Even With Less Screen Time, The Vampire Diaries’ Female Sidekick Easily Outshone Elena

When you're working on a TV show for and/or about high school students, you have to make sure that your characters remain relatable no matter what they go through.

Whether they are turning into werewolves, jumping through time, or romancing vampires, there has to be something that a general viewer can relate to in order to keep the story interesting.

If you are not careful enough, you can end up with a lot of supporting characters who are more likable than the main characters. Many fans believe that this was the case with The CW's hit The Vampire Diaries when it aired.

While the main character, Elena Gilbert, was stuck in the same state she was in at the beginning, only getting caught up in the mysteries and drama of the supernatural world, Caroline Forbes continued to develop as a character and got more and more attention with each season. Her greatest weakness, her insecurities, turned out to be her greatest strength.

The Vampire Diaries audience consisted mostly of female viewers aged 18-34, which happened to be The CW's target demographic at the time. Although there were some exceptions, most young women could more easily relate to the struggles Caroline faced in the beginning than to Elena's life.

Caroline's positive character development motivated and inspired viewers to follow her example, while Elena's adventures were entertaining to watch but mostly lacked depth.

With the need to connect with someone on the show, more fans leaned towards Caroline, even though a good part of her character remained behind the screen.

A beautiful transition from a high school student to a young, brave, and ambitious woman only solidified viewers' opinions. This was the journey that the show's target demographic was either going through or wanted to go through in the near future.

If you want to revisit The Vampire Diaries to see more of Caroline's character development, you can stream the show on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.