Jason Stackhouse

Jason Stackhouse is a fictional character from The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by author Charlaine Harris. Introduced in the first novel, Dead Until Dark, Jason is Sookie Stackhouse's older brother and a road crew supervisor for Bon Temps, Louisiana. Stackhouse is described as sexually active and has had many sexual relationships with women in Bon Temps and its neighbouring communities. Initially portrayed to be callow and selfish, Jason's character changes as the series progresses and he begins to mature and become more supportive of Sookie and her supernatural issues. In Dead Until Dark, Jason is suspected of killing a series of girls in Bon Temps. Videotapes of his sexual encounters with each girl are damning evidence against him. However, Jason is eventually found innocent. In later books Jason is implicated in other crimes, and despite his innocence, these accusations continue to erode his reputation. In Dead to the World, Jason disappears. This occurs shortly after he begins dating Crystal Norris from Hotshot, a community of werepanthers near Bon Temps. Finally, Sookie discovers that he was kidnapped by a jealous rival, who bit him repeatedly to turn him into a werepanther. Jason is shown to greatly enjoy hunting with the werepanthers, though they don't fully accept him because he was not born a werepanther.…

Relationships

In the novels, Crystal gets pregnant with Jason's baby, but she miscarries. When she gets pregnant again, Jason happily marries her. Sookie claims that Jason loves Crystal, but Crystal isn't sure that she loves Jason. The immature couple quickly encounter marriage troubles, such as Crystal spending the household money on shopping instead of necessities. When Jason discovers that Crystal is having an affair, he tricks Calvin Norris and Sookie into catching her in the act. After that, Crystal moves back to Hotshot and Jason is shown to be dating other women. Jason has been friends with Hoyt Fortenberry since they were children. Since Jason became a werepanther, their relationship has been strained; and it appears to end when Jason marries Crystal. Jason then befriends werepanther Mel Hart, with unfortunate results. Crystal ultimately dies when she is crucified outside of Merlotts, and Jason again becomes a suspect, but he is eventually proven innocent.

Television portrayal

In True Blood, an HBO series based on the books, this character is played by Ryan Kwanten.

Season 1

Jason's reputation is tarnished when women he's been involved with, including his grandmother, are murdered. He becomes a suspect after having sex with Maudette and Dawn, both of whom are later found dead. Jason later falls in love with Amy, who is also murdered. In the first season finale, it is revealed that all four murders were committed by Drew Marshall, clearing Jason's name.

Season 2

Jason joins the Fellowship of the Sun church and becomes popular for his physical prowess and performance as a vampire hater. Sarah manipulates and uses Jason to escape from her abusive husband and has an affair with him. Steve orders Jason's death under the assumption that he is a spy for the vampires after they capture Sookie, but Jason beats up Gabe and escapes. Sarah shoots Jason with a paintball gun as revenge, but he saves Sookie's life by shooting Steve with a paintball gun. Jason later apologises to Godric for being kept prisoner at the church, and Eric tells him he will call it even on the condition that Jason never does V again. Jason survives a massacre and apologizes to Bill for his past behaviour. He bonds with Sookie over watching Steve and Sarah's disastrous TV debate. When they arrive in Bon Temps, vandals greet them, and Jason rescues Andy and Sam from Maryann's followers with a chainsaw and a nail gun, but Sam surrenders to Maryann to save them.

Season 3

In season three, Jason feels guilty about Eggs and wants to confess but Andy convinces him to stay quiet. Jason blackmails Andy to join the police force, becomes attracted to Crystal, and helps tip off the Hotshot residents about a drug raid. However, this leads to Crystal being kidnapped by Felton. Later, Jason kills Franklin Mott to save Tara and confesses to Sookie and Tara about Eggs.

Season 4

In the year since Sookie's disappearance, Jason has become a police officer partnering up with Andy Bellefleur. Both he and Andy attempted to locate Sookie (including setting up a website and calling local news stations) but eventually came to believe Sookie had been killed by vampires. Not wanting to be reminded of the painful memories of Sookie's house, Jason sold it to an unknown company, later determined to be owned by Eric Northman. Keeping his promise to Crystal, Jason also spent the year providing the Hotshot residents with food and supplies as he promised Crystal. On one of his visits, Felton returns and traps Jason in an old freezer. He later awakens tied to a bed and is greeted by Crystal and Felton. They reveal that they intent to change him into a werepanther so that they can use him to breed more werepanthers with Crystal as Felton is infertile. To this end, they bite him numerous times in werepanther form, feed him Viagra, and proceed to have the women of Hotshot (including Crystal) rape him while he suffers from fever. After numerous women rape him, Becky, a 12-year-old girl, is forced to participate. To prevent this from happening, Jason convinces her to free him, and Jason quickly escapes on foot after knocking out Luther and taking his knife. Felton doggedly pursues him as a werepanther, but Jason eventually takes him by surprise and kills him with a sharpened stick. Crystal appears afterwards, gleeful over Felton's death, and wishes for Jason to return to Hotshot to resume his role as a "ghost daddy." Jason vehemently refuses the offer and tells her he is done with her and Hotshot for good. Crystal lets him go under the belief that Jason will return on the full moon when he'll transform. Jason limps away, only to collapse later that night on the roadside. He is found by Hoyt Fortenberry and Jessica Hamby, who promptly revives him with her blood. As he is nursed back to health, he begins fantasizing about Jessica and, oddly, Hoyt. Thinking he will turn into a werepanther through the upcoming full moon, Jason handcuffs himself to his bedpost to protect others. Sookie finds him and learns about the situation - she assures him that she will make the best of the situation and will not shoot Jason. When night falls, Jason flees into the woods to protect Sookie, who subsequently chases him. Jessica, who is working at Merlotte's, senses Jason in fear (since she had fed Jason her blood) and quickly finds Jason to protect him. It's eventually revealed that despite being bitten, Jason cannot turn into a werepanther because weres and shifters only get that power from being born as one. Jason, relieved, bonds with Jessica. They eventually part ways, though it's clear that feelings have developed between the two of them. Jason is visited by Hoyt, who is distressed by his relationship problems with Jessica. The next day, he looks for Sookie to tell her the good news about his non-turning, but she is concerned about Eric, who has been bound by silver chains to prevent him from walking out into the sun (due to a dangerous witch spell by a newly resurrected Antonia). Realizing Jessica is in danger, Jason sprints to the mansion to rescue her. He is stopped temporarily by a guard, who he shoots (presumably non-fatally). He rushes to promptly save Jessica by throwing her back into the mansion. The spell is soon released and Jessica, indebted to Jason for saving her life, kisses him on the lips, which he returns. She apologizes and Jason places her back in bed under chains to rest and prepare for another possible spell. As per Bill's suggestion, Jason agrees to not report that Jessica killed the guard, a human. In turn, Jason would not be punished for the guard he shot "in the shoulder" outside. At night, Jessica visits Jason and tells him that she and Hoyt have broken up. Jason is angry that she would hurt his best friend and not only rejects her feelings for him but rescinds her invitation to his house. The next day Jason gets a call from Hoyt - a possessed Lafayette has taken Arlene and Terry's baby and has threatened Hoyt with a gun. Jason responds to the call with Andy but cannot make much headway with Lafayette until Jesus comes and eventually puts the grieving mother spirit at peace. Later, Hoyt asks Jason to give Jessica a box of her belongings. Jason delivers the box - although he at first remains hesitant to get close to Jessica, they eventually make love in Jason's truck. Afterwards, Jason feels guilty knowing that it will ruin Hoyt if he finds out. He asks Jessica to glamour him to make him forget but she refuses and leaves angrily to feed on someone else. Jason helps Sookie's cause to rescue Tara and other humans from Moon Goddess Emporium, which Bill plans to destroy to end the war with Antonia. He, Sookie, Jesus, and Lafayette approach the Emporium during daylight, but Jesus discovers it is protected by a spell. Jesus proves his worth to Antonia by breaking through the barrier and warns Sookie in his mind that Marnie has now turned sympathetic towards Antonia's cause. Soon the prisoners are broken free temporarily when the spell is lifted, and Tara and Holly run out to the embracing arms of Sookie and Lafayette. Jason lags behind slightly and is caught on the outside of Antonia's newly cast spell, which causes everyone else to be cast inside the shop. When Pam, Jessica, Eric, and Bill come armed to defeat Marnie, they are unable to make any progress because of the barrier. Marnie asks Eric and Bill to sacrifice themselves for Sookie's release, and while they both agree, Pam does not and launches a rocket launcher at the barrier, causing a massive explosion and injuring Jason severely. Jessica feeds him her blood again. Eventually, Marnie casts a spell to draw the vampires towards the deadly barrier, but Jason holds them back long enough before the spell is broken (when Jesus draws Antonia out of Marnie). Marnie is then killed by Bill and the prisoners are released. Jason tells Hoyt about his relationship with Jessica, and Hoyt does not take it well as he beats Jason up. Later that night, on Halloween, Jessica visits Jason and he invites her in. They have sex, and Jessica suggest they should just stay friends as she is not ready for a relationship and Jason agrees to be friends.

Season 5

At the beginning of Season 5, Jason is visited at home by Steve Newlin, who reveals he is a recently turned vampire and is a "Proud Gay American Vampire". Jason is flattered (calling it the nicest "I love you" by anyone) but politely declines because he's not sexually attracted to Steve. Steve gets angry and attempts to bite Jason. Jessica arrives and threatens Newlin as she is the Queen of Louisiana since Bill is gone (unbeknownst to her, he and Eric have been arrested by the Vampire Authority twice and Bill is no longer the monarch of Louisiana). Jason takes back his invitation from Newlin, who leaves immediately. Jason then goes to Merlotte's to see Hoyt, who is with his other 'true friends', but is coldly turned down. Jason still has feelings for Jessica and thinks the feeling is mutual, but upon going to visit her at Bill's she denies this, explaining she was just saying that to protect Jason from Newlin. Jessica is throwing a party, and Jason attempts to make a move on her but another guy makes a move before he can. A jealous Jason takes a sorority girl to have sex, but instead he takes her home. Jason is later visited by an old schoolteacher with whom he previously had sexual relations. They have sex but immediately afterwards Jason begins to feel like he is being used for sex and this causes Jason to remember his past with his teacher as it really was (his teacher talked Jason into having sex with her while she was married and when he was only a student) and leaves her house in a hurry. Jason realizes that he was raped by his teacher and that his sexual desires early on are because of his teacher's influence; that all he had to offer anyone were sexual encounters that have ruined chances for a real loving relationship with anyone and starts to straighten up his life now that he has faced his past. Later on, Sookie visits Jason and emotionally confesses that she killed Debbie and had Tara turned into a vampire. Jason recommends that she keep things to herself. The next day Andy tells him that Debbie's parents have left because they found what they were looking for. Jessica then glamours him into forgetting about the case, doing Jason a big favor. That night he, Andy, and Judge Clemens take a trip to a Fairy nightclub and there Jason meets his cousin Hadley, who believes Sookie is dead after disappearing at the end of Season 3. She firmly believes that Sookie needs to be protected from vampires, though Jason believes otherwise. She lets slip that vampires killed Jason's parents (while he had thought it was a flood) but she runs away before revealing more information. Jason pursues her but things turn violent in the club and he and Andy are thrown out. The next morning Jason has a dream about his parents that turns violent when he visualizes their violent deaths by vampire fangs. He later tells Andy that the nightclub they had visited the previous night was indeed for fairies. Jason visits his parents' graves and seems to start believing that what Hadley has said is true. He visits Sookie and asks her to accompany him to the fairy club once more. Sookie is told that vampires did in fact kill her parents, and she angrily lashes out but her powers are fading - she eventually finds out since she is half fairy her powers will drain soon. Jason visits Jessica to find comfort about what he has discovered about his parents, and bonds with Sookie. He stops Sookie from draining all her powers and convinces her to use her powers to find out who killed their parents. They return to the fairy nightclub and attempt to connect with the spiritual world to discover their parents' killer. Sookie sees a vision but cannot identify the killer. Jason is disheartened when he finds out that Hoyt wants to forget his time in Bon Temps and particularly wants to forget his first love Jessica, and Jason. Jessica glamours Hoyt, who then leaves town to go to Alaska. Jason stops him in the police cruiser to try and prevent him from leaving Bon Temps, but he knows that Hoyt is happier this way and reluctantly lets him go. Jason and Sookie dig closer to the truth regarding to their parents' murderer, and they learn that there is a war coming between the vampires and the fairies. Jason meets Jessica, who has been commanded by a psychopathic Bill to turn Jason into a vampire. Jason shoots both guards dead before he is turned and learns from Jessica that Russel Eddington is on the loose. He then goes to warn Sookie at the Faerie Night Club. Jason, Sookie, and the faeries develop a plan to take down Russell by Jason acting as bait to lure Russell and Steve to the night club to attack the vampires when they're distracted by the scent of their blood. The next night, Russell and Steve show up and glamour Jason into giving away the location of the fairy nightclub. When the three of them arrive, Russell and Newlin cannot find the entrance - the Fairy Elder appears and stops Steve. However, she is unable to stop Russell and accidentally hits Jason with a ball of light which throws Jason into a tree where he gets a nasty concussion. Russell then drains the Elder Faerie and can see the entrance to the nightclub because of her blood. Although the fairies combine forces to attempt to stop Russell, it doesn't affect him. Eric suddenly appears and stakes Russell when he's caught off guard, killing him once and for all. Jason wakes up from being knocked out and begins having hallucinations of his parents, who begin to feed on his growing anger towards vampires. When Eric, Tara, and Nora request his and Sookie's help to stop the Authority and rescue Bill, Jason agrees to come along to protect Sookie because he believes a war is about to erupt between vampires and humans. When they infiltrate the Authority, Jason kills many of the Authority guards Sookie and Tara rescue Pam and Jessica and Eric and Nora disable the security system. Once Jessica and Pam are rescued, they take the elevator out while Sookie and Eric confront Bill. Jessica admits feelings for Jason, but he rebuffs her, saying he cannot love a vampire. In an extended scene, after Jason exits the elevator and kills another Authority guard, he announces he's coming for Warlow next. Nora, shocked at this, asks Jason what he knows about Warlow, revealing that she's also familiar with him.

Season 6

When Season 6 begins, Jason is escaping the Authority with Jessica, Pam, Tara, Nora, Eric, and Sookie to evade the new Bill/Lillith entity that was created at the end of Season 5. On the news, the mayor indirectly declares war on vampires, calling for a vampire curfew and numerous other measures. As the group takes refuge at a beach, Nora believes that Jason knows more about Lillith and Warlow, and glamours him into getting more information. Jason is angry at this and threatens to shoot Nora unless she reveals what she knows about Warlow. The others see the conflict and Sookie says that Warlow was the enemy, not the entire vampire race. Jason takes this as Sookie taking the vampires' side, and he angrily storms off, leaving the party. He gets picked up by a mysterious driver, and Jason eventually begins to calm down after realizing the hallucinations of his parents are causing him to act crazy. When the driver possibly reveals himself as Warlow, Jason attempts to shoot him, but the stranger disappears and later uses light to stop the car before it crashes. The stranger then reveals himself as Jason and Sookie's fairy grandfather, Niall. Niall warns of Warlow, who he discovers has escaped, and says his powers are not to be underestimated. When Sookie returns home, Niall introduces himself and later explains over dinner that the Stackhouses are part of a royal bloodline. He trains Sookie to control her powers. Later that night, Warlow attacks and Niall tries to catch him but fails. Jason gets ready for action but inexplicably collapses. The next day, Sookie tends to him as he recovers from his "concussion", during which Sookie reveals that their parents were not racist against vampires but simply afraid of Sookie's powers. Later that night, Bill visits and restrains Jason while pleading with Sookie for her blood so they can synthesize it. She refuses and their relationship is officially over. Another attack occurs later that night and Niall discovers it is Nora, tracking Warlow as well. Jason convulses again and Ben Flynn, who turns out to be half vampire in addition to being half fae, gives him his blood. He recovers quickly, much to Sookie's surprise, and Jason, high on V, does a lot of pullups and has sexual fantasies about Ben. Concerned, he sees Niall and they conclude that Jason must've been fed V to hallucinate like that. They pursue Ben in his hotel room but get caught in his trap. Ben turns out to be Warlow, who glamours Jason into forgetting the whole situation and feeling guilty about letting his grandfather Fairy get captured by Warlow. Warlow eventually casts Niall into the same prison that he was trapped in. Back on the job and out of the house (Sookie has plans for Warlow), Jason and Andy go to a gas station to investigate where Andy's now-teen fairy godchildren have gone but find that the clerk has been glamoured. When Jason returns home that night, he finds Sarah Newlin waiting for him outside, where she confesses that she has loved him ever since they met at the Fellowship of the Sun. They proceed to have sex. Afterward, a distraught Jessica arrives and is still in shambles after killing most of Andy's fairy daughters but gets distracted when Sarah comes out and calls Jessica a dead vampire whore. Sarah is upset that Jason has had sexual relations with Jessica in the past. Jessica and Sarah struggle but Sarah eventually rescinds the invitation to the house, forcing Jessica out and right into the hands of the police that Sarah had called. The next morning, Jason leaves a message for Sookie saying that he messed up with Jessica and has been acting irresponsibly. He promises to make it up to her and everyone else. Jason then enters an army recruiting agency to join the LAVTF to rescue Jessica. He later shares stories with other soldiers, where he sees Sarah Newlin and privately tells her not to interfere with his plans. To torment Jason, Sarah takes him to see the fornication room, where Jessica and another vampire named James are supposed to have sex for research. Jessica is reluctant and stalls then James refuses to rape Jessica and she is taken away. Jason privately meets with Jessica and wants to take her away but she refuses, accepting her fate. She does ask to meet James, whom she would like to thank for being a gentleman, and Jason arranges this meeting, where James and Jessica make love. Sarah later throws Jason into Gen Pop now that the governor cannot protect him, but not before having his arm bled, making him vulnerable to the women vampires. Tara jumps to his protection. Violet claims Jason as her own as they get to know each other, and she successfully seduces him. Violet exclusively feeds on Jason in a special room and hence does not drink the tainted Trublood. When Eric, fueled by Warlow's blood, raids and kills all the guards in the compound, he finds Jason, drained of blood from Violet. Eric feeds him his blood to revive him, and Eric asks Jason when he dreams about him to think nice things about him. Then Jason takes Eric to the "white room" where they discover that although Sarah has opened the hatch exposing the sun, Bill has entered the room and allowed himself to be fed on by all the vampires to give them immunity to the sun (although Steve Newlin is left to burn by Eric). Jason then realizes that Sarah is still on the loose, so he chases her down and almost kills her, but eventually lets her go free because he doesn't want more blood on his hands. He and the rest of the vampire revelers celebrate at Bill's mansion, where he and Violet's relationship has intensified to the point where Violet does not allow Jason to even look at other women (like Jessica). Bill enlists Jason and Violet to ask for Andy and Adilyn's help to save Sookie from becoming Warlow's vampire/fairy wife. The group uses Adilyn's fae powers to teleport to the fairy realm where Sookie and Warlow are, where Jason shoots the chain-binding Sookie and rescues her. Everyone but Bill and Warlow teleport back and they travel to Sookie's house to let Sookie rest. However, Bill and Warlow take their fight to the house, where Warlow locks Jason, Andy, and Adilyn in the cellar and knocks out Violet. Warlow finds Sookie in the bathroom and is about to take Sookie away when Niall returns from the dark realm and pins Warlow—Jason, who has escaped thanks to Adilyn, then stakes Warlow. Six months pass, and Hep V has mutated and transformed vampires into zombie-like creatures that run rabid at night. Jason and Violet have had a sexually active life but he has not had sex with her; Violet reminds him that she said she was going to make it hard for him. During a joint church session, newly elected mayor Sam announces that he and Bill have come up with a plan: to have all humans join in a monogamous relationship with a vampire in exchange for protection against Hep V mutated vampires, which is met with mixed reactions. Later, at the newly renamed Bellefleur's Bar & Grill, there is a party where all of Bon Temps enjoy food and drinks. Unbeknownst to them, a group of Hep V mutants are approaching the party.

Season 7

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1375510726 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.

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