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.
Like Sookie, Jason has fairy ancestry; many other characters assume it is the source of his sexual attractiveness.
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.