Eric Northman

Vampire Sheriff of Area Five (one of the vampire districts of Louisiana). He is a powerful vampire over 1000 years old. As the Sheriff of the largest area of the state, he is a powerful player in vampire politics and all vampires living in his area must obey his authority unless, of course, they are older than him. He is smart, ruthless, and has a good sense of humor. He becomes romantically involved with Sookie in Dead to the World while he had amnesia. In the ninth novel, Dead and Gone, he tricks her into marrying him. Little of Eric's history was presented in the early novels, but in the ninth, he reveals details about his human life. He was deemed a man at the age of twelve. At age sixteen he married Aude, his brother's widow. The couple had six children, but only three were living at the time of his turning, two boys and a girl. Aude and their sixth child died of a fever shortly after the birth when Eric was in his early twenties. He was made by a Roman Vampire named Appius Livius Ocella who not only made Eric his companion, but forced him to be his sexual partner. In the tenth novel, Dead in the Family, Sookie and Eric are in a relationship, and Sookie seems to finally accept Eric as her "husband". Alexander Skarsgård portrays Eric Northman in HBO's television series True Blood. On True Blood, Eric’s maker is Godric, a two thousand year old zen-like Vampire of Gaulish and Celtic background.