#Claudia HATES Louis as a ghost

[armandssawtrap]

Getting on my soap box to scream about how Louis was also a genuinely terrible father who hardly tried and picked someone else over claudia not once but TWICE. And that’s the POINT. That’s WHY Madeline meant so much to her. SOMEONE PICKED CLAUDIA FOR ONCE. CLAUDIA. IS. HER. COVEN.

[jaypentaghast]

Maybe a family could be two horrible dads, their ghost daughter with her ghost wife, her ex step-dad who planned her murder and step-dad's 70 year old boytoy

Maybe. In some other universe.

[blueiight]

the insistence that show lestat in s1 is "the fake lestat" and that later seasons will show "the real lestat" is crazy cuz no duh we have 50 years of 14 other books that r primarily told in unc les's PoV but the adaptation is cognizant of that LOL hes not just some one dimensional fop in s1 hes complicated .. hes A Lot [tm]

[elvesofnoldor]

the vampire lestat in audiobook format is 24 hours long and i finished listening to it in a week, meanwhile merrick is only 8 hours long and it took me three weeks to chew through the whole fucking thing. it's not even very badly written, i just really hate it when anne rice turned the dial up to 11 on her Sympathy with the P*dophile bullshit

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

drives me glass-eating batshit how Claudia and Amadeo were both teenagers rescued (or "rescued") from violently traumatic situations and taken in by paternal gentlemen vampires who taught them about the world and kept them safe and spoiled them rotten and loved them so so so much in profoundly unhealthy and dehumanizing ways. Claudia and Arun both entering the vampiric world as blank slates (like Claudia remembers her pre-turning past but we only get the barest details, it's hardly ever mentioned) and a wash of divinity, angel imagery and merciful gods. then as Claudia and Amadeo grew they started to pick up on the things that were off in their world and display aggressive behavior (Claudia's killing spree and Amadeo's The Shining moment, etc.) only to be physically punished for it. and then they experience the brutalities of life outside their maker's protection (Claudia under the floorboards and Armand under Rome) except she's able to come back home hardened and confront the realities of what's been done to her while Armand never gets that chance, he's stuck with the Children of Darkness, he's stuck deifying Marius, he's stuck clinging to ritual and tradition and all the things Claudia defies like breathing.

and then they finally cross paths and they're inverted mirrors of each other, Claudia the grown woman desperate to escape her teenager's body and Armand the grown man who wants to be loved and precocious and fascinating like he was as a teenager. Claudia being able to effortlessly pull off the veneer of innocence that Armand has to work so hard to maintain and she's not even grateful for it. she's got the youth he wants, she's got Louis's love, she's more free than Armand has ever been, she fought back against her Maker and got away with it, it's not Fair, it isn't right. so Armand punishes her with it, subjects her to the same cycle of objectification and dehumanization and violence that Amadeo went through (because it could be Worse right, he could be Donating her right). and when that's not enough to make up for everything he's missing he fucking kills her in an elaborate show just like she killed Lestat with the elaborate show that was Mardi Gras, only his writings recording the process damn him just like her writings damn her, their need to leave some mark of themselves above all else consuming everything.

and after killing her Armand spends years dragging around with a Louis who hates him just like Louis dragged around with a Claudia who hated him. he's the good nurse for Louis the way Claudia was and he competes with Lestat's ghost the way she did and he watches a fragile life with flowers growing from dead things all come crashing down in ash and dust like she did, all because of what he did to her. and at the end of the day they're both fucked-up kids whose most commonly used last names stem from the fathers who fucked them up and they could have lived each other's lives and in some ways they almost did.

[duke-of-gloom]

Look, I know media literacy is on the decline, but it's wild how many people don't get that dream/ghost Lestat isn't actually Lestat.

The cast has already explained that he's just a hallucination Louis is having, a manifestation of his guilt and fears. The reason he insults and mocks all of Louis' choices is because Louis hates himself.

Some of the theories out there are just absurd. Season one clearly showed that Lestat didn’t actually die, so he can’t be an actual ghost. And he can’t be using vampire mind tricks to invade Louis' thoughts either because it's stated in season one that he is completely cut off from Louis' and Claudia’s minds since he is their maker.

Like, when the song from the season 2 soundtrack came out and “Lestat” calls Louis a whore in it, people were like, "Why would Lestat say that?" But he clearly isn’t. It’s just Louis bastardizing the love song Lestat wrote for him because he feels guilty for moving on.

[kandelia-mangrove]

Wishlist/Predictions for season 3 of interview with the vampire (add your wishes in the tags!) 

Lestat's perspective on the trial 

So much is different in the show and the motives for everyone involved in the trial are still SO unclear, I need more!

Lestat's version of what went down in Paris with Nicky and the start of the Theatre de Vampire (like I do think he and Armand fucked, but also way more stuff also happened for sure)

It would be really funny to get some Armand interjections in this portion of the tale

Lestat being haunted by Claudia's ghost in the present!! Also the Past!! He can never know peace!

Daniel and Lestat beefing

Lestat getting canceled (or truly any other social media reference) 

Louis Cameo in the present day (curious to see how they are going to keep him involved since I doubt they will spend a ton of time rehashing their relationship in New Orleans) 

I really need them to have very intense getting back together but also still kinda divorced energy

I’ll also accept cutaways from Lestat doing insane shit to Louis just chilling in Dubai, like reading a book or smth

But also I feel like Louis definitely funded the tour like no way Lestat was up to date on his finances, so Louis popping in as a producer/manager could be fun and cool too

Everyones reactions to the reveal that Marius is alive 

Like I NEED to see Armand fucking finding out Marius is alive because he is crashing set that day and has a catastrophic meltdown about the whole situation

Because the show implied he doesn’t know about it, with the whole “I have the blood of Akasha in me, he doesn’t know who that is” line. 

Also Need Daniel reacting to this information 

Also really want Louis’ reaction, because I genuinely think even during his Hating Armand Hours TM he would still hate Marius for what he did to him

Also, very unlikely, but I think should be explored: the Marius golden child Lestat racism/imperialism dynamics of it all especially with the AMC cast. Like… We gotta talk about it. 

Explicitly GNC, Nonbinary, or otherwise Trans Gabrielle

On that note, very intrigued to see if they will leave in all the incesty bits or just lean into the abandonment vibes 

Daniel has to clown on Lestat for this if they leave it in

Confirmation or Denial of 70s/80s devil’s minion (I just need to know if it happened or not!!)

Also if it did happen: I want some flashes to that era - setting up the night island of it all (just since I think that could be relevant going forward)

I think it makes sense plot and show production wise to have a little reference confirming it did or didn’t happen, but I doubt we’d see any of it if it did happen tbh. 

Great Conversion stuff just happening in the background 

Daniel Vampire phones Louis, and Louis the least curious vampire to ever exist genuinely tells him to just ignore it. Like that bitch is NOT going to help solve any mystery

Lestat telling the story of him fighting and killing a bunch of wolves as a human and Daniel just not believing him (because its genuinely wild)

Loumand Divorce Era

Lestat actually exploring the trauma of his turning (sexual assault)

Vampire Daniel being a vampire and doing vampire things!! 

The in universe reception to the book Interview with the vampire by Daniel Molloy 

Like do people believe it’s real? How has the impacted the great conversion stuff? 

Do other vamps know he is a vampire?? 

Do people think the popstar thing is an elaborate RPF/industry plant thing related to the book? 

I Gotta see some fake tweets about this please

[nalyra-dreaming]

"Let me know if you want to know more :))" If it's not asking much, yes, please?! I really know little to nothing about the books. I see what people post here, like, I didn't know about Rose and only found out about Viktor this week lol. Unfortunately the books aren't always available in my country and I'm still waiting to buy and read them. D:

Okay, for a rundown:)))

In the books:

Lestat finds Louis again through the rockstar career, and he writes his own story down for him, which Louis reads. Their reunion is quite beautiful, Louis and Gabrielle fight other vampires side by side with Lestat. There is a kiss backstage :)

Unfortunately Akasha kidnaps Lestat, because she thinks he is the epitome of toxic masculinity and that she can use him for her plan to take over the world (literally), burning a lot of the vampires. It’s a misjudgment though, Lestat is fearful of her killing the ones he loves, but starts to resist her ever more (she forces him to do her bidding via spells at times). Louis, Gabrielle reunite with all the others to hear the history behind Akasha and ultimately they meet up with her and Lestat, ending in Akasha‘s death. Louis and Lestat have a very romantic scene together.

Afterwards Lestat is changed though, battling with the event. He got a huge amount of blood from her, because she wanted him strong, and he experiences severe body dysmorphia and self hatred. Louis and he are in a weird “Netflix and chill“ era, visiting each other regularly, watching movies together, being petty with each other. Lestat’s guilt and that self hatred drive him to suicide, but he is too strong already to burn in the sun and he heals to retain a tan (only). The Body Thief sees his chance and offers him a mortal body for a while, and Lestat takes it. The Body Thief does not return his body though and so Lestat tries to bring Louis to turn him again but Louis refuses (very emotional scene). Louis tells Lestat to live that mortal life and Lestat has to turn to others (David in the book here maybe Daniel?!) to get his body back bc he realizes that he does want to be a vampire (after all). He manages, and there is a very beautiful but very raw scene with Louis in a church afterwards. Lestat tries to convince himself he is evil (for wanting that vampiric life back) and rapes David into darkness just as he was raped into it. All through the book Claudia‘s ghost is there and speaks with him. Lestat has Rue Royale fixed up and he and Louis (and David) live there again.

A while later a being claiming to be the Devil visits Lestat - he wants his help, and takes his soul onto a journey beyond (it is later confirmed that Lestat was gone from this plane of existence) and the events with heaven, hell, purgatory and Lestat drinking the blood of Christ (literally) shatter him. He loses an eye in purgatory, which is returned to him, altered. He goes a bit mad, confined to a church, where Louis and a few others tend to him. Louis comes by regularly to read to him, change clothes, etc. Lestat falls into a sleep.

Lestat’s coma continues, but it is involuntary at times. As he later tells it the altered eye allowed angels to take his soul to do their bidding, while threatening him. The unpublished novel at Tulane tells of one of those adventures. Lestat’s coma is hard on Louis. He is haunted by the fact that he has never seen Claudia’s ghost and with the help of Merrick, a witch, they conjure her, an event for which the diary pages are important. Claudia’s ghost is a vengeful one though, hating him, and he tries to commit suicide after. Lestat wakes up and saves him. They reunite and exchange a lot of blood and afterwards Louis is changed a lot. They leave NOLA because the Talamasca threaten them.

Something not closer defined happens while they are in the jungles, and Louis goes to Armand in NYC, where he is safe from the ever multiplying vampires. They spend some time apart, Lestat roaming, Louis with Armand, both coming to terms with who they are now. This is when Rose needing help must have happened. When Viktor was conceived and raised.

Another burning is happening - the spirit that propels them is clming to consciousness: Amel. It uses older vampires to thin out the ranks. Lestat is called and finally returns from his wanderings, and he defeats an elder and takes the core, effectively becoming the prince of the vampires. He and Louis meet, Rose, Viktor and first trouble with Roshamandes happens.

Amel is coming further to consciousness, recalling the being he was, once. Recalling who he was with, too. Lestat sets up court in his old family castle, now renovated. All big players come. Lestat goes to Louis and Louis comes to him - for good, with a very emotional plea. They are together for good after. Amel need to be removed fromthe vampires and Lestat, he gets a cloned body. Louis comes up with the solution, and holds Lestat’s hand through it.

Roshamandes, the ancient slighted bc he did not get the core is outfor revenge tjough, and kidnaps Gabrielle, Louis and Marius, sending ashes to Lestat. Lestat… shuts down. Armand goes feral (in words, incredible scene!!).

Lestat goes to Roshamandes in an all-or-nothing move and kills him, creating the “Blood Communion“ with the remains. Louis and the others are found, and Lestat can finally breathe again There is a big celebration, and the book literally closes with them dancing and kissing and Lestat telling Louis he loves him and always had.

______

This is the rundown :)

As you can imagine there is a LOT the show can do with this. In the books they kiss, the show has added sex, and so I expect some scenes to be a lot more sexy :) Louis is a lot more involved in the later arcs, his and Lestat‘s arcs are inverted. When they finally come together (for good) once more they are at peace with each other.

They have a son, and a daughter, their friends are with them. Former loves, too.

They have left their human pains behind, have accepted themselves as vampires.

Louis calls it the “monarchy of darkness“ in the unpublished draft at Tulane, and knowing Rolin knows of those drafts… I do expect this on the show :)

Obviously some of this will be spun differently. Has already been used, and/or used differently. But I expect to see the Body Thief parts, definitely. Akasha and the aftermath. And we know we’re getting the rockstar era :))

I think the show has already hinted at Amel, and so I do think they’ll finish with that arc :)))

We‘ll see. Since the relationship in the show is deliberately more explicit I think a lot of the canon events will be a LOT more intimate. It’s not about sex for them.

It’s about eternity and acceptance, both self acceptance and acceptance of the other.

And I cannot wait to see what the show makes of it.

[bubblegum-blackwood]

Lestat just has so much love and forgiveness in him it makes me ILL. He and Armand and Louis can hurt each other over and over and at the end of the day Lestat is willing to put it aside every time. He holds no resentment for Gabrielle for not being there for him, choosing simply to be grateful for the time they do spend together. He loved Claudia even as she tried to murder him, he did not wish her dead and mourned when she burned, he looks back on her with fondness and pride. He takes care of Rose when nobody wants her, and immediately accepts Viktor into his life and his heart. He made Mona into a vampire as a favour for Quinn, and chose not to make Rowan a vampire because he knew it would be better for them both, even if he really wanted to in the moment, he didn’t want her to hate him or to suffer. His father was an utter ass to him his whole life and he still chose to take him in, feed him and clothe him in his old age, make sure he was comfortable, and he couldn’t bear to kill him even after all the man had done to him. Magnus tore him from his happy mortal life, frightened him, hurt him, made him a vampire, and abandoned him, and still when the guy comes back as a ghost Lestat is so ready to welcome him back with open arms. He chooses to let Rhoshamandes live even when everyone else around him is afraid of the threat he poses to them, and is appalled that they would suggest he devolve into such cruelty as to order the man’s death. People wrong him time and time again and he just shrugs it off, and he shows kindness and affection to almost everyone he meets. He is such a guy.

[winepresswrath]

genuinely don't understand how lestat nation is mad about that last episode. we have established.

Louis still thinks of Lestat as the one he trusts, is violently guilty and also horny about him

the final thing that makes him stop circling armand and go for it is confirmation that lestat and armand fucked. like they are clearly attracted to each other on their own merits but they are also appropriating lesbian culture.

lestat has the most magical dick in paris. probably europe. possibly the world. everyone who looks at him falls in love with him a little and no one who fucks him ever gets over it.

armand specifically isn't over it. 200 years later louis by his side he's still like that.

there is a 0% chance there isn't more to the nicki stuff. armand didn't even mention gabrielle and hannah moscovitch has already said gabby is what she's most looking forward to in season three (hard same). also if lestat did tell his creepy boyfriend kidnapping stalker he loved him as a distraction so he could run away the only thing he did wrong was not taking the boyfriend with him. he owes armand less than nothing! i love armand but if lestat wanted to slit his throat and leave him in a swamp he'd be justified in that. he doesn't, which is great for me, but that is the one person besides his dad and i guess the ghost of magnus where he can do whatever he wants forever and it's fine. unholy trinitity of bad men who were bad to him when he was vulnerable and couldn't fight back. if claudia hated him less they could talk about it. however, speaking of bad men who are bad to people. oops.

[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.

[mercy-misrule]

In the IWTV book, Lestat's mortal father is still alive. He's old and frail and blind and Louis supposes one of the reasons Lestat made Louis a vampire in the first place was to have the money and space to care for his father.

Even though he hates the old man and screams at him and it's awful.

They didn't have this complication in the movie, and I remember thinking, oh because they've moved the timelines in the show, it can't happen in the tv show.

But Lestat carries his father in spirit. He brought him forward into his relationship with Louis and Claudia.

And as cruel and violent and destructive of Lestat's hopes and dreams that his own father was, he's got that dog in him! It's right there under the skin!

Speaking of haunting the narrative, the figurative ghosts of Magnus and Lioncourt Sr are always hovering about.

[succubusfuccubus]

Feel like I’m the only vampire chronicles fan who loves the new iwtv series

“Book Louis was white!!!”

He was a slave owner and while Anne Rice contextualizes it real well—she doesn’t try to soften the subject matter, she doesn’t try the “he was nice to his slaves” book Louis is like “yeah I was a slave owner, it was fucked up” —still I feel no attachment to white Louis. It was not the most interesting thing about him.

Anne Rice was weird about any POC in her books. It’s still a white centric narrative, the main cast of vampires is white. Boring. Black Louis is much more interesting. A Black vampire navigating his immortality among a society hostile to his kin is so much more captivating.

Many of the main vampires in her series get a book dedicated to them where they explain their origins, their experience with immortality and their philosophies. Except...the vampires that get their own narrative are white. I would love to see an Ancient Black vampire that was kicking before any racism as it is now was invented. I wanna know their perspective, I wanna see them philosophize.

“Vampires can’t have sex!!”

Later in the books they invent vampire viagra—also cry harder im glad they’re fucking and sucking

“Book Claudia was supposed to be turned at 5 Years old. Book Claudia would kill to be a teenager even!! This Claudia almost looks like an adult!”

Teenagers definitely aren’t adults. Imagine being on the Cusp of adulthood and then you are paused mid puberty unable to develop any further. That would be maddening She looks like a young girl trying very hard to dress older than she is. Also it would be rough getting an actual 5 year old to act her part. Also there's some weird pedophile shit in the books, I'm glad we're writing that part out.

“Anne rice would be rolling in her grave”

Let her roll. Anne rice hated any adaptation—she was a control freak. Look up “interrogating the text from the wrong perspective” it’s her melt down in response to bad Amazon reviews on her vampire chronicles’ “Blood Canticle”

She didn’t even respect her own canon. She retcons it multiple times. In the end she retcons the origin of vampires (which had been established in books 2 and 3) and made it the product of an alien parasite. All bcuz some took a sudden interest in science fiction, she just had to turn it into science fiction

This series is not a masterpiece, it becomes pulp fiction by book 4, almost every book opens up like a personal vlog, Lestat is her Mary sue and also self insert. There is gay ghost sex that turns out to be incest. Actually there is so much incest, ntm the pedophilia it becomes almost unreadable.

God and the Devil are ex bfs that are in a millennia long theological and philosophical debate, also the Devil tries to recruit Lestat as the prince of hell and he drinks Jesus's blood. But several books later, just kidding, that wasn't the Devil that was just a spirit fucking around with Lestat.

The second to last book is called Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis--there are bird-reptile aliens pissed off about the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs and want to eradicate mammals bcuz in every other universe reptiles are the dominant-sentient species.

There is nothing sacred about the original, this is not Beowolf or the Epic of Gilgamesh--this is Anne rice and her self-insert blorbo getting into scrapes. When adapting a piece of fiction the most important thing is preserving the Themes--which the show is doing superbly. What truly matters is that every character in Anne Rice's show is bisexual and polyamorous and a disaster.

If you're that upset about Louis being Black and Armand being Muslim you're just racist and either in denial or you know full well.

[nukeyyy]

finished interview with the vampire season 2 last night and wow what an amazing show 😭 i cried at least once per episode lmao. thoughts BELOW (warning: long post + major spoilers for the show -obvs-)

the actors are phenomenal and i'm always blown away by sam and jacob's chemistry on-screen. i also can't get over how eric bogosian and luke brandon field not only look so much alike but also manage to act very similarly (like the mannerisms, speech patterns etc.)??? like i know it's their jobs as actors but every time i saw young daniel i was just so impressed lol. amazing casting, amazing talent, amazing actors

i had been spoiled for so many things for s2 (i never read the books), like claudia dying, lestat being alive, armand having erased louis's memory and daniel becoming a vampire. yeah that's a lot... i didn't know how it'd be executed in the show at all but i just knew those facts because i wasn't careful enough online whoops 🥲 i was still gagged seeing all those moments on-screen though so i don't mind haha

also i relate to louis character so much it's actually ridiculous. i'm him and he's me. ME AND HIM, HIM AND ME (ok i'll stop)

i could relate to lestat a lot too (i'm somewhat of an expert at loneliness/depression/fear of abandonment and self-sabotage, rip i need help 😎).

armand was fascinating (and intimidating) to me just knowing how he's an ancient vampire who can just fuck you up if he wants to.

daniel's sarcastic comments were probably the funniest thing for me lolll and his facial expressions at certain things being told. like he's lowkey done with this gay vampire drama and it cracks me up. i still think about the "are you a schizophrenic, louis? 🤨" line because it's such a valid question lol and i always wonder why characters in shows/movies don't freak out whenever i see that trope of a character seeing a dead person qsdqs i'd be contacting a doctor asap. real talk i usually don't like that trope much (it usually feels like fanservice more than anything and like the writers are too scared to let the dead character go) but with lestat i actually liked it. probably because i knew he was actually alive. but still i'd feel so emotional when his "ghost" would be around because i knew it was louis imagining what would lestat do or say if he was here (or at least that's how i interpreted it). which... that's how you know you miss someone BAD 'cause the last/only time i felt that way about someone....... yeah.......

now, claudia... sigh. i feel bad for saying that but i really had a hard time liking her character. i WANTED to like her. i did at some points (loooved her at the beginning, in s1), and i always understood her motives and why she felt the way she did. at the same time, i'd feel annoyed with the way she'd always interject into louis and lestat's conversations/arguments, trying to sway louis in the direction she wanted whenever lestat was showing kindness or hints of remorse. she was never willing to give lestat a chance no matter what he did or said and it irked me a bit. it bothered me most at the trial actually, because lestat was apologizing to LOUIS, and claudia was in louis's ear telling him "it's too little too late" like girl pleaseee respectfully, the apology isn't for you to accept or reject. let louis make up his own mind.

louis is a grown man and it's his relationship, so i felt like claudia should've stayed out of it (at least in the moment, i don't mind if she expresses her opinion to louis later). i felt bad for louis because he made so many sacrifices for her but she never really seemed to reciprocate much (or maybe armand erased my memory). i hated how she called louis "dead weight" in her journal in 2x01. again i understand why she was angry at him, but after everything he's done for her, and considering the fact he was grieving the "death" of lestat (which was brutal), his lover of 30+ years iirc, and he basically couldn't talk about it with her (or anyone for that matter), it just felt unfair to him.

idk maybe i'm being way too harsh on her character, i know she's a character that the fandom likes, so really i feel like i'm missing something? i want to like her i really do but i don't vibe with her character. maybe i'll like her more after rewatching the show (not that it matters anymore since she's dead 😬 but still). i did feel for her though when louis didn't believe her about armand threatening her 'cause that was such bullshit lol like as if claudia would make that up... anyway i did enjoy her relationship with madeleine, too bad it ended the way it did. felt bad for madeleine but when claudia came back to her i kinda knew that madeleine would get murdered by the coven eventually 😅 i actually had a theory that the coven would use madeleine as one of their human sacrifices for the théâtre to punish claudia for having a "forbidden friend", and i wasn't too far off!

when lestat saved louis from getting the death sentence ... i remember thinking in the moment of the trial "is it armand or lestat doing that?" then when it "showed" it was armand, i accepted that but i was confused since lestat claims to love louis. then when it was revealed that it was LESTAT that saved louis but armand took credit for it all and lestat let him??? DUDE!

like i had the same reaction as present louis 'cause ... DANIEL? YOUR QUESTIONS MAKE TOO MUCH SENSE. lol. speaking of louis and daniel, i absolutely loved the way louis comforted him in 1973 after all the trauma they'd both gone through. louis has this empathetic side to him that shines through at times and i love it (kinda reminds me of will graham)

i absolutely LIVED for louis burning down the théâtre des vampires, it was absolutely badass and deserved. santiago's death made me go "now THAT'S a vampire show!!!". i enjoyed santiago as a villain, very entertaining to watch he was. also i love that those two fans of the théâtre (the guy and girl with the black and white makeup always sitting in the front row) attended EVERY show lol

something that's more of season 1, but, i love lestat's french. if you don't know, i'm french myself, but i watched the show its original language with english subtitles (as i like to do with every game/show/movie). so when lestat spoke french i loved it i mean. lestat's my favorite and i love the actor who plays him so not gonna lie it'd make me fangirl a bit everytime LMAO like ooo he's speaking MY language!!!

(i'm still a teenage girl at heart i guess sometimes lol)

that argument that lestat and louis had in french in season 1 over claudia (when claudia was in louis' coffin writing in her journal) ... will always make me laugh... just the conclusion of lestat going "putain de merde, bonne nuit" and shutting his coffin and then louis saying bonne nuit back XD it just feels so real you know. when you argue with someone but you still love them enough to say the nice little things.

speaking of arguments, i was so surprised at lestat's recollection of things during the trial, and how it differed from louis' retelling of events to daniel. many times i was like "is lestat lying? orrr" 'cause it's wild how different the versions are. particularly that massive fight in season 1 when lestat dropped him from the sky (if anyone who hasn't watched the show is reading this post, they're probably like "wtf" lmao). if lestat was saying the truth about how it went down, then damn, i feel bad for lestat :/ JUSTICE FOR LESTAT (i feel so toxic for saying that lol). like louis was NASTY in that scene, downright cruel. they both love each other so much yet they both hurt each other just as much it seems. i just want them to be happy 🥲 if that's even possible.

oh and TW: suicide for this section because i want to talk about THAT louis scene in 1973. hell that whole fight he had with armand. first of all, i felt so sad for armand that he was being called boring and dull etc. by louis, even though louis had drugs in his system and was clearly having a mental breakdown. if i'd been armand i would've cried on the spot ngl 😭 i'm surprised armand stayed with louis after that, probably to just spite lestat? but then when louis went on the roof to try to kill himself by burning under the sun ... i was sobbing and even just thinking about it now it makes me want to cry, as someone who's considered suicide many times since i'm like 19, it hit close to home. i wouldn't wish that shit on anybody and it hurts so much seeing a character i love go through that even though it's all just fictional. and when armand contacted lestat and lestat was asking louis (through armand) "why are you ill? what's happened to you?" and later "i love you, louis" and he said it so softly like ... DAMN MY FEELINGS.

i ALMOST forgot to talk about lestat and louis' reunion in new orleans in the last episode (bruh how could i). i CRIED. i loved seeing them take accountability for their past mistakes and just seeing how far the both of them have come, seeing them ACTUALLY be vulnerable and talk to each other and both of them listening to each other and be there for each other. it was such a touching scene. and lestat's voice cracking when he asked louis if he hurt himself back in 1973? it wasn't just his voice that cracked in that moment it was also my HEART wtf

and how sweet and heartfelt that hug was. i was kinda glad they didn't kiss/get back together in that moment. it made the moment more meaningful, and i think it's good for them to be on good terms yet still be apart for some time to process things (not forever of course hehe). i'm just glad they're not against each other anymore and that they seemed to have made peace.

of course at the end louis is basically ready to fight any vampire who wants to kill him over the publishing of the book. i'm not too worried. lestat will probably show up to help louis kick their asses or escape (don't spoil me). i do wonder what happened with armand and where he is now!

oh and i gotta say, about the show overall but again mainly season 1, i absolutely LOVE how they portrayed lestat and louis's relationship in general. i'm so glad they seemed like just a "normal" couple and they weren't written as a GAY couple ... idk if that makes sense. they ARE a gay couple but it's not the defining trait of their relationship, it's a part of it of course, but the writers didn't make it all about their sexuality and they didn't make it a stereotype like some shows & movies treat their gay characters/couples, and it was so refreshing. like i'm not even a dude and i felt SEEN. and then i thought to myself "shit, is this how straight people feel when they see a m/f relationship on-screen???" 'cause 99% of the time i feel nothing when watching m/f relationships, but i get really emotionally invested and i feel a connection with m/m and f/f relationships. kinda sucks to realize though 'cause it just reminds me of how little high quality gay content we get in the media but thankfully times are changing. i mean just thinking of how it was like 10 years ago? back then i always had gay ships that never ended up canon lol it was rough. i'm happy i get to have interesting gay ships that ARE canon these days. hope it keeps going that way 🥹 i don't even bother with anything that involves queerbaiting these days, i only go for stuff with CANON gay/lesbian ships & main characters or i'll pass (with some exceptions), i no longer have the patience i had as a teenager, fuck that. it's 2024 we can have more now >:)

well, that went into a tangent. i'll keep it in though 'cause it's a discussion i'd love to have if anyone wants to talk about that further!

one thing i wonder about is what was up with those feral vampires (that's what i call them) early in season 2? claudia ripped the eyes off from one in the forest. these vampires looked ... uh ... i don't even how to describe it lol. but was it because they kept drinking the blood of people traumatized by the war? or was it something else?

anyway. conclusion is i enjoyed the show so so much and i can't wait for season 3!!! i've heard lestat will be in a rock band in season 3 and i'm hyped haha

i probably missed stuff to talk about but the post is already so long. feel free to send me a message/ask if you want my thoughts on certain plot points/characters or just to discuss them! i'd love to :D as long as you're nice ('cause trust me i'm aware of how hypocritical i am by disliking claudia and yet loving louis and lestat's characters dqdsq i'm sorry for that)

now i can freely check out the fandom weee 💃

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep4 Musings - Baby LouLou

Yeah, Louis' right: this whole joint is WEIRD. It's SICK.

Did she literally take a dump? Or lay an egg? Lord, wtf am I watching?

It's like Disney and Dr Seuss got married & had Rosemary's Baby.

More caged bird bird analogies and suicidal ideation.

And it's a YELLOW bird, too--AMC STOP IT, MY FEELS.

NOOOOOO. No sunshine! BAD sunshine!

Nail in the coffin/birdie/child.

Amputation foreshaowing perhaps? Of another body part of Claudia's that will get cut off by the Coven, before she dies? Hrm....

And the COMPLICIT audience is lapping it all up, it's just syrup. (NGL I lowkey want one of those umbrellas.)

Lesmand's tower scene foreshadowing?

This image is cursed. Ghost!Claudia's dress looks a yellowish--UGH.

Sam, you need to be studied.

Louis & Santiago finally have something in common. Cuz SAME! Wtf. Like wtF?

LOL! Luchenbaum said this song is so bad it gives him child abuse PTSD! 😭

Jeeze. 😅 Marked reversal--cuz Claudia LOVES Santiago's performances, esp. No Pain. Like--NGL, I hate the song, too, it's deliberately awful, LOL. But methinks the vamp doth protest too much--maybe you're hating cuz someone's stealing the spotlight from YOU? 😜😜😜

Literally her feelings in S1 post-Ep5 about Loustat. GOD.

Both "Birdie" Baby LouLou AND Louis are caught in a trap, amen.

Armand has some nerve--maybe y'all need new frikkin material!? How the heck do you play the same exact shows 500 times in a row?! Just shows how DEAD INSIDE these vamps are--not even monotony & excessive repetition registers for them; that someone could lose their "childlike wonder" once the novelty wears off. Louis gets it, but Armand doesn't--he represents the vampire trope of them easily getting lost in hypnotic patterns--which is why in some lore they can get stuck counting spilled rice/beans/sand & beans, and staring at flecks of light on a fly's wing or microwaving 1000 rats a night or whatever. book!Daniel had it WAY worse, but Armand had it, too. (And lord, don't get me started on Lasher....)

SELF-sabotage, Mr. I Could Not Prevent It. The only thing "bromidic" here is YOUR "creative" vision! Give her a new play, DANG! 😡

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/764035488039550976/omg-i-just-realized-the-duality-of-loustat-over. It wasn’t unjustified tho. Lestat did abuse Louis, even though he loved him. It’s undeniable. That’s the thing about Lestat, he was born and raised in violence and abuse, and when he gets mad that’s all he knows. He literally dropped Louis from the sky. Even though he kept them in the dark to protect them, Claudia and Louis still felt trapped. The show isn’t the book. In the book, Claudia kills him because she wants to leave and she chooses Louis because he’s easier to manipulate. In the show, Claudia’s desire to kill him is to be “freed” from him, and to free Louis too, because she doesn’t feel safe anymore. From her pov, his intentions and reasons don’t matter.

As I’ve read on X too, Lestat realizes that his attempt at protecting his family was awful because, if Claudia and Louis managed to kill him while he couldn’t bring himself to kill his own father, then he must’ve really fucked up.

And Claudia from the series definitely doesn’t have the same reasons to hate Lestat as book Claudia does.

I don’t get why we must coddle Lestat to this point. He’s great, but when he’s abusive, it must be admitted.🤷🏼‍♀️ like when people say “wait until season two he gets better!” and it’s literally just Lestat being a ghost and showing up for the trial, just to be revealed to not be there to kill them at the end. Those who know his story understand the implications, but to those who don’t know, doesn’t this invalidate actual victims?

No-one coddles Lestat by pointing out that the book quote used to say he “deserved it“ is taken out of context.

The show is not the book - that‘s the whole point.

The show did something stupid, to be frank: they added domestic abuse. For shock value. Hannah and Rolin both commented on that. AND they don’t see the big problem with it either!! And as the start of the toxic masculinity misconception. And… Amel.

Which was confirmed by Sam. Sam, who also tried to warn us re episode 5, wanted trigger warnings on it. Because he realized what this would do.

Claudia‘s motivations might not be done with either - Murder Night, set to be revisited, has not been yet. You have heard an (proven!) edited tale… you don’t know the (whole) truth yet.

We will see.

But if I‘m right - and just to be clear, >I< do NOT “want“ this, but I can add 2+2 together, I understand why they do it, but I don’t LIKE it(!) - and when the Akasha arc will fail because “surprised Pikachu face“ Lestat isn‘t the epitome of male toxicity after all… and then, when the show will point out Amel‘s awakening for certain events… then it will get really ugly.

And then that will leave a really ugly aftertaste.

Also, as a little comment: I have read so much shit and simply false information on Twitter… the show, its actors and the writers always return to the books - why the heck do you think we shouldn‘t? No, the show is not the books - and yet they are doing the books. And s3 will give a lot more context.

You will have to follow the narrative. Because s1 & 2 were not the whole truth. That was what all those programmed responses and the reveal at the end was all about.

Maybe you should rewatch.