Court is back in session! Sandile and Fadzai narrowly avoid contempt in this, the second part of the trial of Damon Salvatore.

One of the lead characters of The Vampire Diaries, Damon starts off as a villainous vampire in the show's first season; his propensity for murder and violence, his animosity for his brother, Stefan Salvatore, and his desire to free his old love (Katherine Pierce, a notorious 500-year-old vampire) from a magically-sealed tomb, makes him an opponent of the main characters that are aware of the supernatural - and a danger to those that aren't. However, due to greater threats making themselves known, and his growing attraction to Elena Gilbert, he progressively allies himself with the Mystic Falls Gang, eventually becoming a protagonist by association.

Over the course of the series, Damon seems to tend towards begrudging antihero, though the character never seems to land in this respect, given his constant return to periods of callousness and wanton violence - sometimes to an excess that doesn't make much sense in the context of the story. Despite this, Stefan and Elena's commitment to finding the humanity in him keeps him in the group for better or worse, and he remains a fan-favourite character long after the show's conclusion.

(This episode focuses on Damon in seasons 3B, 4, 5, and 6A.)

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of sexism, homophobia, sexual assault, physical and mental abuse, murder, graphic violence, and torture.

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Sandile and Fadzai swear in the jury and bang the gavel, for the trial of Damon Salvatore.

One of the lead characters of The Vampire Diaries, Damon starts off as a villainous vampire in the show's first season; his propensity for murder and violence, his animosity for his brother, Stefan Salvatore, and his desire to free his old love (Katherine Pierce, a notorious 500-year-old vampire) from a magically-sealed tomb, makes him an opponent of the main characters that are aware of the supernatural - and a danger to those that aren't. However, due to greater threats making themselves known, and his growing attraction to Elena Gilbert, he progressively allies himself with the Mystic Falls Gang, eventually becoming a protagonist by association.

Over the course of the series, Damon seems to tend towards begrudging antihero, though the character never seems to land in this respect, given his constant return to periods of callousness and wanton violence - sometimes to an excess that doesn't make much sense in the context of the story. Despite this, Stefan and Elena's commitment to finding the humanity in him keeps him in the group for better or worse, and he remains a fan-favourite character long after the show's conclusion.

(This episode focuses on Damon in seasons 1, 2, and 3A.)

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of sexism, homophobia, sexual assault, physical and mental abuse, murder, graphic violence, and torture.

Audio Note: There is an echo quality to the early section of Sandile's audio; this issue resolves at around 00:40:00.

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Fadzai and Sandile sing a sultry song with the "siren" sisters, Sybil and Seline.

Introduced in the eighth and final season of The Vampire Diaries, Sybil and Seline were born psychics in an Ancient Greek village, where such a power was punishable by exile. Trapped together on a barren island as young girls, the older Seline orchestrated a plan to psychically lure passing ship to crash on their shores, and make meals of the drowned crews - presenting them as recovered provisions from on board. When Sybil discovered the horrible truth, she hurled herself to her death from a cliff; it was then that she and her sister were visited by Arcadius (a psychic in life, and in death, a Devil-esque figure) whom Seline made a deal with for immortality and power in exchange for their service.

In present day, Sybil has escaped a vault in the Armory - a supernatural repository that was run by the St. John Family - and has brought Damon Salvatore and Enzo St. John under her spell. While her early antics seem centred around feeding on hapless strangers and causing chaos amongst the Mystic Falls gang, she later divulges that she is sending souls to Arcadius in his psychic dimension, where the people he considers evil burn for all eternity. Sybil is hell-bent on having her lackeys assist her in this respect, but little does she know, her sister Seline is already embedded in Mystic Falls with plans of her own.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of child endangerment, defeated mental state, mild gore, mental torture, suicide... and cannibalism. Like, a concerning amount of it.

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The first of the Killer Bites! This series of episodes is for the more minor characters in The Vampire Diaries, but who shined as brightly as they did briefly - or weren't allowed to shine enough.

In the first instalment of the series, Sandile and Fadzai give a voice to Beau, one of the Heretics from the show's seventh season, who is arguably under-served relative to the rest of his found family.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of racism and ableism.

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Sandile and Fadzai turn off their maternity switch with the mother of the Salvatore brothers, Lillian "Lily" Salvatore.

Virtually never referenced in the first half of The Vampire Diaries, Lily is thereafter mentioned once or twice to have died of "consumption" (tuberculosis) in the late 1850s. In the sixth season, however, Bonnie Bennett encounters her by chance in the Gemini coven's 1903 prison world; when Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert return with Bonnie to rescue her, it appears she is a vampire - a ripper like her younger son, Stefan - and could not return to them when they were children, for fear of harming them.

Once back in the real world, though, Lily makes clear that she's no longer the mother they knew, and isn't keen on rebuilding their relationship. More importantly, her focus is on rescuing her new family of Heretics - the witch/vampire hybrids who helped her settle into her new vampire life, and were trapped with her in the prison world - who the Mystic Falls gang are not intent on letting out. This scores a divide between Lily and the Salvatore brothers and, once reunited with her Heretic family, cements them as the antagonists for the seventh season.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of physical and mental abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and endangerment, familial abandonment, and suicide.

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In the second instalment of the Gilbert Journals, your hosts ask the spirits for knowledge on the oldest supernatural beings in The Vampire Diaries world: Witches. Practitioners of magic and stewards of nature, witches are often a force to be reckoned with, and Sandile and Fadzai will teach you how to maintain the balance - so you don't incur their wrath.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of sexism, racism, anti-Romani sentiment, antisemitism, and implicit bias in the writing of people of colour.

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Fadzai and Sandile merge minds over the sinister siphon and Gemini witch, Malachi "Kai" Parker.

The main antagonist for season 6 of The Vampire Diaries, Kai is encountered by Bonnie Bennett and Damon Salvatore after the collapse of the Other Side, when they are shunted into a snapshot of their reality from 1994. He reveals that he massacred most of his family upon learning he was being replaced as the next leader of the Gemini coven, and was confined to this "prison world" by the coven as a result; he then terorrises Bonnie into aiding his escape into the real world, leaving her trapped and alone.

With newfound freedom, Kai makes his way to Mystic Falls in pursuit of the remainder of his family: his twin, Jo, with whom he was to magically merge and become the next leader of the Gemini coven; and his younger siblings, twins Liv and Luke, who their parents birthed to take their elder siblings' place after discovering Kai was a siphon. Seemingly, he's come to make good on his promise to finish what he started, but as the season progresses it becomes clear that Kai is blazing a path to the coven leadership he was denied those 18 years ago.

Content Note: This episode contains discussion of Antisocial Personality Disorder, as the character is textually described as a "sociopath". The IWAA hosts are not medical professionals, and therefore not reliable sources of information on the subject; please seek reputable and peer-reviewed sources if you wish to learn more about ASPD.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of ableism, torture, massacre, defeated mental state, and attempted suicide.

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Sandile and Fadzai load their crossbows with Hunter apparent and occasional Medium, Jeremy Gilbert.

A main character for most of The Vampire Diaries, he begins as the moody younger brother of the lead, Elena, sinking in substance abuse as he struggles with the untimely loss of their parents. When his girlfriend-turned-vampire Vicki is killed before his eyes after attempting to feed on him, he is thrust into the supernatural core of the plot, including the history of the Gilberts as one of the founding families of Mystic Falls.

Subsequent seasons find Jeremy in various states - assisting resident witch, Bonnie, with her magic for the group; making contact with sprits after his third (and first permanent) death; and being chosen as one of The Five, an ancient group of supernatural vampire hunters - but after enough periods of narrative lull, the character is written out in the sixth season. Regardless, Jeremy maintains a mark in history as an integral part of the series.

Content Warning: A technical suicide attempt is discussed at 00:36:23 - 00:40:00, and occasionally referenced in the rest of the episode.

Audio Note: There is some intermittent background noise at 00:54:50 - 00:56:00 and one or two other points in the episode; the conversation is audible above the sound.

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Fadzai and Sandile breathe life into a Greek tragedy with the first immortal, and originator of the Salvatore doppleganger line, Silas.

Once a witch in Ancient Greece, he made Qetsiyah (the only witch more powerful than him amongst the Travelers) fall in love with him, and help him develop the spell for immortality. After he abandoned her at the wedding altar, she discovered that the spell was actually for him and his true love - her trusted handmaiden, Amara. Furious, Qetsiyah killed Amara and imprisioned Silas with magic, burying him with the cure so that he would take it and die alone.

In the fourth season of The Vampire Diaries, The Mystic Falls gang, along with unlikely allies and necessary enemies, are roped into a rat race to find this cure for the vampires of the bunch. This turns out to be a plan of escape by Silas; through a series of psychic terrors and false promises - and the aid of an impressionable Bonnie Bennett - he seeks to bring down the veil separating the Other Side from the living, and die to be reunited with his true love.

Content Warning: Due to the subject matter of this character's storyline, themes and acts of suicide, suicidal ideation, self-harm, and defeated mental state are discussed throughout the episode. Though the nature of these in the text is mostly fabricated by fictional forces, do take it into consideration if such themes are potentially harmful or triggering for you. The following sections have the most detailed discussion:

00:25:47 - 00:27:31

00:32:29 - 00:38:51

01:58:27 - 01:59:18

02:16:53 - 02:17:13

02:55:24 - 02:56:19

In addition, a Greek myth is discussed that contains sexual assault in this section:

02:06:53 - 02:09:46

Audio Note: There is some intermittent background interference at 02:34:39 - 02:34:39; the conversation is audible above the sound.

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Introducing the Gilbert Journals! A series of episodes that chronicles the supernatural (and mundane) lore of The Vampire Diaries world, much like the oft referenced Jonathan Gilbert himself.

In the first instalment of the series, your hosts bring you all there is to know about the titular supernatural creatures: Vampires. Whether young or old, part or full, Original or otherwise, Fadzai and Sandile will teach you everything about what makes vampires tick - and how to take them down.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

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Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

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