delena is NOT the perfect enemies-to-lovers relationship, but there’s one ship that could have been…
let me start of by saying that i don’t ship delena, i never have and i never will. i do admit that they had major chemistry, and that i did think they were semi-cute at some point, but everything went downhill from there.
first of all, the way they got together was not it. damon pined after elena constantly even when she said no. he knew that stefan, his own brother, was in love with her, and that he considered elena to be his soulmate, yet he still went after her. them getting together directly after stefan and elena broke up was awful, them kissing when stefan and elena were together was also awful. this was also a major out of character moment for elena, who had always been so caring and who had sworn to not cheat on stefan. that is a flaw that the writers committed, and elena’s character went downhill after that.
when elena and damon got together, elena became whiny and dependent. don’t get me wrong, i’m not an elena anti, i absolutely adore her with all of my heart, but i could not stand her actions when she got with damon. damon did NOT change for her, i hate how people say that, damon was still a smug, arrogant asshole who only thought about himself. he never let elena make her own decisions the way that stefan did, instead, he forced her to bend her morals (as she said) over and over again. they wrote off her character as weak when she was with damon and it ruined elena as a character for many people. even elena antis have admitted to loving her in seasons 1-2 (when damon wasn’t able to get through to her romantically). not only did damon mess up elena, but elena didn’t do any good for him either. all they did was fight and they never came to a permanent agreement, elena did not change him at all.
so what ship could have been the perfect enemies-to-lovers relationship had the writers not been stubborn enough to waste it’s potential? yup, you got it. bamon.
elena did not change damon, bonnie did. even with elena, damon didn’t know what truly caring for somebody was. with bonnie, he learned that. he was so selfless around her. damon knew that bonnie was strong, he knew that she was not to be messed with, she taught him that he couldn’t just go around making awful decisions and then expect people to forgive him. bonnie’s selflessness influenced damon as a person and caused him to grow. personally, i despised damon until him and bonnie got stuck in the prison world, after that, i began to like him, and i think that he truly got the character development he needed. as for bonnie, she tends to care too much about others, and she lets it consume her. being around someone like damon was good for her. damon knew how to bring out her silly side, damon knew how to make her laugh. most importantly, with damon, she knew someone would have her back. damon was so protective towards her, even when they were fighting. he truly loved her, romantically or not, he would have done anything for her.
don’t get me wrong, they did argue, but it wasn’t like with elena where she’d just give in to damon. bonnie is stronger than that, she stands her ground, and that is EXACTLY what damon needs to make sure his ego doesn’t inflate more than it already is. bonnie and damon also bicker like an old married couple. they do this often, but it’s nothing too serious. that’s what enemies to lovers needs.
delena was either really passionate arguements that were not resolved correctly or really cringy lovey-dovey moments. that rain kiss was the best thing that came out of their relationship. after that, their relationship got dull and boring. there was no development, no spark, even delena fans got bored. i mean what was that last episode reunion? you’d think caroline was elena’s love interest instead of damon lmao, he was not excited to see her at all.
bonnie and damon never lost that spark. their light bickering and the fact that they’re both strong, opinionated people makes it so that they’ll never lose that spark. they both care so deeply about each other, yet they’re not afraid to tell the other when they’re being annoying or rude. they also aren’t afraid to tell the other that they admire them. Damon, who isn’t known for being sappy, told Bonnie that he loved her and that he admired her, that scene outsold any delena scene ever lol. And don’t even get me started on their hug. the way they hugged when damon saw bonnie again was how damon should’ve reacted when he saw elena, but it wasn’t, it was dull and boring.
and let me not even start on how their development (enemies-> friends-> lovers) was FAR BETTER than delenas (enemies->somehow lovers despite elena literally still being obsessed with stefan???).
i did like enzo and bonnie, but enzo was such a random character. i mean, they just threw him in there last minute as a love interest for bonnie and kill him off in the end? it’s unfair, though bonnie’s storylines always were.
i blame the producers, especially julie plec, for the mistreatment of kat graham. clearly, they just didn’t want her to “steal damon” from their main lead, despite the fact that they were far more compatible. they gave her a shitty ass ending where her love interest, that they literally just threw in there, ended up dying anyways. if they weren’t going to give bamon a chance, why the hell did they kill off enzo? kat and ian have stated that they loved the chemistry between their characters and were willing to have them get together. however, julie used elena as a self insert and therefore had to have her precious delena and wouldn’t let anyone get in the way of that, it’s actually extremely embarrassing and is the reason for the majority of the toxicity and bad writing of delena’s relationship and the entire show.
one quick addition, lj smith (my queen) absolutely adores damon and bonnie, she even wanted them to be endgame. in the books, damon and bonnie get together, and are hinted at being soulmates. it would have been nice to pay tribute to the original author and the books by at LEAST allowing them to get together. many fans of the books were waiting for it, hell, even people who had never read the books were rooting for them.
in summary, damon and bonnie were much more exciting and had amazing chemistry, they should have at the very least been given a chance, and at the very most been endgame. it would have been a nice way to still incorporate the enemies to lovers trope.
romaincrisis
baratheonpilled
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