The Vampire Diaries has its fair share of people who have turned into vampires over the years, but none are more notorious than Katherine Pierce. She makes her first onscreen appearance in Season 2 and uses her powers as a vampire to start wreaking havoc on the lives of Elena and the gang.
Much like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the show's focus on love, death and vampires offers a lot of delectable drama. This is especially true when Katherine rolls into town. Katherine was first acquainted with the Salvatore brothers in 1864 in Mystic Falls during the civil war. She develops a fondness for both of them and plans to turn them both, so they can all be together. However, this doesn't go according to plan. She was captured by the townsfolk and put in the church with all the other vampires but is then able to escape and goes on the run. Before she met the brothers, she was a vampire for hundreds of years, which raises the question of how she turned in the first place.
Katerina Petrova (Katherine Pierce) was born as a witch in Bulgaria. When she was just 17, she was disowned by her father after she gave birth to a baby girl out of wedlock. She was then exiled to England, and in 1490, she met Trevor who introduced her to the vampire brothers Niklaus (Klaus) and Elijah Mickelson. At first, she was attracted to both of them, but she soon found out that Klaus was planning on using her as a sacrifice to break his hybrid curse because she was a Petrova doppelganger.
Trevor tried to help Katherine escape, but when his partner Rose found out, she locked her in a room in a remote cottage. Katherine quickly realized she was running out of options and stabbed herself with a knife, wanting to be dead instead of going back to Klaus. However, Rose force-fed her some blood, so she could heal. This did not stop her because when Rose wasn't paying attention, Katherine hung herself and started to transition into a vampire. Rose, who was fed up at this point, then tried to stake her, killing the cottage owner instead. There was so much blood that Katherine couldn't help herself and started to feed, which finally turned her into a vampire.
Katherine then fled out of the window and into the night. From here, she was on the run for 500-plus years as she did not want Klaus to find her. Katherine continued to live as a vampire by only caring about herself. However, she always had men wrapped around her finger, which lands her in a number of love triangles.
While she does become a somewhat better person in later seasons, she is often insensitive, selfish, prideful and doesn't care much for human life. Katherine's story ultimately shows how determined she was to live -- or not live -- life by her own rules; qualities she shares with Marvel's strong and independent Jessica Jones. It is safe to say that Katherine is not the best person. However, as advocated by Close To Me's Connie Nielsen, who wants more complex women on TV, she makes for a compelling female character with a fascinating history.
