Ever since 2009, fans accept been divided over which Salvatore Elena should have ended upwardly with inThe Vampire Diaries.Both Stefan and Damon have good and bad qualities, but their romances with Elena are goose egg alike. In fact, the only similarity between the relationships is that both brothers are head over heels in dear with her.

Elena ended up with Damon when all was said and done, only Elena and Stefan'due south dearest story is still a vital function of the series.The Vampire Diariesstarted with the two of them, and their romance collection many of the show'south plot points. Elena and Stefan's relationship changed over the seasons, but their love for each other was eternal.

8 Flavour 1: Meet And Fall In Love

Elena smiling at Stefan in The Vampire Diaries.

Stefan and Elena might take followed the "insta-dearest" trope, but they're ane of the rare couples who tin pull it off. There were plenty of obstacles on the road to happiness, and Stefan's vampirism was one of them.

Elena had to come to terms with the fact that vampires existed, only after getting to know Stefan, she realized he would never injure her. They fall more in honey over the course of the starting time season, and Elena convinces Stefan to keep living when he wants to give up.

vii Flavor ii: Established Relationship (With A Few Hiccups)

Stefan holds Elena's face before kiss in The Vampire Diaries

Although Damon falls in love with his brother'south girlfriend and attempts to win her over, she's completely devoted to Stefan. But Damon isn't the only one unhappy about their relationship, and Katherine tries to break them up so she can take Stefan to herself.

At first, they refuse to allow anyone stop them from being together, just Katherine is willing to do whatever it takes. They're forced to split afterward Katherine hurts Jenna, but they notice their manner back to each other soon after Katherine is imprisoned in the tomb.

6 Season 3: Unofficially Broken Up, Stefan Leaves Boondocks With Klaus

Stefan and Elena in The Vampire Diaries.

Stefan is forced to exit town with Klaus in gild to save Damon'southward life and keep Elena off of Klaus's radar. Just fifty-fifty later months of searching, Elena refuses to surrender on him. Stefan does everything he can to push Elena away, but past doing so he's trying to protect her. Klaus makes Stefan turn off his humanity, as even under compulsion he refused to hurt Elena.

Stefan becomes unpredictable with his switch flipped, only stops drinking human being blood the night he scared Elena into thinking he'd drive her off of Wickery Span. Elena admits that she adult feelings for Damon during Stefan'due south absence, but Stefan is who she's in beloved with. Nonetheless, she never gets the hazard to tell him. Elena dies later on Rebekah causes her and Matt to drive into the lake, and she begs Stefan to relieve Matt instead.

v Flavor iv: Elena Chooses Stefan, Only Becomes A Vampire And Chooses Damon

Vampire Diaries Elena Gilbert Stefan Salvatore

The Vampire DiariesFlavor iv begins with Elena waking upwards to discover that she had vampire claret in her system when she died. Stefan searches for a mode to stop her from transitioning, merely it was a hopeless cause. Elena tells Stefan that she chose him over Damon and they get dorsum together for a handful of episodes.

However, Elena's heightened feelings for Damon pause her and Stefan up, and Stefan becomes obsessed with finding a cure for vampirism. At the finish of the season, Elena reiterates her love for Damon, when she yet feels the same after the sire bond is broken. Stefan is heartbroken over her pick, and to make matters worse for him, he gets locked in a safe by Silas and thrown into Stevens Quarry.

4 Season 5: Broken Up, But It's Complicated

Stefan and Elena almost kiss in The Vampire Diaries.

Elena is the merely matter that keeps Stefan from switching off his emotions while he spends months drowning and coming back to life at the bottom of the quarry. Later on discovering that Silas has been impersonating Stefan for the entire summer, Elena is determined to find and rescue him.

She is successful, simply Stefan loses his memories and Elena takes it upon herself to restore them. After a day of reminiscing, they almost osculation before Elena pulls abroad. They discover afterwards in the season that doppelgangers have been fated to autumn in love throughout all of history. Even after the information comes to light, they're still certain their love was real.

3 Flavor 6: Close Friends

Stefan and Elena at the bar in The Vampire Diaries.

It wasn't untilThe Vampire DiariesSeason vi that Stefan seemed to finally move on from Elena. To the disappointment of Stelena fans, Elena didn't meet Stefan equally more than a close friend even after she erased her memories of loving Damon.

Stefan and Elena were both in a dark place afterwards Damon's death and they grieved in their own ways. When Damon returns to the country of the living, Stefan tries to assist Damon and Elena observe their mode back to each other. He never seems thrilled almost his brother dating his ex-girlfriend, merely he wants them to be happy.

two Flavour seven: Elena Is In A Supernatural Blackout

Elena in deep slumber in season 6 of The Vampire Diaries

When Nina Dobrev departedThe Vampire Diaries, a spell tied Elena's life to Bonnie's, causing her to autumn into a magic-induced coma until Bonnie's death. Stefan pursues a relationship with Caroline, but it'due south clear that Elena will e'er be important to him in some way.

Stefan and Caroline's romance is extremely different than his romance with Elena, which fans either loved or hated. When Damon believes he accidentally set Elena'south coffin on burn down and killed her, Stefan punches him before breaking downward in his car.

1 Flavour 8: Stefan Dies And Sees Elena In Limbo

Vampire Diaries Finale Stefan Elena Goodbye

Elena is merely in the last episode ofThe Vampire DiariesSeason viii, but she's still able to reunite with Stefan during the concluding few minutes of the serial. Stefan makes the ultimate sacrifice past injecting Damon with the cure and killing himself and Katherine to salve Mystic Falls.

Since Elena is trapped in a place betwixt life and death while she'southward nether the sleeping spell, she runs into Stefan in the school hallway. Information technology's a callback to how the 2 offset met, and they embrace earlier Stefan moves on and finds peace with Lexi. When Elena wakes up and lives the life of her dreams with Damon, she writes that she owes it all to Stefan.

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