so there are a lot of factors to consider when comparing the two shows, but i will be very blunt in saying that TVD is just better overall

PROTAGONISTS

- Sookie (the name itself is just- what?) is treated as such a Mary Sue and is the source for everyone's love and all. Sookie can't have a male friend unless he's gay, old, or related to her because she will spread her legs and let him fuck her. I hate slut-shaming, but it is facts. Everyone just falls for her for no reason like, why? (whoever wants to point out the faerie blood, it may be a reason but it doesn't make it a good reason)

- Meanwhile, Elena only ever has two love interests present in the show, Stefan and Damon (because that college guy doesn't count, i think his name was Liam?) and actually is a lot smarter than Sookie honestly.

MYTHOLOGY

The mythology just shits on itself when it comes to the TB vampires.

let's go into the vampires first since they're the main species on both shows (TVD in this case)

FOR TRUE BLOOD:

- so, vampires are dead, their fangs are ridiculous.

When they turn, they feel less, like their humanity is down to 10% maybe. Their turning process takes so long, actually digging a grave and sleeping next to their victim after draining them to turn them. When they do turn, the Maker of the new vampire has a hold over them, they can order them to do anything, every relationship between Progeny and Maker is different, some are sexual, or loving, or even familial.

They actually have to sleep during the day or they'll get weaker (i'll admit, this was pretty interesting).

They can mind control people, but there is no plant or anything to protect humans from that control, but they are weakened by silver (but like skin melting weakened, so gross). When you stake them they just vomit blood until they explode into blood (talk about dramatic).

We never actually see how they're created, nor other creatures.

Their blood can not only be healing for humans [and other creatures] but it can also be addicting especially when they can make that human stronger and more aware, though it now makes the human linked emotionally to the vampire forever apparently. The same thing can happen with other creatures.

FOR THE VAMPIRE DIARIES:

While being the first mythological species introduced in the first season, by the next few seasons we see that vampires aren't the majorly powerful species like they are in TB and honestly it's better this way.

- Damon and Stefan are the first vamps we get and they're only like 160+ somewhat. We've seen them up against basically everything and we've seen them die and come back, we've seen them subdued by the enemy number of times and they fight back and win. We aren't given the 'vampires are always better' bullshit, but rather the characters who they are. They're smart, they're ruthless, and they've made the right friends, and that's why they're powerful.

- you already know the specifics for a vampire on TVD, the vervain, the daylight rings, the healing blood, their turning process, etc.

- Whoever's gonna comment on how powerful the Originals can be, let me stress this, the Originals have been taken down by witches a number of times, Klaus was incapacitated by a seventeen-year-old witch in season 3 of TVD. Their own mother is more powerful than they are, and while being very old vampires, they are not the ultra-powerful species like in True Blood. Again, this is a good thing. If the main characters are superpowerful and nothing can go up against them it's just boring now.

- If you're going to mention Silas, then hello, the cure is their one weakness. Silas was an Immortal but he was also the villain, not the main character. But I will admit the whole 'overpowered villain trope' really hit it with Silas, and he only lasted like eight episodes, so while not that great of a villain, he definitely lasted a lot shorter than I thought he would.

WITCHES IN TRUE BLOOD:

- witches can be taken down easily like they haven't had a witch situation or deal with them much since the Spanish Inquisition until the present, also they can use necromancy and since vampires are technically dead they can control them, but hey, we barely get that. also they're way stronger together than apart.

WITCHES IN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES:

- meanwhile, the witches in TVD are known as the most powerful foe that you can go up against. It was also a witch that created all the species we know today. Silas was a witch, alongside Qetsiyah when they created the Immortality spell. A witch that cursed her people to turn into wolves on full moons for betraying her. A witch that wanted to protect her children. That same witch that let her untriggered werewolf son be turned into a vampire, creating the first hybrid. (Hope was a creation between said hybrid and a werewolf, so she doesn't exactly count ig).

WEREWOLVES IN TRUE BLOOD:

- and then you have the werewolves. listen, werewolves are a sweet spot for me, especially thanks to Jeff Davis, but then seeing them treated like shit in this show? I mean, wolves as animals are proud creatures, so why the fuck would they stoop as low to serve vampires??? Become fucking addicts for their blood and drop like slaves for them, like what. the. fuck. And the way they describe werewolves? As 'more animal than human'

ughhhhh i h a t e those so much, like just stop, just stop

WEREWOLVES IN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES:

- meanwhile, the werewolves are treated as big of a threat to vampires than vampires are to humans. A werewolf bite could kill a vampire. There's actually a reason as to why they're mortal enemies. The reason Esther made her family into vampires is because wolves killed her youngest child, Henrik. Later on, when Klaus is discovered to be a son of a werewolf, the newly turned Mikael slaughtered the wolves of the village and it sparked up a life long hatred between vampires and wolves, they both have their reasons. You speed it up a thousand years later and just like the Capulets and the Montagues from Romeo & Juliet, they've forgotten why they're fighting, not knowing they're keeping a thousand-year-old feud alive that has nothing to do with them, it's just the normal thing to do.

OTHER CREATURES IN TRUE BLOOD:

- shapeshifters just turn into different animals, but it cant just be any animal there has to be an original to copy, so it's sorta like theyre animal copiers. also they have to shift on full moons, like they cant fight it

- we get faeries and they're like this ancient force to be reckoned with but honestly, they're like nothing??? against a vampire they go down like they're essentially human, like wtf? In the Shadowhunters universe [books and tv] the Fey are actually just as dangerous as vampires can be

- we also get a maenad (essentially barmaids that worshipped Dionysus) only she's like this ultra-powerful being that's an excuse to let the director shoot like six orgies in a season. (Also, they did my boy Dionysus dirty by calling him another name for the devil? come on guys)

- there are also inbred hillbilly werepanthers?

SPECIES MIXING

Now, if you've seen TVD, chances are you've seen The Originals, how could you not? I mean, pff.

So, TO is the bigger part of the universe where we see more of the main three species. I mean, TVD has different creatures introduced and they play around with that, but we only have one witch (hands up for the best my people, Bon-Bon!) and one werewolf (then hybrid, then human, then werewolf again) so it's refreshing to see more of them, especially since the vamps, wolves and witches all grew up or reside in New Orleans, it's their home, so we get a sense of community. And while they have their own factions and don't mix, they do get along better than the True Blood species.

For TVD in the base of species mixing, I mean by season three we've got a vampire (Caroline) a werewolf (Tyler), a witch (Bonnie), a human (Matt), a doppelgänger, then vampire (Elena), and a hunter (Jeremy) remain as friends. Of course, there are a few cheats, these people have known each other since preschool so they would be more loyal to each other rather than their species, but they did each have the opportunity to turn against each other more than once.

- When Tyler was freaking out about transforming for the first time way back in season 2, Caroline helped him no questions asked, knowing what a werewolf bite could do to her. Especially when the Salvatores told her to stay away from him more than once. Or killing twelve witches so that Bonnie could live in season 4. Carrying and giving birth to twin siphoners takes the cake though.

- Tyler after transforming and meeting Jules and the rest of her pack was given the opportunity to go with people like him, and to fight against the vampires. When that werewolf came after Elena in season 2 and he was supposed to keep Stefan down, when Stefan explained that Elena has to die for the 'curse' to be lifted, Tyler immediately tries to put a stop to it and apologizes to Elena for what he did (one of my personal favorite scenes in season 2). Now, while he does go with the other werewolves you have to look at the facts. Caroline had Stefan to deal with her vampirism while Tyler had no other werewolf to learn from since Mason 'disappeared', so this I can forgive, he has to learn to live with this curse, so let him do it. And he was conflicted about fighting against Caroline. In season 2 when she gets captured by the wolves and Jonas shows up to witchy-woo them, all the werewolves minus Tyler get put down, most likely because he didn't want to cause Caroline harm. Move forward to the end of season 3 when Klaus was bleeding Elena dry, he could have kept moving and kept his secret of breaking the sireline control but he risked it to help Elena get out of there (especially since Klaus caught him).

- Bonnie was instructed by her Grams to not go into vampire business but did so anyway to help her best friend, and then she gets roped into it some more but rather then staying out of the whole town's business to save her own skin, she complies, she wants to help her friends, so she does. I especially remember during the last episodes of season 3 that the only reason she's trying to help the Salvatores and Klaus is that Caroline and Tyler could die if Klaus dies. (since she knows Klaus won't let Elena die, she's more worried about her other friends at the moment, especially when Elena constantly has two brothers at her beck and call)

- Matt obviously went a darker path with the wooden bullets early on but then learned to live more easily with it. That's mainly on par with The Vampire Diaries. If you're doing a Legacies fic and want to bring him in for a cameo like the show did, you need to pay attention to his scenes. He's the Sheriff now, so his job is to protect the town and he's already lost so much to the supernatural. So, if some magical kid from Ric's school is out of line he will not hesitate to take a stand. This doesn't mean that he's going to kill a kid obviously, but more along the lines of possibly re-starting the Council or something similar to it. (remember the Founding Families Council that knew about vampires?) this isn't so crazy to be possible.

- Jeremy legit went every possible way a character could go. From rebellious stoner to falling for a vampire, to protective boyfriend, to star-crossed ghost girlfriends, to legendary vampire hunter, to ghost, to alive again and dealing with coming back, to back to booze and rebellious asshole to moving away to be a vampire hunter full-time. So, yeah, it's interesting. Point is, he never faltered from his friends, trying to kill his vampire sister was part of the whole hunter thing going on so cut him so slack. But they fixed him so he wouldn't try to kill her, yay, anyway, when Tyler became a hybrid Jeremy defended him and tried to remain friends.

- And Elena is just mainly the reason they all get together and risk their lives most of the time. But I do like her loyalty towards her friends and her willingness to risk her own life so they could live, like giving herself to Klaus to be sacrificed so her friends and family would be spared. On paper, it sounds really brave actually. We all just remember Elena in season 4 a lot and that's the majority of the reason why we despise her but she honestly wasn't half bad in the early seasons.

at the end these guys still stuck around for each other while in True Blood, once Tara was turned, she wanted nothing to do with her human friends, like it took some time to be around them again. But nah, the vampires stick with the vampires, the wolves with the wolves, the faeries with their kin, the shifters with shifters, and so on and so on. They don't mix species just like they don't mix storylines.

Now, Legacies is most definitely the best show if you want to see more species mixing with other species.

See, in TVD, there's one of each while Legacies has factions of them. They have a much better way of mixing the species, I mean they're in a boarding school so yeah

while the witches, wolves, and vamps like to hang out with their own and are divided for competitions and such, they do have good relationships, while some also have fights but honestly, they're teenagers, ofc they gonna fight

"The wolves are clique-y." This is what Lizzie says to Raf when introducing him to the school, and it can be true, wolves are into packs and such but Rafael is friends with Hope, Josie, soon MG and its iffy in the Lizzie department. On the other hand, his adoptive brother is a phoenix so that's some good diverse species relationships.

you've got friendships between Josie and MG, Penelope and MG, Hope and Josie, Lizzie and Hope, Rafael, Kaleb and MG having an understanding between each other. And the last episode perfectly concludes that if it were them against the humans, they know who they'd pick. They don't just know each other, some of them have grown up together. And anyone capable of forming a friendship with Hope immediately knows someone outside their species.

STORYLINES

TRUE BLOOD:

The storylines introduced in the show don't coincide much. Like everyone has their own stories, and while that's important, it's so much more satisfying when they all end up at the same road, or at least some of them. But like nah, it barely happens.

For ex, in season 2 of True Blood, they're dealing with the maenad right?

Well, one of the main characters, shapeshifter Sam is the only one who can really see the chaos she's inflicting on the town (other than the suspended cop who's drunk half the time, but lets focus on the key players).

Meanwhile, Sookie and her vampire boyfriend Bill, along with his progeny Jessica go to Dallas to help Eric (the vampire sheriff that resides in the part of Louisiana that they live in) find the Dallas vampire sheriff, Godric, whom also turns out to be Eric's Maker.

Turns out that Godric let himself be taken by a church/military hate group basically but more religious, and idk what he was doing but yeah. Also Sookie's older brother Jason didn't know what to do with his life at all and decided he wanted to 'make fangers pay' for idk and has been enrolled in the church as a soldier type of student i guess???

In the big climax episode, Jason finds out Sookie is there and abandons his whole 'mission' to align himself with her (i gotta admit, i love that type of loyalty) and yeah they all leave with Godric, yay.

So yeah, this entire time that they've been dealing with all that in Dallas, a maenad has been loose in their town and turning it to shit. She remade Sookie's house (becuz she's living there now, she decreed it), has been hypnotizing the townspeople to party, drink and have orgies and just mainly trying to catch Sam so she can sacrifice him to call forth the devil so she can marry him and die at his hands. Yup.

So when Sookie gets back with Bill, Jason and Jessica (and her boyfriend Hoyt who's also from the town) they sorta have to take immediate action and it gets resolved all in that episode.

idk, it felt really jumpy that season. Like the storylines for Sookie and Jason meet up I can live with, it was pretty good, but then they just show up to a ghost town and it feels really rushed.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES:

Meanwhile, in TVD, while the main plot point is for everyone, it also lets characters have their own struggles and everything, not to mention that it also continues it.

For ex, season 5 deals with Silas being out obviously, and trying to get rid of the Other Side. You've got Katherine human and her daughter finding her, her daughter also responsible for the traveler placed in Matt, and who knew it would come back to that when Katherine took Elena's body and the whole traveler business got more detailed. Then more travelers jump in and try to get rid of spirit magic in the town so they could settle down. We all know that Bonnie became the anchor so the Other Side wouldn't fall. Obviously, the travelers messed it up and now it's falling, soon enough they figure out a way to bring back the ones that are dead, this gives them the opportunity to kill some major main characters like when Stefan got his heart ripped out, that was shocking guys, it was messed up.

Then Damon and Bonnie are the only ones left since he cant pass through her anymore and they get sent together in season 6 to the 1994 Prison World containing the infamous Malachai Parker. That little devil boy brought us into Prison Worlds, siphoners, the Gemini Coven, Jo and Alaric, then the heretics, then Josie and Lizzie, and on and on.

So you can see how it sorta involves all the characters in the same common goal and also tries to foreshadow some future events, along with continuation from where we left of.

INTRODUCTIONS TO POWERFUL CHARACTERS

THE TRUE BLOOD INTRODUCTIONS:

so there's a freaking vampire government

i hate it when shows do that, and they try to tell us that 'hey, these guys are powerful, they're old and shit, you better watch out' like no, instead of telling us, show us, because otherwise we won't be intimidated, we already know the mains are gonna escape and most likely kill everyone

- Eric's a thousand-year-old vampire and the first introduction for him is Bill talking about he's powerful, and i wasn't impressed, like eh. (btw Eric happens to be my favorite)

- Eric describes his Maker, Godric as one of the most powerful vampires out there, standing at two thousand years old, and I actually like his introduction. He has a young actor, most humans would confuse him for a sixteen-year-old kid or something and when we meet him he's very patient and aware, and can assert his dominance easily over both human and vampire, but he does it so quietly and calmly that it sort of erks you, like imagine what he'd look like angry or murderous and you get shivers.

- then you get Randall, the vampire king of the Mississippi, and he's like three thousand years old, honestly just, eh. He's always gloating about his age and how no one can take him, and while this is true, it makes for a poor villain, it's not interesting, he's obviously just overcompensating because if you're three thousand years old and you're acting like this then something must be off with you.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES INTRODUCTIONS:

- Elijah is described as 'the Easter Bunny' and I fucking love it, but uh nah man, it's a pretty quick way to underestimate someone so powerful. Like, at first you think "Oh, it's a really old vampire, okay, oop Trevor's head came off, okay, the Salvatores can do that, whatever. Welp, he got staked, so long buddy. Wait, what, what's happening? Is he pulling the stake out? wtf, who is this guy?"

- then Klaus comes in, and we don't hear anything that should make us underestimate him, we hear how we should be afraid. Very afraid. And by who? The most notorious, scariest, baddest bitch of them all, Katherine Pierce. She tells Elena how he slaughtered her family for going against him and even more, characters are building him up. This is good. This is a good way to introduce a character that's meant to be a villain.

You see, Elijah and Klaus were both introduced in opposite ways.

Elijah was underestimated, while Klaus was built up (by a very well known, powerful, and scary character, so you know that if he scares Katherine then it's for a good reason)

You know if The Vampire Diaries spawned eight seasons and two spin offs then on a level, it is more successful than True Blood. I'm not saying that all the seasons of TVD or TO are well made, some are disappointing or all over the place, but their good seasons outweighs their bad seasons. And to have this much content, I do think it is more successful.

that's all i've got so far, let me know

if i missed anything crucial for tvd

if i missed anything crucial for tb

if you've seen true blood, what were your thoughts?

which do you like better?