So I Finally Watched "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" And I'm Starting To Think That "The Vampire Diaries" Completely Ripped It Off

    Buckle up and grab a blood bag, Buffy/Vampire Diaries fans.

    During quarantine, I decided to undertake a life goal of mine and finally watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

    I thoroughly enjoyed my experience* — but as I was watching, I couldn't help but notice a few similarities to one of my other favorite shows, another supernatural one about vampires: The Vampire Diaries.

    In fact...there were a bunch of times The Vampire Diaries was a straight up rip-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'll show you what I mean:

    1. Both shows feature a 16-year-old supernatural teenage girl at the heart of a prophecy (Elena and Buffy). Both meet a mysterious, dark vampire in the first episode (Stefan and Angel) and begin a romance with him — though neither realizes he's a vampire until episode 6/7.

    Elena asking "what are you" and Buffy saying "I know what you are"

    2. But not to worry! The vampire is "good." In Buffy, this means he has a soul, and in The Vampire Diaries, this means his humanity is on.

    Stefan telling Elena he doesn't drink human blood and Angel telling Buffy he hasn't fed on a human being since he got his soul

    3. This romantic lead also reveals he has been watching the protagonist, and inserted himself into her life.

    4. However, there's another main vampire in the series: a "bad" vampire (Damon/Spike) that's got a centuries-long history with the good vamp.

    5. We get flashbacks into the "bad" vampire's past — turns out they were once a sweet romantic led astray by a seductive, bad female vampire (Katherine/Drusilla), who they've kept a flame for all these years. Actually, that's who turned them into a vampire.

    6. This woman also has a history with the "good" vampire.

    Katherine and Stefan and Drusilla and Angel

    7. We also get a bunch of flashbacks to the "good" vampire's past — however, these aren't so positive, and we learn he's killed at least hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

    Stefan and Angel as vampires in flashbacks

    8. At one point, the "good" vampire is consumed with guilt over their past actions, and resolves to let themselves burn when the sun comes up. Minutes before morning, the protagonist approaches and encourages them to keep fighting, but leaves the choice up to them.

    Elena begs Stefan to keep fighting and Buffy does the same for Angel

    9. The main character eventually develops feelings for the "bad" vampire, which horrifies the "good" vampire — though in the end, this "bad" vampire becomes good.

    Damon and Elena kissing and Buffy and Spike kissing

    10. Although their actual first kiss (not the one pictured above, which many fans would consider their first "real" kiss) was a pity kiss/a single peck because the protagonist felt the "bad" vampire deserved it.

    Elena kisses Damon and Buffy kisses Spike

    11. The two only start sleeping together (a fact that many other characters on the show disapprove of) after the protagonist dies (for a second time) and comes back feeling like a different person. The "bad" vampire helps them feel more alive.

    Elena says her feelings for Damon became more intense after she turned, and that Damon makes her feel alive. Buffy says she feels different since she came back and then that the only time she ever feels anything is with Spike

    12. The main conflict in the protagonist's relationship with the "good" vampire is actually not the "bad" vampire, but the "good" vampire losing their soul/humanity. After this, he fixates on and attacks the protagonist, actually forcing her to team up with the "bad" vampire.

    Stefan losing his humanity and Angel losing his soul

    13. In fact, the bulk of the protagonist's relationship with the good vampire happens in the first two seasons. At the end of Season 2, the good vampire and protagonist have to say goodbye to each other. In this case, The Vampire Diaries straight up copied Buffy's exact dialogue and movements.

    Elena/Buffy tell Stefan/Angel they love them, and Stefan/Angel say "I love you" too. Then Elena/Buffy say "close your eyes" and we see Stefan/Angel's outstretched hand

    14. Let's get back to this prophecy, which states the protagonist must die. Many try to protect her, and she tearfully admits she doesn't want to die, before ultimately deciding to sacrifice herself.

    Elena saying she doesn't want to be a vampire, and Buffy saying she doesn't want to die

    15. The main character's best friend is a witch who doesn't know her powers at the start of the series. However, the witch starts to delve more into dark magic after she uses it for a resurrection, angering the spirits and getting into magic they don't understand.

    Bonnie crying with blood of her face resurrecting Jeremy, and Willow with blood on her face resurrecting Buffy

    16. There are immediate repercussions to this resurrection spell, which messed with the forces of nature.

    Grams telling Bonnie there are consequences for bringing Jeremy back and she upset the balance of nature,  and Willow, Xander, and Spike realizing the same thing on Buffy

    17. After continuing to suffer losses, they use even more dark magic, and become cocky about it.

    Bonnie tells Klaus the spirits don't get to tell her what to do anymore and she's done getting pushed around. Willow tells Giles she's powerful and he shoudln't piss her off after he tells her she didn't respect nature

    18. And after the death of their love, they go dark and completely defy nature, using dark magic again to disastrous consequences — which makes them go a long period without using magic.

    Willow turns into Dark Willow after Tara's death, and Bonnie uses dark magic to resurrect Jeremy

    19. At one point, they have gone completely dark and try to kill their friends, and their male best friend has to talk them down by telling them how much they love them.

    Damon tells Bonnie he loves her and wants to be with her in his last moments, and Xander does the same to Willow, as Bonnie/Willow tell them to stop

    20. The other female protagonist is a pretty queen bee type, who has a dicey relationship with the lead, though they go through an arc where they become a better person, particularly when they date the protagonist's sweet guy friend who still holds a bit of a candle for the protagonist.

    Caroline and Matt and Xander and Cordelia

    21. At some point, the protagonist and this queen bee character fight for a homecoming title.

    Caroline and Elena at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, and Cordelia and Buffy in their homecoming dresses

    22. This is sort of random, but in both shows, the "bad" vampire is weirdly friends with one of the main character's moms. Even though he's physically hurt her daughter on multiple occasions.

    Liz and Damon, and Joyce and Spike

    23. Also, this mom (the main parent of the series) gets cancer in a later season, and her daughter tries to solve it through supernatural means.

    Damon talking about how it's not a good idea to use experimental magic on Liz, and Giles saying the same about Joyce

    24. After this storyline, the mother dies, and her daughter misses her final moments.

    25. In the direct aftermath of this death, the daughter and one of the male vampires talk about how it's not the direct aftermath of the death but after the funeral that's the hardest.

    Buffy says she's worried about tomorrow because there's no longer stuff to do and everyday living resumes, and Damon tells Caroline the funeral isn't the hardest, but instead the next week, when everything's quiet

    26. One of the main characters dates a man who ends up being a werewolf.

    27. However, they make it work, locking him up for the full moon.

    Tyler and Oz both locked behind bars

    28. Although things get dicey when a female werewolf who can understand the boyfriend better comes into the mix, causing the girlfriend to get jealous.

    29. The werewolf is forced to leave his girlfriend (against her wishes) to go figure out how to control his werewolf side.

    Caroline listening to a voicemail from Tyler saying he's going to fix himself and come home, and Oz telling Willow he needs to leave and figure out what being a wolf means

    30. Back to other characters: The protagonist has a male teacher who acts as a parent, even having some kind of relationship with the protagonist's guardian — but after this guardian dies, the teacher still remains like a father.

    Alaric and Hiles

    31. The protagonist also has an enemy who mirrors them in some way — this enemy at one point switches bodies with them, and says something along the lines of "you stole my life."

    Katherine telling Elena she stole her life then pretending to be her in the mirror, and Faith doing the same in Buffy

    32. In a later season, there is a villain character who only talks through other characters. No one knows what they look like because it appears as the main characters of the show.

    Klaus telling Silas to show his real face, and Silas as Caroline saying he won't since he can look like whoever he wants. Also, Anya saying The First can look like any person it wants, and The First as Buffy taunting Spike

    33. Alright, let's move on to some smaller things: There is a ring that allows vampires to be seen in the daylight.

    Damon with his ring and Angel with his

    34. One of the main characters dies, and whispers something to someone they love — the viewers don't hear it until later.

    35. There's some sort of cure a vampire needs at some point — and he needs to drain the blood of one of the female characters to get it.

    Damon telling Katherine he needs the cure and Katherine saying it'll take all her blood and kill her; and Oz telling Buffy that the cure is to drain the blood of a Slayer and Angel telling Buffy it'll kill her

    36. In both cases, the vampire does drain the girl of blood and is cured — but the girl inexplicably survives.

    Katherine's blood is drained then she wakes up; same with Buffy

    37. Draining blood is kind of a theme — there's also a complicated ritual that involves draining a girl of her blood.

    Katherine says that Klaus wants to drain Elena's blood as he wanted to do to her, and Giles says that the gates won't close until Dawn's blood stops flowing

    38. The "bad" vampire has a vision of the protagonist rescuing him while he's chained up — but it's not real.

    Elena rescuing a chained up Damon and Buffy rescuing a chained up Spike

    39. At some point after the "bad" vampire has gotten with the protagonist, they talk about the awful things they've done, and the protagonist defends them. The "bad" vampire then gets angry and tells them to stop defending/rationalizing their actions.

    Elena says she won't judge Damon since he was tortured, and Damon shouts "stop defending me!" Buffy tells Spike he's saved people too and Spike says "don't rationalize this"

    40. During one of the times the protagonist rejects the "bad" vampire, they immediately go try to kill someone to prove to the protagonist just how bad they really are.

    Damon tells Aaron Elena thinks he's a monster, and she's right, before vamping out. Spike tells a girl that he's an evil killer, then vamps out

    41. At one point, the "bad" vampire stands naked in front of the protagonist, and they quickly turn around in annoyance, which the "bad" vampire thinks is funny.

    Damon comes out naked and Elena turns around, while Spike stands naked and Buffy turns

    42. In both shows, there's a a scene with the "good" vampire when he's starved for blood, and the protagonist asks for him to drink from her, which he does.

    Elena tells Stefan to drink from him and he tells her to run, and Buffy tells Angel to drink from her and he tells her to get away

    43. Also in both shows, one of the main characters becomes catatonic with grief, and the others must use witchy magic to go into their subconscious to get them to come out.

    Damon and Buffy sitting catatonic

    44. Death isn't always permanent in these shows — but it's much easier to resurrect someone supernatural than it is someone human who died a regular death.

    Alaric says he and Bonnie came back, but Bonnie says there is no Other Side anymore and they can't resurrect people. Willow says resurrecting Bonnie is different from Joyce, because Buffy died by mystical forces, and is told she can't bring back Tara

    45. In fact, at one point the characters try to resurrect a human character who died by human means, but it goes horribly wrong.

    Jo waking up and Joyce as a sort of zombie in the background

    46. In one of the protagonist's first meetings with one of the vampires, they have this little exchange where the vampire presumes to know what they want and steps forward intensely.

    Damon says Elena wants what everyone wants, and Elena asks what that is. Angel says Buffy wants the same thing as her, and Buffy asks what that is

    47. At one point, one of the main vampires gets sent to hell and when they escape, they're pretty feral and dangerous.

    Damon and Angel chained up after escaping hell

    48. And finally, both series feature their version of the first-ever vampire, who is buried deep in a crypt in the ground. They're unleashed and then fight our main characters.

    Mikael in the ground in The Vampire Diaries and Turok-Han awakening in Buffy

    In conclusion...there is a LOT that seems to have been copied here. What do you think? Am I onto something here, or am I totally off base? Let me know in the comments below!