It sounds like you missed the whole point about Eric Northmsn. Eric did not espouse ideologues,causes or organizations. He was totally into his own agenda.he wanted to lead his live the way he wanted,be left alone and protect those he loved. Anyone who interfered with those objectives met a swift and deadly end. At the Authority ,he did whatever he he had to do to get away from them.they were interfering with is freedom and independence and he thought they were nut cases. When he resisted them, they put him through endless torture. So, he decided to pretend to go along with them.he only stayed as long as he did because he wanted to rescue Nora from her drug induced worship of Lilith.He thought the whole worship of Lilith thing was *beep* up . He was obviously shocked when he heard Bill's plan to blow up the True Blood factories to amp up the vampire plan of using humans like cattle and he wanted nothing more than to get away and rescue to Sookie' when he heard Edgington's plan to use her to find a way to day walk. He killed the general because he knew a human/ Vanpire war was inevitable and he wanted to show the vampire councilors that was to be trusted,so he could escape. It worked and he and Nora were sent out on a mission to find Russel and stop him. His plan worked and he go rescue Sookie from Russelll. After that,n he took the authority down,not because he was espousing the human cause against their's but because they had Pam and he wanted her back and because they had kept him a prisoner and tortured him.Later he took down vamp camp for the same reasons. Eric was on no ones side but his own and those he cared about. He was the same when he was a Vikinh Prince. Nora, at one said to him,m " still such a Viking" and he replied " Always" that was who Eric Northman was in a nutshell.
It was Bill Compton who constantly espoused his humanity and bemoaned it's lost. He constantly pretended to be on the side of the humans only to do what suited himself in the end. He joined the authority and Lilith so he could become the " chosen" and when he did,he followed only his agenda to further his own interest in acquiring day walking so vampires could reign supreme with him at their head as the supreme leader,mhe tought he was a vampire God even though Lilith told him she was no God and neither was he, he stil wrote a book claiming to have been a vampire God. When he lost his super God like power,he quickly shifted his agenda and became the benefactor of the people of Bon Temp, working hand in hand with Mayor Sam to supposedly save humans and vampires from Hep V infected vamps. Bill was a self loathing chameleon who always sought to further his own interests and have power over others. This is who he was as a person, regardless of his vampirism. In the end he became self destructive and wanted nothing more than his own end as is often the case with nihilistic indidualsl
The point of TB was to show that people were people ,human,vampire, werewolf,shapeshifter or faerie. They were good ,bad and everything in between. Governor Burell and Sarah Newlin were,in their own way just a phychotic as Russell Edgington with their nihistic agendas. Vamp camp was just as invested in torture as the Authority. Werewolves could be benign and mind their own business, turn phychotic when taking V ( their version of meth) or with the wrong leadership turn on humans and vampires and start gobbling them up.
Alan Ball, the show creator, said there were no real heroes or villains on TB ,no good vs evil clearly defined battle lines..That's the show that was written. The one you saw was one you filtered through the prism of your own biases and prejudices.
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caroline1789
8 years ago
Maggie's View: Your analysis of Eric Northman is dead-on right. Except for one thing -- the spirit of Godric. Godric, who has taken on a sort of religious aura to Eric - almost Christ-like -- appears twice to tell Eric that this is sick, evil, that Lilith is a false God. He goes on to say ( again, pardon the butchered paraphrase ) " You know this - but your sister doesn't." And with that he implores Eric to save Nora.
And Eric did know it. He is something more than the selfish, self-absorbed Viking, at least in Season 5. And Bill succumbs to the lust for power, becoming everything that he's not --as a vampire or as a human being. Alan Ball just thought it would be cool to make Bill very dark fir awhile. It is out of character - and was rather disturbing to me. He even became rather sadistic with Jessica. Then we see him in Season 6 - Bilith. Tormented by his ability to see the future and on a single-minded mission to save his kind -- especially Jessica.
In the first episode of Season 6, we see this really sadistic SOB from Season 5, tucking Jessica into bed, like a good Daddy. And asking her to keep him human.
As for Eric, who I've grown to appreciate far more than I did in the past, you've got him right but there's a little more humanity in him than your analysis allows. When his sister becomes interested in tasting Sookie's blood or something like that, Eric makes her promise not to ever harm her. But the promise isn't enough. He asks her to "swear on Godric". -- now that's as religious as it comes. As Sookie once said that if Eric didn't have this human side to him, she couldn't have ever cared for him---blood or no blood.
You make an astute point when you say that TB has no heroes or villains. To a great extent, this observation is valid -- and one of the reasons it was so good. Yet there are people who are *beep* ( like Mrs Fortenbury, that obnoxious orthodontist Vince, Sookie's father and Jessica's father, the three rednecks, that creep who supports all the evil things the Marnie/ Antonia character does, the Grand Dragon, Sweetie, and Im sure Incould name more. ) As for the werewolves, they are a pretty foul lot but there are exceptions like Alcede
and even his feckless father. I remember Eric's distaste when Sookie tells him she's been in a relationship with someone - and it's Alcede. I think what your saying is that there are good and evil characters in every group-- no stereotyping.
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