But what of Violet? Was she really as scary as many fans made out? Or was she merely misunderstood? After all, a lot can change in the world after 800 years. According to the actress who played Violet, Karolina Wydra, she was very misunderstood:
Violet is not evil—I think the whole thing with this season is Violet is trying to fit into Jason’s world, and she’s so wrong in that world. You see her make such mistakes even though she’s trying to be helpful. Like when Alcide (Joe Manganiello) dies and she tells Sookie (Anna Paquin) she’s lost hundreds of boyfriends, it’s so wrong what’s coming out of her mouth, but she’s trying. She’s trying to fit into this world. You see it when you finally see her house there in episode eight, her speech about where she comes from, and you realize she’s been with the most powerful men in history, and now she’s with a regular dude. She’s trying something different, she’s trying to walk away from what she knows, but she’s too worldly and been around for too long.
While Violet seems to be out of her depth in the world she now lives in, she ended up choosing a boyfriend, who, ultimately, is out of his depth just working out whether Santa is a supernatural creature or not. For Violet, who could have bought any man in power to his knees, being with Jason Stackhouse was sort of like slumming it:
She’s lived a long time and has had many powerful men over the years, and she’d normally never go for someone like Jason. She’s been with princes, aristocratic people — the most powerful men in the world. She’s trying something new with Jason… You see how she lives in the last few episodes. You see her house and her décor and you get an idea of the kind of woman that she is. Violet is trying to be a part of Jason’s world, and she so doesn’t fit into that world. What I love about their relationship is that they’re such an odd couple but there’s still a connection — there’s something there.
Because of her age as a vampire and her aggressive nature, there would be no walking away from Violet for Jason, so, in the end, one would have to die. Karolina was a bit disappointed she was the one to die – and at the hands of Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), no less – but, at the end of the day, it was an epic death and one worthy of her character.
Before her death, she introduced a couple of young teenagers to her audacious house and sex dungeon. Karolina was most impressed – too impressed possibly – by the house and contents. The house, among other things, was once a safe haven for pregnant teens, an irony not lost on Karolina. But the sex dungeon was a whole other thing. Karolina had a ball helping find sex toys and torture devices for it:
Kate [Barnow] actually asked me what kind of torture devices we should get, so I went online and looked for Polish torture devices. It was so fun! The chair that Noah is in, normally, you would sit on these pointy, metallic things that would break into your skin. The torture devices in those days were just brutal.
Even though Karolina had fun researching this, how was she inspired to get into character?
I do visual collages that help me maintain the deep core of what’s going on with her, and I [visualized] an animal for her. She’s a black panther—the way they move, their eyes, and how they take their time with stuff. They’re very protective of their families, their little ones, and they’re nocturnal. The collages have to do with images of inspiration of who she would have been in the past, actresses that bring out her sexuality. There are many different things, images that I see that are like, that’s so Violet. Sophia Loren—her sexuality is very luscious, and with a lot of the makeup I’d ask for a cat-eye eyeliner—or a panther would be on there, and old Catholic symbolism. I had Anna Magnani. If you ever watch her work, when she got passionate, she was very passionate. She had a lot of intensity when she performed.
You can read more on this fascinating character and the woman who portrayed her on HBO’s True Blood by clicking here and here.
Sources: TrueToTheEnd.com – Karolina Wydra on Polish Torture Expertise and Playing Sex Dungeon Vanna White
The Hollywood Reporter - The actress tells THR this Sunday’s episode was a “shock”
(Photo Credit: HBO Inc.)
