Sarah Nelson

Sarah Nelson (born Sarah Salvatore) is the daughter of Zach Salvatore and Gail. Her birth was kept a secret by Stefan, who made sure that she was adopted by a good family. She studies as an art major at Duke University, and once met Monique at summer camp.

Sarah is a member of the Salvatore Family.

Early Life
She was born prematurely as her mother was dead on arrival at the Hospital. Dr. Grayson Gilbert delivered her via C-section and was kept in an incubator for the first 3 months of her life. Once she was out Stefan handled her adoption as he felt she would be safer with another family. It's presumed she knew she was adopted, but didn't bother looking for her biological family as she was completely happy with her adopted one. At a summer camp she attended as a kid she met a girl named Monique who was in the foster system and it could be assume they were friends as Monique knew her enough to take on her identity. Stefan mentioned that he has kept tabs on Sarah through the years and that she's an Art Major at Duke University. At some point in her early life, Sarah is compelled to loose all interest in anything to do with Vampires. Caroline claims that its to keep her out of trouble.

Season Six
In Woke Up With a Monster, Sarah makes her first appearance. She appears talking about her photos' exhibition to visitors. While that, Stefan is watching her. However, Enzo interrupts and Stefan reveals to him that she is the 'real' Sarah Salvatore. Later on, in the episode, Sarah is seen looking at her pictures and then leaving.

In The Day I Tried To Live, Sarah interacts with Matt, something that happens due to Enzo's plan to see what kind of person she is. At first, Enzo and Matt watch her taking photos from far while being in Enzo's car. Later, Matt is seen standing and watching Sarah from far, and when she approaches, she tries to throw a plastic bottle of water inside the bin from a distance, however, she fails both times she attempts to. The second time, Matt grabs the chance to talk to her and he throws the bottle into the bin eventually. Then, he asks her what kind of camera she's using, pretending that photography is one of his hobbies, and she responds as of how a good camera has to be for people to use as a hobby with photography details, but Matt shows that he did not understand anything. Trying to get a few more moments with her, she responds negatively and says clearly that she's not in the mood of being with someone at that moment. Afterwards, Enzo tells Matt to give him his jacket, inside the pockets of which, his phone and wallet were. Then, he shows up sitting on a mantel, where the school bus station was, near Sarah, pretending he's been robbed. Eventually, after she meets him again and asking where he wants to go with the bus and explaining him that this was the school bus, she helps him to go to a real bus station and offers to pay for it as well.

In Stay, Sarah enters the grill with Enzo claiming that she got a call from the "manager" and got asked to take pictures of the place, she thinks it's all thanks to Matt. Sarah is later led by Matt to a tunnel. Based on her surroundings, she says that she doesn't have a boyfriend. Matt phone goes off and he answers it and stands in the middle of the road, just before getting hit by a car and going over the windscreen. Sarah runs over to help. Sarah waits for the ambulance to arrive with Matt telling her that she should just leave him. Enzo wonders in claiming that he was in the area. Enzo gets down on the floor and tells Sarah not to be scared. He then bites his arm and feeds Matt his blood while Sarah steps back because she is afraid of Enzo and what he might do to her. Enzo, then vamp runs off.

In The Downward Spiral, Sarah is first seen at skull bar, taking pictures of Enzo as he was drinking tea on the upper level. He makes his veins in his eyes appear which makes her jump. She quickly looks at her taken photos to see if she was imagining things. After she finds the photo of Enzo, he creeps up behind her and asks her why she was admiring him and if he knows her. She responds with that he helped her friend, Matt, by feeding him his blood. He plays dumb at first, but then claims that he remembers. He sits down and starts showing her what he can do. Sarah waves the memory card for her camera around saying that she's got photos of him. He grabs it off her ans snaps it with ease and says that he is very rich. Eventually, Enzo tells Sarah that he is a vampire. She looks at him with total and utter disinterest and responds with is that it? Caroline walks past holing a drink in her hand and asks what Enzo is up to. She adds up all of the dots and works out who Sarah is, but just before she can say it out loud, Enzo compels her to go and get a drink from the bar. After Caroline steals Enzo's phone, she texts Sarah claiming to be Enzo, wanting to meet up at the Grill. She turns and sees Caroline sat on the bar on the phone. She is then abducted and taken to Whitmore Hospital where she is strapped to an operating table where Liam is compelled to do whatever Caroline says. Over the phone, Caroline tells Liam to first take out her spleen, she then changes her mind and tells him to take out her heart. Luckily, Elena found where Sarah was being operated on, only to see that Liam was about to put his hands inside of her to remove her heart. Elena snaps his hands to stop him from pulling out her heart. Elena, then helps Sarah out.

In A Bird in a Gilded Cage, Sarah wakes up in a hospital bed, where Jo tells her that she got drunk and passed out in the quad after the rave. Sarah looks surprised. Alaric tells Jo to keep her in until the vampire blood is out of her system. Later, Enzo visits her in hospital finally telling her that she was a pawn in a game that he has lost interest in playing. He then calls her by her birth name, Sarah Salvatore.

In I Never Could Love Like That, Enzo drives her to the Salvatore Boarding House where he intends to introduce her to her family. Enzo knocks on the door when their mother, Lily answers the door, not remembering who Enzo is. He quickly tells Sarah to get back in the car and drives off. During the car journey, Sarah questions what just happened. Enzo tells her that that was the most dreadful, most hateful person he's ever met. Enzo explains what happened in before he was turned and that he died. He tries to compel her to forget everything about the Salvatore's, but fails because Matt got her on vervain. She then jabs Enzo with a needle full of vervain, making him weak. Enzo wakes up on Sarah's couch with his hands tied behind his back. Enzo later, continues telling Sarah about how he was turned, saying that once he awoke, he was craving blood and was surrounded by corpses. Enzo unties his hands and explains that he was going to do what Lily did to him (turn her into a vampire). Sarah, eventually convinces Enzo to let her go.

Personality
Sarah seems to be a nice, young woman. She was willing to help Matt get back to Mystic Falls in The Day I Tried To Live. She also has a charismatic side and has a passion for the art of photography.

Physical Appearance
Sarah is a very beautiful young woman. She is of mixed heritage due to the fact that her father was Caucasian and her mother was African-American. Sarah has long black hair, brown eyes and a light brown complexion.

Name

 * Sarah means "princess" in Hebrew.
 * Nelson, in American, means "Son of Neil", while in Irish it means "son of the champion".
 * Sarah's birthname, Salvatore, means "savior" and is of Italian origin.

Trivia

 * Sarah's birthday is May 10 and her astrological sign is Taurus.
 * Her distant great uncle Stefan has been watching over her and protecting her for her entire life.
 * Her distant great uncle Damon killed both of Sarah's parents (Zach and Gail).
 * Sarah and Nadia Petrova are the only characters to make an appearance as babies before appearing in present day.
 * She knows of the existence of vampires in The Downward Spiral and she almost died from Caroline compulsion Liam to do that, but Elena healed her with her blood and discovered of its existence.
 * In A Bird in a Gilded Cage, she now knows her birth name, which is revealed by Enzo.
 * Sarah is the first female Salvatore family member to appear on the show, followed by Lily.