Maenads
Harris' Revision of Greek Mythology
HBO's representation of Callisto
HBO renamed her as Maryann and gave her a much more prominent role
Harris introduces a variety of different supernatural characters in her series. There are of course vampires, werewolves, werepanthers, shapeshifters of all kinds, fairies, demons, and perhaps the most surprising creature is Callisto. We are introduced to her character in Living Dead in Dallas, when she makes an appearance briefly as she attacks Sookie. She is accompanied by a a feral razorback pig; a combination I found amusing during my perusal of the novel. Her reasons for her attack are not discovered until later, when it's revealed that Callisto is a Maenad, and that her desire for a tribute from Eric leads her to attack Sookie. She makes another appearance at the end of the novel during a secret sex party that takes place in the woods. The sexual atmosphere and drunkenness lures her into the party, where she kills a couple characters and leaves Bon Temps in search for more tributes, not before she makes a mess which the others at the party are left to clean up. When discussing Callisto it is hard to ignore the huge role she played in HBO's television adapation, True Blood. In the show, her name was changed to Maryann and she was the basis for the entire second season, a much more prominent role than the brief appearance that she was given in the novel. But the appearance of Callisto at all seems a little strange to me.
First off, Harris' novels are based on supernatural beings, which I suppose supports the role of a meanad. However, these mythological creatures seem to be in an entire realm of their own. Their importance comes from Greek mythology, in which they were the female followers of the God Dionysus. Translated literally, their name means "raving one," which is appropriate as they would be induced into a drunken state by Dionysus through wine and dancing which was then followed by the hunting and killing of animals. They also engaged in uncontrolled sexual behaviour and frantic shouting, which adheres to the raving description.
In Living Dead in Dallas, a Maenad is described to Sookie by Bill, "Bacchus was the God of the grape, of course, so bars are very interesting to maenads. In fact, so interesting that they don't like other creatures of darkness becoming involved. Maenads believe that the violence sparked by the consumption of alcohol belongs to them; that's what they feed off, now that no one formally worships their God. And they are attracted to pride." There you have Harris' idea of what a maenad is. But how much does she veer from the real mythological creatures? For the most part, Harris adheres to the description fairly well. They are indeed raving, which Callisto most certainly is, which is evident by her attack against Sookie, and the killing of the people in the woods. However, you do not gain the same sense of the word raving from Callisto as you do from mythological maenads, who dance frantically and engage in explicit sexual behavior at the hands of Dionysus. Instead, Callisto seems relatively calm for the most part; her only act of insanity being the murders she commits. But all in all, Harris sticks to the guidelines of alcohol and sexual activity as an association with them. She also includes the tribute section, although there is little mention as to whether the tribute is for her, or her God. There is also no mention of pride being associated with maenads, although it could be born from their actions against those who will not worship their God or show them tribute.
Therefore, Harris strays from the accurate representations of maenads. However, her representation is not so much of a reinterpretation but instead, the changes made seem necessary in order to fit with her already reinterpreted image of vampires. The fate of maenads have not been questioned in Harris series, much like that of the witches and wiccan characters.