Caroline Forbes is still one of the fan-favorite characters from The Vampire Diaries long after the teen drama ended. Before she became a vampire, Caroline was a naive insecure girl that easily fell victim to the threats posed by vampires including Damon who used her as a blood bank and plaything. However, even in naivety, Caroline was lively and full of humor with a strong will to do the right thing, which made her one of the most relatable characters.
She had a little difficulty transitioning into a vampire but when she was able to manage her thirst for blood, she became one of the most humane vampires. From being the only person to see goodness in Klaus to forgiving Stefan after one of his worst slip-ups, Caroline always found the good in people. Wise and selfless are the best terms to describe the life-saving decisions Caroline made and this is how her most important decisions compare to each other.
10 Breaking Up With Tyler
Tyler and Caroline's relationship was one that many fans never saw coming and even when it happened, it seemed destined to fail from the start. Tyler struggled with impulse control and just didn't seem to be willing to give up everything for Caroline like she was willing to do for him. When Tyler decided to measure up his strength against Klaus, choosing revenge over his love for Caroline, it was obvious that he wasn't fit to be in a relationship.
When Caroline ended the relationship with Tyler, she finally started working on herself and became a better person. She followed her heart as she fell in love with Matt, Klaus, and later Stefan, all of whom were deeply in love with her. As Caroline grew, she needed a mature partner that would help her grow rather than chase meaningless vendettas and Tyler wasn't that person.
9 Convincing Stefan To Spare Enzo's Life
Caroline promised Stefan that she would be there for him whenever he slipped and preventing him from killing Enzo was one of the best ways she kept that promise. While Enzo and Damon were under Sybil's control, Enzo became one of the deadliest villains in The Vampire Diaries and Stefan was his main target.
Stefan thought he had killed Sarah and therefore wanted to stab him in the heart when Caroline showed up. Killing Enzo would have caused Bonnie to hate both Caroline and Stefan and that was an enmity that the Mystic Gang couldn't survive. Enzo also regained his humanity and became an invaluable partner in the fight against Sybil.
8 Not Giving Up On Stefan
In the days after Damon and Bonnie died, Stefan left Mystic Falls and went out of touch with everyone for four months. When Caroline and Enzo tracked him down, he brushed her off rudely and made her feel humiliated, but Caroline still believed he would find his old self and therefore kept trusting him.
Caroline was also the only person that believed Stefan would recover from Cade's control after he gave up his soul to save the twins. While her faith in him was partly because she loved him, it was also a wise decision because Stefan was a good person. Her trust later paid off when the two go married and made a power couple.
7 Breaking Up With Matt
Matt Donovan wasn't the best of partners either because he was grumpy, self-loathing and often forgot about Caroline while dealing with his own problems. Matt was only with Caroline as a rebound from Elena, and he wasn't anywhere near Caroline's dream partner.
Caroline was also struggling with her transition into a vampire and drinking Matt to death wouldn't have helped that process. By feigning jealousy and breaking up with him, Caroline saved Matt and herself in the process. She would never forgive herself if she killed him and neither would the rest of the Mystic Gang.
6 Marrying Stefan
Caroline's feelings for Stefan in the first season were more of a teenage girl's infatuation than true love. She hadn't taken her time to know Stefan and only wanted him because she was jealous of Elena. However, after spending years with him admiring his selflessness and other positive traits that came with him, she realized that he was the full package.
The two of them made one of the best couples in the show, and being with him was fully her decision. It showed her positive development as a person from her early days of insecurities and bad decisions to be able to stand up for herself and make positive choices. Elena being with Damon after leaving Stefan was also unfair, and Caroline being there for Stefan partly made up for that injustice.
5 Breaking Up With Alaric
Caroline never chose to be a mother for Alaric and Jossette's twins, and while she made a good mother, it didn't have to mean that she was tied to Alaric as well. Alaric was always a father figure to Caroline, and he knew that Caroline didn't love him romantically.
She agreed to marry Alaric, but the marriage wasn't the happiest one. When Stefan came back, the marriage descended into an awkward state and Caroline was smart to end it. It allowed her to be with the person she truly loved, and she still made a great mother without being with Alaric.
4 Forgiving Damon
Damon was despicable in the first season when he used Caroline and wiped her memories, but he was a vital member of the Mystic Gang, and killing him would have ruined everything. When Katherine turned Care into a vampire and tried to use her to hurt the Salvatore brothers, Caroline went to Damon and gave him a beating after she remembered what he had done to her.
Caroline could have teamed up with Katherine and easily killed Damon, but she forgave him and accepted to work with him. Despite the big difference in their characters, Damon and Caroline actually made a strong team and things were always easier when they worked together.
3 Wiping Her Mother's Memories
When Elizabeth Forbes discovered that her daughter was a vampire, she was not willing to accept her at first and even denounced her. However, she realized that being a vampire had actually made Caroline a better person and that she was more capable of standing up for herself and making good decisions. The strong mother-daughter moment between Elizabeth and Caroline was one of the best Caroline Forbes moments in the show.
However, after describing what she saw in her daughter as "legendary," there was no way she was going to keep it a secret from her friends. Exposing her as a vampire to the whole town would be bad for the whole Mystic Falls gang. Although it was sad to see Liz forget that great reunion, the sacrifice was worth it in the end.
2 Giving Klaus A Chance
After Klaus tormented the Mystic Falls gang, created hybrids, and nearly wiped out all of Mystic Falls, everyone saw him as the ultimate villain, and they didn't think he could be of help to them in the future. Caroline, however, saw good even in some of the worst people and Klaus was one of them.
She was vital in Klaus' redemption, bringing out a good side of the original vampire. Showing Klaus the love he never received for so many years converted him into a better person. Klaus later became an invaluable ally for the Mystic Gang when threats worse than The Originals finally came.
1 Being A Mother To The Twins
Motherhood seemed to come naturally to Caroline as she managed to do and be everything the twins needed from a mum. While it wasn't her choice to carry them in her womb, she chose to be there for them when they were born and was even willing to end her engagement with Stefan to keep them safe.
While motherhood isn't for everyone, being a mother to the twins completed Caroline's development into a responsible adult. It expressed the most complete version of Caroline in the show since the first season.