#also ofc lestat is mean abusive manipulatory dangerous scary villainous violent controlling etc etc but that's boring and one dimensional

[noianoranoia]

i was thinking, as one does, about lestat’s hedonistic approach to his eternal life. his idea that the sole purpose of a vampire is to enjoy life in its entirety, with zeal and abandon for everything pleasurable, seems to have helped him accept his vampirism and its heartbreaking consequences. so he does enjoy life, music and art, sex and killing - and acts as if such activities give him pleasure, and consequently appease any human sense that he needs a purpose to justify his existence. “i put you on this earth, louis. your purpose is to enjoy yourself”.  expect it’s not?? lestat put louis on this earth (ie turned him into a vampire) after the most soul wrenching heart shattering moving speech about... love? not pleasure, grandure, excitement, passion, wild abandon, riches or power. just love, and compassion. lestat sees louis, falls head over heels, gets to know him, discovers his deep and dark suffering, the ambivalence of his essence, the consuming need he feels to satisfy others - and himself - and he loves him! and he tells him clear as day!!  i would argue that the crucial element in louis’s turning is love. not necessarily romantic love, or the specific love he may have felt for lestat in that moment - just love, as the defining catalyst in life. and again and again we see love as a motive, in its very different but sill unmistakable shapes: a need for love, a hunger for love, a wounded love, a secret love, familial love, tormented love. love as an escape, as a rhythm, love hunting and relentless, love lost, love lied to, love hated, love dead, love ever living.  lestat can lie to himself all he wants, but it is most clear what guides him through life is his need for love. vampiric as he is, heartless killer, he is often overwhelmed by his emotions. and arguably anything he does is either for love or self preservation. it is convenient for him to adopt a life philosophy that would allow him to take advantage of a deeply traumatic situation while making him feel free, strong, in control. but ultimately he is as human as it gets, and his life’s purpose is love. “you take this feeling away from me, louis. we must stay together, and take precaution, and never part”.  it’s love it was always love vampires and humans alike live and long and strive and suffer and hope and fight and cry and kill and die for love it is love love love it was always love!!!!!!!!!! what makes us human is love!! what makes us monsters is love!!!!! what is life if not love chased love unrelenting love comforting love always love!!!