Notes on Godric

After two fleeting appearances in flashbacks and last Sunday’s cliffhanger (one of three or four cliffhangers in that one episode), this Sunday on True Blood (the episode titled “Timebomb”—and no spoilers here, I promise) Godric made a more substantial showing. Fans of the series have been anticipating his appearance for a while—he’s the boy vampire king of Texas as well as the “maker” of Eric, the vampire sheriff of Louisiana.



Twenty-year-old Danish actor Allan Hyde plays the character somewhere between Shakespeare's Puck and Hitchcock's Norman Bates, with just a dash of Jesus tossed in, as well. (In an earlier episode this season, Jesus is called the "first vampire," by a character who's ostensibly a fundamentalist Christian!) Hyde stands about 5’7” with blue/green eyes and dark blond hair, apparently darkened to black for the show. His background in Scandinavian theater has largely been in English-language musicals like The Sound of Music—he speaks French and German, in addition to fluent English.

Last night I mentioned in passing that I thought he was pretty hot, and one of my friends watching with me just didn’t see it. Frankly, even I am not sure what the appeal is for me, since Hyde doesn’t fit my usual “type.” But he definitely has a certain allure.

Here’s what works for me, though—the combination of tribal tattoos and pale, cream-cheese complexion and of a slightly lisping soft-spokenness and the neck, shoulders, and triceps of a wrestler (the sports listed on his cv, however, are skiing and skateboarding).

The name “Godric” is Old English for “god-king,” which seems fitting for this almost all-powerful, yet capriciously compassionate vampire, who is, as he stated in last night’s episode, “older than your Jesus.” There’s more to be said about the possible significance of this—especially in light of his recent run-ins with anti-vampire Christians—but to go there would mean backing out on my promise of no spoilers. There’s more to be said, too, about his history with Eric, but so far all of that is mysterious to us viewers who have not read the books upon which it’s based.

I also don’t know how long to expect Godric to survive—the fatality rate has been steadily piling up for the past two or three episodes … but, again, no spoilers.


And now the reports are that Evan Rachel Wood is set to appear in three weeks as Sophie-Ann, the stark raving apeshit crazy lesbian vampire queen of Louisiana—so gentle bloodsucking Godric may be effectively eclipsed if not totally exterminated before the end of season two—still, I wouldn’t kick him out of my coffin.