A vampire’s maker has some power over him/her; I wonder if their “grandmaker” would (i.e. their maker’s maker).
Russell is 2,800 years old. While the only vampire we know of that he’s made is Talbot he’s probably made others over the millennia; when the Magister ordered Bill to make Jessica he seemed surprised that Bill hadn’t procreated in 140+ years of being vamp.
If you do have some power over your progeny’s progeny (or your progeny’s progeny’s progeny’s progeny) it would explain some about the power of ancient vampires. While Russell could probably tell you the names of the vamps he’s made, just like a human who lived to be immortal and reproduced even once just a once a century would eventually lose track of his descendants a vampire at the head of a line probably would as well: it’s possible that Lorena was made by a vampire who was made by a vampire who was made by a vampire who was made by a vampire who was made by a vampire who was made by Russell and he wouldn’t even know it, but would have an element of power over them, though Eric, being a thousand years old himself and made by Godric who was a thousand years his senior, very likely doesn’t have Russell anywhere in his direct vamp genealogy and thus is more immune to him in a fight than one of Russell’s “descendants” would be.
There’s actually something about that in the latest book, Death In The Family, if you’re curious
Eric’s maker, who isn’t named Godric or much like him in the books, arrives to spend time with Eric, and brings along Eric’s “younger brother.” Pam isn’t affected by Eric’s maker, though Eric and his brother are. Sookie is actually more adversely affected via the blood bond she and Eric share than Pam is.
Not really a “continuity error”, but more like a plot hole… There is simply no way there would be any kind of dialog about living together in harmony between humans and vampires. Vampires, with their glamoring power and blatant need to feed on humans wouldn’t stand the light of day (pun intended) in any kind of political discussion. Unless they’ve glamored the entire human race into thinking their just cuddly little playthings.
This was actually my biggest suspension of disbelief with the show from day one. Vampires exist? Sure. They came out of the coffin and us humans actually accepted them? HA!
Book spoilers:
In the books, it’s actually sort of a secret that vampires are really, truly dead. They claimed to have some disease that makes them sensitive to sunlight and requires blood for nourishment. Also, in the books, certain countries didn’t handle the reveal of vampires very well. The US did though.
In reference to Godric: it’s possible that he was simply a powerful bad-ass by his nature. Due to his mental state when we meet him, we have no idea what he was capable of.
Although they get more powerful with age, it certainly isn’t the only factor. Individual vampires have their own strengths, weakness and even supernatural abilities; Eric is the only vamp who I believe has been shown to fly, and I’m pretty sure other abilities have been shown, at least in the books.
Of course, that whole “there are none above him” thing may have just been a sign of Eric’s love for his maker.
Speaking of flight, I hated the handwave about singing. The difference, Eric, is that every human being can sing, yes. The question is whether or not they can sing well. For your analogy to make sense, other vampires should be able to rise up in the air but not control their speed or direction very well. That really bugged me.
Well, it has been shown that most all vampires can move fast, make big leaps and the like, so I’m guessing controlled flight could be a refinement of abilities they all have. The reason you wouldn’t see vampires clumsily trying and crashing, I imagine, is because if they don’t have the talent, there’d be no point.
Although, come on, you knew what he meant. If someone asks me “Can you sing?” I know they are asking if I’m good at it. (I’m not)
Good point. When they showed Godric turning Eric he tells Eric that he watched him on the battlefield the night before and he’d never seen anyone fight like that. It seems that was a big part of his choice to turn him
That’s a weak justification at best. If flight really were like singing, we should have seen Jessica playing around with it to see if she has any aptitude. We’ve seen plenty of her playing around with her other vampire abilities like mesmerizing people.
Some people make better vampires than others. Some vampires have do better at certain vampire skills than others. Skills and powers increase with age, ability and practice.
Oh I get that. It’s not that some can while most can’t even try. It’s the analogy to singing that bugged me so much. Juggling would have been much better in that it would have at least made sense. I can’t even try to juggle, for example, but I can sing badly with great gusto.
One other nitpicky thing: if Eric is so much older and more powerful (and presumably knowledgeable) than Sophie-Ann, why did they go to her to ask about the Maenad last season instead of him?
Well, here’ I am, all caught up. I just started with this show (exactly) three months ago. You’ll have to excuse me if I mix things up a bit. When I fly through two and half seasons that fast, I tend to mix up character names and confuse certain elements of sub plots.
Anyways…
It’s funny you mention that. Over the last few episodes when Bill was in Russell’s house I’d noticed that his skin wasn’t quite as ashen (is that the right word). I chalked it up to having something to do with being in Russell’s house, what they eat? How the live? The lighting (by that I mean just the physical way things look different under different lights)? I thought I noticed it on everyone in Russell’s house.
I guess it wasn’t just me, maybe it is Sookie’s blood. We’ll have to see how Eric reacts (he drank some of her blood, didn’t he?).
Also, regarding what Bill said when Sookie asked him what would happen if he went out in the light. I think she asked him if he would burst in to flames. His reaction IIRC wasn’t that it wouldn’t happen, just that it wouldn’t happen quite like that, or quite that fast, but I thought he still implied that it would happen.
