The Vampire Diaries: Ranking The Parents Of Mystic Falls From Worst To Best – Screen Rant

On The Vampire Diaries, parenting comes with a unique set of challenges since the town is home to supernatural creatures both good and bad. Throughout the series, the main characters' family members fall victim to an array of maladies, accidents and unfortunate encounters with someone or something that wants to do them harm.

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While a few parents are supernatural creatures themselves, others are human, living in a town with a history of intolerance towards "monsters" and a very high body count. Despite the dangers that come with residing in Mystic Falls, there are parents who rise to the challenge of raising their kids under extraordinary circumstances and some who don't. Here's a rundown of the best and worst parents in Mystic Falls, ranked from worst to best.

Esther spends 1,000 years on the Other Side trying to figure out how to kill her children -- as well as conspiring against Elena and brainwashing Alaric -- but once she returns to the land of the living, her plan to link the Mikaelson siblings and kill them blows up in her face.

Despite her husband being a heartless vampire killer, she does her best to replicate him, leading to Ric's death and Elena's. Esther claims to be a loving mother, but there isn't a nurturing bone in her body. She turns her children into monsters, lies to them, calls them abominations, manipulates and constantly deceives them. She pits them against one another while claiming to want unity. The Original siblings never had a chance with a mother who cannot differentiate between love and hate.

Isobel only seeks out Elena during season 1 when she has no choice. She's a vamp who chooses to keep her humanity flipped to the off position and wants everyone to know it.

Isobel returns during season 2, and while she's not the baking cookies, soccer mom type, she swears she's been trying to keep the doppelganger off Klaus' radar. In the end, Isobel, who is either strictly compelled by Klaus, the victim of magic, acting on her own volition, influenced by Katherine or some mix of all four, delivers key components necessary for Klaus to break his curse, sealing Elena's fate. She apologizes for being a disappointment but not for her treatment of Elena or her choices. Isobel's most maternal act was leaving her daughter for Miranda and Grayson to raise.

While Damon and Stefan grieved over their dead mother, Lily was "Ripper-ing" her way across Europe with Julian and the Heretics. The reunion between Lily, Damon, and Stefan is awkward since she doesn't harbor any affection for her actual sons, replacing them with the nasty witch-vamp hybrids.

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Damon's abandonment issues and resentment over Lily's new family make the two co-existing peacefully in the same dimension impossible. Lily's horrible taste in men, her loyalty to those who would kill her flesh and blood with, her inability or unwillingness to protect her sons, her attempts to kill Elena and Bonnie and her partnership with Kai all outweigh Lily's efforts to blend her two families and keep her bloodlust under control.

A member of the Town Council, Bill Forbes is a believer and a hater. Despite his absence, Caroline unapologetically prefers him to her mother, but that changes when Bill learns Caroline is a vampire, locks her in a dungeon and tries vampire conversion therapy. He refuses to see his daughter as anything other than a monster. Full of hubris when it comes to his duty to rid Mystic Falls of the things that go bump in the night, he's another pompous member of a clueless Council who are in over their heads.

In his final moments, Bill goes out on a high note, letting Caroline know that even though she's a vampire, she's not a monumental disappointment. Although he never apologizes for trying to kill her or concedes that she's going to be okay, vampire or not.

Vicki only returns to town during season 1 thanks to a breakup and not because her daughter is missing. She has no interest in anything going on with her kids, but she does like her booze and her men.

Kelly is genuinely devastated when Vicki's body is discovered, but her idea of grieving is hooking up with Tyler during a Lockwood party. Matt banishes Kelly from her house and his life. Matt never proves to be enough motivation for Kelly to try and become a decent mother. Her behavior must go from bad to worse because she winds up as one of Katherine Pierce's minions in hell. Kelly can't manage to redeem herself in the afterlife, almost causing the death of Alaric and Caroline's twins and Bonnie during season 8. She's bitter and full of putrid black bile until the very end.

Elena's biological father, John Gilbert is disliked equally by humans and supernatural creatures, particularly vampires. John hates vampires, but that doesn't stop him from working with them if their goals align. John does save Mystic Falls from the tomb vampires, and he steps up and makes himself useful in the fight against Klaus.

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His propensity towards secretiveness, blackmail, and manipulation, along with his belief that the only good vampire is a dead one, keeps him at odds with Elena. He's adept at self-preservation, but when the time comes to make a sacrifice that only a parent is willing to make, John doesn't hesitate which earns him a reunion with his daughter in the afterlife on the series finale.

Mayor Lockwood seems like nothing more than a philandering aggro male who physically, emotionally and mentally abuses his son. A typical politician, Richard Lockwood can be a charming and gracious host, but he's just a bully who threatens anyone who stands up to him.

Richard remains clueless about the Lockwood curse. His aggressive behavior is a byproduct of the werewolf gene, and his need to nurture Tyler's alpha male tendencies can partially be blamed on an unrecognized pack mentality. It's easier to generate sympathy for Mayor Lockwood once he's accidentally rounded up with the tomb vampires, but he's still far from a stellar parent.

Abby's claim to fame is being the witch who uses her powers to put down Mikael (albeit temporarily). But dealing with the Original dad drains Abby of her powers and her interest in raising her daughter, so she leaves Mystic Falls and doesn't look back. Abby and Bonnie reconnect to perform some witchy juju, but there's never much more between them other than magic.

After Abby becomes a vampire, she abandons Bonnie again but eventually begins showing up during some of the lowest points in her daughter's life. Abby understands and accepts that she hasn't been a good mother. The two are able to repair their fractured relationship and wind up friends.

Carol Lockwood hates and fears vampires as much as her husband, but her attitude towards supernatural creatures changes once she witnesses the agonizing transformation Taylor undergoes.

Carol falls in line with the increasing number of Council members who adopt a new and more tolerant attitude towards so-called monsters. A hands-off mom, Carol doesn't exercise much control over Tyler who leaves on several occasions to deal with wolfie-hybrid issues. Mother and son are close enough to guarantee she covers for him and eventually becomes collateral damage.

Liz has her hands full as the Sheriff in a town overrun with supernatural beings with insidious agendas and humans who can be just as deadly and duplicitous.

She finds herself leaning on the Salvatore brothers, particularly Damon, to help her keep law an order. Initially, at odds, Caroline and Liz grow closer as Liz realizes not all vampires are bad after all. Liz's life is fairly tragic: she sees many of her friends die, leaving their children behind. The untimely death of this Mystic Falls matriarch is made even more tragic by the fact that town quickly falls apart in the immediate aftermath of her death.

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Jennifer has been working as a freelance writer for six years, contributing to BuddyTV, TVRage, Hidden Remote, Gossip On This, and PopMatters. She prefers binge-watching old episodes of The Office (British and American versions) to long walks on the beach. She's still holding out hope that Happy Endings will get a revival.

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The Vampire Diaries: Ranking The Parents Of Mystic Falls From Worst To Best - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero