Maenads have power over vampires and shape shifters.
In True Blood, we’ve come across only one – Arlene Fowler’s friend, Holly Cleary, who began working at Merlotte’s as a waitress. She tried helping Arlene get free of her “satanic” child that she’s having with her late, serial killer boyfriend, Rene. The other kind of witches establish in True Blood (which we will meet in Season 4) are true witches. These true witches – who appear human – are MUCH stronger than their Wiccan counterparts. They have power over vampires and shifters. These true witches are tremendously powerful as we will see in the upcoming season of True Blood.
If True Blood follows the book a maenad is a being that requires offerings from other supernatural creatures who serve alcohol. If they’re not appropriately honored they are likely to get angry and cause madness in people (supernatural and human) or even kill them. In the book the maenad attacks Sookie as a means of sending a memo to Eric, the owner of the bar Fangtasia. This is the maenad’s method of telling Eric that he has to pay her a tribute. Eric knows how nasty a maenad can be ‘ several years earlier he’d experienced a maenad who caused insanity in a vampire. The vampire went on a crazed rampage and ultimately had to be killed.
Most people have never heard of a Maenad. Only one has appeared in True Blood. She was Maryann Forrester in the second season who went after Sookie Stackhouse and took over her grandmother’s house. The Maenad is an extremely powerful creature from Greek mythology. They are the followers of Dionysus. She has the ability to control people’s minds, is as strong as a vampire and is immortal. She controls people through sex, wine, and partying (and who couldn’t, really?) In True Blood, Sookie first met her on a quiet road at night.