Ian Somerhalder faced a big challenge in creating the character of Damon Salvatore. How to make his dark, brooding vampire different from all the other dark, brooding vampires? His solution: lots of shirtlessness, lots of snark and a healthy dose of pseudo-homoeroticism between him and pretty much every other male member of the The Vampire Diaries cast.
It would be difficult for any actor to make an audience feel empathy for Damon. He is, after all, a largely unrepentant mass murderer who spent the first season menacing and killing his way through entire swaths of townspeople. But as the series continued we began to learn something of Damon’s past, including that he was turned vampire against his will and that his first great love, Katherine, never loved him in return. He found himself falling in love with his brother’s girl, Elena, and set himself on a path of redemption for her sake despite believing that she could never be his.
Damon is still nasty and sarcastic but he’s done the near-impossible: changed how we see him from “murdering psychopath” to “not such a bad guy after all.”
…DAMON…DAMON…DAMON…DAMON…DAMON…DAMON…DAMON…
NOOOOOOO THIS IS NOT DAMON!!!
YESSSSSSSSS THIS IS DAMON:)
