#not saying lestat didn't have it bad BUT COMPARATIVELY???

[cypheragent]

can I be honest I think it's kind of crazy how much lestans go on and on about lestat's trauma because I honestly think louis, claudia AND armand all had it worse. sorry.

[danlous]

I'm getting tired of hearing the sentiment that Louis doesn't care about Armand's trauma or have any sympathy for him. In the museum scene his expressions and body language were almost exactly similar to the scenes where Claudia and Lestat talk about their respective assaults. And in all these scenes he's mostly quiet. So does it mean Louis doesn't care about Claudia's or Lestat's traumas either? Of course not. It's just how he outwardly reacts in situations like this. He tends to shut down and doesn't know how to express his empathy and distress. Dreamstat represents Louis' hidden thoughts, but at the museum he's actually next to Louis listening quietly for the most of the scene. It's only at the end when Armand compares Marius, Magnus and Lestat to each other that dreamstat reacts angrily. And it's not mocking what happened to Armand, it's a manifestation of Louis' discomfort, him fearing that he's being manipulated and being uncomfortable that Lestat is brought up and that his relationship with Lestat is compared to Armand and Lestat's disturbing relationships with their own makers.

What Louis says to Armand in San Francisco is incredibly cruel. He's on drugs and extremely upset and intentionally trying come up with the most hurtful words he can think of, they both are. He very obviously deeply regrets it later. When he wakes up after the sun scene and remembers what he did and what kind of things he said before it he's ashamed and distressed. He's crying (though partially because of pain) and immediately tries to apologize to Armand and reach out for him. He's not angry when Armand leaves him in pain, probably thinking that he deserves it. When Armand later says "after what you put me through here i deserve this" Louis agrees. That's not someone who doesn't care or have empathy.

As often with Louis, i think the things he says to Armand are as much about Louis himself as they're about Armand. He sees himself in Daniel, and his entire speech to Claudia in 2.01 is directed also at himself, and he's projecting his own self-hatred and insecurities onto Armand. Louis fears that he is boring and dull. His husband repeatedly cheated on him and laughed in his face when Louis asked isn't he enough. During his depression years Lestat complained about Louis just reading and not leaving the house and how he was drawing Lestat into his gloom. He felt his sister-daughter was more interested in the theater and the coven than spending time with him. The coven mocked him and his passions and didn't find him that interesting after he stopped being a novelty. He was told that he didn't have much artistic talent. In the 70s his life seems to be repetitive and meaningless.

Louis subconsciously detests the qualities he recognizes in Armand that he recognizes and detests in himself - including being a victim. The interview was interrupted when Daniel criticized Louis for going back to Lestat and for his passivity and suicidal ideation. When he's fighting with Armand that all is on his mind. What he says about Armand's "daddy vampire grooming him into a little bitch" actually brings to my mind such scenes as how he derisively said in the second interview that he had become an unhappy housewife living with Lestat, and how dreamstat called him a "little whore". The shame of having experienced abuse and all the feelings of emasculation and degradation that came with it have never left him. Even in the second interview Louis firmly says to Daniel that he doesn't consider himself abused and that he isn't a victim. I don't think Louis consciously thinks that being abused makes someone a bad or weak person, but on some subconsious level he probably feels like that - at least if it's about himself. Again, in this same episode we see Louis acting like he deserves how Armand treats him after their fight and his suicide attempt

[shesnake]

I wanted to know your thoughts on this but do you think it's fair to say either Louis or Armand are abusive in their relationship? Idek if this is a valid angle to view the characters from because I guess they're all monsters or whatever but a part of me thinks that it's kinda lukewarm to refuse to engage with the complicated themes of the show, which abuse is featured heavily and pretty clearly imo. This isn't aimed at you btw. Something I noticed is people tend to use some of Louis's less favorable moments to justify the violence he experiences. Like that post about Armand just matching Louis energy in ep 5, most of the notes are taking the stance that Louis is a cold, unempathic pimp who doesn't care about sa victims, that Armand genuinely is completely right when he says he is always cleaning up after Louis that he was only worried and tenderhearted and Louis escalated in the worst way and that after Louis said that he deserved everything that happened after. And I may be biased but to me that is so fucking crazy. To me it seems like fans, specially nonblack fans, have zero empathy for black abuse victims, actively enacting abuse culture even. But idk if that is a too reactive view. I don't want to say Louis isn't flawed because he is. But I mean we are watching the season about Armand getting Claudia killed on purpose and somehow people are still like Maybe Armand didn't do it, maybe it was all Louis, maybe Louis really asked for it. All of it. I think there's a problem there but idk I kinda feel a little crazy too. Btw disclaimer I fuckin hate Lestat this is not about comparing Loumand/Loustat lol

hi! and wow there is so much to discuss here...

I think it is fair to describe the actions of both Louis and Armand towards each other as abusive by definition but it's always important to remember that it is Armand in the position of greater power over him. Armand is older, stronger, owns dominion. He can walk in the sun, manipulate memories, and live without constant debilitating hunger for blood - all of which are things that impede Louis from being his own person outside of Armand.

Louis also faced this same predicament when he was with Lestat, but unlike Armand who uses his own innate powers against Louis, Lestat mostly used his social advantages of whiteness, wealth etc in addition to withholding key knowledge about vampirism to keep himself in control and Louis dependent on him.

and sure Louis can lash out all he wants! He can mock Armand's sexual trauma (trauma which Armand himself already gets them both to fetishise... but that's a whole different conversation...) he can hit back when Lestat hits him but when he's with either of those guys he is always going to be the victim. Nothing shitty he does to his partners, or to Claudia, or to Daniel, justifies what is being done to him by these men.

There absolutely has to be anti-blackness involved in any argument that says Louis deserves any of this. (Of course Armand as a brown South Asian man is not immune from fandom racism but his treatment is racialised in a different way that is also a different conversation). Any negative behaviour from a Black man is going to be seen by racists as exponentially more aggressive than it is, especially the cross-section with those you mentioned who aren't engaging with the complicated themes of this show exploring abuse.

They can see that Louis yelling at Armand is bad, but don't notice that Armand is being manipulative. They can see that Louis stabbing Lestat that one time during sex is bad (and still sexualise it), but don't notice that Louis is disassociating in every sex scene he has with Lestat afterwards (because they're too busy sexualising it). They can see that Louis making Daniel upset is bad, but don't notice that Daniel has been leveling dozens of racist and homophobic micro-aggressions at him since episode 1.

Armand got a few minutes to tell his tragic backstory in Louvre, Lestat had 2 or 3 different scenes in season 1 to recall his own. It's just been words. Meanwhile racists erase Louis' experiences with trauma because they never had enough fucking empathy for him to begin with to even register it happening to him! on screen! in real time! right in front of us!

And yeah Louis and Armand and Loumand are incredibly complex and compelling, and I do enjoy seeing Louis' moments of cruelty towards Armand! But he's never going to win against him in the game Armand built for him.

And in terms of Claudia, I do think that Louis failed her, as he has always failed her. And is responsible for her death in that regard. But that failure involved letting those other two fucking sharks eat her!!! I personally haven't seen anyone pushing the blame completely off Armand and onto Louis but I wouldn't be surprised. This week I've more pissed off about people levelling it all on Armand and think of Lestat as an unwilling participant.... this is of course the blonde white vampire show....

anyways sorry this is so long! thanks for the message this was really interesting to think about.

[ca-suffit]

The fact that discussing fan's disappointment in how 2x8 ended is *still* mostly centering Lestat in the conversation is v interesting to notice rn.

Here is what the discussion is leaving out

a) A lot of the original upset with 1x5 was from fans of color who found the fight (which at the time had no warning ahead of airing like it does now) triggering and didn't trust the show / fandom to prbly handle the story well anymore from the black side. a lot of ppl left or took a rly extended break, especially when the conversation quickly became about POOR LESTAT and nobody gaf about Louis. A lot of issues on both sides of ppl saying "get over it" too fast or saying if u still liked Loustat after this then u support DV and are fucked in the head.

b) There are no posts defending Armand the way that Lestat was / is still defended. There's rly no conversations from accounts in the tags that mention how these character's race changes affect how the fandom will view them and how it should be included in any analysis of them (as individuals and as relationships). There's no extensive posting about Armand's sad backstory so that ppl can "understand" his motivation. Nobody is comparing book and show Loumand. A lot of the attitude is just "yeah, Armand sucks [and what's why we like him] and Loumand was fake from the start lol." The fandom was defending NICKI more for his 30 seconds in 2x3 (slurring Armand, especially) than Armand is getting for being a major book character with a full book dedicated to him on top of it.

c) A lot of why fans found 2x8 disappointing is bcuz of how rushed and kind of silly all the "reveals" seemed. Not only did the show dump everything on Armand, it also says the whole Loumand relationship was out of spite, pls feel bad for Lestat now, pls understand that Claudia looked to him for help as she was dying, oh ya and here's Daniel thrown in out of "spite" too. We're not gonna rly have Armand fight or try to explain any of this btw, he's just gonna bail (see u in S3 for a huge tone shift into Lestat shit!).

That's....all a LOT to throw at the audience in the last few minutes and ask us to accept. I know the books and I don't doubt S3 *will* get into this more, but the pacing and choices made feel like shit rn. It's asking viewers to literally set aside the whole last 2 seasons. Ppl being upset is not bcuz ppl are "stupid" or didn't see at least the Loumand relationship dissolving. It's literally bcuz the show threw in last minute twists to explain things and tried to do it all in one go. Then we exist in a fandom that's all too ready to defend Lestat and remind us how "victimized" they've been and "I don't have sympathy for u on this, we tried to tell u this was coming and u ignored us." Here's an example of that under the cut.

[thoseyoulove]

Reacting to The Vampire Lestat - Part VI (with maybe big spoilers and quotes?)

Part 1

First chapter without Armand since his first introduction. I'm in my grieving era, leave me alone.

"And as we said our farewells, I believed that Nicolas and the little coven had every chance for survival and that Armand and I were friends." Why does this sound like a 'five minutes before disaster' situation? (If you say "that's because it is", I'm blocking you... shhhh)

It's like Anne didn't even bother to be subtle about it lmao.

"Nowhere did I meet a vampire who was in any way a magnetic creature, a being of great wisdom or special accomplishment, an unusual being in whom the Dark Gift had worked any perceivable alchemy that was of interest to me. Armand was a dark god compared to these beings. And so was Gabrielle and so was I." Armand mention! I'm gonna collect these like Pokemon while I wait for princess to come back (let's hope nothing bad happens when he returns :) <3 /hj).

"In the main it is Our Oldest Friend [Armand, obviously] who is relied upon to restrain him. And that he does with the most caustic threats." What I'm getting is that book!Armand and show!Lestat went to the school of Latin American mothers. Btw, the "Armand, obviously" made me laugh because it was so informal, it's like I was getting notes from Lestat himself and not reading an official book? Not to mention it was so unnecessary because it's clear that's Armand lol. But thank you, Lestat, for clarifying that I guess.

"I cannot say that we do not love him. For your sake we would care for him even if we did not. But we do love him. And Our Oldest Friend, in particular, bears him great affection." The show and even fandom gave me a totally different idea about Armand and Nicki? I didn't imagine Armand would ever care about Nicki in the slightest.

"As for Our Oldest Friend, I wonder if you would know him now. He has built a great manse at the foot of your tower, and there he lives among books and pictures very like a scholarly gentleman with little care for the real world. Each night, however, he arrives at the door of the theater in his black carriage. And he watches from his own curtained box." There you go my little neurodivergent princess with low social battery. We are the same.

I can't believe Eleni pulled a "Lestat, come back home, the children miss you!" lmao.

"And when I wasn't out roaming, I was traveling the realm of the books that had belonged to Gabrielle so exclusively all through those dreary mortal years at home." I'm so happy he can read and drown himself in books now. <3 Not being able to do it before left such a big impact in his life and it's great that he loves books as much as he thought he would. I think music, theater and literature are his biggest interests. I don't know if he has a favorite, but those are definitely his passions.

There's such a contrast between Lestat and Gabrielle because he was the one that got to go out there, hunt, kill wolves and have 'adventures', while she was at home reading. But he'd rather read those books and even as chaotic and adventurous as Lestat is, he's more disciplined and laid-back than her? And once Gabrielle is a vampire she's like "I'M DONE WITH BOOKS I'M GOING TO THE WILD I'M GONNA CLIMB MOUNTAINS AND SLEEP ON THE GROUND AND JUMP FROM HILLS AND LIVE AMONG ANIMALS AND EXPLORE THE WORLD" lmao. But I guess I'm with Lestat there, I'm way more inclined to arts than nature and adventure.

"Before we even got to Italy, I knew enough Latin to be studying the classics, and I made a library in the old Venetian palazzo I haunted, often reading the whole night long." Yeah you go baby learn how to read by accident and expand that knowledge to new languages now <3

"The truth was, I didn't want to forget them. I never stopped writing to Roger for news of my family. I wrote to him more often than I wrote to Eleni at the theater. I'd sent for portraits of my nieces and nephews. I sent presents back to France from every place in which I stopped." No matter what Lestat says, he is still a child that cares about his relatives even after everything, that deep down wanted a simple happy family life, that wants to keep his humanity, still has a conscience and cares about God. Many of his conflicts stem from that tbh. Just some Catholic village boy really.

"I do not know why I go on. I do not search for truth. I do not believe in it. I hope for no ancient secrets from you, whatever they may be. But I believe in something. Maybe simply in the beauty of the world through which I wander or in the will to live itself. This gift was given to me too early. It was given for no good reason. And already at the age of thirty mortal years, I have some understanding as to why so many of our kind have wasted it, given it up. Yet I continue. And I search for you." Not him mayhaps getting borderline suicidal that soon...

FFS, FORGET MARIUS! He cannot help you, stop putting your hopes on him, you don't know the guy! Babygirl, what you need is THERAPY!

I don't want to read the name Marius anymore btw. Maybe that will change when he shows up, but like this? No, thank you very much, but NOPE!

"For all my complaints about loneliness, I was used to it all. And there were new cities as there were new victims, new languages, and new music to hear. No matter what my pain, I fixed my mind on a new destination." Sometimes being right is not fun at all.

"It seemed no matter where I was that Armand and Nicki were both with me." I can partially relate.

I'm confused, did Nicki's hands grow back like Gabrielle's hair?

"'Oh, I'm monster enough to understand it,' I said. 'Do you remember what you told me years ago, before we ever left home? You said it the very day that he came up the mountain with the merchants to give me the red cloak. You said that his father was so angry with him for his violin playing that he was threatening to break his hands. Do you think we find our destiny somehow, no matter what happens? I mean, do you think that even as immortals we follow some path that was already marked for us when we were alive?'" One of my favorite pieces of the writing. Just deep and gorgeous. Also, Lestat still a Catholic boy after all this time with this reasoning.

However, I was expecting his death to be WAY MORE DRAMATIC and not this "told in a letter" thing? I was imagining the whole plot to be devastating, actually... And it wasn't? Maybe because Nicki was so mad since the beginning and didn't get enough book time, but I could never grow to care about him that much... I hope the show does a better job with it.

"Maybe people had to be dead six thousand years for her to love them." Ouch.

Second time that I think I'm having a completely different take compared to many people or even the whole fandom lmao. Noice.

Part 2

"'I can't and you know it,' I said. 'I can't do it any more than you can stay with me.' All the way back to Cairo, I thought on it, what had come to me in those painful moments. What I had known but not said as we stood before the Colossi of Memnon in the sand. She was already lost to me! She had been for years. I had known it when I came down the stairs from the room in which I grieved for Nicki and I had seen her waiting for me. It had all been said in one form or another in the crypt beneath the tower years ago. She could not give me what I wanted of her. There was nothing I could do to make her what she would not be. And the truly terrible part was this: she really didn't want anything of me! She was asking me to come because she felt the obligation to do so. Pity, sadness-maybe those were also reasons. But what she really wanted was to be free." This is sad, but I also think this is very human, relatable, realistic, well-written and a great conflict to explore on the show.

I do think Gabrielle genuinely wanted to stay with him, that wasn't pity or obligation, but they just want different things. She loves him, but they love different kinds of life and that's the problem.

The plot twist that is not that much of a plot twist because it's predictable (but still good) with Lestat's family...

If somebody was meant to be spared couldn't they just make one of his brothers decent and keep him and the children alive?

Btw, we don't even know much about his family. I know he had parents, three bothers that lived into adulthood and nieces and nephews. But the book only acknowledged Gabrielle, his father and Augustin. Maybe one of the brothers wasn't really that bad and was forced to do that stuff. Idk.

Anyways, it doesn't matter now...

His dream omg???

Kind of weird, kind of messed-up, kind of sad.

The fact that he's still going back to his father, omg...

I feel bad for him. I also feel bad for him because that probably won't solve anything and just hurt him more. I don't see his father changing.

Lestat and Gabrielle's goodbye was so well-written. One of the best moments of the book.

If I'm to give my full opinion on the incest, it would have to be on a separate post just about that. But in short, at first I thought it had some logic that worked in a book like this, but it wasn't necessary and the show could go fine without it... Now I believe it might be necessary to explore Lestat and even Gabrielle as individuals.

Like, the relationship isn't cute, sexy or fun like some people make it seem. At least not for me. But I do think it is a sign of their inner struggles and that it might be a necessary discomfort for us to fully understand them?

I don't know. I don't have a conclusion yet. Still thinking about it. But I trust Rolin to adapt the book properly and not just be controversial for the sake of it and trivializing this look some fans do.

I do hope that the times Lestat and Gabrielle hug it will be JUST HUGS. Those moments were so great and the kisses left me like... WHY RUIN IT LIKE THAT? I can and would rather live without it, tbh.

Okay, so Marius is here.

Marius is a blonde? Wasn't expecting that. I don't know who to fancast as him.

Not really found of blondes except for a feeeeeeew exceptions. Anyway, I'll wait for the revelation to come to me, I guess.

If anybody wants to share their fancast, I'm willing to listen. Maybe it will help me picture him too lol.

Last chapter, here we go.

[nightcolorz]

Okay I need to get this out of my system, this place seems safe to do that <3

As a show only fan imho there cannot be a comparison between Lestat and Armand and not for the "who's better than the other" or "who's more toxic" manner. Like its very unfair to the characters themselves and the relationship they have with Louis to do that.

As far as Louis choices go he is just trying to explore his sexuality in Paris more, Paris give a new freedom to Louis not just as a black man but as a gay man, and as for who he loves more is again not a competition, because what he had with Lestat was fucking intense, it was all sorts of fucked up, romantic, expressive and explosive in the end.

With Armand I'd say like Assad said it's tender and calmer althought it does have a toxic twist to it.

And I do believe that Armand is sort of cornered here in this situation, the coven on one side and Louis on the other, since Louis arrived in Paris he has been trying to stay away from the coven but Armand fell in love at the same time Louis was haunted by his grief and its manifestation as Dreamstat, and I didn't like the way fandom picked Daniel's "Are you schizophrenic Louis?" and ran with it, no one paused and thought this is how he process his grief and guilt.

And in all of this Armand was left sort of hanging, uncertain with his relationship with Louis which is again is unfair to Armand.

The final straw for Armand is when Louis suddenly introduces the D/s dynamic in their relationship and kinda takes an advantage of his assertiveness in it, now this doesn't mean Louis is dom and Armand is sub. Overall Armand seems to have more control over their relationship its only during sex they bring it out and sometimes maybe in their regular dynamics.

Since then I think the betrayal has kinda blindsided the people, now I can understand their feelings about it, totally valid they have all the right to be upset about it, Claudeleine and Louis did not deserve any of it but declaring Armand the Big BadTM is not it.

Have we not seen how much of an asshole Louis is in ep6, sure he is repressing a lot of things and lashing out on Claudia and others around him but ignoring that and holding Armand entirely responsible for their fucked up relationship is just......lazy.

And having polarising, firm beliefs over characters being "too good" "too bad" "too toxic" is just so lazy, so many anons have said this but I am saying it again.

EVERYONE IS HORRIBLE IN THIS SHOW, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss their stories, vulnerabilities and rather human parts which imo makes them more interesting rather than just calling one of them the big bad ans getting done with it. Why are we scared of acknowledging that the most inhuman characters can have their weaknesses and that makes them the way they are the choices they make.

And this is in regards with all characters but especially Lestat and Armand.

Ur so right anon <3 I also think pitting Lestat and Armand against each other and comparing “how good” they r for Louis is like such a useless thing to focus on 🙏 like as much as we kid this isn’t twilight 💀 and focusing on some fabricated love triangle angle just ends up reducing the characters and the story into smth very simplistic and uninteresting. Just over all, fandom has a reducing complex things to dumb black and white things issue lol. Which is probably what most of the rlly bad takes about Armand come down too

thank u for the ask ❤️❤️

[pynkhues]

Re: rockstar girlfriend Louis. The trend of feminizing Louis is just irking in general. Especially as it's more often than not a way to make him helpless than be critical about it.

He didn't like being compared to a tradwife or a woman back then and he definitely doesn't like it now. I just think it's a little in bad taste that this is so rampant.

Yeah, I mean, the bits I've seen of it have been pretty fascinating to me, but I have heavily curated my fandom experience, so I'm very aware I'm probably seeing broader conversations pretty minimally. It seems to spread across different aspects of the fandom too, from the ratio of mpreg fic on ao3 to meta about him as embodying the gothic heroine trope, which like - - I'm not going to get all into this, but as someone who studied gothic literature at university for years, I just don't agree with it at all - like, in terms of character archetypes within gothic literature, Louis is a Byronic hero through and through:

Historian and critic Lord Macaulay described the [Byronic Hero] as "a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection"

The show is interested in gender, and I can't wait to see what they do with Gabrielle in terms of that thread given Gabrielle is very much gender non-confirming and can be read arguably as trans-masc, but right now, I don't think any of the characters we've seen are anything other than cis (including Lestat) and I think to reject that is to ignore the complexity of their relationships with their own gender. Which is important! There's a reason Claudia is the one who's been robbed of choice, controlled and coerced by both her fathers, not just Lestat, the one who doesn't get to be heard at the trial, or in her life, the one who's infantilised, stuck in dresses she's too old for, the one who's killed. That's important, y'know?

I do think a lot of Louis' issues around his gender are tied pretty specifically to his sexuality, and I don't think he relates to or understands women at all. Like you could make a pretty concise argument that Louis has a virgin/mother/whore complex when it comes to women, which you see in Claudia and Grace/Florence/Antoinette + in his role as a pimp. And I think people take that dual insult of Claudia calling him a housewife and Grace calling Lestat Louis' 'white daddy' as literal, when like - - in both instances they are deliberately insulting / emasculating him either for the sake of it or to goad him into action? They're tender spots for him not because he relates, but because he knows that's how its perceived and he hates that he/it is perceived that way. He's always been an ambitious businessman, so the housewife insult stings on its own, but the white daddy thing taps into what even Daniel Hart was saying about the fact that there is a transactional element to Louis and Lestat's relationship, which is why I find it super interesting that heading into s3, Louis is not only successful, but completely financially independent.

But yes, I think feminising Louis in general just completely shoots over the nuance of his character and honestly, a lot of what makes him so interesting.

[asmeninas]

3 and 7 for any fandom

sorry it took me like 5 days to answer this I forgot I hadn't!!!

3) all bad takes I see on tumblr seem to just be ideas that are widely accepted by fandom at one point, and asoiaf is just king of those, worst fandom ever, but I'm barely in it and certainly wouldn't remember one specific thing. for this I'm going with Succession and succ tumblr going fully in with their Kendall IS Logan posts, no actual analysis but a lot comparative gifsets that didn't even make any sense (sometimes I couldn't even figure out what they were trying to say?) and ignored similar parallels with the other kids, flattening the complexity of the situation, particularly in Kendall's relationship with Roman. It was particularly upsetting how it became just fact to some posters that Kendall was not a victim of Logan's abuse.

7) I feel like to me hating a character always has something in canon behind it even if an insufferable fandom helps the hate grow, just because all popular characters have insufferable fandoms and that doesn't make me hate my faves, so. There has to be something in the canon already that makes it easy for specific fandoms to turn me off specific characters. All of this to say the honest answer rn is Lestat.

[thedailydescent]

hiii for the ask meme, how did you discover it or get interested in the show? an unpopular opinion? and/or have you read or watched anything because it was referenced in the show? :)

Hey!!! Finally getting around to answering this haha.

How did you discover it or get interested in the show?

It was actually @minim236 who inspired me to watch it back when I had my old blog! Anyway, the trailer had Jacob Anderson in it and I was like Greyworm ok let's go! And although I had not read the book or watched the movie yet, Claudia the child vampire is so well known I already knew about her, so was interested in that concept. Naturally, she became my favourite character :)

An unpopular opinion?

I feel I have soooo many unpopular opinions haha, but I'll say what I think is my most unpopular one, just because I feel like I'm following the right people here who won't mind:

Lestat as a character just does not compel or interest me in any way. I don't care about Loustat, about Lesmand, or any other relationships that involve him. Sam Reid did an amazing job, and got me drawn to him initially, but by the end of episode 3 I was getting a bit, well, and by the end of Episode 5, all sympathy for him went out the window, as did my interest. And full respect to other people who are still invested in his character btw! But I feel like because they made the abuse blatant rather than just brushing over it, many book fans were pissed, so now had to argue contend with a whole bunch of people not liking their special boy whom they've cherished for years. I disagree. I feel like the writers did a brave thing by not brushing over the negative impact Lestat has throughout the entire series. They, in a way, made the relationship more human and real, as this type of abuse is unfortunately still very normal today. They're not showing him through rose-tinted glasses, they're asking you to really look at it, so it'll be much more of a writing challenge to make him likeable and redeemable again to the general audience. It's an interesting concept, but until then, I just don't care at all about him! I don't feel anything when it comes to the romantic scenes between him and Louis either now, and I'm not excitedly waiting to explore his side of the story in the future seasons. The appeals to 'them being vampires' and 'this is supposed to be a gothic romance' has no affect on me, not because I 'can't handle dark subject matter', but because.... Lestat's not really imo the complex character everyone makes him out to be. His behaviour is actually pretty predictable and there's not that much there for me to work with, even as a villain. It's just: sad boy with tragic backstory ends up repeating cycle of abuse that was inflicted on him. Is extremely lonely with an ill temper. Uses dominance to feel in control and to hide his massive insecurities. Is "bad" but secretly has a heart of gold. Mommy/daddy issues. Loves usually only one person more than anything and it's seen as his salvation, but struggles with that relationship because he's emotionally stunted and can't communicate properly. It's something you've seen a million times already. It's what makes the much more layered and harder to grasp characters like Claudia and Armand so much more interesting to me, the vampires who are the most vampire-like of them all, yet ironically get a lot of hate and are mischaracterized from the same people who shout 'they're vampires!', but that's another discussion for another day.

Have you read or watched anything because it was referenced in the show?

I have! I watched Nosferatu, and read Madame Bovary and Marriage in Free Society, although I was going to read Madame Bovary anyway because my little sister heavily recommended it (she massively likes 'unlikeable' female characters and compared her to Anna Karenina, which she didn't like as much due her being too likeable. Which is funny because apparently Tolstoy originally wrote Anna to be an ugly, evil, conniving character who hurt her completely innocent husband and lover and son, but as he was writing, the character became more and more beautiful and sympathetic, and the husband and lover became more incompetent and unkind). I currently have The Doll's House and Nausea next on my list! (I really need to read The Doll's House, it's been on my list since I watched Bojack Horseman lol).

Although this probably doesn't count, because of the after show podcasts, I was inspired to also read The Gilda Stories because they had Jewelle Gomez make an appearance. I ended up being a bit mad afterwards because I soooo wished I read this book in high school, as I was an angry teenager still in the closet then, and this book might have helped me calm down a little lol. There's just something so different and radical about the way Gomez writes her vampires: in a lot of other media, the vampire/monster finally obtains the ability to have cathartic releases of rage due to their isolation/repression and/or abuse, but here, her main character opts for kindness, compassion, and community each time (she still uses violence and murder if needed to defend herself and others, but doesn't let violence consume her entire being). That was very refreshing, having the character be able to do so much damage and take revenge without consequence, yet instead find more fulfillment in the bonds they make with others and refusing to let other people bend her right to actually, well...live.

[desertfangs]

For some reason you feel like the right person to ask about this (probably because of your fic where Daniel volunteers to manage Lestat'smusical comeback lol), but if the Armand bed pile (plus anyone else you have thoughts on) was a band, who would be in each role?

Lestat as lead singer, obviously. I feel like Louis has broody, 'bass guitarist who seems ready to drop out the band at any point but is a fan favourite for his mysterious and dark looks' vibes

But should Daniel be drums or keyboard 🤔 and I'm really unsure about where Armand himself should be

Also, not a traditional bed pile member, but I do want to suggest Bianca as another possible band member, either guitar or drums maybe?

Idk, I've just been imagining all the touring drama (imagine locking this lot up in a tour bus for months on end!), the dramatic and theatrical performances, how completely unmanageable they would be. The Vampire Lestat turned up to 11

Oh this is a fun question! I think you could ask everyone to build their own The Vampire Lestat reunion tour band from the vampire cast and everyone's answers would be different but I'll do my best. I'm just gonna use whoever might be at Trinity Gate when Lestat has this wild idea.

As you said, Lestat is the lead singer. That's his thing. He's the front man and he does the vocals.

I think you're right that Louis would be the bassist. He has dark, quietly brooding bassist energy especially with his hair long so it could drape over face. Louis would have his own groupies after a single show.

Armand would do lead guitar, because he'd refuse to take a backseat and he'd often try to steal the show with long solos. He and Lestat would probably fight backstage over him trying to take over certain songs, which would lead to them disappearing into a dressing room "to work things out" and coming out with their clothes all rumpled.

This means Daniel can do drums. I think he'd be good at them, even if though he might get excited sometimes and do a little "ba-dum-cha!" after Lestat says something that could be taken as a joke but maybe isn't meant to be. (Lestat will glare at him and Daniel will promise not to do it again, but he will.)

I'm also going to veer left here and add Sybelle on keyboard. The original band didn't have a keyboard I think it would add something and she'd be that keyboardist who doesn't speak but answers only in music if addressed.

Since Sybelle is there, Benji can work the merch table. He's probably not a bad sales person. And Marius can bounce between the merch table and backstage, acting as the haggard over-worked manager who's trying to keep everything in check and make sure the show goes on even when Lestat refuses to do a soundcheck (he can sub Daniel in for that!) or Louis refuses to come out of his dressing room in the sequined outfit Lestat is insisting he wear. A lot of this will be Marius solving problems, I imagine, but they'll play a few solid shows.

People will ask for autographs and think it's a fun tribute to Lestat's music and books, and never think these are the real actual vampires since of course the vampire are not real, and obviously this isn't the original Lestat. Except for one or two true believers who post videos on TikTok comparing their cell phone photos of Lestat at the show to footage of him from MTV and insisting it's the same guy and he hasn't aged a day.

Oh and Bianca is going to play the tambourine.

[emeraldracer]

It will be kind of a personal post, and I contemplated if I should write this, but it bounces in my head for some time now, and maybe it'll be relatable to some people. I value fiction in my life a lot, as probably any person who went through some shit in their childhood and found a shelter in stories. I also learned to overcome difficult things through looking at characters with a similar experience. That's why the rejection of so called problematic hits me so hard.

Armand's relationship with Marius is a goldmine of therapeutic stuff for people like me. I do empathize with Armand in general, but Marius as a figure who's done him plenty of harm however still was loved by Anne and is loved by Armand is what I dig in often.

Maker/fledgling dynamic mixes a lot together as it is (the show is actually very good at exploring this), but with these two it's done to the extremes. I don't see it as a bad thing personally, because I'm in the category of people who were emotionally abandoned by their parents and have issues with not seeking the parental type of love from their partners. Hence plenty of consequences that it entails. You look for someone older who very possibly will abuse your trust. You struggle with responsibilities in a relationship. You don't have boundaries. What Anne did by sticking roles of a parent and a partner to one person can be quite helpful to understand the pattern. There's a lot of bitterness on top of it all that I do recognize: the addiction and the doubt on Armand's part, particularly when they talk religion. You depend on what they give you, you let them scramble your brain on the regular.

Why I think Marius still being lovable to the characters is meaningful? The most realistic thing about this is that people continue to have feelings for their shitty parents and crave the warmth they didn't receive.

"Master, I love you, but now I must be alone," I said. "You don't need me now, do you, Sir? How can you? You never really did."

Usually the family, if they aren't complete assholes, will still have people that respect them, too. I appreciate that Anne wrote Marius ignorant and not purely evil, because it's the most common thing to be harmed by ignorance. I've said it before and I'll repeat it many times later, I'm sure.

I love the church dialog in the beginning of TVA (the quote above), because Armand there is contemplative and tries to distance himself from Marius, despite being emotionally wrecked. Comparing to how mindlessly needy he was in Venice it's a progress. He grew, he knows how to say no, even if I would like it to be firmer.

The answer to why they are talking at all is quite obvious to me, too. Fandom wrote a lot about how being eternal might affect the desire to mend things even with those who caused you grief. But again, people choose to do it with parents all the time.

And (!) by QotD Armand chooses his partners quite differently: from Lestat - a Marius's carbon copy, to Daniel with a completely different dynamic. The fact it can be seen as a reversed thing is a separate conversation, though.

I totally believe these plotlines go beyond bedroom scenes and fetishizing and magnetize the faulty nature of such a thing. As an afterthought, another similar line Anne did is Lestat having a thing for Gabrielle. And I know we like to laugh about it, but it's not a leap of imagination to compare this to infantile boys who cling to their mothers and expect their girlfriends to give them the same treatment. The fact he is forced to let Gabrielle go is a perfect conclusion to this, if you ask me.

[danlous]

AMC discarded season 2 like a piece of trash and suddenly has knows how to market this show but iwtv fans will still try to gaslight me & others about their particular motives. 🆗️!!!! No wonder this fandom behaves like the real show is finally starting when the network does too but then I get told im overreacting or bitter 🙃

I was actually just going to make a post about this. I wouldn't go as far as saying amc is discarding s2 like a piece of trash but especially now after they released that lyric video i'm starting to feel there's a very noticeable difference in the marketing between two previous seasons and how the marketing for s3 has started (before they've even finished writing!) Some people cynically predicted in the past that a shift like this would happen when the narrative focus shifts on a white character and it sadly kind of seems they may have been right. It COULD be coincidental like if they're finally listening to people's complaints about bad and lacklustre marketing and how it's limiting their show's potential, or because iwtv is much bigger now than it was even compared to earlier this year and they've probably gotten a bigger marketing budget when amc's confidence in the show's potential has grown. But it's very suspicious that this increase of confidence and realization that their show could be a megahit they should invest in accordingly is happening right at the same time the story shifts to focus on Lestat. I don't subscribe to the idea that amc ever tried to intentionally make the show fail because it would make zero sense financially, but i get an impression they perhaps didn't trust that the first two seasons would have broad mainstream appeal, but now they trust s3 to have that.

I'm still excited for s3 but it's incredibly frustrating to see this difference compared to how s1-2 were treated, when the show's success is very much based on those seasons and their black lead. Like this show has grown its popularity slowly and organically despite weak marketing simply because of how good it and its cast is. And now when it seems to be about to hit the zeitgeist, the network decides that it's time to give full effort when the show is going to focus more on a white man. Anyone who's saying you're overreacting or bitter when pointing that out has not paid attention to how the entertainment industry works because this isn't new or unusual, and there isn't a reason to assume amc is any different than almost all the other networks and studios

[symphonyofmalice]

Episode 13 (2.6)

Reactions to ."Like the light by which God made the world before he made light"

"We're particularly poor at keeping our assets alive" lol points for honesty I guess, but is that really something you want to admit?

Haha Raglan James body swap joke. More easter eggs. Yay. /dull

Ooh the girls are fighting (Louis and Armand)

I know the monologue is quotes from IWTV, but again, divorcing these lines from their context and the characters who say them doesn't make it good adaption. Santiago and Sam the playwright should not sound like Louis or Lestat or Armand.

Great, another show-only incidence of a character being sexually assaulted for the drama.

Louis threatening to break Madeleine's arms and throw her out the window doesn't feel right for him. Not that Louis can't get violent or angry, he can, but not like this.

"Can you imagine me without the burden of her" I DO NOT like that. That's Armand's (false) reasoning but it's never, ever Louis'.

And he says it in front of her???! Jesus they made show!Louis mean.

He's not even going to lie/pretend and say that he didn't mean it?

Glad they kept that Armand has never made a vampire. But Claudia having a hangup over it being "Lesta'ts blood" seems an arbitrary conflict, especially since I know it will eventually be ignored anyway

So they're keeping that Madeleine lost a child. But is it still part of what draws her to Claudia because that would be...odd with the aged-up Claudia

Bold of Armand to compare non-consensually editing someone's memories with the voluntary risk of substance use

oooh this betrayal is protrayed even more closely and more obviously. i kinda like it.

Santiago said NB rights. It feels like a joke, like that shooter game where the president respected your pronouns or whatever.

I'm a little excited for the trial but Lestat doesn't look wrecked enough

I was going to say this show doesn't mess up it's characters enough (Lestat looks fine and they didn't torture Nicki nearly enough either). Then I thought of Louis beaten and dropped from a height and Louis burned in sunlight and Louis looking the most beaten up at the trial and realize they basically only show Louis being physically hurt which seems...bad.

[showmey0urfangs]

Hi! I like your blog and i am also sorry that you are being bothered by some rude people. I love sam Reid and don't think he is a racist at all. He actually seemed to have a little crush on Gugu Mbatha-Raw when they worked together on Belle based off of some of their interviews. She seemed to like him too. He is just playing a character. Even though I love Sam, I didn't like Lestat. I am new to the fandom but I think Louis finally realized that Lestat treated him bad and that's why he is in love with Armand now. Did you think "the love of my life" was fake? I didn't see it that way. Louis must love Armand more because he actually said it to him and never told Lestat anything like that. I know everyone is going to say "Armand is so bad" but I think Armand won't be that way to Louis. Maybe to everyone else. I feel like Armand loves Louis more than Lestat too based of what I've seen so far. I also ship Loumand because they seem happier in the modern day. Do you think the show might change things up and these two will actually end up together?

Hi there, thank you, I'm glad you like the blog. This is going to be a bit of a long one so:

tldr: oui mais non, it's complicated.

To your first part, I just want to point out that one can find black people attractive and still be a racist. Many slave owners used their slaves for sexual gratification or even fathered children with them, but it didn't stop them from thinking black people were inferior and deserved to be kept as chattel.

That being said, there is zero proof that Sam has a single racist bone in his body or that he is anything but a lovely sweet man just doing his job. It's all just a stupid assumption made by idiots who are unable to distinguish between an actor and the characters they play.

To you second part, I made a detailed post a while back, explaining why I think from present day Louis' perspective, Armand is indeed the love of his life and I don't think he was lying when he says that to Daniel.

The notion of Armand is evil only to others but not to Louis is not entirely true in the sense that what he does is in the name of loving Louis but Louis still ends up getting terribly hurt by it. And I think the same imbalance of power that existed between Louis and Lestat is very much still present here because Armand is an infinitely powerful being and Louis is still a fucking mess. I talk about this in a bit more detail in this post.

We still don't know how they go from Paris and what we know happens there, to where they are in present day, so this perspective may shift or be shown in a different light once we have the context of season 2.

But Like Assad said on the podcast, Armand and Louis' relationship is much gentler and less tumultuous than with Lestat. Armand is - in general - less brash than Lestat which at times can also veer into callous and detached. But that actually one of the things I love about him is how very little pretence at humanity he maintains compared to the other vampires in the VC.

As for the two ending up together, they do canonically reconcile and go on to have a beautiful relationship though we don't really see much of it because, as I keep emphasizing, after IWTV the VC becomes the Lestat de Lioncourt show and everyone else sort of fades in the background and sadly I don't see the show deviating significantly from that.

So really the point of this long meandering ramble in that in the same way I advise my friend not to compare every new guy they date to their toxic college ex, I think the best way to enjoy Loumand as a ship is to not view it solely in contrast to Loustat but rather as it's own separate thing that has its own highs and lows, good things and bad things, joys and pains etc. etc.

[crazykuroneko]

Idt we're suddenly going to see a bunch of happy times in s3 when its from Lestat pov like there's a lot of plot from TVL to get through and vampire lore, and its not really great for forward momentum if they're rehashing the same time period. Plus its not like TVL gave us any huge insight or new scenes from their life together, it was just a few paragraphs of retconning.

If anything I think the show's pov is that louis is overcorrecting from his 70s interview by making thing seem happier than they were, thinking of the scene when Daniel plays back the tapes for him but what Daniel says doesn't feel consistent with the vibe I got on screen (it didn't really seem that happy in ep2 even). Everything the show and actors are saying feels like they just have a supernatural inexplicable bond that doesn't make sense i guess.

Not really, if TVL is broken to two seasons as well. Unless suddenly AMC got S3 greenlighted with 15-16 episodes per season, which I doubt very much. They can go with 7 - 8 episodes for two seasons, like IWTV era, or call them both as one season, but still released as two parts ala Better Call Saul S6A and 6B (total 13 ep). Anyway, I can't see TVL will be done as only one season if it'll only have 7 or 8 episodes. Not when they have to tackle the OG TVL plots, ongoing Louis with/without Armand-Daniel plot (depends how involved Louis is with Devil's Minion in the past) and segueing to the concert and QotD. So, amount of content wise, you can no longer compare it to the book.

Yes, Louis is "overcorrecting" his narrative from the '70s interview, but in what way, it's still not clear. To make Claudia the hero? to ease his pain? to make Lestat the big bad? Sometimes I think it's one thing, but then Louis did some things that are contradictory to it. I have my main guess ofc, but now I'll just wait for Season 2.

And as I said, Season 1 (IWTV Part I) is not whole; it's not supposed to stand on its own. The lack of "good times" in S1 makes the writing feels kind of lacking, in terms of convincing the audience the relationship between each character. Because that's what good writing should do. So, I don't think we'll have to wait until the TVL era. S2 aka IWTV Part II probably will give us some crumbs (which is possibly why Rolin said we'll still see a lot of Sam). It's similar to when we're reading the second half of IWTV and go "wow, Louis actually has deep feelings for Lestat to the point he's seeing things." The difference is the book deals with how deep the feelings are, while the show may deal with how deep the connection is. Because frankly, so far, it's Sam and Jacob's chemistry that does a heavy-lifting on that part.

(About S3 though, I don't think they'll retell the whole flashback in Lestat's POV, no. But I think they'll still talk about important points in the past. Especially if the interviewer is Daniel again or someone who knows/has heard what Louis has been saying in IWTV era. For me, Lestat knowing what Louis has said about him is very crucial for his character development. So, I assume there must be a way for people or someone outside the Dubai trio to know the content of the interview, no matter if it'll be published or not)

And I don't begrudge actors being vague with the answer because like us, they only know the scripts. They didn't know in detail how the show will tackle certain things in the future. They only know the script says Louis would stay no matter how bad Loustat were with each other and their job is to make it make sense to us despite the script/character being secretive about it. And even if they know, they can't spoil it to us either. (and this is what some of us tend to forget when we're processing actor's answers in interviews)

[sofipitch]

I think it was one of @licncourt’s fics that brought up the idea that one of the many reasons Louis levers his feeding problems to not only harm himself but also bc he knows that it brings Lestat emotional pain and he can leverage that to make Lestat feel bad and Louis feel like he’s getting on up on him.

I’m def not explaining as poetic as she did but it def has not left my mind as like, Lestat does care he just has the emotional language of a small lizard and can’t communicate it well. He has barely worked out his problems much less attempting to work through Louis.

I showed this to @licncourt and she not only appreciated you liking her take but also found Lestat having the "emotional language of a small lizard" very funny. I personally think comparing Lestat to a lizard is insulting to my pet lizards 😂

No but forreal I stand by the their relationship imploding not being 100% on Lestat, I think he had a bigger hand in it but I do think Louis tried to hurt him back as Flora describes in her fic. She also has the idea of Louos always rejecting any attempt Lestat makes at a romantic relationship kind of to hurt Lestat and kind of to hurt himself, which I really like and based on Louis rejecting sharing a room with Lestat in IWTV seems founded in canon not just in a 'that tracks for their characters' way but a 'that scene could be read through that lens maybe that's what Louis implied but would not say'. (Also I'm sure it's based in Lestat just straight up saying they were lovers in TVL lmao)

I think Louis often felt the imbalance of power in their relationship and tried to restore it in damaging ways, which Claudia would also replicate later too. However I don't think Lestat created this power imbalance 100% maliciously, some maybe, but I think it came from an extreme fear that his family would leave him if he didn't try to keep them less knowledgeable than him, and whoops look what happened anyways. So I think if Lestat had been honest about his feelings it would have helped, although not solved the problem.

I am really excited for the show having them an actual relationship because it does get rid of the tension that they can't say "I love you" yet still shows that "I loved you" never solved everything and it still fell apart 😭

But yeah, thesis statement: Lestat really loved his family he just wasn't good at showing it