Doppelgänger

**Notice:** This **article** uses content directly taken from the Doppelgänger **article** at the Vampire Diaries Wiki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

## Species Information

### Status

* Extant  (Three Known Doppelgängers Remaining: Katerina Petrova, Elena Gilbert, and Alex Gilbert)

### Related Species

* Humans
* Immortals
* Vampires
* Witches
* Hybrid
* Tribrid

### Season(s)

**The Vampire Diaries:*** 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

**The Originals:**

* 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

**Legacies:**

* 1, 2, 3, 4

### Distinction

* Mystical, naturally occurring humans born physically identical to the first two Immortals.

**Doppelgängers**, also known as **Shadow Selves** or **Mortal Shadow Selves**, were a supernatural occurrence that were created by Nature. After Silas and Amara became true immortals by consuming Qetsiyah's immortality elixir, they violated the natural law that all living things must die. Nature found a balance by creating mortal shadow selves that could die. For this reason, doppelgängers have existed for as long as immortals, having been born and died in the place of Silas and Amara.

There are only two doppelgänger "lines" that rippled throughout history, colloquially known as the Salvatore and Petrova doppelgängers. Stefan Salvatore and Tom Avery are Silas' doppelgängers while Tatia, Katerina Petrova, Elena Gilbert, and Alex Gilbert are Amara's.

## Creation

Qetsiyah, one of the most powerful witches of all time and member of very gifted people called the Travelers, created a spell for immortality with the intention that she and her true love, Silas, would drink it together at their wedding. However, Silas stole the immortality elixir and used it on himself and his true love, and Qetsiyah's handmaiden, Amara. When they drank the immortality elixir, they violated the natural law that all living things must die, so Nature found a balance by creating mortal shadow selves of Silas and Amara that could die in their place.

According to Qetsiyah, many identical versions of Silas and Amara have been born over the centuries, finding each other time and time again as though drawn together by destiny. However, it was later revealed by Markos that he had cast the spell on the two respective lines of doppelgängers to draw them together so they could eventually break the curse on their people by harvesting the blood of the sole remaining doppelgängers of each line.

## History

### 1st Century B.C

Over two thousand years ago in ancient Greece, a young witch named Silas was engaged to be married to Qetsiyah. Together, they were the most powerful members of a gifted people called the Travelers. Silas told Qetsiyah that he wanted their love to last forever, even beyond death, and he convinced her to create a spell that would make them immortal. On the night that their wedding ceremony was to take place, Silas absconded with the elixir Qetsiyah had created, and as Qetsiyah watched the plant life around her wither before her eyes, she realized that not only had Silas taken the elixir and left her at the altar, he had also given her portion to someone else. She sought out Silas and found him in the wilderness with another woman — her handmaiden, Amara.

Silas returned to their hiding place to find Qetsiyah crouching over the chalice that had held the elixir they were to drink at their wedding. He cautiously inquired after Qetsiyah's purpose for being there, so she explained that, to follow up her first gift of the immortality elixir, she had brought a second gift: the Cure for immortality. Silas was dumbfounded, hardly believing her, but she insisted that it worked, as she had already used it on another immortal. Filled with dread, Silas ran into the tent he had shared with Amara, only to find blood soaked into every surface, as though someone had been brutally slaughtered there. Qetsiyah followed him into the tent and lifted a bloody human heart out of the chalice, admitting that she had slit Amara's throat before ripping her heart out. She then gave him an offer to take the cure and spend the rest of his human life with Qetsiyah, an offer that Silas refused.

In retribution for betraying her, Qetsiyah used Amara's petrified immortal body to create the Anchor to her supernatural purgatory, known as the Other Side. She then lured Silas to an island off of what is now Nova Scotia, Canada, where she trapped him inside a tomb and gave him a choice: he could take the cure and eventually die a mortal death (which would then cause him to pass on to the Other Side, where he would be trapped with her for eternity in the afterlife) or he could stay immortal and starve into petrification for the rest of his immortal life. Silas ultimately chose the latter and desiccated for the next two thousand years while the cure was left untouched.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Blood:** Doppelgängers, being mystical and recurrent, are sources of great magical power.
	+ The blood of a doppelgänger can be used to link supernatural beings with the help of magic conducted by any witch.
	+ Their blood can also be used to bind an extremely powerful curse or spell or to use as a power source in spells that require more magic than the witch in question possesses on their own.
	+ For some spells, the blood must come from a human doppelgänger. For other spells, the blood of a doppelgänger can still be used even if they've been turned into a vampire, as seen in *Death and the Maiden* when Qetsiyah used Elena's blood (along with Katherine and Amara's blood) to transfer the Anchor from Amara to Bonnie. There are certain spells and uses that require the doppelgänger to be "pure" and human, however, like the undoing of the Hybrid Curse and the siring of hybrids.
	+ The blood of the last two "living" doppelgängers can be used to reverse spells cast using non-traditional forms of magic, especially Spirit Magic (e.g. turning a vampire back into a (dead) human, undoing the spell that bound the Other Side, reversing the spells cast on daylight rings for vampires, removing a triggered gene in those cursed with lycanthropy, etc).

## Weaknesses

* **Magic:** Doppelgängers are still susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. Given the right spells, casting a spell on one doppelgänger will affect that of another.
* **Mortality:** Despite their mystical occurrence, doppelgängers share similar weaknesses as humans (e.g. age, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, etc.).

## Known Doppelgängers

* **Tatia:** Tatia was born during the 10th century A.D. in the area where Mystic Falls was to be formed. She was a contemporary of the Mikaelson Family around the early 10th century. During the Middle Ages, Tatia had a child with an unknown man; later in time, she met Elijah and Niklaus Mikaelson, both of whom fell in love with her (especially Klaus, according to Elijah). Esther, the mother of Elijah and Niklaus and also the Original witch, used Tatia's blood in the spell or ritual to create the Original vampires, as part of the wine laced with blood in which Mikael had given his children. Her blood was also part of the spell Esther used to bind Klaus' werewolf side, which resulted in Klaus' werewolf gene being dormant.
* **Katherine Pierce:** Katerina Petrova (a.k.a. Katherine Pierce) was born in Bulgaria during the 15th century on June 5, 1473. In the year 1492, when she was still a human, she was captured by Klaus. She knew that she was going to die, so she tricked Trevor, one of Klaus' servants, into helping her escape. Katherine was clever, cunning and smart; she knew that if she became a vampire, she'd be rendered useless to Klaus. Katherine stabbed herself with a knife but was given vampire blood by Rose in an attempt to heal her stabbing wound and afterwards, Katherine hung herself and came back as a vampire. In return for her escape, Klaus made her suffer by killing her entire family in Bulgaria, thinking that the doppelgänger would never appear again. What Klaus didn't know was that Katherine had a child out of wedlock that was kept secret and this child continued the bloodline of the Petrova family, leading to the birth of Elena and Alexandria Gilbert. Tired from running, Katherine intended to make a deal with Klaus by giving him the ingredients he needed to break the curse in exchange for her freedom. She planned to hand over the moonstone, Elena and Alexandria Gilbert, Caroline Forbes (a vampire), Tyler Lockwood (a werewolf) and Bonnie Bennett (a witch). When Katherine was about to take out her own doppelgänger, Elena shoves the cure, into her mouth. In 2030, she was turned into a hybrid of vampire and witch by Alexandria Gilbert's blood.
* **Stefan Salvatore:** Stefan Salvatore was born in Mystic Falls, Virginia during the 19th century on November 1, 1846. He was turned into a vampire along with his older brother Damon in the year 1864 by Amara's distant descendant, Katherine Pierce. Like his ancient ancestor Silas, Stefan was involved in a love triangle with Katherine and Damon. Stefan was unaware of the fact that he was a doppelgänger during his human years, and had no idea Katherine herself was a doppelgänger. Stefan was turned into a vampire against his will; Katherine had been compelling Stefan to consume her vampire blood for weeks. When Katherine is captured by the Founders Council Members, Stefan and Damon plot to rescue Katherine from being burned in a church by fire. Although Stefan and Damon do end up rescuing Katherine, Stefan and Damon are both shot dead by their own father Giuseppe. It was then that Stefan transformed into a vampire. When he first transitioned, Stefan suffered from severe hunger for blood and therefore, had problems controlling himself around human blood. Regarding the bloodline of Silas, not too much is known about it, its background and its history. Qetsiyah mentioned to Stefan that she has seen doppelgängers of Silas preceding Stefan while watching from The Other Side. Stefan later received the Cure and became human again, and died a while afterwards.
* **Elena Gilbert:** Elena Gilbert was born in New Orleans, Louisiana during the 20th century on June 22, 1992. Elijah was the first one who found out about Elena before Klaus. At first, when Rose told Elijah about this, he didn't believe it. But soon enough he found out that the Petrova Family line didn't end with Katherine because she had given birth to a baby girl, thus continuing the Petrova bloodline. Once Klaus learned of the Petrova doppelgänger, Elena, he came to Mystic Falls, and he kidnapped Katherine, temporarily taking over the body of Alaric Saltzman. As with Katherine, Klaus is responsible for the death of Elena's family, most notably their aunt Jenna Sommers, Elena, Alex, ,and Jeremy's legal guardian. He turned Jenna into a vampire and killed her for the sacrificial ritual. Unlike with Katherine, Klaus successfully killed Elena and as a result, he breaks the curse. Fortunately for Elena, John Gilbert had Bonnie form a special spell that bound Elena's life force or essence to his. This spell brought Elena back to life, but in return, killed John and took his life. In *The Departed*, Jeremy took Elena to Mystic Falls Hospital after discovering her lying unconscious at home. Meredith Fell discovered Elena was suffering from a serious cerebral hemorrhage and secretly injected her with vampire blood to heal her. This action fortunately saved Elena from death. The same day, Rebekah ran Elena and Matt off Wickery Bridge to save her siblings from Alaric, since his life force was tied to Elena. That way, if she died, so would Alaric. Jeremy arrives home to see Alaric, and he talks to him and Jeremy realizes that he is a ghost, and that if he is dead, that means his sister, Elena, must also be dead. Theo hurried to Wickery Bridge, intending to save Elena, but she insisted that he save Matt's life instead, who was unresponsive after crashing into the water. By the time Theo pulled Matt out of the water, Elena had drowned and died. Theo brought her body back to Mystic Falls Hospital, where she woke up, transitioning into a hybrid with Klaus' blood in her system.
* **Alex Gilbert:** Alex Gilbert was born in New Orleans, Louisiana during the 20th century on June 22, 1992. Elijah was the first one who found out about Alex before Klaus. At first, when Rose told Elijah about this, he didn't believe it. But soon enough he found out that the Petrova Family line didn't end with Katherine because she had given birth to a baby girl, thus continuing the Petrova bloodline. Once Klaus learned of the Petrova doppelgänger, Alex, he came to Mystic Falls, and he kidnapped Katherine, temporarily taking over the body of Alaric Saltzman. As with Katherine, Klaus is responsible for the death of Alex's family, most notably their aunt Jenna Sommers, Elena, Alex, and Jeremy's legal guardian. He turned Jenna into a vampire and killed her for the sacrificial ritual. Unlike with Katherine, Klaus successfully killed Alex and as a result, he breaks the curse. Before he kills Alex he fed her vampire blood unknowingly that Damon already fed her vampire blood. She woke up as the first Tribrid in existence. She is the last of Amara's doppelgängers.
* **Tom Avery:** Tom Avery was born during the 20th century. He was a doppelgänger of Silas who is discovered in the episode *While You Were Sleeping.* He is a paramedic who resides in Atlanta, Georgia. In *Rescue Me*, it is revealed that he was kidnapped by a witch named Hazel and put in a comatose state under a cloaking spell in order to protect him from The Travelers. He is later found by Caroline and Enzo. Caroline snaps Enzo's neck in order to prevent him from killing Tom. Caroline then takes Tom to a diner and compels him to tell her about his life. Confirming he is a good person, she compels him to run, far from the Travelers and Enzo. Before he can leave, however, Enzo catches up to them and snaps Tom's neck, killing him and making Stefan the last living doppelgänger of Silas.

## Loopholes

Doppelgängers are for most intents and purposes humans; however, they are a supernatural occurrence. In some ways they are considered a supernatural species while in others they are human.

1. Death by a doppelgänger counts as a supernatural death. A person wearing a Gilbert Ring will come back to life if killed by a human doppelgänger. This was proven when Elena killed Alaric in *Bringing Out The Dead* and he resurrected.
2. The Gilbert rings do not protect supernatural creatures and is theorized to not to work on a doppelgänger. This has never been confirmed.
3. Human doppelgängers, however, can be compelled by vampires like any regular human. Elena was compelled multiple times prior to Stefan giving her a necklace that contained vervain.
4. Despite being "supernatural," or at the very least mystical, human doppelgängers cannot be siphoned. For example, Kai attempted to siphon magic from Stefan's vampirism, however unknown to him, he had already been cured. Despite being a doppelgänger, having potent blood used as binding agents in spells, at having the mystical cure within him, Kai was unable to siphon any magic from him.