Will one of the only humans left in Mystic Falls finally make the transition in season 8 of The Vampire Diaries?
There’s no question that Mystic Falls has a serious vampire problem, but so far, Bonnie has remained immune. Since literally everyone else has been fulfilling the vampire quota, Bonnie’s own potential transformation never seemed like a likely possibility. However, where things stand going into the final season of The Vampire Diaries, it’s far from out of the question.
Why it hasn’t happened already
Other than the rebranded Matt Donovan, no character on The Vampire Diaries has been more anti-vamp than Bonnie Bennett. She was always cautious around Stefan and perpetually (until very recently) angry at Damon. Understandably, she was also furious about her mother’s transformation, and even hesitated to make a daylight ring for Caroline!
The tumultuous Bennett witch/vampire relationship didn’t even start with Bonnie. She inherited her attitudes toward vampirism from her Grams, who inherited it from a long line of proud Bennett witches before her. Vampires are powerful and dangerous, but the Bennett witches are legendary. They are always savvy and intentional in their dealings with other supernatural beings. A Bennett witch always has the upper hand.
Even though Bonnie’s parents were both around at the beginning of The Vampire Diaries, her Grams was her most significant guiding figure, especially in terms of her witchcraft. First and foremost, Sheila taught Bonnie how to develop her powers and wield them responsibly. She also provided strict rules about interacting with vampires and other supernatural entities. She made sure Bonnie knew that witches did not exist to serve them.
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Unfortunately, Sheila didn’t take her own advice seriously enough, and she died opening the tomb. This event is probably the single most important factor when it comes to Bonnie’s trepidation surrounding immortals. She largely took her cues from Sheila while she was alive, and her memory (and even sometimes her physical appearance) continue to shape her in her supernatural identity.
Of course, Bonnie’s compassion, along with the fact that 90% of the people she cares about happen to be vampires, have gotten her into trouble a few times. Despite her friends’ sometimes murderous tendencies, she loves them deeply and truly desires to help them. However, she still tries to uphold a strong moral code, and draws a firm line when human life could be endangered (unless Damon forces her to act).
On top of her complicated relationships with the vamps, Bonnie has always served a much greater purpose on The Vampire Diaries. Mystic Falls has always been crawling with vampires, but Salvatore and co. have only had one Bennett witch to turn to. Even when her powers were gone, one of her other many supernatural identities was serving the story much better than if she was just another vampire.
For all these reasons, Bonnie has been protected from the vampire curse (if you choose to see it that way) that seems to be ubiquitous in Mystic Falls. That is, until now…
Why it could happen in ‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 8
There are two main reasons why Bonnie could be headed for immortality, and their names are Elena and Enzo. Let’s start with Elena, because let’s face it, everything on The Vampire Diaries seems to!
When Nina Dobrev up and left Kai placed Elena under the sleeping beauty spell, her life was inversely linked to Bonnie’s. As long as Bonnie is living, Elena will keep on dreamin’, which gives Kat Graham the best job security there is. Unless, of course, Nina decides to come back!
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Let’s say Nina does decide to come back at some point before the series finale. It’s not likely, but stranger things have happened (there’s a whole Netflix show about them). Would Julie Plec make the awkward phone call to Kat Graham to say that they need to cut her contract a little short? I would hope not!
Bonnie’s character has suffered some damage from being seriously sidelined in favor of Elena storylines in the past, but she really came to the forefront in The Vampire Diaries season 7. It would be a real shame to cut her story short now. However, the fact that she’ll never get to see her best friend again is also a tragedy.
One way to fix this whole “sleeping beauty” mess would be for Bonnie to become a vampire. Technically, she would die before she turned, so Elena would wake up. Then, they could live out the rest of Elena’s years as the besties they’ve always been.
The other reason why Bonnie’s future could contain a lot more blood is her relationship with Enzo. At the beginning of the series when Elena and Stefan were together, the question on everyone’s mind seemed to be, “how will they have a future when she’s aging and he’s not.”
For some reason, nobody is really asking that about Bonnie and Enzo, though the question is just as valid now as it was then. Elena chose humanity, but the problem took care of itself when Rebekah forced her off the bridge.
Bonnie is going to be even more of a key player in The Vampire Diaries season 8, given the current status of the men in her life, Damon and Enzo. When characters on this show go rogue, the people that are closest to them tend to suffer. It’s possible that the whole vampire/human relationship problem could be easily fixed again if Bonnie is used either by Damon and Enzo as part of their evil game, or in an attempt to snap them out of it.
Why it probably shouldn’t happen
As fans of The Vampire Diaries, our relationship with vampires can get a little complicated. We love them, and we generally believe that their intentions are good, but you can’t overlook the fact that they have their bad days. We’ve seen ripper Stefan, the emotionless Elena and Caroline, and now the possessed Damon and Enzo. When things go wrong with these characters, innocent people tend to get hurt. We can’t ignore that. No matter how much space in our hearts these fictional beings take up.
Even if we struggle to come to terms with what we actually feel and believe about these characters, Bonnie has always known. Sure, her best friends have been sentenced to this life, and she even fell in love with a vampire, but vampirism is never what she’s wanted for herself. While most of our favorite characters didn’t choose to die with vampire blood in their system, most of them did choose to fully make the transition.
In all seven season of The Vampire Diaries, we have only seen one person make the opposite choice. Caroline’s father’s “death,” did help him to come to terms with Caroline’s identity, but his prejudices would not allow him to complete the process. We barely knew him and the choice was still incredibly impactful.
Bonnie has continuously struggled between choosing to honor her own values or help her loved ones. If she were to die with vampire blood in her system, she would probably go through the same dilemma. Would she decide to complete the transition? It would be an easy fix to some of the show’s biggest problems, but wouldn’t it be more interesting to take the road less traveled, this time?
What if, in her final act, Bonnie chose to not complete a transition. What if she chose herself, her principles, and her values over being with Enzo and her friends, forever. She’d be giving up a lot, but she’s seen what has happened to all of her friends who’ve made the other choice. It’d be a powerful move to relinquish that possibility for herself.
This option would also make for an amazing ending if Nina Dobrev returned for the series finale. Instead of never seeing each other again, the girls would at least get one more day together. Of course, Bonnie may never have to make the choice. This is all speculation, after all. There are other strong, amazing, non-vampiric possible endings for her character.
If Enzo makes it out of whatever state he’s in right now, we could see what it might be like for a human/vampire relationship to go the distance. I know it seems impossible for two people who love each other to get past the fact that one has less wrinkles than the other, but let’s see them prove us wrong!
Alternatively, we could just see Bonnie embrace a happy life of her choosing, with or without a significant other, and with or without her powers. Again, stranger things have happened.
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