#i believe anne said it was written during one of the worst depressive episodes of her life following the death of her father

[hekateinhell]

Dear God, help me. Where are my nameless saints? Where are the angels with their feathered wings to carry me down into hell? When they do come, are they the last beautiful thing that you see? As you go down into the lake of fire, can you still follow their progress heavenward? Can you hope for one last glimpse of their golden trumpets, and their upturned faces reflecting the radiance of the face of God? What do I know of heaven?

For long moments I stood there, staring at the distant night-scape of pure clouds, and then back at the twinkling lights of the new hotels, flash of headlamps.

A lone mortal stood on the far sidewalk, staring in my direction, but perhaps he did not note my presence at all-a tiny figure on the lip of the great sea. Perhaps he was only looking towards the ocean as I had been looking, as if the shore were miraculous, as if the water could wash our souls clean.

Once the world was nothing but the sea; rain fell for a hundred million years! But now the cosmos crawls with monsters. ~ Lestat, TotBT

[thegayhimbo]

Instances where Bill Compton has committed Rape/Sexual Assault:

The Southern Vampire Mystery Books:

1.) The Graveyard Scene in Dead Until Dark (Book 1). In the book, it’s mentioned that Bill is angry over the deaths of the Monroe Vampires, and grabs Sookie to force her to have sex with him. During this time, Sookie describes how scared she is of Bill because of his rage, and feels like she’s unable to struggle against him because she’s afraid that he will hurt her and kill her if she resists. If a woman is unable to say “No” to sex and feels like she has to go along with it because she’s scared that the other person might hurt her if she refuses, that automatically makes it rape. Her orgasming during the act is irrelevant. Orgasming is a physical sensation, and there are instances where male and female rape victims have orgasmed when they’ve been raped. It doesn’t change the fact that what Bill did to Sookie in this scene is still rape.

2.) Probably the most infamous example is the rape scene in Club Dead (book 3). In the book, Sookie gets locked in the back of a truck with Bill by Debbie. Bill proceeds to attack Sookie, feed on her, and then rape her.

TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD! This is the rape scene in all of its gruesome detail:

“His voice sounded rough, his throat was sore. He had stopped taking blood. Now another need was on him, one closely related to feeding. His hands pulled down my sweatpants and after a lot of fumbling and rearranging and contorting HE ENTERED ME with no preparation at all. I screamed and he clapped a hand over my mouth. I was crying, sobbing, and my nose was all stopped up and I needed to breathe through my mouth”  (SVM, Book 3)

There’s always been a debate about this scene over how much control Bill had in this instance, especially since he had been tortured by Lorena and was suppose to be “out of it” when he raped Sookie. I have always found this to be questionable, especially because of how the scene is written and how we only sees this from Sookie’s POV. Personally, I believe he had a lot more control in this situation than initially believed, especially with the whole “fumbling and rearranging and contorting,” which gives the impression that he had to have some idea of what he was doing but just didn’t care because it was all about his needs in that moment. I think what’s damning about this scene is that it isn’t just  Bill raping Sookie while mindlessly feeding on her; it’s that he was done feeding from her and took the time to pull off her clothes, rearrange her body so it was in line with his, and then put his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming while he raped her. This gives the impression there was some cognitive awareness from Bill in what he was doing, which is why I question if he was truly “out of it.” Maybe this isn’t how Charlaine Harris intended this scene to come across, but that’s what I ended up taking away from this.

What makes this worse is that the later books try to retcon this by claiming it was “attempted rape” or “near rape” which................NO, it wasn’t. There is no way to read this scene in the book and not see it as a rape scene. I don’t know why Harris tried to do this, but regardless of her reasoning, it was not okay. She chose to go this direction with Bill, and she doesn’t get to backtrack on this just because she likes Bill’s character and doesn’t want him to be seen as a rapist.

3.) There’s also the revelation in Club Dead that Bill intended to pension off Sookie so he could be with Lorena. Even if this didn’t actually happen the way Bill wanted it to, it’s still disgusting that he would try to do this AND that he would keep it from Sookie.

TV Show:

1.) During the 70 years Bill spent with Lorena, both of them raped, tortured, drained, and killed women and men in the most sadistic and gruesome way possible. From the flashbacks we get of their disgusting exploits:

a.) In season 5, there's a flashback where Bill and Lorena are at Pam's brothel and Bill is biting in-between a proustite's legs while Lorena glamours the poor woman to say degrading things like calling Bill "Daddy" in a sexual manner. What Bill did here constitutes rape. And before you start telling me he was feeding from her, a.) He could have bitten her anywhere else (like on her arm or neck) and he specifically chose to bite her in that area, and b.) Regardless of whether or not he was feeding from her, it's still rape because she was not able to give consent in that situation. If I ever put my mouth in-between a woman's legs and bit her without her consent, my actions would be labeled as rape. This is no different with Bill, and it’s all but stated this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this.

b.) The Chicago couple in the 1926 flashback in season 2. Both Bill and Lorena tortured this couple, sadistically taunted them, bit and fed on the couple without their consent, forced both victims to watch each other suffer, stripped them of most of their clothes as a way to sexually humiliate them, and reveled in their suffering while getting sexually aroused by it. In one scene, Bill comes from a different room to meet up with Lorena while dragging the male victim inside with him. Bill has no pants on during this scene, and the implication is that Bill raped the guy off-screen.

2.) In season 3, it’s revealed that Bill has been employed as Queen Sophie Anne’s procurer for 35 years (starting as far back as 1974). Procurer by definition is someone who obtains another person as a prostitute for a client, which means that Bill was obtaining humans (either through kidnapping or glamouring) to be taken to Sophie Anne to be fed on, raped, paraded around as her pets, turned into vampires if she desired, or else disposed of once she was done with them. What he did here amounts to forced prostitution at best and human trafficking at worst. And in the case of Sophie Anne, I say rape because she was in a position of power over the humans procured for her as both a vampire and the Queen of Louisiana. These humans were not in a position to say no to her if she demanded sex from them, and there’s also the question of whether or not she used glamouring or V to keep them docile to her. Everything about this situation was disgusting and disturbing.

3.) In season 1, after the deaths of Malcom, Liam, and Diane, Sookie goes out to the graveyard and Bill (who is buried in the ground) grabs Sookie by her leg with the intent of forcing himself on her. This was described by Stephen Moyer (the actor who plays Bill Compton) in a 2009 interview as a rape scene:

“But when do you know it’s OK to crawl out of the mud and rape her [as Bill does in one scene]… ”

--Stephen Moyer in a 2009 interview with Nylon Magazine (the answer is a bit cut from the original)

The scene becomes even more disgusting when you remember how Bill got into this relationship with Sookie in the first place: He had been sent by Queen Sophie Anne to procure Sookie because of what she might have been (aka a faerie). To this end, he stood by and allowed the Rattarays to beat the shit out of Sookie (to the point she was puking up blood) so he could pretend to be a hero by “rescuing her” from them and then drug her with his blood. Said blood was both a tracking device, a drug, and a powerful aphrodisiac that was used to manipulate Sookie into falling in love with him. To make matters worse, while Bill did tell her that her libido might be enhanced, he did not tell her that the blood would make her sexually attracted to him. Bill then used this to take advantage of her grief over Gran’s death to get into her pants, and Sookie was still under the influence of his blood when Bill tried to force himself on her in the graveyard. No matter how you try to spin, that makes the consent in the graveyard dubious at best and non-existent at worst. Bill intended to rape Sookie in that moment.

4.) In season 3, in an attempt to get revenge on Lorena, Bill gets on the bed with her, violently twists her head 180 degrees, and proceeds to rape Lorena as a way to punish her. This was also described as a rape scene by Stephen Moyer at Paleyfest 2011:

“That particular scene was so.........I was worried about it, probably not for the reason you think. I was worried about it because I......I couldn’t see where Bill was going with that. What was the reason to turn anger into RAPE. And Alan and I talked about it, and I called Alan personally, and we talked about it, and.......it’s the only thing he has over her.”  

--Stephen Moyer at Paleyfest 2011

5.) In the season 3 episode “9 Crimes,” Bill is sent to procure a stripper from a bar for Russell, Lorena, and himself to feed on. Bill chooses a woman named Anne who has no family and is depressed and suicidal. Bill glamours Anne into coming with him, and when Russell and Lorena are feeding on Anne, Bill chooses to bite her in the groin. He could have chosen anywhere else on the body, and he chose to bite her in that region. Regardless of whether or not he was feeding from her, what he did here constitutes sexual assault/rape.

6.) In season 5, Bill (along with Salome and the other Chancellors at the Authority) sanction a human trafficking ring where humans are kept naked in cells to be fed on, raped, and disposed of. It doesn’t take a genius to understand why the humans were naked, and it’s specifically mentioned by Roman that the Sanguinistas (which Bill and the other Chancellors were a part of) believe in the torture, slavery, and rape of humans.

7.) In season 5, when Bill and the other Authority members attack the patrons at the bar and start slaughtering everyone, there's a brief moment where Bill is on top of a woman biting and sucking from her breast. Even if he was feeding from her, what he does here constitutes sexual assault.

It’s always been stunning to me that fans (especially of the TV show) are in denial about Bill being a rapist, and either go out of their way to deny it or else double-down on it. All of the examples I’ve listed above are instances of Bill committing rape, sexual assault, or human trafficking. All of them are instances where Bill did NOT care about boundaries or how his actions were hurting other people.

The most infuriating part of this is Bill is rarely called out for his behavior. Instead, the books and the show try to deflect responsibility from Bill by placing the blame on someone or something so he doesn’t have to be held accountable for his actions, or they actively downplay/retcon the severity of Bill being a rapist.

Bill Compton is a walking embodiment of rape culture, and a prime example of how our society continues to make excuses for abusive men.

[thegayhimbo]

Instances where Bill Compton has committed Rape/Sexual Assault:

The Southern Vampire Mystery Books:

1.) The Graveyard Scene in Dead Until Dark (Book 1). In the book, it’s mentioned that Bill is angry over the deaths of the Monroe Vampires, and grabs Sookie to force her to have sex with him. During this time, Sookie describes how scared she is of Bill because of his rage, and feels like she’s unable to struggle against him because she’s afraid that he will hurt her and kill her if she resists. If a woman is unable to say “No” to sex and feels like she has to go along with it because she’s scared that the other person might hurt her if she refuses, that automatically makes it rape. Her orgasming during the act is irrelevant. Orgasming is a physical sensation, and there are instances where male and female rape victims have orgasmed when they’ve been raped. It doesn’t change the fact that what Bill did to Sookie in this scene is still rape.

2.) Probably the most infamous example is the rape scene in Club Dead (book 3). In the book, Sookie gets locked in the back of a truck with Bill by Debbie. Bill proceeds to attack Sookie, feed on her, and then rape her. 

TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD! This is the rape scene in all of its gruesome detail:

“His voice sounded rough, his throat was sore. He had stopped taking blood. Now another need was on him, one closely related to feeding. His hands pulled down my sweatpants and after a lot of fumbling and rearranging and contorting HE ENTERED ME with no preparation at all. I screamed and he clapped a hand over my mouth. I was crying, sobbing, and my nose was all stopped up and I needed to breathe through my mouth”  (SVM, Book 3)

There’s always been a debate about this scene over how much control Bill had in this instance, especially since he had been tortured by Lorena and was suppose to be “out of it” when he raped Sookie. I have always found this to be questionable, especially because of how the scene is written and how we only sees this from Sookie’s POV. Personally, I believe he had a lot more control in this situation than initially believed, especially with the whole “fumbling and rearranging and contorting,” which gives the impression that he had to have some idea of what he was doing but just didn’t care because it was all about his needs in that moment. I think what’s damning about this scene is that it isn’t just  Bill raping Sookie while mindlessly feeding on her; it’s that he was done feeding from her and took the time to pull off her clothes, rearrange her body so it was in line with his, and then put his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming while he raped her. This gives the impression there was some cognitive awareness from Bill in what he was doing, which is why I question if he was truly “out of it.” Maybe this isn’t how Charlaine Harris intended this scene to come across, but that’s what I ended up taking away from this. 

What makes this worse is that the later books try to retcon this by claiming it was “attempted rape” or “near rape” which................NO, it wasn’t. There is no way to read this scene in the book and not see it as a rape scene. I don’t know why Harris tried to do this, but regardless of her reasoning, it was not okay. She chose to go this direction with Bill, and she doesn’t get to backtrack on this just because she likes Bill’s character and doesn’t want him to be seen as a rapist.

3.) There’s also the revelation in Club Dead that Bill intended to pension off Sookie so he could be with Lorena. Even if this didn’t actually happen the way Bill wanted it to, it’s still disgusting that he would try to do this AND that he would keep it from Sookie. 

TV Show:

1.) During the 70 years Bill spent with Lorena, both of them raped, tortured, drained, and killed women and men in the most sadistic and gruesome way possible. From the flashbacks we get of their disgusting exploits:

a.) In season 5, there's a flashback where Bill and Lorena are at Pam's brothel and Bill is biting in-between a proustite's legs while Lorena glamours the poor woman to say degrading things like calling Bill "Daddy" in a sexual manner. What Bill did here constitutes rape. And before you start telling me he was feeding from her, a.) He could have bitten her anywhere else (like on her arm or neck) and he specifically chose to bite her in that area, and b.) Regardless of whether or not he was feeding from her, it's still rape because she was not able to give consent in that situation. If I ever put my mouth in-between a woman's legs and bit her without her consent, my actions would be labeled as rape. This is no different with Bill, and it’s all but stated this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this.

b.) The Chicago couple in the 1926 flashback in season 2. Both Bill and Lorena tortured this couple, sadistically taunted them, bit and fed on the couple without their consent, forced both victims to watch each other suffer, stripped them of most of their clothes as a way to sexually humiliate them, and reveled in their suffering while getting sexually aroused by it. In one scene, Bill comes from a different room to meet up with Lorena while dragging the male victim inside with him. Bill has no pants on during this scene, and the implication is that Bill raped the guy offscreen. 

2.) In season 3, it’s revealed that Bill has been employed as Queen Sophie Anne’s procurer for 35 years (starting as far back as 1974). Procurer by definition is someone who obtains another person as a prostitute for a client, which means that Bill was obtaining humans (either through kidnapping or glamouring) to be taken to Sophie Anne to be fed on, raped, paraded around as her pets, turned into vampires if she desired, or else disposed of once she was done with them. What he did here amounts to forced prostitution at best and human trafficking at worst. And in the case of Sophie Anne, I say rape because she was in a position of power over the humans procured for her as both a vampire and the Queen of Louisiana. These humans were not in a position to say no to her if she demanded sex from them, and there’s also the question of whether or not she used glamouring or V to keep them docile to her. Everything about this situation was disgusting and disturbing. 

3.) In season 1, after the deaths of Malcom, Liam, and Diane, Sookie goes out to the graveyard and Bill (who is buried in the ground) grabs Sookie by her leg with the intent of forcing himself on her. This was described by Stephen Moyer (the actor who plays Bill Compton) in a 2009 interview as a rape scene:

“But when do you know it’s OK to crawl out of the mud and rape her [as Bill does in one scene]… ”

--Stephen Moyer in a 2009 interview with Nylon Magazine (the answer is a bit cut from the original)

The scene becomes even more disgusting when you remember how Bill got into this relationship with Sookie in the first place: He had been sent by Queen Sophie Anne to procure Sookie because of what she might have been (aka a faerie). To this end, he stood by and allowed the Rattarays to beat the shit out of Sookie (to the point she was puking up blood) so he could pretend to be a hero by “rescuing her” from them and then drug her with his blood. Said blood was both a tracking device, a drug, and a powerful aphrodisiac that was used to manipulate Sookie into falling in love with him. To make matters worse, while Bill did tell her that her libido might be enhanced, he did not tell her that the blood would make her sexually attracted to him. Bill then used this to take advantage of her grief over Gran’s death to get into her pants, and Sookie was still under the influence of his blood when Bill tried to force himself on her in the graveyard. No matter how you try to spin, that makes the consent in the graveyard dubious at best and non-existent at worst. Bill intended to rape Sookie in that moment.

4.) In season 3, in an attempt to get revenge on Lorena, Bill gets on the bed with her, violently twists her head 180 degrees, and proceeds to rape Lorena as a way to punish her. This was also described as a rape scene by Stephen Moyer at Paleyfest 2011:

“That particular scene was so.........I was worried about it, probably not for the reason you think. I was worried about it because I......I couldn’t see where Bill was going with that. What was the reason to turn anger into RAPE. And Alan and I talked about it, and I called Alan personally, and we talked about it, and.......it’s the only thing he has over her.”

--Stephen Moyer at Paleyfest 2011

5.) In the season 3 episode “9 Crimes,” Bill is sent to procure a stripper from a bar for Russell, Lorena, and himself to feed on. Bill chooses a woman named Anne who has no family and is depressed and suicidal. Bill glamours Anne into coming with him, and when Russell and Lorena are feeding on Anne, Bill chooses to bite her in the groin. He could have chosen anywhere else on the body, and he chose to bite her in that region. Regardless of whether or not he was feeding from her, what he did here constitutes sexual assault/rape.

6.) In season 5, Bill (along with Salome and the other Chancellors at the Authority) sanction a human trafficking ring where humans are kept naked in cells to be fed on, raped, and disposed of. It doesn’t take a genius to understand why the humans were naked, and it’s specifically mentioned by Roman that the Sanguinistas (which Bill and the other Chancellors were a part of) believe in the torture, slavery, and rape of humans.

EDIT TO ADD: 7.) In season 5, when Bill and the other Authority members attack the patrons at the bar and start slaughtering everyone, there's a brief moment where Bill is on top of a woman biting and sucking from her breast. Even if he was feeding from her, what he does here constitutes sexual assault.

It’s always been stunning to me that fans (especially of the TV show) are in denial about Bill being a rapist, and either go out of their way to deny it or else double-down on it. All of the examples I’ve listed above are instances of Bill committing rape, sexual assault, or human trafficking. All of them are instances where Bill did NOT care about boundaries or how his actions were hurting other people. 

The most infuriating part of this is Bill is rarely called out for his behavior. Instead, the books and the show try to deflect responsibility from Bill by placing the blame on someone or something so he doesn’t have to be held accountable for his actions, or they actively downplay/retcon the severity of Bill being a rapist. 

Bill Compton is a walking embodiment of rape culture, and a prime example of how our society continues to make excuses for abusive men.