How Elena Could Be Written Off 'TVD'

There's no way to get around it: I am incredibly bummed that Nina Dobrev will be leaving The Vampire Diaries following Season 6. The news is shocking, to say the least — while rumors swirled that the actress was ready to move on, Dobrev is also the star of the series. It's difficult to imagine a version of The Vampire Diaries without Elena as the central focus. It was Elena whose doppelganger blood launched a thousand ships, and Elena who inadvertently reunited the Salvatore brothers. Through the years Elena grew from a human with no supernatural knowledge to a full-fledged teen vamp who knows more about witches and spirits than she does the Kardashians. At while I've groaned at her crying and woe-is-me attitude, I'm going to miss Elena. A lot.

So now that Elena (and, obviously, Dobrev) are leaving the series, the question now is how will the show write her out. The Vampire Diaries can't exactly pretend Elena's going on an extended vacation — she needs an epic end to her own epic story. Unfortunately for fans, that might not mean a happy ending for Elena. Here are a few theories on how Elena could end her time on The Vampire Diaries:

Elena Joins Jeremy

Elena is all about family, so I wouldn't be surprised if she decides to leave Mystic Falls and go adventuring with her brother. Sure, it would be super weird for a vampire to start hunting vampires, but I'm sure that Elena and Jeremy would make one badass team. Sort of like a brother and sister version of Buffy!

Elena Takes The Cure And Goes To Live A Human Life

We know that the cure for vampirism is in play, and Elena seems like a good candidate to ingest the dose. It's hard to remember Elena as a human considering she got so much cooler when she was turned into a vamp, but she's also the vampire who's regained much of her human spirit despite her supernatural abilities. If she does become human, she could take the opportunity to leave more than just her vampirism behind — she could also leave the pain of her life in Mystic Falls behind.

Elena Gets Stuck In A Prison World

Hey, we know that they're a thing. It's not particularly clear how this could happen, but Elena could very well make the wrong witch angry and have her soul sent to the place that turned Bonnie into a glorified mess.

Elena Takes The Cure And Dies — For Real

We know that resurrection is a thing on The Vampire Diaries, but so far we've only seen it happen to people who aren't supernatural. Could Elena take the cure in hopes of having a normal human life and end up meeting her true death, á la Aunt Jenna? It's too sad to even think about.

Elena is definitely going, but it's my hope that she gets a happy send off. Don't make us watch an Elena funeral episode in Season 7, show — it'll break all of our hearts even more that Dobrev's departure did.

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