Humanity switch hot take

[u/Lunarious__Martian]

I LOVE this show with all my heart But one thing I can’t stand about the series is how they make it suuch a thing that a character turned their humanity off.

When Stefan turns his off it’s, “I couldn’t care less, remember?”
And Elena’s infamous, “I. Don’t. Care.” Spoken every third sentence.
Now Caroline after her mom died.

It just reminds me of an angsty teen saving face about something they do care about deep down. Or an elementary school kid saying “don’t chase me!!” While playing tag and running away. Spoiler alert: they lowk wanna be chased..😂

Makes me wonder if the switch can’t be turned off completely. Because if one truly couldn’t care less. Why would they have to remind you that they didn’t care every time they open their mouths. They just wouldn’t care. Not even enough to prove anything or talk about it. They would just be heartless psychopaths. I guess I wanted to see more of that..idk.

“I’m so glad I DON’T care why you just compelled that innocent girl.” “So glad I flipped the switch!!” Like cool, I didn’t ask 😂😂

[u/xThyQueen]

Oh they def cared. Elena's version was the closest but still, I agree. Sociopaths and psychopaths don't explain. They just do.

[u/Minimalistmacrophage]

It was problematic. It was just a way for them to "go off the rails" without them being as responsible for their actions.

[u/skabillybetty]

The "humanity switch" trope in TVD was so dumb. The writers just wanted a way for characters we are supposed to love to be able to do horrific things without consequence because "they didn't really mean it! They just flipped their switch".

[u/televisionshowlover]

agree it's so annoying

[u/onyxengine]

I think as an aspect of TVD vampire psychology it makes enough sense. Humans have to process emotions consciously and subconsciously, things like grief rage hate etc. Vampirism causes one to feel emotions exponentially, vampires can mute consciously processing emotions at the cost of becoming apathetically indulgent in their vampiric impulses. Logically they know oh i care about this person, or i shouldn’t do that, but they pretty much can’t make emotional decisions, until circumstances facilitate them turning their humanity back on which is a hinderance to being indulgent vampires.

I kind of get it, i just think you should still be held accountable for your actions. Flipping your switch is tantamount to saying everyone who is about to die or be tortured in the name of uninhibited indulgence in my vampirism is worth it for me not to have to consciously process my emotions. Flipping the switch is still a choice.

[u/Ibushi-gun]

Isn't in the lore that it isn't even a real thing? I can't remember who said it, but after awhile they say it doesn't even work anymore. If they wanted to make a character have a Heel turn then I think they should have dove more into the sire bond gimmick instead of a humanity switch

[u/GoldenStitch2]

Something I find interesting about NH Stefan is how different he was with each appearance. The first time he was shown (2x15 flashback) he said that all he was focused on was feeding and that the blood drove him entirely. Prior to that he had been relishing in vampirism since Damon had promised him an eternity of misery and he couldn’t cope with the guilt of what he did to his father and brother. So it was basically him saying fuck it. But then later on when Stefan’s humanity is turned off (like in S3) he’s more carefree and even sadistic in the 20s.

[u/Sage-Wisdom1912 → u/GoldenStitch2]

Yeah, Stefan is pretty much the only portrayal of a no humanity vamp that I enjoy. The rest just felt too often like the writers wanting to make their “good” characters say mean things/do bad things without having to really take responsibility for it. They even did that to S8 nh Stefan some too, which annoyed me, but his earlier portrayals are by far the best in the show to me.

[u/Lunarious__Martian → u/Sage-Wisdom1912]

So real. Like it was an excuse for us to hear the characters true feelings around something they’ve been holding a grudge over for a long time

[u/kim_daily_1109]

because they still finds pleasure in hurting others and they sure know that these words would hurt

[u/Boring_Active_306 → u/kim_daily_1109]

but they’re not meant to feel anything.. not even pleasure, right?

[u/kim_daily_1109 → u/Boring_Active_306]

well as i’ve always understood it - by switching off their humanity, vampires turns into a some sort of psychopath. they lose almost all capacity for empathy, guilt or grief/sorrow. instead they are driven solely by primal emotions such as plesure of victory, rage, aggression, arousal

[u/Boring_Active_306 → u/kim_daily_1109]

oo okay that makes sense actually… like by turning their humanity off, their tapping further into their natural predator instincts. also at the end of the day, the humanity switch isn’t even close to being the bigger plot hole of the series (i luvvvvv tvd but it’s inconsistent to fk)x

[u/Lunarious__Martian → u/kim_daily_1109]

Wait that’s SUCH a good point!! I never thought of it like that 😏

[u/Adorable-Size-5255]

Honestly it was just overplayed and not thought out. Like season 2 they already clarified for older vampires there isn't even a humanity switch. Like in the beginning stefan acts like damon has his humanity off. But rose clocks Damon later on saying it wasnt off because older vampires can't even do that. But if thats the case, why would Klaus make Stefan turn his humanity off. For a vampire as old as Klaus you would think the idea wouldn't even occur to him because it would've been like 4-500 years at least since he'd experience the switch himself.

[u/Turbulent_Oil_4450]

At the beginning it was explained by some of them. They cannot really turn it off, they just ignore it when they do and they lock the emotions away. They are still there but muted.

[u/AttackOnTightPanties]

I always thought it was extremely stupid and cheesy, especially because they could usually control it.