Pin It

Be sure to read Sookieverse Blog’s review of Dead in the Family before proceeding with this post.

The Great Work, alchemy, is the transmutation of base matter into gold. This perfect metal can only be produced when all imperfections in both the metal and in the spirit of the alchemist have been burned away. In addition to gold, the Great Work also renders immortality. Previously I described the three stage process, how authors from Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling have used it, and how Dead Until Dark completed one alchemical cycle. In fact, this is the pattern for each novel.* What I haven’t discussed is the overarching alchemical cycle that encompasses the entire series, turning the entire thirteen books into one magnum opus. With the introduction of Bill into her life, Dead Until Dark begins the negredo phase characterized with putrefaction, decomposition, darkness, and depression. It ends in Club Dallas with Sookie’s metaphorical death (at Bill’s hands) and resurrection (at Eric’s) in the trunk of the white Lincoln.

Many readers have noted the exceptional nature of Dead to the World and Dead in the Family in the series. That is because these two novels mark the transition between alchemical stages. Breaking with the previous alchemical pattern of negredo to albedo to rubedo that the first three novels follow, Dead to the World begins with the albedo or white stage, which encompasses almost the entire novel. In this novel, the Witch War marks the rubedo phase, and then it ends with Sookie in a black funk, indicative of the negredo. Dead to the World resets the pattern for all the subsequent novels; they begin with the white stage and end with the black because they belong to the overarching albedo phase. The novels from  Dead to the World to From Dead to Worse encompass a period of purification and refining. These novels provide the experiences that Sookie needs to grow and develop even though they show little evidence of her personal evolution.

With Dead in the Family, the overarching alchemical cycle comes into focus. It is the transition novel from the white stage to the red rubedo self-sacrificial one. The hallmarks of the red stage include revealing the secret marriage of opposites that occurred in the previous stage and producing the hermaphroditic orphan that fully integrates the natures of both parents, the sun king and the moon queen. The outcome of this stage is spiritual perfection, gold, and immortality.

Harris has switched the attributes of  her alchemical king and queen. Sookie is the sun queen to Eric’s moon king. This is the novel that finally shows evidence of the growth and development in Sookie’s character that occurred in the albedo novels, another characteristic of the red phase. Sookie not only shows the forethought and insight that was lacking in previous novels, but her generosity and sacrificial nature come to the fore. I predict that they will feature even more prominently in future novels and that ultimately the series will end with Sookie giving up her life for Eric.

In the very first novel, Eric saved Sookie from Long Shadow by killing him. The albedo novel, Dead as a Doornail,dealt with the ramifications of Eric’s actions. Hot Rain, Long Shadow’s maker, sent Charles Twining to take the life of someone dear to Eric, namely Sookie. In my view, Long Shadow will indeed cast a long shadow over the entire series and Hot Rain will make a direct attempt on Eric’s life in one of the upcoming rubedo novels, probably the last. The biggest clue to this outcome is the name Hot Rain. In alchemy, the black stage is associated with the hot and dry nature of a compost heap and the albedo with a cold wetness. (Recall the frigid rain at the beginning of Dead to the World.) The rubedo stage is hot and wet, so it seems that Harris chose the moniker ‘Hot Rain’ specifically with the rubedo stage in mind. The one thing we know about Hot Rain is that his desire to avenge Long Shadow’s death has not yet been satisfied.

I’m also looking for Russell, whose name is associated with the color red, to play a significant role in the resolution of series, probably either supporting or opposing the crowning of Eric as King of Louisiana. Russell was in one negredo novel and one albedo one, so he’s due to at least put in an appearance in one of the rubedo novels.

What about the golden child? In the Twilight series, Bella gives birth to Reneesme who is both fully human and fully vampire. She becomes the dual natured hermaphrodite. This solution will not work because Charlaine Harris has definitively said that Sookie and Eric will not have a child and that Sookie will not become a vampire. Where will the dual natured child come from and who will gain immortality?

The answer could be foreshadowed in Dead in the Family in the relationship between the hemophiliac orphan, Alexei, and his maker Appius.  If hunter is orphaned and later mortally wounded, I think Sookie would ask Eric to turn him.  Hunter would become the hermaphroditic orphan uniting Sookie’s telepathy and fae blood with Eric’s vampire qualities. Hunter , the well adjusted vampire fairy prince would become the mirror opposite to the crazed Russian vampire prince.

*True Blood has an alchemical structure, but it is being manifested differently than the one Harris is using in the novels. This post only applies the novels. In regards to True Blood, at this point, I’m still standing by this and this. In any case, I think it likely that Alan Ball will choose to provide an alternate ending for Sookie’s story.