Silas

Silas is a former warlock who became the first immortal being in the world. According to him, he was responsible for creating and casting the first immortality spell on himself.

He is the most powerful immortal being, and overall the most powerful supernatural being in the series universe (it is unclear whether he is more powerful than Qetsiyah as a warlock).

Silas is a member and distant relative of The Salvatore Family

Early History
Over 2,000 years ago, Silas was an extremely powerful warlock who wanted to create a spell for immortality. He asked his best friend Qetsiyah, who was also an extremely powerful witch, to assist him in creating the spell. She agreed, expecting Silas to make her immortal as well, as she was in love with him and hoped they could be together forever. However, Silas intended to give the gift of immortality to another woman. Qetsiyah was enraged when she discovered Silas did not plan to spend eternity with her. Out of revenge, Qetsiyah murdered Silas' lover, created a cure for immortality, and imprisoned him with the cure on a desolate island deep in an underground cave. Qetsiyah had hoped that Silas would take the cure, eventually die of starvation or thirst, and be trapped on The Other Side, a purgatory for supernatural beings that she created in order to spend eternity with him. Silas knew this was her intention and chose to desiccate instead. For two millennia, Silas had lain buried, awaiting the day when someone would free him.

Season Four
In We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes, Professor Shane tells his students the story of the first immortal, Silas, and his tragic fate, as well as a legend that mentions his return. His tombstone is donated to Whitmore College, but it is unknown who donated it. It is thought to be the world's first tombstone.

In O Come, All Ye Faithful, Professor Shane tells Damon and Elena he has already found the location of Silas' tomb. He repeats the story of Silas and Qetsiyah to Elena, and shows her Silas' Headstone. He also lies by telling her that Silas had created a cure for immortality before he was imprisoned by Qetsiyah and that he took The Cure with him. (The cure was actually created by Qetsiyah.) To get the cure, they must complete the map of the Hunter's Mark, which will also reveal a spell to enter Silas' tomb, where Silas and the cure were hidden.

In After School Special, Silas is mentioned by Shane when he is being interrogated by Kol and Rebekah, the latter of whom is in search of the cure. He explains, "Silas will revive those who are sacrificed to bring him back." Kol is shocked at the mention of Silas' name, which indicates that he knows about Silas. Kol is struck with fear and starts rambling to Rebekah on how Silas will kill them all and states that Silas would bring hell on earth. Kol then decides to kill Shane to make sure Silas cannot be unearthed.

In Catch Me If You Can, Kol reveals that he had met a cult that worships Silas. They had revealed to him a prophecy in which Silas' return would result in "the end of all time."

In A View To A Kill, Elena requests a meeting with Kol to arrange a truce and discuss what Kol knows about Silas. He reveals he has traveled with many witches in his lifetime. The witches he met and traveled with in the 14th and 17th century knew about Silas. The witches he knew in 1900's New Orleans also did. All of them told him about the destruction Silas will bring if freed. This leads to Kol shooting down Elena's attempts to refute Silas' existence or power. This fear also leads to Kol betraying their truce by attempting to chop of Jeremy's arms so the map will never be completed; which leads to his death at Jeremy's hands, with Elena's assistance.

In Into the Wild, Silas is mentioned when Bonnie is looking at Jeremy's tattoos. She states that according to Shane, Silas asked Qetsiyah for help in a spell for immortality. When she found out Silas' plan to give immortality to another woman, she buried him, knowing that she couldn't kill him. Silas refused to give Qetsiyah the satisfaction of winning, so he stayed buried, not taking the cure. The Five were created to kill vampires and find Silas. Once the members of The Five were to find Silas, they were to wake him, force him to take the cure, and kill him. At the end of the episode, Shane had everything he needed and was on his way to freeing

Jeremy tells Bonnie that if her Grams were there he would be able to see and that Silas is messing with her mind. Bonnie realizes this is how Silas was able to control Shane with visions of his dead wife, Caitlin Shane. Bonnie and Jeremy reach Silas and quickly realize he is fossilized with the cure in his hands. Bonnie tells Jeremy that in order to get the cure, they must feed him blood. They are attacked by Vaughn who stabs Bonnie and tries to force Jeremy to feed Silas. Katherine (pretending to be Elena) comes to his rescue and knocks Vaughn out, but instead of helping Bonnie, Katherine uses Jeremy to feed Silas. When Silas begins to move his arms, he grabs Jeremy's neck, taking his hands off of the box with the cure, which allows Katherine to grab it and get away. Bonnie lays motionless on the ground, watching Jeremy be fed on when Silas snaps his neck.

In Stand By Me, Silas had removed his mask, and using some unknown abilities, took the form of Shane as he left his tomb. He also took Bonnie with him, healing her while creating an illusion that makes him appear to be Shane. He explained that everyone Shane had sacrificed would be brought back, but when Bonnie still didn't want to go along with his plan, Silas told her that Jeremy was drained of blood and killed. Bonnie, emotionally shattered by the news, started to lose control of her magic and Silas used this moment of vulnerability to tell her that she can bring Jeremy back. He explained that she needed to help Silas because when Silas became an immortal (a vampire), he lost his

He continued to say that the only reason Shane had been teaching Bonnie expression was so she could do Silas' work for him, since he was no longer a witch. He explained how Shane had completed the first two points of the Expression Triangle by orchestrating the death of 12 Town Council member's at Pastor Young's farm and the death of 12 hybrids in the underground tunnels below the old Lockwood Estate, and explained that there was still one more massacre left to complete the triangle. He justified the massacres by assuring her that the humans used would find peace and that the supernatural creatures used would be brought back. Bonnie still refused to help him, but Silas used her grief over Jeremy and her grandmother against her, creating a vision of Jeremy asking for help. This gave Silas the power he needed over her to do his bidding.

He continued to say that the only reason Shane had been teaching Bonnie expression was so she could do Silas' work for him, since he was no longer a witch. He explained how Shane had completed the first two points of the Expression Triangle by orchestrating the death of 12 Town Council member's at Pastor Young's farm and the death of 12 hybrids in the underground tunnels below the old Lockwood Estate, and explained that there was still one more massacre left to complete the triangle. He justified the massacres by assuring her that the humans used would find peace and that the supernatural creatures used would be brought back. Bonnie still refused to help him, but Silas used her grief over Jeremy and her grandmother against her, creating a vision of Jeremy asking for help. This gave Silas the power he needed over her to do his bidding. Silas-ShaneSilas tells Bonnie that the humans that died were a necessary sacrifice. Alaric Saltzman

Silas, sent Bonnie to Damon so she could be taken back home, where Bonnie told her friends of what "Shane" told her. She explained to her grief-stricken friends that to get Jeremy back she will have to complete the Expression Triangle, which had already begun to form thanks to Shane's earlier orchestrated massacres. Bonnie had learned from Silas that Qetsiyah had created The Other Side so if he did take the cure and die of old age while buried, he would be trapped in that supernatural purgatory. This is what caused him to create his plan to be awoken; he wanted Bonnie (a descendant of Qetsiyah) to use the power of the Expression Triangle to destory the veil separating the living world from the Other Side, which would bring back every dead supernatural and make the Other Side nonexistent. Then, he wanted to take the cure and die so that he could be reunited with the woman he loved. Bonnie, who wanted to bring back Jeremy and Grams, tried to convince her friends to get on board by telling them that their dead supernatural friends and family could come back too, and that they just had to finish the triangle by killing 12 more people. The group was shocked that Bonnie was willing to kill 12 people to bring back their loved ones, which would also bring back all of their dead enemies who were vampires, witches, werewolves, and hybrids.

Silas, still posing as Shane, appeared when Bonnie returned home and asked her if she told her friends. When she told him of their unwillingness to help, he told her that they were just afraid. Meanwhile, on the island, Rebekah came across the real Shane, who she believed to be dead until he grabbed her and frantically muttered one word: "Silas."

In Bring It On, it was discovered that Silas had been taking entire blood bank stocks of blood from several hospitals in order to sate his hunger, having been desiccated and deprived of blood for 2,000 years. It is this discovery that causes Stefan to realize that Silas followed them back from the island where they found him, and that he is in the Mystic Falls' area.

In Because the Night, Silas continued to try and harness Bonnie's expression. He had revealed to her that he was not really Shane and she questioned why he wouldn't reveal his true form. Wanting to continue the charade of being Shane, Silas used his guise to convince Bonnie's father that she must continue her lessons with him in order to help her control her magic. He explained to Bonnie that the final part of the Expression Triangle they were forming required killing twelve witches. He told her that the witches would all link themselves together in an attempt to remove the expression from her being; he emphasized that she endure them until they were all linked, and once they did, she was to overpower them and kill them.

His plan didn't go perfectly, however, due to interference from Caroline Forbes, who saw that Aja, the witch who was cleansing Bonnie, was about to kill her after learning of her involvement with Silas, and Caroline quickly stabs her, causing all twelve witches to die in succession. With the Expression Triangle completed, Silas had everything he needed to destroy The Other Side.

After the triangle was completed, Silas confronted Klaus, now only needing The Cure to complete his plans. Klaus refused to give up its location (the Cure was in Katherine's possession; her plan was to use it to buy her freedom from Klaus,) and Silas threatened the hybrid, telling him to bring him the Cure. When Klaus refused, Silas revealed that he had gained possession of the White Oak Stake from an unknowing Rebekah. Klaus tried to attack him but Silas caught him off guard, stabbing the stake into his back, just below his heart. Silas snapped the tip of the stake off, leaving it imbedded in Klaus' back before reminding him to bring him the cure and leaving the scene.