TheGirlWhoWaited

Silas was a witch who became the first immortal being in the world. According to Silas, he is responsible for creating and casting the first immortality spell on himself.

He is the most powerful vampire and immortal being, and overall one of the most powerful supernatural beings in the series universe (it is unclear whether he is more powerful than Qetsiyah).

Over 2,000 years ago, Silas was an extremely powerful Warlock who wanted to create a spell for immortality. He asked his best friend Qetsiyah, who was also a very powerful witch, to assist him in creating the spell. She agreed, expecting Silas to make her immortal as well, as she was in love with him and hoped they could be together forever. However, Silas intended to give the gift of immortality to another woman. Qetsiyah was enraged when she discovered Silas did not plan to spend eternity with her. Out of revenge, Qetsiyah murdered Silas’ lover, created a cure for immortality, and imprisoned him with the cure on a desolate island deep in an underground cave. She had hoped that Silas would take the cure, eventually die of from starvation or thirst, and be trapped on The Other Side, a purgatory for supernatural beings that she created in order to spend eternity with him after all. Silas knew this was her intention and chose to desiccate instead. For two millennia, Silas had laid buried, awaiting the day when someone would wake him.

Stefan and Silas have rarely interacted with one another, however in the Season 4 finale it is revealed that Stefan is in fact a doppelganger of Silas, a line created so that there would be a mortal ‘Silas’ that could die in the place of Silas, who was a true immortal. Silas seems to show a similar animosity to Stefan that Katherine does to Elena; both of their ‘shadow selves’ leading far better lives than them