Wikia

Matthew G. Donovan

Biographical information
Born	February 21, 1992
Status	Alive
Occupation	Student at Mystic Falls High School (formerly) Busboy (formerly)
Species	Human Medium
Gender	Male
Family information
Family members	Unknown Father Kelly Donovan (Mother) Vicki Donovan † (Sister)
Supernatural information
Significant kills	Finn Mikaelson Sage (Through Finn's death) Troy (Through Finn's death) All vampires turned from Finn's bloodline
Appearance
Played by	Zach Roerig
First seen	Pilot
Last seen	Graduation
.

“	I've never set one foot outside of this town, I've no college plans, no idea what the future holds for me, but I think it's time that I start truly living. And since you almost killed me this year, I figured it's your obligation to show me how.	”
	— Matt to Rebekah in Graduation

Matthew G. "Matt" Donovan is the ex-boyfriend of Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert, brother of Vicki Donovan. After the death of Elena's parents, Elena broke up with Matt due to needing some time alone to deal with all the things that had happened, although Matt still cares about Elena deeply. Throughout the series, Caroline and Matt begin dating; he encourages her to become a more caring, kind, and selfless young woman. He is Jeremy´s best friend.

Matt is a member of the Donovan Family.

Early History

Matt was born in Mystic Falls to Kelly Donovan and an unnamed father. He had an older sister, Vicki Donovan. Because Kelly and Miranda Gilbert who was Elena's adoptive mother, were best friends since high school, Matt knew Elena Gilbert since infancy occasionally sharing a crib. They grew up together being really close childhood friends and began dating in their teenage years, feeling they owed it to themselves to try. When Elena's parents died, she broke up with Matt because she needed time alone to figure out her feelings. Matt still hoped they could be together, but it was not likely to happen due to Elena's instant connection to the new student, Stefan. It's something he might still mourn about.

Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series

Relationships

Elena and Matt (Ex-Girlfriend/Close Friends)
Caroline and Matt (Ex-Girlfriend/Good Friends)
Matt and Vicki (Siblings)
Matt and Bonnie (Good Friends)

Tyler and Matt (Friends)
Jeremy and Matt (Best Friends)
Matt and Rebekah (Friends)
Matt and April (Good friends)

Personality and Traits

Matt is everyone's definition of the "everyday man". Out of the characters, he is the most "normal"; he does not possess any supernatural attribute, nor any supernatural artifact that makes him stand out of the rest of humanity. He is, however, aware of the supernatural world and has more than had his fair share of skirmishes with them in the past.

Matt is often seen by some people as a person who only cares about the sport, however, he is just the opposite, Matt is strong because he wants to protect his family and friends from the dangers that threaten them every day.

As far as personality goes, Matt is loyal, headstrong, and down-to-earth. These qualities make it very hard for other characters not to like him, and he has captured the hearts of several females throughout the series.

Physical Appearance

Matt is handsome, tall, with a muscular and toned body. He has blond hair, blue eyes and an attractive face. Matt is regarded as the stereotype of football players, (tall, hunk, sexy and charismatic).

Appearances

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

TBA

Novels

In the novels, Matt's surname is Honeycutt, not "Donovan", and like the series, he is Elena's ex-boyfriend. Vicki is also not his sister in the novels. Matt Honeycutt's father is dead and his mother is only briefly mentioned and is completely dissimilar to Kelly Donovan.

Name

Matt is a variation for Matthew. In the bible he was one of the twelve, a tax collector and he is credited with writing one of the gospels. From the Hebrew מַתִּתְיָהוּ (Mattiyahu) "Gift of Yaweh"

Trivia

In the books, Matt's surname is Honeycutt, but in the TV Series his surname is Donovan.
In the books, Matt learns that Stefan and Damon are vampires and that Elena has become a vampire and needs blood.
In the series, Matt was the second to last main character to learn about the supernatural world (before Jenna) and he is the last character to have learned this to be still alive since Jenna died one episode after.
Matt is not the brother of Vicki in the books. In the tv series, he is Vicki's brother and takes care of Vicki and his mother Kelly.
In the books, Matt becomes Stefan's best friend, but in the series, Matt is best friends with Tyler Lockwood and Jeremy Gilbert.
In the series, he often shortens people's names, as well as Damon, but with nicknames -
- Vicki "Vick"
- Tyler "Ty"
- Jeremy "Jer"
- Caroline "Care"
- Bonnie "Bon"
Kevin Williamson commented on the character Matt, saying "There's a door there, that we will eventually open, but for now he's human"
Although Matt's feelings for Elena are a major recurring theme in the first season, they have seemed to have completely vanished to make way for his new feelings for Caroline, which become a major plotline in the second season particularly since Caroline is now a vampire. However, in the books, Matt's feelings for Elena never seem to go away and play an even stronger role since he still has feelings for her when he discovers the existence of the supernatural world.
Matt was the first main character who destroyed an Original (Finn) without neutralizing it. (The Murder of One).
- Finn is also his first, and only kill to date.
In the books, he and Damon interact more often than in the TV series.
He and Jeremy are indirectly responsible for Elena becoming a vampire.
As stated in Graduation, Matt has never set one foot out of Mystic Falls.

Episode Count

In Season 1 Matt doesn't appear in 5 episodes: Family Ties, Bloodlines, Children of the Damned, Miss Mystic Falls and Blood Brothers.
In Season 2 Matt doesn't appear in 7 episodes: Memory Lane, Kill or Be Killed, Rose, Katerina, The Dinner Party, Klaus and As I Lay Dying.
In Season 3 Matt doesn't appear in 7 episodes: The End of The Affair, Disturbing Behavior, Ordinary People, The New Deal, The Ties That Bind, All My Children and Break On Through.
In Season 4 Matt doesn't appears in 6 episodes: We'll Always Have Bourbon Street, Into the Wild, Down the Rabbit Hole, Because the Night, American Gothic and The Originals.

Tropes

Elena's former boyfriend, hasn't given up hope yet - which makes him a Dogged Nice Guy .
He is pretty much a Generic Guy , with no special qualities - except being human human.
Of course, he just wants his beloved to be happy , so he forgives Elena for ditching him and tries to be friends with Stefan.
His life sucks most of the times: We don't even know if he knew his father ;his mother is an Alcoholic who left him for a boyfriend in Florida; his sister Vicki was a drug addict who got turned into a Vampire by Damon because he was bored then staked by Stefan. Ah, and Vicki came back as a ghost. She was persuaded by Esther to try and kill Elena!
Like most of the main cast, he even died once. But he was revived,
By season 4 he is the only one in the cast member to remain human, so he is the Token Human , which in this case is also a Token Minority.
He's Rebekah's Morality Pet
With April and Meredith he is part of Team Normal - the humans without powers that help the super-powered heroes.

References

Gallery

Matt Donovan has a photo gallery.

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