Damon Salvatore (novel)

This article is about Damon Salvatore from the novel series. You may be looking for Damon Salvatore from the TV series.

Damon Salvatore
Biographical information
Born	October 30, 1487 (Age 523)
Turned	Late fifteenth century by Katherine von Swartzschild Twentieth century by Jessalyn D'Aubigne
Status	Undead (Resurrected)
Occupation	Aristocrat/Nobleman (Formerly) Former Member of The Free Companies (Formerly) University Student (Formerly) Nomadic Traveller (Currently)
Species	Human (Originally) Vampire (Sage's Bloodline) (Currently)
Gender	Male
Family information
Family Members	Conte Giuseppe Salvatore † (Father) Contessa di Salvatore † (Mother) Stefan Salvatore (Younger Brother)
Supernatural information
Significant sires	Elena Gilbert
Significant kills	Many humans and vampires over the centuries William Tanner Henrik Goetsch
Cause of death	Stabbed (1st time; as a human) Staked (2nd time; as a vampire)
Killed by	Stefan Salvatore (as a human) World Tree in Dark Dimension (as a vampire)
Appearance
First seen	The Awakening
Last seen	The Salvation: Unmasked (Official) Evensong: The War of Roses (Fanfic)

“	I suppose I should go away and not scare you anymore. Is that what you want?	”
	— Damon to Bonnie in Dark Reunion

Damon Salvatore (Italian: Damiano Salvatore) is the former main antagonist (in contrast to Elena and Stefan's protagonist), the anti hero (in contrast to Stefan's hero), and the tritagonist overall of The Vampire Diaries novel series. He is a 500 plus year old vampire who originally hails from Florence, Italy. Damon is oldest son of Giuseppe Salvatore and his unnamed mother (who died after giving birth to Stefan when Damon was a young boy), the older brother of Stefan Salvatore, the former lover of Katherine von Swartzschild, the current boyfriend of Elena Gilbert, the possible soulmate and love interest of Bonnie McCullough, the rival of Matt Honeycutt, the enemy of Klaus, and the possible competitor and rival of Bastian for Bonnie's affections (in the Evensong trilogy).

Damon was born in 1487 in Florence, Italy during The Renaissance Period in the fifteenth century. Like his younger brother Stefan, Damon came from an Italian aristocratic, noble family, meaning that Damon came from wealth and was very rich. Damon and his brother Stefan both fell in love with a young and beautiful vampire named Katherine Von Swartzschild during the time of the fifteenth century. Both brothers became intense rivals and competitors for her love and her affections and this caused the rivalry between the two Salvatore brothers to heat up rather intensely. Because of this, their already strained relationship since childhood became more hateful, vengeful and competitive. Katherine is Damon's maker and she transformed Damon, as well as his brother Stefan, into vampires by giving both of them her blood, hoping that they would resolve their lifelong rivalry, feud and hatred amongst each other and all of them could live happily ever after together. When Katherine's plan severely backfired and did not go as planned, Katherine felt both guilty and extremely hurt that they would not end their rivalry and hatred with one another. As a result and as a price, Katherine ended up "committing suicide" (which was later on revealed to be her fake death), in order for the brothers to finally come together, resolve their issues and grieve her loss together as brothers, possibly rekindling their love for each other and their brotherhood.

However, her faked "suicide" only caused the Salvatore brothers to hate each other even more than possibly before, and both of them blamed each other severely for her death. Because of this, both brothers ended up fighting each other to their deaths. Damon stabbed and killed his younger brother Stefan, ultimately sealing his fate and triggering his transformation into an immortal. But Stefan also stabbed and killed Damon with the very little bit of strength that he had left, also triggering Damon's transformation into an immortal. Because of the intense hatred, rivalry and threats that Damon gave to Stefan, Stefan ended up leaving his hometown of Florence and decided to get as far away from his brother as possible and also, to ultimately try to escape his dark, painful and hurtful past. Stefan ended up (by some strong unknown force out of his control) randomly settling in a small American town called Fell's Church (which is located in Virginia) in order to renounce his life living in the shadows and in an attempt to live in the light amongst the humans. Later on, Damon inevitably (also by an unknown force out of his control) follows him to the town in attempts to cause chaos and trouble in the small town and also, to endlessly torment Stefan and make his life as miserable as possible.

Appearance

"He (Damon) looked like Stefan. She didn't know how she could have missed that before. He had the same dark hair, the same pale skin, and the same ‘disturbing' good looks. But his hair was straight, not wavy, and his eyes were black as midnight, and his mouth was cruel."

Because of their familial relation, Damon has a strong resemblance to his younger brother, Stefan. Due to his becoming an immortal and therefore eternally youthful vampire in his early twenties, Damon has a young and vital appearance that neither old age nor death could ever touch or alter, just like Stefan. However, there is still an extremely notable difference between the two brothers: while Stefan's handsomeness has a pure, innocent, and overall haunting quality, Damon's beauty is darkly sensual, lustful, and even seductive. He also has a compelling aura and an intimidating demeanor, all of which he is perfectly aware of, and he knew exactly how to utilize all of them to lure the opposite sex to him like moths to a flame.

Though his handsomeness and his charms had given him a huge ego as well as a constant ongoing tendency to be proud and vain, even Elena once marveled at how beautiful he was, and observed that "handsome" was too weak and colorless a word to describe him.

Damon has perfect, facial features: remarkably high cheekbones and a masculine jawline and chin. Due to his being an immortal vampire, he has a pale, smooth, and flawless complexion. Though his hair is less thick and luxurious than Stefan's, Damon's hair was still a marvel to behold: a dark, thick, straight, jet-black shock that fell and curtained over his forehead, and its texture was described as soft, refined, yet luxurious in its own right. His eyes are pitch-black in color, and had been frequently described to be the color of a black bird, or a crow, or the midnight sky. Bonnie also noted many times throughout the series that Damon's eyes were like a deep, dark night sky.

In terms of physique, Damon has a strong, angular, and masculine bone structure: though he is not tall (he is shorter than Stefan), Damon's built is compact, yet stocky and powerful, with broad shoulders and hard lithe muscles in his arms and chest. His sense of style and fashion is as dark and dramatic as his looks, but still masculine and sophisticated: black leather riding boots as footwear, black jeans, a black belt, black sweater or black shirt and a black leather jacket or bomber jacket. However, he has also been seen to wear white T-shirts with a black leather jacket from time to time. Like Stefan, Damon also wore a large silver and lapis lazuli ring on a finger of his left hand, which was given to him by Katherine, in order for him to walk around in the sunlight.

Biography

Born during the 1400's, in Renaissance Italy, Damon had everything he could desire. His father, Conte Di Giuseppe Salvatore was one of the leading men in Florence and Damon was born to wealth and privilege. Being the first born child, Damon developed a close relationship with his mother, however, some years after his birth, Damon's mother fell pregnant again, and Stefan was born. But - due to complications in the pregnancy, their mother suffered an illness and she died shortly after. During his life, Damon made sure that he was always one step ahead of his younger brother. This seems in part to the effect that the death of their mother had on Damon. Their mother died when both Stefan and Damon were very young and since then Damon had been resentful of Stefan. Stefan himself, believes Damon blamed Stefan for their mother's death. The death of his mother also seemed to cause a rift between him and his father that continued into his adulthood. Damon seems to have rebelled against what his family expected of him and also, what was normal at the time at University, instead of upholding the family honor, he indulged in his own selfish pleasures – hunting, hawking and womanizing. After some time, he decided that he had had enough of University and its constraints and went back to the Salvatore Estate, where they had a visitor–Katherine von Swartzschild, who was visiting Italy after a sickness and with whom Stefan had fallen in love with. From what we gather, Damon was intoxicated by Katherine's beauty and wanted to selfishly have her as his own, but also, the opportunity of upsetting his father and Stefan was too good to pass up. Katherine was also enamored by Damon but still deeply in love with Stefan and she could not choose between them. She told both of them her secret – that she was a vampire – and shared her gift with them. Damon was enraged that she would not choose him over his brother and demanded (with Stefan) that Katherine choose one of them. When she would not make up her mind, the brothers left in anger, and the next day they found Katherine's ashes in the garden. Both brothers were upset, and blamed the other. Stefan attacked Damon and they fought each other with swords, eventually Damon's sword slipped under Stefan guard and pierced his heart. When Damon stepped over Stefan, we assume to see whether his brother was dead, Stefan with the last of his strength to kill his brother. The brothers awoke in their tomb a few days later, having turned into vampires by Katherine's blood. Damon ran out into the night, abandoning Stefan and ignoring Stefan's cries. We know very little of Damon after that. From what Stefan says to Elena, Damon became the leader of a group of 'free mercenaries' and enjoyed the power that he gained from killing innocent people. Over the years, Damon became more powerful and frequently threatened Stefan's life. Later, Damon shows up in Fell's Church with Stefan, having been lured there by Katherine and the fight for Elena begins between the brothers.

Personality

Damon is Stefan's amoral, malevolent elder brother. He is the complete opposite of his moral, benevolent brother, Stefan. Personality wise, Damon is described to be sinister, dangerous, generally unkind, uncaring, cold hearted, ruthless and unsympathetic. Some of Damon's other basic personality traits include sadistic, unmerciful, remorseless, careless, cruel, arrogant and impulsive. Damon is a seductively charming and a very dark, compelling character. His history dates back to Renaissance Italy (15th century). He is an extremely vain, selfish, proud and self-absorbed individual and he generally shows an unsympathetic and uncaring attitude towards others, especially humans. Over the many centuries that he has lived on Earth, Damon uses whatever and whoever he can to get what he wants; not caring about who he hurts in the process. Because of his highly vain and selfish personality, Damon often resorts to either the use of manipulation, threats, or direct coercion or force in order to get his own way. However, when Damon does not get his way, he resorts to extreme reactions of anger, envy/jealousy, vengeful and intimidation. He generally acts flippant, arrogant, and constantly plays word games, especially when it comes to dancing around an issue, and even more especially when that issue involves his real, true feelings or his intentions on or about a serious subject (for example, such as his caring attitude towards humans and also, his deep, complex feelings for Bonnie). Damon doesn't appear to take life or anything too seriously (the complete opposite of Stefan, who always thinks before he acts and is always incredibly thoughtful); he seems to have a rather careless, impulsive approach to many things and situations. During his human life, it appeared that Damon was always in the shadows of his younger brother Stefan and because of it, there was always a lot of jealousy towards Stefan on Damon's part due to the constant favoritism towards Stefan by many people, including their father Giuseppe and even his former vampire lover, Katherine von Swartzschild. It was also apparent that Damon didn't care much for his family, his home life and he never cared about responsibilities or ambitions whatsoever; the complete and total opposite of Stefan. Damon never took his academics, studies or school seriously and he was never a scholarly, academic individual by any means. In fact, instead of focusing on his ambitions like his brother Stefan, Damon was more interested in his unconventional hobbies such as gambling, jousting, sword fighting, womanizing, and hunting and hawking. Damon had never gotten along with his father, Giuseppe and he would always get into serious, intense and heated arguments and fights (mostly verbal and physical). Damon has intensely hated his younger brother Stefan since childhood for various unknown reasons in the very beginning of the series. However, it is stated in the series as to why Damon really hates Stefan and has hated Stefan for all of his life since their human lives. Stefan revealed [to Elena] in The Awakening, that Damon was very close to their mother (who's actual name was never revealed), who had died tragically when Damon was a very young human boy a few years after Stefan was born, when Stefan was just a very young infant. It is said in the series, again by Stefan, that Damon's (and Stefan's) mother died because of her giving birth to Stefan had caused her to become extremely weak, vulnerable, sickly and fragile physically and health wise. Stefan believes that because of the death of their mother due to her giving birth to him [Stefan] is where the initial hatred Damon has had for Stefan since childhood had came from. This has caused Stefan to feel extremely guilty because of it, although this was something that happened beyond Stefan's control. Aside from the tragedy of losing his mother as a young boy, Damon has also faced many, various issues of abandonment and abuse (physical, emotional and mental) caused by his father, Giuseppe. Stefan revealed later on in the series that their father used to abuse, hit and physically torment Damon, and that Damon and their father used to get into vicious, violent and stormy fights, mostly physical in nature. Most of the time during Giuseppe and Damon's fights, Giuseppe always happened to be intensely drunk and he would take out his anger and frustrations on Damon—most of the abusive behavior towards Damon stemmed and became significantly worse after Giuseppe's wife (Damon and Stefan's mother) had died. Giuseppe's wife's death had also caused Damon's father to resort to severe alcoholism as well. When it comes to women, love affairs and the opposite sex, Damon is a certified 'Don Juan' and womanizer. He is highly appealing to women and he attracts them like a moth to a flame. Damon has said repeatedly that he is drawn to strong, dominant, powerful and very beautiful women (Katherine was an example of this and also, Elena). In terms of love and romance, he is the complete and total opposite of his brother Stefan and he has a much more different approach to love and romance then him. Whereas Stefan is more of a classic, hopeless romantic who has a rather idealistic, selfless, (but also very passionate) view and approach to love (very much like Romeo Montague), Damon is a very deep, intense, passionate, lustful, sexual and ardent lover. Damon has more of a practical, selfish, dark, strong, and intense view and approach to his love affairs. He is also highly prone to extreme jealousy/envy, possessiveness, obsessiveness, chauvinism and egoistic tendencies when it comes to the opposite sex. Damon is described to be a highly selfish lover and he has the desire to possess women, especially strong, beautiful women. Damon has a rather shallow outlook on what real, true love is. Damon has described his ideal mate as very strong, very physically beautiful, powerful, passionate and strong willed (exactly the same as he describes himself). However, despite his highly intense, sexual and passionate nature, Damon can be highly capable of romanticism, tenderness, compassion and he can be highly affectionate (this tender, romantic side of Damon seems to only be displayed with Bonnie). Although Damon has had many love affairs and sexual affairs with various different woman during his life, he has never experienced real, true love at a much deeper level. Damon has an aristocratic, elegant demeanor and a very pragmatic outlook on life. He believes that the vampire nature is inherently dark, that they are natural hunters and predators who are meant to kill and therefore, he believes that Stefan's attempts to not kill and feed on humans are therefore unnatural. Whereas his brother Stefan feeds on the blood of animals (with the exception of feeding on Elena and her blood), Damon only feeds and lives on the blood of humans and has been living on a human blood diet since his early life as an immortal/vampire. Damon is a highly powerful individual and he is one of the strongest, and most powerful vampires residing on Earth. This is due to all of the consumption of human blood that Damon has taken in over the many centuries due to killing many innocent humans. Damon will take blood from any human and he will kill absolutely any human he wishes and desires, draining them of their blood. Damon has little to zero remorse for impulsively killing innocent humans for their blood; the complete and total opposite of Stefan, who is highly empathetic, thoughtful and refuses to kill innocent humans for their blood or to drink human blood under any circumstances and who even feels guilty for killing an animal for it's blood. Although Damon repeatedly admits to passionately loathing his younger brother Stefan, it has been evident throughout the course of the series that Damon does in fact love and care deeply about the younger Salvatore. Damon has absolutely no problem with killing innocent humans, has no remorse for it and he lacks any kind of a ethical, moral and guilty conscience whatsoever. He kills Mr. Tanner, but claims he did so only because Tanner pulled a knife on him and that it was thus self-defense. He also has no issue whatsoever with threatening and intimidating small children (like Damon did with Margaret, Elena's younger sister). Since Elena gave into his blackmail, it'll never be known whether he really would've gone through with his threats to hurt her little sister, Margaret. He has a significantly very violent history due to his early vampire life, when he started his own mercenary company. Although we are given no glimpses into this mercenary life, it is strongly implied that he did very bad, sinister and immoral things with absolutely no regrets about it, and would have little to no problem with doing them again. Despite his generally dark, sinister and uncaring nature and besides showing some concern and caring feelings for his brother Stefan, he has shown feelings towards both Elena and Bonnie, although Damon's feelings for both of these girls are completely and vastly different in nature. Damon has strongly craved and desired to possess Elena Gilbert mind, body and soul since the very beginning of the series. He has chased her as well as obsessively made advances at Elena against her will (so much so to the point of Damon taking Elena's blood against her will while she was asleep, and also dream manipulating Elena into dreaming about him while she was asleep). Damon is strongly attracted to Elena because of her physical beauty and her strong, commanding, passionate and compelling personality. Damon also strongly desires Elena because she has a highly unusual and mystifying aura due to her being a supernatural human and also, because Elena has a special, unique tasting blood. Damon has strong feelings of sexual desire, lust and passion for Elena and his feelings for Elena are extremely selfish with ulterior motives and intentions. Damon often treats and sees Elena as a prize and as a competition to be won against his brother Stefan, and he has tried to do absolutely everything in his power to try to force and coerce Elena into living in the darkness for all of eternity alongside him as his Princess Of Darkness. However, Elena has repeatedly rejected Damon's wishes and advances and has remained fiercely and stoically loyal to Stefan and her deep, strong, eternal love for him. Whereas Elena wants to live amongst the light with her loved ones, (including her family, friends, and Stefan) Damon wants to live in the darkness and in the shadows for all of eternity. Damon strongly desires unconventionality and the unusual, while Elena strongly desires safety, comfort and stability. Aside from Damon's feelings for Elena and his desire to possess her, Damon has repeatedly shown to have very deep, strong, and tender feelings for Bonnie McCullough, who is Elena's best friend. Damon cares for Bonnie. Their relationship throughout the course of the series has been very complex and under the radar for the most part, but there have been many hints suggesting a secret, strong and undeniable bond between the two of them. Damon and Bonnie have a magnetic, electrifying, intense but also tender connection. However, throughout the series, Damon has been inherently focused and obsessed with possessing Bonnie's best friend, Elena Gilbert body, mind and soul. Damon has seen Bonnie as somewhat childlike and immature. He believes that Bonnie is childish, immature and does not fit his "ideal" of what his type of woman is or should be. Damon has frequently mentioned that Bonnie is physically, emotionally and mentally too immature for him, even though Bonnie is the same age as Elena. Because of Bonnie's outer personality and physical appearance, he often refers to Bonnie as a "woman-child". Due to this, Elena happens to receive more attention from him because Elena possesses all of the outer qualities that Damon is looking for in an "ideal mate". However, despite the many differences and opposite qualities between Damon and Bonnie in terms of outside personalities, Damon still feels an indescribable, deep, strong bond/connection to Bonnie. Despite Damon's over-zealous obsession with Elena, Damon shows to have a weak spot for Bonnie regardless. Bonnie was the very first person to reveal Damon's deeply buried, hidden humanity without absolutely any effort while he was still a vampire; long before Elena ever managed to do so. Bonnie tempers Damon's deep inner darkness and she has effortlessly brought out the softer, gentle, more tender, compassionate side of him; revealing the true inner Damon which has been locked inside and surrounded by thick walls for over five centuries. A direct quote from Nightfall displays Damon's deep, strong and tender feelings for Bonnie: "Contemplating his bedraggled little bird [Bonnie], who was clutching the towel to her instinctively, with her fiery hair plastered to her head and her big brown eyes blinking between strands, something swelled in Damon. Stefan had run to the door to tell the others the good news. For a moment, it was just the two of them: Damon and Bonnie." The quote from Nightfall continues: "The new thing he was feeling had swollen inside his soul until the pressure was almost too much to stand. When Bonnie said "But I'm alive!" with an abrupt 180-degree turn in mood, her heart-shaped face flushing with joy, the fierce pride Damon felt in response was intoxicating. A quote in The Return: Nightfall displays Bonnie's strong effect on Damon without any effort: "And then the swelling thing burst. There was to Damon, a palpable if not audible crack as the stone encasing his soul burst open and a great piece fell away. With something inside him singing, he clutched Bonnie to him, feeling the wet towel through his raw silk shirt, and feeling Bonnie's slight body under the towel. Definitely a maiden, and not a child, he thought dizzily, whatever the writing on that infamous scrap of pink nylon had claimed." The quote continues: "He clutched at her as if he needed her for blood, as if they were in hurricane-tossed seas and to let go of her would be to lose her." Damon Salvatore and Bonnie McCullough Another quote from The Return: "Nightfall goes on to show Bonnie affecting Damon's soul strongly and Damon revealing his deeply buried inner humanity (his "real" self) during a deeply intense moment between them: "His neck hurt fiercely, but more cracks were spreading all over the stone; it was going to explode completely, letting the "Damon" it held inside out—and he was too drunk on pride and joy, yes, "joy", to care. Cracks were spreading in every direction, pieces of stone flying off....Bonnie pushed him away." Damon has frequently saved Bonnie's life on many occasions throughout the series and he is always there for her whenever she needs his help. Damon is also very protective of her and he has refused to harm her, bite her or drink her blood under any circumstances, although the real and main reason for this is not explained or identified. Damon has also been seen to be extremely affectionate, gentle, loving, generous and selfless towards Bonnie and appears to have an unconditional bond with her. Damon is always saving Bonnie and can't seem to stop himself from doing so. He has done this repeatedly throughout the course of the series. Damon had saved Bonnie's life long before the original series started, from a pack of dangerous werewolves, who had come to torment her and then attack her afterwards (After Hours). It was then when Damon and Bonnie inevitably first met unexpectedly and unusually for the very first time. After Damon had saved Bonnie's life, they shared their very first kiss (which was described as incredibly intense by Bonnie herself). After Damon had saved Bonnie and kissed her, he immediately decided to influence her to forget the event as well as their very first meeting. Therefore, to this day, Bonnie is still absolutely clueless about their unexpected (and highly unusual meeting) and she still doesn't remember her very first meeting with Damon alongside the fact that he had saved her life unexpectedly. Damon has been seen to be subconsciously very tender, gentle, nurturing, caring and loving towards Bonnie (he has played the role of 'caretaker' with her, especially in The Return: Nightfall, when Bonnie is deathly poisoned by an unknown toxin from a tree and he uses his own vampire blood as a medicine to help cure her and save her life). On the outside, Damon seems to look at Bonnie as somewhat of an innocent child who is immature physically, mentally and emotionally, even though she is exactly the same age as Elena. For some unknown reason, Damon seems to be ultimately fascinated and drawn to Bonnie's softness, fragility, purity, innocence and maidenly persona. There is a definite indescribable, magnetic, undeniable and strong connection between the two of them, although Elena happens to receive more attention from him. In some ways, Damon has consistently taken his feelings towards Bonnie for granted, although Bonnie tends to not understand this due to her lack of maturity throughout the course of the series. Despite the fact that Bonnie naturally brings out the human side in Damon without absolutely any effort and Damon brings out a stronger, significantly more stable, serious, mature side of Bonnie, they have had a chaotic, up/down, and tumultuous relationship throughout the series. Damon does have a frequent tendency to try to ignore and avoid Bonnie at times. He often tends to be in huge denial when it comes to admitting that he deeply cares for Bonnie, most likely due to his indescribable feelings for her (Bonnie). Bonnie brings out the "true Damon" and his humanity much more than Elena has or ever does. In terms of outer personalities, Damon is the complete opposite of Bonnie in many ways. Whereas Damon is an individual who possesses more of a dark personality, Bonnie has a much lighter personality. While Damon is significantly more selfish, vain, and proud, Bonnie is seen to be more selfless, humble, and modest. Damon is strong, powerful, and dominant while Bonnie is more weak, fragile and vulnerable. Damon is more of an immoral individual, whereas Bonnie is more moral. Damon is more emotionally strong/tough; Bonnie is more emotionally weak/fragile. Damon is more overly confident; Bonnie is more insecure/unsure. Damon is boastful/arrogant; Bonnie is modest/humble. Damon is infamously known to have many various nicknames and pet names for Bonnie, which mostly refer to Bonnie's hair color (which is red-gold in color) but his most notable and favorite pet name to call Bonnie is "Little Redbird". Damon's morality is always and constantly in question—and he is constantly suspected of mischief, causing trouble and committing immoral acts. The intense darkness within Damon is also noticed by Katherine in The Fury. In The Fury, Katherine offers to let Damon live and for him to reign in the darkness and in the shadows with her, an offer both Elena and Stefan strongly believe he will accept, although in the end, he tells her surprisingly to "Go to hell." It was also revealed in The Fury, when Katherine kidnapped Damon, Stefan and Elena and had them tied up and tortured them in order to get back at the Salvatore brothers for what they had done to her, that although Katherine was drawn to Damon and cared for him, Katherine had always loved his brother Stefan much more than she had ever loved Damon. Damon is described as extremely relentless. He never takes danger too seriously and possesses a very dark sense of humor, which Stefan describes as "Damon humor". Damon has very little regard for human life; the complete opposite of Stefan. Damon is regarded as one of the strongest vampires who reside on Earth. This comes from all of the innocent humans that he has killed for their blood and the amount of human blood that he's consumed over the many years. Damon has strong feelings of desire, passion and sexual attraction for Elena, especially in The Fury, that is not understood by others whatsoever. In The Return: Shadow Souls, it is also revealed that Elena also has strong feelings for Damon, who is now in love with Elena, but Elena does not share this knowledge with any of her friends, supporting their beliefs that Damon is ultimately taking advantage of her. For a short while, Damon showed who he really could be like: caring for others, including his own brother, Stefan, whom he states he has hated his whole life, not acting selfish and/or self-absorbed, and acting like a generally caring, helpful person (for example, around Bonnie, whenever she asked for Damon's help). But Damon reverted to his old, darker and 'true' self when Shinichi took his memories from when he had met him until then. Although Damon initially hates and loathes his younger brother, Stefan Salvatore, Damon has shown that he cares for him from time to time throughout the series. Damon shows feelings of passion, desire and attraction towards Elena Gilbert. Damon shows deep, tender, caring (but also highly intense and passionate) feelings for Bonnie McCullough. Damon admits to being scared, fearful and terrified of Meredith Sulez. Damon strongly dislikes Matt Honeycutt, whom he often refers to as "Mutt", instead of his real name Matt. Damon is a masculine name of Greek origin. The name 'Damon' means to "to tame", "subdue" or "subdued". Damon's last name 'Salvatore' means "salvation" or "savior" in Italian. Damon's nicknames include "Prince of Darkness" (which is a self described nickname that he is given to himself) and "Brother" (sometimes used by Stefan Salvatore).

Name

• Damon is a masculine name from Greek origin and means "to tame" or "subdue".

• Salvatore means "savior" and comes from Italian origin.

Powers and Abilities

Damon is a highly powerful and strong vampire with powerful abilities. He is deemed to be significantly stronger than his younger brother Stefan, due to his large consumption of human blood over the many centuries. Because Damon has so much power due to the amount of human blood that he has taken in and consumed from innocent humans over the centuries, he is one of the most powerful vampires throughout the whole series. Damon deems himself to possess "the Old Powers", however it is unclear what they are, Damon once threatened Stefan with them.

• Immortality - Damon has been "alive" since the Renaissance Period during the 1500s and because of his vampirism, he cannot grow old and cannot die or be killed (unless by a wooden stake to the heart). Damon will not age physically and will forever remain youthful with an inhuman beauty, including a youthful complexion which gives him a sort of "dark innocence".
• Super Strength - Being over 500 years old and having consumed large quantities of human blood over the centuries, Damon's physical strength is far superior to young vampires and even to his younger brother, Stefan.
• Super Speed - Damon has proven to be extremely fast, moving faster than Stefan could keep up. It is also seen when Stefan is kidnapped, he could easily outrun Elena when she was a vampire.
• Super Senses - Damon can hear, smell and see clearer and better than the average human. He, like Stefan, can also sense the presence of other minds around him.
• Telepathy - Damon often talks to Stefan telepathically. He continues this with Elena, especially after she is bestowed with angelic powers from the afterlife. Damon has also been seen to use telepathy with Bonnie from time to time.
• Healing - Damon focuses his powers to heal wounds or cuts at an accelerated speed. However, when he is weak or vulnerable, he can't do this properly.
• Mental Manipulation/Persuasion/Influence - Damon's ability to persuade others to do what he wants is usually when he wants to feed. He can also use this power to put others to sleep from a far distance. He frequently uses this power on Elena.
• Shape-Shifting - Damon can turn into a crow and frequently does so throughout the series. He has even turned into a wolf.
• Atmokinesis - Damon is so powerful that he can control minor weather phenomenon around him, often making it cloudy and foggy so he doesn't have to contend with the sun or sunlight.
• Energy Manipulation - Damon is able to manipulate the power around him and within himself. He shows this power in many ways such as shooting lightning out of his finger tips.

Early History

Damon was born in Renaissance Florence, Italy along with his younger brother Stefan to Giuseppe Conte di Salvatore and Contessa di Salvatore. Damon always resented Stefan because their mother had been greatly weakened by his birth and died. Damon has a very rough, dysfunctional relationship with Giuseppe, sparring since Damon's childhood. Whenever his father was drunk and in a temper, he would beat and abuse Damon, scarring his childhood. Damon grew up to be a charming and handsome aristocrat, tutored in his education, but living rebelliously and dangerously. His father was infuriated when Damon announced that he was quitting University. He was also attracted to their guest's, Baron von Swartzschild's, daughter Katherine von Swartzschild . He and Stefan became rivals for her affections and had her chose which one of them she wished for her husband. To their shock, Katherine chose both brothers, but neither could accept this. Katherine was heartbroken and decided to right their rivalry by committing suicide, but this only made the situation worse, and the brothers fought to the death, killing each other with their swords. They awoke in their tombs as vampires, having shared blood with Katherine. Damon joined the Free Companies, drinking the blood of his victims and becoming immensely powerful. He came across Stefan years later and warned him to stay away or Damon would kill him. Stefan obeyed and left Florence for good. Damon always kept an eye on Stefan though and followed him to the New World.

The Original Series

Damon came to Fell's Church to discover that Elena Gilbert resembled Katherine von Swartzschild, his creator, and planned to make her his Princess of Darkness, but she was already in love with his younger brother Stefan. While Elena and her friends, Meredith Sulez and Bonnie McCullough were planning the Haunted House for Halloween, the lights in the school went out so Meredith and Bonnie went to find the janitor, Mr. Shelby, leaving Elena alone. Damon was in the gym with Elena and startled her with his presence. He mesmerized her, temporarily causing her to forget Stefan, but as he leaned in to kiss her, she remembered her love for Stefan, remaining loyal to him and backed away. Frustrated, Damon let her leave when he would tell her what he had come for, but as she reached the door, he said he had found what he came for: Elena. Elena turned around, but Damon was gone. Elena was highly uneasy with this encounter, as not soon afterwards, she came across Damon again. Bonnie had shown Elena the ritual to see who your future husband was and when Elena said "come in" she accidentally invited Damon into the house. Again, Damon used his charm and poetry to woe her, but Elena resisted, angering him. After he left, Elena found Bonnie and Meredith outside with Bonnie's mother's dog; he was dead. Damon went to the Halloween Party dressed as the Grim Reaper. During the party, he killed Mr. Tanner, the European History teacher, draining him of all his blood. Bonnie discovered his death and Tyler Smallwood immediately suspected Stefan as the culprit. Elena had Matt give Stefan a warning to leave, but when she found Stefan, she discovered he was a vampire. Stefan explained who he was to her and about his and Damon's rivalry for Katherine's affections. Elena told him that Damon was behind the attacks and that he was in town too. She accepted who Stefan was and exchanged blood with him. Stefan later went out into the woods and confronted Damon. Stefan warned Damon to stay away from Elena, but Damon attacked him in a violent manner, bit him and drained quite a lot of blood from his little brother. Stefan stumbled away from Damon weakened by blood loss, but then fell unconscious. When Stefan went missing, Elena suspected Damon was behind it all and deeply angered and furious, she ran to the cemetery and called for him to confront her.

Elena called for Damon again and he responded. Initially furious at Damon, Elena demanded to know where Stefan was, but Damon was very unhelpful. Damon also feeds off of Elena while she dreams about the two of them dancing in a ballroom. Later, when Elena, Bonnie and Meredith break into Caroline Forbes house to steal back Elena's diary, when the Forbes return home, Elena is separated from Bonnie and Meredith. She managed to get past the master bedroom and onto the balcony where she attempts to get on the roof when Mr. Forbes comes out. As she tries to climb up Damon pulls her up. While there they trade witty comments until Elena jumps off the roof. Damon catches her and tells her to go home. Later Elena goes home and is introduced to 'Damon Smith' by her future uncle Robert. While at dinner the two again argue under metaphors. When Margret comes in with her new cat, Elena grabs it and throws it at Damon, then leaving dinner. Damon shows up that night, and is furious when he can't come into Elena's room, as part of the house burned in the Civil War. He threatens Margaret, which leads to him exchanging blood with Elena. Damon also appears at the end of the book when he replaces Elena's stolen diary with Caroline's. He is with Judith and Robert when Elena runs off, leading to her death. She also believes the wind that pushes her into the water is Damon for a short time, but soon realizes its far more powerful than him. At the end of the book Damon and Stefan begin their fight, starting as a crow and a falcon, eventually becoming human.

When Elena first awakens as a vampire, Damon is pleased to see she had more blood from him, thus pulling Stefan (who recently fed off of many humans) off of Damon. She then goes off with Damon, who stops her from killing several nearby cops inspecting her death scene. Stefan convinces Damon to meet him at the school. There Elena feeds off of Matt. Damon then takes her (much to Stefan's dismay) to Alaric's attic. Before this though, she begs for her diary, which he gives her. He leaves Elena there and goes off on some business. Leaving Elena confused as to why he didn't kiss her. Later, when the haze disappears and Elena begins to think clearly again, she reflects on how grateful and surprised she is that Damon hadn't taken advantage of her. Damon is also there when Stefan is taken by Mr. Forbes. He turns into a black wolf and gets there the quickest. Even when one of the men there are about to shot him he still attempts to fight. Elena shows up in time however. He also is there when he, Stefan and Elena are all kidnapped by Katherine. Katherine (in a rage over Elena and Stefan) tells Damon they could run away together and that all he has to do is help her kill them. He says "Go to hell" which leads to him nearly being killed. Both Elena nd Stefan are shocked by this and both mention that they thought he would betray them. When Elena is dying she has the brothers promise to take care of each other which they both swear. Damon is vaguely mentioned to cry when Elena dies. In Bonnie's diary, she mentions Damon left soon after the events, and that he shouldn't be surprised to have a shadow, as Stefan was set on keeping his promise.

Six months after Elena's death, Damon lives in Florence, Italy with Stefan, who kept his promise to Elena to always look out for his brother. Stefan finds Damon in his room peeling an apple and scowls him for wooing and feeding on a girl without erasing her memory. Damon doesn't care and as Stefan turns to leave, Bonnie's summoning spell gets through to Stefan, calling him back to Fell's Church. Damon accompanies him, much to Matt Honeycutt, Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez's dismay and shock. The group went to Vickie Bennett's house, and Damon used his Powers to put her parents to sleep for a while. Stefan coaxed Vickie to invite him in the house, and while he tried to get information out of her, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, frightening everyone. Bonnie grabbed at Damon's arm for support, but embarrassingly let go when she saw who it was. Damon however pointed towards Vickie's mirror which was covered with the words "Goodnight Sweetheart". Damon took the first watch in guarding Vickie. Stefan returned for his watch and warned Damon that the town had had enough drama, and while going for something to eat, to erase the individual's memory. Damon started to walk off when Stefan thanked him, but Damon warned him not to expect too much from him. Later, when Damon came to take his watch, he found Bonnie there. She had been startled by him and was immediately taken by him against the nighttime. Damon kissed her but was interrupted by a furious-looking Matt, who told Bonnie to go to the car. Matt got into an argument with Damon but defended himself, impressing Damon in the very slightest. Stefan, Meredith, Matt and Bonnie discovered from Tyler Smallwood that Vickie was about to be attacked and returned to her house only to find her dead. Stefan was extremely furious with Damon for not protecting her and yelled at him until Damon finally punched him in the face. Meredith and Bonnie immediately went to help Stefan while Matt stood between them. Damon decided to leave and warned his brother not to follow. Stefan remained the only vampire who could protect the group, but went to fight Klaus, the very powerful vampire who is an 'Old One', who was behind the attacks and who was also Katherine's creator. Stefan fought very courageously and bravely, but lost the fight and as Klaus was about to kill Stefan, a rod of white-ash wood logged itself into Klaus's back. Damon had returned and yelled at Klaus to stay away from his brother. Klaus ran off and Damon fell at Stefan's side, horrified by his brother's condition. Bonnie offered to feed Stefan her blood to strengthen him, but Stefan refused to break his promise to drink human blood, being called a fool by Damon. Stefan ordered Damon to take the others to safety just as Klaus returned. Damon tried to attack, but Klaus blasted him with lightning, knocking him unconscious and harming him in the process. By Bonnie's cries for help, the spirits of Fell's Church, those who had died in the Civil War, awoke and followed Elena's spirit to the group. The summer solstice had begun. The spirits took Klaus away to a place he would no longer hurt anyone. Elena healed Stefan, Matt, Damon, Meredith, Caroline and Bonnie before being forced to move on. Damon saw Stefan's heart get ripped apart again by her lost, but a sudden blast of energy flashed across the sky and Elena returned to them, alive and human. Everyone was overjoyed but Damon remained distant, offering his jacket to Elena for warmth. Stefan asked why Damon didn't attempt to help Vicki, and Damon told him that he hadn't been invited into the house, so he couldn't even try. Damon turned away and flew off as a crow. Everyone else celebrated Elena's return.

The Return Series

In this book, Damon watches outside Caroline's window as Caroline talks to an independent image of herself. Damon believes the mirror-Caroline to be a supernatural evil force that is playing some sort of trick on Caroline. He feels a sharp puncture on his neck while he watches, which surprises him because mosquitoes do not bite vampires. After the mirror-Caroline goes away, Damon persuades Caroline to let him into her bedroom. He is about to bite her when he realizes that he is being influenced to do so by something, probably the supernatural evil force creating the mirror-Caroline. He rejects it and leaves. Afterwards, he goes around the town of Fell's Church seducing and biting young women and shoplifting. He does not have sex with them because, as a vampire, he is impotent. Vampires only enjoy bloodlust and its satisfaction. Damon visits Stefan and Elena, beats up Stefan and drinks his blood, and demands the return of the leather jacket he gave Elena. Damon seduces a woman named Damaris, who he does not like, and drinks her blood. When he leaves her, he may have turned her into a vampire. He doesn't know or care, but thinks her vampirism may be amusing when her husband finds her. As Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt drive home from the boarding house, they are surrounded and attacked by ambulatory trees, which poison the three humans with their sap. Bonnie uses her psychic powers to call to Damon for help, but even though he is nearby, he does not respond at first. When he does respond, he decides to save the nearly-dead Bonnie. Returning to the boarding house with her, he nearly runs into Stefan, who is driving with the floating Elena tethered to his car like a balloon. Damon realizes that Stefan is actually super-powered because he has been drinking Elena's spiritually super-charged blood, and he was letting Damon beat him up before in order to conceal the power of Elena's blood. Stefan volunteers to save Meredith and Matt while Damon cares for Bonnie. Damon rescues Bonnie by partially undressing her, floating her in a bath of warm water, and then feeding her his blood. Meredith, now fully recovered, threatens him if she finds he has removed Bonnie's panties. Finding that he did not do so, she and the others relent. Bonnie, however, wakes up and accuses Damon of watching while the trees attempted to kill them all. The others reject Damon, who leaves in spite of Elena's incoherent request that he stay. Elena tells the others that she saw a tentacled monster inside Damon the day before. She says that when Damon ignored Bonnie, he was being influenced by a supernatural evil termed a malach. The others agree that a malach may have been affecting Tami and that they will mount a campaign to save the girls of Fell's Church from the new evil. Meanwhile, Shinichi, now identified as a kitsune, and Damon are watching unseen. Damon says that he doesn't want "his" girls—Bonnie and Elena—hurt. Shinichi puts Damon in a trance and encourages the malach inside Damon to grow larger and stronger. Damon tells Stefan that there is a website referring to an organization, the Shi no Shi, that can turn vampires to humans. Stefan is suspicious but agrees to visit Damon in the woods at a particular time to learn more about it. He leaves a note on the computer for Elena and sneaks off while she sleeps. Damon changes the note to read that Stefan has decided to leave Elena for her own good. Elena wakes and believes that she has been abandoned by Stefan. Meredith and Bonnie set out to visit Caroline to see if she is malach-infested. Caroline is scuttling on the ceiling of her living room like a lizard, and she runs under the bed in her mother's room. When Caroline's mother faints, Meredith and Bonnie carry her to her bedroom and deposit her on the bed. The possessed Caroline, or some other force, grabs their ankles. Bonnie calls Damon to help. Damon arrives, frees Bonnie and Meredith, kisses Bonnie, and leaves. In the Old Wood, Matt and Elena encounter Damon, who orders them to kiss and then have sex while he films them with a video camera. Elena at first tries to cooperate, but Matt objects and is tortured by Damon. Elena decides that Damon is not acting like himself. She attempts to rescue Matt by persuading Damon to drive away. However, she leaps out of the speeding car, hoping to make her way on foot to a nearby house. She is badly injured by her jump, however, and she cannot find the house because she is caught in a snow globe trap designed by Shinichi. Damon suddenly comes to himself with vague memories of hurting Elena. He finds Shinichi and threatens to torture him. Shinichi reveals Elena's location and how to cure her injuries, and he leaves Damon with a kitsune key that will magically open any door. Damon creates a door to whatever room he finds necessary to heal Elena. Being in a spot not covered by the fairytale rules governing his ability to tell her the truth, Damon confesses to her that he and Shinichi kidnapped Stefan and that Shinichi and his twin sister, Misao, are evil kitsunes who plan to destroy Fell's Church. The kitsunes are the ones behind the malach, the ambulatory trees, and the sexually precocious and self-mutilating girls. Damon also drinks Elena's blood and realizes that it has amazing powers, including the power to restore a vampire's sexual potency. Damon's possession returns, however, and he attacks Elena, who flees with the key through a series of doors. At last, she directs the key to open a door taking her to someplace the kitsune can't see. When Damon chases her to this place, Elena finds within herself a power she identifies as Wings of Redemption. Rainbow-colored wings open on her back and enfold her and Damon, who screams as he is redeemed from all his sins. He also forgets everything, so Elena opens up her violet-blue Wings of Remembrance, which allow him to remember. Damon realizes that he has been possessed by Shinichi and that he'd been playing the villain, and he calls himself an abomination, kisses Elena's foot, and vows to be her slave. Elena then opens up her white Wings of Purification. Still with the wings open, she causes Damon to lie face-down on her lap and uses her fingernails to pull the malach out of his spine. The malach had originally entered via the puncture in Damon's neck at that Damon mistook for a mosquito at the beginning of the book. Damon stands up and stomps on the malach to kill it. Damon and Elena then concoct a plan to defeat Shinichi and Misao. First, however, Elena makes a side trip to visit Stefan, who is imprisoned in a dungeon in a hell dimension. She makes him drink her blood to regain some of her strength.

Damon helps Elena to save his 'little brother', Stefan. They travel to the Dark dimension. In the way Damon shares few romantic moments with Elena. After going through a lot of trouble Damon finally succeed to save his brother. At the end of The Return: Shadow Souls, Damon was turned into a mortal human, although Stefan's humanity was supposed to be given back, but Damon took it instead by accident and now has to deal with the suffering of dealing with humanity when Damon wants absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever. Damon and Stefan only wish they could switch places now (Stefan as a human and Damon as a vampire).

Since Damon accidentally becomes a human, he decides to travel to the Dark Dimension to become a vampire again but he accidentally takes Bonnie with him. After becoming a vampire Damon and Bonnie returns to Fell's Church safely defeating all the problems in their way. Damon later joins Elena, Stefan and Bonnie once again to go back to Dark Dimension to save the children of Fell's Church, who were going crazy because of the evil Kitsune and attacking their parents. In the dark dimension while saving Bonnie, Damon gets stabbed by a magical tree. Damon dies since he was stabbed through his heart. As Elena couldn't tolerate the pain of losing Damon, she uses her Wings of Destruction to destroy the tree. Along with the tree the starball also gets destroyed. At the end of The Return: Midnight, Damon rises from the death because the the ashes of the starball. He couldn't remember anything but one name, 'Damon'.

The Hunters Series

Elena is happy with her life in Fell's Church with her boyfriend Stefan but she still misses Damon. Damon comes to her dream whenever she falls asleep. After rising from the death, Damon with the help of Sage returns to the earth after gaining all of the lost memories. Damon once comes to Elena's house and tells her about his return but He forbids Elena to tell anybody about his return. He comes to meet Elena at night when she used to tell him about the magical appearance of names of her friends. She also told him about the Phantom theory of Stefan and Mrs. Flowers. Damon then decides to let himself go under the control of the phantom in a plan to understand the Phantom. At the end when Damon goes in complete control of the Phantom, he fights with his brother Stefan who was also in under the control of the Phantom. To destroy the Phantom red candle was used for Damon which represents "Passion". Damon and Meredith fights with the Phantom and with the help of Elena, they take down the evil Phantom which used to draw its power from jealousy. Damon gives Elena his blood to heal her burns, which was caused while destroying the Phantom. After the end of the Phantom, Damon starts to live happily with his brother and Elena.

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The Vampire Diaries

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore

Main article: Damon Salvatore

In the television series, Damon is portrayed by Ian Somerhalder. Damon remains charming and dangerous like his novel counterpart, but has a lighter tone than his novel counterpart.