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Fans of The Vampire Diaries have long been divided over which Salvatore brother Elena (Nina Dobrev) should have ended up with. Even in the seven years since the series finale, the turmoil between Stelena and Delena shippers has never really gone away. It’s simply been lying somewhat dormant, waiting for a catalyst to reignite their passions. And that catalyst has come in the form of a simple tweet from series creator and showrunner Julie Plec.
In response to a tweet saying “stans of ships that were going to be endgame if the actor didn’t leave the show should get some type of financial compensation,” Plec simply quoted a gif of Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Elena with a few of the side-eye emojis. Of course fans went wild with this, filling Plec’s replies and quote tweets with both excitement and malice.
This isn’t the first time that Plec has addressed how the series ending changed after Nina Dobrev’s departure. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly around the series finale in 2017, Plec said:
“If Nina had never left, I would’ve loved to have been able to see if Stefan and Elena could’ve found their way back to each other. I don’t know if they could have, but had that departure not been a part of it, the long game would’ve been to see if we could bring the love triangle back around before the series ended and really leave a choice. But her departure sealed the romantic contract between Damon and Elena. In that moment, to me, the show ceased to be about a love triangle and became a show about the power of these brothers and their love for each other.”
Now, in Plec and co-creator Kevin Williamson’s original plan, Elena wouldn’t have ended up with either brother. Both Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan would have sacrificed themselves to save Elena and Mystic Falls, leaving them to watch over her from the Other Side. With Damon and Elena’s relationship as the de facto endgame and the show now focusing on Damon and Stefan’s relationship as brothers, it didn’t seem right to Plec to give neither of them a happy ending.
But regardless of whether or not Plec’s thoughts on Elena’s endgame is new information or not, her tweet has still brought out a lot of passionate shippers wondering what a Stelena ending may have looked like. The fandom is so divided over this because both brothers are complicated vampires. Some believe that Stefan was her soulmate from the beginning, and even though he struggles with his vampiric urges and has a violent past, Stelena shippers ultimately believe that he’s good at his core.
Delena shippers can’t help but root for her and the goodness she brings out in the bad boy Damon, despite his early selfishness. Their animosity toward each other at the beginning makes for some heated tension as they go from enemies to friends to lovers. However, Damon isn’t afraid to use his vampiric powers of compulsion to get what he wants, especially in earlier seasons, and there are many in the fanbase who, understandably, won’t forgive him for using these powers to coerce women into sleeping with him. No matter how much good he does, for many there’s no excusing what he did to Caroline.
No matter where you may fall in the Stelena vs Delena ship war, this has certainly been an interesting time for fans of The Vampire Diaries. It’s nice to know that fans are still as passionate as ever, but I also don’t recommend digging too deep into Julie Plec’s replies. Just like vampires, the fight between Delena and Stelena shippers never truly dies.
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