Much to the surprise of those who have only watched The Vampire Diaries television show, the books are drastically different from the onscreen adaptation. The love triangle is even more fierce, and Elena is much more indecisive about the Salvatore brothers.
Although Elena could have easily ended up with Stefan in the novels, the last paragraph of the book series revealed that Damon and Elena were destined to be together. Damon and Elena are almost unrecognizable from the onscreen couple, but both have plenty of great quotes that exemplify just how much they love each other.
10 Books: “This Person Belonged With Her. He Was Her Magic, Her Solace, Her Best Beloved. It Didn’t Matter How He’d Gotten Here, Or What Happened Before. He Was Her Soul’s Eternal Mate.”
In a sleep-induced haze, all Elena knows is that she is in the arms of someone who loves her. Elena thinks to herself, “He was so gentle, but almost fierce in his love for her. He had vowed not to kill, but he would kill to save her. She was his most precious thing in the world.”
She automatically assumes it’s Stefan because of how safe and comforted she feels, but it turns out to be Damon, who promises Elena he will always be with her.
9 Show: “You And I…We Have Something. An Understanding.”
Damon and Elena’s relationship was rocky at the beginning of the show. Damon went after Elena to get back at Stefan, and when Elena learned that the Salvatores were vampires, she saw Damon as a villain. In Elena’s defense, he was, as Damon did some pretty unforgivable things.
But as time goes on, they begin to bond and realize they’re a lot more alike than either of them originally thought. Elena betrayed Damon in the past, but she’s determined not to do it again. Elena tells Damon that he can trust her and emphasizes the connection between them.
8 Books: “Can You Remember That I Loved You? That Makes My Life Worth Something.”
Damon’s character in the novels is much darker than in the television show. While TV Damon stopped being a threat relatively early on, it took multiple books for the original Damon to do the same. He was written as a true villain, rather than an anti-hero.
His ability to love Elena fully and selflessly made Damon feel that he had at least a shred of humanity left. Before Damon dies, he asks Elena to remember that he was capable of love.
7 Show: “You Want A Love That Consumes You. You Want Passion, Adventure, And Even A Little Danger.”
It isn’t revealed that Damon met Elena before Stefan until the finale of Season 3. Elena opens up to a handsome stranger she meets on the side of the road, and he knows exactly how to respond.
There was a clear connection between them even back then, but Damon compels Elena to forget about him. When Elena talks to Matt about her feelings for Damon, she confesses that he consumes her, which is the kind of love Damon said Elena wanted.
6 Books: “There Was No World For Her If There Was No Damon.”
Just like the Season 5 finale of The Vampire Diaries show, Damon meets a temporary tragic end. However, rather than dying with Bonnie, he dies for Bonnie. Given that the two had a romance, the events leading up to his death made perfect sense.
But Damon never loved Bonnie as much as he loved Elena, and it’s Elena he spends his last moments with. Elena loses her composure when Damon dies, and her reaction to losing him is even more heartbreaking than it is in the TV series.
5 Show: “I’ve Had So Much Fantasy In My Life, Elena. Enough For One-Hundred Lifetimes. I’d Give It All Up For One Life With You.”
Damon deciding to give up immortality to be with Elena was perhaps the biggest sign of his character development. It was proof that his love for Elena was real, and all he cared about was living a happy life with her, no matter how long it might be.
Elena and Damon end up getting married offscreen, and it’s even revealed in Legacies that Damon rebuilt the Gilbert house for her, and the two of them had kids. Their happy ending is confirmed during a flashforward when they’re seen walking hand in hand to the afterlife together.
4 Books: “As If He Understood The Flame That Burned Inside Her As Nobody Else Ever Could. As If Together They Could Do Anything They Liked, Conquer The World Or Destroy It.”
Even from the very beginning, Damon made Elena feel empowered. She felt like she could take on the world as long as he was by her side, which is something that transferred over to the show.
Stefan was always painted as the safer option, while Damon was the scarier choice. They could either have the most epic romance in history, or it could all blow up in their face. Choosing Damon was risky, but their love won out in both versions.
3 Show: “I Love You, Elena. And It’s Because I Love You, That I Can’t Be Selfish With You.”
Damon’s love confession to Elena was both heartwarming and heartbreaking. While Stefan’s relationship with Elena had never stopped Damon from pursuing her before, he finally decides to take the high road.
Damon pours his heart out to Elena before erasing her memory and returning her vervain necklace. But Damon’s words aren’t lost forever, and when Elena becomes a vampire, she remembers everything that he compelled her to forget.
2 Books: “Damon’s Mouth Twisted Into Its Telltale Smirk, And Elena Knew She Was Home.”
Delena and Stelena fans were tortured up until the final page of the last book. It’s not until the very end of the series, that Elena makes her decision between the Salvatores. After going back in time and erasing the events of the previous novels, Elena hadn’t seen either of the brothers for years.
But destiny intervenes and Elena runs into Damon at the airport. Seeing him makes Elena realize that Damon is who she’s meant to be with, and this quote is the last line of the entire series.
1 Show: “I Am Not Sorry That I’m In Love With You.”
Elena’s speech to Damon in the Season 4 finale of The Vampire Diaries is one of the most iconic scenes in the show’s history. After Elena is sired to Damon, he has trouble believing that her love for him is real.
She picked Stefan so many times, that Damon can’t wrap his head around Elena ever choosing him. The sire bond is broken after Elena’s emotions are turned off and back on, and Elena reveals that she still loves Damon, officially ending the love triangle with the Salvatore brothers.
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