New rumors have emerged surrounding one of The Vampire Diaries' beloved villains, Niklaus' (Joseph Morgan) appearance in the finale of the spin-off show Legacies. With this and the end of the show, fans have begun their rewatches of the franchise as a whole, starting with The Vampire Diaries.
Many villains across the show's eight-season run left fans on the edge of their seats. From Arcaduis' goal to rid the world of sinners or Katherine's want to destroy Mystic falls, the villains all have interesting, evil plans to create turmoil for the main characters and potentially have them lose everything they have ever loved. But how evil were these plans as a whole?
Rayna Cruz
Rayna Cruz (Leslie-Anne Huff) was the main villain in season 7. She was a vampire hunter that was part of the Brotherhood of Five, dedicated to killing and trapping vampires' souls using the Phoenix Stone. Throughout the season, she continually targeted Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley).
Her plan to capture the souls and kill the vampires was something that posed a major threat to the main vampire protagonist and vampires as a species who came across her. While this ultimately was something that did not threaten the world, her plan was to slowly kill innocents who have been turned, possibly against their will.
Silas
One of seasons 4 and 5's recurring antagonists was the extremely manipulative Silas, a doppelganger for one of the main protagonists, Stefan Salvatore. Silas was captured and trapped in the Other Side by his wife to keep them together for all eternity. His goal was to use the current doppelgangers to destroy the Other Side and save his love, Amara.
While this goal seems like the destruction of his purgatory prison, the Other Side acted as a limbo for all supernatural spirits. The consequences of destroying the Other Side were astronomical, with no one being able to contact the spirits of supernatural beings again. This stops all witches from contacting their ancestors, a commonly used ability for Bonnie (Kat Graham).
Arcadius
Season 8's Arcadius (Wolé Parks), also known as Cade, was The Vampire Diaries' embodiment of the Devil. He despised sinners due to his own past trauma and wanted to punish those with any dark secrets.
While his motives come from something simple, his ruthless terrorizing causes fear to be instilled into the main cast of the show. His plans to rid the world of sin would almost entirely wipe out humanity as a whole not just the supernatural beings but, while this is an evil plan, would take decades to complete.
Qetsiyah
Qetsiyah (Janina Gavankar) is a season 5 antagonist who was the first witch to cast some of the most powerful spells, the immortality spell, and to create the Other Side. Qetsiyah's plan was simple and very opposite to Silas'; keep her supernatural purgatory, the Other Side, open and keep Silas trapped with her forever.
While the Other Side allows for communication with supernatural spirits, Qetsiyah's prison for her husband ended up being long-standing torture of souls. While this spell was meant to be somewhat harmless and target one person, the repercussions caused millions to be stuck in limbo and denied their freedom to move on to the afterlife.
Esther Mikaelson
Esther Mikaelson (Alice Evans) is the matriarch of The Originals, the first vampires, and one of the most powerful witches in history. She appeared as the main antagonist throughout season 3 with her main goal to kill her children and rid the world of the vampire species.
While her motives and goals were purely familial, the repercussions of her actions would destroy a lot of people across the world. While her plan is self-contained and does not pose much threat to the wider world, her hatred of her children and the lead-up to their murder make her plan evil.
Wes Maxfield
Wes Maxfield (Rick Cosnett), the professor at Whitmore College, dedicated his academic research to supernatural creatures. Wes wanted to experiment on vampires - trying to make their attraction turn to other vampires rather than humans, and in turn, rid the world of the vampire species.
This is a similar plan for other villains of the show, but the execution is what makes Wes' plan evil. His torture and experimentation of vampires like Caroline (Caroline Forbes) and Kathrine (Nina Dobrev) and his mental manipulation of turning Damon into a ripper make his sadistic plan something to fear.
Katherine Pierce
One of Elena's doppelgangers, Kathrine Pierce is a recurring character and antagonist throughout the whole eight seasons of the show. Originally showing as a previous love interest, she stuck around with her wit and manipulation with the goal of destroying Mystic Falls.
The plan of destroying Mystic Falls, while being the destruction of the beloved show's town, would also end the lives of many innocent people, both mortal and supernatural. With the town's ties to ancient and historical elements, the destruction of the town would have meant a lot of history lost, as well as familial ties for everyone.
Sybil
Sybil (Nathalie Kelley) is one of the last antagonists of the entire show. Throughout the season, she is known as the Amory monster who magically manipulates Damon and Enzo (Michael Malarkey) to work for her. This is all so they can gather sinners for her to devour, staying young and immortal.
Sybil's plan was a fairly selfish motivation, and her tortuous manipulation for this goal causes many issues for the main cast - the struggle against harming family or saving sinners. While her goals are similar in nature to Arcaduis,' her outlook on what she can personally get from the torture of sinner's souls makes her plans evil.
Niklaus Mikaelson
Niklaus Mikaelson is a beloved antagonist, along with his family, The Originals. He has always been a villain but predominantly showed up in seasons 3 and 4, with plans to break a curse and create a hybrid army of vampire-werewolves.
His original goal to break his curse was excusable, using doppelganger blood to release his werewolf bonds while remaining a vampire. The desire to sire a hybrid army was full of self-interest and a lack of care for those around him when enacting his plan, as he would create people only he can control and are undefeatable by other vampires. However, he comes to redeem himself, being an integral part of the story and a welcomed ally to the main cast.
Kai Parker
Season 6 surrounded the Gemini coven and their ritual of soul-merging to gain their leader. Malachai 'Kai' Parker (Chris Wood), who was already a powerful warlock, sought out immense power as a leader, leading him to kill his coven and merge souls with his twin sister Josette (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe), the fiance of a recurring main cast member, Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis).
Kai's plans for murdering his family and gaining more power would have made him one of the most powerful warlocks in the world at the time, and while his murderous tendencies had already posed a threat, a more powerful being doing the same would have caused issues globally, as well as within the main cast, with his attention being solely directed on them.