Top 10 Badass Katherine Pierce Moments on The Vampire Diaries

The sneaky vampire finds herself back in Mystic Falls to cause chaos for her doppelganger, after being presumed dead for over a century. She is already at the Salvatore Boarding House when Elena arrives to find Stefan. Instead of finding her beau, she is met with Katherine. The human doppelganger is obviously afraid and stands near motionless while her vampire counterpart examines her. Katherine says a word, but then disappears as quickly and mysteriously as she first showed up. We’ve got to give it to her: she knows how to leave us wanting more.

Before coming to town, Katherine made sure she knew who the important people in her doppelganger's life were. So when Caroline, one of Elena’s closest friends, ends up in the hospital after a car crash, she is quick to jump on the opportunity to show the Salvatore brothers she is not someone to be messed with. Immediately after meeting Caroline for the first time, she kills her in her hospital bed, knowing that she had vampire blood in her system. She dooms her to a life of vampirism without a second thought. Talk about sending a message.

She has always been a woman with a plan, and her time in Mystic Falls is no different. Katherine manipulates her way into the Masquerade Ball, pretending to be Elena, and gets a message to the Salvatores with specific instructions to bring her the moon stone. The brothers think they can pull one over on her by cornering and attacking her there. But of course, Katherine expected this and had a witch link the doppelgangers, so all harm done to one is also done to the other, basically ensuring that no one would kill her. Just to add insult to injury, she gives herself a large cut once everyone knows it is hurting Elena.

After losing her whole family, you might think she would have a soft spot for the family of her mirror self. You would be extremely wrong. After spending over 500 years on the run from Klaus, she is willing to do anything to be free, including murdering Elena’s younger brother Jeremy. When the group of Mystic Falls vampires go on the hunt for the immortality cure, Katherine follows closely behind and eventually joins the group pretending to be her doppelganger. When she finds the cure being firmly grasped by Silas’ desiccated hands, she feeds him Jeremy’s blood to be able to pry the vial free. The girl knows how to look out for herself.

Rather than being set free, stealing the cure put a huge target on the vampire's back. When Damon and Rebekah catch up to her, he thinks he can be clever by calling Katherine out for pretending that she lost the cure. As always though, she already had a plan. Damon thought he had found the cure and reached into a vervain-filled fish tank to scoop it out. With him now in a weakened state, she uses the moment to dunk Damon’s head in the tank, grab the cure, and use it as a bargaining chip to escape Rebekah. Little did they know, she had tricked them again and given them a fake cure.

The vampire waltzes into Mystic Falls like a wrecking ball. Katherine first came to town in the 1800s and began a relationship with both Salvatore brothers. But she was living life on the run, so she ends up giving both of them her blood, faking her death, and fleeing town. She came back over a century later to earn her freedom from Klaus, but she tells Stefan she is back for him because she always loved him. He responds with his true feelings for her. She retaliates by stabbing him with a lawn decoration and delivers one of her most iconic lines, claiming this is just the beginning.

The Salvatores thought she was stuck in the tomb in 1864. So when they both found out she was alive and free, they were angry. Upon her return, they wanted revenge and were able to get it. With the help of a witch, they trapped K in the same tomb they thought she had been drying up in. They originally have her trapped in it with a spell, but it is the original vampire Elijah that compels her to stay when the spell is broken. However, Katherine being who she is, manipulates her way out and shows up in Damon’s bathroom with the most epic entrance. She is the main character of her life and she knows it.

Always knowing how to make a scene, she is able to bring a small army to their knees in mere seconds. Elena and her friends drew Klaus back into town with the supposed death of his father. But when it is revealed Mikael is not actually dead, the hybrid brings out his hybrid army to threaten the original vampire. In return, Mikael brings Elena out as a hostage to try to get his son to back down. When Klaus calls his buff, his father stabs who he thought was Elena. After faking dead, Katherine gets up and throws wolfsbane grenades at the hybrid army, rendering them incapable of helping to defend Klaus, and surprising everyone.

She is not the type of vampire that has a problem with killing people. So it is no surprise that that is one of the first things she tries to do when she returns to Mystic Falls. She shows up at the Gilbert house and is mistaken for Elena, prompting Jenna to invite her into their home. Still pretending to be her human counterpart, she strikes up a conversation with John, premeditating his murder. Knowing he has a magical ring that can bring him back to life, Katherine grabs a knife and chops his fingers off, then stabs him in one fell swoop - establishing herself as someone to be feared. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Katherine Threatens to Kill Partygoers, “Masquerade” She’s Willing to Do Anything to Get the Moonstone from the Salvatores Katherine Reveals She’s Safe, “Katerina” After Stefan Accuses Her of Manipulation, She Claims the Tomb’s Will Protect Her from Klaus Katherine Pulls off Elena, “The House Guest” After Multiple Failed Attempts, She Convinces Both Salvatores That She’s Elena for a Moment Katherine Snaps Elena's Neck, “American Gothic” When She Catches Up with Elena & Elijash, She Snaps Vampire Elena's Neck Katherine Releases No Humanity Elena, “She’s Come Undone” Instead of Helping Elena Turn Her Humanity Back On, Katherine Releases Her to Wreak Havoc

Once back in Mystic Falls, she started pretending to be her doppelganger almost immediately. After she pretends to be Elena to get into Stefan’s head, he decides to inject Katherine with vervain and chain her up in the basement. She was back and causing chaos, and he thought that he could find out why by inflicting suffering on her. Katherine eventually revealed she wanted Stefan to stop seeing Elena and that she would kill everyone she loved to make that happen. When he attacks her for her threat, she rips out of her chains and reveals she is really the one with the upper hand. Katherine Pierce doesn’t get fooled twice.