I frequent many True Blood forums and blogs and one common I thing I hear among Team Bill fans is that Eric Northman is a misogynist. This really leaves me baffled because it has no basis in reality… NONE… whatsoever.
But they rant about how Eric “forced” Sookie to drink his blood as if it were some sort of show of his dominance over her. They go on and on about how he treated Yvetta, using her for sex and then casting her aside like garbage. These events in no way demonstrate misogyny or a hatred of women. In fact the character of Eric Northman has shown that he does respect women and deeply values those that are lucky enough to be close to him. When you get right down to it, Eric shows more respect for women on the show than he does men.
Some Examples of Eric Northman’s Relationships with Women on the True Blood TV Series
Pam is the greatest example of Eric’s respect for the female sex. When he decided to become a maker he chose a woman to become his progeny. He often does “pull rank” and defer to her the tasks he does not want to do but such is the life of the big boss. Eric not only respects Pam enough to make her his business partner, he loves her enough to leave his considerable wealth to her in the event that he dies. And how does Pam respond to him? She loves him as much as he loves her. The way they treat each other in their rare moments of tenderness leave no doubt that their relationship is one of love, trust, and mutual respect.
In season four when he does not remember her even… or Sookie, he apologizes after he shouts at her saying it was rude of him to do so. Amnesia Eric was actually very well mannered and respectful of the ladies in particular.
Isabel becomes part of the equation when the Bon Temps vamps travel to Dallas to find Godric. Isabel is one of Godric’s subjects AND a woman but Eric treats her with respect. In comparison he shows little respect for Godric’s other companion Stan. Isabel and Eric converse easily outside the FOTS compound and Eric shows interest in her attachment to humans. Never are we left to believe that Eric feels her gender makes her “less than” him.
Eric cannot quite understand his own interest in Sookie Stackhouse but at no time are we led to believe this is because of gender. Rather it is about species. Eric simply does not become attached to humans and this is understandable considering their short years. But despite this, Eric develops an interest in Sookie that even he cannot fathom. He allows Sookie to curse at him and slap him without even blinking. Instead of considering these acts as insults like most would, he admires her strength. It is not strength and fortitude in a “woman” that surprises him it is the display of these qualities in a “breather”. Even when Sookie ignores his advice and gets herself into trouble he does not berate her or talk down to her. He treats her as an equal and when he tricked her into drinking some of his blood he did so only to get closer to her. His own fascination in her made him want to share a deeper bond with her and while it was a sneaky trick, he did not do it out of malice or to subjugate her.
I especially love his reaction to her tears. He does not see it as a sign of weakness and he does not berate her for being emotional. He only expresses his discomfort with her tears because of the feelings they awaken in him. On the flip side he also does not hide his own tears (when Godric died) from her. A true misogynist would be very uncomfortable with showing weakness and vulnerability in front of a woman. Eric took comfort in Sookie’s presence on that rooftop. He looked at her directly with bloody tears streaming down his face, in gratitude for the fact that she was there and would be with his maker at the end. In another show of vulnerability we see inside Eric’s daydream about Sookie. He allows Sookie to be the aggressor and the fact that she smells his memories shows us that he longs for her to know him more intimately than anyone else. Quite simply the idea that Eric devalues Sookie or shows some sort of contempt for her as a woman, is pure fiction. At the end of season three we see that putting Sookie in any uncomfortable situation even when it may mean saving his own life is not acceptable to Eric. In the end he does choose to use her fae blood in a plot… but only to ensure the future safety of Pam and Sookie… two women.
Yvetta is a stripper who works for Eric and Pam at their bar, Fangtasia. When she auditions he makes it quite clear that he wants a professional as well as sexual relationship. Yvetta makes the same thing clear with her demeanor and body language. When Eric thinks he will soon meet his end, he makes preparations and leaves Pam the whole of his wealth in a will. Yvetta becomes angry and demands to know why she is not a recipient and some harsh words are exchanged between the two. Eric tells her he only promised her a good job and good sex and he calls her a gold digging whore. Is this proof that Eric devalues and subjugates women? Heck no! This woman was in his employ for a mere week or two only. His harsh words for Yvetta were well deserved as we can hardly believe that she was in love with Eric after this short amount of time. She was sexually involved with both Eric and Pam at the same time and she was being paid for the work she did for Fangtasia. Eric’s harsh words were directed at someone who felt entitled to his assets simply because she was sleeping with him.
Sophie Anne is another woman in Eric’s life and up until she betrayed and framed him he showed the utmost respect for her as his superior and as a person of authority. This is remarkable given that he is much older and stronger than she is and yet she is his superior. Queen Sophie Anne is also slightly ridiculous with her penchants for Yatzee and lottery tickets yet Eric humors her by playing hours of Yatzee and he helps her pay off her shopping debt by selling vampire blood for her, something that is risky for him to do. Up until her betrayal when all bets were off, he treated her no different than a male superior.
Hadley is used in one of Eric’s plans to learn more about Sookie’s appeal to certain vampires but the fact that he uses her as leverage against Sophie Anne does not show contempt. It shows that he will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Out of respect for the fact that Hadley is Sookie cousin AND to show that he meant her no harm, he gave her his blood after feeding on her, which is something we know he rarely does.
Two women have been shown as part of Eric’s human life as well. One was maidservant he was with when his human family was attacked. We are left with no reason to suspect that the maidservant was not enjoying these attentions. Since Eric was in line to be the Viking King I am sure of it. Eric’s actions can be chalked up to the wildness of youth. The other woman is his mother. They seemed to be friendly and affectionate with each other in what little we saw and he was certainly devastated by the death of his mother and baby sister. The fact that he spends the next thousand years trying to get revenge tells us a lot about how much he cared for his family.
Much can be said about Eric Northman but implying that he is disrespectful to women, that he uses and abuses them, or that he is otherwise a misogynist, is way off base.
To further this case we need to look at Eric in an instance when he is showing clear cut contempt and irreverence. When Sam visits Fangtasia we see this. Eric clearly regards “shifters” as unworthy of his time and below his own status. He lounges instead of sitting up to address Sam respectfully. His whole demeanor tells us he is bored with what Sam is saying and that he has no respect for him, despite the fact that they do not know each other. He looks away when Sam talks and avoids eye contact. At no time have we seen Eric act this way with women. Case closed.
Very nice.
very well said! i just really don’t get them BL… i hope they see the light soon.
it might not have anything to do with this, but.. eric looked damn hot, in one of the last scenes, covered in cement XD
-seriosly, he did
It’s interesting to me that so many Bill fans attribute BILL’S personality traits to Eric.
BILL was irritable that a woman rescued him. BILL is always trying to tell Sookie what to do, answering for her, condescending to her, etc. To put it mildly, he’s a controlling, possessive douchebag who shows far more contempt for women than Eric ever could. Look at the way he flippantly disregards Jessica. He pawns her off on Eric and Pam when he can’t handle her (even though HE TURNED HER). When he gets her back, he won’t even allow for any differences in temperament or situation. HE doesn’t feed on humans so SHE can’t, either….even though, under the right circumstances, it’s perfectly legal. He doesn’t let Jessica become involved in anything….and he abandons her at the drop of a hat to do something more important/more interesting/more fun. He left her to the werewolves to have sex with Sookie, and he tried releasing her at only a month old because he just couldn’t deal after losing his precious Sookie.
He treated Lorena in a similar fashion. Granted, Lorena was a horrid bitch, but he broke her neck and twisted her head completely around….while having sex with her. Those are not the traits of a gentleman.
Wow, went off for a minute there. I just find it interesting that there are so many women out there who think Bill is a perfect gentleman. Hopefully the season finale last night shook up their True Blood world views a bit. Eric tricked Sookie into feeding on his blood? Sure. At least he didn’t allow two psychos to beat her to within an inch of her life so he could feed her his blood….as someone else did *cough*Bill*cough*.
omg u took the words right out of my mouth! could not have said it better myself!! bill treats sookie like she’s some half witted human..eric treats her like a girl he’s interested in..that pretty much says it all!
Is it possible that after reading this I’m falling more in love with this character? Everything you said is so true.
And just something that Bill’s supporters should consider: Bill disclaimed Sookie when he was at Russell’s house. He clearly said “Sookie is no longer mine”. Then once Lorena was killed and everyone else’s life was put at risk saving his butt, he reclaims her as if she was an object with no feelings nor say in the matter. That’s more misogynistic to me than tricking someone.
VERY NICE ARTICLE!
I LOVED IT!
BL just need to STFU and look at their Bill who almost killed Sookie and alwasy tried to silence her as a dog!!!
Eric is everything but misogynist and Yvetta was willingly happy to have sex with him…HE promised her a job and good sex becouse THIS IS WHAT EVERY WOMEN WANTED FROM HIM as in the books (Book 9 the conv with Soookie).
That’s wht AB put Yvetta in the show and also maybe to lead her to the witch stuff…
BL’s are just a bunch of delusionals who thinks True Blood is Friends or Dawson’s creek. Poor them. I will say a prayer for you.
The one thing I didn’t like was how he in the flashback where Russell Edgington kills his family Eric was so devastated by his father’s death – much more so than his mother’s and baby sister’s. In that episode, it was all about his father and his father’s honor. I think the death of the woman who brought him into this world and his infant sister would be just – if not more – important to him. It was a little disconcerting.
@ Ashlie
I don’t think he was less upset by the murder of his mother and sister. I think he went to his father because he was still alive, and at that moment it was more important to go to the last living member of his family. When his father died and Eric began weeping, he was weeping at the loss of his whole family, not just his father.
Hi, I’ve just found this awesome site and I want to add my 2 cents to this topic.
No, I really don’t think Eric is a mysoginist.
Proof of it is that he chose a woman to be his life companion and he doesn’t want her to be submissive or bow her head in front of him like a servant. Pam always feels comfortable to speak her mind in front of him and even to be a little rude sometimes. Nonetheless Eric never punishes her or disregard her opinion, and when he chooses to dismiss her suggestions(like in 3×01) he feels bad for it.
A lot of people believe that being straightforward and honest (almost to the point of harshness) to women means that you disregard them. It’s quite the opposite. Treating women as incapacitated infants or porcelain dolls is mysoginist. That’s exactly Bill’s behavior. Bill dominates Sookie, he controls every aspect of her life and he manipulates her thoughts. He feels entitled to decide what’s better for her, showing no respect for her ideas or desires (3×12: Sookie risked her life twice to save Eric but Bill highhandedly decides that he has to die, no matter what her will is).
Bill often tells Sookie to hush, he keeps things for her because “he doesn’t want to hurt her”… Well this is the typical reasoning of a hopeless mysoginist who thinks that a woman is a fragile creature who is not strong enough to handle the truth.
Eric is the fathest thing from a mysogynist. Please, don’t make me laugh BLs. Why do they say this, because of the Yvetta sex? Really? Yvetta was a willing participant. She came onto Eric the second she met him. She wanted a job there and wanted to have sex with him. She was an opportunistic goldigger, and people wonder why Eric doesn’t respect her. He treats her fairly and gives her what is promised to her, and that’s it. He doesnt lie to her or lead her on, and doesn’t force her into anything. And she was clearly enjoying their little arrangement until she found out she would be getting nothing in his will. Why would she even think that? He had known her for a week, and she acts like she deserves a place in his will?
And the bullet sucking, that supposedly makes him a mysogynist. Well, the tables have turned haven’t they, with the new revelation about Bill letting to Sookie get beaten to death to get his blood into her and to make himself look like a hero so Sookie, his victim, would fall for him…who’s the misogynist now?
And a man that tells a woman how she should act, what she should believe, and belittles her would probably be deemed a mysogynist….guess who that sounds like? It isn’t Eric.
I think the whole bullet sucking thing is also kind of blown out of proportion… it was a test on Eric’s part. Though he wasn’t in danger, he wanted to see if Sookie thought he was worth saving in a life or death situation, and clearly, she did. It was a way to get his blood into her, yes, but also a way to see if she was at least a fraction as interested in him as he was in her. And this is mirrored again when, even though they’ve been rather horrible to each other, after he’s fed on her, as soon as Sookie sees he’s in danger of dying she runs out and saves his life, again. And how upset she was when Bill told her he’d ‘ended’ Eric. And how happy she is to see he survived his sad little attempt to kill him? Her eyes were shining.
>>And how upset she was when Bill told her he’d ‘ended’ Eric.<<
I don´t think so. As I saw this scene I thought WTF? She wasn´t nearly as "upset" or shocked as she should have been. To me she even appeared to be *smitten* of the fact that Bill would kill Eric (and all the other vamps who tasted her) "for her".
To me, Bill acted like a psychopath. A weird stalker. I would be creeped out by such a guy. But Sookie didn´t appear to be afraid of him. She only rescinded the invitation after Eric told her of Bill´s betrayal, not because Bill told her that he killed Eric or whatsoever. I didn´t quite understand Sookie at that time.
On topic:
I don´t think that Eric is a misogynist, too. But Bill didn´t appear very misogynistic to me, too. A possesive, jealous, BORING, whiny, manipulative and over-protective freak, yes. But not misogynistic.
And Eric can be an a-hole, too. He told Sookie that she meant nothing to him, in Russel´s mansion, he threatened her and manhandled her. He used her for his revenge, and to me it was never clear that he felt more than interest and some sexual attraction for her. Not like in the books. That does disappoint me a bit …
I totally agree with everyone. I think Bill really does love Sookie but he has done so much damage with his lies and tricks, and letting her get beat up…well thats unforgivable, ESPECIALLY UNFORGIVABLE because she had just saved his life from those same people! She risked her own safety to help him when she didn’t even know him and he repays her by letting those psychopaths beat her up to further his own agenda.
Oh good grief. I’m going to sound a million years old saying this but I will never understand this modern expectations that all vampires are going to go around being romantic protective figures. Eric isn’t a misogynist, he’s a vampire. I think people spend way too much time trying to romanticize vampires in order to make their monstrous qualities more palatable. Any creature which preys on another species as a food source is going to naturally adapt a superior attitude when dealing with that species. I do agree that out of all the characters on True Blood Eric has perhaps the best attitude towards women presented, but honestly he’s just as dismissive of Lafayette and Sam and any other human he has to deal with. If he has a superior attitude at all its because he’s a vampire. What’s more he’s a vampire who prior to being turned was a viking warrior (and assuming he took up his father’s charge) king of his people. There’s bound to be some entitlement and arrogance from that kind of background.
great acticle, keep up the story lines..
WELL SAID!
The more you discuss Eric’s traits about women, the more I like him.