You may ship Delena or Stelena, Bamon or Dalaric. No matter who you ship, there is not one single relationship in the entire series of The Vampire Diaries more important than this one.
Shipping is a super crazy, intense form of love. The reason I say that is because that’s what it is: A way of showing the love you have for two characters and their relationship together. People are passionate about their ships — they spend their free time drawing them and writing about them because they care that much.
And people are allowed to ship whatever they want! Whether it’s pairing Damon and Elena together, Elena and Stefan or Stefan and his hair — it’s a free world.
But as the series has progressed I’ve realized that every single ship on the show fails in comparison to the one relationship people seldom ever see as a ship: Stefan and Damon.
Before you go all “what the f***, Kyle!?” on me, let me clarify. When I talk about the Stefan and Damon ship I don’t mean it romantically. I mean it in terms of their relationship together as brothers, friends and equals. I’m not over here writing a Damon/Stefan NC-17 fan-fiction or drawing some incestual comic strip about them, I’m talking about their brotherhood.
To quote one of my favorite stupid romantic comedies, That Awkward Moment, “Being there for someone when they need you, that’s all relationships are.”
Truer words have never been spoken! If you think about relationships and the importance of them, that’s truly the one thing that matters the most. You need someone who will be there for you when you call them at three in the morning, or when you have to vent and have no one else to go to.
In The Vampire Diaries world, I think the rules are just as simple. You need someone that will help protect you from the monsters constantly visiting Mystic Falls and someone to tell you when you’re being a dumb humanity-less ripper.
No matter who Stefan and Damon end up with, they will always be there for each other. Despite all of the moments they’ve legitimately wanted to kill each other, they always manage to realize how important their bond is. It’s more important than fighting an Original or dealing with magic-wielding vampires, and throughout the seven years every thing they’ve done to help each other has proven that.
Show creator Julie Plec has always said that this is a show about love, while The Originals will be the one about family. But I think if you look at Damon and Stefan, her words still ring true. It’s still about love — unconditional love.
It can get really tiring when you ship a ship like Damon and Elena or Stefan and Elena, especially at the beginning of the series, but when you let go of all that and you ship Damon and Stefan you’ll realize that they will always have each other because of their unconditional love for one another. You can watch them fight and argue, but no matter what happens, your shipper heart will never be broken. They’re brothers, and they will always love each other.
In a world where people fight each other about their ships and who’s the best, it’s time to take a moment and realize one thing: Stefan and Damon is where it’s at, because they will always be brothers.