#Claudia's death also haunts not only Louis and Lestat going forward but much of the narrative too

[cbrownjc]

Spoilers for the book (and probably the show as well) regarding Claudia:

This is one of the main reasons the show is NOT going to spare Claudia, and she IS going to die. Because Claudia's death -- and the repercussions of it -- is basically a treatise on the death of five-year-old Michele Rice and how Anne was not only grieving her, but felt as if she had failed her. That is basically the heart of the story of Interview with the Vampire, and Louis was her avatar in exploring those feelings of grief and feelings of failure.

I said it before, and I'll say it again here: removing Claudia's death from this story removes and changes the story into something completely AU. Claudia's death not only informs three major characters going forward (Louis, Lestat, and Armand), she basically haunts the narrative of the majority of the subsequent books afterward.

I know there are people in fandom now who don't want this death to happen. And I know some of it has to do with the race change that Claudia's character has now had. They just really don't want to see a young black girl go through the subsequent horror that Claudia goes through in the narrative wrt her death. And I want to make it clear that I understand that aversion.

But changing Claudia's fate simply because of her race, narratively, does not make sense in the way the show has adapted the book. Because what the show is clearly setting up is how even more tragic her death will be because of, not only the neglect she's faced, but the failure from adults in her life that Claudia has endured even when she was human, before she was turned.

People failed this little black girl left and right, when she was both human and then immortal. After her mother died in childbirth, her biological father abandoned her with an aunt who abused her. There were creepy men who would do things like watch her go to the bathroom, whom her aunt never protected her from.

And then there is Louis and Lestat.

Louis, who convinced himself that he was saving her when he pulled her out of the fire and begged Lestat to turn her -- to turn her into a never-aging monstrous creature at only 14 years of age. All to assuage his own guilt, instead of, as Claudia rightly told him, taking her to a hospital.

And then there is Lestat, who knew that turning her was a mistake, that she was too young. But did it anyway, because Louis wanted her. And he couldn't refuse Louis anything for fear of losing him.

Season 2 is just going to continue this theme of people failing Claudia, especially Louis. As Daniel rightly told him in the Season 1 finale:

"You cursed her into the darkness. You chose Lestat over her time and time again."

And now, in Season 2, the setup is already being shown that Louis will begin to choose someone else over her -- Armand.

Armand, who does what he does to her not only because he wants Louis to himself, but because -- as much as he loves and desires Louis, he does not -- can not -- love her, even though Louis does.

Claudia's death is not being set up to be exploitative, as one can rightfully argue many black characters' deaths in such stories usually are. The show's narrative is setting it up to not only be incredibly tragic but, most importantly, how this young black girl was failed by everyone around her at every turn of her life.

Her death will not be just glossed over and forgotten either, as what more often than not happens with black characters in media. As with the book, her death, her character, will haunt the narrative -- and the characters in the show, especially Louis -- going forward.

So yes, Claudia has to die. Changing that would undermine the very reason why the story of Interview with the Vampire was written in the first place: the death of the author's daughter. Louis was the character created specifically to express and deal with the feeling of guilt and failure regarding that death.

To not have that death would be removing something that completely collapses not only the story of IWTV, but most of the following books as well. However, the show is clearly setting it up in a way that I don't think will be at all exploitative wrt Claudia's race on the show, but will actually not only emphasize the tragedy of it, but will have viewers empathizing with how this young girl, this young black girl, was failed by everyone in her life; by those who could, and should have, protected her.

Has Anne Rice ever confirmed officially that Claudia=Michele?

^Stan and Michele Rice on the left, Lestat and Claudia de Lioncourt on the right. As a side note, before this gets into the more serious topic, AR has said she based Lestat on Stan, and there is a story out there that his name was meant to be “Lestan,” but ended up as “Lestat” bc of a typographical error. I don’t have a source on that.

Re: Claudia=Michele?

From the Vampire Companion:

(In the first draft of [IWTV], Rice described Claudia as three or four years old.)… Rice based Claudia’s appearance on her own daughter, Michele, who died at the age of five from leukemia. Claudia even shares Michele’s birthday, September 21.* However, despite the intense tone of suffering and guilt evident in Louis’s telling of the story, Rice insists that she had not been aware that she had included her feelings about Michele’s tragic death. “I never consciously thought about it when I was writing the book,” she says. “I wasn’t conscious of the connection. I knew that I was using the physical beauty of Michele as the model, but Claudia was a fictional character in her own right. The character, the voice, and the things Claudia say have nothing to do with my daughter - but there’s no question that this is the symbolic working out of a terrible grief. What else can it possibly be?”

In the first version of [IWTV], Claudia eventually goes off with three vampire brothers whom she meets in Paris. She does not die. As such, it was as if Rice had attempted to give her daughter a form of immortality. Rice, however, experienced psychological problems that cleared up only after she had rewritten the ending - by killing off Claudia and taking Louis through an experience of intense grieving. This version was much more cathartic for Rice.

*This is mentioned in canon in Claudia’s diary entry in QOTD, which recounts one of her birthdays.

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[ca-suffit]

ohh in that case I absolutely agree with you, there will be a lot of people, especially poc, stop watching, but it probably won't "matter" if the overall numbers rise since they'll get a bunch of white (maybe the racist ones who skipped s2) fans back or in general new people who only see this season as a campy funny vampire show. And yeah, from everything we know so far, it feels like they won't revisit anything from the past, not 1x05, not the trial in any meaningful way. I can see them either pull a "Lestat actually was forced" or they'll just gloss over his involvement since it would completely negate the reunion scene in the finale, wither way, both alternatives are not what I want to see. Watching this show I really had hopes to see them do what is essentially an interpersonal horror story for Louis justice, ultimately ending up for eternity with his abuser who killed his daughter, top tier gothic horror romance, but they seem to have decided to ignore the first two things in that genre. I was also looking forward to devil's minion, but that excitement has also just ended for me. I think in part of why I can't see them go forward with an engaging story is because they killed both of the audience stand ins. Claudia is dead and Daniel is not human anymore, I think that outside perspective is really what made the first two seasons and now we have none of that.

they were always banking on rabid anne rice fans bcuz they're the ones who kept her rich even decades into her books being shit. so they can literally do anything and it'll be "successful." it won't be memorable tho if they rly fuck it and ppl will be more wary of trusting a formula like this again. this has already always been shaky with the race swapping, but they did so well with it up until now. idk, we'll just have to see where it's going.

wrt lestat, his version of IWTV *is* part of his book, so I expect he'll comment on it somehow. we'll just have to see how far. accepting that he was wrong in the fight was a step, but I rly want a lot more out of that. I don't want to say a ton of book stuff theyve hinted bcuz of spoilers but combined with a lot of other stuff it's not making me feel great. sam said some stuff I liked about akasha's arc with lestat. I'm just hoping they give some responsibility for lestat's actions and personality to lestat and don't just always say it was another influence. that would be shit.

"I was also looking forward to devil's minion, but that excitement has also just ended for me."

is that bcuz of the S3 promo or....??

"Claudia is dead and Daniel is not human anymore"

they've heavily p much admitted that claudia will be haunting ppl, so I don't think that aspect is "gone" gone yet. the grief of her death is a constant part of the loustat relationship. so there's some hope there, maybe?? maybe not for what exactly ur saying but just throwing that out there. also there might be hope for daniel too, as he's *very* young compared to the other vampires and we've possibly seen lestat already go after him for annoying him (the coughing). he's still *rly* vulnerable compared to the rest and prbly doesn't have much of any powers or ability to use them well, if he does. idk if that helps any but he's still "weak" compared to them.

[ladycatofwinterfell]

Iwtv ep 2 thoughts!!!!

Loooooove what’s going on in Dubai, Daniel pushing forward with snide remarks and sarcastic comments until Louis loses it a little bit and starts fighting back. Daniel isn’t the only one who can poke around in painful memories, after all.

Louis and Armand suddenly presenting a very united and loving front when last ep their relationship seemed kinda frosty oh they have teamed up to bring my old man down!! That Armand fucked Lestat? Amazing. Them having to be like “but we fucked Lestat more than a hundred years apart it’s fine” while Daniel’s having the time of his life. Him immediately pulling up background music to go with his taunts? I fucking love him. It would be kinda funny tho if it turned out Armand lied about fucking Lestat, that it was wishful thinking etc etc. but i also like them having fucked so it’s absolutely fine this way too. And Louis saying how long they’ve been together vs Armand immediately remarking on that he’s been with Louis for 47 years longer than Lestat was with Louis, much to think about there…

Claudia this ep almost made me cry. She’s finally found a place where she’s happy and knowing what that place will become in the end is heartbreaking. Loved her getting the dress and having it change for her. She will never be grown physically but she can put on a woman’s dress, she has to go on a stage and play the woman she is in order to be perceived that way. She’s forced to be an actress before she’s even joined the theatre, to put on costumes fitting for her role. I also like how they adapted Madeleine into this, it wouldn’t have been fitting to keep her a doll maker.

I adore what they’ve done with Santiago, he’s serving. The actor who plays him is nailing the role. Someone else who’s serving is Armand! His gay little tinted glasses? Ooooohhh yes. Him telling Louis to shield his mind to protect him from the others? Ohohohoh their relationship has been the same from the very beginning. He protects Louis from himself. And Louis watching the world through his camera, only observing until Armand tells him to put it down was great. The contrast between their quiet and gentle conversation, the beginning of their romance, and the massacre going on in the background. Claudia’s glee while there’s a fire just next to them? The foreshadowing is making me crazy.

The letter Lestat left for Louis???? Insane, absolutely insane. The romance of it if he thought someone else would be his demise, the guilt tripping of it if he suspected Louis would be the one to do it. “Let treachery eat away at them from within”, “you go carry on with your living”. Don’t waste your life dwelling with me in my death, know only that i loved you. Yours was the ultimate betrayal because i loved you above and beyond myself and trusted you alone, you’ll never be able to live with yourself and I will haunt you. Though on a different note what the fuck had they done to Lestat’s hair, I’m telling you that was not it

Overall very good episode, i hugely enjoyed it and i cannot wait for next week