Stefan Salvatore, referred to in books as Stefano Salvatore, is a fictional character and one of the two main protagonists from L. J. Smith's novel series The Vampire Diaries. He is portrayed by Paul Wesley in the television series CW's The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Stefan grew up in the town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. He grew up next to his brother, Damon Salvatore, his father, Giuseppe Salvatore and at the start of his life grew up with his mother, Lillian Salvatore before supposedly dying of consumption, later revealing that she faked her own death and lived as a vampire in secret. As Stefan grew up, he was known as the good child in the family, unlike his brother, Damon Salvatore, who had a knack for trouble. As Stefan and Damon grew up, both boys grew to not like their father because of his abusive ways. Damon Salvatore joined the army, and Stefan was left to live with his father for a couple of months. Once Damon came back, the two were turned into vampires in 1864, in the town of Mystic Falls (Stefan being 17-years-old), by Katerina Petrova, who both brothers loved immensely.
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Casting and reception
On March 27, 2009, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Paul Wesley had joined the cast of The Vampire Diaries as Stefan. He was the last main cast member whose casting was announced. Before Wesley's casting, Sebastian Stan auditioned for the role, but backed out due to his commitments to Kings, and Nathaniel Buzokilc and Steven Strait were considered. Wesley has become popular with viewers. Carina MacKenzie of the Los Angeles Times noted that he spent "10 years as a successful but under-the-radar TV actor" but shortly after the show premiered, he was "everywhere". MacKenzie wrote: "Last summer his face was on more than 30 "Vampire Diaries" posters at the Century City/Westfield mall alone, not to mention billboards over seemingly every major boulevard in Hollywood". In November 2011, Wesley's ex-wife Torrey DeVitto joined the cast of The Vampire Diaries in the recurring role of Dr. Meredith Fell, who is "intrigued by" Alaric Saltzman (Matt Davis).
Development
Characterization
Stefan was described as a "beautiful young man" who turns out to be a 162 years old Vampire, who develops a "strong connection" with "tragic heroine" Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev). Wesley described the young Stefan as "naive and willing to ride whatever wave life threw" him, because he was "easily manipulated" and "innocent" with a "beautiful young soul". However, Stefan at the age of 160 years has more wisdom in him. Stefan consumes animal blood, refusing to kill humans out of guilt for killing his own father. Damon on the other hand, does feed on humans.
Paul Wesley has remained close friends with his co-stars Dobrev and Somerhalder, and is business partners with the latter.
Relationships
Stefan has a love-hate relationship with his brother, Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder). Wesley "adores" Somerhalder, who he said he has "natural chemistry" with. Wesley stated: "The dynamic of the characters is so interesting because they love each other, but they hate each other [...] There's always this thing in Stefan's head where he hopes that one day Damon can just be as normal and functioning as possible". However, he also described their relationship as "beautiful" in their flashbacks from the past, because they "loved each other so much back then". Stefan begins a romance with Elena on the show's first episode, without telling her he was a vampire. She was later shocked to find out that he was a vampire, and briefly ended their relationship before getting back together. As the show progressed, Elena began developing feelings for Damon as well. Wesley described Damon and Stefan as having a "silent understanding of the fact that they both are in love with the same girl", and "that was Stefan's girl, and now Damon is suddenly a real factor, he's really in the picture". Wesley's favorite episode of The Vampire Diaries is "The Turning Point" because it was "really beautiful" for Stefan and Elena as a couple. In the episode, Stefan turns around "because he's ashamed of his face" with blood rushing through his eyes and his veins popping out. Wesley said "he's terrified, and he hates himself for it. He runs from that part of himself, but she turns him around and tells him not to be afraid. She touches his face, and she thinks he's beautiful. It's so intimate, that moment, because she accepts the darkest part of him."
When the original vampire Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan) is feared dead, it is revealed that everyone in his bloodline will die, including Stefan and Damon. In what International Business Times called "the moment Vampire Diaries fans have been waiting for", Elena had to pick to say goodbye to Stefan or Damon. She ended up choosing Stefan. When Elena became a vampire, her feelings for Damon heightened, and it was later revealed that she had a sired bond to him. Elena and Stefan broke up, and she began a romance with Damon. Stefan became heartbroken, feeling angry and betrayed, and lashed out at Damon and Elena. Wesley urged fans of Stefan and Elena not to lose hope, stating: "The fans should definitely maintain some hope. The thing to remember is that Stefan and Elena have this love that is so strong, and it was sort of the core of Season 1 — you can't entirely disregard that". The show's head writer, Julie Plec, said "They love each other as deeply as two people can love each other, but that doesn't mean that their relationship is infallible".
Blood addiction
In 1864, Stefan "hadn't yet learned the careful control that rules his life now" and was an avid consumer of human blood, which was considered a "dark past" by Zap2it. Of his blood addiction, Wesley said: "It's awesome. It's a drug. He's a drug addict. I get to play a drug addict, which I love. I'm going back to his days of usage, heavy usage. When I'm in my lustful state, it's so much fun. I felt like I got to play a role that I'd never played before. I felt like I was doing something different. I just love it, and I hope it comes out the way that I envisioned." The show's executive producer Kevin Williamson revealed that he was "looking forward to Stefan eventually falling off the wagon and drinking human blood again" after spending decades of consuming only animal blood. Wesley said "everybody has a dark side, especially a vampire, and it'd be unrealistic not to explore that". Stefan became addicted to human blood again, but got it under control with the help of Elena, who began letting him feed off her in small amounts to build up discipline.
However, in the show's third season, Stefan's addiction returned. His humanity was taken away by Klaus, and the audience met "The Ripper", his "bloodthirsty, ruthless alter-ego who had previously only been legend" according to Zap2it, who found "this sociopath version of our hero far more compelling than his usual compassionate martyr self". Wesley, who enjoyed "Ripper Stefan" more, said it "bums me out" when Stefan quit human blood again. He said "Good Stefan doesn't feel as natural in terms of what I want to be doing on screen, and what I want to be saying. I feel a little stifled, myself, whenever he's resisting the urge to do vampiresque things."
Television series
Backstory
Stefan Salvatore was born on November 1, 1846, and raised in Mystic Falls, Virginia to Giuseppe Salvatore and Lily Salvatore. Stefan is the younger brother of Damon. The Salvatore brothers, Stefan and Damon, were human. They were very close and were best friends in life. Damon always confided and trusted in Stefan and they always defended each other, especially in front of their father. Stefan was fiercely loyal to Damon. Although Stefan was only 17 years old, he displayed maturity, responsibility and had wisdom beyond his years. Because of this, Stefan always seemed to be much older than his actual age. However, this all seemed to change when Stefan and Damon fell in love with the same girl, Katherine Pierce, who turned out to be a vampire. Stefan fell deeply in love with Katherine before finding out she was a vampire. Katherine, however, compelled Stefan to not be afraid, to keep her secret and go on as they were. It was also revealed that Katherine compelled Stefan to drink her vampire blood against his will. Damon, on the other hand, drank Katherine's blood willingly, wanting and desiring the immortal life in order to spend an eternity with Katherine. In 1864, Stefan was turned into a vampire after being shot by his father, Giuseppe, along with his brother, Damon with Katherine's blood in his system, before accidentally killing his father during a visit to tell him that he was going to let himself die. Damon, who turned into a vampire as well, promised Stefan an eternity of misery as he was angry that Stefan had forced him to turn and jealous that Katherine had also turned Stefan. A newborn vampire with uncontrollable blood lust, Stefan was unable to resist the temptations of human blood and became severely out of control and addicted (later on known as the Ripper) to the blood, killing many people because of his lack of control and extreme bloodlust. However, Stefan learned to change his ways when he was taught to control it by a vampire named Alexia "Lexi" Branson, who later on became Stefan's best friend and companion. In 1942, Stefan enlisted in the Army to fight in World War II (4x08 "We'll Always Have Bourbon Street"). After decades of absence from the town he called home, Stefan returned to Mystic Falls to visit his home and Zach. On May 23, 2009, Stefan heard the Gilberts' car accident at Wickery Bridge. It was then and there that Stefan fatefully encountered Elena Gilbert for the first time. After only being able to save Elena, Stefan noticed that she looked exactly like Katherine. He would later find out that Elena was Katherine's doppelgänger.
Storyline
Stefan and Elena begin a relationship and he revealed to her that he is a vampire. However, Damon returns to Mystic Falls too, and also falls in love with Elena. Further on in the series, Damon and Stefan start to bond as brothers again and it becomes apparent that they do love each other. Because of his addiction to human blood, Stefan only drank animal blood in the beginning of the series, which made him weaker than other vampires. In season two, Stefan starts to take small amounts of Elena's blood each day to mitigate its effect on him and to increase his strength. When Katherine returns it is discovered that she had always loved Stefan and not Damon; however, Stefan is in love with Elena and not interested in Katherine. Stefan starts to build a friendship with Caroline Forbes after she is turned into a vampire. After Klaus gives Stefan his blood to save Damon from a werewolf bite, he turns into a Ripper again which he does for his brothers sake.
Stefan starts working for him as he agreed to do to save Damon, and hopes it might also protect Elena by making sure Klaus never returns to Mystic Falls, since he believes her to be dead. Klaus later finds out and compels Stefan to kill her, but when he is able to resist the compulsion, Klaus makes him turn his humanity and emotions off. However, he is later able to get his humanity back, which is seen when he saves Klaus's life to protect Damon, but yet he pretends not to care about Elena anymore. He then takes it upon himself to kill Klaus. He steals Klaus's family as retaliation, and uses them as blackmail, when that fails (the witches give Klaus the coffins when he threatens to end the Bennett line), Stefan threatens to drive Elena off Wickery Bridge with vampire blood in her system if Klaus does not get his hybrids out of town, Klaus agrees at the last minute. He and Elena get into a fight. In the season three finale, he kisses Elena. In the end, Elena chooses Stefan over Damon, but when Rebekah causes Matt's truck to drive off Wickery Bridge, she is trapped underwater. Stefan barely gets there in time, but Elena makes him save Matt first and she drowns. It is later revealed Dr. Fell gave Elena vampire blood, meaning she died with vampire blood in her system, turning her into a vampire.
In the season four premiere, Stefan tries to get Bonnie to save Elena from becoming a full vampire, however, she along with several other vampires are captured by the Founder's Council. As Elena begins to die and out of desperation to keep Elena alive, Stefan kills a guard and uses his blood to allow Elena to feed and to complete her transition into a vampire. Stefan gives Elena a daylight ring, which was made by Bonnie, in order to protect Elena from the sun. Stefan tries to assure Elena that everything will be okay and that they'll take Elena's newborn vampirism one day at a time. During the second episode of season 4, Stefan tries to help Elena cope with her hunger for human blood. After his "bunny diet" disagrees with Elena stomach she seeks help from Damon to find an alternative blood source. When blood bags and Damon's own blood fails too, she ends up feeding on Matt under extreme circumstances. Stefan then discovers from Klaus and Rebekah that there is a possible cure for vampirism. Stefan "teams" up with Klaus in order to find the possible cure, so that Stefan can give Elena the choice of becoming human again.