The Vampire Diaries Universe hosts numerous characters, where even heinous characters range from complex, sympathetic or entertaining. However, some characters exist only to be detestable enough that the audience would find themselves rooting for even the more amoral characters, against them.
The Vampire Diaries:
- Season one: Richard Lockwood was the leader of the Founders Council and Mayor of Mystic Falls, as well as Tyler's father. Having little to no likable qualities, flirting with other women despite being married, and is a verbally abusive father to Tyler, belittling him for backing down from a fight. At one point Richard tries bullying Tyler and Jeremy into fighting to work out their issues. Along with his partner, John Gilbert, he leads a coup against Sheriff Forbes to enact Gilbert's plans to uncover and incapacitate hidden vampires in Mystic Falls. This leads to Lockwood's death; due to being an untriggered werewolf, Richard is incapacitated by Gilbert's device, being mistaken for a vampire by his men, who lock him in a burning basement with the vampires he helped imprison.
- Giuseppe Salvatore was Stefan and Damon's father, and a member of the Founders Council. An abuser to his family, he once burned a young Damon with a cigar, falsely believing Damon stole money from him. When the brothers grew up, Giuseppe showed a blatant favoritism towards Stefan when Damon abandoned the confederate army. That favoritism was short-lived when Stefan fell in love with the vampire, Katherine Pierce; Giuseppe fatally shoots both his sons when they tried to rescue Katherine. Since both brothers had Katherine's blood in their system, they soon awoke, transforming into vampires, with Stefan killing Giuseppe.
- Season 7A: Julian is the controlling and manipulative patriarch of the Heretic "family" he formed with Lily Salvatore. Julian beat his pregnant "daughter" Valerie, into having a miscarriage to keep her under his control. He would later turning the rest against her. Keeping his "family" under his control through empty expressions of affection, Julian links his life to Lily's, only to unlink it and mock her when she takes her life. When the Heretics finally see through Julian and turn against him, Julian can only petulantly whine and blame the Salvatore brothers for his losses.
The Originals
- Francesca Guerra is a secret werewolf ostensibly leading the human faction in the war over New Orleans, managing to be one of the most detestable players. Her character begins and ends with her being an arrogant and manipulative schemer. Her crimes including escalating the conflict between vampires and werewolves by bombing the latter's territory, to making a deal with the witches to turn over Hayley so that they'd kill her baby. For all her her scheming and overconfidence, when Francesca is finally on top, she quickly gives way to paranoia, isolating herself in fear of the Mikaelson's retaliation, all the while ordering her siblings around as lap dogs, and leaving them to their fate against a vengeful Elijah. When cornered and about to be killed by Hayley, Francesca has the audacity to try to beg for her life.
- Season one: Monique Deveraux, upon her resurrection from the Harvest Ritual, has become a self-righteous and hateful fanatic to the Ancestors, killing her aunt, after the latter helped resurrect her, for not being a big enough believer. From there, Monique spends most of her screen time either bullying Davina, encouraging her isolation from the witch community for surviving the Harvest; arrogantly antagonizing the Mikaelson's; trying to kill a pregnant Hayley with barely concealed enjoyment. When Hayley goes into labor, and the witches take her captive, Monique unapologetically rubs it in her face that they will kill her baby, and even attempts to stab the baby herself when facing Hayley, Klaus and Elijah.
- Season 5's "Don't It Just Break Your Heart": August Muller was a vampire in 1930's Germany, and one of the few people who earns Klaus' ire on a moral level. Having a Nazi-like ideology of vampire supremacy, Müller led a village with this ideology, and led genocidal attacks on werewolves, even in places of worship. When confronted, Muller bragged about killing 90 "mongrels" and tried to butter up Klaus and Elijah by comparing their "Viking roots", earning Klaus' further disdain. Muller was soon killed when Klaus attacked his village, his ideology lives on decades later, through his vengeful wife Gerta and her faction, the Nightwalkers. Even in the present, Klaus regards August as a fascist, and thinks he was "too easy" on him.
- Season 5: Emmett becomes the leader of the Nightwalkers following Greta's death, lacking her more pitiable qualities, in favour of being a smug vampire supremacist. Upon taking control of the Nightwalkers, he thanks Elijah for his actions leading to Hayley's death, starting a more militant movement; from leading a dishonourable attack on Hayley's funeral; trying to segregate the werewolves and witches in New Orleans; setting off a suicide bomber to retaliate against those who don't fall in line; and stealing Marcel's enhanced hybrid venom, to weaponize it against the Mikaelson's and "impure" vampires.
