’The Vampire Diaries’: 10 best Delena episodes, ranked
Okay, I'm convinced, time to rewatch TVD again!
If the most GOATed pop culture ships of all time are being listed, you bet Delena appears in the top five.
Over its eight seasons, The Vampire Diaries has given us some iconic moments between Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder), from their first dance at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant and their first kiss against a Denver motel’s ice machine to Damon and Elena’s fight scene where she tells him she loves him. Their romance only slows down in The Vampire Diaries’ last two seasons, when Dobrev exited the show and Elena is put under a sleeping spell.
Now, we’re indulging in the toughest task since Bonnie (Kat Graham) tried to escape the prison world—ranking the 10 best Delena episodes of The Vampire Diaries. Let’s go!
10. Season 4, episode 4: “The Five”
Bonnie goes to Whitmore College to meet Professor Shane, and accompanying her are vampires Elena and Damon. Damon is going to teach Elena how to feed à la Snatch-Eat-Erase. Elena is still with Stefan (Paul Wesley), who is a little wigged by Damon being the one to teach Elena, and warns her not to get swept up in the high of the feed. But once Delena is together at a frat Halloween party, there’s no stopping them. As “So Close To You” by Calvin Harris plays, Elena learns to feed without judging herself and dances with Damon. It’s the crux of Delena’s love; he challenges her and she thrives with him. Stefan may have given her a reason to live, but she is alive when she is with Damon.
9. Season 6, episode 7: “Do You Remember the First Time?”
Remember when Elena had Alaric (Matt Davis) Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind her love for Damon from her memories after he was stuck in the prison world? It’s in this episode that Damon manages to get under Elena’s skin by turning on his sexy, irresistible charm. She’s at the party as Liam’s date, but she and Damon dance (kind of their thing). Her curiosity is aroused enough that she attempts to cross the Traveler’s spell boundary to bring back her memories, and we get glimpses of their romantic kiss under the rain! Sure, by the end of the episode, Damon wants Elena to return to her normal life because he thinks she’s happier that way. But a jealous Damon trying to win Elena back and her falling for him again is magical to see!
8. Season 6, episodes 21-22: “I’ll Wed You in the Golden Summertime” and “I’m Thinking of You All The While”
Okay, I’m going to cheat and make this a twofer, because I’m a Damon girl and our sire would totally condone that! It’s hard to think of Delena moments and not bring up the double whammy that was possibly the most diabolical and heartbreaking season finale ever made. It’s Jo (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) and Alaric’s wedding, Stefan and Caroline (Candice King) are in their post-sex awkward phase, and Elena has taken the cure and is human again … and then, Damon tells her he will take it too to have a human life with her, and what prompted him to make that choice to grow old with her. It’s a pretty big deal for Delena, so trust a villain to ruin it. Kai Parker (Chris Wood) escapes the prison world with Lily’s vampire-witch hybrid family and unleashes a bloodbath. Jo dies, and Elena is put under Kai’s sleeping spell that ties her life to Bonnie’s.
This is Nina Dobrev’s goodbye episode as she exits the show, and Elena gets a tear-jerking farewell from the cast. But it’s Damon and Elena’s kiss at the wedding to Aqualung’s “To The Wonder” and then their dance to “Hunger” by Ross Copperman that makes this episode such a touching Delena moment!
7. Season 3, episode 1: “The Birthday”
A dark, forbidden romance always thrives the most in its yearning phase, and season 3 is that for Delena fans. This episode about Elena’s birthday, with Stefan out Ripper-ing with Klaus to pay for saving Damon’s life, and Damon gifting Elena the necklace that symbolizes his brother’s love for her, is peak yearning for this love triangle! This is also the moment that, Elena tells Alaric later, that she first began falling in love with Damon because she saw the selfless side of him that Stefan believed pre-vampire Damon had. Bonus: Somerhalder with his longer hair and Dobrev in that white dress look super hot!
6. Season 5, episode 22: “Home”
“Home” is heartbreaking for so many reasons, the least being that Bonnie sacrifices herself again to save her friends. But this is an important moment for Delena, as Elena decides to join Damon in his plan to drive his car into the Mystic Grill to blow up a bar full of Travelers. Then, when Bonnie cannot bring Damon back to the living realm, Damon’s goodbye to Elena (which she cannot hear) breaks your heart! But a major reason why this is an iconic Delena episode is because, by then, Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev had broken up IRL. And when Damon tells Elena, “I don’t have a choice, baby,” the improvised “baby” hit hard for Delena fans!
5. Season 1, episode 19: “Miss Mystic Falls”
Listen, Delena together in this episode rewired every TVD fan’s brain chemistry because we were all Team Stelena, until Stefan’s bloodlust made him abandon Elena at the Miss Mystic Falls ceremony, and Damon stepped in to be her escort. Damon in a tux, and Elena in that gorgeous blue dress, dancing with their hands barely touching, was magical. An iconic pop-culture moment was born with this episode!
4. Season 5, episode 16: “While You Were Sleeping”
In season 5, episode 16, Damon and Elena are infected by Dr. Wes’ (Rick Cosnett) vampire-killing virus and spend the day apart but talking longingly over the phone. Of course, Damon has to figure out how to tell Elena that he killed her friend Aaron (Shaun Sipos) in a fit of rage when Katherine while possessing Elena’s body, broke up with him earlier. In the end, when Elena finds out, she manages to defend Damon, causing a fight that sums up early Delena. And when I tell you, true TVD fans have that entire conversation memorized, I am not kidding!
I know everyone loves Elena’s “I love you” speech to Damon (overheard by a tearful Stefan) from the season 4 finale “Graduation.” But my Roman Empire will always be Damon and Elena screaming that they’re toxic for each other, breaking up, and then having hot breakup sex. If you stick around for the next episode, “Rescue Me” opens with a hot ‘morning after’ scene and one of the sexiest Damon dialogues where he describes graphically what he wants to do with Elena! *fans self*
3. Season 3, episode 22: “The Departed”
The season 3 finale, where vamp Alaric supposedly kills Klaus and puts entire vampire bloodlines at stake, was quite an emotional one. Elena had to choose who would get her goodbye—Stefan or Damon. She gets Matt (Zach Roerig) to drive her to Stefan, because it has always been Stefan, but she calls Damon and tells him that had she met Damon first, they might’ve worked out. Nothing prepared us Delena shippers for the reveal that comes after—Damon did meet Elena first, on the night of her accident! He rightly guessed that Elena wanted a love that consumed her, and perhaps compelling her to get whatever she wanted was his first act of selflessness towards Elena. It was a beautiful moment, and a pivotal episode for the ship that ended with Elena becoming a vampire, sired by Damon’s blood in her system!
2. Season 4, episode 7: “My Brother’s Keeper”
At the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, Elena tells Stefan to move on, and Damon that he’s why she broke up with Stefan. Jeremy’s hunter curse forces Elena to move into the Salvatore house, while Stefan moves out, leaving Delena alone. This is the episode in which Damon and Elena, after days of making sexy eyes at each other, finally consummate their love. There’s a little slow dancing, some tearing of clothes, and a lot of breaking things and pushing each other up against walls in their hot lovemaking. This episode is a major juncture in Delena’s relationship, especially because it leads to the discovery of how the sire bond works, and why it means Elena was always a little in love with Damon and his blood only made those feelings stronger!
1. Season 3, episode 19: “Heart of Darkness”
A Denver motel. One bed. Two people who have palpable sexual tension between them but are holding themselves back because of right and wrong. When Jeremy reveals what Damon did for Rose on her deathbed, Elena sees the side of Damon that has always drawn her in with hope. And then, as she sneakily watches a shirtless Damon get into bed with her, there are other parts of him she wants just as bad. So when Damon longingly calls her name … Elena comes undone we get the first true Delena kiss that generated enough goosebumps to power the whole of Mystic Falls for days! Set to Florence & The Machine’s “Never Let Me Go”, this is THE Delena moment of all time, one you can watch on repeat forever.
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