#amc hot takes

[licncourt]

Hey there! I've recently read your post on whether one should read the VC books, and I'm still unsure. I really really loved the AMC show and from what I read on your blog the books are a lot different. Even if I only read the first three books, which is what I would do anyway after what you said in your post lol, it would feel like two different stories with the same characters, right?

What I wanna ask really is what are the main differences between loustat, armand, and the plot from the show and from the books? Are they completely different things? or somewhat similar?

I've talked about this quite a bit in various ways if you look through my older answers, but my take is that the AMC show is more "inspired by" VC than anything. A lot of the plot beats are the same (just in a different historical context), but I feel like the character motivations and essences are quite different. Both are good stories, but I would say they're kind of a Venn diagram with an equal amount of similarities and differences. If you read the books, you'll definitely find yourself knowing what's coming a lot of the time, but even the characters themselves are very different.

My AMC hot takes tag (which I'll leave in these tags too) can probably answer your questions better, but in a nutshell:

Book Lestat is very young (21) and has been a vampire for less than ten years when he turned Louis in 1791. He's very impulsive, quick to anger, and deeply unstable, but none of that is ever concealed from Louis. He's much more openly unpleasant In IWTV but because of that much less capable of manipulation and scheming than AMC Lestat, who seems to be much smarter and more calculated. Book Louis is just. A worse person in general than AMC Louis. I say that even though he is my little baby, it's just true. I wrote this last year about that business if you're interested.

That difference in personality and history makes book Loustat a lot different since the two of them are openly hostile to each other from day one but running off of loneliness and desperation. They're very hot and cold but mostly cold, just intense, insane love with no understanding or empathy between them whatsoever, though obviously that changes throughout the books. They're both very close to the same age (in physical age and total years) as well, so it's very much the blind leading the blind plus so much trauma and mental illness and so many impulsive, terrible ideas.

IWTV isn't that long of a book, so I'd really recommend just giving it a go, and if you're interested in learning about what makes book Lestat tick, TVL isn't either!

As far as Armand, he's basically just younger and a redhead, equally crazy and unhelpful, we love to see it.

[jacquelying]

its been a long polar night. pass the ‘ports

[dick-chugger]

My hot take is that Daniel actually wasn't closeted and hadn't forgotten that he's gay.

Like I think it'd be very odd to be like actually closeted but write a book about the AIDS crisis and show clips from Pride in the ad for your online course. Like I think the only thing pointing that him being closeted is him saying that he was at a gay bar to get drugs. But like, he never says that he wasn't there also because he was gay. I'd imagine that for 20-year-old heroin-addicted Daniel Molloy drugs were really the priority. He comes to Louis' apartment for the drugs, the gay sex is just a bonus.

[claudiadpdl]

there's a difference between a hot take and whatever the absolute fuck this is. im actually so tired of some of yall. also whether we're going off of the books or show one of the main tragedies with claudia was that she knew no one her (mental) age would want her aside from pedos/freaks.....so why would either of her adult fathers want her sexually or romantically?

[thesinlesssinner]

I saw a Twitter post asking what your IWTV hot takes that would make people flip out on you was here’s mine: the people who rabidly hate Lestat and Lestat fans are going to be REALLY upset when they find out he’s the main character. If you don’t like him at this point you shouldn’t keep watching the show. You’re just going to be complaining non stop about season 3 being about him and it’s like babes, everything is about him. Like eight fucking books in the series are written by him in the canon, Louis has one single book that’s written in his POV. Oh and wanting the main character of the Vampire Chronicles to be the main character doesn’t make you a bad person or pro abuse or whatever, like everyone on Twitter screams it is. It just means you’ve read the god damn books.

[toscrollperchancetomeme]

My toxic trait is thinking that Lestat and I would be besties because we would have the bitchiest Eurovision Song Contest watch parties.

[immortalmolloy]

Armand’s betrayal would have felt more like a betrayal if Louis wasn’t so toxic…

Listen, Louis has toxic traits. He manipulates Armand. You can pretend that’s not true but the actor has literally said this himself. He sees a vulnerability in Armand and tries to take advantage. A big part of their relationship revolves around how he can use Armand for safety and things.

He wants to control Armand. He thinks it’s working, but it’s not.

He thinks Armand is under his control and will do what he says. He’ll say yes to making a vampire because I said so.

Look at the expression on Armand’s face. He recognizes Louis is trying to make him do it, calls it out, and in the end refuses Louis. But it hurts. Armand recognizes that Louis is manipulating and controlling and he calls Claudia out for it too. Like fathers like daughter.

And the betrayal comes and I’m like yes queen slay! I love when Armand rages and acts crazy personally because he’ll tolerate this treatment and then snap!

Of course Armand has his issues and he also manipulates and controls in his relationships too. I’m just saying Louis is not innocent and the betrayal isn’t totally undeserved.

[brian-kinney-apologist]

so you know how we've heard lesmand and loumand saying I love yous to each other, right?? so my hot take/prediction of the day is that we will hear loustat (louis I'm looking at you) saying that to each other during their reunion in the end of the season :)

[turnwashingtonsbaddies]

André attempting to rebound from Peggy moodboard

this entire moodboard is just banger after banger, but i am especially losing it at how the whole "pardon me good sir" exchange is literally going down in THE GRINDR MESSAGES..... that's sooooo intimate intercourse coded

[samnia]

Is it just me, or do they need to let The Walking Dead franchise rip

[licncourt]

I think Lestat's love language and the way he interacts with his partners (Louis mainly) is very different in the show. He is too open and direct about his feelings and demands love from Louis, but in the book Lestat has a closed personality despite being extroverted and he doesn't talk about his deepest feelings, except in the books he writes. What do you think about this? Do you prefer Lestat being more romantic from the beginning? Or do you prefer Lestat who, due to his trauma, always tried to hide his feelings?

Disclaimer and reminder that I really don't like what the show did with Lestat/his dynamic with Louis in general, but I definitely have opinions about that.

The tl;dr of my take on this is that IWTV-era book Lestat at his most fundamental is a loving, well-intentioned, even kind person who puts on a front of cruelty and callousness to protect himself. Show Lestat seems like a controlling, calculated, abusive person who pretends to be kind, loving, and understanding to get what he wants, which is much less sympathetic to me.

In the book, you don't feel like Louis was manipulated into becoming Lestat's partner. Lestat was a dickhead right out of the gate, there was no lovebombing or months of intense romancing and wooing. In the book, it's very sudden and immediately a toxic dynamic that they both contribute to. It's super dysfunctional and Lestat is emotionally abusive sometimes, but there was no fronting. If anything, he represented himself much worse than he actually is.

Book Lestat is also all bark and no bite when it comes to Louis, so the cutting comments don't feel as gross as show Lestat's do knowing what happens in the fifth episode. Even after Louis lights him on fire and leaves him for dead in a swamp, Lestat came back to talk, not to attack him. That demonstrates his true intentions pretty clearly imo.

Show Lestat, for all his openly affectionate behavior in the beginning, flew into a violent, homicidal rage just over being dumped. It doesn't feel like he loves Louis as much as he wants to own him, so the past romance rings hollow. It feels like textbook abuse tactics rather than a deeply traumatized twenty-one year old handling his feelings in an abysmally awful way, and the latter is what makes me root for him as a character.

[vividxp]

I think fanon theory drift can occur so maybe people are responding to recent interpretations but if I recall clearly, the original Loumand bed death posts were not that wild and are not incompatible with season 1 or the season 2 trailer. Just people’s attempt and figuring out what the heck is going on in Dubai and why is Loumand doing what they’re doing

I think the perception of it has turned into this notion that Louis and Armand don’t have physical attraction to each other and never have sex ever and I don’t think that’s what people meant.

[daftmooncretin]

I’m not sure if this is a hot take or not but oh my god in terms of character depth the show has completely eclipsed the original books. obviously lestat was always an insanely fleshed out character because anne rice was obsessed with him but tbh armand, daniel and louis have been given more depth in this 5 episode run then in what 14 books of the vampire chronicles? i mean armand was already a fascinating character to begin with and assad takes what he’s given from the source material and just creates a whole new being with his performance!! plus the additions to his backstory and relationship with louis add a lot i think. but daniel and louis in the source material? they had none of the original armand potential! louis was a white plantation owner.! plus he was incredibly whiney and i always found him flat and kind of two dimensional in the books. how the writers and jacob anderson managed to create the perfect horrific anomaly that is our louis from that…? fucking astounding to me. and daniel??? book daniel is a fine character, sure. but the layers the show added by letting daniel move on from his first encounter and grow into eric! daniel add so much to his charcter!! ITS THE WAY OLD AND YOUNG DANIEL CONTRAST EACHOTHER COMPLETELY AS INTERVIEWERS YET ARE STILL COMPLETE EMOTIONAL MIRRORS OF EACHOTHER. ITS THE WAY THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN THE VAMPIRES AND 70’s AND PRESENT DANIEL SEEM LIKE OPPOSITES AT FIRST BUT GRADUALLY WE SEE ITS BEEN THE SAME BETWEEN THEM THE WHOLE TIMS. DANIEL IS STILL TERRIFIED AND DANIEL IS STILL BRAVE DESPITE IT. HE’S STILL FUCKING SIMULTANEOUSLY PRISONER AND JUDGE. he’s the idealistic boy high off his mind and he’s the cynical dying old man and he’s both and he’s neither. (can you tell daniel molloy is the most fascinating and tragic character in this show) ITS SUCH A FUCKING FANTASTIC PARALLEL. anyway i love you amc iwtv. you are doing such a good fucking job. also thank you eric. i love you eric. your performance both haunts and captivates me eric.

[nightcolorz]

“Armand was lying to Louis about how Marius used to pimp him out to his friends bcus he wanted him to feel bad for him” is perhaps the stupidest and most insane take in the amc iwtv fandom. It’s stupid bcus ik that the ppl saying this r only saying it from a delusional place of “I really don’t want amc iwtv to portray Marius as a bad person so I’m hoping that every instance we have so far of Marius doing bad things isn’t actually canon” and the people who believe this don’t actually think about it in the context of the plot and what a lie like that would mean, bcus if they did they’d realize that it makes no sense and they r delusional.

The craziest part of it is the “Armand is lying about this specifically to try to make Louis feel bad for him” aspect, bcus that implies that armand is 1: willing to vilify Marius (the most important person in his life who he continues to love and admire and hold in deep regard) to gain favor in his relationship with Louis (hot guy he just met) and 2: That Armand somehow needs to make up more bad things that happened to him bcus apparently being enslaved and raped as a child wasn’t enough and he had to throw in a random detail about his makers friends cuz otherwise Louis wouldn’t sympathize with him enough.

Yep that makes sense. Not even to mention how Armand explicitly softens the way he words the fact that Marius pimped him out in a way that makes Marius *look better* bcus he loves him and clearly based on performance context and actual dialogue isn’t looking to make Marius out to be a bad guy when talking about him to Louis. That is definitely the tone in which someone lying about being abused for attention would talk about their abuser! Also, the insinuation that Marius would not do this so it must be a manipulation of the truth is hilarious, bcus Marius sending Armand to have sex with house guests seems to me like a very clear adaption of his actions in the books where he sends Armand to go have sex with ppl at brothels to try to “flesh out his worldly experiences” or whatever. In an adaption where Armand is more explicitly and functionally Marius’s slave (and also a poc with less social privileges) it makes sense that marius making Armand have sex with other people for his warped reasons would translate to house guests instead of prostitutes. Marius does arguably so many more worse things in the books then tell Armand to have sex with his house guests so I don’t see how this is the line that can’t be crossed for some people. I don’t mind if anyone rlly likes Marius or stans him but nothing bothers me more then seeing huge mischaracterizations of my boy Armand so like in conclusion shut up.

[blackgirlsuperherorants]

IWTV rant incoming, spoilers for both seasons, be forewarned!

I've been seeing far too much Louis hate online recently, and while I'm of the opinion that none of these vamps are completely innocent by nature, I can't help but notice the disproportionate hate on my boy.

Honestly, it feels a little like fandom racism. And I think AMC IWTV fans have convinced themselves that they're beyond such things because of Jacob and Assad, but idk, everyone turning on the Black one at once seems... yucky?

First, I've seen a lot of "Louis is an abuser". Which... is a wild take on a show where most of the main characters hurt everyone around them?

I think some of it is coming from those who saw the episode in season 2 in which it is revealed that the big fight that Louis and Lestat had in S1 was more even than just Lestat beating up Louis, but y'all... we're not supposed to take S1 as a complete fabrication. A lot of y'all keep saying "oh, we haven't met the real Lestat." Sure, not in person and not from his POV until that ending, but we're not supposed to take it as Louis just lying outright. In the series, different from the books, OUR Louis calls Daniel back in 2022 to give him a more accurate version of the story. In the 1970s, he was just trash-talking Lestat. In 2022, he is remembering Lestat fondly while also remembering all the pain Lestat caused him. He only learns at the end of the season that Armand manipulated some of his memories. And only SOME. We're not supposed to think Armand made Louis misremember everything he and Lestat ever did together. So, we can take S1 as a version of the truth, even if it has some holes or misremembered parts... and in S1, Lestat is a scary guy. When Louis fought him, he was fighting a scary monster. You can't talk about it like he was a human man fighting his human partner because he got a little angry. He was a vampire fighting an even stronger vampire who, as far as Louis knew, was capable of awful things. And Lestat stalked Louis when he was still a human, fed on him without consent, killed the priests Louis turned to in fear... none of that was healthy courtship of a lover. To then turn around and call LOUIS the abuser? That's nuts.

And then there's Armand.

Armand is capable of great physical violence without even lifting a finger. You cannot look at me in the face and tell me that Louis slamming him into a wall was *abuse* after finding out that Armand mindfucked him for 70 years. After y'all saw what Armand did to Daniel. After Armand plotted Louis' death while manipulating Louis into thinking he was loved.

"Louis is an abuser" is a wild take after watching both of those seasons. Louis isn't an innocent princess, either, but compared to the two older vampires, he is the main victim of the story. Both Lestat and Armand emotionally abused him, manipulated him, and physically hurt him, and after all of it, he just ends up alone.

Now, believe me, I love Armand and Lestat. I think they're wonderfully awful people, and so much fun to watch, so fun to love, so fun to hate. But I think so many people left season 2 on their sides completely, just because Louis stood up for himself AND admitted that he was wrong about a lot of what he thought he remembered. And in all honesty, I think a lot of y'all like Sam and Assad because they're hot and... Jacob, while hot, is still Black. With Assad, you can give yourselves the benefit of the doubt because he's still a person of color, but he's a non-black person of color...

And Black people are not afforded softness or innocence, the way non-black people are. So, Louis doing something that's not good makes him not good, even if it's in the context of being a vampire. But Lestat and Armand get "brat prince" and "baby girl" even when they're cruel.

And also, it's not great to put the "abuser" label on someone standing up to their abuser. I dunno. Feels kinda yucky, in that sense, too.

Personally, I try to keep these people's vampire incarnations out of human morality, because being a vampire is inherently immoral because you need to kill to stay alive. So, like, when they physically fight, I can excuse it because they know they can't actually do much harm for the most part, because vampires heal fast and can't be easily hurt. But when... idk, you drop your fledgling from an extreme height, or cut someone's ankles and have them buried in rocks and locked away in a mausoleum... that's actually trying to hurt them (as Lestat admitted.)

And Louis' attempt to kill Lestat was because he and Claudia feared him. None of them disagree with that fact.

Anyway, have the same grace for the Black man that you do for your brat prince. Idk why y'all are trying to make Louis the bad guy. He never even asked to be a vampire. Lestat just wanted to keep him.

[whatspastisprologue-blr]

Memnoch the Devil gives me some of my favorite Lesmand interactions, even though, as is the case with all the books, I have to keep Assad Zaman's Armand in my mind because he just *is* Armand and so whenever he's described in the book it's honestly jarring to me.

Like, when they first see each other again and Lestat is genuinely happy to see him? And notes that Armand's voice "had no meanness in it at all". And basically calls him hot and then says he's "good to love". And then they hug each other! Willingly!

"We eyed each other for a moment. And then he surprised me, rising and coming towards me just as I moved to take him in my arms. His gesture wasn't tentative, but it was extremely gentle. I could have backed away. I didn't. We held each other tight for a moment. The cold embracing the cold. The hard embracing the hard."

And then Lestat playfully ruffles Armand's hair! Which Armand doesn't mind. In fact, he smiles! And then playfully shoves Lestat back (actually, it hurt him) to show off a little. After which, we get this:

"I can't remember anything bad between us." I said.

"You will," he responded. "And so will I. But what does it matter what we remember?"

"Yes," I said, "we're both still here."

Armand laughs again and kisses Lestat a couple of paragraphs later, seemingly just for fun. And then, in this chapter (this is all just one chapter, guys), Armand basically gets to play Lestat for Lestat, in the sense that he gets to tell Lestat the exact same arguments that Lestat used to help Armand get free from the CoD. Both of them admit it.

Oh, yeah, and actually, Lestat wasn't expecting to see Armand! That was a surprise. Armand showed up (with David, ew, but maybe it'll be Daniel on the show) because he's worried about Lestat!

And then we get this hilariously petty exchange:

"Around this Dora, I've thrown a protective light. None of us can touch her."

"That goes without saying. I won't hurt your little friend. You wound me." He looked genuinely put out.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I know. But I know what blood is and innocence and how delicious both can be. I know how much the girl tempts me."

"Then you must be the one to give in to that temptation," said Armand crossly. "I never choose my victims anymore, you know this. I can stand before a house as always, and out of the doors will come those who want to be in my arms. Of course I won't hurt her. You do hold old grudges. You think I live in the past. You don't understand that I actually change with every era, I always have as best I can."

(Seriously, AMC, give us this scene! Lestat warning Armand specifically, not David, to not hurt someone he cares about but also entrusting this person to Armand's care despite how it turned out previously. And then Armand being salty about it because jeez, Lestat, that was like, so long ago I can't believe you'd bring that up!)

Also, "I can stand in front of a house as always, and out of the doors will come those who want to be in my arms." Made me think of this:

Anyway, then we get to see this:

"Lestat, if you need me--" Armand said. "If this being tries to take you by force!"

"Why do you care about me?" I asked. "After all the bad things I did to you. Why?"

"Oh, don't be such a fool," he begged gently. "You convinced me long ago that the world was a Savage Garden. Remember your old poetry? You said the only laws that were true were aesthetic laws, that was all you could count on."

"Yes, I remember all that. I fear it's true. I've always feared it was true. I feared it when I was a mortal child. I woke up one morning and believed in nothing."

"Well, then, in the Savage Garden," said Armand, "you shine beautifully, my friend. You walk as if it is your garden to do with as you please. And in my wanderings, I always return to you. I always return to see the colors of the garden in your shadow, or reflected in your eyes, perhaps, or to hear of your latest follies and mad obsessions. Besides, we are brothers, are we not?"

A few paragraphs later, Lestat tells Armand (and David, but hopefully Daniel in the show), "I love you both."

All that in one chapter! I just wanted to share it because I feel like other great Lesmand moments get referenced a lot, such as Armand's line from Blood Communion:

"Fool," he said again. His voice was roughened now by emotion he couldn't suppress. "I have always loved you," he said. "I have loved you more than any being in all the world whim I've ever loved. I have loved you more than Louis. I have loved you more even than Marius. And you have never given me your love. I would be your most faithful counselor, if you allowed it."

And, like, that's an epic quote. I love it. But there's more to their relationship than all the bad things and this one quote!

I want to see Lestat do his part to destroy the CoS, including his "Gentleman Death" speech. I want to see Armand's attack on Lestat, him pleading to Lestat to let him accompany him and Gabrielle (promising to be Lestat's servant if that's what it takes), and Lestat rejecting him, partly because of their past and because he knows Armand needs to figure himself out apart from anyone else. I want to see Lestat entrust Nicki to Armand and then get the letter of how Armand chopped Nicki's hands off. I want to see the torture leading up to the play where Lestat is forced to watch Claudia die. I want to see Armand push Lestat off the tower. Because those are pivotal moments in their relationship, too! In particular, Armand attacking Lestat is basically why Lestat never pursues the sort of relationship that Armand wants, even though I would argue the love and affection is there, and that Lestat himself might wish differently at times.

All that pain and horror and tragedy, and then they both agree they can't remember any of it, and that even if/when they do, it's water under the bridge. "You shine beautifully, my friend." "I love you [.]"

Forgiveness is, for me, one of the most important themes of the Vampire Chronicles and, in my opinion, the Lesmand relationship is one of the best examples.