The Vampire Diaries, an American supernatural television series, has attracted a large audience with its blend of romance, mystery, and the never-ending war between good and evil forces. The series is an intriguing combination of vampire mythology, witchcraft, and human endurance that has dragged the viewers into a world where life and death were constantly shifting their boundaries. The Vampire Diaries is a story of love, sorrow, and dealing with the consequences of immortality.
From all the characters of the series, Katherine Pierce was one of the most devious and strategically manipulative personalities. A vampire, doppelgänger, and eventually a human, Katherine Pierce has outwitted her adversaries to achieve her objectives thanks to her keen survival instinct, intelligence, and capacity for deception. In the series her character was portrayed as a manipulative and ruthless personality. Here we will talk about seven main characters of The Vampire Diaries who were tricked by Katherine’s schemes, highlighting how manipulative she has been and what happened because of her actions.
Stefan Salvatore

Stefan Salvatore is one of the most iconic characters of The Vampire Diaries. He was the younger Salvatore brother and a 171-year-old vampire who was one of the most significant victims of Katherine Pierce in the show. In the first season of the series, in the year 1864, Katherine Pierce arrived in Mystic Falls as an orphan human and was hosted by the Salvatore family. During her stay with them, she gained their trust and seduced Stefan, fed him her vampire blood, and compelled him to accept her true nature. Even though she knew that initially Stefan hated vampirism, she skillfully twisted his emotions and made him submit to her.
Her plan was to compel both the Salvatore brothers into vampires; she just wanted to keep them with her forever to fulfill her own desires and control them. Katherine’s lies made Stefan angry, especially when he found out that she had turned his brother Damon against him. When she came back in season 2, the tension started again. She tried to use Stefan’s leftover feelings to manipulate him, but the only thing she got was hatred because of her betrayal in the past. Stefan had a big impact on Katherine’s manipulation of his story in the series. Because of Katherine’s negative influence, Stefan went through a lot of troubles throughout The Vampire Diaries series.
Damon Salvatore

Damon Salvatore, one of the two main male protagonists of The Vampire Diaries, happens to be known for his diabolical nature. Stefan’s older brother, Damon, was just as taken in by Katherine’s charm and influence. His character was different from Stefan in the series; he accepted Katherine’s vampire side without any compulsion. He drank her blood by choice and to show her how much he loved her. She used his devotion and made him believe that she felt the same for him. She was successful in her plan; she wanted to turn both the brothers into vampires. But when she suddenly disappeared, it left him crushed.
Katherine secretly faked her death, escaped from Mystic Falls with the help of George Lockwood, and let Damon believe that she was stuck in the tomb under the Fell’s Church. Her cruel betrayal became a driving force behind his return to Mystic Falls in season 1 of the show. His obsessive love and desire to save her had affected many of his choices; he spent years chasing a lie only to discover how badly he had been manipulated. Katherine kept on manipulating him in later seasons of the series; she used his lingering feelings to her convenience. Katherine’s emotional games left deep scars on him and made his personality unpredictable and volatile, which strained his relationship with his brother.
Elena Gilbert

Elena Gilbert is the main protagonist in The Vampire Diaries series. Elena was a frequent target of Katherine’s ploys due to her identical appearance. In the second season of the show, Katherine came back to Mystic Falls as she was jealous of Elena’s relationship with Damon and Stefan. Katherine pretended to be Elena several times just to create chaos and distrust among her loved ones. Her willingness to sacrifice Elina had not only exposed Katherine’s cold, manipulative nature but also made it very clear that she would do anything to save herself.
In season 5 of The Vampire Diaries, Katherine took her manipulation to a new level; she possessed Elena’s body by using a Traveler spell. She used this plan to stay hidden from her enemies, but eventually the truth came out, and ultimately it caused her downfall. Throughout the series, Katherine’s rivalry with Elena revealed Katherine’s skill in manipulation, as she manipulated her doppelganger’s emotional flaws.
Klaus Mikaelson

Klaus Mikaelson was a complex antagonist introduced in the second season of The Vampire Diaries. Klaus, an over 1000-year-old original vampire-werewolf hybrid, was one of the most powerful supernatural beings in the series. Despite that, he was tricked by cunning Katherine Pierce. In 1942 England, when Katherine used to be a human, she met Klaus and his brother Elijah. Klaus’s intention was to sacrifice her to break his hybrid curse, but Katherine found out about his plan and chose to flee.
With the help of Trevor, she tricked Rose into feeding her vampire blood, then she hanged herself, turned into a vampire, and made herself useless for the sacrifice. This sabotage infuriated Klaus. Katherine outsmarted one of the most powerful beings in The Vampire Diaries series. In season 4 of the show, Katherine tried to win Klaus over by getting the cure, but her plan backfired and landed her in an even worse position with the first original hybrid. Katherine’s ability to defy Klaus highlighted her cunning character, though it always came with the price of never being safe.
Elijah Mikaelson

Elijah Mikaelson was one of the first original vampires and was a key character in The Vampire Diaries series. His character debuted in the second season of the show. He was Klaus’s honorable brother who was also a victim of Katherine’s manipulation. He blindly fell for Katherine’s charm. As a human, she won his trust, and he promised to protect her from Klaus. But she fled and turned into a vampire; she broke his trust. In the second season of the show, she again tried to turn him against Klaus.
In Season 4 of The Vampire Diaries, there was a growing closeness between Elijah and Katherine that showed a rare side of her. But initially, her plan was to use him to deliver the cure to Klaus for her freedom. When Elijah abruptly ended things with her, she was heartbroken, which hinted that she may have had real feelings for him. Despite that, her manipulative side overcame her conscience throughout the series. Katherine’s relationship with him in the series showed how easily she used his vulnerability. She exploited emotional bonds and manipulated even the most unshakable characters.
Alaric Saltzman

In The Vampire Diaries series, Alaric Saltzman was one of the pivotal characters. A history teacher by day and a vampire hunter by night, with his life tragically tangled with the ruthless Katherine Pierce. Alaric first showed up in Mystic Falls, but everything changed when he came to know about Katherine, a doppelganger vampire. Cunning Katherine used Alaric’s vulnerability while he was dealing with his wife's death; she used his grief against him.
In the series, Katherine often used Alaric as a pawn in her awful schemes. Alaric Saltzman’s journey in The Vampire Diaries evolved from a lost, heartbroken person to a strong fighter, which reflected the show’s themes. Alaric’s encounters with Katherine showed how heartless she can be with the individuals who are no longer useful to her.
Tyler Lockwood

Tyler Lockwood appeared as one of the main key characters through seasons 1 to 6 of The Vampire Diaries series. In season 2 of the series, Katherine’s other target was Tyler Lockwood, as a part of her bigger plan to secure the moonstone. Since she knew that Tyler hadn’t triggered his curse yet, Katherine made an ugly plan during the masquerade ball. Though her initial plan failed, she always used to have backup plans to accomplish her agenda. Tyler got tricked by her plan and triggered his curse as Katherine intended.
In this incident of the show, Katherine had accomplished two goals: first, she triggered Tyler to make Lockwood’s werewolf lineage stronger to impress Klaus, and second, she created chaos in Mystic Falls to distract her enemies. Katherine manipulated Tyler’s emotions and ensured that he became a pawn in her larger game without even interacting with him directly. However, Tyler was devastated as he navigated his new identity, unaware of the fact that Katherine Pierce made it all happen with him. Katherine Pierce’s manipulation of Tyler Lockwood showcased her relentless craftiness in The Vampire Diaries.