#and that louis and claudia killed him

[lachemisenoire]

Ok hear me out

I know it's the oldest soap trope in the world (but let's face it IWTV is basically a soapy gay gothic vampire horror)

and I know it's not in the books

what if Lestat wakes up with fucking AMNESIA

[danlous]

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE 2.01 | 2.06 ⋆ for @cypresssunns

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

forever obsessed with dynamics between vampires, specifically that of a maker and fledgling, as a way to explore abuse. the creation of a vampire itself can so easily be a literalization of the lasting impacts of trauma and also much more simply the ways a perpetrator might shape their victim’s very identity. the extremes of isolation in the way that the new vampire, in most narratives, must cut all ties to their mortal life, or else go through an elaborate charade to maintain the facade of humanity, while forever still being removed from it. and the sheer dependence and vulnerability of being in an entirely new state of being, wholly uncertain of what it entails, and relying on another person to define… everything.

[sarcastic-clapping]

LET YOUR DAD DIE: IT'S FINE IT'S FINE IT'S WHAT HE DID TO HIS DAD.

Lestat + Claudia: Patricide & The Cycles of Violence - INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (2022) - Catherine Lacy, "Cut" (2019) / Anne Rice, "The Vampire Lestat" (1985) / Anne Rice, "Interview with the Vampire" (1976)

[nashvillethotchicken]

The fact I haven't seen that many people talk about how lestat did the exact same thing his father did to him to Claudia by forcibly removing her from the train in ep 6 is a real disservice to both Claudia and Lestat

[mirrorhouse]

"after what you've put me through here i deserve this" armand says about killing the crying, exhausted boy in his arms and it's not about a meal or cleaning up the mess, really, it's about how this boy's been brought to the edge of accepting death; he's right there, longing for it, and armand can give it. and while he gives it, he feels it too. armand has been drowning for centuries, but he keeps himself afloat this way, by tasting death and feeling just the smallest respite, chasing his victims' slowing heartbeats right down into the dark until he backs away at the last moment. "the comfort we all long for." the comfort armand longs for -- the end.

[fayevalcntine]

This is what it feels like reading some people's IWTV takes

[kindaorangey]

"are you asking me or making me?" is soooooo interesting to me because i think armand only asks it when he can't gauge whether he's letting louis down. it's barely even sexual - it's a hail mary. it's a show of trust, indirectly admitting that he wants to do something other than what louis expects of him, but that he's willing to obey louis anyway, for the sake of their relationship. it's sort of heartbreaking watching them at the sacré-cœur, because if louis had said "i'm making you" armand would've done it in a heartbeat. he would've taken it as a show of committment on louis' part, and he wouldn't have betrayed him. but louis takes the question just as an expression of disagreement, and so he doesn't play the game. ironically, he respects armand's independence too much to make him turn madeleine if he doesn't want to. and so armand isn't convinced of louis' commitment to him, and he betrays him.

and by the time we see them in san fransisco, louis knows what the question means now, and answers "no, arun, i'm not asking" without question. and armand accepts it without complaint, even as it pains him. companionship really is the most important thing in the world to armand, just like it is for lestat, and he's willing to do any number of horrible things to louis and himself just to keep him as a companion, just like lestat. louis' biggest mistake is not realising how to use that to his advantage sooner.

[bigevildoeeyes]

Loumand is not and CANNOT be a one to one reimagining of their previous roles as sex slave and brothel owner. louis does not have an equivalent power over armand as he did on emotionally, socially, and/or financially vulnerable women in nola, and armand’s submission is not reflective of a real powerlessness under louis

If we want to look for a marius parallel, it wouldnt be in louis who responds to armands initiations and engages in a consensual dom/sub dynamic. if we want to look for a marius parallel, who is in the predatory position here? Who is controlling information and its access? Who is the one exploiting an experience, knowledge, and vampiric power gap to get the love he wants?

But isn’t that the point? That their relationship is a shallow imitation, a re-enactment of roles which comforts both parties for their familiarity and essentialness while they were mortal? Neither of them were ready to grapple with their own identity in a meaningful way and these roles are something safe to hold onto, which may or may not be productive or accurate but they very well know the performance of this position and it is Still and it is Safe and who cares about absolute truths when you’re one wrong thought away from killing yourself

When hannah says their room is like a brothel and when assad says they revert back to older versions of themselves I think it speaks much more on loumands fear and denial to question and understand themselves than it does being a sexploitation revival. Louis put on the masculine, capitalist decision maker persona to survive his racist heteronormative life, and armand embodied the selfless submissive to survive his oppressive life.

Their brothel bedroom is a reinforcement that they have yet to fully actualize their self identity outside the context of the systems of abuse and oppression they have endured. They are vampires, armand transcends the societies that shaped him but hes still living subject and response to it. Both unwilling to be active players in their own lives, still riddled with the weight of their history that dictate them but will not be unpacked

At the end of the day loumand were two deeply traumatized immortals still struggling to come to terms with the enormity of their self so they repeated the behaviours that made them survive. They cannot stomach themselves so they will keep this up, and together they kept on surviving. Until Louis was ready to do the second interview, ready to reflect, to accept himself and move beyond survival.

Armand u are Next.

[winepresswrath]

i'm sure this has been said before but it's also so funny that after all of louis' "it's just the vampire bond," "he's just my maker, that's all" we see the vampire bond via louis-madeline and it's deeply uncomfortable because they're strangers feeling each other so intimately. what makes the bond with lestat so powerful is that he can feel lestat and he can feel lestat's love. that's what he can't get over. their literal feelings for each other. and what does this mean for lestat-claudia? what are they feeling from each other?

[kanjichris]

"why don't you want him to know how much you love him?" "that's a little personal. he knows." "uh-huh."

[agirlking]

I feel like I'm the only Loustat-er that was... totally satisfied with the 1x05 revisit? It's not about a bad guy. The way they approached it was to show all the ways in which they both fucked up and were responsible for things reaching that point. They are both responsible for the relationship crumbling. The 1x04 revisit was to show they were both equally responsible for making Claudia.

Their love is fatal, their love is never ending. It was never about Claudia. Neither is absolved.

[claudiaeparvier]

Every time Armand uses that tone with Claudia I just

[userarmand]

you think they should’ve had armand actually save louis??

in the book he orchestrates claudia's death so there aren't any more 'obstacles' to louis being with him. louis dying would make his whole plan redundant since his end goal is louis. so yeah i do think they could've gone that route in the show too and we could've arrived at the same conclusion (louis discovering armand's betrayal and leaving him) without hyper villainizing the south asian character :)))

[disregardandfelicity]

hmmm so jacob wasn't kidding about there being lines in episode 6 he found hard to deliver...

[cordyceph]

went to bed and woke up in a cold sweat realizing that claudia's play, the birdie one, is both a direct analogy for her story and also foreshadowing of her death WHILE ALSO nodding to pauls death

claudia'a single minded, desperate drive for freedom eventually lead her directly to her death. she was "nailed down" by lestat (by LOUIS, actually- lestat only kept her for him.), and tore herself free at the loss of her 'foot,' being a stand in for the personal pain she suffered for freedom

no matter what she or anyone did, she was going to die painfully, because she was so desperate to be free that everything was suffocating. lestat, louis, romania, the coven. the only thing that didnt rot in her mind was madeline, because... there simply wasnt time. madeline was fresh and new and, given time, would have probably suffered the same heel-turn claudia gave to everything.

of course thats because she shared louis' hopeful outlook. being free of her parents? would fix everything. when it didn't? maybe if she had louis, it would be worth it. but its not, lestats still here, louis is still in love with him... killing lestat, thatll fix it, and she and louis will be happy in romania, right, the homeland for vampirekind? not quite, so better try paris, the city of love. that doesnt work. the coven, though, will give her what she wants, right? she'll be happy with other vampires?

the only person who makes her happy is? a modern version of lestat? a weird white woman she met on happenstance, who has little to no care for societal norms or faux pas. a blunt, kind of funny, kind of sad woman who lost her family but has a capacity for enduring because what else is she going to do? die? no, she cant do that. she had no friends because she was weird and offputting and had dangerous rumors, no hangups on loving claudia, no hangups on dying or being a killer.

that's... just lestat. without the immortality and the specific traumas, of course, but like. claudia's most beloved person was a funhouse mirror of her most hated. which really speaks volumes for what they could have had, because it wasnt just a clash of personalities. it was lestats bpd clashing with hers and both of their attachment to louis clashing. if lestat had been better at sharing, if louis had been better at loving both of them, if claudia had been less angry at the world for nothing but existing? maybe they could have been a good family. a happy one forever, just like they all wanted, but were unable to give each other