Updated 9/6/10
How could a show entitled True Blood be assumed to be totally lacking Christian content or to be treating the subject in a completely ironic manner? While there is much criticism of Christianity in the Sookieverse, the story is at heart a allegory retelling the fall and redemption of mankind.
Bon Temps is as close to the Garden of Eden as can be found in backwoods Louisiana. The names Paradise and Eden are derived from words that mean pleasure. It is the place for good times or, in French, bon temps. During their swim, Daphne and Sam explicitly make the point. She says it’s like when the world was new, and he calls it Paradise. To drive home the point further, the scene ends with plans to go to Acadia for pancakes. Acadia is the Greek version of Paradise.
Like Eden, Bon Temps is populated by two very special humans. The uniqueness of Adam and Eve, bodily made from the same stuff as the animals but imbued with an immortal spirit like the angels, is recreated in Sam and Sookie, both two natured, one associated with the animal world and one with the heavenly. Sookie and Sam’s unrealized romantic relationship parallels the unconsummated one between Adam and Eve prior to the Fall.
Bon Temps is obviously not literally Paradise, after all, neither the place nor the people who live there are perfect. They have their problems, but until the night a master of seduction and lies entered town on a mission to tempt a virgin and secure her allegiance to an evil ruler, supernatural politics wasn’t one. The snake in the Garden of Eden knew just how to manipulate Eve to tempt her. Bill sized up Sookie the same way and for similar purposes. Season one of True Blood is Eve’s fall from grace replayed with Sookie and Bill. When Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, her were opened to sin. Sookie realizes the same thing has happened to her when she tells Bill that her association with vampires has opened her eyes to evil in ‘Scratches.’*
Before going further in this story, we need to establish the role Eric plays in this allegory. As sheriff (keeper of the peace) he represents the Prince of Peace, and as the priest at Russell’s wedding in the novels, he is associated with the High Priest, these are two positions that only Christ can fill in Christianity.** Like Christ, Eric is the heir to an earthly kingdom, in addition to being the son of God(ric). It is also becoming increasingly clear that he will ultimately become a king himself, and thereby assume another of Jesus’s titles, King of Kings.
In contrast to Bill’s character, Eric’s is transparent. Lafayette and Lorena point out that Eric is a horrible liar, and Isabelle and Sophie Anne immediately see his interest in Sookie. Also the three rednecks in the church saw through Eric’s human act to his true nature immediately. He even has a tell, silly little grin, to let everyone know when his plans are falling into place. Book Sookie knows Eric well enough to be confident that, while he may not give her the whole story, if she asks for the truth, he will not deceive her. TB Sookie will most likely come to the same conclusion.
The second season of True Blood depicts the human condition after the Fall. Godric, Eric’s maker becomes God the father. He is disgusted with the world and wants nothing more than to withdraw from it. He hides himself, and it is incumbent on those who love him to seek him out. Sookie is not longer Eve; she is Eve’s descendants who, according to Christian theology, can only find God by first establishing a personal relationship with his son. It is the son who sends Sookie to find God(ric). The fact that Sookie discovers him when she is trapped in a false church relates to the personal experiences of many Christians. It is not insignificant that her initial communication with God(ric), as she calls to him, knowing he will hear her, is one sided like prayers are.
When Sookie finally meets God(ric) face to face, she doesn’t know what to do or say. She stands uncomfortably by trying to cloth her nakedness, as Eve did in the Garden. Sookie watches Eric provide the example of what to do in the presences of one’s maker by genuflecting. To drive the point home further, Eric and Godric’s positions are echoed in the nativity figures behind them.
Eric’s devotion to Godric and his single minded focus on carrying out Godric’s commands again identify him with Jesus whose life was dedicated to doing the will of his father which included saving humanity by sacrificing himself. This is exactly what we see in Eric. To get Sookie out of the church alive, Eric impersonates an unassuming country bumpkin alluding to the incarnation when the second member of the Trinity became human and entered the world as the son of a poor country carpenter.
It may be unusual for a Protestant church to have an permanent altar, especially one substantial enough to support a man, but it is a requirement in Catholic churches. Since the sacrifice of the mass represents the sacrifice on the cross, alters are supposed to be able to hold the body of Jesus and Catholics are taught to imagine his body on the alter, as we saw Eric’s. His sacrifice on the FOTS altar is a manifestation of the sacrifice that Catholics believe takes place at mass.
From the genuflecting, to the altar, and on to what happens at Godric’s nest, this allegory is not just Christian but specifically Catholic. Personal beliefs aside, I think this is because a Christian allegory with magical healing blood is inherently Catholic since Protestants reject transubstantiation. Only Catholics believe that bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. That’s why vampire stories are inherently either Catholic or anti-Catholic. Contrast Eric’s healing blood to the Protestant vampires in Twilight who abstain from human blood. In Stephanie Meyer’s mythos it is the ancient Italian Volturi, stand-ins the Roman Catholic Church, who are cannibalistic blood drinkers. For the record, I am a Catholic convert with a great deal of gratitude to the Protestant churches that formed my faith, and I am also a fan of both True Blood and Twilight.
What happens to Sookie at Godric’s house recreates the Easter Vigil when adult baptized seekers join the church and are given a white garment to wear during their first communion.When Luke detonates his bomb, Eric provides protection to Sookie and falls backward, ‘covering her’ (Eric uses Christologic terminology), with his arms outstretched in the position of a cross. After the bombing, Sookie drinks the blood of the fallen Christ figure while wearing her new white garment.
This is the true blood that the show is named for, the Elixir of Life Eric alluded to when he was at Lafayette’s house. This is the substance that will repair all the damage Bill has done emotionally and spiritually to Sookie. This is why Da Vinci’s Last Supper is hung front and center over the bar at Fangtasia in season 3.
When Sookie sucks the bullets out of Eric’s chest, she drinks blood from near his heart. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is associated with divine love for humanity, which is what Sookie represents to Eric. Season 1 sacred heart imagery is present in the wall sconce behind Sookie when she visits Fangtasia. The one behind Eric depicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Book Eric is Christlike in offering Sookie unwavering and self-sacrificial love. He has always wanted to be her lover, but he does not pursue her. He waits patiently for times when she needs him to provide the opportunity to bring her into his proximity. He respects her free will in a way that Bill never did. His patience while he waits for his recalcitrant lover who irrationally fears him yet needs him for her survival is a beautiful depiction of Christ’s love for humanity, as is the pain Eric suffers silently because of Sookie’s thoughtless and even callous behavior towards him.
*Sunny Nala made the connection between the Tree of Knowledge and the scene in Scratches, when Sookie tells Bill, The more open my mind gets, the more evil I see.
**An objection has been made that Eric was serving as minister, not priest, at Russell’s wedding. However, since he made a blood sacrifice at the ceremony, he is, by definition, fulfilling the role of a priest, and yes, it is possible to become one through the internet.
***I originally speculated in this essay that Sookie would eventually return to her human life and Sam after Eric had healed all the damage that Bill had done. With s3 Sam turning out to be Bill in a Sam suit and DITF shearing Sam’s golden halo, Sam doesn’t look like a potential suitor any more. The snake centered over the bar is starting to look ominous.
Thank you for this. This theory is borne out when Sookie tells Bill in Scratches: “The more my eyes are opened the more evil I see.” Exactly what happened to Eve after taking a bite of the apple.
Many say Satan wasn’t actually *in* the serpent ie possessed it, he just used the serpent like a ventriloquist would a dummy. Do you think QSA =Satan used the serpent ie Bill like a ventriloquists dummy? Or do you think Bill himself is the “Adversary”?
I definitely think that Sophie Ann is the ultimate evil in this scenario. Bill is just one of her demonic minions. He doesn’t have the brains to be the No. 1 baddie.
The name “Sophie,” means wisdom, and it was from the Tree of the Knowledge that Eve ate.
It ties into your first comment; Sookie had no knowledge to judge vampires with until she met Bill. It really was Sophie Ann through Bill who opened her eyes to evil.
That quote is a great catch by the way. Thanks for making that connection for me.
Lol, sorry to keep posting but I keep thinking of things.
“Satan in a Sunday hat” is a repeated phrase on TB and correlates to the Bible verse about Satan coming in the guise of an angel of light.
MA is an OBVIOUS conterpart of Bill’s, especially in that she entrapped Tara with her false loving-kindness. She was willing to use Tara and Eggs and the townsfolk like puppets to get what she wanted, which was a sacrifice which would cause her god to manifest himself.
What does Bill want, besides Sookie? Does he worship anything or anyone besides himself? Or is his ultimate objective to destroy Sookie’s innocence, like the sepent in the garden? Is she a sacrifice to manisfest HIS god? Perhaps he only desires her “worship” for himself? Is he like most evil people in that he doesn’t *know* he is evil, or are we to view him as one who knows he is evil and revels in it, while also reveling in her judgement of him as “good” and capable of love?
This will to love–is the essence of Christianity, in my view. All throughout TB we see examples of true unselfish love, for parents and children, makers and children, grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, friends, bosses, God, everyone. In fact, TB is permeated with a sense of loving-kindness. I had an insight the other night that if we truly came to know Hoyt, we would come to know the attitudes and pov of the omniscient narrator–the overall pov of the show. His sweet gentleness and generosity of spirit, his sense of duty to the ones he loves, and yes, his loving kindness, even toward his mother who annoys him no end.
The ONLY major character on the show who is incapable of true, unselfish love is Bill.
Sorry, I see you pretty much answered my questions as I was typing.
Wow! MC, I don’t even know where to begin you have given me so much to think about. Bill is definitely Satan in a Sunday hat (or at least one of her underlings) and he seduced Sookie just like MA did to Tara. That’s on my list of things to post about eventually, but if you turn the kaleidescope slightly, another picture comes into focus. MA is also SA, the orchestrator who brought Tara and Eggs together for her own purposes. Without Tara, Eggs was a lifeless shell. I think that is why Bill is so desperate to hang on to Sookie. He said that he could bring her to life, but she alone has the power to bring him alive. It’s almost like those stories about vampires who steal people’s energy, not their blood.
Switching topics, I’ve made a couple posts on wiki about this since you’ve been busy with TG preparations, but I think that Bill’s faulty memories are due to Eric’s witch monkeying with them just like MA messed with Egg’s memory. Eric probably brought her to the maenad battle to erase Bill’s memory about the V selling, thus fulfilling his promise to ‘take care’ of Bill, and then directed her to alter his memories of the bullet sucking and the maenad. She either ran out of magical energy or became jealous of Sookie because she didn’t finish the job. Bill still has his memory of Laffy selling V.
I like your idea about Hoyt. He does seem to be the only one whose thoughts mirror his actions. It’s almost like he’s untainted from original sin.
I think we can get a handle on Bill if we think of the fallen angels who found human women so desirable they came to them in the “guise” of human beings and mated with them, which produced the Nephilim. This wasn’t because they truly loved the women, they were selfish and avaricious just like Bill. Afterwards, God forbade them to ever take human form again.
Eric knows Bill is an avaricious thief. Remember how Bill offered to make the travel arrangements to Dallas and told Eric ‘I will need your credit card number’? Eric made the arrangements himself.
Also, I think I’ve found proof Bill set up the day time ‘save’ as well as confirming your theory that Bill and Lorena took over his old house back in the 19th Century. Check out the open grave Sookie and Sam put Bill into to heal him. It cuts right across in front of a gravestone that faces it, so there is obviously nobody buried there. Sookie hits her head on it when Rene hits her. Now try to read the gravestone. It says “Lorena Gibbons” and then “William” something and then the dates 180?-19??
Yes, I still think money is going to be at the bottom of the kidnapping, and Eric was smart not to give Bill his cc number. LOL!
It is curious why a grave that old would be open and empty, but the marker looks like it says ‘Sophia Gibbons Bellefluer.’ Perhaps the link between Bill and Andy?
This is wonderful! Great post!
I do differ with you slightly in that last part – the part about Sookie going to Sam. As Eric told Sookie in Club Dead:
Hi VikingLover! I’m so glad that you stopped by. Personally, I am ALL about the Viking, so I’d be pleased as punch if Sookie ended up with him, and I very much like the idea of Sookie representing the Magdalene. There are several reasons why I think we will be disappointed in the end though. The main one is that if this is a Christian allegory, then it looks to me like it would end with Eric enthroned as king and the restoration of Eden, putting Sookie back in Bon Temps with Sam.
Interesting… But I don’t feel very comfortable with religious topics, I can’t mix Eve and Christ. I’m supposed to be catholic, but I’ve always hate the story of evel Eve, and I much appreciate Christ. So I won’t say much… Just to point out that M Magdalena has being introduced several times on TB, in a very beautiful way. If I think of TB as talking to their story it just comes to my mind “The descent from cross” of Van der Weyden, which portraits the very tragic of their relationship and end. It could be a beautiful end for TB, very emotional.
Hi Dwimordene! You present a very beautiful image with ‘The Descent from the Cross” and bring up the other possible ending for the series. How sad would that be? I can see how Christ and Eve together might present a problem. However, Sookie only represents Eve in relations to the Fall, which occurs the first half of season 1. Long Shadow’s death marks her baptism. Then you have the search for God(ric), which ends with Sookie’s frist communion when she drinks Eric’s blood.
Really excellent post, AP. I’m still entertaining the possibility that Alan Ball is pointing us toward more of a Post-Christian endgame– but I have to say, your points are super, super compelling.
And of course, there is no doubt that the distinctly Christian imagery (certainly in True Blood, and most likely in the books, as well) is not only intended, but an indispensable element of the story– just as it would be in ANY vampire story.
After all, as Jason Stackhouse said, Jesus was the first vampire.
Welcome MA! I’m not sure what AB’s endgame is, but I’m up for the ride.
I’m glad you liked my post. If I can convince you that this imagery is there, I know I’m on the right track. I adore Sunny, but, honestly, I didn’t have to work very hard to convince her that Bill was an emissary of Satan’s. LOL!
Oh. My. Goodness. This post and all the theories contained within are absolutely brilliant.
I have no coherent thoughts to add to this discussion, just wanted to post some praise for your insightful blog.
Thank you, Sonia! It’s kind of mind blowing when all of this stuff clicks together. It make me want to lick Alan Ball’s brain!
I adore Sunny, but, honestly, I didn’t have to work very hard to convince her that Bill was an emissary of Satan’s. LOL!
LMAO! Nope, you did not.
Oh, and I adore you too!
[...] interesting implications for the allegorical Christian reading of True Blood I outlined in “Sookie’s Sojourn.” (Godfrey means “Peace of [...]
[...] Comment on Sookie’s Sojourn by The Ancient Pythoness » Blog Archive » Godric, Godfrey, or Godwin… [...] interesting implications for the allegorical Christian reading of True Blood I outlined in “Sookie’s Sojourn.” (Godfrey means “Peace of [...] [...]
I hadn’t remembered some detail last time I read your blog. You say there is a Last Supper of Leonardo in Fangtasia. When I rewatched the series I tried to be carefull about decoration details such as books and art or anything where the camera phosed enough to show it. But I can’t find that piece, could you tell me in which episode and which place was it? I find it curious and even important… More now that we saw the poster for s3, which has many similarities with Leonardo’s.
I never noticed it in the show, but a few weeks ago when I ran across a still of the back of the bar, there it was, pretty high up on the wall and centered over the bar. Today with limited time, the pic I just posted above is the best I could do. You can make out the bottom half of the Last Supper up and to the left of the beer taps. I’ll keep looking for the other photo. It was in focus and you could easily make out the figures.
I didn’t notice the snake in the same spot over the bar at Merlotte’s either, but on the hbo iphone ap there is a little TB game. At Sam’s bar, the snake is one of the objects you’re supposed to find.
The easiest way to see it is by watching the “invitation to the set” video that came out today.
AS and O’Hare are sitting just in front of it!
It’s the first thing I noticed and went “whoa! why is there a painting of the Last Supper in Fangtasia???!!!”
Then I remembered your theories and yes, it makes sense LOL.
By the way, I recently discovered this blog and I LOVE YOU!
How serendipitous! Thanks for the info and for the love; both are appreciated. P
I’ll work on getting a screen capture up.
OMGoodness! Eric’s isn’t the only makeover. Compare the image of Fangtasia above to this:
http://sookieverseblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/invitation-to-the-set/#comment-9721
For s3, the bar has been decluttered and the painting centered over the taps, where the bust of Christ was in s2, acting as a place keeper, not doubt.
With this change and the cast poster, it looks like AB intends to make the Christian symbolism more overt this season.
yep, it’s REALLY starting to become obvious now, innit?
He might as well have “I’m the Christ figure here people!” printed on his shirt!
Actually, AB is still being quite subtle about it… I don’t think many viewers notice this kind of hints, especially when they don’t even suspect there ARE hints to be noticed.
I don’t care whether casual viewers get it or not. I’m just thrilled that is is becoming too overt for careful viewers to miss. I’ve been called nutso too many times about this. And of course I’m going enjoy telling the BLs that Eric is God without them being able to dismiss it.
Omigosh, this is awesome! How much more overt are they going to get?
This just blew my mind, most people would never consider that there would be all of this underlying religious symbolism, especially with the racy content of the show. And really, am I to assume that the same comparison could be made to the SVM books? Excellent post AP.
Yes, like the alchemy, it’s not as overt, but it’s there.
As you have pointed out we have God the Father, Goderic, the Son, Eric, but we a missing the Holy Ghost or Spirit. The Fleur de lis has been used as a religious symbol for the Holy Trinity. In S2 ep5 I noticed that there is a Fleur de lis lit in neon at Merlottes bar. Sam is speaking with Daphne and the sign is right above his head all lit up. In the S3 promo Sookie, Tara & Laffayette, he Laffy, is wearing a cap with a Fleur de lis embroidered in sequins. If Eric is going to turn Laffy, does this fit your theory and how? You have mentioned that you have been called a loon for your theory, well, we loons have to stick together. One day we may have a flock of loons.
You are brilliant. I had the sense that the fleur de lis sign was meaningful, but I hadn’t really devoted the time yet exploring the significance. Of course. Laffy, the holy spirit!
This fits in sooo well with my alchemical prediction that Eric will make Laffy a vampire. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/Child. Now I really can’t wait to discover what Eric bequeaths to him.
In the new promo Laffy has a big ole sparkly ’5′ on his shirt, and it looks like that might be associated with the spirit. Must research this further.
Glad I could help. Another question possibly OT. Why isn’t Sookie addicted to V? She gets it straight from the source so to speak. We have been told both in the books and TB that V is addictive. Is it her drop of fae blood? If this has been dealt with could someone point me in the right direction?
Remeber that V and the vampire’s blood that a human gets from a straight exchange isn’t the same. V doesn’t has the same characteristics of the blood that is given to a human in a blood exchange, because it has been stored outside for an indefinite ammount of time, and this changes his properties. This is the answer that I also read from CH regarding this theme in her forum.
Thanks Gigi. Can always count on you to have an answer.
Just as an aside, the Fleur di Lis is also the logo for the NO “Saints” football team. Most viewers would associate it with football.
I figured it either had to do with sports or booze.
Like a previous poster I prefer the parallels with Mary Magdalen. I’m unhappy with the Augustinian and Pauline view of women which has been so influential, I find it very mysoginistic. The idea that Eve alone was responsible for the Fall could be seen as a story promoted by men to keep women down. The Gnostic Gospels paint a different picture of what early Christianity was like, sometmes in marked contrast to the four official Gospels chosen long after the death of Christ.
For me, the gnostic gospels are a polluted well. I can’t get past the dualism. The belief that the world, all matter in it, and the human body are nothing more than manifestastions of evil is problematic, to say the least. I won’t even get into their sick view of sex.
I’m not sure that we have been reading the same texts!
The gnostic gospels use the language of Christianity, but the meaning the gnostics derived from the text is hidden beneath the surface story and quite different from the traditional story. The gnostics viewed the Hebrew God who created the material world as evil. Light and spirit (only associated with the masculine) was good. Darkness and matter (associated with the feminine) was evil. The earth was the literal cesspool of the universe. Bodies were vessels that imprisoned the soul. Bodies were filthy, and sex was evil because it caused more souls to be imprisoned in the material world. At death men were freed from the prison of the body so their souls went to heaven. Women returned to the filthy earth from which they had come. That’s why one of the gnostic gospels (I forget which) says that Jesus is going to turn the righteous women into men. Otherwise they couldn’t leave the material world and enter heaven.
I don’t think this was true of all gnostics .There seems to have been quite a range of ideas in the surviving writings. Some of the Gospels also refer to the Divine Mother and give the femnine principal an important role.
You’re right that there was a lot of diversity in Christian gnosticism, but my understanding is that they all accepted the Genesis account of the Fall, and what I outlined earlier is the basic belief system that they shared. Some viewed the materiel world more as an error than out right evil. Some allowed for a little good to be found in the material world. Some were ascetic to the point that they abstained from sex and ate only enough to keep themselves barely alive; others believed they could get away with anything because nothing they did in the material world mattered.
I believe some did see the godhead as both masculine and feminine, but the divine feminine is very different than the fleshy feminine, IMO. It’s a hyper madonna-whore complex. I think by the Divine Mother you are referring to the goddess Sophia who played an important role in most gnostic sects. There are some beautiful writings about her. She was the mother of the evil/erroneous material Hebrew god. He was created when she was in a fallen (evil or erroneous) state herself. The gnostic salvation story is the story of her fall from spiritual perfection and her subsequent restoration by Jesus, the masculine spiritual force. Gnostics did not believe in the incarnation of Jesus. Mary the mother of God was reduced to being a surrogate and Jesus only had what appeared to be a human body because it was unimaginable that the perfected divine masculine spirit could or would mingle with feminine flesh or be imprisoned in a human body.
It’s along time since I read Elaine Pagels and other works on Gnosticism so thank you for the explanation, I’ll look into it again. I probably know far more about Eastern religions and philosophies than some of the Western traditions. I’ve just read your piece on alchemy which was really fascinating. I’ve always felt that the Great Work was in essence a path or allegory of spiritual transformation as much as anything else.
Tsogyal, I wanted to thank you for bringing up the issue of Gnosticism. I’m sure you got more than you bargained for; clearly I have a strong bias against it. However, you caused me to reexamine Gnosticism and deepen my understanding of it.
I was mistaken in the assumption that the Gnostics accepted all of Genesis. It appears that they accepted the first creation story of Adam and Eve but not the second one, in which Eve is created from Adam’s body.
If you have the time and the desire to look into it further, I found this review of Pagels in the ecumenical journal published by the Princeton Theological Seminary informative:
http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1981/v37-4-criticscorner4.htm
I’m glad you liked the post on alchemy. It’s surprising how so many fantasy authors are using it now for the purposes you mentioned. I wonder if TB is the first tv show to use it. Have you read ‘The Hunger Games?’ I know that Eastern and Western alchemy have their differences, but how close are they? Do they share a symbolic language?
That’s a really big question, I think I would have to write you a 20,000 word dissertation on that one but someone somewhere has probably already done so as the Inner Alchemy of the Taoists and the Great Work both deal with spiritual transformation
However I think that the differences and similarities are quite subtle and not just a case of saying there are four elements in this tradition and five elements in that one. All civilizations that have had an alchemical tradition start from a particular view of the world and (wo)man’s place in it so whatever symbols that are used have their roots in that world view. However the material world remains the same and so do the (al)chemical transformations of matter when subject to “manipulation”.
I haven’t read “The Hunger Games” but when I’ve finished the project I’m supposed to be working on (I shouldn’t really be spending time thinking about things like alchemy) I’ll check it out.
I know that Western alchemy was influenced heavily by Eastern. From your response, though, it sounds like, at the very least, the symbolic system was discreet to the culture it was practiced in. I’ve had so much trouble finding information about Western alchemy that I’m not holding out much hope for stumbling upon a comparative treatise, but who knows?
Please let me know if you do!
There are a few general history books available which are written by academics or scientists which might be good place to start. I also had a quick look on the web and there seems to be quite a frew of the original writings by alchemists out there. Gone are the days when they all had to be ordered through a library!
Hey Tsogyal, after my comment to you yesterday about Gnosticism, it occurred to me that the goddess of wisdom, Sophia, who fell in to darkness sounds an awful lot like Sophie Anne, especially when you take in to consideration AB’s spoiler that she has a thing about daylight.
If she turns out to be sky fae, I think AB is pulling her story from Gnostic mythology. Incorporating both the Gnostic and Orthodox POVs would fit TB much better than depicting one ultimate Orthodox truth since it is a post modern show.
Bill as the Snake would be seen as a hero in the Gnostic version and as the villain in the Orthodox. Jesus saves in both, but the objects of salvation are different. For the Gnostic allegory Eric would ‘save’ SA by killling her and releasing her spirit from it’s dark prison, allowing her to return to the light. That’s probably what would happen to Bill, too. Death is giving the Gnostics what they want, the annihilation of matter. For the Orthodox allegory, Eric would ‘save’ Sookie’ from Bill and lead her to spiritual enlightenment. I’m not one who thinks Sookie and Eric will have a HEA, but with this version, the could very easily marry in the end, Sookie representing Christi’s bride, the church.
You may well be right, I’m not wise enough to judge!
Season 3 will be here very soon so I guess we should find out more unless it’s all misdirection on the writer’s part. Any thoughts on why AB would choose Gnostic mythology?
I think it has to do with Bill. The symbolism identifies him as the Snake in the Garden. From the Gnostic POV, that makes him the hero of the piece, so it’s a perfect counterpoint to the orthodox Christian allegory that seems to be there too.
I never identified it as Gnostic. I kept noticing ‘occult’ symbolism everywhere and thought that was the ‘duality’ we were seeing but Gnosticism makes much more sense.
Now that’s interesting. Can you share some examples?
PS, there are also books on alchemy by Jung, Eliade and Levi but since they have their own particular take on the subject they’re sometimes not very objective.
That’s the very reason I’ve stayed away from their writings on alchemy. I need to get a better handle on the historical before getting into their interpretations.
You’re so good at picking up on all the images they’ve included, I’m in awe!
If that were true, I wouldn’t still be stumbling over stuff from s1.
This is really great, you’ve done a terrific job in putting this all together. I can totally see the resemblance and where they are taking Eric and Sookie.
Because now I can’t see any future together for them in TB.
But I’m also a bit sad
Eric will probably sacrifice his love or life for the safety and wellbeing of Sookie and she will go back to her old life… or maybe she’ll end up in Fairyland, who knows.
Not happy about that at all!
Hi Freyja! I’m so glad you made it over here. Sorry to burst your bubble. I came to terms with CH saying Sookie wouldn’t have a traditional HEA last year. It was hard, but now I get my HEA from FF, and I’m good with that because they always have Sookie becoming immortal in some way.
Honestly, there is no HEA for a vampire and a human, no matter what Isabel says. Hugo may turn into a science experiment for her, but she’s not going to want to kiss him when he loses his teeth and smells like urine.
I think CH was heading towards S/E coming together in book 8 (she only had 2 books left then) and then few months after it was published she made the new contract for 13 books.
If not… I think it’s quite cruel to write a story for 10 years where you literally make your readers fall in love with the main male character only to burst the bubble in the last 2 books!
If S/E are united it won’t be a traditional HEA, it will end up as platonic in the last 10-20 years of her life! Much like if she was turned, that will only last for few years until it turns platonic.
I totally see Eric and Sookie ending up like Eric and Pam. Deeply connected but platonic even if they started out as lovers. I think Sookie will be able to count on Eric’s friendship, loyalty and protection for the rest of her life, even though I think she will marry a ‘normal’ guy and have many children and grandchildren.
That I see also with CH and I wish that it could be with Eric .But I think it be ALCIDE cause from the frist time they meet they like each other .
I agree. As long as they both survive the ending, this is how it will be. There won’t be a big breakup.
Sookie will find someone to grow old with, Eric will be king, and they will always be connected through the love and respect they have for one another.
[...] association with law enforcement, his allegorical identity as Jesus, and possibly even Sookie. In Sookie’s Sojourn I identified Sookie with Eve, but she could also be connected with [...]