While we wait for True Blood season 4, we’re taking a look at some of the  names in the Sookieverse to see what they reveal about the characters and how they might enhance our perceptions. We’ve already examined Sookie herself, now we move on to the Viking.

Eric Northman

As enigmatic as the character is, his name gives away a fair amount of his history with little subtlety. Eric is derived from the Old Norse (aka Viking) word Eirkir, a compound word meaning “eternal ruler”. Northman is, quite literally, “man from the North”, again referring to the Vikings. Put the two together and you have an eternal Viking ruler. Well, duh.

Fortunately for our Eric, until the Japanese developed Tru Blood, few people realized that the “eternal” part was so precise. Now that he is able to go public with the fact that he’s a vampire, and a certain part of the population is aware that he is a ruler, of sorts, in Louisiana, his name is a succinct description on its own. But does it reveal more about his ambitions? Is Eric destined to be a ruler in truth? One of the vampire kings? Or does his ancient name instead hint at a more abstract idea of rule? Perhaps his ultimate ambition is to be the sovereign over his own life, submitting to no one else.