#tvd 5x18

[laufire]

STACKEDIARIES | april 17th | “resident evil”

[Caption: gifs from The Vampire Diaries. Tyler and Liv are face to face; he stabs himself in the stomach with the Traveler knife she gave him, to make sure there aren’t any Passengers in his head. She looks him up and down, appreciatively with a half-smile, and licks her lips. Tyler takes out the knife and extends it back to her. She takes them as they both turn away from each other, still looking at him during the last few seconds of the charged moment.]

[eg515]

I was not ready to see Kol desperate and terrified and almost crying, begging Matt for help

[klonnieshippersclub]

Okay so I read summoned witch(AMAZING BTW!!!!) and it made me think. If Klaus and Bonnie were in a intimate relationship(not official) and Bonnie’s in love and shit and Caroline comes along trying to get with him. What do you believe would happen?

The Summoned Witch by Szajnie on AO3 : TVD/TO AU: Hope Mikaelson needs help. At seven years old, she's not strong enough to protect the people she cares about from the dangers that surround them. What she needs is a bigger witch. So she summons one. Please check out this fanfic and their other works!

I love Szajnie’s work, but I think there was some common misconception that Klaus was entertaining them both at the same time sexually. Szajnie confirmed that wasn’t the case. Though Klaus was showing signs of being interesting and flirting with them both and emotionally distancing himself from Bonnie. Which to Bonnie was a bigger emotional betrayal.

Back to your question. Bonnie’s very direct when she needs to be. It is on TVD for not allowing her emotions to be more present constantly or having other characters discuss her feelings. That does not mean signs aren’t there! The first time when Bonnie found out Jeremy was seeing his exes, she admitted she wasn’t okay with it and then broke up with him because she believed she deserved better than that and couldn’t deal with him cheating. The second time when Bonnie thinks Jeremy is betraying her. She calls out, points out the things Liv has done and even questioned Jeremy’s weird behavior. Then tells him and I quote: “Don’t put me in a position where I have to question you,” (5X18) - Now I prefer the deleted scene version to this scene where Bonnie said she feels like she’s being cheated on again because their is real acknowledgement that she has her own insecurities.

Bonnie would call Klaus out or talk to Caroline privately. I could even see her calling them out together. If Bonnie sees nothing has changed and she still has to compete, she’s out and it’s fuck that shit and them. Period. Klaus is loyal to those who are loyal to him so I don’t see Bonnie having to worry!

If anyone wants to have more fanfic discussions please send in questions!

[kmze]

Stefan and Elena would have been endgame if Nina had not quit

Stefan and Caroline would have been endgame if Kevin had not killed Stefan

Stefan and Lexi would have been endgame if Damon had not killed Lexi

It's getting crazier with each passing day/year.What is the truth?

(I guess you know what I'm talking about)

Good to have you back,Kris.Miss your metas and smuts!

Oh Anon I know exactly what you are talking about, although I hadn't heard the Lexi/Stefan one until now that just seems like she's talking just to talk. Thank you for the welcome back! I missed this site and now that it's usable again (it was awful for a few years) I came back since it's the only site not taken over by ad-based algorithms and influencers. Plus now that I'm doing a TVD rewatch maybe I'll try to write some mini-metas if I feel inspired (the smut I can't promise as much I have complete writers block sadly.)

My thoughts under the cut because this got long oops!

Lets get to that tweet that started this discourse again, which I'm sure that was her intention, and honestly, I think she believes that on some level but it's simply not true. And I don't mean not true in the sense that the Stefan and Elena couldn't have been endgame because of how the story evolved after Nina left (or even before) but because they absolutely could have been! In fact it would have been rather simple to give Stefan and Elena an implied endgame with only having Nina for the finale. I remember a few weeks before the finale there was a pretty easy to believe "spoiler" of how they could pull it off. Basically Damon dies instead of Stefan, Elena wakes up and Caroline compels them both to forget about vampires, witches all of Mystic Falls etc. to protect them. Then there's a time jump where they run into each other again as strangers and do the whole "I'm Stefan" "I'm Elena" meet-cute from the Pilot and 5x18 visions. All that full circle jazz and now they get to be together without all the baggage so viewers can theorize how that unfolds. I can't even emphasize enough how EASY they made this a possibility when Stefan turned human (probably why I felt so much dread when I knew they were going to do that). This was also around the time the SE King Kevin Williamson (who also likes to blame Nina for not getting his endgame) and I cannot believe he wouldn't have been all for this. Hell lets even go back further because Nina told them at the beginning of S6 she was leaving so they had all of S6 to redirect the story back to Stefan and Elena, which again would have been easy with the mind-erase storyline and Damon being dead, but they didn't! They made them super platonic and after years of hints made Stefan and Caroline a main love story.

So yeah sorry Jules that is not the reason Stefan and Elena weren't endgame, they had tons of time to redirect the storyline. Even if she was determined to have Stefan and Caroline get together she could have done that, had them break up for good during the 54678 obstacles she put them through and then had Caroline date Enzo (kill me) before sending her off to Klaus (because apparently that was also a possibility until Caroline married Stefan if you're keeping track).

So what's the real reason Stefan and Elena weren't endgame? I'm not going to pretend like I know for certain but I do have a working theory, I don't think they could have made Stefan and Elena endgame without hurting Caroline's ending and that was more important to Julie by the end. I know lots of people will probably think I'm crazy for saying that but it is truly what I believe. Especially after seeing where Caroline started (like it was painful watching how prop-y she was treated in S1 during my rewatch) and where she ended up (last vampire standing running a magic school in the Salvatore house one of the biggest landmarks in the verse). I don't see how Caroline's ending wouldn't have taken a hit if Stefan reunited with Elena, even if she was the one who compelled him to forget about her. Instead the show used Stefan and Elena to prop Stefan and Caroline in the finale! They made it so Stefan couldn't find peace until he was sure Caroline knew he got her message and he'd love her forever too (the teaser cut away shot and "there's something I have to say" sells this IMO). That's what Julie used to set-up Legacies as the foundation of the school, it was Caroline's love for Stefan and how he helped her become the best vampire ever and now she's doing the same for supernatural kids. Candice King confirmed this in an article when Legacies ended, it's also implied via song in the Salvatore musical episode of Legacies about the founding of the school. That might be why Julie said it would "dishonor Stefan" to make Klaus and Caroline get together because she still needed Caroline's love for Stefan to be strong even in death, that's why this parallel lives in my head rent-free.

I'm sure some people will say it was because of Damon and Elena and their powerful chemistry and love story but that's for people who give a damn about that relationship (not I) who genuinely believe the writers HAD to deliver the chin kiss endgame.

[ywhiterain]

TVD 5x18

Stefan’s line about being friends or being in love with someone is so ridiculous considering the Steroline buildup as friends to lovers.

So I think Elena is just not gonna find out about kidnapping and trying to kill Jeremy. It makes her speech about them being messy fall flat. This isn’t just that they’re bad communicators or don’t seem to have anything in common besides sex, this is Damon murdering and torturing people and Elena excusing it or not knowing about it.

Damon/Elena could be interesting if they did something with all of this. But they don’t. And next season is hilariously worse about them. But then we’ll get two defan seasons, I like defan so…

[scienter]

Hey, i found your blog bc i was serching things on tvd and have i few questions that i think you can help answer abt the tvd writers, since you seem very knowlengeable abt these thing : after season 3 what role had KW on tvd? Like was he there writing and deciding something or did he leave? I saw on internet that he wanted SE endgame and he always talk abt the fact that ND leftand so they couldn't write SE endgame, but in season 5 especially 5x18 I see it impossible that from season 5 they wanted SE endgame and in season 6 they changed all plans, so I wonder if he was there during these seasons? to then go back to writing episodes in season 8 and that terrible ending and it's also weird bc usually SE shippers prefer stefan to elena in general instead he just made stefan die as if he were nobody🤨

Hey, anon!

Kevin Williamson left TVD at the start of season 3 after working on 1 episode, The Birthday. While Williamson was listed as an Executive Producer he didn't have a creative role on the show for the next 5 seasons. Instead, Williamson worked on other projects: The Secret Circle, The Following, and Scream 4.

However, Williamson returned as the TVD showrunner / regular writer for season 8. Williamson stated in interviews that SE was his preferred endgame, but since SE wasn't going to happen (narratively it didn't make sense because Stefan & Elena had moved on) he killed off Stefan.

[dengswei]

Where is the quote from your deanpharm post from??o:

it's a stelena quote from 5x18 of tvd because it's been years and i still have not moved on! 😂

[landonmikaelson]

stelena + amazing

[jamiedornaniseverything]

[elizabeth-forbes]

[laufire]

ILU

[eg515]

the way I screamed at Kol's surprise appearance in TVD 5x18

[itachi86]

hahaha enzo teasing damon is the cutest and most hilarious thing ever

[kmze]

Kris suppose all the parameters were in place viz. Nina had stayed,Julie had been the showrunner of s7, how do you think things would have panned out?JP said they did in one episode what they would have done in first half of the following season if ND had not left and Defan would try to figure out a way to break the spell only to figure Bonnie would die if they did.Damn sure the whole season would then have been triangle heavy with either flashbacks or mind-invasion in addition to SE baiting.Someone had asked on twitter if she would have started SC if she knew about Nina leaving & yet again she said She wasn't sure.She wanted since s2 but "klaus took them by surprise".TBH I think julie always uses klaus as an excuse.What would have been SC's fate in that case?

I kinda feel like I've been asked 10 different versions of this question and my answer remains basically the same, she was never bringing SE back if it would damage Caroline and I can't see how it wouldn't. I've seen that quote about the mind invasion thing and straight up I have no idea WTF she is talking about, is she really saying that sleeping beauty spell was something she WANTED??? IT wasn't just the only thing they could do because they refused to kill off Elena or have her leave for good because they wanted her for the series finale? That shit was TERRIBLE, they even mocked it in the musical episode of Legacies TWICE! I also don't think there's as much SE baiting after 5x18 as some people do, like I think people think bait is when Stefan just says Elena's name sometimes or vice versa when the reality is there's maybe five moments that people could read into over 3 seasons that go nowhere.

In general people pay too much attention to interviews, cons, tweets etc. for every quote I see of her blaming Nina there's one of her saying she planned SC since S2. In fact there's a tweet from 2011 where she talks about her plans for SC:

She was giddy in the S4 Podcast wrap she did with EW in 2021 talking about how her plans for Stefan and Caroline could finally come to fruition which is why the romantic hints started that season. The reality is Elena started losing her power to Caroline in S4 because Elena's power came from having both Salvatores obsessed with her but in S4 Stefan started being removed from her and joining Caroline's orbit. That happened because of KC and it made the writers want to give Caroline more attention and more high-cachet men (that is just how this verse works). I do definitely think it's possible that if Klaus wasn't introduced and didn't become such a huge force in the verse that SC could have been very prop-y and that could have been her initial plan. People are always saying how Caroline is Julie's self-insert and what I'm saying here is they're kinda right lol but they don't want to admit Caroline became more important in the verse than Elena.

As far as a S7 with Elena IDK, I think it kind of proves my point that she wanted to put Elena in a coma anyway if Nina wasn't leaving that she didn't care much about her story at that point. I think the S/E/D triangle is only important to TVD so if Nina stayed S7 would have been the last and I kinda think she would have stuck with DE and I think she would have wanted to move Stefan and Caroline to TO, because the S/C/K triangle is the TVDU one not just TVD. If you watch all three shows that's the one that had significant mentions throughout all the shows, that's the one that lingers.

[zalrb]

What are the 5 very best Stelena gazes of the series and why? They have SO many but judging by things such as the meaning/significance, what they're communicating to eachother at that moment, the general aesthetic/magic/beauty. It's so hard to choose but I was wondering which 5 you'd go with if you had to pick.

I will do five for today, if you asked me tomorrow I'd probably choose a different five and I'm also going to cheat and use two gazes from the same episode for some of the options. Sorry, but if you've been on my blog long enough you know I do this and if you haven't then now you know!

First Time Gaze(s)

I mean, this is the most obvious choice, but honestly: 

Stelena was about savouring being with each other, it was about connecting with each other, which also brings me to this, there’s so much eye contact between Stefan and Elena because they want to see each other, they want to engage with each other, they really want to feel each other.

I do not want to be afraid I do not want to die inside just to breathe in I’m tired of feeling so numb Relief exists I find it when I am cut

Is the actual “seeing” it’s the turning point because neither Stefan nor Elena want to be afraid anymore, they’re tired of being living ghosts, they’re tired of running from each other, they don’t want to feel anymore pain just to feel anything at all, they want to feel something good and they feel it together, which is why Stefan allows her to see him and she doesn’t only accept what she sees, she embraces it, she embraces him and that provides relief for the both of them; she’s relieved that he stopped running, he’s relieved that he can stop running

Mikaelson Ball Gaze(s)

I focus on the right gif a lot: 

I love every SE scene of 3x14. I like it because that entire episode encapsulates the push-pull, can’t-fight-it, overwhelmed, I-just-love-them-so-much narrative that DErs insist DE has [...] what I love about the dance itself is that it starts off a little awkward, Elena is kind of wrong-footed and she doesn’t really know how to act but then Stefan makes a joke and then it hits her that this is Stefan and she’s comfortable and at ease and they naturally fall back in place and they smile at each other because this is them, this is their history, their present, their future, this is Stelena and there’s just such security between the two of them and their dancing becomes less stiff, they’re not like everyone else in the ballroom who are rigidly sticking to the way they’re supposed to dance, and then during the dance, Stefan reaffirms that he is indeed still Stefan by simply being Stefan which leads to some serious eye sex

But I love the left gif and that scene so much because the ANGST 

and then when they’re outside and Elena asks for Stefan’s help, he has the opportunity to tell Elena that he still cares about her and he hesitates and she’s hopeful, she is silently pleading with him to let her in and you can see that he wants to so much but he just can’t do it

Fireplace Gaze

I go on about this stare so much but the sheer amount of longing here? I still think it’s incredibly underrated because they’re talking about this life, this beautiful, perfect life they could’ve had together and Stefan is kind of tiptoeing around how good it felt but when Elena says “amazing?” and he just looks at her like so we’re going to say it? so you felt it? so you know how I feel? and he validates it with a “yeah” and my girl exhales like that? COME ON. 

Bloodshare Gaze 

Earlier in the episode Stefan and Elena argue about Stefan’s need to drink human blood, it is their biggest obstacle at this point because human blood is a gateway to Stefan’s depravity, his demons, and after what happened in the latter half of season 1, of course Elena doesn’t want him to drink from it, it’s a very loaded argument between the two of them, which ends with them actually getting closer together, being more entwined with each other since Elena not only gives him her blood to drink but reaffirms how she’s not leaving his side no matter what. And when Stefan drinks and Elena sees his veined face, she has enough faith in his love for her, her love for him, their commitment to each other for her to kiss him to settle his ripper urges and it works.  And then afterwards, because of all of that, because of their argument and their reconciliation and Elena’s faith and Stefan’s commitment, when they stare at each other, it’s this “I love you so much” stare but Stefan looks at Elena like “So I love you so much and we’re about to go upstairs so you can know how much”.

Humanity Gaze

Because this is a visual representation of there is a bond between these two, a trust, a devotion, an intimacy that Damon just can’t touch. He just can’t. And I’ve said this before about SE but one of the reasons why they work so well for me is because their love is treated as fact, their connection is treated as fact, it just is, this is just how they are and everyone else has to watch it. 

[gilbertstelena]

parallels “amazing” (5x04 and 5x18)