This post contains spoilers For "Vampire Diaries".

When author Lj Smith released the first installment in the 1991 series "The Vampire Diaries", Elena Gilbert appeared as a face of this dark, exciting vampire story. But Elena is Not your typical protagonist for romance in a supernatural setting. In addition to being super popular and confident, she is also a little median girl, coming out as a pleasant self-centered when introduced in "Waking up: Volume I". It treats most people as items that need to be collected and rejected, flying through life as if it is due to preferential treatment just because. But under this dense shallow lies an insecure, traumatized teenager who secretly handles the sudden death of her parents. So when Elena crosses paths with the mysterious Stephen Salvatore, her innate nessicity blooms on the surface because he inspires her to nurture empathy for those around her. Only when Elena thinks she found her soul, the truth destroys her fantasies: Stefan Salvatore is a vampire.

The CW adaptation of the Smith Romanian series has a significantly different approach to Elena. Nina Dobrev plays Elena as a typical neighborhood girl, a sweet, considerable teenager who openly regrets the loss of her parents. Dobrev's Elena is contrary to her colleague from the book in Season 1, as she puts empathy before her own feelings and seems unselfish on a mistake. The same as in books, Her meeting with Stephen (Paul Wesley) It fills it with gentle hope, which is intermittent after learning the truth. However, Elena's disadvantages become only more pronounced as the CW show progresses, as its darkest instincts overflow after it turned into a vampire halfway through the series. There are times when she is incredibly selfish, deliberately suffocates the empathy that has nurtured her whole life.

Dobrev also plays Elena's Dopelganger, Catherine, who is an unique evil in a way that injects excitement in any story in which he appears. Switching between the complex, the lack of Elena and the manipulative, intriguing Catherine takes an incredible skill, and Dobrev perfects this act of balancing by making these characters feel clearly different. However, Dobrev left "Vampire Diaries" after Season 6 despite being the heart of the show and only returned to season 8 (last season) in limited capacity. So what happened?

In an interview with Harper on the bazaarDobrev spoke in length about the fear of leaving the show, how she made her try new things and the fact that she didn't want to play a teenager anymore:

"I have always knew that I wanted Elena's story to be a six -season adventure, and in those six years I got the trip to a lifetime (...) The things I want to do are not necessarily the things that are expected of me. I don't want to play a teenager.

This is fair, as Dobrev appeared in an incredible 134 episodes in the "vampire diaries", while they juggled more arches to the characters who only became more complex over time. I don't want to get in Also Many details, but in essence, Elena and Stefan are reincarnated as romantic fateful for centuries, which means Dobrev has played different repetitions of these characters in the show, such as Amara and Tatia.

Catherine is also a prominent antagonist throughout the period, and much of the conflict in the series stems from her controversial relationship with Elena, where both go from head to head or are forced to work together. Dobrev's presence over the six seasons is primary for the series, as her stunning range as an actor made even the most unusual drops on the cons. In addition, the desire to switch to something different, after so long embodiment of the character is only natural.

Although Elena's absence was felt after Dobrev's departure, suddenly the opportunity to use bypass dynamics and characters. With Elena outside the equation, we received more insight into the Damon-Stefan brothers' brothers, and insufficiently used characters like Bonnie (Kat Graham) were able to take over the center. Both Elena and Catherine return to the final in the series to help finish the loose ends, rounding things down with a happiness-hour for the teenager who went to hell and returned after meeting with two beautiful brothers vampires.