‘The Vampire Diaries’ Preview: The Travelers’ Mystery Unfolds with Markos’ Arrival

Since the beginning of season five, The Vampire Diaries has been giving viewers tiny crumbs of backstory when it comes to the Travelers. We learned that they were a faction of witches tasked with stopping Silas from taking the cure (fail), keeping the anchor to the Other Side safe and wanting Katherine dead. But we never knew the reason why.

This week’s episode, “Rescue Me,” finally answered some of those questions for us. Liv, the not-so-newbie-witch, explained to Jeremy that the Travelers were not witches in the same way that the other witches we know are. The Travelers cannot draw their power from nature and therefore do not care much for witches who can like Liv, her twin brother Luke and once upon a time, Bonnie.

As for what they want from the doppelgangers, they needed Stefan and Elena to be the only two left, which is why Caroline and Enzo were tasked with killing Tom and why they were hunting Katherine. What makes Stefan and Elena special? This question hasn’t really been answered. At first, we assumed it was because their lines ended with them so no doppelgangers could be created any longer. But this theory doesn’t hold true since Tom was human and not a relative of Stefan’s.

So we’re just going to trust that no doppelgangers will be created after Stefan and Elena even if it doesn’t make sense because trying to figure it out gives us a headache. Once Tom was dead, the Travelers began their ritual, which involved chanting, drinking from the buckets filled with Stefan and Elena’s blood and then lighting themselves on fire. As they died and passed through Bonnie, it was too much for the anchor and she passed out, which caused her to miss seeing someone come back through her from the Other Side.

Obviously that was Markos, the mysterious leader of the Travelers. It was a pretty cool moment and now we’re anxious for the next episode, “Resident Evil.” Will that fill in more of the blanks? What’s going to happen to the Other Side now that people have found a way to get out?

Check out the full episode description provided by The CW below and then hit the comments and share your thoughts and theories with us. Are you looking forward to the episode?

“PAUL WESLEY MAKES HIS DIRECTORIAL DEBUT — Both Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) are suddenly having unsettling dreams of an alternate version of the life they might have had together. Bonnie (Kat Graham) has a disturbing encounter with Grams (guest star Jasmine Guy), who warns her about frightening changes on the Other Side. Enzo (guest star Michael Malarkey) gives Damon (Ian Somerhalder) unwanted relationship advice, then admits he is searching for a woman he loved decades before while he was held captive by the Augustines. Liv (guest star Penelope Mitchell) enlists Matt (Zach Roerig), Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) and Tyler (Michael Trevino) to help track the Travelers and keep them from taking control of Mystic Falls. Bonnie is hurt and angry when she learns that Jeremy is working with Liv behind her back. Luke (guest star Chris Brochu) shows up at the Salvatore house and explains what he knows about Markos (guest star Raffi Barsoumian) and the Travelers to Damon, Elena and Enzo. Matt has a terrifying encounter with inhabitants of the Other Side. Finally, when Damon finds Markos, he is both relieved and disturbed by what Markos has to tell him. Paul Wesley directed the episode written by Brian Young & Caroline Dries.”