When one thinks of Southern Vampire Mysteries (SVM) and True Blood (TB), the first thing they think about is vampires. While both series are heavy in the world of the vampire, they are not the only supernatural creatures that existence.

Fairies (Fae) are a strange and mystical race in both SVM and TB, but as with many things TB-related, there seem to be some severe deviations between the book fairies and their show counterparts. Instead of trying to explain the differences, this post will focus on each set individually.

SVM Fairies

Fairies are a rare and elusive race in the SVM books. Their existence isn’t known until Charlaine Harris’ fourth book, Dead to the World, when Sookie Stackhouse meets the beautiful Claudine Crane.

Fairies are not from the world around us. Their world, known as Faery, is separated from our own by a series of ‘doors’, mystical barriers that allow entry from Faery into the human realm. These doors are hidden away throughout the world the knowledge of these locations are a heavily guarded secret.

Physically, the Fae are described as extremely beautiful, though it is not their true form that humans and other supes (supernatural beings) see. They naturally have pointed ears and the Fae are actually divided up into several subspecies from fairies, angels, demons to elves and sprites. Fairies are actually the most populous of the Fae and their appearance is the closest to that of a human. Fairies are attractive to all, their use of power and sex appeal is commonly used as a means of achieving what they desire most

Fairies do not merely possess magic, they are innately magic in its purest form. Magic manifests differently among the Fae. .Though the one thing that seems to be consistent is the knowledge that the ability of telepathy is as rare among all supernatural species as it is among humans. The only known Fae that possesses such a power is the mostly demon lawyer of the late Sophie-Anne LeClerq.

Fairies are not immortal, in fact, my own great-grandfather, Niall Brigant looks to be in his 50’s – 60’s and yet, he has been alive for centuries. Niall could possibly even be older than Eric.

Fairies enjoy experimenting and are extremely curious and mischievous creatures. They cannot out right lie, but they are able to skirt around the truth in an attempt to deceive.

They have a low fertility rate and their population has dwindled down through out the centuries. Many have been known to have rendezvous with humans, thus creating part-fae/part-human offspring. These half-breeds are not human enough to exist in the human realm and are considered to be part of the lower class within the Fae realm.

Lemons and iron are lethal to a fairy and their existence in the human realm causes them to be weakened, as our world is filled with so much iron (heck, the Earth itself is made of an iron core).

The other lethal danger that resides in our realm is vampires. Vampires find the scent of a fairy to be extremely intoxicating and they act as if they are a chocoholic with a candy bar being dangled in front of them. The effects of fairy blood on a vampire is like “an orgy of sensation” for the vampire, leaving the vampire in an almost drunk-like state.

TB Fairies

Like the SVM fairies, the fairies in the TBverse are extremely secretive and their home is not in the human realm. Instead they reside in a strange and mystical world, deemed fairyland, that is truly a veiled facade to cover the devastating wasteland of their world (which is actually the original Star Trek plot. Just a little nerd fact).

Their initial appearance is that of a cheerful, carefree beautiful race that enjoys dancing and rejoicing.

But in all truth, they are hideously ugly creatures who trick those they kidnap into remaining in fairyland by consuming glowing pieces of fruit called “lumiere fruit”.It can be assumed that these pieces of fruit link those who consume it to fairyland and if they dare to escape back to the human realm, they turn into a pile of ashes.

Fairies are under the power of “the Crown” or the Queen of all Fairies, Mab. Mab originated from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream. In TB, the fairies are collecting humans in an attempt to “harvest”, though it was never clearly determined in what manner they wish to achieve such a prospect.

Mab claims that their numbers have also declined from mixing with the human race and even deems Sookie to be a traitor amongst the Fae for allowing a vampire to enter the fairy realm after consuming her blood.

Like the SVM fairies, TB fairies are extremely intoxicating to vampires. Unable to control themselves, vampires drain fairies to full consumption and the blood of a fairy leaves the vampire in an almost drunk-like state. Once fully consumed the fairy reverts to their true form before dissipating into a pile of “fairy dust”.

Unlike their SVM counterparts, TB fairies possess the ability of telepathy as well as a powerful magical ability that manifests itself with glowing hands that sends a burst of power to those it is directed at. It also seems that this ability can act as a means of “healing” or dispelling the magic inflicted on one from a mortal witch.

Powerful, mystical and mysterious, the fairies are no lightweights in this Supernatural Superiority Race. How do they compare to those species in the Sookieverse?

I’ll leave that up to you to decide. Stay tune for my next post on the Shifters/Weres of my world.

Vampires | Fairies