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In the pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries, there is a recurring motif of unnaturally creepy fog and crows at several points in the episode. Both are usually accompanied by something bad happening.

Eventually we learn that both of them are being caused by the first season's villain, Damon Salvatore, presumably for dramatic purposes. As quoted in this question:

STEFAN: Crow's a bit much, don't you think?

DAMON: Wait till you see what I can do with the fog.

As far as I know, after the first few episodes, neither of these things ever gets mentioned again: Damon never conjures this fog, or controls the birds, ever again, but neither does he explain why he can't or doesn't. The whole issue is just dropped.

Out of universe, I assume this was just an element of the pilot that the writers borrowed from novels (where Damon and Katherine can both control the weather), but decided wasn't working. But was there ever an in-universe explanation given why Damon's magic powers just vanished?

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KutuluMike
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  • I don't think they care enough to explain it. They could have just said he was in a relationship with a creepy witch at the time. That would have made enough sense. – James Broad Mar 22 '16 at 07:31

3 Answers3

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According to the show's producer, fans hated it so they just stopped mentioning it.

Q. Why doesn't Damon use his crow and fog trick anymore?

JP: crow's dead, too many people thought fog was cheesy.

The Vampire Diaries - Q&A with Julie Plec

She's described it as basically being part of the 'Early Installment Weirdness' that often infects TV shows before they get their first set of audience responses.

HitFix: Do you ever look back at those first handful episodes and do you ever miss the crows and the fog and the vampire football?

Julie Plec: [Laughter.] No, we don't miss the crows and the fog, for sure. It's funny, because in hindsight, Kevin and I have both read a lot of people in the press and bloggers and fans alike who say that the show didn't really click in for them til about episode six. Yet for us and the actors, we always look back at the first five episodes of the series and say, "Gosh, that was a time when things were simple and clean and very, very based in tension and mystery and character and didn't have to rely so much on frills and action and stunts and visual effects and witch craft." We get very sentimental, as storytellers, for those early episodes. But then I remind everybody that nobody actually liked them very much, so it's OK that we've moved on.

HitFix Interview: Julie Plec talks 'Vampire Diaries'

Valorum
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  • And yes, I know this is out of universe. – Valorum Mar 12 '16 at 22:07
  • http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-fien-print/posts/hitfix-interview-julie-plec-talks-vampire-diaries – Valorum Mar 12 '16 at 22:11
  • +1 good find; I assumed as much but I didn't know they'd actually addressed it. But I'm mostly interested to know if they put something I missed into the show that explains it. – KutuluMike Mar 12 '16 at 22:35
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He used the bird in s3 E16 at uncle zaks funeral when he meets stefan at the graveyard in 1912.

MICK
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He uses it in the last episode (8x16: I Was Feeling Epic) when Elena is writing in her journal.

Brythan
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Cameron Bbk Phillips
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