Top 20 Vampire Diaries Plot Holes You Never Noticed

#20: The Inconsistent Rules of Sire Bonds

A sire bond is a powerful connection in which a vampire is compelled to follow the orders of the vampire who turned them. There are also hybrid sire bonds, as seen with Tyler and Klaus. Those work differently. The vampire sire bond is rarer, because it only happens when a human is turned by a vampire they love. In season 4, we learn that Elena is sired to Damon. By this logic, wouldn’t Damon be sired to Katherine? You know, ‘cause he was in love with her before she turned him in 1864? Sure, the bond can be broken when a vamp turns off their humanity switch. But wouldn’t it resume once the humanity switch is back on? One way or another, something’s off here.

#19: The Hunter's Mark & “The Five”

“The Five” is a group of skilled vampire hunters with supernatural abilities. Members, including Jeremy eventually, are marked with the Hunter’s Mark. This tattoo urges Jeremy to kill vampires. After he erases an entire bloodline with the killing of Kol, the mark becomes a map leading to the Cure to immortality and an ancient vampire named Silas. Why was that killing a necessary trigger? The dying witch who created the whole concept of The Five and the Hunter’s Mark did it so someone could cure and kill Silas in the future. Why make it so complicated? Anyway, Silas gets out. Then, The Five storyline largely vanishes. After introducing a new threat that even had Klaus worried, we would’ve thought there’d be more to it.

#18: Klaus’s Failed Hybrid Army Mission

We wouldn’t have taken Klaus for someone to give up on his vision so easily. He wanted to build a hybrid family—like, he really wanted it. And to be clear, we do see him go through a lot of effort to make it happen after he conducts a dark ritual to become the first true hybrid. After Klaus ultimately creates that group of hybrids, Hayley later manipulates him as part of a magic scheme by telling him they are trying to break their sire bond with him and turn on him. Klaus quickly lashes out by going on a hybrid killing spree. We wouldn’t think he’d act on emotion like that. A hybrid army then became much less of a priority for him.

#17: Doppelgangers

The way the doppelganger concept is presented in “The Vampire Diaries” is very interesting, especially when it comes to the dynamic between Elena and Katherine. They’re so connected, not just in terms of appearance, but their supernatural significance and history with the Salvatore brothers. Yet, obviously, they’re extremely different. Once the show started introducing more doppelgangers, it became a little harder to follow and seemed over the top. Turns out there were two other Petrova doppelgangers, also. Oh yeah, and Stefan has two doppelgangers. Who knows why Stefan only has two doppelgangers to Elena’s three? These revelations didn’t really lead to all that much either. Look, the doppelganger concept was mostly really well done, but it just went a bit off track.

#16: The Katherine & Cade Dynamic

We meet Cade, a.k.a. the Devil in the eighth and final season of “The Vampire Diaries.” Katherine ends up in hell back in season five, so it’s implied these two were getting to know each other off-screen. Katherine is manipulative, unpredictable, ruthless, and smart. Love her or hate her—and you probably hate her—that girl knows how to play someone. But for her to pull off what she does with the Devil is pretty wild. Turns out she had him wrapped around her finger, leading to her rise to become the “Queen of Hell.” How did she do that? We don’t get the details. Beyond this whole dynamic being undeveloped, it also felt a bit out of place considering past seasons of the show.

#15: Why Hasn’t Jeremy Come Back to Town?

We get it: Elena feels it’s best for her brother to leave with all the crazy, dangerous stuff that’s been going down for quite some time. That makes perfect sense. And it makes sense that Jeremy finally leaves in season 6. Of course, he doesn’t go to art school, like most of his friends and family think, but rather moves away to hunt vampires somewhere else. He had a prominent role for so long. So at least maybe show us glimpses of what he’s up to these days! There’s still plenty of vampires in Mystic Falls. A vampire hunter like him didn’t get the urge to come back? Even more notable, where is Jeremy when Elena wakes up from her coma? That’s his sister!

#14: Graduating Without Seemingly Being in School All That Often

With all these awesome, supernatural storylines in “The Vampire Diaries,” we get it that school can be an afterthought at times. But, at the same time, there are plenty of school events the characters attend. Are these kids getting grades based on their participation at those? Characters like Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline are often dealing with supernatural stuff off school property, too, leaving a question at times: shouldn’t they be in school right now? There aren’t all that many classroom scenes, nor scenes of them talking about school either, considering they are high-schoolers after all. Still, the teens graduate at the end of season 4. And the following season, Elena and Caroline go to college together. Maybe Mystic Falls High School just has low requirements.

#13: Most of the Town Being Oblivious to the Supernatural

Besides members of the Town Council, there are very few who know what the heck’s going on with these vampires. As things become more apparent as the series continues, that largely remains the case. We get that vamps use their compulsion to make humans forget them and all that, but it’s a bit hard to believe there aren’t at least a few individuals outside the main characters who connect the dots. Can’t these people sense something way out of the ordinary? Even like a local human conspiracy theorist who’s on to something, there’s not one of those in Mystic Falls—or in a nearby town—who unravels the truth? No way. You’d think the Salvatore bros, given their ages, would know more about the supernatural, too.

#12: The Varying Degrees of the Sun’s Impact on Vampires

Vampires can’t be out in the sunlight—or else they’ll burn. In “The Vampire Diaries,” that’s unless the vampire has a magic Daylight Ring, as both Damon and Stefan do. It’s a pretty cool concept. But how fast vampires burn and whether they survive the sunlight is inconsistent throughout the series. In season 2, Damon takes off his ring, and places himself in the sunlight. He slowly feels the burn before Stefan ultimately saves him. Similar things happen to other main characters. Yet, other vampires prove to catch on fire faster. And in season 7, after vampire spirits are released from the Phoenix Stone, apparently the bodies they occupy don’t need rings or any protective jewelry. Why not?

#11: “Sleeping Beauty” Waking Up

The series finale of “The Vampire Diaries,” titled “I Was Feeling Epic” is without a doubt epic. It’s intense, emotional, and powerful. And speaking of powerful, how about the one and only Bonnie Bennett? Since the season 6 finale, we had known the tragic connection between her life and Elena’s, as Kai cast a spell putting Elena in a comatose state until Bonnie dies. Apparently it’s an irreversible spell—that’s what we’re told. But fast forward to the series finale, and it turns out that’s not true. It’s lovely to see Elena awake, and not at the expense of Bonnie’s life. We know Bonnie is a top-tier witch. But we don’t really get answers as to how she broke this unbreakable spell.

#10: Damon’s Pilot Powers

In the "Pilot" episode, Damon opts for a rather theatrical approach when greeting Elena and tormenting Stefan. One of the things this seems to establish about the older Salvatore brother is his ability to control crows and fog, but these powers never show up again. Perhaps they were considered a touch too goofy, especially since Damon was presented as an intimidating villain in Season 1's early days. In the books, Damon can shape-shift into a crow and – to some degree – manipulate the weather, which explains why the TV show briefly references these skills.

#9: Silas Predating the Originals

When the Mikaelson family is first introduced, a lot of fuss is made over the fact they are the first immortals. Later on, the Originals' claim to fame is retroactively lessened when an even older immortal, Silas, is introduced. Silas' legacy is not treated as breaking news by the vampires, although the same cannot be said for the audience. Now, in all fairness, this plot hole was somewhat fixed by the Originals being rebranded as the first immortal vampires, while Silas – despite sharing many similarities with vampires – is simply described as an Immortal.

#8: Vervain Is Inconsistently Available

"The Vampire Diaries" replaces garlic with the herb vervain as a substance that not only weakens vampires but protects humans from their influence. In Mystic Falls, the availability of vervain tends to vary depending on the needs of the plot. On occasion, finding the substance requires hitting an herb dealer; other times, vervain literally flows through the town like water. In general, it was more scarce during the show's earlier seasons, when used in more basic ways; but later episodes explored new ways to consume the herb, which required a more readily available stash.

#7: Where’s Jenna? Not on the Other Side

The Other Side is purgatory for vampires, witches, and all sorts of supernatural creatures. Well, all of them except Jenna. Elena's aunt was turned into a vampire and killed shortly after, but Jenna never once appears on the Other Side, even when Elena herself is stuck in the dimension. True, Jenna's death was unique among vampires, as she was turned and killed within the same day and didn’t harm a human. In the 20th episode of season 3, Esther explains that Jenna was at peace and managed to avoid the Other Side. But it feels like a biiit of a patch!

#6: Older Vampires Are Supposed to Be Stronger

Seniority is a big deal among vampires, with physical strength being directly proportional to the undead creature's age. However, this only holds true in a vacuum, as apparently a substantial-enough emotional kick can level the playing field. The fact that anger is enough to shrink the power gap between newborns like Caroline and Elena and centuries-old vampires like Damon and Katherine renders this whole "strength equals age" rule moot. There should be a limit to the power of emotions, otherwise, fights are decided by who wants to survive the most.

#5: Bonnie Failing to Notice Katherine Didn’t Die

The Anchor is essentially an entity that serves as the gateway to the Other Side, so that the ghosts supernatural creatures can pass through. In Season 5, Bonnie is forced to be the new anchor, so the witch actively feels the death of every ghost entering the Other Side. When Katherine dies later in the season, Bonnie has no excuse for not knowing that the doppelganger did not pass through to the Other Side. Bonnie would have felt Katherine dying, an experience that the witch had endured enough times to know what to expect. Even though Katherine had been turned into a human, she was still a doppelganger.

#4: Logan & the Invitation Rule

One traditional weakness of vampires is that they have to be invited into a home, although killing the owner of the residence is one way to nullify this protection. Probably the most baffling instance of the invitation rule on "Vampire Diaries" has to do with Logan, who – after being turned into a vampire – cannot enter his own home. The invitation rule does seem to be a bit of a stickler for documentation, so a possible explanation is that Logan's name is not on the property's deed? Still, talk about adding insult to injury.

#3: Stefan Not Saving Both Elena & Matt

For a normal human, saving one person trapped in a sinking car is an impressive feat, but a vampire with super strength should do better. In a case of history repeating itself, Stefan twice has to decide whether to save Elena or somebody else, with the vampire never once even considering option three and saving both parties. Stefan has proven to be a pretty powerful vampire, who could toss humans around like rag-dolls after just being turned, so this did not have to be a Sophie's choice-type moment.

#2: Bonnie’s Magic

Bonnie is arguably the most important character in "The Vampire Diaries," with the witch proving invaluable whenever a plot thread needs a bit of magic to move along. Especially in the later seasons, Bonnie's powers become nearly god-like, so much so that she manages to face off against the literal devil, and later on uses magic to eradicate Hell. Considering that Bonnie spends a decent chunk of the middle seasons without any powers, the character's sudden mastery of magic comes as a rather shocking surprise. More than anything, Bonnie is frequently reduced to a character who exists solely to help everyone else.

#1: The Cure’s Inconsistent Rules

The Cure is the holy grail of "The Vampire Diaries," a unique item that reverses immortality. Once ingested, the recipient begins to age normally, but the Cure can be lost if all of the owner's blood is drained, which will cause them to age rapidly. Essentially, only one immortal at a time can be cured. Funnily enough, this changed once Elena and Stefan were the ones exchanging blood; suddenly, a needle's worth was enough to transfer the cure. Silas may just have been lying about needing to fully drain the owner’s blood, but that doesn’t explain how in Season 8 Bonnie knew that a single shot would be enough.

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