The Vampire Diaries is one of the most successful TV shows in the history of the CW network. This supernatural drama lasted for nearly a decade, and it's fans held on to the characters and stories they loved for years. And although it was ultimately just a teen soap, there is a lot to be learned from the characters and their experiences throughout.
With that in mind, looking back through the eight year history of the series, here are the best life lessons to be learned from The Vampire Diaries and all of it's characters or stories.
Don't Let Fear Destroy You
Katherine Pierce may have been one of the biggest antagonists of the entire series, but the real life lesson behind her characterization seems to be a more tragic one.
Katherine let her fear of Klaus overwhelm everything else in her life and everything else about her, and because of that Klaus ultimately wound up destroying her anyway. Staying true to yourself in the face of fear is one of the best lessons Katherine demonstrated to everyone.
Never Give Up Your Humanity
Although Enzo was a later addition to the cast, he made a big impression on the audience, and it's not hard to see why. After spending decades alone, tortured by the Augustines, even being betrayed by his only friend, Enzo refused to give up his humanity to his tormentors.
That kind of strength and ability to retain one's real self when he had no reason is one of the more inspiring storylines of the series.
When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade
Pretty much every character on the show suffered more than any person should in one lifetime, let alone what one should experience in the course of a few years. But really, no one got it worse than Elena.
There were occasions where Elena faltered as a person and sometimes she was even a straight up nightmare, but the fact that she always found her way back to hope is why she was such a good heroine.
Having Weakness Doesn't Make You Weak
Like many of the characters on TVD, Stefan Salvatore was, on occasion, a complete train wreck. His struggle in repressing his ripper side literally defined his entire life, and it led him down a lot of dark paths of self hatred and violence.
However, Stefan ultimately tried to be the person that he wanted to be, and even when he made mistakes that were completely unforgivable, he still got up, brushed himself off, and tried again.
Humanity Is Worth Fighting For
Clearly, as a supernatural teen drama, the supernatural characters and storylines took center stage. And it's easy to see that sometimes the supernatural creatures were much cooler than regular old humankind.
However, one unifying aspect of many of the characters in Mystic Falls, supernatural or otherwise, was their love of humanity, desire to reconnect with their own humanity, and desire to protect the innocent people around them.
Selflessness Is Strength
Honestly, it was pretty rare to see the characters of The Vampire Diaries behave in a completely selfless manner. They often times looked out for themselves or the ones they loved at the expense of innocent strangers.
However, many of the characters discovered the best aspects of themselves when they were putting themselves on the line to protect other people, whether those were people that they loved or people that they didn't even know.
Kindness Isn't Weakness
At the start of the series, it seemed like the characters who were willing to be the most ruthless were the ones who always wound up the winners.
However, while they ostensibly got what they wanted, what their characterizations and developments revealed was that the toll that being brutal, cruel, and inhumane takes on someone is probably too high of a price to pay for defeating enemies or getting whatever they wanted.
Challenge Everyone's Expectations
Understandably, a lot of the high schoolers in Mystic Falls started off at the beginning of The Vampire Diaries as kind of shallow jerks.
However, many of the characters who seemed empty and mean at the beginning, like Caroline or Tyler, wound up becoming very intelligent, selfless, and powerful people who were confident in themselves and learned how to grow through their own suffering.
Change Is Possible
In a sense, the show is both about literal monsters and metaphorical monsters, because while most of the main characters of TVD are supernatural beings, they also give in to dark and cruel impulses that they know they shouldn't.
However, despite the fact that every character falters at some point, they all seem to learn from their experiences and grow as people in a positive way, showing that change truly is possible.
Don't Give Up On Love
Yes, in theory The Vampire Diaries is a story about vampires, but the ultimate conclusion of the series seems to focus on one thing above all else. Love.
And while the road towards epic love was rocky for nearly every character on the show, the ultimate lesson of the series seems to be that no one should ever give up on love, no matter how hard things get or how hopeless they seem.