Emotions

**Emotions**, also known as **humanity**, are one of humankind's greatest strengths and weaknesses. Vampires and vampire-hybrids are able to feel emotions more strongly because everything is enhanced. Vampires also have control over their emotions. Emotions can empower witches and their magic, while werewolves are strengthened by anger, though they are also very susceptible to it.

## Species

### Humans

"*You're gonna think the pain will never end. But it will. But first, you have to let it all in. You can't fight it. It's bigger than you. You have to let yourself drown in it, but eventually… you'll start to swim, and every single breath that you fight for, will make you stronger, and I promise you you'll beat it.*"
—**Elena** in *I'm Thinking Of You All The While*
Humans beings are emotional creatures and when they can't control their emotions, it becomes their weakness as it can prevent them from thinking logically or rationally. The basic emotions specific for humans are love (between friends, maternal love or typical romantic love), grief, anger, joy or surprise.

### Witches

"*Many things can fuel a witch's power. Worry, anger. After Stefan told me that they had taken you, I had a lot of both. Simple locator spell was easy after that.*"
—**Sheila** in *Fool Me Once*
Emotions can greatly affect a witch's power, causing it to fluctuate at times. Like werewolves, they can use strong emotions to fuel their magic, strengthening the potency of their spells. Additionally, a witch can subconsciously block themselves through negative emotions namely fear, grief, doubt etc., preventing them from properly practicing witchcraft. These effects has been shown most notably on Bonnie, Bree, Abby and Davina.

### Vampires

"*Humanity is a vampire's greatest weakness. No matter how easy it is to turn it off, it just keeps trying to fight its way back in.*"
—**Katherine** in *Homecoming*
Vampires, like humans, are emotional creatures and, upon the completion of their transition, the emotions they experience are magnified meaning that pain would turn into agony, sadness into depression, happiness into elation and so on. However, they have the benefit of being able to control their emotions, such as by turning them off. When they want to feel again, they can turn them on or dull their emotions by being in the "middle". When a vampire who has completely turned off their emotions, they have completely lost their humanity. This typically makes them carefree and remorseless about their actions and impervious to guilt and conscience, turning some into calculating killers unwilling to turn their emotions back on. This is frequently referred to as their "humanity switch". In *Katerina*, Rose explains that the switch is a lie and while it's something a newbie vampire can do, after a couple of hundred years, older vampires just have to pretend as they're unable to turn them off. In order to force a vampire's humanity back on, the first step is to weaken them by drying them out and starve away the blood lust. In *Ghost World*, Lexi described that once Stefan was weak enough, she had to cause him pain, to make him feel things—anger, rage, anything. Similarly, in *She's Come Undone*, Damon forces Elena to watch as he kills Matt but experiences joy learning he's resurrected by the Gilbert Ring.

### Werewolves

"*Starts out normal. I get angry, typically over nothing. I'm an angry guy you know? It just amplifies and I go off.*"
—**Tyler** in *Brave New World*
Werewolves are affected greatly by specific emotions, namely anger and rage. While these make them reckless and act irrationally by lashing out, their anger increases their powers. These emotions are felt even by werewolves who have not triggered their gene and felt most intensely on a full moon to the point of going blind with rage.

### Hybrids

"*As a hybrid, you will begin to experience feelings with greater intensity. It will take time to master control.*"
—**Elijah** in *Rebirth*
Hybrids generally experience the same heightened emotions as vampires do and initial lack of control. Presumably, werewolf-vampire hybrids will act more violent from the effects of anger as felt more intensely from their werewolf side. Presumably, siphoner witch-vampire hybrids' magic could be more crippled from the effects of fear. Dahlia presumed that Hope Mikaelson would eventually devastate New Orleans if left unchecked due to her magic being tainted with vampire blood as well as her aggressive wolf temperament.

### Supernatural Hunters

"*Newly awakened hunters may not be fully conscious of their actions. Their subconscious pushes through until the urge becomes a basic instinct.*"
—**Matt** in *My Brother's Keeper*
When awakened, a hunter becomes filled with a supernatural urge and hatred toward vampires, this is known as the hunter's instinct. The more vampires a hunter kills, the stronger the urge becomes. This urge is purely subconscious and forces a hunter to try to kill a vampire even if he or she does not want to. This holds true for both members of the Five and shamanic huntresses created by the Eight Everlastings.

## Main Emotions

"*You feel like you could do anything. Be anyone. Beautiful things are more beautiful. Everything's heightened, you know? Just live more intensely. Love more powerfully. [...] Anger becomes rage. When you're sad, you're in despair. Grief. Loss. It can cripple you. That's why so many of us turn our emotions off. It just becomes... too overwhelming.* "
—**Stefan** in *The Last Day*
* **Love** - Is the most powerful emotion and strongest affection and personal attachment. Love is also said to be a virtue representing all of the human kindness, compassion, and affection "the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another".
* **Hope** - Is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "looking forward to something with desire and reasonable confidence" or "feeling that something desired may happen".
* **Friendship** - Is a distinctively personal relationship that is grounded in a concern on the part of each friend for the welfare of the other, for the other's sake, and that involves some degree of intimacy. As such, friendship is undoubtedly central to our lives, in part because the special concern we have for our friends must have a place within a broader set of concerns, including moral concerns, and in part, because our friends can help shape who we are as persons.
* **Respect** - Gives a positive feeling of esteem or deference for a person or other entity (such as a nation or a religion), and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual individual given of the one respected. It can also be conducted in accord with a specific ethic of respect. Despite its positive nature, respect is most often associated with subordination or submission to authority.
* **Fear** - Is an emotion induced by a perceived threat that causes beings to move quickly away from the location of the perceived threat, and sometimes hide. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. In short, fear is the ability to recognize danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it (also known as the fight-or-flight response) but in extreme cases of fear (horror and terror), a freeze or paralysis response is possible.
* **Anger** - Is a negative emotion that can is associated with frustration and intimidation. Anger often comes from a lack of satisfaction or from a loss of something or someone valuable. It comes from offensive words or actions. Werewolves and Hybrids experience positive effects from anger; anger increases their strength.
* **Hate** - Is a deep and emotional extreme dislike that can be directed against individuals, entities, objects, or ideas. Hatred is often associated with feelings of anger and a disposition towards hostility.
* **Sadness** - Is emotional pain associated with, or characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, guilt, helplessness and sorrow. These feelings of certain things are usually negative. When one is sad, people often become less outspoken, less energetic, and emotional. Crying is often, but not necessarily, an indication of sadness.

## "Humanity switch" Users

Below is a list of vampires that have turned off their humanity at least once.

* **Stefan Salvatore**: Compelled by Niklaus Mikaelson (1st Time). In order to save his niece's life (2nd time). To honor his deal with Arcadius (3rd Time).
* **Elena Gilbert**: After the death of her brother due to the sire bond with Damon.
* **Damon Salvatore**: In order to leave Lorenzo at Whitmore (1st time). After being controlled by the Siren (2nd time).
* **Enzo**: In order not to hate Damon (1st time). After being controlled by the Siren and to save Bonnie's life (2nd time).
* **Caroline Forbes**: After the death of her mother.
* **Jade**: In order to not feel any anguish after she killed her friend Inez.
* **Hope Mikaelson**: After completing her transition into a full tribrid, she flipped the switch the moment she drove the sword through Landon to kill Malivore.