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The Mystic Falls Codex

Two thousand years of one story, Silas to the Salvatore School.

Watch Order

Broadcast order, never chronological. The flashbacks are the reveals: watching 1490 before 2009 turns the structure that carries the story into plain exposition.

The three shows

The order

  1. 01

    The Vampire Diaries — Seasons 1 to 4

    89 episodes · watch straight through

    The whole foundation: the Salvatores, Elena, the tomb, the hybrid curse, the Originals’ arrival, the Five, Silas and the cure. Nothing else in the franchise is watchable before this.

  2. 02

    TVD 4×20 “The Originals”

    the backdoor pilot

    Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah go to New Orleans and Hayley turns up pregnant. It sits inside season 4 in exactly the right place — do not skip ahead to it, and do not skip it.

  3. 03

    TVD Season 5 ∥ The Originals Season 1

    22 + 22 · interleaved, one or two at a time

    The Originals premiered on TVD’s own Thursday as a one-off preview, then moved to Tuesdays; the two ran the same weeks for three straight years and shared a night only in 2015–16. TVD gives you Silas, Qetsiyah, Amara and the Travelers; TO gives you Marcel, Davina, the Harvest and Hope’s birth. Tyler crosses over early in TO’s run; Klaus and Rebekah come back to Mystic Falls for TVD’s 100th episode.

    1. TVD5×01
    2. TO1×01, 1×02
    3. TVD5×02
    4. TO1×03
    5. TVD5×03
    6. TO1×04
    7. TVD5×04
    8. TO1×05
    9. TVD5×05
    10. TO1×06
    11. TVD5×06
    12. TO1×07
    13. TVD5×07, 5×08
    14. TO1×08, 1×09
    15. TVD5×09, 5×10
    16. TO1×10, 1×11
    17. TVD5×11
    18. TO1×12
    19. TVD5×12
    20. TO1×13
    21. TVD5×13
    22. TO1×14
    23. TVD5×14
    24. TO1×15
    25. TVD5×15
    26. TO1×16, 1×17
    27. TVD5×16, 5×17
    28. TO1×18
    29. TVD5×18
    30. TO1×19
    31. TVD5×19
    32. TO1×20
    33. TVD5×20
    34. TO1×21
    35. TVD5×21
    36. TO1×22
    37. TVD5×22
  4. 04

    TVD Season 6 ∥ The Originals Season 2

    22 + 22 · interleaved, one or two at a time

    Prison worlds and Kai on one side; Esther, Mikael, Finn and Dahlia on the other. TO 2×05 gives you Tatia, which retroactively explains a great deal of TVD’s first two seasons.

    1. TVD6×01
    2. TO2×01
    3. TVD6×02
    4. TO2×02
    5. TVD6×03
    6. TO2×03
    7. TVD6×04
    8. TO2×04
    9. TVD6×05
    10. TO2×05
    11. TVD6×06
    12. TO2×06
    13. TVD6×07
    14. TO2×07
    15. TVD6×08
    16. TO2×08
    17. TVD6×09
    18. TO2×09
    19. TVD6×10
    20. TO2×10
    21. TVD6×11
    22. TO2×11
    23. TVD6×12
    24. TO2×12
    25. TVD6×13
    26. TO2×13
    27. TVD6×14
    28. TO2×14
    29. TVD6×15
    30. TO2×15
    31. TVD6×16
    32. TO2×16
    33. TVD6×17
    34. TO2×17, 2×18
    35. TVD6×18
    36. TO2×19
    37. TVD6×19
    38. TO2×20
    39. TVD6×20
    40. TO2×21
    41. TVD6×21
    42. TO2×22
    43. TVD6×22
  5. 05

    TVD Season 7 ∥ The Originals Season 3

    22 + 22 · interleaved, one or two at a time

    The Heretics and Rayna Cruz against Lucien, Tristan and Aurora. This is where the two shows cross over most: Stefan flees to New Orleans mid-season, and the Mikaelsons come to Mystic Falls near the end.

    1. TVD7×01
    2. TO3×01
    3. TVD7×02
    4. TO3×02
    5. TVD7×03
    6. TO3×03
    7. TVD7×04
    8. TO3×04
    9. TVD7×05
    10. TO3×05
    11. TVD7×06
    12. TO3×06
    13. TVD7×07
    14. TO3×07
    15. TVD7×08
    16. TO3×08
    17. TVD7×09
    18. TO3×09
    19. TVD7×10
    20. TO3×10
    21. TVD7×11
    22. TO3×11
    23. TVD7×12
    24. TO3×12
    25. TVD7×13
    26. TO3×13
    27. TVD7×14
    28. TO3×14
    29. TVD7×15
    30. TO3×15
    31. TVD7×16
    32. TO3×16
    33. TVD7×17
    34. TO3×17
    35. TVD7×18
    36. TO3×18
    37. TVD7×19, 7×20
    38. TO3×19
    39. TVD7×21
    40. TO3×20
    41. TVD7×22
    42. TO3×21, 3×22
  6. 06

    The Vampire Diaries — Season 8

    16 episodes · finish it first

    TVD ended in March 2017; The Originals’ fourth season began that same month. Finish Mystic Falls before you go back to New Orleans — TVD’s ending is referenced afterwards, not before.

  7. 07

    The Originals — Season 4

    13 episodes

    The Hollow, and the seven-year separation. Alaric turns up in New Orleans mid-season carrying a problem, and Hope ends the season enrolling at a school in Virginia.

  8. 08

    The Originals — Season 5

    13 episodes · the ending

    Seven years later. Caroline appears repeatedly; the last two episodes hand the entire franchise to Hope. Watch this before a single frame of Legacies.

  9. 09

    Legacies — Seasons 1 to 4

    68 episodes · straight through

    The Salvatore School, the Saltzman twins, Malivore, the tribrid, and the closing of every loop opened around 100 BC. It assumes you have finished both other shows, and it is right to.

Crossovers

Episodes where the shows cross over, and what happens in each
EpisodeWhat happens
TVD 4×20“The Originals” — the backdoor pilot. Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah in New Orleans; Hayley’s pregnancy revealed.
TO 1×07–1×08Tyler Lockwood comes to New Orleans for revenge on Klaus and learns what the pregnancy means.
TVD 5×11“500 Years of Solitude” — TVD’s 100th episode. Klaus and Rebekah return to Mystic Falls for Katherine; the Klaus and Caroline scene the fandom never stopped discussing.
TO 2×05“Red Door” — Tatia appears, played by Nina Dobrev. The doppelgänger line snaps into focus.
TVD 7×14 + TO 3×14The two-hour crossover. Stefan runs to New Orleans to escape Rayna Cruz’s mark and lands in the middle of the Mikaelsons’ war.
TO 3×17Elijah and Finn go to Mystic Falls to get Freya back. Matt Donovan is not pleased to see them.
TO 4×08Alaric brings the Hollow’s bones to New Orleans and meets the family his students descend from.
TO 4×13Hope is enrolled at Alaric and Caroline’s school. The handover to Legacies starts here.
TO 5×01, 5×06–5×07Caroline and Klaus, at last, on his terms and hers.
TO 5×12–5×13The final two episodes. Klaus, Caroline, Alaric and the school. Read nothing about these first.
Legacies 1×01–1×06Matt Donovan, Jeremy Gilbert and a resurrected Jo Laughlin all appear inside the first six episodes.
Legacies 2×06Josie travels to New Orleans to ask Freya Mikaelson for a spell.
Legacies 2×12–2×13Kai Parker gets out of a prison world one last time, and Alaric ends it.
Legacies 4×03 & 4×05Freya, and then Rebekah, come to help Hope through her transition.
Legacies 4×08 onwardAurora de Martel — turned in the 11th century — becomes a season-long antagonist a thousand years later.
Legacies 4×20Caroline returns as interim headmistress, and Klaus’s recorded message to Hope closes the franchise.

Season by season

TVD S1 · 2009–10
Stefan and Damon come home. The tomb, Emily’s spell, the Founders’ Council, and the discovery that Elena has Katherine’s face.
TVD S2 · 2010–11
Werewolves, the moonstone, the sun-and-moon lie, and Klaus. The sacrifice kills Jenna, Jules and Elena.
TVD S3 · 2011–12
The Originals arrive in force. Mikael, Esther, the ripper years, the daggers, and the first white oak deaths.
TVD S4 · 2012–13
Elena turns. The Brotherhood of the Five, the hunter’s map, the island, and Silas. Ends with the backdoor pilot for The Originals.
TVD S5 · 2013–14
Silas, Qetsiyah, Amara, the Travelers, and the collapse of the Other Side.
TVD S6 · 2014–15
1994, Kai Parker, the Gemini coven, the Heretics, and Elena’s sleep spell — she stays under for as long as Bonnie lives.
TVD S7 · 2015–16
The Heretic war, the three-year time jump, Rayna Cruz and the Phoenix Stone.
TVD S8 · 2016–17
Cade, the sirens, Katherine’s return, hellfire, and the two brothers.
TO S1 · 2013–14
Klaus takes New Orleans back. Marcel, Davina, the Harvest, Papa Tunde, and Hope’s birth.
TO S2 · 2014–15
Esther and Mikael return; Finn possesses Vincent; Freya arrives; Dahlia comes to collect.
TO S3 · 2015–16
The prophecy. Lucien, Tristan and Aurora, the Strix, the serum, and the Beast.
TO S4 · 2017
The Hollow. Inadu, the Ancestors destroyed, and the family split four ways for seven years.
TO S5 · 2018
Seven years later. Hayley’s death, Hope’s inheritance, Caroline, and the end of Klaus and Elijah.
Legacies S1 · 2018–19
The school, Landon, the golden urn, and the first monsters out of Malivore.
Legacies S2 · 2019–20
Josie’s dark arc, the Merge closing in, and Kai Parker’s return.
Legacies S3 · 2021
Alyssa’s prison world, the Necromancer, and Hope’s road to the tribrid.
Legacies S4 · 2021–22
The tribrid, the gods, Aurora, the Merge made impossible, and Klaus’s recorded message.