[Exit, Pursued By A Sloth]

Alcide Herveaux: Russell’s Bitch?

I was recently rewatching episode 03x03 of True Blood (when we first meet Alcide), when I noticed something…odd about the way Alcide was introduced (aside from the fact that Alcide thinks running up and tackling girls is the proper way to say “Hey gurl, trust me”); Eric never said anything about sending a wereguard to Sookie.

Eric was just over her house the night before when she was attacked by a were. Mystery weres had been stalking her, the same ones that took Bill and that Eric had been hunting for 1,000 years, and they both knew this. Weres were their current enemy. Yet Eric didn’t feel the need to warn her, at any time, that he was sending a Good Dog her way, so please don’t shoot him in the face like you tried with the other were last night. When Eric left her that night, she kinda left him with the impression that she would wait until the next night to leave, and Eric did return to Bon Temps the next night (but she was already gone).

Alcide said he was sent by Eric Northman (he said his name four times within the first few minutes of meeting Sookie), and Sookie (and the audience) accepted it as fact. But people lie, and I’m wondering if this MISSISSIPPI were was sent not by a Louisiana sheriff, but by a Mississippian King. The debt of his father may very well be the reason he is helping a vampire, but that doesn’t mean the identity of the vampire is Eric Northman.

Russell Edgington, despite playing dumb with Bill, already knew all about him and his human from Lorena. Although he kidnapped Bill, he still sent Franklin to Bon Temps to investigate him, why not send somebody for the girl as well?

Alcide did a pretty good job of making sure Sookie got into the clutches of Russell Edgington. He brought her right to his little Tupperware Party at Lou Pine’s, and barely put up a fight when Russell came to his apartment. Russell seemed remarkably unconcerned that two strangers were there at his super secret werewolf initiation hazing, didn’t he? And his own weres and guards didn’t seem to take any notice of Alcide at the Octagonal Mansion of Fabulous Doom either.

Come to think of it, it would have been idiotic of Russell to leave Alcide alive and free after he nabbed Sookie at his house if Alcide wasn’t one of his wolves. He was just there, lurking amongst the magnolias, just waiting for Tara to trip over him. “But why did Alcide help rescue her from Russell’s?” you ask. It might have been a genuine rescue attempt, a rash decision brought on by guilt and opportunity. Or Russell, anticipating another escape attempt, ordered Alcide to stay with Sookie, so that he could prolong the game and track his prey. If the scenes at Russell’s manse prove anything, it’s that he’s bored, and loves to play games within games, pitting one player against another, if for nothing but his own amusement. He’s 3,000 years old, ennui is an ever present dinner guest.

Bill’s ‘Escape Attempt Brought On By Possessive Jealousy’ from the Octagonal Mansion of Fabulous Doom was another one of Russell’s games. Or did you think somehow Bill thundered out of there right under the noses of the King, Eric, Talbot, Lorena, and dozens of vamps and weres without anyone noticing or stopping him? He was so quiet with all that fighting and screaming and hurling of weres. Like a ninja, that Bill Compton. If Russell had simply wanted Sookie, he would have left with Coot & The Gang as soon as he told him that Debbie knew Sookie was with Alcide. What he wanted was both Sookie and confirmation that Bill was duplicitous (beyond the normal level for vampires), and would betray him for the curious Miss Stackhouse.

And the fight at Alcide’s was ridiculous. Good old Slab Plankchest is taken out by a single nutshot from Coot, before he could do any damage to anyone, and then he just curls up under the couch and is all like “No, it’s fine, take the girl and do whatever with her, it’s not like the super scary vampire sheriff who hired me is gonna be all that mad or anything, or I have to worry about anything happening to my dad, whom I’m doing this for cause he’s in debt to the super scary vampire sheriff, it’s cool”. You would think if his dad’s ass was really on the line he’d put up a bit more of a fight.

But what really started me considering the possibility of Alcide’s duplicity is the scene where Eric chains up Bacon!Russell at Fangtasia in 03x12. After he and Sookie finish chaining him up and Eric takes off his gloves, Sookie starts yelling at Bill. And it’s awesome, but it also distracted the audience from what was going on behind her, at the edge of the screen, which was Eric grabbing Russell’s coat and fumbling around like he’s pulling something from his pants pocket (see pictures below). Then Eric has a phone and is calling Alcide (making sure to state “It’s Eric Northman”). Showing Eric fumbling around with a pocket right before he has a phone in his hand is implying that he got that phone from that pocket. Which means he called Alcide from Russell’s phone, which he wouldn’t need to do if Alcide was his puppy.

While chained up at Fangtasia, Russell stated that one of his wolves was coming as van pulls up in the parking lot, and in walks Alcide, all plaided and bearded. If Alcide was his henchwolf, it’s reasonable to assume Russell would have given him a small amount of blood so that he could know his whereabouts (his WEREabouts *rimshot*). When Alcide says Eric called him, Russell opens his eyes and stares at Alcide incredulously. They share so many significant glances during his time at Fangtasia, they either have a past history or they just really want to fuck each other.

At Fangtasia, Alcide tells Sookie that Eric said if Alcide did this (help dispose of Russell), he would settle all his dad’s debts, which Alcide reiterated at the construction site. Which does not inheritally mean Alcide was working his dad’s debts off for Eric before, just that he is working them off now.

If Alcide was compelled by Russell into helping him and not a completely willing participant, then not only would he be more than willing to turn on Russell, it gives Eric reason not to kill him. Eric is fairly lenient for a vampire, it would not be the first time he’s used an adversary (or adversary’s minion) to his advantage (Lala and Hadley, for example). Waste not, want not. And using Alcide ensures he’ll keep his mouth shut about Russell, because if Russell ever did escape, Alcide would be on his shitlist for sure. Eric had no time to inform Sookie of Alcide’s past before she was taken to Faeryland. Considering it looks like TB Alcide might absorb role of Quinn, to have him be the puppet of a vampire monarch sent to procure Sookie would make sense.

Thoughts? Opinions?