Who Will Damon End Up With On 'TVD' If Not Elena?

By now, every person, TVD fan or otherwise, has heard the horrible news that Nina Dobrev is leaving The Vampire Diaries. Michael Trevino is leaving the show as well, but his departure is nowhere near the blow that Dobrev's is. After all, she's the main freakin'character. Even worse, she makes up one half of the mind-numbingly popular ship Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert a.k.a. Delena. So, basically, with Dobev's exit, the fans are losing the character around whom the show is based and their favorite couple all at the same time. How many blows is a single heart expected to take? Of course, just as important as whether or not the show will continue without Dobrev is what will happen to the characters left behind in Elena's wake. More specifically, who will Damon end up with on TVD, if Elena is out of the picture?

The thing is, Damon loves Elena. He truly, really, completely, wholly loves Elena. Though they were a controversial pair at the launch of their romantic relationship, and though there are some that still believe that Elena belongs with her one true love and actual book canon soul mate Stefan Salvatore, there are few that can argue at this point that Damon doesn't love Elena — in his intense, passionate, and occasionally unhealthy way. That makes it hard to believe getting over her is even an option for him at this point. I mean, look how long it took him to get over Katherine even after everything she did to him.

However, if the writers of TVD do make the difficult decision to give Damon a new romantic arc, who is it likely to be with? I have some guesses.

Bonnie

The couple that dies together that one time stays together? Any support of Bonnie and Damon (a.k.a. Bamon) as a couple would have to overcome the fact that, well, fans hate Bonnie Bennett with a fiery passion, but Bonnie would at least have original canon support. She was the POV character of an entire L. J. Smith novel (Dark Reunion, as Bonnie McCullough) that took place while Elena was dead. In addition, she was the only character aside Elena in the books to develop a genuine, good relationship with Damon.

Caroline

I'm going to go ahead and say this from now: Damon and Caroline as a couple would be creepy. Just re-watch Season 1, and you'll understand how I still wonder how Caroline overcame that kind of trauma to get along with Damon for Elena and Stefan's sake. However, with the Stefan-Elena-Damon love triangle off the table, there's a chance the writers might push the idea of a Stefan-Caroline-Damon love triangle. After all, who in Mystic Falls hasn't fallen for Caroline yet?

An Original Character

Spoiler alert: Nikki Reed misses playing a vampire on camera, and she is hired as the new girl in Mystic Falls who catches Damon's eye due to a mysterious history with Elena. Okay, so it doesn't necessarily have to be Reed (though she and Ian Somerhalder do have the real-life chemistry to back such a casting up), but there's a chance that TVD might introduce an entirely new character to start building a Delena-esque love story around.

A Book Character

Remember Meredith Sulez? In the novels, Elena and Bonnie had another friend named Meredith, a friend who was, ironically, identical to the physical appearance that Elena has on the show. (Elena, meanwhile, was originally blond.) Not only is she unafraid of vampires (and Damon is kind of scared of her — yes, Damon), but she is an invaluable help to Elena and Stefan along the way. Since Jeremy is gone, perhaps the TVD writers will introduce Meredith with the excuse that she moved away from Mystic Falls long ago. Cue sparks flying.

Elena

In an ideal world, Elena and Damon would profess their undying love for one another, and Damon would end the series proper by leaving to be with her. He might not leave with her now, but that doesn't mean that he can't wait until something makes it possible for him to be with her just in time for the series finale.

No One

Alternatively, Damon and Elena could break up (again...), and Damon could end the series alone, having given up on the whole idea of love. What's love got to do with it? At least with this option, he'll be free to simultaneously date all of us.

Image: The CW; bamon-gifs, damon-axel-salvatore, allisonbaelfire, estupidagirls, pauily, ssofiie/Tumblr