#because lestat and nicki were fairly monogamous in the book from memory?

[pynkhues]

Really interesting point about Louis often minimising his actions and painting himself in better light while telling his tale. The problem is, that a large part of fandom tend to take everything he says at face value without critical thinking. Upon rewatching, I've noticed the disparities between Louis' voiceover and what's actually shown on the screen. The most jarring example would be Louis claiming he was being hunted and the next shot we see is Lestat looking at him with utter adoration lol. It's obvious that there was nth predatory about their courting.

There's one thing i can't stop wondering (and sorry if you talked about this before): in 1.03 Louis tells Daniel that because of his diet his libido was nonexistent and that was the reason why he wasn't having sex with Lestat and let his indulgence with Antoinette happen. However, later he was quiet eager and had no problem getting it up for Jonah. If he barely could hold a book how he was capable of having sex? I believe his libido was lower but he clearly wasn't impotent. Imo, the main reason why he wasn't having sex with Lestat- but did with Jonah- was because he was blaming him for "taking his life" and wanted to punish him by witholding sex and affection. He was also rejecting his vampirism and by extension Lestat.

I also wouldn't be surprised if once he started eating people again he also had sex with some of his victims like he did in S2, he just didn't mention it to Daniel. Apparently feeding flings are common for vampires and i don't think that neither of them would consider it cheating. Basically, I don't agree with the fandom opinion that Louis is more monogamous than Lestat and Armand. I think you're right and they all are sluts haha.

Lestat and Louis' courtship is definitely a good example of Louis framing something in a way that's both technically true yet articulated in a way that paints a less-than-generous picture. Like, I think there is a sort of element of a hunt in the way Lestat doggedly pursues Louis with the intent of getting him fall in love with him, haha, but it's a sort of hunt you'd probably use interchangably with the word chase or pursue. The use of the actual word hunt itself calls to mind a predator and prey in a way the other two don't, which isn't necessarily reflective of the dynamic that's happening on screen, like you said.

The word choice is such a deliberate one, and I think does a really good job of establishing Louis as an unreliable narrator. After all, the very nature of the interview being Louis recounting chapters of his life means that he's endlessly informed by everything that's happened afterwards. In a lot of ways, Louis needs to not just paint the picture that Lestat's a monster, but feel that he's one, because Louis needs to justify his own actions in the wake of that both to Daniel and to himself. He needs Lestat to be a predator so that he gets to be prey, and therefore blameless in all the carnage, because if that's not the case, if it's not their dynamic, then Louis is ultimately accountable too.

But yes! Agreed that the restricted diet / animal blood alone wasn't making Louis impotent - which Jonah is evidence of - although I do think it definitely would've impacted his sex drive. I agree with both your thoughts that it stems from Louis punishing Lestat, both for taking his life and I'd say for cheating on him in the first place, and as a manifestation of this rejection of his vampirism that Lestat is the physical embodiment of.

I'd add to it too that I think the withdrawal wasn't just a punishment and rejection of Lestat, but I think in some ways it was a punishment and rejection of himself too. Louis didn't want to open up their relationship initially, and I think the scene where he asks if he's enough is really telling of the deeper insecurity Louis has in his relationship with Lestat. Louis struggles with his sense of self, and at that point in the series had enormous issues of internal repression and external oppression when it came to both his race and his sexuality.

In a lot of ways, that feels partially aggravated by his relationship with Lestat, because their relationship being interracial adds - especially in that era, but arguably still now - its own degree of social taboo even outside of Louis being gay and Black.

In that sense, Antoinette, and Lestat's relationship with her, feels uniquely built to point out everything that's publicly quote-unquote 'wrong' about his and Lestat's own relationship. She's a woman, he's a man, she's white, he's Black, she's straight, he's gay, and together she and Lestat are a heterosexual, white, socially acceptable couple, while together he and Lestat are a queer, interracial, socially unacceptable couple.

Add to that Antoinette and Lestat having a shared language both in their whiteness and in music, which I talked about here, I think Louis withdrawing in intimacy and affection from Lestat was - on top of being punishing and a rejection - manifested by his own deeply held insecurities around what his and Lestat's relationship is. After all, if Lestat still wants her - if he still wants that - when he's with Louis, what's to say that he won't one day decide that the ease of that is worth more than the struggle of it with Louis?

I can absolutely see that having an impact on Louis' sexuality with Lestat, and I don't think it was coincidental that he's able to consumate with a man he shared his own language and identity with being both Black and gay, instead of with his white, bisexual husband.