The
Vampire Diaries: Dripping with Differences
**Spoilers Alert**
The CW’s The
Vampire Diaries has won multiple People’s Choice, Teen’s Choice, Do
Something, and Young Hollywood Awards in its five-season run. The television series is based on the book
series of the same name written by L.J. Smith.
The original books came out in the early to mid-nineties. Since the television show gained acclaim,
however, more books have been added to the series. The show debuted in 2009, among the vampire
craze caused, in part, by the Twilight
franchise. Though both series keep you
on the edge of your seat by following Elena Gilbert into a world of
supernatural love triangles and plots for revenge, the books and show have
substantial differences.
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| www.goodreads.com |
Let’s start with the characters. Both the show and the books portray Elena
Gilbert as the town’s golden girl. In
the books, however, the phrase is a bit more literal; Elena is fair with blonde
hair and blue eyes. On the show, she has
dark hair and eyes. The casting of Stefan
and Damon Salvatore, the vampire brothers in love with Elena, is more accurate
to their descriptions in the book. The
cast of characters, in general, is different from the original set in the
books. On the show, Elena has a teenage
brother, Jeremy, but, in the books, she has a toddler sister. Elena also has three best friends in the
books: Bonnie, who has a connection to the druids, Meredith, who seems to
always keep her wits when facing a crisis, and Caroline, who eventually gives
in to her dark side. In the show, Bonnie
is a descendent of the Salem witches and Caroline eventually becomes a
vampire. The role of Tyler, the local
teenage werewolf, is also much larger in the television show than the
books. The role of the history teacher
and vampire slayer, Alaric Saltzman, is also much different in each
series. In the books, he is a mentor and
friend. He helps the group of teenagers
protect the town from several supernatural threats and, eventually, dates
Elena’s friend, Meredith. On the show,
he plays the role of friend and mentor, but only for a limited time. Eventually, he is turned into something
supernatural, as well, and killed.
