Rudy Hopkins

Rudy Hopkins
Biographical information
Born	October 2, 1970 (Mystic Falls, Age 41)
Status	Deceased
Occupation	Mayor of Mystic Falls (Formerly)
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Family information
Family Members	Sheila Bennett † (Ex-mother-in-law) Abby Bennett Wilson (Ex-wife) Bonnie Bennett (Daughter)
Supernatural information
Cause of death	Throat Slit
Killed by	Silas
Physical appearance
Height	6'2"
Hair color	Black (shaved)
Eye color	Brown
Appearance
Played by	Rick Worthy
Episode Count	7
First seen	After School Special
Last seen	True Lies (archive footage)

“	It is – it is truly great to have an end-of-summer tradition. My daughter has her own end-of-summer tradition of over-indulging in the cotton candy. Now she's off traveling the world and sending her old man postcards from all her great adventures. Family is one of our core values in Mystic Falls. It's what this block party celebrates.	”
	— Rudy in I Know What You Did Last Summer

Rudy Hopkins was the mayor of Mystic Falls, the ex-husband of Abby Bennett Wilson and the father of Bonnie Bennett. Not much information is known about him except that he gave his daughter his ex-wife's last name, and that according to Bonnie, he doesn't want to get involved or care to know anything about witchcraft.

Rudy was a relative of the Bennett Family.

Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series

Season One

He was first mentioned in 162 Candles by Bonnie, when Sheila asked if Bonnie was leaving and Bonnie replied that her father doesn't like her staying at Sheila's house too long. Sheila replied that it's probably because he thinks she's filling Bonnie's head with "witchy juju." He was also mentioned in Bloodlines when Stefan came to see Bonnie at her grandmother's house saying that he said that Bonnie might be here.

Season Two

He was again mentioned in Rose, by Bonnie to Jeremy. She said that her father does not care about witchcraft after Abby Bennett Wilson left him.

Season Three

In The Ties That Bind, Abby mentioned that even though she abandoned Bonnie, Bonnie still had her father and grandmother, not knowing that Sheila died.

In Do Not Go Gentle, Jamie went to Bonnie's house after the 1920s decade dance and asked Bonnie where her father was. She replied that he's out of town for a while.

Season Four

Rudy during the memorial

In After School Special, during Carol Lockwood's Memorial, Rudy was preparing to take on the position of the new mayor and gave a speech. Later at the Mystic Grill, Sheriff Forbes was giving him a file on the murder of Carol Lockwood and he said he already knew it was a vampire. Sheriff Forbes then asked him if he was up to it and told him the others before him said no for a reason and he told Sheriff Forbes that he said yes for a reason and then told her his reason just walked in (Bonnie). 

Bonnie meets up with her father.

When Bonnie walked in the grill, he told his daughter that Mystic Falls could use a little more rules and that he wants to protect the town. Bonnie said that she can protect the town herself. Rudy replied that although he is aware of Bonnie's powers, he is still her father and said that it means he gets to protect her. Later he is seen talking to April Young with Sheriff Forbes on the murder of the Founder's Council and April told them that her father, Pastor Young, was brainwashed by Professor Atticus Shane to kill himself along with the other 11 founding members.

Shane and Rudy talk about Bonnie.

In Catch Me If You Can, Rudy Hopkins ordered Sheriff Forbes to take Professor Atticus Shane into custody and be brought somewhere they would question him of the Pastor killing himself along with the 11 other founding members. Rudy watched the video feed of Sheriff Forbes questioning Professor Atticus Shane, then Bonnie came to see her father and asked him why he had Shane arrested. He told his daughter that Shane is responsible for manipulating Pastor Young to kill himself along with the other 11 founding members, and told her that Shane confirmed it to Rebekah, who told April, who told him. Bonnie then asked her father for a few moments alone with Shane, which he accepted. When Bonnie began using her Expression magic on Shane, he rushed to the room and tried to convince his daughter to stop, but was unsuccessful and told Shane to convince her which he did. Shane told Rudy that with his guidance, his daughter would become the most powerful witch in the world, but without it, she would become a time bomb. Rudy later had a talk with his daughter about her losing control over her powers and that she needed help with it and told her she needed it even more when she said she was fine.

In A View to a Kill, he was confronted by his daughter over the phone for apparently having dumped vervain into the towns water supply. He has apparently been establishing several new anti-vampire protocols, like cancelling town events, much to Bonnie's chagrin.

In Graduation, he handed out the diplomas to the seniors who graduated including his own daughter.

Season Five

In I Know What You Did Last Summer, he was still unaware of Bonnie's death

Rudy killed by Silas.

that happened before Graduation, but believed she was at the Grand Canyon. He was killed by Silas (as Stefan) and Bonnie, unseen by the non-medium population of Mystic Falls, screamed over his body in horror.

In Gone Girl, he was mentioned by Bonnie who is lighting candles for him since she couldn't attend his funeral.

In Home, his death was avenged when Bonnie lets Silas get sucked into oblivion.

Personality

He seemed to be very stern and focused on the politics of the town. He seemed to be very serious and cared about his daughter's well being, which is why he didn't wanted her to get involved in the business of vampires.

Physical Appearance

Rudy was an African American in his early 40's. He stood at 6'2, had black, shaved hair and brown eyes.

Relationships

Bonnie Bennett

Main article: Bonnie and Rudy

Bonnie and Rudy.

The relationship between Bonnie and Rudy was first shown in After School Special. Upon becoming the new mayor of Mystic Falls, Rudy has made it his priority to protect Bonnie, much to her disapproval, and thought that she was in need of help with controlling her magic. Though despite their rough patches in the past episodes, they loved each other unconditionally and it appeared as though Rudy feared losing Bonnie to magic, like he had lost Abby.

Other Relationships

• Rudy and Abby (Ex-Spouses/Former Allies)

Appearances

Season One 162 Candles (Mentioned) Bloodlines (Mentioned) Season Two Rose (Mentioned) Season Three The Ties That Bind (Mentioned) Do Not Go Gentle (Mentioned) Season Four After School Special Catch Me If You Can A View to a Kill Because the Night Graduation

Season Five I Know What You Did Last Summer (Death) True Lies (Archive Footage) For Whom the Bell Tolls (Mentioned) Handle with Care (Mentioned) Gone Girl (Mentioned) Home (Mentioned) Season Seven Somebody That I Used to Know (Mentioned) Season Eight You Made a Choice to Be Good (Mentioned)

Name

• Rudy is an American name. In American the meaning of the name Rudy is "Abbreviation of Rudolph": Famed wolf.
• Hopkins is an English, Welsh and Irish patronymic surname. The English and Welsh derivations mean "son of Hob". It derives from the Germanic warrior name Hrod-berht, translated as "renowned-fame".

Trivia

• He was originally presumed to be the son of Sheila Bennett, since both Sheila and Bonnie share the same surname and last names are usually passed through fathers, but this was proven untrue when it was shown that Abby was in fact a witch and Sheila's daughter.
• Although apparent that he knew about the existence of witches and magic, Bonnie claimed that he had no interest in it.
• In After School Special, it was revealed that he knew about the existence of vampires prior to him taking his position as mayor, however it was never explicitly stated whether or not he knew about the existence of any other supernatural creatures.
• He is the third mayor whose child is a supernatural creature. He is also the third to be killed by a supernatural.
• With confirmation human souls are found in the dimensions, he either found peace or went to Hell.

Gallery

• Silas cuts Rudy's throat
• Silas slits Rudy's throat

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See also

Template:VD Characters