Representations of Women in True Blood: Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq (Evan Rachel Wood)

This post continues on the same path as my previous post on Lorena Krasiki’s character and representation as a powerful female vampire.



There are not many examples of powerful female vampires in True Blood. Queen

Sophie-Anne Leclerq is arguably the most powerful.

Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq is played by actress Evan Rachel Wood.



Like Lorena, Sophie-Anne is unsatisfied with herself and shows the desire to be a 'normal girl' instead of a powerful vampire. There are two problems with this: first, she appears to reject her status and power in favour of normalcy, and second, her appearance, behaviour, and desires are strongly gendered.

Sophie-Anne LeClerq is the vampire Queen of Louisiana (and later, of Mississippi as well). At 500 years old, she is the oldest and most powerful female vampire to appear in True Blood. However, she is represented later as struggling to maintain her power, and because of her incompetence and scheming, she is blackmailed into a marriage with the 2500-year-old vampire King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington. Her behaviour, both when she is in power and after she is blackmailed, reproduce dominant ideologies of femininity and patriarchy.





 Viewers meet Sophie-Anne when Bill goes to her luxurious mansion for advice on how to defeat the Maenad terrorizing Bon Temps (“Frenzy”). She is beautiful and glamourous: dressed fashionably in all white, with curled hair, dark eyeliner, and red lips. Bill struggles to respectfully ask for help while she offers him dinner (a delicious Latvian boy), lounges by the pool, and reads a magazine. She briefly displays some knowledge on Maenads while applying makeup and inspecting her manicured nails. However, she does not give him the information he wants right away and insists that he spends the day. The following night, Sophie-Anne forces Bill to play Yahtzee with her and two of her human companions. Finally, she explains the origins and weaknesses of Maenads. In a mirroring scene when Eric visits Sophie-Anne, her childish mannerisms are displayed further (“Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”). She forces Eric to play Yahtzee as well, and in her conversation with him, she is very scattered: distracted, uninterested, and abruptly changes topics. In these scenes, she is portrayed as powerful and intelligent, but her aloof manner and luxurious femininity raise concern regarding her interest in her queendom.



Sophie-Anne feeding on her human lover, Hadley.

Sophie-Anne flaunts her decision not to mainstream; however, it seems this is a strategy of hers to appear more powerful to male vampires. Though she teases Bill about his 'restricted diet' of Tru:Blood, Sophie-Anne's kindness to humans is apparent, especially when compared to King Russell Edgington. While he is known to be vicious and prejudice towards humans, Sophie-Anne clearly enjoys the company of humans. She lives with several in her home and spends her nights playing games with them. In fact, there is evidence that she envies humans and desires to be a normal girl instead of a vampire queen. Most notably, she spends most of her time in her mansion's 'day room'—a luxurious pool room imitating an outdoor beach setting with luscious plants and lounge chairs but also vibrant, day-like dioramas outside the windows and false skylight windows in the tall ceiling.



Queen Sophie-Anne's day room.



Sophie-Anne understands that “romance complicates the ability to construct an independent identity. Power and heterosexual romance seem to be incompatible” (Jowett 3). To retain her status as a powerful queen, she emphasizes her own homosexuality and frowns on monogamy, gossiping with Eric about Bill's romantic relationship with Sookie: “You know I think Bill is monogamous with his human?” Eric confirms that Bill is “in love with her,” to which she warns Eric by saying, “one vampire falling in love is bad enough” (“Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”). When she says this, Hadley (a human girl) looks up at her curiously. This is the first of many indications that Sophie-Anne loves and confides in Hadley, though she tries to keep it secret. Sophie-Anne feeds on her, but she is gentle, so it is sexually pleasing for Hadley (“Frenzy”). Later, her love is used against her in order to get information from Sophie-Anne: Eric tortures Hadley and forces Sophie-Anne to watch.

Sophie-Anne is held in a cage while Eric tortures Hadley.

At the end of season two, Sophie-Anne is shown to be manipulative when a conversation with Eric reveals that she is ordering him to sell her blood (even though vampires believe that their blood exists only to make other vampires, it is also a powerfully addictive and illegal drug known as V)(“Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”). In season three, it's revealed that she is selling her blood because she is desperate for money, which reinforces the stereotype that women are not capable of managing finances. Her calculating nature is proven as she betrays Eric and frames him for selling V the moment she is suspected. Unfortunately, it is this betrayal and her financial incompetence and leads to her loss of agency as an independent queen.

With King Russell Edgington plotting to take control of Louisiana in addition to his kingdom of Mississippi, he takes advantage of Queen Sophie-Anne's struggle. He arrives unannounced at her mansion where he finds her sitting on the ground surrounded by scratch tickets (“I Got a Right to Sing the Blues”):

Russell: My darling Sophie-Anne, I want you to accept my proposal of marriage.

Sophie-Anne: I've turned you down countless other times. What makes you think I'll accept this time?

Russell: Because, in addition to never touching you, I will settle all of your debts.

She declines his help, but he blackmails her with his knowledge of her selling V. She realizes she has no choice but to marry Russell and relinquish her independence. In a humiliating scene following, Eric (who is furious at her for framing him) pushes her to the ground and says, “I am older and stronger than you. I only submitted to you in the past because of respect [...] I renounce any and all allegiance to you.” He carries her away while she screams childishly, “my Hadley... I want my Hadley!” (“I Got a Right to Sing the Blues”). Sophie-Anne's failure and subordination to Russel (and Eric) reinforces their authority as men, not only Russell as a King.

Much to her delight, Russell is killed in a plot unrelated to Sophie-Anne at the end of season three, and as a result, she gains significant power as the wealthy Queen of both Louisiana and Mississippi. However, another one of her plots may threaten this new power. At the completion of a three-season arc, it is reveal that Sophie-Anne ordered Bill to spy on Sookie because she suspected that Sookie was part-faery (faeries are extremely rare, and they are desirable for vampires, partly because they are beautiful and their blood is delicious, but also because there are legends suggesting that faery blood would allow vampires to walk in the sun as humans do). Sophie-Anne's intelligence and knowledge of the supernatural is proven once more as she is correct in her suspicious about Sookie.

The season three finale ends with Sophie-Anne arriving at Bill's house for Sookie, “Alright, bring me the girl. I've been waiting centuries to find a true fae. I can't wait to feel the sunlight on my skin again. Maybe I'll get a yacht” (“Evil is Going On”). Her motives for finding a faery reinforce her desire to be a normal living girl who is able to go outside in the sun, instead of spending her eternal life hiding from it. However, Bill invited her to his home under false pretences. He intends to protect Sookie, and says “only one of us will be leaving this house” (“Evil is Going On”). The final frame features Bill and Sophie-Anne aggressively showing their fangs and jumping at each other. The way this fight and its outcome is portrayed will be significant for the representation of women on True Blood. As a queen and a vampire over twice his age, she should overpower him without much of a problem. However, her past storyline indicates that conventional gender roles may prevail.

Jowett, Lorna. “The Problem of Romance and the Representation of Gender in Buffy and Angel.” Slayage Online, 2004. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.

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As Southern Vampire Mysteries fans know, Queen Sophie-Anne in the books has a very different story line and presents a more powerful image of women. She is not introduced until the sixth novel, Definitely Dead.

I’m planning a post regarding my thoughts on Sophie-Anne’s TV adaptation that will address the differences between the books and True Blood (similar to my posts on Sam & Tommy and Lafayette & Jesus), but I’d love to hear from you as well.

What do you think the outcome of the Sophie-Anne/Bill fight will be?