The Vampire Diaries fans were treated to a momentous reunion of the stars in the I Was Feeling Epic in Mystic Falls fan convention recently, which reignited their love for the show. These characters were beloved by the fandom, and they consisted of both heroes and villains. Everyone who was against the Mystic Falls gang was automatically considered an antagonist, but many Redditors felt that they actually had valid reactions.
There were plenty of villains like Anna, John Gilbert, and Esther, among others, who set out to do the right and sensible thing, but because their objectives opposed Elena, Damon, Stefan and even Klaus, they were stopped from carrying out their missions. The netizens of Reddit agreed with the intentions of these villains wholeheartedly.
Anna Zhu
Even though Anna fell in love with Jeremy, she had got close to him with the intent of getting the Gilbert journals and device from him. Still, her intentions were never villainous — according to Bookgal1, "She just wanted her mother back and would use any means to make it happen."
She was a young woman all alone in a new world, and her quest to protect her family was only natural. She also didn't have terrible intentions either and could have become an asset for the Mystic Falls gang given her experience and general knowledge. Unfortunately, the Salvatores didn't like the tomb vampires so they rallied against Anna.
John Gilbert
Being one of the most hated side characters on TVD, John Gilbert was widely disliked by most of the fandom; however, he wasn't wrong in his quest to keep Elena away from the Salvatores. He was her father, and she was an impressionable 17-year-old who was in the company of very old, lethal vampires. He just wanted to keep her safe, as anyone would do with their daughter.
OneonOne621 speculated "If John Gilbert had managed to kill them, a lot of innocent lives would've been saved," which is true, since the Salvatore brothers did continue to cause havoc for Mystic Falls and were responsible for the deaths of many innocent lives after that. John was not wrong in his endeavors.
Rebekah Mikaelson
As a character, Rebekah was hurt and upset because she had been wronged by almost everyone, including her own brothers. The way Elena treated her was abysmal and Rebekah deserved to get revenge for Elena stealing away her one chance at small joy.
Rebekah had led a cursed life by association to Klaus, which meant she was either at his mercy or on the run from Mikael. Viewers empathized with her strong reaction to Elena, with rimsha_37 agreeing "her family, her brothers, and everyone betrayed her at some point... all she wanted was to enjoy the high school experience while she can."
Esther
The Original witch often gets a lot of support for how proactive she was against her children, and several Redditors agree that she was right in wanting to end their abnormally long lives. There was a lot that fans got wrong about the Mikaelson siblings, but their cruelty was not one of them.
Esther wanted to bring back balance to nature, by getting rid of the Originals who were no longer needed on the planet (which was her duty). As Hdjdjdkenendn concluded, "She only wanted to fix what was her own mistake," which was why her plan made sense.
Katherine Pierce
She was considered the worst villain, but fans would agree that Katherine had one of the most tragic lives due to the things she experienced in her lifetime. Most of the time, she didn't harm people unless her survival was on the line. She did what she had to for self-preservation, and didn't hurt people for no reason, unlike Damon, Stefan, and Klaus, who did that.
Her cruelty stemmed from being chased and hunted by Klaus. Carterlicious pointed out "No one else went through that, and yet she never turned off her humanity, and never went off the rails." Katherine's circumstances made her ruthless.
The Tomb Vampires
For user Beccaan14, they find it hard to argue against The Tomb Vampires, saying, "can you blame them for wanting revenge on the founding families." The ultimate villains of season 1 were the escaped tomb vampires, but they had every right to want to seek revenge on Mystic Falls and the founding families.
Given that some of them had not shown any physical harm or bad intentions toward the community of Mystic Falls, it was unfair that some of them were forced into the church to die. What's even worse was that several of them also had to discover that one of their very own, Katherine Pierce, betrayed them and left them to die for many years. It's not surprising that they built up a lot of resentment and hate.
Finn Mikaelson
The eldest Mikaelson brother was considered an outsider because he did not side with his siblings, but his stance was valid. He had hardly been treated like a brother, kept daggered and in a coffin for about 900 years of his life. Klaus had been awful to him, and his other siblings hadn't bothered to get him out.
This was why viewers agreed with him when he set out to help his mother to eradicate the Originals. Trastamara123456 said "Finn had every reason to want revenge on his family, what they did to him was beyond cruel."
Kol Mikaelson
Along with the eldest, even the youngest Original, Kol, was demonized for now good reason. Redditors thought that he was actually right in wanting to thwart anyone trying to raise Silas, as he was old and powerful enough to destroy the world should he want to.
Kol, too, had been daggered enough number of times by his despotic brother, so his hatred for them also made sense. Trastamara123456 emphasized "Just for that I'm glad that he got his happy ending."
Aurora, Tristan And Lucien
Redditor Proof-Luck2392 said that they sympathized with "Aurora, Tristan and Lucien," from The Originals. Yet again, these were vampires who had been wronged by Elijah and Klaus, who had compelled them to believe that they were the Mikaelsons, hence keeping them on the run for years.
The trio had suffered enough, and it only seemed fair that they wanted some retribution for what was done to them. They were evil by themselves, but their vendetta was justified.
Source:gamerant.com