Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Stefan leaves Mystic Falls with Klaus to save Damon, and Klaus pushes him back toward the human-blood-fueled Ripper life he had tried to escape. The pair hunt werewolves as Klaus tries to build a hybrid army, while Elena and Damon pursue Stefan and look for a way to bring him home. Tyler learns he is sired to Klaus after becoming a hybrid, a bond that complicates his relationship with Caroline. Rebekah and the other Originals enter the struggle, and Stefan eventually steals their coffins to use as leverage against Klaus.
In Mystic Falls, repeated resurrections through his protective ring give Alaric a murderous alter ego. Esther later transforms him into an enhanced Original vampire, intending him to destroy her children, and binds his life to Elena’s. The friends learn that killing an Original also kills every vampire descended from that bloodline, putting their own lives at risk. Meanwhile Stefan works to recover his humanity, while Damon and Elena grow closer as they continue to disagree about how far to go to save him and protect their friends.
The finale leaves Elena to choose between the brothers, and she tells Damon that she still loves Stefan. Matt drives her away from Mystic Falls, but their car goes over Wickery Bridge; Elena signals Stefan to save Matt and then drowns. Alaric, whose life is tied to hers, dies too. Meredith reveals that Elena’s brain hemorrhage was treated with vampire blood, and Elena wakes in transition. Klaus appears to have been killed by Alaric, but Bonnie’s spell has moved Klaus into Tyler’s body, preserving Klaus’s life and the vampires descended from him.