STELENA

We ship for so many reasons: encouragement, desperation, connections, and the ultimate feeling, LOVE. We are encouraged by bonds so strong that they can stand the test of time, death and loss. We become desperate if our team is not together, and at times, we are willing to do over the top things to make it happen. We connect to a story, to characters and to a love in bloom. We yearn or lust to see two people together, and when it happens, we are overwhelmed with emotion.
Then there is love – the one emotion that everything is all about – the one thing we are willing to die for, and give up everything for.

Stelena is magical, and yes I will say it, they were destined to be together from the beginning. We all remember the story of Stefan finding the crashed car of Elena’s parents on Wickery Bridge and making the decision to save her when he simply did not have to. Stefan didn’t know who she was or even that she looked like his first love, Katherine (Yes, my belief is that he did love Kat, but it was not a true love). He only saw this by investigating the car crash and saving the girl. Then he “had to know her”. The EPIC love story was about to begin.

I can’t say that it’s a great story to tell the grand kids – “we met at the bathroom entrance” – but this is where the story unfolds. Their eyes met, they talked, it was awkward, but most of all, it was epic. 

Throughout Vampire Diaries season 1, Stefan and Elena’s relationship was tested and they were left ever shattered for other loves (I’m talking unconditional love here.), family and what’s good for the majority and the well being of others. 

They have been made to separate, made to lie and even made to lie to each other to keep the other protected. 

Damon tested their relationship with his love for and obsession with Katherine and even by killing one of Elena’s best friends, Vicki, and turning her into a vampire – possibly, showing Elena it’s better off not to be around a vampire at all. But by episode 10, Stefan feels that his love for Elena is not enough to keep her safe and the right thing to do is walk away. He does this out of love and devotion to her. Of course, Elena doesn’t see it this way, and she confronts him – “If you walk away, it’s for you. Because I know what I want. Stefan. I love you.”

However, more tests are about to unfold.  Elena finds out a shocker. She is the exact look alike of Stefan’s first love, Katherine. Elena feels betrayed, and this truth is too much for her to handle. And throughout the rest of the season, Stelena’s ship continues to get rocked. Stefan goes through a dark time (No more drinking the squirrels.) and Isobel, Elena’s biological mother, would come back to test them by trying everything in her power to keep Elena away from the Salvatore brothers.

We are now over half way in to Vampire Diaries season 3 and the ship has been overcome by pirates – the people responsible for them not being together. At the end of season 2, Damon was bitten by a werewolf, which was a death sentence for him. When Klaus told Stefan “the only thing stronger than the love for blood, is the love of this one girl”, I think Klaus was wrong. Stefan has a bigger love, a stronger love, and that is his love for his brother. He’s needed his brother with him the entire time he’s been a vampire and he could not watch him die. He was willing to, and in fact did, give up everything (including walking away from Elena) to save his brothers life, only to become the one thing he hated the most, “The Rippah”. This was, in my humble opinion, the ultimate test for Stelena. The Stefan that Elena fell in love with was gone.

But fear not. As we’ve watched Stefan being “The Rippah”, we’ve also seen glimpses of the old Stefan still hiding in there, and Stelena fans all over have seen this too. I do not think any of us can forget the epic phone call where Stefan did not have to say a word to Elena – “Stefan, I love you, always hold onto that”. Even with the test of Elena possibly having feelings for Damon, the Stelena ship stands strong. Even Klaus admitted “That kind of love never dies”. And as Caroline has stated, Klaus is “like over a billion years old”, so he cannot be wrong. He is a wise man.

 Ultimately, love needs to be tested and proved to be true.