 |
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
| The Vampire Diaries | |
|---|---|
| The Awakening The Struggle The Fury Dark Reunion The Return: Nightfall The Return: Shadow Souls The Return: Midnight |
|
| Author | L. J. Smith |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror, Fantasy, Romance, Young-adult fiction |
| Publisher | Harper Paperbacks |
| Published | September 1991 - 1992 February 2009 - present |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
The Vampire Diaries is a young adult vampire horror series of novels written by L. J. Smith. The story centers around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl torn between two vampire brothers. The series was originally a trilogy published in 1991; however, pressure from readers led the author to write a fourth volume, Dark Reunion, which was released the following year. After taking a hiatus from writing for several years, L. J. Smith announced in 1998 a new spin-off trilogy entitled The Vampire Diaries: The Return, continuing the series, with Damon as the main protagonist. The first installment, The Return: Nightfall, was released on February 10, 2009. The Return: Shadow Souls and The Return: Midnight are tentatively slated for release in April, 2010 and 2011 respectively.
The Vampire Diaries has been adapted into a television series which premiered on September 10, 2009 on The CW.[1]
|
Contents
|
The novels
The original trilogy:
- 1. The Awakening (1991)
- 2. The Struggle (1991)
- 3. The Fury (1991)
The fourth volume in the original series:
- 4. Dark Reunion (1992)
The new trilogy, The Vampire Diaries: The Return:
- 5. Nightfall (02/10/2009)
- 6. Shadow Souls (due March 16th, 2010)
- 7. Midnight (due July 1st, 2010)
Plot summary
The Awakening
The first volume of the series introduces the reader to Elena Gilbert a popular and beautiful high school student in Fell's Church, Virginia and her best friends Bonnie and Matt. A former childhood friend, Caroline, is also introduced and revealed to be Elena's antagonist. As their senior year at Robert E. Lee High School begins, Elena meets and becomes involved with a mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore. As Elena and Stefan fall in love, strange attacks begin to happen in the town and Elena discovers that Stefan has a dark secret—he is a centuries-old vampire. Soon after Elena and Stefan meet, another charismatic stranger later revealed to be Stefan's estranged elder brother, Damon Salvatore, begins to make appearances. The reader learns that the brothers both fell in love with a young vampire named Katherine in Renaissance Italy. Fueled with rage at Katherine's refusal to choose one brother over the other and her subsequent suicide, Stefan and Damon kill each other in a sword fight. They are interred in the family crypt but soon awaken as vampires, at which point they part ways until they encounter each other once more at the beginning of the novel. The Awakening ends with Elena seeking out Damon, whom she believes to be the prime suspect in Stefan's disappearance after the townspeople begin to suspect him for being behind numerous violent animal attacks and the recent murder of the high school's subst history teacher.
The Struggle
The second book picks up where The Awakening left off and delves further into Damon's attempts to win Elena's affections and Stefan's struggle to survive. Elena summons Damon and confronts him in the graveyard to discover Stefan's whereabouts. Damon claims he killed Stefan the previous night, but Bonnie, a witch, has a psychic vision. Matt seems to think her vision sounds like the bottom of a well. They find him at the bottom of the empty well. Stefan is close to death but Elena saves him by forcing him to drink her blood. Elena also strikes a secret deal by exchanging blood with Damon, and by doing so ties herself to both brothers as Katherine did centuries ago. While waiting for Stefan one night, Elena feels as if another Power inside a storm is coming for her, and she frantically tries to escape by crossing the bridge over a river. (Because Steffan once told her evil things cannot cross running water.) The car she is in veers off the road and into the river, and she drowns. She fights to get up from the water but the Other Power keeps her in the water long enough to die. While this was all happening Stefan, Meredith and Bonnie are all looking for Elena. They find her minutes after the car veers off the road and Stefan dives in to save her. He drags her body out of the water but it is too late, Elena is dead. He then tells Meredith and Bonnie to go to the police while he, angry and grieving, tries to find and kill his brother. The Struggle ends with the revelation that, because she took enough of the brothers’ blood, Elena becomes a vampire upon her death.
The Fury
The third book deals with Elena's adjustment to her vampirism, as well as her confusion over loving both brothers. Stefan finds Elena dead, and believes that Damon was the force chasing Elena. They fight, and in the middle of it, Elena awakens, and attacks Stefan as, Elena viewed Stefan as a threat to her creator—-Damon having given Elena more blood in their exchange--and the brothers stop the fight. Stefan, heartbroken, assumes that her attack meant she loved Damon more, and Damon attempts to clear everything up. After Elena has fed, Damon hides her in Alaric Saltzman's attic. After she has rested, she begins to realise how she treated Stefan when the brothers were fighting and deeply regrets attacking him and decides to wander in the woods. She ends up at the church where a memorial is taking place. She decides to wait in the attic of the church for Damon to come and find her. Something begins to dawn on her as she waits in the attic. She can see her friends and family in the church and people are talking about her. It is her memorial and the whole town has gathered to remember her. Stefan and Damon are alerted by Elena's distress and rush to her side. Stefan arrives first and when Elena sees him, she realizes further that she loves Stefan more than she loves Damon. Damon arrives as the service ends and Stefan and Damon are soon bickering. They are interrupted by a pack of dogs attacking townspeople outside the church. Elena, Stefan and Damon conclude that the force that made Elena's car drive off the bridge was controlling the dogs. Their suspicions were proven correct, as it turned out that the person responsible for Elena's death and all of the strange events in Fell's Church was Katherine. Katherine was furious at the Salvatores for falling in love with Elena. She decided that since they did not love her anymore she would capture, torture and kill them. Elena manages to break free of her bindings and pushes Katherine into a shaft of sunlight upon which Katherine dies. Elena also is struck by the sun. Stefan pushes her out of the way but it was too late. Elena had been in the sun for too long. She makes a few "last requests" (which the brothers agree to) before Elena closes her eyes and passes away. The novel ends with a diary entry from Bonnie, who admits that although Elena was not perfect nor a saint, she died as a good person.
Dark Reunion
As a psychic, Bonnie has dreams of Elena in the Other World. But the dreams quickly turn frightening. There is a terrible new enemy stalking Fell’s Church, killing young girls. Elena’s friends call for Stefan and get both him and Damon—but whose side is Damon on? This novel greatly expands Bonnie and Meredith as characters. Bonnie takes the leading role as she writes in the diary. She also finds a possible romance with Matt Honeycutt. The ending is the most surprising yet for Elena!
The Return: Nightfall
Elena Gilbert is alive—again.
When Elena sacrificed herself to save the two vampire brothers who love her—the handsome, brooding Stefan and the sleek and dangerous Damon—she was consigned to a fate beyond death. Until a powerful supernatural force pulled her back. Now Elena is not just human. She has powers and gifts that were bestowed on her in the afterlife. What's more, her blood pulses with an overwhelming and unique force that makes her irresistible to any vampire.
Stefan wants to find a way to keep Elena safe so that they can make a life together. Damon, however, is possessed by a "malach", and unwittingly makes a deadly bargain to Stefan with two twin demons. In exchange for Elena, the life of his brother is now in the hands of the Japanese demons. To imply that Stefan left, he writes a forged note and leaves it in Elena's diary.
A heartbroken Elena presents her devastated friends with the letter; all of them believe the fake note. Only Matt has doubts on the note supposedly written by his best friend. "Judgment" is spelled by Stefan "Judgment" and by Damon "Judgement". He too succumbs to the mintly written letter. Damon, pleased with the kidnapping of his brother, searches for Elena to seize his chance to make her think he is meant with her. He is still very much possessed.
While Elena and Matt are investigating the possession of Jim Bryce's sister Tamra, Bonnie and Meredith do not understand why Stefan would leave Elena and them alone in this desperate time in full knowledge of the dangerous darkness infiltrating town. They stress how unlike him it would be to just up and leave. They are uncomfortable and decide to go back to the boarding house where Stefan lived.
Matt and Elena leave the Bryce home, while they are kidnapped by Damon and the twins. The spirit possessing Damon is being more evil than usual so he orders Damon's mind to threaten Matt and Elena's life. He proceeds to make Elena and Matt perform intimate acts. The former couple complies in fear for their lives, but Elena often tries to persuade Damon that it is not him saying those things.
Back at the boarding house, Bonnie and Meredith search Stefan's room. To their horror, they discover a duffel bag under the floorboards stuffed with Stefan's clothing and possessions. Sure that he has been harmed by Damon, they search the computer base for a back up file to the note written by "Stefan." Because Damon had failed to save the changes to Stefan's true letter, they discover the real letter written by Stefan to Elena, saying that if he did not return he has been harmed and a link to a vampire website. Horrified, enraged and worried the two girls vehemently search for Matt and Elena's whereabouts only to be stopped by a possessed tree on the way to the Old wood, Elena's and Matt's location.
Damon, pleased, knocks out Matt and puts Elena in his Ferrari. Afraid for her life, she jumps out the speeding car, harms her left leg, and dislocates her right shoulder. She awakes in a cabin, being rubbed with a warmed towel by a surprisingly gentle Damon. Shinichi and Misao are away, so Damon is in possession of his mind and body. He is deeply caring for Elena and she starts to love him, but mainly only as a friend.
Temporarily overcoming his possession, Damon admits to Elena the bargain he made with the demons. Enraged, she slaps him and calls him a bastard. Relieved that Stefan is alive, she fervently hugs and thanks Damon for not letting them kill him.
They bicker, and Elena takes back every decent thing she said about him. She realizes he is once again possessed, and somewhat against his will, she thrusts her finger into his back where the malach is growing. She pulls it out. Damon stomps on it until it looks like demolished jelly. To relieve him of the sins he made while he was possessed, she calls forth the "Wings of Redemption" Damon and Elena devise a plan into tricking the twins into revealing the location of the fox key.
Damon introduces her to magical key that fits into any lock and takes you to your desired location. After several locations, including her home, she demands in a rush a place where she can "hear and see and touch" Stefan.
She finds herself in a filthy prison, and sees Stefan through bars of his cell. Annoyed, he tells her to replace her face and calls her a bitch. Elena tries to persuade him it is her by telling him events they shared. He still does not believe her, and only when she thinks she is in an illusion does he realize it is really her. She demands he hold her and kiss her. Stefan does so happily, and the two sit there. Recalling something Meredith told her, her ability to lead armies, she vows that she will free Stefan. Stefan tells her it is impossible, that whoever goes in does not come out. She swears he will. He tells her about the fox key, the key she must attain to free him. Guards approach and Stefan begs her to leave so she will not have to see what they do. Loathing she does so and finds herself falling out of the sky in the cemetery into Damon's waiting arms.
Bonnie and Meredith find Matt in Elena's abandoned Jaguar along with Mrs. Flowers and Dr, who helped treat the possessed girls. In the Old Wood, they are greeted by Damon and Elena. However, they along with Damon and Elena are cornered by the twins and their evil trees.
Elena sneaks away, and calls forth her supernatural powers. Translucent wings grow out her back and she arrives back in time to stop the evil trees and the twins from tearing her friends limb from limb.
She uses her powers to shrink the trees back, grabs the fox- Misao, by her tail, and flies in the sky. Misao is actually really heavy and her faith in herself falters. Shinichi attempts to save his twin but is stopped by Damon. Elena cannot fly any higher and she feels that she will let everyone down. However, Meredith senses Elena's distress and screams that she believes in Elena. The rest of the people follow along in Meredith’s example, and Bonnie uses her powers to help Elena. Elena flies higher than before and goes with Misao to a higher location, still in visibility to everyone on the field. She threatens to cut off Misao's tail unless she gives the location of the key.
Misao does not cooperate, but when she sees that Elena will go through with her threat, she gives her a riddle of the location of the key. Elena and Damon release the twins who scamper away, quarreling with each other.
In the Ferrari, Damon hears through his police radar that they are searching for Matt. They rush over to Bonnie's where Matt is seeking refuge. He gets in Elena's Jaguar, and Elena tells Bonnie to give her love to Meredith, and says they will "be in touch" very soon.
Characters
Main characters
- Elena Gilbert There are repeated references as to her looking like an angel. She has blonde hair and midnight blue eyes and is slender and pale. Over the course of the series, Elena transforms from a self centered 'ice queen' to a more loving, open-minded person. Bonnie commented in Elena's diary when she first died that Elena was far from perfect and while she was never an angel, she was a good person. She breaks up with Matt Honeycutt right around when school starts, feeling he has become more to her than one of her disposable boyfriends; she loves him like a friend or brother. Elena is madly in love with Stefan Salvatore though she does recognize that she also has feelings for Damon, his brother. Stefan was the first to breeze by Elena, ignoring her beauty though he was trying his best to stay away from her. He makes comparisons between her and former vampire girlfriend Katherine, though he realizes that beneath the looks they are very different people. Her school reputation is important to her, so she makes up a fake boyfriend to hide the fact that Stefan has rejected her advances. She dies several times, becoming from human to vampire (after she gets enough blood from both brothers), to spirit (after an unknown power brings her back). In The Return: Nightfall, she comes back perfectly normal after her death as a vampire, only with her supernatural powers intact, making her blood irresistible to all beings.
- Stefan Salvatore Is portrayed to be very handsome and pale, with wavy black hair, fine-features, and brilliant oak green eyes. He is not imposingly tall, but he is taller than his brother Damon though he is the weaker brother since he chooses not to drink human blood. He lives off animal blood, which lessens his Powers including being able to read and influence minds and increased speed and strength. He will do anything for Elena. He loves her dearly and doesn't want her to get hurt so he does everything he can to protect her, even if it means killing his own brother. Stefan goes through a lot of terrible events and even though he might suffer he never gives up on trying to live a normal life with his beloved Elena. Stefan is kidnapped in The Return : Nightfall while Damon is possessed. When this happens Damon leaves a note for Elena saying that Stefan left by his own free will to protect Elena from himself and that Stefan left Damon as Elena's protector.
- Damon Salvatore Events in The Fury and Dark Reunion( also named 'The Reunion')show that Damon is also capable of fierce loyalty and affection, though he is often misunderstood which Elena sees. In The Struggle, he calls himself Damon Smith, attending college on a vacation. Back in the day at Renaissance Italy, where the brothers come from, he dropped out of university. He shows feelings towards Elena and Emily both, though Emily receives more attention. His 'goodness' is always in question—he is always the one that everyone suspects of doing something, such as feeding on locals. This only gets worse when a demon named Shinichi arrives in Fells Church. In The Fury, Katherine offers to let Damon live and for him to reign the shadows, which both Elena and Stefan thought that he would accept, though in the end he tells her, "Go to hell." Damon is described as extremely relentless. He never takes danger too seriously and possesses a dark sense of humor, as well as very little regard for human life unlike his brother Stefan. He likes to make fun of mortals, shown by his Ferrari having a police scanner inside and how he first calls Matt, 'Mat' (Mortal Annoying Thing) until he realises that Matt spells his name with two t's, so he just called him Mutt (Mortally, Unable, To, Talk). He has deep feelings for Elena as they have established a connection, especially in The Fury that fails to be understood by others.
- Bonnie McCullough One of Elena's best friends, a bubbly, small girl with round brown eyes, a heart shaped face, and billowy red hair. She is a witch and a descendant of druids. She always tries to warn Elena, and regularly has visions about death and Elena but can never remember after she has come out her trance. Bonnie, overwhelmed by her powers, attempts to repress the true extent of them without much success. She begins to develop feelings for Damon, however she feels an attraction to Matt Honeycutt, although Matt is still in love with Elena. Bonnie is often said to resemble a kitten - cute, small, and relatively harmless, though she has strong physic powers. Damon thinks of her as 'his little bird' often during The Return: Nightfall.
- Meredith Sulez Elena's other friend; she is tall with olive skin and dark hair. Meredith is beautiful and somewhat cautious, never listens to anybody, and is often the voice of reason throughout the series. She is perceived to be mentally stronger than Bonnie, saving her life on numerous occasions. She falls in love with Alaric Saltzman and has a long distance relationship with him. Meredith is the one who never cries, she is built to be tough and is always understanding and is rarely shocked.
- Matt Honeycutt Elena's ex-boyfriend. He's a typical All-American high school quarterback with blond hair and blue eyes. While Matt is heartbroken at losing Elena to Stefan, he accepts it. He continues to be very protective of Elena. Matt is extremly jealous of Stefan and still pines for Elena, though he helps Stefan escape the Haunted House on the night of the attack, but after begins to think that Stefan might have killed Mr. Tanner.Later in the series the relationship between Stefan and Matt is closer to that of best friends. He is forgiving, loyal and is described as the friendly boy-next-door type. He is blamed by Caroline at the end of The Return: Nightfall for getting her pregnant, when it was really Tyler Smallwood, who has run away from Fells Church.
- Caroline Forbes A former friend and current rival of Elena's, she is beautiful with green eyes and auburn hair. Caroline is manipulative, vengeful and desperate for attention from any boy she can find during much of the series. She first stole Elena's diary and planned to read it to the town on Founder's Day, revealing that Stefan was a vampire, though this was unsuccessful. She had a brief relationship with Tyler Smallwood, working together to plan revenge on Elena and Stefan. she was later kidnapped by Klaus and Tyler, and held hostage, but saved by Stefan and his friends. At the end of 'The Return : Nightfall, Caroline reveals that she is pregnant and blames it on Matt, forcing him to flee with Elena and Damon.
- Katherine The young vampire whom Damon and Stefan both fell in love with when they were humans during the Italian Renaissance. Katherine turned the two brothers into vampires in an attempt to be happy with both brothers, instead of having to choose between them. When this didn't work she stage her 'suicide'. Katherine supposedly killed herself by going into the sunlight without her lapis lazuli ring, leaving behind a pile of ashes in one of her dresses. The two brothers fought to the 'death' because of her loss. She physically resembles Elena which caused Stefan's initial attraction to Elena, though he later realized that Elena was emotionally stronger then Katherine, who was docile and gentle as was the standard in Renaissance Italy. She turns out to be the Other Power that was damaging the town and was killed by Elena.
- Alaric Saltzman The new young History teacher that was in suspicion of being a vampire hunter when he was in fact studying vampires ever since he discovered that they were real. He falls in love with Meredith later on, and has a long distance relationship with her while he goes abroad to further his studies.
- Klaus Is an Old One (one of the original vampires) who fights the Salvatore brothers, in the end losing to the spirits of Elena and the old cemetery. He was a mentor to Katherine, whom she thought she had killed.
Supporting characters
- Judith Gilbert Elena's aunt. She moved in with Elena and her sister Margaret right after the death of their parents. She is the sort of woman who always looked vaguely flustered; she had a thin, mild face and light flyaway hair pushed back untidily. She is engaged to, later married to, Robert, though she briefly broke the engagement after Elena's death, thinking it was the best for Margaret. She is caring and one of the last people Elena talks to before dying the first time.
- Tyler Smallwood A direct descendant of the Smallwoods that were present at the founding of Fells Church. In the first book, Tyler took Elena away to the graveyard where she saw his grandfather's grave. Tyler makes an aggressive move for Elena and to Meredith later on in the books. Stefan comes to save her and Tyler has hated the two ever since. He is later revealed to be a werewolf, it was dormant until he knew how to activate the werewolf gene. He is also the unknowing father of Caroline's unborn baby at the end of The Return: Nightfall.
- Vickie Bennett was at the cemetery with Elena when they left the dance. She had stayed there in the church with Dick. She was attacked and that caused her to go insane and she accused Elena of being part of it. Then she is accused of killing Sue because she relapsed after her death and she was the only one present, however after the turnaround of events and her transition away from the "fast crowd", it is considered unlikely by her new friends. When Bonnie and Meredith go to her house, she catatonically says that the murderer said she is next. She is left under the protection of Damon by his brother Stefan, but is later violently murdered by Klaus.
- Margaret Gilbert Elena's much younger sister), who is 4 years old. Elena considers her to be very innocent, and even secretly talks to her as a vampire after her death, saying that it is not yet her time to rejoin her deceased parents.
- Mr. Tanner Elena and Stefan's history teacher. Damon killed Tanner in the haunted house at the Halloween dance in 'The Awakening' (his body found by Bonnie). He acts antagonistic towards his students, and attempted to stab Damon, which only accelerated his death.
- Mrs. Flowers Owner of the boarding house where Stefan lives, they once thought her to just be a crazy old woman, but, during The Return: Nightfall, she is revealed to be a witch like Bonnie and helps the friends search for Elena in the woods. She is believed to be Bonnie's long lost daughter.
Adaptations
In 1996, American Laser Games, Inc published a video game adaptation of the novels, also called The Vampire Diaries. The game was developed by Her Interactive, and was presented as a point-and-click adventure game with complex puzzles punctuated by full-motion video scenes.[2]
On February 6, 2009, Variety announced that The CW Television Network greenlighted the pilot for a television series entitled The Vampire Diaries with Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec set as the writers and executive producers.[3] On May 19, 2009, the pilot was officially ordered to series for the 2009-2010 season.[4]
The series cuts a few characters (like Ms. Flowers, Meredith, and Margaret Gilbert) and changes the looks of others (Elena has brunette hair instead of blonde). The series also added the character of Jeremy Gilbert, as Elena's brother. Matt Honeycutt is now Vicki Bennett's brother in the series and they have both taken the surname of "Donovan." Aunt Judith has been renamed as Jenna Sommers. The name of the town has also been changed from Fell's Church to Mystic Falls.
Filming for the series began in July 2009 in Covington, Georgia. The high school and football scenes were shot at Walton Career Academy in Monroe, Georgia.
References
- ^ The CW. "THE CW NETWORK ANNOUNCES FALL PREMIERE DATES". The Futon Critic. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20090617cw01.
- ^ "The Vampire Diaries for Windows". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/vampire-diaries.
- ^ Michael Schneider. "CW picks up 'Vampire Diaries' pilot". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999664.html.
- ^ Nellie Andreeva. "CW picks up 'Melrose Place,' 'Vampire Diaries'". Hollywood .Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ic8543054a8a9084de067a8e4d399b1d7.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
