Doppelgänger (Vampire Diaries)

For the trope see: Doppelganger (trope)

Related terms:	Shadow Self
See also:	Doppelganger (trope), Evil Twin
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The entire Vampire Diaries series revolves around the concept of doppelgängers. At the beginning of the show it's revealed that the protagonist, Elena Gilbert looks exactly like a 500 year old vampire Katherine Pierce. It was later revealed that Katherine wasn't the first doppelgänger - Tatia was one too. The three of them are often refered to as the "Petrova Doppelgängers" - from Katherine's (and presumably Tatia's) original last name.

Elena, Katherine, and Tatia are three doppelgängers of Amara, a character first introduced in season 4, when it was revealed that Stefan Salvatore was a different doppelgänger, one of Silas. During that season, the show introduced an alternative term for doppelgängers; Silas explains that they were created by the universe as Silas and Amara's Shadow Selves, so that there would always be a version of them able to die.

The blood of a doppelgänger (while in human form) has powerful magical properties. It was used to create the first vampires (with Tatia's blood), and it was used to break The Sun and Moon Curse cast on Klaus (with Elena's blood). After Elena and Stefan (both vampires at that point) became the last "living" doppelgängers, their blood also gained magical properties and it was later used by the Travellers.

Doppelgängers in Fandom

The concept of doppelgängers is such a huge and integral part of the show's mythology that it isn't even considered to be a trope within the fandom. In All Human AUs, Elena and Katherine are often portrayed as twin sisters, or cousins. The fact that they look alike is rarely (if at all) even mentioned in fanfics, as it's always implied, given the source material.

Further Reading

• Speculative Meta: Doppelgangers and The Mystery of Mystic Falls by swirlsofblue, A meta on doppelganger lines, founding families and their secret societies, and Mystic Falls.