That Salvatore Woman & some brief thoughts on motherhood narratives in TVD
Okay, so this is something I’ve been wondering about for a while. Who is Madam Salvatore? Missus Salvatore? Or Mrs. Salvatore? Mama Salvatore? Maman Salvatore? What is her name? Her maiden name? Her anything?
I know there are several theories on her and who she is. Apparently in the Stefan Diaries or whatever they’re called (which are grounded in the TV series but I’m unclear how much we’re supposed to take that as show canon? As I’ve never read them and never will, let’s be real.), it was heavily implied that she was French (she sang French lullabies and spoke with an accent). Giuseppe was so torn up about her death that he sank into a pit of alcoholism and put her picture up in his attic.
In the original books it’s implied that she died after complications due to Stefan’s birth, and that Damon bears some sort of resentment towards him because of that (I’ve never read the books except for a few pages of torture during which I wanted to dig my brain-parts from my cranium with a spoon).
I don’t read that much The Vampire Diaries fanfiction but I assume there must be extensive and well-established fanon for who this woman is, no?
I mean, personally, I’ve always wanted her to have succumbed to a bad case of consumption. But that’s mostly because I am oddly delighted by Victorian images of pale, clammy-faced people wasting away in a mound of dirty sheets while coughing out blood into lacy handkerchiefs. It’s a problem.
But I do like the idea of her dying due to childbirth complications and Damon bearing that kind of resentment towards Stefan because of it, and the sort of canonization of her in his mind that would lead to. And the corresponding weight of guilt that would put on Stefan and how that would inform the way he understands himself and how he moves through the world. Because if there’s one thing Stefan Salvatore in any universe knows how to feel, and wallow in, it’s guilt. Wracking, painful, soul-tearing guilt and this would only add to my understanding of him, and how the brothers work as a construct.
There’s also the idea that she was much “nicer” to Damon, that she loved him in all the ways Giuseppe did not or refused to. And I’m not sure we have any canonical explanations as to why Giuseppe was so emotionally (and possibly physically) abusive towards Damon and clearly favored Stefan. I assume that the fanon explanations of this run the gamut from Giuseppe just being a hateful, bitter man who was jealous of Damon’s pretty face to the potentiality that Damon was actually illegitimate (either the result of an affair or a relationship prior to their marriage?).
I know that at some point last season there was this wee section of the fandom that had this idea that Damon was actually a Lockwood by blood and that’s why he had an unstable temper or something. Except, vampires are just as unstable as werewolves when it comes to “unfettered passions”, and Damon’s always been kind of emotional in certain ways, so I’d say that isn’t really it. Part of that theory came out of people wanting to link Damon to Klaus in some way, I believe, but who knows.
I like the idea of her being a sort of coquette, maybe a little too young (in age or in spirit, or both) for someone as stern and strict and judgmental as Giuseppe Salvatore (that’s kind of how I read him, whether he was born that way or time shaped him but damn). And maybe she runs away, or she kills herself, or she dies in some unfortunate accident and that Giuseppe simultaneously blames himself and displaces that guilt onto Damon for whatever reason. Maybe Damon and then Stefan being born meant she had less time for him and it made him bitter. Maybe Damon is actually “at fault” in some way in his mind.
Or maybe, once the glow of the honeymoon stage ended, and their marriage fell apart, and he realized just how different they were, and then she exits the narrative (via death or escape) all make him angry, full of grief, whatever. And these are things he associates with Damon because he sees too much of her in his son’s eyes, the curve of his cheek, his “playful” nature? Where Stefan is the sober, serious one who is so eager to please, and perhaps superficially similar to him; Damon does not give a fuck and every time he laughs or plays a prank or does something utterly irresponsible, he sees her. And there’s a part of him that wants to destroy that, and destroy the memory of it, and that means destroying Damon with his words, with his cruelty, with his lack of affection.
I'd also go for a similar to the above storyline but instead of being more coquettish or whatever, she could be melancholic (perhaps suffering from a truly debilitating case of post-partum depression or chronically so?) and maybe that would lead to all manner of things story-wise.
I love MOST the idea of her running away because Giuseppe was such a controlling tool of a husband and less the idea of dying suddenly and inexplicably when the boys are young. Either way, I like it so she’s only barely tangible in their faded memories, or the lilt of a voice, or a scrap of some old lullaby in a language they don’t speak. With Damon, I’m interested in how the loss of her would be grafted into how he views and understands women, and love really. Because while he’d idealize her in his mind as that is a thing that Damon does (we should talk about this some day), there might be a sense of resentment that she left him alone to the likes of Giuseppe and also a sense that this kind of pattern in love would be inevitable for him; that they would always leave him or abandon him, and there is perhaps something that is unlovable in him. With Stefan, it’s harder for me because I understand him so much more in relation to his father, and how that shaped him, how what passes for love with someone like Giuseppe molded him, and also Damon-whereas Damon is sculpted by neglect and in opposition to Giuseppe, and more in relation to Stefan. So.
Basically, the point of this is for people to tell me about their Madame Salvatore fanon, feelings, and thoughts. I’m curious. Who is this woman who doesn’t even exist in the footnotes of this story, who remains faceless and invisible, as of yet? How do your ideas of her play into the way you perceive the characters and construct your own fiction about the brothers? Do you think about her at all (because I do, and I’m not sure if that’s because of my particular obsessions because it plays into most of my stories either way)?
I want to know more. Give me a name, even, just a name; or a crumbling headstone with curlicued, engraved letters and weeping angels; or even a trinket or a disintegrating hair ribbon-something!
Semi-serious thoughts on motherhood narratives in general:
I am annoyed by the de-prioritization of mothers or mother figures in shaping the narratives of protagonists in my stories when it happens for no good reason (see: interpretations of Superman, fuck you, Donner & Co.). I’m even more annoyed when a text goes out of its way to erase or make mother/mother figures entirely invisible in narratives for no good reason.
This is why I’m always too excited about things like Anna’s single-minded, desperate search for her mother that spanned over a century and that flawless reunion. The moments when Elena talks about her mother, breathes in the scent of her signature perfume, refers to her diary writing which was explicitly connected to her mother; and everything to do with her biological and surrogate mothers. I want to know all about Katherine whose most tangible relationship from her memories is that with her mother, the way her fingers touch the lines of her face on a piece of paper, the fact that her mother wanted to let her hold the child, that entire bond. Carol Lockwood and Liz Forbes whose role as mothers is coming into play more directly this season, and the things they’re willing to do to protect their children. Everything about the Bennett matrilineal legacy and the firm idea of knowledge and therefore power passed down through generations of women in that particular narrative/I can’t even speak about how long and hard I’ve waited for Bonnie to meet her mother. I must not forget Kelly Donovan, who is legitimately one of my favorite ladies because of reasons. All of the “bad” mothers and “bad” women: come unto me. And lastly, frankly the best thing about the originals is the complex relationship they have to their parents, and especially their mother who actually has more authorial and creative ownership of the legacy of vampires and the shape of this universe than her husband does.
I’m fascinated by the cruelty of some of the mothers in this show, and the ways in which they’re cruel to and on behalf of their children; the demonization and humanization of that. Like all of the characters on this show, mothers walk a very fine line between monstrous and not, and it’s one of the best things about it. The show is often deliberately interrogating ideas of “good”/“bad” mothers; and sometimes it plays into them in ways that grate. (I will one day write something useful on this matter)
Ultimately, it’s a show that’s really preoccupied with the idea of family. The way family shapes you and destroys you, the way it sustains you and the way it imprisons you. It’s probably one of my favorite things about it, thematically.
Is it odd that I love mothers and mother figures with such abandon and yet I really, truly despise children in my narratives? I mean little children who are annoying and ~precocious~ or babies, the introduction of babies is like the best way to drive me away from things unless. I don't know.... I say this now because I just saw a peak of Once Upon a Time's latest episode in which not only was Henry being terrible (as per usual), there were two other children (Hansel and Gretel, I presume) who were tiresome and boring and I was like, ugh, this must be bad--again.