10 Memorable True Blood Deaths

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Today we’re looking back at the 10 most memorable True Blood deaths. On a show where deaths happened as often as Jason Stackhouse said something endearingly stupid, how does one define “memorable”? We looked at the deaths that were particularly emotionally devastating, had a major impact on a storyline, and/or were significant to another character.

WARNING: The videos included in this post contain graphic depictions of violence, death, nudity, and sex. If you’re here, then we assume you are of age!

10. TBBN News Anchor

The scene from episode 3.09, “Everything is Broken”, started out innocuously enough – an evening news anchor presents a story about a rally in favor of the Vampire Rights Amendment which proposed to give vampires equal rights in the United States. Suddenly someone appears behind the anchorman and rips his spine from his torso, killing him instantly. Vampire Russell Edgington, King of Mississippi and Talbot’s grieving lover, has chosen this very public way of derailing all the talk of humans and vampires living in harmony. His vitriolic speech outlining vampires as the top of the food chain instantly made him the enemy of many of our heroes and set up several seasons of conflict. This death scene also gave us one of the greatest lines from the entire series: “Now time for the weather. Tiffany?”

9. Talbot Angelis

Talbot ranks higher than the news anchor because it was his death that precipitated Russell losing control and murdering a human on live television. While visiting Russell’s mansion to gather information from a very willing Talbot, Eric discovered that Russell was the vampire responsible for killing his entire family 1,000 years ago. In revenge, Eric seduced and killed Talbot, ending the tentative alliance between Russell and the vampires in Louisiana and sparking several seasons of havoc and treachery. (Episode 3.08 “Night on the Sun”)

8. Steve Newlin

The Reverend Steve Newlin’s character journey was a roller coaster ride over the course of the series. We first met him and his wife, Sarah, in season 2. As leaders of the cult Fellowship of the Sun, the Newlins were staunchly anti-vampire and presented a united front as happily married conservatives. It quickly became clear that this was a facade, but it was still a shock when Steve turned up on Jason Stackhouse’s doorstep in season 4 as a newly-minted vampire. With a huge crush on Jason. Rebuffed by Jason, Steve connects with Russell Edgington and the pair attempt to take over the world, wreaking havoc for two seasons. In one of True Blood’s finest hours, episode 6.09  “Life Matters“, Bill sacrifices himself to rescue imprisoned vampires by letting them feed off his blood mixed with Warlow’s which allows them to walk in the sun. An imprisoned Steve complains that he barely got any blood just as his ex-wife Sarah opens a hatch letting the sunlight stream in. Realizing that he is the only one the sun will effect, Steve tries to hide in the shadows, but a vengeful Eric has Steve in his sights. “Every time someone I love has died, you’ve been there,” he tells Steve as Eric holds him in the light. Steve’s last words are “I love you…JASON STACKHOUSE!”

7. Adele “Gran” Stackhouse

The first season of True Blood was an introduction to vampires and the people of Bon Temps, but it also had an overarching mystery storyline as women were being murdered. Sookie lives with her Gran, Adele Stackhouse, the woman who raised her and Jason after their parents’ died when the siblings were young. Kind but strong, Gran knew about Sookie’s telepathic power early on and counseled her granddaughter to view it as a gift. She welcomed Bill into her home and her church when many others still viewed him with mistrust and distaste. She wanted her grandchildren to be happy. So when Sookie came home after work at the end of episode 1.05, “Sparks Fly Out”, to find Gran brutally murdered on the kitchen floor, viewers were as stunned as Sookie was. In the following episode, “Cold Ground”, Sookie’s grief overwhelms her at Gran’s funeral. The person who accepted her and supported her is gone, and she hears what her fellow townspeople are thinking. Fleeing, Sookie returns home where she ceremoniously eats the final pie Gran will ever make and weeps in a scene set to a beautiful, original song. Sookie then runs to Bill’s house where they make love for the first time.

6. Russell Edgington

Former King of Mississippi, former Chancellor of the Authority, 3,000-year-old Russell Edgington has seen and done more than anyone can imagine. Powerful and power-hungry, Russell spent three seasons trying to take over the world and establish vampires at the top of the food chain. We thought we’d seen the last of him in the season 3 finale when Bill and Eric dragged Russell to the site of a new parking garage being built by Alcide’s crew and encased their nemesis in concrete for 100 years. But at the end of season 4, one of Alcide’s crew called him to the parking garage where he discovered a gaping hole and broken silver chains where Russell was buried. When season 5 premiered, we learned that Russell had indeed been rescued and nursed back to health in a plot to overthrow the Authority. In the season 5 finale, “Save Yourself”, while searching for Sookie and her magical fae blood, Russell manages to get his hands on a faery elder and ingests her blood instead, making him even more powerful. Russell advances on the rest of the fae, including Sookie, who blast him with their light to no avail. Just as he is about to get his hands on Sookie, Russell is swept away in a blur. Eric has arrived, having sensed Sookie’s fear, and to both protect Sookie and avenge his own family’s deaths, he stakes Russell, ending a 3,000-year reign of terror.

5. Godric

Eric’s sire was only part of the show for a couple of episodes in season 2, but we had already fallen for the enigmatic, 2,000-year-old vampire when he chose to meet the sun in one of the show’s best episodes. Godric spent his first millennium as a vampire ruthlessly hunting and killing humans, shaped by his own sire’s horrific torture and abuse. As he taught his progeny – Eric and Nora – there is only survival or death. By the time we met Godric, however, he had evolved to become compassionate and wise. Espousing peaceful co-existence with humans, Godric originally offered himself to the Fellowship of the Sun as a sacrifice, only to be rescued by Eric. After returning to his vampire nest, Godric reveals that he has decided that 2,000 years is a long enough life. He has decided to meet the sun voluntarily. Eric begs him not to do it, but Godric commands him not to interfere and to leave him atop the hotel as the sun begins to rise. Sookie stays with Godric, talking about God and Eric and Godric’s joy in the true death. Her tears on his behalf move Godric, “Human tears…2000 years and I can still be surprised. In this I see God.” (Episode 2.09, “I Will Rise Up”)

4. Alcide Herveaux

Alcide’s death shocked us for its abruptness and seeming randomness. Season 7 opened with Sookie and Alcide together, happy, enjoying a sense of normalcy – or what passes for normalcy when a fairy and a werewolf are in a relationship. As Joe Manganiello said, obviously that couldn’t last. In episode 7.03, “A Shot in the Dark”, after successfully protecting Sookie from a band of Hep-V vampires, Alcide is fatally shot. Jessica offers to turn him, but Sookie (rightfully, we’d argue) declines and that’s the end of our favorite werewolf. Fans were grieved at Alcide’s sudden demise, and it still ranks as one of the most shocking deaths in the series.

3. Tara Thornton (Twice)

Who can forget Sookie’s screams when Tara died in her arms after taking a bullet meant for Sookie herself? When a crazed Debbie Pelt ambushes Sookie for “stealing” Alcide in the season 4 finale, Tara jumps in front of her friend, taking a shotgun blast to the head. It’s a gruesome, heartwrenching scene as Sookie pleads for help…and the screen fades to black, ending the season.

Sookie’s request that Pam turn Tara into a vampire was a surprising development in season 5, but it did give us a couple more seasons with her as Tara explored her new undead existence. Alas, that new life didn’t last long – in the season 7 premiere, Hep-V vampires attack a party in Bon Temps and kill Tara (along with random townspeople) while she is protecting her mother, Lettie Mae. Tara’s second death compels Sookie to find and eradicate the Hep-V vampires, a season-long threat.

2. Terry Bellefleur

Talk about a gut punch! Terry’s death in episode 6.06, “Don’t You Feel Me”, left fans reeling with shock and grief. I’m still not over it, to be honest. Struggling with the guilt and horror of having killed his former friend Patrick, Terry becomes suicidal. Desperate to help him, Holly and Arlene conspire to glamour Terry so that he forgets all about killing Patrick. The spell works but, tragically, the women didn’t realize that Terry had hired a sniper to kill him when he least expected it. Terry’s death leads to one of True Blood‘s finest episodes, “Life Matters“, filled with flashbacks and eulogies that let us say goodbye to Terry, one of the series’ most loveable characters.

1. Bill Compton

After seven seasons of watching Bill struggle with his vampire existence, we wept as he chose the true death. During the final season of True Blood, we saw again and again how Bill regretted the terrible things he did as a vampire and as Billith. We saw him sacrifice himself for others repeatedly and, through flashbacks, we saw his love for his human family and his sorrow at being taken from them too soon. Infected with Hep-V, Bill refuses the cure and instead asks Sookie to grant him the true death. He is tired of the life Lorena gave him 150 years ago. He loves Sookie too much to let her go, but he also loves her too much to make her live in the dark with him. So, in the final episode, “Thank You”, he asks that she release him from this life. It takes Sookie a while to agree to his request, but finally, she does. At the last moment, with a makeshift stake held at Bill’s heart, Sookie hesitates. Bill takes matters into his own hands at last and impales himself, ending his tortured existence and setting Sookie free.

That’s our list. Which True Blood deaths still stand out in your mind all these years later?