#depending on how they do the qotd arc i CAN see them developing a grudging respect for each other

[pynkhues]

I'm Louis & Gabrielle anon, thanks for response!

While there's popular headcanons about them getting along because of surface similarities and history with Lestat, I agree that they would probably hate each other.

I read theories on Gabrielle's reaction on Lestat's abuse of Louis and Claudia, and him following patterns of his father but i lowkey disagree. Gabrielle was detached from society shackles once she was turned and i think it involves morality too. Even alive she was very "it's only me and my loved ones (lestat)" person and even more after becoming vampire. So I can't imagine her particularly caring what Lestat did to those strangers.

She would focus only on Lestat's side of story and even then keep it to herself, not sharing any of her worries with Lestat. But it still wil affect how she treats Louis, especially considering murder attempt.

Louis I think is similar in that regard, though he preserves ties to humanity and wears a mask in the way Gabrielle doesn't. That and him never particularly showing empathy towards female struggles will result in Louis not caring about circumstances of Gabrielle's life as a human, including big chances that her kids, including Lestat are results of rape or at least marital rape.

There's also aspect of incest (though we don't know yet how explicit it will be) and grooming (for example Gabrielle telling her sexual fantasies while Lestat was teen). If Rolin is truly insane, he can parallel Louclaudia talking while Loustat had sex with some Gabistat scene.

And of course I'm interested to see, if they make Louis and Gabrielle ACKNOWLEDGE parallels in their defense mechanisms and do something about it? Okay, Gabrielle probably won't change but maybe Louis will? With time of course!

So yes, i agree with you. Aside from fascination at first glance that quickly will fade away, I can't see them having any positive relationship.

(x)

You're very welcome, anon! Thank you for your response, too! It was a super interesting read!

Yeah, I don't think Gabrielle will care all that much what went down in Lestat and Louis' marriage the first time around, particularly given how normal it was in her human life and her own experiences, and like, vice versa, Louis is sexist, as you observed, and has some lowkey misogynistic tendencies, so I don't think he'll be all that sympathetic to Gabrielle, especially if he's looking at her not as a woman in and of herself, but as Lestat's mother (and that's an extremely good point about Lestat and his siblings likely being the product of intermarital rape). I can see him pretty easily seeing only her failures to protect Lestat from his father (especially if he feels they to an extent parallel his own with Claudia), and then her own neglect and her own pretty fucked up boundaries with Lestat.

On top of that, I've said it on here before, but I think the show has a really strong throughline about the fact that victim survivors often treat each other worse than those without the shared experience - from Claudia not believing Lestat's story about Magnus, to Lestat weaponising Claudia's rape against her to force her home, to Armand diminishing Lestat's rape as something he quickly and easily got over, even as Daniel calls him out on it, to Louis throwing the fact that Armand was groomed back in his face during a fight. These are awful characters! I don't imagine Gabrielle and Louis' interactions will be all that much different, especially given their interactions will inevitably be underpinned by the fact that the only thing that connects the two of them is Lestat.

I dont know, having them get along feels a bit weak and disingenuous to me? Especially given how focused the writers are on keeping Louis as a lead, this really feels like such a logical area of deep and rich conflict that feels authentic for both characters, and could lead to some really meaty story for both Louis and Gabrielle (especially if they intend to keep Gabrielle around more than she is in the books). It's also territory that's both new for Louis, but taps into things he didn't reconcile with himself at the end of the s1 and s2 arcs. In that, he accepted himself as who he is, but he has a lot of unresolved issues still particularly around his mother and sister that I think is ripe fruit for picking story-wise. Plus it's pretty fun given Lestat got to know Florence - - I love the idea that their fathers will forever be these mysteries to one another, yet they'll both have to reconcile with the other's mother.