VAMPIRE DIARIES: SEASON 8 SUMMARY

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Renewal of The Vampire Diaries for the 2016-2017 season was announced on March 11, 2016, by The CW's President, Mark Pedowitz
The Vampire Diaries has aired on Friday at 8/7c. This was the final season.

SEASON SUMMARY
Season seven of the THE VAMPIRE DIARIES found our heroes rebuilding their world without Elena. Confronted by the prospect of a decades-long wait for Elena’s return, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) struggled with his heartbreak and relied on his contentious but profound friendship with Bonnie (Kat Graham). Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice King) began their much-anticipated relationship, which was complicated by Caroline’s unexpected role as surrogate mother to the infant twins left behind when Alaric (Matt Davis) lost his wife. Meanwhile, Damon pursued a vendetta against his mother Lily (guest star Annie Wersching), who had abandoned her sons to care for a vicious brood of vampire-witches called the Heretics – one of whom, Valerie (guest star Elizabeth Blackmore), had loved Stefan ever since their romantic encounter in a previous century. Lily’s misguided choices ultimately caused her own tragic demise and put Mystic Falls in the sights of a formidable nemesis: Rayna Cruz (guest star Leslie-Anne Huff), a supernatural vampire hunter. Rayna targeted Stefan, forcing him to go on the run and leaving Caroline to make a new start with Alaric. Determined to defeat Rayna, Damon enlisted the help of the Armory, a shadowy group with family ties to Bonnie’s boyfriend Enzo (Michael Malarkey). But the Armory’s deeper agenda robbed Bonnie of her magic and jeopardized her life. To remedy the crisis, Damon and Enzo had to venture into the Armory’s occult vault, where an evil presence overcame them. The triangle of Stefan, Caroline and Alaric will team up with Bonnie in season eight to search for the two most important men in her life – even though Damon and Enzo may be long past saving. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Outerbanks Entertainment, Alloy Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios. The series was developed by Kevin Williamson (“The Following,” “Scream”) & Julie Plec (“The Originals,” “Kyle XY,” “Wasteland”), who serve as executive producers along with Leslie Morgenstein (“Gossip Girl,” “Pretty Little Liars”) and Caroline Dries (“Melrose Place,” “Smallville”).

CHAPTERS

Chapter I: The Siren Chapter (Ep. 801-807):

• This chapter begins with Damon and Enzo enslaved to the Siren Sybil, who reveals she harvests souls for Arcadius, the Devil, along with her sister Seline. Sybil destroys Damon's good qualities, which leads him to making a deal with Cade for him and Stefan to take to Sirens' place as his servants to stay out of hell for eternity. Stefan reluctantly agrees, turning into a ripper to corrupt innocent souls to damn to hell. 
• The main antagonists of this chapter are Sybil, Seline, Damon Salvatore and Cade.

Chapter II: The Bell Chapter (Ep. 808-812):

• This chapter continues with Sybil finally revealing her intentions to Caroline. She wanted to retrieve three parts of Mystic Falls Founders Bell, before her sister Seline could use them together to kill her. Later, it was revealed by Seline that the bell was far more powerful. Not only that it could kill the sirens, but it could also kill anyone for miles, by ripping open a hole in Cade's domain, and releasing the hellfire. The only catch was that only someone from Maxwell bloodline could ring it, as it was made by Ethan Maxwell. Later, Matt was compelled by Stefan, yet with a free choice, to ring the bell 12 times, if he can't forgive Damon for killing Vicki. He rings the bell 11 times before he is stopped, but that was enough for Cade to cross over to Earth. After revealing himself to Seline and Sybil, he kills them with hellfire. He also gives Damon an ultimatum, where he needs to kill Caroline or 100 evil strangers. Unknown to Damon he gave Stefan a similar task earlier that day, where he must kill 100 evil strangers or Elena. That resulted with death of Enzo and with Bonnie using the Cure, taken from Elena's blood, on Stefan in revenge and self-defense. Later in flashbacks, it was revealed that the bell was spelled by the Bennett Coven, as means of eradication of all vampires, but it was corrupted by the Sirens before its completion. This resulted in destruction of the most of the Bennett Coven, except for Bonnie's ancestor Beatrice, and near destruction of entire Mystic Falls.
• The main antagonists of this chapter are Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Sybil, Seline and Cade.

Chapter III: The Arcadius Chapter (Ep. 813-814):

• This chapter continues with Kai making an agreement with Damon and Alaric in which Damon and Alaric will get Kai out of hell, and he wil help them kill Cade with Bone Daggers. When Alaric confronts Kai about death of Jo and tries to kill him, Kai tells them that he is also willing to wake up Elena. In the meantime Stefan continues to deal with all consequences of him being human and Bonnie tries to find Enzo with the help of Cade. He tells her that she created her own dimension, like he did, and that Enzo is there. Later, Damon takes Kai to the Salvatore crypt where Elena's casket has been moved back to from upstate New York, so that he can wake up Elena. Instead Kai betrays Damon by siphoning the magic of his vampirism, leaving him dead and dessicated and taking both Elena's casket and the weapon that can kill Cade. Later, it was revealed that Cade spared Damon's soul, but only because he agreed to exchange the blade and Elena's casket with him. Instead, Stefan tries on his own to kill Cade, and that almost ends with his death and the death of Elena, Damon and Bonnie. Meanwhile, Kai tries to kill Josie and Lizzie, because they are the offsprings of the Gemini Coven. But luckily, they are saved in time by Alaric and Caroline, and then Kai is banished to the new Prison World. Sometime later Kai tells Bonnie, that all of them actually fell for his plan, as Katherine is returning for her revenge, and that she will stop at nothing to make sure that they all suffer for what they did to her.
• The main antagonists of this chapter are Kai and Cade.

Chapter IV: The Final Chapter (Ep. 815-816):

• This chapter follows the aftermath of Cade's destruction. When Kelly crashed Stefan's and Caroline's wedding, before her death, she finally confessed that Katherine has returned once again. But all of that was just a distraction, which aimed to cover up Katherine's real plan. She wanted to destroy Mystic Falls using the Hellfire, which was eventually released by Vicki, when she rang the bell 12 times. After the disaster at the wedding, Bonnie regained her witch powers, but with terrible cost. Finally, she together with the rest of the Bennett witches combined their powers, and used them to draw the Hellfire through the tunnels all the way to Armory. Then they deflected it back to hell, as it was the only way to destroy it once and for all, but that came with one major death. Later she used her powers to wake Elena up, and she finally decided to live her life to the fullest and to travel the world. In the meantime, Alaric and Caroline opened new school for the gifted children, Elena and Damon married and after their deaths they found their peace with their loved ones.
• The main antagonists of this chapter are Katherine Pierce, Vicki Donovan and Kelly Donovan.