The Vampire Diaries: 5 Times Caroline Acted Like A Typical Teenager (& 5 She Was Wise Beyond Her Years)

Caroline Forbes began her character arc on The Vampire Diaries as seemingly nothing more than the Mystic Falls mean girl. She embodied all the worst stereotypes of teenage girls, and while there were flashes of something deeper beneath the surface from the start, she wasn’t exactly a natural charmer.

However, as time went on, Caroline’s character developed more and she was forced to evolve, adapt, and mature. And to everyone’s surprise, she actually did so more successfully than nearly any other character on TVD. But when did Caroline really demonstrate wisdom beyond her years, and when did she truly prove that she was still a teenager at heart?

10 Typical Teenager: When She Played Queen Bee

At the start of The Vampire Diaries, Caroline was the quintessential popular teenage girl in all the worst ways. Although Bonnie and Elena seemed to tolerate her, they barely seemed to like her, and it’s not hard to understand why.

She was a bit of a control freak, she was rude, and she seemed to be almost entirely inconsiderate of her friends’ feelings. She really seemed to be all about the high school drama.

9 Wise Beyond Her Years: When She Dumped Matt

Caroline was always a character who was desperate for everyone else’s approval, and she was exceptionally needy when it came to the approval and interest of boys. And even putting that aside, her feelings for Matt were incredibly genuine, and seemingly for the first time in her life, entirely reciprocated.

So when Caroline realized that she was a danger to Matt because of her new vampire status, it was actually incredibly mature of her to break up with him for his own safety.

8 Typical Teenager: When She Went After Damon

Caroline obviously paid dearly for this mistake, as Damon used her and abused her at his own convenience, but Caroline’s initial determination to snag Stefan’s super hot older brother was an incredibly childish way to act.

Caroline was interested in Stefan from the minute that he got to town, and she was openly jealous when Elena caught his eye. She tried to one-up Elena by going after Damon, and it wasn’t a good look for her.

7 Wise Beyond Her Years: When She Helped Tyler

When Tyler Lockwood triggered his werewolf curse, Caroline was already deeply familiar with what it felt like to suddenly be thrust into the supernatural world and have almost no one on her side.

And despite the fact that werewolves posed such a massive threat to vampires, Caroline decided to help Tyler through his transformation. She took a risk and put herself on the line so that someone wouldn’t have to go through their transition alone like she did.

6 Typical Teenager: When She Was Mean To Her Mom

In a lot of instances, Caroline showed flashes of maturity and insight that demonstrated that her ditsy act was just that, an act. But when it came to her treatment of her own mother, her behavior was decidedly immature.

Even when Caroline was coping with seriously scary adult situations, she seemed to find time to be a brat to her mom, which was a perfect demonstration of the fact that no matter how much she evolved, she was still a teenage girl too.

5 Wise Beyond Her Years: When She Saw The Good In Klaus

To be fair, Klaus was kind of a nightmare when he first showed up on The Vampire Diaries, and it’s entirely fair that the entire Mystic Falls gang hated him. Caroline was the first to start seeing another side to him though.

And not only was it wise of her to actually start to see from someone else’s (admittedly warped) perspective, but given Klaus’s character transformation over time, she clearly saw something in him that was worth saving.

4 Typical Teenager: When She Flipped Over Her Prom Dress

Caroline’s freak out over the fact that Elena stole her prom dress was more humorous than serious, and to be fair, the humanity-less Elena was clearly trying to troll Caroline and really make her upset.

But the very fact that Caroline lost it over her missing prom dress was a pointed reminder that despite everything that had happened to her, Caroline was still a teenager who was extremely wrapped up in stereotypical teenage things.

3 Wise Beyond Her Years: When She Let Her Dad Go

Unfortunately Caroline couldn’t hold it together when her mother died, however, she handled the sudden loss of her father like a champ.

She tried to convince him to transition into a vampire, but when he decided against it, she actually accepted the decision, and she didn’t tear herself or the rest of the world apart over her loss either.

2 Typical Teenager: When She Constantly Competed With Elena

Caroline really explained her inferiority complex when it comes to Elena in the first episode. Caroline is the girl who tries so hard and still gets rejected, while Elena doesn’t seem to have to try at all, and everyone picks her.

But that is a very young and immature mentality for Caroline to have, and the fact that she was so concerned about outdoing one of her best friends was one of the best and most consistent demonstrations of Caroline’s teen perspective.

1 Wise Beyond Her Years: When She Transitioned Into A Vampire

The vast majority of characters who are or become vampires in The Vampire Diaries seem to both loathe being vampires and have a lot of trouble adjusting to it. But Caroline completely bucked that standard.

She was thrown into the deep end and everyone around her didn’t even want to throw her a life jacket, and she not only managed to survive, but becoming a vampire actually made her an objectively better person.