Ethan Gilbert

Ethan Gilbert is the male protagonist of The Vampire Diaries and is played by Chace Crawford. He is an 18 year old vampire who was turned with Danielle Salvatore's blood. He lives in the supernatural town of Mystic Falls, Virginia in the Salvatore Boarding House with his girlfriend, Danielle, and adoptive sister and biological cousin Jenny. He used to live with Jenna at 2104 Maple Street, but he moved out when she became a member of the Five, and later burned down the house after her death.

Ethan is best friends with Danielle and Carter Forbes. He was best friends with Ben Bennett until Ben's death. He's also the descendant of Kaleb Pierce, with whom he has a mostly antagonistic relationship. She had an on and off romantic relationship with Danielle's brother Stefanie, an 163 year old vampire, until losing her when she gave himself over to Klaudia in exchange for the cure to a werewolf bite, which is Klaudia's blood, to save Danielle's life. After becoming a vampire, they break up for good because of his feelings for Danielle.

Danielle has been in love with Ethan for the majority of the series and his feelings for her have grown stronger since his transformation into a vampire. He graduates from Mystic Falls High School, where he was a football player, honor student, and one of the most popular guys in the school. Ethan wants to become a great writer and she has a diary in which he writes everything that happens in his life. He was originally turned in this direction by her adoptive father, who gave Ethan her first diary when he was ten. He is attending Whitmore College with Carter.

Ethan has been struggling to lead a normal life ever since her adoptive parents died in a car accident. He is a Petrova doppelgänger. Stefanie saves Ethan's life on May 23, 2009, when the car goes off of Wickery Bridge. Stefanie tries to save his adoptive mother but she insists that she save Ethan first. Stefanie then discovers his resemblance to Kaleb and takes him to hospital, watching him afar for months before deciding to meet him.

Ethan is described as a star student. He is popular, sporty, smart, compassionate, empathetic, caring and friendly. He can be very vulnerable and a damsel in distress.

After Jenna's death, he turns off his humanity. Vampires and hybrids, in some cases, have a sire bond to the one who turned them. A sire bond between vampires is uncommon, but it does exist between Ethan and Danielle because he had strong human feelings for her before he died and was turned into a vampire. She was the one who got him to turn off his emotions, but also got him to turn them back on by killing his close friend, Mattie.

Personality
"Take the cure with me! That's how much I know this is real, that's how certain I am that I'm gonna love you even after all this is over. Take the cure. Be human with me. We can be together, grow old together... This doesn't have to be hard anymore." —Ethan to Danielle about becoming human.

Human Ethan
As a human, he's the sociable popular guy in school and the guy next door. He's compassionate, caring, empathetic, kind, smart, handsome, friendly and easy to get along with. Ethan is also athletic and was a football player. Ethan's favorite hobby is writing in his journal. Ethan says that he's always wanted to be a writer. Ethan's actual dark side is his "deep, deep connection to other people". Ethan's always surrounded by drama. He's always helping around in his community events and Carter calls him the fathering type. With Humanity

Vampire Ethan


"He already is like me!" —Danielle to Ben about Ethan.

As a vampire, Ethan's personality is amplified. In some ways, Ethan is considered to be the opposite of Kaleb. In terms of blood consumption, Ethan wants to live on a diet of animal blood, like Stefanie Salvatore, in an attempt to avoid hurting someone. However, after he is unable to keep down animal blood, human blood from a blood bag or vampire blood, he begins to feed from Mattie. It is discovered that his inability to consume other sources of blood was unintentionally due to his sire bond with Danielle, and eventually begins to live on a diet of blood bags from a human blood bank. Now that Ethan is a vampire, his feelings are magnified, including his feelings for Danielle, and they're much harder for him to ignore and push aside. He also struggles with magnified grief from the loss of so many family members, and anger towards those who put his remaining friends and family in danger. As he's learning to live as a vampire, he begins to learn that he has more in common with Danielle than he does with Stefanie, and while it scares him, it also makes things more exciting and opens his eyes a bit. These feelings eventually lead to his break up with Stefanie as well as the discovery of the sire bond, which pushes everyone to find the cure, hidden with Sila in a tomb. Ethan has now accepted being a vampire.

Without Humanity
"I'm going to kill you." —Ethan responds violently to Stefanie and Danielle's torture.

When Ethan's sister Jenny dies during their failed attempt at obtaining the cure, Ethan's in denial that she's dead, believing the Gilbert ring will bring her back to life and rejecting anyone who says otherwise. When he finally accepts that she's gone, he breaks into tears. Danielle hugs him and tries to calm him down, eventually telling him to "turn it off". He complies.

As well as losing his humanity, he's lost his modesty. He doesn't care about the rules. Ethan always lived by his set of rules, what he thought was right and wrong, and now it's like he's thrown all the rules to the wind and he just does whatever he wants to do. Ethan is more blunt and honest and, "It is what it is and I am what I am and want what I want. And right now I would like to feed on that guy over there. And I resent you for trying to stop me." Ethan is more direct about getting exactly what it is that he wants. Ethan speaks the truth all the time and it's brutal and not fun for the people who have to listen to it.

Without his human emotions, such as compassion and grief, he doesn't care about anything anymore. He feeds indiscriminately, walks around without clothes, and does what he pleases. While he and Kaleb differ in their personalities, with Kaleb always lying and playing games, Ethan is more blunt and brutally honest, speaking without any tact for anyone's feelings, and saying whatever he has to so that she can get her way. She and Katherine are similar in their abilities to manipulate others, and to think several steps ahead of Stefanie or Danielle, who are trying to save him. His actions without his emotions push Stefanie and Danielle to track Kaleb so that they can steal the cure back from him and give it to Ethan, hoping it will solve his problems, but they are pushing their beliefs and what they want on him so hard that he feels resentful and frustrated with them, which causes him to act out in unexpected ways, such as getting into a physical fight with Carter after attacking his mother. He tells them he has no interest in the cure now that he's taking advantage of the perks of being a vampire, and wants them to respect his choice; the more they push him, the more he pushes back. While Danielle and Stefanie are worried that he will cross the line while his human emotions are shut off and won't be able to take it back, Ethan warns them that he has no intentions of taking the cure, and if they don't accept his decision, that there will be consequences.

Danielle Salvatore
Main article: Ethan and Danielle

"I am not sorry that I'm in love with you. I love you, Dani." —Ethan to Danielle.



Ethan Gilbert is Danielle's new boyfriend and her best friend. As the series progressed, she fell in love with Ethan. Danielle is a 170 year old immortal who is described as seductive, beatiful, hot, impulsive and seductive. Ethan first met Danielle when she was in Mystic Falls looking for her object of obsession for over a century, Kaleb Pierce. She then talked to Ethan but afterwards, compelled him to forget their meeting. Ethan then met Danielle again at the Salvatore Boarding House when he went to look for Stefanie. After a while, he started to view Danielle as self-centered, violent, sociopathic and cruel, especially when he found out that she continuously abused and used his best friend, Carter Forbes against his will. He was horrified to discover that Danielle was also behind all of the murders and unusual "animal" attacks in Mystic Falls. Originally, Danielle disliked Ethan and was rather apathetic about whether Ethan lived or died. Although, Danielle was drawn to Ethan, mostly due to the fact that Ethan bears an uncanny resemblance to the object of his obsession for over a century, Kaleb. Although Danielle and Ethan often bicker and don't get along, Ethan began to slowly warm up to her as he got to know her, befriending her in the process. But he still kept his distance due to Danielle's constant immoral and impulsive behavior. Danielle and Ethan's friendship deepens with time and the two become closer, with Danielle haven fallen for Ethan and Ethan developing feelings for Danielle. Danielle has repeatedly admitted that she is in love with Ethan, however, Ethan has admitted that he loves her too. Danielle once told Ethan that she loved him, but that she didn't deserve him, but Stefanie does. She then compelled him to forget her confession afterwards. As opposed to Stefanie, Danielle is seen to be extremely selfish when it comes to Ethan, willing to put the life of Ethan's before anyone else's, including Ethan's loved ones. It has been a consistency throughout the series that even though Ethan cares deeply about Danielle and has feelings for her, he still strongly loves Stefanie and has repeatedly chosen her over Danielle much to Dani's disappointment. But Ethan and Danielle are still closer than ever, and the sexual tension between them has even increased as Ethan's emotions were heightened. During Season 4, Stefanie ends her relationship with Ethan because of him no longer fighting the feelings he has for Danielle. Ethan admitted to Danielle that she was the reason of his breakup with Stefanie and with Jenny trying to kill him, Ethan had to move with Danielle. Stefanie moves out when he moves in because of the relationship between him and Danielle. Danielle and Ethan also had sex for the first time and became a real couple the night he moves in with her. Despite being sired to her, his feelings for her are real and he loves him either way.

She may be selfish with her feelings but she doesn’t regret it – when push comes to shove, she’ll always put him first and it’s for that same reason that she’s always saving him when he needs her. Danielle brings out a side of Ethan that none of his past loves have been able to and challenges him in a way that no one else can. She hasn't taken advantage of Ethan when he's had the opportunity. She's usually played fair with him, and she's always saying that he's the one man he has to do the right thing by. When Danielle and Ethan are in the same room together, the sexual tension between them crackles and pops like a sparkler. And even when they aren’t saying anything, the pair can carry on entire conversations through eye contact and body language. Danielle loves him unconditionally without expecting anything in return because that's who she is. She loves him either way, human or vampire.

Stefanie Salvatore
Main article: Ethan and Stefanie Stefanie Salvatore is Ethan's ex-girlfriend and Danielle's younger sister. Stefanie is a 163 year old immortal who is described as beatiful, athletic, mysterious, brooding, kind, compassionate and thoughtful. After returning home to Mystic Falls after years of being gone, Stefanie unexpectedly "met" Ethan on May 23, 2009, after she heard Ethan and his parents' car accident while she was out at Wickery Bridge. The Gilbert's car had submerged deep into the water under the bridge, where Ethan and his parents were facing death by drowning. It was then that Stefanie miraculously saved Ethan's life, although unfortunately, Ethan's parents, Grayson and Miranda, didn't survive the tragedy. After the accident, Ethan spent months wondering how she made it out of the accident and believed that his survival was a "miracle". For the next four months, Stefanie remained in Mystic Falls, while studying Ethan's background from afar. Stefanie investigated Ethan's background in order to find out whether or not Ethan was really Kaleb Pierce due to Ethan's uncanny physical resemblance to him. Stefanie eventually discovers through the info that she has researched and gained, that Ethan is not Kaleb and Stefanie is relieved by this. She slowly starts to fall for him from afar and she stays in Mystic Falls because she has to know him. Ethan fatefully and unexpectedly meets Stefanie for the first time at the beginning of the new school year outside of the girl's washroom. Ethan is undeniably drawn to Stefanie and the two have an instant, deep and indescribable connection. Stefanie and Ethan begin to bond and slowly start to develop a romantic relationship. They both realize that they share many qualities, hobbies, traits, values and beliefs in common. As Ethan and Stefanie start falling deeper in love with each other, Ethan unexpectedly discovers Stefanie's deep, dark secret: Stefanie is a century old vampire with a mysterious past. Although Ethan is at first scared of Stefanie and what she is, Ethan eventually accepts Stefanie's vampire-ism. As opposed to Danielle, Stefanie is known to respect Ethan and honor his choices and wishes, even if she doesn't agree with them. Stefanie and Ethan no longer have a strong love and connection. There have been many different obstacles over the course of the series that have tried to come between them. Some of these obstacles include Stefanie's sister, Danielle, Stefanie's blood addiction issues, the unexpectedly events in Mystic Falls, Klaudia, Becker Mikaelson, the Originals, Kaleb Pierce, John Gilbert, Stefanie's Ripper phase and most recently, Ethan's new found vampirism. Stefanie ended their relationship in Season 4 because of his finally revealing he is in love with Danielle. Ethan admitted he no longer loves Stefanie because she treats him like a project and looks at him like a broken toy and that he can't be with someone like that.