The Vampire Diaries: The 5 Best Villains of the Series (& The 5 Worst) – Screen Rant

While fans might root for the heroes of The Vampire Diaries, they can't help but have strong feelings for the villains too. Whether they love the charismatic jerk that stole their hearts or hate the annoying bad guy who overstayed his welcome, villains make as much of a lasting impression as the heroes.

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TVD created rich and complex antagonists that pulled at the audience's heartstrings and garnered their sympathy. The series also excelled in equal gender distribution among its baddies, proving multi-faceted female villains exist. Here are the five best and the five worst villains throughout TVD's eight seasons.

The Mikaelson brothers counted as one villain, as usually wherever one was, the other was not far behind. They're sadistic dynamic acted as a parallel to Damon and Stefan Salvatore. While Klaus was the impulsive brother capable of cruelty for cruelty's sake, Elijah played the role of the reserved brother who enacted violence only when necessary.

Regardless, both relished ripping out their enemies' throats and toying with their victims. But the smiles they did it with easily won fans over. It's hard to stay mad at such handsome faces.

This is another duo that deserves to share a slot, as neither was a strong villain on their own. Silas and Qetsiyah's turn on the show used the Mystic Falls gang as their pawns in a war against each other. The war, it turned out, was a centuries'-long spat between spurned lovers.

Silas and his mistress Amara set off the creation of doppelgangers that birthed the likes of Katherine and Elena, as well as Stefan. But by this point in the series, fans were fatigued with the doppelgangers storylines.

Formerly known as Katerina Petrova, Katherine fought to survive and created a legacy that no one can deny. Sure, she manipulated the Salvatore brothers to fall in love with her and she abandoned her friends to the crypt, but she did it all out of self-preservation.

Fans can't help but admire Katherine as a true villain because she did monstrous things but she did them for human reasons. Time and again she survived until she was turned back to human, where she finally succumbed to mortality.

Dr. Maxfield carried on the tradition of the Augustine society at Whitmore college. He experimented with vampire blood and turned his teaching assistant into a vampire just to kill him. Moreover, he captured Elena and tried to take in Damon again.

All the while he was meant to be Aaron Whitmore's guardian but didn't seem too interested in his nephew beyond his friendship with Elena. Wes Maxfield's arrogance didn't win him any popularity points either. Fans were more than happy to see him gone.

Also called the Huntress, Rayna Cruz built her presence in the series as a slow burn. The mystery that shrouded the Huntress made her a formidable enemy as no one knew what she looked like or how she came to be. Her history was slowly unraveled to reveal that her power came from a familial vendetta against all vampires.

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As she gets closer to her victims, she spends more time in their heads,so she becomes fond of Stefan. But her true villainy is passing on the torch to Bonnie.

The Travelers were a radical subsect of witches whowanted to achieve great things as Qetsiya once had when she created immortality. But the witches that worked in tandem with nature thought this line of thinking dangerous, so they cursed the Travelers to a nomadic life where they could never settle and create tribes.

They bypassed the curse by learning to jump into other's bodies. The Travelers had the potential to be cool, but ultimately they became Nadia's tool in getting her mother Katherine back. It's best they didn't last long.

The Siren sisters became another parallel to the Salvatore brothers. Sybil claimed that Seline condemned her to live as a monster, a sentiment that Stefan knew all too well, as it was he who convinced Damon to turn into a vampire.

As she worked for Arcadius, bringing him souls to his Hell dimension, she felt conflicted about having to feed on evil people. Much like Damon and Stefan, Sybil eventually turned into the more monstrous sibling and Seline had to temper her.

As the puzzle pieces fell into place, The Vampire Diaries revealed that Alaric's missing wife and Elena's birth mother were the same. For years, Alaric believed that Damon killed his wife, but it turned out that Isobel had sought him out to turn her.

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It's understandable why she chose to give up Elena as a teenager but to flee her marriage to Ric simply out of a sense of unhappiness was cruel and selfish. Most people usually just ask for a divorce, not fake their deaths and become vampires. But in the end, sheregretted her decisions.

The Gemini Coven siphon who escaped the alternate dimension he'd been imprisoned in was a villain that fans couldn't help but love. Kai Parker committed abhorrent crimes against the Salvatores, Elena and his sister Jo. The audience should have despised his character, and yet, his charming sense of humor made him a fan favorite.

Kai was an absolute psychopath and he killed with glee. As sick as he was, fans went along for the ride. It's scary how easy it was to fall in love with a murderous psycho.

When Lily Salvatore returned toward the end of the series, it felt like something straight out of a telenovela. She brought the Heretics along with her, Gemini Coven siphoners turned vampires that went against nature in every way. But the inclusion of this group of villains felt lackluster.

Valerie only got in the way of Stefan and Caroline's romance, after fans had been waiting years for it. Nora and Mary Louise were mean girls who had no purpose other than to act as distractions half the time. Beau balanced out the group, but the other two Heretics didn't even matter.

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The Vampire Diaries: The 5 Best Villains of the Series (& The 5 Worst) - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero