#i wanted to be what daniel was to armand and what armand was to daniel

[mirrorhouse]

i can see 1980/1981 (around the time daniel turns 27/28) as being the catalyst for his relationship with armand starting to splinter, his resentment over armand withholding the gift coming to a head, the occasional running off and wandering starting before it starts ramping up in frequency. because it's when it really hits him that's where armand is frozen — 27 forever — and daniel's past that now. he's always been younger than armand both physically and mentally but now daniel's the one who's older physically. suddenly it's way more real that one day he'll be turning grey and armand won't and it fucks with him badly

[wizardpink]

I'm watching s1e1 and just got to the part where Louis says he's come to embrace his sexuality, and asks, "but you knew that Daniel, we met at a gay bar." And Daniel brushes it off as just something he did for drugs, so Louis presses, "you've been married?" And Daniel says "twice. But we're not here for me, are we?" So Louis pivots to asking about the best drug he ever had, and they go from there...

I always thought it seemed kind of oddly provocative and forward and even unnecessary for Louis to basically say, "of course I'm out now, but you knew that, since you're gay, right?" Like what is the point of breaking the flow of the story to talk about Daniel here?

Of course it could just be a directorial decision to break up the flashback sequences and remind the audience that this is taking place within the frame of the Dubai interview. But plot wise, I just...

I can't help thinking about Louis continuing, as the interview goes on, to try to open a dialogue with Daniel about his sexuality, his past lovers (specifically Alice, never the second wife), and becoming a vampire. I can't recall Louis ever asking personal questions about Daniel's daughters, and in fact when Louis is talking about Claudia, Daniel is the one who says, "I've got two," without Louis asking.

This could all be writing and directing choices made to underscore that this is a Love Story between Louis and Lestat, but it's also a story about Family, and to my recollection it's almost always Daniel who brings up his daughters, and Louis who brings up Alice and Polynesian Mary's.

So yes it's a wild stretch but... if you're someone who like me has entertained the theory that Louis is doing this interview not just because he regrets how badly it went the first time, not just because Daniel doesn't have much time left for them to wrap it up, not just because Louis wants to warn humanity of the impending Great Conversion, but that he is doing it for Armand...

Well, I'm just saying, the breadcrumbs are there.

[haredjarris]

Louis and Armand totally had a fight later over Louis offering a taste of Rashmand to Daniel.

“What if he’d accepted?! I don’t want that… mortal’s mouth slobbering on my neck!”

But really he’s just mortified because he’s still attracted to Daniel against his better judgement and getting drunk by him would NOT help.

[katzkookiesshipping]

CWs: discussion of murder, racism, and other ITWTV things

I feel like something we don’t talk about in terms of Louis’ many betrayals of Claudia is his forgiveness pertaining her death. Can we, like, think about it for a second? Louis, at the start of season one, knows Armand is responsible for her death. He knows his coven did horrifying things to her ashes. He knows her bodily autonomy was violated a million times. And he knows that Armand was capable of saving her. But Armand didn’t save Claudia. He saved Louis. So Louis forgives him.

I think this is a great example of what Claudia is always talking about when she rightfully calls out how she’s turned into a plot-point in other people’s lives— in her creators’ lives. The consequences of her pain simply aren’t acted upon.

Louis forgives Armand for seven decades his culpability in Claudia’s death. Because Armand saved Louis. Because when he watched his coven carry out the revenge knows he was an instrumental part of, he loved Louis enough. But not Claudia. She’s dead. He’s spiting Lestat and sleeping next to Armand and Claudia is dead because (to Louis’ understanding) Armand decided to save Louis. Not Claudia.

It’s worse when you take into account the finale. Daniel, per Louis request, makes him remember: He remembers how he dragged Claudia’s burned blistered body on the ground like an object. He remembers how Lestat shouted the consequences of her undeath into his fucking face. He remembers his total apathy born by the force of his own desperation. And, god. He understands that Lestat, Claudia’s maker and (in his eyes) parent, had the power to save her. To spare her from being used for Santaigo’s pleasure, the unforgiving brutal death by sunlight, the humiliation and degradation of what was functionally a lynching— and he goes and swoons. Because Lestat didn’t save her— he saved Louis. He loved Louis. He’s always loved Louis. He uses his and Lestat’s shared grief as a catalyst for renewing the relationship that Claudia was fucking lynched for daring to save him from. He leaves the vampire he stayed with for SEVEN DECADES that Claudia warned him about, who was always (even if Armands’ lies were believed) instrumental in her murder, a vampire Claudia wanted dead.

And here’s the kicker: Louis doesn’t even have the excuse of Claudia perhaps wanting him to forgive and move on. Because she wouldn’t. She’d want Sam and Armand and, honestly, Lestat, dead and burned. And Louis knows that!! And that’s why her speech at the trial is chilling. Because she was absolutely fucking right. Her existence is reduced to a plot point for the powerful men around her. Her life and death, no matter what she says or does, is in service to others. And the fact that she’s a supporting character in a narrative really drives this home. And as a Black woman, her marginalization amidst the men around her, white or otherwise— cannot be understated.

Anyways, I love all the complicated morally fucked characters in this show, including Louis. But there’s no world in which Louis did right by her. And Claudia, the unapologetic fierce legend she was, would absolutely agree. Fuck these vampires.

[monstersinthecosmos]

buncha discourse a year or so back about how Marius and Daniel are both complete people without Armand (agreed) and that acknowledging the way Armand sort of haunts their relationship means we're taking agency away from Daniel as a whole person (vehemently disagree) and basically I just think, it's very short sighted to look at a relationship like Marius & Daniel's and NOT acknowledge the empty space of Armand between them.

Of course!!!!! We must acknowledge that fanworks and fandom are about transformative work and someone can easily devote time & energy to writing fics where Armand is never acknowledged once if that's what they want, but it's not what I want! It's not how I prefer to approach them!

I think there's something very salient about Armand's absence between them! I want us to spend time with it! I want to ask, when Daniel is at his worst, how much of this is Armand's fault? And I want to ask, when Marius nurses him through it, how much guilt does he feel? How might he look at Armand's behavior as a maker and wonder if he fucked up, if he did wrong by Armand by not being a better maker himself, if this could've been avoided?

It's such incredible source of trauma to look at--for Marius, I think it's a matter of "He behaves this way because I couldn't keep him safe, and I didn't rescue him, and I didn't rescue him because I couldn't reconcile how betrayed and triggered I felt by his cult, and if I had taken care of Santino and taken the cult seriously all along, this could have been avoided."

And for Daniel, we have to remember it's not JUST that he had a bad turning, that he's sensory-overloaded and bad at vampiring, but this is the nastiest breakup of his life! Especially considering that like, it's so much beyond being a marriage of sorts--TILL DEATH DO US PART except they'll never die. It must have hurt him so badly. And like, he was 20 when his life effectively ended, so it's entirely possible that this is his ONLY real bad breakup, and this was his only like actual adult relationship.

But even for him, I love thinking about how badly Armand hurt him, but as he gets to know Marius and understand the situation better, and understand Why Armand is Like That, there's such a potent space for forgiveness and empathy.

I like thinking about Daniel coming out of it slowly and allowing Marius to see his real personality, and all the space where they get to know each other and care for each other. It's not unlike the Devil's Minion--growing something where there was something else. With Armand it was fear and revulsion that become familiar and passionate. With Marius it starts with caretaking and confusion, and as he gets ahold of himself and things come into focus they can get to know each other as people.

idk I just really love this triangle in VC and the dynamics are really fascinating to me, and I'm happy that I've been poking at it and dissecting it for Vamptember, and I hope my haters of the past who told me I was stupid for approaching this way know that they can simply keep scrolling and write their own fics if they don't like it! :)

[jadenvargen]

I've seen your iwtv fanart and was wondering how you liked it so far? I was so surprised but happy to see you make art for it, considering the fandom was the size of an anthill not too long ago.

i always liked lestat, akasha and claudia since i was a tiny emo deviantarter! then ezra commissioned me for a daniel/armand picture so i read devil's minion:) but the real reason is my friends and bf are watching it and i'm a herd animal so i want to watch what they see. i like it! the only thing i like better in the original is how young claudia is, but i still like her a lot in this one. (also one exploited child actress less in the world is definitely a plus.) i like everyone except for daniel i liked him in the book but he's so tony stark wisecracking i want him to shut up and let me enjoy the gothic horror 😭

[platoapproved]

So @marbleflan posted the second chapter of her fic 'Time Is On My Side' and I honestly can't recommend it enough. This chapter is such a gorgeous exploration of Louis during an interval that is post-Dubai but before he returns to New Orleans. Louis on his own for the first time in his life. Learning what Grindr is! Thinking about gender and internalized homophobia! Reflecting on 20th century history and civil rights and his own thoughts / where he was in his life at that time! Being friends with fledgling Daniel! Reflecting about Armand and Lestat and what he wants from his future!

Just!!! Go read it!!!! Especially to any Louis fans.

[oldbutchdaniel]

any female!armand backstory headcanons/crumbs to share with the class?

i think she would be an expert at Performing Gender and, probably due to the fact that she would have been expected to be very feminine while younger/mortal, when she's attempting to manipulate or w/e through her wits alone she presents as hyperfeminine. and she does serve cunt while doing this

i imagine though that armand at her most comfortable is a very similar style to the dubai wardrobe which is fairly androgynous. she does also serve cunt this way

the existence of femme and androgynous armand implies the existence of butch armand which like. yeah i mean. can we all hold hands for a minute and imagine her in a leather jacket (maybe even DANIEL'S leather jacket? and some beat up jeans. a cigarette dangling from her lips. sorry what was the question?

i think all of the above and also 500+ years means that armand is as comfortable with gender as she's going to get which is like. she knows how it fits her and knows when to "use" it to get what she wants and otherwise feels pretty emotionally removed from it

(as opposed to daniel who wants to be butch SO BAD but can't due to her issues. but that's another story)

(quick cw here for armand's backstory re: forced prostitution/slavery, though not discussed in great detail)

i think her thing with pregnancy would arise from the fact that she for whatever reason was never able to have a kid. she would have been at the age where she was expected to marry/have children and that she wasn't able to was one of the things that contributed to her "brokenness." i don't even want to get into the marius of it all because i don't have a fully developed enough thought to make it compelling but trust that being a young girl who wasn't able to have kids + living with marius + losing the possibility for children forever by becoming a vampire + 500 years gave her a pregnancy complex you could see from jupiter.

this of course results in a fascination with daniel who has, as far as they know, a fully functioning womb. (she does in fact have a fully functioning womb. but watch out!)

this plays into the personal armandaniel sex dynamics a great deal but i think it alters the purpose of the cuck chair encounters even more. armand would be so obsessed with getting men to fuck daniel and kind of tempting fate with getting her pregnant

re: tracking daniel's fertility cycles she IS doing shots of daniel's period blood out of her diva cup

lastly, she SHOULD be the first lesbian ever to get her gf pregnant through strap

[camellia-thea]

initially this post had some commentary about interests right now. and then it turned into a ramble about personal healing in the tags. so the interest post is going separately.

[cryptocism]

that half-blank, half-apocalyptic look

"i can b ur angle or yuor devil" etc etc "get a man who can do both" etc etc

obsessed with this vamp i think he should get to do whatever he wants forever

[knownoshamc]

Armand + why would you say that if you have only met this man once

[shelfperson]

okay but WHYYY is no one talking about louis and daniel WHYYYYYYYYYY is no one talking about the greatest grandpa4grandpa relationship known to man and i don’t even mean romantically i mean in the most basic human platonic level their relationship is FASCINATING.

like louis SAUGHT HIM OUT after FIFTY YEARS he FOUND HIS BOY, this horrible infant who DID NOT UNDERSTAND A THING HE TOLD HIM, who saw his raw, decades-old pain and wanted in on it, AND HE GOES BACK FOR HIM BECAUSE HE KNOWS HE’S CHANGED. he can understand now. he can help him find the truth.

and like, they’re both absolutely terrified by each other because they’re both uniquely skilled at getting under each other’s skin and finding that truth (and also because… louis could just up and eat daniel anytime but shhhh…) and it’s because they UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER. louis’s interviewing daniel as much as daniel’s interviewing him, just. pulling teeth from each other’s head, trying to pull out all the rot with such violence and cruelty (from both of them!! daniel is a cockwallop!!) but they want to help each other they CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER.

LIKE THIS????

THIS FUCKING SHIT?????

GAGGED ME. RUINED ME. I HAD TO STOP AND TAKE A WALK AROUND THE ROOM.

(the gifs are from @loumands account btw. great work my guy)

[mirrorhouse]

this scene with quieter background music. just because

[queenoftheimps]

OK but imagine if Season 3 kicks off, Daniel is still trying to figure out where Armand is while tagging along on the Rockstar Lestat tour for the second book, he's having no luck figuring out where Armand has squirrelled away, then he winds up at some concert venue chatting with some aging punk who's around his mortal age and it gets mildly flirty and then LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL, HERE COMES ARMAND WITH THE STEEL CHAIR

[the-woman-upstairs]

It is driving me…cuckoo bananas that Daniel uses his job as a socially acceptable way to chase the high he used to get from drugs and Armand not only is fully aware of this, but he himself then PROVIDES that very high when Daniel beats him and exposes his lies to Louis.

[charlie-rulerofhell]

Pick up the pace, pack up the gear Gimme some face, a souvenir Here come the gays, here comes the fear Now we're having fun