The Underestimation of Sam Merlotte

I have discovered, upon an accidental investigation, that a significant number of Southern Vampire Mysteries’ fans have underestimated one of my favorite characters: none other than Mr. Shape-shifting Bar Owner, Sam Merlotte.

For those who have not read the Southern Vampire Mysteries, or watched the provocative HBO drama True Blood, here’s a rundown of the plot: (NOTE: if you are reading Mallory Reads, you may want to hold off on reading this blog until you’ve read through Deadlocked!)

The story focuses on cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse. She’s just your average girl living in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Well, your average girl who is 1/8^th fairy and can read minds. Sookie works at Merlotte’s bar and grill (owned by Sam). One night while at work, Sookie meets Bill Compton, Bon Temps’ first vampire. She falls for the mysterious, yet deadly, Bill and they begin a… actually quite brief when looking at the 13-book series… relationship. While dating Bill, Sookie gets pulled into the world of the supernatural where she meets Eric Northman, the vampire sheriff of Area 5. Eric employs Sookie, largely against her will, to read minds for him. Sookie and Bill break up in book 3, after Bill runs off to his ex and then tries to kill Sookie. Though Bill was compelled by Lorena, the ex, and had to do things against his will, Sookie gets super pissed for like ever. (It all seemed a bit irrational to me, but I can’t say I minded since I don’t really like Bill.)

In the next book, Sookie finds herself falling for Eric, whom she previously couldn’t stand. (I was all on board with this cause hey… bad boys…swoon.) The problem was that Eric had been cursed by witches and didn’t know who he was. He eventually gets his memory back but conveniently cannot remember his relationship with Sookie. In book 6, Sookie hooks up with Quinn, a weretiger. (Kind of like a werewolf… but a tiger.) This relationship was simply a placeholder (or maybe I just think that because I disliked Quinn almost as much, if not more, than I disliked Bill) until she finally gave in and started dating Eric, real not-so-nice and sweet Eric.

Amidst her relationship drama, Sookie met her real grandfather Niall, a full blooded fairy, and found out her grandmother had had an affair that left Sookie and her brother Jason part fairy. Some of her fairy relatives moved in with her (I disliked the fairies from the beginning of their existence in the series… boo fairies…) Other recurring characters are Amelia (Sookie’s best girlfriend and witch), Mr. Cataliades (Sookie’s demon lawyer), Tara (Sookie’s human bff), Arlene (a fellow waitress at Merlotte’s), Alcide (a werewolf pack master with a thing for Sookie), and Pam (Eric’s sarcastic vampire childe and Sookie’s sometimes friend).

Other super crazy junk happens throughout the series… vampire conferences, fairy wars, erotic dancing… Basically if you haven’t read the series, you should. (Or read my blogs!)

Now, on to the main purpose of this blog: how Sam Merlotte is underappreciated and underestimated by the fans. Some perusing of Wikia showed me a character profile of Sam Merlotte; a profile that was lacking in its content. Other similar websites have the same lack of details and it seems as if the character is being brushed off as some supporting role that has no real impact on the series. I find this unacceptable.

Sam is a main character in the series. Even Wikipedia lists him as a main character, not a supporting one. Though he does provide much support to our heroine! “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I said, without any thought at all. He looked up at me, and there was a long, odd moment, when the light in the room seemed to dance and shiver. (DTTW)

 Also Sam Trammel’s name is third in the True Blood credits. Just saying.

Though Sam does  not get as much page time as the other main characters, he is still extremely important to the story and to Sookie, who regards him as her best friend. When the series began, Sam was Sookie’s boss and not much more. But it was revealed in Dead Until Dark that Sam had feelings for Sookie. Feelings that he, quite unfortunately, did not reveal to her until Bill came into the picture. “I couldn’t see what was right in front of me until I thought it might be taken away.” (DUD)

They go on a single date and this happens: Sam caught me. First his hands gripped my arms to steady me, then they just slid around me. And he kissed me. I assumed it was going to be a little good-night peck, but his mouth just kind of lingered. It was really more than pleasant…” (DUD)

But Sookie’s too mind warped by stupid lame-o Bill and ends up staying with the undead bloodsucker. (Did I mention this was an opinion piece?)

In book two they share another kiss: Sam’s lips actually felt hot, and his tongue, too. The kiss was deep, intense, unexpected; like the excitement you feel when someone gives you a present you didn’t know you wanted (LDID).  

One argument against the two as a couple is that she only sees him as a friend. And yes, she does consider him her best friend, but people who are just friends don’t generally do this:

He put his arm around me. I turned to him and slid my arms around his waist. He held me to him, and I felt peaceful for a wonderful minute. The heat of his body warmed me, and the knowledge of his affection comforted me. “Does your leg hurt?” I asked when he moved restlessly. “Not my leg,” he said. I looked up, puzzled, to meet his eyes. He looked rueful. Suddenly, I became aware of exactly what was hurting Sam, and I flushed red. But I didn’t let go of him. I was reluctant to end the comfort of being close to someone- no, of being close to Sam. When I didn’t move away, he slowly put his lips to mine, giving me every chance to step out of reach. His mouth brushed mine once, twice. Then he settled in to kissing me, and the heat of his tongue filled my mouth, stroking. 

That felt incredibly good. With the visit of the Marriot family, I’d been browsing the mystery section. Now I’d definitely wandered over to the Romances. His height was close enough to mine that I didn’t have to strain upward to meet his mouth. 

His kiss became more urgent. His lips strayed down my neck, to the vulnerable and sensitive place just at the base, and his teeth nipped very gently. I gasped. I just couldn’t help it. If I’d had the gift of teleportation, I would’ve had us somewhere more private in an instant. Remotely, I felt there was something kind of tacky at feeling this lustful in a messy office in a bar. But the heat surged as he kissed me again. We’d always had something between us, and the smoldering ember had just burst into flame (DAAD).

Obviously there is a spark of something more than friendship between them. And a lot of people seem to have forgotten this. She makes mention several times of his attractiveness:

He looked at me. His eyes narrowed. The lashes were the same red-gold color as his hair. And I had no business at all thinking about Sam’s eyelashes, or any other part of him, for that matter (DAAD).

“Have you seen him strip?” Sam laughed. “I mean, professionally? I sure couldn’t do that on a stage with people watching.” Physically, there sure wouldn’t be anything stopping him. I’d seen Sam naked when he changed from a shifter form into human. Yum. (DITF)

But there’s also more than just a physical attraction. These two characters depend on each other, can tell each other anything:

He didn’t turn to look at me or make any reply. But his fingers folded around mine. For a long moment, we stood in the sun with people buzzing around us, holding hands. His palm was hot and dry, and his fingers were strong. I felt I had truly connected with another human being. (DUD)

Sam was standing beside me, when I could hear and see again. He’d pulled off a glove, and his hand found mine and clasped it. His felt warm and hard, and I was glad to be holding onto him. (DTTW)

I dashed back to my car, feeling that my heart was much lighter than it had been before. Being at odds with Sam had felt wrong. I didn’t realize how that wrongness had colored my thoughts until I was right with him again. (DAAD)

Sam asked me a couple of times if I was okay, and I was surprised by the strength of my desire to talk to him about everything that had happened lately. I was astonished to realize how often I confided in Sam, how much he knew about my secret life. (DAG)

“Sam, please don’t ask me. I’m too upset to talk about it.” Suddenly, I realized it would be a big comfort to tell Sam… (FDTW)

Acting on an impulse…I threw my arms around Sam and gave him a hug. I smelled clean skin and hair and the slight sweet smell of a light aftershave, an undertone of wine, a whiff of beer… the Sam smell. I drew it into my lungs like oxygen. Surprised, Sam hugged me back, and for a second the warmth of his embrace made me feel almost light-headed with pleasure. (DD)

I regretted not telling Sam about the Were buried on my land. I was always sorry when I didn’t tell Sam something, it seemed. (DITF)

Additionally, there is a level of trust that I feel Sookie does not have with the other men in her life.

I glanced sideways at Sam to get his reaction. I had trusted him for five years now, and he had never failed me. (DD)

Sookie has expressed wanting a normal life (I thought of how wonderful it would be to be with a man who could go shopping with me in the daytime, a man I could have a baby with, a man who knew how to treat a woman well. (STW)), but being with a normal human would never work due to her ability to read minds. This was one reason she first wanted to be with a vampire; she couldn’t hear their thoughts at all. But, she also discovered, she can’t easily read the minds of shifters and Weres either. Sam would be the perfect person to fit into the life Sookie wants for herself.

He hugged me, which was a welcome surprise. I felt like I needed a hug after Niall’s drop-in. I hugged Sam back. He felt warm, and comforting, and human. But neither of us was 100 percent human. In the next instant, I thought, we are, too. We had more in common with humans than with the other parts of us. We lived like humans; we would die like humans. Since I knew Sam pretty well, I knew he wanted a family and someone to love and a future that contained all the things plain humans want: prosperity, good health, descendants, laughter. Sam didn’t want to be the leader of any pack, and I didn’t want to be the princess of anybody… (FDTW)

Neither of them want to be involved in supernatural politics, though they are both part Supes themselves. They understand and accept each other for what they are, and do not try or want to change each other. There have been several indications that Sam has loved Sookie from page one, and we know it is not because she can read minds and is part fairy.

“So you think I should do this?” I was bewildered. “No, I’d give anything if you wouldn’t. But I think you have to. It’s not my fight; I wasn’t invited.” Sam gave me a kiss on the forehead and left to go back to Merlotte’s. His attitude was kind of interesting, after all the vampire insistence (both Bill and Eric’s) that I was a possession to be guarded. (DTTW)

“Other humans think you’re defective?” Niall sounded genuinely outraged. “They can’t be comfortable sometimes,” Sam said unexpectedly. “Knowing she can read their minds.” “But you, shapeshifter?” “I think she’s great,” Sam said. And I could tell he was absolutely sincere. (FDTW)

“I’d be the last person in the world to block your place in the sun, Sookie,” Sam said, and he smiled at me. (ATD)

“You seem to like strong women.” He smiled. “I do like strong women, and I’m not afraid of the different ones. Run-of-the-mill just doesn’t cut it with me.” (DR)

Sam was waiting by the door to my assigned bedroom. He looked tired but relaxed, and I could tell he was happy to be at home. He stood aside to let me enter first, and I put my clothes down on top of my tote bag and straightened up to find him looking at me with affection. Not lust, not frustration…affection. My heart went all gooey. We hugged, and it felt wonderful to breathe him in. He didn’t mind the damp hair, the bare face, the worn bathrobe. He was happy I was here. (STW)

There have also been several instances where other characters have made note of their relationship:

Sweetie stayed just where she was. “You know, Sam’s just nuts about you.” ‘I’ve worked for him for a long time.” “No, I think it goes a little beyond that.” (DAAD)

Alcide: “Sure. You seem to have a lot of influence with him. Just thought I’d mention it.” I didn’t see it that way. Sam had a lot of influence over me, but whether I had any over him…I was dubious. (FDTW)

Quinn: “Why are you harder on me than on anyone else?” he asked. “I am not,” I said instantly. But then I thought, am I? “Have you asked Eric to give up Fangtasia? Have you asked Bill to give up his computer enterprise? Have you asked Sam to turn his back on his family?” “What…?” I began, trying to work out the connection… “I told you that I wanted to be first with the guy in my life….I haven’t asked Eric to give up Fangtasia. Why would I do that? And where does Sam come into it?” (DAG)

“He could run a bar somewhere else,” Claude said, shrugging. “He’d have to leave Bon Temps,” I said sharply. “That wouldn’t suit you, would it?” Claude looked thoughtful in a way that made me distinctly uneasy. (DR)

It was true I liked Jannalynn much less than I did Alcide. It was also true (though perhaps Alcide didn’t know this) that Jannalynn suspected my relationship with Sam was far more than it should be between an employee and her boss. If this were the fifties, she’d be checking Sam’s collars for lipstick stains. (DL)

“Why do you care if something happens to that bitch?” Eric said, his blonde eyebrows raising in query. “I don’t,” I said instantly. “I can’t stand her.” “Then what’s your issue?” And I had no answer. “It’s because we were talking about involving Sam,” Bill told Eric. “That’s the stumbling block.” Suddenly they were on the same side, and that side was not mine. “You’re sweet on him?” Eric said. “He’s my boss,” I said. “We’ve been friends for years. Of course I’m fond of him.”… “Hmmm,” Eric said, his eyes examining my face with a sharp intensity. (DL)

And of course, the two never seem to approve of the other’s romantic partners. Given, they both usually have good reason.

First there was Tanya:

Suddenly I thought, I wonder if Tanya is interested in Sam. I didn’t like the way I felt when I thought about that. (DD)

“She’s here with Calvin, and she’s got no business hitting on you.” My tone was a lot angrier than I’d intended. “Oh.” Sam looked disconcerted. “But if you want to go out with her, go ahead… I don’t have to like who you date…” “Yeah, but I feel better if you do,” he said. “Same here,” I agreed, to my own surprise. (FDTW)

I had a stab of genuine anxiety. I thought, Tanya and Sam could change together. Sam would enjoy that. He could even change into a fox himself, if he wanted to. It was a huge effort to smile at my customers after I’d had that idea. I was ashamed when I realized I should be happy to see someone interested in Sam, someone who could appreciate his true nature. It didn’t say much for me that I wasn’t happy at all. But she wasn’t good enough for him. (FDTW)

Then there was the dreadful were-slut, Jannalynn:

I thought Jannalynn was equally inappropriate for Sam. He didn’t need a ferocious, anything for the packmaster kind of woman. He needed to be with a woman who thought he was the greatest man around. (DITF)

Sam smiled at me when his eyes caught mine. It was sure nice to see him happy. Though Jannalynn was not good enough for him. I almost clapped a hand over my mouth. I felt as guilty as though I’d said that out loud. Their relationship wasn’t any of my business, I told myself sternly. (DR)

“You do have it in for her. What, you don’t think she’s good enough for Sam?” “No. As a matter of fact, I don’t.”……… I fumed as I gathered my things together. Help that bitch propose to Sam? When Hell froze over. (DL)

I felt almost disappointed. Jannalynn made me so antsy that I would have liked to find her guilty of something, but I chided myself for being uncharitable. I should be glad Sam was dating an innocent woman. And I was. Right? (DL)

And we all know Sam has never approved of Sookie’s choice in boyfriends:

“Would you have ever thought we’d say this, the first day I came to work at Merlotte’s?” Sam leaned forward and briefly put his hand over mine…. Sam took his hand back and began working on his food again. “I wish…” Sam began, and then closed his mouth. He ran a hand through his red gold hair….. “What do you wish?” I asked…..”I wish you would find happiness with someone else.”  (DITF)

It is quite obvious Sookie cares deeply for Sam. And we know that she loves him:

While I stood staring in horror, Priscilla dropped Amanda’s body on the ground and wheeled to leap onto Sam’s back. He shook and shook but she had sunk her teeth into his neck and she would not be dislodged. Something in me snapped as surely as the bones in Amanda’s neck. I lost any sense I might have had, and I launched myself in the air as if I were a wolf, too. (FDTW)

I put my hand to Sam’s neck, Sam’s pulse stopped. His eyes closed. And everything else in the world did, too. In my universe, everything fell silent. I didn’t hear the chaos around me. I didn’t hear a voice calling my name..... “Sam. Live.” (DL)

The only question remaining is, will that love make the transition from friendship to romance? I think it will. In my world, at least, all signs have been pointing in this direction. I’ve read in interviews and heard some rumors through the grapevine about the last book in the series, Dead Ever After. Charlaine Harris had revealed that Sookie would not become a vampire, and no vampires would become human. That puts up a red flag right there on the future of her relationship with both Eric and Bill. How can the relationship possibly work with them as vampires and her as a human? She deserves a fulfilling human life, with a family, children. And if she picks one of the vampires, she can never have this.

In an interview at Dragon*Con in 2011, Harris stated that she had always known how the books would end. She also said that after book two or so, the whole series took a crazy turn that had nothing to do with her original ending point. To me, this was a clear sign that Sookie will not pick Eric. Her relationship with him did not begin until book four, and is quite unarguably on a downward spiral as of Dead Reckoning. My guess is, he will leave for Oklahoma and she will let him go.

As for Bill, well… he and Sookie have not been a couple since Club Dead, and I’m not sure she would take him back at this point. Yes, he would put her first, as she told Quinn she wanted to be, and yes he loves her, but he’s still dead. Not to mention, she hasn’t shown really any interest in him since they ended things. She even perched on top of him naked once and never thought, ‘oh yeah, I like this.’ She seems pretty over Mr. Compton.

Alcide would be the most surprising choice to me since Sookie mostly seems annoyed by him in all recent books. And, being with Alcide would ensure she remain amidst those pesky politics I mentioned earlier. Quinn is just kinda lame and I still feel like she never really loved him. Just go on back to your crazy family, Mr. Clean.

Sam seems like the most natural choice, and I can envision their future together.

Impulsively, I bent to give him a kiss on the cheek. I smelled the smell that was Sam: aftershave, the woods, something wild yet familiar. “How are you feeling?” he asked, as if I always kissed him hello. (FDTW)

When Sam knocked on the door thirty minutes later, I let him in. I’d pulled on the yellow and gray skirt outfit with matching yellow sandals. The top zipped up the back, and I turned around so Sam could finish zipping for me… Sam zipped me up as though this were our routine. (STW)

Maybe a normal life, going antique shopping and running a bar together sounds boring. And maybe reading a whole book about it would be. But imagining this is the life Sookie gets to live makes me happy. Sookie is one of my favorite heroines, if not my actual favorite. And even though this world is fictional, and I am totally aware that it is, I still feel like these are real people that deserve their happy ending.

If Sookie and Sam do not end up together, it would be one of the biggest disappointments I’ve faced so far in literature. (Oh the drama!) But I just have a feeling, a pretty good strong feeling, that they will end up together, and a lot of fans are going to be sorely disappointed.

People discount the shifter now, but may just regret underestimating him come May. Or maybe they won’t. But I’m crossing my fingers and toes and hoping for a happily ever after that features two bar owners, a beautiful wedding, and some little shifter babies. (Well, actually I don't think they could have shifter babies but regular babies are cool, too.)

I was relieved when Sam agreed to spend the night in the spare bedroom across the hall….He was still pretty shaky, and I helped him into the house. When he sat on the bed, I knelt before him to take off his shoes. I brought him a glass of water for the bedside table. I moved toward the door, walking as quietly as I could. “Sookie,” Sam said….”You have to tell me what the cluviel dor is all about. How you made it work.” That was going to be a delicate conversation. “Sure, Sam,” I said, very quietly. “Another day. (DL)

-Mallory