"True to the end." So the posters for the seventh and final season of True Blood boldly declared. But the marketers of HBO's vampire drama declined to elucidate just exactly who was being true to what: The show remaining true to its deliciously campy, hyper-sexual roots? The viewers remaining true to a show that occasionally (or often) tested their will to continue? Or True Blood faerie Sookie Stackhouse remaining true to her human roots? As the show enters its final three episodes, it's that last stipulation that seems on the shakiest ground.
No matter what happens in the next three weeks, one thing is certain come 10 p.m. on Sunday, August 24: True Blood will be over. Forever. Without the need to leave things set up for an eighth season, there's no telling what stunts the writers might pull. Maybe everyone will die. Maybe Lilith and the Ifrit will return and make smokemonster godbabies. And maybe — just maybe — Sookie will become a vampire.
Fans of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries novels on which True Blood is based know that that's not how the story ends... on the page, at least. In Dead Ever After, the series ended with Sookie, firmly still human/fae, having shunned romantic relationships with both Eric and Bill in favor of going steady with Sam. So HBO's adaptation ending with a turned Sookie would be quite the departure. But there are a few reasons to believe that might be where Season 7 is headed:
They're totally gonna change the ending.
Nobody liked the ending of Dead Ever After . And I mean nobody. There's just no way HBO's adaptation is going to end with Sookie and Sam shacking up and living happily ever after. The television series has already strayed too far from its source material — it would make absolutely no sense to remain faithful to its ending at this point. And what better way to shock viewers — readers and non-readers alike — than by turning Sookie into a fanger? Despite on-and-off relationships with vampires over the course of seven seasons, she's never seriously considered taking that leap, which means that if she were to be turned, it would probably be because...
Sookie keeps putting herself in danger.
Seriously, it's like she has a death wish or something. Whether she's using herself as bait for diseased vamps, personally organizing an attack on their lair, or desperately searching for a cure to Hep-V, it seems like she's constantly putting other people's needs ahead of her own safety this season. Jeez, how disgustingly selfless of her, amiright? But, sarcasm aside, it's more than a little dangerous in Bon Temps at the moment, and if Sookie keeps putting herself at risk, she's going to end up in mortal danger very soon. And we all saw how Sookie handled Tara's first death...
Bill and Sookeh! have rekindled their romance.
Besides the physical peril she's in, there's also the emotional kind. Our favorite telepathic waitress ended the last episode by rekindling her romance with Bill despite our severest protests. If Sookie were to suddenly find herself bleeding out on the ground one day due to her persistent meddling, Bill surely wouldn't hesitate to save his love by turning her. And even if she didn't have to be saved from the brink of death, there's always the possibility that she could ask to be turned. Human companions of vampires have been known to do that — for example, Russell Edgington turned his lover Talbot so the two could be together forever.
It would make her immortal. Literally.
Sookie may have no desire to become a vampire (at this point, at least), but most of her friends are blood-suckers. It's actually kind of depressing to imagine that, after the series ends, Sookie slowly dwindles away and dies while all the people most important to her just carry on without her. True Blood may be ending, but that doesn't mean we don't want Sookie to be happy. And having her be immortal at the end allows us to imagine her leading a long, full life — before maybe one day meeting the True Death on her own terms, like Eric's maker Godric.
The poster is a big fat spoiler.
Oh, and then there's this: the promotional posters for Season 7 all show Sookie crying blood. And who are the only creatures in True Blood known to have hemoglobin in their tear ducts? That's right, vampires. Could it just be an artistic choice for an eye-catching image? Sure. But could it also be a massive hint about the end of the show? You bet. And HBO might have given us another hint in the final two episode titles: "Love Is To Die" and "Thank You." That penultimate title is ominous, although the name of the finale makes it sound as though someone is grateful for being saved from the certain death. If the writers aren't planning on turning Sookie, then they're certainly enjoying making us think they are.
Whatever fate has in store for Sookie, one thing is for sure: we're all gonna miss our fervrit sheeerr:
(I just had to fit that in there.)
Images: HBO (6); letusnerd.com
