#anyhow marius! what a guy.

[winepresswrath]

on this, my second attempt at diving deeper into the iwtv series i've conclude that armand and bianca need to take a lesson from pandora, who has at least some of it figured out.

[desertfangs]

I haven't yet read the books (there's so many!) I've only watched the iwtv movie and TV show and I love Claudia in both but I've had people tell me in the books she's awful and considered to be one of the series villains. Idc about spoilers I just wanna know how true that is bc I dunno if I'd want to read that lol

Hi anon! I was excited to see your ask this morning because I'm gonna tell you something: Claudia was one of my first favorite characters in the series and her death devastated me. Louis was my first fav (understandable, he's literally the protagonist of the first book, we're meant to sympathize with him!) and when he lost Claudia and became numb in his grief, I related. I hated Armand for what happened to Claudia and I held a grudge for a long time.

Anyhow, I can't speak to the show so much as I've only seen season 1, but if you like the 94 movie, you will probably like the novel Interview with the Vampire. It's a pretty close adaptation.

To get to the heart of your question, no, Claudia not an awful villain. Anymore than Louis or Lestat are. If anyone is a villain in IwtV, it's Armand, and even he is not a mustache-twirling evil guy.* Everyone in this series in morally gray and does terrible stuff. I emphasize that because I've been in this fandom for a long time and I've seen all kinds of arguments about who is evil and who is not, and the fact is, all of our vampires do questionable things. That's sort of the point. So it's arguable how much there even is a villain in IwtV outside of Louis' own depression and grief, but Armand probably gets that honor.

Claudia in the books was turned around the age of 5. She is a very small, doll-like child who doesn't seem to retain much, if any, memory of her human life. She is more purely a vampire than Louis or Lestat can really fathom because she lacks that humanity and a connection to humans. She's a natural hunter and killer.

She doesn't understand Louis' sentimentality for humans, and resents Lestat for withholding information she knows he has about their kind. She is a complex and fascinating woman trapped in the body of a small child to the point where even Louis, who loves her dearly, cannot really see her as an adult and struggles to accept her agency. She does manipulate both her parents, in part because they don't often see her as a capable equal, which she very much is.

She does eventually rise up to kill to Lestat out of desperation. She believes he will not let Louis go and knows she can't travel around alone, given her appearance. Lestat himself is devastated by this and by her loss, and even says later he understands why she did it. That he probably deserved it for what he'd done to her, which was trap her forever in the body of a very young child, something he admits was selfish. (And something Marius had actually warned him against doing beforehand, LOL!!)

Like in the movie and the show, she does die at the Theatre des Vampires, and Armand is more responsible for that than I've heard he is on the show (he tells Louis he couldn't have stopped it, only to later reveal he orchestrated it, which Louis knew the whole time).

She appears later in The Tale of the Body Thief mocking Lestat and acting as a sort of voice for his subconscious, but she is just his hallucination in he book. He's dealing with a lot of trauma and grief and that manifests itself as Claudia's ghost.

Where you might be hearing she's a villain is from Merrick, where both her diary and spirit appear and are... not very nice. I gotta say, I am not convinced that is actually the spirit of Claudia that gets conjured, and even if it is, it's possible she's been warped somehow. But I also haven't read that book in decades and often tend to ignore it, so I am not an expert on that score.

I hope this helps! I'm always happy to answer questions about the books! (They are my special interest, if you cannot tell.)

But I do want to say that if you are a fan of the show and curious about the books--which are very different!--I highly recommend you read at least the first few yourself. The best way to judge if you'll like the book versions of the characters and story is to experience it yourself. There's a lot of misinformation that gets passed along about the books, and a lot of misinterpretation due to that because people just repeat what they've heard without having read them. And hey, they still may not be your cup of tea, and that's totally fine! But you won't know if you don't try, you know?

Anyhow, thank you so much for the ask! 💖 Claudia is awesome and deserves more love in the book fandom, but because she dies so early on, she doesn't get as much attention sadly.

*And even when he is, we love him.

[monstersinthecosmos]

How do you feel about Marius/Bianca? I was somewhat perplexed by their dynamics in the last trilogy and the way Anne had Bianca quite literally begging for that dick yet he kept ghosting her because GOD FORBID a woman (or anyone, really) reminds him of a time when he was weak. He treated her like shit and then she left him and fell in love with someone else (RIP to that guy, we barely knew him) but then she showed up again and was still head over heels in love with him. Even Fareed was like “wtf is your problem bro she’s a ten”. But at the same time I guess that a big theme in the last trilogy was about going back to the person/people you’ve loved the most despite it all so it makes… sense? Him getting to keep his two wives at the end? Anyhow IA on Pandora daddy domming his ass 🥲

dagsdjk WTF IS YOUR PROBLEM BRO SHE'S A TEN

god please I love Bianca so much too, she and Pandora can double-dom him any time.

I mean I think this is the same issue we run into over and over in VC where like it's FREE REAL ESTATE because Anne just like fuckin, forgot about her characters/didn't care/etc lol. Like I would kill to know what Bianca is up to, how her life has been, how she's doing!!!

And like I think I give a lot of credit to Akasha for breaking Marius's heart and destroying his confidence but Bianca did it first!!!!!!!! And I wonder if maybe that's a more appropriate source of the multi-century slump he's been in. Like he's in TERRIBLE shape in TVA and it's sorta like because he's wandering around without purpose without The Parents but like, there's plausible deniability that Pandora left on accident, whereas Bianca is his lover that like SPECIFICALLY broke up with him.

But Marius is left in a weird place when canon ends; he's sort of a mess, trying to get his life together, trying to find purpose again, and I think there's an openness he shows. He seems willing to heal, willing to rethink the way he sees vampirism, willing to respect vampires as their own people & their own culture, so maybe he'll be okay! And I wonder if part of that is like, patching things up with his exes and being more present and honest with them when he's ready. He's always been a person that like relies on his own worldview so staunchly because it was his way of coping with immortality and I think when he had The Parents it really gave him the strength to believe in himself and he had something to fall back on, it was something he could believe in because he could see it with his own eyes. So like he can be difficult and stubborn and hard to live with but he had that PROOF that he was doing the right thing and like Akasha was the real wife the whole time that he stayed with, you know? BUT WITHOUT HER? NOW HE'S JUST A HEARTBROKEN AIMLESS MESS. I THINK IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR HIM TO WORK IT OUT WITH THESE LADIES. Marius is very much always like "I WANT YOU TO CHALLENGE ME" to his lovers but then gets upset when he's actually challenged lol. I wonder if maybe he's grown past that so we can actually get somewhere! I realize I ranted and screamed but to answer your question I am feral about Marius/Bianca!!!!!!!!!!!

[lesmiserablesabridged]

The Terrible Thenardiers: What Really Happened on the Battlefield

Narrator: In...

Thenardier: Hold on, this is my backstory to tell!

Napoleon: No, it's mine!

Thenardier: Mine.

Napoleon: Mine! Anyhow, what do you have for me, Lafayette?

Lafayette: Um...Vive le Republique!

Napoleon: Precisely. Now bring in the Colonel. I need his loyal ass right here!

Georges: You called for me?

Napoleon: Yes, I need you to show the Austrians who is boss!

Georges: I'll try my best.

Napoleon: Right. You'll find some expendable soldiers outside. Now go.

Georges: I'll start right away!

Napoleon: Now I heard these boots will make me taller...can't hurt to try them on.

Thenardier: If you thought this was about Napoleon, you are mistaken! Brace yourselves, for it is...

Georges: Exposition time! My name is Colonel Georges, and my loins made a human being who would be relentlessly mocked. By everyone.

Thenardier: And I am Thenardier, first name unknown. Come to think of it, that seems to be a trend.

Georges: Right, here we are. On the battlefield. Now we just need to win in the name of Napoleon...Oh...I've been shot...

Thenardier: Stealing money from dead soldiers is profitable! Oh, this one is alive...crap...he'll get me arrested...

Georges: Thank you, kind Sir, for saving my life. Are you a Sergeant?

Thenardier: I am. I am.

Georges: Thank you for saving my life. I won't forget. Should we meet again, I will be sure to help you.

Thenardier: Man, that guy sure was gullible. I wonder what happened to him.

Narrator: Let's find out.

Georges: Oh, look, I got married! My wife is pretty.

His unnamed wife: I popped out a baby. It's a boy. I shall name him Marius!

Georges: A pretty name.

His unnamed wife: And now I die.

Georges: I need someone to raise my child because I cannot do it myself!

Fantine: Omg, you are like me!

Both: And our children get married! *they finger-gun one another*

Gillenormand: I'll take him! I need someone to lavish all of my grandfatherly love onto! Also, you're forbidden from seeing him again, ever!

Thenardier: There are no coincidences in this narrative. *chugs a glass of milk, but it's actually brandy disguised as milk* I love drinking. I turned my passion into profit by opening an inn! Oh, and I too have a wife and five kids, who are all important, though some more than the others.

Narrator: Well, by the end, you'll only have one.

Thenardier: Well, by the end, your boys will all die and I will win!

Narrator: NOOOOOOO...!

Thenardier: Children roll call! Eponine!

Eponine: I am cute and I have morals. I die at the barricade.

Thenardier: Azelma!

Azelma: I end up in Americas where I abuse the native folk.

Thenardier: Gavroche!

Gavroche: I am likeable. I also die at the barricade.

Thenardier: And the other two, whoever they were.

Madame Thenardier: I could have married a bourgeoisie. Instead, I got this guy.

Narrator: Yeah, well...at least yours isn't dead! Speaking of which, come here, boys! You all get a hug!

Les Amis: Gladly. *They come over and are given a hug, each*

[shinynewtoysyndrome]

Previously on the Finale of Beywarriors: Cyborg, Part 1

Bran, the big bad: Sayonara, suckers. Hope you like Savage Destroyer! Don't feel too bad that your planet is a worthless piece of shit.

Ramon, el freaky fish guy: Language, amigo.

Abridger's note: Ramon is Hispanic here for obvious reasons. He wasn't Hispanic in the Toonami English dub.

Al: Fish guy got better abs than me. Alright fangirls. Forget blandie. Ship me with the fish guy!

Ramon: My name is Ramon. You're killing my homeworld. Prepare to feel our collective wrath.

Bran: As if. These human nations couldn't collude even if their lives depended on it.

Nico, in an over-the-top hero voice (which if you think about it is his normal everyday voice): THAT'S WHERE YOUR WRONG, FIEND.

Bran: You're lying, bland kid. Go home and, I dunno, emigrate to the Orb Union or something. You'd fit right in.

Nico: My patriotic fervor makes a nonsense of your obtuse attempts at making fun of my perceived lack of a personality.

Flame Trio, along with their Bey Warrior Bit Beast Cyborg thingies: 'Sup Vanilla.

Nico: I'm still not getting it. Why are you calling me that?

Flame Trio: Is it seriously not getting to you that we think you're bland.

Nico: Look, if we all took too much time on personal matters like you do, we're never gonna get the job done.

Al: Well that makes sense.

Flame Trio: A consummate professional. We respect that.

Nico: That's not what you said the other times.

Flame Trio: Just run and set the plan in motion. We've got this.

Nico: Good call.

Flame Trio: Nope, we don't got this.

Nico: Oh, come on. Do I have to do everything around here?

Flame Trio: Just go, you walking piece of cardboard.

Gai: You're not the only one who's got this.

Bran: Guy, I thought we had something evil together.

Gai: Oh, I've been saving such a redeemed hero speech for this.

Voiceover: Attention people of Teslandia. Apparently we've all been played like a bunch of suckers and the real enemy had always been that alien dude named bran. Uggghhh. He must dine on gluten and all that. Anyway, that trio of military dudes plus that burly vigilante guy are all playing hero.

Prime Minister of the Lightning State: Didn't we hire that no-nonsense cardboard kid to play our hero? Why hasn't he upstaged them yet #Lightin'FuckYeah

Ramon: Madre de Hydra Akheilos.

Nico: Okay, so we got Dragoon in place. What now.

Dr. Prost but now has Cryaotic's personality: Hey Blue. Red here and I were just about to use that blowhard's technology against him.

Nico: How long will it take?

Dr. Prost: It should be done by-

Sola: MOTOR SKILLS!

Dr. Prost: Agggghhhh

King August the Dramatic: Here I come for my heroic redemption arc.

Bran: So you're all betraying me left and right. Touching, you're all united now. Filthy swine.

King August the once bad but now good: Ahh, to be rounded and complex. Wouldn't you say. This is how heroes are meant to be. BYRONIC! EAT YOUR HEART OUT, uhh...

Marius: Nico, sire!

King August the temperamental: Smithers, release the Warriors!

Marius: Yes sir!

Bran: You can't win, I'm too powerful.

Nico: That's what you think!

Flame Trio, King, Smithers, and Gai: Great. Upstaged once again by off-brand Canadian hero product.

Bran: You were better off with Johnny Test.

Nico: The joke's on you because I have no idea what that is!

Nico: Oh you have got to be kidding me.

Bran: Awww, does widdle bland kid want to run home to his gramps.

Nico: I'm a brunet.

Everyone: YOU'RE A BLOND.

Bran: A dumb blond.

King August the Blond: I am offended by that.

Nico: Blond as in yellowish hair or bland as in nondescript and lacking in features.

Al: Darn it, why does everyone get to be a hero but me? I've got better abs than all these suckas.

Gai and Ramon: AHEM.

Nico: As if you need to be ripped to be a hero.

Gai: You bit thingy may be stronger than me, but I can still make things haaaa-

Gai: SHIT WHY DOES THIS HURT SO MUCH.

Nico: I know right?

King August the Observant: We dented it.

Gere of the Flame Trio: We'll dent it again.

Both: GOOOO SHOOOOOOT

Nico: I won't let your sacrifice be in vain!

All three of them: But we're not yet dead.

Al: Bring out your dead!

Nico: I understood that reference!

Ramon: Of all the references bland man could've gotten. Anyhow, ninos, while you were battling, I was making sure that Bran was distracted. Now go extract the energy from that behemoth and lets finish this. Vamos!

Bran: You can-

Ramon: And now you'll be done in by your own pocket dimension tech.

Bran: FUUUUUUUCCCK

Ramon: What do you know. The blue guy with the abs beat the villain.

Al: I don't think he's using the Spanish language correctl-oowwwww using Lightning Griffin as a shield hurts. But if this shared pain means being a hero, so be it.

Nico: They did their part. Now it's my turn!

Al: He did it.

The rest of them: All that character development to be upstaged by a talking piece of cardboard.

Nico: Awww, shucks guys. We all did it. Together.

Gere: Wait, so your normal personality is a humble, friendly, socially awkward teen?

Nico: I thought that was obvious.

Gai: We went around thinking you didn't have one, what with your near monomaniacal obsession with acting the part of the hero.

Nico: PROFESSIONALISM!

Prime Minister of the State of Lighting: Lightning, Fuck Yeah.

Ramon: Wait, amigos. Something isn't right.

Nico: Well, thank you, Ms. Clavell.

[desertfangs]

Just wanted to say how much I love the heart locket piece -- I can't be the only person who wants a whole series just of marius and daniel shopping in paris!!!!!! I would read 1,000 pages of that, your drabble was just so good!!!!!!

AAAAAH thank you!! I'm glad you enjoyed that little ficlet! Honestly Marius and Daniel shopping in Paris could be amazing. Adds that to the long list of fic ideas I need to write. ☑️

The thing about Marius and Daniel that gets me is that like with Armand, Daniel treats Marius like a guy.

Yes, he's an ancient and powerful vampire, and when they meet, he's something of a mythical figure to Daniel: he's someone who acted as a mentor to Lestat as outlined in Lestat's little autobiography, and he's Armand's maker. So there's probably a bit of awe when he gets to meet him person, but there's never really that hero worship he has with Lestat and he doesn't have the fraught relationship with him he has with Armand (and Armand has with Marius... generational something something).

Anyhow, the point is, Daniel strikes me as someone who's generally very straight forward. Maybe not as blunt as Armand, but he says what he thinks, he can be wry or sarcastic, and he's not afraid to tell things like he sees them. Which is probably good for Marius, who needs that person who will be honest with him and call him on things when, say, he's being stubborn or unreasonable. And Marius in turn respects Daniel and knows Daniel doesn't mean things in a malicious way, and he's more willing to listen to them than he might be to others. (I mean I think he listens to Pandora, too, though he might be able to dismiss some more of her criticism in his head.)

But also, Daniel enjoys being dressed and pampered and taken care of, and Marius enjoys doing those things for people.

So basically this my long essay on why I love their dynamic and think they're great. Which is not at all what you asked for but sometimes this is what happens when I'm just spewing VC thoughts after a long week.

Thank you again for the compliment and amazing fic idea!! I always adore messages like this. I'm giving you a mini bundt cake and a handshake! 💖

[desertfangs]

“The answers are usually funny. Benji keeps telling Daniel he should film it for TikTok but he refuses to learn another social media app” lmao the one boomer with rights. He’d definitely be the type to draw a line at tiktok (whereas Armand is a 500 y/o gen z baby and he definitely has a tiktok account and it’s absolute insanity). I feel like he’d be most into Instagram and would probably follow all kinds of dumbass accounts like openlygayaliens, nochill, brainmelt420, fuckadvertisements, etc. and whenever he’s forced to go to court he spends the whole night scrolling through his feed and laughing to himself and Armand has to send him murderous glances like “goddammit Daniel behave” and he’ll just roll his eyes and stick his tongue at Armand and the newbie vamps are like “HOW is this guy still not burning up in flames? 😰” but as @hekateinhell once brilliantly put it, those are Daniel’s nepo baby privileges at work for ya xoxo DA

Oh god, Armand absolutely has a TikTok and like.. I'm guessing a lot of his videos are just weird shit like an old phone that's been stripped down to its bare inner workings ringing for 30 seconds straight or commentary about some obscure band from the 80s no one remembers. I mean I don't use TikTok (I am a millennial but I also draw the line there!) but I can imagine it's just constantly different stuff, random and super weird, but he's built a small following anyhow because people are just fascinated by him (and whenever he does show his face, he's not bad looking).

I agree Instagram is more Daniel's speed. It's visual but there can be audio/video. He definitely follows accounts that post about miniatures and UFO sightings and one guy in Jersey who's trying to track the Jersey Devil. Sometimes he even goes up there and leaves an animal carcass for the guy to find to fuel his search. (He once left a human arm and Marius had a fit about it when he heard. Armand nodded gravely as Marius ranted but later laughed like hell when he and Daniel were alone and they watched the Jersey Devil hunter's Insta Story together.)

And yes, goodness, Daniel can get away with absolute murder at Court (figuratively speaking). He's Armand's fledgling and companion, he's close with Prime Minister Marius, and he's friends with Lestat. He can walk around in ratty jeans and a faded t-shirt and play Angry Birds on his phone during council meetings and he'll be fine. He might get told off but the younger ones who fear are Armand are probably like what the fuck? How is this the guy Armand is always disappearing with? Of course some of them know he's the reporter who wrote IwtV so he has a certain amount of clout with them. But I digress! Thank you for the message, DA!! It's always a pleasure to see you in my inbox!! Don't be a stranger!

[desertfangs]

🔍🌎 (give us the whole tvc coven :])

🌎 if [the entire TVC COVEN!!) were human and so was everyone else, what would their life be like? for example: what would their career be? where would they live? what about their relationship to [each other I guess]? Oh damn, I am writing an AU about this right now LMAO. (10K in already - what I am doing and who am I???) The AU Is modern times though. Daniel has a podcast because of course he does. It only has 67 subscribers.

Okay, my silly AU aside, I think their lives would obviously be very different and I think we could all write 100k AUs on the various ways. that could go (and if you all do, I will happily read them!)

But let's just pretend it's 1973 and they're all human. Daniel would still be a reporter, so that one is easy. He'd work at the radio station, he'd record stories and try to find some deeper truth or meaning in the world that way.

Armand is tricky because he could do a lot of things. But let's say he's a financial investor looking to build an island resort with the unique idea that it's open at night, an idea he got from his frenemy Lestat who was whining one night about how there was nothing to do after 2 am (probably while on Coke).

Lestat is, of course, in a band, and working at a record store to pay bills, though his boyfriend Louis, who's a librarian, usually covers most of the rent. (Sometimes Lestat hits Armand up for cash, and Armand always gives it to him but not without a catch.) Marius is an artist who teaches art classes to pay his bills, and he occasionally hangs out with Armand, Lestat, and Louis at the bar they all frequent because it has an open mic night and when Marius is feeling low, he likes to recite his beatnik poetry, mostly about his ex-wife Pandora, who is a bartender at the same establishment and does pottery on the side. (He wants to win her back, but he and Armand occasionally hook up.)

Daniel meets them at the bar when he spots Louis and starts asking about his life. He wants to interview him, but Lestat would of course interrupt and insist on being interviewed first. Daniel would be charmed by Armand, of course, and fascinated by his all-night-island idea and want to make it a feature on the radio station. And get to know him better, because damn, that guy is hot. Maybe he'd be interested in taking a road trip out to Big Sur? Go camping?

Anyhow, that's just off the top of my head, but I think that'd be a fun set up for like... a sitcom or a soap opera or something.

Thank you for the ask!!

[desertfangs]

☕️ + Marius ?

LOL what don't I think about Marius is the real question.

Someone--I think it was @hekateinhell--was saying that Marius is sort of like that older guy that when you're younger, you assume they have their shit together and the wisdom of their years. But as you get older, you realize that he's fumbling around and still trying to figure things out just like everyone else, and I think that's 100% accurate. And honestly the older I get, the more deeply I relate to that. No one actually has all the answers and anyone who acts like they do is probably selling something.

Marius is also very stubborn and sure that he's right about things, and reluctant to hear otherwise lest he have to think too deeply about how, if he was wrong, he maybe could have/should have done things differently and may have had a better outcome. I do think he's trying and hopefully getting better, and I think having Daniel around sometimes is probably good for him because Daniel is good at calling people on their bullshit in a gentle, understanding way - sometimes... he can also be a sarcastic asshole (affectionate). But having someone around who lovingly calls you on your crap definitely helps! Anyhow, I like Marius. I think he's a fascinating character and I wish we'd gotten more from him in terms of growth and his regrets and what he's learned from his (many, many) mistakes. But he's just some guy fumbling around trying to do what he thinks is best for himself and vampire kind.