The titular vampires of The Vampire Diaries were a suave lot. The television show made an appearance smack in the middle of the great vampire resurgence in pop culture, and these brand new creatures of the night were markedly different from their predecessors.
Apart from being young, attractive, and alluring, these vampires were not scary monsters anymore, at least if they didn't want to be. Everything from how they originated, their superpowers, and their weaknesses branched out from the existing folklore of the undead and gave them new advantages that were unheard of outside of Mystic Falls. Here's how TVD's vampires compare to the common depictions in literature, film, and television.
Their "Original" Origins By Witchcraft
Klaus' entry into The Vampire Diaries as a villain explored the Original storyline, which was easily the most important in the series. Viewers learned that the vampires were descended from the first immortal undead family which consisted of Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, Kol, Finn, and Mikael, who had been ordinary but turned into vampires by their witch mother Esther.
These vampires turned other people into their own kind, which led to a chain reaction, and all vampires were related to each Original vampire by a sire line. This origin story is very specific to The Vampire Diaries and doesn't exist anywhere else.
How New Vampires Get Turned
Creating new vampires requires a certain level of death, which is why every TVD character has a kill count. The method is very unique because most other vampires get turned by getting bitten only. In this show, however, a human has to consume vampire blood in some form, and die or be killed with the blood coursing through their veins.
Many humans got turned by mistake, like Elena dying on the bridge with blood in her, and some like Caroline were killed deliberately by Katherine for revenge. Either way, it seems complicated at first, but lots of vampires turned pretty easily on the show.
The Humanity Switch
A quality that is utterly novel is the humanity switch in these vamps. After transformation, all of them have heightened emotions that they can feel keenly, which meant guilt, remorse, and sorrow was magnified for vampires when they faced loss.
To combat the unbearable deluge of feelings, they had the option to "flick the switch" and turn off their humanity. Stefan did it several times along with Caroline after her transformation. Stefan did awful things with his humanity off and both became remorseless killing machines.
Compulsion And Other Mind Control
Compelling people to do their bidding was a trick that the vampire crew loved using to get their way in the world. This meant that they fed and erased memories, got into places they weren't supposed to, and generally had a big advantage over others.
Besides this, some vampires like Damon could get into people's heads (both vampire and human) and manipulate their dreams by showing them specific scenes. Lexi could also make people hallucinate, making them see and feel illusions if she wished, like when she made Stefan feel like he hadn't fed in decades.
Weakness To Vervain
Common mythology says that a vampire's worst enemy is garlic, which can be used to ward off and weaken them, but The Vampire Diaries chose vervain instead. The herb is a real one, and the innocent-looking plant can cause vampires a lot of pain, mainly by burning them upon .
Even vervain-fused water is deadly for them, and ingestion can weaken and incapacitate vampires for a while. Many of the supernatural beings consumed small amounts every day to build tolerance and become stronger in case of an attack.
Healing Vampire Blood
The uninitiated might wonder what reason a human could have to ingest vampire blood if they didn't intend on transformation, and that reason is that it is an elixir. Any injury, no matter how big or small can be healed with a few sips of vampire blood, which carries the properties of their accelerated healing in it.
This property is not something previous depictions of vampires are known to have, and it's saved dozens of lives on the show because a vampire was around at the right time.
Using Alcohol To Curb Bloodlust
These creatures of the night love drinking. At any given point, Damon and Stefan can be found with a glass of scotch in their hands, and it isn't just because their tolerance is extremely high as vamps.
TVD's vampires feel a perennial thirst for human blood, even when they are well fed. A vampire's life is consumed by bloodlust and the alcohol helps dull that feeling and takes their mind off of it. The dampening effect of alcohol on their hunger is one of the many things that don't make sense about TVD's vampires, but it helped to set up many great bar scenes, at least.
They Can Be Cured
Folklore dictates that a human, once turned, will stay a vampire forever until killed, usually by a wooden stake. However, The Vampire Diaries turned this on its head when it introduced the elusive 'cure.' Created by the witch Qetsiyah, the original cure will turn a vampire back to human when consumed, and to a healthy state when they'll start aging normally.
Another method of getting cured was through the Magic Purification spell, which will revert the vampire's body to the final stage before transformation, meaning that they would be injured by whatever physical trauma killed them.
They Eat And Sleep Like Humans
Usually, vampires cease to sleep and eat upon changing, as these functions no longer serve them, but the CW vampires are different. They sleep like humans and also can eat food and it through their bodies like they would before they were turned.
They don't have a need for human food, but many eat it out of habit or to reduce hunger pangs for food of the liquid kind. It also makes them appear more human, and thus they can merge better into the crowd.
Daylight Rings
Like vampires of yore, these ones also are burnt to crisp by the sun, but the existence of witches made life easier for a select few. Not everyone is in on the secret, but the main vampires in the show all have daylight rings (or a daylight bracelet in Katherine's case).
These enchanted rings protect the undead from dying in the sun, giving them a huge advantage. It saved many from detection and gave them a more normal, human-like life. If they take off the ring, however, the spell ceases to work and the vampire will meet a very painful end.