There were certainly plenty of reasons for fans to tune into True Blood week after week: drama, actors chewing the scenery, and a rich supernatural world packed to the gills with vampires, werewolves, and witches. However, the biggest draw for most fans was the romance. Love triangle after love triangle unfolded onscreen on the show (available to stream anytime on HBO Now), with the love lives of Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and the rest of Bon Temps forcing viewers to pick teams and draw lines on the battlefield over who was the fairy waitress’s one true love.
While the case could probably be made for Bill (Stephen Moyer) or Alcide (Joe Mangianello), many fans feel a deep tie to the idea that the ultimate True Blood babe was without a doubt Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård). Between the black leather, snark for days, and genuine feelings he had for Sookie, you can understand why Team Eric would put him ahead of the pack. Need some convincing? Let’s take a look at all the reasons why you might want to ship Sookie+Eric4LIFE.
The Eternal Appeal Of The “Bad Boy Makes Good”
As much as we’d like to hope that we’d pick “the nice guy” in the end, there is just no denying the draw of the man with a hint of danger. A hint of danger plus a willingness to settle down with you for eternity? Damn. Eric is the ultimate Bad Boy Makes Good, looking beyond his own self-interest for the sake of Sookie and his own pesky, occasional conscience. That heart of gold may have been buried under layers and layers of sexual innuendo, but it’s there somewhere.
Verbal Sparring
Sure, you don’t want to fight every day of your life — although the fighting does make the making up that much better — but someone who can match you in a battle of wits can keep things hot. Sure, Bill and Alcide had their appeal (read: abs), but Eric’s sardonic personality made him irresistible. He always kept Sookie on her toes, and had the wits to blow away anyone who dared cross him. He may not have always been nice, but he was always swoon-worthy and never boring (unless he was undercover as a Republican). Nice is overrated anyway.
Ancient History
It’s nice to get a little bit of perspective on life, and when you’ve lived for centuries, lived through most of the major wars, and seen just about every inch of the globe, you’ll have perspective in spades. Want to know about life during the Renaissance? Cool, he can tell you all about it. Frustrated that your wifi isn’t working correctly? Well, listen up to this story about what it was like living in the dark ages in a gloomy stone hut. Sure, his life experience may not be the sexiest part of being Team Eric, but a little extra knowledge never hurt anyone. He’s obviously picked up some tricks along the way.
Black Leather
Whatever. It’s shallow, I know. Still, it’s without a doubt a fact that people like hot people. While he may have started off the series dressing like a deranged high school gym teacher, Eric eventually realized that his true calling was to wear lots and lots of black leather. Don’t fight it, friend. I know you’re into it. We were all into it. We all knew that Sookie would never hook up with a guy wearing track pants. The girl has standards. Sure, she was also into Bill’s Civil War throwbacks, but everyone is allowed a misstep or two.
Undying Loyalty
Ultimately, you just want someone to be on your side. Even when they weren’t together, Sookie knew that she could always count on Eric to show up when sh*t got real. Sometimes it’s better to have an ally instead of just a lover, because the value of having someone who is always in your corner outweighs all the hot sex in the world (Not that hot sex isn’t a factor. It very much is.).
Over the course of seven seasons, Eric proved his loyalty to Sookie again and again, battling witches, Nazi werewolves, and amnesia all in his pursuit of her love. If that’s not romantic, I don’t know what is.
