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Post by Doppelgänger on Nov 6, 2014 7:36:36 GMT -5
I read this from a fan of Bamon who wants to see Bamon get together and since I am bored and I couldn't debate her online, I will give my answer for this here:
Has Damon TRULY Evolved? by: @prettygirlbeme
Probably my fave character on TVD is Damon Salvatore....the underdog, the guy, the guy who is somewhat an enigma to most. When we 1st met Damon he in his prime badass mode, killing others and feeding relentlessly. We later find out that Damon was turned off during that time after leaving his buddy. Enzo, YEARS AGO to burn in a cell alone. Since then, Damon was a vampire who refused to care about others.
The Emotions Switch seems to be the most misunderstood aspect of Vampirsim lore in the fandom. Really, the Emotions Switch is just like any other aspect of being a vampire...it's a heightened form of a Defense Mechanism...a way to survive being vampires innately are...real people turned into animals forced to commit massive atrocities in order to continue to live and that's what Damon's life has essentially been about...Survival.
Damon was forced to turn into something he never wanted to be by his own brother, a vampire. He then spent the 1st decade or maybe more merely existing. He hated feeding and only did it because he had to. Then when Sage entered into his life she taught Damon the art and love of feeding, stalking prey, and generally living like a predator (what a vampire essentially is). Humans became nothing to Damon...they were merely a source of food...of survival. In many ways Sage was a godsent for Damon because she taught him to not only survive but to LIVE as a vampire and enjoy his eternity from then on out. Damon was so overjoyed at what he'd learned and with his new outlook on life that he tried to show Stefan. Little did damon know, he was sending Stefan on a journey that would forever alter Stefan's psyche...being a RIpper.
When we join Damon in Season 1, he's still enjoying every aspect of vampirism even as he's turned off. When we saw DAmon with Enzo in their cells...Damon was still enjoying vampirism and he was turned ON during that time. Damon thoroughly enjoys his vampire life and its antics turned on or turned off.
Regarding love, damon has always been the same. He's always been focused on one woman (very much like a predator seeking its prey). First it was Katherine now it's Elena. Damon became Katherine's "bad boy vampire" hoping that she'd accept him as is and love him. And now, without a doubt, Damon has become the supportive BF vampire for Elena hoping she'll love and accept him for all of eternity. But is this Damon the REAL damon?
Damon loves being a vamp, for if he didn't love it he would've willingly taken the cure to be with Elena in Season 4. But for Elena, being a vampire doesn't have to mean hurting humans. Elena expects Damon to CARE about Humanity and humans. Sure, damon will play the big bro role to Jeremy and will save Caroline from a werewolf bite but underneath those, admittedly, heroic actions is one thread holding them together...Elena Gilbert. Elena is in trouble we must save her...he has done wrong by Elena he must amend his actions. Just like with Katherine Damon's focus is always on pleasing the girl he's in love with.
You can even track Elena's POV of Damon changing and Damon changes himself. IN S1 Elena dreams of Damon attacking her. This season Elena hallucinates Damon cuddling her playing the supportive bf role just like what she wanted...what she needed. Just like what Stefan did in seasons 1 and 2. That is why Elena always chose Stefan because Stefan played the role Elena needed him to play...the HUMAN VAMPIRE..and now Damon is doing the same.
The difference between Stefan and Damon is that Stefan genuinely cares about humanity and humans. That's his one weakness. That's why he flogs himself for his Ripper past. That's why Stefan thinks he's a monster...after all why would he consider himself a monster if he didn't care about the people he terrorized. Damon does NOT care about Humanity and humans...you can see that in season 4 when he willingly shut off Elena's emotions. To damon humanity is a thorn in his side and turning it off is merely a rite of passage. Stefan and Elena cherish their humanity and humans. ALL humans.
Damon's beliefs about humanity goes against who Elena is and what she expects of those she loves. So damon tries to meet those expectations.
So the question is has Damon truly evolved?
NO. As a character, Damon is still the same vampire but now he's pushed down the vampire actions he's loved so dearly to be with the girl. But to me, it's only a mask for Elena. Just like Stefan puts on a mask of being a human-like vampire to hide his dark side. Damon puts on a mask of being a cuddly boyfriend to hide his true inner self...the ravaging, sexy, funny, no s***s given vampire we've seen over the years.
In my opinion...TRUE change for Damon will only come when he legitimately cares about someone NOT connected to his survival or to Elena/Stefan. When Damon legitimately cherishes humanity and all humans. When damon TRULY cares. THAT'S when damon will truly change.
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Post by Doppelgänger on Nov 6, 2014 7:54:57 GMT -5
This girl legitimately does not understand Damon. There I said it. If she understood Damon she would realize that the Damon who he became is NOT the Damon who he really is. All you have to do is go back to 1864 to see who Damon really is free of the effects of vampirism and what it did to him to survive. Damon survives. It is by telling himself that he doesn't give a s*** that he survives. I don't know why people can't see it! The entire thing is a defense mechanism for an entirely too sensitive man. Until he met Sage he abhorred the entire act of having to feed. Why? If it was his true nature not to care about humans as this writer wants to say, why did he hate it so much? No, it wasn't that he didn't care about humans or humanity at all, it was because he cared too much. But he had to survive so he fed and hated every minute of it! Sage taught him the defense mechanism, nothing more.
The writer has it backwards if she thinks that what he learned from Sage was his true nature and she didn't go back far enough to see who Damon really is/was would have been, had he not been turned into a vampire. But Damon is not going to apologize for what he is. He is not going to beat himself up daily for what he has to do (feed on humans). He is a survivor. He has accepted that this is what he is and this is what he has to do and he's not going to apologize for it. So he put aside that part of him that abhorred being a vampire for his own survival. It's pretty simple really. But it is still there lurking inside of him. He just refuses to give it an audience. We saw it once when he had his 'existential crisis' and he said he missed being human. He broke down and let that part of him out for an audience ever so briefly before killing Jessica to once again stuff it back in where he keeps it locked up inside.
If people dismiss these scenes or can't put it into perspective of this character, if they only look at the surface of Damon they won't see it, but he is not so different from Elena or Stefan in regard to caring about humans and humanity. He just deals with it differently. We see how much he deeply cares about these residents of Mystic Falls despite always saying things to the contrary. That should be proof enough to anyone who misunderstands Damon that what he says and what he feels are two very different things. If you only consider what he says or give it too much weight, then you will never understand Damon at all.
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Post by Doppelgänger on Nov 6, 2014 12:59:17 GMT -5
Also a reminder from the show, Bonnie specifically, "No, because you're punishing yourself. You call this place your hell, it means you feel remorse. That's what makes you different from Kai. It means there's hope for you.”
Damon feels remorse. He hides it but that doesn't mean he never feels it. He's not different from Stefan or Elena. He just deals with it differently. Bonnie has only recently figured this out. Anyone watching the show should have already figured it out by now if they were paying attention. Damon is anything but a simple one dimensional character with shallow emotions. If anyone thinks that, they've missed everything about him. I'm beginning to think the direction the show is going is for everyone in MF to figure that out! But the audience should have already known. Stefan pointed out how important Damon is to him and to Elena and now Bonnie is making her own discovery about who Damon really is. He had her fooled for a while. But now he knows that she knows and he is being more open and honest with her. He's not hiding anymore. Though I think he doesn't realize she will hear that phone message eventually. He thinks he's talking to a dead woman...he should know better!
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Post by Doppelgänger on Nov 6, 2014 13:32:18 GMT -5
I think it's possible that Bonnie will be the one to get Elena to have her compulsion lifted....it's just a feeling I have...I think this whole storyline might be leading up to that.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2014 7:59:55 GMT -5
Wow Doppel you've pretty much covered everything on this front! Not much more to add! I'd like to say one thing though. When you mentioned that this was from a Bamon fan, not to point fingers but I had a good idea where this was going and I was right.
Most Bamon fans have this mentality that Elena simply changes Damon or makes him conform to what she wants to be. So for them it boils down to, 'Damon can't be himself around Elena and that's why I'm going to ship him with Bonnie!'
The point that they're trying to get across in their post sort of backfires. First they mention how Damon tried to be the 'bad boy' vampire for Katherine and then took on the supportive boyfriend role for Elena. But for good old Bonnie he'll just be himself right! If Damon's been taking roles in his previous relationships from their analysis from him, shouldn't it mean that when Damon gets with Bonnie, he'll resume 'anther role' for when he's with her. This argument is just flawed and it's just another sneaky way to bash Damon's relationship with Elena through big posts and fancy words.
As you said they don't get Damon's character if they feel like he's just been playing some role to be with Elena. If he's been playing the supportive vampire boyfriend role for Elena does that mean they think he's not a supportive boyfriend at all and it's all show for Elena, but let's just put him with Bonnie anyways!
I really hate the double standards in some of these Bamon arguments. They talk about how Elena is forcing Damon to care about humanity and humans so that he can be with her. Are they saying that Bonnie wouldn't want Damon to care about his humanity either? And that when he gets with Bonnie all hell can break loose cause she's not going to try to mold him into a certain way? Then they talk about how playing the big bro role for Jeremy and saving Caroline is all connected to Elena. If that's the case, they must forget that Bonnie is Elena's friend. Oh so this must mean he only cares to save Bonnie cause it's connected to Elena. But in their minds it's on some separate scale because it's Bonnie.
Bamon fans forget this isn't a Stelena vs Delena argument where both parties have separate brothers in the ship. Damon is the common denominator in both Delena and Bamon. If Bamons are going to go on this whole rant about how bad Damon is for Elena then why are they shipping him with Bonnie. The same arguments they throw at Elena and Damon applies to Bonnie as well.
And this statement truly puts the nail in their own coffin for them:
TRUE change for Damon will only come when he legitimately cares about someone NOT connected to his survival or to Elena/Stefan.
Bonnie is Elena's friend. She's connected to Elena.
I guess they're waiting for a random guest star to get cast in a new role cause certainly she'd not be connected to Elena in any way.
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Post by Doppelgänger on Nov 7, 2014 8:51:55 GMT -5
Wow Doppel you've pretty much covered everything on this front! Not much more to add! I'd like to say one thing though. When you mentioned that this was from a Bamon fan, not to point fingers but I had a good idea where this was going and I was right.
Most Bamon fans have this mentality that Elena simply changes Damon or makes him conform to what she wants to be. So for them it boils down to, 'Damon can't be himself around Elena and that's why I'm going to ship him with Bonnie!'
The point that they're trying to get across in their post sort of backfires. First they mention how Damon tried to be the 'bad boy' vampire for Katherine and then took on the supportive boyfriend role for Elena. But for good old Bonnie he'll just be himself right! If Damon's been taking roles in his previous relationships from their analysis from him, shouldn't it mean that when Damon gets with Bonnie, he'll resume 'anther role' for when he's with her. This argument is just flawed and it's just another sneaky way to bash Damon's relationship with Elena through big posts and fancy words.
As you said they don't get Damon's character if they feel like he's just been playing some role to be with Elena. If he's been playing the supportive vampire boyfriend role for Elena does that mean they think he's not a supportive boyfriend at all and it's all show for Elena, but let's just put him with Bonnie anyways!
I really hate the double standards in some of these Bamon arguments. They talk about how Elena is forcing Damon to care about humanity and humans so that he can be with her. Are they saying that Bonnie wouldn't want Damon to care about his humanity either? And that when he gets with Bonnie all hell can break loose cause she's not going to try to mold him into a certain way? Then they talk about how playing the big bro role for Jeremy and saving Caroline is all connected to Elena. If that's the case, they must forget that Bonnie is Elena's friend. Oh so this must mean he only cares to save Bonnie cause it's connected to Elena. But in their minds it's on some separate scale because it's Bonnie.
Bamon fans forget this isn't a Stelena vs Delena argument where both parties have separate brothers in the ship. Damon is the common denominator in both Delena and Bamon. If Bamons are going to go on this whole rant about how bad Damon is for Elena then why are they shipping him with Bonnie. The same arguments they throw at Elena and Damon applies to Bonnie as well.
And this statement truly puts the nail in their own coffin for them:
TRUE change for Damon will only come when he legitimately cares about someone NOT connected to his survival or to Elena/Stefan.
Bonnie is Elena's friend. She's connected to Elena.
I guess they're waiting for a random guest star to get cast in a new role cause certainly she'd not be connected to Elena in any way.
No I think they think Bonnie will just mind whammy Damon into submission and somehow THAT will be a good relationship for Damon. I think not! I mean I really don't have a clue what they think a Bamon relationship would look like because thus far Bonnie expects Damon to toe the line in an even greater way than Elena ever did or she'll go 'witch' on him and I guess I don't like my men so whipped cause I find the whole idea of this kind of relationship repulsive where the woman has all the power over the man, literally in Bonnie's case, and lords it over him (as Bonnie has done in the past) but maybe these chicks that like Bamon roll that way. I don't know! They think this is what Damon needs? I don't get it! It feels like Damon hate to me more than these Bamons actually loving Damon and wanting someone compatible for him, which is why I truly believe most Bamons are just Stelenas who want Damon out of the way and they don't care who makes him happy. Even the Bonnie fans, how do they justify wanting Damon with her? In their own words they say Bonnie is the best character on the show. She's loyal and pure and always does the right thing. Why would they want her with Damon then? While Damon is loyal, he doesn't always do the right thing. He often does the wrong thing if it accomplishes what he needs to accomplish and he's not sorry about it either. How are they so compatible? I'd say Stefan is more compatible with Bonnie than Damon is. He's all about trying to do the right thing. Maybe Bonnie could help him accomplish it...but that would be boring right? Well anyone with Stefan is boring to me, because well, Stefan is boring to me...lol But if we're talking compatibility and 'pureness' didn't Emily say Stefan's heart was pure? (I beg to differ but I digress...) Perhaps true Bonnie fans should be thinking about who would be most compatible with Bonnie and it's not Damon!
Down the road then we could have the Salvatore couples playing games at their home, having family night and Stefan and Bonnie could be the intermediaries in Damon and Elena's various but silly disagreements over dumb stuff...perfect if you ask me! Now if Bamon ever happened it would ruin Elena and Bonnie's relationship, destroy Delena and make everything awkward for all of Mystic Falls. I just don't get why anyone would ever want that.
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