#also it was a dreamstat scene

[aquarines]

very curious about the creative choice to give lestat a 90's blowout in one (1) scene and never again

[flintsilvers]

i need claudia to haunt lestat but not in the overt, in your face way that dreamstat haunted louis. i need claudia to sit quietly just barely in sight. blurred in the background of every shot lestat is in. even if we don't always see her, he does. but if he tries to look at her directly she moves out of sight. she's gone. he has no chance to fix things with her because she's dead so he doesn't get to look her in the eyes anymore

[hallowvamp]

watching 2x3 today and thought of you at the dreamstat kiss scene. so if you felt some disturbance in the veil a few minutes ago, that was just them going at it again

This makes me so incredibly happy anon, thank you.

[hyohaehyuk]

IWTV awards nominations is why i have more than half of this fandom blocked on tw (and tho i didnt check here yet maybe i will eventually have a lot too bc i heard tumblr is more of the same as tw).

Really sad that Jacob, Delainey, Assad and Eric didn't get nominated but really annoying seeing people getting mad that Sam is when we should be happy bc it means the show is starting to get known/popular so if IWTV and/or Sam win smth is a good sign. But then again this would be the best chance Jacob and Delainey would had to win smth bc we dont know how things will be after season 3. I still think that those 3 will be the main leads so they definitely will still be pushed to awards. The only difference is that now Sam will be pushed as the lead actor & Jacob as the supporting lead (which maybe just like Sam he will have + chances there to win than as a lead actor)

Anyway, i was praying that Jacob stans would be better than ***** stans & wouldn't send hate to Sam bc is not his fault that CCA snubbed Jacob. Besides Jacob wouldnt be happy if he knew his bestie is being attacked by his own fandom. Once again the only sane side of the fandom is on reddit🤦 We can acknowledged there's a racism element that played on why they didn't get nominated but i also noticed people also dont wanna acknowledged that many like to use the racism card to freely hate on white people even when they didnt do anything. This is solely the CCA' judges fault. They probably didnt even bother to watch IWTV and just watched the most rated ep of S2 which i heard is the one that have more Lestat on it.

In conclusion, people getting sad or even mad that jacob did not get nominated is totally justificable. Where many of you are wrong is bringing up other actors' names in the same discurse as if they didnt deserve to get nominated bc they are white and "only appeared for like 5 minutes" as they use as an excuse to justify why Sam shouldn't be nominated. Everyone in this cast deserved to be nominated and even win.

[bluebear-d]

of course, this show does the exact same thing with dreamstat

first we hear the music, then we see his hands and then we see his face. just like it's done in s1.

and just like then, dreamstat shows up to influence a conversation/a situation.

this is how louis remembers him. this is how much louis wants him there. this is how tedious he finds the conversation with armand and how guilty and uncomfortable he feels starting this relationship.

but then!! they flip it in 2x08 when louis enters the shack. we hear the music, see lestat's hands on his sad plank of a piano, then there's a whole ass scene with the young fledgling when lestat is half hidden from us, and then finally, finally!! we see his face. his REAL face.

only this time it's not lestat playing, it's siri. and it's not lestat intruding, taking over a conversation or being a ghost from the past, it's louis. it's not lestat changing the flow of a situation, it's louis, changing it MAJORLY. this time there's no show and lestat is not running anything, he's completely at the mercy of louis.

this time it's open and vulnerable and real.

running the show

there's an interesting thing going on with lestat and music.

he enjoys and appreciates all the arts, yes, but with music it seems he himself has a natural talent for playing the piano, improvising melodies and performing on stage. what's interesting is that he uses music to shift the tides of a given situation.

there's a parallel in 1x05 that i really like:

the episode begins with louis talking about claudia's depression after charlie's death. there's faint piano music in the backgorund. when we get to the flashbacks the music becomes a little louder and more clear, and we see that it's actually lestat playing a melody on his piano.

when louis comes up to him to talk about claudia and accuses him of mistreating her and putting her in this state, this strikes a nerve. lestat makes an angry cord on the piano and slams it shut before storming off to claudia's room to confront her. but she's not there. her coffin is empty. so he saves his anger till later when she comes home.

the episode ends with a parallel confrontation, this time way more savage. a gramophone is playing when claudia finally comes back after being gone for so long, and lestat shows up quietly just in time to see her and louis hugging, unnoticed by them till he stops the music, making a remark (and a face). you can just feel his false calm before the storm, bitterly brewing this whole time up to this point.

a milder example of lestat controlling the flow of the situation with music is in 1x03.

they are sitting in louis's saloon talking about the vampire nature and louis refusing to kill people anymore. lestat does not like where the conversation is going, and once he's fed up he challenges the pianist and goes to play himself. he does this for a number of reasons: it's a means to an end (to this unpleasant conversation); it's a "take that" to louis; at the same time it's smoothing things over with louis by charming him with talent, skill and showmanship; finally, it's a jab at the pianist for leaving his job at louis's saloon (at least as per louis's narration).

in each case we get a close up of lestat's hands, then of his expression (to see his mood and intentions), and then we get to witness what kind of show he's running this time.

having said all that, it's interesting how in 1x05 when louis is depressed about claudia lestat says "you draw me into your gloom". lestat may be running the show, but he's influenced deeply by louis.

[divorceblogger]

the loumand bench scene is a bdsm scene at its very essence and you’ve also got to appreciate the erotic/phallic imagery of lighting cigarettes in that and the ones that precede it. louis and armand light their cigarettes independently in their 2x02 murder mansion date because they’re not really intimate yet and are still appraising each other as potential sexual partners. the cafe scene in 2x03 where they’re smoking and discussing philosophies of evil is adapted from a passage in the book which says louis felt his mind was ‘deeply excited’ and ‘feritilised’ by his conversation with armand. when dreamstat attempts to light his cigarette in 2x04, louis blows out the candle because he’s specifically shutting him off from interfering in & insinuating himself into what is a very intimate moment between him and armand. later in the same episode, armand lighting both, his and louis’s cigarettes, coincides with them finally coming together to shape the future of their relationship after dithering and hesitating so much to articulate what they’re hoping to receive from one another (re: the conversation on whether they’re involved in a companionship in 2x03). armand lighting both their cigarettes also serves as the third and final act of submission that he performs in that scene (1: holding the umbrella, 2: calling him maitre), allowing them to finally settle into the dom/sub dynamic that dictates their sexual lifestyle going forward.

[savagewildnerness]

Just sobbing at how Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, second movement, Adagio assai scores both the scene where DreamStat vanishes & is what actual Lestat plays in New Orleans on his plank-piano when Louis visits him in present day. It is death for me. Death by poignancy. (What a way to go.)

As if Lestat felt the music from Louis’ subconscious. I die by dissolving into music itself. An ocean of musical FEELING. 🌊🌊🌊 (Just how I desire to go. Take me now.)

ETA: it also plays through DreamStat reading Lestat’s letter. 🥹❤️‍🩹💓🥀🎶 like a full circle of music passing between souls subconsciously. ✨✨✨

[camaelczarka]

Having read Interview With the Vampire years ago (and also having seen the 1994 movie like 100 times), I knew what to expect when the show started leading up to Lestat’s ‘death’. But, I was sort of unprepared for how intense the show made this event. Like, I was anxious watching 1x07. And then when that scene finally happened, I was on the edge of my seat. Totally fucking upset (in a good way) by how they were showing this well known canon event. They gave it such a huge amount of gravity and while they definitely made Lestat “deserve” it more, it was still heartbreaking. Claudia dipping her pen in his blood and then suddenly realizing what they were doing with her collection of last words… holy shit. Such an intense moment.

But upon my recent rewatch, it occurred to me that Louis is still SO not over it even in 2022. And yeah that was kind of obvious from how he reacted to Daniel poking holes in his story and how he loses it. But, even with everything they went over in both seasons, it’s really obvious to me that Louis cannot think about the moment that Lestat died. He can’t recall hearing his last words. We do not hear Lestat say “Mets-moi dans mon cercueil, Louis, Louis” because Louis WILL NOT think about it. He won’t recall it. And it also occurs to me that Louis was probably holding him when he said that and that they were probably also holding hands.

(It’s kinda hard to see but Lestat’s arm is bent here which I hadn’t noticed before)

There are other moments between them that we famously don’t hear, but this one feels a lot more like a mental block than a desire to keep some things between them private. And how did that impact the early days of his traveling with Claudia to Europe? Daniel says that she wrote that she “hated” Louis for a while, but he can’t really face that either and he skips forward in 2x01.

I could be wrong but I kind of doubt we will revisit this moment exactly- then again Lestat could talk about it at some point. But it’s interesting to note that after 2x08, Louis is definitely processing his grief over Claudia and Paul, but maybe hasn’t really processed his guilt and grief about Lestat at all, despite the fact that he knew Lestat was alive for at least the last 80ish years. And dreamstat definitely showed the manifestation of his guilt on occasion, but that was long in the past by the time of the second interview, and he still can’t talk about it.

I’m super curious how he’s feeling about this after the reunion and if it’s something that still bothers him or if he’s made peace with it at any point

[claudiablogger]

oh and you will regret this for the rest of your life

the only thing s.r did all season (2) was I did it to hurt him and it did hurt him and afterwards he was a broken thing I know I saw because I am the one who broke him what is worse than that crushing what you cannot own.....

[danlous]

Months of reading how Armand is the Big Bad man behind the curtain manipulating and mindcontrolling everyone with his godlike powers, and now suddenly in one day it switched to cruel Pimp Louis manipulating and enslaving Armand and Armand being his poor victim. I'm begging you to look at these characters and their relationships with some nuance. I'm not denying that Louis is trying to manipulate Armand in some moments (Jacob said it himself in the post-episode bit) but seeing that park scene as Louis intentionally evoking Armand's trauma and a pimp and slave assuming their old roles is in my opinion a stretch and i didn't read it that way. Tbh i also find it pretty offensive that some people are acting like when Louis was a pimp he was doing something similar to people who subjected Armand to literal sexual slavery because they're vastly different situations.

Arun isn't Armand's 'slave name' or 'prostitute name', it was his actual birth name before he was sold and abused, and he lost that name due to abuse. If Louis had actually wanted to push a master-slave dynamic he would've probably called Armand Amadeo, because that was the name Armand's abuser, who Armand served and in some way still loves, gave to him. When Louis was a pimp he notably also didn't actually act particularly domineering with sex workers, on the contrary he was usually friendly to them, because he felt guilty for exploiting women and tried to convince himself he was just helping and working with them and that they were equals. He made sex workers like Bricktop Williams minority owners of his business and they felt comfortable with criticizing him. If Louis had actually 'treated Armand like one of his prostitutes' in this episode he would've acted completely differently. Remember also that Armand has a remarkable mind gift and that Louis is bad at hiding his thoughts: if Louis had actually been trying to manipulate Armand in this specific way, Armand would very likely know it.

In the beginning of the episode Armand is frustrated that Louis doesn't acknowledge that they're companions, and Louis expresses that they don't really know each other. Later at the restaurant Armand gets angry and uses his powers dramatically which upsets Louis. He also talks to Louis rather harshly, saying that he and Santiago are acting like fledglings (children) and angrily tells Louis to come back when he leaves. Later Armand comes to apologize bringing flowers. All this reminds Louis of Lestat, and reveals how apprehensive he still is about Armand. Armand deciding to tell Louis his story is a conscious effort to show vulnerability and convince Louis of what he promised: that Armand isn't like Lestat and he isn't going to hurt him. Jacob said that dreamstat represents not only Lestat but Louis' doubts about Armand. In the museum scene this is particularly obvious when Louis feels deep sympathy for Armand, but at the same time dreamstat - a part of Louis - looks angry and distrustful. According to Jacob in the park scene as Louis lets go of Lestat he's also letting go of those doubts and accepting Armand as he is and for who he is.

So when Louis calls Armand by his birth name that could be considered his 'real' name even though no one has called him that for centuries, i see it as him saying 'Do we see each other now? Are we honest about things now? Can i trust that you are who you say you are?' When Armand calls Louis maitre he's trying to establish an impression of equality, because as they both know Armand is the maitre and the leader of the coven and the one with much more power. For Armand the ideal of love is the one of mutual worship and servitude. Like many things with Armand, his actions in this episode are both sincere and manipulative, and his seeming submissiveness is also certain kind of domination that helps him to get what he wants.

I just don't think their relationship is anything like Louis being a master and Armand being a slave at all. It's a very, very complicated and mercurial relationship that is not easily defined and where the dynamics are constantly shifting. As Jacob said, they're constantly flip-flopping between who's the dominant one and who's the submissive one, and who needs what out of the other. He also said that at the end of this episode their relationship takes on this almost BDSM kind of role playing where their roles switch, which implies that a) it's a play and not what their relationship is actually like and b) there was earlier a different dynamic where Armand was more dominant. Their Rashid role play in Dubai was also that, a role play.

When talking about those Louis' 'manipulative instincts' as Jacob called them, it needs to be considered they're something that Louis developed having to live in a racist society for all his life ("using his weakness to rise") and being in an abusive relationship for decades. For Louis that kind of soft power has often been the only power he has, and of course he's resorting to it when in a relationship with much older and much more powerful person he doesn't fully trust. The way i perceive Louis and Armand's relationship, it's a fragile, carefully crafted design built on contradictions, performances and illusions, where they both seek to maintain a fantasy where they both feel sufficiently in control and the relief of releasing that control at the same time

[iwtvdramacd18]

Much of the discussions around ep 11 are weird but the assertion that Louis had no emotional response to Armand telling him his backstory is very weird. It's all about micro expressions until Louis has them I suppose, but moreover I feel there's emerging this flattening of Louis' character and an unwillingness to acknowledge he often experiences emotions in ways that conflict with each other. I think Dreamstat being there to visually cue at some of the worst thoughts/reactions while he expresses something else on screen is effective in that regard. And then of course there's this rush in to tie every action Louis has regarding that back to him being a pimp in the past, 99% of that just based in racism and stereotypes of how a pimp acts/looks and none of it actually thinking about how we saw Louis when he was working as a pimp and how he interacted with the women working the Azalea. Nor taking into account his confession in the literal pilot where it's clear he knows he's doing wrong and empathizes and feels guilt but continues anyway-- something vastly important to understanding his character but why have contradiction and conflict within a character when you can have a piece of scary black cardboard right? Louis also has a tendency to freeze/ redirect when Claudia brings up her trauma but that doesn't mean he has no emotional response to it. Once again guilt and shame and vulnerability (and Louis' difficulty with reacting to it within himself AND with others expressing it.) And then to make things more complex with Armand we have the literal ghost of Lestat's actions hanging over the scene, another immensely powerful vampire that showed vulnerability to Louis to help usher him back into his life and continued to terrorize him and Claudia. There's so much going on in that scene why make the worst surface level racist takes out of it?

[foreignswaggersession]

iwtv ep. 11 (s2ep4) misconceptions pt. 3

ok now for some pet peeves:

i hate that y'all keep saying louis is hallucinating lestat here instead of the obvious - looking at the person next to him, aka armand:

i also don't know how y'all keep defending armand about these stein photos - is this the response of someone innocent?

armand's condescending response tells me all i need to know - armand messed with the photos to undermine louis's confidence in himself and daniel's confidence in louis. rashid has no motive to do this, and armand doesn't act like someone surprised this is happening. stop pretending armand isn't manipulative.

another HUGE pet peeve - i'm tired of y'all claiming that louis loves to be "coddled" and "hyped up" by dreamstat due to selectively edited clips of this scene. so let me present louis listening to constructive criticism from dreamstat:

sorry if this ruins anyone's fun but i can't tolerate the character assassination - louis is so much more than some weak crazy girl who relies on a white man for fulfillment

[platoapproved]

Okay so I'm looking back on season 2 and having some Thoughts about Dreamstat.

In 2x01 Louis says "he came by invitation," which is be backed up by how he consciously dismisses Dreamstat in 2x04. But in my opinion, it all gets way messier when - in 2x07, deeply shaken by talking about the trial - Louis hallucinates Lestat in the Dubai penthouse. It's SUCH a jarring moment; Louis' unreliability is at the forefront of the audience's mind since he has just admitted his version of Claudia's turning from 1x04 was inaccurate. Then the audience is shown that Louis is omitting things, particularly continued hallucinations. (We also see him have further non-Lestat hallucinations in 2x08 when he is plotting his revenge).

With all that in mind, I'm inclined to think that he's way less in control of Dreamstat than he insists he is. Louis says otherwise, but this is the Unreliable Narrator Show™.

So. Why I was thinking about this in the first place...

I see lots of people bringing up Dreamstat's reactions to things, mostly in a context of being angry with Louis. And I get it! Dreamstat is mocking and cruel. But I also think it's wrong to blame Louis fully for those things? At least, to blame him in the way people seem to do.

These are not things he is choosing to think, or that he is saying aloud. They exist only within his own head. Dreamstat is all his Louis's worst instinctive reactions and snap judgments, vocalized internally (we just see and hear them as the audience).

His paranoia while being romantically pursued, an understandable response given how things went down with Lestat:

His self-loathing (always comes back to the self-loathing with Louis :c):

His frustration while having an argument with his companion situationship:

These are Louis' thoughts, yes. But they're gut responses, all emotion, without filter or reasoning.

And I just can't wrap my head around thinking less of Louis for having these responses. It's a very honest and unflinching depiction of someone whose response to trauma (both from his relationship with Lestat but also, like, his entire human life) is kneejerk resentment and pettiness that he very VERY rarely vocalizes.

Even as Dreamstat is mocking Armand's romantic overtures, Louis is continuing to have discussions with him, to ask him what he needs to be happier in their relationship. Armand wants him to come around more, he shows up to the disastrous dinner where he fights with Santiago. Armand wants to bring flowers and apologize, Louis hears him out. He is CHOOSING, in spite of the cruel automatic responses of his thoughts, to treat Armand with as much fairness and gentleness as he can.

As a side note, I really read Dreamstat's laugh in the museum scene much differently than others on here. A lot of people seem to see it as Louis mocking Armand's history of sexual abuse. But Dreamstat only scowls through all that (which is, again, not great but it is understandable, given how Lestat deployed his Magnus story to win Louis back after exploding in anger, and the whole setup for Armand talking about his past is him explaining why he is not like Lestat). Dreamstat's only real reaction comes when Armand has moved on from that part of his speech, to discussing the vampiric cycle of violence.

The line he reacts to is Armand saying "Magnus who begat Lestat, Lestat who begat Louis, on and on, and on and on." And Dreamstat... doesn't laugh? I see people describing it as a laugh. He yells 'HAH!' in the angriest, bitterest, disbelieving voice. To me this is not Louis being unimpressed or mocking Armand's trauma, it's him adamantly refusing to be included in the narrative as a part of vampire culture / as a victim. We know Louis does not like people labeling him as a victim or abused. We know he wants to opt out of all Claudia's searching for vampire culture and vampire history. To me this moment is not at all about Armand, it's about Armand implying that Louis is connected with the covens, with a larger narrative of vampirism, including a narrative about makers exploiting and harming their fledglings.

No, Louis isn't perfect, and his handling of Armand is not perfect. But I think people are way too harsh on him for this scene and just in general. He is not his worst thoughts. His actions are much, much, much, much more important. He chooses Armand. I think he chooses to be as careful with Armand as he knows how to be, given the tools at his disposal. Yes, there's a horrible gremlin (ha, see what I did there?) in the bottom of his brain that tosses up vile mean judgy nonsense, but Louis then elects to ignore all that and be as kind as possible.

[nalyra-dreaming]

So, in that 2x04 argument transcription I'm debating Armand's "... and more and more of them.... they got through" as to whether that's in context of where Louis makes a jab about calling Lestat (as in, Armand making calls to Lestat when Louis was not around?), or if Armand is perhaps referencing Louis' buried memories. How are you interpreting that part?

A little bit of both is my gut feeling (if that transcript is, indeed, accurate).

Like... I do think it's mostly memories of Lestat coming through, of their time... and especially of what Louis is then suppressing - or what is suppressed for him.

Given 2x05 starts with a wholly different relationship scene it stands to reason imho that Armand "tinkered" again, after this. Buried the memories again, after.

Louis taunting Armand there is very interesting though. I mean, we see in 2x05 that Louis knew Armand called Lestat... several times. And if the transcript is correct then that thought is always on the back-burner of Louis' mind. But what Louis says there is the same thing that actually happens when he is talking to "Dreamstat" there - "Lestat" is hyping him up, coddling him, tells him what he wants/then needs to hear... and it makes me wonder if "Dreamstat" wasn't a LOT more present in Dubai, too. I mean, we see him later. But what if that is what Armand is actively suppressing there.

We saw Louis holding open the door for "Dreamstat" in Paris. He was talking to "thin air" as well, the hallucination of "Lestat" so real to him he probably talked "in reality" to him as well. Felt him.

Daniel's "Are you schizophrenic Louis?" was very much on point I think though I don't think it's a permanent actual mental illness for Louis.

It's more a... retreat, a representation of Louis' state of mind, a place that Armand can suppress the memories of, but cannot actually suppress, because "Dreamstat" comes from a place of longing and actual truth, from deep within Louis (source):.

“The thing that I love about Dream-stat is that it’s Louis’ idealized version. It’s the version of Lestat, or of their relationship that you never got to see really in Season 1. It’s the quieter side of their relationship,” Anderson explains. “They’re hanging out! They’re best friends. It’s a narcissistic version of that because he’s also a manifestation of Louis’ own feelings about things. But I think there is also quite a big element of friendship, companionship. It’s something that Louis missed. Lestat did see him. Lestat knows him probably better than anyone.”

I think that the jab, the accusation of "do you think I need to be hyped up", and the comments about Lestat and the memories all come from the same place, namely Armand not understanding that... Louis actually does want to be coddled. Hyped up. Cared for. Because... Louis wants his cigarette lit when he takes one. He wants support when he asks for it. He wants an honest opinion when he asks for it, or an emotional buffer when he needs that. He wants the money when he wants to buy the Fairplay Saloon. And so on. He wants to be cared for within his own agency.

(And Lestat often fulfilled his requests, even to turning Claudia, as we saw.)

But Louis does not want to be cared for the way Armand does it for the most part, which is actually taking his agency. Armand cares for Louis doing what he thinks best.

Armand literally "protects Louis from himself", which is something he states within the show. By taking the memories away, too. By tinkering with Louis' behavior. By putting whole phrases and words into Louis' mind.

I think what "breaks through" might be discrepancies. Things that don't fit. Louis is clever, he must notice. Daniel is a lifeline, that Louis needs to cast while keeping Armand "under control" ... somehow. Which is why he falls back into the power play there, imho.

Which is why "Rashid" happens at all I think.

Because, and I know I keep coming back to this scene, but this is Louis' face when Armand reveals himself in 1x07:

Yeah. Happy is something else. This is trepidation.

He knew it would get really difficult now (to break through). And he was right! Armand tried real hard to uphold the status quo - and almost succeeded, too.

[ileftmysoulinnorway]

IWTV S2 filming locations

When I started putting the first version together last year, I never thought it would become an obsession and I would spend hours comparing wall patterns or searching for a non-existent street. But now I have the dubious privilege of being able to match almost every scene from S2 to where it was filmed (except for a few from episode 1, Emilia's village, where are you).

Season 2 was filmed mostly in and around Prague, mainly in the film studio at Barrandov and in Toušeň. In addition to that, they spent about two weeks in Paris and one shooting day in New Orleans.

Barrandov Studio – Atelier 8 / Paris Street backlot

The sets built inside the atelier were short-lived, but the outdoor backlot has been preserved and is used for other projects. Due to the studio's workload, it no longer offers public tours. But hopefully the situation will change in the future (x), (x).

Toušeň Ateliers

All the interior scenes of the Théâtre des Vampires were filmed here. The location is not open to the public and it was again only a temporary set, but as Mara mentioned, some of the pieces are still in storage somewhere and will probably be reused for S3 (x).

The production also rented some other locations for longer periods of time. Točník and its surroundings were used mainly for episode 1 (scenes with Daciana, the revenant in the forest), but also for episode 3 (Armand's coven in 1795). You can visit the castle.

They used the Old wastewater treatment plant in Bubeneč several times (all the scenes in the tunnels and sewers, Magnus's tower, Louis and Claudia's baboon argument, etc.). It is possible to book a tour there.

More than one scene was also filmed in Kinsky Garden (the bench in the rain, Louis and Dreamstat, Louis and Armand's first meeting).

For the rest of the locations, check out the map.

.

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Some comparisons of the scenes in the show with what the places normally look like.

[professional-girlkisser]

Loumand + Love

Am I up at 8am thinking about Loumand? Yes, yes I am. Loumand rant incoming in 3...2...1

This scene specifically is stuck in my mind.

Armand looks casually at Louis but Madeleine reads his mind and knows that his immediate question is "Does he love me?" I think this is mainly what Armand was thinking about in the days after Madeleine's turning. (Picture Armand picking off flower petals going He loves me...He loves me not...)

Now, (some) Loustat fans think Madeleine was actually feeling Dreamstat here and not Armand. Their explanation (as far as I can tell) is that Madeleine asks Louis "Why don't you want him to know how much you love him?" And apparently this couldn't apply to Armand bc Louis had already said I love you to him but had never said it to Lestat. Well, Louis here says, "He gets enough affection" so that pretty much establishes he knows they're talking about Armand.

It still doesn't answer the question though. Why doesn't Louis want Armand to know *how much* he loves him? Especially at this point when Armand is so full of doubts? A few scenes before this Armand established a boundary, which Armand rarely does because (my guess) he's terrified that will lead to rejection. When he told Louis he wasn't comfortable turning Madeleine, or watching her get turned, he needed a lot of reassurance in that moment. He needed to know he hadn't just fucked everything up. That Louis still loved him.

But what did Louis do? He dismissed Armand's fears bc he was angry and/ or irritated that Armand wouldn't just do what he asked. So Armand, a known catastrophizer, thought Oh, he doesn't care about my concerns which means he doesn't care about me which means he never loved me. Hence why Armand betrayed Louis right after. Sure Louis said I love you to him but Armand couldn't trust those words bc 1) Dreamstat was there mocking them 2) The last person who said those words used him then dipped (from Armand's pov).

So right until this "last supper", Armand doesn't trust Louis' love. But he finally believes it when it comes from Madeleine bc she has no reason to lie. Madeleine has spent enough time with Armand at this point (remember the conversation they had just the two of them before she was turned) so she knows what his presence feels like. Why would she confuse that with Dreamstat? Also, Dreamstat isn't real!!! He's a phantom embodiment of Louis' doubts which Louis lets go of when he takes control of the relationship. So if Madeleine were to feel Dreamstat here she would be feeling Louis' doubts not Lestat.

Which is why Armand KNOWS Madeleine is telling the truth and he immediately distances himself from the table bc he's thinking Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. He does love me and I just made the worst mistake of my life. That's what makes this a tragedy! By the time Armand realizes Louis loves him, it's already too late.

Also, I think Armand distanced himself (physically and metaphorically) so Madeleine would stop reading his damn mind. Madeleine was having way too much fun with her new found powers lmaoo.