#also this could be a good set up for Claudia to haunt Louis as a ghost

[jaggedjot]

It is vital that the visions of Lestat that haunt Louis are seen first and foremost as shards of Louis’ own fractured psyche. These scenes are emotive hallucinations, a visual representation of the way that Louis feels unable to escape his past, as well as how he directly draws on those experiences as he tries to move forward. It is only Lestat in the sense that Louis has cast blended memories of the man to perform the role of Louis’ own doubt, misery and regret.

[blueiight]

“…i was haunted by my brother’s death, by the abandonment of my sister…”

majority of the conversation around paul in the amc setting revolves around the question of whodunnit, jokes about him at the second dinner table scene of the pilot, or paralleling his mental illness to louis [a parallel the show admittedly draws upon - with louis stopping his suicide attempt bc “paul forever ruining grace’s wedding night, and [louis] not wanting to do the same to claudia on the anniversary of her escape”] what i intend to focus on, is the specific nature of paul’s complaints with respect to levi, and what paul and claudia represent to louis.

in the book, paul wants louis to sell the plantations & town homes they own in new orleans, and give louis the money so that paul could travel and become a missionary saving france from the godless jacobins. the paul that we’re introduced to in the show is… similar in motivation, but fundamentally divergent. tithe the money over to st. augustine’s so the house dont fall in on them, but the first dinner table goes as this after he says that:

whats of note too is the divergence of the draft v the pilot release. the show excises the freniere family w the exception of levi himself to drive home how paul’s objections to levi’s religious and ethnic background are overruled by the lingering shadow of jim crow.

paul is also reminded that his autonomy is conditional in this first dinner scene here: louis quips back to his point about sugarcane with “if daddy was still here, you’d be locked up in that asylum over in jackson”. its a reminder of the earlier point, but also speaks to something else.

bc of paul’s profound mental illness, he would never be allowed to live an autonomous life, much less hold authority over anyone: whether its the man of the house [as louis was in the du lac family], or as a bride [grace] or as the mother [florence].

this is strongly reminiscent of claudia — someone whos personal autonomy is entirely dependent on the purview of physically mature vampires by nature of permanently being trapped in the body of a preteen. it is also reminiscent of claudia in that louis in both cases plays a sort of savior in relation to them — whether its louis taking paul out of the asylum, or louis taking claudia out of the burning rooming home. louis views paul and claudia, especially claudia, as people that save him from his own self-loathing.. claudia somehow possessing this redemptive quality re: baby jesus…

louis loves both of them deeply, but as iwtv has established, love as a feeling does not exempt someone from enacting violence toward you. in fact, the very loved one that harmed you has an entire framework of rationalizing that violent act as being ‘for your[my] own good’ as is.

the title of this little post comes from the season one finale, where louis collapses in on himself to try to make sense of why he spared lestat, invoking paul and grace to create this red herring to the ‘murder of lestat’. but truly, the thread is false. louis did not abandon grace, and lestat’s death was only an attempted murder sabotaged by louis. modern day louis in the season finale triggers himself through daniel in order to provoke armand, the “protector of his pain”, to reveal himself + question him on the death of claudia, just as he questioned lestat on the death of paul in s1e6.

[lotstradamus]

i'm loving all your vampire posting lottie! if you're ever so compelled i'd love to hear what you make of the books vs the show and if there are any book things you'd especially like to see done on the show! (also, bookwise, are you a lestat girl or an armand girl or a louis/marius/david/akasha/claudia girl or or or)

as someone who tried to read Interview with the Vampire thrice (THRICE!!!) pre-AMC show revival and simply could not get through it (it is melancholy), I cannot BELIEVE how down bad I am for these books right now. I keep seeing bad reviews on goodreads and girding my loins for each new book expecting the quality to nosedive, but 1 star bitch WHERE? WHERE??? I AM HAVING THE TIME OF MY GODDAMN LIFE

in terms of books vs show, honestly after a point the books are kind of Unadaptable unless they radically change the main cast, vibe and format of the show every single season, and the changes they made to IWTV were good to the point of sending me fucking insane so they can just keep on doing whatever their little hearts desire with the source material imo!!! howmever I DO have some suggestions for the upcoming seasons:

Lestat crying twice an ep (non-negotiable)

I would kind of love it if Lestat is the only character who tells the truth. the most reliablest narrator and normal girl to ever live. and yet every time he says something like "I killed a pack of wolves single-handedly" or "I woke Those Who Must Be Kept by playing violin" or "I snog my mother with tongue" Daniel is just sitting there like "............riiiight."

Gabrielle. Gabrielle Gabrielle Gabrielle. mainly I would like to smash cut to Gabrielle in the middle of really intense Lestat/everyone else scenes and she's just like peacefully sleeping in the ground... strolling through a distant jungle... sitting on a mountain looking at the stars in silence...

EXCEPT that one scene where she pulls up to Lestat's concert like she's in 2 Fast 2 Furious

it'll be interesting to see how they adapt Queen of the Damned because so little of it is actually from Lestat's pov, and all of it is amazing and cannot be cut out: [Stefon voice] the Twins, Jesse, specifically Jesse being haunted in Louis and Lestat's old New Orleans house, everyone hanging out/playing out terrible interpersonal dramas at the Sonoma compound, NIGHT ISLAND...!

I cannot stress this enough: GHOST CLAUDIA.

I want them to do Body Thief. fuck it, why not. must haves are Mojo, a random hunk with a PhD in Sam Reid's mannerisms playing Lestat for 6/8 episodes, Lestat nearly dying 25 times cos he pilots his human body like a drunk muppet, and, most importantly, Lestat BEGGING David Talbot for some old man pussy

oh and an entire episode set on a cruise ship

my favourite scene from the whole of Body Thief was Lestat turning David at the end against his will cos it was genuinely quite awful and frightening but also. um. you know. awooga

if they include Gretchen, then I would like the opposite of my Gabrielle request for everything post-Body Thief: whenever there's a peaceful, quiet scene it smash cuts to the wilds of South America where Gretchen is absolutely stark raving mad on the floor of a chapel with stigmata

I can't even begin to think about how they'd adapt Memnoch, but regardless I want them to keep the scene where Lestat drinks someone's period blood. thanks

also his cunty little lilac-tinted sunglasses that he will not fucking stop talking about

and finally, human Armand getting drunk and falling into the Grand Canal

bookwise, I am a Lestat girl the house down boots... I love his over-dramatic idiot crybaby ass!!!!! although the final page of Memnoch the Devil made me burst into tears and cry my whole face off until I confirmed that Lestat comes back as the narrator in future books soooo maybe like calls to like. self recognition through the other, etc. I do also get a shot of pure joy every time Armand shows up, especially in Lestat's pov. 'ah, there he was, the Botticelli angel, so beautiful. I fucking hated him. we kissed.' sis THEE dopamine.

currently suffering because I want to a) stop reading the series immediately so I can go back and reread The Vampire Lestat, and yet also b) never ever stop reading the series for love nor money. please help me budget this my family is dying

[llycaons]

IWTV s2 ep1 (thank you vero!!!): a few thoughts

yayyyy new setting!!!! I love when shows set in warm places go to cold places. weirdly specific but when max and anne and jack black sails went to philadelphia I was clapping and cheering away. I love to see snow

I miss bailey bass but delainey hayles was really well cast. obviously she resembles bass closely, but she's also captured her character very well too. it ALSO helps that claudia and louis underwent a huge fracturing of their relationship at the end of s1 so of course things between them will be different. as of the time of this writing, she hasn't even looked at him. I imagine it's easier when they don't have to recreate the exact dynamic with a new person, but can build something new after a huge rift

speaking of, louis's recollection of claudia and his discussion of her losing faith in him and viewing him as someone she can no longer connect with is just devastating. my god

armand is REALLY annoying to me😭just so smug…and apparently he and daniel were a thing in the books which is really odd to think about at this stage but sure.

daniel is such a crotchety old bitch. you're going to whine about how a VAMPIRE talks about trying to avoid SUNLIGHT???? shut uppppp

THERE'S A REAL RASHID????

bringing lestat back, even as a dream, this easrly, was a mistake I think. he's a tremendously impactful and popular character, and by drawing out his first appearance a little longer, the show could have 1. reminded the audience who the show is actually about and 2. give lestat's reappearance some more punch

WHAT THE FUCKKKKK I gotta finish my rewatch of s1

I WAS WONDERING THIS TOO!! it seemed like a stupid misdirection bc daniel doesn't know armand's name, but in hindsight I guess armand doesn't want his name in there at all

EMILIA <3

THIS SCENE. EMMY!!!!

this song is so gd creepy

what the fuckkkkk

she's got the vampire aesthetic down SO well

WHY DID SHE DO THIS. like. why. like it truly doesn't compute at ALL. she seemed excited! she was talking about all the great things they'd do, all the pleasures!

oh their fancy bedroom looks so open and cold...maybe louis likes that tho. it certainly doesn't appear that armand has trapped him in a gilded cage and has control over all his food and movements like everyone was speculating after the end of s1. it IS a bit weird tho

I mean he doesn't seem unreasonable here, just cautious.

wow....marital intimacy. but unlike his relationship w lestat, they do rationally and respectfully have a discussion and both of them are satisfied with the compromise. also I don't think we've seen them speak privately about the interview yet!

omg so since the 50s...

this is so kjdhsfk. daniel's face! obviously I'm going to compare to his relationship with lestat again because THEY were so intimate in private while being more distant in public while armand and louis are the opposite, except that one big finale kiss, but just because that relationship was full of passion didn't mean it was good or healthy or louis's ideal scenario. maybe he likes this distance. maybe the physical separation and the independence is something he craved after being tied to a codependent, jealous, paranoid, melodramatic, maniacal abuser for decades. I don't think I could say with certainty he's unhappy, or it's armand who's making him unhappy

I hate 'stop feeling sorry for yourself' as a pick-me-up because it just makes an unhappy person feel WORSE. they're not feeling 'sorry for themselves' they're just feeling sad....man louis she just watched her dearly cherished hope throw herself into the flames 😭

end of the episode.....oof. me and you and me but LESTAT STILL THERE. HAUNTING THEM!!!!