Alaric Saltzman

'''Alaric J. "Ric" Saltzman''' is a vampire hunter, former history teacher at Mystic Falls High School, and a Enhanced Original, not by being one of the first vampires as the Mikaelson Family were but instead being turned through a spell. He originally came to Mystic Falls to find the vampire who killed hiswife, but learned that she voluntarily became a vampire and left him. He also learned that his wife had a child when she was a teenager, a daughter named Elena Gilbert, his student. Alaric began a romantic relationship with her adoptive aunt Jenna. Following Jenna's tragic death, he seemed to step into his step-father role to Elena and is a father figure to her brother, Jeremy. He is also Damon's best friend alongside Enzo, Damon even calling Alaric 'brother' on occasions.

Through overuse of the Gilbert Ring, Esther manipulated his spirit while he was on The Other Side before he would resurrect, and as a result he developed an alter ego, called The Darkness by Bonnie and Dark Alaric or Evil Alaric to others, that hated vampires and vampire sympathizers, killing members of the Mystic Falls Founder's Council who protected vampires. Alaric became an Enhanced Original Vampire through Esther's magic so he could kill her children with the last, and indestructible,White Oak Stake, to make the vampire species extinct before his death, his life having been linked to Elena's, leading Rebekah to kill her to stop Alaric. Alaric is now resurrected as his Original Vampire self, while his alter-ego appears to have gone away for good upon his resurrection.

As a vampire hunter he designed several different weapons to fight vampires which include vervain tranquilizers and arm vest stakes.

As a ghost, he watched over Damon, Jeremy, and Elena. In the last two episodes of the Fourth Season, his spirit was brought back into the world of the living (albeit confined within the Expression Triangle) where his presence proved crucial at off-setting the threat of the Hunters of the Five in their goal to kill Silas after curing him of his Immortality. His ghost is resurrected in Home, with the exceptions of Damon, Bonnie, and Lexi, from The Other Side before its destruction, being the last to cross over to the land of the living.

After being resurrected, he is now a college professor atWhitmore College teaching Occult Studies.

Alaric is a non-biological relative of Elena Gilbert, Jeremy Gilbert, the Petrova Family and the Gilbert Family, due to being Elena's step-father through his marriage to Isobel.

Early Life
The Saltzmans are descendants of German immigrants who arrived inTexas in 1755. He was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He mentions to Jenna Sommers that during high school, he wore eyeglasses and had a skin condition. While attending Duke University, he met and then married Isobel Flemming, a parapsychologist (it's revealed by Meredith that Isobel filed a restraining order against him twice) who had an interest in vampires, a topic he would regularly tease her about.

He said that she was "Like Mulder, except hotter, and a girl". At some point, Isobel gave him a ring and told him to always wear it. One night, he returned home late to find a vampire in his bedroom drinking Isobel's blood. Her body was never found and she was assumed to be dead. Alaric took over her research and found out about Mystic Falls and the rumors about vampires being alive in the town. He went there to find out the truth and discover what had happened to his wife.

He also created a number of anti-vampire weapons, so as to protect himself and others from them.

Thoughtout the Vampire Diaries Fanfiction
Alaric is seen brought back as an enhanced orginal Vampire he is seen to be looking after Jeremy and Elena as he did when he was human, he is also seen to be missing Damon who was his best friend

Physical Appearence
Alaric can be described as tall, about 6'2 in height, with and athletic build. A handsome man with short, brown hair that is gelled on the top and has blue eyes. He often wears casual clothing, t-shirts, button downs, jackets, jeans, etc. He's mostly seen wearing dark colors, but occasionally wears brighter ones such as pink or white shirts. He appears between the ages of 34-36.

Personality
When introduced, Alaric was a mysterious man who seemed outwardly warm and friendly both with his students, and with strangers. He was quick to give Jeremy a second chance, and immediately started to bond with Jenna. However, this facade showed a darker side, one tinged with guilt and grief. Namely, he carried the burden of the disappearance of his wife and a fierce dedication to discover what had happened to her. He proved to be an intelligent and talented vampire hunter, shown when he killed Logan Fell. However, he was also stubborn and dedicated to finding out what happened to his wife. Namely, he ignored Stefan's warnings to stay away from Damon and attacked him, which led to his first death.

His fixation on Isobel eventually came to pass when he learned of her transformation into a vampire and he managed to let her go, namely after she compelled him to do so, so that he could go along with his life. This allowed him to develop his relationship with Jenna.

Alaric started to warm up to the others and started to form a sort of partnership with Damon as they investigated what happened to Isobel and her connection to John Gilbert. This partnership eventually evolved into a particularly strong friendship, some even considering Damon to be Alaric's best friend, and Alaric as Damon's only friend.

However, after Jenna's death, Alaric was unhinged and started to fall into a state of depression when he was seen drinking away the pain. While he was portrayed as a moderate drinker before the incident, Jenna's death led him to develop a rather severe drinking problem with Meredith Fell calling him a borderline alcoholic. He tried to take care of Elena and Jeremy, but had difficulty living up to the task. This dark part of him was also emphasized due to the many times that he had died and came back to life. It also connected to his suppressed guilt at the way his life had taken and all the pain that had resulted from it which made him fall prey to the darkness within him and turned him into a serial killer.

Enhanced Original Vampire
 <p style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">After Alaric was turned into an Enhanced Original, his darker aspect took complete control, and although now a vampire, was determined to hunt down the Original family and end the existence of vampires, showing that that was all he cared about by agreeing to be desiccated after he had finished his work. His hatred of vampires and vampire sympathizers was just as potent as it had been during his fits of insanity, outing former friends to the Town Council to be hunted down. He also considered his real personality a disgrace, who had befriended the very things that had ruined his life and also was disgusted by ever having been friends with Damon.

<p style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">Since returning from the Other Side, Alaric seemingly retains his original personality, coupled with his vampiric abilities. He was there for Elena as she grieved the loss of Damon and stood by the rest of the gang as Bonnie and Damon pass on. He admits to Elena that he hates every single part of being a vampire. He drinks from blood bags not from the vein, he seems to not be able to control his hunger when he smells blood.

Ghost
<p class="caption" style="color:rgb(133,127,127);">

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;color:rgb(213,212,212);">For unknown reasons, Alaric completely reverted to his original personality when he died. When Bonnie dropped the veil to the Other Side, Alaric retained his vampire powers as well as his personality as if his darker personality simply disappeared when he died. It is possible Esther used magic while encouraging his dark side when he would die with the ring, making it so that after he transitioned his dark side would have full control. As it could have been part of Esther's spell, then it makes sense that he regained his true personality upon death, which would break Esther's tampering with his mind.

Relationships
<p style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">These are the relationships that Alaric has had during his life as a human and a vampire. He was deadduring Season Four and most of Season Five due to Rebekah driving Matt and Elena off Wickery Bridge to save her own family from immediate death, he was buried at Mystic Falls Cemetery after his death but was brought back to life due to Damon and Bonnie's sacrifices.

Isobel Flemming
<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">Isobel Flemming is  Elena<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">'s birth mother and a descendant of  Katherine<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">. <p class="caption" style="color:rgb(133,127,127);"> <span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">She is a  vampire<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> who was turned by  Damon<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> at her own request, and claims to be a messenger from Katherine. She was married to Alaric Saltzman, the history teacher at the high school, but left him when she became a vampire. She dated John Gilbert, Elena's biological father, in high school. Although Isobel tells Elena not to look for any redeeming qualities in her, she regrets that Elena has been drawn into the supernatural world and that Elena is involved with both Salvatore brothers. Because of her desire to keep Elena from staying involved with the Salvatore brothers, she tells  John Gilbert<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> to insure both Stefan and Damon are killed along with the tomb vampires and she agrees with John that this isn't the life they want for their daughter. Before she leaves  Mystic Falls<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">, she confronts Alaric, telling him she regrets her decision to become a vampire. Isobel than compels him to move on from her.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;color:rgb(213,212,212);">She returns in season two allegedly to help protect Elena from Klaus but she really was compelled by him to kidnap Alaric to use him as a host. In their final conversation she apologizes for everything she put him through and that she will always love him just before she was forced to let Maddox kidnap him for Klaus. Isobel was also responsible for breaking up Alaric and Jenna as she said to Katherine. It was she who asked John to poison their relationship about the truth surrounding her death. John, who wanted his ring back since Alaric had it, agreed to use this to blackmail Alaric out of his ring. She later commits suicide.

Damon Salvatore
<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">Damon is Alaric's best friend. <p class="caption" style="color:rgb(133,127,127);"> <span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> It started out antagonistic towards each other since Alaric knew that it had been Damon who had killed his wife but it later turned out that she wasn't dead and that she had, in fact, been turned into a  vampire<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> by Damon. From that point on, they have been shown as becoming closer as they first worked together to rescue  Stefan<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> from the tomb vampires' occupied house, then they often team up to fight the usual threats to the town. Alaric is the only one (other than  Elena<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">) to call Damon a friend. They are seen often drinking together; it's often seen that they do taunt each other as well though. Throughout the series, they become like brothers. Towards the end of season 3<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">, Alaric was turned into an  Original Vampire<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> by  Esther<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> and fed on  Bonnie Bennett<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> to complete his transition and then took the  White Oak Stake<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> from Bonnie. Alaric died in Damon's arms in the Season 3 finale, moments after Elena's death causing Damon to break down having lost his first real best friend since he and Stefan became vampires. But when Alaric appears as a  ghost<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);"> we learn that he will always be watching over Damon. In  season five<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">, Damon sacrifices to save Alaric and the others before the Other Side is completely destroyed. Alaric mourns the loss of his best friend.
 * "What difference does it make? In the end, when you lose somebody, every candle, every prayer is not going to make up for the fact that the only thing that you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody that you cared about used to be. And a rock with a birthdate carved into it that I’m pretty sure is wrong. So, thanks friend. Thanks for leaving me here to babysit."
 * —Damon's speech for Alaric in Memorial
 * —Damon's speech for Alaric in Memorial

Jenna Sommers
<p class="caption" style="color:rgb(133,127,127);"> <span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">Jenna was the love of Alaric's life. They fell for each other and always spent their free time with each other. He felt that her innocence is one of the things that needed to be protected and preserved. As their relationship continued to develop it later became strained after she discovers his wife, Isobel, was alive, and that he is a vampire hunter.

<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">Trivia
<span style="color:rgb(213,212,212);">TBA