After Elena Gilbert’s parents died, she pledged that she wouldn't be the sad little girl who killed lost her parents: she would be someone different. She answers, “I'm fine” when someone asks how she is, but never really wants to know. She would be the invincible, bright girl she was before that night, no matter how unrealistic it is. She would survive because the truth is Elena doesn't know what else she can do. No one can tell her why she's alive and the people she loves most are dead.

That is the crux of every decision Elena makes – be it accepting (and loving, and forgiving, and identifying with) morally questionable vampires, or going on a martyrdom parade to save her friends and family. It’s about how scared she is of losing and/or inadvertently hurting her loved ones, because she seems to lose and hurt them at every turn, and that’s all her fault. She is determined to avoid loss more so than dying, if not more so than saving everyone simply because it's the right thing to do.

And yet despite all the sadness and guilt she carries, she still believes that there is good to find and experience in the world. She continues to keep living and wanting to live a normal (or normal enough) life, searching however blindly for a reason besides there's no other option - for herself, for her brother Jeremy, and for her friends. She keeps trying, because if Elena's anything at the end of the day she's a fighter - not just a survivor.

As a result, Elena has found ways to cope with death surrounding her: she has learned to become a more independent person, even while falling back on her idealistic notions. She still upholds them, her morals, and her humanity with a fierceness. She is not just going through the motions anymore. (For example, she didn't fight the sacrifice in season two and instead decided to go along with it, for the sake of her friends and family. In season three, she trained to protect herself and fight whatever plans Klaus has for her.)

That said: Elena makes questionable decisions. She makes several attempts to sacrifice herself to save the people she loves behind their backs, she erases her brother's memory to save him from the pain of grief, and she extends forgiveness to those who probably do not deserve it. She is noble, but she is not a saint. She is selfless, but is selfishly motivated; taking drastic, reckless, and sometimes ruthless and manipulative action that is often harmful to her and the loved ones she is trying to protect. She will do whatever it takes: she will be the bad guy. She will be ruthless and vindictive. She will stab someone in the back. (And has, figuratively and literally.) Yet Elena is still an understanding person. She can be that person because she cares so much, because she understands when others harden against sympathizing.

Elena acts this way because she operates under a severe sense of inferiority to her loved ones. She holds them on a pedestal because they are not like her - they deserve to live because she should have died (with her parents, during the sacrifice, etc). Elena would argue vehemently they could go on without her, but not without each other. Still so many people die and leave anyway, although not for lack of Elena trying to save them. So dying herself would work just fine for Elena. Living is hard for her; she’s motivated by survivor’s guilt. A part of her doesn’t want to go on and would rather be allowed to let go. This is not a suicide wish. This is because Elena can’t ever underestimate her own meaning again: people will die because of her. That’s the last thing she wants.

Oftentimes Elena is stubborn and idealistic; not in touch with the reality of her loved ones or relationships because she believes in this “pedestal”. (One might argue perhaps this is because she is too much aware: she can’t lose anymore people, so she will keep them at her side despite any harm it brings/brought to her or others emotionally or physically. She will believe in them.) Elena will excuse abuse for love, and do so multiple times.

Essentially, Elena is an eighteen-year-old girl who has dealt with more than any teenager should for no other reason besides her carbon-copy existence. That’s the crux of her personality: there is nothing special or unique about her, no reason she is the center of all this chaos. That she looks like Katherine is arguably the only reason the Salvatore brothers stuck around and consequently fell in love with her, that she was born a doppelgänger is the only reason everyone dies around her, that her life and death are essentially the key to everything. She was born with a face that is not her own; her life in many regards is not her own, and she is in a constant struggle to own it (and sometimes she wants to give in, too). But she doesn’t. Elena Gilbert would never call herself tough - she feels too much to consider claiming that. But she always finds a way to keep surviving and fighting to the last, even if that only means finding a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

As a Petrova doppelgänger, Elena’s blood is the key in many rituals and sacrifices pertaining to the creation of Original vampires and hybrids. However, she is still a normal teenage girl. Elena has all the weaknesses and strengths of someone her age. She is also in peak physical condition: she trains and arms herself in any way she can to be able to protect herself. This includes regimental running, strength training, boxing, and working knowledge of weapons such as stakes, crossbows, and vervain/wolfsbane grenades. (Which she can make herself.)

The only items Elena would possibly have on her person are the clothes on her back.