I tried to clarify what I meant about TPoL above - it's not that Stefan actually believes Elena can rid him of his addiction problems, it's that he thinks she can keep him from succumbing to temptation. She lets him subscribe to the doctrine of self-denial because she doesn't know any better, so he thinks that as long as he has her to allow him to think he's human, he can hold out against his darker urges. He completely relies on her to keep him on program, basically. He entangles everything he wants to be in Elena's love for him, effectively making it her responsibility. He wants to be what he's made her think he is. He knows, deep down, that it does't work like that, but he HOPES he can believe it does for as long as possible (and now that his construction has collapsed, he has no idea how to get back from his downward spiral. He can't bear to drag himself back to the man he wants to be, because he's never had to do it himself before, and he doesn't know who to rely on now. I vote Katherine, because that would be awesome - and it wouldn't really work, and that would be even more awesome.).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-12-03 06:22 pm (UTC)I tried to clarify what I meant about TPoL above - it's not that Stefan actually believes Elena can rid him of his addiction problems, it's that he thinks she can keep him from succumbing to temptation. She lets him subscribe to the doctrine of self-denial because she doesn't know any better, so he thinks that as long as he has her to allow him to think he's human, he can hold out against his darker urges. He completely relies on her to keep him on program, basically. He entangles everything he wants to be in Elena's love for him, effectively making it her responsibility. He wants to be what he's made her think he is. He knows, deep down, that it does't work like that, but he HOPES he can believe it does for as long as possible (and now that his construction has collapsed, he has no idea how to get back from his downward spiral. He can't bear to drag himself back to the man he wants to be, because he's never had to do it himself before, and he doesn't know who to rely on now. I vote Katherine, because that would be awesome - and it wouldn't really work, and that would be even more awesome.).