#and doing a bad faith read of lestat deliberately to character assassinate him

[pynkhues]

I do think there are extreme lies in Armand's fanfic. The whole thing was narrated to depict Lestat as a user, liar and manipulator who is incapable of love. Specifically for Louis's sake. So that Louis thinks "Lestat is, was and always will be for Lestat".

To me the implication that Lestat manipulated Armand to gain power and that he taunted Nicki by publicly fucking Armand in front of him is huge. And then that he abandoned both of them. That's pretty big departure from the truth in my opinion. I think Lestat would take big umbrage with that story too. Especially from Armand who sexually assaulted him, psychologically finished off Nicki and then murdered his daughter.

Also I don't get why they wouldn't go with Armand's established characterisation of being an opportunistic liar and master gaslighter in season 3? This is directed at anon who said that it would be weird if they "repeate" it in season 3. I think making Armand's fanfic be somehow true would be retcon of epic proportions.

(x)

I agree with a lot of your points here in that Armand had the intention of making Lestat look manipulative and self-interested, and that they'll keep the thread of Armand being an opportunistic liar and a gaslighter in s3 given it's so integral to his character in the early books. That said, I think the show's very invested in the fact that truth is subjective, and Armand's lies might feel extreme to Lestat (and he's right to take umbrage given everything, as you said) and perhaps the audience once we get Lestat's perspective, but I also think there's probably an emotional truth to them for Armand that feels real to him?

Armand does feel abandoned by Lestat in the books, he does think his connection to Lestat is greater than Lestat's to Nicki's, which he diminishes frequently and often, and Lestat does leave Nicki with Armand. Does he just disappear as Armand describes it? No, of course not, and there's a lot of baggage rolled up in that decision even before it happens, but I think for Armand, he wouldn't necessarily see himself as telling extreme lies, rather extrapolating on his own personal sense of the truth.

I do wonder if the fact that Armand paints Lestat as using him for power will be informed by the fact that Lestat comes to Paris specifically to be healed by Armand's power as he does in the book? While Armand's reflecting on a specific time period with Daniel, he's of course experienced a lot more since then and it could be a really interesting beat of foreshadowing that again echoes for Armand a personal truth even if it wasn't one at the time he was talking about. Lestat does want his power to heal himself when he returns to Paris after all, and Armand does once again feel rejected and abandoned by Lestat not wanting him, to y'know. Disastrous effects, haha.

But yeah, I mean, Armand is very much one of the antagonists at this point in the story too, and while that changes in future installations, it's very much a part of his character in both IWTV and TVL and I think the show will play around with that, but I don't think they'll change it.