#and then 'armand really only loved lestat but comes to have genuine love for louis'

[thelioncourts]

+

[nightcolorz]

For the ask game: ❤️💚💙

YAYY thank u sm for the ask! these questions r so fun. I’m going off of the book fandom btw

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

Louis <3 I think this is an affect of how likable and overtly sympathetic he is in the amc show but I've seen people getting genuinely offended over Louis being described in fandom (and by Anne rice herself) as a manipulative cold hearted ass who uses his perceived vulnerability and gentleness to distract from the fact that he is just as cruel if not crueler then the other vampires. Like Louis does nottt have strong morals or high empathy lmao. Book Louis weaponizes his privilege like a white woman crying to self victimize into making the other vampires look worse them him 😭 . He refuses to kill humans for a while not bcus it hurts him to take life (he actually takes more pleasure in it then most), he refuses bcus he has catholic brain the way a christians who say "how do atheists have morals without god?" do, misunderstanding that most people actually care about other people and dont need an existential threat to encourage them not to hurt others.

His moral compass is self centered and based in up keeping the appearance of self restraint and monk style lack of enjoying himself, not empathy. If a vampire killed u would u feel better if u knew he cried over how much he got off on it then flaunted his suffering over how little he indulged so that everyone knew how piosis he was 😭.

He is way worse when it comes to how he treats his victims then Armand who intentionally seeks out victims who r asking to die or Lestat who tries the vigilante approach. Louis kills innocents and he thinks it makes him better cuz he only does it sometimes and he feels really really bad about himself afterwards. As akasha said (paraphrased) he's the most predatory of them all.

To specify I love book Louis SOOOO much I love how shitty he is that's why it makes me sad when people mischaracterize him as sincere and get gen mad when ppl characterize him how he is in canon (a lying selfish bitch bless his heart). Like ik amc Louis at this point in canon is unambiguously in the right but he isn't like an accurate reflection of how he is in the books 😭 it's not like amc did what anne rice was trying to do more successfully, they just nulled what anne rice was doing in favor of a more likable protagonist. Which is fine, but like, there's no crime in preferring evil to the core horrible asshole Louis of the books.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

I think the common fandom perception of Armand as the crazy unhinged "omg I can't believe he actually did that in the books??" sadistic maniac villain guy is funny but not really accurate. Armand explicitly not only tries to avoid violence but dislikes it and finds it hard to comprehend why someone would seek out violence and conflict.

The reason he is always doing fucked up shit isn't out of a lestat-esc desire to cause chaos, it's bcus his highly strung ptsd brain has him convinced that the world is a battle ground and he must always be defending himself and acting out in violence.

Since acting out in violence is a reaction hes been taught throughout his life to be standard and necessary, as violence is something so normalized to him he considers it more of a tedious chore then a last resort measure, he usually reacts to conflict in ways that are objectively extreme to anyone who isn't thinking from his perspective. In qotd he even asks Daniel why men choose to fight in wars, explaining that he doesn't understand the draw of violence (bcus he's not a man) and he can't comprehend the supposed thrill of it.

Then he says this in pl to Gregory

💙: Which character is not as hot as everyone else seems to think they are?

i was going to say Marius but I figure that's too obvious since everyone at this point knows I don't like Marius 😭 so here's an even hotter take,,,,, Lestat ‼️

Only to a degree, I think Lestat is hot and deserves the hype, but i also think he's hot in a different way then a chunk of the fandom does. Based on his book description he's kind of wonky looking, mouth too big for his face, vaguely unnerving shallow pale skin, starved 1700s peasant build but also kind of buff in the unhealthy "i dont eat regularly but I'm strong enough to carry a wolf for miles on my back" sense, weirdly small fucking feet. He def has creepy ass florescent blue doll eyes too. my point is I think when drooling over Lestat the fandom tends to forget this wonkiness in favor of blonde bombshell, Sam Reid chizzled jawline and abs, or conventionally beautiful anime twink, when they should be appreciating lestat in all his weird as shit glory.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello nalyra, a book/lore question that I don’t think I need to go anon for … but still decided to do it since who knows nowadays🤪

I remember reading TVL Marius advise Lestat about making fledglings—that don’t make them close by, only one in a century. That the second one will not be half as strong as the first one—basically saying that’s part of the reason why Nicki went to the deeper end. And while Lestat making Nicki without knowing, he definitely knew this when he made Claudia. That he is go against all Marius’s advices in making Claudia. Then Antoine/Antoinette was weaker still.

I went back and found that part in the book and am genuinely puzzled why this never comes up in discussion before.

Well, because it is kind of void right after? And also invalidated within the same paragraph?

I think you refer to this:

"You've learned a great deal from Armand, " he said, his voice steady as if to help me with this little silent struggle. "And you learned much more on your own. But there are still some things I might teach you. " "Yes, please, " I said. "Well, for one thing, " he said, "your powers are extraordinary, but you can't expect those you make in the next fifty years to equal you or Gabrielle. Your second child didn't have half Gabrielle's strength and later children will have even less. The blood I gave you will make some difference. If you drink . . . if you drink from Akasha and Enkil, which you may choose not to do . . . that will make some difference too. But no matter, only so many children can be made by one in a century. And new offspring will be weak. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The rule of the old covens had wisdom in it that strength should come with time. And then again, there is the old truth: you might make titans or imbeciles, no one knows why or how. "Whatever will happen will happen, but choose your companions with care. Choose them because you like to look at them and you like the sound of their voices, and they have profound secrets in them that you wish to know. In other words, choose them because you love them. Otherwise you will not be able to bear their company for very long. " "I understand, " I said. "Make them in love. "

The next night after this Lestat goes and wakes Akasha. And exchanges blood with her, getting a huge boost of power.

Which then would have been passed to Louis... however within the paragraph itself Marius notes how the Dark Gift is not the same for them when passed on - you don't actually know how strong the fledgling will be.

Louis, by all intents and purposes, should have been extremely strong.

Yet he remained the most human of them all, for the longest time.

Claudia, child that she was, was tough as nails.

So there is no guarantee, not really.

And also - the lesson was "Make them in love."

And Lestat did that.

He made them in love, from love, through love.

Against the rule not to make someone that young by the way - which was the crime he and Claudia ultimately paid for.

I really think there is no mystery there at all. Sorry.

[casually-slips-into-coma]

spoilers for iwtv s2e3!!!

thoughts on the ep:

daniel trying to piece together all the weird shit and what happened in sf👀👀

i wanna know too

love that daniel was like i dont want my fish to twitch so the chef just chopped its head off lol

raglan and the talamasca wowowow

didnt think theyd introduce that so soon

daniel literally like🤨 the whole interaction

louis in bed,, welcome back sleeping beauty

love that armand bobs up and down a little while he floats

lestat basically going “boo!” with the cross

“the sad man with nails in his hands”

armand and lestat both moaning when they drink from each other

armand going “i love u🥹” and lestat going “uh..ditto🙂”

the angry nicki violin music while armand and lestat fuck and then a HARD cut to daniel like😐

louis is stressing me out with how bad he is at lying and how he cant keep any of their fake backstory details straight

armand just letting himself into their apartment

claudias american accent when she says matre is really cute

estelle sneezing during santiagos preformance lol

the theater uses rats to get rid of the bodies???🤢

love how stressed the stage hand is all the time

“these rats are smart😟”

god i LOVE how flirty louis is

jacob and assad have insane chemistry

that little walk along the river and then louis getting all close to armand before walking away🤌

the whole scene of daniel trying to lie to them after getting all the talamasca files was great esp jacobs expressions

claudia looking up to santiago im sickkkkk

love the cafe convo louis is having with armand about god and evil. its nice to see them talking about something outside of vampirism or their relationship

them just eyefucking each other while smoking cigarettes and talking telepathically

when dreamstat pats himself on the back for one of the lines in the song “thats quite good, yes”

dreamstat 18th cent armand line is confusing me bc wtf is he talking about if at this point louis doesnt really know shit about armands past with him

“i killed him and he fucking had it coming” yes the fuck he did louis!!

the camera work is crazy also the “i told u i loved u” line

louis really made a fucking scene during his date just to go fake make out with his dead husbands ghost 🙄

louis looking sad and nodding when dreamstat tells him hes still the only one louis trusts :((

his panic attack while in the photo room + when hes slamming dreamstats head into the wall…..jacob anderson i will personally get u that emmy

claudias SA was so much worse than i thought and i genuinely had a hard time hearing about it. he kept her under floorboards?

the old picture of the theater all burned👀

louis in the audience smiling when claudia goes on stage🥲

claudia is SO excited about joining im gonna kms

her face when she realizes shes gonna play a little girl :((((((((

louis accepting death and telling armand to take care of claudia

very much seeing what that one article was saying about loumand having a tender love story

armands voice breaking a little talking about lestat

loumand kiss finally

tbh a really fucking great kiss. again, they have crazy chemistry

anyway fuck yall i really liked this episode even tho there was A LOT going on

[leslutdepointedulac]

Hey!I'm tvc obsessed to!a quick question. I've only read the first three books,and I've heard that the other ones are not so good,are other books of the series worth the read or I'll lose my time?oh and in what age did you first read the books,and what did you love the most about them?

Hey!

Sorry for the late reply, it's been kind of a long day for me 😅

So the way I see it, it all depends on personal preference. Some people like some of the later books, other people don't, and different people like different ones for various different reasons.

For me personally, I do like some of the books later on in the series eg. Body Thief, The Vampire Armand, Blood and Gold, Blackwood Farm and the Prince Lestat trilogy. I enjoy the stories they tell and the characters, as well as the expansion of TVC universe. I also like how they give further insight to the vampires, and in the case of others (ie. Blackwood Farm/Prince Lestat) they introduce us to new characters who I love!

I'm by no means saying that the books I do enjoy are perfect. There are certainly things that could be different in some way, say for example, not all the newer characters I find myself enjoying and some aspects of the plots could've been different or cut altogether. But overall, I do really enjoy them, and to me, they're worth reading if what they have to give is something you might like.

When it comes to the other books, there are elements of them that I like but not others. Say for example, I like the end of Merrick, but I wish the book would've been done differently. Maybe instead of it being from David's pov, it could've been from either Merrick or Louis' pov instead. There was so much opportunity for that book but ultimately it mostly fell a bit flat for me. Even Blood Canticle. . . Do I think it's genuinely good? No 😂 but if you don't take it too seriously, it's a good laugh. And again, (don't shoot me) but I do kinda like some details in it.

As for how old I was when I started reading TVC, I was 19. And the reason I fell in love with them was, firstly, because I'm a sucker for vampires in general, always have been since I was literally about 4/5-ish and I always will be lmao. But re: TVC specifically, I love the way Anne built this whole world with such vivid description, and for me, her characters and universe really come to life. They're so believable to me (as believable as vampires can get anyway 😂) and I find them very easy have a connection with.

There are so many aspects to various characters in TVC that I find myself resonating with in one way or another, and that makes it so easy for me to love them.

I don't know how much this will help. And like I said, I think whether or not the later books are worth it is entirely up to you. You can always give them a go and if it's not for you, then that's okay! Maybe another one will be. You won't necessarily like the same thing as someone else, and vice versa. What does it for you might not be enjoyable for others. The important thing is to not let other people tell you what you can and can't enjoy. If you like one of the books that most other people don't, you're more than entitled to that opinion. And if you don't enjoy one that other people did, that's perfectly fine as well!

I know it isn't the most decisive answer, but I hope you've found something in this that can help you to decide whether or not you want to read on 😊

[savagewildnerness]

S2E4 thoughts: I Want you more than anything in the world

Claudia's tableaux: Claudia as a child who dreams so strongly of freedom, she believes she is a bird. She is nailed in place, but breaks free and in her quest for freedom, inadvertently kills herself: the only true freedom coming when her soul ascends... the direct foreshadowing beneath the frippery of the twee, 50's-esque play! Delaney delivers Claudia's jaded versions of the play so well and it's so funny how much the other vampires detest the popularity of this non-gothic (though obviously still twisted!) piece!

"It wasn't ennui, it was sabotage!" Really, Armand! You truly know Claudia better than that! He really hates Claudia, Armand, doesn't he... where is his empathy for her?

The inner fragility of Armand in this episode: truly hurt when Louis trivialises what their relationship is... and still feeling he needs to teach in order to deserve love - teaching Louis the fire gift... spoiler... Louis is gonna be using THAT!

Sam is comedic genius in the first DreamStat scene - his amused disdain "I love you" hahahaha.

Armand's pain in Dubai when Louis describes hoe he could feel Dream-Lestat's breath; the movement of air when he moved; his hand almost as if real... this is 3/4 of a century on from that time and still Armand is as if made of porcelain, held together only by will and the desperate hope of Louis' infinite love for him...

Why does Daniel ask about the theatre burning down? From his own volition? Confusion? Or does Armand, upset by Louis' revelation of how real DreamStat was and by Daniel questioning if Armand felt Lestat's presence... does Armand make Daniel ask it?

Santiago is SO GOOD in this episode. I know many raved about his acting on stage, but I think other actors could be great there too... but I think few others could also ground Santiago so deeply as a real character as well as going to those theatrical extremes. He is simultaneously cruel and menacing, yet can use a veil of kindness where you can see why Claudia would fall for it. He's not a pantomime villain either - Armand killing his maker just for making him without permission is genuine motivation he would feel Louis and Claudia deserve death. Especially when you consider most fledglings are made in love, so Santiago's maker was very likely a lover, or at least loved him.

I liked Claudia and Madeleine and I see why they like each other. Madeleine really listens to Claudia - her story and her feelings and takes her seriously in a way nobody probably ever has. Poor Claudia. She gives her permission to be herself.

Madeleine calls herself Gretel when she leaves a trail of period blood... little does she know how accurate she is!

LOL at how pretentious Louis is talking of art in Paris... it is canon book-Louis that he can be this way at times too...

I ADORED the way they did Santiago's mimicry - truly menacing and dangerous! This moment in the books would be pantomime on TV, and this was utterly perfect. As was Louis' genuinely scary response. Armand doesn't have control of Louis and even Claudia is scared!

I don't understand what's going on with the photos...? Why?

Armand calling Louis "Dear"...

Implied by DreamStat (And thus by Louis) that Louis often drank the blood of people he photographed, even when he didn't spend a lot of time with them...

Louis desiring Lestat to be in his photos

LOL @ Armand doing Romeo and Juliet... such a silly, childlike and innocent attempt at Romance!

Armand made me cry in the Louvre...

I have been waiting for Armand to make my cry and oh my, did he here. Such utterly exquisite work in this episode by Assad.

First, the scene were Louis is talking about how he felt Lestat's breath; the movement of air; could touch his hand and it was almost real... and Armand... even though this was 3/4 of a century ago is visibly broken, like he was a porcelain vase, held together only by his will and desperate belief he is loved above all by Louis... my HEART.

And this scene... The only time I wishes Dreamstat wasn't there. Assad's delivery - just devastating.

Yet we also see a new level of cruelty and callousness from Armand we have not yet seen this episode. Assad has understood (as have the writers) book-Armand for all his duality and the fragility at his core so fully and beautifully. What a heartbreaking joy it is to watch his work this season.

Assad. Assad. Assad. Assad. Assad.

Arun. Amadeo. Armand.

The broken child of eternity.

The terrifying, yet composed Maitre.

The lost boy, named beloved, but was he really ever beloved by anyone?

His desperate need. And yet his power.

His innocence & his cruelty.

All of the dualities within the extraordinary half-a-millennia old being. Armand: trapped over & over by beings & in systems that purport to sustain him. Afraid to take action ever to escape, as who is he beyond what he has to give? So much love & unknowing how to give or receive it. Desperately alone. How lucky are we to experience this Armand? And still so much more, I know.

I thought S2 would be Claudia's, and of course it is... but to me, more than Claudia's, or Louis', or Daniels... thus far, it has felt Armand's. And I love that for Armand - our most complex vampire, in my opinion.

Yeah, for the first time, I felt sad (for Armand) that Lestat was there at all

Armand was turned at age 27 we now know

Who is Armand? He can only be filled by some thing external to himself... what are Lestat's words - something like a soulless thing who needs the power and passion of others to exist. We're getting that proper quote at some point, surely?!

Armand - so scary with Claudia and Santiago... but, if he knew Santiago was there, he truly did confirm for him what Claudia and Louis have done...

Lestat 'pretended to be an actor for two years' - from Louis or Armand?

The (Savage) Wilderness that is our daughter... I got an episode shoutout almost, hahahaha!!

I simply didn't expect this episode to be the last time we saw Dreamstat. It makes so much sense of course, but it surprised me is all! I didn't expect it till it was happening and this made me cry too.

Lestat is not really lost though: he merges now with Louis, to become part of his heart rather than a separate ghost.

Louis chooses to see Lestat in this suit for the final times because he knows already that Lestat has Louis' initials sewn on the pocket by his heart. That's why he picks that suit here. Lestat gradually mimics Louis' movements exactly, says not what his subconscious haunts him with, but what he wants him to say and eventually, on the word that would be "heart", Lestat dissolves entirely - implied returning back into Louis' heart.

The last time we will see Dreamstat. I didn't expect it, but I found it deeply Romantic and it tore at my heart too that through the scene the music that plays is Armand and Louis' theme... because *now* for the first time, Louis intends to truly try with Armand...

The rain washing Lestat away, like tears...

Is Louis giving Santiago power part of Claudia's demise? Will Armand be as responsible for Claudia's death as in the books? Or will it lean more to Santiago? Armand has threatened Claudia, but he hasn't told her the kind of things he does in the books as yet that we have seen...?

Daniel in episode 5 will be A LOT!!!

[dumdeeedum]

What difference between book and show is the hardest for you to deal with? For me it's how much Louis has changed (I can handle the diverse aspect of the backstory and I love Jacob!) but I feel like a lot of his personality is different.

Mostly it's the issues that arose from making it so Louis knows about vampire powers. One of the good things about Louis was how "human" he was and I didn't see them as having any GOOD reason why Louis and Claudia should know about and be able to do what other vampires could do. And it all felt in service of making Louis the victim of physical abuse instead of the verbal/psychological abuse he experiences in the book which doesn't work for me. ESPECIALLY if there's an aspect of an unreliable narrator at play. I didn't need Lestat brutalizing Louis with his vampire powers for the sake of the reveal that Lestat could do these things, those things WERE for Lestat to reveal and why Lestat's books were so much more egregious to the vampire world than Louis'. I also don't like Louis in his relationship with Armand because he's completely disempowered in that as well and not only does that not work for me because of who Louis is but also and especially because of who ARMAND is. They're also SO boring together which is the gravest sin for me when it comes to entertainment. But I still think Louis could have worked if not for the bigger issues around him. I don't like what they did to Armand and Daniel and I don't find any of it interesting. I think Anne Rice was able to do more for them in ONE chapter than this show has been able to do the entire series and it legitimately would have been more interesting to have Armand drive Daniel mad and to drive him to destroy his body with alcohol before he's eventually turned into a vampire by Armand who can't let him go than this shit. If you're still gonna go the abuse route lean into the interesting abuse! I know how fucked up that sounds but that's the series! Not only do I not find it interesting but I don't understand the point of it because they've changed Armand COMPLETELY for what feels like the sake of something short-lived instead of understanding that Armand is an enduring character. Granted, we've still got a few episodes to go but right now it feels like Armand is obsessed with Louis and has turned into an abusive villain to keep him when the truth is WAY more interesting: Armand has always been obsessed with LESTAT and they're ALL villains! I don't know how much of "The Vampire Lestat" and onward they'll give us but I'm genuinely worried about these changes to the characters because they took REALLY interesting concepts that could have been expanded upon and just let them fall flat on their face. I've also harped on this a lot but this young people mess coming from all these 35+ year olds is weird to me. Armand SHOULD have been young and young looking, it IS important to his character that he never physically and mentally matured and has a shitload of trauma on top of that. Louis should have been more mature than Lestat who is called "The Brat Prince" for a reason. Lestat becomes a vampire because he runs away to Paris with his boyfriend. That, again, is NOT men pushing 40 mess! They also COMPLETELY took the wind out of the sails of Claudia being a child by making her too old as a character and hiring people who can pass for adults to play her and I can see them totally floundering on that now because they've also failed to expand on her and actually dumbed her down. I love the changes in the time period and had so much hope for it but they're going about it in SUCH a bizarre way where it feels like they want to have their cake of Lestat being a pre-revolution French Lord and eat it too. I don't see why Lestat is so much older as a vampire when part of his character IS that Lestat is really only 10 rl years older than Louis in the books. He's sent away from Marius because of it! When Lestat is like 150 years old it's, again, less interesting to me and dumber! And what was the POINT of it??

tl;dr I had hope for this series and now it's just boring drivel. They should have gone the miniseries/1 series for "Interview" route and built up to Akasha.

[covenofthearticulate]

1 & 2 for the writer ask meme!

Writer's Ask Game

1. What is something you wish you could change about your most recent fic/chapter? I think the last self-contained thing I posted to AO3 was Crimson Incarnate. I don't know if I would change anything necessarily, but one day I'd love to go back and add more to give it more of a proper ending. When I was writing it, I was writing to get towards a very specific part (which is kind of obvious when you read it). Once I reached that part, I think I honestly just kinda ran out of steam, so the way I wrapped the piece up was rushed and sloppy because I was so ready to just post it. That tends to be the problem with 90% of my fics— by the time the end goal in sight, I just get so anxious to finish because I need instant gratification, so that's one skill I'm trying to work on!

2. Share a snippet of an old wip that you never posted. OH BOY i got like 3k words into this piece but had a hard time focusing on just one thread (the hard part about louis and armand and lestat is that their dynamics are all crazy complicated so it's easy for me to get overwhelmed easily) so eventually let it go. But fun fact!! after struggling with this piece, I was actually able to come back a month later and write Crimson Incarnate, so I guess you can think of this as like a prototype :)

“This is absurd.” It’s both a chuckle and a groan as Louis squeezes his eyes shut as if it’ll somehow make him disappear.

“What’s so absurd about it?” Armand asks with a genuine crease of concern between his brows.

“What’s absurd is that we’re still talking and not…oh, what was that saying Daniel brought up the other day? Something about guts.” Lestat rakes one hand low across Louis’ belly, delicately admiring said guts, warm and slightly plumped from whatever poor fool had stumbled across his dear Louis’ path earlier this evening.

“Rearranging his guts.” Armand offers with an arch of his brow.

“I’m going to get up right now if you don’t stop.”

“Just say the word and we’ll stop, Louis.” Lestat decides to call his bluff outright, and it pays off beautifully with a soft blush beginning to blossom across Louis’ cheeks. 

The problem, of course, is that Louis doesn’t want to stop. Quite the opposite, in fact. But saying that sort of thing in so many words is not something that comes naturally for him. It isn’t even about the power, though lord knows surrendering to Lestat and Armand may just be one of the most ill-conceived decisions of his life. It’s something about the humiliation of vocal admittance that doesn’t quite sit with him. 

Lestat and Armand have always been good at begging, at knowing what to say and how to say it, at investing in the drama of it all and indulging in the playful fantasy of seduction. But the words feel clunky in Louis’ mouth. Forced and awkward and much too pathetic to be considered seductive in any form or fashion. 

And so he keeps his mouth shut, swallows the indignities until his throat burns with the unvoiced yearning and he sits still, vulnerable, trapped between the only two souls on this earth that hold the key to his undoing. 

“Let him protest, he needs to get it out of his system. Plausible deniability, and all that.” Armand smirks as he readjusts his weight in Louis’ lap, and it’s…humiliating, actually, being caught out of his little game before they’ve even really begun.

Louis moves to cover the unmistakable rush of blood pooling in his cheeks, but Armand catches his wrist, holds it just tight enough for Louis to remember the frightening strength beneath his fingertips, then gently folds it back down, pinning his hand to the mattress. Loving and merciless, all at once.

“Oh, enough with the hollow objections! You’re outnumbered, anyway. If anyone asks, you can tell them we held you down and ripped your bodice like a bunch of lustful brutes.” 

Louis can feel the hearty vibrations against his back, the way Lestat’s chest puffs when he gets impatient.

He tries to grumble something like “That isn’t funny, Lestat.” But it’s hard get the words from his brain to his mouth with Lestat’s breath on his shoulder and Armand’s hand on his chest.

“If it’s the guilt troubling you," Armand draws lazy circles with his nail, traces up and down the delicate slope of Louis' collarbone. "I’m happy to provide apt punishment.”

[licncourt]

Since you are the resident Louis expert, how is Louis with emotional intimacy? Is it something that comes easily to him or is he scares of it?

I think that's complicated. We all know that Louis has a lot of feelings OR absolutely none (which is kind of an emotion in itself), so I see him as being both very contradictory in one view, but ultimately very consistent. He exists in extremes, essentially.

Based on how he interacts with other characters, I think he's very selective about that kind of vulnerability. To be frank, I don't think he cares all that much about the average acquaintance, but then things take a turn of sorts.

We really only see him genuinely close with Lestat and Claudia (maybe implicitly Armand in the PL era, but I don't think we see enough on-page to analyze it). With Claudia, there was an obvious and immediate paternal connection, but I think his relationship with Lestat is more interesting and telling in this regard.

Louis is largely reactionary here when it comes to emotional intimacy. When Lestat genuinely reaches out or expresses vulnerability in IWTV (really in any way) Louis immediately draws closer. Clearly he wants that, he's such a lonely, isolated character.

Unfortunately for Lestat, it seems like his willingness to engage on that level is based almost entirely on reciprocity. When Lestat lashes out, Louis instantly shuts down and becomes very cold.

In TVL and onward, that shifts and we start to see how loyal Louis can really be once he feels like someone has earned his love by loving him back. That coldness from IWTV is largely gone, only returning briefly between QotD and during some of TotBT as what seems like a defense mechanism when Lestat is at his worst.

Besides that, Louis reaches out consistently, expressing his feelings and desires to Lestat repeatedly and even at risk of being hurt. Obviously closeness and connection with someone he genuinely loves is worth the potential pain of rejection or abandonment.

As much beef as I have with his late canon characterization, I do think it's consistent at least in this way. Even after everything Lestat has done for years, Louis still wants to rebuild that bond between them and agrees to come to France to try again. Once he's there and Lestat is finally ready, we don't really see any hesitation on Louis' part, only relief and happiness.

So yes, I do think he's scared of it, especially after the grief of losing Claudia that was only so intense because of his love for her and because of Lestat’s...bullshit. But I also think that his loneliness and how much it must have crushed him for so many years after the Interview era makes him very willing to take the plunge when he sets his mind on someone.

[thelioncourts]

I've been dwelling on the finale since yesterday, and while I have so much I need to explore about it, the thing I keep getting stuck on is this:

Why is Armand allowing this interview to happen?

Obviously we've only known Armand as Armand for about 2 minutes of showtime, but I think there are multiple possibilities that I think the show may be exploring, all regarding/centered around certain characters and their relationship to either Armand or to Louis.

Since Paris, Louis and Armand both have assumed Lestat is dead. A discovery of Lestat in one of his sleeps (no doubt the sleep he's in at the beginning of TVL, or, maybe even, the sleep post-Memnoch) and Armand, in a last-ditch effort to wake him after multiple failed attempts, is trying something albeit reckless. (For anyone not aware of Lestat and Armand's relationship in the books, despite much of it's present hostility, Armand desperately wants to keep Lestat safe. I can focus on more of that later.)

Louis' suicidal idealizing/attempts are getting frequent/serious/worrisome/etc. and Armand believes a third party, like Daniel, can almost play therapist. Or maybe, again, can get Lestat's attention to come get his sad fledgling.

Armand learned about Daniel's condition and -- unable to face Daniel on his own due to the shit he probably (no doubt) has done to Daniel -- set this up in order to tempt him to their side (I've seen a lot of people wonder if the show is going to play with a mixture of Daniel and David Talbot and that is honestly seeming like a possibility right now).

Fareed is in the picture, implying a Prince Lestat-esque timeframe, to some extent, so maybe the plan is to use Louis' story to a) get Lestat out of hiding or sleep or wherever and b) bring the vampire world into one place so that plans can start to be made to make a court.

After 50+ years, Armand's hold on Louis is failing and he's hoping to record Louis' ""thoughts"" down to add a continued proof of what happened, at least from what he's told Louis.

Something to do with Claudia -- whether it's her death, Armand's hand in it, I don't really know.

Armand genuinely likes fucking with Lestat and Lestat's things and maybe he learned Lestat is alive and this is a "Fuck you, your husband is mine now, listen to how he talks about killing you" and it's backfired tremendously because Louis is so in love with Lestat it's not even funny.

...Marius? Those Who Must Be Kept? The Theatre? Fuck if I know.

Something much darker occurred in 1973. Something that now needs to come to light.

Honestly, there are many possibilities, but I think many of them come back to Lestat because most things in life come back to Lestat.

It's very obvious that Daniel and Louis are both suffering memory changes/loss because of Armand. There's no coincidence in this. I just wonder what the truth really is and if Daniel is going to end up being the saving grace of our loveliest vampire couple.

(I'm personally leaning very heavily toward option 1.)

[nightcolorz]

i’m late but for the ask game: armand 6, 8, 25

YIPPIE!! Thank u sm for sending this, I’ve been pretty severely injured lately and I woke up feeling so shit and sad, so getting this notif absolutely made my day. Armand !!! He is my favorite character in anything ever. I have literally never been so insane about a guy before. U picked some great questions so I’m super excited about this.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

I identify strongly with Armand for a lot of weird little reasons. I think the root of it is transgender and autism stuff if I’m honest 😭 Im going to try not to get tooo personal 👍👍 but I will let’s be honest, I will get personal. I can relate to being fetishized and characterized for my sort of androgynous/pretty/boyish appearance while I feel like how I look doesn’t truly reflect who I am as a person. I definitely get the struggle of being demeaned and treated like a child bcus of the juvenile ish appearance transitioning can give you. I also can relate to being demeaned and treated like a child because of my social awkwardness (due to autism) that causes many ppl to assume I’m unintelligent or immature, need to be treated gently or talked to slowly, etc. I see these parts of myself reflected in Armand ofc in different more vampiric ways, and having a character who is infantilized and talked down to while also fetishized and sexually exploited for a perceived innocence that isn’t reflective of who he really is at all, a guy who is also very strange and awkward and doesn’t act right, who is also simultaneously very bad ass (imo lmao) in his shamelessness and his overtly violent and freak of nature attitude, is weirdly very validating and empowering for me, lmao. He is like the weak shameful parts of myself if the weak shameful parts of myself had teeth. 👍👍👍 Yeah 😁😁😁😁 Armand 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

lmfaooo, I’m so happy u picked this one bcus I love complaining and being a hater 😍 I am sorry in advance if I say anything that ruffles any bodies feathers, just bcus I don’t like these things ppl do doesn’t mean I don’t like the ppl who do them, y’all do u I’m not stopping u. Anyways.

I don’t enjoy how a handful of amc exclusive fans characterize Armand, because you can tell they rlly only understand him based on Wikipedia reads and his brief appearance in the show so far, which results in this sort of glaring simplification of his character in fan content. This wouldn’t rlly bother me if not for how prevalent it is 😭 like it’s genuinely difficult for me to find interesting and in character fanfic about Armand bcus so much of it is uniformed. The amc fandom sort of dominates the tvc fandom, it’s just so big. I don’t like when Armand is reduced to Louis’s new scary hot boyfriend/Lestat replacement/potential villain. It feels like he’s often perceived through this lens of a role in the story, like “hm this guy seems like a potential villain”, “no I think he’s a new love interest”, which is a conversation I find no appeal in at all considering you can’t fit the Armand I love into any of these narrative boxes. This isn’t rlly smth I have personal beef with bcus there’s no harm in fans of the show characterizing armand based on there limited knowledge while they wait for the next season, but for me it’s a pet peeve you know, as someone who rlly rlly likes armand a lot 😭.

(This is the exception to my no hate to u if u do this disclaimer btw, all the hate to u). on the subject of amc fans, I also often see this hostility towards fans of book Armand, where I’ll see amc fans talking about how perverse he is conceptually in the books and how gross ppl who like him are, which REALLY makes me very mad, because ok. Listen. Show armand is not a character yet, any and all things you enjoy about armand as of now as someone who hasn’t read the books are 1. How he looks. And 2. Things from the books that you apply to him in a new context. Assad’s performance, the people working on the show, the writers, everything that you base your enjoyment of armand in, is from the books 😭 But god forbid someone enjoy the source material over the hypothetical character who barely exists yet? God forbid someone do the same thing u do (take smth arguably morally dubious and interpret it in a way that u find interesting and compelling while acknowledging the morally dubious source material) just not in the context of an adaption. Ok. God forbid I enjoy and identify with an adult character trapped in the body of a child who is misperceived for his youth and sexually abused, it’s not like this is the same concept of beloved amc Claudia anyway. It’s also not like I am capable of enjoying something while criticizing it and disliking it’s flaws, and coming to conclusions based on critical thinking and analysis of concepts that may have been executed poorly, that I still admire and enjoy, bcus I am capable of complex thinking, and I don’t need to blindly enjoy every part of smth and perceive it as flawless to enjoy it. We all know that’s fake ! Anyways sorry for the angry rant 😭😭😭 moving on.

On a separate note, I also sometimes have beef with how fellow book armand fans portray him. This is small and sort of petty but it bothers me when Armand is drawn as like, very small and skinny. Maybe it’s bcus I head canon him as chubby and sort of cherub-built, maybe it’s bcus in TVA armand describes himself as strong in build and “not waif-ish”, but either or it does feel sort of wrong and off putting when I see Armand drawn as like, so small and petite that it’s emphasized. To me this reads as a missing of the point, if you will. An emphasis on physical qualities representative of innocence and youth that aren’t reflective of Armand’s character, only rlly how some other characters see him. I can often tell when an Armand fan enjoys him for the superficial qualities (eternally young, angelic looking, etc) over who he is, and it always encourages me to steer clear. I hope I’m making sense lol. This is also sometime present in fic but it’s more subtle and difficult to describe. Anyways

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I was thinking about this yesterday! I was first introduced to Armand when I was maybe 11 or 12, my dad put on 94 interview with the vampire for me and my twin sister while he did work around the house etc. he started watching it with us (he loves 94 iwtv) but by the time Armand showed up at the half way point he got up and started doing other things, so my sister and I were alone in front of the screen. For some reason lost to time my sister and I were very excited about seeing Antonio Banderas, maybe because we knew him from Zorro, so in the aftermath of the buffoon scene with Santiago that we found really funny, when Antonio Banderas appeared on screen we were hyped tf up. We were so enthralled in the moment of his cunty ass entrance we started cheering and clapping and screaming 😭 I think shrieking ARMANNNDDD!!!! At the screen (with no knowledge of who armand even was) Till I started laughing to tears is in my top ten formative moments. My first viewing of iwtv was just like that 😭 there was smth in the water that had my sister and I loosing our fucking minds with excitement over that movie. Anyways, I only immersed myself into the fandom and got rlly into tvc just last year, when I read interview with the vampire (smth that’s always been in the back of my mind since my first viewing, I really did love that movie) and then the rest of tvc. When I was reading interview with the vampire I had that subconscious excitement over Armand’s half way point appearance brewing from the get go (every time my sister and I have watched iwtv together since we were 12 we’ve done the same screaming at the screen ritual for armand) so when I was re introduced to him I was instantly attached to him. I very quickly discovered how much I was enthralled by this guy, like by his first appearance and description it went from a weird little nostalgic affection to a “omfg I feel many inexplicably strong feelings for this guy”. He was just so magnetic and weird, I was intrigued by every thing about him, like Louis lol. I started drawing him a bunch b4 I’d even finished the first book, and by the time I was introduced to him in tvl he was my favorite character. Tvl really solidified my armand obsession, and queen of the damned made me the person I am today 😭 insane. I think my impression of him now should be obvious at this point 😔 he is my silliest guy every morning I wake up and he is the first thought in my mind I cry about him daily I worship him like he’s my god sometimes I see a blender and I am so overwhelmed with emotion I want to scream if a professional looked into my brain and saw all the armand in there they’d diagnose me with super mega autism. I like him a lot. 🫶

Thank you sm for sending this ask once again! I’m sorry it’s so long lol, hope my responses were interesting. This is the ask game in question for anyone who may potentially want to send me more asks: https://www.tumblr.com/nightcolorz/734243514562510848?source=share I would cry with joy if so.

[hekateinhell]

How much does the mental endurance of the VC vampires evolve with their physical endurance? The fandom response is very mixed, sometimes they are called being "dramatic", and sometimes "traumatic". I mean, there's a clear regional and cultural divide in understanding these highly "westernized" creatures. Still, there's a difference between making poetic mistakes and being Simply Dumb. It appears that they mature backwards over time irrespective of their mortal 'turning-age' (unless it's convenient for the plot to do the opposite, e.g., Claudia).

This is such an interesting topic and one I genuinely wish Anne had delved into--it's just so ripe for exploration!

And you're right, because Anne didn't really set a baseline there, it's completely left up to our subjective interpretations. For instance, even a lot of disorders and their causes wouldn't have been officially recognized in the United States at the time Anne wrote the first trilogy; the clinical and sociological definitions of "trauma" and "traumatic" are also ever-evolving things, etc.

By mature backwards over time, do you mean that the characters regressed? That's how I'm reading it but I'm not sure if that's what you intended. Personally, I don't feel like it's true, but I suppose it depends on which character(s) we're talking about.

Louis and Armand came a long way from the people they were when Lestat first met them (Louis, guilt-ridden and suicidal; Armand, a traumatized and vengeful cemetery wench). I do think Anne definitely had a blind spot when it came to her favorites, Lestat and Marius, and that's why we don't see as much growth in them comparatively.

It's a valid and common enough criticism that Lestat didn't really do anything to "win" Louis back in the PL-trilogy (there are potential explanations for this), but I do see growth in Lestat in other ways--especially concerning his relationship with Armand. In BC, Armand literally says to Lestat's face, "[...] you have never given me your love," in the midst of a very dramatic scene, which Lestat doesn't have an answer to. But then in the next chapter Lestat tells us this, "The only thought in my mind, the only image, the only idea, was of Armand, and how Armand would feel when he too could hold Marius like this and know that Marius lived, that Marius had been restored, that all of them were safe and secure, and using my strongest power I sent the word to him. I sent the news. And I sent my love to Armand with it."

This is tremendous coming from Lestat, this is Lestat making an honest-to-God effort! In the middle of everything that's going on, he internalized what Armand said and made the conscious decision to be more transparent and intentional with his affections.

So could they all, collectively, have matured more over the course of forty years and over a dozen books? Yes, absolutely, and I'm upset we didn't see more of it. But did we get something at least? Also, yes.

[monstersinthecosmos]

I actually think I COULD have been okay with Armand's casting, tbh? I think vibes-wise, he actually works? I mean, he's not book armand, but I feel like we all knew that with the age issue and how ridiculously pretty he's supposed to be, that was always going to be impossible.

But my bigger issues are more that it already feels like they're going to pretend there's no love in his relationship with Louis, that Devil's Minion is a no-go, and that he's pretty much just going to be there to make Lestat look slightly less worse and give the audience someone to hate. Frankly, the only positive for me so far is that they superpowered him, which I kind of enjoy after watching Anne make him more and more helpless with each book, lol

hjsdkg ugh like, to be honest i'm so fucking bummed and depressed about this whole thing and I feel so left out and genuinely don't understand why Devil's Minion fans are excited about it. 😂

(tbf I feel like, as an old DM loser, I'm not seeing the excitement amongst the other fandom olds and outspoken stans. It feels like newer fans are excited and I'm excited for them but I know they're like, coming to this from a difference experience than me. idk I feel left out LMAO I can't emotionally connect with it at all.)

But yea I really like the actor, I don't have an issue with him in particular. Like, he's too old LMAO but. I was kind of expecting that. But so far I've enjoyed ALL the actors and I don't hold the bad writing against them. They all killed it with what they were given, and none of them were faithful to their book counterparts in the slightest.

I just. Yeah. The reveal was really bad writing. RJ's comments afterwards gave me huge red flags that they're going to use Armand as a Loustat wedge, similar to the way they used Antoinette. I'm also really concerned about how they'll handle his backstory because they handled Claudia's SA so poorly. And the way they made Lestat so 2D and unlikable and just an asshole makes me feel really upset about what they'd do to Armand, because I worry it falls into the Shallowest Takes Possible that we tend to see in fandom from the non-Armand-fans that he's just, like, this evil little creature. He's such a complex character and so many people in fandom just reduce him to being a little gremlin and it really sucks, and I'm so worried that the show is going to take that approach too.

It's just such a bad investment into a series, you know? This was supposed to the foundational season and it was filled with cheap bullshit and continuity errors on their own lore, how are they supposed to build on this?

AND LIKE TBH I HATE THAT THEY SUPERPOWERED HIM?? A LOT????? Like I ranted about this on Twitter the other day and I'm not ready to try to repeat myself LMAO but like, I think having him immune to sunlight is a HUGE misstep for him as a character and I'm just. Ugh.

like this is a fucking nightmare, seeing your favs done dirty like this.

Anyway we always knew it was going to be the Lestat/Loustat show and I didn't expect Armand or Daniel to be centered meaningfully but like man. It just really would've been awesome to see Devil's Minion on the screen and it sucks that we're never gonna have it. Some background info? A single standalone episode about them one day? Something we could gif for a few years? Anything?

Like I truly needed so little lol.

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

Visit

the next part of my Vampire Daniel series. read it below or here

Armand is going to visit Marius.

All Daniel knows about Marius is that he turned Armand; they have some twisted, weird parental relationship; and he's pretty sure they used to fuck. He doesn't know how he feels about the last one, exactly. He doesn't like Armand going to visit what is essentially an ex, and he gets why. But he doesn't have the right to feel that way, not when he and Armand aren't together.

(Even if they could be, if Daniel would only allow it.)

Daniel suspects Armand is visiting Marius to see if he can dump him off on him. He's so afraid of Daniel leaving that he'll make Daniel leave. It's idiotic, but it's on brand.

But since Armand is visiting Marius, Daniel decides to meet Louis. He's in France with Lestat at the moment (Daniel tries not to judge; given his thing with Armand, it feels a little like the pot calling the kettle black.) They decide to meet in a little cafe in Paris, some place Daniel had visited years ago with Armand.

Louis looks good when he sees him. There's something lighter in the way he carries himself and his smile seems genuine. (Daniel will have to tell Armand; he knows Armand still worries for Louis.) Louis hugs him when they see each other and it's nice. It's new, or rather, new again. Familiar, now that he has his memories.

They sit and order coffee neither of them will drink. Louis wraps his hands around his cup and soaks up the warmth. “I'm surprised Armand is letting you out of his sight.”

“He's visiting Marius. He thinks I'm in Dubai.”

Louis arches a brow, but doesn't call him out on lying to Armand. But Louis was with the man decades; he knew the kind of psychological warfare Armand could wage when he didn't get his way. “Marius, huh? That what this is about?”

Should it be? Daniel's not going to think about it. “I don't care if he visits his ex.” Then, because he can't help himself, “What's this Marius like anyway?”

“Why does it matter if you don't care?” Louis teases. Daniel forgets how much of a little shit Louis can be when he wants. But Louis isn't cruel, so he adds, “You'll see for yourself. He comes with Armand, sort of like a father-in-law.”

“You telling me they didn't fuck?”

Louis pulls a face. “We're not going there. That's Armand's business.”

Okay, there was something interesting there. Before he can question further, Louis adds “He has this thing, Marius. He thinks he knows Armand better than Armand knows himself, that he knows what's best for him. But no one knows Armand.”

“You know him.” Daniel stamps down the old, bitter jealousy.

Louis smiles softly at him. “Give it time. I was with him decades. These things come slow with Armand.”

“Doesn't matter. We're not together,” Daniel says.

Louis holds back a laugh. “Course you're not.”

Daniel decides to cut to the chase. “Did he make you hunt?”

“What?”

“Armand, did he make you hunt?”

Louis relaxes. “So that's what this is about.”

Daniel admits, “I'm good at it. But I don't like it.”

“I'd say it gets easier, but you don't want it to.”

Daniel shakes his head. “No, I don't.”

Louis leans forward. “Look, Armand just wants to be sure you can take care of yourself. Give it a few months, he'll stop.”

“You think?”

Louis shrugs. “I can talk to him, if you like.”

Daniel thinks that's probably a bad idea. “Doesn't know I'm here, remember?”

“He wouldn't care. Why are you hiding it?”

Daniel doesn't really know. He plans to tell him later anyway. Maybe he just wants something that feels like his, without Armand's input. “I don't care if he cares.”

“He loves you, you know,” says Louis.

“I know,” Daniel says. “I know.”

[maggicktouched]

I finished Interview with a Vampire and wanted to share my thoughts. This will not be spoiler free so I will put it under a cut. But if you want my overall opinion if you’re like on the rails about watching this: watch it. It is so much more than I ever thought it would be. I don’t know a single person who has watched it and disliked it. Watch it. Give it a chance. Especially if you’ve ever liked the series.

Also you can watch on AMC+. An app that is genuinely awful but is running a special rn for like two bucks for two months. Not a bad deal for a good show.

I’ve had a very, very long history with the series, with the fandom at multiple times in my life, and with every iteration of the source material. I’ve most of the books multiple times and there was a long portion of my life where I would have claimed that The Vampire Armand was my favorite book, even if it kind of signaled the series flying off the rails.

I really didn’t expect to like this series. Even when I heard it was good I didn’t expect to like it. First and foremost because over the years I’ve become very disenchanted with Anne Rice’s work. Though I loved Armand’s book because I adore the character, I really struggled with Memnoch the Devil. At the time I was a teen and seriously grappling with religious trauma and any reference to the Christian faith triggered some ugly emotions in me. 

Rice also made some writing choices that just didn’t sit well with me. The Tale of the Body Thief has two sexual assaults if I remember correctly. And it wasn’t so much the character doing bad things that I minded as the way Rice framed him and clearly thought of him in spite of him being one of the most morally repulsive character she wrote.

I never made it through Prince Lestat tbh and I don’t even know the name of its sequel right off the top of my head. 

So when I heard there was a new series coming out I was mildly interested but had little hope that it would be decent. 

The pilot was a little bumpy of a watch for me. It highlights one of my only issues going forward with the series and it isn’t necessarily bad, it just means I’m likely not getting one of my favorite parts in the books and that is Daniel. Daniel who is my second favorite vampire in the series and a character that I have a very vivid picture of in my own mind.

The other issue I struggled with initially was Louis being a pimp. That felt so far off of the very reserved/miserable man in the books I often thought of him as. But it actually worked. 

I never loved Louis in the books tbh. I was very neutral about him and often felt sorry for him because he often felt like he was passed from one abusive partner to the next with very little agency of his own. He gets rid of Lestat just to fall prey to Armand just to go back to Lestat a short while later. Maybe it was just my interpretation of him at the time (I was like twenty the last time I read the books---literally a decade ago lol) but he kinda bored me. This Louis is a person I genuinely and wholeheartedly feel for. He feels much more real. Every scene where Daniel would get bitchy with him I’d be like “YOU BE NICE!!!!! HE HAS BEEN THROUGH A LOT!!!!” meanwhile being just as frustrated with him at times.

They made fantastic casting decisions for everyone. Lestat genuinely unnerved me in every scene. Honestly every time he’d look intensely at anyone this tiktok would play in my head but he was genuinely frightening. The scene where he’s talking to Claudia on the train? I felt physically sick listening to him threaten her to come back.

Claudia’s actress was also dead on. And honestly so was her character. I’ve never liked Claudia. I’ve never even felt bad for her even though she was written as a tragic character. But now knowing what happens in the books and knowing where this is going I’m so upset. I genuinely don’t know how they’re going to make me dislike her because for the first time she isn’t some spoiled blood hungry brat but a tortured woman living under the oppressive rule of an abusive man. And I know she’s not a child but Louis is very obviously her father figure/big brother and her having to be the one to save him---her having to stay behind and sacrifice her life and happiness for him---her being the one to have to stand up to Lestat and pull them out like that is a pain that I understand and goddamn do I feel for her. Abuse forces you to grow up way too fast, and in a body that never ages? It’s torment. Her life was torment.

I loved Armand’s actor. I absolutely hated the original IWAV Armand. He’s a great actor, but that was not Armand in my mind. This guy has the young face. He has the sharp features. And he has the menacing presence that Armand always had for me. I went into the series having that twist spoiled for me, so like I did know, but I actually think I preferred it that way. I am extremely excited to see where it goes with Armand, especially as the story goes on, because him being there AS the story is told is a big deal. And Louis and Armand’s love affair in the books isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, so the question is what is going on between them? Have they been together all this time? Or did Louis go TO Armand and admit he wanted to retell his story only to have Armand insist he do it there in his own home? Are they actually in a relationship or is Louis just as trapped in Dubai as he was New Orleans? Is it both? God I’m just so excited to see where Armand goes from here.

I also really really loved the pacing. And that’s something I didn’t think I would like. IWAV is not a book with padding. It is excellently paced. So I really worried when I found out not only was this a series, but it was only like half the fuckin book. I had zero faith that could be done without making it an unnecessary shit show of filler. But I think that the pacing is actually what makes this show so amazing. It gave us the time with each character to see them and who they are in this new adaptation and honestly I liked all of them. It showed us explicitly that Louis is not a reliable narrator, which makes me very curious to see other angles and points of view for characters.

The lighting was really great too. So many shows right now are making the “artistic” choice to turn every goddamn light in the studio off and shoot using a dinosaur nightlight plugged in 50 feet away from the camera rn. You can’t fucking see shit. Game of Thrones did it, so did House of the Dragon, so did any show that has ever been on the CW. And as funny as the memes are I like being able to see shit.

I like that the vampires are a little more feral than they are in the books. 

I liked Louis’ family. The part with his brother worried me at first, because disorders like that are often not shown in a kind light, but in the end I think they did a decent job. He was a tragic character and there was always the mystery of “did his mental illness kill him or did Lestat” and honestly I still am not certain Lestat wasn’t lying when he said that he didn’t kill him.

I liked the hints toward characters like Marius and Nikki. 

Most of all I loved how unabashedly gay this was. It’s what we have all wanted.

I am still disappointed about Daniel. I was disappointed in the original movie with him too. That’s just not what Daniel looks like in my mind. Him being older makes me wonder if they’re going to cross his story over with David and I won’t enjoy that. 

While Lestat/Louis was most people’s fav toxic couple, mine was Daniel and Armand. Two characters who were both horrifically broken people in a shit storm of Armand’s making because Armand doesn’t know how fucking else to love anyone because that’s how he was shown love by Marius from the start. Daniel’s misery and ultimately his madness. Even after being transformed he was always so painfully human to me. I always wanted them to somehow find a way to be ok on their own and come together again later in life, and I have heard that it does eventually happen in Prince Lestat and the sequel. So it doesn’t look like I’m going to have that, and if I do it’s going to look very different than how I personally wanted it, but that’s ok. It’s a personal preference.

But yeah. Currently those are all the feelings I wanted to get out. And they’re mostly overwhelmingly positive. I can hardly wait for another season and I hope everyone watches this show and we get more and more seasons to come.

I might even watch the Mayfair show. And I’ve never even read/liked those books.

[desertfangs]

Who are your top 3 (or 5 if you can't narrow it down) VC characters?

Thank you for the ask! (Send me asks to stem the boredom at work!)

Daniel Molloy - This will surprise no one, but I really love him. I think he's fascinating. The way as a young journalist he's just enraptured and fascinated by Louis in the interview and the way he hears Louis' story as one of possibility. Also the fact that he even does the whole 'meet and interview strangers for their stories' thing is just so interesting! And then of course, everything with Armand, and how he's just the right kind of weird and unhinged to really click with him. I also really relate to his desperate desire to live forever and experience the world for centuries, and I love how being with Armand is like a blessing and a curse for him: he genuinely loves Armand and wants to be with him forever, but it also makes him feel time ticking like a bomb until he finally becomes a vampire. And vampire Daniel is so giddy and high on being immortal, it makes me happy. I'm so bummed we didn't more of him in later books beyond a few little bits in B&G and PL. We even get told he's back with Armand at the end but we don't get a single paragraph of them together, and he just sort of vanishes. I know Anne was pretty much done with him after QotD and the only reason we even got the bits we did in later books is because people kept asking where and how he was but still. C'mon! Anyhow, I love him.

Armand - He's easily the most complex and fascinating character in the series to me. And I think he gets the most character growth, too. He starts as a villain but even then as the 'bad guy' you feel bad for him because he just wants love and passion and something to live for and he can't even have that. And then it's heartbreaking all over again when you learn his history with Lestat. And then finally with Daniel he gets what he wanted, only to have it ripped away (and probably he pushed it away himself because he does that!) and again it happens in scenes we never see on the page (you're killing me, Anne!). But then he finds happiness with Louis finally finally after decades and gets Daniel back as well. He just has such a fascinating dynamic with literally everyone else in the series, I love how he thinks and how he reacts to things and he's amazing. He's never done anything wrong in his life.

Louis de Pointe du Lac - Louis was my first favorite VC character and I've always loved him. He also has some good character growth and also sort of gets lost in later books, though not as much as Daniel because he's too important to Lestat for Anne to totally shunt to the side. We meet him when he's totally dejected and lost and isolated in IwtV and willing to spill his guts to Daniel, and I think that, too, is fascinating. Was he watching Daniel for a while? Did he put himself in position to meet him and be interviewed? Or was it really just a crazy random happenstance? Regardless, I love his guilt and that he thinks he deserves nothing, and that as the series goes on he finally comes to accept himself and also love (from Lestat, and also from Armand). Louis and Armand are that couple who marry young and divorce because they're just not ready or in the right place, but years later reconnect and it finally works because they've both matured and learned more about themselves but also they have both accepted that they DESERVE love (and I credit Daniel with some of that on Armand's end.) Anyway, I'm going to cry. Louis also has zero desire to be some overpowered vampire. He's content to live forever wearing moth-eaten sweaters (at least until Armand starts throwing them out and buying him better clothes) and reading books, and I'm here for it. I know you said I could pick 5 but I have rambled a lot already! Honorable mentions go to Jesse Reeves and Gabrielle, whom we also didn't get enough of in canon IMO, and of course I love Lestat.