I’ve read all *The Vampire Diaries* books, and honestly, the differences between the books and the TV show can be WILD. 😂

Two of my favorite differences are probably **Stefan and Damon’s appearances/personalities being so different from the show**, and **Elena being much more of a supernatural character in the books**. Book Elena is honestly a completely different experience from TV Elena.  
There are SO many other differences too, and I’m curious what everyone else thinks.

Here are 20 differences that always stand out to me:

**Elena is blonde with blue eyes** in the books, not brunette with brown eyes.

**Katherine is also blonde and blue-eyed**, and she’s German rather than Bulgarian.

**Elena and Katherine are not doppelgängers** in the books they’re actually half-sisters.

**Elena is MUCH more of a queen-bee/mean-girl type** at the beginning of the books. She’s vain, spoiled and extremely confident.

**Katherine is much softer and more innocent before becoming evil** than her TV counterpart.

**Fell’s Church** is the name of the town in the books, not Mystic Falls. 

**Elena has a little sister, Margaret**, instead of Jeremy.  
**Jenna is actually Judith** in the books.

**Meredith Sulez is one of Elena’s best friends** and a major character in the books, while the TV show basically replaced her with a completely different Meredith.

**Bonnie McCullough is a tiny redhead** in the books and is descended from Druids. She’s very different from Bonnie Bennett.

**Caroline and Elena aren’t best friends** they’re rivals/enemies for a large part of the books.

**Matt’s surname is Honeycutt**, not Donovan, and **Vicki isn’t his sister**.

**Tyler is Tyler Smallwood**, not Tyler Lockwood.

**Stefan drinks Elena’s blood regularly in the books** without it automatically turning into the huge struggle it becomes in the show.

**Book vampires have way more supernatural abilities**, including shapeshifting and controlling things like fog.

**Damon can actually turn into a crow/raven** in the books. The show initially borrowed the idea but changed it so he controlled a crow instead.

**The Salvatore brothers’ origins are very different** they were born in Italy and were the sons of a count.

**Klaus is completely different.** His history, age, relationship with Katherine and role in the story are nothing like the TV version.

**The supernatural mythology goes WAY beyond vampires, witches and werewolves.** The books have things like kitsune and Guardians/angels, and Elena’s supernatural nature eventually becomes completely different from the show’s mythology.

And probably the biggest one: **the romantic story is completely different.** The books don’t follow the same Stelena - Delena trajectory as the show, and the relationships between Elena, Stefan and Damon develop very differently.

**So for people who haven’t read the books: which of these would shock you the most?**  
And for everyone who HAS read them: **what’s your favorite book-vs-show difference? And what’s the one change you absolutely hated?** I’m especially curious about the character changes because some of them are INSANE. 😂

What’s the biggest difference between TVD and the books?