Image credit: HBO

I have been a fan of the HBO series True Blood since it splattered across my screen a few seasons ago. Director and writer Alan Ball won me over with his fantastic series Six Feet Under, and I’ve been watching what he does ever since.  True Blood and Six Feet Under are a universe apart in just about every way, and yet Ball has managed to imbue the characters in True Blood–which is equal parts horror thrill ride and human psycho drama–with many of the qualities that made Six Feet Under so compelling; namely, well-developed characters with narrative arcs aplenty.

And so, with the season finale of True Blood upon us (fittingly called “Save Yourself”), what follows is a psycho-narrative breakdown of a few characters, perchance to give us fans something to chew on between now and when the next season begins.

Bill Compton

image credit: HBO

Bill’s role this season has taken him full circle from lovestruck vampire passivist (early seasons), to calculating King of Louisianna, to charismatic religious convert dedicated to a higher mission. The mission, regrettably, is to assert vampire dominance over all humankind in the name of a bloodthirsty god bent on chaos.

What’s intriguing about Bill is that he’s a relatively young vampire–turned during the Civil War–and for most of his vampiric existence he’s been confused about his purpose. We know from past seasons’ back story that when first turned, his maker used him to suck the life from decades of unsuspecting upper class victims. But Bill’s spark of humanity was never fully expunged, and eventually he broke free from her hold and set out to live a mainstreamer’s life.

It’s the time period when Bill become a vampire that, I think, says the most about his character. He was a soldier fighting in the bloodiest war in US history just trying to get back to his family, but he never made it. And now, through seasons of trying to figure out what or who he should be, he’s still trying to get back to something he can call “real.” Lilith has convinced him that it is her and what she offers that will finally fill that need — and to attain her offering, he must go through a bloody war yet again. The question: is he really convinced, or is there still a simmering spark left untouched inside that allowed him to escape the first succubus who manipulated him?

Eric Northman

Image credit: HBO

Eric Northman’s character arcs have been something to behold the last couple seasons.  We started True Blood knowing him as the 1000 year old Viking vampire who would gleefully kill anyone who even thought of crossing him.  I recall one scene in particular where we watched him dismember a redneck vampire hater in the dungeon of Fangtastia.  Most of the scene played out in the shadows from the perspective of Lafayette (brilliantly shot), and left the impression that Northman was the sort of killer just waiting for anyone to give him an excuse to work his trade.

But that was then. Eric the vampire Viking took a strange turn when an ancient witch’s spell wiped his memory, and although he eventually recovered, he’s never returned to the “cross me and die” killer he once was.  In fact, Northman has in some ways become the mirror anti-hero to Bill Compton’s progressively more frightening character. Eric is ancient compared to Bill, and could kill him without blinking, and yet he’s stunned at Bill’s ascent to power and willingness to cross lines that even Eric wouldn’t cross (at least, the new Eric).  While no mainstreamer–and a cynic beyond compare–Eric knows that the war against humanity is wrong. The question is — what will he do (what can he do) to stop it?  Especially now that his maker, Godric, Eric’s conscience, has seemingly died a second death at the hands of Lilith.