| “ | Everything is coming up Salvatore, so much so that I have decided to turn over a new leaf! | ” |
The Salvatore Family (AncientGreek: Σαλβατορε, Modern Greek: Salvatoros, Latin: Salvatorus, Late Roman: Salvator, Italian: Salvaturi, Salvatorio, or Salvatore, Feminine: Salvatrice; [derivative of Xavier]; translates as "Saviour" in Italian) is one of the main families in Template:The Vampire Diaries. The Salvatore Family is one of the Founding Families in the series. The family originally comes from Florence, Italy, as evidenced by the Florentine seal on some parts of the Salvatore Boarding House. The Salvatore Family has been linked to both the Petrova Family and the Bennett Family since 1st Century BCE, also known as the Biblical Times. The Salvatore Family has also been linked with the Gilbert Family, the Lockwood Family, the Fell Family, and the Forbes Family since the mid 1800's.
Like the Petrova family, the Salvatore family is also known for having a bloodline of Doppelgängers, known as the Salvatore Doppelgängers, starting from their earliest known ancestor, Silas the world's first Immortal man. According to Qetsiyah, Salvatore Doppelgängers are destined to meet and fall in love with the Petrova Doppelgängers as the Salvatore and Petrova Doppelgängers are spawned from Silas and Amara, who were soul mates who became the world's very first immortal beings.
As of the sixth and seventh seasons, Damon Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore, and Sarah Salvatore are the last living members of the Salvatore family.
Family Members
- Silas: Silas (Ancient Greek: Σίλας, Modern Greek: Silouanos, Latin: Silvanus) was born some time during 1st Century B.C., around the Biblical Times. His origins are from Ancient Greece. Silas was the world's very first immortal being and was the earliest known ancestor of the Salvatore family bloodline, as well as the progenitor of the Salvatore doppelgänger bloodline which spawned Stefan Salvatore and several others, and was also a very distant ancestor of the Salvatore family. Before becoming an immortal, he was a very gifted and powerful witch. Silas was deeply and passionately in love with his true love and soulmate; a young lady named Amara. Silas' love for Amara was so strong that his love for her was the major motivator behind him wanting to create the very first spell of immortality with the help of his best friend, who was also a powerful witch and also madly in love with Silas, Qetsiyah. Silas and Amara's love, even though powerful and strong, was also forbidden as Silas was engaged to be married to Qetsiyah and Amara was the personal handmaiden of Qetsiyah. In order for Silas to get help to create the spell, Silas manipulated and convinced Qetsiyah that he loved her and wanted to spend an eternity with her. Out of love for Silas, she created the spell of immortality. The spell was to be consumed on Silas and Qetsiyah's wedding night. However, Silas did not intend to give immortality to Qetsiyah and wanted to give immortality to Amara instead so that Silas and Amara could spend eternity together. On Silas and Qetsiyah's wedding night, Silas stole the immortality elixir and made himself and Amara the world's first immortal beings. After Qetsiyah discovered that Silas had granted the gift of immortality to his true love Amara and not her, she supposedly cured Amara of her immortality and then brutally killed her out of jealous rage by slitting her throat and cutting out her heart. Silas was completely and utterly devastated. Qetsiyah then lured Silas to an isolated island and entombed him in darkness, leaving him to starve and desiccate for eternity. Buried with Silas was the cure for immortality, in which Qetsiyah created. Silas had two choices: either take the cure, die a mortal death and be on The Other Side, which is a purgatory meant for dead supernatural beings, with her for eternity or stay entombed in darkness and desiccate forever. Out of spite, anger and vengeance towards Qetsiyah murdering Amara, Silas chose to not take the cure and ended up staying entombed in darkness and starving for over 2,000 years. Because Silas refused to take the cure and die out of spite, Qetsiyah ended up creating the Other Side in order to trap Silas should he take the cure and die. Creating the Other Side would prevent Silas from finding eternal peace and being together in death with Amara on the earth's metaphysical plane, which is where human souls go after they die. Qetsiyah also created The Five, a group of supernatural hunters whose main goal and mission was to find Silas, cure him of his immortality and kill him, so that Silas would end up on the Other Side with Qetsiyah instead of with Amara as she wanted. After over 2,000 years of being entombed in darkness, Silas has risen and plans on wreaking havoc everywhere he goes. He is determined to join his true love Amara in death by getting Bonnie, who is a very distant descendant of Qetsiyah , to drop the veil so that he could take the cure and die a mortal death and cross over to be with Amara. It was revealed after 2,000 years that Qetsiyah had lied to Silas about Amara and had faked her death. Qetsiyah had actually desiccated and entombed Amara and then used her as the physical anchor for the Other Side spell in which Qetsiyah had created in order to trap Silas' soul shall Silas die a mortal death. Silas reunites with Amara after she is re-awakened, Qetsiyah having lied about her death. Amara tells Silas that she loves him and that she is sorry. She then stabs Silas in the neck in order to obtain the cure for immortality which is running through Silas' veins as she doesn't wish to live anymore. Silas still intends on destroying the Other Side so that he could be with Amara in peace in true eternal death. Silas and Amara reunite once more and Amara begs Silas to kill her so that her suffering can end for good and she can find peace. Amara tells Silas that she loves him and that she will always love him but that she cannot live for another day and wants to end her suffering. Silas tells Amara that he understands. Amara stabs herself and dies, crossing over to the metaphysical plane where humans go to after they die. Afterwards, Silas is stabbed by Stefan, his doppelgänger and descendant, and he dies. Unfortunately, Silas dies before he ever had a chance to destroy the Other Side. Silas ends up crossing over to the Other Side, which means that he is separated from Amara forever. To make matters worse and more tragic, Qetsiyah ends up killing herself after transferring the anchor from Amara to Bonnie. Qetsiyah crosses over to the Other Side, where Silas is stuck with her for all eternity. This means that Qetsiyah got her 2,000 year old wish; Silas being stuck with her on the Other Side and being separated from his soulmate for all time and for all eternity. When Silas made himself truly immortal, he created an imbalance in nature and nature needed a loophole, a version or versions of Silas that could die. Therefore, shadow selves, doppelgängers or a doppelgänger bloodline of Silas was created in order to maintain the balance of nature. Silas was a distant ancestor to the Salvatore family.
- Silas Unnamed Sibling(s): Silas said to Damon in True Lies that Damon (and Stefan) was his distant nephew. This implies that Silas did have a sibling or siblings who continued the Salvatore bloodline since it is assumed that Silas did not had any children of his own before he became immortal.
- Unknown Salvatore Doppelgängers: According to Qetsiyah, Stefan is not the first or only doppelgänger of Silas and there were at least two doppelgängers spawned of Silas which preceded Stefan, continuing not only the Salvatore Doppelgänger bloodline but also the Salvatore family bloodline. These doppelgängers are also ancestors and relatives of the Salvatore family.
- 1st Salvatore Doppelgänger (Name Unknown): He is assumed to be Silas' 1st doppelgänger. Nothing is known about his background. He is a descendant of Silas and an ancestor and relative of the Salvatore family. He is the 1st doppelgänger of Silas and his doppelgänger is the unknown 2nd doppelgänger.
- 2nd Salvatore Doppelgänger (Name Unknown): He is assumed to be Silas' 2nd doppelgänger. Nothing is known about his background. He is a descendant of Silas and an ancestor and relative of the Salvatore family. He is the doppelgänger of the 1st Salvatore doppelgänger and his doppelgänger is Stefan Salvatore.
- Giuseppe Salvatore: Giuseppe was Lillian's husband and the father of Damon, Stefan and an Unnamed Salvatore. He was born October 09, 1810. Giuseppe was a very distant descendant of Silas. He was sometimes known as Papa Salvatore. Giuseppe raised his sons on his own after his wife, Lillian, had died of consumption in the year 1858. After his wife passed away, Giuseppe seemed to use alcohol as a coping mechanism. Flashbacks suggest that he was very abusive towards Lillian and Damon in particular. Giuseppe was seen to be a very controlling, authoritative, stern father. From the flashbacks, Giuseppe has very different relationships with both of his sons. He openly expresses extreme disappointment in his eldest son, Damon and as a result, he shared a very tension-filled and strained relationship with him. Flashbacks also show that Giuseppe was extremely abusive physically and emotionally towards Damon and that Giuseppe and Damon have had a very volatile relationship since Damon's childhood. Lillian had openly admitted in a conversation with Damon that Giuseppe would physically abuse and beat Damon repeatedly especially when Damon would act obnoxious and unruly. However, from what flashbacks show, Giuseppe had a closer relationship with his youngest son, Stefan. Giuseppe probably showed Stefan favoritism because he felt that Stefan was a more upstanding, responsible, ambitious, and dutiful son than Damon was. There is no flashback to suggest that Giuseppe was abusive towards Stefan in the same manner that he was towards Damon and Lillian, however, it is strongly assumed that Giuseppe was a very strict and over protective father towards Stefan. Giuseppe uncovered vampires in Mystic Falls, along with the other founding families in the town, including the Lockwoods, the Gilberts and the Forbes. He hated vampires with an undying passion, and was a member of the Founder's Council, which was started as a main purpose to kill all the vampires within Mystic Falls. After witnessing his sons helping Katherine escape, he shoots them and is visited by Stefan, who was in the middle of vampiric transition, that evening. After being injured after Stefan defends himself from Giuseppe coming to attack him and kill him with a stake, Stefan is unable to control his blood lust as a new born vampire and he feeds on his blood (although Giuseppe died from being mortally wounded and a loss of blood), as shown in Blood Brothers. It was revealed in Season Three that Giuseppe had another child, a son who is unnamed, by his secret lover, who is said to be a maid, possibly of the Salvatore Estate.
- Lillian Salvatore: Lillian was Giuseppe's wife and the mother of Damon and Stefan Salvatore. She was born February 27, 1820, presumably in the United States. Not much is known about her, her background or her family, but according to Stefan's Diaries, Stefan said that she is of French-American descent. She died in 1858 when Stefan was eleven years old and when Damon was seventeen years old. She is buried alongside Giuseppe in Mystic Falls, Virginia. According to Damon, she died of consumption, which is another term for tuberculosis. However, in season six, it was discovered and revealed that Lillian is still in fact "alive" and she is trapped in a Prison World, similar to the Prison World that Kai Parker had been trapped in since 1994. It was revealed that Lily is actually a vampire and had faked her death in 1858, abandoning her family and her sons. After Lily was turned into a vampire, she fled to Europe, became a blood addict and became a Ripper, slaughtering over 3,000 innocent humans in the most gruesome ways. Lily was eventually caught and discovered by the Gemini Coven in 1903 and they had trapped her in a 1903 Prison World as a punishment for her crimes of killing many innocent humans over the years. It seems as though Lily's youngest son Stefan takes after her in terms of personality and temperament, as it seems as though both Lily and Stefan went from being kind, gentle humans to immoral, blood thirsty killers when they turned into vampires. She is currently still residing and stuck in the 1903 Prison World, although Damon has made plans to set her free from the prison world. Lily has now been freed from the 1903 Prison World after Damon, Elena and Bonnie rescue her in hopes that Lily can help with Stefan regaining his humanity. Lillian ends up turning Stefan's humanity back on as she is proven to be his emotional trigger. However, Lillian has shown that she has emotionally abandoned her sons and has replaced them with her new family, the Heretics. Although Lily originally chose Julian, her lover, and her Heretic family over her sons, she eventually comes to show that she truly does love and care about Damon and Stefan. Lily ends up choosing both her sons and her Heretic family when she sacrifices herself by staking herself after Julian forces her to choose between her sons and her Heretic family.
- Damon Salvatore: Damon is the first child and the oldest son of Giuseppe and Lillian Salvatore. He is the older brother of Stefan. Damon is a very distant descendant of the world's first immortal man, Silas. He was born on June 18, 1839 in Mystic Falls, Virginia. During his human years, Damon was seen and described to be rebellious, carefree, emotional, independent, troubled, insecure, misunderstood, principled, impulsive, competitive, and irresponsible and seemed to lack a general sense of direction. People of the town of Mystic Falls even described Damon to be irresponsible and cowardly, including his own father Giuseppe. The reason for this is because Damon rebelled against the town's and his own father's wish, by leaving the Confederacy on his own terms during the time of the Civil War. However, the reasons for Damon leaving the Confederacy is unknown. In his human years, when it came to love, Damon was always seen to be the chaser and the pursuer, the opposite of Stefan, who appeared to be harder to get and challenging with women, especially in regards to Katherine. Damon during his human years, also displayed womanizing tendencies with the opposite sex. Damon and his father, Giuseppe, never got along or had a good, close relationship and Giuseppe frequently expressed extreme disappointment and resentment in the elder Salvatore. Despite his very strained relationship with Giuseppe during his human life, Damon was very close to his younger brother Stefan and they shared a very close relationship and bond. Damon described Stefan as his best friend or companion and the person who trusted the most. However, the brothers eventually became strained after Katherine Pierce came into their lives and both brothers started to compete fiercely for Katherine's affections, with both of the brothers not being aware of Katherine playing them against one another. He was turned into a vampire in 1864, when he was 25 years old, after he drank Katherine Pierce's blood willingly and was shot by his father, Giuseppe, after attempting to save Katherine from being buried in the tomb. He has recently returned to the town of doesn't remember this until she completes her transformation to a vampire. He killed himself in an explosion in Home in an attempt to kill The Travelers, but later was resurrected. He is now one of the last living members of the Salvatore Family along with Stefan, Sarah and Lily (who is a vampire that was trapped in a 1903 Prison World). As of the seventh season, Damon is currently deceased as he was killed by Julian and is therefore trapped in the Phoenix Stone as a spirit.
- Stefan Salvatore: Stefan is the second child and the youngest son of Giuseppe and Lillian Salvatore. He is the younger brother of Damon. Stefan is a very distant descendant of the world's first immortal man, Silas. He is assumed to be Silas' third doppelgänger. He was born on November 01, 1846 in Mystic Falls, Virginia. During his human years, Stefan was seen as being compassionate, kind, noble, honorable, intelligent, athletic, responsible, academic, dutiful, and a gentleman. In other words, he was definitely seen as the 'golden boy' and he had the admiration and respect of the entire town of Mystic Falls and most of all, of his father Giuseppe. In The Turning Point, Stefan revealed to Elena that he was an aspiring doctor during his human life and that this was his profession or career of choice before he was turned into a vampire. In his human years, when it came to love and romance, Stefan was liked, admired by and popular with women. He was seen to be chivalrous, gallant, romantic, well-mannered, courteous and polite, traits which made Katherine Pierce fall deeply for the younger Salvatore. In regards to Katherine, Stefan was much harder to get and challenging unlike Damon, who persistently chased and pursued Katherine as much as possible. Unlike Damon, Stefan had a very close relationship with his father Giuseppe and Stefan was Giuseppe's favorite son. Stefan was turned into a vampire in 1864 along with his brother, Damon, when he was the tender age of seventeen years old. Stefan was turned into a vampire after he was compelled to drink Katherine Pierce's blood and after he was shot by his father for attempting to save Katherine, alongside Damon, from being buried in the tomb. He and Damon were extremely close with one another during their human lives. Damon was his best friend during their human lives, until the two had the extreme differences concerning their lover, Katherine Pierce, who turned both Salvatore brothers into vampires. Both Stefan and Damon were in competition for Katherine's affections, although Katherine has always genuinely loved and preferred Stefan over Damon. Stefan unintentionally hinted to his father, after being compelled by Katherine, about a vampire being present in Mystic Falls, with him having concerns about trapping the vampires and suggesting that his father may be wrong about all vampires and that there may be some vampires who are good. As a result, his father grew suspicious and concerned and unknowingly to Stefan, he drugged Stefan's drink with vervain. When Katherine bit him, she was weakened as a result of the blood within Stefan's bloodstream and Giuseppe caught both Stefan and Katherine, who was weakened. Katherine was then taken to be destroyed. Damon was devastated and furious with Stefan, feeling ultimately betrayed by his own brother, as he had made him promise not to tell their father about what Katherine was. Stefan ended up feeling extreme guilt and remorse for his betrayal of Damon, feeling bad that he deeply hurt his brother after Damon put so much faith and trust in Stefan. Stefan continued to feel this guilt about what had happened in 1864 until this current day. In the year 2009, Stefan unexpectedly saves the life of Elena Gilbert, who coincidentally bears a striking resemblance to his past love Katherine, after she and her parents were in a tragic car accident at Wickery Bridge. Stefan was able to save Elena, but sadly, he was unable to save her parents. Since Stefan became a vampire before he could have any children of his own. Because Stefan is dead, there are no more Salvatore doppelgängers who are living. He died protecting Caroline in Promised Land after being killed by Julian. He was resurrected in Home and is now one the last living members of the Salvatore Family along with Damon, Sarah and Lillian (who is a vampire that was stuck in a 1903 Prison World). As of the seventh season, Stefan is currently deceased as he was killed by Nora and is now trapped in the Phoenix Stone as a spirit.
- Stefan and Valerie's Unborn Child (Jacob Salvatore In Stefan's Dream): This child is the unborn daughter or son of Stefan Salvatore and Valerie Tulle. The child is also the grandchild of Giuseppe and Lillian as well as the niece/nephew of Damon. The unborn child would have been a Witch. It is also assumed that the child might have inherited the Ripper gene, as his/her grandmother Lillian and his/her father Stefan were both Rippers. The child also most likely would have inherited the Doppelganger gene from Stefan and passed it onto future generations of the Salvatore bloodline. This child was presumably meant to be born in either 1863 or 1864. At the time of the child's conception, Stefan was the tender age of fifteen or sixteen, meaning that Stefan was a teenage father. The child died after Valerie was brutally beaten up by Julian, although that is only according to Valerie's story. There is a possible theory that Valerie was lying about the child's death and that the child could possibly be alive, although it is pure speculation. Valerie admitted to Caroline that she knew about the pregnancy spell because she had tried it on herself in attempts to revive her unborn child. However, Valerie uses the excuse that she was "too weak" to complete the spell effectively and therefore could not successfully revive her unborn child. He/She was a distant descendant of Silas.
- Zachariah's Father: This unnamed Salvatore is the paternal half brother of Damon and Stefan Salvatore. As once said by Damon in Season Three, 1912, the family name had to go somewhere. Giuseppe Salvatore had illegitimate son with one of the maids, presumably after Lily had "died". Since Damon and Stefan didn't have children and both were turned into vampires by Katherine in 1864, that made them unable to reproduce and continue the family bloodline and name. So therefore, that means that Stefan and Damon had a paternal half brother who was human and had children of his own to continue the Salvatore family bloodline and name. This unknown Salvatore was a very distant descendant of Silas.
- Zachariah Salvatore: Zachariah was the grandson of Giuseppe Salvatore. He was killed by Samantha Gilbert in 1912. Zachariah was a very distant descendant of Silas.
- Joseph Salvatore: Joseph was a distant nephew of Stefan and Damon Salvatore. He was Zach Salvatore's grandfather and revealed to be a member of the Augustine Society in The Cell. He was killed by Damon on June 12, 1953. It is said that he was the main supplier of vervain for the Founder's Council, cultivating it in the basement, and continuing it on as a tradition of the family, according to Zach. Joseph was a very distant descendant of Silas.
- Joseph's Unnamed Son: He is the unnamed son of Joseph Salvatore and is the father of Zach Salvatore. He is a distant descendant of Silas.
- Zach Salvatore: Zach was a distant nephew of Stefan and Damon Salvatore, although Stefan and Damon used to refer to Zach as their uncle, since he was human and appeared older than the two brothers. In 1994, he had a girlfriend named Gail with whom he was having a baby, but Gail died and his daughter Sarah was adopted by another family, the Nelson family. He lived in the Salvatore Boarding House. Zach was seen to like, trust and respect Stefan but disliked, distrusted and disrespected Damon. Zach was also the main vervain supplier for The Founder's Council, but after he died. Damon took over his responsibilities within the council. His ancestor and distant great uncle Damon killed him. Zach was a very distant descendant of Silas.
- Thomas "Tom" Avery: Tom was the doppelgänger of Stefan and was assumed to be Silas' fourth and final doppelgänger. Tom was born during the 20th century. He was a human who had a personality very similar to Stefan, which is understandable considering that he is Stefan's shadow self. He was nice, kind, empathetic, cared about others and didn't like seeing people in pain or dying. He was a paramedic in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the last doppelgänger of Silas, before he was killed by Enzo after he snapped his neck. Tom is a distant relative/descendant of both Stefan and Damon and was a very distant descendant of Silas.
- Sarah Salvatore (also known as Sarah Nelson): Sarah is the daughter of Zach Salvatore and his girlfriend Gail. Sarah is the youngest and last known member of the Salvatore family. She was born on May 10, 1994 in Mystic Falls, Virginia, after her mother was attacked by her distant relative or her distant great uncle Damon whilst living at the Salvatore Boarding House in Mystic Falls. Gail died after Doctor Grayson Gilbert performed an emergency C-Section, however Sarah survived. Sarah was later adopted by the Nelson family, after her mother died giving birth to her and Zach was unaware of her existence due to being compelled by Stefan to forget that he had a daughter. When she was younger, she went to a camp and met a girl named Monique. When Monique realized that Sarah had no interest in meeting the Salvatores, she stole Sarah's picture of her biological parents and posed as her in Mystic Falls, but was caught by Stefan and killed by Enzo. She is currently at Duke University, where she studies as an Art Major. Sarah is a distant descendant of Silas and she is the last living member of the Salvatore family along with Damon, Stefan and Lillian Salvatore.
Zachariah Salvatore
Family Tree
This is The Salvatore Family Tree contains all known members of this family.
| Silas † | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Giuseppe's Lover † |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mr. Salvatore † |  |  |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |  |  | Gail † | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stefan and Valerie's Unborn Child † |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Surname
- Salvatore means "Savior" in Italian. It is commonly used as a masculine first name, although the name can be used as both a first name and as a surname.
- Other variations and spellings of the name Salvatore include Salvador, Salvator, Salvidor, Salvino, Sauveur, Salvadore, Salvatorio, Salbatore, Soterios, Salvian, Salviano, Salviatus, Salviyo, Salvattore, Xalvador, Xalvadore, Xalvadoro, Xalvadorio, Xalbador, Xalbadore, Xalbadorio, Xalbadoro, Xabat, Xabatt, Xabate, Xabatio, Xabato, Xavier, Xabier, Xaiver, Xavaeir, Xaver, Xavian, Xaviar, Xavior, Xavon, Xavyer, Xever, Xizavier, Xxavier, Xzavier, Zavier, Xaviare, Xaviore, Xaviere, Xabiere.
- It means literally "saviour save you" and was used in honor of the Christ. The origination is from the Latin word Salvius, which seems to have been in some way used in the Iberian Peninsula, before it became fashionable in Rome.
Trivia
- In both the novels and on the show, the Salvatore family is of Italian origin and descent.
- The Salvatore family is descended from Greek/Latin/Roman origin, but eventually becomes a family of Italian heritage.
- Silas is the oldest known member of the Salvatore family or bloodline, being born some time during 1st century B.C.E. (100 B.C.). He is presumably one of the most powerful witches of all time, only rivaled by and possibly surpassing Qetsiyah.
- In the novels, the Salvatore family have no supernatural ancestors and are pure humans, while on the show, the Salvatore family are descended from a bloodline of powerful witches and warlocks. The Salvatore family on the show are also descended from the first immortal being (Silas).
- Silas of either Greek, Latin or Roman descent. His native tongue is Latin. However, it is assumed that he knows other languages as well, as he was seen to be speaking Polish.
- In the books, there are three known members of the Salvatore family, which include Conte Di Giuseppe Salvatore, Damon Salvatore and Stefan Salvatore.
- From Rebekah's research from Carol Lockwood, wood from the Salvatore Mills helped to build most of the town of Mystic Falls.
- Giuseppe's lover is mentioned by the Salvatore brothers, but she doesn't appear.
- The Salvatore family is primarily male dominated and all of the known members of the Salvatore family happen to be men.
- Sarah Salvatore and Lillian Salvatore are the first female members of the Salvatore family to be seen on screen as of season six.
- This family has the responsibility of providing vervain within the town of Mystic Falls.
Gallery
See also
Template:VD Characters