Dark Josie is the evil version of Josie Saltzman. She made her first appearance in You Can't Save Them All after Josie broke the mora miserium at the end of Kai Parker Screwed Us.
Throughout Legacies[]
Season Two[]
In You Can't Save Them All, Josie is more powerful than ever due to the breaking of the mora miserium. She uses the dark magic to force Jade's humanity back on, and Alaric questions what she has done, realizing that Josie is somehow different. She remarks that she has "fixed" Jade.
Later, when she helps save Lily's life, she realizes that something is missing from her memory, and therefore must mean that someone has been consumed by Malivore. They are next seen at the Salvatore Boarding House and she reveals that the Prison World is made of magic, therefore can be siphoned in order to allow them a way out; she formalizes a plan that allows her family and friends to escape, whilst she remains behind. When it comes to finally performing the spell to allow her family to escape, she is successful in allowing Alaric, Lizzie, Lia, Lily, Jade, and Wendy return to Mystic Falls, but is approached by Sebastian before the spell is finished. Sebastian tells her to tell Lily something a better man would say, and then touches her, becoming the anchor to the spell and allowing her to return home. When she returns home, it appears that the dark magic has been left behind and Josie has returned to her former self.
In There's A Place Where The Lost Things Go, Josie participates in Emma's simulation; in the simulation, she as well as Lily are Lizzie's assistant. After the murders begin, Josie is accused by Jade of ordering the poisoned champagne — a clear attempt on her life — to gauge the interest of the press onto Lizzie; this failed, however, and Emma died within the simulation.
It quickly becomes apparent that Josie is willing to take the blame for the murders to protect Lizzie, but she is eventually murdered herself by the unknown assailant. It is later revealed that Josie has been overcome by the darker version of herself, who tries to kill Lizzie once and for all within the simulation that she has taken control of with the help of Lily. Hope helps Lizzie defeat her, however she does not awaken from the simulation. When she eventually does, she is trapped within the werewolf transition space, but escapes confidently by blowing a hole in the roof and setting a large portion of the school on fire; this is presumably fixed by the students afterwards.
In Life Was So Much Easier When I Only Cared About Myself, she returns to the Salvatore School to plan her birthday party.
Hope and Lizzie later talk but are interrupted by her, who reveals that she and Lizzie will Merge later that night. Hope and Lizzie formulate a plan to deal with her, however this relies on Lizzie winning the Merge. Lizzie believes she cannot win the Merge and leaves the Salvatore School out of fear.
Meanwhile, at the arranged time, Hope arrives to take Lizzie's place and fight with her until MG is able to convince Lizzie to return. The two brawl and she is able to get the upper hand before being interrupted by Lizzie, who saves Hope. Josie and Lizzie begin the Merge and — as she predicted — Lizzie loses and all hope appears lost. Unbeknownst to her, Landon and Hope have formulated a plan-b and were aware that the possibility of Lizzie losing the Merge was high; Hope has placed herself within Josie's subconscious when she was asleep in a bid to find the real Josie.
In Facing Darkness is Kinda My Thing, while inside Josie's subconscious, Hope and Lia are told (by a pig) a story of how Josie cast a sleeping spell on herself in order to protect the world from the darkness within her. Hope and Lia are brought to a table where Josie is lying, but is unable to wake her and the pig jokes that one of them should try kissing her.
Shortly after a battle with the darkness, Josie is revealed to be the pig in disguise. Josie reveals that she thought she could trick the darkness and allow Hope and Lia to get to safety; this failed, however. After a brief conversation with Hope and Lia, the darkness attacks Josie. Josie cowers in a corner, but soon realizes that she can beat the darkness if she fights. She tells the darkness that she was afraid of being powerful because it meant hurting Lizzie, but now she realizes she can be both like her aunt and her family. Josie takes on the darkness head-on and is able to subdue her, before receiving warnings that she will always return.
Meanwhile, Lizzie and Adella extracts the darkness from Josie and Lily and transfers it into the Necromancer to honor his deal with Alaric. After Josie wakes, she transfers her magic into a coin — much like her mother and Bonnie Bennett did previously — until she is ready to use it again.