Salvatore Family

The **Salvatore Family** *(**Ancient Greek:** Σαλβατορε, **Modern Greek:** Salvatoros, **Latin:** Salvatorus, **Late Roman:** Salvator, **Italian:** Salvaturi, Salvatorio, or Salvatore, **Feminine:** Salvatrice or Salvatora; [derivative of Xavier]; translates as "Saviour" in Italian)* is one of the main families in *The Vampire Diaries*. The Salvatore Family is one of the Founding Families in Mystic Falls, Virginia. The family originally comes from Greece as well as Florence, Italy, as evidenced by the Florentine seal on some parts of the Salvatore Boarding House. The Salvatore Family has been linked to both the Petrova and Bennett families since 1st Century BCE. The Salvatore Family has also been linked with the Gilbert, Lockwood, Fell, and Forbes families since the mid-1800s.

## Family Members

* **Silas:** Silas (***Ancient Greek:** Σίλας, **Modern Greek:** Silouanos, **Latin:** Silvanus*) was born sometime during 1st Century B.C. His origins are from Ancient Greece. Silas was the world's very first immortal being and was the earliest known ancestor of the Salvatore family bloodline, as well as the progenitor of the Salvatore doppelgänger bloodline. Before becoming an immortal, he was a very gifted and powerful witch. Silas was deeply and passionately in love with his true love and soulmate; Amara, Qetsiyah's handmaiden. Silas manipulated and convinced Qetsiyah that he loved her and wanted to spend an eternity with her and as such she created the immortality spell. However, Silas betrayed her and he and Amara drank the elixir. After becoming immortal, Nature found balance by creating mortal versions of herself—doppelgängers or shadow selves—that would appear century after century. After Qetsiyah discovered their betrayal claimed to have cured Amara and offered Silas the Cure. When he refused she desiccated him with the Cure. After being entombed for two thousand years, he was awakened and planed to destroy the Other Side, take the Cure, die and join Amara. Unfortunately, Silas died before he ever had a chance to destroy the Other Side as the Anchor was transferred to Bonnie Bennett. After the collapse of the Other Side, Silas is sucked into Hell until it too is destroyed.
* **Silas' Unnamed Sibling(s):** Silas said to Damon in *True Lies* that Damon was his distant nephew. This implies that Silas did have a sibling or siblings who continued the Salvatore bloodline since it is assumed that Silas did not had any children of his own before he became immortal.
* **Giuseppe Salvatore:** Giuseppe was Lillian's husband and the father of Damon, Stefan, and an unnamed sibling. He was born October 9, 1810. Giuseppe was a very distant descendant of Silas. Giuseppe raised his sons on his own after his wife had died of consumption in the year 1858. After his wife's death, Giuseppe used alcohol as a coping mechanism and became abusive. Giuseppe was very controlling, authoritative, and stern father. He openly expressed extreme disappointment in his eldest son, Damon, and shared a very tension-filled and strained relationship. Lillian openly admitted in a conversation with Damon that Giuseppe would physically abuse and beat Damon repeatedly especially when Damon would act obnoxious and unruly. Giuseppe had a closer relationship with his youngest son, Stefan. Giuseppe uncovered vampires in Mystic Falls, along with the other founding families in the town. He hated vampires with an undying passion, and was a member of the Founder's Council, which was started as a main purpose to kill all the vampires within Mystic Falls. After witnessing his sons helping Katherine escape, he shoots and kills them both. Unknown to him, Katherine has already fed them both her blood and he's visited by Stefan in the middle of his transition. After being injured by Stefan, Stefan loses control, completes his transition and kills him. Giuseppe also had another child, an unnamed son, by his secret lover, who is said to be a maid.
* **Lillian "Lily" Salvatore:** Lillian was Giuseppe's wife and the mother of Damon and Stefan Salvatore. She was born February 27, 1820 and she is of French-American descent. She died in 1858 when Stefan was eleven years old and when Damon was seventeen years old. She is buried alongside Giuseppe in Mystic Falls, Virginia. According to Damon, she died of consumption. However, this was a lie. She had faked her death in 1858 for abandoning her family and her sons. After she transitioned into a vampire, a ripper, she fled to Europe where she was eventually trapped in the 1903 prison world. She was eventually freed by Damon, Elena, and Bonnie so that she could help Stefan regain his humanity. Lillian ends up turning Stefan's humanity back on as she is proven to be his emotional trigger. However, Lillian had emotionally abandoned her sons and has replaced them with her new family, the Heretics. Although Lily originally chose Julian, her lover, and her Heretic family over her sons, she eventually comes to show that she truly does love and care about Damon and Stefan. Lily ends up choosing both her sons and her Heretic family when she sacrifices herself by staking herself and dying after Julian forces her to choose between her sons and her Heretic family.
* **Damon Salvatore:** Damon is the oldest child of Giuseppe and Lillian and the older brother of Stefan. Damon is a very distant descendant of the world's first immortal man, Silas. He was born on June 18, 1839 in Mystic Falls, Virginia. During his human years, he was rebellious, carefree, emotional, independent, troubled, insecure, misunderstood, principled, impulsive, competitive, and irresponsible and seemed to lack a general sense of direction. People of Mystic Falls even described Damon to be irresponsible and cowardly, including his own father Giuseppe. The reason for this is because Damon rebelled against the town's and his own father's wish, by leaving the Confederacy on his own terms during the time of the Civil War. However, the reasons for Damon leaving the Confederacy is unknown. He also had womanizing tendencies. Damon and Giuseppe never got along or had a good, close relationship. Giuseppe frequently expressed extreme disappointment and resentment. However, Damon was very close to his younger brother Stefan and they shared a very close relationship and bond. Damon described Stefan as his best friend or companion and the person who trusted the most. However, the brothers eventually became strained after Katherine Pierce came into their lives and both brothers started to compete fiercely for Katherine's affections, with both of the brothers not being aware of Katherine playing them against one another. He was turned into a vampire in 1864, when he was 25 years old, after he drank Katherine Pierce's blood willingly and was shot by his father after attempting to save Katherine from being buried in the tomb. Coming back to Mystic Falls he meets Elena Gilbert.
* **Stefan Salvatore:** Stefan was the youngest child of Giuseppe and Lillian and was the younger brother of Damon. Stefan was a very distant descendant of the world's first immortal man, Silas. He was born on November 1, 1846 in Mystic Falls, Virginia. During his human years, Stefan was seen as being compassionate, kind, noble, honorable, intelligent, athletic, responsible, academic, dutiful, and a gentleman. In other words, 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. In *The Turning Point*, Stefan revealed to Elena that he was an aspiring doctor during his human life and that this was his profession or career of choice before he was turned into a vampire. 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 turned into a vampire in 1864 along with his brother. He and Damon were extremely close with one another during their human lives. Damon was his best friend during their human lives, until the two had the extreme differences concerning their lover, Katherine Pierce, who turned both Salvatore brothers into vampires. Stefan continued to feel this guilt about what had happened in 1864 until present day. In 2009, Stefan unexpectedly saves the life of Elena Gilbert, who coincidentally bears a striking resemblance Katherine. Though he was able to save her, he was unable to save her parents.
* **Stefan and Valerie's Unborn Child:** This child is the unborn child of Stefan Salvatore and Valerie Tulle. The child is also the grandchild of Giuseppe and Lillian as well as the niece/nephew of Damon. The unborn child likely would have been a Witch, through Valerie. At the time of the child's conception, Stefan was fifteen or sixteen. The child however died after Valerie was brutally beaten by Julian.
* **Zachariah's Father:** This unnamed Salvatore is the paternal half brother of Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Giuseppe had illegitimate son with one of the maids and continued the bloodline.
* **Zachariah Salvatore:** Zachariah was the grandson of Giuseppe Salvatore. He was killed by Samantha Gilbert in *1912*. Zachariah was a very distant descendant of Silas.
* **Joseph Salvatore:** Joseph was a distant nephew of Stefan and Damon Salvatore. He was Zach Salvatore's grandfather and revealed to be a member of the Augustine Society in *The Cell*. He was killed by Damon on June 12, 1953. It is said that he was the main supplier of vervain for the Founder's Council, cultivating it in the basement, and continuing it on as a tradition of the family, according to Zach. Joseph was a very distant descendant of Silas.
* **Joseph's Unnamed Son:** He is the unnamed son of Joseph Salvatore and is the father of Zach Salvatore. He is a distant descendant of Silas.
* **Zach Salvatore:** Zach was a distant nephew of Stefan and Damon Salvatore, although Stefan and Damon used to refer to Zach as their uncle, since he was human and appeared older than the two brothers. In 1994, he had a girlfriend named Gail with whom he was having a baby, but Gail died and his daughter Sarah was adopted by another family, the Nelson family. He lived in the Salvatore Boarding House. Zach was seen to like, trust and respect Stefan but disliked, distrusted and disrespected Damon. Zach was also the main vervain supplier for The Founder's Council, but after he died. Damon took over his responsibilities within the council. His ancestor and distant great uncle Damon killed him. Zach was a very distant descendant of Silas.
* **Thomas "Tom" Avery:** Tom was the doppelgänger of Stefan and was assumed to be Silas' fourth and final doppelgänger. Tom was born during the 20th century. He was a human who had a personality very similar to Stefan, which is understandable considering that he is Stefan's shadow self. He was nice, kind, empathetic, cared about others and didn't like seeing people in pain or dying. He was a paramedic in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the last doppelgänger of Silas, before he was killed by Enzo after he snapped his neck. Tom is a distant relative/descendant of both Stefan and Damon and was a very distant descendant of Silas.
* **Sarah Nelson (also known as Sarah Salvatore):** Sarah was the daughter of Zach Salvatore and his girlfriend Gail. Sarah was the youngest and last known living member of the Salvatore family. She was born on May 10, 1994 in Mystic Falls, Virginia, after her mother was attacked by her distant relative or her distant great uncle Damon while living at the Salvatore Boarding House in Mystic Falls. Gail died after Doctor Grayson Gilbert performed an emergency C-Section, however Sarah survived. Sarah was later adopted by the Nelson family, after her mother died giving birth to her and Zach was unaware of her existence due to being compelled by Stefan to forget that he had a daughter. She was a Student at Duke University, where she studied as an Art Major. Years later, she had her own apartment and lived on her own. She still knew about the supernatural world and became very protective of herself; this is evident when she vervained Damon and almost vervained Enzo when the two reunited. Sarah was then killed after being stabbed by Sybil.

## Relatives

* **Caroline Forbes:** Caroline was the wife of the late Stefan Salvatore. They married not long before he died. Caroline was the only child of Bill and Elizabeth Forbes, and was turned into a vampire at the age of seventeen.
* **Elena Gilbert**: Elena is the wife of Damon Salvatore. She is the daughter of John Gilbert and Isobel Flemming, and the adoptive daughter and niece of Miranda Sommers and Grayson Gilbert. After she was cured of her vampirism, she was placed in a sleeping curse by Kai Parker. The spell, however, was eventually broken by Bonnie, reuniting with her friends and Damon.

## Surname

* **Salvatore** means "Savior" in Italian. It is commonly used as a masculine first name, although the name can be used as both a first name and as a surname. It means literally "saviour save you" and was used in honor of the Christ. The origination is from the Latin word Salvius, which seems to have been in some way used in the Iberian Peninsula, before it became fashionable in Rome.

## Trivia

* In both the novels and TV show, the Salvatore family is of Italian origin and descent.
* In the books, there are three known members of the Salvatore family, which include Conte Di Giuseppe Salvatore, Damon Salvatore and Stefan Salvatore.
* From Rebekah's research from Carol Lockwood, wood from the Salvatore Mills helped to build most of the town of Mystic Falls.
* The Salvatore family is primarily male dominated and all of the known members of the Salvatore family happen to be men. Lillian and Sarah Salvatore are the first female members of the Salvatore family, though they were married and born into the family, respectively.