Elena Gilbert
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
BORN
June 22, 1992 (Mystic Falls; Age 25) [1]
TURNED
By Damon Salvatore's blood on November 6, 2010 (administered by Meredith Fell)
STATUS
Deceased (Found Peace)
OCCUPATION
High School Student (Graduated/Formerly)
Cheerleader for the Timberwolves (Formerly)
The Cure (Formerly)[2]
College Student (Formerly)
Hospital Volunteer (Formerly)
Doctor (in flash-forward)
TITLE(S)
SPECIES
Human/Doppelgänger
Vampire (Niklaus' bloodline) (Cured/Formerly)
Augustine Vampire (Cured/Formerly)
Ghost (Briefly/Formerly)
Spirit (Currently)
GENDER
Female
FAMILY INFORMATION
FAMILY MEMBERS
SUPERNATURAL INFORMATION
SIGNIFICANT KILLS
CAUSE OF DEATH
Drained of blood (1st time/as a human)
Drowned (2nd time/as a human)
Explosion (3rd time/as a vampire)
Unknown (4th time/as a human)
KILLED BY
Niklaus Mikaelson (1st time/as a human)
Rebekah Mikaelson (2nd time/as a human)
Damon Salvatore (with her consent) (3rd time/as a vampire)
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
HEIGHT
5'6" (Feet)
1.68 (Meters)
HAIR COLOR
Brown
EYE COLOR
Light Brown
APPEARANCE
PLAYED BY
Nina Dobrev
Kayla Madison (Young)
EPISODE COUNT
142 (including three physically only and six archive footage only appearances)
FIRST SEEN
Pilot
LAST SEEN
I Was Feeling Epic
Elena Salvatore[3] (née Gilbert) was the former main female protagonist of The Vampire Diaries. At the beginning of the series, Elena appears to be a regular human girl, but is then revealed to be a Petrova doppelgänger. In the Season Three finale, she became a vampire despite never wanting to be one. In I'd Leave My Happy Home For You, she takes the Cure to become human again.
Elena had been struggling to live a normal life ever since her adoptive parents, Miranda and Grayson Gilbert, died in a car accident when she was seventeen years old. Her life also changed drastically as she and her friends are caught up in the supernatural world that surrounds them and are forced to face powerful supernatural enemies.
Elena was described as a star student. She was popular, sporty, smart, compassionate, empathetic, caring and friendly. She could be very vulnerable and a damsel in distress.
Elena is best friends with Bonnie Bennett, her sister-in-law Caroline Forbes, Matt Donovan, and her husband, Damon Salvatore. She was also close friends with her late brother-in-law/ex-boyfriend, Stefan Salvatore. Her actions and beliefs throughout the series have been most influenced by her on-and-off romantic relationships with the Salvatore brothers, as well as by her antagonistic relationship with Katerina Petrova.
In Season One, Elena was still coping with her parents' death when she meets a mysterious new student at Mystic Falls High School, Stefan Salvatore. Elena and Stefan fall in love with each other. However, not long after that, Elena discovers that both Stefan and his brother, Damon, are vampires. She also becomes aware of the existence of Katherine Pierce, the woman who turned the Salvatore brothers into vampires in 1864, and to whom Elena bears a striking physical resemblance. In the process, Elena discovers a shocking truth - she was adopted, and her real parents are John Gilbert, her "uncle", and Isobel Flemming, Alaric's wife.
In Season Two, Elena learns that she is Katherine's Doppelgänger, which explains their identical appearance. Because of this, an Original Vampire, Klaus, wants to use her in a sacrifice to break an ancient curse. Despite Elena's and her friends' best efforts, the sacrifice takes place. Her biological father, John, sacrificed his own life to keep Elena alive and human. However, Klaus killed Elena's aunt Jenna, after turning her into a vampire, leaving Jeremy her only blood relative left alive.
Elena was born on June 22, 1992, in Mystic Falls and lived there peacefully for 17 years, with her parents, Miranda and Grayson Gilbert, as well as with her brother, Jeremy. They led a quiet small town life, free of the supernatural. However, in Season One Elena learns that she was adopted and her biological parents are John Gilbert, her uncle, and Isobel Flemming. John's brother Grayson and his wife Miranda, who desperately wanted to have children but were having difficulties conceiving, adopted Elena following her birth. Because Grayson was a doctor, he was able to tamper with the birth records, making himself and Miranda appear as Elena's biological parents on her birth certificate. If anyone ever became suspicious, they would have the birth certificate as documentation proof.
Physical Appearance
Physically, Elena is a very beautiful and attractive young woman with an oval face, light olive complexion, almond-shaped brown eyes which are sometimes described as doe-eyes, and long dark brown hair. Her height is 5'6"(168 cm), and she has a slim, slightly athletic physique. Elena has an uncanny physical resemblance to her ancestor and doppelgänger, Katerina Petrova, who often poses as Elena in order to trick others. However, even though Elena and Katherine look exactly the same in terms of physical appearance, there are some slight differences between the two in terms of fashion and style, and especially personality.
In terms of fashion sense, while Elena's human, she's much more casual, sporty and "girl next door" and doesn't wear a lot of make up or favor fashionable clothing unless attending a formal event. Elena favors wearing dark blue jeans with t-shirts of various colors and Converse sneakers. Elena primarily wears fashionable clothing or dresses up for special occasions or formal events. Katherine's fashion sense or style, on the other hand, is much more high maintenance, expensive and trendy. Another distinct difference between Elena and Katherine's physical appearance is that Elena always wears her hair straight with a middle part in which Katherine doesn't like, while Katherine wears her hair curly. However, Katherine often straightens her hair in order to fool people when she's posing as Elena. Elena wore a special necklace containing the herb vervain in it as a human, which is really Esther's talisman, which cannot be destroyed; it was given to Elena by Stefan to protect her from compulsion.
Powers and Abilities
She possesses fighting abilities to defend herself against vampires as she trained under Alaric and Damon. She knows how to stake vampires and also the traits of a vampire hunter. For an extended period of time, Elena's blood was the cure for vampirism and immortality. Her blood, if ever drank to its full extent by a person affected by Qetsiyah's immortality spell or subsequently Esther's variations, would become human. They would also assume the role of being "the cure". Elena, however, would've returned to life, aging to her appropriate human age. Elena by definition possessed an extra life so long as she died by blood loss within her normal lifespan. Elena also possesses the abilities of the doppelgängers, meaning her blood can be used for various spells, particularly the magic stripping spell. Her blood is an unlimited source of power for witches and siphoners alike.
Elena possessed all the standard powers and abilities of a non-Original vampire.
Weaknesses
Elena possesses all the typical weaknesses of a human.
Elena had the typical weaknesses of a non-Original vampire.
. . .
