9 Absurd Plot Points In "The Vampire Diaries" And "The Originals" That Defy All Logic

Where's the logic...

I've spent WAY too many hours watching and rewatching The Vampire Diaries and The Originals.

It's a guilty pleasure and an obsession. It brings me such joy to watch every relationship, every character arc, every tear-jerking moment play out time and time again. Now, the downside of rewatching your favorite show is that it gives you every opportunity to analyze and scrutinize the small details, the big picture, and everything in between. It gives you a chance to spot those continuity mistakes only a seasoned pro could recognize. Below are nine plot lines from the show that don't ~actually~ make any sense.

1. Damon's Season 1 mind control.

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One of the first times that we see the power of vampire mind control is in early Season 1 when Damon is locked in the cellar, slowly desiccating. He wishes to get free, so he communicates with Caroline via his mind, sending her a message that he’s in trouble and she needs to come help. Caroline complies, and it’s established that vampires have this neat little trick for whenever they need to get in touch with someone mentally. However, this form of mind control is never seen again in the show. It’s a shame, too; it really would have helped them out in countless other situations. Like when Stefan was REPEATEDLY DROWNING IN A SAFE.

2. Elena had to die in order for Stefan to save Matt from drowning.

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The third season concluded with Elena drowning in a submerged car and turning into a vampire. She and Matt accidentally drove off a bridge, and while Stefan was there to rescue them, he was only able to save Matt. Elena’s last act as a human was forcing Stefan to save Matt instead of her, and much to Stefan’s hesitance and regret, he listened. But Stefan is a one-hundred-and-sixty-something super-strong vampire, and he couldn’t have easily grabbed two people at once? Come on…

Also, I think Elena has very bad fight-or-flight survival instincts. While underwater, she was conscious enough to communicate with Stefan, who had ripped the car door off by that point, but she showed no effort to escape. Girl, you gotta at least try.

3. Elena had to choose between Stefan and Damon in the Season 3 finale.

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If y'all remember, in Season 3, when our vampire posse thought they were about to die, Elena had to choose whose last moments she wanted to be there for. She could've either continued driving to an out-of-town warehouse to meet Damon or turned around and returned to Stefan in Mystic Falls. Elena ended up choosing...*drumroll*... Stefan, yayyy! The reason for the choice was that there was not enough time for Damon to drive back to Mystic Falls from the warehouse. But hold on a minute...Rebekah was at the warehouse with Damon, LONG before Elena was on the road heading in their direction. Then, it's shown that Rebekah made it back to Mystic Falls before Elena, who turned around halfway! This means Rebekah apparently sped right past her in time to run her off the bridge. If Rebekah was able to make it back in time, why not Damon? Pretty sus if you ask me.

4. Elena joining Damon in blowing up the Mystic Grill.

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In Season 5, Damon volunteers to trigger a fatal explosion that is necessary to kill their current enemy, but will also kill himself. Elena insists on joining him, thinking they’ll both be able to come back to life via Bonnie, the rapidly deteriorating anchor between worlds. They blow up the grill, and Elena is able to pass through Bonnie, but Damon is not, due to Bonnie’s weak state. Elena is heartbroken, and Bonnie and Damon are transported to another dimension. Now hear me out…if Elena hadn’t intentionally offed herself just to come back to life, Bonnie would have had that much more energy to bring Damon back. But hey, if that were the case, then there goes like half of Season 6.

5. Alaric turns human, but Elena’s compulsion is still in place.

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After Damon gets trapped in the prison world, Elena is so stricken with heartache that she asks Alaric to compel away her memories of Damon, making her forget their relationship entirely. Damon, of course, returns and is devastated. After some thought, Elena decides she wants her memories of Damon back, and wants Alaric to un-compel her. He can’t however, as he has recently been turned back into a human. BUT WAIT!! We know from Season 8, when Stefan turned human, that all their past compulsions break when a vampire is cured of immortality. So why didn’t Elena’s compulsion go away? Hmmm???? 🤔

6. There was no way for Elena to get her old memories back.

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Speaking of Elena’s memories, it was a central point of Season 6 that Damon would win back Elena even though she couldn’t remember their relationship. He went through the ins and outs of going on dates, reminding her what a good guy he was, and trying to stir up old memories. He eventually won her over, of course, but I’ve thought of a much easier path he could have taken. It’s long been established that vampires can enter each other’s minds and share memories. Damon could have just SHOWN Elena THEIR ENTIRE PAST TOGETHER. His memories are her memories, right? I should have written the plot.

7. Stefan’s death was necessary.

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The premise around Stefan’s death was that it was required for someone to kill Katherine right before the Hellfire overtook her. Damon and Stefan both volunteer to sacrifice themselves, but ultimately, Stefan takes on the task. In a dramatic conclusion to his time on the show, Stefan holds Katherine hostage in the path of the fire waiting for just the right moment to stake her. But here’s the thing…could he not have just killed her and then tossed her into the flames? It doesn’t seem necessary for him to stand there and be incinerated with her. I miss Stefan. 😭

8. The rules of spirit and body jumping.

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There have been multiple instances where characters “spirit jump” into other people’s bodies, but the lines have really been blurred as far as the rules that go along with this, especially with the introduction of The Originals. We first saw this happen when Klaus entered the show. Our first experience with Klaus was when he took over Alaric’s body. It was explicitly shown that Alaric, a human, was able to exhibit Original vampire abilities, such as mind compulsion. However, Alaric/Klaus could still be harmed as a human. Later in The Originals spin-off, where body jumping became more popular, The Original vampires, Kol, Finn, and Rebekah, were all placed into witch bodies, but they retained none of their Original vampire abilities. They had exclusive witch privileges. Ugh, I can't keep up.

9. Bonnie versus The Original's witches.

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Throughout the course of The Vampire Diaries, Bonnie served as the resident witch, eternal optimist, loophole finder, and continuous day saver. Honestly, half the characters would be dead without Bonnie. She continuously pushed the limits of witchcraft, dared to venture into dangerous magic, and performed complicated spells. We ended the show thinking Bonnie was the most powerful witch in the world. Enter the French Quarter witches from The Originals who make Bonnie seem like an amateur. Davina broke the entire sire line between Klaus and all the vampires he turned. Freya created a weapon suited to kill Marcel, a vampire more powerful than an Original. Vincent wrote an entire journal about some of the darkest magic to date. Each of them individually puts poor Bonnie’s abilities to shame. If Bonnie and these witches had collabed during The Vampire Diaries, I think manyyyyy more problems would have been solved.

Alrighty then, that was a lot to take in. Plot holes may have been exposed today, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying every second of another watch-through. 🤗