Mendoza, Sister: Deputy Mendoza has been friends with Sam for a long time, and her affection hasn’t wavered. Even though they are off duty, Sister (yes, that’s her name) and her partner, Tony, stand guard at Bernie’s house while the family goes to the rehearsal. (STW)

Merlotte, Bernadette “Bernie” (pure shifter): The mother of Mindy, Craig, and Sam, Bernie remarries about two years after the death of Sam’s father and keeps her shifter status a secret, making excuses to explain her absence on full-moon nights. As they watch the Great Reveal on television, Bernie finally tells her husband, Don, her secret and shifts in front of him, but Don does not react as she hopes: He shoots her. He is charged and taken into custody, and they divorce while he remains incarcerated awaiting his trial, unable to make bail.

Bernie is working as a receptionist/secretary at an elementary school when she is shot. They hire a replacement for her while she heals, but she’s not at all certain she’ll still have a job when the new school year starts. Longtime friends become strangers, but she remains determined to see her son Craig safely married even as her town struggles with the presence of shifters in their midst. (STW; mentioned FDTW, DAG, DITF)

Merlotte, Craig: Craig, Sam’s brother, has plans to get married when the shifters reveal themselves, but his engagement is put on hold while his fiancée’s family adjusts to the fact that his brother and mother are shifters. Like his older brother, Craig proudly served his time in the military and now does tech support for a large accounting firm in Houston after graduating from UT Dallas. (STW; mentioned FDTW, DAG, DITF)

Merlotte, Deidra Lisle: Pretty Deidra is married to Craig, Sam’s brother. Although her parents are uncertain about the shifters in their new son-in-law’s family, Deidra is not worried about the effects on her future children. She’s currently training to become an EMT but may have to put her career on hold for a bit as she and Craig start their new life together by preparing for the baby that’s already on the way. (STW; mentioned FDTW, DAG, DITF)

Merlotte, Sam (pure shifter): Sam Merlotte did his duty for his country, serving in the army for four years before buying his bar with money left after the death of his father, a former military man and pure shifter himself, and settling in Bon Temps. A rare pure shifter, Sam can become anything he wants but prefers the form of a collie, and it is in this form that Sookie takes him home from the bar, thinking he is really a dog. Sam fully intends to wake first and leave, but he oversleeps and surprises Sookie in her bed. Sam tells her about himself and also informs her that vampires are really dead.