If there's a part in The Vampire Diaries Season 2 that moved me the deepest, it's definitely the time when Elena reads the farewell letter from her father John. After watching the pre-finale episode, I know that I am not the only one who is having a Last Song Syndrome with the song "Skinny Love" by Birdy. It's the background song during this scene. And for that episode, it also made me feel like I lost a member of my family too. Hats off to the writers of the series! Everything just seemed naturally appealing to emotions. Everything seemed too real.

This is what the letter says:

“Elena. It’s no easy task being an ordinary parent to an
extraordinary child.
I’ve failed in that task. And because of my
prejudices, I’ve failed you.
I’m haunted by how things might’ve played out differently if I’d been more willing to hear your side of
things.
For me, it’s the end. For you, a chance to grow old and
someday do better with your
own child than I did with mine.

It’s for that child that I give you my ring. I don’t ask for your forgiveness or for you to forget,
I
ask only that you believe this.
Whether you are now reading
this as a human or as a vampire,
I
love you all the same as I’ve always loved you and always
will."

For those who got foggy thoughts why John died, like I also did, a review and thorough listening to every speech in the episode should be in a rerun. Our dearest witch, Bonnie, performed a spell on John. This special spell which Bonnie found in her ancestor's grimoire transferred John's life force to his daughter Elena. As the final sacrifice to the ritual that breaks the centuries-old curse that Klaus has, Elena has to die. She eventually was killed. Bitten in the neck by the most horrifying Original vampire. But since Elena has her father's life force in her and John took the Vampire-bite-proof ring off his finger, John eventually lost his life when Elena woke up. Stefan gave her John's letter and the ring. She realized that she gained her humanity again. Simultaneous with a human life she has always neglected: John's.

As for the letter, I think John labeled Elena as an "extraordinary child" due to the fact that Elena has been through willingly surfing her waves of problems- the natural and the supernatural ones. She has been sleeping with grief over the loss of her known parents and the knowledge that the real ones abandoned and lied to her. She has seen so much violence and rage originating from all the fights, revenge and wounded hearts of all the people around her. And she has been living a dangerous life with fear: being a doppelganger who needed to be sacrificed, loving a vampire boyfriend that connects her to bloodshot events, and having loved someones she sees dying inevitably in front of her eyes. While John couldn't even be there like a "ordinary parent" whose shoulders are always ready for a daughter to lean on. But neither parties must be blamed. Things have always been like that. Even since Elena wasn't born yet.

Honestly, before that point in the series, I had never liked John's character. I mean, why should an almost antagonistic and a self-centered father like him matter to Elena? But with his letter, I understood much the points that John wants to emphasize. Just with the fact that John didn't do a heart-to-heart-soul-to-soul last conversation with Elena but instead just went outside to die there, this is one point that makes him an honorable father. He made the greatest sacrifice he could ever give to Elena even if he admits that he was never a good parent to her. I think John is more than an ordinary father. He left his ring to Elena for her further protection and her future children. He was, of all people in the story, as far as my opinion is concerned, the most considerate on Elena's simple dreams and wishes. The things she has been fighting all her life for. He felt that despite Elena's supernatural ties with many individuals, his daughter dreads to be deprived of the most important things to her. Being a human, growing old, seeing her children grow up, a lifetime of decisions and a death with satisfaction. John was conscious of his own these things and his wrongdoings. And on top of that, he loved Elena no matter what.

Of course, we all have our own me-and-my-father stories. Your father may be the ideal soap-opera type who does all things for his children, understand their simplest mistakes and dreams the best for them. Or he may be the one who drinks all night, invulnerable of his responsibilities and cuts even the thinnest thread that connects to his family. But whether he's there or not, he's a father. That's one thing that would never change.#