel series. He is the all-American boy next door who lives in the small town of Fell's Church, Virginia. Matt was born in Fell's Church, Virginia. He is the childhood friend, first love and ex-boyfriend of Elena Gilbert. Matt is the star athlete and quarterback of his high school's football team along with Tyler Smallwood, Dick Carter and Stefan Salvatore, who plays the position of wide receiver. Matt is close friends with both Meredith Sulez and Bonnie McCullough since childhood. His best friend is Stefan Salvatore, who is a centuries old vampire who reigns from Italy, and he and Stefan share a very close, strong bond and friendship despite Matt's obvious unresolved feelings for Elena. Although Matt is very close with Stefan, he strongly dislikes Stefan's older brother, Damon and they can never seem to get along or go without quarreling with each other. Stefan is always the one who happens to play peacemaker when it comes to Damon and Matt. Damon calls him "Mutt" instead of by his real name, Matt.
Physically, Matt is fresh, good-looking, and athletic. Matt is very tall with an athletic physique. He has blond short cropped hair and clear, light blue eyes (Stefan observes that his eyes are open and honest). During the summer prior to The Awakening, Matt helped out on his grandparents' farm, which gave him a tanned complexion. He's described as being an attractive, wholesome, all-American, boy-next-door type. Matt and Elena are best friends since childhood and they know absolutely everything about each other. Because they have been best friends since childhood, Matt understands Elena better than anybody and he is always looking out for her and has her best interests at heart. Before Elena had met Stefan, Matt was the only boy in Elena's life who has had any kind of significant impact or influence on Elena's personal growth. Certainly, Elena still thinks that he's good-looking and of course, an amazingly nice guy, even after breaking up with him, and Bonnie has shown some interest in him, although Matt and Bonnie seem to have more of a platonic, brotherly/sisterly connection than a romantic connection. Due to his family being poor and not having all that much money, he tends to wear older clothes, and Elena surmises at the beginning of The Awakening that his scuffed shoes must have been the same ones he had the previous year on account of not being able to afford new ones
While Matt is incredibly hurt and heartbroken at losing Elena to his vampire friend Stefan, he accepts it and wishes Stefan and Elena happiness. He continues to be very protective of Elena. At first, Matt was extremely jealous of Stefan and still pined for Elena, but he has shown some caring feelings for Bonnie. Matt helps Stefan escape the Haunted House on the night of the attack, but afterward begins to think that Stefan might have killed Mr. Tanner. Later on in the series, the relationship between Stefan and Matt is closer to that of best friends. He is forgiving, loyal, trusting, empathetic, kind, caring, and he is described as the friendly boy-next-door type. Despite being captain of the school football team, Matt is about as far from a stereotypical jock as you can get. He's fiercely loyal, and likes to see the best in people and in situations, no matter how bad it may get. When it comes to the subject of love and relationships, he's quite mature, wise, old-fashioned and traditional for his age. Matt is quite romantic, although he is not nearly as passionate romantically as Stefan is. Despite being in love with Elena, he is able to not only let her go as a girlfriend, but he's also able to remain her close, supportive friend while not being bitter about his loss, coming to her aid several times (above and beyond the call of duty) in the story. Even more surprisingly, he's able to become best friends with Stefan, who by all rights should be considered his rival in his love for Elena. He has faith in the basic goodness of people and mankind, and displays this several times during the course of the books, from sticking by Stefan despite damning evidence against him, to even managing to work out some motives for Damon's actions that prove him to be not quite as evil as he'd like people to believe. Indeed, the basic concept of vampires existing, while a shock, doesn't seem to bother him particularly. It's not the fact that Stefan is a vampire that sends him spiraling into extreme depression and denial in The Fury, but the fact that Stefan pretends to feel absolutely no remorse over attacking Tyler and his associates in the Quonset hut. After the events of The Fury, Matt's faith in humanity and the world has been severely shaken, and he spends much of Dark Reunion in a previously uncharacteristic pessimistic, melancholic and defeated state. It takes a renewal of friendship and a deep heart-to-heart with his best friend Stefan for him to start to regain some of his earlier determination, optimism, positivity and good humor. In The Hunters: Moonsong, after attending Dalcrest College, Matt receives a letter inviting him to join the Vitale Society.
==The Original Series==
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|-|The Awakening=
Elena Gilbert met up with Matt on her way to school. He asked her how it was like being in France, and she said it was great, stalling what she had to tell him. Matt knew Elena was breaking up with him but she denied it was because of Stefan Salvatore, the handsome, mysterious new student at school. They remained friends though, since that was how Elena had come to feel about him. Matt was nice to Stefan though, and invited him to try out with the football team. Stefan turned down the offer at first, but Elena tried to talk to him, his longing for blood was too strong and accepted Matt's offer and left class with him. Stefan got the spot in tryouts, and Matt congratulated him. Matt was hurt when a rumor went around that Elena had a boyfriend she met in France, around the time they were already together. Elena admitted it wasn't true and that she made it up so people wouldn't believe it was because of Stefan. She wanted to ask him a favor, but Matt snapped that she always wanted everything to revolve around her, but apologized when he saw hurt her feelings. All Elena wanted was or Matt to make sure Stefan went to the Homecoming Dance and she agreed to go with Matt.
Matt escorted her to the dance and pointed her towards Stefan who Elena realized had come with Caroline Forbes. Matt had known Caroline wanted Stefan. Elena got mad at her friends and went to flirt and dance with other people. Meredith Sulez saw when she left with Tyler Smallwood, Dick Carter and Vickie Bennett and left with Matt and Bonnie McCullough to go find her. However, they found Vickie who had been attacked. They took her to the hospital. The police were called by Elena turned up with her rescuer, Stefan. When Elena started dating Stefan, Matt's relationship with him became strained, hurting Stefan. 
At the Haunted House, Matt dressed as a werewolf. When Mr. Tanner had been discovered dead by Bonnie McCullough, Elena gave Matt look which told him to go find Stefan who was accused of the murder by Tyler. Matt found Stefan in the boys' locker room, passed out on the floor. Matt told him what had happened and told Stefan he had to leave before everyone found him. Stefan agreed and made Matt promise to look after Elena.
|-|The Struggle=
Matt kept to his promise, but Elena, still mad at everyone for not believing Stefan's innocence, didn't care. Matt stayed outside her house in his car, just in case Elena tried to sneak out, and she did with Bonnie and Meredith. He followed them to Wickery Bridge where he nearly gave them a heart-attack. Bonnie had channeled Stefan's thoughts, and they thought he would be here. However, Matt figured out that Stefan might be in a well, and was correct. They found Stefan in the Old Francher's Farm and rescued Stefan from his watery prison.
|-|The Fury=
Matt was devastated over Elena's death. Stefan came to him and asked him what he would do for Elena. Matt told him he would do anything for her. Stefan guided her to the music room and Matt was shocked to see Elena alive, but even more horrified when he discovered what she had become. Matt was hesitant to let Elena drink his blood, but agreed when Stefan reminded him that he would do anything for her. After Elena left with Damon, Stefan's brother, Matt left with Stefan and came across Tyler and his buddies who had been attacked. Matt was disgusted that Stefan was responsible.
|-|Dark Reunion=
After Elena's death, he graduates along with Bonnie, Meredith, Tyler and other students. He also participates in Bonnie sending a message to Stefan so he can come back to Fell's Church to help them in a supernatural murder. After Stefan arrives with Damon, Matt becomes protective of Bonnie due to Damon, and stops his attempt at feeding from her. He almost gets in a fight with him, but Damon realizes what Matt said to him is actually right. Matt also provides back-up for Bonnie, Meredith, Stefan and Damon when they go to rescue Caroline from Klaus.
</tabber>
==The Return Series==
<tabber>
|-|Nightfall=
He goes to see Elena after she has returned from the dead at the boarding house with Meredith, Bonnie and Caroline. He witnesses Caroline become increasingly upset after Elena kisses her. After Caroline is forced out of Stefan's room and almost causes a commotion, Elena kisses Matt as she recognizes him. After driving home from the boarding house, the three get attacked by ambulatory trees, which poisons them with their sap. Stefan comes to save Matt and Meredith, and when they return to the boarding house, they come in the room where Damon has Bonnie, and almost gets into an argument before everyone relents when they see Damon didn't anything bad with Bonnie.
After Elena can speak again, everyone decides to have picnic celebration. At the picnic, Matt tells them that Tami Bryce, a fifteen year old, had kissed and rubbed up against him, which he cannot understand as to why she did. On his way back from the boarding house, Matt is attacked by malach. The next day, his wounds are bounded by Mrs. Flowers, who reveals herself to be a witch. Everyone also dismisses the two punctures on his neck, and he then gets a call from Sheriff Mossberg about him being a suspect at removing stop signs from intersections, to which Matt denies.
Later, Matt and Elena visit Tami at her house and finds that she superglued a stripper outfit onto herself. She makes sexual overtures at Matt and insults Elena as they try to talk some sense into her. They then head to the Old Wood and encounter Damon, who wants them to kiss and have sex as he films them with a camera. Matt objects and is then tortured by Damon, and Elena attempts to rescue him by persuading Damon to drive away.
Matt regains consciousness and heads towards the house where Elena was originally headed. He runs into Kristin Dunstan and she makes sexual overtures with him as well. He goes into the woods and runs across Bonnie, Meredith, Mrs. Flowers, Isobel and Dr. Alpert. When they reach the boarding house, other possessed girls attack them. Matt, Bonnie, Meredith, Mrs. Flowers and Dr. Alpert are then taken prisoner by Damon, Shinichi and Misao. After Elena helps them, Caroline declares that she is pregnant and needs a husband. She has a member of her family that is a judge sign an order for Matt's arrest after she tells them that Matt is responsible. Afterwards, Matt joins in the group's quest to find and rescue Stefan.
|-|Shadow Souls=
|-|Midnight=
While Fell's Church is becoming chaos and destruction with the kitsune, Matt is dealing with Caroline, her supposedly pregnant with his twins and claims of him assaulting her. At the court, Matt is being tried and to his luck, Caroline starts transforming into a werewolf, thus confirming that Tyler was the father and not Matt. 
Later, Matt and Meredith are left to defend Fell's Church from Inari, who is revealed to be the true antagonist. They gather all the young children and preteens that have broken out of their strange and destructive like trance from Shinichi and Misao. Matt also gains help from Orime Saitou, Mrs. Flowers and Dr. Alpert while trying to keep the situation in control for as long as he can.
</tabber>
==The Hunters Series==
<tabber>
|-|Phantom=
He and the group are shown to be in mourning since Damon's death. It is later on that a Phantom is using their jealousy to make them turn on each other and Matt's jealousy is of Tyler's popularity.
He later joins the others in summoning the Phantom. They look for a way out and go through the nexus room where Sage, and then run to the Dark Moon, where Damon is battling the Phantom. Matt admits his jealousies and casts them away so the Phantom can be weakened. After Elena pulls out the rose in the Phantom's core, it is destroyed and they start to prepare to go to college.
|-|Moonsong=
He heads to Dalcrest College and finds a roommate in Christopher Nowicki, to which they become good friends until his uneventful death. He is also invited into the Vitale Society by Ethan Crane and becomes interested in Chloe Pascal, another member of the Society. He is given the task to try to talk to Stefan and recruit him into the group as well, but Stefan doesn't want to. He begins to witness Ethan turning and briefly killing the other members of the Society, and before he can be turned, his friends arrive and do battle with the newly created vampires.
|-|Destiny Rising=
After Klaus is resurrected, Matt tries to help Chloe control her bloodlust and teach her to feed on another source instead of humans. While also trying to help her, he also helps his friends in killing the vampires that Ethan created and the ones Klaus has resurrected. After Chloe lets her bloodlust overcome her, he watches as she lets herself burn in the sunlight, leaving him upset.
</tabber>
==The Salvation Series==
<tabber>
|-|Unseen=
He joins the gang in fighting and killing off the Old Ones. After Elena is almost killed, he and the others go off to find Solomon and kill him before he does anything else that would harm everybody. Matt and the others succeed in killing his minions, but are held into place by Solomon, who looks over everyone. They then gather around later on after Elena and Andres breaks Solomon's hold on them. Matt and Elena then learn that Solomon isn't to be trifled with. He is one of the few members of the group who believes Trinity, a hunter, is still there, despite Solomon taking over.
|-|Unspoken=
He is shown to have a new girlfriend named Jasmine, which helped him try to get over Chloe's death. He tries to help the gang against Jack and his group of artificial vampires, trying to figure out ways to kill them and help Jasmine out in the process. After Jack kidnaps Jasmine, Matt offers himself up instead of putting Damon in danger, and Jack accepts his deal. After Jack is killed, he attends Bonnie's wedding with Jasmine.
|-|Unmasked=
He is primarily seen in the past when Elena is sent back in time to fix the mistakes made when Mr. Tanner had been killed by Damon.
He meets up with Elena at school and she tells him she needs to talk to him, which he correctly deduces she's breaking up with him. She tells him that he can pursue a football scholarship to get out of Fell's Church to further himself in life. Much later, he witnesses Elena getting out of Damon's car and is slightly annoyed. While she tries to tell him what's going on, he tells her it's fine and walks away before she could continue. During the Homecoming game, he and Stefan work well together as they play.
When Elena convinces Damon in the past about Katherine and other events, and is sent back forward, Matt is now a college student and with a new girlfriend named Jeannette.
</tabber>
==Appearance==
Physically, Matt is described to be tall (somewhere between 6'0" and 6'2"). He has an athletic physique with broad shoulders and chest. He has light, flaxen short-cropped blond hair. Matt's eye color is described as a clear, light blue (Stefan observes that his eyes are open and honest). During the summer prior to The Awakening, Matt helped out on his grandparents' farm, which gave him a tanned complexion. He's described as being an attractive, wholesome, all-American, boy-next-door type and very trustworthy. Certainly Elena still thinks that he's handsome, even after breaking up with him, and Bonnie shows some definite interest in him. Due to his family being poor, he tends to wear older clothes, and Elena surmises at the beginning of The Awakening, that his scuffed shoes must have been the same ones he had the previous year on account of not being able to afford new ones. A quote in The Awakening describes Matt's appearance: "He was good-looking. There was no doubt about that. Not in the stunning, almost disturbing way that―that some people were, but in a healthy American way. Matt Honeycutt was all-American. His blond hair was cropped short for the football season, and his skin was sunburnt from working outdoors on his grandparents' farm. His blue eyes were honest and straightforward."
==Personality==
Matt is a very kind, caring and good person by nature and he has strong morals, values and integrity. Personality wise, Matt is loyal, friendly, caring, understanding, helpful, forgiving, trustworthy, straightforward, dependable and he displays a sense of duty. He is described to be the friendly boy-next-door type. Although, despite his generally good traits and his even temperament, Matt can be jealous and envious. He can also be over protective over his friends (Meredith and Bonnie) and he is also quite strategic in his thinking.
While Matt is heartbroken at losing Elena to Stefan Salvatore, he accepts it over time. He continues to be very protective of Elena and looks out for her like the best friend that he is to her and always has been. Matt was extremely jealous of Stefan at first and still pines for Elena's affections, but over a period of time, he begins to show some feelings towards Bonnie McCullough, although Bonnie is also deeply and strongly attracted to Damon Salvatore, Stefan's dangerous elder brother. Matt displays his helpful attitude in throughout the series; he helps Stefan escape the Haunted House on the night of the attack, but afterwards begins to think that Stefan might have killed Mr. Tanner.
Later in the series, the relationship between Stefan and Matt is closer to that of best friends. Despite being the captain and the star quarterback of Robert E. Lee High School's football team, Matt is about as far from a stereotypical jock as you can get. He's fiercely loyal, and likes to see and believe the best in people. When it comes to the subject of love and relationships, he's quite old-fashioned and mature for his age. Despite being deeply in love with first love and childhood friend Elena Gilbert, he is able to not only let her go as a girlfriend, but he's also able to remain her loyal, protective friend, while not being bitter about his loss, coming to her aid several times (above and beyond the call of duty) in the story. Even more surprisingly, he's able to become best friends with Stefan Salvatore, who by all rights should be considered his rival in his love for Elena. But after a while, Matt comes to realize that Stefan truly loves Elena and is willing to do everything and anything he can to protect her and keep her safe, so Matt gains a lot of trust in Stefan because of this.
Matt has a love for cars (especially classic cars), and admires the red Jaguar that Stefan had bought for Elena. He's Stefan's first – and only – human friend when Stefan first comes to Fell's Church, and on several occasions goes out on a limb for his best friend, trusting his gut instincts that Stefan is a very good person who can be trusted and depended on. He has faith in the basic goodness of people, and displays this several times during the course of the books, from sticking by his best friend Stefan, despite damning evidence against him, to even managing to work out some motives for Damon's actions that prove him to be not quite as evil as he'd like people to believe. Indeed, the basic concept of vampires existing, while a shock, doesn't seem to bother him particularly. It's not the fact that Stefan is a vampire that sends him spiraling into denial in The Fury, but the fact that Stefan pretends to feel no remorse over attacking Tyler Smallwood and his associates in the Quonset hut. After the events of The Fury, Matt's faith in humanity and the world has been severely shaken and disturbed, and he spends much of Dark Reunion in a previously uncharacteristic pessimistic and defeated state. It takes a renewal of friendship and a heart-to-heart with Stefan, for him to start to regain some of his earlier determination, faith and good humor.
==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.
*Jeffrey is German and is derived from one of three Old German names, meaning "district, traveler, or peaceful pledge".
*Honeycutt is an English habitational name from either of two places in Devon named Hunnacott, from either the Old English personal name Huna or Old English hunig 'honey' + cot 'cottage'.
==The Vampire Diaries==
Matt Honeycutt is renamed Matthew G. "Matt" Donovan for the television series. He is Elena Gilbert's childhood best friend, first love and ex-boyfriend, Caroline Forbes' ex-boyfriend and Vicki Donovan's brother. Elena broke up with him after her parents died, but he still deeply cares about her, watching out for her and look out for her whenever he can. Caroline broke up with him for his safety from her because of the fact that she is a vampire and doesn't want to hurt Matt in any way, shape or form. Matt is employed at the Mystic Grill as a busboy and is the star quarterback of the Mystic Falls High School football team called the Mystic Falls Timberwolves. Matt is close friends with Tyler Lockwood, who also plays the position of tackle on the high school football team with him. Matt is also on the high school football team with Stefan Salvatore (who plays the position of wide receiver on the team and wears the number 17). He resides at 749 Birch Street.
==See also==
Category:Novel Characters
Category:Main Characters
Category:Male Characters
Category:Humans