“DOES THIS FEEL WRONG?” - DAMON/ELENA END SCENE IN 4X08
So, let’s talk about the final Damon and Elena scene in 4x08.
There’s a lot I could do with flailing about the face touching and hand on her heart, but I’m going to focus on the outright tragedy of Damon and Elena in this scene.
Damon feels like Elena is sired to him and he needs to let her go for her own good, to “do right by her”. While Elena, even with the knowledge that she may be sired to Damon, knows her feelings are real while she begs Damon not to leave her.
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And this leaves Damon and Elena with pretty much no good options. If Damon does tell her to leave him and forget him, assuming she is under the influence of a sire bond, it would force Elena to stop having her feelings for Damon and for them to let each other go. And Elena, who’s feelings are real from before and after she was turned, thus loses agency over her feelings for Damon. Instead of being able to feel what she does towards Damon, she would be “forced by the bond” to let him go. Which is such a tragic idea that it destroys me.
Staying with her, however, might, from Damon’s perspective, be forcing Elena’s supposedly sired feelings to stay and also taking choices away from her.
I’m currently under the theory that Damon and Elena aren’t sired and just think they are, but the way this decision is framed leaves no good options. Either Damon ignores feelings that Elena is identify as real or he stays with someone who may be supernaturally inclined to stay with him.
I think it’s important to look at what Elena is saying in this scene.
“It’s real”
“My feelings for you haven’t changed”
“I’m happy”
“I know what you’re about to do, Damon, please don’t do this to me”
Elena’s feelings are real and haven’t changed. She’s happy. And she’s begging Damon not to leave her, not to make her leave him. My poor sweet girl with so many abandonment issues can’t lose Damon. Because after her brother tries to kill her and Stefan tries to fix her, Damon may be one of the only people she has left.
And I’m so glad he doesn’t leave. The episode ends with her staring into his eyes, hand cupping his face and asking him if it feels wrong. It’s tragic and the bond’s affect on their relationship is so ambiguous that I don’t know what to do with it if the bond really does exist.
There’s a lot I could do with flailing about the face touching and hand on her heart, but I’m going to focus on the outright tragedy of Damon and Elena in this scene.
Damon feels like Elena is sired to him and he needs to let her go for her own good, to “do right by her”. While Elena, even with the knowledge that she may be sired to Damon, knows her feelings are real while she begs Damon not to leave her.
[Read more]
And this leaves Damon and Elena with pretty much no good options. If Damon does tell her to leave him and forget him, assuming she is under the influence of a sire bond, it would force Elena to stop having her feelings for Damon and for them to let each other go. And Elena, who’s feelings are real from before and after she was turned, thus loses agency over her feelings for Damon. Instead of being able to feel what she does towards Damon, she would be “forced by the bond” to let him go. Which is such a tragic idea that it destroys me.
Staying with her, however, might, from Damon’s perspective, be forcing Elena’s supposedly sired feelings to stay and also taking choices away from her.
I’m currently under the theory that Damon and Elena aren’t sired and just think they are, but the way this decision is framed leaves no good options. Either Damon ignores feelings that Elena is identify as real or he stays with someone who may be supernaturally inclined to stay with him.
I think it’s important to look at what Elena is saying in this scene.
“It’s real”
“My feelings for you haven’t changed”
“I’m happy”
“I know what you’re about to do, Damon, please don’t do this to me”
Elena’s feelings are real and haven’t changed. She’s happy. And she’s begging Damon not to leave her, not to make her leave him. My poor sweet girl with so many abandonment issues can’t lose Damon. Because after her brother tries to kill her and Stefan tries to fix her, Damon may be one of the only people she has left.
And I’m so glad he doesn’t leave. The episode ends with her staring into his eyes, hand cupping his face and asking him if it feels wrong. It’s tragic and the bond’s affect on their relationship is so ambiguous that I don’t know what to do with it if the bond really does exist.