#I hate this victim them people have going on with Louis

[in-kyblogs]

The thing people miss when they say that Lestat acts predatory towards Louis in season 1 is that he literally is a predator (vampires are predators to humans in particular) but he is not looking at Louis as a predator chasing his victim: he wants to make Louis a predator too. And Louis, whose human job is to exploit other people to his gain, says yes when presented with the choice to be a predator too

[izacore]

.

[shesnake]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ultrapoppet]

About the whole who's the mother in the unholy family topic, actually neither. But who you assign it to depends of your relationship with your mom figure or depiction of moms you're used to seeing in media. I'm leaning towards Lestat as a classic evil stepmom who forces Cluadia to becomes his dad's caretaker. But they both have mom moments at different times.

About the whole feminization of Louis which some fans take way too seriously, again they're both men. But as Florence aptly put it, their nails are manicured. And honestly looking for the woman in the relationship is kind of a Florence take (rip you'd loved fauxmoi).

Regarding the housewife comment which is something Claudia says to Louis to rile him up against Lestat and people take way too literally, show me when this man washed a single dish? He was a hoarder and mostly just ignored his husband that's literally the opposite of a dotting housewife.

But more seriously, even though Lestat is the more powerful person in the relationship, the abused housewife dynamic hinges on sexism and socialization of women that Louis just doesn't exprience. Mainly:

Women are socialized to associate their value with being wives and mothers. They are judged more harshly for divorce and are expected to put up with a lot more to save the marriage. It was legal and common for men to beat their wives and women were expected to put up with it. Louis was socialized to be the patriarchal husband and the provider. And society was not encouraging Louis to keep sodomizing with a white man. Society very much wanted him to not be in a biracial gay relationship and go settle with Hazel instead. On both sides.

There are a system of laws and social roles put into place to keep women dependant on men. Both in terms of financial dependence and the spaces single women are allowed to coccupy. Louis didn't have Lestat's fuck you money then but he was born rich and as a man he was allowed to own and invest that money. We never see him not be well off. He could comfortably live as a single man and face way less judgment than he did with Lestat.

I hate it but Claudia venturing out on her own as a young looking woman and a less physically powerful vampire and having to deal with bruce vs Louis hunting the gay population by cruising shows the contrast well between what men and women usually face in society.

This whole thing feels like another way for Louis fans who are super attached to the idea of him as a helpless victim to give Louis even more disadvantages than he actually had. He is a man. He is rich. He was a pimp. Instead of dragging sexism into this, stick to Louis sacrificed himself by *insert event* posts idk.

About the whole baby trapping argument, Louis is the one who wants Cluadia. He's the one who makes promises Lestat wants to hear to coax and convince him and Lestat gives in and does it for Louis. If anyone baby trapped anyone it was Louis baby trapping himself. Except the baby convinced Louis to finally leave and Lestat was ready to abort it a few decades in.

Also I'd argue that since they mostly live outside of human society, Lestat's main power over them is being an older, more powerful vampire which is a role that can be occupied by a woman. Although vampires still follow human patriarchal norms so probably not many women became coven leaders and it's also unlikely a woman would've acted the way Lestat did.

Also interesting that the qualities Louis displays that get called feminine by fans, mainly being passive which yikes, are actually not a main trait in the one female charachter in the show or the women of vc. But more female fans seem to identify with Louis than they do with Claudia because there are more depressed girls on this website (who low key want to fuck Lestat) than plot murder girls.

[anime-villian-irl]

I feel like every ship in with is unhealthy and we are fools to believe otherwise. They have all harmed or hurt each other in terrible ways.

Louis , lestat , Armand , and Daniel are all shitty people. Claudia is a shitty person so is Madeline. Same with Antoinette.

Every vampire in this series is a horrible person.

So for the love of fucking god stop being weird about them.

Stop trying to make Louis this big evil controlling man. "Oh but he was a pimp" lestat has killed a sex worker claiming her life doesn't matter because she was a sex worker.

Stop making Armand some one dimensional manipulator who only subs as a act if control "oh but he killed Claudia" Claudia is literally a serial killer she has killed for fun not for food several times.

It's okay to hate a character god knows how much I hate Antoinette and lestat. But stop pretending your other characters are perfect little angel babies.

They are vampires by nature they are fucked up and shitty people. Stop pretending otherwise.

And motherfucker this started with ships. Okay let's go back to that

Is loumand unhealthy?

Yes Armand killed Louis's daughter and was pretty willing to let him die. Armand also only got with Louis because he saw his own depression and misery inside Louis and he was lestats fledgling.

But don't act like loustat isn't also unhealthy.

Lestat physically abused Louis. He tries to isolate him from his family. He saw his own fuckin daughter as a love rival (I do not give a flying fuck about his dark daughter and belladonic beauty bullshit he saw her as a romantic rival for a while)

No vampire ship is going to be 100% healthy.

Claudia and Madeline would of been unhealthy if they were given time to grow in their relationship.

Like I said in the tags of a post.

They are the victims and the abusers and so much fucking more and I love them for that.

[ca-suffit]

This antiblack campaign the fandom just tried to kick up again (to avoid talking about the real issue with Nalyra) reveals how powerless they're starting to truly feel now.

They don't have many users left to vilify so they're putting people on blocklists who are brand new (I was here 3 days lol) or not even really in the fandom. That looks goofy and desperate but then it keeps going. DMing strangers to say "the truth" isn't about racism and "talk to me if you really want to know about anything." Everyone's reblogging those blocklist posts now and adding large commentary suddenly, when before they often fully sat it out. They're doing this in a group to look like they have larger numbers and are "revealing" there's a "big secret bullying problem"....except nobody believes them. Because there's plenty of accounts who are out here saying this shit straight to their faces and they pretend we all don't exist. All of this group has to manufacture drama solely because they just don't want to talk about harmful shit they actually do.

Neil has to make an antiblack statement she made suddenly be about antisemitism towards her, Nalyra's antiblackness is "actually" fans upset about shipping and "what's REALLY coming" in S2, showmey0urfangs is always happy to show up with her dumb screencaps and villain monologue nobody asked for so she can make her everlasting outrage about popular black fics and "feminized" Louis sound deeper than it is, Virginia suddenly cries about IRL issues and wants to leave the fandom because she wants to distract from the Nalyra receipts, Keybearer accused another black fan of trolling people and getting accounts suspended on twitter in 2023 when a Marius fan eventually confessed to it and his eternal shame for that means now every black fan except him is a bully (despite nobody talking about this ever anymore except him), chicalepidopterare mocks a black fan for blocking her "because I thought we were supposed to talk about racism" and then poorly tries to frame any retaliation against her to look like bullying ("see, they're misogynistic, they're bullying my art, they're mean for disliking these ships!").

To quote Claudia here, "You must think me an idiot." And the big cherry on top is also how none of these losers can stand to hear any mention of race....in the fandom of the show that nonstop talks about race. They're using very basic (and meant in a gentle, loving way) teasing of Jacob as proof that black fans are racist against Jacob too, black fans hate Jacob's white wife. People hate Lestat for being white too (what?). They can write crap meta all day about Lestat letting Louis "rape" him and only white victims (Lestat) being real victims to the evil black and brown "true" manipulators (Claudia, Louis, Armand) but gentle teasing from black fans about Jacob's haircut is the real racism. Okay lol. Care to tell us again why you think Delainey's Claudia looks "less innocent" now then? This 3D chess you think you're playing isn't playing how you think for anyone else.

I also notice that afaik there's not a single black American in this group. Idek if there's many Americans of any kind in the group. It's been a lot of shaming to black Americans specifically though, again from the show that's focused on black Americans....by people who aren't black Americans.

"There's people pretending to be black so it's okay to keep hating this whole group." It's not enough you already nonstop shit on black fans as it is, now you have to try to angle it as if none of this could be authentic in the first place. Vile behavior. For what? Tumblr isn't even a platform that pays you for whatever clout you have, so really what is the point here. In a small ass fandom on top of it. Some of you have pretty grown kids too, this is extra sad. It makes all the jumping through hoops to coddle Lestat's behavior make sense though, if you're the same kind of person yourself. Anyway, maybe you don't actually know everything because race exists in the real world beyond how Anne Rice wrote about it in her useless books! You make books written by a racist white woman your whole personality and guess what your outlook on life is going to be.

It's been really pathetic to especially watch any fans of color move more to this extreme bullying side as time has gone on. It will never pay off to promote white fandom ideals. These accounts you're trying to cuddle up to aren't even that big. The fandom outside of the tags actually has much more popular posts, supporters, and fics...although that's also half of what this all is actually about, fic numbers. Again, these are grown adults obsessing over this. We could have a whole different fandom if this group didn't exist and keep wanting to gatekeep everything and be the only people who get praise about anything.

It's no surprise that people who worship Anne Rice have major ego problems themselves. It's been fucked up to deal with but the good thing now is that big egos have big collapses eventually and that's what we're starting to see happening now. People are sick of you and able to see through your basic ass manipulation techniques. People just want to have a fandom, they're not here to worship fans who want to be dictators. Nobody is here for your fragility, losers.

[waterghoulcalamity]

a little lengthy but here are my predictions (or maybe expectations, in some cases) for next season of iwtv:

just like "the vampire lestat" begins with lestat reading interview with the vampire, the season is going to begin with louis reading lestat's book and possibly going to find lestat again

i wasn't sure if they were going to change the format of 2 time periods happening at the same time (the interview in louis apartment and the story and louis was telling) but i feel like it's the best way to do it, idk if they're going to have daniel interview lestat but i think it'd be interesting if they had lestat kind of post something he recorded of himself, am i the only one??

TW for SA // i believe they're going to go as far as they can with lestat's turning. some people say that lestat's SA in the books is purely metaphorical (because no penetration happens) but i would say no, that it is very explicit, biting is supposed to be this infinitively more intimate and pleasurable act than sex for BOTH the vampire and the victim in the books (because vampires can't have boners, apparently) and, since the whole reason magnus chooses lestat is because of his looks, i think we should be prepared for not only lestat's turning scene to be even worse than it was in the books, but the entirety of his stay with magnus as well, i won't go into detail of what happened but, well, you know

i think they will have lestat kill his father, which will give a whole new layer to lestat letting louis and claudia "kill" him, accepting louis knife in his throat. sam has said multiple times that his "death" was kind of a wake up call for lestat because he had been living at the peak of his chaotic behavior for too long, so i think it'd be interesting if they did that, because it would also make more painful why he never looked for louis and claudia, as in saying "i had to kill my own father and it was painful for me despite the fact that i hated him, and now i push you to go through the same pain because of my actions, i can't face you"

i hope, i HOPE, that they drop the incest with his mother. i think there are many ways they can make their relationship uncomfortably close without having resort to incest, please rolin i'm begging you

i'm manifesting that this season is going to be 12-15 episodes long, i'm willing to wait until 2026 for 12-15 episodes

pleaaaaseeee i want louis and lestat to be in that awkward "we are trying to be friends" stage but failing miserably because they're too possessive and could never be normal about each other

i think they're going to have armand find lestat at least briefly after the release of his book, it's going to be fun seeing what they have to say to each other. i don't quite think it's going to be like in the books were armand begs lestat to love him and let him stay with him but i do think they're going to keep some of those elements

speaking of armand, i think they're going to revisit that scene in magnus's tower with the three of them and they're going to reveal that armand was in lestat's head BEGGING him to go with lestat or something of that nature, like saying that all of this could've been avoided if lestat had loved him and it still could if he did, but lestat continued to reject him as he always did. idk if it was just me but i find assad's face in those scenes to be telling a story we don't quite understand yet

back to them meeting again in the modern times, i think armand is going to tell lestat about daniel and lestat is going to genuinely be happy for him (because they do keep a sort of friendship in the books after everything)

well, that is all. this thoughts keep circling my mind i think i needed to put them to rest, hopefully this will be enough but probably the only thing that can is s3 being released in this instant

[showmey0urfangs]

IWTV Fandom PSA

⚠️Warning: Very long post

TLDR: The users to block if you want to enjoy this fandom

I'm really hoping this is the last I will have to speak on this but over the past few weeks, I've been receiving a lot of DMs and had many conversations with other fans who reached out to me. It seems a lot of us have gone through or are currently going through the same negative experiences and it also looks like most of it is down to a specific group of fans, who have taken it upon themselves to make this fandom toxic and unbearable for everyone else through targeted bullying and harassment.

The most insidious part is that these individual disguise their vitriol and hatred as combatting fandom racism. They hide behind this pseudo morality to harass and bully others, while perpetuating racism and racist rhetoric themselves.

Though I agree with many of the issues they raise, I know that their arguments are not in good faith and they are only motivated by hatred and a need to assert control over other fans. I hate nothing more than to see something as ugly and heinous as racism trivialized and used as a buzzword in order to bully and demene others.

There is indeed racism in all fandoms, especially this one, and it does need to be pointed out and hopefully eradicated. But this is not the way to go about it imo, and most importantly, that is not the primary aim of these people. For them, racism just a trump card they can use to claim moral superiority over others, just like they use their blackness (for the ones that actually black, which is not all of them) as a pass that exempts them from any criticism, no matter how heinously they behave towards others.

I want to thank to everyone who reached out to me and shared their stories with me. I know a lot of you were not comfortable speaking about this publicly and that's understandable, so I hope I represent your feelings and experiences correctly.

Some in the fandom have also decided to go against this group anonymously or through trolling, which I don't condone because this only feeds into their narrative and gives them more leverage to paint themselves as the victims and to justify their disgusting behaviour towards others.

I believe instead, that this issue needs to be talked about in the open, because open and honest discussions are the only way we can grow and move forward as a fandom.

I recently read a brilliant article about the dynamics in fandom and the use of moral posturing as a both a club and shield for cyberbullying and harassment. While reading it, I realized this here is a textbook case—sometimes down to the word for word insults these people throw at other fans and the excuses they use to justify them.

So grab your snacks and drinks, this is gonna be a long one.

**the screenshots I used are a bit messy and different colors because a lot of them were sent to me by mutuals and other fans who have gone through a similar experience over the past year. Nothing is censored, including the vile language used and all the usernames. I want everyone to see and understand who these people are and how they operate. And these are just a few examples of many that were shared with me or that I have experienced first hand.

Let's start here:

This is the most recent example of the type of fandom interactions this group engages in, and as I pointed out into my response to one of them, the pretense of antiracism is just a cover. It is something they use to claim moral superiority and righteousness and thus justify their harassment of other fans, but the true motivation behind it is hatred, and a desire to exert power over other fans.

They seek to impose their interpretations of the show as the only valid one and to paint anything that deviates from that as wrong and morally reprehensible.

Let's take a closer look at where this stems from:

This group of fans seems to be united by their "love" for Louis and their hatred of Lestat, which fine and even understandable, but they then go further and also attribute moral value and hierarchy to other fans based on the characters and ships they like or the type of fanfic they consume. Once again, this is a textbook case of this sort of fandom dynamic.

This is very much reflected in their vitriolic posts:

To them, Lestat fans are reprehensible and this also extends to the actors and writers who may have any affinity for the character.

*this is the same user on her Twitter account—remember her name, she will appear here quite often.

This is just one example of their trivialization of racism—fans of a character they don't like are equivalent to something as horrific as the ku klux klan.

-----

They also target the cast, especially Sam Reid, for his great crime of liking the character he plays a little too much.

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In their eyes, anyone who interprets these characters differently than them is either wrong or has simply failed to understand the narrative.

Again, this is just one example of that thinking:

This is once again done under the guise that any other interpretation but their own is racist because they believe if they throw that word around, no one will dare to disagree with them.

----

And with this justification, they go after fanfic writers and fan artists who depict Lestat or Louis in ways they don't like—especially those who draw Lestat as GNC, write Lestat as a bottom or verse, or attribute him any of the feminine traits he canonically possesses.

-----

And of course if anyone points out the very real racism, misogyny transphobia and homophobia in some of their own writing and discourse, they are told to stop policing the fandom or called anti black for criticizing black fans.

But when this group does it—going as far as to issue death threats to fic writers and fan artists—it's righteous and justified because only they have the moral authority on what is right and wrong and what is the correct way to consume this material.

The lengths they will go to:

Another example is that this group harassed a fanfic writer and sent them anonymous death threats for allegedly stealing their ideas —because again, only their interpretation is correct and they own a trademark on whichever tropes they write and no one else is allowed to write them.

And this was the response when asked to put an end to their harassment:

There was also an instance of going onto the fanfiction server to directly harass writers in their dedicated channels and consequently getting booted off by the mods for their aggressive behavior towards other fans and for breaking the server guidelines which include no harassment to other users.

This was, once again, done under the guise of combating fandom racism when in actuality it was simply a targeted harassment effort. This is further evidenced by the fact that even after the targeted authors corrected the issues with their fics, some of them going as far as deleting their entire fics, the group continued to harass them and still do so to this day.

*This was the same user later boasting about it on her blog and her friends applauding her for it in the comments.

And when asked about it later, she feigned ignorance and pretended not to care, despite still sending anon messages to the author, telling them they should also delete the rest of their fics.

It seems this same groups were behind the harassment of many fanfic writers over the last year, often anonymously, to the point where some stopped writing or deactivated their AO3 entirely.But again, when called out on this, their will paint themselves as the victims.

From the many testimonies and messages I received, this group seem to be behind most instances of fandom drama that occured in the past year, both on here and on Twitter. And even when the other fans acquiesce to them or even apologize, they will continue to go after them.

This all stems from the belief that they are the moral authority of the fandom, and their interpretation of these characters is the only valid one. Anyone who disagree is the enemy and deserved to be harassed until they comply—and even after that.

Again, this is never about the racism in fandom, it's just about asserting power over other fans.

Their behavior towards other black fans:

That is another important point; despite their claim of speaking for all black IWTV fans and 'uplifting black voices' in the fandom, this group will go after any black fans who disagree with them the most viciously.

They did it to me and many others, as exemplified here, here or here, using the most vile, dehumanizing and racist insults you can throw at another black person to do so. Their logic is always—agree with us or be branded a traitor.

This because our mere existence is a direct contradiction to their moral posturing. When we criticize them or point out that their behaviour towards other fans is reprehensible, they can't shut us down by saying "how dare you attack a black person."

We are black fans who also speak out against fandom racism but disagree with them and point out the hypocrisy in a lot of what they say. Therefore we must be silenced and discredited in order for their tactics to work. We have to be painted as 'the wrong kind' of blacks, race traitors and coons upholding white supremacy while only they have the correct understanding of it.

-----

This was being said to me by a white fan who somehow felt entitled call me a race traitor and accuse me, a black woman, of upholding white supremacy by criticizing him because he knew the group would back him up as long as he continues to carefully toe the party line. And he was right, they all rushed to his defense because it was never about "uplifting black voices" and they have no problem attacking other black fans and using the most vile, degrading and racist insults to do so.

I can personally say that it's the most alienating and dehumanizing thing to be told that you are a traitor to your own skin, that you are not fit to belong to the identity and culture you do—to be told your blackness is somehow lesser—and all this over your opinions about fictional characters.

Again, these are just a few examples. Tumblr only allows certain number of images per post, but I was inundated with screenshots and messages, and I know there are so many more in this fandom who've had similar experiences with this group in the past year, outside of all the ones who've already reached out to me.

This group believe they are justify in dehumanizing and abusing other fans, and in engaging in toxic behaviors such as anonymous hate, harassment, death threats, doxing, false reporting of other fans' accounts etc. because they believe they have the moral high ground and therefore anything they do and say is warranted. They also think this supposed moral superiority makes them untouchable and exempt from all criticism. After all, the rest of us are nothing but lowly pieces of shit who think the wrong things or likes the wrong ships/character etc.

And of course, the moment you respond, defend yourself, or point out their negative behavior, you're a bully, racist/anti black and they are invariably the victims regardless of the context.

----

I'd been ignoring this group's repeated attacks against me and had stopped engaging with them in the hopes that it would eventually die down, but it seems it has only escalated. So I've decided to speak about this once and for all and hopefully be done with it. If this post can also help other fans who have dealt with a similar experience, then even better.

Bullies win by silencing you and making you feel isolated and alone but know that you are not. This is a very common thing that happens in a lot of fandoms and I would once again highly recommend the article linked above and the other posts from that Twitter user because they offers so much perspective on this type of fandom phenomenon.

Fandom is supposed to be a place where we come together around a shared interest in things that we love, not around hatred of certain groups or characters. And I am so grateful that throughout this experience, I was able to meet and exchange with some amazing people that made the negative aspects pale in comparison to all the joy and kindness I've experienced in this fandom.

In conclusion:

My advice to other fans is that anytime someone comes after you, attacks you, throws accusations at you or uses vile dehumanizing language towards you—all under the guise of some false morality crusade— ask yourself if they are truly reaching out to you in good faith or if their aim is simply to demene and ridicule you for a power trip.

If you realized that their goal is just to bully into silence or harass you just because they think they are entitled to, do not engage with them further. There is no point in trying to argue or reason with someone who has no interest in an honest and open dialogue and only in scoring points. Simply block them and move on.

And so to that effect:

**NEW BLOCK LIST JUST DROPPED**

Many of you have probably already come across this person, perhaps some of you may even already have her blocked.

She also has a another account called meastyeyes and goes by that same username on Twitter and on AO3

And these are some of the other people in her friend group that I have seen first hand engaging in this type of bullying and harassment or have found through screenshots sent by other fans.

And of course, this user, formerly greedydemands, who now goes by downstairsbar and verseau on AO3

Some of you may have also seen the others in AO3 comments as

There are probably a few more of them in this group, and in typical coward cyberbully fashion, many of them have burner accounts and they will still find a way to stalk and harass you even after you block them. But I believe blocking and not interacting a good first step.

This has been my fandom PSA. Stay safe out there.

[gyll-yee-haw]

Hiii! Can you please write something for Louis Bloom? He’s sooo bad but he is just so hot I have a hard time hating him 😭 Merry Christmas!

Hiii! Merry Christmas for you too, anon, thank you for this wonderful gift, my first request since I came back <3

Hm yeah, if people don't want us to fall in love with psychos, they need to stop hiring Jake Gyllenhaal to play then yk...

Warnings: oral (male recieving), balls worship, manipulation (from both sides, but heavier on his), description of violence, blood, accidents and other typical Lou Bloom activities (he doesn't hurt reader).

Like 1.7k words

You were new in town. You didn't know about Louis's reputation. The two of you had just started going out and you didn't know much about his job... all you knew was the gleam in his eyes whenever he talked about it, always mentioning he was very successful. You also knew that he worked VERY hard, cause more than once you've seen him spend the entire evening out, or simply drop everything he's doing when he hears about something that could make it to the news. And you would watch his material on TV smiling proudly at his hard work.

You couldn't imagine how hard it must be for him to witness such horrible, tragic events and document everything... again... you didn't know him very well yet.

Time passed and the two of you only grew closer. Louis was fascinated by your innocence... about how you would always receive him with open arms and whispers of "my poor Lou" after a particular long night, or how you'd be horrified after seeing his images on TV, saying things like "oh baby, you must be a hero, how can you endure this kind of thing?".

It just drove him crazy. He was living a double life... he would be the most absolute cruel and unhinged man on the dark streets of LA, and come back to you as a man of many sacrifices. Just when he thought it couldn't be more perfect, he has this idea: the worse his job looked to you, the more you would admire him.

The next night was the first night he came home covered in blood. You almost had a heart attack.

"Lou!" You ran towards him. "What happened to you? Are you hurt?"

"No, it's okay, baby, I'm okay..." He put on his saddest face. "I just... I was out there doing my job, you know... but I... Oh, my love, I did something terrible..."

"What do you mean, Lou? What happened?" You asked nervously.

"You know I'm not supposed to interfere on the scene, but... I couldn't help it... there was this child... he was very hurt on the accident, I just had to help him!"

You hugged him and cried proudly, trying to calm him down, telling him it was okay... oh, little did you know he was calmer than ever as he lied and manipulated you, smirking into the hug as he watched you fall into his trap.

But his need for your attention and affection grew completely out of his control. His storied became more and more absurd and he started to... cause some... situations on purpose, just so he would have new stories to tell you about how brave he was.

Louis was always the type to be behind the cameras, but more than once he filmed himself dragging a victim of a car accident or carrying an unconscious person around, heavily editing it afterwards, to make it look like he was saving them... and he didn't even sell those images, they were only for you to see, with the excuse that he was so humble and didn't want the fame, he just wanted to help.

But he just couldn't fool you forever, no matter how hard he tried. The absurdity of his stories increased drastically and he didn't know where to stop... Louis was smart and cold when it came to the lies he sold for the television, not when it came for the ones he told to you.

And that's when you decided to investigate.

You knew that every time he allowed himself to close his eyes, he would sleep very heavily, since it was so rare. But you needed to make sure of it. So you planned a pretty exhausting night for him...

"Hi, baby" you greeted him with a smile, wrapping your arms around his shoulders as soon as he walked into the apartment that night. "Hope you're not too tired..."

"Hey, love. I'm fine, What do you have in mind?" he smiled back, not suspecting anything.

"Wanted to treat you real good..." you said, moving your hand down his chest, over his shirt. "You deserve to relax a bit..."

"Yeah?" He smirked and you nodded, big doe eyes acting innocent, like you knew it would drive him crazy.

You guided him towards the sofa while he kissed you passionately, his hands softly on your waist. He sat on the sofa and you kneeled on the floor, in front of him. The look on his face made you forget about your plan immediately. And the part of you that remembered it, felt extremely guilty... you couldn't do that to him. He was such a loving, caring boyfriend, you had no reason to suspect he had been doing anything wrong.

He unbuttoned his shirt, as your hands worked on his pants, pulling them down to his knees. You could see through his underwear that he was starting to get hard.

"Come on, angel, let me see those pretty tits, huh?" He asked in his sweetest tone.

You didn't hesitate to remove your top, playing with your tits in front of him, watching his smile grow wider and his dick get harder.

"Lay back, Lou... let me take care of you, okay?" You insisted. "Just relax, I'll be so good for you... put on a show like you deserve..."

"Fuck, little girl..." he frowned, dick now throbbing. He obeyed, though, letting you pull his underwear down.

As his cock sprung free, your mouth watered. What a fool you were! Acting like you could control him when you were down that bad... cock drunk before even having a taste...

You grabbed his shaft, tongue running up and down slowly, getting him wet. You started stroking him as your mouth went to his balls. You sucked and caressed and drooled all over them, eyes rolling to the back of your head as he moaned in pleasure. Louis was the type to hide his moans, but he barely could when you worshipped his balls this good...

You could tell he was getting impatient and the last thing you wanted was to lose control of the situation. If he decided to be in charge, you knew you were in trouble. So you took his shaft in your mouth, little by little, until it hit the back of your throat. You moaned as you did it, hands squeezing your own tits as you tried not to gag. Every movement you made was designed to keep him entertained, to keep him lost in the moment.

Your head bobbed faster as his words and praises got more and more filthy. As he went from "Fuck, you're doing so well, my sweet angel, keep going, you're making me feel so good" to "Fucking whore, so hungry for this cock, bet you can't wait to swallow all I have to give you".

And fuck, you were grateful when he came down your throat, giving you an unexplainable feeling of joy as you watched your man so satisfied, so... calm... maybe a little... sleepy.

"Come on, Lou... let's go to bed... you must be so exhausted." You suggested. He didn't argue, even though he didn't like not returning the favor you just did for him. He just had a long day, and he would be able to please you harder and better in the morning, not now.

The ache between your legs after sucking him off and not getting any attention afterwards worked as some kind of fuel to carry on with your plan. You left him sound asleep in his room, closing the door and walking to the living room as silently as possible, finding his computer there.

Not a single suspicion you had before could have prepared you for what you would find there. That wasn't the sweet Louis you knew... the way he dragged extremely hurt people around the streets, positioning them like they were toys... he didn't seem to be... helping them. Took you a while to understand that it was all fake. He had been creating entire scenes from scratch, he was a fucking actor... you shivered as you heard a woman screaming for him to stop as he manipulated her body like a doll... the way he told her to shut up...

"You know that's really none of your business, darling."

Your blood froze. You wouldn't dare to look up, but you could feel him standing beside you. How long has he been there?

"Lou, I can explain..." your eyes filled with tears.

"I know you can." He sighed, sittind beside you on the sofa. "But I don't really wanna hear it."

You flinched as he raised his hand, but he just rested it softly on your cheek, wiping a tear away.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, sweetheart... you know I could never do that..." he reassured you. "You need to know a few things about me."

You sat still and he saw that as a sign to continue. "You see, I don't hurt anyone. I just... find them in a very bad situation and... I have to do my job, you see. And my job is not giving people the truth, my job is to give them something they wanna watch..."

"But... Lou... that's wrong..." you gathered strength to finally speak.

"Then tell me, little one, who's so bad? Me? For giving people entertainment... or is it the people who find this entertaining?" He continued caressing your cheek. "And that would include you, I'm afraid... cause you watched everything I ever showed you and you fell in love with me while you did so."

"I didn't... I didn't know..." you tried to justify it all to yourself more than to him.

"I know it's shocking, my love." He brought you closer to him, giving your forehead a kiss. "You're new here... LA, Hollywood... every magical thing you see on TV is absolutely filthy behind the cameras."

Maybe he was right, and you hated it. You knew you were being manipulated, but you just couldn't... not see how it all made sense.

"Come back to bed, princess." He offered, his voice was calm as if nothing had happened. "We can talk more about all of this tomorrow. There's so much I need to show you."

His calm attitude indicated that he knew you were sticking around, even after he revealed his true self. The fact that you took his hand and followed him back to the bedroom, showed he was right.

[la-pheacienne]

Whenever I see people saying that Hugo's admittedly insane info-dumping in Les Miserables is due to the fact that he was paid by the word, I get unreasonably angry.

Guys, no, you just don't get it. YOU LITERALLY DON'T GET IT.

The guy was writing this book for 20 years. 20 YEARS. It was the work of a lifetime. He travelled around, in France and abroad (Belgium), just to get a close look of all the places he was writing about, talk to the people there, communicate with the place etc. And like, he didn't travel by a motorbike, or cars or airplanes. This was not the vibe at the time.

Also, since we are in the 19th century may I remind you that there was no Google Search at the time. You couldn't just go to Wikipedia and learn about Louis-Philippe and the July Monarchy, you couldn't go to Youtube and watch documentaries about the June Rebellion and testimonies of people that were there and witnessed it. You couldn't just go to Spotify and listen to historical podcasts about the Battle of Waterloo or watch live footage. You couldn't know shit about the way Paris functioned, the history of the city, the importance and the role of infrastructure (INCLUDING THE SEWERS YES) and the way the infrastructure of a city is literally a reflection of the people and the customs and the social plagues that were specific of that city, unless you were, quite literally, a Statesman (and only if you gave a shit, which most didn't). There was no Vice News to inform you of the shit that happened in monasteries or in the labour camps. There was no possible way for anyone to have access to information on any of these things, things that were all of VITAL importance for the fate of french people, that were, for the most part, illiterate, ignorant, and/or struggling to survive until the next day. The solution for this was political conscience and social awakening but how could you do that if you don't have a voice and you don't have basic information and knowledge? But. There was a man that had the means, that had the ressources, that had the money, and he decided to actually do something with that. He decided to speak out. He decided to write a novel about an entire human society and the people in it. How they lived, what they dreamed, how they suffered, how they tried to change their fate, how they failed, how they tried again, and failed again. He gave voice to people who, quite literally, didn't have a voice. It is no coincidence that the book was loved by the people (the mass) but hated by pretentious critics, including other novelists of the time. It wasn't a novel about critics, it was a novel about people. And people loved it. They loved the info-dumping cause it wasn't "info-dumping", nor a """""""filler"""""""" for god's sake, it was quite literally a window to their world, their living space, their history, their roots, their political struggles, a window that they simply didn't have before, and that book gave it to them. It educated people at the time when they couldn't be educated otherwise, at a time when education was indispensable for social change.

But sure Hugo just dedicated 2 decades of his life writing """""fillers""""" to pass the time and get more money lmao. Shut up for the love of god.

Final note: I'm not saying that Hugo's portrayal of french society is without flaws or totally realistic, or that his characters don't seem simplistic at times in their misery and total victimization. This work doesn't delve deeply into the person, that is its flaw. It goes mainly outwards, because its main goal is to educate, while at the same time being immensely entertaining, (at least for people who weren't used to instant gratification like nowadays). That is his value.

[williamaltman]

Ok so, I've been wanting to talk about the whole episode 5 recollection thing ever since we saw it on the previous trailers, and since there were more shots of it in the new one too I'm gonna take the opportunity...

So, in all the little shots we've seen, we have Louis going at Lestat. So I'm guessing the idea is that they're gonna make the """fight""" actually more of a fight and not just Louis getting beaten.

Personally, I am pleased with this, because I think it's basically the best way to deal with this whole mess. I never had an issue with Lestat and Louis "fighting". What I have issue with is how extremely violent it was, how Lestat actually seriously hurt Louis. If it had been just a punch or two (though that would already be domestic abuse) I wouldn't have been fazed, but his whole body was bruised and bleeding. There was a trail of blood when he got dragged across the street. He took months to heal. In their little "fights" (actually not sure if it's more than one) in the book, Louis was completely fine. Lestat never truly hurt him physically.

So, to sort of get into a writers mindset I guess, how could you "fix it"? Well, I don't think they could say it's a fake memory. I'm sorry but the idea that it was implanted by Armand for example is just ridiculous to me. I don't think it even makes much sense in the first place, but besides that, I hate the idea of just blaming Armand to make Lestat seem better. This black and white idea of one of them being the "bad boyfriend" and the other the "good one" that comes from both sides is NOT true to the characters imo, and I also think it's a shitty narrative to go with, storytelling wise.

Besides that, I'm not sure how else you could fully retcon it and say it was fake. I saw people theorizing that only the drop was fake, but again that seems to rely on the Armand fake memory theory, and I honestly don't think they'll retcon it since it was kinda the whole point thematically from what the writers said (that it's a parallel to Paul and that they were "very pleased with themselves" for it). And clearly the initial "fight" is not fake from the new shots we got. Obviously "Louis made it up" is not an option. I remember people talking about how it was from Claudia's POV, which I honestly don't remember whether that part was supposed to be from her diary or not, but even if that's the case the most that could do is establish that the details of the fall are messy because she wasn't there to see it, and that maybe Lestat wasn't so "triumphant" after it.

Lestat attacked Louis, just because he THOUGHT Louis wanted to leave with Claudia. He started it, which does matter imo (I don't think they can change that to it being Louis) and it was completely unequal. I know this fandom is lowkey plagued with gender role discourse, but Lestat, as a stronger vampire, has a huge advantage against Louis, akin to a man hitting his wife, but probably even bigger due to supernatural strength.

And that is to say, technically the main problems will probably still be there. Which is how it should be imo, cause after doing that they have to commit to it, at least to some extent. The idea should not be to fully exonerate Lestat, but to basically soften the blow (literally and figuratively) by adding some more nuance to it. The writers said themselves that they want Louis to be belieavable as a victim.

So, I'm guessing that what we're gonna see is Louis defending himself, getting some hits against Lestat, and that Lestat was hurt too, and maybe something new about the fall. Which honestly is gonna give me some peace of mind. I get why people don't like the idea of discrediting Louis' account of the event, and of how the fandom can turn on him if he's not some perfect victim... But there was (is) just something in me that can't fully ship Loustat as much as I did before with that having happened.

Like, for a while I have basically just chosen to ignore it as much as possible. I don't rewatch the episode, I skip it during reactions, I skip the beginning of episode 6 where we see how Louis is after. I have acknowledged it many times but more as like a meta thing that happened. I probably wouldn't say it's triggering, but it just crossed a line to me and I'm gonna welcome (almost) anything they do to make it less bad than it seemed, not because I want for Louis to come off as a liar or anything but just like... For my own relief, to kinda have a bit of weight off my shoulders when watching the show and shipping them? Obviously I don't know anything for sure and I might be wrong about some things I'm guessing, but not having it be so one-sided at least already helps a bit. (Please don't come here to say I'm a weak bitch who can't handle dark gothic romance or some bullshit like that. I've already talked about that back when the scene aired and if you think it's a simple as that you're probably just dumb and insensitive)

[allwaswell16]

One Direction fics with similar vibes to the fic Beautiful War by itsmotivatingcara which is also listed below and as requested in this ask. If you enjoy the fics, please leave kudos and comments for the writers! You can find my other fic recs here. Happy reading!

Beautiful War by @itsmotivatingcara (M, 103k)

Five years ago, Louis was nearly the next victim in a string of murders plaguing Portland, Oregon. He managed to escape and the Angel Killer was apprehended and sent to prison. Now, Louis' a best-selling author that assists state police with minor cases. He still suffers from the events of the days he'd been held hostage, but he's found ways to cope.

That is, until the killings start up again. A body was found in the woods. A body that bared the same signature the media had dubbed: The Angel of Death.

Special Agent Harry Styles leads the case, and he doesn't buy into the clairvoyant bullshit that Louis spewed to save face five years ago. He's certain that Louis Tomlinson was involved.

Until they meet, and they're both left questioning everything they'd thought to be true.

Or An FBI-Clairvoyant AU

—Harry/Louis—

☽ If these walls could talk by louislittlesuns

(M, 94k, murder mystery) Harry and inspector Tomlinson get caught in a frantic race against time to solve the murder and stop rumours from spreading.

☽ Black with Autumn Rain by whimsicule

(T, 93k, magical realism) Harry is a journalist, Louis has lots of secrets and the moors aren't exactly the ideal place to rekindle a lost romance.

☽ technicolor by @creamcoffeelou

(E, 81k, serial murders) The slow-burn, hate-to-love, crime au where Harry is a psychic, Louis is a detective, and the world is against them.

☽ Baby, I think we might be too cold to float by @forreveries

(M, 81k, murder mystery) Harry is a journalist that goes to Lake Tekapo, New Zealand, to look into a girl’s disappearance after a year of no movement from police. 

☽Derail the Mind of Me by pleasinglouis / @pleasing-louis

(E, 77k, Criminal Minds au) The Behavioral Analysis Unit gets called in to help a small town police department find the killer leaving behind a string of victims with a particularly jarring signature. 

☽ knives don't have your back by @turnyourankle

(M, 51k, uni au) The lone survivor of an on campus massacre that claimed the lives of his four housemates, Harry is urged to take a sabbatical or transfer. Instead, he chooses to stay in school, move into the dorms, and overcome his fears.

☽ Close to Nowhere by angelichl / @loveletterharry

(E, 34k, paranormal investigators) Louis and Harry are psychics who kind of hate each other. They go to Tennessee to investigate a haunting.

☽ once upon a dream by thedeathchamber / @louehvolution

(E, 33k, Medium/Criminal Minds au) Louis is psychic and gets caught in the middle of a murder investigation led by FBI Special Agent Harry Styles.

☽ Red Sun Rises (Like an Early Warning) by JessHallvol6

(E, 32k, psychic Harry) Kingsbrew Hill has a lot of things. An old record shop, a library, and plenty of rain. It also has three unsolved missing persons cases.

☽ Etched in Salt (is a cathedral of the world) by @helloamhere

(E, 24k, crime solving) Louis asks for very few things in life, and they are: to solve cases, to keep bad people from doing their bad things, to get good coffee, to go home to a spacious apartment with nobody else in it, and to manage his stupid telempathy powers with minimal interference.

☽ my solitude ain't the same no more by cinemayougot

(M, 10k, historical) Louis is a traveling homicide detective who goes to the small town of Holmes Chapel to investigate the murder of a young woman.

—Rare Pairs—

☽ Be Still by thisonegoes

(E, 150k, Zayn/Harry) Detective Zayn AU.

☽ your crimes are quiet, my love by lightswoodmagic / @lightwoodsmagic

(E, 97k, Zayn/Liam) A darker Miss Congeniality AU that follows Zayn and Liam, MI5 agents, partners since training and best friends, as they race to stop a serial killer.

[icystorm76]

Lauren’s comments on Ep 4

My sister has now watched Ep 4, and again I wrote down what she had to say. She has never read the books and has no idea about basically everything. Anything in parentheses is my comment on her comment.

Her reaction to Ep 3: https://www.tumblr.com/icystorm76/753858454799761408/laurens-commentary-im-forcing-my-sister-to-watch

“The title of this is “I want you more than anything in the world”, which GREATLY concerns me”

Claudia’s performance

“Wow, she in the show”

“Ok this is kinda creepy”

“Yes, slay Claudia”

“Claudia must hate this. It’s like her biggest pet peeve, being treated like a child”

“His face!!!”

“Ok, that ghost thing is kind of cool”

“Ok, that is abuse again”

“So what happens if Claudia falls in love with another vampire who was turned as an adult”

“I want someone to edit that scene with “it’s a small world” but it’s just Claudia on stage”

Coven meeting after performance

“Anne rice you kinky little bastard”

“It’s funny because she doesn’t like windows when they close but I don’t like Louis boyfriends when they abuse”

“He’s kinda daddy with those muscles”

“Abuser. Victim”

“Understand his commitment issues. Please.”

Louis and Armand

“Wow, eww, keep that gay stuff to yourself. Yes. Thank you. One time I’m with you Lestat.”

Dubai

“He has sad eyes. Daniel does. He looks like the restaurant guy from ratatouille”

*Extreme sarcasm* “Thank you Louis, that cleared it up”

“I feel like his face would be fun to sculpt”

“What? Fire at the theater?!”

“PTSD awareness too. That’s crazy”

Claudia and Santi’s convo in the wet room

“That moment when trying to be a cottage core bitch comes back to bite you”

“Awwww, they’re going to be friends!”(NONONONONO CLAUDIA AND SANTI ARE NOT GOING TO BE FRIENDS)

“Daddy vamp?!?!? I’m using that”

“Marketing campaign, she lays on the ground like she’s fucking dead”

“When are they going to notice she doesn’t age”

Dinner with the coven

“I love how they’re like “we need to get far away from Lestat, who has a French accent. Let’s go to France!””

“Awww, she’s smiling!”

“Du ponte du lac, say his full name”

“Theoretically, if him and Lestat got married he would be Louis Du Ponte Du lac De Lioncourt”

“You know what I need? Lestat drawn by the same person who did Miku binder Thomas Jefferson”

“Why don’t vampires have Orgys?”

“Don’t put all my sexual comments in here. People are going to think I’m oversexual, tell them in not oversexual!”

“That’s kinda gay”

Les+Lou and Claudia+Madeline

“This feels like a scene from a marvel movie, the way it’s shot”

“Is he a goat?! Hello?”

“Oh God, I knew he was going to say that. I knew he was going to say that. You vain bitch”

“Yeah, I think we learned from your last family that thats not always good.”

Art gallery

“Wow, that is doing to much.”

“Look at how bored Lestat looks”

“I love how it’s been years and years and none of the vampires are over their exs”

“I feel like I’m in therapy”

Louis and Claudia’s arguing and Lestats goodbye

“She keeps repeating things. It’s like in books when they do that Oh. Oh. OH. Thing. It was nice the first time but after that it felt like she was looking for things to say.”

“I like the detail that he’s not getting wet because he’s not really there”

“Yo butt gonna get wet. People gon think you peed yourself”

“Oh my god he’s imagining Lestat with emotions”

“Oh my god the snap just happened”

“Ok. Idea. Daniel fucked Santiago.” (She is really stuck on the idea of Daniel fucking a vampire, she just keeps choosing the Wrong one)

“Is the dark gift really just a vasectomy?”

“There it is!”

“I am… so confused. What just happened?”

[lananakay]

Louis De Pointe Du Lac: THE ENERGY VAMPIRE

(pun very much intended)

Louis is my favorite character to hate, so although this post is going to drag him, know that I do it with love! WHY?

Because...*stares off in to the distance*...I was Louis!

When I criticize Louis, it is 100% percent a projection. I'm talking to my old self. At one point I too was a perpetually depressed, pessimistic, selfish, whiny person who refused to take accountability for my part in anything. He is (as he was for Anne Rice) a personification of my journey through depression. I never want to be Louis again!

BACK TO THE ENERGY VAMPIRE!!

And I'm not talking about your refrigerator! I'm referring to the colloquialism of 'a person who leaves you feeling depleted both emotionally and mentally after you've spent time with them.'

Look at these symptoms of an Energy Vampire and tell me they aren't the very definition of Louis De Pointe Du Lac!

The Victim: Some people enjoy playing the victim card and are always ready with a new sob story about a perceived slight. They are innocent but the whole world is always against them. They tend to complain often and loudly about their problems.

The Criticizer: Some people spend a lot of time and energy criticizing other people, things, and situations. Nothing is ever good enough for them and they can find fault with just about anything...except themselves of course.

The Exaggerator: Some people attract and create a lot of drama. They always seem to be in the midst of a major catastrophe and when they aren't, they'll add embellishments to turn the most mundane stories into epics.

(Letsat says this didn't happen, and Louis eventually admits it was embellished.)

The Manipulator/The User: Some people are able to manipulate just about any situation to their advantage. The don't think about the effects of their actions on the ones they claim to care about, draining them of emotional support to get what they need.

The Negative Thinker: Some people always see the glass as half empty and have a very negative attitude toward life. They can always be counted on to point out the downside or potential risks, without leaving any room for hope or excitement.

(this whole scene of Claudia being excited and happy and Louis dragging her down.)

The Blamer: Some people are quick to place blame on others. They’re never at fault but always willing to hand out heaps of shame and guilt.

In conclusion:

[verysadlesbian]

What if Dreamstat is really just Lestat astral projecting from the depression slumber he has going on??!!! No, cause when he called Louis a little whore, I laughed and was like "girl why do you hate yourself?", but the bit about 18th century Armand got me thinking "what if this is the real Lestat?". Of course it could be just a reflection of Louis' doubt, but then again, why specifically 18th century? Why not "let me tell you something about Armand", it would get the point across well enough. If it is Lestat, he's still looking out for Louis, even though he killed him (tried, anyway. or somewhat tried... he went along with Claudia's plan... for the most part) and yes, Lestat had it coming (he only had himself to blame), but I don't think that he would ever accept that, in fact, I don't think he ever considered that the things he did were fucked up, except maybe after episode 5, but still, to me it felt like he thought Louis and Claudia were overreacting, like the domestic abuse wasn't that big of a deal (and honestly that's what i feel like a lot of people act like in this fandom. To the point of them saying it's a false memory that Armand put in Louis' head and so on and so forth, like, are we really doing that??? In 2024, we're doubting domestic abuse victims?! Is that what we're doing here?! Wow.). But like I was saying, you know, generational trauma and all that, Lestat's father was an abusive controlling piece of shit and he became just that, but failed to recognise it and to him his actions weren't as bad as his father's, cause he could never be like him (in his head), so surely that episode was like a fluke or something, not a big deal (again, in his head), to the point that he thought some gifts would fix everything. Anyway, what was I saying again? (I have adhd, don't come for me). Right, so, if Dreamstat is real Lestat's astral projection, then he really loves Louis (sometimes I doubt it, feels more like possessiveness than love, but i guess it can be both), or maybe that's just what Louis wanted to (cause real lestat would be crying, screamig, throwing up and killing jean-paul sartre as a form of protest if he saw louis on a date with another man, not just calling him a whore, so there is that). Also the fact that it's called "Dreamstat" it's kind of suspicious to me.

[pearwaldorf]

idk why I thought episode 7 of IWTV had aired already, but we got to the end of 6 and my husband told me we were fully caught up.

I both love and hate that they're airing it weekly. Nobody out here doing it like Rolin Jones and co.

I genuinely do not know how they managed to make S2 even better than an already stellar S1. People are going to pass on this show because it's genre and doesn't have enough white people in it, and they should be sad and pathetic in their ignorance.

Everything is done with craft, precision, and care in a way you very rarely see anymore. The writing is so fucking good.

You know how sometimes prestige TV is written in this very "I'm extremely fucking aware I'm a prestige TV script" way? (Like Black Sails. I still think the show is amazing, but sometimes it gets old.) IWTV does not do that. All this beautiful dialogue just flows like it's the only way these characters could have ever expressed what they're thinking and feeling.

And the actors elevate this incredible writing. Assad talked about how easy it is to say these lines (and I agree they're definitely pulling their weight), but that nasty fight between Louis and Armand in San Francisco? You can't just yell those lines and expect them to do all the work.

Every character is messy and complicated af. Louis has Lestat in his head like fucking Caprica Six for about half the season. Armand is... well. Everybody's culpable, monstrous even; and everybody's a victim. But in a way that's actually interesting, partially because there's no overt moralization. You're an adult with media analysis skills, you can draw your own conclusions.

If any of this sounds interesting, I really hope you'll give it a shot. There's a 7 day free trial of AMC+ and it's coming to Netflix at some point. Happy to give content warnings if there's something you're specifically concerned about.