YA Bachelor: Damon from The Vampire Diaries Series by L.J. Smith

Today we've got a very special vampire to talk about! The wonderful Caitlin from The Cait Files is here to host Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries as he was voted one of the Top 20.

YA Bachelor: Damon Salvatore

Who is he? Stefan Salvatore’s older and meaner  (and hotter) brother in the Vampire Diaries by L.J Smith

What is he? Renaissance playboy turned Vampire

First Appearance? The Awakening by LJ Smith

Key personality traits: Arrogance, ruthlessness, charm amorality.

Description given in the books:  Black eyes, straight black hair, slim but muscular build, favours black clothing. Pale, and slightly shorter than Stefan.

What can we say about Damon Salvatore? Born in Florence during the Renaissance, he was turned into a vampire after the object of his affections, Katherine, gave both him and his brother Stefan blood. She committed suicide in the hopes of reuniting the two, but they fought and ultimately killed each other, thus beginning the change.

Damon follows his brother Stefan to Fell’s Church nearly 500 years later, meeting the lovely Elena who looks mysteriously similar to the Katherine they both loved. He stays in Fell’s Church, mainly to charm, convince or force Elena into being his “Princess of darkness”. Despite his carefully maintained air of uncaring arrogance, Damon is fiercely loyal to those he loves, namely Elena, and as is revealed in the later books, Stefan and even Bonnie-whom he seems to have a large amount of affection for.

Damon has an impressive amount of supernatural powers, including weather manipulation and the ability to turn himself into various animals (though he seems to favour a crow) as well as the more traditional vampire powers of immortality, super strength and speed and powers of persuasion over humans.

Damon doesn’t do or say much in the original series, other than lounge around and mock Stefan, but he’s often key in saving the day, despite claiming not to care about anything except himself. He comes into his own in the new series named The Return where he’s featured as the main protagonist, replacing Stefan.

Memorable quotations:

GIUSEPPE: What do you mean, you're not going back(to university)?
DAMON: I would have thought even you could understand such a simple sentence, father. Shall I repeat it in Latin for you?

(throwing a tree out of a forest in a wild display of power)
I didn't like it there anyway.

ELENA: I can't go down there. They think I'm dead!
DAMON: Oh, you've remembered that. Good for you.

So why do I like him?

Well, aside from the charm and arrogance, Damon is bitingly sarcastic and gets some excellent one liners. Damon is a very complicated character; his façade is underlined by a fierce loyalty and a sweet, caring personality. When he ventures into the demon dimension with Elena Meredith and Bonnie he works hard to protect them all, even though he only has a personal interest in Elena. Despite his constant flow of derogatory comments towards his brother, his lifestyle personality and weaknesses, he clearly cares a great deal about him and his livelihood. LJ writes the most perfect badboys with soft interiors, and Damon is the ultimate in this category. Plus, he’s totally gorgeous, that always helps.

Please vote for Damon in the following categories:

• Best Bad Boy
• Favorite Supernatural Being
• Sexiest
• Best One-Liner for "I love you Elena. And it's because I love you that I can't be selfish with you"*
• Change My Mind
• Overall Favorite

* I (Amber) picked this line because it's great and I really think it should be in the running but it is from the television show, just FYI.  

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This is no way impacts Caitlin's article and won't count towards the "Change My Mind" vote but I (Amber of this here blog) wanted to say a few things about the television version of Damon Salvatore because as my friend mentioned once or twice sometimes I malfunction and send her 300 posts with Damon's name in it over and over. 

There are just so many things I found that were right with Damon Salvatore on the small screen. Played by Ian Somerhalder, Damon is first introduced as the antagonist of the series. As mentioned above, he's unsympathetic, has a completely disregard for human life, impulsive and is just plain mean. Yet, because of his impulsive nature, he's also hilarious and it's always hard to figure out what's going on in the twisted little brain of his.

As the show progress, Damon starts to regain his humanity. He blossoms from this purely instinctive and evil character to an ally with complex emotions. We begin to see Damon's plight, his suffering and thus, he starts to feel. This is his struggle and this is what makes him interesting. He's going against the nature that he's had for so long and back to his roots. 

There is a scene (and all Delana fans will know what I'm talking about) that epitomizes his change for love. It's one that I can watch any time and believe is possibly the Only Argument needed. Because I believe in this moment that Damon is real and he's suffering and it's beautiful.

I'd like to show it to you but I can't embed it, follow the link for more

Damon is the perfect blend of bad and good. He's interesting because he still struggles with his darker nature but he's willing to try because he loves deeply. Both t.v. Damon and book Damon are truly something amazing to behold.

So there's way more I could say about this and about a million and one amazing quotes I could give but if you watched the link then you know which one is my favorite. So that's all I have to say about that!

Thanks to Caitlin from The Cait Files for hosting the delicious Salvatore brother with the bad streak! Make sure you stop back when voting opens and cast your votes! The more categories you vote for, the more entries you'll get for a chance to win one the voter's giveaway at the end of this entire event. For the schedule and more info, check out The Master Poster here!