Hrmmm … sure I agree with this. One of the things I loved about book-Elena was that she *was* the Queen Bee. After so many heroines who were outcasts and pushovers it was refreshing to get a character who was confident to the point of arrogance and willing to do whatever it took to get her way. She didn’t have to learn to stand up for herself, she could already do that, so her challenges were different than most heroines at the time (it also made her dynamic with Stefan and Damon more interesting – it was less about who would win her and more about who she would choose.

I completely agree with you.

It still pains me everytime (almost) I see this TV Elena..

I have to agree with you on that one. Though I wasn’t Elena’s biggest fan at first, I thought it was interesting that for once the heroine and main character of a book would be such a confident girl, willing to do ANYTHING to get what she wanted. I learned to love that about her yeah, which is why I find it a little bit disappointing that she’s not like that on the TV show. But you know, I’d sort of figured out by the trailers and interviews what Nina said about changing Elena’s personality a bit; I suppose the CW felt the need to have a female lead character that viewers could relate more than the Queen Bee and bitch that Elena could be sometimes.

And yet Blair (and often Serena) from GG is a complete cow, and is the heart of the show – you don’t always root for her, but she is gripping. And what about Cordelia in Buffy, as well as Buffy herself?! Grr.