Before we go any further, I’m going to ask you not to judge me. The fact that he’s a vampire and he’s sexy as hell should not dissuade you from reading the rest of this post. Please, continue on.
A lot of people are probably apt to include the Sookie Sackhouse novels (which spawned the HBO television show, True Blood) on the long list of “Vampire Romance Novels that I Would Not Touch With a Fifty-Foot Pole”, but I think that’s an unfair assessment. I understand entirely if you’ve developed a bad taste in your mouth for anything involving vampires, and yes, there is an outrageously large quantity of god-awful vampire literature out there these days, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be willing to give something a chance every now and then.
I gave the Sookie Stackhouse novels a fair chance because I genuinely enjoyed the first season of True Blood, and I’m glad that I allowed both versions of this story into my life because they have – in my opinion – a very healthy mixture of sexy romance and “Holy crap, these vampires are crazy, heartless, evil monsters!” One of the characters who exemplifies this is Eric Northman, the thousand year old vampire who was turned back when he was still a viking prince. He’s my favorite character in the series for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he is played on the show by the extremely handsome Alexander Skarsgård. Depending on which medium you partake in – the books or the show – things are a little different, but in both versions Eric can be a deliciously sexy romantic one moment and a vicious, torturous killer the next. That, if I’m being perfectly honest, is exactly how I like my vampires. I won’t hang my head in shame and try to hide the fact that I enjoy the sexy vampire trope, but I also like my monsters to be monsters, so I thoroughly enjoy this mixture that author Charlaine Harris has put together. Many of the characters in the books/show (not just the vampires, but the other supernaturals as well) fall into this sexy/psychopath category, but Eric is my favorite amongst them because of the extremes in his personality. There are moments during which he seems to be the most loving, protective, emotional individual in the Universe, and then the next moment he’s tearing apart an entire room full of people. He is an amazing blend of swoon-worthy and frightening-to-the-core.
Regardless of your feelings toward the “new” generations of vampires, I would definitely suggest both the books and the show. Give them a try…you might be pleasantly surprised.
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Hey girl hey!!!! You had me at “sexy as hell”.
Lol!
I may have to get HBO.
FYI Ive been Team Edward for years.
Katie 🌻🌻🌻
I will say that a good portion of my favorite shows of the past few years have been HBO ones. I think it’s the fact that being an HBO show means that you can pretty much do whatever you like (sex, profanity, violence, etc), and that freedom makes a lot of shows a lot better than they might have been otherwise. Can you imagine a Game of Thrones show without the ability to have gory violence?
I never really got on board the whole “Team Whoever” thing myself, but if I WERE to choose a team it would definitely be Edward. Werewolves are cool too, but I’m all about the vampires. lol
Seriously werewolves? Lol! And yes HBO had lots of freedom. I need to reconsider getting that. Lol. 😄😄
I thought Eric was a great character and I love the actor they chose for him in True Blood. I think I liked the books better than the TV show. Did you read the whole series?
I just recently finished the last book, yup. 🙂 I’m a bit on the fence as far as which medium I preferred…I was a big fan of the books, but I really liked some of the different directions that they took in the show (like making Lafayette an important character).
i liked the book series. eric and quinn were my favorite characters. after quinn’s storyline, she started to do a little bit too much bed hopping for my tastes so i have read the last four/five books. the world building is excellent though. and the characters are quite unique. and love elvis! =D
I found the bed-hopping a little off-putting as well. I think the author was just trying to up the sexy quotient, but it didn’t work much for me. Otherwise I loved the series though. 🙂 I definitely agree with you on the world-building, and I near died when Elvis showed up! lol
Not put off at all! I loved the pic straight off.
Right? I had a lot of fun looking for a good pic for the post. XD
I haven’t got round to True Blood, but I am a big fan of vampires, although my favourite ones don’t sparkle. I got into the genre with The Lost Boys. Even from his picture, Eric looks like sexy trouble. 😉
Sophie
Sophie’s Thoughts & Fumbles – A to Z Ghosts
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The vampires of True Blood DEFINITELY do not sparkle. lol If you’re a big fan of vampires you would probably love the heck out of that show. And yes, Eric is the sexiest kind of trouble around. ^_~
I only watched the first season of “True Blood”. By the time it came back and I saw the trailers for the 2nd season, it basically lost me and I never came back to it.
A-Z Challenge at Father Nature’s Corner
That’s one of the reasons that I prefer not to watch a show until it is complete. Having to wait for the next season often makes me lose interest.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed every season of True Blood except the last one, which just seemed a bit too much for me.
He’s sexy, all right. Haven’t heard of him before, but now I know. Thank you.
Silvia @
SilviaWrites
No prob. 😀
This is how I like my vampires too 😉
Can’t wait to see what happened to Eric next season. No more sunbathing in the nude for him…
Oh my…that scene…*fans self* lol
I used to watch True Blood, but just sort of fell out of it after season three. I don’t know why, I just did. Eric was a fav, though, but my all time fav in the series was Alcide. I’ve wanted to read the books, but I just haven’t gotten around to them. I’m more into Game of Thrones now and want to read those first. I will have to say, I am a fan of Twilight, but I am getting rather tired of all the vampire books, movies, and TV shows. It’s getting to be too much.
Alcide was a pretty awesome character as well…he isn’t QUITE as focused on in the books, but he still plays a big part. He shows up quite a bit more in the later seasons of True Blood though, so you might enjoy going back to those if you get the chance. 🙂
I’m a huge vampire fan, but I have to agree with you…the market is pretty saturated right now. The thing is, I don’t think that the problem is so much the AMOUNT of vampire media, as it is that so much of it is god-awful. In the attempt to make a quick buck off of the influx of vampire fandom, some pretty awful stuff is being printed/aired, and that inadvertently depreciates the value of the good stuff.
I’m afraid I didn’t gel with the show – there were too many characters I wanted to hit over the head with something hard, but I loved Eric. It was the way he was so unrepentant and collected (as well as being very nice to look at :)).
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings – AtoZ (Vampires)
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lol Of course, not every show is going to be for everyone. 🙂
I agree though, it was a big addition to his character that Eric is always so collected not matter what is going on!
I’m a huge horror fan, and I should be dancing for joy that Twilight crossed over and there are now 300 horror series on TV. But I’m not. Monsters aren’t supposed to be sexy. Ever. I liked smart, tough Sookie in the first season or two. Then all the actors started taking off their clothes and the series became porn. I guess I have Shades of Gray to thank for that.
OK, I take it back. Angel and Spike were sexy. And Ann Rice’s novels too…so there’s some wiggle room.
lol
I totally understand what you’re saying. Even though I actually enjoy sexy monsters, the trend toward NOTHING BUT sexy monsters has made me twitch more than once. I enjoy them, but I don’t want EVERY SINGLE MONSTER to be a stud-muffin. 😛 When I first heard that a zombie romance was coming out (Warm Bodies) I almost choked on my own rage. Luckily it turned out to be a pretty amusing and funny movie, but I believe that it’s an exception to the rule and I’ll be really annoyed if a tidal wave of zombie romances start pouring out of the woodworks.
I like Eric. He makes for a good vampire in HBO series. I have not read the books.
I grew up on movie vampires like the 79 Dracula and Lost Boys and Near Dark. So I “get” the sexy vampire trope (even in the book Dracula had a sexual charm about him, even if he was a predator) but I tend to like my monsters to be monsters. Eric does do vicious killer well.
That’s why I love him. 🙂 Sure, he’s sexy as hell, but he also proves on multiple occasions that he can be a ruthless, heartless, evil creature, and that’s important to me in a monster. ^_~
Both the books and the series is amazing in their own right. They are simliar yet very much different. I’ve read each book and saw every episode. Eric in my opinion was a dream boat in both the shows and book.
Agreed! I actually saw several seasons of the show before I read any of the books and I was really surprised at how different they turned out to be. Very similar in many ways, but very different in many as well.
So I was going to check out your ‘F’ post, (which I will shortly) but then I saw the viking vampire, and had to chime in: Great choice! I caught the first two seasons of True Blood and keep meaning to check out the Sookie series books. I love Eric’s unpredictable nature. It seems to fit the idea of bloodthirsty vamps better than the tamer versions. 🙂
Yes, the “Viking Vampire” post has definitely been a fan favorite. lol It seems that a lot of people love Eric, even those who don’t necessarily like the show or the books that much. XD
Great post. I’m a huge fan of both the books and show. Eric and Alcide – yummy eye candy! They serve as wall paper on my gadgets, and Eric’s sexy mid-drift has been my Instagram profile pic… Yes, I’m a huge fan. 🙂
How could you not be? ^_~
My husband has a list of male characters who he refers to as my “boyfriends” because I love them so much (Sam and Dean Winchester, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, the 9th Doctor, etc etc) but he doesn’t even know about Eric and Bill and Alcide because he never watched the show with me. lol
[…] Vampire Slayer) Day 3: Castiel (the Monster-Fighting Angel) Day 4: Deadpool (the Lunatic Assassin) Day 5: Eric Northman (the Viking Vampire) Day 6: Freddy Krueger (the Nightmare Demon) Day 7: Gau (the Wild Orphan) Day 8: Han Solo (the Cocky […]