A Controversial Vampire Diaries Retcon Ruined Delena's Chemistry (& Left Fans Furious) (2025)

The Vampire Diaries was no stranger to retcons and changes to its story, which wasn't unforgivable when the sheer length of the show was considered. The teen fantasy drama lasted eight full seasons, and characters like Elena, Klaus, Rebekah, Jeremy, and Tyler left and reentered the show throughout its long run. Therefore, some changes to plots and lore here and there were justified, but one particular retcon was too egregious to be forgiven.

It was no secret that Stefan and Elena got together because Stefan had noticed Elena earlier, and had secretly admired her from afar before he joined Mystic Falls High School. While many would say his activities were sinister, it was because of his curiosity about Elena that he was able to save her from what would have been a certain death. He witnessed the Wickery Bridge accident which killed her parents, and with his quick thinking, was able to save Elena from drowning. Elena did not know for a long time that her survival was because of Stefan, but the fact that he met her first, albeit in pressing circumstances, proved how much he cared for her. This entire event was overhauled in Season 3 of The Vampire Diaries, where a flashback showed fans that Damon had met Elena before the accident, thus technically becoming the brother who had met Elena first.

It Should Not Have Mattered Who Met Elena First - Stefan Or Damon

Changing the order of who met Elena first was clearly not planned from before, but was rather thrown in hastily to further reinforce Damon and Elena's upcoming love story, as Stefan and Elena's seemed to be coming to an end. Elena had consistently chosen Stefan for three seasons because she was in love with him, and even in the final moments of Season 3, she had decided to stick to the younger Salvatore as she felt safe and comfortable with him. In her parting words to Damon, Elena said that she might have picked him if she had met him earlier. This was what kickstarted this particular flashback that retconned Elena's romance arc with Stefan.

It was a rather immature way to prove that Damon and Elena's love was more legitimate or valuable because she had met him earlier than Stefan. It should not have mattered whom she had met first: Elena was a young woman on the cusp of a big change and her free will was the most important thing here. If she felt strongly for Damon, she could have just picked him and followed her heart. The retcon made viewers feel like she needed a concrete event or occurrence to justify a change of heart, which was certainly not the case. Whether she met Stefan first or Damon, Elena just needed to follow her own desires, without looking for excuses to justify her decisions.

The Retcon Contradicted Seasons Worth Of Development And Chemistry

Backtracking on who met Elena first ultimately detracted from the emotional depth and storytelling of The Vampire Diaries. While Stefan and Elena's love was built on Stefan's hero instinct around Elena, and how he had met her first and saved her life, that was never the case with Damon and Elena. They had a slow-burn romance which was cultivated carefully over three seasons. Damon and Elena did not need logic or early meet-cutes for their love to develop -- they were so attracted to each other that even morality could not stop them. Elena was known to be a girl who paid emphasis on goodness and values, but the chemistry with Damon was so electrifying that she forgot about all of these things. She did not care that Damon had hurt her and her friends, because the attraction to him was far too strong.

This retcon actually proved to be fatal to the Delena ship. It would have made a lot more sense if Elena chose Damon without the show depicting him meeting her first in Mystic Falls. The narrative set up their relationship in a particular way, with Elena being initially resistant to Damon’s charms and him being portrayed as the more dangerous, unpredictable brother compared to Stefan. Slowly, she recognized the good in him and started falling for him as well. Instead of focusing on this, Damon gave Elena a speech about how she craved passion and adventure in this flashback, which also made no sense at all. This is because during Season 1 of TVD, Damon was not the soft and vulnerable vampire that he was in Season 3.

He was violent, sadistic, and out of control, which was not how he was when he met Elena for the first time in this flashback. Damon from Season 1 would have attacked Elena or drank her blood at the very least, and that would be if he gave her the chance to prove that she was not Katherine at all. This retcon undid years of chemistry between Delena, who did not need anything to validate their love for each other. It also created a huge inconsistency in Damon's character, as he was a certified villain in Season 1, unlike what was shown in this flashback.

It Seemed Like A Forced Plot Device For Drama

The Vampire Diaries loved a good plot twist, but this retcon seemed very forced and did nothing for the show at all. The love triangle in the show was its most intriguing storyline, and it always hooked fans, and this flashback was truly not required. Elena was always going to oscillate from Stefan to Damon, but dropping this retcon just as Elena chose Stefan seemed rather pointed.

The writers wanted to create tension and drama by making the audience feel as though Elena had made the wrong choice, which was not the case. Her affections for both brothers were very different, and they stemmed from different places. Stefan had proved his goodness to her early on with his heroic actions, which was why she found it easy to trust and love him. Conversely, Damon brought out passion and wildness in Elena, and she saw his softer side during the second and third seasons of the show.

The retcon of Damon meeting Elena first seemed like a cheap device to add unnecessary drama, and it also made little sense in the context of the plot. It seemed as though the writers were trying to make Damon a more integral part of Elena's life from the beginning, which had not been the case thus far. She had evolved and outgrown her relationship with Stefan, but this plot twist undid most of that growth. It tried to prove that Damon and Elena had some kind of connection from the very beginning of Elena's story arc, which wasn't true. Loving Damon was a choice for Elena, but the retcon made it seem like predetermined fate, which was boring and also diminished the personal journeys of both characters. While Delena fans were delighted to see that Damon had met Elena before Stefan, it still did not sit right with the fandom.

That was because this retcon undermined Stefan and Elena's bond, which may have been fading, but was still extremely important in The Vampire Diaries. Damon and Elena's relationship could have been explored without completely ruining her romance with Stefan, which was being done anyway until this retcon. Seeing Damon and Elena meet first only made Delena look inorganic and unauthentic, whereas the writers had built them a solid foundation in the three seasons prior. Therefore, the retcon was an unnecessary attempt to rewrite history in a way that didn’t serve the characters or the plot, making them look poorly instead. It contradicted the groundwork the show had carefully laid out, while also destroying old relationships in the meantime. It seemed as though making Elena meet Damon instead of Stefan was just a stalling tactic to milk the love triangle as much as possible before it came to an inevitable end.

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The Vampire Diaries

Horror Fantasy Drama

20 9.6/10

Release Date

2009 - 2016

Network

The CW

Cast

See All

• 

  Nina Dobrev

  Paige

• 

  Ian Somerhalder

  Student

Showrunner

Julie Plec

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