What Episode Do Damon And Elena Kiss For The First Time? & 19 Other Important Delena Episodes

Damon and Elena have the most epic romance in The Vampire Diaries, and it is fun to revisit when Damon and Elena first get together and fall in love in the fantasy series. Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) were drawn together throughout the series, and the high school student soon found herself in a love triangle with both Damon and his brother Stefan (Paul Wesley). Ultimately, Damon won Elena’s heart and emerged from the series finale as her eternal suitor. Elena’s romance with Damon was the focal point of many significant episodes in the series.

This started with their first kiss but included other significant moments. Considering the epic nature of Elena’s relationship with Damon, it is next to impossible to narrow down all of their iconic and important moments. The first kiss is only part of their long-term storyline on the popular vampire TV series. While their first kiss and official relationship milestones are significant, their romance had to start somewhere and some of their best episodes played a crucial part in their falling in love over the years, and their eventual happy ending when the show finally concluded.

20 Damon & Elena’s First Official Meeting

“Night Of The Comet” (Season 1, Episode 2)

While it wasn’t technically the first time that they encountered each other, the meeting between Damon and Elena in the first season episode “Night of the Comet” was the first time that she remembered meeting him. They met earlier in their lives, but Damon had wiped it from her mind. In this episode, Elena had already met Stefan and started to fall in love with him. That is when she first saw his bad boy brother Damon, and they did not get along at first in any way.

She had a bad first impression of him, and while that is often the setup for a “good girl/bad boy” relationship to start, this episode looked like they would never end up compatible with each other.

While Damon knew that he liked Elena, he was more obsessed at this point with getting Katherine out of the tomb she was entrapped in. This meant that he had no time or interest in her at that point, and he honestly treated her poorly. She had a bad first impression of him, and while that is often the setup for a “good girl/bad boy” relationship to start, this episode looked like they would never end up compatible with each other. However, as the first time they met, it was an important moment in their relationship.

19 Damon & Elena’s First Trip Together

“Bloodlines” (Season 1, Episode 11)

Throughout the first half of season 1, Damon was certainly the villain of the series. It wasn’t until “Bloodlines” that viewers really got to see a different side of Damon. After rescuing Elena from a car crash, Damon took her to Georgia to help her get her mind off of the accident and the fact that she looks like Katherine. While out there, Damon held Elena’s vervain necklace and promised not to compel her if she went with him.

This was the first true sign of there being trust between the two. Elena believed Damon, despite his prior actions, and he held up his end of the bargain, giving them their first bonding moment. As a result, this was the first time that Elena actually started to see Damon’s real personality, and it started her strong feelings for him. As a result, this was also the start of the love triangle that dominated early in the series.

18 Their First Dance

“Miss Mystic Falls” (Season 1, Episode 19)

The chemistry between Elena and Damon became undeniable to viewers in season 1’s “Miss Mystic Falls.” Stefan stood Elena up at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant after becoming consumed by bloodlust, but Damon saved the day by taking his brother’s place and accompanying Elena as her escort. Damon and Elena’s first dance together was one of the couple’s most significant moments.

Neither participant could take their eyes off each other, evidencing their passionate connection. As soon as the scene was over, many fans knew this was the couple they shipped. This had several firsts for the couple in the series. It was Damon’s first real romantic gesture to Elena, the first display of their chemistry, and the first time that she really started to find Damon attractive. This wasn’t their last dance on The Vampire Diaries, but it was a huge fan favorite moment for the couple.

17 Damon Compels Elena

“Rose” (Season 2, Episode 8)

Season 2’s “Rose” was important for Delena as, after seeking her out to return her vervain necklace, Damon admitted to being in love with his brother’s girlfriend. He then erased all traces of his confession from her memory. Damon’s declaration of love was immediately followed by one of his first selfless acts in the series. The vampire recognized Elena’s good heart and conceded that his brother was more deserving of her love, so he couldn’t be selfish with her.

This episode had Stefan and Damon admit that they knew Damon liked her, but they put all their own squabbles aside to promise to work together to keep her sage and protect her. Their love for her was more important than their own desires. His action in “Rose” marked one of the most selfless moments Damon did early in the series and really set the table for their future together in the series. This was the moment where Damon began to really grow as a person.

16 Damon And Elena’s First Kiss

“As I Lay Dying” (Season 2, Episode 22)

Damon initially arrived in Mystic Falls as Stefan’s older, darker brother. Throughout season 1, the villainous vampire formed a reluctant friendship with Elena, which led to the elder Salvatore falling in love with his brother’s girlfriend. When do Damon and Elena kiss? Elena tentatively kissed Damon for the first time while the vampire was dying from a werewolf bite. He was so far gone at this time that he couldn’t tell the difference between Elena and Katherine.

The pair didn’t lock lips again until season 3’s “The New Deal,” when Damon shamelessly admitted his feelings for Elena once more. This was more about admitting their bond and possibly saying goodbye. While Damon didn’t die, this was a moment where the two realized there was something bigger between them. Elena was offering a final kiss before he died, but she started to doubt her love for Stefan after this and it was a moment that eventually led to her choosing Damon in the end.

15 Damon And Elena Build Trust

“The Birthday” (Season 3, Episode 1)

Stefan’s choice to go with Klaus to save his brother left Elena alone with Damon for months. While she didn’t give up on Stefan or start anything with Damon during that time, it was pivotal to their relationship and future. When the third season started, Damon and Elena had spent the summer looking for Stefan, and these moments allowed them to get to know each other even more. This was important in the future, as their relationship strengthened, even as they sought to save Stefan.

Damon gave her back her cherished vervain necklace and was by her side at every turn throught the harrowing ordeal.

“The Birthday” showed them spending time together and building trust. Damon gave her back her cherished vervain necklace and was by her side at every turn through the harrowing ordeal. Without these few months, their relationship may have never come together. They didn’t get together at this time, but the sexual tension was there between them, and it made fans want to see them move to the next step. A few seasons later, Elena even admitted this was when she started to fall in love with Damon.

14 Damon & Elena Share A Bed For The First Time

“Ordinary People” (Season 3, Episode 8)

While it wasn’t time yet for Damon and Elena to consummate their relationship, she was mostly heartbroken from how Stefan had started to change. Stefan told Elena he didn’t love her anymore in the third episode of the season, and that led to a few episodes with her feeling hurt, but also playfully flirting with Damon. By the time that the eighth episode, “Ordinary People,” rolled around, it was time for the two to see if they really wanted to be together or if they were better off as friends.

The moment that ended this episode showed how conflicted everyone was from this love triangle. Elena comes home and finds Damon waiting for her in bed. She is angry that he left Stefan out to feed on people again, but she had a plan to try to help save Stefan. The two were still talking about saving Stefan as their feelings for each other kept strengthening as well. They don’t do anything in bed together, but the moment where Elena curled up next to Damon and fell asleep while he watched was powerful.

13 Damon Makes His Move For Elena

“The New Deal” (Season 3, Episode 10)

Damon spent a lot of time in the first three seasons fighting his own blood lust and feelings about Elena. He was always seen as the bad boy and the villain around even those close to him. However, everything he did was out of love for his brother, his feelings for Elena, and doing what he had to do to protect them both. These feelings led to this season 3 moment where Damon decided to act selfishly and try to finally get what he knew would make him happy.

When Damon realized that his brother Stefan was not going to kill Klaus, and he ends up saving Damon, he makes his move to try to win over Elena for himself. It wasn’t a moment he could be proud of, and he even admitted that he felt guilty about it later. However, this was a moment where he kissed Elena and let her know that he loved her, making her almost have to decide between the brothers. This was about the time their relationship finally kicked into motion.

12 Damon & Elena’s Motel Make-Out

“Heart Of Darkness” (Season 3, Episode 19)

Elena continued to dance around her feelings for Damon in season 3. During their road trip to Denver in “Heart Of Darkness,” the doppelgänger finally gave in to passion and shared an intense make-out session with the elder Salvatore on a motel balcony. Damon and Elena’s chemistry continued to intensify as they searched for the originator of the Salvatore bloodline.

Their steamy lip-lock was an inevitability, though the road to their happily ever after remained rocky. It was important that Elena made the move and not the other way around, but this was a moment where Damon began to question his role as a bad boy in the series. It is important to also note that they were still not a couple by the end of this episode, and they left and returned home with mixed and confused feelings about each other. This was a huge moment, but it was only a step closer to their true fate.

11 Elena Met Damon First

“The Departed” (Season 3, Episode 22)

Elena broke the hearts of Delena fans everywhere during the epic season 3 finale when she finally made her choice between the Salvatore brothers. Stranded between them, Elena decided to return to Stefan, telling Damon that things might have worked out differently if they had met first. Unbeknownst to Elena and the viewers until then, she did actually encounter the elder Salvatore first. This was the flashback episode that changed everything people knew about Damon.

The flashback reveals Damon and Elena’s first meeting happened before Stefan’s arrival in town, another moment that Damon compelled her to forget. This was a huge episode because this was a turning point when fans learned Damon met Elena long before she knew it. She met Damon at the pivotal moment in her life on the night when her parents died. Damon thought she was Katherine and he told her he loved her, but he then wiped her memories of the encounter.

10 Damon Provides Elena With Vampire Training

“The Five” (Season 4, Episode 4)

Elena turning into a vampire changed everything about the series, especially her relationships with the Salvatore brothers. Whatever Stefan seemed to suggest to her went poorly, but Damon managed to have all the right answers for the woman who didn’t want this to be her fate. She didn’t want to feed on human blood, but she needed it to survive in this new state. Damon took her out to a party in “The Five” and got her to indulge in some major vampire vices.

She fed on a human, and it was a moment where Damon and Elena seemed totally connected. It had to do a bit with the sire bond between them, but it was still big for them. Damon knew he could help her, and this was the first time that she really realized that he was the person who could take care of her, even more than Stefan. He showed his love by teaching her how to feed without killing anyone. Season 4 saw Damon and Elena’s relationship truly strengthened.

9 Damon And Elena Sleep Together For The First Time

“My Brother’s Keeper” (Season 4, Episode 7)

Her relationship with Damon changed when Elena became a vampire in season 4. She had drifted apart from Stefan as her feelings for Damon grew stronger, and during “My Brother’s Keeper,” the couple gave in to passion at last and slept together for the first time. Elena had moved into the Savadore House at around the same time that Jeremy started his vampire hunting activities.

Stefan offered to give Elena space and this led to the moment where she finally gave herself to her feelings for Damon.

This moment was highly anticipated by Delena fans. However, Elena’s new relationship was promptly put to the test when the Mystic Falls gang discovered she was sired to the elder Salvatore. This was where everything changed and the Damon-Elena pairing became real, finally putting Stefan in the rearview mirror as far as the love story was concerned. This was the most important moment because it showed Elena and Damon stop repressing their feelings and show their love.

8 Elena Chooses Damon

“Graduation” (Season 4, Episode 23)

Multiple obstacles tried to tear Damon and Elena apart during season 4.The revelation of the sire bond cast doubt on the validity of Elena’s feelings, while the death of her brother Jeremy caused a downward spiral that saw the new vampire temporarily turn off her humanity. The “sure” made Elena unsure if her feelings were really love or if she was only compelled to love him. The death of her brother drove her further, as she partially blamed Damon for that as well. This caused tension.​​​​​​​

Damon expected Elena to return to Stefan but to the delight of Delena shippers, she insisted her love for Damon was real and reconciled with him in the same episode featuring her high school graduation. It was a perfect contrast to the season 3 finale where Elena chose Stefan over Damon. They finally made their relationship official, and it was their ultimate moment together. This was what fans had been waiting for, and Elena made the right choice, although it sadly wouldn’t last.

7 Damon & Elena Truly In Love

“I Know What You Did Last Summer” (Season 5, Episode 1)

This was a special Elena and Damon episode of The Vampire Diaries. A lot of their romance specific episodes showed them bickering, having things tearing them apart, and driving a wedge into their love story. This episode followed the season 4 finale, where Elena finally chose Damon over Stefan. As the season 5 premiere, it showed nothing bad happened over the break and the couple was truly in love. This showed them in a rare spot — happy and blissful and almost no worries.

Of course, this wouldn’t last, but it gave fans a hint of what things could look like when and if Damon and Elena ever found true love had happiness, which didn’t happen for a while longer, although this was a nice moment for them. The problems would soon start again when Elena left for college, and she learned the dark truth that Bonnie was dead. However, for at least the first half of this episode, Damon and Elena got to share at least small moments of happiness.

6 Damon & Elena Have A Peaceful Moment

“Original Sin” (Season 5, Episode 3)

Damon and Elena had plenty of fights throughout their relationship. However, they also had passionate moments and they were always going to protect each other when the need arose. With all that drama in mind, what made “Original Sin” such a great Damon and Elena moment was that it was a time of quiet for them. While the first episode showed them truly in love and enjoying their relationship. This episode gave the two a break from all the drama and action and showed what it would look like if they had a quiet romance.

With this small breack from the action, viewers got something just as good.

For too much of The Vampire Diaries, Elena, Damon, and their friends fought to save their town, their lives, and the world. They had love triangles, betrayed each other, and sometimes even died. That is what made the series so exciting for fans to follow week after week. However, with this small break from the action, viewers got something just as good. it was a sweet romance between Damon and Elena, and the break to show them in love was a nice one before the danger started back up again.

5 Til Death Do Us Part

“Home” (Season 5, Episode 22)

Delena spent a season together before being ripped apart again in the season 5 finale, “Home.” The vampires sacrificed themselves to stop the Travelers, but only one of them returned from death after the Other Side was destroyed. Damon and Elena shared a Bonnie and Clyde moment as the elder Salvatore drove their car into the Mystic Grill. Damon professed his love for Elena in a heartbreaking Vampire Diaries scene from the ghostly realm of the Other Side.

This was where Elena thought she had lost Damon for good, but he wasn’t gone for long and returned, though it wouldn’t be the same for their love story when he came back. Damon sacrificed himself, and he did everything he could to get back to Elena. On the other hand, Elena gave up and wanted to forget her pain, which almost ruined their eventual reunion. Seeing the sacrifice and how Elena reacted to it was heartbreaking and showed the strength of their love story.

4 Elena Tries To Remember Damon

“Do You Remember The First Time?” (Season 6, Episode 7)

The pain of losing Damon proved too much for Elena to bear during season 6. The distraught doppelgänger asked Alaric to remove her memories of Damon — only for the elder Salvatore to return to the land of the living after escaping from Kai’s 1994 prison world. Damon tried to trigger Elena’s recollection of their relationship during “Do You Remember The First Time?” which included another moment of her remembering when she kissed Damon in the rain.

Sadly, the spell was too strong and Elena only remembered Damon as being an evil person, and it took a while for her to trust him and eventually remember everything from their past love story. This was heartbreaking for fans of the couple. Damon wanted nothing more than to reconnect with his beloved Elena, and after this episode, she hated him more than she ever did before. Thankfully, things would work out for the better in the end.

3 Damon Decides To Take The Cure With Elena

“I’d Leave My Happy Home For You” (Season 6, Episode 20)

Elena and Damon took their relationship to the next level in season 6’s “I’d Leave My Happy Home For You.” The doppelgänger expressed her desire to be human again and forced Damon to confront the reality of their life together if he took the cure with her. Damon decided that he loved life as a vampire but loved Elena more. Elena took the cure, but the pair were interrupted by Lily Salvatore before Damon could do the same.

There was then the moment where a curse was revealed, and Damon had to face his greatest fear.

Everything went wrong at Alaric and Jo’s wedding when someone stabbed Jo when she was saying her vows. Kai attacks the entire hall and Elena falls. There was then the moment where a curse was revealed, and Damon had to face his greatest fear. Damon and Elena continued to fight against the odds to be together throughout the rest of the series, though they thankfully reconciled for their happily ever after in the series finale.

2 The Last Dance

“I’m Thinking Of You All The While” (Season 6, Episode 22)

Kai proved to be a truly problematic villain as he made his most vicious move when he cursed Elena. His spell made it so that she had to remain in a deep sleep as long as Bonnie lived. Elena accepted this, especially since she would do anything for Bonnie. Of course, Damon wasn’t pleased about this as he’d have to give up being with Elena for decades most likely.

Alas, the two shared a sweet goodbye in this episode, dancing together like the old Miss Mystic Falls days and doing so on the road where they met for the first time. It was one of the show’s most heartbreaking moments, as Elena tells Damon she loves him and then she moves on to the other side. Damon and Stefan place Elena in a coffin and put it in a crypt where her body will remain protected until they can find a way to return her. It was a sad moment, and it looked like it would last forever, with Nina Dobrev leaving Vampire Diaries for other roles.

1 Together For Eternity

“I Was Feeling Epic” (Season 8, Episode 16)

The series finale gave fans everywhere what they had wanted since the end of season 6. Elena was back and could reunite with Damon. While that moment in itself was great and long-awaited, what truly cemented this for the couple was that it showed how their life ultimately went.

Elena and Damon eventually got married and had a long, happy life together.

After they both eventually died, the series showed them together in the afterlife, meeting up with their friends and clearly spending eternity together. There was also a shot of a wedding ring on his finger, and Damon gave up his life as a vampire to be with his love on Vampire Diaries. This was the perfect final moment for Damon and Elena, as they got the happily ever after that everyone wanted, but no one expected would happen in the supernatural romance series.

A Legacies Episode Is Important For Delena Too

Things didn’t end for Damon and Elena when The Vampire Diaries ended. While neither Nina Dobrev nor Ian Somerhalder returned for the spinoffs, their characters were still part of the world of those shoes. While not showing up in person, they did get referenced in Legacies in a fun moment. The show referenced not only them but also their children. This was huge news since it meant that Damon and Elena didn’t just live happily ever after, which was shown in the main show’s timeline, but they had a family.

First up, in The Originals season 5 episode, “The Tale of Two Wolves,” a window shows the sign “Elena Salvatore, M.D.,” meaning she followed in her dad’s footsteps and became a doctor. However, their real legacy came on Legacies. In the first season episode, “There’s a World Where Your Dreams Come True,” Lizzie meets a Jinni and gets wishes granted. In one alternate dimension, Josie tells Lizzie, “Damon Salvatore has been as generous as he can be, but he and Elena have kids of their own that they need to take care of.”

In that same episode, Lizzie made a second wish that the Salvatore School never existed. The Jinni granted her wish again, and she ended up attending Mystic Falls High School with Josie. Stefanie Salvatore – Damon and Elena’s daughter – also attends the school. This means in both alternate dimensions, Damon and Elena have at least one kid, if not more. This means that after their fairy tale ending in The Vampire Diaries, the two had more adventures as a couple.