While Legacies struggled to make villains that were dynamic enough to keep the audience hooked, The Vampire Diaries kept the line between heroes and villains murky, while making each villain different from the ones that came before them. In fact, the villains can be reasonably broken down into the nine distinct Enneagram personality types, each with different motivations and ways of seeing the world. With any luck, any future TVD project will be able to say the same.

Type One: The Reformer — Connor Jordan

The Reformer sees their purpose in life as following a mission, using whatever means it takes to achieve it. Usually, their mission is coupled with a rigid value system, which they can use to justify even their worst actions. Although they can be seen as highly logical due to the rules they live by, the rules often serve as covers for their own emotional desires.

Connor fits this personality perfectly, making it his mission to eradicate all vampires, even if innocent people got hurt along the way. However, he also had a softer side when it came to Jeremy because it was part of his moral code to help hunters adjust to the life safely. He showed how dangerous it could be to approach life inflexible to moral ambiguity.

Type Two: The Helper —The Mikaelsons

The Helper tends to be viewed as the self-sacrificing type, willing to give up their own needs for others. And while this certainly can be true, their deeper traits rely on a fear of being unlovable. To counter that fear, they do things for others that will earn them positive regard, which can include manipulating a situation if needed to highlight their helpfulness.

It may be a surprise to consider the Mikaelsons as Helpers, but that is the role they played in The Vampire Diaries. While The Originals, as a group, they tend to be ruled by a desire to be loved. They were more willing to work with the Mystic Falls gang than other villains and were easily swayed by family and/or love.

Type Three: The Achiever — Silas

Achievers find a lot of comfort in their image, building it up so they can feel valuable. Through a combination of self-confidence and genuine work, they propel themselves to the top of their fields—and want others to recognize them as such.

While Silas may not be as obvious of an Achiever as Caroline, he is insistent that he be acknowledged as one of the most powerful beings in history. He frequently brags about his ability to make others see visions or control their thoughts and actions. As he said, "I'm unkillable, I'm immortal, and I'm psychic, and to function, I need human blood—but don't ever call me a vampire."

Type Four: The Individualist —Kai Parker

The Individualist generally considers themselves as different from others on a fundamental level. This often results in a bloated sense of pride in themselves and a yearning for someone who can truly understand them. If they are unable to find someone to connect with, they fill that hole with other things, including anger and violence.

Despite his awful nature, Kai is one of the fans' favorite villains because he is so unique in his approach to villainy. He is one of the more personal antagonists, connecting with his victims and making jokes even as he tortures them. Because of how his family and coven treated him, Kai sees himself as fundamentally different from his siblings and other witches and therefore sees little moral reason not to harm them. He proves how dangerous it can be for a person to see themselves as separate from all others, as he used his family and Bonnie's rejection to justify his most horrifying actions.

Type Five: The Investigator — Wes Maxfield

Investigators cover their fears and insecurities with curiosity, delving into research about any subject they are unsure of. They feel that, if they can only understand enough about something, they will never be vulnerable to them. This instinct, however, can result in their research being valued above others' feelings or even lives.

It should come as no surprise that this description perfectly fits Wes Maxfield, who is not only an incredibly arrogant teacher but also the kind of man who would eagerly imprison and torture living creatures to satisfy his curiosity. Despite claiming to be working to help humanity, he proved himself willing to turn humans just to have sufficient test subjects, showing just how little humanity meant in comparison to his research.

Type Six: The Loyalist — The Travelers

Loyalists are defined by their protective instincts, both for themselves and those they care for. Many have lost a lot, and thus spend much of their time building backup plans to make sure it never happens again. They fear that they will be unable to survive the world alone, which leads them to create and defend structures at all costs.

This mentality can be seen best in the Travelers who, despite having different motives, are extremely powerful villains because they are so devoted to protecting their own, even those who have been largely unconnected to their people. They tend to work together toward common goals, and while they will happily hurt others to achieve their goals, they don't display any particular desire for cruelty for its own sake.

Type Seven: The Enthusiast — Damon Salvatore

The Enthusiast lives their life in wild swings between activity and emotion, constantly trying to keep the thrills going so as to block out their darker thoughts. This can make them the life of the party, but it also means they struggle to know where to draw the line. Enthusiasts seek to find enjoyment in even the most difficult of times because it's easier than confronting their own vulnerability.

Though it surprised fans when they first learned that Damon was not the one who wanted to be a vampire, it makes sense in the context of his Enneagram type. After suffering the loss of his mortal life (and Katherine), Damon acted erratically and violently in order to keep his grief at bay. He lived in the moment to keep from accepting the past, and this mentality could only be overcome by confronting his emotions honestly.

Type Eight: The Challenger — Katherine Pierce

Challengers are some of the strongest people you could meet, but this is generally due to a history of vulnerability that they are keen to avoid in the future. They fear being at the mercy of others, which leads them to build their own strength so they can fight their way out of any trouble that comes their way. Often, they have a particular goal or value system that they are eager to fight for, but it may not always be what others would expect.

Katherine Pierce will survive and thrive in any situation because she refuses to accept herself as beaten. Even being sent to Hell was just another challenge for her—one she handily conquered. Between her father and Klaus, Katherine learned that the strong will always triumph over the weak, which made her determined to become strong, in whatever way it would take to escape a dangerous situation.

Type Nine: The Peacemaker — Sybil & Seline

As the name suggests, Peacemakers want to create a world without strife, for themselves and those they care about. They fear division, which can make them overly ive and submissive, but at their best, they can orchestrate situations that all parties can agree to.

Though the sirens' actions were not peaceful, they were more diplomatic than any other TVD villains, making deals with Arcadius and the Mystic Falls gang to gain their freedom and escape Hell. They attempted to make the best of multiple bad situations and even attempted to reconcile with each other before meeting their ultimate fates.

NEXT: 10 Characters Who Appeared In The Most Episodes Across All Three TVD Shows