The definitive ranking of major characters on 'The Vampire Diaries'

On Friday, March 10, the world will say goodbye to Mystic Falls when The Vampire Diaries comes to an epic end in a two-hour series finale.

The episode, aptly titled "I Was Feeling Epic," will end the series' eight-season run and will see the return of countless faces. While the night marks the end of an era, the bigger headline is the return of Nina Dobrev as the show's original main character, Elena Gilbert.

Fans will remember that at the end of season 6, Dobrev announced her departure from the career-launching series. While she always said she would love to come back for the finale, whenever it was, the official announcement was made in late January via Instagram.

As for her on-screen and former off-screen, love interest Ian Somerhalder, he's as excited as anyone to have Dobrev back telling E! News, "The great thing is that for the audience to see this character that they've loved for so long and that she went away and now she comes back, this sort of everyday girl who had really fallen into hard times in her life that the audience had grown to love and really identified with in so many ways and to see that character back in Mystic Falls is going to be really powerful."

So, in preparation for Elena's imminent return along with some of TVD's original faces, we decided to provide a definitive ranking of the most important citizens of Mystic Falls.

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