Eric has some asshole in him (based on the tv show), but Bill seems weak. I feel like that is worse. I don't mean "weak" in a macho way, but that Bill doesn't really have the courage of his convictions.

I believe Eric and can therefore root for him.

Well, Eric is 10x as old as Bill - so he is stronger and is more able to act on his own initiative (as I understand vampire society.)

I wonder who the Magister's bosses were, and if they will seek revenge for his death.

Oh, maybe Tara will rescind Franklin's invitation. (Because I can't believe he's actually really, most sincerely dead.)

I don't think that he is. She just bached his head in with the mace. In this 'verse, vamps only have "true death" when their heads are cut off or they are stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake.

So, what do we think about the king killing the Magister. I found it contradictory that the king spent all of that time denouncing the Vampire Authority and the Magister, but still insisted that the Magister marry them. If the Magister didn't have any power as the king claimed, then why was it so important the he "say the words".

I can't wait until Eric kills him.

I think 'the words' were not to sanctify the union, but to keep Sophie Anne in check. If they are actually married before witnesses, then he will be justified in taking action, should she defy him.

Otherwise, he would just kill her and be done with her truculent ways. The ceremony legitimizes his position in the eyes of others...who he doesn't give a toss about...except that they do his bidding.

Politics is politics, I imagine he'd say.

I can't imagine that he can claim the moral high ground that the marriage is legitimate because it was recognized by the magistrate if he just killed the guy.

Logic seems a very situational thing in the world of the vamps.

I was bemused by the wedding scene and had to rewind to make sure I heard Russell correctly. This whole affair happened very, very differently in the books.

I think I like this version better for the dark comedy and for O'Hare's chance to chew scenery. (Seriously, have you watched the way his mouth moves? It's mesmerizing.) I like the book version better for the sense-making.

can you explain how the marriage happened in the books? The folks on TWOP don't really like the S-A character at all.

Well, in the books there was a negotiated marriage between the King of Arkansas and the Queen of Louisiana - which resulted in a massacre on their wedding night. The King of Mississippi, in a later book, marries the King of Kentucky (or was it Indiana) in what seems to be a love match. Arkansas had been trying to use the marriage to Sophie-Anne to expand his powerbase and luckily for Eric and the other LA vamps - he failed.

Very different.

interesting.

thank you all very much for this information.

I don't think that he is. She just bached his head in with the mace. In this 'verse, vamps only have "true death" when their heads are cut off or they are stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake.

I don't think he is dead either, and I think the scene where Tara was trying to convince Sookie that Bill is dead, and Sookie explained what a dead vampire looked like foreshadowed that.