The universe of The Vampire Diaries may have come to an end after thirteen immersive years, but the original show continues to have a massive following. What would TVD be without its villains? Pesky and dangerous as they may be, these bad guys kept Elena, Stefan, Damon, Bonnie, Caroline, and the gang on their toes, and gave audiences something to look forward to in every episode.
While some villains on the show were pure evil and could not be redeemed at all, some were not so bad. Their wickedness was only a thin, surface-level shell, and beneath it lay a world of pain, misunderstanding, and terrible pasts that made them what they were.
Katherine Pierce
Ol' Katerina Petrova was inarguably the most powerful villains in The Vampire Diaries, but her cunning was not innate. At first, she had just been a simple Bulgarian girl who had some familial ups and downs, and so she decided to explore the world beyond her hometown.
Sadly, she happened to be a doppelganger who walked right into Klaus Mikaelson's home and then ruthlessly hunted her down to take her life. She had to become a scheming, devious lady to keep herself alive, which mutated over the centuries into something evil.
Amara
The first woman who gave rise to a line of doppelgangers, Amara was hardly seen on the show, but she was a villain for what she did to Qetsiyah. Sadly enough, she became a homewrecker because Silas couldn't be honest with Qetsiyah about his feelings.
Amara took the immortality spell with him, stealing Qetsiyah's share, but the young woman only wanted to be with her true love forever. She suffered for her mistake, which was her desire for the wrong man.
Sage
Finn's first-changed vampire and his lover Sage was quite an interesting vampire — old, wily, and strong beyond measure. She had created Damon's ruthless vampire self with her coaching, and she appeared again to "help" him.
However, she double-crossed Damon, extracted information from Rebekah, and burned down Wickery Bridge. It's hard to blame her for her actions because she was just trying to save Finn from being staked for good. She was motivated by her affections, like many others.
Rebekah Mikaelson
Completely controlled by Klaus and a sucker for love, Rebekah was swayed by her relationships. She had a burning desire to have her own family, but with doomed lovers like Alexander who tried to kill her, and a brother who would snatch every opportunity for happiness, she became bitter and reactive.
Elena, too, made her believe that she had found a friend who was helping her live out her prom dreams, but she stabbed her with a dagger instead. Therefore, her impulse to murder Elena, hurt her friends and family, and create chaos are more than justified.
Markos
The all-powerful Markos seemed like a brutal man who drained Elena and Stefan of their blood and took over bodies of unsuspecting people, but he didn't do anything that wasn't for the good of the Travelers. There was a curse placed on his people, and everything he did was to free them so that they could live in their own bodies.
In fact, even the spell he placed on the doppelgängers wasn't evil — it only brought Stefan's and Elena's line together romantically so that the Travelers had a fighting chance of breaking their curse.
Nadia Petrova
Katherine's long-lost daughter had main character energy because her journey to find her mother had been so long, arduous, and definitely eventful. She had a lot more heart than Katherine, but to save her mother, she could go to any extent to save her.
She may have supported her possession of innocent Elena's body and messed around with Matt, but who could blame her when she had found her mother after centuries? She was protecting her family by all means possible.
Sybil
The more vocal half of the Sirens was hated immensely by the fandom, and she did some terrible things on a daily basis, but it wasn't a path she chose for herself. Sybil had been banished as a little girl, and she depended on Seline to survive on the island.
Little did she know that she had become a cannibal unknowingly, because seline decided to trick sailors. When Sybil tried to die, Seline called on Cade and turned her into a Siren who had to do Cade's bidding to stay alive. Sybil was just a product of her circumstances.
Klaus Mikaelson
Family history was a big part of the Mikaelson story, and tragically Klaus was sired by a werewolf and Esther, which made him hated by Mikael. Once a sweet and innocent boy, he had been hurt to an extent that he had to learn how to grow a thick skin to survive.
He was mercilessly hunted and tortured, and like Katherine, he had to become pitiless and cruel to keep the power he had been stripped off as a child. A better father may have resulted in a kinder Klaus.
Atticus Shane
It was hard to tell where Atticus Shane's evil began, and where it became a desperation to see his dead family. He had lost a wife and daughter, and Silas exploited his weakness and made him do unspeakable things which usually ended in a pile of bodies.
Shane was just a professor a dug a little too deep, and got sucked into a dark world. Eventually, he was barely himself and just a puppet of Silas, so it was hard to vilify him.
Rayna Cruz
The young, nearly immortal Rayna had a tragic backstory like no other. She had vowed to avenge her father's merciless murder by a vampire, but the Shamans who imbued her with several lives actually cursed the poor child.
As she grew up, she was unable to have a life of her own, governed only by the magical urge to kill and follow the Phoenix Stone and sword and kill as many vampires as possible. She herself admitted that she was sick of doing what she was compelled to do, due to a bad childhood decision that she knew little about.