#in loustat we trust

[brian-kinney-apologist]

I'm kind of confused and maybe it's because I'm a little slow or something? But I watched the episode and then I see people talking about how in love and yearning loustat are ( they're my faves) but where? Lestat, absolutely and his pleas to Armand show that yet again but what about Louis this episode screams madly in love and yearning for Lestat?

oh louis is absolutely down bad for lestat, trust me, in this essay I will......

1. louis (and armand lol) can't stop talking about lestat no matter the timeline, no matter what he (they) talks about it circle's back to lestat, louis is obsessed with him no matter what he tells himself

2. louis trashed lestat to young!daniel because he constantly walks through phases with lestat: louis regrets killing/leaving him, he gets depressed about it, remembers the good times, feels desperate to have lestat back, eventually gets mad at himself, lestat and the fact that they're no longer together, acts like lestat meant nothing to him, gets psychotic, does something drastic, cools down at some point, feels nothing, feels regret, the cycle continues

3. during the loumand coffin scene whan louis was in terrible pain, he once again was longing to get some comfort from lestat even if he wasn't sure it was real lestat and not armand fucking with him. he doesn't want armand to interact (even telepathically) with lestat, because he, louis, can't bare the idea that someone else can do that (reach lestat and actually talk to him) but not him, but also louis imo doesn't want them to interact because we just saw armand being vicious towards both louis and daniel and louis doesn't want lestat to go through the same in any shape or form. louis feels armand getting unstable again when lestat begs him to say to louis that he loves him and obviously louis doesn't hear that but he sees armand's face and so he feels the need to distract armand and reduces everything to the fact that lestat was just his maker and that's it. louis imo was trying to protect lestat in that scene

4. louis feels guilty for not saying I love you to lestat when they were together, we saw this theme continuing through the whole season (loumand and lesmand saying ily to each other, lestat constantly saying ily to louis) and thus I'm 100% sure louis will say ily to lestat later in the season while also crying screaming throwing up because of all the guilt he carries

so anon don't you worry, you just wait

[birt-art]

Devil's minion..... It compels me

[faithandfairies]

You know, I've thought about this some more and I came up with another scenario. Because I kept thinking about Lestat revealing that in order for him to die he has to be willing.

So keeping that in mind it makes more sense for Louis to be the one to kill him. Because I don't see Lestat cooperating in his own murder if it's Claudia killing him, not Louis. And then I thought "Unless he's being blackmailed."

So if we still work within the frame of mind that Claudia poisoned Louis, and let's say she realizes Lestat can't be killed unless he goes along with it maybe because he tells her, I could see her threatening to kill Louis if Lestat didn't cooperate in his own murder. And Lestat allowing Claudia to kill him because it's not a risk he's willing to take. Even though there is no way Claudia would kill Louis.

You know, I can't wait to see their re-visit of Murder Night. Because there's so much that doesn't add up. I wonder if we'll find out that Claudia did in fact kill Lestat. And that there wasn't much Louis could do about it. Or if they'll leave the events mostly as we've seen.

We already know that a lot of Murder Night as Louis initially explains it to Daniel is Louis' fever dream. The question is where does it start? Because after Daniel realizes that Louis isn't telling him the entire truth and goads Louis into being honest with him we get two flashes of Louis' actual memories of that night, him choking Claudia to get it through to her that he won't allow her to burn Lestat and him screaming over Lestat's dead body.

And it's really making me wonder for how much of Lestat's death Louis was actually there and present for. If he was there for any of it.

Because there's so much that doesn't make sense about Louis' version of events:

-Claudia tells Louis beforehand she'll pull Louis back before she kills him. She kills Lestat. But then she's not even in the room as Louis kills him? We also know that Claudia had no problem with killing him, through Daniel.

-Through the trial we get a direct quote from Claudia's diary "I will be your angel of death, Lestat". And it's supposed to be just her fantasizing about murdering him as she's planning it but it just sounds like something she might actually say as she murders him as well.

-Louis also makes a pretty small slice in Lestat's throat and then let's go of him pretty unceremoniously and we're supposed to believe that was the extent of Lestat's murder. But why do it like that? Why not make the slice bigger? Or simply behead him? We know Louis couldn't, but how much of it was because he couldn't because he loves Lestat and how much of it might have been because of something else? If we consider that is what the slice in Lestat's neck truly ended up looking like?

-We also never see Lestat's death. We never hear his last words according to Claudia so we're definitely missing parts of that night.

-There are also pages missing in Claudia's diary that could involve her speaking on that night.

-And another thing, when Claudia leaves the room leaving Louis with Lestat I don't think it's her intention at all not to be the one to kill Lestat. She actually leaves Louis and Lestat alone to say their goodbyes.

So here's what I think. I think Claudia knew she would never get Louis so far to actually kill Lestat. She knew she would have to do it. And Louis would have to be out of the way, at least temporarily, otherwise he would try to stop her. She also tells Louis that she poisoned one of the twins for Lestat to consume. But the thing is that a lie always works better if there's truth to it.

I think Claudia actually poisoned both twins and had Louis feed on one to get him out of the way temporarily as she killed Lestat. The question is what happened after? Did Louis start to try to kill Lestat because he thought it should be him and could he not finish the job? Did he pass out from having been poisoned as he was dawdling?

Or did Louis pass out during the goodbye, having no intention of Lestat getting his throat slit and being burned? Did he come to as Claudia was slitting Lestat's throat and unceremoniously get her off of him during, which is why the slice looks jagged and unfinished?

Was he too late? Is that why he missed Lestat's last words? Or did Lestat say them as Louis was fighting off and trying to restrain Claudia? Was that when the choking and the argument about needing to burn him happened? Did Claudia betray Louis because she felt she had no other choice? And did he return the favor when he proved her right by choosing Lestat over her, refusing to finish him?

[rapha-reads]

Things from IWTV episode 10 (s2ep03) I noticed:

- the French is good this time! I still wonder if it's the actors themselves or dubbing. But it's actually understandable for a French-native person, and the language itself is exquisite. Wondering now if those lines are picked up from the book in Anne Rice's own pen, the translation of the books, or they're original lines written for the show by a French writer who has a splendid style.

- I just really loved the Armand flashback, both because of the language, and because it opens up the veil on the history of vampire covens throughout the centuries. Also we get to see more Lestat, this time Armand's Lestat and that's always a win.

- Armand is right about both Louis being broken and Claudia being pushed to the limits of how long she can accept this life of hers. I absolutely do not trust Armand, he's twisting the narrative for his own purpose (that I don't know because I haven't read the books yet), but still, he's a good judge of character. Can't not be one and survive for 500+ years I guess.

- the Loustat scenes, on the quai de Seine, in the bar and in the park, were insane.

- was that Sartre? Did. Did they just cameo'd in Sartre for the lols? Man, Paris.

- speaking of Paris, I know it was actually filmed in Prague, but man, I felt like I was back there. That Seine promenade, that's the one I walked countless times in my years living there. I could recognise the pavements like I was still there.

- Santiago's fed uppppp with Louis' BS. And he's definitely laughing at Claudia. Calling her "puce"... It's funny because in French, "ma puce" is a term of endearment, like "my darling", but indeed literally it means "my flea", so for an English-native like Claudia, it could be seen as literally being called the smallest, lowest member of the coven (like Delainey says in the episode insider), but for a French-native, it's like the coven is calling her sweetheart. And then they give her that dress and tell her she's going to play a kid for the bext 50 years, the one thing she hates being reminded of the most, and you go "ooooh. Oh, no, honey. They bad. This is bad." Clau's about to Break. Knowing how her story goes, I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

- Danny boy felt subdued this time. Like he's still reeling from Louis' invasion in the last episode, and now that Talamasca agent invading his laptop, he's feeling attacked on all sides and he's floundering to get back up again. That said, the scene with just him and Armand was particularly intense. You can sense how yearning Armand is, and how destabilised Daniel feels under Armand's gaze. In other words, that vampire really wanna fuck that old guy, and the old guy doesn't know how to feel about it but he's definitely feeling the intensity.

Need to read those books yesterday.

[achillesunly]

Yk what would be fucking orgasmic?

A finale season with all the things that truly happened, factually happened in disregard of everyone's pov, just pure raw facts

A retelling of all the things in order, all the hidden shit, everything revealed

I would crack my skull open

unreliable narrators within iwtv are so prevalent. we cannot trust louis' recounting of these events for so many reasons. louis establishes with the first interview that he is willing to change events to absolve himself of guilt; he ends that interview with claudia leaving him to go to europe. it absolves him of guilt, and makes lestat the villain of louis' story.

louis own memory isn't reliable either; was it raining? and he intentionally was not there to recount claudia's transformation, relying on her own lack of knowledge to colour daniel's perception. lestat recounted his version, and yet we do not know if that is true either! it's written for a performance, likely not even by lestat directly! and we already know that louis' memory is suggestible. louis himself attacks someone in paris because he believes them to be lestat; he also cannot always trust his perception of reality. armand should be able to confirm the paris arc, and yet we also know how willing he is to remove and modify memories.

and of course, there are so many moments where it's intentional! many events that have been recounted were corroborated by claudia's diaries. the missing pages have been removed to control the narrative; both for armand's own sake, and to "protect" louis. but, as daniel points out, she stops writing. he lets them know that everything they say from here on out is to be viewed as less factual! and even her diaries won't be what truly happened either!

even daniel's memory of the 70s interview isn't reliable; he and louis have to put it together piece by piece, and it's probably that they missed moments. daniel says most of the 70s are a blur, he woke up in a parking lot once with no memory of how he got there! he is, at least, aware of louis' editing, and is willing to push and push and push, but even still, he understands that it isn't correct.

memory is a monster.

[lestatlovesboypussy]

Here's my thing about Loumand - I feel they must have had a pretty satisfactory D/s dynamic for quite some time if Armand is willing to give up killing Daniel when Louis invokes their dynamic in 1973. I get why Louis never divulged details about it in the interview out of respect for Armand not wanting his privacy violated but it would've been nice to see the two of them in a tender D/s moment. I do wholeheartedly believe that there was something fulfilling there for both of them, at least for a time. Louis finds himself during the Paris years, he sheds a lot of the shame he had in New Orleans, and - as Claudia notes - he gets stronger (and harder). I do think that had a lot to do with Armand - I think Armand eagerly handing over control to Louis without Louis having to use violence was probably something very calming and comforting to him after the volatility of his relationship with Lestat.

I wonder if the writers worried that if they made Loumand too compelling then they'd struggle to get people to root for Loustat in future but I think the writers should've had more trust in themselves bc they showed tender Loustat and had no problem getting us to root for Loumand in the first half of season 2! I will always mourn the fact that we didn't really see Armand and Louis settle into their happy years the way we did with Loustat and Claudia in the first half of season 1.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep8 Musings - LDPDL: Burning Questions

I was reading this Variety article, and they mentioned something that made me think of fan critiques of Louis' opaque motivations in the finale, and the fun laughs we've shared over how he's so unbothered by vamp nonsense that he never seems to ask important questions.

I'm drafting a separate post specifically about "Vampire Grace," but I wanted to focus here on only one point in particular:

PAUL.

We always talk about whether Louis chose Lestat over Claudia; "you take him with you, in HERE!" But I haven't seen talk about how Louis chose Lestat over Paul, and how that factors into Lou's habit of not asking HELLA important questions that could've saved Loustat DECADES of resentment.

Paul's suicide "opened the series," setting this whole thing in motion. Florence blames Louis for his death, making Lou feel like a failure.

--the first time we see Louis outright say to someone's face "I love you," it's mere seconds b4 Paul jumps off a roof. (The only other person we see him say it to is Armand, right after saying they're not companions. 💀)

Paul's memory is wrapped up in Louis' love of Lestat, cuz until Les showed up, Paul had been Lou's one and only companion--the sole person he could TALK to. As a closeted gay man, Lou was desperate for MALE companionship: understanding, acceptance & love.

Sure, he had Grace & Lily (& later Claudia)--all WOMEN--but:

his daddy's dead, and who knows what their deal was, but it couldn't be worse than effing Florence. So there's a lingering want of a father-figure; someone older/wiser who could teach & guide Lou when he was feeling "lost...in a dark way" (*cough* Armand *cough*)

a father or brother is still not the companion Louis REALLY wants/needs, so ofc there's things Lou can't tell Paul, or have with him. Les's an upgraded Paul-- a HUSBAND, not a SIBLING (*cough* Claudia *cough*).

(deep down) Lou was jealous of how candid & honest Paul was; regardless that Paul's lack of a filter was a side effect of his mental illness & religious fanaticism (cuz vampirism's an allegory for sexuality--and even in gay mecca Paris & SanFran Lou was still tryna "find himself" as the Zodiac Killer *cough Daniel *cough*)

Paul's dying wish was for Loustat to never be together

and Lou felt he'd betrayed Paul; that he'd lied/hadn't kept his word

folding like a leaf rather than saying NO, or killing himself like he'd implied (suicide by vampire instead of cane-sword/alcohol poisoning)

(and Queen Claudia called Lestat the "Father of Lies" (aka The Devil), and she ain't never lie a day in her life, either)

So the Catholic guilt was extra strong, cuz Saint Paul was right about Les; but Lou chose Les anyway--in the church, on the altar--after Paul died trusting that Lou WOULDN'T take him back.

Instead, we get this boatload of excuses from Louis about the "vampire bond," when the only bond that matters is LOVE. But this is the crux of Louis' personality/problems, and why the interview took so long for him to attempt either the 1st or 2nd time around. Cuz Louis is a hypocritical coward stuffed to gills with self-loathing & GUILT. He runs away from the truth, he runs away from his issues, and he hides from himself and everyone around him.

So OF COURSE Louis doesn't ask important questions. It's not that he doesn't care--it's that HE'S SCARED of asking, and terrified of what the answer is. So it takes him forever to even BEGIN addressing the elephants in the room.

Louis ALWAYS suspected. But he was:

Scared of the answer/truth

Scared that Les would LIE

Scared he'd forgive Les regardless

Paul died in 1911. It had been 26 YEARS until Lou finally piped up in 1937 (the end of Les's Grovel Era). But this was the PERFECT chance to call Les' bluff & get some honest answers out of him for once, cuz:

If Les (unapologetically) caused Paul's death, he can just stay gone

It's in Les' best interest to tell the truth regardless, cuz he's been desperately tryna get back in Lou's (& Claudia's) good graces for 6 years, and being sincere will earn him more cookies (he'd also be banking on Lou forgiving him regardless, cuz he's been missing Les so bad, even after being beat into the next decade & dropped a billion miles in the air)

If Les IS lying, how would they even frikkin know if they can't read his mind? Lou just wants to see what Les will say

(In 2x6 he waited to ask Madeleine if she only saw Claudia as a replacement for her dead sister--a question he should've asked BEFORE he Turned her, but... 🤷 Moot.)

So in the finale, there's 2 painful truths Lou has to contend with:

WHY is he doing the 2nd interview?

WHO saved him during the Trial?

It takes Louis 77 YEARS to reclaim the "pieces of myself" he'd lost/forgotten. He ALWAYS knew things weren't adding up with Armand. He KNEW there were things missing. Even in SanFran, BEFORE the mind-wipe, he was already losing his mind/memories--PTSD from all the awful things he'd been through.

Even book!Louis knew about Claudia's diaries for a decade b4 he finally got the courage to ask the Talamasca if he could read them & speak to her ghost.

Although Lou's naive AF, he's not an idiot--he HAD A HUNCH that Armand knew more than he was letting on, which is precisely why he kept ignoring Armand every time he asked to stop the interview.

However, for once, Lou actually wastes VERY little time with this one:

As soon as he learns the truth about "Banishment," he divorces Armand, and runs back to NOLA to find Lestat. Memory is a monster Lou'd been running scared from all this time. He's tired of running away, wasting so much time, wasting the gift, when he could be actively tryna solve his problems to make life bearable/better. The hellish prison he'd lived in was by his own design--only he could chose to stand up, take control of his life; and finally ask the burning questions. "Truth and reconciliation."

Lou could finally make peace with the memory of the two people he'd been avoiding for so long; whom he felt he'd let down the most:

For once Lou chooses to be "companion enough for myself," and live with/for himself, not relying other people to save/fix/determine his life for him anymore. That's really the only way he'll be able to be with Les in a healthier, guilt-free relationship in the future.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Do you think that, at the beginning of the episode, Armand kept Louis asleep so he could spin his little yarn about Lestat without the latter there with the express hope of selling Daniel on the telenovela? As well as maybe making peace/having some quiet time with the Daniel (read: his boy from SF) he kind of tried to protect from Louis' cruel Alice-rant last episode? Daniel has been continuously mocking Louis with the notion of Loumand being "a story that is being sold to him" so maybe this way, Lestat appears to be the bad guy yet again and further Lestat discussions are tabled except explaining how Louis got his groove back (and learned to forget about the 'ever-thinking-about-himself' Lestat)?

I'm a Loustater who was ready to live with Loumand because we have to, and thought I was willing to give Armand some trust that he's trying to protect Louis from doing something terrible in Dubai, but it seems that, with that fiction about Lestat, he's been withholding more than Louis ever did. And whether that's to save Louis or himself and likely both, I can't tell. I can't even imagine how we're going to have a walk-down-memory-lane discussion about the trial if Armand can't be remotely honest, even now, about Lestat.

Lastly, all that talk in theatre about the coven wanting Louis dead if he's not joining etc. Is all that telepathic murder plotting being freely discussed in Dubai?

Need help! Want to understand!!!!!!!!

Oh, I think Louis being asleep when the interview continues is a massive red flag, indeed. He was up during the day before, so why will he rise at sundown now? And why does Armand launch into a little fanfic version of Lestat while Daniel asks him a very different question?

And why did the Mac not record that one sentence?

The thing is... I think Armand is doing precisely what he was doing with Louis at the end of the IWTV book, namely a) lie to him about a few specific things, b) keep a kind of veil over Louis and c) protect him (from others and himself).

It's Armand! He's the coven master. He does what he thinks is best.

And of course he loves Louis, too, but... you know. At this point it should be very clear that Louis did not love him back as much as he seemed to do (before). Louis invited Armand in (and into a relationship with him) to not get killed. And to keep Claudia safe, too. THAT is their actual relationship start and fuck how bitter is that?????

The Louis in Dubai... has lived decades with whatever happened after that event in San Francisco. And whatever happened with the Devil's Minion arc there. And Armand... is still lying to him.

I said it in another ask, but by now I'm leaning towards Louis going to NOLA at the end of the season - and either finding Lestat there ... or NOT. And if he does not find him I can see him go and do the Merrick ending in the Merrick ending place.

I think episode 7 and 8 will shift a LOT of things, and no matter how the trial is narrated we already know it likely won't be how it went. It will be interesting to see if they break the narrative once more - or let Daniel read them to filth.

Because I can see Daniel do that. Because allll the little things, all the Talamasca files, all that background information he has now will click into place for him. Because he is very good at his job.

[ca-suffit]

The fact that discussing fan's disappointment in how 2x8 ended is *still* mostly centering Lestat in the conversation is v interesting to notice rn.

Here is what the discussion is leaving out

a) A lot of the original upset with 1x5 was from fans of color who found the fight (which at the time had no warning ahead of airing like it does now) triggering and didn't trust the show / fandom to prbly handle the story well anymore from the black side. a lot of ppl left or took a rly extended break, especially when the conversation quickly became about POOR LESTAT and nobody gaf about Louis. A lot of issues on both sides of ppl saying "get over it" too fast or saying if u still liked Loustat after this then u support DV and are fucked in the head.

b) There are no posts defending Armand the way that Lestat was / is still defended. There's rly no conversations from accounts in the tags that mention how these character's race changes affect how the fandom will view them and how it should be included in any analysis of them (as individuals and as relationships). There's no extensive posting about Armand's sad backstory so that ppl can "understand" his motivation. Nobody is comparing book and show Loumand. A lot of the attitude is just "yeah, Armand sucks [and what's why we like him] and Loumand was fake from the start lol." The fandom was defending NICKI more for his 30 seconds in 2x3 (slurring Armand, especially) than Armand is getting for being a major book character with a full book dedicated to him on top of it.

c) A lot of why fans found 2x8 disappointing is bcuz of how rushed and kind of silly all the "reveals" seemed. Not only did the show dump everything on Armand, it also says the whole Loumand relationship was out of spite, pls feel bad for Lestat now, pls understand that Claudia looked to him for help as she was dying, oh ya and here's Daniel thrown in out of "spite" too. We're not gonna rly have Armand fight or try to explain any of this btw, he's just gonna bail (see u in S3 for a huge tone shift into Lestat shit!).

That's....all a LOT to throw at the audience in the last few minutes and ask us to accept. I know the books and I don't doubt S3 *will* get into this more, but the pacing and choices made feel like shit rn. It's asking viewers to literally set aside the whole last 2 seasons. Ppl being upset is not bcuz ppl are "stupid" or didn't see at least the Loumand relationship dissolving. It's literally bcuz the show threw in last minute twists to explain things and tried to do it all in one go. Then we exist in a fandom that's all too ready to defend Lestat and remind us how "victimized" they've been and "I don't have sympathy for u on this, we tried to tell u this was coming and u ignored us." Here's an example of that under the cut.

[avelera]

Vibrating over Daniel’s ending.

I’d love your thoughts on what it means for next season?

(And any other thoughts you have about the finale are so welcome 🙏)

Heya! I actually wrote up my thoughts here.

But, short Daniel-specific version:

I think we'll get Louis-as-Lestat's-agent inviting Daniel to interview Rockstar Lestat for his next book and Daniel salivating at the chance to do so.

(Very different tonally from what I was expecting, btw. No joke, I thought the falling books were going to be Lestat crashing through the ceiling to kidnap Daniel for an interview so he could tell HIS version of the story lol, but I can see why they went for a tearful Loustat reunion instead and how kidnapping Daniel wouldn't have worked with that, funny as it is in my head).

The good news is that I believe we'll get Daniel's snark throughout Lestat's book since that's been the framing device of the show so far (though, there's less of a "mystery" to unravel in Lestat's narrative than in Louis's so... who knows, maybe they will break the format since you don't need an investigative reporter with Lestat to drag secrets out, Lestat literally can't shut up). Honestly, I am SALIVATING to hear Daniel tear Lestat's narrative limb from limb lol.

The bad news is that I think, sadly, that if we dive right into 1-2 seasons of The Vampire Lestat, we won't be getting the space to explore Armand/Daniel and why that happened and if Devil's Minion happened in the past until a theoretical Season 5, if we follow the books and leave the end of TVL to go into Queen of the Damned, where that beat takes place.

IF we do that, sadly, it means we'll have to wait on the full explanation of Daniel/Armand.

HOWEVER, I also wouldn't put it past the show to actually do more interweaving of past and present than that. Have some modern stuff like Daniel/Armand/Devil's Minion in the present day while we're ducking in and out of Lestat's trip down memory lane to 18th century France.

GENUINELY, even as a writer, I don't know how they'll tackle the order of events given that means it'll be a LONG time before we get an explanation for stuff they set up in this season like Daniel's turning and part of me thinks they won't wait THAT long because the eagerness to learn this info is here now, and might not be there in a couple years, people might have forgotten by then.

That said, they also introduced Raglan James, the villain of Vampire Chronicles Book 4, the Body Thief, so that actually signals that they're willing to seed things very early before the pay-off, UNLESS they remix the order of the books significantly and Akasha gets pushed back.

It actually would kinda make sense to push Akasha back she is an EXCELLENT final boss and Body Thief is a bit of a come-down after her so I wouldn't totally blame them for swapping those two books in terms of the order we see their events in. But maybe not! They've been surprisingly faithful in a lot of ways. Regardless, I trust their discretion.

And finally, my hope when we DO finally get Devil's Minion, we're going to have the modern Daniel/Armand juxtaposed with the 1970s one, ending in Armand refusing to turn him in the 1970s, wiping his memory (perhaps knowing that vampirism would drive young Daniel mad, as it canonically did in the books, but old Daniel is made of sterner stuff now) and then we flash forward to the present and old man vampire Daniel and Armand and whatever THEY'VE got going on (hopefully: Daniel domming the shit out of Armand the way he always wanted).

So ok, I lied, I had more thoughts, lol!

[savagewildnerness]

I’m away for a few days now, so I re-post my rubbish wee Loustat guitar ditty from after Lestat’s letter to Louis, *manifesting* it has relevance in the finale!

Enjoy the finale everyone! I should be travelling home when the episode drops, so I’m praying for train wifi! 😂😅🤞

“I can’t play guitar, but here’s a guitar song-improvisation on Louis’ letter… I don’t have time to create a song, but I had time to improvise it. Apologies as I can’t play guitar & for my silly face & voice!

Something dreadful has occurred

We now belong to different worlds

Death is not the end

My Louis, don’t seek revenge

Let treachery instead

Eat those responsible, like a death

Mon Cher, you live your life

And shine your beautiful light

Louis, you I trust and love

Beyond myself and above

A veil separates us now

But listen to my vow

The veil is thin and I am close to you

And let this song convey my face

Forever pressed against your longing

Forever pressed against your longing”

[avaelangel]

Watched the finale. I have some thoughts. And I miss Tumblr, so it's going to be here. Spoilers. Spelling errors. Annoying takes. A lot of letters.

To be completely honest, it's not perfect all the way. It's a bit shakey and seems like it suffered because of the strikes, maybe? I still love my bastards, but well oh well.

I didn't expect Daniel to be so pro-Lestat? It was very satisfying for him, to see him unveil Armand like that. I think, Armand's ''How dare you?'' could have been played up, since he was growing some affection for Molloy. But I expected a full fight. I know it isn't the last we see of the manipulative gremlin, but still. Hate him, but what a face.

There's still questions to be answered and details to know. Lestat mastered up some strength to save at least Louis and now we know, that at least about something Armand didn't lie. Claudia really looked at Lestat, while burning.

Loustat getting closure was very beautiful. Very raw and human, not what happens in the book, really, which I loved. Everything showed, including how actually free Sam and Jacob are with each other. Lestat, of the two of them, barely holding on and trying to ease the tension? I hate them, I love them. I understand both of them and I hate that too. Kinda.

We all knew what is going to happen to Daniel. He was actually less frail that I expected him to be, walking up to two vampires in a fight. Damn, boy. Again, even Talamasca thought that he's in danger. But Armand didn't retaliate, probably because he knew that it's over.

Akasha? Hey, girl? To be honest, I haven't met her fully yet, I only have two books under my belt. But it was such a funny little flex. This whole scene was a little silly, but I think I also got too used to the vampire grandeur that Armand and Santiago spewed.

Sam? Talamasca guy? I need more details on that, but he's a vibe, I'm glad he stays.

The mention of Akasha did throw me off and I thought, at first, it was her who Lestat couldn't get out of his mind. But I really look forward to the terror The Ones Who Must be Kept will bring. And Marius? I don't trust him. Lestat is probably the one I trust the most here, and that's saying something.

Also, Dan is sort of pre-Bright Falls Alan Wake now? Who is also a vampire? But I love it. I hope he drives Armand insane soon. It seems that Eric Bogosian is very happy in this role and I'm very happy to see him in it. Was Daniel turned out of spite, really? It really seems, at least for now, that Armand came and went like ''You wanted it all those decades ago? Here you go, bitch!''.

As far as I've seen, AMC's marketing, especially in terms of merch, is very meh. It would have been so smart to release the book in the cover they have showed in the show. There was a literal close up! Come on, guys.

It is great that Louis is not in a relationship right now. We know that he will be in the third season, he might go on tour with Lestat or just take some hits at first from the ones that are willing to square up. Saying this, I'm so excited for Gabrielle and I hope there would be jokes about Lestat being a true motherfucker.

SUPER DUPER SPOILER THAT MIGHT BE WRONG.

Claudia. Haunting. I really need Delainey back. And I really hope Armand didn't fucking lie about her and Madeleine's end. I will stitch his eyes closed otherwise. God, I'm probably reading Vampire Armand when I find it.

I guess...That's the end? But there's so much left. I hope the 3d season will bloom into existence sooner.

[platoapproved]

NO FORGIVENESS ODE by @marbleflan : Chapter 3

It’s always baffled Lestat, how Louis can so deeply and completely give himself over to emotion in particular moments, and so neatly disavow it once the experience is over. Lestat used to drive himself to madness trying to discover which side of Louis was the true one–the man who raged and cried and loved and fucked or the beast who locked away his emotions in some dark place inside himself. “What are you afraid we will change into, Louis?” Louis shakes his head, looks away from Lestat. “Back to how things were. The worst parts of it anyway. I’m trying to trust that you’ve changed, but it’s hard, Lestat. I see you and it all comes back, the good and the bad.” “Don’t trust that I’ve changed,” he says. “I haven’t changed. I am the same man I was before. I feel the same. I look the same. I love you, all the same.” Louis looks up, startled. “Fuck. Lestat, why would you say that shit to me? It’s not romantic. I’m really trying–” He doesn’t finish the thought, just cuts off.

I'm here again reccing the newest chapter of @marbleflan's post season-2 loustat fic. It's so goooooood. This chapter brings in Daniel for some truly exquisite sniping with Lestat. Lestat befriends his new bandmates further. He and Louis talk about Nicki honestly. It's all great stuff, if you haven't started this fic YOU SHOULD.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 - ANOTHER commercial teaser!? Analysis & EP5 Theories

Lord, I have places to be in the morning, but AMC thinks it's cute to release multiple teasers in a day. 😭

This is a SPICY one for Louis, too! 👀

We start with the familiar "Me n' you; you n' me" from Louis, but we see a teensy bit more of his fallout with Claudia:

Claudia's head is being pushed down into something as she screams.

And thanks to the teaser we got earlier today, we can assume Lou's in the burlap sack the (the night the Theatre jumps him, Claud & Madz).

They jump from Claudia yelling at Louis, to Louis yelling "YOU left ME!" I NEED to know who Louis is talking to--it's a hard cut from Claudia to Louis, but I bet he's talking to someone else.

Cuz of the cut to Armand looking concerned as he calls Lou's name (Merrick?), now I'm thinking about the books, where we know Armand left Louis (in IWTV) for Daniel (in QotD). So is that a Loumand argument? 👀 Cuz I'm telling y'all, I don't trust them in Dubai, and the goat Carol Cutshall already threw shade their way, with the "so-called love of his life" line. I'm side-eying them HEAVY.

And good grief, poor Louis' going THROUGH IT in his dark room.

But the REAL reason I'm posting all this is cuz of this juicy morsel:

😳 LOUSTAT KISSING IN EPISODE 5 FOOTAGE. 😳

AMC, what in heaven's name is HAPPENING!?

Neither Louis nor Lestat are injured here, so does this clip happen:

1) In 1931, right before Claudia came home?

2) Or even earlier, back in 1923, when Loustat was arguing about Claudia's "hunger strike"? Cuz we know Louis wore the same blue sweater TWICE in Ep5.

3) OR, this is legit from the Ep5 fight, while they were upstairs, during the parts we didn't see while they were in the coffin/bedroom?

Was it "over" cuz Louis was desperately tryna kiss and make up? Did it not work, cuz Lestat knew/convinced himself that Lou was playing him--"maybe it's the gin, my love"? Cuz Les is the one to push Louis through the wall.

I dunno, I need sleep. 😫

[EDIT] I'm dead wrong (and blind).

Thank you so much @loustat-0 -- yup, I just saw @squirrellypoo's post explaining that you have to really crank up the lighting to be able to tell that this is Louis' jean jacket from Hallucination!Lestat we've seen in 1000 other trailers, NOT the blue sweater from EP5.

Thank GOD, cuz I went to bed just DREADING what people would start saying about Ep5. 🤦

[nalyra-dreaming]

I enjoy your blog and I’m not trying to be argumentative; just some friendly debate, but I notice you and Virginia both frequently reduce the entire Antoinette ordeal to Louis’ feeding habits and Lestat’s need for attention and adoration. Don’t you think Lestat had to have at least a little love for Antoinette? He had to love her on some level not to kill her right off the bat. This is apparent in the scene before Louis is playing cards before Doris tells him Jonah is there, Lestat is standing up close to the stage, completely entranced watching Antoinette perform like there is no one else in the room. Louis isn’t even present to make jealous. He slept with her and didn't kill her before Loustat was having serious problems like lack of intimacy. He stayed with her just as long as he stayed with Louis. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that man ever had any intention of being in a monogamous relationship.

Hey nonny!

(All good, you can be argumentative, as long as you're kind it's all fine, I just won't accept hate or insults anymore^^, hope that makes sense! Also, I really don't see that as argumentative^^)

I think @virginiaisforvampires and I just ... shorten the Antoinette discussion at times (by now) because it's been... a theme.

Like, the fandom latched onto the jealousy angle so massively, the asks wrt her were so numerous, the human cheating AUs on Ao3 so prevalent... the vampiric aspect seems to be often overlooked.

I think you're referring to my ask with the open relationship?

Because of course Antoinette was more.

(this is long, so the rest under the cut:)

She became more when he did not kill her as a feeding fling. (And I still stand by the fact that they must have had a lot of feeding flings, for example Louis is not really taken aback by soldiers in their bedroom - the same bedroom he gets so sharp about with Antoinette, which is another detail.)

So yes, Lestat apparently slept with her and didn't kill her. We don't get to see it, but it is insinuated.

But there is a lot more to Antoinette, and that is why some think she might show up again later. I am not sure if you're familiar with "the musician" from IWTV, "Antoine" from the later books?

Let me recap:

In IWTV we have the unnamed "musician". Louis never bothers to find out his name, even though it is clear that Lestat turns him. That unnamed musician then gets into the crossfire of Claudia's attempt on Lestat's life, and Louis... forgets about him. But he did know about him from the beginning:

"Lestat had a musician friend in the Rue Dumaine. We had seen him at a recital in the home of a Madame LeClair, who lived there also, which was at that time an extremely fashionable street; and this Madame LeClair, with whom Lestat was also occasionally amusing himself, had found the musician a room in another mansion nearby, where Lestat visited him often. I told you he played with his victims, made friends with them, seduced them into trusting and liking him, even loving him, before he killed. So he apparently played with this young boy, though it had gone on longer than any other such friendship I had ever observed." [..] "I could not tell whether he had actually become fond of a mortal in spite of himself or was simply moving towards a particularly grand betrayal and cruelty. Several times he’d indicated to Claudia and me that he was headed out to kill the boy directly, but he had not. And, of course, I never asked him what he felt because it wasn’t worth the great uproar my question would have produced. Lestat entranced with a mortal! He probably would have destroyed the parlor furniture in a rage."

(Interesting tidbit about the rage, which they picked up for the show!)

Louis even encounters Antoine, has a bit of a discussion with him after the initial attack on Lestat:

‘What is it?’ I asked him. ‘What did you need from him? I’m sure he would want me to...’ “ ‘He was my friend!’ He turned on me suddenly, his voice dropping with repressed outrage.

This last bit is important, for the later books, most importantly for "Prince Lestat", which we know Rolin takes from. Because in that book, in chapter 7, we find out what happened to "the musician", Antoine, after that fateful night, when Rue Royale burned (in the book).

Because Antoine did not burn to death (in the show, likely: Louis and Claudia did not know to scatter the ashes), and he survives, hideously burned, needing decades to heal. Lestat reunites with him before he chases after Louis and Claudia (to Europe).

When Antoine later tells of his own story, he says this:

“He was my friend, Lestat,” Antoine confessed. “He told me about his lover, Nicolas, who had been a violinist. He said he couldn’t speak his heart to his little family, to Louis or Claudia, that they would laugh at him. So he spoke his heart only to me.”

There is a LOT in that little paragraph. A lot that fits with what we know from the show, too.

Louis (in the show) tells of Lestat saying that "Antoinette fortifies him against them". Antoinette became more than a passing interest, a passing feeding fling, true, because Lestat can confide in her, can be himself with her, especially later, when things between him and Louis take on a strain. But he never leaves Louis, and I think that is often overlooked - (s)he was never a real threat to Louis, nor Claudia. Lestat left Antoine behind when he goes after them, to try to save them.

Louis on the show makes it seem as if Antoinette was that major threat. And the show (of course^^), sharpened that threat by making Antoine a woman, a white woman, whose very presence represented what Louis could not be in their relationship at the time, namely an official partner.

Louis uses the focus on Antoinette and what she represents to overshadow other things that coincide with the affair. He does the same later, when they are threatened, to shift the focus to Lestat's paranoia. It's clever, because it's built on truth, a "look at my right hand, not at my left" approach. But the real story is much more difficult than that.

And I think that goes for Antoine(tte) as well.

Since Rolin is specifically taking from "Prince Lestat" as well there is no way in hell he has somehow missed reading chapter 7, or has missed Antoine in the later books/chapters.

I for one wouldn't be surprised if she shows up at the trial - or in Dubai. Maybe she's that interior designer, who knows that Louis is missing the natural world....

I don't know. We'll see. But I doubt that the jealousy angle is all there is to it. There are too many discrepancies, even down to the make-up they used for her (which is its own meta). Lestat may have very well loved her, albeit differently than he loves Louis.

As for the monogamous relationship(s)...

Nonny, forgive me, but these are not humans. They are vampires.

They hunt, and kill humans, for food and pleasure. They play with their food, like other predators in our world do, too. They are also inherently hedonistic, looking for pleasure. (Maybe) Especially Lestat is trying to drown himself in the pleasurable things at times, for reasons that the show will still get to. Since the show explicitly added sex to the mix that desire is of course expressed in the hunt for pleasure, too.

But totally apart from "food", and sex... these vampires are a mess, relationship-wise.

When Lestat and Louis are "married" in the later books as Jacob calls it (I bet they'll make that literal in the show^^), that doesn't mean that they don't still love others. Have loved others. Will love others. They are beyond the need to narrow down their love though. And they are "official partners" then.

But it's... a knot of relationships and history.

Some of these people are truly immortal. Like, can not be killed anymore.

Imagine living with that fact (it maybe most famously sends Lestat reeling in "The tale of the Body Thief", for example).

Imagine loving with that fact. Imagine having the time.

[ca-suffit]

what would your personal wish for louis' story next season be? i know nothing about the books beyond the first and i'm having a tough time being positive about s3, since i can't see the writers come up with something for louis that doesn't involve lestat. i don't want him to just hang around (like people on twitter are hyping up) and be lestat's manager or cheerleader. i can somewhat see how they could write something somewhat interesting for armand, but i'm afraid for louis. i don't want the poc be sidelined, and if/when they cast akasha i think she'll be a woc and they could easily just disregard louis, which would make me stop watching i think

Well, the good thing from the books that can crossover to Louis, even if it's technically a "bad" thing too, is that he's always p cut off from the other vampires. He comes and goes with how reclusive he is from them but it's something he does. So any kind of individual story for him could work at any time bcuz he's different from them to begin with. They make fun of him for it but they're all a little envious that he has this tie to humanity that they don't (he's very Catholic Guilt about the way he lives).

What they could realistically do for S3, around the Lestat thing, is show Louis living his life now. Finding new hobbies or maybe picking up old ones. They're prbly gonna explore more conversations with him and Armand that come from the IWTV book that haven't been had yet. That could tie into his new life rly easy and be a positive for him. He has to heal from Armand too. We saw a start to it but I think there's still conversations to be had, similar to what Loustat got at the end of 2x8. Also with him still walking away as a single man. I'd rly like that focus for him for a while tbh. They've also established that friendship with Daniel too that could branch off into a lot of side things.

Louis has a kind of important bit with Akasha too. They could rly build that up a lot more if they wanted to.

They've said they're not gonna get rid of Louis as much as the books did so I'm trusting them on that so far but it's a day to day thing. Like u said, it'd be nice to have him be his own person too outside of Lestat.