Last week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries (before the season finale), “The Walking Dead,” saw the return of many characters that have died over the past 4 seasons, including the one and only Alaric Saltzman. Here are a few reasons we think they should keep him around…permanently.

Damon needs his drinking buddy

The epic bromance between Alaric and Damon was one of the most tragic losses when Alaric was killed in the season 3 finale. Damon has just not been the same since he lost his favorite drinking buddy. He needs his best friend around to talk through things, and as he and Stefan are all tangled up in the love triangle with Elena, someone outside the family would be preferable, not to mention the already strained relationship between the Salvatore brothers. Besides, no one is equal to Damon in terms of wit like Alaric, and there has been a significant drop in the number of stunning one-liners.

Elena is all alone

It didn’t really hit us what Elena not having ANY family really meant until she was filling out her graduation announcements in last week’s episode, “The Walking Dead.” Caroline is filling out batch after batch, while Elena looks on appearing quite bored. Seeing the one and only announcement for her family friends in Denver really drove home the fact that she has no one left. If Alaric were to return to the land of the living, Elena would have a guardian figure back in her life, and we think it would do a lot to help bring her back to herself. Plus, Elena could really use a male figure in her life that isn’t romantically interested.

Adult supervision required

Let’s face it, these kids are leaving high school, but with the exception of Sherriff Forbes and Bonnie’s parents, there is a severe lack of adult supervision in Mystic Falls. It would just be nice for the gang to have an adult presence that they can go to for advice when the craziness of their world gets to be too much for normal friend advice. Alaric filled that role exceptionally well before White Oak stakes and Original family drama got involved, so there is no doubt in our minds that he could easily slip back into it once again.

Colleges need teachers, too

Since Matt, Caroline, Elena, Bonnie, Stefan, and Rebekah are going to be graduating (we hope) in tonight’s finale, a few of them are bound to be looking forward to some sort of higher education. Since Alaric died last year (for all intents and purposes), he can’t just show up at Mystic Falls High and ask for his job back. They know he died. However, we could see him sliding in to teach Professor Shane’s classes at the local college quite easily, as he has his own unique look on the supernatural world and would have a lot to teach. Plus, who wouldn’t sign up to be taught by this guy? He’s not exactly hard on the eyes…

Romantic Separation

One look at the picture above, and you start to think about all of the people that have dated or flirted on this show. There is a giant romantic entanglement going on and it would be nice to have someone objective to shed a little perspective on whatever developments may be coming up next. Outside of obvious triangles, there has been hints toward further developments that could make this whole romance business a lot more complicated (Steroline? Carolaus? Mabekah?). Plus, we love hearing Alaric’s snarky one-liners when people are acting ridiculous.

Do you think ‘The Vampire Diaries’ needs Alaric Saltzman back? Why?

The Vampire Diaries season finale airs tonight, May 16 at 9 p.m eastern.