Steroline

5

Steroline is the het ship between Stefan Salvatore and Caroline Forbes from The Vampire Diaries fandom.

Canon

SEASON 1

Stefan arrives in Mystic Falls, and Caroline takes an immediate interest in him. Despite Caroline's attempts to charm Stefan, he rejects her. He’s only interested in her close friend, Elena. Caroline is wounded but quickly moves on. Stefan tries to get Damon to stop compelling Caroline when she was being abused by him. Stefan saves Caroline from Logan Fell when she is kidnapped by him. When Caroline and Matt start dating, by her persuasion they go on a double date with Stefan and Elena.

SEASON 2

After Caroline is turned into a vampire, her emotions become amplified and she struggles for control. Stefan promises to take care of her, helping Caroline manage the bloodlust and understand her new powers. They become close and develop a friendship. Caroline, who has grown stronger and more confident, is grateful to Stefan for his support, and Stefan feels a familiarity with Caroline, who reminds him of his late friend Lexi.

When Caroline is kidnapped and tortured by werewolves, Stefan is there to release her and take her home. Eyes locked, she tells him she’s fine; she’s strong now. He tells her "you don’t have to pretend with me." To comfort her, Stefan surprises Caroline with a sleepover from her best friends, Bonnie and Elena, knowing it is exactly what she needs. They dance together at the decade dance as Stefan warns Caroline about Klaus being in Mystic Falls.

SEASON 3

Caroline shows a continuous bias towards Stefan over Damon, though they don't interact much during this time.

SEASON 4

Stefan and Caroline have developed a very strong and special bond, which only grows stronger when Stefan breaks up with his girlfriend Elena. Stefan declares Caroline his sober sponsor, which she takes very seriously. Caroline lets Stefan crash at her place for a while after Elena has moved into his house, because her brother wanted to kill her. After that they figure out that Elena is sired to Damon together. When Elena shuts off her humanity and throws a party, Stefan and Caroline dance and have fun together, despite Stefan not usually liking to dance. They once again dance at prom, where Caroline tells Stefan "one day you'll meet someone new, and you'll fall madly in love, and you'll have moved on without even realizing it."

SEASON 5

Stefan calls Caroline his best friend. When he has amnesia, he tells her that she looks hotter in person, makes sure she knows that he'll be there for her like she has been for him and dances with her. During Stefan's struggle with his PTSD, Katherine questions if they have been more than friends before. When Stefan finds out about Caroline's fling with Klaus, he defends her from Tyler when he gets mad, and cheers her up about not feeling like a good person. Caroline gets jealous when she thinks Stefan and Elena are become close again, but then figures out together with Stefan that Elena had been possessed by Katherine.

When Stefan is taken prisoner by the travelers, Caroline stays with him and they end up falling asleep together cuddling. After Enzo died, Stefan and Elena kept it a secret, leading to Caroline feeling jealous of their closeness until she discovered the truth. She questions to Stefan why he didn't tell her, and after playfully stroking her cheek, replies "I didn't want you to think any less of me". When Stefan dies, Lexi questions him on his feelings towards Caroline and why he was still in Mystic Falls. As Damon gets stuck in the collapsing other side, Caroline hugs and comforts Stefan, though she lost her best friend Bonnie as well.

SEASON 6

Stefan leaves town and pushes everyone away, including Caroline. Who keeps sending him voicemails about what he's missing and about how they need each other. When Caroline and Enzo visit Stefan at his new house, she discovers he never listened to her voicemails and they have their first huge fight. When Stefan comes back, Caroline asks Stefan to stay if a part of him came back for her, but he leaves anyways. Elena hearing their conversation, asks Caroline if she has romantic feelings for him. After Damon returns, Stefan tries to make things right with Caroline. When Enzo realizes that Caroline has a thing for Stefan, he tells him, confusing Stefan. He continues to try to fix things with Caroline but she keeps pushing him away, until her mom faints and they find out Liz has cancer. After that Caroline finally lets Stefan in, spending most of his time just being with her in any way she needed.

When they spent the day in the woods looking for Bonnie's toy Cuddles, they almost kissed. It wasn't long after that they shared their first kiss while preparing the lake house for Liz to go live in before she dies. Unfortunately, Caroline's mum died later that same day before she got to say goodbye. At the funeral, Stefan realizes his feelings for Caroline were something, and that it could become something better than his previous romances. But Caroline decided to shut her humanity off and forces Stefan to do the same. Ripper Stefan gets Caroline to lose control and they end up having sex and murdering people together. When Stefan sees his mother when she was supposed to be dead, his humanity comes back. He manages to turn Caroline's humanity back on with a memory of him and Liz. At Alaric and Jo's wedding, Caroline tells Stefan that she can't be with him as of now because she couldn't give up control. The day after, Stefan comes to Caroline's house and lists all the ways that loving her had changed him, and that he'll wait for her however long needed.

SEASON 7

After Stefan's love confession, things are a little awkward for Stefan and Caroline, and they decide to be just friends, but that changes when Caroline kisses him. Caroline is then kidnapped by the heretics and has a spell forced upon her which prevents vampires from touching her, by Stefan's past fling Valerie. They convince the heretic Nora to absorb the spell from Caroline and they have sex with their humanity for the first time. A couple days later, Caroline finds out Alaric's twins had transferred into her when Jo died. When Stefan finds out about it he tells her that he loves her and no matter how weird it gets he'll be there for her, and she says that she loves him too. At Christmas, Nora trapped Stefan in the Phoenix Stone, leaving him to have daymares when he escaped of Damon trying to kill Caroline, but she helps him through it.

Caroline gives birth to the twins when Stefan is marked by the huntress and is forced to leave town to keep himself safe. When Stefan realized Caroline wasn't leaving the twins, he knew he'd be putting her and the kids in danger if he returned, so he left instead. Caroline becomes engaged to Alaric for their daughters and Stefan dates Valerie for a while, but she eventually breaks up with him knowing he'll never love her the way he still loves Caroline. When they meet again three years later, Caroline is furious at him for leaving her, but when she is found with the same choice as him she understands why he did what he did. The following day her and Alaric called it off, and Caroline gets back together with Stefan.

Season 8

With Alaric feeling far from the kids, he moves into Caroline's childhood home and Caroline moves in with Stefan at The Salvatore Boarding House. Stefan surprises Caroline with a bedroom he'd been building for the twins, telling her that they're now a family. As Caroline opens up the drawers Stefan got for her daughters, she finds an engagement ring that he left for her to find. Stefan proposes to Caroline, asking for her marry him, and she says yes. Later on, when the twins are kidnapped by the sirens, Stefan makes a deal with Cade to work for him if he lets them go, keeping his promise to Caroline to do anything to keep them safe. They spend one last day together on Christmas Day as they cook food and kiss under the mistletoe.

Caroline wouldn't see Stefan again until Founder's Day, with his humanity now off, leading to her giving Stefan the engagement ring back. After Ripper Stefan fails to burn Mystic Falls, Caroline tells him she loves and will fight for the real him, and Stefan seems to react with some emotion. When he becomes human again they reunite with a hug. Afraid Caroline will go to hell if she stayed with him, Stefan decides to leave. But when Damon makes him realize the best way to find redemption is to be around the ones you love, he re-proposes to Caroline and she once again says yes. They have their June wedding earlier than planned to distract a returned Katherine, but go through with the ceremony anyways and officially become husband and wife. But when Damon was going to sacrifice himself to destroy hell, Stefan took his brother's place and died. In his memory, Caroline opens up The Salvatore School and becomes Caroline Forbes-Salvatore.

Songs

far from yesterday | AMY STROUP

"because that's what makes you you" + falling asleep together

say anything | ASHLEY NITE

caroline asks stefan to stay

concrete angel | CHRISTINA NOVELLI

"why do you have a thing for me?"

yours | ELLA HENDERSON

the first kiss

hypnotic | ZELLA DAY

making out

redeeming love | AMY STROUP

caroline tells stefan he makes her happy + kiss

silhouette | AQUILO

"there was a thaw" making up

changing tides | THE FRAY

stefan proposes to caroline

Fanon

This section is in need of major improvement. Please help improve this article by editing it.

Steroline is one of the most popular couples from The Vampire Diaries. They are loved for the realism of the relationship, and how different the romance is built and played out compared to the others of the show. Their friends to lovers arc is a focal point, as they become the main couple of the final two seasons.

On AO3, Steroline is the fifth most written ship within the The Vampire Diaries (TV) tag, and Stefan and Caroline's second most written.

Media

How 'The Vampire Diaries' Turned Stefan And Caroline Into Joey And Pacey 2.0 (MTV • January 2015

The Vampire Diaries Stars Pick Their Favorite Steroline Moments (TV GUIDE • December 2016)

Can Steroline Survive The Vampire Diaries' Final Season? (E! • October 2016)

The Vampire Diaries' Candice Accola Reacts to Steroline Winning Our TV's Top Couple of 2015 Tournament! (E! • April 2015)

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Stefan/Caroline tag on AO3

Stefan/Caroline (TV) tag on FanFiction.Net

Caroline/Stefan (Books) tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

Steroline tag on Tumblr

TIKTOK

Steroline tag on TikTok

TWITTER

Steroline hashtag on Twitter

WIKIS

Stefan and Caroline on The Vampire Diaries Wiki

Gallery

Family Ties