Damon Salvatore is Stephan Salvatore’s older brother. He was 24 years old in 1864 when he became a vampire. Damon fought in the Civil War for the Confederates but left some time after Catherine Pierce arrived to stay at the Salvatore House. This doesn’t help his already strained relationship with his father, Giuseppe, who clearly prefers Stefan’s obedience to Damon’s relaxed and rebellious demeanor.
However, Damon has a good relationship with his brother, until both of them get involved with Catherine. When the town begins collecting vampires, Damon trusts Stefan to help protect Catherine, but instead, Stefan mistakenly trusts their father, which leads to Catherine being arrested. They are shot and killed by Giuseppe but return with a transition. Damon is immediately upset over the role of Stefan in what happened, and the fact that Catherine has given him her blood as well since telling Damon that it was only him. Damon believes that Catherine is dead, and he is determined to let himself die. However, Stefan persuades him to drink human blood, and Damon vows to give Stefan never misery.
Because he does not approve of Stefan’s behavior after becoming a vampire, Damon leaves him behind and they have no connection in nearly fifty years. After Damon hears that the vampires in the church were alive, she has just dried out, in a tomb beneath the building, he feels hopeful that she will eventually be reunited with her. As such, he is not really happy to be a vampire. It simply uses humans to feed them and that’s it. Upon meeting Sage in 1912, he learns he can be a fun vampire. Damon tries to teach the same to Stefan but he ends up as a thief and Damon doesn’t care enough to do anything about it.
When Damon debuted in Mystic Falls, he claimed he’s messing with Stefan as well as doing something else, but he’s, of course, not saying what it is. What is clear, however, is that Damon is just as attracted to Elena Gilbert as Stefan was due to her looks like Catherine and yet he doesn’t act like her. Unlike Stefan, though, Damon still kills and feeds on humans, which clearly doesn’t get along well with Elena. He also uses Caroline Forbes to do some of his bidding and forces her to different times, using her for sex and blood. Stefan is able to lock Damon but it doesn’t last long and as soon as Damon releases him, he kills their cousin, Zach, then attacks Donovan Vicky. Soon he turns her into a vampire, but she doesn’t make the transition well and kills.
For the first time, Damon shows Elena and Stefan some true humanity, offering a favor to Elena and forcing Jeremy Gilbert not to remember the circumstances of Vicky’s death. He gets along well with Liz Forbes so he can infiltrate the founders’ board and be aware of everything they know about vampires. Lexi, Stefan’s best friend, was killed over this.
Although he apologizes for it, he thinks it’s necessary. Ultimately Stefan tells of his entire plan, which is to bring Catherine back. It was revealed that Damon made a deal with Emily Bennett to help keep Catherine safe in 1864 and in return, he would protect her bloodline. However, Emily takes possession of Bonnie’s body and destroys the necklace needed for the ritual because she does not want to release other vampires. Once she leaves Bonnie’s body, Damon bites her, but Stefan stops her.
Damon finds Elena after her car crashes and assists her. He also takes her with him to Georgia, where he will meet a charming acquaintance in order to hopefully learn a new way to open the grave. Although Elena does not wear her necklace, Damon does not force her for her experience to be real. When Lexie’s friend is about to kill Damon, she begs us not to. Damon, finding out that Brie is the one who raised him, tore her heart after she told him there was indeed another way to open the grave.
When Stefan and Elena agree to help him get Catherine back in order to force him to leave Mystic Falls, Damon is hesitant to trust them. He puts more confidence in Elena than Stefan, so when he betrays him, he is shocked more than the first role in it. Damon forces Elena to drink his blood and threatens to turn her into a vampire if Stefan does not deliver the Gremoire, which is necessary for the spell.
Damon makes a deal with Anna because they both want to open the grave. However, once entering the cemetery, Damon learns that Catherine is not there. When he confronts Anna, she tells him the harsh truth – Catherine wasn’t there in the first place, and she knows Damon’s whereabouts but she never bothered to call him. Damon takes it badly and slips back into his ways of feeding innocent girls, even though he’s not killing them.
Realizing that he had attacked Alaric’s wife, Isobel, Damon mocked him with this information without explicitly saying he had killed her. When Elena mentioned that Alaric’s wife was also her mother, it looks like Damon really regrets what he said. It shows, not for the first time, that he has a weakness for Elena. When Alaric appeared to attack him, Damon was feeding him, saying that he had slept with Isobel and then turned into a vampire because she asked. Alaric goes to kill, but instead, Damon kills him and shows no remorse for it. However, he was surprised when Alaric returned due to the ring he wore.
Despite recent differences, when Stefan was taken and tortured by vampires in the cemetery, Damon was determined to do everything in his power to get his brother back, and went so far as to seek Alaric’s help. He also does his best to keep Elena from getting involved, not wanting to put her in danger.
When John Gilbert arrives in town and appears to know too much, Damon kills him. John is back, however, and he has the same type of ring as Alaric. Although he always tried to make Stefan look like him, Damon seems genuinely worried when Stefan starts drinking human blood again because of how badly he is controlling him. With Elena’s help, the two push Stefan into the lower cell after he attacked an innocent girl. When Stefan returns to normal, Damon tells him the real reason he always “hated” him – Katherine was only supposed to turn Damon on, not both.
When Isobel appears in Mystic Falls and wants Gilbert’s machine, and she threatens Elena and the townspeople, Damon confronts her and threatens her himself. In front of Elena, Damon and Stephan, Isobel claims Damon loves Elena. He doesn’t confirm it, but he doesn’t deny it either, and it leads to him intentionally flirting with Elena and trying to seduce Stefan with mean notes. He also told Stefan that John was likely Elena’s real father, given the information they had.
While Damon does not trust Bonnie to cancel Gilbert’s device, he is willing to trust that Bonnie will do it for Elena, and sincerely thanks Bonnie for doing so. This turned out to be a hoax, and Damon almost died. He made it come alive thanks to Stefan, but not before having to watch, helpless, while John kills Anna.
Damon goes to Jeremy and delivers the bad news about Anna. It also tells him that it’s actually easier to be a vampire because you can stop your feelings. Outside on the balcony, Damon meets whoever he thinks is Elena. He thanks her for thinking it is worth the savings, and has been surprised by his own behavior in trying to save the city, considering that it was originally partly to avenge. He kisses her, then leaves when Gina Summers interrupts her.
At the hospital later, Damon wants to talk to Elena about the kiss but she denies it happens. Soon he realized the truth – it was Catherine, not Elena, who clearly disappointed him. What hurts him the most is the fact that Elena expressed such surprise that he thought she would kiss him.
Damon tries to convince Stefan to fight after telling him about the kiss between him and Catherine. When Catherine appears in the mansion, they start kissing, but Damon turns away, wanting to know the truth. Catherine told him she had never liked him, and that he had always been Stephan. Hearing this clearly breaks his heart, after he’s been in love with her for over a hundred years. He goes to Elena, drunk, and calls her a liar for pretending there is nothing between them. After he kissed her, Elena basically told him the same thing that Catherine did – despite her interest in Dimon, it would always be Stefan.
Unsurprisingly, this causes him to explode emotionally. Damon knocks Jeremy’s neck, kills him, and then leaves. He quickly expressed remorse for his actions and admitted that he had not seen the ring on Jeremy’s finger. When Elena uses him to get information about Katherine, he is offended and says that she and Katherine “have more in common than just” their looks.
Knowing both Tyler Lockwood and his father are influenced by Gilbert’s apparatus despite not being vampires, Damon is curious about what that means. His curiosity grows when Mason Lockwood shows up to the city and he appears to have some supernatural strength and agility. With Alaric’s help, the gang discovers that the werewolves are real and that a bite from one of them can kill a vampire. Damon is determined to kill Mason because he’s a werewolf, but things don’t go as planned. Mason tells Liz about Damon and Stefan as she picks them up. However, Caroline saves them, and after Liz is considered a true friend, Damon decides to just erase her memory instead of killing her.
When Elena is kidnapped by Trevor and Rose, Damon goes with Stefan to save her even though they know they can die. After being rescued, Elena spontaneously runs to Stefan, which clearly hurts Damon. Later, when he reinstated her contract, he confessed his love for her. Show how far he got, Damon also says he doesn’t deserve it, but Stefan does. Then Elena was forced to forget the confession, after he simply needed to say it and made her hear it, but not remember it.
He develops affection for Rose, although he does not admit it out loud. When a werewolf (Rose) bites in his place and goes through a painful death, Damon feels guilt and sadness. He also shows his capacity for empathy and reflection when he gives Rose a happy dream about which she returns home. While Damon hangs her, tears stream down his face. As if the pain of losing her isn’t enough, Elena pushes him to acknowledge his feelings, which also pushes him to the edge. He goes out that night and discusses the murder of an innocent girl he encounters, while he confesses out loud for the first time that he really misses being a human being. In the end, Damon kills Jessica, claiming that it can’t be what “she” wants [Elena].
He seems to feel remorse when he sees a report on Jessica in the news. He also turns away from Andie Star, a friend of Jenna who wanted to meet him, thinking that it was bad to be around women. However, at the end of the episode, Damon called Andy and they took a shower together. He expresses his feelings, how he loves a girl he cannot be with and how he likes to kill people because it is his nature. He forces Andy not to be afraid of him, and then feeds on her.
Damon enters into an actual relationship with Andy, although he forces her not to tell anyone anything related to the vampire. Damon goes to Elijah and tries to figure out what he intends to do, but is overcome and dropped. In the palace, Damon is jumped by a group of werewolves, including Gul, who tied him up and tortured him. Elijah saved him. After being given a weapon that can kill an original vampire, Damon goes to Catherine to see if this is true, and she confirms it. She begs him not to do that because killing Elijah means she’s trapped in the grave forever, but Damon doesn’t care.
He came up with a plan to kill Elijah that night during a dinner party. While he is about to get rid of it, Alaric stops him after learning from Stefan and Elena that he will also kill Damon. He is upset, realizing that John was trying to kill him, but he gets over it by just Alaric kills Elijah instead. When Damon realizes that Elijah is gone – because they removed the dagger – he rushes to the lake to tell Stefan and Elena, who has killed Elijah. They brought him back downstairs where Stefan reminded Damon that he had killed Lexi. Damon recalls a memory in which Lexie told him his hatred would boil, but he didn’t listen, instead telling her with Stefan’s help.
When he climbed into his room, he was shocked to find Catherine bathing. Reveals that she was lying before about the coercion that was put on hold if the original was killed. They are stuck with her at the moment because she claims she wants to help with Klaus, even though no one trusts her. Damon finds the place of the dead witches, which is necessary for the plan. He ends up killing Luca when he tries to nullify Ilya. Later, he reluctantly acquiesces to Catherine as she says she has a plan to stop Jonas from taking revenge.
When Catherine tries to seduce him, Damon shuts her off without hesitation due to his obsession with her. Damon is unable to enter the house in the area where the witches died because they render the daylight ring useless. He finds the Moonstone has disappeared from his hiding place, and he and Stefan try to find Catherine, but they cannot. They got the idea from Isobel to sign the mansion to Elena so she would have to invite the vampires inside. When Damon realized that Klaus had Katherine, he showed little anxiety despite being on her now.
Damon shows real concern for Bonnie when he discovers that she will die if she uses all of the witch’s power against Klaus. He came up with a plan to get everyone – Klaus included – to believe Bonnie was dying using her power. Soon he tells Elena the truth, which causes her a huge relief. Stefan is angry with him for the stunt, but Damon says his path will keep Elena alive even if there is some collateral damage. He even says she can hate him as long as she’s alive for doing it. When Elena apologizes for slapping him, Damon tells her he will always choose her.
When she resurrects Elijah and wants to talk to him, Stefan trusts her but Damon wants to stop her. He does his own job and goes to see Catherine, and he gives her a plant to prevent further coercion from Klaus. Stefan mocks Damon’s relationship with Andy and Damon tells him he must be happy, and Andy is distracted from what he really wants. Stefan has finally shown his anger towards Damon because he has fallen in love with Elena, too. He says she will never respect Damon, and the two are beaten. Elena and Elena boycotted them, and the former asked them both to apologize. Stefan commits, but Damon tells them all to go to Hell.
Damon is completely against the plan that Elijah came up with, and he does not trust its success, but no one is on his side. In a moment of desperation to ensure Elena’s survival, Damon shoves his blood down her throat. After Stefan rushes in, they have a brief squabble and Damon ends up stabbing him with a wooden tool, then leaves. He goes to the tavern and when Alaric appears, he admits that he has sinned. After Klaus arrives to tell them not to try anything stupid, Damon already has a plan. He goes to Catherine and discovers that Caroline and Tyler are being used in rituals, and he goes to the rescue. While he’s ready to let Tyler die, Damon Caroline commits and saves him, too.
When Tyler begins his transformation into a wolf, Damon jumps in front of Caroline to save her and is stung. He goes to introduce himself to Klaus as a vampire at the sacrifice but due to the bite, Klaus cannot use it. He is later upset when he finds out that Stefan has gone to replace Gina, thinking his brother has gone to clean up the mess. When he and the others get there, Damon carries Elena’s body to safety after helping his brother. He is very relieved when he finds out that the spell performed by Bonnie was a success and Elena is still human when she comes back to life. At Jenna’s funeral, Damon lets Stephan get into the fact that he was bitten by a werewolf and asks him not to tell Elena.
Damon apologizes to Elena for feeding her his blood and asks for forgiveness. She says she needs time and tells her he understands it, despite the fact that he has very little time left. He returns home where he has one last drink of alcohol, pulls off his ring, and enters the sunlight. Damon is ready to die there, having seen what happened to Rose and he doesn’t want to go through with it, but Stefan stops him and seals him in the basement. When Alaric appears to “console”, Damon introduces things he’s done that would make Alaric hate him and is confused about why the man wouldn’t. Soon Damon begins hallucinating his interactions with Catherine in 1864. In one, Elena appears and tells him that he shouldn’t love Catherine, and that he chose to use her.
He escapes from the basement thanks to a mistake from Liz and eventually finds Elena at the Gone With the Wind event. Damon believes she is Catherine and blends the present with the past. In the past, he remembers the first time he willingly feasted on Catherine’s blood, knowing that it would cause them to stay together forever. In the present, he takes it back, and Damon feeds on Elena, saying it’s the only way for them to be together forever. Elena can reach him and then help him get back home and to his bed. Damon apologizes for everything bad he did with her and finally reconciles with the fact that no one forced him to love Catherine, and that this was his choice. He also admits that it was his choice to turn and he ended up blaming Stefan.
Damon told Elena that she would have loved him in 1864 and that she was comforting him with her words saying she loved him now. She gave him a kiss and thanked her. This is when Catherine appeared carrying Klaus’ blood, a werewolf bite treat, and had him drink some of it. She gave them the news about Stefan and also admitted that she loved the two brothers, not just Stefan. Damon seems surprised, probably by both news.
Damon spends the next two months tracking down Stefan and Klaus – he walks through certain accounts of death in the news – even though he doesn’t tell Elena, nor does he want to raise her hopes. When Stephan kills Andy to prevent Damon from searching for him and Klaus, Damon abandons his brother. He was forced to tell Elena the truth, especially after she found out what he was doing, trying to make her understand that Stefan was gone. However, he does not mention Andy or see Stefan. Damon collapses and tears apart Stefan’s room.
When you come to us with an idea to find Stefan, Damon doesn’t want any part of it, truly thinking his brother is gone, at least for a long time. He was forced to comply later when she and Alaric were in the mountains with a group of werewolves. They encounter a hybrid car and get distracted by Damon so that Alaric and Elena can reach safety. Stefan appears and may save him from the mongrel, then tells Damon to keep Elena in Mystic Falls, and he won’t be back. That night, Damon mentioned what happened to Elena, revealing a renewed sense of hope in getting his brother back. Damon also forces Elena to admit that she was worried about him, and he says he wants her to remember how she felt about him during Stefan’s absence.
Damon finds out from Katherine that Stefan and Klaus are in Chicago. He takes us with him, and shows Stefan’s diary entries from that era (the 1920s), trying to make sure she’s ready for what she might find. Damon says he’s always been watching over the superhero Stefan but he didn’t want to be around him. Damon brings Elena to Stefan’s old apartment and shows her a wall of names, which is a list of Stefan’s victims. He leaves her there to go check out Gloria’s pub. Damon resented himself when Elena told him that Klaus was about to find her. They go to the bar and Damon gets distracted by Klaus so she can talk to Stefan. Damon says how much more fun he is than Stefan and he will become a better partner in crime. Klaus ends up killing him.
After this experience, Damon and Elena both try not to think about the problem, and it looks like they are getting close, too. When Alaric tells Damon that he needs to hold back Elena, Damon is furious about it. He is distracted by the fact that Bill Forbes, who he thought forced him to leave town, appears at the council meeting, still knowing everything. Damon tells Alaric and Elena about it, then states that he will have to kill Caroline’s father. Alaric tries to stop him so Damon presses his neck. He feeds on Bill a little, having lost human blood, but Caroline interrupts him. Elena screamed at him but Damon screamed, tired of trying to make him more like Stephan. Catherine appears just in time and Damon heads out with her out of town.
The two ask Jeremy to call Anna, who in turn tells them about Mikael, a vampire who is chasing other vampires. Damon returns to Mystic Falls alone and uses this knowledge to scare Klaus out of town. He apologizes for Elena for leaving her and promises not to do it again. With Stefan’s humanity shut down, Damon became more in control. He gives Elena advice on how to hurt a vampire, and also approves her plan to deposit Stefan in the basement. Damon flirts with him to do just that, which seems to make Elena a little jealous, and he notices. He also realizes that Tyler is now Klaus’s native.
Mason Lockwood returns temporarily and torments Damon a little. Damon imposes an uncertain apology on himself and the two work together to find something that can help with the originals. However, Mason disappears, and Damon has to contact Alaric for help – and this time he gives a genuine apology. Once the icons are found, Damon realizes that Mikael is the original father. It also frees Stefan and tries to make him remember what freedom is now that Klaus forced him. Mikael appears and Stefan finds a loophole in coercion when Mikael threatens Damon’s life. Damon considers his plan a success because he realizes that Stefan still refuses to let him die even if it is assumed that he has no humanity.
Damon devises his own plan to kill Klaus that doesn’t include Stefan, so Mikael gets him out of the way. Damon also makes sure that Elena is safe, and turns her into Catherine. However, just as Damon is about to kill Klaus, Stefan interrupts him and stops him. Damon is broken and confused and Elena must console him. When Stefan vows to take revenge on Klaus, Damon tells him to be smart about it, and tries to play the role of a peacekeeper. In compliance with Elena’s desires, Damon forces Jeremy to move to Denver so that he doesn’t have to deal with these things. Although Elena feels guilty about it, he reassures her that she is just trying to keep her brother safe. Damon kisses her afterward, and she doesn’t turn away, which instantly puts him in a better mood than usual.
Damon ends up dislodging Elijah and temporarily cooperating with him. When Esther, Cole and Finn come back to life and Esther wants to meet Elena alone, Damon is determined not to let her go. Elena gets Stefan to cut his neck to keep him out of the way, and Damon is far from happy about it.
The whole situation became more difficult for him with the return of Stefan. Due to his high stress level, Damon is controlling Elena more than usual. When he said he’s angry with her because he loves her, Elena tells him that maybe that’s the problem, which is what Stefan had told him a little earlier. Hearing that he cares a lot is a big hit to Damon, who has always been the one who is said to not care enough (except when it comes to Catherine). After all this time people tried to get him to embrace his humanity, Elena and Stefan threw it in the face. In response – but also to save Matt Donovan’s life, he attacks Damon Cole and punches his neck, killing him temporarily. He walks to make them think he’s just an impulsive person.
Later that night, he arrived with Rebekah. When Elena finds out and looks upset, Damon basically surprises her, and she’s tired of trying to fulfill her expectations and getting nothing in return when Stefan is around. However, when her life is threatened, Damon and Stephan team up to save her. They are forced to turn Bonnie’s mother, Abby Bennett, into a vampire. To decide who does, they flip a coin. Despite Stefan’s loss, Damon takes on the burden himself and does the deed, later saying that being the bad guy suits him better, that way Elena won’t hate Stefan. Damon also notes that Stefan has returned to his animal blood diet.
The two ask Jeremy to call Anna, who in turn tells them about Mikael, a vampire who is chasing other vampires. Damon returns to Mystic Falls alone and uses this knowledge to scare Klaus out of town. He apologizes for Elena for leaving her and promises not to do it again. With Stefan’s humanity shut down, Damon became more in control. He gives Elena advice on how to hurt a vampire, and also approves her plan to deposit Stefan in the basement. Damon flirts with him to do just that, which seems to make Elena a little jealous, and he notices. He also realizes that Tyler is now Klaus’s native.
Mason Lockwood returns temporarily and torments Damon a little. Damon imposes an uncertain apology on himself and the two work together to find something that can help with the originals. However, Mason disappears, and Damon has to contact Alaric for help – and this time he gives a genuine apology. Once the icons are found, Damon realizes that Mikael is the original father. It also frees Stefan and tries to make him remember what freedom is now that Klaus forced him. Mikael appears and Stefan finds a loophole in coercion when Mikael threatens Damon’s life. Damon considers his plan a success because he realizes that Stefan still refuses to let him die even if it is assumed that he has no humanity.
Damon devises his own plan to kill Klaus that doesn’t include Stefan, so Mikael gets him out of the way. Damon also makes sure that Elena is safe, and turns her into Catherine. However, just as Damon is about to kill Klaus, Stefan interrupts him and stops him. Damon is broken and confused and Elena must console him. When Stefan vows to take revenge on Klaus, Damon tells him to be smart about it, and tries to play the role of a peacekeeper. Damon ends up dislodging Elijah and temporarily cooperating with him. When Esther, Cole and Finn come back to life and Esther wants to meet Elena alone, Damon is determined not to let her go. Elena gets Stefan to cut his neck to keep him out of the way, and Damon is far from happy about it.
The whole situation became more difficult for him with the return of Stefan. Due to his high stress level, Damon is controlling Elena more than usual. When he said he’s angry with her because he loves her, Elena tells him that maybe that’s the problem, which is what Stefan had told him a little earlier. Hearing that he cares a lot is a big hit to Damon, who has always been the one who is said to not care enough (except when it comes to Catherine). After all this time people tried to get him to embrace his humanity, Elena and Stefan threw it in the face. In response – but also to save Matt Donovan’s life, he attacks Damon Cole and punches his neck, killing him temporarily. He walks to make them think he’s just an impulsive person.
Later that night, he arrived with Rebekah. When Elena finds out and looks upset, Damon basically surprises her, and she’s tired of trying to fulfill her expectations and getting nothing in return when Stefan is around. However, when her life is threatened, Damon and Stephan team up to save her. They are forced to turn Bonnie’s mother, Abby Bennett, into a vampire. To decide who does, they flip a coin. Despite Stefan’s loss, Damon takes on the burden himself and does the deed, later saying that being the bad guy suits him better, that way Elena won’t hate Stefan. Damon also notes that Stefan has returned to his animal blood diet.
With attacks and murders of founders’ council members, Damon recalls something similar that happened in 1912, when he met Sage. With attacks and murders of founders’ council members, Damon recalls something similar that happened in 1912, when he met Sage. He enlists Stefan’s help in trying to find out who did it at the time and who is doing it now. At the same time, Damon tries to teach Stefan that it is better to control his intake of human blood than to outright refuse to drink it. Damon admits that Stefan is the only person he has, so he wants to help him as much as he can. When Sage arrives in town, Damon gets her help to reach Rebekah’s head and figure out what she wants from him. He plays on her need for attention and the fact that she has low self-esteem, and he makes her sleep with him. During Rebekah’s exit, Sage enters her head and transmits the information to Damon.
He checks his family records and discovers that the Wickory Bridge was made of white oak, which means there’s a lot to kill the originals. He pretends to be upset when Sage tells Rebecca about it, then reveals to Stefan that he still has the sign of the bridge. Damon, Alaric, and Stefan make a bunch of bets from him and give them to the gang, devising a plan to get whatever original is possible. However, Rifka felt contemptuous, and took Damon and tormented him for hours.
He checks his family records and discovers that the Wickory Bridge was made of white oak, which means there is a lot to kill the originals. He pretends to be upset when Sage tells Rebecca about it, then reveals to Stefan that he still has the sign of the bridge. Damon, Alaric, and Stephan make a bunch of bets from him and give them to the gang, devising a plan to get whatever original is possible. However, Rifka felt contemptuous, and took Damon and tormented him for hours.
Although she is tortured, Damon insults her for being so hungry for attention that she buys his act that he really wants it. After his release and discovering that Alaric’s surrogate ego hid the last stake, Damon and Elena head to Denver to get Jeremy while Stefan stays behind. To try to establish a relationship between Jeremy and Rose, Damon mentions the dream he gave her while she was dying, and Elena is surprised. Later, she asked why he never mentioned it to her, and Damon says it wasn’t about her. He admits that he doesn’t want to live up to anyone’s expectations, so he sometimes hides the good part of him.
Elena kisses him but later after a confrontation with Kol, she turns away. Damon becomes momentarily confused, especially when Elena says that she doesn’t know how to feel about him despite her past actions. Then he realizes afterwards that she thought he was going to spoil her and push her away. Damon tells her he won’t get any easier on her this time.
When Damon realizes that Alaric was not taking the necessary herbs to suppress his shifting ego, he believes Alaric needs to be killed. When Alaric decides not to complete his move, Damon offers to slash his neck so nothing goes wrong. Then they share one last drink and talk to each other. Damon almost cries when Alaric falls asleep, but he shows restraint when he replaces the bottle cap rather than breaking the bottle itself, similar to Damon’s style. After Bonnie overthrows him and feeds Alaric her blood, Damon brings her to Gilbert’s house to tell the others what happened. Klaus mocks when he can’t get in and misses hitting them with fence posts. Alaric has Damon and Stefan’s throats cut, but then they must help him kill Klaus.
While on the road with Stefan, Damon reluctantly promises to leave town if Elena chooses Stefan since Stefan promised the same if she were to choose Damon. When Jeremy tells them he has taken Elena to the hospital, Damon scolds him. Stefan returns home while Damon continues his career. Damon disagrees with Elena in making the deal with Elia and tells Stefan that he wouldn’t have let her do so. His philosophy, as mentioned earlier, is that he would rather Elena hate him and be alive than let her do something stupid. Damon deposits Klaus’ body in a warehouse. Bonnie gave Klaus a moment and then Alaric appeared and cracked his neck. When he wakes up, Rebekah arrives and the two try to extract Klaus’ body from there. However, Alaric is able to take off Klaus and Rebekah. Damon calls his brother, hoping they are not Klaus’ bloodlines but are prepared to do so. Say goodbye to Stephan.
When Damon receives the news from Elena that she will choose Stefan, he is not surprised, but he is sad. When Alaric comes to kill him, he practically welcomes that. “Maybe if you and I met first …” Damon remembers Elena’s words and the fact that they met first. Damon thought it was Catherine on Fire Night and talked to her. Then he told her that what she wanted was “love that consumes you, passion, adventure, and even a little risk.” Then Damon forces her to get what she wants and to forget about their meeting. The memory gives Damon renewed hope and he fights Alaric. Soon after, the Alaric beings die.
Damon is collapsing now more than any other time on the show as he holds Alaric in his arms. “You’re not dead,” says Damon, the line that references both Alaric and Elena. He not only loses his close friend, but he also loses the woman he loves. Damon quickly returns to Mystic Falls and Meredith tells him she gave Elena the blood of a vampire to heal early on, and Damon realizes that Elena will be in transition.
Damon was known for his irony, rush and passion. Although Damon has threatened Stefan’s life several times, he never goes through it because at the end of the day, he loves his brother and does anything for him. It is also gradually allowing more and more of his humanity to be shown. While Damon is more impulsive than others, he also tends to think a lot and come up with the best plans. Unlike his brother, Damon would rather Elena hate him and be alive than let Elena make her way if that puts her life in danger. Because of this, it is easy to see that if Damon had found her and died in the water instead of Stefan, he would have died dead but Elena would still be human.
