You know how some people say they feel as though they've lived through hell? Well, in Damon's case, that sentiment could actually be taken quite literally. After getting himself trapped inside the confines of the Phoenix Stone, Damon awakes in his own personal hell on The Vampire Diaries . But it's not the vampire Damon Salvatore we've done to know. This is the Human Damon that was a soldier in the Civil War back in 1863. Now we know that the Phoenix Stone's purpose is to make the vampires inside relive their most terrible sins over and over again, driving them insane. So why was this particular time in his life so important? It probably had something to do with the fact that it was the first time Damon ever had blood on his hands.
After receiving a letter from Stefan, who was in desperate need of his brother, Damon asked to take two week's leave from his wartime duties to go and see him. The only problem was, the permission would only be granted if he went and retrieved two deserters at the farmhouse nearby, which resulted in a total bloodbath that Damon and his comrade decided to cover up. Sounds pretty terrible, right? Well, one of the Stone's main features is that you don't just get to relive that awful moment just once. He woke up and went through the entire scenario again and again and again. Personally, I like to think of it as TVD's supernatural version of Groundhog Day. And I wasn't the only one...
So in a very Damon-like way, he suppresses the actual guilt he should be feeling in that moment and just looks to find a loophole to get them all out of there alive. Since the moment we've met him, Damon does whatever he can to run away from feeling pain. But if he has any hope of getting out of the Phoenix Stone, he needs to do what he's never done before — submit to the suffering he's both caused and endured. Let's just hope that it happens sooner rather than later, though, because the longer you stay inside that Stone, the more it will change you and strip away your humanity...
Image: Annette Brown/The CW
