When heroes and villains play a high-stake game, betrayals, lies, and tricks will be their everyday business. The Vampire Diaries confirmed this storytelling rule multiple times during its eight seasons. As a result, it was never boring and the fans kept watching the show, fascinated by what plot twists would happen next.
A lot of the characters in the show were good guys - for the most part - but even they were capable of betraying others. Whatever their motivation was, they often did things that were far from pure and kind. But some betrayals on the show were simply more significant than others.
Stefan Stole Klaus's Family
Stefan and Klaus used to be friends in the 1920s, but they didn't renew their friendship in the 21st century. Instead, Klaus made Stefan into his sidekick, forced him to attack Elena and to turn off his emotions.
Yet Klaus still saw it as a betrayal when Stefan retaliated and stole Klaus's coffins where he kept his daggered siblings. The truth is that Klaus had it coming after everything that he'd done to Stefan.
Klaus Kept Daggering His Family
Klaus has several positive traits - but he has more bad characteristics than good. One of his worst is his foul temper.
Whenever he felt like his siblings disappointed him or betrayed him or simply didn't act the way he wanted them to, he daggered them and hid their bodies in a coffin. It's true he didn't kill them for good, but he still robbed them of years of their lives this way.
Stefan Poisoned Damon With Vervain
Damon changed a lot throughout the show. But he was a terrible person in the first season. One of the worst things he did was using Caroline as his blood source and as a way to drive Elena and Stefan apart.
Once Damon felt Caroline lost her usefulness, he decided to drain her dry. However, Stefan had previously spiked Caroline's drink with vervain and poisoned Damon via her blood. Then he imprisoned him in their house. It was a sneaky move from Stefan, but Damon deserved it.
Caroline's Dad Tortured Her
Caroline had difficult relationships with both of her parents - but at least her mom was around for her. Her parents got divorced and her dad Bill left. When he came back, it wasn't a happy family reunion. Bill learned his daughter was now a vampire.
And since he was a member of the Council, and he hated vampires, he decided the best course of action would be to torture Caroline. That didn't win him any popularity points and made him into one of the worst parents on the show.
Damon Left Bonnie Without Saying Goodbye
Damon and Bonnie didn't start on the best of terms. But they grew closer over time and became friends when they were trapped in the Prison World. However, everyone who watched the show knows that Damon wasn't the best at maintaining friendships.
When he learned that he would never see Elena again while Bonnie was alive, he decided to just close himself in a coffin and wait it out. And even though he and Bonnie were friends by that time, he didn't even bother to say goodbye to her. Damon's actions understandably hurt Bonnie's feelings.
Damon Left Enzo Behind
Enzo and Damon became friends when they first met. They were held captive at the time and quickly formed a bond. However, when the time came to try and escape, Damon ran away and he left Enzo behind.
What's worse, it looked like Enzo burned to death. He showed up years later unharmed but that doesn't change the fact Damon let his friend and ally burn.
Katherine Abandoned Damon (And Stefan)
Katherine dated both Damon and Stefan when she met them in the 19th century. They were both humans at the time. Katherine's blood later changed them into vampires. Damon was heartbroken because he loved Katherine and thought she died.
The truth was Katherine escaped, and she never bothered to seek Damon out and let him know she was still alive even though he grieved for her. She didn't contact Stefan either, but at least Stefan wasn't as upset about Katherine's presumed death as Damon.
Klaus Tried To Sacrifice Katherine
Before Katherine turned into the manipulative person she was in the 19th and 21st centuries, she was much more genuine. When she met Klaus in the 15th century, it looked like Katherine liked him. As she later told Elena, she imagined Klaus might want to marry her.
As a result, Katherine was unpleasantly surprised when she learned Klaus wanted to sacrifice her in a ritual instead. Katherine ran and Klaus retaliated by murdering her family.
Damon Killed Lexi
There were multiple instances when Damon betrayed Stefan. But to name just one, there was the case of Damon killing Lexi. He did it as a part of his plan to draw the Council's suspicion from him. And it worked, for a while anyway.
That didn't change the fact that Stefan was heartbroken since Lexi was one of his best friends.
Stefan Kidnapped Elena
One of the worst betrayals happened when Stefan had his emotions turned off. And even though no one died, it was the end of the romance between Stefan and Elena for good. Stefan kidnapped Elena and threatened to Klaus that he would drive Elena off the Wickery Bridge if Klaus didn't send his hybrids away from Mystic Falls.
Stefan's plan worked, but Elena cried and called him out, saying he knew her parents died going over the same bridge, and yet he did such a thing anyway.