Damon Salvatore is a fictional character In L. J. Smith's novel series The Vampire Diaries. He is portrayed by Ian Somerhalder in the television series. Damon is one of the two main protagonists along with Stefan Salvatore, especially in the story's main setting, Mystic Falls.
Damon and his brother Stefan (Paul Wesley) formed a love triangle with a female vampire named Katherine Pierce (Nina Dobrev) whom they were both compelled to love when they were still human. A century after Damon and Stefan leave Mystic Falls, they both return and meet Elena Gilbert (also Nina Dobrev), a mortal who looks exactly like Katherine. Another love triangle ensues; first Elena and Stefan are together, and later Elena breaks up with Stefan after she develops feelings for Damon.
The Damon-Elena-Stefan love triangle evolves differently in the tv series than it does in the novels, with different character backstories and plot twists, but Damon and Elena are the final couple in both the tv series and the novels.
Character development
Casting
Ian Somerhalder was cast as Damon Salvatore at the end of March 2009, six months before the premiere of the series.Somerhalder joins 'Vampire Diaries' by Michael Schneider of Variety, March 25, 2009 The initial casting call for the character required an actor in his early- to mid-twenties to play a "darkly handsome, strong, charming, and smug vampire who can go from casual and playful to pure evil in less than a heartbeat."Meet The Cast – Vampire Diaries Casting Calls by Matej Jelic of Spoilers Guide, June 17, 2009, Somerhalder had not read the books until filming began.Ian Somerhalder talks 'Vampire Diaries' by Mandi Bierly of Entertainment Weekly, September 17, 2009, Before Somerhalder casting, 400 actors auditioned for the role, including Matt Czechry, Sebastian Stan, and Jesse Bradford, while the network wanted Travis Van Winkle.
Television series Background
Damon Salvatore is a vampire, turned by Katherine Pierce in about 145 years prior to the series' debut. He is the son of late Giuseppe Salvatore, ripper Lily Salvatore and older brother of Stefan Salvatore. Damon is portrayed as charming but cruel, taking pleasure in killing and feeding on humans, while Stefan satisfies his vampiric hunger by feeding on animals.
Season 1
In the first season, Damon appears as the older brother of Stefan Salvatore, and plays the main antagonist.The Vampire Diaries episode "162 Candles" aired November 5, 2009. He has brief moments of compassion, however, such as erasing Jeremy Gilbert's memory of vampires and removing his "suffering" so Jeremy can get his life back on track.The Vampire Diaries episode "Haunted" aired October 29, 2009. Damon apologizes for turning Vicki Donovan into a vampire and admits it was wrong.The Vampire Diaries episode "" aired May 13, 2010. Damon admits to Elena that he came to the town wanting to destroy it but actually found himself wanting to protect it. The two begin to kiss passionately before getting interrupted - it is later revealed that it was not Elena he kissed, but Katherine Pierce. Later in the season, it is also implied that he actually feels human emotions, such as pain and love.
Season 2
In season two, both Katherine and Elena tell Damon that they love Stefan, not him. As an expression of his anger, pain, and hopelessness, he snaps Jeremy Gilbert's neck, not realizing he is wearing a ring that reverses the damage done by supernatural creatures or forces. Jeremy survives because of the ring, but Damon's action incurs Elena's wrath and pain. When Bonnie also discovers it was his blood that enabled Habiba Forbes to become a vampire, the two declare their hatred for him, leaving angrier than ever.The Vampire Diaries episode "Katerina" aired November 11, 2010. After saving Elena with Stefan in episode 8 of season 2, Damon shows up in Elena's room with the vervain necklace that was ripped from her neck earlier in the episode. Before he gives it back, he tells Elena that he is in love with her, and because he is in love with her, he cannot be selfish with her. He also states that he does not deserve her, but that his brother does. He kisses her forehead and says he wishes she could remember this, but she cannot. Elena blinks and her vervain necklace is back around her neck, Damon is gone and her window is open with the curtains blowing. She had no recollection as to how the necklace was returned to her.
In one episode, Damon joins Rose to find out why the originals are after Elena; after some time and clever banter, the two have sex, stating that they could rid themselves of emotion. However, when Rose, Damon's old friend, is mortally bitten by a werewolf, he gives her the memory of her life prior to becoming a vampire and helps her remember how good it felt to be able to walk and feel the sunlight, without it burning her. Damon puts her out of her misery, leaving him to mourn the death of his one of few real friends. Elena and Damon then begin to mend fences, and Elena gives him an affectionate hug to help comfort him after Rose's death. Damon begins showing another side of himself in small acts that help build what once was an impossible friendship between Elena and himself after she clearly stated that he has lost her forever. After he spares Caroline's mother, Elena says how that was the person she was once friends with. It is hard for Damon to accept that he has to change to have her in his life, which he explains to Andy Star, his compelled girlfriend a few more episodes in. Damon is bitten by Tyler the werewolf at the end of the season. Elena takes care of him, and right before he is cured by the blood of Klaus, the original hybrid, she gives him a "goodbye" kiss, because she is sure he is going to die. She forgives him, telling him that she cares for him through grief-stricken tears.
Season 3
In the third season, Damon helps Elena in bringing his brother, Stefan, back to Mystic Falls after Stefan becomes Klaus' henchman. The arrangement transpired after a bargain for his blood that would cure Damon of the werewolf bite he had received from Tyler. At first, he is reluctant to involve Elena in the rescue attempts, employing Alaric Saltzman, Elena's guardian, instead of as Klaus does not know that Elena is alive after the sacrifice which frees Klaus' hybrid side. However, Elena involves herself, desperate to find Stefan. Damon, though hesitant at first, is unable to refuse her because of his love for her. He also points out to her that she once turned back from finding Stefan since she knew Damon would be in danger, clearly showing that she also has feelings for him. He tells her that "when (he) drag(s) (his) brother from the edge to deliver him back to (her), (he) wants her to remember the things (she) felt while he was gone." When Stefan finally returns to Mystic Falls, his attitude is different from that of the first and second seasons. This causes a rift between Elena and Stefan whereas the relationship between Damon and Elena becomes closer and more intimate. A still loyal Elena, however, refuses to admit her feelings for Damon.
In 'Dangerous Liaisons', Elena, frustrated with her feelings for him, tells Damon that his love for her may be a problem and that this could be causing all their troubles. This incenses Damon, causing him to revert to the uncaring and reckless Damon seen in the previous seasons. The rocky relationship between the two continues until the sexual tension hits the fan and in a moment of heated passion, Elena – for the first time in the three seasons – kisses Damon of her own accord. This kiss finally causes Elena to admit that she loves both brothers and realizes that she must ultimately make her choice as her own ancestress, Katherine Pierce, who turned the brothers, once did. An assessment of her feelings for Damon, she states this: "Damon just sort of snuck up on me. He got under my skin and no matter what I do, I can't shake him."
In the season finale, a trip designed to get her to safety forces Elena to make her choice: to go to Damon and possibly see him one last time; or to go to Stefan and her friends and see them one last time. She chooses the latter when she calls Damon to tell him her decision. Damon, who is trying to stop Alaric, accepts what she says and she tells him that maybe if she had met Damon before she had met Stefan, her choice may have been different. This statement causes Damon to remember the first night he did meet Elena which was, in fact, the night her parents died - before she had met Stefan. Not wanting anyone to know he was in town and after giving her some advice about life and love, Damon compels her to forget. He remembers this as he fights Alaric and seems accepting of his death when Alaric, whose lifeline is tied to Elena's, suddenly collapses in his arms. Damon is grief-stricken, knowing that this means that Elena has also died and yells, "No! You are not dead!" A heartbroken Damon then goes to the hospital demanding to see Elena when the doctor, Meredith Fell, tells him that she gave Elena vampire blood. The last shot of the season finale episode shows Elena in transition.
Season 4
Damon starts season 4 at Elena's bedside after finding out about her dying with vampire blood in her system, causing her to start the transition to Vampire. Damon decides to first try to kill Rebekah with a White Oak Stake, yet she overpowers him. Rebekah is shot at through the Window and Damon escapes.
Later in part of a plan with the Sheriff and Meredith Fell, Damon uses Matt as bait to draw out the deputies and Pastor Young. After dispatching the deputies, Damon decides to take out some aggression on Matt and is about to snap his neck when stopped by the new vampire Elena. After Elena and Stefan go hunting on animals the next morning and Elena has her first feed on a deer she pukes the blood out. Meanwhile, it seems a new vampire hunter is in town. Elena goes to Damon for help, he pulls her with him to the bathroom and makes her drink his blood because he says "You need warm blood from the vein, so maybe that'll do the trick." He says it is personal and Elena wonders why but no answer was given. She drinks his blood but pukes hours later. When Stefan finds out Damon has to feed Elena his blood he is very angry and hits Damon who just got in a fight with the vampire hunter.
Damon has decided to leave town, but through the early episodes of Season 4 seems to be looking for reasons to stay. Meredith Fell seems to be one who convinces him in 'The Rager' to stay to help Elena with her transition to Vampire. Indeed, a renewed conflict over ideology and what sort of Vampire Elena will become drives, Damon and Stefan, apart.
The Five, shows Damon tasking Stefan with learning more about the Vampire Hunter, Connor while Damon decides to accompany both Bonnie and Elena to College. This trip is ostensibly about teaching Elena the 'hunt': how to catch, feed and erase. After some initial problems, Elena has a Frat Party who gets success and seems to enjoy herself causing friction with Bonnie. She leaves the party and later states that she does not want to be like Damon. In the next episode, she begins to believe that Stefan is lying to her and takes things into her own hands to kill the vampire hunter who is holding her brother, Matt, and April captive. She does and begins to suffer from hallucinations at the end of the episode. After asking Stefan why he wants to cure Elena, Damon tells him that he loves Elena as a vampire or human.