Top 10 Characters of The Vampire Diaries Ranked

4. Caroline Forbes

Caroline Forbes started the series as the quintessential high school mean girl. She was the peppy one who was a little too jealous, a little too competitive, and just a little too much. But first a little, then a lot, she grew on me. Human Caroline Forbes never felt good enough, always feeling like she took the backseat to Elena Gilbert, everyone’s first choice for everything. And who among us hasn’t had that fear, that we’ll never be anyone’s first pick?

Vampire Caroline, however, was a whole other story. She was confident in her skin, powerful, and sure, while still keeping the optimistic side she’d always had. She was different in the best way, and her life was better once she was (technically) dead.

Over the years, she became the best friend any of them could have. For every tragedy, every tough time and every fight, Caroline was right there alongside them, trying to find a silver lining and kicking ass, all at the same time. She fought Katherine mere weeks after becoming a vampire. She took care of Bonnie after her mom left, again. Also, she helped Tyler through becoming a werewolf and the transformations that came with it. She threw herself into throwing Elena an epic birthday party when Elena was heartbroken and upset with Stefan being gone, she spent years comforting Stefan and his broken heart while in love with him herself, she gave birth to children that weren’t hers and raised them as her own – and the list goes on.

Caroline Forbes gives, and gives and gives, and ranks high on the list because of that. Her heart is good, and she is a ray of sunshine that perseveres. When she lost her life, her relationship with Matt, her dad dying, losing Tyler, her mom dying and, eventually, her story with Stefan – and yet, she smiles and perseveres every time.

The women in this show are unstoppable.

Her happy ending may have been cut short in the series finale, and our hearts ache for her – but there are more stories ahead for her in her long life, and I have faith that Caroline Forbes will find the love she so deserves again someday. (Hello, Klaus.)