The Vampire Diaries Damon Salvatore Early Life

Early Life

Damon and Stefan in 1864, while they were still human.

Damon was born to Giuseppe Salvatore and an unnamed mother on June 28th, 1840 in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. His younger brother Stefan Salvatore is six years younger than him, and the two were very close. He joined the Confederate Army at some point, coming back when he was on leave to spend time at the Salvatore Estate. It is unclear when Damon first met Katherine Pierce, but he left the Confederacy and returned to Mystic Falls to spend more time with her. His father disapproved of what he considered Damon's poor sense of duty.

Damon in 1864

It is uncertain how or when Damon found out that Katherine was a vampire, but unlike Stefan he did not fear or reject her, and willingly drank her blood. She once demonstrated to him one of her tricks for securing victims: lying in the middle of a road to stop any travelers that may come to pass. Though he showed an initial hesitance, Damon even kissed her while a victim's blood still stained her lips.
Damon wanted to give up his human life and spend an eternity with Katherine, and he begged Stefan to keep the secret from their father, who was a member of the Town Council and a vampire-hater. When Stefan inadvertently revealed that Katherine was a vampire, she was taken away by the townspeople. Their father was furious and scolded Damon for trying to conceal her secret and protect her. Damon was furious with Stefan, but Stefan agreed to work with him to rescue her. In the midst of their daring plan, they were both shot and killed by Giuseppe, who was ashamed of his sons for sympathizing with and loving a vampire. They both died with Katherine's blood in their systems, but Damon awakened first and witnessed the burning of Fell's Church, where the townspeople had imprisoned the vampires, including Katherine.

Damon awakens after dying.

When Stefan awoke the next morning, Damon told him that Katherine's death meant his reason for living was gone, and he wouldn't complete his transition into a vampire. Later that day, when Stefan returned after being unable to resist feeding on his own father, and inadvertently completing the transition, he forced Damon to drink from a young woman's neck, causing Damon to also complete his transition. He promised Stefan an eternity of misery, not for making him turn but for the fact that Katherine had turned Stefan as well, instead of just Damon. At some point Damon received a daylight ring from Emily Bennett. She told Damon that she had spared the vampires in the church, which Damon kept secret from Stefan until 145 years later, when he would be able to free Katherine from the church.

1912

Damon and Stefan in 1912

Damon saw Stefan in 1912 for the first time since they transitioned; both had returned to Mystic Falls for their nephew's funeral. After an initial hesitance, Damon agreed to have a drink with Stefan and catch up. When he was feeding on a human alone, the vampire Sage found him and commented on his lack of enjoyment for the feed. Damon seemed content to feed just enough to survive, but Sage encouraged him to enjoy it, to take pleasure in being a vampire. Once he was persuaded, he tried to get Stefan to enjoy the feed, and talked him into feeding on human blood again. Stefan fed so hard on his victim that he tore her head off, shocking both brothers. Furious with Damon for making him drink human blood, he ran off and Damon did not pursue him.

1942

Main article: 1942

Charlotte

Damon was living in New Orleans with a vampire he had turned named Charlotte. Damon soon noticed a pattern of strange behavior from the woman, in that every order he gave her, even seemingly innocuous ones, she followed with frightening enthusiasm. He sought guidance from the witch Valerie LaMarche to break the sire bond between him and Charlotte, and the witch told him she needed a human sacrifice of 12 people to do the spell. Damon killed the 12 people, but could not find Val to perform the spell he needed. He ended up ordering Charlotte to count every brick on every building in New Orleans and meet him at the corner of Bourbon and Dumaine. He left New Orleans soon after...

Damon and Stefan in the 1940's

Stefan and Lexi found Damon while he was in New Orleans. At Lexi's insistence, Stefan sought to make peace with his brother before shipping out to the North African front of the war. After an initial hesitance, Damon seemed happy to reunite with his brother after thirty years apart, and the two spent the evening talking. Damon even suggested he might join Stefan and leave for war with him, but Lexi made it clear she did not approve of the idea. Her concerns seemed warranted especially after Charlotte brought a bleeding victim to the bar where they were talking and Stefan started to lose it at the sight and smell of human blood. Later, Damon was all ready to ship out with Stefan when Lexi talked him out of it, citing his profligate lifestyle and how Damon's behavior would not be good for Stefan's rehabilitation. Realizing she might be right, Damon decided not to go, and he left the train station without explaining to Stefan.

1953 - 1958

Damon and Enzo

In 1953 Damon was lured to Mystic Falls by Joseph Salvatore, he injected him with vervain and Damon killed him. Dr.Whitmore entered the room and injected him with another dose of vervain. When he woke up he was strapped to a table and Dr. Whitmore cut one of his eyes out, in order to experiment with his healing factor. Damon was brought to a cell and in the cell next to him was another vampire named Enzo. The two vampires bonded and it was Enzo's friendship that allowed Damon to hold on to his humanity. Dr. Whitmore continued to torture and preform experiments on him and he called him 21051.

Damon turns off his humanity

Every year Whitmore would show the rest of Augustine Damon and Enzo and demonstrate his research on the annual New Years Party. Enzo then came up with a plan for one of them two would drink the others blood ration in order to build up his strength until the coming New Years Eve. Damon was the lucky one and when the next New Years Eve Party came he broke free from his chains and he slaughtered every member of Augustine while the building set ablaze. Enzo was still trapped in his cage and Damon tried to free him, but the cage bars were soaked with vervain and couldn't get him out. Damon knew that if he was going to save himself he had to stop caring about Enzo so he turned his humanity switch of. Now not caring he left Enzo to burn alive. After finally being free from five years of torture, Damon kept the promise he made to Enzo to kill every member in the Whitmore family, but one and let that person have a family and kill them to but one and to the same thing again and again. Damon did exactly that and among the once he killed was Aaron Whitmore's parents and Aaron was among the once that he kept alive.

1960's

1977

Main article: 1977

Damon and Will

Damon lived in New York City during the 70s, where he maintained a wild life full of parties and feeding off of people. At the time, he still had his humanity switch off and he killed locals of New York; a soon to be fed upon victim asked if he was the Son of Sam, to which Damon replied, "Son of Giuseppe, but close enough". Damon was friends with Will, another vampire, who ran a bar and let Damon feed on the people there, while in exchange, Damon stole his victim's ID's for him.

Damon and Lexi

Lexi had eventually found Damon and told him that she and Stefan had heard all about Damon's current life and that Stefan was worried for him. Lexi tried to help Damon get his humanity back, but Damon rejected her offer. However, Lexi was stubborn and she stuck with Damon for the following six months. She had gotten Damon to talk about Katherine Pierce, thinking that if he talks about her, his switch will flip on. Damon tricks Lexi into thinking that his humanity was back and the two have a night full of wild sex.
The next morning, Lexi woke up on a roof because the sunlight was burning her skin. She tried to escape by opening the door to get into Billy's, but it was locked. Then she found out the truth: Damon had tricked her. Damon told her that it was his way of getting back at her for annoying him for the past six months. He ditched Lexi on the roof thereafter, leaving her trapped until nightfall. It was revealed in The Cell, that Damon turned off his humanity in 1950's because he couldn't deal with the pain of leaving Enzo behind while escaping from the Augustine Society.