Days of our Lives Character Recap: Vivian Alamain

Vivian Alamain – this Days of our Lives vixen may be a multiple murder and a duplicitous diva… but despite those little quirks, she has remained a fan favorite over the decades.

Who Is Vivian Alamain?

Vivian is the younger sister of Leopold Alamain and the aunt of his son Lawrence. Her arrival in Salem was engineered by Lawrence, who believed he had uncovered the identity of a thief who operated under the alias Romulus and had robbed the Alamain family over a decade earlier.

Upon entering Lawrence’s home, Vivian had to shoot Alphonse LeBeque dead, owing to his intent to harm her nephew. Once the body had been disposed of, the reunited pair began to discuss their plan to discover whether or not amnesiac John Black and Romulus were one and the same.

A masquerade ball, highly reminiscent of the one taking place the night of the burglary, was held at Wings but it did little to produce any hard evidence. In time, the true culprit was caught, Danielle Stevens, but she revealed that the locket Vivian was most in want of had indeed been in John’s possession and he believed that it held the key to uncovering the truth about his identity.

Off that confession, a stunned Vivian told Lawrence she now fully believed that John was actually his presumed deceased brother Forrest! Surreptitiously obtained DNA seemed to indicate that her presumption was correct as did the fact the uninterred coffin supposedly containing Forrest was found to be full of sand.

Though she was thrilled to welcome another family member into the fold, Vivian soon regretted her decision when John sought to obtain his rightfully due inheritance and wound up the CEO of Alamain Industries as overseer of several Alamain-adjacent corporations.

Love Gained and Lost 
Vivian, hell-bent on recouping her lost wealth, pursued Victor Kiriakis, the man responsible for assisting John in his action. But rather than exact revenge as she had so masterfully planned, Vivian actually found herself falling in love.

In fact, she was so enraptured that she accepted his proposal of marriage despite knowing it was less a love match and more a business transaction.

However, Vivian would lose not only her husband but her standing in the community and (for a brief period) the affections of her nephew once it was revealed that her adoptive son was actually the baby that Lawrence and Carly Manning believed had died nine years previous.

Under the Influence

When Carly initiated a custody suit, to reclaim little Nicky, a distraught Vivian suffered a heart attack and learned that she would soon be dead from heart disease. In response, she set about planning her own death (which she staid through the ingesting of specially selected Chinese herbs) – and ensuring that Carly would be held responsible.

When her initial scheme to poison herself with medication belonging to Carly failed, Vivian then instigated an argument on the Penthouse Grill’s balcony and lept to the ground bellow after shouting for Carly not to push her.

Vivian’s descent was slowed and softened by an awning and Carly’s quick action both outside and inside the operating room saved her life. Next, Vivian began killing Carly’s terminally ill patients in a bid to paint her as an Angel of Mercy. After she was caught, Vivian injected her rival with morphine and staged her death.

While Salem mourned the loss of one of their most beloved, Vivian delighted in rolling atop Carly’s grave in psychotic rapture while taunting her still breathing victim! Deciding that the end was nigh, Vivian weaned herself off her supposedly holistic medication only to realize that the herbs had driven her to commit multiple murders and bury Carly alive.

Carly was eventually rescued, and Vivian managed to avoid prosecution by entering an asylum. While there, she discovered Laura Horton, whom she eventually escaped with and manipulated into revealing Kate Roberts’ most shameful secrets, particularly the fact she had never divorced her first husband – invalidating her recent wedding to Victor – and that her son had been fathered by Bill Horton.

Vivian hoped the revelation would tear Victor and Kate apart but it didn’t. Her further machinations – including having herself impregnated with a fertilized embryo intended for Kate and arranging to marry Victor during what he believed to be a rehearsal for his wedding to Miss Roberts – proved just as fruitless.

She subsequently became involved with old paramour Stefano DiMera but their marriage proved disastrous – especially after he installed a mood-controlling device in her tooth!

Vivian Alamain – Latter Days
In the ensuing years, Vivian again did battle with Carly (who had murdered an abusive Lawrence) and learned that the son she had birthed following her girlhood fling with Stefano was actually alive and well.

Mother and son, Stefan, bonded – and Vivian even battled the Grim Reaper to return to him –  but to her horror, he eventually died saving her from a bullet fired by Lani Price. Days of our Lives airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.