#and do agree it wasn't really explored much in tvd for caro

[kmze]

Hope I'm not hijacking your post here @scienter but wanted to add my two cents because this is actually something I've thought more about since the show ended and have since become very pro-I-hope-Caroline-never-turns-human! Gonna put under a cut because there's Legacies spoilers in case anyone doesn't want to be spoiled.

So while the show didn't directly bring up the subject of Caroline having to decide if she would take the cure if it was an option, in 8x09 and 8x11 specifically I remember she talked about how much she enjoyed being a vampire and I quote '"some people don't regret it". These are the two that stick out the most to me:

Caroline: The one very big positive is life doesn't have to stop after you die (8x09)

Caroline: You feel stronger than you ever thought you could feel. Powerful. And everything's heightened. Emotions, appetities, joy... (8x11)

I think Caroline feels this way for two reasons. One, she does like being ageless and powerful she completely enjoys the perks of supernatural powers and what it allows her in life. Two, she is really really good at being a vampire! She is able to control so much of the downfalls of vampirism because of her amazing control. She controls her bloodlust and emotions better than anyone we've seen who turned.

I'd also argue that now turning human would complicate her life completely since she runs a school for supernatural beings, that is of course always in danger. As of the ending of Legacies she does have family that's immortal just like her, Lizzie became a heretic. Plus she's now the headmistress of the Salvatore School mostly because Alaric has always floundered as headmaster BECAUSE he's human and really too weak to keep the students safe. Legacies in general is more "pro-supernatural-beings" than TVD is, they treat humanity as more of a weakness/crutch. Which makes more sense for that show. It's a supernatural school and the students can't enroll unless they are supernatural.

JMO but I think the more likely outcome of Caroline's story is she stays a vampire and never takes the cure if the option arises. I guess it could arise after Rebekah dies but I am not going to concern myself again with the cure’s absurd physiological rules. I see her more likely outcome being that she would sacrifice herself saving the school and having Lizzie (maybe Hope who's a tri-brid don't ask I can't explain how that works) take over.

I have always wondered where did the narrative 'caroline said she won't take the cure' come from?Wasn't it Klaus,yet again, imposing his thoughts on Caroline that she preferred being ageless and immortal?When Caroline was asked,she had already convinced herself she wasn't getting the cure because, she said, there was only one and she knew everyone had been running around like headless chicken for that one cure so Elena could take it.She didn't even stand a chance because,even for a damn cure,Elena was the first choice.

Anyway,let's be real.It had only been less than a year since Caroline turned when they found the cure.She had just started to reclaim her lost self-confidence,regain her self worth,work on her abuse and trauma that she had undergone previously and enjoy the perks of vampirism as well.So maybe she wouldn't have taken the cure then.But isn't it normal for someone to have a different perspective of life and everything with time?Caroline never thought she would get the chance of being a mom but she did and went as far as ensuring her kids were protected & far away from the supernatural world as long as possible(even though that didn't make sense since they were born supernaturals being siphoners but it's tvd logic !).She even said she felt like dying when the twins were kidnapped.These emotions had nothing to do with being a vampire.Her desire to get married and have a normal family never went away with vampirism.She could barely handle herself when her mom died.She fell into depression after Stefan left. Did the narrative,despite all these, seriously want to convince us that,after her mom and husband were dead,Caroline would watch her kids grow old and drop dead while gleefully spending an eternity guzzling human blood like effing Kombucha?

Why wasn't Caroline Forbes allowed a narrative where she could reflect on the girl she was before she turned,the girl who was unloved,unaccepted, abandoned & raped,to the girl she grew into,after she turned, who learnt to love herself first ,proved herself to herself,to the woman she became who was loved by her friends and herself(since they had all grown out of their teenage mentality),who didn't seek external validation anymore?Why wasn't she allowed an opportunity to stop compartmentalizing her two selves and recognise that she had always been extraordinary?Caroline's journey was actually internal.Vampirism was like her training wheels.She had to let go of her training wheels ,at some point,to see if she had actually learnt anything,right?

I'm not saying she should have turned human to only play mommy to Lizzie & Josie or give a child to Stefan.But at least a storyline,that involved her considering the option and mulling over the choices,should have been explored especially when she was faced with a shortened future with Stefan due to their vampire-human mismatch.This should have made her realise that her time with her daughters was limited too.She didn't have an eternity with them.She never did unless she had been planning to pull a Katherine Pierce all along & turn both.Instead TVD had her convince herself that her excitement about an unknown future(with or without the vampire-human mismatch issue) with Stefan was always misguided in order to motivate herself to stay ignorant of what was to come.Being human wouldn't have invalidated her prior experience in my opinion.It would rather have helped her learn something new about herself that she didn't before.

Your thoughts?

Hey, anon! I think there are two reasons why the writers didn’t spend a lot of time on whether Caroline wanted the cure or not.  First, the cure storyline centered on Elena and whether or not she’d take the cure. Caroline’s desire was ignored because her character was used in service to that plot.  I know, I know -- Elena was the protagonist. She was the main character of the story. I get it.  But the writers centered Elena so much that it cannibalized other character’s narratives.  Second, the writers ignored thought-provoking story arcs for the side characters in favor of reductive storytelling.  These two are often linked. You made a great point about how this affected Caroline – better than I could. So, I’m going to go into detail about how the writers ignored a fantastic character arc for Damon in season 4 by inserting the Stelena/Delena love triangle (i.e. Defan's Elena rivalry) into the cure storyline.

In the 4th season, Stefan and Damon are set in opposition to each other. Stefan wants Elena to take the cure so she won’t have to deal with the pain and guilt of being a vampire. Damon, however, doesn’t want Elena to take the cure because he doesn’t want Elena to grow old and die leaving him alone.  You know – the usual black-and-white “good selfless brother” vs. “bad selfish brother” storyline they’d been force-feeding the audience for years. If that wasn’t reductive enough the writers took it one step further in the finale: Elena wanted Damon to take the cure, but Damon says he wouldn’t take the cure because he doesn’t want to be human.

The problem with Damon’s answer is that it contradicts Damon’s existential crisis in season 2: “I miss being human. I miss it more than anything in the world.”

What the hell writers!? How did Damon go from having an existential crisis because he missed being human to not wanting to take the cure because he doesn’t want to be human?

Damon was never given an arc for this.   There was never an exploration of Damon’s feelings. There was never an explanation for this attitude change.  The writers reversed Damon’s attitude out of nowhere in service of the Will-Elena-Take-The-Cure storyline (which turned out to be a symbolic which-brother-will-Elena-choose storyline).  

This frustrated me because the cure storyline was the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY to explore Damon’s existential crisis from season 2 and the writers dropped the ball. They completely ignored it. Why? Well, you answered it in your ask:

“When Caroline was asked, she had already convinced herself she wasn't getting the cure because, she said, there was only one and she knew everyone had been running around like headless chicken for that one cure so Elena could take it. She didn't even stand a chance because, even for a damn cure, Elena was the first choice.”

Caroline’s potential storyline regarding the cure was ignored just like Damon’s existential crisis was ignored.

I know this probably wasn’t the answer you were hoping for. You asked me about Caroline and I talked about Damon. However, you made such great points about Caroline and potential storylines for her that were never explored that I don’t feel like I have anything to add. You also reminded me of what I think was one of the biggest wasted opportunities regarding the cure storyline, and it’s the one that frustrates me the most. The writers kept throwing out potential character arcs for the side characters because the story always centered around Elena.