'The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart'

Florence and The Machine, 'Cosmic Love'

Every DE fan wants it to happen. But not every fan of 'The Vampire Diaries' feels the same way:

'The only way Elena will end up with Damon is if Stefan dies.'

'It would be wrong for Elena to sleep with Damon after she slept with Stefan.'

'If Elena had sex with Damon she would look like a slut/tramp/whore.'

'Elena could not possibly choose Damon who has a history of shredding innocent people to death.'

I'm sure you've heard most of these arguments levelled at DE before. They've certainly been playing on my mind for a while. We may not agree, but the above points are valid. The question is, how do we address them?

Argument No.1
'The only way Elena will end up with Damon is if Stefan dies.'
This isn't so much of a choice she would make as a tragic turn of events that leaves Elena with only one choice available to her: Damon. The big problem with this scenario if it were to happen is that Elena wouldn't be 'choosing' at all, she would be 'settling'. Her choice of who to be with gets taken out of her hands entirely. It's also too 'tidy' and maybe even contrived. Any emotional and physical fall-out resulting from choosing Damon over Stefan (the destruction of their bond as brothers, possible blood-shed etc) would be non-existent if Stefan was dead. Granted, this is the cleanest option for the writers to go for, and it would give us DE in the end which is what we all want, but it's also slightly unsatisfactory because Elena isn't in power of her choice. We want Elena to choose Damon because she loves him and can't be without him, NOT because Stefan is dead.

Argument No.2: 'Elena can't sleep with two guys who are related because it would damage her reputation.'
OK, this is definitely cause for concern. Elena is caught in the middle of two brothers...it doesn't look good whichever way you look at it. At least one person will get hurt. And because Elena's the one who has to make the decision, it's likely that any repercussions will fall on her. Her character will suffer the most damage if the writers make a mess of the triangle. The trouble is, when writing a love triangle which concerns one girl and two guys, and because the writers/producers know there are two fanbases they have to consider, it's virtually impossible for the girl to just sleep with one guy. I don't think it's fair that the audience goes against the heroine for sleeping with two guys, especially if she does love them; in society, it's the norm for guys to have multiple partners. It's the norm for guys to get drunk and hook up; nobody calls them names like 'tramp,' or 'slut'. Yet when we get love triangles on TV, the girl in question often suffers as a result of poor timing or just plain bad storylines.
'The Vampire Diaries' isn't the first show to feature a girl torn between two guys: most of the shows on the CW have had stories about love triangles at some point. What makes the love triangle on 'The Vampire Diaries' unique however, is that unlike those shows, Stefan and Damon are brothers. But to make things even more difficult, the bond they share is very complicated. They're not really friends, treat each other with suspicion, sometimes hate one another - but at the end of the day, they are brothers. All very different from the close friendship of Dawson and Pacey and Chuck and Nate. Although Dawson and Pacey weren't related, they were like brothers until their friendship was ripped apart by their love for the same girl. When Joey was in a relationship with Pacey in Season 4, she slept with him more than once, and then she had a one night thing with Dawson in the following season. Does that make her a whore?
In 'Gossip Girl', Blair slept with Chuck then Nate in one season...chose Chuck and then went back to Nate in Season 2, even though she arguably still loved Chuck. Does that make her a whore? In 'Veronica Mars', Veronica was getting hot and steamy in a car with Logan and then before you knew it, was breaking up with him and making out with Duncan in a crowded restaurant in the space of one episode. Does that make her a whore?
I believe any damage that could result from Elena sleeping with Damon would be negligible if it was done properly. It does not have to be a moral catastrophe for Elena. There are ways around it. If she and Stefan break up and stop being around each other, and she really loves Damon...any decision she makes will not be made lightly, it will be made because she can't deny her feelings any longer. I hope the writers have thought about this already, and have taken steps to ensure that Elena's reputation won't be marred. The biggest indicator that they've thought about it is the SE love scene which occurred in episode 10. The tenth episode of the first season is a crazy number for a love scene to happen in, especially for a couple of any magnitude, like SE. In some shows, the audience has to wait for two, three, four+ years. Could it be that SE was never intended to be the love scene fans would wait for? Could that explain the speed in which Stelena sealed the deal?
To sum up: Elena is not the type of girl who would hop into the bed of one guy after another. Damon is Stefan's brother, but she cannot help that, just as she cannot choose who she falls in love with; otherwise she would have chosen a human guy to have a relationship with instead of a vampire. At the end of the day, fans of the show have to decide if they are justified in calling Elena ugly names for sleeping with someone she truly loves, or if it would be better for her to be miserable for the rest of her life by staying away from him.

Argument No.3: 'Elena will not choose Damon who has a history of shredding innocent people to death.'
Fans who take the moral high ground on the triangle and deem Damon too dangerous or unworthy of Elena's love seem unaware that there is a sting in the tail for them. The truth is, Damon would not have become a vampire at all if Stefan hadn't fed on his father's blood, presented Damon with a girl to feed on and encouraged him to turn. Heck, he even makes the first bite marks on her neck himself to entice his brother with the look and smell of her blood. If Elena should not choose Damon on account of his 'history', then she should not be with Stefan either. Stefan's history may be a lot less blood-stained than Damon's, but he's still done the same terrible things Damon has. However, if we must go down this road, can we excuse the fact that Damon has killed many people many times? No. And if Elena had to choose which brother to be with based on how few people he's killed, wouldn't Stefan win? Yes. So, technically, shouldn't Elena be with Stefan?
One thing that fans of the 'moral high ground' attitude don't understand is that love - true love - isn't about getting what we deserve, or being perfect. In the opening of 'Beauty and The Beast' the question posed to the audience is: 'For who could ever learn to love a beast?' The prince who is turned into a monstrous-looking creature despairs because he knows that he's cursed to be someone no human could ever love. But only love can break the spell. Damon doesn't love Elena because he's 'good' or 'perfect' or 'better' than Stefan. He loves her because he needs her and he's broken, and he needs someone to love him. If not, then like the Beast in the fairy tale, he is doomed to remain trapped in self-loathing and darkness for eternity.

There are no easy answers to any of these questions, and I don't know if this article helped at all, but if you have any thoughts on this then please leave comments below.