#[Memories of Assad]

[macaulaytwins]

pov you just propositioned a threesome to your geriatric ex who you wiped the memory of (to erase all recollection of your psychosexual trysts with him when he was younger) while also not technically holding him captive in your skyscraper in dubai and he said no :/

[astreetcarnamedkendall]

i can't stop thinking about assad's acting during the scene where armand gives louis some of his backstory. clearly, armand does not open to people and does everything he can to repress most of his emotions, but he wants to give something to louis, to be vulnerable to the man he loves and wants to be companions with. the way assad portrays that internal struggle of resisting the immediate instinct to repress through letting cracks of emotions (whether that's through a slightly shaky voice, the way his mouth twists, or how the emotion in his eyes shifts) come through... stellar. god the close up of armand looking at the white-washed depiction of him in that horrifyingly violent painting killed me. assad has shown this acting skill so well throughout this season, but he really shined in this episode and this scene in particular

[a-bright-young-reporter]

Armand could see I was partial to you.

Armand preserves my happiness, even when I don’t or can’t.

He had a hunch you might prove fruitful in later times.

I could see you were partial to him.

I preserve your happiness, even when you don’t or can’t.

I had a hunch Daniel might prove fruitful in later times.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE | 1.05

Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape

[softest-epilogue]

I fear I have too much faith in iwtv. if I don’t get devils minion in s4 I may cry. like I know next season is gonna be tvl so obviously we won’t be but like…fuck I want somethingggggg anything. give me crumbs.

[nothing-but-paisley]

You ever just think about all the freshly unearthed heartache and bitterness Armand packs into the line "Why did I owe YOUGGh"

[wheresbenni]

Assad's Instagram Story | 02.01.2024

[nalyra-dreaming]

All your anons that think they've ruined Lestat in s1.. :) The fact we've got the romance there at all is a miracle, lol. I haven't felt any when I was rereading it a year ago. Even that longing after they've "killed" him didn't help matters. Louis just straight up hides what they relationship looked like during the New Orleans years. He only talks about what he had with Claudia and opens up about Lestat exclusively when he's the worst. It's dry as a desert. And then he sings heartfelt songs about Armand. The contrast couldn't be more contrasting. Imo, Louis's pov (and that's exactly what we're getting here) suggests that Lestat was an obnoxious nuisance at best and Armand - the great love he had before Claudia's death. If not the first as a vampire. I'm sorry, that's just how iwtv is. And all of it tracks. "The love of my life." etc.

Sam just loves Lestat's fully fledged version that comes later, as we all do. It's no brainer why playing this ugly fraction of him would pain him. But it's not the time yet. Assad had to sit it out for a season. In a way, Sam is doing it for two.

You know, it’s funny, because I watched this video of Assad just earlier, where he talks about what it was like for Armand to finally be himself:

But I think it's not just Sam and Lestat here. I think all the characters in the show are an elevated version of themselves, and they are presented in a certain way right now, for reasons.

But the show is quite obviously building on the later characters already, and I mean, Rolin did spell that out already as well. Lestat in Dubai will be much, much closer to the Prince Lestat arc, just as Louis is not the same as he was in New Orleans. And Armand in Dubai has already loved Daniel, and his past in Paris will show us a very different character there, too.

We have seen facets, so far.

Specific, very deliberate facets. There's always some truth to the tale, but we know, we KNOW that the tale is not the whole truth, has been tinkered with, has been told for a reason, and has been forgotten (in parts at the very least). All that we know already.

And we also know that we will not yet get Lestat's POV, but Armand's!

And I mean... isn't that a cool thing to have as well?! Like, can you imagine, after season 3, when we will likely have all these different views on things, and then... then it will all come together?

I for one am very much looking forward to it all.

The fans who are determined to see Lestat (or Armand, or Louis, or whoever(!)) as one-dimensional whatevers will not enjoy what's to come. Because these characters have sharp edges, and the narrative will cut us all to the core.

Because...

Evil... is a point of view.

[sins-of-the-sea]

gimme the tea on rashid :3c

Seven Deadly Sins’ less forgivable actions

"The Prophet, peace upon him, said: 'A dirham of riba which a man receives knowingly is worse than committing adultery thirty-six times.'"

"I don't care. He owes what he owes. I don't care if he starves. He should know better than to cross me." Rashid stands between two of his servants as they hold the starving man by the corner of the street, their daggers held to his throat. The pleading man cries, his hands held to plead for his life and his coin. He has a family to feed, he says. He has a wife and son, he says. Well, want to know who else has a wife and son?

Rashid does. Even though they have an estate of their own and plenty of food to eat, Rashid will not deny what is owed to him.

"I have given you many chances, and now you not only fail to give me what you owe, but you are undermining my authority in this town. If you will not give me what you owe in coin, then give me what you owe in-

"....Assad!"

Staring at his own baba from from the corner street is the young Assad al-Basir ibn Rashid, having run out from home after Father has been missing for so long. He was promised time to be with him, to learn his lessons. Lessons in how to be good. Lessons in how to be kind. What what was transpiring here in this alley... this not only went against everything he was taught. Everything he had known. In the name of good behavior, or the law. Of God.

And Rashid knows it. He sighs, holding up a hand to signal his men to withhold their swords. He approaches Assad, lowering himself to the boy. He places his hands onto his shoulders, telling him gently so that no one would hear but him: 

"Please let Baba work, ya ibni. I will be with you soon." Much to Assad's horror, Rashid simply guides the boy to the nearby stall, urging him to wait. He returns to the corner with not much more of a word....

...And the smell of iron within blood would Assad's nostrils for the first time in his life.

As it turns out, the lendee did have some money on him... for a single treat. This was hardly enough to pay off the entire debt, but it was enough to give Assad a pastry. With the deed done, Rashid lets his men from their work and returns to the streets with a pouch in hand. He then extends his free hand to the boy, a smile on his face as he is ready for a nice night on the town....

...and Assad reacts by jerking away.

"...Don't you act ungrateful for what I do for you, boy!" Rashid snaps back as he grips Assad's arm so hard, he almost bruised him. "We are going to enjoy a treat tonight, just as I promised you! Now don't give me that look and come with me!" He will not hear it. Not a word, not a sound on how haram his actions were. Rashid has done far, far more than kill a creditor for being unable to pay what he is owed. And Assad better be goddamned grateful.

[dorindameddler]

when interviewers talk to assad or jacob about how louis and armand's relationship seems healthier than louis and lestat's it blows my mind. how can people be so bad at understanding media

[dougielombax]

Too many people, especially in the UK, Russia and America (as well as MANY other countries) don’t view war as a hellish but sometimes sadly necessary thing to keep evil in check.

When it is that at least. (It’s not always the case)

Because it’s not always so.

Unfortunately.

As we have seen from many vicious colonial conflicts and dirty wars like the one the UK was waging in my own country not 30 years ago.

Instead they have come to venerate the idea of war.

To view it as a kind of cleansing ritual. Sickeningly.

Instead they come to view war as some kind of necessary sacred rite of passage.

A putrid baptism of fire.

A sacred war (fuck off!). (This particular line of thinking is especially prevalent among Putin and his ilk)

It’s sickening.

Borderline cult thinking

You see this all the time with armchair colonels bitching about the NEED to bring back National service or whatever.

Spurred on by vulgar shithead billionaires, tabloid tv and radio hosts and middle aged mediocrities with podcasts.

It’s disgusting.

[asthedeathoflight]

I think an underrated angle on 2x05 is something that either Jacob or Assad said in some interview somewhere, which is that in that episode Louis is addicted to heroin. Thats why he has that whole stash of drugs that he gives to Daniel, that's why he gives Daniel the drugs even though he's already got him alone. He didn't just use those 128 boys for sex he was using them to get high. Bring them home, get them to shoot up, and then drain them to get that secondhand high.

It clarifies something that's always confused me about that scene, which is why Armand saves Daniel the first time. He wouldn't save Daniel as a person, he clearly knows Daniel needs to die, but he's not seeing Daniel as a person there. Daniel is just a substance. He rips him away from Louis to stop him from using.

And i think that adds a whole other layer to the fight he and Armand have to think that this is Louis on a bender, with Armand cleaning up after him because he's not stable enough to. Louis in the bed for a week isn't just healing from the burns, he's going through withdrawal. Him at the table with Daniel giving him the "bright young reporter" speech is probably the first time he's been sober in months.

It adds another layer to Armand's desperation, that Louis has been running from both Armand and himself in this way, and of course Armand wants to erase that memory. Of course he wants to pretend that that fight never happened. Not just to protect himself but in a way to protect Louis from having said those things. When he describes the fight to Louis afterwards, he says "you said the worst things you've ever said to me." And he doesn't really know how to forgive Louis for that so he just wants to bury this rock-bottom moment and move on like it never happened. After all, Louis was high, he didn't really mean it, but if he remembers then maybe he might think that he had a point. Better to wipe the whole experience away.

[miraculan-draws]

Jacob Anderson gets a lot of very well-deserved praise on his accent work in IWTV, especially in the sense that it goes back and forth— the thick NOLA Creole drawl to the sterile, stripped-clean, carefully blank American that he uses in Dubai, and then back again. If you listen closely, you can hear him very subtly letting that drawl "seep" back in during really intense Dubai scenes. It's absolutely phenomenal.

BUT! I would also like to give Sam some flowers that I don't see mentioned much. Mostly because we only hear it in two scenes, with very few lines: the reunion scene in 2x08, and the S3 Teaser. Sam is doing! Two completely different accents at once! And I KNOW it's intentional bc it's a book thing and our boy has a doctorate in Lestat.

In Louis' account of events, Lestat was fresh off the boat. The French accent is very thick, and he also peppers in a lot of French into his sentences. (Most fic writers tend to lean into this). But by our start date in 2022, Lestat has been living in Louisiana for over a century. In TVL, set in the 80s, Lestat describes LOUIS as the one having an accent.

So what is Sam doing with this?

FOR STARTERS. There are whole stretches of words, entire lines in those scenes even, where Lestat sounds pretty casually American: "shut up" like "shuddup", "and I thought, who better to carry on the great work", "Siri, pause". The French thickens a bit when the emotion intensifies, but even then it's not entirely present like it is in the rest of the show. The nasality and softened "T" of "nineteen sevendy three" "Did you hurt yourself?", the "I can't, Louis." THE WAY HE SAYS LOUIS' NAME SOUNDS DIFFERENT. not lew-EE anymore, but LOO-ee.

The teaser?? Very fun. The entire line "There's a goblet on the table." And "but, then again...it might not." AND!! Of course accents of all kinds tend to soften when singing, but in the song he only sounds French when speaking French.

And these HAVE to be conscious choices, they have to be planned and the ratios played with because neither of these are Sam Reid's speaking voice. He is doing two accents at once and it's so subtle but it's also doing so much to make Real Lestat distinct from Memory Lestat. What a GIFT what a TREASURE what SUBLIME leads we have for this show.

(Assad I see you scheming too, I will gush about you too)

[armandsfangs]

— Assad Zaman

I hope Daniel's memory of the devil's minion relationship in the 70s is restored via insanely athletic vampire sex with Armand during which we see intermittent flashbacks to young Daniel having insanely athletic vampire sex with Armand until both scenes merge together so that Armand is sandwiched between two Daniels who sigh in unison, "I love you"

[quiet-longing]

Asking the important questions over here on the good ship Devil's Minion. We're just built like that here. Join us today!

daniel calls himself armand's child in queen of the damned so we clearly need daniel calling armand "daddy" ranging from sarcastic to full on kinky

[canonicallysoulmates]

In the episode insider Assad says that as soon as Armand gets an inkling that Louis and Daniel have remembered San Francisco and him erasing their memories he's already working on how to manipulate it and spin a new web which I'm taking as confirmation that I'm right not to trust Armand when he claims that Louis asked for his memories to be erased.

[whatshehassaid]

I’m just saying but look how cocky and smirky and like “how did you know about that my beautiful boy?” Armand’s expression is when Daniel brings up the fire… (the only time we’ve ever really seen him actively trying to read Daniel’s mind was the seventies clips where he’s leaned forward like this)

And then it triggers a memory of Armand in the 70s in Daniel and LOOK how Armands face changed from cocky and curious to “oh my god he remembers me”

And then how he has to tear his eyes away from Daniel cause he remembers that Louis is there and I don’t think Louis remembers the fire by the way in that moment he says “the fire?” Like he doesn’t know what Daniel is talking about.. but like LOOK how Armand even as his head is turning toward Louis his eyes are GLUED to Daniel until the last possible second

I think Armand thought Daniel would never remember him cause he didn’t think Daniel loved him in the past. He thought he was addicted to his blood- but now he’s like, “oh shit?”

Y’all the MICRO EXPRESSIONS… THE ACTOR ASSAD ZAMAN IS HOLY FUCK.