A Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls - By Red Page 0,65
is a bit of a jerk, but you can’t help feeling some sympathy toward him, and even liking him. He’s a product of his upbringing, with a self-centered mother and a father who believes in parenting by violence. You can understand why he’s the way he is, and deep down feel that there may be hope for him. Tyler Smallwood, on the other hand, is an unlikeable bully through and through, lacking in intelligence and common sense, easily angered, and with no respect for his fellow students. As far as he’s concerned, he’s top dog, and everyone should acknowledge that. Both versions of Tyler do share a certain . . . animalistic trait that makes itself known toward the end of the original books and that we hear will be further explored in the second season of the TV series.
Fell’s Church’s substitute history teacher doesn’t share the same background as his TV series counterpart, being fortunate enough not to experience losing his wife to a sudden case of I Wanna Be a Vampire. In fact, he’s kind of sweet on Meredith by the end of the story (more on her later). Alaric Saltzman is a parapsychology major from Duke University, called in by leading members of the Fell’s Church community (the Founders Council does not exist in the books) to 6882 Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls[FIN].indd 181
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deal with their vampire problem. Alaric’s experience with vampires—much like the rest of the town—is limited to anecdotal evidence from reading lore and interviewing supposed vampire victims. Suffice to say, for a guy who’s simply interested in the paranormal, he’s in way over his head. (But he does come up with nifty wood-tipped bullets for shooting vampires.) Despite this lack of experience, his heart is in the right place, and he’s firmly on board with helping save the town, and fully prepared to reevaluate his conclusion that all vampires are bad.
Given the number of characters who have undergone transformations from book to screen, fans of Matt Donovan will be relieved to find much of his character and appearance intact within Matt Honeycutt. He’s still the same loyal, kind, and caring football player we know and love, and he’s still utterly in love with Elena. Despite differences in family background—Matt Honeycutt’s father is dead, his mother is definitely not a drunk, and he doesn’t have any siblings—they are both pretty much the same core character. In the books, Matt is also Stefan’s only human friend, giving the vampire a chance despite evidence that says Stefan’s a bad guy, and even when he finds out what Stefan is.
Vicki Donovan is as tragic in her own way as Vickie Bennett of the books. Sadly, poor Vickie Bennett isn’t as feisty and doesn’t even get the perks of becoming a vampire.
Instead, she’s attacked, used, and abused, and then left as a fragile shell of a girl at the end of it all.
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Who is this Meredith chick? she’s awesome.
Fans of the Vampire Diaries books were universally disappointed to discover that Meredith Sulez was cut from the first season of the TV series. She has long been a fan favorite and has her own unique role in the story. Meredith is actually more Elena’s best friend than even Bonnie. She is calm, sophisticated, and the voice of reason. Where Bonnie is excitable and somewhat easily manipulated, Meredith is able to stand up to Elena; she grounds Elena, providing her with advice and offering the occasional innuendo-laden quip, and gives a voice to Elena’s conscience. Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec have promised Meredith will make an eventual appearance in the show, but who knows under what circumstances?
Another missing character is the mysterious Mrs. Flowers.
The owner of the boardinghouse in which Stefan lives, she comes across as a dotty old lady. As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that there’s something more to her than everyone originally assumed. In the TV series, Mrs. Flowers was replaced by Damon and Stefan’s descendant, Zach Salvatore. Aside from being caretakers of their respective boarding houses, Mrs. Flowers and Zach share a passion for growing things, puttering