#claudia stan

[thoughtsandfiction]

Look at my girl. My demon angel baby, my little waif, my belladonic beauty. Mastermind. Visionary. Look at her childlike glee as she triumphs over her enemies.

The true MVP

[peetapiepita]

Okay, as one of the only standing members of the original 2010s Josh stan crowd, I feel like I'm obligated to speak up on it now.

New fans, if you believe the conspiracy theories about Josh's relationship, please know that Josh hates you, he hates your guts.

Do you want to know why he deosn't post on social media anymore? The dude used to tweet about seeing Billy Ray Cyrus on the red carpet LIVE. He used to post on Instagram about his dog sons. He used to post about fun stuff that happened on set.

The reason he doesn't post anymore is those toxic fans who have been brainwashing you. They harassed Claudia AND him personally whenever either of them posted about the other. (Oh and they use that as a point in their conspiracy theories as if Claudia not posting about Josh isn't caused by them.) They bombarded Josh's comment sections when he just posted a picture of Claudia chilling by the waters, calling him names and accusing him of disgusting things he never did.

Josh got enough of that and decided to clear out his Instagram. THAT'S why you never see him online anymore. He was literally bullied by those conspiracy theorists who claim they are his fans.

Imagine being hated by Josh so much he cleared out his Insta and never posted again, that's who you decide to be when you believe the conspiracy theories surrounding his relationship. If that's what you want, you do you.

[robertocustodioart]

Claudia Schiffer and Stan Nelson by Richard Avedon 1994

[raspbee]

you should’ve let that train go, uncle les.

[alollinglaughingcat]

i fucking love Terry and i will fistfight anyone who looks at him mean

[ziggyaarts]

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY BABYGIRL

[vampirebabeforever]

starting a petition to change the plot and let armand kill marius with his bare hands (and a blender and a big sword and he can tie him to the back of a car and drag him around as a treat if he wants) in amc iwtv

[paganminiskirt]

I DON'T NEED YOUR ROSES, I LIKE MEN ON THEIR KNEES

Humans, however, can't live very long without some sense of a continuing story. Such stories go beyond the limited rational system with which you surround yourself; they are crucial keys to sharing time-experience with others. Now a narrative is a story, not a logic, nor ethics, nor philosophy. It is a dream you keep having, whether you realize it or not. Just as surely as you breathe, you go on ceaselessly dreaming your story. And in these stories you wear two faces. You are simultaneously subject and object. You are a whole and you are a part. You are real and you are shadow. "Storyteller" and at the same time "character". It is through such multilayering of roles in our stories that we heal the loneliness of being an isolated individual in the world. Yet without a proper ego nobody can create a personal narrative, any more than you can drive a car without an engine, or cast a shadow without a real physical object. But once you've consigned your ego to someone else, where on earth do you go from there? At this point you receive a new narrative from the person to whom you have entrusted your ego. You've handed over the real thing, so what comes back is a shadow. And once your ego has merged with another ego, your narrative will necessarily take on the narrative created by that ego. (Haruki Murakami)

[ibeoutchea]

IWTV Episode 5-Let’s Refocus

Okay, while everyone is going off on Lestat (rightfully so. idc that this isn’t “book” Lestat because while the show is based off the books, this behavior tracks like hell with “show” Lestat), can we turn our attention to Louis?! I find it crazy that all this attention and concern is going towards the abuser and not the abused??? 

Like this whole episode my heart broke for him. First he’s dealing with thinking Claudia is so depressed that she’s not eating. Going so far as to bring food to her room (live birds that he ensures can’t fly away) and fretting over if she’s healthy. To finding out that she’s jeopardized the underground livelihood they managed to carve out despite blatant discrimination-and we know how much Louis’ businesses mean to him. Even still, Louis’ biggest concern is her well being.

When Claudia reveals out of spite that Lestat still fucking around with Antionette, he swallows it for the most part so he could try and convince her to stay to no avail. He’s also swallowing the fact that her words-maniacally used to prove a point by Lestat- hurt him deeply because while he realizes he made a mistake in asking to create her- he thought his love would be enough. A reoccurring theme is that his love is never enough and it cuts deep each time he’s faced with that realization.

She leaves for seven whole years and he spends every last one trying to figure out where she is. He speaks to her so often another vampire heard (fuck that man btw hope he burns) and always with apology. As if things weren’t already bad, Grace asks for a meet up to show him that they have decided to declare him dead so they no longer have to excuse or deal with him. Not once does she ever ask him what happened to make him change or show any real concern. She doesn’t even give him the chance to spend a little time with him before she’s off leaving him to stare at his own headstone.

So now he gets to grieve the loss of his sister and of his daughter, born out of his desire to have a familial connection who loves him for who he is.

Lestat’s love is not pure and has always been founded by the need to possess. [Even in the books so pls spare me that specific diatribe]. Claudia’s love was that and more, it was his redemption or so he believes. It’s why when she does return home he can forgive her with open arms because all he wants is to love/be loved.

Then Lestat, like the tornado he is, ruins that reunion to make it about himself. If that wasn’t enough he goes further and beats the hell out of both of them and in the midst of it all, Louis is still putting Claudia before himself. Reassuring her that he was fine but she shouldn’t look. When Lestat is holding him up in the sky and he cries to be let go, he does not mean just physically. He wants to be free of those spindly roots! 

So here we are with a broken Louis in more ways than one. Constantly being hurt by those who claim to love him and he doesn’t think he’s worthy of anything better because of his past mistakes. Louis tragedy is that he’s never been able to love himself. He can’t explain how he needs to be loved because he doesn’t know.

If that ain’t some heartbreaking shit then I don’t know what is.

[a-state-of-bliss]

Versace Fall/Wint 1994 - Claudia Schiffer & Stan Nelson by Richard Avedon

[darkmagicmirror]

I've been thinking about @spicyviren 's post about Claudia preventing the sun from rising (and they made a more in-depth post today as well, which is also very good!), so last night I got curious and Googled mythology and eclipses because what if the eclipse actually happens and it's not just Viren's dream? And we know TDP likes mythological references. So...

This is so fascinating because of the "I swallowed her" comment Aaravos makes in Janai's dream.

A demon (or dragon, or-- (etc)) is eating the sun?

(*Personally, I don't think Janai's dream is necessarily accurate for telling us what happened -- but Aditi getting "eaten" by someone especially a dragon wouldn't surprise me.)

And speaking of "swallowing"...

And some of the other mythological explanations mentioned in the article I linked are also really interesting:

(The highlighting was done by Google, so it's not necessarily more important.)

And canon material, especially the Ripples short specifically, reflects a few themes here:

Abandonment - the humans are essentially abandoned by the stars (and the sun is a star): "It cannot be, wept others. The stars would not betray us!" - after the "star" falls from the sky and changes the land.

Crisis/existential threat - "With its impact came a long and terrible night: The earth bled! The seas churned! The sun and moon hid for weeks behind the sky’s screaming storm!" (Also bolded for emphasis because the sun hiding? The fact the moon does too is interesting, but the sun specifically is called out later: "And when the long, dark night had finally passed—for the sun must always rise, mustn’t it?" VERY interesting considering the sunrise mentions in S5.)

Eclipse as an act of creation - though much of the story talks about the calamity, there's also how "[the stars] had rejoiced to look down upon their newborn sea."

The Sun and Moon coupling and creating more stars - this is more of a stretch, but the Sun and Moon did get hidden together, and the Sea (of the Castout) serving as a mirror of the stars... like they're duplicating the stars, though only in image.

Mischievous acts - I personally think Aaravos is mischievous, so hmm.

One side note on the second-to-last point: if Viren learns the Star arcanum, which is very rarely understood, could that, too, be analogous to creating another star?

Anyway this all implies that perhaps a similar eclipse occurred before, when Aaravos had fallen and the Sea of the Castout was created? And we know how the Rise Again short story, which is about her pseudo-resurrection of her pet cat, correlated to S4 opening with Claudia having brought her father back to life, sort of in a repeating history sense. Aaravos's Patience story foreshadowed the fact that all he could do in S4 is wait and bide his time. Ripples could foreshadow S5 being that first "touch" that sets off greater change... and, like with the resurrection, perhaps history repeating itself, in a sense, with a potential upcoming eclipse?

And another interesting line: "The sky opened its maw and spat from its black jaws a tiny star."

It's not exactly black, but I know some people say the ridges here look like teeth...

Also, even though Sol is referring to his blindness, these lines about the Sun "never [rising] again" and an "eternal night" fit into similar themes to the eclipse and the Ripples short.

Also, just going back to the abandonment theme of the eclipse really quick--

The Midnight Star poem also talks about the stars abandoning humanity. "Elarion, unworthy whelp, / Wept as the stars turned black the sky, / They donned their masks / They turned their backs / And left Elarion to die."

(I have more to break down about that entire stanza in another post; I just want to point out the bolded parts for now.)

Now, most of these are references to the past... so what about now?

If I were to guess on how the same themes I compared to the Ripples story might apply to "current" series events...

Abandonment - Claudia feeling abandoned by Aaravos (as mentioned in the Lost Child short)? Or, alternately, Aaravos feeling abandoned (by either Claudia, after she had to flee from the battle, and/or Viren, after his rejection)?

Crisis/existential threat - IMO the biggest threat is Karim potentially joining up with Sol Regem right now. Though some would say Aaravos being close to being freed could be the threat/crisis here. But I'm an Aaravos apologist, so I am not part of that group LOL

Eclipse as an act of creation - Claudia regenerates her missing leg, perhaps?

The Sun and Moon coupling and creating more stars - Viren Star arcanum?

Mischievous acts - Aaravos again.

All of this to say-- I don't think the eclipse is just for show/because it looks cool, but if we consider the mythological beliefs surrounding eclipses, it ties in significantly to the story.

Also I leave you with a few last bits from the article that just remind me of TDP things:

"In many cultures, the darkening of the sun meant the gods were very, very angry with humanity, and about to inflict some punishment. Often, that meant that in order to appease them, you had to kill someone."

That reminds me of the stars seeming to punish humanity for daring to use magic... which is also when Aaravos gets cast down?

"The Greeks thought an eclipse meant that the gods were about to rain punishment down on a king, so in the days before an eclipse, they would choose prisoners or peasants to stand in as the king in the hopes that they’d get the eclipse punishment and the real king would be saved. Once the eclipse was over, the substitute king was executed."

This is so far off, but it reminds me of Harrow anyway? Mostly with the soulfang serpent idea of switching Harrow with someone else. Interesting.

"For the Inuits, the sun and moon weren’t a married couple but brother and sister. At the beginning of the world they quarreled, and the sun goddess Malina walked away from her brother, the moon god Anningan. Anningan continued to chase after her, and whenever he caught up to her, there was an eclipse."

Which reminds me of the line in Strangers, the short from Soren's perspective, where "Claudia had appeared and he’d done it again, a little boy chasing after his sister..."

A lot of it is probably coincidence, but it's still really interesting!

[covenofthearticulate]

If I had a nickel for every time I had a Vampire Conversation with someone at work, I think I'd have enough to buy myself a soda. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it keeps happening.

[shadow-rayla]

Soren, going through yet another traumatic event:

Claudia, simping for Terry: hI bAbY 🤭💕😘

[robertocustodioart]

Claudia Schiffer and Stan Nelson by Richard Avedon 1994

[mrsdulac]

Louis and his sisters

[howldean]

bro this is so cool i’m getting top surgery lol. in like. ten minutes 😁😁😁😁