The Vampire Diaries: The Anatomy of Vampire Mama Lily

Is The Vampire Diaries Lily an evil Ripper vampire or a woman who always wanted love but only found pain and abuse?  The answer to that question was attempted in the episode “Mommie Dearest”.  This article contains spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the episode please do not continue reading.

Lily, Damon and Stefan celebrate their first Thanksgiving together in over two hundred years.  The Salvatore boys hoped to convince their mother to unload Julian as a boyfriend.  I guess it will make it easier to kill him that way.

The character of Lily seems to be a woman who is drawn to destructive male relationships.  Her husband was an abusive monster who inflicted pain on both her and sons, Damon and Stefan.  Viewers learned exactly how cruel and sadistic Giuseppe Salvatore was in a flashback sequence that showed how he treated Young Damon and Stefan. What happened on the Thanksgiving when Damon was twelve was especially traumatic-worthy.

I wonder whether Lily’s feelings of low esteem contributed to her choosing the wrong men.  Even though she is now a vampire and the head of the heretic family, she still exhibits some of the traits of a Southern lady of her time where they needed a man for validation.  I believe Lily couldn’t survive on her own.  She needs Julian (in more ways than one as revealed in the episode).

I know that I’m not the only viewer of The Vampire Diaries that has mixed emotions when it comes to Lily.  There are times when I see the glimmer of love she once felt for her sons.  And she dotes on her heretic family.  But, I often wonder what are the writers’ goals as far as the character is concerned. Are viewers supposed to sympathize with Lily or loathe her?  Is she meant to be Damon and Stefan’s beloved mother who has returned back to them? Or their greatest foe?

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the Lily/Julian and Lily/Damon/Stefan story lines develop.

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays 8/7c on The CW.