Will Damon Kill Liam?

The Vampire Diaries Burning Question: Will Damon Kill Liam?

If you’ve seen the promo for Thursday’s episode of The Vampire Diaries, then you know that Damon will be meeting Elena’s new boyfriend, confident pre-med student Liam. Yep, we’re totally fearing for Liam’s life. Will Damon kill Elena’s boyfriend? We speculate below.

Yes, he’s killed people for far less. Murdering is for Damon what giving the squinty-eye is for other people. Reasons he might murder someone:

• He doesn’t like your face.
• He’s having a bad day.
• Stefan is late for their brother lunch date, and he’s bored.
• You’re dating the love of his life.

That’s right. Liam’s reason-to-be-murdered isn’t even first on that list. Damon has killed people he’s liked far more for far less and, in the promo, Liam is getting all alpha-male-challenge-y on Damon. It’s almost too predictable.

No, but only because he knows Elena would be pissed. Of course, Damon tends to be better at not-murdering when he’s trying to get on Elena’s good side, and that seems to be the mode of operation he’s currently stuck in. Right now, Elena only remembers the terrible things Damon has done in the past — namely, murdering her brother. It would be in Damon’s best interest to not murder anyone else, perchance it reminds Elena of the many reasons Damon is not boyfriend material.

No, he’s changed from his time in purgatory. Our favorite eventuality, however, comes in Damon not murdering Liam for reasons other than not wanting to piss Elena off. Last season, we were more than a little miffed to discover that Damon had been serial-killing Whitmores over the course of TVD. So much for not-murdering character development! We’d love to see Damon’s choice for not killing Liam stem from the experience he went through while trapped in 90s prison with Bonnie and Kai. Perhaps Bonnie has rubbed off on him, especially the fact that she seemingly sacrificed her own freedom to give Damon a chance to return to his loved ones and make a positive difference. Or perhaps Kai’s callous recounting of killing his own siblings gave Damon an example of the kind of supernatural toolbag he doesn’t want to turn into.

Catch the next episode of The Vampire Diaries on Tuesday, November 13 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.