Q. What is it supposed to be on the show? A. The realm of the Fairies (once the illusion of perfection is torn away). Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show? A. On another plane. Q. When did we see it on the show? A. In Episode 1, of Season 4, "She's Not There". The new season opens with a lengthy scene, in which Sookie finds herself in the realm of the Fairies.  (Sookie herself is part-fairy.) At first, the place seems perfect, a heavenly utopia where fairies blissfully dine on glowing fruit. While there, she meets her fairy godmother, plus Barry (the telepathic bell boy from the hotel), and 'Mab', the Queen of the Fairies. Sookie also meets her grandfather, whom she had thought dead, and sees that he hasn't aged a day since she last saw him 20 years ago. When she discovers that he is unaware of the passage of time, she gets suspicious that the glowing fruit might be a narcotic-like means of trapping people in the realm. When she refuses to eat the glowing fruit, Mab becomes angry, informing Sookie that vampires breached their realm because they smelled her blood, and that it is no longer safe to allow fairies to journey to the human realm. When Mab tries to force Sookie to eat the fruit, Sookie repulses her (with one of those weird energy-bursts of hers). Suddenly, the realm of the Fairies looks very different.  Gone is the heavenly appearance, and her surroundings suddenly look like a rocky desert.  The fairies themselves also change, revealed as ugly witch-like creatures. Sookie flees with her grandfather, pursued by Mab and her group, who hurl glowing balls at them as if they were grenades.  They are joined by what appears to be a rebel group of fairies, who oppose the ban on travel to the human realm.  They offer to help Sookie escape, as a battle rages between Mab and the rebels. They come to the edge of what looks like a deep canyon, but a rebel tell Sookie that it is a portal back to the human realm.  She is naturally reluctant to jump into it.  But when Mab begins closing the portal, Sookie takes a chance and leaps into the canyon - waking up back on earth.

The location: The Fairy Battle

Q. What is it actually, in real life?

A. A patch of rocky hills in the desert.

A. This scene was shot out in the scrubs of Lancaster, California, a Mojave Desert community in the Antelope Valley, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The location was part of a permanent movie set known as "Club Ed", which consists of a small collection of old desert buildings, including a fake gas station, a fake diner, a fake store, and even a fake motel (complete with a real swimming pool). All out in the middle of nowhere.

The address is 42848 150th St. E. (at Ave L), in Lancaster.

The set was originally built in 1990 for a Dennis Hopper film ("Eye of the Storm"), and they decided not to tear it down afterward.  The set was named "Club Ed" after its first caretaker.

They have filmed a number of movies and TV shows there, including the Rob Zombie film, "The Devil's Rejects", the Ice Cube movie "Torque", the Martin Lawrence / Tim Robbins' comedy, "Nothing to Lose", and two scenes from "The O.C.")

Fortunately for the "True Blood" producers, the property also includes what the owners describe as "90 acres of desert, landscape, butte & dune", which includes a small cluster of rugged, rocky hills just a few hundred yards east of the set.

Those rocky hills are where they filmed the fairy battle scene.

(The previous utopian scene was shot in the studio, of course.)

   Here is a Google StreetView of the set, and the hills behind it.

   Here is an aerial photo of the location.  And here is a map link.



Here's a photo of those rocky hills, from the Club's own website.

A.  I discovered "Club Ed" years ago, when I was tracking down a couple of scenes from the fourth season of  "The O.C."
One of the locations was for a desert motel, the other for a desert diner.  I found them both here in Lancaster at Club Ed.  And I thought those Joshua trees looked familiar...