Lilith (True Blood)

{[Villain Infobox
 * image = LilithTrueB.png
 * size = 300
 * fullname = Lillith
 * alias = God, Progneitor, First of all vampires, The First the Last Eternal
 * origin = True Blood
 * occupation = First Vampire, Bill Compton's mentor
 * skills = Immensely developed vampiric abilities (strength, speed, stamina, regeneration, flight, hypnotic gaze, resurrection, exaggerated fangs, Telekinesis, Invulnerability to injury, Invulnerability to staking and invitation rescindment, clairvoyance, astral projection, haemokinesis)
 * hobby = None known
 * goals = To spread the ideology of Sanguinistas
 * type of villain = }}"God made me as vampire, and Adam and Eve as human. I am worshiped as a god as some may come to worship you as a god. But there is no god but God."

- Lilith, to Bill Compton

Lilith, also known as the Progenitor', was the progenitor of the vampire race on the HBO original series True Blood serving as the antagonist in the show's fifth and sixth seasons, played by British actress Jessica Clark. Lilith is worshiped as a god by many vampires, but her divinity and existence are doubted by at least as many. Even she insists that she is not a god, and claims that she has spoken to, and still follows, God. Lilith eventually meets her demise, and appears one more time, in a flashback, in the same season

History
According to the Book of the Vampyr, Lilith was created by God in His own image: a vampire. Adam and Eve were created to sustain her, beginning the natural order of humans existing to service vampires (although this is never confirmed by Lilith or anyone who could verify it). According to the orthodox religious view, Lilith eventually met the sun at the hands of man. This is in fact false, as the creature that killed her was a fae turned vampire.

Lilith turned the fae Macklyn Warlow into a vampire in the year 3.500 BC, as she was 'told by God' that he would save the vampire race. However, Warlow grew to despise her after he attempted to return home four years later (against her advice), and then proceeded to slaughter his entire village, due to his vampiric instincts. He returned to the cave in which she slept, and used his photokinesis to destroy part of the ceiling of the cave, allowing the sun to come through and destroy the progenitor of all vampires.

However, a small amount of her blood remained. Lilith's other progenies gathered her remains in an earthen jar. At some (possibly multiple) point in the intervening centuries, the remains were transferred, eventually winding up in a fine crystal vial. The Guardian's original purpose was to guard Lilith's remains; the Chancellors and the Vampire Authority likely arose later as extensions of the ecclesiastical authority the Guardian wielded. At some point, the Book of the Vampyr was composed, and combined with the Guardian and the last of her blood, a religion enshrining Lilith as a dark saint or even a goddess was born.

After Roman met the true death at the hands of Russell Edgington, Salome and Nora organized a ceremony in which the surviving chancellors and a select group of newcomers drank small drops of Lilith's blood. The vampires swiftly became intoxicated, wandering through the streets of New Orleans in search of a meal. As they gorged themselves on a private wedding party, the group experienced a vivid hallucination of Lilith rising from a pool of blood.

While in bed with Salome, Bill Compton hallucinates that she is Sookie Stackhouse, and then that she is a blood-encrusted Lilith.

Bill and Nora force-feed Eric a drop of Lilith's blood, with Nora taking a dose herself to share the vision. The vampire siblings are greeted by a vision of Godric, who admonishes Nora for her ideology and denounces Lilith as "a godless god". An apparition of Lilith creeps up behind Godric and, ignoring Nora's pleas for mercy, rips off his head.

While praying in the shrine one day, Lilith appears to Bill. She states that she has chosen him as the one vampire to rule all others and that he should drink all of the blood in her vial. Bill is shaken by the vision, particularly when he notices that Lilith's bloody handprint remains on the glass of the shrine after the vision ends. After the vision repeats itself later, Bill resolves to follow it and returns to the shrine, only to find Kibwe Akinjide, who also claims to have been chosen. A distressed and confused Bill immediately decapitates Kibwe. While cleaning up the remains, Bill notices that the handprint is still there. Unknown to Bill, Salome also receives a vision of Lilith, who delivers the same message: she is the chosen one and must drink all the blood.

Lilith again tells Bill and Salome they are the chosen one. Bill seemingly decided his vision is wrong and tells Salome that Lilith told him that she is the chosen one. Salome soon drinks all of Lilith's blood, but begins to convulse in pain. Bill reveals that he swapped the real blood for a batch laced with silver. Salome is awed by Bill's brutality and cunning, and says that Lilith chose wisely as he stakes her. Bill then drinks the real blood and appears to die, dissolving into a puddle of blood. Similar to how Lilith appeared initially, the blood re-forms before an astonished Eric and Sookie. "Billith" growls ferally and attacks.

Although Bill gained an impressive suite of new powers from consuming Lilith's blood, including flight, stake and fire resistance, telekinesis and the potential to remotely destroy his progeny, he appeared to have changed little in terms of personality after recovering from the initial shock of his resurrection. He continues to be haunted by visions of Lilith, seeing four images of her in his office, who eagerly and menacingly converge on him.

Bill is brought by the visions to a sunlit wooded area, where is he is greeted by a far more pleasantly-mannered, clothed Lilith. She thanks the blood-covered visions (who in this new environment look different from Lilith and each other) and dismisses them. Lilith tells Bill that he passed the tests she set and he must do her work. At this, Bill asks if she is God, to which she states that God made her vampire, as He made Adam and Eve human. Lilith acknowledges that she is worshipped as a god, and that Bill will likely be, too. But, Lilith admonishes, "there is no god but God." She further advises him to trust what he sees before the vision ends.

Around the same time as Bill's vision, Nora Gainesborough, reading through the Book of the Vampyr in its original language, realizes that the passage recording Lilith's death has been consistently mistranslated over the centuries, though she doesn't tell Pam Swynford De Beaufort what she found.

Nora later explains to Niall Brigant that the passage traditionally translated "the people led Lilith to the sun" actually reads "the progeny led Lilith to the sun". Nora interprets this to mean that Warlow was the one who killed Lilith originally, and therefore that he can do so again.

Bill meets Lilith and asks him who exactly is the tyrant. Lilith answers with riddles but does not give him a name nor a place. Bill tells her that everything is all her fault and he was forced into this. Lilith tells him she is disappointed and that he fought for her blood and that he is now responsible for all of this. Lilith then tells him he has run out of time and he must act now and also to never come looking for answers again because he must figure this out on his own from here on. She then gives him one last stern look before vanishing into a red mist.

Bill is in the circular as the Sirens tell him his time on earth has come to an end. Bill tells them he is not going anywhere and he did as he was asked so they should just leave before summoning Jessica. Jessica feels his pull and recalls that they left Bill behind. James accompanies her to find Bill. Jessica and James find Bill and weakly explains that Lilith has sent her sirens to take him and James attempts to feed Bill his blood to restore him.