Wikia

William Tanner

Biographical information
Born	Unknown
Status	Deceased
Occupation	History Teacher, Timberwolves coach
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Family information
Family members	Unknown
Supernatural information
Cause of death	Drained of blood
Killed by	Damon Salvatore
Appearance
Played by	Benjamin Ayres
First seen	Pilot
Last seen	Friday Night Bites
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William Tanner was the history teacher and football coach at Mystic Falls High School. He was killed by Damon Salvatore, who wanted to prove that he had no humanity left in him.

Season OneEdit

Tanner was a very elitist character, demeaning different people on several occasions. During class he was seen picking on Elena when she wasn't paying attention to him, prompting Stefan to openly challenge and correct him on several occasions.

As the football coach of Mystic Falls High, Mr. Tanner appeared fair, he allowed Stefan to try out despite their tendency to butt heads in class and also let him on the team when he saw what a good player Stefan was. Before Stefan tries out, Mr. Tanner made a snide remark about asking Stefan who won the Superbowl a while back in the 1900s. Stefan started to answer, but stopped, looking at the expression on Tanner's face.

In the episode, Friday Night Bites, Damon attacked and killed Mr. Tanner to spite Stefan and to prove that Stefan was wrong to think there was any humanity left in him.

NovelsEdit

The AwakeningEdit

In the novels, Mr. Tanner is as European History teacher. Like his TV counterpart, he liked to question his students who weren't able to answer correctly. He was corrected and embarrassed by Stefan Salvatore on how Renaissance European youths behaved and lived their lives -- because he was born in that era.

At the hollow party he was killed by Stefan's brother Damon.

See Also: Mr. Tanner (novel)