There aren’t too many nannies who are familiar with the adages of Erasmus, but Andy Bellefleur’s was. He said so in season two when he was trapped with Sam in the refrigerator at Merlotte’s. Quoting ‘Annie the Nanny,’ he opined, ”In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king.” While I believe the saying foreshadows future plot developments, the way it is juxtaposed in Andy’s conversation is significant. In short order, Andy speaks of Annie the Nanny and Nancy Levoir. The purpose of the consonance and assonance in the repeated ‘an’ and ‘y’ sounds in all these words is to call attention to them and link them. They are variations of the same name, the Biblical Hannah, which means ‘God has favored (or graced) me.’ They allude to another True Blood character who is also named after the Hebrew Hannah, one of the few female prophets in the Old Testament. That is Nan Flanagan. Note the ‘an’ repetition, not only in her given name, which you might expect with etymologically similar names, but also sustained in her surname, Flanagan. What Andy did by linking all these ‘an’ words to Erasmus’s adage was identify Nan Flanagan as the ancient Greek prophet and vampire judge, the Ancient Pythoness.
Erasmus wrote a whole book of adages, but the one Andy quoted, “In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king,” alludes to another prophet, the Norse god, Odin, who gave up one of his eyes so that he could see the future.*
The modern connotation of prophet is someone who has received divine knowledge of the future, but traditionally the meaning is not limited to telling the future. It means someone chosen to speak for god; in other words, a prophet is a spokesperson representing the supernatural. It is also an accurate description of what Nan Flanagan does. In fact, ‘oracle,’ a synonym for ‘prophet,’ is from the Latin orare, which doesn’t mean to tell the future, but to plead a case as a lawyer would in front of a court or a spokesperson would at a press conference. Thus the Pythoness is transformed from being the spokesperson of the god Apollo to the spokesperson for the Anti-Vampire League, pleading the case for equal rights to the American public. In both her role in Ancient Greece and her role in the vampire world, the Pythoness is the mouthpiece of the supernatural world to the natural one. (Maryann, as the intermediary between the townsfolk and her horned god, another prophet, and Sophie Anne will probably turn out to be one as well.)
Andy didn’t just pinpoint the identity of the Ancient Pythoness. He also linked her with Nancy Lavoir. They both share versions of the same first name, and even Lavoir’s alias, Ms. Jeanette, is derived from the name ‘John,’ which has the same meaning as all the ‘an’ names we’ve been looking at, “Favored by God.”
The name, ‘Nancy Lavoir,’ in addition to bringing to mind the famous New Orleans voodoo queen, Marie Laveau is especially interesting. Lavoir is a French name and could be translated as ‘the seer,’ identifying Ms. Jeanette with supernatural insight. However, Ms. Jeanette didn’t really have any insight into the supernatural world. She was a fraud, and that is exactly what the name ‘Lavoir’ suggests because if it is translated as ‘the seer,’ it is done so erroneously. The correct translation of Lavoir is something even prosaic than a pharmacy clerk; it is a wash house.
So why is the fraudulent Ms. Jeanette linked with Nan Flanagan? Because in ancient Greece, oracles and seers were two sides of the same coin.
From wikipedia:
Oracles were thought to be portals through which the gods spoke to man. In this sense they were different from seers who interpreted signs sent by the gods through bird signs, animal entrails, and other various methods.
The Pythia, the oracle at Delphi, only gave prophecies the seventh day of each month… during the nine warmer months of the year; thus, Delphi was not the major source of divination for the ancient Greeks…As a result, seers were the main source of everyday divination.
The Delphic Oracle exerted considerable influence throughout Hellenic culture. Distinctively, this female was essentially the highest authority both civilly and religiously in male-dominated ancient Greece. She responded to the questions of citizens, foreigners, kings, and philosophers on issues of political impact, war, duty, crime, laws–even personal issues.
The same class distinction that was in play in ancient Greece with the Pythoness serving the elites and those wealthy enough to travel to see her while the common people sought guidance from seers is played out in True Blood with the elites and those who pride themselves on being well informed listening to Nan Flanagan on television and the dispossessed seeking help from Ms. Jeanette. The question is, are the elites any more intelligent for trusting Nan Flanagan than Lettie Mae and Tara were for trusting Ms. Jeanette? Are the words of the Ancient Pythoness any more true than Ms. Jeanette’s? Eric did warn not to listen to the pretty blond lady on tv.
Some fanciful speculation: There are so many names derived from ‘Hannah’ that I find it curious ’Nan’ was the one chosen for the Ancient Pythoness. Could this be to link her with Bill? After all, every nanny goat needs a billy goat. If so, both Christian and Norse mythology could be at work. Christian iconography connects goats with sin and Satan. In Norse mythology, Thor has a pair of black goats that he has a conflicted relationship with. They pull his chariot by day, and at night, he slaughters them and eats them. As long as he doesn’t break their bones, the goats regenerate and are ready to pull his chariot again next morning. Could Nan and Bill’s machinations be the vehicle that will ultimately lead Eric to the throne of Louisiana?
Update
Season 3 introduced another prophet with an ‘an’ name, Destiny Camilla Ann, who saw her future when she told Bill, “I know the truth about life. It’s a hell I’ll never get out of alive.” From Bill’s reaction it was clear that she was prophesying for him, too.
*MASpencer commenting at Sookieverse Blog first suggested that Andy’s quote was an allusion to Odin.
Maryanne, Sophie-Anne, Daphne LANdry, lot’s of ‘an’ names in lots of iterations. Fascinating!
Indeed.
Renee, I read just about every post on your blog this weekend after you put up that linkto my post on SVB. So I apologize for my delay writing you back on this. Really excellent, all around. I agree with most of your connections and theories, and many things were positively jaw-dropping! (The religious overtones of the Sookie’s Sojourn post blew me away in particular)
As you saw, I had posted my theory about the AP on Sookieverse, but thought it best respond to you here directly. You have extremely valid points about the AVL-Nan- Pythia parallels. But there’s something I can’t quite get my head around. If Nan is indeed that old and well-respected, why would Eric be as flippant as he is to her? I would think she’d be revered by him – and everyone (as in the books) as someone wise beyond belief. Even if he is angry at how she’s belittled his maker, I think it would seem out of place (and blatantly disrespectful) to have reacted in such a threatening manner. Especially seeing how he cow-tows to QSA (to her face, anyway.)
I also have a hard time justifying her wasting her time debating the Newlins, and probably many idiotic interviewers since the Great Revelation. I would think the AP would be above all that nonsense.
You have certainly pinpointed the sticky wicket, Skarlove. You have to pretty much divorce yourself from the image of the AP in the books, to see AB’s AP. I think he created the magister to take over her judicial function. In the S2 arcana, Pam says NF is getting too big for her britches. There is definitely no respect there or admiration there. The way I see it, AB could be doing one of two things. He could intend to drop clues to her identity throughout the series, as a nod to bookies, but never incorporate it into the narrative. This is what he did with Maryann’s secret were-bird identity ( http://www.ancientpythoness.com/2009/12/21/what-was-maryann ). The other option is that in the course of the series, as Nan acquires more power and influence, her human identity will be revealed to humans and vamps alike. It seems like AB is making all the most powerful vampires hybrids: RE-were, SA-fae, Eric-were or were blooded, so it would fit for NF to have been an oracle with a direct line to the supernatural world in her human life. It’s looking more and more like TB is going to explore how these vamps reconnect with their pre-vamp lives.