#andrea831 metas forwood

[andreal831]

Your opinion of Caroline?

I will always love Caroline Forbes.

Yes, she was a deeply flawed character for most of the show, but so was everyone. Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie will always be special to me because they were TVDU for so long. I will always love the three of them over any love triangle the show tried to force on us.

But Caroline, to me, felt like a very organic character. She was a stereotypical mean girl in high school who hid her insecurities behind cutting words and a 'I'm too good for this' persona. I loved seeing her grow throughout the show and become a more confident and secure version of herself. I don't think she needed to become a vampire to do this. She just needed some support and maturity.

I adored her development with her mom. Liz wasn't the best mom in the early seasons and it shows how Caroline responded to her. Just the fact that Damon was abusing her in their own home and Liz had no idea. I know Damon is a vampire and could of compelled or snuck around, but she didn't even suspect anything was going on when Caroline was struggling with the abuse. She's a cop. She's supposed to be trained to notice this. But Liz finding out about Caroline being a vampire and coming around to her, loving her and being proud of the person she was. It was so beautiful.

My favorite Caroline ship is honestly Forewood. They were so good to each other. Tyler brought out the best in Caroline and vice versa. Neither of them were the nicest people in season 1 but they grew together. I hated the writers for ruining them. They deserved better. The fact that they didn't even show Caroline mourning Tyler or kicking Damon's ass for killing him will never sit right with me. She loved Tyler and that doesn't just fade because they both moved on. I wish, if they were determined to keep them apart, that we could have at least had their friendship back.

I do love Steroline too and I do tend to hold it out over Forewood just because the ending of Forewood kind of ruined that ship for me. Steroline to me was such a great friend-to-lovers moment. Stefan was another person that brought out the good in Caroline.

I've seen a lot of people say Caroline doesn't have development, but I disagree. Especially in a show where Damon and Klaus are held out to have the "best" development. Do I think she had the greatest development in the history of media, no. Like I said in the beginning, she had a very organic development. She became a more mature person because she got older. I think her relationship with Stefan was a sign of this. Stelena fans love to say Stefan loved Elena first and Caroline was just his second pick, but that's not how love works. The logic sounds like season 1 Caroline. But as their relationship develops, Care no longer has that impulse to question it. She learns to feel secure in the love Stefan has for her, which shows a lot of development from her high school relationships. Although, Caroline had ever right to question Matt who was still very clearly into Elena.

Caroline is a deeply flawed character, much like the entire show. There were definitely storylines that I couldn't stand or phases of writing that I found annoying, but that's every character for me. She definitely can and should be criticized. The biggest examples I can think of that Caroline does something problematic that deserves being called out: her general insensitivity in season 1, sleeping with Klaus, how she treated Tyler after that, her criticizing anyone for turning their humanity off after she easily did so. She's not a perfect character. But I still found her charm and personality to be compelling. She could have been better at times and how they portrayed her in TO and Legacies did hurt her character a lot. But I'm always going to have a soft spot for TVD Caroline.

Thanks for the ask!

[andreal831]

What are your top five ships on TVD?

Top 5 TVD Ships

*this is just TVD ships and not TVDU

5. Jalaric/Jolaric -- Jenna and Alaric/Jo and Alaric

These ships felt very similar to me so I am ranking them together. Jo&Alaric very much felt like they were having the life that Jenna&Alaric were meant to have if they hadn't killed her off so early.

Both ships ended tragically, but I loved the journey. This was of course when I liked Alaric. Both ships felt very natural and I loved the development. I wished Alaric would have been more open with Jenna, and maybe it would have prepared her more for dealing with the supernatural. But I loved both ships and hated their endings.

4. Beremy -- Jeremy and Bonnie

I normally don't put this ship on my top favorites but after writing about them recently, I've started really liking them again. I just love a good friends-to-lovers. I loved how supportive they were of each other, always trying to put the other first. I hated the cheating and wished it hadn't happened, but even with the cheating, it was clear they always loved each other. They may not have been endgame, but they were so important to each other.

3. Forwood -- Caroline and Tyler

Forwood should have been endgame. Their development was beautiful. They truly helped each other become better people. They did an amazing job balancing each other out. I always felt like their was so much unresolved for this ship that we never got to see. They were childhood friends and seemed to lose that along the way. Unlike Beremy, Forwood seemed to forget they were friends first and foremost. The fact that we hardly got to see Caroline mourn Tyler's death and not even show her being angry at Damon for it really ruined the ship. But the beginning of the ship keeps them ranked fairly high.

2. Steroline -- Caroline and Stefan

While I loved Forwood, Steroline also felt so inevitable. They were such close friends for so long, but there was obvious underlying attraction that always teased at more. They weren't each other's first loves, but they were a true and pure love. They loved each other as friends and family and then romantically. It was one of the few ships that truly had a strong foundation and wasn't just sexual attraction.

1. Bonenzo -- Bonnie and Enzo

Bonenzo has long since been my top TVD ship. While I wish we could have seen more of their relationship, I loved the parts we did see. It is one of the few times I actually liked an enemies-to-lovers ship and it was because they never had anything against each other personally and their "enemy" phase was very evenly matched. I loved how their interest in each other came from understanding and getting to know one another. They became the most important people to each other and both of them deserved it.

They deserved to travel the world together and in my head they are.

I hate that all of my favorite ships ended so tragically.

Thanks for the ask!

[andreal831]

I know you like bonenzo, but what are your thoughts on Carenzo?

I loved their banter throughout season 5, and in season 6 I fell in love with them and was really disappointed when they didn’t ever get together. Enzo is actually my favorite Caroline ship, as Matt was just bad for obvious reasons, Klaus hurt her multiple times (you could honestly call it abuse) and she used him all the time, and I just found her and Stefan extremely boring. I actually liked her and Tyler together, but too much damage was done for them to ever end up together imo.

Also do you think you’ll continue with TGW outtakes? If so, would you consider writing some extra scenes with Elijah, Hayley, and Astra while they were in France?

I adore platonic Carenzo.

If the writers hadn't been so determined to sideline Bonnie and prioritize Damon, Steroline and Bonenzo could have been such a fun group. Enzo and Stefan would have annoyed each other but they would have put up for it for Caroline and Bonnie. I wish they would have continued Stefan and Bonnie's friendship from the early seasons rather than giving it to Damon. It always seemed more realistic for me. Also, Enzo's loyalty to Damon and hatred of Stefan never made sense to me. Honestly, Enzo and Stefan could have bonded over being betrayed by Damon. Enzo just decides to forgive Damon for abandoning him and killing his love and blaming Stefan for everything??

I personally never wanted Caroline and Enzo to be romantic. They bonded during a time where Caroline really needed a friend and Enzo stepped up. It is one of the reasons I love Enzo's character. Enzo was the character they wanted Damon to be. He did a lot of bad (even terrible) things but was striving to be a better person and actually made himself a better person. I would have been fine with them writing Damon off and brining in Enzo for better storylines than they gave him. I also just love Michael Malarkey.

I am a huge advocate for platonic relationships. It's fine to ship people, but not everyone who gets along needs to be romantically invovled. Although I do definitely see why people ship them. But I liked that Caroline and Enzo grew to care for each other but never needed to make it romantic. And honestly, Caroline needed just friends. I feel like the writers were matching her up with anyone she came in contact with. Stefan was gone for five seconds and they had Enzo flirting with her. I wanted the show to focus on friendships/family more than the ships at times.

My favorite ships for Caroline are Steroline and then Forwood. I love friends to lovers. Nearly all of my favorite ships are. Both Steroline and Forwood had that great foundation before they started dating. They were each other's best friends. To me Steroline was always endgame. The way they fought for each other and looked out for one another was great. Forwood is a close runner up and would have been endgame had Klaus not gotten in the way for no reason. Tyler didn't deserve anything Klaus put him through. I think they could have found their way back to each other but they had both already moved on by the time the dust settled.

I did actually like Matt and Caroline at times but they were both just in emotionally fragile spots when they dated. But they were a cute high school relationship. I don't consider Klaus and Caroline a relationship -- it was just straight abuse.

I know I went on a lot of side tangents, but thanks for the ask! I don't talk about TVD nearly enough.

I am continuing TGW Outtakes! I'm also already writing scenes of them spending the weekend in Paris. There will be lots of wine, art, and kissing. I am just writing very slowly now that we are near the end of the story. There are so many lose ends to tie up.