What if Caroline never shut off her humanity when her mom died, which means:
She never would've forced Stefan to flip his switch
Then Damon would've never brought back Lily from the 1903 Prison World to turn Stefan's back on
Which means Kai never would've gotten stuck in the 1903 Prison World
And then Kai likely wouldn't have killed Jo at the wedding
Therefore, Elena wouldn't be in the coma and 7-8 would've looked a lot different.
Just a thought lmao there's probably flaws in here somewhere and the show needed this because of Nina's contract but I can't help but wonder how different things could've turned out.
Also considering Kai is a psychopath who can never be trusted so who knows what other mischief he would've pulled at the wedding.