Damon has been rambling on and on about hell in The Vampire Diaries season 8. Could he be referring to the home of the late Katherine Pierce?
After running for hundreds of years and causing almost five full seasons of trouble on The Vampire Diaries, the show’s resident “survivor” was finally bested by humanity. She tried to pass to the Other Side through Bonnie, who was the anchor at the time, but there was a different plan for her.
Katherine did have a few redeeming moments on The Vampire Diaries including helping Stefan save Damon’s life and caring for her daughter. Ultimately, however, her lifetime of selfishness and cruelty made her worthy of a much darker afterlife than the Other Side provided.
At the time of Katherine’s death, Caroline Dries, executive producer of The Vampire Diaries commented on her fate. “We don’t say anything religious like Heaven or Hell, but that’s the implication — she’s going to a dark world,” Dries said.
Thanks to the appearance of the siren in The Vampire Diaries, “hell” has been brought up again. We’ve mostly heard about it through nonsensical ramblings, courtesy of Damon, but if the place he’s referring to does exist, it seems likely that it’s the very same place that Katherine was dragged off to.
Of course, the siren could just be using these visions of hell to scare Damon into submission, but knowing that sirens exist means we have to open ourselves up to the possibility that other characters and elements from Greek mythology exist in this world. That would include Hades and the underworld.
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Life and death is a huge theme on The Vampire Diaries. That tends to happen when 90% of the characters on a show are actually dead! Even most of the human characters have died once or twice. It’s what I like to call, the Mystic Falls effect. When exploring life and death, and what it actually means for these immortal beings, the potential for an afterlife is an important thing to consider.
We’ve already dealt with a few different afterlife scenarios on the show. We used to be able to sleep soundly knowing that Salvatore and co. would go to the Other Side if they ever met their demise. That’s no longer the case, and it actually was never the only option.
When Jenna died, she bypassed the Other Side entirely since she had never killed. She “found peace” and either went to a more “heaven” like afterlife, or was simply gone. We also witnessed some other characters find peace when the Other Side collapsed, including Lexi and Sheila Bennett.
We obviously know that there’s a dark world, or a hell, because Katherine was taken there, but it’s possible that some of the other deceased characters are there with her. When the Other Side collapsed, Vicki Donovan was swept up very similarly to how Katherine was.
If we were to actually visit hell in The Vampire Diaries season 8, it would not only be a cool way to say a final goodbye to these characters that we love and miss, but it could also be a great way to showcase how the vampires view their lives, death and immortality. Already we know that Damon seems to be pretty sure that he’s destined for this dark world, but Stefan’s not so certain. This would be a perfect theme to play with in the final season.
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We’ve actually probably already seen our first glimpse of the place that Damon’s referring to. Georgie used the word “hell” when she was describing her brief experience with death to Alaric. The place we were shown wasn’t quite the fire and brimstone that we were expecting, but it didn’t look too cozy either.
This is the final season of The Vampire Diaries, so it’s time to tie up as many loose ends as possible. The exact whereabouts of Katherine and the other characters from the Other Side is definitely one of those loose ends that we’d love to see tied up.
Katherine is a fan favorite character who played a huge role in Stefan and Damon’s lives. Yes, her story, and her relationships with the boys felt pretty final when she died, but it would still be amazing to see her again. Even if it was just so Damon could reject her, one last time. Or, Katherine could finally be redeemed by helping Damon escape her fate!
Of course, we have to discuss the doppelganger in the room. The Nina Dobrev problem. As long as the schedule works out, it looks like Nina will return to The Vampire Diaries for the end of the series. That being said, will there really be time for her to appear as both Elena and Katherine?
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The fact that Nina Dobrev is no longer a series regular definitely makes Katherine’s reappearance less likely, but it’s still not something we can rule out. Maybe Nina will be able to appear for a few of the final episodes, rather than just showing up for a brief cameo in the finale.
It takes more than one episode to wrap up an epic series, so anything’s still possible. Don’t throw away your dreams of seeing Katherine Pierce one last time, yet. This is just the storyline she’s been waiting for.