Bill was most certainly "King material ". This woman MaggiesView is clever and articulate but all twisted up by her implacable hatred of
the Compton character. Early on, Nan ( representing the Authority ) spotted Bill as a great future Mainstreamer, and destined for a leadership position. Bill is a highly intelligent, well-read, man with a great deal of self-control ( please, spare me the stupid "rapist " accusations" ) who, inner conflict notwithstanding, was an outstanding King ( of course, the only other Vampire monarchs we see
are, in different ways, extremely crazy ). He is smart enough to plant one of his security people in the coven at Moon Goddess, and when she reports that Marnie brought a bird back from the dead for a few moments, he immediately sees the danger of necromancy and sends his best sheriff ( Eric ) to deal with the situation.
But Eric doesn't handle the situation. As usual, he loses control and assaults Marnie ( a "fang rape" ) which only makes matters worse as it ensures the union of Antonia with Marnie. He manages to put Marnie in custody, but when Sheriff Luis ( who remembers the revenge of Antonia during the Inquisition ) falls under Antonia's spell and warns Bill, just before Bill is obliged to kill him, he orders his remaining
Sheriffs to order all the Vamps in their jurisdictions to silver themselves during the day, thus saving the majority of them. His inadequate silvering of Jessica because, like any good father, he can't stand to see her suffer, is not the act of a "villain"as at least 2 of the Eric
groupie Bill-haters have called him.
And he tries to make peace with Antonia/ Marnie before the near-disaster of the Moon-Goddress confrontation. In all sorts of ways, Bill
is an excellent King, who knows how to handle the Media, and is smart enough to know that the Nan/ Authority 's Festival of Tolerance
will be a disaster. But he is forced under orders from above to go ahead with it. I think Vampire monarchies don't get much better than
King Bill. Anyway, how else could he have got rid of Sophie-Anne ( who is probably 4X his age ) without the backup of the Authority?
After all, his over-riding obsession is to protect Sookie from anyone who knows what her blood can do.
One of the most idiotic moments in the whole series occurs when Marnie/Antonia takes Sookie outside during the stand -off at the Moon
Goddess ( now surrounded with a Vampire-killing energy field ) is her offer to let Sookie live if both Bill and Eric kill themselves.
Let's not forget that from the start ( when Godric offers Eric, dying of his wounds, a choice - the choice Bill never got - to die and go to
Valhalla, or "what you love the most - Life", Eric chooses to live, as Godric knew he would. It is completely out of character for the
life-loving Vampire to so readily agree to kill himself. No wonder Pam freaks out! Bill is another story. To die for Sookie is completely consistent with his strong streak of melancholia and guilt. In another post I said Bill was a neurotic Vampire and explained why.
Nevertheless, he was a good King. Sure, he likes power. If he can't have a normal ( human ) life with Sookie, he might as well have the power to protect her, Jessica and other Vampires, as well as advance the Mainstream agenda. After all, he is still a young Vampire - only 175 years old and without this Office he can't fight older vampires like Sophie-Anne, Lorena etc. The near-fatal decision not to
kill a creature like Russell Eggington was Eric's, not Bill's. Bill was brought down because Nan Flanagan blamed him for the witch debacle and the Festival of Tolerance, which Bill opposed knowing Marnie/Antonia had Vampires under her power and the thing would turn into a bloodbath.
reply
share
Maggiesview
9 years ago
Watch S4-5 again. The Authority blamed Nan for the Festival of Tolerance fiasco and brought Bill and Eric in to face punishment be cause Bill failed to kill Eric and Eric failed to kill Russell when ordered to so by the Authority.
Bill is a weak indulgent father. His failure to adequately silver Jessica almost cost her her life..What?nSo he doesn't have to listen to her scream in pain he risks loosing her altogether? That's not the act of a good father. It's the act of a weak indulgent one. Sookie had the strength to silver Eric with as much silver as he told her to use even though it killed her to see him in such pain. She did it because she had more strength of character in her little finger than Bill had in his whole body. Also, when Bill and Eric thought they would be executed by the authority,Eric released Pam so she would not experience the pain of his death and Bill talked to Jessica about what a great maker he was because Jessica had turned out so well and he was so cool because he provided the best matajuna and let Jessica have wild parties at his mansion. He didn't do a thing to try and sheild or protect her from his eminent death. Let's not forget what a great father he was when he became a Chancillor and slapped Jesdica around because she did'nt want to turn Jason.
As for being King as he was just as good at that as he was at being a Chancellor for the Authority and as Billith the vampire Demi - God. That is to say that he was self serving ,arrogant and power hungry. The whole reason he murdered off the other Chancellors was so that he could be the special snowflake,Lilith's chosen one, and drink all of her blood to become a Demi God. Once he did,he promptly began arguing with Lilith showing that he was certainly not in her power at all nor was her blood influencing him. He never obeyed her. He just wanted to set his own agenda instead of carrying out hers. As Chancillor, he came up with the idea to burn all of the true blood factories causing countless human deaths. On the personal front ,he ordered Jessica to turn Jason , tried to kill Sam, imprisoned Tara and Pam with the intention of executing them as well and called Sookie an abomination. He was not " temporarily insane" nor was he taken over by Lilith's blood when he did all of these things. He wanted to do them because too much power is just plain bad for some personalities,particularly ones full of self loathing and recriminations like Bill's. He was guilty because he had good cause to feel guilty. His stint as a procurer ( pimp ) for Queen Sophie Anne alone was cause for several life times of guilt let alone all of the atrocities he perpetrated with his maker.. He was eaten up with guilt and self loathing. This kind of personality can't be given any power ever. The more power he got,the more corrupt he became. That old adage," absolute power corrupts absolutely " was Bill's story arc from S4 through S6.
In S5, it was made very clear by putting Eric and Bill side by side at the Authority to share the same fate that Erc ,who did not want power,could not be corrupted by Salome and the Authority but Bill who did want it was slowly corrupted first by Salome and Roman then by Lilith even admitting to Eric that he was " loosing " himself. In the episode " Save Yourself" it was made even more clear that Bill couldn't save himself and he succumbed to his need for power while Eric was able to save himself because he had not succumbed. Sam,Jessica,Sookie etc. we're also all able to save themselves in that episode. That's because they were all strong resourceful characters who did not put power first in their lives but instead they put the welfare of those they loved first. Only Bill put himself and his need for power first. That's why he ended up getting so much of it and although Lilith clearly told him she was not a God and neither was he,when he wrote his book he called himself a God. Such was his desire for self aggrandizement that even after he lost all of his super powers as Billith,he wanted to maintain to the world that he had been a God.
reply
share
winterlea-666
9 years ago
I am always reminded of Eddie's words to Jason about vampires when they are turned:
'We are what we are when we were made.'
Physically but also in terms of character and Bill Compton was always a creature of low character despite his pretense to the contrary.
Bill Compton's words never once matched his deeds. He was a liar and a manipulator from the very beginning and this never changed. His actions showed the truth of who and what he was and they always contradicted his honeyed lies.
Bill Compton sought every opportunity to advance his own lust for power and never failed to attempt to blame others, most particularly women, for his actions when those schemes backfired.
Such a 'sterling' fellow who happily used and exploited women to get ahead and then blamed those very women for his failures.
I fail to comprehend how anyone could willingly choose to defend such a reprehensible character who was never called to any meaningful account for his abuses of both people and power.
Unpalatable truths are no less true.
reply
share