Bill Compton

Bill Compton is the character from a book series written by Charlaine Harris and published in 2001.

While the books were originally titled the ‘Southern Vampire Mysteries,’ it is referred to by readers as the Sookie Stackhouse novels or True Blood series. The latter is a result of capitalizing on the bestselling book series that is being used as the story material for a television series, ‘True Blood.’ Produced by HBO in 2008, the Southern Vampire Mysteries was brought to the motion picture screen with the well-received TV show.

In the TV series, Bill Compton’s character is portrayed by popular British actor Stephen Moyer.
The story setup of the Southern Vampire Mysteries includes the fact that vampires, as well as other supernatural entities including werewolves, are indeed real and exist amongst the living. The book series begins in a time a few years after vampires have become commonplace to the rest of society in modern day. Bill Compton’s character is a vampire living in the town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, which is the same town as Sookie Stackhouse who is the narrator of the story series.

Stackhouse is a waitress who is also interested in the paranormal due to her telepathic abilities, and she soon befriends Compton. Compton is a veteran of the Civil War who was born in Bon Temps on April 9, 1840 as King William Thomas Compton. Known to friends as Bill, in 1865, Compton was transformed into a vampire by Lorena Ball.

Since the Great Revelation that brought the vampires’ existence to the mainstream, Compton has come forth as a vampire to the locals as a way to integrate the cultures and promote understanding. Vampire Bill, as he becomes known, ends up killing Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq to become the king vampire of all of Louisiana, thereby fulfilling his destiny as King William Thomas Compton.

As a human, Compton had a wife, Caroline, and two children, Sarah and Thomas, before the inception of the Civil War. By 1860 he was inducted into the military where he served with the 28th Louisiana Infantry as First Lieutenant and fought for the South.

While he survived the hazards of the war, as he was returning to his family in Bon Temps, Compton lost his way. He soon became disoriented even further from a lack of nourishment and sleep as a result of the gruesome duties of war time. However, Bill managed to find a cabin out in the woods where he took up residence with a widow.

The widow, who was named Lorena Ball, took in Compton and provided food and shelter while he recovered from his ordeal. Unfortunately for Bill, Lorena was a vampire. After a time the vampire took to Compton for sexual contact but he refused her, as he was still a married man who had to honor his wife. Lorena took out her aggression and wrath on Bill by feeding on his blood, thus killing him and turning him into a vampire on November 20, 1868.

After Bill Compton became a vampire, he could not return to his previous life at home with his living wife and two young children. In fact, he stayed out of Bon Temps, only to return to mourn the death of one of his children, a son named Thomas.

Meanwhile, Ball had finally found a way to Bill’s affections, as since he was a vampire he was no longer able to be with his wife. The two were lovers who worked together as they hunted for people to feed off of. During this time, from 1926 to 1935, the two vampires move to Los Angeles, California where they make an attempt to connect in a loving way.

For example, once while feeding on a woman who was wearing a valuable piece of jewelry, Bill Compton removed it and gave it to Ball as a gift, seemingly to show his affection to her. However, Compton is never able to find the same love he had with his wife with Ball. He soon becomes completely disenchanted with Ball and their forced relationship. He pleads for her to allow him to move on from her, but she is not having it. The two begin a heated argument with emotionally charged accusations tossed back and forth, until finally Compton threats to put a stake in his own heart, thus killing himself according to the laws of vampires. Ball has no choice but to let him leave.

Bill Comptontakes off from Ball at the end of the 1930s and roams around for a few decades searching for his place. By the 1960s he has taken a job as a procurer for the Queen of the vampires in Louisiana, Sophie-Anne Leclerq. The job carries through to the modern day setting of the novels and corresponds with his relationship with Sookie Stackhouse. As a procurer Compton works for the Queen by acting as a spy and database creator.

As a spy, Bill Compton is required to investigate Stackhouse’s telepathic capabilities. In order to get the inside scoop about Stackhouse, Compton gets a front job as an investigator of which he uses to also investigate Area Five sheriff Eric, whom Compton has suspicions about his motivations. Bill is also responsible for maintaining a database that records the names and whereabouts of all of the vampires who live in North America. He is given this job because of his uncanny photographic memory that allows him to record minute details and remember detailed conversations and memories. The database becomes a source of discovery for Compton, as well as putting a target on his head by other vampires who find the database as controversial because it records their existence in great detail, which could lead to their capture and murder if ever it were in the wrong hands.

Throughout the series, Bill finds himself in several romantic relationships. Following the forced relationship with Ball, he falls in love with Sookie after she saves his life. He also has a fling with Selah Pumfrey who is a real estate agent in order to make Stackhouse jealous, and Judith Vardamon who was turned into a vampire by Lorena.

Top

Return to True Blood from Bill Compton »

Or back to Vampire Art Home »