While fans might root for the heroes of The Vampire Diaries, they can't help but have strong feelings for the villains too. Whether they love the charismatic jerk that stole their hearts or hate the annoying bad guy who overstayed his welcome, villains make as much of a lasting impression as the heroes.
TVD created rich and complex antagonists that pulled at the audience's heartstrings and garnered their sympathy. However, some of the show's rogues were much more beloved and appealing than others. Who were the best and worst baddies in the history of the series?
Updated December 21st, 2021 by Hilary Elizabeth: Although the protagonists were clearly the heart of The Vampire Diaries, it seems safe to say that the success of many of TVD's story arcs rested on the shoulders of the antagonists. So with that in mind, it's important to highlight all of the most important and influential villains in the history of the series.
The Worst Vampire Diaries Villains
Arcadius
As far as terrible Vampire Diaries villains go, Arcadius isn't exactly the worst of the worst. However, considering how he was described, it's safe to say that he was incredibly disappointing. Cade was the world's very first psychic, but he was also essentially the TVD version of the devil.
That is quite a title to live up to, and Cade definitely wasn't up to the task. He wasn't a particularly memorable bad guy, which is unfortunate, because he really should have been the ultimate baddie.
Dr. Wes Maxfield
Dr. Maxfield carried on the tradition of the Augustine society at Whitmore college. He experimented with vampire blood and turned his teaching assistant into a vampire just to kill him. Moreover, he captured Elena and tried to take in Damon again.
All the while he was meant to be Aaron Whitmore's guardian but didn't seem too interested in his nephew beyond his friendship with Elena. Wes Maxfield's arrogance didn't win him any popularity points either. Fans were more than happy to see him gone.
Markos and the Travelers
The Travelers were a radical subsect of witches who wanted to achieve great things as Qetsiyah once had when she created immortality. But the witches that worked in tandem with nature thought this line of thinking dangerous, so they cursed the Travelers to a nomadic life where they could never settle and create tribes.
They bypassed the curse by learning to jump into other bodies. The Travelers had the potential to be cool, but ultimately their storyline became convoluted and hard to follow, and there were no stand-out or memorable characters that made them interesting.
The Heretics
When Lily Salvatore returned toward the end of the series, it felt like something straight out of a telenovela. She brought the Heretics along with her, Gemini Coven siphoners turned vampires that went against nature in every way. But the inclusion of this group of villains felt lackluster.
Valerie only got in the way of Stefan and Caroline's romance, after fans had been waiting years for it. Nora and Mary Louise were mean girls who had no purpose other than to act as distractions half the time. Beau balanced out the group, but the other two Heretics didn't even matter.
Silas
At a certain point, The Vampire Diaries seemed to go way overboard with the whole doppelganger thing. Katherine and Elena were one of the most interesting dynamics in the show, but TVD completely failed to replicate that when they made Silas into the original template for Stefan and his previously unknown line of doppelgangers.
Essentially making another dramatic love triangle into the foundation of the entire Vampire Diaries universe felt uninspired, and Silas was a bland and forgettable bad guy.
Qetsiyah
There was quite a bit of buildup for the introduction of Qetsiyah, but in the end that only served to make her character arc even less interesting and satisfying.
She was an incredibly powerful witch who created the spell for immortality as well as creating the Other Side that trapped all supernatural spirits in death, so the fact that all of her incredibly influential actions were driven by her jealous rage over Silas and Amara's love affair was a huge disappointment.
Isobel Flemming
As the puzzle pieces fell into place, The Vampire Diaries revealed that Alaric's missing wife and Elena's birth mother were one and the same. For years, Alaric believed that Damon killed his wife, but it turned out that Isobel had sought him out to turn her.
It's understandable why she chose to give up Elena as a teenager, but to flee her marriage to Ric simply out of a sense of unhappiness was cruel and selfish. Most people usually just ask for a divorce, not fake their deaths and become vampires. But in the end, she regretted her decisions.
The Best Vampire Diaries Villains
Sybil and Seline
The Siren sisters became another parallel to the Salvatore brothers. Sybil claimed that Seline condemned her to live as a monster, a sentiment that Stefan knew all too well, as it was he who convinced Damon to turn into a vampire.
As she worked for Arcadius, bringing him souls to his Hell dimension, she felt conflicted about having to feed on evil people. Much like Damon and Stefan, Sybil eventually turned into the more monstrous sibling and Seline had to temper her.
Rayna Cruz
Also called the Huntress, Rayna Cruz built her presence in the series as a slow burn. The mystery that shrouded the Huntress made her a formidable enemy, as no one knew what she looked like or how she came to be. Her history was slowly unraveled to reveal that her power came from a familial vendetta against all vampires.
As she gets closer to her victims, she spends more time in their heads, so she becomes fond of Stefan. But her true villainy is passing on the vampire-hunting torch to Bonnie.
Mikael
Clearly, the entire Mikaelson family is equal parts toxic and terrifying, but Mikael might just win the award for worst dad of the millennium. And the mere fact that Klaus, one of the scariest creatures on planet earth, was terrified of Mikael, ranks him as one of the most intimidating villains in TVD history.
He lived up to his reputation as well, his palpable hatred for Klaus as well as his unimaginable power made him a very memorable bad guy.
Esther Mikaelson
Mikael was abusive and awful to his family, but the person who empowered him to become one of the most dangerous beings on earth was Esther. Esther is a fantastic antagonist for many reasons.
She's an essential aspect of Vampire Diaries mythology, as she literally created the vampire species. But her ruthless willingness to at first make her children immortal and then devote her eternal afterlife to killing them all makes her one horrendous parent and one wonderful villainess.
Katherine Pierce
Formerly known as Katerina Petrova, Katherine Pierce fought to survive and created a legacy that no one can deny. Sure, she manipulated the Salvatore brothers to fall in love with her and she basically used and took advantage of anyone that she could, but she did it all in service of self-preservation.
Fans can't help but admire Katherine as a true villain because she did monstrous things but she did them for human reasons. Time and again she endured until she was turned back to human, where she finally succumbed to mortality on her own terms.
Elijah Mikaelson
It's bizarre to look back in retrospect and remember how scary and mysterious Elijah really was given that he is ultimately the kindest and cuddliest of the Original family.
However, at the start of the entire Original story arc, the concept of the Original vampires was both shrouded in secrecy and incredibly intimidating. The first time that Elijah was staked and then came back from the dead was bone-chilling and unforgettable, and the honorable Mikaleson brother went on to become one of the most complex and compelling characters in the show's history.
Kai Parker
The Gemini Coven siphon who escaped the alternate dimension he'd been imprisoned in was a villain that fans couldn't help but love. Kai committed abhorrent crimes against the Salvatores, Elena, and his entire family. The audience should have despised his character, and yet, Kai Parker's wit and knack for one-liners made him a fan favorite.
Kai had no inner humanity and killed with glee. As terrifying as he was, fans went happily along for the ride. He was bad, but he made being evil seem like a whole lot of fun.
Klaus Mikaelson
The Vampire Diaries was home to many antagonists over the course of its eight seasons, but it's hard to imagine a more popular and interesting villain than Klaus Mikaelson.
An Original vampire who was also a werewolf is an incredibly unique storyline, and the dual nature of Klaus' irredeemable awfulness combined with the glimmers of his humanity made him such a fan favorite that he ultimately became the star of his own spinoff series, The Originals.