“ | The truth is... I've never loved anyone the way I love you. But that's not true for you. And now, by some miracle, you get the chance to go back and make things right with Caroline. I know you never meant to hurt me. I even know that you loved me in your own way. And maybe if things had been different, if the world had been kinder to us... I could've been the love of your life, too. | ” |
This is the former romantic relationship between the cured vampire/human doppelgänger Stefan Salvatore and the vampire-witch hybrid Valerie Tulle. They were having a child together before Lily Salvatore's ex-lover beat their unborn child until Valerie miscarried the fetus. They both want revenge on Julian for destroying any possibility of a normal future together. Their relationship is now complicated due to his feelings for Caroline, in present day.
However, due to Stefan and Caroline growing apart romantically, Valerie and Stefan begin a romantic relationship again (after decades of being separated) while on the run from Rayna Cruz. Caroline moves on to pursue a romantic relationship, and later engagement, with Alaric Saltzman.
Valerie later ended their relationship after realizing that Stefan didn't love her the same way as she loved him because he was still in love with Caroline. She asks him to be happy before leaving to start a life of her own.
Early History[]
Originally, Lillian Salvatore, Stefan's mom, asked and assigned Valerie to see how Stefan was doing after Lily's supposed-death. They met at a fair and immediately took a liking to each other. Julian tried to suppress their growing friendship and even romance, but their relationship eventually turned sexual. Later on, they planned to run away together, but Julian would not allow her to go. Julian beat her until she miscarried Stefan's conceived-child and forced her to come back with him to London, England. Stefan was left behind to believe that Valerie just used him and eventually moved on to Katherine Pierce when the doppelgänger came into Mystic Falls.
Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series[]
Season Seven[]
In Age of Innocence, Valerie originally tells her story of meeting Stefan to the Heretics' prisoner, Caroline Forbes. At the end of the episode, she reunites herself with Stefan by placing a cloaking spell on herself to tell him what really happened to her and that she didn't abandon him on purpose. Stefan is oblivious to this after Valerie explains her story to him on the bench they met by in Mystic Falls.
In I Carry Your Heart With Me, Caroline convinces Stefan, after a night together, to spend the day with Valerie to, "clear the 19th century drama." He eventually listens to her and spends the day with her and Damon trying to track down Julian. After they find him, Valerie attempts to kill his preserved body. However, the rest of the Heretics stop them. As revenge for Lily taking Julian away from Valerie to awaken/bring back to life and for Lily disowning Valerie for killing Oscar and trying to kill Julian, Valerie spitefully tells Damon, in front of Lily, that it was Lily's idea for Kai to link Elena and Bonnie's lives together and send Elena in a lifelong slumber until Bonnie dies. Damon was infuriated by this and almost kills Lily, but Beau comes to defend Lily and they take Julian away successfully to resurrect him. After Beau sent a typhoon-like blast in the warehouse they battled in, Damon, Valerie, and Stefan were blown into unconsciousness. When Stefan wakes up, he makes sure Damon is okay and doesn't go after Lily before he sees if Valerie is okay. While Stefan wakes Valerie up, she reveals to him finally that's she was carrying Stefan's child. Valerie also told Stefan that Julian is the reason for her miscarriage of their child. Stefan is sent into shock as they drove back to Mystic Falls together. Stefan later promises Valerie that they'll get to their revenge on Julian for killing their unborn child. Stefan decides to keep their unborn child a secret from everyone, including his girlfriend Caroline, which Valerie appreciates.
In Cold as Ice, it is shown that they are together (romantically, once again) in a flash forward and Valerie is worried for him when he briefly, but affectionately tell is her that he will be okay rescuing his brother and Caroline. However, in present day, they are still friends who attended their motherly figure's funeral together. They both tried to keep Damon from ruining the funeral procession with his sarcasm.
In Postcards from the Edge, Valerie assists Stefan and Caroline when Caroline is showing deadly side effects while being pregnant. After helping Caroline, both Stefan and Valerie extract their revenge on Julian for killing their unborn child. Valerie cloaks the three of them and performs a pain inflicting spell on Julian while Stefan shares his last words with Julian. After Stefan mocks his impending death, he stakes Julian in the heart, killing him once and for all.
In I Would for You, Stefan and Valerie follow Freya Mikaelson's directions of trying to obtain an herb to fix Stefan's marking to Rayna Cruz's sword. However, a witch knocks them out and later learns that they are good vampires. However, the witch informs them that the herb was stolen. They continue to assist each other while Stefan is still forced to go on the run.
In Days of Future Past, they already have been on the run together for a year. They are both on vacation while finding a way to cure Stefan's scar from Rayna Cruz's sword. After meeting with a man from the Philippines, they stare at the night sky. The sexual tension between them began to suddenly build up and this made them give in to their temptations to kiss each other. They shared the first kiss they had after nearly a century.
They both pursued a second kiss under the stars, at the beach. This signals a start in their romantic relationship, which Stefan later tells Damon about when the older brother is in contact with Stefan. It is also revealed that Valerie kept the secret of his Hunter's scar because she didn't want to lose him to Caroline or Damon.
In One Way or Another, Valerie allies herself with Stefan's friends and allies to bring him back. Although Valerie still loves Stefan, she broke up with him being she knew that his feelings for Caroline Forbes surpassed his feelings for her. Stefan wished her a good life and Valerie decided to venture out into the world to start a new life on her own.
Quotes[]
Dating Timeline[]
First Relationship:
- Start Up: Age of Innocence (7x03)
- Break Up: Age of Innocence (7x03)
Second Relationship:
- Start Up: Days of Future Past (7x16)
- Break Up: One Way or Another (7x18)
- Reason: Valerie realized that after being with Stefan for three years, he was still in love with Caroline and she broke up with him to pursue a normal life, and for him to pursue Caroline once again.
Trivia[]
- Stefan lost his virginity to her 6 years, after his mother's "death".
- Valerie was jealous of Caroline's romantic relationship with Stefan when she found out about their relationship.
- They were having an unborn child together.
- Stefan decided to honor Valerie's (and now his) secret that they were having an unborn child together.
- He lied to Caroline for Valerie, though Caroline later found out the truth.
- Valerie kisses Stefan in a flashforward, which indicates that they are romantically together in 2016.
- They both get their revenge on Julian for killing their unborn child by having Stefan stake him while Valerie performs the spells necessary for assisting Julian's execution.
- In Days of Future Past, they share their first kiss since 1863 under the stars on a beach in the Philippines.
- Damon reveals that she knew about the cure for Stefan's Hunter scar and still didn't tell Stefan for three years.
- Valerie ended their relationship in One Way or Another after realizing Stefan was still in love with Caroline.