The villains of The Vampire Diaries is honestly what made the show. Every season we were introduced to the bad guy that was worse than the last.

Let’s rate them!

Klaus.

Goes without saying. Brought the show to life, went batshit crazy every two seconds. Really was the badass he was portrayed to be. He did not give a shit about anything except for building an army to take over the world. He was the exception, he was the first true hybrid, he had monsters as parents and he kept standing. He was shown to be vulnerable, kind, and absolutely deranged when someone messed with his family. Probably the best thing to come out of this entire TVD universe.

Kai.

When they introduced him by saying he slaughtered his entire family, I was like who is this psychopath? Man did they deliver when he showed up. He was a true psychopath, his personality was gold, honestly I found him funnier than Damon. One of the best scenes in the entire show is when he’s giving his monologue and Elena’s unconscious. What a fan-fucking-tastic actor. I think he is actually my favourite true villain of any television series.

Silas.

I think along with Silas being this old immortal trying to live in the modern world and him being this bad guy, it was comical in the best way. Witch, lover, immortal, turned to stone for millennia. I honestly think this story was way more interesting than anything else season 5 had to offer.
His story – I could probably watch an entire spinoff with him, Amara, Quetsiah.
The Hunters were a nice touch.

Katherine.

She honestly would’ve been higher up on the list if they didnt mess around with her after she died. She had probably one of the best arcs on TVD. Being this badass, running from everything, surviving, becoming human and eventually meeting Nadia.She had the best personality, banging style, and the way she played the Salvatore brothers was amazing.
To add to it all she was hilarious.. “It must be exhausting trying to be me”
Props to Nina giving Katherine the personality and snark.

Mikael.

They did not do him justice in TVD. He was much scarier than they lead on and he died wayyy too easily on the show. He was the ultimate vampire hunter, I don’t know why they had all the build up for him to be taken out so easily.
But now Mikael in TO, thats a whole different ballgame. He’s actually terrifying. The back story of why he is the way he is, it was necessary. He turned into this abusive monster after Freya was taken away, and to want to kill his own children.. well now thats a whole different ballgame of evil.
“Boy”

Heretics

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I actually liked the heretics. I could care less for Lily and Julian, but I loved all the different Heretics. It was so odd for them trying to fit into the Modern World. They all brought something different to the show, at the end of the day I don’t actually think they were antagonists, they were just tryna work through millennia worth of trauma.

Sybil

Probably another unpopular opinion but Sybil was such a fun addition during an otherwise extremely dark point in the show. She was funny, witty, had a great backstory and she had amazing one liners.
It was so interesting to see the powers her and her sister had, we all have heard of sirens, but to see them in action really was a treat.
She was honestly preferable to Cade and Seline in my opinion.

Rayna, the Travellers

Probably two of the worst storylines in the entire show. They were try hard villains and honestly did not have screen presence. They weren’t as threatening as they thought they were, made stupid decision and honestly didn’t bring much to the story line either. Two of the most forgettable characters.

Now there are a few more – Cade, Julian, Lily. But they were so unmemorable I didn’t feel the need to mention them in the list. Lily was a terrible mother but not a true villain, Julian didn’t live up to his horrible persona – he had others doing his dirty work, and Cade? I really don’t understand why they introduced him, he did not at all feel like the devil, minus setting himself on fire.

** Special mention – Damon. I wish they embraced him as being a true antagonist the entire show, because by the end of it I had hard time accepting why everyone could forgive him.