#I don't even watch this show anymore but this draft was taunting me

[kingdomoftyto]

Continuing my liveblog of the early, 1992 draft of the IwtV movie script~

Okay where did we leave off?

Ah. Right. And OH boy, that "papa's waiting for us" line has some potentially horrifying implications. (Final version, she says "Papa left us and didn't come back.") Maybe her mother was just lying to her about it, but if she really does have a living father out there somewhere then UH OH everything that's about to happen is even worse than it already was!!

Louis feeding on Claudia and Lestat taunting him about it plays out pretty much the same

More of Louis being ready to throw hands with Lestat. Wish we could have seen them running on rooftops like this!

... The final cut has Louis holing up in a sewer drain and Lestat mocking him a little bit before trying to reason with him about his vampire nature: "Evil is a point of view. God kills indiscriminately, and so shall we. For no creatures under God are as we are. None so like Him as ourselves." Lestat brings Louis back to the inn and Claudia's already there waiting to be turned.

MEANWHILE, in the early draft:

The WHOOOOOLE backstory

I can't decide whether this is hilarious or a bummer, honestly. On the one hand, having Lestat as a more sympathetic character from the outset would have been interesting to see. You could make a whole AU out of that and it be really fascinating and fun. The movie(s) could have been a sort of retcon reboot for the series, which may or may not have panned out well, but could've been an interesting experiment.

On the other hand, the pacing of this movie would have been terrible and the framing story with Daniel would have been kind of pointless and confusing, on top of the obvious problems with Louis' and Claudia's reasons for hating Lestat later. It's kind of massively important to the plot that Louis couldn't pry any useful teachings out of Lestat no matter how much he tried, and that he was sure Lestat only wanted him for his money. Doing away with both of those things PLUS making Lestat gentler and more willing to talk about his personal history just makes Louis' intense dislike of him seem unreasonable lmfao

Anyway, let's see how The Vampire Lestat might have been adapted as a film!

So ANYWAY, we get a quick version of him killing the wolf pack.

Wh

Now she's just fucking with me. Antoine???? Nicolas gets cut completely but Antoine shows up in Auvergne????

Why are you like this, Anne Rice

Gabrielle gives Lestat some money so he can make it to Paris. He becomes an actor, and one night he notices Magnus watching him from the crowd.

Abrupt, but appropriate enough. And I know Lestat already said earlier that his maker had gone mad, but I think it still would have been weird to see Magnus "leaping about like a spider monkey" without hearing any of his dialogue first lmao

aaAHYIGHIDH I mean I GUESS. Definitely one part of the book I can live without seeing on the big screen, thanks!

Really subtle dig at Louis, there, Lestat.

God, can you imagine how differently things would have played out if Louis knew all this stuff back at the start of their relationship?? Holy shit lmao

WHY is Louis going to agree to look for these vampires later? Lestat's telling him everything up front now. I guess Louis could assume he's being lied to.

Ooh, even cutting back to show Louis' reaction shots! I'd read this fanfic for sure.

How does this not change the entire rest of the plot lmfao. Also wait, what about making Gabrielle would have been breaking the cult's rules?? Because she was dying? I don't remember them having a problem with her

... So he goes to see Gabrielle on her deathbed, and she is shocked to realize that he's not human anymore.

Hard to translate all this to the language of film. This whole sequence feels a little awkwardly done.

... Gabrielle asks him to turn her, so he does. They run along the rooftops laughing and embracing.

Wh... why? I get not wanting to spoil the hair growing back thing so the scene with Claudia later has more impact, but in that case why bring it up at all here? Very sloppy. Glad she wanted to keep Gabrielle's predilection for dressing as a man, though.

????? Was this a thing?? I don't think this was a thing

F in the chat for Armand's dignity

This rapid-fire barrage of scenes and exposition dumping is really not fit to cram into a single movie lol. Thank goodness the editors took things seriously

djsakhjsfdkg ah yes, the ridiculously kindhearted Lestat that Louis definitely knew about early on in their time together.

Lestat described as an angel, philosophical debates, Lestat aggressively defending the beauty of the world despite his later impatience with Louis over doing the same thing sometimes... This scene really has it all

Oh here we go...!

hohOHOHOHOHO

Sure why not just change the entire tone of the story, make Lestat's "death" an outright tragedy before it even happens! Lmao amazing

Oh, Anne, honey, no. You might want to think twice before using this comparison

Pfft, and then we're reminded that Gabrielle isn't actually dead, she's just off cavorting. Lestat, your problems may be tragic, but they're not quite as bad as you make them out to be. What must this sound like to poor Louis? Is he replaceable too?

... Gabrielle tells Lestat that she's figured out they can survive the day by digging into the ground, and he's just like "oh that's neat"

I was going to make a joke about "mumbo jumbo" being anachronistic, but dictionary.com says the phrase is from the mid-1700s so... nevermind

👀

All right then, keep your secrets

Lol at least there's ONE part of the backstory that he doesn't share with Louis. Kind of hard to bring in Marius without having to get into the whole Those Who Must Be Kept nonsense

"families", Louis smiling at him... what is this. This is supposed to be Louis' lowest point in the story lmfao

jgdHSGJSF so Lestat goes on for a bit about how he crossed the Atlantic, and I guess this is his idea of flirting?? oh my god

He's so GENTLE and REASSURING. What a TOTALLY different dynamic they have in this version

... Ugh, already over the image limit for this post. Let's pick it back up in the next one-!

[allatariel]

Beth and Saint Catherine of Alexandria

I wrote this nearly three years ago and it has been languishing in my google docs waiting to be made tumblr-ready ever since. I have not updated the content appreciably, so it may very well contain outdated theories or speculations long since proven false or at the very least ill-timed, but it feels like unfinished business. I'd rather realease it into the wild than delete all this work. To my knowledge, no one else has yet touched on at least the visual connections herein, but I have been out of touch with TWD and the fandom for a few years now, for various reasons. Thank you for your indulgence.

Apologies if I'm rehashing old information; I looked and couldn't find anything like this, but maybe I ain't looking right.

Special thanks to @bethgreenewarriorprincess and @bethgreeneishopeunseen for listening to me ramble about this and all your help!

The image below of Beth waking up in the hospital never appeared in the show, but has been used often promotionally (here, here, and here for a start), even years later (on August 7, 2016) with the tweet of the Beth's Journey video originally posted to YouTube on November 30, 2014 after 5x08 Coda aired.

She looks altogether more beatific than Rick did in roughly the same situation. See how the light, almost heavenly in nature, illuminates her clean face, smooth brow, and shiny hair and reflects in her eyes, giving them a diffused look, as though she’s looking at something no one else can see, like an apparition. Contrast this with Rick bathed in wan light, sweaty and unkempt, his brow furrowed in confusion and dawning alarm, as he takes in the evidence of neglect in the room around him that is plain for us to see in the ensuing shots.

I knew I'd seen this image somewhere before, and I know it's a very typical depiction of beatific passion, many examples of which can be found in religious art and throughout art history (e.g., here, here, here, and here). But it specifically looks, to me, most like Raphael's Saint Catherine of Alexandria. (for an additional analysis of Beth's saintly framing supported by connections to another saint, St. Mary Frances, see here)

This is a cropped screenshot of the full image found on Wikipedia. Note that another depiction by Caravaggio, whose The Denial of Saint Peter figures very prominently in 5x04 Slabtown (for an analysis of the use of this painting in 5x04, see here), is linked from that page and vice versa, but not any other artist's versions, of which there are many (see here, here, and here for a few). (It is also interesting to note that Caravaggio's The Denial of Saint Peter is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and though it has toured, it has never been exhibited at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. The High does have another painting titled The Denial of St. Peter in its collection, which was painted some twenty years later by Nicolas Tournier who was influenced by Caravaggio's work.)

Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a bit of a mythic figure; the following summary of her life is quoted from the Wikipedia page for her, with citations included linked within.

Legend

According to the traditional narrative, Catherine was the daughter of Constus, the governor of Alexandrian Egypt during the reign of the emperor Maximian (286–305).[6] From a young age she had devoted herself to study. A vision of the Madonna and Child persuaded her to become a Christian. When the persecutions began under Maxentius, she went to the emperor and rebuked him for his cruelty. The emperor summoned fifty of the best pagan philosophers and orators to dispute with her, hoping that they would refute her pro-Christian arguments, but Catherine won the debate. Several of her adversaries, conquered by her eloquence, declared themselves Christians and were at once put to death.[7]

Torture and martyrdom Catherine was then scourged and imprisoned, during which time over 200 people came to see her, including Maxentius' wife, Valeria Maximilla; all converted to Christianity and were subsequently martyred.[8] Upon the failure of Maxentius to make Catherine yield by way of torture, he tried to win the beautiful and wise princess over by proposing marriage. The saint refused, declaring that her spouse was Jesus Christ, to whom she had consecrated her virginity. The furious emperor condemned Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but, at her touch, it shattered.[7] Maxentius finally had her beheaded.

Burial A tradition dating to about 800 states that angels carried her corpse to Mount Sinai. Her body was discovered around the year 800 at Mount Sinai, with hair still growing and a constant stream of healing oil issuing from her body.[9] In the 6th century, the Eastern Emperor Justinian had established what is now Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt (which is in fact dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ).

She is generally believed to have been eighteen at the time of her death. Her feast day is November 25, and in celebration of this day in France, unmarried women pray for her intercession to find them husbands. These unmarried women are referred to as “Catherinettes” and their friends make elaborate hats, or bonnets, for them, using the colors yellow for faith and green for wisdom. The Catherinettes are crowned with these bonnets and make pilgrimages to St. Catherine’s statue in their local churches. Also of note and pertaining to France, she is believed to have appeared to Joan of Arc.

Saint Catherine has patronage over many things; because of her chastity, she is the patroness of unmarried women; because of her scholarship and skill in debate, she is the patroness of apologists, archivists, educators, female students, jurists, lawyers, librarians, libraries, philosophers, preachers, scholars, schoolchildren, scribes, secretaries, stenographers, and theologians; because of her association with the breaking wheel and wheels in general, she is the patroness of craftsmen who work with a wheel (potters, spinners), mechanics, millers, and wheelwrights; because of her beheading, she is patroness of knife sharpeners; because of her martyrdom, she is the patroness of dying people and nurses; because of a tradition in France on her feast day relating to her patronage of unmarried women, she is patroness of milliners, hat-makers, tanners, and haberdashers.

She is associated with a number of items, or attributes, and when depicted in art these items are often shown with her. A crown, either atop her head or at her feet, denoting her royal birth; a book, held open or closed in her hands, and perhaps her arguing with the pagan philosophers denoting her eloquence and wisdom; a bridal veil and ring denoting her mystical marriage to Jesus Christ; a dove as one legend states she was fed by a dove while imprisoned; a scourge, the breaking wheel, either whole or itself broken at her touch, and the sword that finally ended her life by decapitation; (hailstones are also listed in places, I got nothing). The type of firework known as the Catherine wheel is named for her.

Additional references for information about Saint Catherine of Alexandria can be found here, here, here, and here.

And now for the parallels, the reason I’m boring you all (all two of you) with these details about a long dead, and likely entirely legendary figure.

Like Saint Catherine, Beth is the daughter of a leader. Hershel Greene, initially of the Greene family farm and later of the prison. Before the fall of civilization, Beth was a student and after she doesn’t start out understanding what’s really going on in the apocalypse. When faced with it, she thinks she wants to die, but when she tries to kill herself she has an epiphany and chooses to live; this is rather like Saint Catherine’s path to conversion, in how she devotes her life to learning, then experiences a vision and becomes Christian.

Beth was “imprisoned” in Grady Memorial Hospital, was beaten, but never broken. Carol and the others "visited her" in her prison and she converted people, like Noah and Dr. Edwards, to another way of thinking. She broke their system by challenging it and getting Dawn killed after having killed the biggest offenders, Gorman and O'Donnell. She was shot, but didn’t die. Saint Catherine was imprisoned and tortured, many came to visit her and were converted. They tried to execute her and she not only survived, she broke the tool of her execution, symbolically breaking their system. Both were eighteen at the time of their imprisonment and attempted execution.

Beth was carried out of the hospital by Daryl, who wears angel wings, and left in a trunk after running from 800 walkers. She wasn't dead so her body would not corrupt. Additionally, she is immune to the infection and incorruptible by it (another way she “breaks the wheel” by breaking the infection). Her immunity will be the source of the cure and thus heal others. Saint Catherine's body was carried to Mount Sinai by angels and was found incorrupt and issuing healing oil in the year 800.

The mystical marriage of Saint Catherine is interesting; one variation on her conversion involves her search for a husband that matched her in intellect, nobility, and beauty and a hermit in the desert who, after a vision of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, went to Saint Catherine and told her of the spouse she desired. This hermit eventually baptised her, preparing her for her mystical marriage to Jesus. C@rol, who was a hermit for a while, brought Beth’s knife (an attribute of Saint Catherine, a small sword) to Daryl, giving him his lady’s favor, essentially marrying them (more here).

Saint Catherine’s reason for her refusal of the offer of marriage from the man who was trying to have her executed makes me think of the metas about 4x12 Still and the blood splatter on the white sweater foreshadowing Beth losing her virginity with Daryl (here and here, though there are more). I can just imagine Negan asking her to join his harem and Beth refusing by saying she's already promised to someone.

Bonus connections!

Beth’s father, Hershel, was beheaded with a sword like Saint Catherine; I know this isn’t a direct parallel as this happened to her father and not her, but I think the connection is solid enough with him being her father and her having watched it happen.

The spoked breaking wheel rather resembles a clock, which is heavily connected with Beth.

Saint Catherine appeared to Joan of Arc and counseled her; in 5x04 Slabtown Beth brought some small comfort to Joan during her confinement after her amputation.

Coda aired on November 30, the Sunday following Saint Catherine’s feast day of November 25.

Saint Catherine is a patroness of mechanics, and Daryl, Beth’s apocalypse husband, is the mechanic of the group (bonus bonus, he rides motorcycles which have spoked wheels like the breaking wheel).

The blond walker in the yellow wheelchair (mentioned here, here, and here, towards the bottom in all three) with the wounded left foot in 4x06 Live Bait is connected with Beth through her signature yellow color and wounded left foot in 5x13 Alone, and the spoked wheels of the wheelchair resemble the breaking wheel, symbolically representing the hospital and foreshadowing her breaking of it.

In Raphael’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria, there is a braid in Catherine's hair that starts at her left temple; Beth often wore a braid on the left side in her ponytail.

The traditional colors of the bonnets made for the Catherinettes celebrating Saint Catherine’s day in France were yellow for faith and green for wisdom; Beth has been strongly associated with yellow and faith and her last name is Greene. Also both she and her father have been associated with wisdom.

Not to mention the St. Catherine of ALEXANDRIA thing.

The final parallel I would like to highlight is the breaking of the wheel as the breaking of the cycle the show is currently stuck in, like a pair of millstones, the runner stone circling on the bedstone seemingly endlessly. The official synopsis for season 7 says “This half season is about these characters starting over. The overall theme of the season is beginning again.” The first episode of season 6 was called First Time Again. In season 5 after Terminus they begin again together. The Governor destroys the prison and they are forced to begin again, scattered. How many times will we take it once again from the top, everyone? (Washington D.C. = D.C. = da Capo, anyone? “Da Capo” is Italian for “from the head” and shares the same Latin root with “decapitate.”)

I mean, that's what the comic has done, over and over and over again; the war with the governor, All Out War, The Whisperer War—same shit different day. Abraham references this in his speech in 5x02 Strangers, “Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat?” as encouragement to get them to join his mission to D.C.

Beth’s return is a way to break that cycle for the show—in the endless string of deaths and losses, finally they get someone back.

Morgan says, “People can come back, Rick.” in 6x15 East. Morgan says it to Rick just like Rick said it to the governor when he came to take the prison. Rick says, "Everyone who's alive right now. Everyone who's made it this far. We've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We're not too far gone. We get to come back. I know... we all can change." in 4x08 Too Far Gone.

In 6x15 East, Morgan also says, "It—it's all a circle. Everything gets a return." Everything comes full circle with Beth’s survival, she’s not just “another dead girl” as she says in 4x12 Still.

The circle, the cycle, the wheel—Beth will break the wheel just like St. Catherine of Alexandria. Once more from the beginning, but skip to a different ending (da Capo al Coda).

[bwoahtastic]

Alpha!Hulk jealous because omega!Kevin has to do a photoshoot or something sponsored related, with another alpha and said alpha is flirting with his mate. (Bonus point if the other alpha is another driver from the grid or someone who had raced against Kevin).

Look Romain doesn't strike me as an Alpha or omeone who Nico should be jealous off so let's pretend Williams gets sponsored by Jack and Jones as well yeah? Thanks xoxoxo ALSO SO SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT I JUST FOUND THIS IN MY DRAFTS

×××××

Nico felt rage filling his senses as he watched Kevin sit down next to Nicholas, the two of dressed in Jack and Jones's clothing. The Canadian Alpha wrapped an arm around Kevin's waist at the director's request and the Danish Omega easily leaned into the touch, smiling at something Nicky said before focusing on the camera.

"Good, a bit closer." The director said, and Nico growled lowly, before tensing and quickly shuffling back as Kevin huffed grumpily in his direction. The Omega had been quite upset to see the German on the set, and really Nico had had no reason to be here aside from annoying Kevin a little. He liked getting on the Dane's nerves and hadn't been able to resists popping into the shoot location once he heard what was happening.

What he hadn't expected was to feel so incredibly angry at the sight of Kevin cuddled up against Nicholas.

"Next shot is without the shirts." The director called and Nico clenched his fists, watching as Kevin pulled his shirt off. The angel's tattooed across Kevin's chest caught Nico off guard, even if he had seen pictures of it. Nicky seemed intrigued by it too, muttering something Nico couldn't hear before reaching out to run his finger lightly over Kevin's collarbone.

Nico snarled loudly but no one paid attention to him, Nicky and Kevin settling down again with Kevin leaned back into Nicholas a little, the Omega cooing softly as the Alpha wrapped a warm arm around him.

"Good, show those Pack dynamics." The photographer said. Nicky rumbled softly, leaning in to nuzzle Kevin's cheek a little and Nico just snapped.

"Don't touch him." The German Alpha growled, waltzing onto the set and shoving Nicky away. Kevin hissed and shoved up, straightening up and growling at Nico until the large Alpha stepped back again.

"What is your problem?" Kevin hissed. Nico's anger abruptly fell away, seeing Nicky and stepped back to give them space. But Nico could still smell Nicky on Kevin and it was unsettling.

"Let me scent you." Nico almost begged, reaching out for the Omega. Kevin frowned and bared his teeth, taking a step.

"No." He huffed indignantly, seeming wary of the Alpha.

"You shouldn't smell like him, it's.. it's wrong." Nico tried to explain. Kevin was his to annoy, his to taunt but also his to love?

Nico didn't even understand his own feelings anymore. Kevin eyed Nico skeptically, but then slightly tilted his head to bare the side of his neck and face Nicky had scented. Nico sighed in relief and leaned in, lightly scenting the Omega's soft skin while rumbling happily, his instincts at peace when the Omega stepped closer into his embrace.

"Be mine." Nico whispered. Kevin growled, but the sound was shaky.

"I'm no property." He huffed out. Nico closed his eyes, rubbing his cheek against Kevin's.

"I'll be yours too." He breathed out. Kevin's body seemed to soften, sinking into Nico's and it just felt right.

Both when tensed as a camera flashed, Nico instinctively growling while Kevin soothingly stroked the Alpha's hair.

"We still have photos to take." The director said awkwardly.

"I'll see you after the shoot." Kevin promised. "You can scent me all you want then." He added.

"Fine." Nico sighed hesitantly, turning to look at Nicholas, the Canadian Alpha eying them a bit wearily. "You better behave." Nico growled. Nicholas held his hands up.

"No worries. I always take care of Pack"