January Blog A Day: #13 Top 10 (Deaths on The Vampire Diaries)

Top 10.  I'm a fan of lists, but I don't make a lot of top 10 lists myself.  I pondered for a few minutes and thought "Hey, why not make a list of the top 10 deaths on 'The Vampire Diaries'?" These are the ones that I thought had the most impact or were the most shocking or tragic, and here's why, in no particular order:

Andie - Damon's newscaster girlfriend; this was one of the most personal killings we saw take place after Stefan was turned to the dark side by Klaus.  It seemed more brutal that he compelled Andie to jump to her own death, and in front of Damon, rather than just kill her himself.
Anna - She may have been a vampire, but what she and Jeremy had together was sweet, and it was so sad when she and her mother were rounded up and killed by town vigilantes.  I loved her reunion with her mother - one of the most touching moments this series has had, I think.
Aunt Jenna - Are you KIDDING me?  Aunt Jenna finally gets clued in, then gets super-interesting as a vampire herself, ready to fiercely protect her niece, only to killed within 2 episodes?!!  That was so disappointing.  I would have liked to have seen that side of Jenna for a little longer.
Elena - I knew that Elena became a vampire at some point in the books, but I just did not expect that to happen.  I also didn't realize that Elena had consumed vampire blood to her head injury, so I thought they had really killed her off.  I could not believe they would actually do that and couldn't figure out how they would write themselves out of it, but they quickly answered that dilemma with Dr. Fell's report to Damon.  Then the episode closed with her eyes opening.  But the whole sequence with her going off the bridge, struggling to get out of the truck along with Matt, then insisting that Stefan get Matt out of the truck first, all interspersed with scenes from the accident she was in with her parents and the horror of her dad realizing that they weren't going to make it out...wow.  That just about took my own breath away. It was a beautifully done sequence.
Uncle John - I hated Uncle John for so long.  Then he was Papa John, and I still hated him, because we didn't have a lot of reasons to like him.  But then he had to go and sacrifice his own life so that his daughter Elena could survive the doppelganger curse, and I was sad.  Darn him!
Lexi - She was such a good friend to Stefan, had rehabilitated him and talked him off of various ledges over the decades.  She stood up to Damon without fear.  And Damon wasn't even in evil mode when he killed her - she was the sacrificial lamb so that Damon could look legit to the Town Council and throw the suspicion off of himself when the Council suspected a vampire was in town.  That just stunk.
Alaric - He certainly had quite the death arc!  First there was the living wake at his tomb, and everyone saying goodbye and barely holding it together, especially Damon, whose heart had grown by 4 sizes by that point in the series.  Then he is brought back from the brink to wreak all kinds of havoc.  I really didn't like evil Alaric.  I'm sure the actor had fun in that part, but I was glad when he got taken out, which happened with Elena's death.  What an episode that was!  Then he came back as a ghost to say goodbye to Jeremy, and later had that scene at the tomb where he was listening to Damon, who didn't know he was there.
Rose - One of the first times we saw a really vulnerable and sensitive side to Damon.  When the end was drawing near and the pain was getting to be too much, Damon drew her into a beautiful memory, then staked her to end the suffering she'd been enduring after receiving a bite from a werewolf.
Grams - Grams helped Bonnie to free Stefan and Damon after they had been trapped, but it was at the expense of her life, and it just wrecked Bonnie.  She was such a sweet, strong presence in Bonnie's life, and Bonnie was at a loss without her.
Caroline - She was a core member of the group, and her death (and transition to a vampire) happened back when I didn't know how much of a roller coaster ride this show would truly turn out to be.  Watching her learn how to handle being a vampire, and becoming a kinder and more empathetic person and character, was really interesting.

And there you have it.  With TVD's track record, I'm sure there will be more deaths this season that catapult into my top 10 and push out some of the above, but these are the ones that stand out to me the most right now.