Victor Kiriakis' Most Memorable Days Of Our Lives Stories
Victor Kiriakis is one of the most beloved characters to ever appear on "Days of Our Lives." The character, played by John Aniston, first debuted on the sudser in 1985 and has given viewers some very memorable moments since that time. Born in Greece, Victor was introduced as a longtime friend of the Brady family. However, it was soon clear to fans that Victor wasn't as wholesome and moral as the Bradys. Throughout his decades on the soap opera, Victor has been involved in several storylines that have featured him engaging in illegal activities such as drugs, attempted murder, kidnapping, jailbreaks, theft, blackmail, and so much more.
Of course, Victor has captured attention with his many romances as well. The Titan Industries founder has been married several times to women such as Carly Manning (Crystal Chappel), Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel), Kate Roberts (Lauren Koslow), Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker), and Maggie Horton (Suzanne Rogers). However, he's also had flings with Angelica Deveraux (Jane Elliot), Julie Williams (Susan Seaforth Hayes), Kimberly Brady (Patsy Pease), and others.
During his reign as one of Salem's biggest villains and most popular characters, Victor has had some truly memorable moments.
Victor's explosive feud with Justin
Victor Kiriakis may be one of the biggest villains in Salem's history. However, "Days of Our Lives" knows that he is also very family oriented. While Victor has had rocky relationships with nearly everyone in his family at one point, he engaged in a particularly brutal feud with his beloved nephew Justin Kiriakis (Wally Kurth) during his early days on the soap opera. After Justin moved to Salem, Victor was happy to welcome him into his home and business. However, one thing that Victor didn't approve of was Justin's choice of romantic partners.
Eventually, Justin fell in love with Adrienne Johnson (Judi Evans), but Victor didn't think that Adrienne was good enough for his nephew. Victor tried everything to break up the couple, even secretly drugging Justin to make him impotent. Eventually, Victor got on board with the relationship and even attended their wedding in Greece. However, he never stopped prying on their marriage. At one point he advised Adrienne to fake a pregnancy in order to keep Justin's attention on her after her husband welcomed a son with another woman.
Victor's interference with Justin and Adrienne's relationship led to some of the couple's most interesting storylines, as well as proved that Victor wasn't above hurting his family when he believed it was in their best interest. The storyline showed viewers that Victor was more than just a villain, but also someone who was greatly concerned with the goings-on of his family.
Victor was revealed to be Bo Brady's biological father
Many "Days of Our Lives" fans will likely remember that one of Victor's most memorable storylines came when it was revealed that he had a past affair with Caroline Brady (Peggy McKay). The affair resulted in a pregnancy, making Victor the biological father of Bo Brady (Peter Reckell). Bo was shocked to learn the truth about his paternity, and Victor tried to create a bond with his newfound son. However, Bo didn't want a relationship and his behavior eventually led Victor to disown him completely. Victor even went as far as to fall for Bo's love interest Carly Manning. Despite knowing that Carly and Bo were in love, Victor proposed to the doctor and she accepted when she believed that Bo would never be able to commit to her.
Just before the couple's wedding, Bo wrote a letter to Carly to confess his love. However, Victor found it first and got rid of it. Instead of backing away, Victor plotted to have Bo killed in an elevator accident (via Soaps.com). However, his plan failed and when the truth came out, things went from bad to worse for the father-and-son duo.
Eventually, the pair did make amends and went on to have a great relationship. The storyline was huge for both Victor and Bo and opened up a huge connection between the Kiriakis and Brady families that's still intact today.
Victor ignited a feud between Vivian and Kate
Victor's history with the women in Salem hasn't always been great. He's been in a lot of relationships that didn't end well, and one of those relationships was with Vivian Alamain. Victor met Vivian and the two struck up a love connection. However, Victor eventually set his sights on Kate Roberts, and Vivian was left out in the cold. However, Vivian was about to let Kate take Victor without a fight, and she devised a devious plan to try to get back in Victor's good graces and hurt Kate in the process. When Victor and Kate were trying to conceive they decided to try in vitro fertilization. They had an embryo ready to be implanted into Kate, but Vivian stole it and ended up pregnant with the couple's child. The underhanded move led to Vivian giving birth to Victor and Kate's son, Philip Kiriakis, and ignited a decades-long feud between the two women.
Vivian tried to kill Kate several times over the years by sabotaging her airplane to crash and shooting her. She even buried her alive in hopes of getting rid of her for good. However, Kate was eventually saved and the duo's insane feud still goes strong.
Victor's part in Vivian and Kate's feud, and the storyline of the embryo left was huge for its time and kept fans entertained as they watched the love triangle play out.
Victor was electrocuted by Jan Spears
Over the years, Victor made a lot of enemies in Salem and he definitely had no shortage of people who would have liked to see him dead. When Victor began feuding with his then-wife, Nicole Walker, things took a deadly turn for the character. Victor wanted Nicole out of his life and Salem. She had grown close to his grandson, Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) and he wasn't happy about it. He offered her $100,000 to leave town, but she refused. It was then that he tried to blackmail her with proof that she had killed a man named Colin Murphy. Nicole panicked and enlisted the help of Jan Spears to help her with the situation. Jan later snuck up on Victor while he was in the bathtub and electrocuted him.
Victor was presumed dead, but he actually ended up on Melaswen Island with several other Salemites who were thought to be killed by the town's most devious serial killer, the Salem Stalker. However, it was eventually revealed that Victor and the rest of the gang, which included Roman Brady (Josh Taylor), Abe Carver (James Reynolds), Maggie Horton, Caroline Brady, and others had their deaths faked and were being held prisoner by the DiMera family.
Victor returned to Salem with the other victims, and of course, Nicole was stunned. The serial killer storyline was one of the biggest that "Days of Our Lives" had ever done, and Victor was part of it all.
Victor orchestrated a baby switch for the benefit of Maggie Horton
"Days of Our Lives" viewers were stunned when they found out that Victor Kiriakis and his nephew, Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) were responsible for swapping Kristen DiMera's (Stacy Haiduk) and Brady Black's baby girl with that of Sarah Horton's (Linsey Godfrey) daughter. The pair teamed up when they believed that Victor's wife, Maggie Horton, had caused a car crash that killed Adrienne Kiriakis and led to the death of Sarah's newborn baby. The pair framed Will Horton (Chandler Massey) for the crash and swapped the babies so that Maggie never knew she killed Adrienne as well as her own grandchild. It eventually came out that Maggie didn't cause the crash, and that the babies had been switched at the hospital shortly after birth.
The storyline impacted several Salemites, but none more than Maggie and Sarah. Victor's decision to create chaos around the baby swap had lasting effects on many beloved characters that are still being felt today.
For better or worse, Victor has been the center of so many huge moments on the soap opera. Fans will continue to remember the character's impact on the sudser for several years to come, as he and actor John Aniston have become daytime television icons.