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.