When it comes to The Vampire Diaries books vs. show, there are several key differences between the original novels by L.J. Smith and The CW’s teen drama adaptation. There are almost always changes when adapting a literary work for the screen, with everything from a character’s appearance and personality to key plot details being potentially altered. The Vampire Diaries is no exception, and while some changes are positive, others might not be warmed to by fans of the source material — but these creative decisions are an often unavoidable part of the page-to-screen process that ultimately make the TV series better.

The Vampire Diaries has been incredibly successful both on the page and as a series, with the show even having two spinoffs, The Originals and Legacies. While the core premise of the show stays true to L.J. Smith’s work, the show evolved into its own entity, and by the time it concluded in 2017, it had made several key deviations from the book series. The Vampire Diaries books vs. show makes for an incredibly interesting comparison, and viewers unfamiliar with the original novels may find some of the differences between the books and The CW series incredibly surprising after watching.

20

Elena And Caroline Are Rivals In The Books

The friendship between the trio of Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie in the CW’s Vampire Diaries series is one of the show’s strengths. One of those friendships, however, doesn’t exist in the books. While Bonnie and Elena are still friends in the novels, Caroline and Elena aren’t friends in the books.

One of the biggest differences between the Vampire Diaries books and the show is that Caroline and Elena are rivals in the novels. Caroline vies for attention from the same boys as Elena and even tries to expose Elena’s secrets in the novels. There are shades of that relationship present in the show, as Caroline and Elena both become interested in Matt and Stefan, but they’re ultimately supportive of one another. Caroline does not steal from Elena in the series or threaten to expose her secrets to the entire town like she does in the novels.

19

Bonnie Is A Druid In The Books

Bonnie Bennett doesn’t exist in The Vampire Diaries books. Instead, the Bonnie that is friends with Elena in the Vampire Diaries book series is Bonnie McCollough, a redhead who is descended from a line of Druids. Her grandmother even lives in Edinburgh, Scotland while Bonnie lives in the United States. Like Bonnie Bennet, she discovers her magic during the story, but their magic is very different.

While McCollough calls on the magic of the Druids for help in the novels, Bennett speaks with the spirits of her ancestors on the show, most commonly, Emily Bennett, the handmaiden of Katherine who saves more than two dozen vampires in Mystic Falls during the 1800s. Emily, however, is burned at the stake when it’s discovered she’s a witch, and Bonnie speaks with her about her experiences at several points in the show.

18

Bonnie Has Different Love Interests

In both the novels and the show, Elena and Caroline have the tendency to fall for the same people. In the books, they both went after Stefan. In the show, Matt, Stefan, and Damon. That’s why it might interest fans who have only seen the show that Bonnie actually had Matt and Damon as her love interests in the books instead.

Bonnie is interested in Matt after he and Elena break up, much like Caroline is in the show. The big love of Bonnie’s life in the books, however, is Damon. Even when Damon is at his worst in the books, he feels a need to protect Bonnie, and she feels an undeniable pull to him as well. Their relationship in the books, beginning as antagonistic and growing into something more, is actually more like Damon and Elena’s in the show.

17

One Of Elena’s Best Friends Is Missing In The Show

Because Caroline becomes one of Elena’s best friends in The Vampire Diaries on the CW, another of her best friends from the novels is missing from the television series. That best friend is Meredith Sulez, a descendant of vampire hunters. While Sulez doesn’t appear in the series, a version of her character does eventually make it into the show.

Torrey Devitto plays Meredith Fell. Like Sulez, she is a descendant of one of the oldest families in town, and her name is a nod to the original name of the town in the book series, as well as Fell’s Church in the Vampire Diaries television series. Also like her character in the novels, she has a relationship with Alaric. Aspects of the book character, however, end up in some of the other characters in the show.

16

The Relationship Between Elena And Katherine Is Different

If there’s one thing that The Vampire Diaries books vs. the show makes a huge difference in, it’s the connection between Elena and Katherine. The doppelgänger storyline becomes incredibly important in the Vampire Diaries television series. The two characters, however, are not magically connected by their appearance in the novels. Elena is not a descendant of the same bloodline of Katherine either.

Instead, in the novels, the two have an uncanny resemblance as well, but there is a very different explanation for it. That’s because they’re half-sisters. In the Vampire Diaries novels, Elena and Katherine share a mother. They do, however, also still share history with the Salvatore brothers, which are the same relationships that draw attention to their appearances. Interestingly, their personalities are almost entirely flipped. Katherine in the show is more like Elena in the novels and Elena in the show has more in common with Katherine in the novels.

15

Vampires Have More Abilities In The Books

Vampires have a lot of skills in the Vampire Diaries television series. They are stronger than humans, move faster than humans, heal faster than humans, can compel people to do their bidding, and can essentially live forever under the right circumstances. All of that is true in both mediums.

In the novels, however, they can also read minds to an extent, and shapeshift. It’s said specifically in the books that the more human blood a vampire consumes, the better at shapeshifting they can become. Damon, in particular, uses the form of a crow quite a bit in the novels. It seems like the television series might have initially planned to use that ability as well, since in the pilot episode of the series a lot of attention is paid to crows around Elena. That idea, however, is abandoned early in the show.

14

Elena Is Blond In The Books

Elena is blond in the book series, and she also has blue eyes. Of course, in the TV adaptation, Elena Gilbert is played by Nina Dobrev, and she’s a brunette with brown eyes. This is one of the biggest changes that were made and even author L.J. Smith was thrown off by it. The decision worked out as it seemed the showrunners were more interested in casting the best actor in the role than the physical looks matching.

This is a particularly interesting difference when it comes to The Vampire Diaries books vs. show, as Nina Dobrev is an integral member of the cast, with many viewers unable to imagine Elena looking any different. Elena of the books, however, also has a stereotypical “ice queen” image that was popular in young adult novels in the 1990s. Light hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and an icy demeanor were common for the prettiest and most popular girls in school in YA books at the time, and that is almost exactly Elena’s book description.

13

Katherine Is German In The Books

Elena’s looks weren’t the only thing that changed simply because the show cast Nina Dobrev in the role. The history of Katherine Pierce/Petrova was altered to match Dobrev. It’s very much a case of the show adapting to the strengths and culture of their actor, like what was done for a lot of character backstories on the series LOST. Yunjin Kim, for example, originally auditioned for Kate, and the showrunners didn’t think she fit the part, but wanted her on the show, so they created the role of Sun for her.

In the Vampire Diaries books, Katherine is German, but since Dobrev played both Elena and Katherine, it was important for the character to match the actor. Dobrev is Bulgarian, so Katherine’s roots were changed so that she was from the country too. In a 2010 interview with the Toronto Sun (which has since been removed from the publication’s website), Dobrev revealed she even translated Katherine’s lines in flashbacks into Bulgarian herself and asked family members for help if there was confusion for particular words.

12

Stefan Drinks Elena’s Blood

When Stefan and Elena first meet, he refuses to drink her blood. Although it’s something he craves and would love to do, his stance on not consuming human blood is pivotal, especially given how he turns into a ripper when he does go through with it. He eventually does drink her blood at points, though it’s mostly as a way to help them bond and because Elena trusts him not to overdo it with her. In the Vampire Diaries books, Stefan tends to drink her blood on a more regular basis.

Stefan still maintains a mostly “vegetarian” diet in the books, but he makes an exception to his role for Elena. It’s not always about feeding, but about maintaining a connection between them. In that way, his feeding on her is similar to the times that he shares her blood in the show. In the books, however, Stefan doesn’t have the ripper personality, so the effect on the story is very different.

11

Elena Has A Sister In The Books

In the book series, Elena has a sister, Margaret, who is four years old. Meanwhile, on the TV show, Elena has a brother, Jeremy (Steven McQueen), who is in high school. Jeremy is gone from the show as of the sixth season, but before that, he plays a pretty big role in the show. He has relationships with Elena’s friends Bonnie and Vicki and even becomes a vampire hunter, which aren’t storylines that could’ve happened with a younger sister.

Arguably, the choice to put Jeremy in the series is made to dial up the teen angst for the show and to prevent having an underage actor who has to be schooled on set for the entire run of the series. Including a toddler in the show at the start would have meant having to maintain a strict timeline to account for their growth as well, or recasting them at a certain point with a time jump to keep them involved in the story.