Nina Dobrev was last seen shining at Paris Fashion Week, and despite her repertoire of fantastic work since, she will always be known for her iconic role as Elena Gilbert on The Vampire Diaries. Elena was the lead character whom the Salvatore brothers protected, and she was the key to everything as a doppelganger, but there were several plot holes about her character.
The TVD universe was a labyrinthine one, which meant that not all I's could be dotted and T's could be crossed. There were some storylines and arcs that had some unfinished or questionable conclusions that didn't fit in well. These Elena Gilbert plot holes didn't make much sense.
Her Graduation and College Life
Elena ended up being a pre-med student and then a doctor, but fans are begging to know how she managed this when she was barely ever in class. TVD had some big plot holes which couldn't be overlooked, and Elena's education is definitely one of them.
She barely ever attended class in high school, so it was absurd that she managed to graduate at all. Fans never saw her in any academic pursuit, yet she managed to ace medicine, which was a bit nonsensical.
Elena's Compulsions
Some of Elena's worst decisions were made as a vampire, and many were covered up by compulsion, a vampire's best friend. So, when she was cured of immortality, the rules dictated that all of her compulsions should have come undone just like Stefan's did.
However, the transition to being human did not affect Elena at all. Her compulsions seemed to have stayed in place, and nobody was chasing her down for revenge. This was another instance where Elena had it slightly easier than the other characters.
Katherine Passengering Herself Into Elena
Katherine was someone who survived against all odds, and when she seemed close to her final death, she found a way into Elena's body. It was quite a reach that nobody realized this body switch since Katherine didn't even try to behave like Elena when she inhabited her body.
Bonnie also never felt Katherine pass through to the Other Side, which should have been the first sign that something was wrong. Knowing the older vampire, Elena's friends should definitely have smelled a rat, but they were made oblivious for no good reason.
The Sleeping Curse
A gaping plot hole in Elena's story was her sleeping curse inflicted by Kai, which was definitely tied to Bonnie's life. Elena had exited the last two seasons of the show because there was no antidote to the curse, but it was reversed too easily for the finale of The Vampire Diaries.
Bonnie was able to find, almost overnight, a way to wake Elena up without forsaking her own life, and viewers never even heard what this sudden solution was. Elena had to be brought back into the finale, but it could have been done logically.
How Her Blood Cured Stefan
The cure was a powerful object in TVD, but the rules about it kept changing for different vampires and immortals. A cured vampire had to be drained of their blood by another so that they could be cured, but Elena's blood was able to cure Stefan with only a syringe-full of blood.
Bonnie had taken this amount for Enzo, but had injected Stefan with it as he attacked. This tiny amount of blood worked on Stefan, which was odd. Fans don't know why Elena was exempt from getting drained completely to cure another person.
Alaric's Compulsion Didn't Fade
Yet again, the rules of compulsion bent and twisted for Elena, which made no sense. When a vampire died or became human, their compulsions faded. However, that did not happen when Alaric became human from advanced Original - Elena's memories of Damon stayed compelled away.
Logically, the memories should have returned to her when Alaric turned, but to keep the plot interesting, she stayed in the dark about her relationship with Damon until much later.
The "Long Distance" Relationship With Damon
While a smaller gap in the show's consistency, fans were confused about Elena's college town and distance. She claimed that she would have a long-distance relationship with Damon, but the two of them were always together with little display of geographical boundaries.
They kept popping in at Mystic Falls and then to Whitmore, so perhaps the writers forgot that the college was supposed to be further from the town than they were showing in the series.
Defeating Kol
A thousand-year-old Original pitted against a newbie vampire of only a few months - there would be no question of who would prevail in this fight. However, Elena somehow managed to get the better of Kol, and killed him for good with her undercooked skills and abilities.
This was a major plot hole, and it was quite bizarre that she managed to do it. Things became more absurd when neither Klaus nor Elijah came after Elena for dispatching their brother permanently.
The Sire Bond
Vampires were not known to create sire bonds when they created another vampire. Sire bonds existed only in the hybrid circles, since they had something to be grateful for to Klaus. Therefore, Elena's attachment to Damon was out of the blue and a big plot hole.
There was nothing extraordinary that Damon rescued her from, that she had to be bonded to him this way. She was perhaps the only vampire who went through this, and it seemed like a way to keep the couple apart to build tension.
Elena Resisting The Travelers' Spell
The Travelers were a powerful lot, and they had spelled the doppelgangers union for centuries. This was why Silas and Amara's "shadow selves" always fell in love because they were divinely destined to do so.
Elena was just another doppelganger, so it begs the question of why she was able to resist this spell enough to fall out of love with Stefan and in love with Damon. This wasn't explained at all in the show, and it's a big gap in Elena's story.