“	She's a dead ringer for Katherine.	”
	— Damon to Stefan about Elena in Pilot

Doppelgänger is a term used to describe women of the Petrova family line, who are descended from Tatia, the progenitor of the doppelgängers line. The members of the bloodline include Tatia, Katherine Pierce and Elena Gilbert. A doppelgänger is estimated to be born once every 500 years. Another doppelgänger bloodline also exists for Silas. Silas' doppelganger is Stefan Salvatore.

Contents 1 History 2 Breaking The Curse and Tatia 2.1 Breaking The Curse 2.2 Tatia - The Original Petrova 3 Known Doppelgängers 3.1 Katerina Petrova 3.2 Elena Gilbert 3.3 Stefan Salvatore 4 Powers, Abilities and Myths 4.1 Powers and Abilities 4.2 Myths 5 Trivia and Notes 5.1 Trivia 5.2 Notes 6 Theories of creation of doppelgängers 6.1 Hybrid Curse caused the line: 6.2 Tatia was a doppelgänger: 6.3 Silas 7 See also

History

According to the legend, many centuries ago, when vampires and werewolves wreaked havoc upon the Aztecs, a powerful shaman used a moonstone and the sacrifice of Petrova blood to cast a curse on both the vampire species and the werewolf species. This was known as The Sun and The Moon Curse, which was thought the reason vampires are powerless against the sun, and werewolves are unable to transform unless there is a full moon. The legend says that if the curse was lifted by a vampire, then the werewolves would be stuck as servants of the moon forever. But if the curse was broken by a werewolf, they would be able to turn at will and remain in control, whereas the vampires would then be slaves to the sun forever. As it turned out, the legend of the Sun and Moon Curse was revealed by Elijah to actually be fake and was made up by Klaus in order to get both the werewolves and the vampires to search for the Moonstone and the Doppelgänger. The Petrova doppelgänger (initially Katherine and then Elena) were specifically required in the final step to breaking the real curse.

The real curse was on Klaus, a Hybrid. A hybrid is significantly more powerful than any single vampire or any werewolf, therefore Esther cursed Klaus, forcing his werewolf side to become dormant. Klaus' intent was to break the curse and become the creator of a new supernatural race, the hybrid race. A race that would forever threaten both the werewolf and vampire clans.

Breaking The Curse and Tatia

Breaking The Curse

To break the curse, a witch needs to channel the power of the full moon to release the spell from the moonstone that is binding the curse. Both a vampire and a werewolf need to be sacrificed at the birthplace of the doppelgänger and then have their blood spilled on the moonstone. However, they have to be killed in the way that is normal for them to get killed, werewolves have to get their heart taken out, vampires would get a wooden stake to the heart and lastly, the doppelgängers' blood has to be drained from their body, until the point of death.

Tatia - The Original Petrova

Tatia was in Mystic Falls in the 11th century. She is only mentioned by Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah during the second and third seasons. The first reference of her is in the episode Klaus, where Elijah is presented to Katerina Petrova. Elijah says to Katerina when she meets and courts her, "I'm sorry, you remind me of someone". In the same episode, Elijah mentions that he and Klaus were both in love with someone. In the episode The Reckoning, Rebekah mentions her. Rebekah says, "The original one was much prettier" when first setting sights on Tatia's second doppelgänger, Elena. In the episode Bringing Out the Dead, Elijah and Klaus tell Stefan and Damon that during the Middle Ages, both Klaus and Elijah were strongly in love with the Original Petrova, like Stefan and Damon are with Elena and were with Katherine. They said Tatia was an exquisite beauty and that many men in the village wanted to be her suitor even though she had a child with another man. It was revealed that Esther used Tatia's blood to turn her family into vampires, the creation of the vampire species, and also, used Tatia's blood to curse Klaus, with the Hybrid Curse.

Known Doppelgängers

Katerina Petrova

Katherine Pierce (Katerina Petrova) was born in Bulgaria in 1473. She was the first Petrova doppelgänger. In the year 1492, when she was still a human, she was captured by Klaus. She knew that she was going to die, so she tricked Trevor, one of Klaus' servants, into helping her escape. Katherine was clever, cunning and smart; she knew that if she became a vampire, she'd be rendered useless to Klaus. Katherine stabbed herself with a knife but was given vampire blood by Rose in an attempt to heal her stabbing wound and afterwards, Katherine hung herself and came back as a vampire. In return for her escape, Klaus made her suffer by killing her entire family in Bulgaria, thinking that the doppelgänger would never appear again. What Klaus didn't know was that Katherine had a child out of wedlock that was kept secret and this child continued the bloodline of the Petrova family, leading to the birth of Elena Gilbert, the second Petrova doppelgänger. Tired from running, Katherine intended to make a deal with Klaus by giving him the ingredients he needed to break the curse in exchange for her freedom. She planned to hand over the moonstone, Elena Gilbert (the 2nd Petrova Doppelgänger), Caroline Forbes (a vampire), Tyler Lockwood (a werewolf) and Bonnie Bennett (a witch).

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Elena Gilbert

Elena was born in Mystic Falls, Virginia in 1992. Elijah was the first one who found out about Elena before Klaus. At first, when Rose told Elijah about this, he didn't believe it. But soon enough he found out that the Petrova family line didn't end with Katherine because she had given birth to a baby girl that was given away by her father, thus continuing the Petrova bloodline. Once Klaus learned of the second Petrova Doppelgänger Elena, he came to Mystic Falls, and he kidnapped Katherine, temporarily taking over the body of Alaric Saltzman. As with Katherine, Klaus is responsible for the death of Elena's family, most notably their aunt Jenna Sommers, Elena and Jeremy's legal guardian. He terned Jenna into a vampire and killed her for the sacrificial ritual. Unlike with Katherine, Klaus successfully killed Elena and as a result, he breaks the curse. Fortunately for Elena, John Gilbert had Bonnie form a special spell that bound Elena's life force or essence to his. This spell brought Elena back to life, but in return, killed John and took his life. In The Departed, Jeremy took Elena to Mystic Falls Hospital after discovering her lying unconscious at home. Meredith Fell discovered Elena was suffering from a serious cerebral hemorrhage, and secretly injected her with vampire blood to heal her. This action fortunately saved Elena from death. The same day, Rebekah ran Elena and Matt off Wickery Bridge to save her siblings from Alaric, since his life force was tied to Elena. That way, if she died, so would Alaric. Jeremy arrives home to see Alaric, and he talks to him and Jeremy realizes that he is a ghost, and that if he is dead, that means his sister, Elena, must also be dead. Stefan hurried to Wickery Bridge, intending to save Elena, but she insisted that he save Matt's life instead, who was unresponsive after crashing into the water. By the time Stefan pulled Matt out of the water, Elena had drowned and died. Stefan brought her body back to Mystic Falls Hospital, where she woke up, transitioning into a vampire.

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Stefan Salvatore

When Silas made himself truly immortal, nature made a shadow self or doppelgänger of Silas as a version of him that could die. Silas' doppelgänger is something that is able to die while Silas is not, thus maintaining balance of nature.

Powers, Abilities and Myths

Powers and Abilities

• Petrova Doppelgänger Blood: The blood of Tatia and her doppelgängers (Katherine and Elena) can link supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves, witches and hybrids) to kinship with the help of magic conducted by any witch/warlock. The blood of a doppelgänger and Tatia can also be used in the realization of a curse or spell which is extremely powerful.

• Salvatore Doppelgänger Blood: When Silas was a human (a warlock) and before he was entombed for 2,000 years, it is highly possible that he had a child (or children) with his true love. This is the only plausible explanation for another doppelgänger (Stefan) to be born. Silas was a powerful warlock who created the spell for immortality. The bloodline must have continued through the Salvatore bloodline, meaning that Silas is an ancestor to all of the Salvatore men, including Damon and Giuseppe.

Myths

• In some traditions, when a doppelgänger is seen by a person's friends or relatives, the contact prophesies illness or danger, while a person seeing their own doppelgänger is an omen of death.
• In other traditions or legends, a doppelgänger is connected with the person copied; sometimes causing the feelings of injuries between the original and the doppelgänger. For example, if the doppelgänger is injured, the other person will also be hurt or feel pain.

Trivia and Notes

Trivia

• Petrova doppelgängers are humans for most intents and purposes. However they also fall under the category of supernatural creatures.

• • If they kill someone, it counts as if they're killed by a supernatural creature. So, one with a Gilbert ring, comes back to life if killed by the doppelgänger. Also being supernatural occurences, the rings do not work on doppelgängers.
  • They can, however, be compelled by vampires like any regular human.
• It seems that the men who spend a lot of time with a Petrova lady can't help but fall in love with her or fall vulnerable to her charms. Back in the 11th century, it was stated that every man in the village fell in love with Tatia, though Elijah and Klaus more than any others. Trevor, Elijah, Damon, Stefan, and Mason fell in love with Katherine, and Noah was obsessed with her. And Matt, Stefan, and Damon fell in love with Elena.
• So far, both doppelgängers, Elena and Katherine, have fallen in love with both Salvatore brothers, Stefan and Damon. However, both Katherine and Elena have chosen Stefan and have said that they both love Stefan much more than Damon.
• Elena is vampire and Kathrine is human now.
• All three Petrova ladies have a first name that ends with the "A" letter.
• Only Elijah has met all three Petrova women and has also fallen in love with all of them. It has been confirmed that Elijah also has feelings for the current doppelgänger, Elena Gilbert. Klaus also met all three Petrova ladies, but only fell in love with Tatia, not Elena or Katherine. So, unlike his half-brother who loved all three of the Petrova ladies, Klaus has only fallen in love with the original one.
• Both the Salvatore brothers and the Mikaelson brothers have been in relationships with a Petrova lady. The first one is Elijah, who fell in love with them the most. He fell in love with first Tatia, then Katherine and, possibly Elena. The second one is Damon, who fell in love with both Katherine and Elena. The third one is Stefan who cared for and loved Katherine (though he claims it was under false pretenses) and later, fell deeply in love with Elena. The last one is Klaus who only fell in love with Tatia.
• The Silas doppelganger line have their first names beginning with the letter "S".

Notes

• In the series, a doppelgänger is a supernatural being, so the Gilbert rings have no effect on them.
• There's a possibility that Nina Dobrev has three different characters and roles -- the other role being Tatia, the Original Petrova who was used in binding the curse and the creation of the Originals.
• A person and a doppelgänger will look identical in appearance but the differences stem from their rearing and community standards (such as their expressions, speech, reason, and connections with others).
• Petrova doppelgängers are not the only doppelgängers in existence, as Stefan is Silas' doppelgänger.
• According to some myths, doppelgängers tend to undo the lives of each other. Tatia was used to create Originals but her doppelgängers have influenced the deaths of all the three Originals.

• • Katherine distracted Mikael, which let Klaus to have a shot at his heart.
  • Elena shot Finn with a crossbow to disable him for a few moments before Matt killed him.
  • Elena held down Kol, which led to Jeremy weakening him with vervain and then killing him.

Theories of creation of doppelgängers

There are two leading theories for the existence of the Petrova doppelgänger line, though neither has been suitably confirmed:

Hybrid Curse caused the line:

• According to this theory, because Klaus was cursed with the hybrid curse, nature devised a way for the curse to be broken by letting a doppelgänger be born every 500 years.
• By this theory, Tatia was a random ingredient and was not a doppelgänger herself.
• It also means that Klaus' existence is the reason for the existence of Katherine and Elena.
• The reasoning behind this theory is based on Elijah's story of the original Petrova that involves Esther using Tatia to end the feud between Klaus and Elijah.
• This theory doesn't give an explanation as to why Klaus believed he could make hybrids every 500 years after the curse was already broken.
• It also doesn't explain how Tatia's bloodline could have contained doppelgängers, as her child was already born before she was used in any of the spells.

Tatia was a doppelgänger:

• By this theory, doppelgängers are not a consequence of the hybrid curse but they have existed in the world long before Klaus' curse.
• The process of creation of doppelgängers is unknown; yet it postulates that they don't simply appear for breaking curses, because the intervals between their appearance is beyond the lifespan of all species except immortals.
• According to this theory, Tatia is a doppelgänger herself, probably a descendant of a long line of doppelgängers before her.
• Esther's use of Tatia, in turning her family to vampires and cursing Klaus, is not a coincidence as doppelgängers are a rare occurence and reversing spells involving doppelängers is quite a difficult task as they appear in large intervals. By extension, Tatia was not used to end the feud between Klaus and Elijah, as the latter believes.
• If Tatia wasn't special to begin with, there was no reason for Esther to use Elena for rituals - linking her children, and remaking of Alaric.
• Esther mentions that as the doppelgänger, Elena's blood is a potent binding agent, which incidentally is the same role herbs play in spells. This means doppelgänger blood are not any special except for the fact that they're rare.
• This theory allows doppelgängers to be born despite breaking the curse as the existence of the Petrova doppelgänger had nothing to do with the curse.
• It partially allows the idea that doppelgängers from other lines could be used to transition Klaus' hybrids.
• It can explain the passage of doppelgänger aspect in Tatia's child and Klaus' ability to transition his hybrids if Elena's line had continued.

Silas

There is also little known about the details regarding Silas' doppelgängers, other than what Silas told Stefan in Graduation:

• So since Esther made Tatia's bloodline to have doppelgangers every 500 years, then there should have been two or three more doppelgangers of Silas since he was first made to stone 2000 years ago. But it is unknown if there were any in the Salvatore Blood line other then Stefan.
  • So far there is only Stefan to be known to be as the only Silas Doppelganger
  • Silas is a warlock helping out Qetsiyah with her spells and that might of been a reason why there is The Salvatore Doppelganger bloodline to be known. 
• Silas made the immortality spell to make himself immortal.
• Silas could not die; therefore, nature had to make sure that a doppelgänger or a shadow self of Silas was born that can die.
• Stefan is Silas' doppelgänger due to the spell.
• When Stefan was about to fling him over the edge of the waterfall, Silas broke free of his binding spell that Bonnie had done before her death. Silas then transformed into his true self. Silas then stabbed Stefan, shoved him into a vault, locked him inside and pushed him off the edge of the waterfall into the quarry.
• Presumably, Silas is planning on taking over Stefan's life for now while leaving Stefan to starve and desiccate (the same way Silas did for 2000 years) in the vault at the bottom of the lake.
• It is uncertain if there are or were other doppelgängers of Silas that preceded Stefan.
• It is also uncertain if a doppelgänger of Silas' bloodline is born every 500 years like that of Tatia's doppelgänger bloodline.
• Silas is theorized to be a very distant ancestor to all of the Salvatore men, including:
  • Stefan,
  • Damon,
  • Giuseppe,
  • Joseph,
  • Zach,
  • Zachariah Salvatore.

See also

Characters Main Characters Elena • Stefan • Damon • Katherine • Jeremy • Bonnie • Matt • Caroline • Tyler • Klaus Past Main Characters: Alaric • Jenna • Vicki Recurring Characters April Young • Abby Bennett Wilson • Kelly Donovan • Elijah Mikaelson • Meredith Fell • Elizabeth Forbes • Jamie • Kol Mikaelson • Carol Lockwood • Hayley • Professor Shane • Rebekah Mikaelson Deceased Characters Anna • Emily Bennett • Sheila Bennett • Aimee Bradley • Lexi Branson • Brady • Esther • Finn Mikaelson • Isobel Flemming • Bill Forbes • John Gilbert • Harper • Jules • Mason Lockwood Richard Lockwood • Logan Fell • Maddox • Greta Martin • Jonas Martin • Luka Martin • Ben McKittrick • Mikael • Pearl • Rose Sage • Zach Salvatore • Andie Star Guest Characters Alice • Lucy • Bethanne • Amber Bradley • Bree • Coach Lyman • Dana • Deputies • Tobias Fell • Frederick • Samantha Gibbons • Grayson Gilbert • Miranda Sommers-Gilbert • Samantha Gilbert • Johnathan Gilbert • Gloria • Lee • Marianna Lockwood • Vanessa Monroe • Noah • Giuseppe Salvatore • Slater • Ray Sutton • Stevie • Tony • Trevor Minor Characters Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four Families Gilbert Family • Salvatore Family • Lockwood Family • Bennett Family • Donovan Family • Petrova Family • Forbes Family • Fell Family • Martin Family • Mikaelson Family • Shane Family • Young Family • Founding Families Species Vampire • Witch • Werewolf • Human • Ghost • Doppelgänger • Hybrid • Succubus

Start a Discussion Discussions about Doppelgänger

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  The Creation of the Petrova Doppelgänger and connection to Silas

  3 messages
  • 
    A Wikia contributor
    I don't get it, Tatia's child was born before her blood was used for the immortality spell so how can that spell be the responsible for petrov... 2013-05-18T12:46:02Z
  • 
    Emstar84
    The Salvatores ARE descended from Silas. Julie Plec said so. We're going to see more of the Salvatore family history in season five. :) 2013-05-18T13:19:14Z
• 

  Doppelgängers: What do we REALLY know about them?

  11 messages
  • 
    Nicky411
    The thing about the petrova doppleganger i do not get is what ppl say about tatia being the original. How can she be, did esther make he... 2013-05-17T23:23:58Z
  • 
    Emstar84
    I will agree that Tatia was a doppelganger and not the true progenitor of the Petrova line. I also agree that Silas' lover may have been the t... 2013-05-18T12:00:27Z

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