maryann in true blood

There's been quite a bit of discussion about what sort of creature Maryann is on True Blood. While some TV Squad readers speculated that she's a Circe -- or rather, THE Circe -- Michelle Forbes, who plays the character, set the record straight in a TV Guide interview in mid-July.

She's a maenad, which, according to Wikipedia, were the female followers of Dionysus in Greek mythology. "Their name literally translates as 'raving ones.' Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by him into a state of ecstatic frenzy, through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication. In this state, they would lose all self-control, begin shouting excitedly, engage in uncontrolled sexual behavior, and ritualistically hunt down and tear animals (and sometimes men and children) to pieces, devouring the raw flesh."