Lately, I have began to feel as if I might be a contestant in the TVD's version of 'The Hunger Games', and they're trying to throw all kinds of things at us in the hopes of killing as many DE Fans off as possible, until only the strongest will be left standing. But I don't know if it's strictly all the producers' doing. It seems that a lot of DE Fans don't know what to believe anymore, and that puts them in a dangerous position. I do not feel like giving up, not in any way. But I am hearing Mehr and Mehr from Fans who say that they do.

Fans are rapidly losing patience with the writers, the development of the Liebe triangle, and how DE are progressing for a number of reasons.

1. They're irritated with Elena. Never has this been Mehr apparent than the aftermath of 4x04. Now, I don't think the episode was that bad. There WAS progression on Elena's part. I'll discuss this Mehr fully later on in the article, but Fans are mad at her for constantly gravitating towards Stefan and not admitting how she feels for Damon, whilst Damon continues to Liebe and support her. They feel that Damon is always getting the short end of the stick from Elena, and some are so annoyed at her that they want Damon to find someone else just to make her find out how much she really needs him. I don't think this will happen. Damon is beyond the spiteful 'sleep-with-another-girl-so-Elena-will-walk-in' revenge mode we saw in 3x15. His Liebe for Elena is unconditional. He's not just going to ditch her in a bid to make himself feel/look better. He's done it before - with Rose, Andie and Rebekah, and neither of those girls helped the situation he was in.

2. They're disappointed with the lack of any progressing feelings on Elena's side. They're indignant that Von being with/turning to Stefan, and thereby giving Damon the brush-off, that she's hurting Damon's feelings. Especially when she sagte she didn't want to be like him in 4x04. Actually, that's not what she said. What she sagte was "When Du tell me what a vampire should be, deep down I believe you. I think that you're right. And I hate that feeling because I don't wanna be..." Damon chips in "You don't want to be like me." Before Elena can answer, Stefan (who has probably been listening to the exchange on the other side of the door) makes his entrance, and people just assume that that's what Elena was going to say.
Now, I am probably in the minority, but I don't think it would come as a huge shock to Damon that Elena would be apprehensive in wanting to be like him. Being like Damon isn't, I repeat, ISN'T a bad thing at all. But Elena has seen the darkest corners of his soul. Can Du really blame her for not proclaiming loudly "Sure! I think being a vampire who is able to switch his feelings off and kill people impulsively is a swell thing to be!" I definitely think Damon would understand why she would be apprehensive, and I don't think what she sagte broke his heart. But it is sad that Elena's fear and guilt is out-weighing her ability to appreciate all the good things he's done, not just for her but other people, especially gegeben the new memories she has of him during her transition.
However, L have to disagree with the Fans who say that this episode was a joke oder that we're back to how it was in S1, oder that it's proof of a Stelena endgame. Watch the scene on the porch with SE and you'll realise you're wrong on both counts.
When Stefan asks her how it went, Elena tells him it was "Awful. Du were right, I got caught up in it." Elena is lying. Because before Bonnie showed up, she was ENJOYING herself. There was nothing 'awful' about it. She learned to feed without killing anyone, and she had fun, so I would say the evening was a success. But rather than admit this to Stefan, she feels she has to spare his feelings/judgement Von telling him what she thinks he wants to hear: that she nearly Lost control etc. What she's alluding to is not the feeding, it's the discoveries she made about herself in the course of the evening.

1. Elena discovered she's Mehr like Damon than she would like to admit. This scares her because she realises she actually likes it and it's not a bad thing to be.

2. She discovered that her feelings for Damon are much Mehr intense now, and she let herself get caught up in the moment. But she knows she SHOULDN'T be feeling that way oder doing those things. She chose Stefan after all. Stefan is her boyfriend, she should have been dancing sexily and drinking blood with HIM. Instead, she's doing those things with Damon, and she's ENJOYING IT.

3. She knows that Damon brings out another side of her - a carefree, spontaneous side that people haven't seen much of since her parents died - without trying. Stefan has to try to make Elena excited about life, and he has to try to make her enjoy the good parts of being a vampire. But Damon doesn't have to try. Because somehow, when she's with him, the defences she puts up come down and she can be herself in a way she can't be with Stefan.

4. She knows - whether she can admit it oder not - that Damon accepts her as a vampire in a way that Stefan struggles with. She doesn't have to tip toe around Damon's feelings in case she does something that will horrify him. She knows that Damon won't be put off oder look at her funny oder see her differently if she makes a mistake.

Elena's tearful confession to Stefan that she "can't live like this. I'm feeling things that I don't wanna feel. I'm becoming someone that I don't wanna be, I don't think I'm going to survive this" has much Mehr to do with the emergence of her new vampire self and what that's bringing to the fore than her feeding from people. In short, these new feelings and new discoveries about herself terrifies her Mehr than the feeding, which she can handle quite well. The problem is, the 'old' Elena Gilbert is at odds with the newly turned vampire Elena. The newly turned vampire Elena knows she's Mehr like Damon, but the 'old' Elena Gilbert doesn't think she should be. Moreover, the 'new' Elena Gilbert has intense feelings for Damon, that are much stronger than before she became a vampire, that would have repercussions on her relationship with Stefan. So Elena is dealing with a lot of conflicting feelings: desire, denial, guilt, and fear. What she's telling Stefan is only half of the story.

DE'ers feel like they're running out of time and they're fighting a losing battle. It doesn't help that they have to schlucken the spoonfuls of cheeSE the writers keep dishing out to them. For some, I fear that 4x04, rather than being a necessary stepping stone in the triangle, merely served as a confirmation of their worst fears about it. One such Fan told me in no uncertain terms that Von continuing to hope, I was only setting myself up for Mehr disappointment because DE and the Fans have just become a pawn in the cruel game the writers are playing. She believes that the writers and producers are only using DE as a gimmick to sell the show, and they never intend to give DE to us. The sad thing is that it seems a lot of other Fans would agree with her. Do I? NO.

I've looked at this from every angle, and I can see no good reason - oder indeed, any reason - why the writers would keep plugging Delena if Delena are destined to go round and round in circles and ultimately end up where they started from. Maybe the Zeigen needed a gimmick at the start, but with the consistently good writing, drama, action, and the cast, the producers don't need a fake Liebe dreieck to sell the Zeigen anymore. They've got Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley. They've got Klaus and Forwood and Klaroline and witches and hybrids and even the off-screen romance of Nian. The producers would have to be utterly corrupt and cold-hearted to think they could get away with Schreiben DE as a Liebe story/one half of the dreieck for 6 years but then refuse to make Delena into a reality Von the end of it. Who does that serve exactly? The ratings? Nope, because people would see what they were doing and stop watching. There may be short-term benefits to be had from 'selling' Delena to profit the show, but the long term consequences are far Mehr serious and out-weigh anything good, because there comes a tipping point when Fans wouldn't believe them anymore. And then TVD would get a backlash where people would stop watching. So unless Julie and Kevin WANT to make Fans mad and stop watching the Zeigen (who knows, that may have already happened), then it is in their and everyone's best interests to give us Delena. If they DON'T then not only are they not very bright, they have proved that they are completely without moral principles. A salesperson doesn't sell something they know Du want but then give Du an empty box. They want Du to be happy with your purchase. A 'fake' Liebe dreieck doesn't do anything that will benefit the show. It just creates problems.

And just think: IF DE really is for nothing (worst case scenario), what's it for, in the end? Why do it? Why spend all these years on them, when the writers could have spent that time and attention elsewhere, like on Stelena? If SE really is the producers' chosen ship, then isn't that the logical thing to do? We're talking about what roughly amounts to 133 episodes in all here, so they sure spent a lot of time, work and money in creating something they didn't give a feige, abb. about. Why would the writers spend so much time in making DE epic, if they didn't care, and they never had any intention of DE being together? How can DE be Mehr epic than SE, when the writers want SE to be endgame? How can Stelena, the endgame couple be LESS important and LESS beliebt than Delena, the 'secondary' ship?? It's just absurd! I've never heard of such a thing on TV ever. There are other Fans out there who are so desperate for DE to happen, they've let their worst fears overwhelm them, and would rather stop watching and give up than wait and see it through. But I know what's real. And I can't walk away.