What’s in a Name: Alcide Herveaux

This is the name that prompted the beginning of our What’s in a Name series. True Blood fan Juliana wrote to us a few weeks ago with an interesting fact about Alcide’s etymology, which reminded me that I had this feature series on the back burner for that elusive day when I have “free time”. Rather than keep waiting for that to happen, I decided to grab the bull by the horns, or the were by the ears, and get started. Although she prefers to lurk, Juliana agreed to be a guest writer this week and reveal the meaning behind the big werewolf’s name.

Alcide Herveaux

The first name Alcide is the French version of the Greek name Alcides (which means “strong man”), though it is also used as an Italian name. The name Alcides may not be familiar to most but it is related to a well known person within Greek mythology. Alcides was the birth name of Heracles. Heracles is also commonly known of as Hercules. The name Alcides was changed to Heracles in an attempt to calm Hera’s anger because Heracles was the resulting offspring of one of Hera’s husband Zeus’ affairs. Hera was known to try to get revenge on Zeus for being unfaithful through his mortal children.

Alcides character is introduced in the series by repaying his father’s debt by helping Eric. This could be a simplified parallel to Heracles twelve labors. Heracles was driven into a fit of madness by Hera and killed his children. The twelve labors were to purify him of this sin, which would not have happened if Zeus had not had the affair that set off Hera’s jealousy and desire for revenge.

Heracles fought dangerous archaic forces to make the world safe for mankind. The gods could only defeat the gigantes, or giants, with the aid of a mortal. This may foreshadow Alcides part in making the world safe for mankind from the vampires. The war against the gigantes is believed to have something to do with the Titans trying to overthrow the Olympians. The Olympians were younger gods who had overthrown the Titans. This could parallel younger supernaturals, such as shifters and weres, fighting older supernaturals, such as the vampires, for power.

The surname Herveaux is not an authentic surname. Herveaux is similar to the French surname Hervieux. Other surnames from the series have history and meaning to them so why would Herveaux be used in place of Hervieux? If you take the names apart “vieux” translates to old, and “veaux” translates to calf in French. This once again brings us back to Heracles. The 10th labor (which was intended to be the last labor) involved fetching the cattle of Geryon and taking them to Eurystheus in Greece. There were attempts made by others to steal the cattle, Cacus, a giant, even succeeding in stealing some of them. Heracles left the remainder of the cattle and recovered the stolen ones and killed Cacus. Later one of the cattle left the group and because it was of such fine stock Heracles left the rest of the cattle to retrieve the one that had gone missing. When he found the missing cattle the only way to get it back was to fight for its return from the boxer Eryx, who was killed in the fight. Upon reaching Greece Hera sent gadfly to sting the cattle which scattered them in all directions. Heracles recovered the ones he could, but the ones he couldn’t get back became wild.

How does this relate to the series? The 10th labor was intended to be the final requirement for his atonement, but two of his labors were not counted causing two tasks to be added. Could this parallel to Alcide playing bodyguard for Sookie to repay his father’s debt, and if so will more be asked of him by Eric? Eurystheus and Heracles were both the grandchildren of Perseus, because Perseus was the father of Alcaeus who fathered Amphitryon who was Heracles stepfather. Thus they were related but not from the same direct lineage, which can be compared to vampires and weres being “related” because they are both supernaturals who began life as mortals, though different in origin and outcome. The theft of cattle could be paralleled to some weres being taken astray by Russell Edgington, if vampires are paralleled to the giants again. The bull that strays from the group and must be retrieved could be paralleled to Alcide saving Sookie and bringing her back safely. To be “bull headed” is to be headstrong, and that is a characteristic seen in Sookie. If Sookie is compared to the lost bull then is the death of Debbie’s fiance, Coot, meant to parallel the death of Eryx? As far as the cattle at the end of Heracles 10th labor scattering, it could be meant to parallel a future fate of the supernaturals.

Eurystheus was the king in place of Heracles because of Hera’s actions. Eurystheus determined the twelve labors that Heracles must perform for atonement. The name Eric means “eternal ruler”. This fits into the parallel between Eric and Alcide in the series and Eurystheus and Heracles in mythology.

How far will the parallels between Alcide and Heracles go in the series? – Juliana