"The Vampire Diaries" has certainly upped the stakes for the Series Finale. This may have been the final season, but Julie Plec was not about to just let it go under the radar. In fact, this has been one of the best seasons in a very long time -- probably since season 3 or 4. While we know Elena is going to return next week, there are plenty of questions about who that main character to die will be, and what it means now that the bell has been rung.

The Donovans are reunited

Matt didn't waste any time letting everyone know that his parents were in town.

Caroline questioned whether that was plural. His mom was also back in town, after a seven season absence. Fans had learned this a few weeks back, but the big question was why she was back. It looks like she was back to cause trouble, but it wasn't just her who had returned. Another Donovan family member was back -- and this one from the grave. Vicki Donovan returned to do Katherine's bidding; ring the Maxwell bell 12 times to allow hell to come to Earth. It turns out the Maxwell doesn't have to actually be alive to ring that bell.

Bonnie looks set to die in 'The Vampire Diaries' finale

With the news that Elena was returning for the series finale, fans instantly knew that meant Bonnie was likely going to die.

After all, the two are linked. The only hope was that Kai could do a bit of magic to unlink the two. There was hope when he returned, but now he's back in another prison world and wasn't ever willing to help them anyway. The only way to bring Elena back is by killing Bonnie. That looks set to happen after Bonnie fainted at the end of the penultimate "TVD" episode.

After getting a nosebleed -- something that always happened to her after too much magic -- she fainted, but plenty of witches have died from too much magic (remember Grams?).

"The Vampire Diaries" season 8 continues with the series finale next Friday. This is the last chance to see a new episode and witness Damon and Elena reunited after two seasons (but four years) apart.