Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
After Debbie Pelt shoots Tara, Sookie and Lafayette ask Pam to turn their friend rather than let her die. Tara wakes as a vampire, furious at the choice and unprepared for the hunger that follows. Bill and Eric are seized by the Vampire Authority over Nan Flanagan’s death, then offered a way to survive by helping the council contain Russell Edgington, newly freed from his concrete prison. The Authority’s religious faction, led by Salome, draws Bill and Eric toward Lilith’s blood and a violent doctrine of vampire supremacy.
In Bon Temps, Sookie and Jason find a centuries-old contract linking their family to Warlow, the vampire blamed for their parents’ deaths, while Sookie’s fragile relationship with Alcide is tested by Russell’s return. The Authority’s attempt to control vampire life collapses as Salome’s faction grows stronger: Russell wants faerie blood so he can walk in daylight, and Bill’s push to destroy the Tru Blood factories turns the crisis into open conflict with humans. Meanwhile, Sam and Luna risk discovery to get Luna’s daughter Emma out of Authority custody, and Alcide defeats J.D. and becomes the werewolf pack’s leader.
Eric finally kills Russell while rescuing the faeries, then joins Sookie, Jason, Tara and Nora in an assault on Authority headquarters to free Bill, Pam and Jessica. Their rescue ends with Tara and Pam sharing a kiss, while Bill’s faith in Lilith has become impossible to interrupt. He kills Salome and drinks the sacred blood in front of Sookie and Eric; his body bursts into a pool of blood, then reforms as a new, godlike version of himself. The season closes with Eric warning Sookie to run from the reborn Bill.