Elena Gilbert

Elena Gilbert is the female protagonist of The Vampire Diaries. She is a 19 year old vampire who was turned with Damon Salvatore's blood. She lives in the supernatural town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, in The Salvatore Boarding House with her new boyfriend, Damon Salvatore, and her adoptive brother and biological cousin, Jeremy Gilbert. She used to live with Jeremy at 2104 Maple Street, but she moved out when he became a member of The Five, and later burned down the house after his death.

Elena is best friends with Damon Salvatore and Caroline Forbes. She was best friends with Bonnie Bennett too until Bonnie's death. She is also the descendant of Katherine Pierce, with whom she had a mostly antagonistic relationship throughout the series. She had an on-and-off romantic relationship with Stefan Salvatore, a 165 year old vampire until losing him when he gave himself over to Klaus in exchange for the cure to a werewolf bite, which is Klaus's blood, to save Damon Salvatore, his brother. After becoming a vampire, she broke up with him because of her feelings for Damon.

She is now in a romantic relationship with Stefan's older brother, Damon, who is known to be both dangerous and seductive. He has been in love with her for almost the entire length of the series, and ever since becoming a vampire, her feelings for him have grown stronger and she no longer hides it. She had attended Mystic Falls High School, where she was a cheerleader, honor student, and one of the most popular girls in the school. Elena wants to become a great writer; she stated this in a conversation with Stefan, and she has a diary in which she writes everything that happens in her life. She was originally turned in this direction by her mother, who gave Elena her first diary when she was 10. She will be attending Whitmore College with Caroline.

Friendships

 * Damon and Elena
 * Stefan and Elena
 * Bonnie and Elena
 * Caroline and Elena

Early Life
Elena has been struggling to lead a normal life ever since her parents died in a car accident. Even if she had never met the Salvatore brothers, or fallen in love with them, she would still be in danger, due to being a Petrova doppelgänger. Stefan unexpectedly saved Elena's life on May 23, 2009, when her adoptive parents' car went off of Wickery Bridge. Stefan tried to save her father Grayson, who insisted that he save Elena first.

When Stefan pulled Elena out of the car, he was shocked and taken aback when he saw that Elena looked like Katherine; he could not believe the uncanny resemblance between the two. Stefan then took Elena to the Mystic Falls Hospital, and watched her from afar for four months, learning about her to make sure that she is safe, and that she is not Katherine Pierce, or even mildly like her. Elena said that it was a "miracle" that she had survived such a horrific and tragic car accident, and she questioned how it was in any way possible that she was able to escape from the car and survive. After discovering what a pure heart she had, Stefan realized he could not leave Mystic Falls without knowing her, so enrolled at her school, despite being a 163 year old vampire.

After she discovers the Salvatore brothers' secret, Elena has to deal with the murders and lies that plague her life and the community, as well as supernatural events and characters. She is described as a star student. She is popular, sporty, smart, kind-hearted, compassionate, selfless, empathetic, caring, and friendly. She can be very vulnerable and a damsel in distress, although she does possess a strong-willed, determined, passionate and fiery streak; one could say that she has a "survivor's instinct".

After the supernatural death of her brother, she had turned off the "humanity switch" of being a vampire. Vampires and hybrids in some cases can have a Sire Bond to their "creators", or the vampire who turned them (or in Elena's case - the blood, Damon's, that was given to her by Dr. Fell to heal her injuries that permitted her to transition). Normally, a sire bond between vampires is uncommon, but it does exist between Elena and Damon because she had strong human feelings for him before she died and was turned into a vampire. He was the one who got her to turn off her emotions.

Elena is a member of the Gilbert Family and the Petrova Family.