#as long as they're not gonna try to make armand's feelings for louis about lestat

[cuntylouis]

Dying at how Sam expressed this like Lestat is like 'ughhh Armand 😑. Ehhh i'd rather not see him. I don't think about him much really.' and meanwhile Armand has a centuries long passionate love-hate psychosexual obsession over Lestat. No one is doing it like them

[ca-suffit]

sorry how long this is, but this fandom is pissing me off so much and I need to rant a little before I explode lol.

-- madeleine (nonchalantly) says of sleeping with a literal nazi, "I was inviting a frightened boy to cradle my tits," and then when louis turns her we see this as a pleasant memory, and I'm supposed to believe someone who could take pity on a nazi (even if he "wasn't dedicated to the cause") and remember him fondly isn't going to be racist? so I'm the weird one for finding claudeine to be a gross ship and being exasperated by seeing edits of them flood my dash? and every time I talk about this on ANY platform, I mostly get ignored and the few people who do interact w my posts are denying it and saying she had to do it to survive, as if she didn't also literally say she grew up rich like 30 seconds prior.

-- a decent chunk of the anti lestat crowd insists he participated in the trial as an act of revenge and can't say his name w/o talking about how they hate him (bc his racism + abuse), and these are the same people going apeshit over ben daniels saying that santiago was gay and in love with armand, as if he isn't one of the most antiblack characters we've met on the show bc he was quite literally eager to put on the trial solely bc he hated louis for falling asleep during one of his performances. and don't get me started on his monologue about claudia's ashes. and yet ppl are excitedly eating ben's interview up. 🙄

-- the narrative literally showing us that lestat has changed since the attempted murder (going off script on the trial in defense of louis & claudia, taking accountability for his abuse, staying silent about the fact that he was the one to save louis & letting him leave w armand when we know how terrifying being alone is for lestat, spending decades living in that shack and eating rats to punish himself vs the hedonistic & decadent lifestyle we saw him living in s1) and the anti lestat crowd claiming this is just him being manipulative and are furious that the writers had louis forgive him. like normally I agree that it's in very poor taste to paint an abuser as sympathetic, but the thing about this show is that these characters are immortal and have all the time in the world to change. like this isn't the writers sweeping it under the rug, they're explicitly acknowledging how horrific lestat's behavior was and there are literally canon glimpses showing us that lestat has become a better person (and I'm sure this will be fleshed out more next season as we'll get his pov) and, like, isn't it a good thing to see an abusive character realize the error of their ways and alter their behavior and become better????? like it's fair to not want to see that, but this is the wrong show to be watching if you can't handle seeing abusers change their ways & being forgiven by the people they've hurt (especially since it's pretty much confirmed armand/daniel is going to happen at some point and given I'm sure they'll be circling around each other, I feel confident that louis will eventually forgive armand too)

ur fine, u can rant! I have a lot in my inbox but I try to get to it all eventually in whatever way.

idk how much u wanted me to comment on anything or not, but I'm gonna add comments and u do whatever u want with it.

a) ur never going to have an easy time criticizing a white woman in fandom. it reflects too much of what fandom is usually made up of and ppl will usually tell u it's misogyny to judge these characters if u ever try (most of the time it's not, but that's a convenient excuse to shut down convos).

the show intentionally makes everyone do p questionable shit, especially the white characters. it doesn't tell u how to feel about it, that's up to u. that makes ppl uncomfortable. it goes further too when it is someone like madeleine, who is otherwise seen in positive ways. it's reflective of real life and that's what scares ppl the most. nobody ever fits in a box of only "good" or "bad." a lot of what the book for IWTV asks too is what defines that anyways? and S1 also said "are we the sum of our worst moments?" so it is constantly asking u that and it is for u to decide and reflect on.

b) white, gay stuff is also gonna be popular in fandoms. ben daniels is also gay irl and his husband just died so there's crossover from that to praising his character bcuz ppl feel sympathy for him. I also think ppl detach more from his actions bcuz he's not romantically linked to the characters he's torturing. ppl also just honestly dgaf about antiblackness anyways so for most ppl it's easy to overlook. which is how we get posts like this.

I mean, u can also like whatever characters u like for any reason. some ppl like characters not bcuz they support what they do, but bcuz they're just enjoyable to watch in performance or connection to the plot or whatever. I think examining santiago after what ben said about his performance is something ppl should be able to do, and again it circles back to the stuff I wrote for madeleine. where does ur (general u) discomfort lie and why? as u said, if it's ppl who dislike lestat then it's worth looking at that too, why are the characters different then?

c) there's sort of 2 things happening for this part. the first is that 2x8 did have pacing issues, for whatever reasons. a lot of ppl felt like it flattened the plot and characters for the sake of making lestat look the best (over armand) and rly shoving it in out of nowhere. the second part is what u said about the themes. I've always figured they were going to explore forgiveness and personal growth, but I also know it isn't going to be easy for ppl to follow. hopefully the full seasons coming do a better job of this but for 2x8 there were a lot of reasons ppl felt crazy about the way it was shown to us. I also agree that other characters will have these journeys with each other too. it was just such a sharp turn for S2 to end on highlighting the white character we've otherwise seen as being p horrible and suddenly saying "it's the brown character who rly did the worst!" I don't think they intended to come across like that but it's how it landed for a lot of ppl. it doesn't mean ppl have an issue with the concept of forgiveness and stuff otherwise. we'll have to see how it goes. but ya there's 2 things going on there for this rn.

[crazykuroneko]

Rewind the Tape — IWTV S1E04 Rewatch

Finally, I'm back with my rewatch for @iwtvfanevents after having to microdosing Ep 4 because of limited time, mood, and I just fell unconscious once I hit my bed. Again, FYI from before: this is my first time rewatching the show (excluding indirect watch through YouTube reactions), and its purpose for me to refresh my mind and noticing things. So, I won't dwell on certain ongoing or past theories, but I'll take notes about the possibilities I notice as the rewatch goes for myself. Also, disclaimer, because I've had people put words into my mouth before: When I'm assuming the reason a certain character does what they do, it's not to give them an excuse. It's my way of trying to understand what the writers have in their minds. For me, if the action of a character doesn't make sense in that character's eyes, based on their personality, then it's bad writing.

Okay, that's long enough. Be careful with the S2 spoiler alerts. Time to meet ✨ Claudia✨

• It's been 10 years since Daniel published a book and his publisher seems questioning his ability to write a book.

• Armand barely gets any sunlight here.

• *Googling* Levodopa is used to reduce Parkinson's symptoms, like tremors, stiffness, and slowness, which are caused by lack of dopamine. It works by being converted to dopamine in brain.

• "Electronic mailbox" Armand, you're so funny.

• Resting? Wait, have they ever did an interview during mornings before? Ep 1, it's night. Ep 2, during dinner time to late at night. Okay, it seems Ep 3 starts in the day to night. Gonna pay attention to this more. 

• The interior designer is a woman. "Louis is missing the 'natural' world" What tree is that again? I'm bad with plants.

• Claudia wrote her name and the year on her first diary. Cute. (But ofc she probably stopped doing that after Loustat read her diaries)

• They arrived in Paris November 14, 1945. A week after Lestat's birthday, fyi. There's a headcanon Armand's (it seems people got it from a wikia, which was taken from an official calendar, but no one has checked that calendar) is November 11. 

• They're in Ploiesti in 1941, eating POWs.

• My caption doesn't write it, but Lestat says, "Impossible. Elle est trop jeune." (She's too young) Oh, Louis 😔

• "I just need her not to die". And Lestat probably recalled Louis crying on their bed over not able to have a child, and there they went to doom themselves and Claudia. Anything (because unlike Louis, he knows all the consequences) to keep Louis happy AND stay with him. 

• The contrast between Louis' and Claudia's transformation. Lestat doesn't let her to drink much, just enough to turn her. There's no gentleness or anything when Lestat holds her. In fact, the camera stays on his rough hold, highlighting the ugliness of it. Isn't in the books being turned without consent seen akin to rape? 

• "Hell demons" lol. I wonder when she got his first diary and when she arrived at that conclusion. 

• "It's my new house?" "It is if you want it to be" as if she has another option. Louis, you're so funny. 

• Delaying to tell Claudia that she needs to feed on humans. Telling her there's another "choice" than eating humans. Expecting Claudia to feel regret the next day after killing a human. Louis, stop putting your own feelings in her.

• "He has to relay on my words to understand me. Just like humans." "We are a family?" Monsters who have to keep a bit of humanity to get along, who are also playing house like humans.

• You could tell Lestat is already sensitive about being left out in the telepathic conversation since the beginning.

• Claudia witnessing queer relationship for the first time is so amusing lol

• Claudia says ACAB 😌

• This scene doesn't feel "smooth" to me. I don't know if it's the editing or the writing. First, that last line by the cop is too long for such a short action. Second, i think they could pick a better intonation for "not a cop" there. Plus, the placement makes it feel like they almost forgot to put it. 

• Claudia needs twice amount of blood than Loustat. She's still energetic when the sleep time comes. Noted. 

• "Kill juice" Lestat and Claudia are bonding over vampirism.

• "Have you seen my slippers?" "Under the chair by the window" The domesticity uwu.

• The lines about Lestat talking about Claudia's writing habit are so witty when you remember he canonly writes the Vampire Chronicles books. A platonic kiss for IWTV writers again.

• Claudia's new coffin is called The Feathered Nest. A call back to Louis saying him in Lestat's nest in Ep 2. 

• Since the beginning, Claudia likes to ask and figure out things that she doesn't know, while Louis won't say anything to not rock the boat.

• "We try to accustom her to the thought of coming home to God" Oh gosh, Louis is so bad at lying 😭

• Okay, seriously. We know in Ep 2, after Louis is just turned that /at least/ his sight and hearing becomes more sensitive. And in this episode, Claudia can smell the cop's blood from afar. But this lore doesn't consistent with the stinky bodies at their home in Ep 5 and the fact Claudia can stalk Lestat many times (and ofc Claudia and Louis at Antoinette's place in Ep 6 as well). This uncontinuity gives me a headache. OR after they manage to control their senses (Lestat's saying "focus on my voice, a single strain"), their senses basically become normal and only can do more when they willing it? I'm trying to make sense of it here.

• "I miss sleeping with you." So, in good days, they sleep together in Louis' coffin. They /probably/ haven't been doing it since Antoinette thing started (I mean, I wouldn't). That's 8 months. (The sanctioned infidelity narration is on Feb 1917, Claudia started to write her diary in late Sept 1917 and she still sleeps with Louis by that time. Based on this timeline)

• "Sometimes, you gotta be careful where you dig, you understand?" Not to fast forward to S2, but this sounds so ominous. 

• Louis in the night with this pink striped shirt 🥰

• "Is that what he's up to when he goes out alone?" No wonder stalking Lestat is the first thing she does after Charlie. 

• Do I believe Louis' answer is true? I do, because writing-wise, I don't see there's any reason for Lestat to cheat (as in having a relationship with someone else, because I could see him still making out with humans before eating them) when they keep spending their time together except when Lestat is hunting and Louis and Claudia go out together like in this scene. Plus, unlike in Ep 6, during this era Claudia still follows the no telepathic talking rule. (See: Claudia's "I'll tell Uncle Les you talk to me this way" later) Something, I assume, makes Lestat feel alienated from the two and goes to cheat to find a connection with another on his own. But I digress.

• "Used to caught up in human affairs. Then you."

• Okay, at least Daniel waits Armand to finish his sunnah prayer before interrupting him, though Armand should continue doing his Ashr prayer soon. Anyway, i wish they used adhan that's clearer. I mean, I could only listen the beginning of each phrase, not the end.

• Claudia throwing a thing at Lestat and he barely reacted and proceed to pick it off the floor right away. For a period of time, Claudia is indeed the queen in that house. "This was given to me by a marquis..." If that's from Lestat's father, which makes that a family heirloom, and he gave that to Claudia. That means big for a Provider man like Lestat. (hashtag me and Lestat loved Claudia once propaganda) They are supposed to have 6 years of "good time".

• "When they can't (figuring out their problems), I can always get between them and make it right." Claudia is literally a band-aid. I suppose she helps them communicating because as I said in previous episodes, Loustat tend to not address the real problem, just shift to something that will make them feel better and forget it until it comes up again.

• *S2 spoiler alert* No, never think about how Claudia's interest in acting probably grew from the times Loustat bringing her to watch picture shows and Lestat acting them out in front of them. And in the end, it's what makes her fall into the trap of the troupe easier in S2. No, we're fine.

• "Know what her last words are?" I love her psychopath side, obsessing over last words after being called a devil in one.

• Oh, Grace's inflection when saying "uncle". They have heard a lot of homophobic jabber and satanic accusations from Florence over the years, no doubt. 

• This is from Claudia's POV, so it's interesting how she's paying attention and remembers to write it down. 

• Louis really has put down his dutiful son and brother "hat" after having a family himself.

• I think this is probably the last time Claudia admits she has a lot in common with Lestat *insert xie lian's idk whether i have to cry or laugh here*

• That scene of Claudia eating the guy is so classic horror, complete with the blood splatter on glass. Love.

• Lestat really brings her to Lovers' Lane without thinking about the effects. He probably thinks because her appetite stays big like a kid, her mind will stay like that forever. 

• "I don't remember buying that outfit" Lestat bought all Claudia's outfits ofc. (I don't regard interviews as part of canon, but Sam did say that Louis chose Claudia's outfits)

• My theory: Lestat could notice when Claudia and Louis telepathically speaking if he pays attention to their expressions. I mean, he clearly has a thing for being alienated by telepathic connection (for a good reason, if they adapt that part of the book, cmiiw), so it makes sense if he just can tell. 

• THE HORSE IS CALLED BELLA LOL

• She really has a crush on the first good man she meets. So adorable, if not for her monologue 

• She knocks the railing every time she walks towards Loustat's room? Oh I would like to know the backstory that causes this rule/habit 👀. But if it's a rule, it's an interesting when you recall Lestat's "Child. Intervening the romance of the parents" or something like that in Ep 6.

• Waiting on balcony just like her father in Ep 1. The writers are strong with their "Evil of my evil" propaganda.

• Claudia figures out how to block people's thoughts since teenager. Louis has never had a reason to do it

• Again, Claudia is such a curious girl. She dives right in with Charlie

• Sorry, but the editing in this episode is kinda sloppy. I keep noticing things 😭

• This connection Claudia has with last words. It's been awhile but I wonder if we'll get to see it again. *S2 spoiler alert* Perhaps Madeleine says something to her before you-know-what. Or Claudia says something to Louis instead. I just love patterns yknow. 

• Daniel Hart is just slaying in the background with his music. 

• Vampires feel "loose" when they're aroused, which leads to become very bitey.

• That's why she goes to find out how vampirism works right away. Suddenly Lestat can't do what he did to her. She realizes she knows nothing about her current life

• That scene of Lestat and Claudia at the incinerator... Past Louis doesn't know they're burning Charlie and what exactly what Lestat says there. Imagine reading the latter in her diary.

• The transition from Lestat's whole speech about not being close to a mortal to Daniel 🤌🤌🤌

• If Daniel is true that Louis has had all of the diaries in '70s, so my guess Louis doesn't look fine at all in the flashback is right. He's "wearing hats" again.

• I wonder what Louis wanted to say. But knowing him and judging from his reaction to Daniel's brashness, it's something that sugarcoats  Claudia's position in their "family"

• The way Claudia knocks the railing but then it goes weaker, she doesn't really care about the houserules or childish habits anymore 

• The last scene is a nice hint/nod to you-know-what, but also I once read someone saying that what she does is the equivalent of a teenager doing self-harming when they're depressed, and I can't unsee that anymore. I think that's a spot-on.

• This is the last episode we hear "In Throes in Increasing Wonder" as a closing music btw. You know, the music that represent Loustat's love. They really say we're going downhill 

Summary:

For the previous episodes, I always finished my rewatch and tried to figure out what theme of that episode. Of course it's always about Louis because this is Louis' season first and foremost. But for the theme of this episode, I think it's: Louis' first meeting with Claudia and the first time he has failed her. The first part is obvious, the second part, like I said above, Louis only finds how far Lestat's action is to Claudia after he reads her diaries later. I think, he sees that as his first failure to her; unable to stop Lestat making it worse for her.  And we will see Claudia criticize this more in Ep 6.

This episodes also shows Louis' misconception about Claudia. He expects Claudia to react the same way to vampirism as he is. And we will see more of this in the later episodes (but of course the most obvious one is in Ep 7)

This episode is in Claudia's POV, but I like to call it "the closest thing to ideal life Louis has ever gotten", at least until Charlie happens. Like Lestat says in the church scene, Louis wears a lot of "hats": being the good son and good executive in charge of their fortune for his family, being the good straight man, being the good savvy businessman for his family and his own people, and later being a good vampire for Lestat. This time, he gets to take most of them, if not all, off and focus himself wholly on Claudia and Lestat, his family. He says himself, Claudia's existense silences all the noise, chaos, the crisis of his former existence. He has a daughter who has literal telepathic connection to him, someone who can know what he feels without saying anything. Someone by whom he doesn't feel being judged because he can know what she thinks. He has a husband who spends most of his time with them as a family. Who takes their daughter together to shop, Louis choosing the stuffs, Lestat paying for it. Who protects their family when they need to fulfill their daughter's needs (see: the buying coffin scene). Who also has a quality time with their daughter, even though it's mostly about killing humans. Unfortunately, it's rigged to burn, because Claudia won't be a child forever despite her body, outgrowning the very particular role Loustat need from her to maintain their play house.

Oh, I almost forgot, I wonder what the arrangement is with Louis' diet during this happy period. He doesn't do as much action as he did in previous episodes and we do see him eating animals still, but it looks like his sex life is thriving. He has control over his emotions pretty well. So, I assume he doesn't starve himself completely. At least, not as bad as he did before. Perhaps, this is one of the problems Claudia says she has "to smooth out". Though we know later she has never said directly to Louis how she actually doesn't completely agree with his diet choice from Episode 7. *S2 spoiler alert* And we know he later decides to eat human every other day to survive their European trip. My long time theory is Lestat manipulates him into drinking from him at least once a week as a solution. (and that's why he's more powerful than his book counterpart when he's not completely starving himself) 🤔

By the way, since this is the middle of the season, I'd like to say I think this is overall my least favorite episode so far. Mostly from the technical side, but I still love how they sprinkle hints of Claudia's own personality. I think my most favorite episode overall is Ep 1. I just love how their built Louis' personality in it. The performance is crazy, and the directing set the tone of the rest of the season. The directing in Ep 3 is top notch as well, especially towards the end. You really could feel the growing tension. The writing weaving all this history and race problem into Louis' personal life is genius as well.

[covenofthearticulate]

20 Qs for fic writers

1. How many works do you have on A03? 22

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 134,415

3. What fandoms do you write for? Vampire Chronicles, plus a few Umbrella Academy pieces

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? La mort dans dentelle (Death in Lace), Pink, An Aching Pulse in Search of a Home, and Bright Star. (Basically, all the fics that I no longer really like, that I wrote pre-hiatus in like 2018 that have been up on AO3 the longest so statistically have the most kudos just from age LOL)

5. Do you respond to comments? I really really try to!!! Most of the time I get really overwhelmed though like YOU GUYS ARE SO NICE LMAO so just saying "Thank you!" doesn't feel like enough and I get really nervous about not seeming grateful so it takes me approximately 10 years to reply to comments. I try to catch up every couple of months, though.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I'm sorry I love angst, but I am one of those writers who likes to have a satisfying emotional wrap-up at the ends of my fics so honestly most of them end on a sweet note. The closest thing is maybe les rousseurs amères de l'amour which was still soft, but definitely bittersweet.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? aksdjfhcabdsfk they all have happy endings bc I am a sucker and a sap!!! Home Court Advantage is definitely the silliest fluffiest ending though :)

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only if you count the comments that compliment my writing as being in-character for the tv show characters LOL (seriously one time someone commented that they could hear Jacob Anderson's voice come through in my dialogue and I had to go lie down lmfao)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? These days I mostly write smut LOL but even in the pwp pieces I see most of my smut as opportunities for character building, so most of my work tends to fall into the Smut With Feelings category lmfao

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I don't write crossover fic anymore, but back when I was crazy active on my rp accounts, I wrote hella crossover! It was moreso on the Umbrella Academy side than my VC side, but I did have some fun rp threads between Louis and Philippe D'Orleans (specifically the tv Versailles version lmao).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge! Please don't do that!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not yet!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Once upon a time, baby High School Ash co-wrote an insane crossover fic with a friend I had met through tumblr. It was Barnabas Collins (from Tim Burton's Dark Shadows) x Mrs. Lovett. I feel so brave for admitting this LOL I really truly was so emotionally invested in that fic and it's so cringe-worthy but I had fun and that's what matters!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? I mean. I'm a Loustat girlie through and through LOL but I also love Louis with Armand, or in any configuration of any of the poly ships! As long as Louis is there, you can count me in.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Maybe one of the Louis/Lestat/Armand pieces I started....I love the 3 of them but I get burnt out so quickly because all 3 characters are so complex and so everything feels like an Ordeal with them because they're all very opinionated and only work in a certain dynamic if that makes sense!

16. What are your writing strengths? I think the thing I'm most proud of is my lyrical prose! I like writing sentences that just punch you in the face with feeling! I want my writing to feel evocative, I want the words and details to stick in your head and rattle around.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I wish I had better stamina and pacing to write longer pieces LMAO like honest to god it's looking like my next fic is gonna be around 9k-10k and it really truly felt like I was going to die writing it LOL it's taken me like 2 months and it has felt like pulling teeth the entire time. For someone who likes writing, I sure wish I liked writing more asdsfkfjghdxghn

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Like Kacy said, if it's done well and adds to the world of the fic, then sure! I'm definitely guilty of this trope, but I try to reserve it for the really high-stakes moments so that the language lands differently and is more impactful. But I also think dialogue (and even certain dialects) in different languages have the power to do more harm than good. Like, as a reader, I know that if I see a line of something in a language I can't read, the first thing I'm going to have to do is open another browser tab to google translate, and then go back and read it in context again, and by that time the flow is disrupted and everything is off and it's just hard!!

19. First fandom you wrote for? ooooh girl you should've seen some of the spicy Sweeney Todd fic I was hand-writing in my notebooks in high school. Actually it was more psychological angst than smut but LOL listen I'm a ride or die Mrs. Lovett girlie, what can I say.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? I think in the grand scheme of things, Air Catcher will always have a special place in my heart. It was one of those rare lightning in a bottle instances where the idea came to me so suddenly and so clearly, and the concept felt so obvious I was like "SURELY someone has written this already???" but then I checked and NOPE no one as far as I was aware had written about vampire top drop, and so I just fucking went to town with that fic. It was among some of the first writing I'd done since coming out of hiatus, and to this day I think it's the only fic I've ever written where the end product was exactly what I had envisioned and hoped it would be. That fic was a gift from god to me LOL and it'll be one year old this summer! wild!!!!

Tagged by: @monstersinthecosmos <3 Tagging: adkjhfbcjhdsb once again I feel like all my fic-writing friends have been tagged by this point but PLEASE if you're reading this, do it and say I tagged you <3

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, bravo to AMC's "IWTV" for that last episode, for real.

The reunion between Louis and Lestat at the end had my heart aching in the best way. I didn't think they were gonna' make Armand THIS villainous, but damn, they went all the way, and they went a long way to redeeming Lestat from episode 5 of the first season, too.

Given Armand's deviousness that was finally revealed in this final episode, it shifts all of Lestat's actions from the first season into greater understanding, if he knew exactly how cruel Armand could be, trying to protect both Louis and Claudia from that.

And I finally, truly felt Lestat's love for Claudia, here, too, his breakdown with Louis at the end over her, how they both started crying and hugging each other. That was beautiful. I imagine, hopefully, we'll get to see more scenes of Lestat's and Claudia's relationship, without the coloration of bias that pervaded the first two seasons, to really drive home just why Lestat is so plainly heartbroken over her death.

I also really liked Louis kind of absolving Lestat of his guilt, here, finally admitting to his own responsibility in forcing Lestat to turn her, and admitting to how he wanted Lestat to be miserable because he was, too. I can see where they're coming from, with this angle, with this particular change from the books. Louis WAS miserable in the book, and in the show, and it was that misery that compelled Lestat to turn Claudia in the book. He was afraid Louis was going to leave him because Louis wasn't happy, and Louis was in denial about his love for Lestat, and withholding his love from Lestat on purpose. In that way, Louis holds a large part of the responsibility for why Lestat made that decision. So them just making that kind of more explicit here in the show, with Louis being the one to genuinely beg Lestat to turn Claudia, makes sense. To make more clear the reason Lestat did turn Claudia was, in large part, because of Louis' emotional manipulation of him.

Anyway, I'm sure all those fans that were talking about Louis' evil white oppressor Lestat, and how the beautiful Indian man Armand was going to save him, are all going to abandon this show now, because too bad for them, it didn't turn out that way, lol. Armand really came across as evil here, lol. I'm sure Armand fans aren't going to be happy about that, though lets face it, Armand is a pretty devious guy in the books, though always sympathetic due to his own, awful backstory.

I do wonder though about him turning Daniel and what the implications of that are for his and Daneils' relationship moving forward. The way they framed it makes it seem as if Armand turned Daniel to spite Louis for finally leaving him. Maybe it'll be another instance of not being the truth, and we'll find out Daniel asked to be turned or something. But as it stands right now, it's just an additional evil act to add onto the growing pile of evil acts Armand was responsible for.

Also, shout out to both Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson for their phenomenal acting in that final scene between Lestat and Louis. Ugh, my heart really broke when Lestat tearfully asked Louis about that day in 1973 when he tried to kill himself. When he asks "Did you hurt yourself?", and you could just see the devastation in him, the guilt and pain at not being there for him, and Louis tearfully confessing about what a bad place he was in, etc... ugh. This was definitely the most emotional I got watching this show. You could really feel the deep love these two have for one another, and it largely did away with my negative feelings surrounding the DV from season 1. You really get the sense here from Lestat that he never, ever would want to hurt Louis again, and I 100% believe that.

Anyway, like I said, a stellar conclusion to the first two seasons. I'm definitely looking forward to season 3 now.

[hekateinhell]

I will always defend book Armand over this weirdass retcon and I'm a Muslim. Let them have their cake and eat it all, they support girls being raped, they support extreme DV, they support a Lestat that doesn't resemble any version of any Lestat known to man, I hope they drown in their feels. Leaves more room for the intelligent chatter to have adult conversations. The show has nothing to do with the VC universe except hypocrites.

I mean... I'm Muslim too, born and raised. I don't even know how this became an issue. I make a few posts this morning and suddenly I'm a racist and a pedo for wanting to see my favourite character in some sort of canon-like depiction. Like, damn. Now, I've lived my life and I have a thick skin but it's hilarious to me how this is essentially JA!Louis all over again.

It's such an anti-intellectual straw man argument to level against perfect strangers because they don't share your fandoms opinions. How does that truly negate anything I said and how am I supposed to respond to that? Sorry, I actually experienced rampant Islamophobia growing up visibly Muslim in post-9/11 New York. My real name is as Arab as you could possibly get, the TSA loves me. Me sharing my opinions on a casting choice for a crappy show on tumblr dot com is not racism or xenophobia, I'm sorry to tell you.

Me being upset about Armand's casting has nothing to with Assad Zaman. I would love to see more queer Muslim rep! It's an issue I've cared about since I was young, since it obviously affects my community directly. And I've said several times Rashid would be great as his own character! The absolute circles I have talked around myself to try to articulate my own opinions on my own blog every time it's come up in the past so I won't upset anyone... frankly, it's ridiculous.

And yes, the hypocrisy between people bitching about us Armand fans while wholeheartedly supporting the changes made to Claudia's character is unbelievable. Clearly, it's fine that Claudia in a "14-year-old's body" talks about sex all the times and is raped off-screen. It's fine she demands of her guardians, "Which one of you is gonna fuck me?!" and etc. This never happened in text, this is AMC creating problems that didn't exist. Not two weeks ago the same people were like "Oh, what if they're merging Claudia and Armand's stories together??"

So it's fine as long as they're getting what they want, that's the tl; dr of it all. This show pulled in less than half a million cable viewers last weekend, alright? It's really not that serious outside of our super nerd fandom spaces. It's not the successor to The Walking Dead AMC hoped it would be.

I don't talk about my religion a lot because this is a fandom blog, not a personal one. And I don't buy into the nonsense of having to reveal my private life in order to lend credibility to my opinions on a platform of strangers. I'm not going to list off my entire life history in the hope some randoms will take me seriously about vampires. And why would I share anything with people who behave like this?

But I do mention it in passing here and there and it is common knowledge to my fandom friends (Rashid praying was a fun time in the chat), so I don't want you to feel alone, anon. ❤️

[urban-unease]

Interview with the Vampire Thoughts!

Spoilers Abound!

After a second, drunker viewing of the pilot, here be my drunk thoughts. More sober thoughts may or may not come. IDK:

When I first saw the shots of Lestat at dinner with Louis' family a few days ago I immediately thought about all the ways smart writers could convey this scene. My favorite idea was if the writers conveyed Louis' family as almost immune to Lestat's charms. It would make so much sense! As a black person, I can say that groups of black folks are not easily won over by white people no matter how supernaturally charming lol. The bar is high for us to let our guard down particularly when a white person you dont know is in your personal space. I love that ultimately even Lestat could recognize that Louis' family was not having it and was not the least bit amused by him.

It's amusing and concerning to me how many people don't know/understand that the "French White" thing is not a IWTV specific thing. I mean this EXACT joke was in a Wanda Sykes special a few years ago.

Lestat is a "I'd vote for Obama a third time" kind of white and this very appropriate for his character.

I've seen complaints about the show talking about Louis' blackness too much and I'm just ?????? I mean, he's telling the story of his life and what it was like to live at that time, so yeah he's gonna talk about the hardships of being black at that particular time. It's the only the first episode and their setting the stage. and lestat is a tactless bitch so of course he's bring up Louis' race in the most grating way possible lol. It's a dog whistle y'all. don't fall for it.

I'll be honest - I never understood what was so special about Book!Louis that Lestat was so obsessed with him. But here I totally get it! Show! Louis is a gay black man out of place, in the margins, struggling to make a life for himself. He has these hidden depths that he cant share with anyone, like his gay identity and his love of the opera. An Jacob Anderson is so captivating. It makes sense to me that Lestat would want him as a companion.

Along these lines - the main reason why Book!Lestat is so attracted to Louis is because he reminds him of his ex. So does this mean show!Nicki is going to be Black? That could be interesting, but also fetishistic and weird on Lestat's part if it's not handled well.

On the note of tact - I dont expect to show to be some thoughtful and deep mediation on race. They're trying....but you know....white people....At the end of the day this a trashy show about vampires and I'm fine about that.

The levitating "sex" scene was vey silly and not as a erotic as I thought it was gonna be (though it was very fun). It was just a gay naked cuddle in the air. To call it a sex scene is hella reaching. But I appreciate the show getting weird.

that being said I want a proper sex scene because it would be an incredible waste of the chemistry between these very hot actors not to have them bone.

Daniel's personality feels on point to me. This feels like the same sassy guy that called Armand an immortal idiot. IDK

Louis' modern apartment feels accurate to his personality. He's one of the view vamps that doesn't care that much about aesthetics and I think the show did a good job of designing a home for him that combines luxury with austerity (I know that doesnt make sense but I cant think of the word right now). Its a cold gray cinder block with gray and wood furnishing. there are pops of red and gold here or there but ultimately it feels like a largely empty space only filled with the most necessary furnishings and space decor.

Grace is wonderful and adorable

rip to Lily. a real one.

I dont think Lestat pushed Paul to suicide. I think Lestat is just classless lol

The show does not do a good job of setting the stage for New Orleans culture for an audience that might be unfamiliar. IDT that Louis' thinking that Lestat's powers are just tricks is that weird when you consider that New Orleans has long been a hot bed of voodoo, witchcraft, and supernatural happenings. New orleans is a place where someone like Marie Laveau could make a name for herself in society as a Voodoo practitioner. It wasn't uncommon for folks of all classes to turn to magic for help with illness, love, and other life matters.

A big mainstream show that dresses and lights black people well - what a concept!

I have more thoughts but my hands are tired 🙃

[monstersinthecosmos]

Do you have a theory why Armand's casting is so under wraps even though they have filmed footage? Apparently he's not book accurate and revealing the casting would be a huge spoiler. Do you have any theories how his character has been changed (at least physically)?

all right like tbh I never got to the bottom of where that rumor came from and I'm not sure if it's true, so ONE OPTION is that it's nonsense, it's bullshit, they didn't cast him at all yet bc he's not gonna be around until Season 2. And like, unless there's some MASSIVE thing that we didnt hear about, this production was leakier than the fuckin Titanic so I just don't know if they could've kept it under wraps this long. Like so far the most plausible conspiracy was the Alex Garfin sightings and he has THE LOOK but like, I'm not sure why they'd keep it a secret, especially because it doesn't feel like they're treasuring Armand as a character to prioritize in this universe.

But if the thing IS a spoiler, I think like, the only ways simply learning who he is could be a spoiler is if it's like someone they've cast as a red herring playing a different character (Rashid) or like, it's SO dramatically different that they want the reveal to be more exciting, like if he's been changed to a woman. Again like, at this point I don't think they're shy about not being book accurate so I don't know why it would be a secret if it's dramatically different. They've prided themselves on being dramatically different so far.

Either way I don't see him being book accurate; it's not an aesthetic issue as much as it's a storytelling issue. And even if he has the same backstory and personality and everything like, the entire timeline is so fucked up along with the other characters that he'd be serving a different narrative function. Like I'm curious to see what else will happen between Louis & Lestat but Lestat in this is sharing vampire information, has told Louis about his mortal life, and Louis has vampire powers! So even if he still heads to Europe on a quest for spiritual knowledge, it's not going to look the same in terms of Armand being a mentor figure. (Like I'm sure they could come up with another way for Armand to be a mentor or even just a breath of fresh air after Lestat's fucking nonsense so idk.) There's also just not enough time for Armand to have his relationships with Louis and Daniel in a truncated timeline, or least, it won't carry the same weight if you take a 70 year relationship and squash it into 20 or whatever.

Like, they're vampires, don't fuck me around with a 20 year relationship LOL humans can do that. Get serious!

As for theories, honestly I couldn't fuckin tell ya dude like this entire show is doing whatever the fuck it wants. 😂 I wouldn't be surprised if they aged him up since all the other characters have been aged up. 😂😂

(I almost started a side essay about why I think Armand's age is fucking important to who he is as a person and creates a really beautiful texture with regards to the theme of his lost innocence and barbaric personality but that's not what you asked, I will 🤐)

But even making predictions about the ways the show is navigating themes about age and things like that, I don't completely have a grasp on it yet so I can't be sure. If he doesn't show up this season I might have different feelings, having seen the whole season. Like, depending what the show is trying to tell us about teens & sexuality, maybe they WOULDN'T age him up, maybe they'll go there. I need to see more about how they handle Claudia. And depending on how they want to handle the main ship, who knows if they'll introduce Armand as a Loustat wedge, and it might really change how they present him if he is/isn't going to be a love interest.

I think like when more patterns start emerging about the style of storytelling and what they're trying to tell us we'll be able to guess stuff like this, but as of now I'm just in the fuckin dark haha.

[ca-suffit]

I heard that lestat abused nicki too in the book is that true if so do you think they're gonna show it in s3? i hope they do only so the fandom finally shut up about louis lying about the abuse. And it'll be interesting to see the fandom's reaction to lestat after that.

I'm v 👀 waiting to see how Nickistat is gonna be treated in the fandom when it's two white men.

I'll answer this under the cut in case ppl don't want spoilers.

Nickistat is a p dark relationship so I expect them to show everything and I'll be disappointed if they don't. Lestat always has a history of being abusive, in human and vampire terms, but a lot of ppl find a way to excuse it. Or pretend they acknowledge it while still overlooking it bcuz they never rly talk about it in a way that says they *really do* accept it in his character.

I expect the fandom to be a lot softer on both of them bcuz they're both white. Even tho Nicki p aggressively fucking hates Lestat, not only at the end, but during the "good" parts of their relationship too. He wants them to destroy themselves.

Idk how to get into the rest of this without a summary of at least the Nickistat stuff in TVL so...

Gabrielle (Lestat's mom) helps get Nicki and Lestat to Paris so they can both get away from their shitty lives. Lestat becomes successful as an actor and Nicki plays the violin for the performances. Everything is going p well but Nicki starts to break apart as time goes bcuz he didn't actually want them to succeed. He gets annoyed at Lestat's eternal optimism and friction starts to grow between them. This worsens when Lestat is kidnapped by Magnus. Nicki doesn't know what's happened to him at all. Lestat avoids making contact to tell Nicki anything, sending him money and gifts otherwise instead, as he tries to cope with the trauma of it and how to explain anything at all. This is the time period when Gabrielle becomes a vampire too, to save her from dying of an illness. This is the first vampire Lestat ever creates. Then Armand kidnaps Nicki (long story there, but Armand and Lestat get into it over the coven shit by this point too) and reveals everything vampiric to him and it all unravels more and more. Lestat eventually does make Nicki a vampire too but it causes the darkness to grow in him and it scares Lestat a lot, so they end badly. Lestat leaves Paris, and Nicki stays at the theatre (which the vampires now own, thanks to Lestat thru Magnus' money) with Armand. Armand does all kinds of shit with him to try and control him, including cutting his hands off at a point, but Nicki keeps getting worse. Eventually he kills himself by jumping into a fire. Lestat learns about this in a letter he receives in Cairo from one of the actresses along with a package that holds Nicki's violin.

So the abuse part with Lestat comes during one of the last times they ever see each other. Here it is from TVL

"I want the theater," Nicolas said to me. "I want it from you. The deed, the money to reopen it. My assistants here are ready to listen to me." "You may have it, if you wish," I answered. "It is yours if it will take you and your malice and your fractured reason off my hands." I got up off the dressing table and went towards him and I think that he meant to block my path, but something unaccountable happened. When I saw he wouldn't move, my anger rose up and out of me like an invisible fist. And I saw him moved backwards as if the fist had struck him. And he hit the wail with sudden force. I could have been free of the place in an instant. I knew Gabrielle was only waiting to follow me. But I didn't leave. I stopped and looked back at him, and he was still against the wall as if he couldn't move. And he was watching me and the hatred was as pure, as undiluted by remembered love, as it had been all along. But I wanted to understand, I wanted really to know what had happened. And I came towards him again in silence and this time it was I who was menacing, and my hands looked like claws and I could feel his fear. They were all, except for Eleni, full of fear. I stopped when I was very close to him and he looked directly at me, and it was as if he knew exactly what I was asking him. "All a misunderstanding, my love," he said. Acid on the tongue. The blood sweat had broken out again, and his eyes glistened as if they were wet. "It was to hurt others, don't you see, the violin playing, to anger them, to secure for me an island where they could not rule. They would watch my ruin, unable to do anything about it." I didn't answer. I wanted him to go on. "And when we decided to go to Paris, I thought we would starve in Paris, that we would go down and down and down. It was what I wanted, rather than what they wanted, that I, the favored son, should rise for them. I thought we would go down! We were supposed to go down." "Oh, Nicki…" I whispered. "But you didn't go down, Lestat, " he said, his eyebrows rising. "The hunger, the cold-none of it stopped you. You were a triumph!" The rage thickened his voice again. "You didn't drink yourself to death in the gutter. You turned everything upside down! And for every aspect of our proposed damnation you found exuberance, and there was no end to your enthusiasm and the passion coming out of you-and the light, always the light. And in exact proportion to the light coming out of you, there was the darkness in me! Every exuberance piercing me and creating its exact proportion of darkness and despair! And then, the magic, when you got the magic, irony of ironies, you protected me from it! And what did you do with it but use your Satanic powers to simulate the actions of a good man!" I turned around. I saw them scattered in the shadows, and farthest away, the figure of Gabrielle. I saw the light on her hand as she raised it, beckoning for me to come away. Nicki reached up and touched my shoulders. I could feel the hatred coming through his touch. Loathsome to be touched in hate. "Like a mindless beam of sunlight you routed the bats of the old coven!" he whispered. "And for what purpose? What does it mean, the murdering monster who is filled with light!"

I turned and smacked him and sent him hurtling into the dressing room, his right hand smashing the mirror, his head cracking against the far wall. For one moment he lay like something broken against the mass of old clothing, and then his eyes gathered their determination again, and his face softened into a slow smile. He righted himself and slowly, as an indignant mortal might, he smoothed his coat and his rumpled hair. It was like my gestures under les Innocents when my captors had sent me down in the dirt. And he came forward with the same dignity, and the smile was as ugly as any I had ever seen. "I despise you," he said. "But I am done with you. I have the power from you and I know how to use it, which you do not. I am in a realm at last where I choose to triumph! In darkness, we're equal now. And you will give me the theater, that because you owe it to me, and you are a giver of things, aren't you-a giver of gold coins to hungry children-and then I won't ever look upon your light again." He stepped around me and stretched out his arms to the others: "Come, my beauties, come, we have plays to write, business to attend to. You have things to learn from me. I know what mortals really are. We must get down to the serious invention of our dark and splendid art. We will make a coven to rival all covens. We will do what has never been done." The others looked at me, frightened, hesitant. And in this still and tense moment I heard myself take a deep breath. My vision broadened. I saw the wings around us again, the high rafters, the walls of scenery transecting the darkness, and beyond, the little blaze along the foot of the dusty stage. I saw the house veiled in shadow and knew in one limitless recollection all that had happened here. And I saw a nightmare hatch another nightmare, and I saw a story come to an end.