#iwtv I need the truth okay

[salethe2]

I wonder if we’ll ever know just how much Armand influenced, manipulated, and gaslit what happened in Paris, or am I suppose to question what’s even real at this point? For all we know, Paris was just a fever dream, and Louis had been chilling in a European mansion this whole time… like, is Louis even real?

[paunchsalazar]

reading The Vampire Lestat and I kind of adore him

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

(now that I've read the books and know the entire canon, let's see how it changes things or don't)

Season 1 episode 1 [In Throes of Increasing Wonder...] - part 1/2

- oh man, Daniel looks so old and tired and resigned at the very beginning. Comparing him with the Danny boy of season 2 who's so fired up and sassy... He's an adrenaline junkie.

- [Daniel] "I told my editor I was meeting with the most dangerous man in the world. Gave him two choices: Bezos. Putin." - moment of silence for 2022. It was shit but we didn't realise that it could get even worse.

- [Louis] "You've grown old, Daniel" - oi, manners, Louis! Where are your manners.

- [Louis] "I wasn't sure you'd remember me" - funny. Because none of you remembers shit actually. Memory as the core theme of the whole ride. Memory and subjective narrative. From the very first line.

- Oh maaaaaan, Armand lurking in the background from the very first scene. Armand babe, I've grown to be fond of your psychopathic tendencies, but this is seriously creepy, dude.

Also. Also. The way he's keeping such a tight leash on Louis. The surveillance. The eyes recording.

- [Daniel] "'That's the sun out there. Where's your coffin?' [Louis] 'You're standing in it'" - first of all, departure from canon lore, the sun doesn't make vampires slip into the death sleep automatically. They can resist it no matter their age. Secondly, morbid, Louis dear. Very morbid.

- Oooh, Armand letting the sun come in and staying sitting right next to the beam. Taking roleplay to the extreme. And Louis showing off his self-destructive tendencies. Amazing how we're having all the elements (most of the elements) already.

- [Louis] "Truth and reconciliation" - 123 dead, 84 injuries, a whole city levelled up. Nobody's ready. Let's get into it.

- Oooh, Armand coming into play. "No third party" - why, afraid you'll slip even easier? And then full on roleplay, Louis giving orders, and the blast of patronising aimed at "the boy". Brilliant writing. So very subtle when you don't know where to look, so in your face and crucial when you're in the know. Delightful.

- Interview date: June 14th 2022. Start of Louis' story: 1910, fall. Canon change. De Pointe du Lac's lineage: Creole. Canon change. Although I feel like the collapsing of timeline takes away some of the weight of the unholy family's life (not even 40 years versus 70 years in the books), I greatly like the change of personal history. So much richer.

- Can we take a moment to appreciate, nay, worship, Jacob Anderson's vocal skills? The change from his unaccented Dubai English to the Creole New Orleans English drawling... I am in absolute awe.

- [Louis] "Go on home, else I bleed you like a cochon, bruv"

Oh hello Lestat. Welcome to the narrative.

Paul needs to retreat to some monastery. 'Get thee to a nunnery'.

- [Priest] "I haven't seen you in confession in a while, Louis" and then that little scoff - oh, hello there, religious trauma. How much are you going to poison the narrative? Entirely? Well, carry on then.

- [Louis] "My business and my raised religion were at odds, and the, uh... ha, latencies within me, well, I beat those back with a lie I told myself about myself - that I was a red-blooded son of the South, seeking ass before absolution." - first of all, the fuck does that mean, Lou. Secondly, can someone get him to therapy.

- Delightful social commentary on segregated Southern states at the beginning of the 20th century, but I'm being told in my earpiece that a certain blond demigod (or monster, depending on the perspective) is about to make his entrance, so let's drop the sociology for now.

- [Lestat] "Seul l'impossible peut faire l'impossible" (only the impossible can do the impossible) - okay Lestat, ominous and nonsensical, lovin' it. A+ for the French accent, Sam, by the way.

- Never mind, Lestat's continuing the social commentary for me, thanks boo. "I mean that as a compliment, a man of your race to have privileges here". Ouch. Great first introduction there.

- [Lestat] "You're the man who made me buy a townhouse in the Quarter" - wooow there, wow! Slow your rolls, Ariel, you haven't even met the guy properly! Maybe take him on a date before making commitments like that?

- [Louis] "I know sometimes, men of my race, we all look alike to you people, but I ain't been selling you no townhouse" - *wheeze* yeah that's my boy.

- [Lestat] "I disembarked for the music, but then, there was the food" - yeah, I think they're called people?

- [Louis] "I wanted to take the end of my cane and slit his throat with it." - CAN I GET A WARNING before y'all gonna foreshadow like that?? Damn. Can't escape fate, or something like that, I guess.

- Hello and welcome to 'oh no I am more turned on than I have ever been in my whole life' : [Louis] "I couldn't move. My body was seized with weakness. His gaze tied a string around my lungs, and I found myself immobilized." Or maybe it's survival instinct telling homeboy "danger! Dangeeeeeer!".

- Lestat playing Mind games on Louis while he can still.

- Excuse me, the exchange between Lestat, Miss Lily and Louis is fucking hilarious, I'm wheezing: [Lestat] "Only it turns out the saint is not a city but a handsome man with a most agreeable disposition." - agreeable what, the only phrases y'all have been exchanging are a commentary on racism, and then you went on to start fucking with his mind. Lestat, stop being impulsive or draw 25. [Miss Lily] "You're his destiny, Louis." - you know, talk about destiny outloud too often, the universe hears and plays a trick.

- [Louis] "Emasculation and admiration in equal measure. I wanted to murder the man, and I wanted to be the man." - and you wanted the man. Don't forget the third part of the rhyme.

- Lestat already using the Fire Gift. Canon change. Well, in book canon he's still under 30 human age when he meets Louis and Fire Gift only develops later in vampiric age. But here he's already a bit more than a century old. Logical change.

- [Lestat] "We both wanted the last bouquet of lillies" - *wheeze* You fucker.

- That poker scene is another social commentary with thinly veiled - or like actually not even that veiled - racism. Oh, and Lestat's here to continue the criticism. And play mind games. Though, hey, freezing time. Another vampiric power that usually appears late. Absolutely adore that Louis just rolls with the fuckery and switches his cards. 'Dude's stopping time in front of me and talking in my head? Whatever, cards await nothing'. Love a guy who's decided that everything goes and he ain't gonna press too much for the answers. Now if only he'd press a little bit more, but hey, no story if he does.

- [Louis] "Let the tale seduce you. Just as I was seduced." - you know what, as someone who just read 12 or 13 books in the span of three weeks because they couldn't stop, I'm right here with Louis. Let yourself be hypnotised. You'll lose sleep and attention span and the ability to care about anything else but these whiny blood suckers, but hey, totally worth it. If you survive till the end.

- [Louis] "Money would arrive, wired from France" - another departure from book canon, where Lestat lives off of Louis. Then again, book!Lestat is barely 30, mustn't have had time to set his network of attorneys, while show!Lestat already has a century of existence. Which brings me to a point that I haven't raised before, but what was Lestat doing between leaving Paris at the time of the Révolution (if memory serves) and arriving in New Orleans in 1910? Having tea with Marius? Sleeping beneath the sand? That's a full ass century Rolin Jones and Cie have to explain, here.

- Louis' conversation with his sister. [Louis] "'He ain't white, he French' [Grace] 'Oh, that a different kind of white? French white?'" - listen sis, as a half white French half brown Moroccan, yeah, trust me, white French's pernicious. [Louis] "Paul crawled into my bed last night" - who wanna bet Paul's talking to our book canon friends the spirits? And these ain't good spirits either. Ah, but Louis loves his family. Ready for the grief? No? Me either.

- [Lestat] "My mother, she gave me every advantage in life" - Gabriiiiiiellllllle. Cannot wait to see her in s3.

- Someone needs to shut Paul up. "the birds asked me to ask you" - okay Paul. Sure.

Wait, "Monsieur Freniere", ain't that the other plantation guy Louis wants to protect and becomes obsessed with his sister, Babette? Or am I already mixing up my canon.

- Oh hello, Lestat's backstory in the monastery, plus Sam Reid showing off for the first time his acting. Or should I say, his possession. An award for Sam. All the awards for Sam.

- [Louis] "Don't everybody need to know what I do" - preach, bro.

- [Louis] "Nothing but broken souls around me, and the ones that ain't broken, greedy" - ah, then, which one are you, Louis chéri ? Broken ? Greedy? Both? Only one for the moment, both as the years go on? And Lestat? Greedy, yes? But isn't he also so deeply broken?

- [Lestat] "The Earth's a Savage Garden" - begging Rolin Jones to give us Lestat soliloquising about the Savage Garden please and thank you.

- [Lestat] "'Shall we have a nightcap?' [Louis] 'Probably had enough for the night.'" - and yet you're helplessly following him, drawn in like a magnet, like an impossible to resist planetary orbit. Also look at that little gay panic. Awards for Jacob please.

- Ah, the gift. That's how Lestat will ensnare you. Gifts and gifts and precious things and then a child. Run, Louis, run.

- Oh, Nicki mention! [Lestat] "a boy of infinite beauty and sensitivity" - yeah he kinda was insane too, but that's your point of view I guess.

- [Lestat] "What kind of a man wastes this beautiful waist with words?" - first of all, damn, nice alliteration here. Secondly, a gay man, Les, you know that, we know that, Lily knows that.

- The erotic tension of this scene is off the charts, blimey. And Louis keeps repressing. He's about to blow off. In every meaning of the term. Yep, there it is. Excuse me while I go look. Respectfully. Also. Hands. They have something for each other's hands. And the first bite. And levitating. And that's just episode 1 and we're only halfway through episode 1. Nobody does it like this show, I swear.

part 2 | episode 2 | episode 3 | episode 4 | episode 5 | episode 6 | episode 7

Season 2 rewatch (coming soon)

[leslutdepointedulac]

Okay. I think enough time has passed. I'm ready to confront this.

I finished re-reading IWTV a few days ago now, and this paragraph fucked me up then, and continues to fuck me up now 🙃

Armand obviously knew what was going to happen. He knew that the theatre vampires were going to be coming for Claudia that very same night. He essentially warns Louis about what's to come.

"Louis, come with me tonight," he whispered suddenly, with an urgent inflection.

Armand is desperate to get Louis to go with him there and then, so that he doesn't get caught up in the theatre vampire's 'business', so to speak. It's got nothing to do with Louis, he doesn't need to be punished, as far as Armand's concerned.

When Louis rejects this, and says he can't go with him tonight, there's not really anything Armand can do, but to just accept that that's how it's going to be. He doesn't want Louis getting caught up in the situation, but he can't say anything more, unless he gives himself and his involvement away.

I watched him turn away and look at the dark night sky. He appeared to sigh, but I didn't hear it.

For only a moment I hesitated, mocked by the pounding of my heart.

It's as if, deep, deep down, Louis knows there's something wrong. He knows something's coming, and that whatever it is, it can't be any good. And I think he knows Armand has something to do with it.

But Louis' blinded by his love for Armand, and Armand's love for him. He's blinded by the possibilities Armand could give him, and any further knowledge he may have to share.

Louis doesn't want to face the truth. He's had one not so great experience in love before, and he's not willing to let that happen again, even if that just means being in denial about it. He so desperately wants to believe Armand has his best interests at heart, and that there's no possible chance that he could ever have any malicious intentions, let alone follow through with them.

He's clinging onto hope.

But ultimately, that delusional hope ends with Claudia dead, when Louis should've just listened to her warnings.

Of course, Louis isn't entirely responsible. Armand already had Louis, he didn't need to worry about Claudia anymore. Louis literally even says so himself. He tells Armand he already has him. And I know that's not the only reason for Claudia's death, there's so much more to it than that, but it was apart of it.

I think either way, Claudia was probably going to end up dead, but more could've been done to prevent it. But the blatently obvious warning signs were ignored, along with Armand's desperate need to have Louis.

[ca-suffit]

I know most of the time the fandom's racism is talked about here (and for good reason), but I hope it's okay to send you something about the show. I think, for myself, I have come to terms with not being able to continue to watch the show in the future, due to the ending of the finale and Rolin Jones' approach for the next season, but I still cannot stop being angry at all of it. Two seasons we saw the racialized abuse Louis suffered at Lestat's hands, we saw something akin to a slavecatcher scene when he went after Claudia to drag her back home, we saw how her turning actually happened and subsequently how dubious any consent from Louis was when it came to loustat's relationship afterwards. We saw the trial framing the two black characters as evil along with racist caricatures and Lestat going along with the plan to kill his daughter. And despite all that, Jones wants the next season to be about forgiveness. For Louis to forgive him. A white character who has abused his black husband and child and instead of continuing to show a difficult but interesting and nuanced relationship, we are just supposed to move on from the domestic violence and the child abuse. And I know many Lestat fans claim he is innocent anyways, so that means it was just the evil brown man and the lying black man who are at fault, which also reeks of racism. I cannot for the life of me see any other reason for all the things that Jones is saying, other than that he, just as Anne Rice, really really wants to have Lestat be the good guy. I would love to hear your or your followers take on it. (Thank you for this blog, it's nice to be able to talk about things like this that would get you hate anywhere else)

Hi, it's fine to talk about the show too! I'm glad ppl find this space helpful, so it's open to a lot of discussions as time goes tbh.

I think it's ttly understandable if some fans want to stop watching and nobody should be made to feel bad about it. The fandom's condescending attitude towards feelings like this, as if ur "stupid" for feeling it bcuz don't u know that Lestat didn't do all that??? is....just fucked up tbh.

For my personal idea of how I assume it's going to go is that Lestat is never going to be "innocent" or "the good one" like some fans want to believe. This isn't Anne Rice where everything is retconned every other book (he's still a jerk in the books anyway, so...). Everyone here is complicated and traumatized and always will be. I think what's going to happen is audiences need to find more peace at understanding that there is no "right" version of any story. Louis and Claudia's perception of Lestat is real to them (and also could have rly happened entirely as shown too!). It doesn't make them liars, it doesn't make the scenes "fake." The abuse has already been admitted to by all witnesses in at least one (major) instance that (Lestat) ppl wanted to be fake the whole time prior. Idk if they're gonna in depth explore this but it would help if they did. Interracial relationships are always going to have misunderstandings bcuz of racial differences. Lestat is already shown to be ignorant on these topics so it's not difficult to understand how he could double down on shit that means nothing to him but everything to Louis and Claudia. U see even Sam using the excuse sometimes of "well he's a vampire and he sees things as a vampire, not a person." The thing ppl need to understand is that feeling "right" doesn't mean u are and it doesn't mean ur actions and words don't have an impact on others that maybe u didn't intend.

I don't expect the show to wash all of that away and say "Louis is a big, fat liar and nothing u saw was real LOL!!!" bcuz....what the fuck. I'm sure Lestat will reflect on events of IWTV the way he does in the books, and I'm *sure* his stans will say that's "the truth," but I don't expect the show is gonna be trying to say it is. It's just *his* version of events. Hopefully they don't downplay a lot of it bcuz I don't think that's gonna go over well tbh. But otherwise, I do feel like forgiveness as a theme is possible.....v long term. I think what the show fumbled was shoving Lestat into the end of S2 in a far too positive light all at once to feel believable. It definitely came across like there's a hidden agenda about him waiting around the corner. That's not what happens in the books, but it's no surprise why nobody (of the typical book ppl) is bringing that up when it paints Lestat in a *better* light. It felt forced and awful to the audience tho, who literally has only known this man as everything u listed. Even for me, knowing the books, it felt like a mess. I guess they had to soften him a little for S3 to keep viewers, but I feel like it could have been done a different way. This came across as feeling exactly what u put, that it's gonna be an "instant" forgiveness. I don't believe that's what's *rly* going to happen, but I am interested in how the opening of the next season is gonna feel.

The books between IWTV and TVL are jarring like this too, but the books are about white men. The weight of all this racial violence isn't hanging over it all between them. Trying to translate all of this to a visual medium that needs to retain viewers but also race swapped characters is....a lot. Idk if they're gonna do it well, we'll have to see.

Obviously anyone else can give feedback too. That's my perspective thru this anon account but I'm def not asking anyone to keep watching if ur just over it and done. That's ttly understandable. I think a lot of ppl feel this way tbh, especially black fans.

[enigmaticdiary]

i am rewatching episode 1 for rewind the tape :) I've seen the pilot probably around 20 times at this point but I've only watched it by myself.... once! so for the first time since my first time watching it alone, im gonna do it again with a head full of knowledge of the iwtv book and the full season. and im turning off captions so it's less reading and more watching and close observing for me >:D

Below is a liveblog!

WARNING: I FUCKING LOVE TO TALK AND POINT OUT USELESS THINGS ON EVERY SINGLE THING I SEE. THIS POST IS GOING TO BE A MILE LONG. Also im still not great at putting my thoughts together.

hmm. I would read molloys book on kaposi sarcoma and hiv/aids. i love how well the fake book covers and this advert are put together because so many times I've been asked by friends who i showed the show to if it was an actual commercial LOL.

THE PIC ON THE BACK OF THE BOOK GOING FROM LUKE TO JUST AN ACTUAL PICTURE OF YOUNG ERIC BOGOSIAN? LMFAO. The casting is genuinely so perfect in this show. hehe i like how well the passage of time is depicted through the book covers too, not just in. the photos for daniel obviously but for the aesthetic styles of the covers. the cover they made for "the internets gavel" is sooo mid 2000s. I love the attention to detail for these things on screen for less than a second because it gives a fool like me something to look at and praise simply because the detail wasn't overlooked.

"hate and ashbury" man this is such a good title too. simply because im looking at it and sifting out details it's such a good way to get even more insight into molloy's character. while I don't need to get into a history lecture of haight-ashbury, it tells a lot because it was a historically hippie neighborhood in the 1960s and the birthplace of the counterculture movement, it says a lot for molloy especially seeing the previous three fictional books he wrote about, being hiv/aids crisis, the politics of climate change in the United states, the governments attempts at putting stricter regulation on the internet... I could get into how this connects with molloy's character more in relation to his desire for vampirism but i am barely over a minute in and I've been typing for 15 minutes now!!!

"Preparing For An Interview" NO WAY. GUYS!

No no no i will not pause every 10 seconds and try to connect the thematic dots of everything being presented to me. I need to save that for the video essay im writing!

louis' beautiful handwriting❤️

i dont know why daniels scrunched up face is so fucking funny to me.

Jesus okay watching this without captions is actually really difficult for me i see why i need them all at all times. If im not rewinding because i keep fucking pausing im rewinding because I didn't understand a fucking word i just heard. Despite seeing the episode 20 times.

Hmm.. What personally redemptive accomplishments could louis be referring to..?

UUGGGHHHHHHJJJJJJJJHHHHHHHHHHHHHFHHHH sorry Louis on screen and i started tearing up. Hello armand goodbye armand.

Yah.

Do you think louis goes on twitter sometimes.

Yah?

COVID MEDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COVID MEDIA!!!!!!!!!!!

Louis has changed... The only big change he's mentioned between Interview 1 and now that I can recall off the top of my head is that he stopped killing in 2000. I wonder why? I wonder many things

Truth and reconciliation....

Armand being concerned with daniels editor seeing/hearing what was said. I am vaguely aware of the theory that armand has possibly been up to mindfuckery with both louis and Daniel and i can only wonder if this has been mentioned to buoy that theory. To control the narrative.? Hmm... but why?

I know Daniel was annoyed by louis calling him "boy" but i think it's kind of cute. Even with nearly 50 years passing by, the old human is still young to the vampire who has lived going on twice his lifetimes. I am not 10 minutes in and I have been typing for 40 minutes!

FUUUUUUCK sorry. louis

I have no commentary on louis introducing. LESTAT. sorry, not him. On louis introducing new orleans and his the place he inhabited in it. I think its pretty self explanatory and explicit, yeah?

BRICKS❤️❤️❤️❤️

Oh my god the fucking "Oh—goddamn." upon seeing fenwicks diarrhea dick is Ao fucking funny. Louis acting like he would actually have a problem seein a dick or too. Probably would have a problem seeing fenwicks tho (unshitted on). I don't disagree there. Maybe the poop camo is for the best....

Yiu can't be saying that racist jake the dog

Id stick my finger in fenwicks wound and see how deep itd go.

Hi paul

The lord told me to cum. Sorry im 5 years old

Paul punching louis is genuinely so fucking. LESTAT AND HIS FUCKING GOOFY ASS HAT OH MY GOD!!. Sorry. Paul punching Louis was so fucking funny to me because I know that if they were not on that street and were at home or something they would be SLUGGING each other until grace has to pull them apart. Then hug it out :) Idk is this how siblings work im pretty much an only child

I keep having to google words help. HELP. NOT ME HAVING LOOKED UP "PULPIT" ALREADY AND APPARENTLY COMPLETELY FORGETTING WHAT IT MEANS.

Immediately another word I have to google. Im not gonna say I'm stupid for not knowing these words, i did not grow up with the church as closely as others...

i do think a lot about the pointe du lac household before their father died. like. A lot. Theres so much in that brief interaction mentioning him. The sugar cane, the hospital, the Diversion.

Ill never forget the first time i rewatched this ep After learning about the mayfair witches and seeing this scene and being like: GASP! OH MY GOD! ANNE RICE REFERENCE! IT'S ALL CONNECTED!

Paul is so fucking funny like the shade he's constantly throwing, please take a break LMFAO

hng. (louis)

Googling words again. Hmmm the internalized homophobia yes yes i see. Sorry need to google another fucking word. Oh. oh louis...... Ok I can see how my mom picked up on louis being gay so fast. I am a smart boy but my vocabulary is pathetically limited so "big" words going over my head made what should've been pretty obvious be absolutely indecipherable to me. Sorry for being stupid (im not)

I am 17 minutes in and I have been watching and typing for an hour!

Louis: everyone in here is white so its easy to pick out who's gonna call me a nigger to my face and whos gonna do it behind my back

Sir..... Mister....

Hes here

Microaggression 1

TWO.

THREE.

FOUR?

LESTAT CONTINUOUSLY HITTING ME OVER THE HEAD WITH BRICKS

His hair looks like shit

IM. GOING TO KILL HIM. Dont worry louis get behind me.

YOU GONNA FALL VICTIM TO THIS MAN WHOSE HAIR GOT CAUGHT UNDER THE IRON?

Oh my god Leswirl de lioncourt PLEASE PLEASE I CANT TAKE THIS. Actually started growling out loud and said "Shut rhr fuck up, oh mt God.!!!"

IVE EMPTIED A BANK VAULT SAMPLING. S. AJSHKSKSJZMSMS PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP OH MY GKD. PLEASW. ISNSSMJAKSNSMSJAJZMSUAUBZNZ

Lestat put your ears away, please.

Me, watching this for the first time at the age of 20: Is this gay...? No... it can't be. They would put gay in a show...? For real? (in denial and scared of being queerbaited despite the most explicit homosexual overtext)

MISS CARROLL THEYRE HAVING A DICK MEASURING COMPETITION.!!!!!!!

Unfortunately lestat did kind of serve there but throwing his dick down on the table embarrassing louis like that in front of miss carroll and lily was evil and racist somehow And he should be sentenced to 40 good slams in thr head with a brick

If paul didn't punch louis none of this would be happening

Lestat: God i love to troll

Who the devil you say.? Well...

Oh lord louis' face card sorry didn't mean to moan like that. I saw a maj so beautiful I threw up evrrywhere

Hmm. The racism

FUUUUUUCK LOUIS IS SO CUTE I NEED TO KILL MYSELF!

Lestat needs to put his ears AWAY he looks so bad with his hair that short.

What IS this insane time freezing trick lestat is doing? God when im actually giving myself a chance to really absorb myself in the show that scene is actually pretty fucking scary LOL

I NEED TO DIE I HATE HOW MUCH I LOVE THEM. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE SHIOT ME IN THE FUCKING HEADA

Lord have mercy the sheer SEX in his eyes as he looks at louis' neck. I nedd to die

Paul..... I need to kill myself for emotional reasons not related to loustat

Egypt reference! Wow! Gabrielle allusion ! "The means to make my way to paris" Ok well what if i

I FEEL SO FUCKING BAD AT HOW HARD I LAUGH AT PAULS SCENES. steven norfleet does such an amazing job in this role.

SAVAGE GARDEN!!!!!!! GUYS!!!!! B

Hooray! The scene that changed me literally Forever. Whatever, man.

Ykung violinist

lily and lestat circling louis like two lions descending on a zebra.

I had a dream about this scene once. I will not br elaborating.

Dude.

GUYS. SEX IS SO FUCKING AWESOME!!!

Guys.

God thid is so fucking crazy

Unfortunately this part does make me giggle especially having to see these two men floating naked and seeing sams fat ass Im about to start crying again

I wish vampires were real

Insert joe biden yelling faggot I don't have it on hand and i don't want to pause for 20 minutes to find it

MY FAVORITE SCENE EVERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PAUL AND LOUIS TAPDSNCING SO CUTE AARRRGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!! The fact that thus scenr eas really all them, being jacob and steven, its so awesome.

WHEN THE BLACK JOY! And then thr Black suffering. Ok guys 21st time is a charm Im praying really hard I THINK I CAN STOP PAUL FROM JUMPING THIS TIME!

This is one of those scenes that really seperates black viewers from nonblack viewers because the way some of my nonblack friends have reacted to florence blaming louis has made me so insanely embarrassed.... I don't know how to explain it. But the shame from a black parent... especially the mother. I don't know. It breaks you in a different way than anything else. Theres a lot of nuance I want to say but I don't have the time or brainpower or expertise to word it properly so please just take my emotional response to this scene at face value.

sorry but lestat just openly asking during the funeral service where they got pauls coffin from is CRAZY.

Breaking finns arm was also crazy as fuck. Like would hs have done that if louis didn't get angry as fuck at him just then. Unfortunately knowing lestats character now seeing louis get mad like that probably made him hard as fuck and thr only way he can deal with it in the moment is to break that mans arm. Sorry I love how ar the beginning of this post i was like super into the nitty gritty and the details bjt then it just turned into me making fun of lestat and how hard he definitely was in like every single scene he was in

God. the pain.

Killing lily was in fact extremely racist and misogynistic of lestat. He should be stabbed many times for this

God.

Ok scene two that permanently changed me

Sorry to that poor stunt double that got knocked out then.

What rage you must feel as you choke on your sorrow. Unfortunately one of the hardest lines ever

No commentary. Hard to say things about this scene cause its just so good, man.

Oh my poor ashy grey blood deprived louis

Watching this scene with headphones on is crazy

GOD. GUYS. I LOVE SHOW. DID YOU GUYS KNOW I FUCKING LOVE SHOW???!!?? Pack it up guys This is one of the best pilots in tv history

To wrap up this post, it took me about 2 hours and 20 minutes to finish the first episode. I spent twice as long watching it BECAUSE I LOVE TO FUCKING YAP!

[blaqueswanzaghouliishiilikeda]

iwtv ep 1 rewatch thoughts

[i am eating Popeyes right now and i promise didn’t plan it this way, but seeds were planted so here we are.]

first things first we [the viewers] are introduced to our two time Pulitzer Prize winning professor Daniel Malloy. We all come to this course with a variety of understandings of the topic just like in any other course. Right off the bat he’s telling us of his expertise in a pervious recording and at the same time we witness his visible skepticism of his own claims in the more nuanced present setting. if you think he’s the only reliable character it’s very much being challenged in the first few moments, which i’m sure has been pointed out many, many times.

he flips the channel there’s a war happening (clue about where we’re at in terms of timeline?? idk. i’ve only engaged with AMCverse so maybe?) and flips it again and the fantastical is going to become a reality. he just has to put the pieces he doesn’t have together so he sits down to do a puzzle (a devils minion easter egg apparently) and he’ll get those pieces by accepting the extended invitation sent to him by none other than Louis de Pointe du Lac, which picks up from his mail box after trying to fit missing pieces together. very solid intro.

Daniel: Why get any closer to the bug than i need to?

he says before he gets on an international flight and exposes himself to countless risks. It’s what he does tho right? i’ve seen a couple sc of the books where he describes Armand as looking like an insect. he is not put off by getting close to perceived bugs. Its funny tho as he’s asking the question, he’s unboxing the answer—louis’ handwritten invitation—as to what would be worth risking your life for right above the devils minion easter egg.

-bc the bug has been following your career (like the way armand followed him yes?) and you like that

-bc the bug wants you and has invited you and you are a risk taker in the ways an investigative journalist has to be to get to the story/truth. in a way a man who refused to face his mortality chooses to be as pointed out by the lovely tumblr user blueiight here (hope it’s okay that i linked you. lmk)

Louis definitely clinging to threads of the past. in 2020 he’s sending hand written letters (on papers with Lestat’s initials) instead of emails and original cassette recordings instead of digital recordings. A lot if not all of his threads to humanity are threads to the past (“in my day” old headass) since right now he seemingly doesn’t really have any connection to humanity in the modern time. being an out of touch billionaire will do that to you, on top of being a century old vampire.

I think thats another evil that gets overlooked when some of y’all are looking for “he’s just as bad” reasons to pin on him. Instead of the imaginary he bit claudia before bringing her to Lestat…like…in addition to his pimping he’s literally a billionaire. like its right there. that encapsulates the worst ways to exist in this world. he the manpire of humanity as well like…

which i guess is goes into the many faces of violence that fade to the background and don’t get called out enough. violence isn’t alway brutality and i noticed just this past couple of days people only see violence when it’s in tandem with brutality, but im not about to sit here and lecture y’all cause that’s not at all fun. and thats why im doing this. bc its fun. i just think this show does a wonderful job of showing the spectrum of violence and evil and i think you do a great disservice to what they have done here if you’re only seeing those things from one angle. and i think thats one of the reasons why so many people struggle with Lestat and don’t appreciate how masterfully (no pun intended) he’s been crafted bc you don’t recognize those things [violence and evil] anywhere else in the story as being as bad.

if thats Daniels box of the past he doesn’t have much kids stuff, just a pink stuffed animal and a bike helmet, so i wonder how much of his kids lives he’s really missed. Like it doesn’t even seem like there was a joint custody situation where they spent a great deal of time at his home as well. idk maybe he has things in storage. but i’m curious about that and how that parallels with how louis let his own child down as has been pointed out.

ngl he look tf good while he listening back to this tape 😩😅 someone zoomed in on his muscle flexing when he pressed play and i just want to say to you i agree wholeheartedly with you whoever you are.

he mad tho. snatched that letter up quick after pausing the tape. 😂

He dives into the (possible) eternal sunset on a highway that looks like water.

If this is a way to get Lestat’s attention, which I think it can be said is a part of why this second interview is happening given the papers Louis chose to write the invitation on, I think its very pointed that Louis is introducing himself as a keeper of knowledge considering one of his (possible*) final moments with lestat as pointed out here.

one of the last things Lestat ever did before he was poisoned, had his neck sliced, and was dumped in a garbage yard to feed on rats, was humiliate Louis about his love of books and claim the role of the knowledge keeper in their family. I think its a very pointed message that this is a book (especially with all the mediums available in 2020), of course Louis loves books, but also Lestat has beef with books lol (Between Gabrielle and Louis). If there’s anyway to get a rise out him (hehe) its a book where Louis is identified as the knowledge keeper of the immortal life Lestat gave to him. and it’s written by a savory inferior as well. louis could have written the book himself. God knows he has the skill, time and the access to do it so that was intentional. Lestat gone drop through the ceiling of the dubai penthouse in a rage.

*possible final moments bc we don’t know yet if Louis has seen Lestat since Paris etc. etc. which i think he will see him in paris bc of Rolins “can’t burn him twice” comment, but i’m open to being wrong.

i haven’t pointed out anything that hasn’t been discussed extensively, but this is a verrryy solid opening introduction to the show. right off jump they established this to be a well crafted episode.

i need yall to know right now that as we go forward in this episode i cannot be held accountable for who i become when faced with brown eyed louis’ fine self. you’ve seen it yourselves please don’t hold this against me!!!! i am not god’s strongest soldier! i am weak at the knees! i will buckle! i will fold!

[cbrownjc]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Well, I now have time to do things like this, so thanks for tagging me @nalyra-dreaming, lol!

--------------------------

How many works do you have on ao3? -- 5

What’s your total ao3 word count? -- 122,062

What fandoms do you write for? -- Interview with the Vampire/Vampire Chronicles

Top 5 fics by kudos -- Well I only have 5 fics up on AO3, so:

Now or Neverland

Half-Forgotten Dreams

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Promises, Promises

Where the Truth Lies

Do you respond to comments? -- Yes, I try to respond to all comments I get and have done so for the most part. (I've only got one sitting in my inbox that I need to reply to at the moment).

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? -- Where the Truth Lies. First posted it less than a week ago, so I can't elaborate on it, just . . . yeah.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? -- Well, in the relative scheme of things, I guess Now or Neverland's ending would be considered "happy." IMO it's really more wistful than happy, but not as bittersweet as the ending of all my other fics are. Excepting Where the Truth Lies' ending, of course, as I noted above.

Do you get hate on fics? -- Only on one fic. (And it was rather. . . telling . . . that it was on that fic too, IMO.)

Do you write smut? -- 😏 But, so far, no PWP kinds, as what I've written are all scenes within larger stories being told.

Craziest crossover -- Um, none. Unless you want to count real-world history that some of the stories bump up against as a "crossover." Which, personally, I don't. However, I did write a real crossover fic once, but it's not on AO3 . . . nor would I call it crazy.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? -- No, not that I know or heard of.

Have you ever had a fic translated? -- Again no, not that I'm aware of.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? -- Well, I've co-written a series, not just one specific fic. So I guess that works for this question.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? -- LOL! Okay, I know for a fact that I'm never going to finish this fic I'm about to talk about. I started it back in 2005, and 10 years later I put up a note saying I wasn't going to finish it. And it wasn't for IWTV Fandom, nor is the fic posted on AO3, but I want to mention it anyway. Because there will always be a part of me that wishes I could have finished writing this fic, and has wished it for years.

It is a Buffy/Harry Potter Crossover fic called Harry Potter and the Mystical Key. It's posted and still up on FF.net, and it's the one and only fic I have posted on there.

It was the first real fanfic I ever planned and started writing. I wrote and posted up to something like 56K words of it too, before I abandoned it, mostly due to losing my passion for writing because of real-life things that were happening to me around that time. And no matter how much I tried, I just had no interest in trying to finish it. But it's always kind of haunted me over the years, and made me wary of ever starting another fanfic project again over the fear of losing interest and never finishing it.

And now, I've completed 5 fics within a 200K (it's looking like) series, writing 122K of it in one year. I'm happy. 😊

What are your writing strengths? -- I think I have a good and natural feel for how to structure a story so that it will be interesting to read. I, personally, have always had to at least know the skeletal structure of a story and where it's going before I start writing it . . . otherwise, I just feel like I'm wasting my time on writing something with no point to it. I'm also not afraid to change things in the middle of writing something if I come up with something better.

I'm also not afraid to skip around when I'm writing. Makes writing the stuff I may not be as interested in writing easier to write if I've already written the things/scenes I've most been looking forward to.

I've also been told that my writing style is very vivid. I also am totally fine with someone editing my stories to hell and back because I do that very same thing myself. Nothing is perfect, but I always try to make sure a story is the best it can be before I post it.

What are your writing weaknesses? -- If you may not have noticed, I suck when it comes to spelling. Also, I can be way too vague sometimes when I'm trying to hide a later revelation in a story, but still set it up beforehand. I always have to remind myself that just because I understand the hint I'm trying to lay about something, that doesn't mean I've made that hint clear enough to the reader.

And I suspect I may be too wordy since many of my fics tend to be long. (Over 10K.) I never set out to write long stories on purpose, but I know the length of the stories I write can probably be off-putting for some people.

Also, just sitting down and writing can be hard for me to do. I can get distracted and procrastinate easily. I have to have the correct focus -- usually light focus music or writing sprint videos -- playing to get things done. (And, when I'm writing at night, I usually light some candles as well.)

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? -- As long as it fits the character, I'm up for it.

First fandom you wrote in? -- Strawberry Shortcake. I was around 5 years old or so (so it was like 1982-83). My mom let me use her blue Brother typewriter but I had to use lined paper instead of typing paper because she didn't want me to waste that kind of paper on what I was writing. I didn't know that I was writing fanfic of course, but that was totally what I was doing. I sat and hunted and pecked out the letters. IIRC I typed about two pages of my little story too (over like a weekend).

That said, the first fanfic I ever wrote after first coming online was a short Star Trek: Voyager fanfic that I can't even remember the title of now. Or if it's still up online somewhere.

Favourite fic you’ve written? -- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, simply because I think it's the most tightly written of the five fics I've written so far. I also just really love the structure of it, which I planned out in linear order, but then wrote non-linerally. I don't think that story would feel as tightly written as it does if I had just written and posted it in linear order.

--------------------------

Okay, that was super fun to do. 🙂 Glad I now have time to do things like this. I'm just going to tag @faerywhimsy, @girlwithakiwi, @virginiaisforvampires, @doublehex, @elsakey, @impressionism, and @faerywhimsy if any of you would like to do this too. And, of course, anyone else who wishes to do this too go right ahead. :-)

[nalyra-dreaming]

Okay, so...unsure if this has been brought up.

I recently finished reading Merrick. And I had a thought.

Assuming for a moment that Louis was present at the end of QOTD and was there for the big explanation of vampiric origins; why is he so despondent in subsequent books?

He got the answers he was looking for in all the previous books, the wheretos and whyfors of vampires, but it seems like those answers weren't enough for him. So he continues his weird vampire ascetic existence.

If he wasn't present at the end of QOTD, it makes sense. But I'm pretty sure I recall him being there. If so, does he just not accept that answer because it doesn't fit his worldview? Is he written that way because Anne wanted to diminish his VC 'screentime' and eventually write him out, until fans pressured her to abandon that idea?

Because the whole book of Merrick seems to be an homage to Louis whole inability to reconcile the truth of vampires and his own worldview, through the literary device of Claudia.

Unless I'm totally off the mark here. Which is why I bring it to one with greater discernment than I.

Hey dear!

Not sure about the last part but I'll try :P

So... personally I think Anne tried to let go of Louis (even write him out as you put it) because she had to. Louis is who she was when she mourned, why she wrote IWTV, and she had to leave him behind at some point to go on and for me that helps with understanding why the Chronicles are structured they way they are.

Louis was there for the answers/end in QotD, yes.

But Anne... had a very specific expectation on a Christian's view on the revelations - she had Marius say the following in TVL:

"No. As I told you, tell part and you will end up telling all. Besides, if these fledglings are children of the Christian god, if they are poisoned as Nicolas was with the Christian notion of Original Sin and guilt, they will only be maddened and disappointed by these old tales. It will all be a horror to them that they cannot accept. Accidents, pagan gods they don't believe in, customs they cannot understand. One has to be ready for this knowledge, meager as it may be.[..]"

Now, Louis was still a pretty young, pretty "human" vampire when QotD happened. And yes, he is "poisoned by the notion of Original Sin". He had also just been reunited with Lestat, to have him ripped away again, had met his mother-in-law/sister, and literally the eldest, and strongest of his kind.

Quite the tour-de-force if you ask me :)

And what had been the answer to the questions? An accident, leading to a mutation. And he got first hand evidence that the vampiric state makes them statues over time, or drives them mad. (The show hints at that already, too.)

And all that on top of a literal genocide on his "species", on his kind, a mass-murder he only escaped because he was deemed a bargaining chip by their "Queen".

So yes... after that "high" of reuniting with Lestat at the end of QotD must have come a rather heavy "drop". Both Louis and Lestat cannot deal with what was revealed, and they are coping in the way they know how to - Louis withdraws, to his books, to his paintings, to his little shed, while Lestat roams (and tries to kill himself, a move which Louis then later echoes in Merrick, for slightly different reasons, granted, but ultimately... the same, for having been brought to his proverbial knees, unable to go on anymore).

Merrick brings them full circle, and the resurrection levels them, in power and understanding, though Louis blames Lestat for a while, after, before he accepts what and who he is eventually.

For me, Merrick closes the guilt arcs, and together with TtotBT these arcs are closed within the story because they both offer up what they have left to give - their lives.

And they "fail" at that. (So does Armand btw, but that just as a note.)

And they need to come to terms with that, too. Especially Louis, I'd argue, because his upbringing would condemn suicide, and I do think he expected to end up in hell, which he knew (or expected) to be true after all, after Lestat's little stunt with Memnoch. Maybe he even hoped for it to be true, because it would have meant that something he believed in held true.

So yes, Louis is still struggling with that, then.

And he is for quite another while after, though Anne did not write it out like that (unfortunately).

It's just implied, with them breaking up in the jungles, and Louis going to Armand at Trinity Gate, and finding peace within himself there.

Merrick is indeed a bit of an homage at Louis‘ inability to reconcile what he knows is the truth with what he believes (or wants to believe) - but it is also the logical repercussion, and also, in a way, a try of Louis finding out the truth - a last ditch effort.

Which is why his tearful breakdown when Lestat asks him what he saw… and he says “nothing“… is so incredibly heart-breaking, because it tells us of the hope that was shattered. The hope to see her… or anything, really.

But there’s nothing.

There are no answers, no relief from the guilt, no reason - just… them.

[doublycharming-tetraquark]

Okay, so let me start off by saying that I really appreciate your empathetic view of Louis. It's a breath of fresh air in this fandom.

I might call it The Claudia Show (because it is) but I started watching this show for Louis and his journey. It is so rare to see racebent characters that are color-conscious and not just colorblind. And Jacob Anderson might be one of the best actors of our generation. He is truly a gem.

I also believe that Louis loved Claudia to the best of his abilities. It is one of my points of contention that people keep minimizing Louis' love for her. This is also the Claudia show to Louis. He has set up this interview to deal with her death (the same way the first IWTV book was about Anne dealing with the death of her daughter.)

I disagree on that point that he didn't fail Claudia. He wouldn't be so fucked up about it if he hadn't in some ways failed her.

The main issue is that Louis can never meaningfully put Claudia first.

I think one of the main things that made Claudia leave the first time in S1 was, in addition to Lestat's abuse, is Louis' passivity. Lestat tries to choke her and she looks at Louis and says something along the lines of "You're gonna let him do this to me?" and also "He treats us like shit and you take it. Why is that?". To his credit, I think Louis does regret it and tries to make up for it when she comes back and Lestat tries to attack her again. (Leading to S1E5 IPV scene). And then the finale when he wouldn't let her burn him. Like of course I understand why he couldn't and I don't blame him for it. But there is a reason that he suppresses that memory and it's because of the fact that he physically harms Claudia in that scene (strangling her the same way Lestat did.) It's one of the main reasons Claudia wants to find other vampires, because she no longer feels that she can trust Louis. ( I will talk about this more when we talk about Claudia. ) (Also please note that Lestat is just as much Claudia's abuser as he is Louis')

In Season 2, Louis' treatment of Claudia is very typical of the simultaneous parentification-infantilization that adult children are often subjected to. (That Lestat also does to her in S1. More on that later.) Louis treats her interchangeably as his sister or his daughter depending on what suits him. She is a child who needs to be protected from the truth of the coven and the knowledge that Armand knows about Lestat. ("You were happy. I didn't want to ruin that.") But she is an adult who needs to handle her own problems. ("Go sit in your choice sister."). This happens in the same conversation, btw! Also, if he'd told her his suspicions earlier, she would not have joined the coven. (Even Jacob himself has said that Louis needs Claudia to be happy for himself. Very typical parent behavior.)

Also him not believing her when she tells him Armand threatened her? "Doesn't sound like him". Bro! He tried to kill you an episode ago. Please be serious!

All this being said, I don't like that Louis tried to take all the blame for her death. Like yeah, there are things he could've done differently but he didn't cause her death. The coven, Lestat and Armand did. Both Lestat and Armand could've prevented it but they didn't. Because ultimately they didn't care about her (More on that during Claudia and Armand thoughts). He is the only one (besides Madeline) that loved her.

Ep6 is one of my favorite episodes. Because while Louis and Claudia's relationship deterioration is heartbreaking (as is Louis insisting he doesn't care while self-harming. My God. I need to hug him.), I love that for a tiny bit, they both break the cycle of abuse. Louis makes Madeline out of love for Claudia. They give her a choice that is not made under duress. She is comfortable before she is turned and the turning itself is so tender. The only vampire not made out of Trauma and Louis made her! And once he had, he never tried to control her the way he was controlled by Lestat.

( I have thoughts about the trial too but thinking about it too much makes me cry. We'll talk about it at a later date. )

"The way that Louis finds his way into a relationship with Armand is so heartbreakingly soft. We never see them in their intimate moments as dom and sub, but I get the sense that he would be a tender lover -what he wants is to be respected, to have control."

You are the only person allowed to have opinions about Loumand from now on! Wonderfully put.

"Louis's relationship with Daniel is endearing and charming and all things adorable. I hope they whatsapp each other often and have some uncomplicated relaxing stress-relieving sex."

Season 2 has turned me into a DanLou shipper. Louis, stop toying with that old man and fuck him! I hope they go on dates together and make both Armand and Lestat jealous. It's what Louis deserves 💙.

The only thing I wanted for Louis pre-finale was for him to properly grieve Claudia and move on. I just wanted him to stop suffering and be happy for once. We did get that and I am overall happy with where Louis ends up, though I am mad that we never see Louis actually reach those conclusions. You can read my thoughts on it (and on Loumand divorce and Loustat reunion) here.

I am also repulsed by the Loustat being framed as a love story. Which is why I am happy with the S2 ending and will consider it the end of the series for me unless the writers can prove that they won't fuck it up.

(Sidenote: I know you are attracted to Louis when he is sweet and gentle and I also love soft, gentle, teasing Louis. But Louis is the hottest to me when he is being mean to people. That smile after bringing Daniel to tears? oof! Also, him taunting and killing Santiago. I was swooning! That was a look™. More Louis being mean to people, please! Ermm..for the plot, of course!)

It's been two days since I finished watching Interview with the Vampire, and the show has been consuming all my brain space. I didn't have the energy to live blog each episode of season 2, but I want to get my reactions down, before I go in search of reading other people's. This will be a haphazard collection of thoughts, so I think what I will do is start talking character by character and see if that helps me organise things any.

Louis

This one is the beating heart of the show, and I don't see how it would have worked if they had not made him a Black man. Everything stems from what he learned during his life of how to survive and thrive and yet remain kind and compassionate, and watching him be fragile and loving and grieving is soul stirring. Perhaps other people might still have found the show engaging with the role played by a white character (given fandom's embrace of the slave owning pirates in Our Flag Means Death, I am sure a slave owning Louis would not have been an insurmountable problem).

But this story belongs to the Black Louis, and to what Jacob Anderson made of him. Just impeccable acting choices, all down the line. I am mesmerised by him.

Praise for the character aside, he is the moral heart of the show. (I know there is a case to be made for Claudia, but I will get to her after this.) I don't actually much enjoy villains presented as anti-heroes, and Louis engenders so much empathy in a show filled with rather awful people.

Of course, he loves Claudia. And I do see him putting her first to the best of his ability. Claudia may be entitled to her resentment, but that doesn't make it rational fact. Louis encouraging her to leave the first time, knowing that Lestat would follow him if he left, that's a valid choice. And then choosing not to burn Lestat... I am reminded of how few victims of domestic abuse actually murder their abusers. The main desire is always to get away. I don't condemn Louis for choosing to not kill his lover.

Claudia had no roots laid down in New Orleans, but Louis did, and he gave all of that up to support her really rather nonsensical search for mystical vampires who were not as awful as Lestat. He helped her join the coven even if he could see it was a cult. And when she introduced him to Madeline, he listened to her. He turned her for Claudia. I don't ever see a moment where he stopped actively caring for her and doing the labour to prove it. I took the line about her being a burden as fully just transparent bait for Armand.

And when Lestat shows up at the trial, its Claudia that Louis is focussed on. He Always. Puts. Her. First.

The way that Louis finds his way into a relationship with Armand is so heartbreakingly soft. We never see them in their intimate moments as dom and sub, but I get the sense that he would be a tender lover -what he wants is to be respected, to have control.

And then we come to the post-trial choices.

I can somewhat buy him sparing Armand's life during his vengeance murder spree, because it wasn't just that Armand said he had saved him during the trial - if you remember, Armand was only encouraging him to leave Paris. Louis was the one who asked. But also, Armand was the one who let him out of the coffin. He did save Louis, and Louis would have tasted the blood of the person who saved him and known it was him.

I think maybe Louis was able to get over Armand facilitating Claudia's murder, because he saw him as a victim paralysed in the same way that he himself had been. Louis knows about having to keep his head down and be complicit with an oppressive system, and I think he offered the benefit of the doubt to Armand because of that. Perhaps also - Louis forgave Claudia for attempting to murder Lestat because he could see her desparation and why she needed to do it. Maybe Louis created a story for himself where Armand was similarly trapped. I don't know. To me, his choice of staying with Armand is the one I am the most questioning of.

(All of this is presupposing that what we saw was what actually happened. There are indications that there is yet another layer to the trial that we don't know about, and because Louis wasn't there as primary witness for the end, maybe some new facts will emerge to make Armand either more sympathetic, or more manipulative.)

Louis's relationship with Daniel is endearing and charming and all things adorable. I hope they whatsapp each other often and have some uncomplicated relaxing stress-relieving sex.

As for Louis and Lestat... see, I was ok with what I saw on the screen. I saw an abuse survivor leave his second marriage the instant he found out he had been lied to, and I saw him visit the parent of his child for closure. Taking on the burden of Claudia's death is nonsense, of course, but it was believeable nonsense. In that I accept that Louis, after having learned that Lestat did lift a finger to partially save his life, spilled out from all his generosity and love, what he thought might help the wretched ex he saw eating on rats and playing on a plank.

But what I am not ok with, what repulses me to the core, is the apparent conviction of the show producers that Louis and Lestat are destined to return to each other, as the great love of each other's lives. It is true that some domestic abuse survivors never manage to completely free themselves from their abuser, and some spouses continue to stay with the abuser of their child (Alice Munro, looking at you). But that storyline is a horror story. Nothing in the framing of the show indicates that horror. And I do not wish for a season 3 that walks down that road.

[mercy-misrule]

iwtv spoilers

i really liked seeing Daniel look at Rashid with his journalist thirst for knowledge and need to provoke responses and interrupt Rashid at prayer.

Its a indicator of him as a character, social niceties and courtesy go by the wayside when he sees the beginning of some truly powerful reveal, a big contradiction in behaviour, hiding some useen truth.

and we see him catch himself, realign and apologise, turn to leave and then laser focus on Rashid again when he says a phrase in Uzbek.

(this is not me okay-ing the character being a dick, its a dick thing he did)

But I wonder if Louis and Daniel are aware of their shared hunger for knowledge, for questions answered. Perhaps that's part of why Louis reached out at this point in Daniel's life, because he knew he couldn't resist asking the questions, even though being around Louis clearly triggers some trauma for him.

I want to know more about Daniel, I love watching him connect with the human aspect of Louis and recoil from the monster but keep it together.

[caricature-of-a-witch]

Reading Diary

I’m through with Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Lestat”! (Don’t know why this post took me so long, I finished the book on Tuesday.)

In case anyone doesn’t know, it’s the sequel to Interview with the Vampire.

@ colourinside, stop reading right here, this will contain spoilers you may not want :D

So. My vampire phase isn’t showing any signs of going back down any time soon, so I hereby subject you to some more screaming about gay vampires. Or you just skip this post.

...asdfghjkl what the fuck Lestat what the fuck do you think you’re doing why would you want that. That is a horrible plan. What, you wake up after sleeping for a few decades basically and decide to go “come at me bro” at all of humanity?! By... writing a book and joining a rock band? Like, this sounds like crack when I say it like that. It probably is crack, and I love it anyway. (Seriously though. Lestat. Did you think about this at all. Have you got any kind of impulse control. Spoiler alert: He does not.)

Yay for the backstory though! Except now I have two entirely different Lestat’s in my head, the one from Louis’s POV and the one from Lestat’s own and the truth is probably somewhere in between? Like, Lestat, say what you like but you’re still a little shit an asshole. This book is almost gayer than IwtV. Like... Lestat and Nicki are just... okay. (Also they broke my heart just a little bit. Nicki. Nicki why. I’d say Lestat has a type but at least Louis didn’t completely lose it.)

OH MY GOD I LOVE GABRIELLE??!!?!!? Now that I know more than just her name. I was not expecting this. She’s fucking cool though and I might just have a bit of a crush which is weird. ...moving on.

Cool backstory, Armand, I still hate your guts. What is wrong with you. Don’t DO these things!? Marius. Marius come here right now and fix this. What did you do.

And then it ends with a bloody cliffhanger (at least now I know what’s up with Queen of the Damned which I will need to get asap). But. But. Louis. Louis and Lestat. Oh my god could you be more gay no ou could not. I love you so much. Help me.

I’m not even going to add the actual plot here, I’m not coherent enough for that. I’ve linked to the Wikipedia page in the beginning of the post if you want something more intelligent than my babbling. I’m gonna go think about gay vampires some more. (I need more books. Right now.)

[nalyra-dreaming]

the writers will still make episodes based on Anne's books, keeping in mind Anne's fans. Readers' theories are always more informed and have more merit if the talk is about adaptations / Okay, I have to respond to this because this is a take that always irks me in any fandom.

The arrogance and condescension of thinking that fans who know the source material are superior is weird, especially in this case because as book readers we are just as in the dark as the fans who have only watched the show since the story will end up being very different from the book, just like season 1 deviates a lot from how things happen in the book (I'm not gonna bother listing all the deviations in the storyline because I'm sure we all know them)

Yes, the writers are following the major story beats but it's not a one-for-one retelling specifically because they are keeping the book fans in mind and they want the show to still be surprising and fresh for those of us who already know the story. This is something Rolin has emphasized so many times.

And this idea that we have not seen the real Lestat yet sounds a bit like wishful thinking and a refusal to accept the things he does in the show. It also directly contradicts everything Rolin has repeatedly said, namely that the Lestat on the show is the more nuanced version and he incorporates a lot of the aspects of how he is in the following books, not just IWTV.

I'm sure there will be many things shown under a different lens in season 2 but saying that they will completely erase or invalidate both Louis and Claudia's version of events makes you sound just as delusional as the people hoping Armand will be a wholesome little angel who will have a cute romance with Louis.

Until season 2 comes out, all these fan theories are just speculation. None of us have the ultimate truth of it and no one take is any more valid than another.

I just updated my PSA / pinned post. Please be polite.

I never said everything will be erased, and while the more nuanced version is true it has also been said repeatedly that we will only get the actual Lestat POV later.

Sam has repeatedly said how he would go no, that’s a lie, that didn’t happen while filming - to which Jacob would get real icy because he needed to believe… there’s an interview with this, look it up.

I never said one was more valid to each other. But people - and you - come into my inbox… not the other way round.

Calling me delusional while going on big rants… LOL nonny.

*Armand voice* - Look in the mirror.

Also, again. Be polite. Or get blocked.

[cbrownjc]

Look, I'll be honest, there are only two ways this can go now: either Rolin and Assad are lying to hide the truth about this, or they are telling the truth.

If they are lying to hide something, I'll forgive that lying instantly once it's revealed that they are. (Put a pin in this.)

If they are telling the truth? Then I'll have zero desire to watch the show anymore. And I won't. Because I have very much learned my lesson when it comes to TV shows and lazy writing/bad adaptations after Game of Thrones.

Because Armand turning Daniel out of spite is the antithesis of what Devil's Minion is supposed to be for both characters. It is an utter and complete misunderstanding of both characters and their relationship together. It's an utter downgrade of their relationship from the books, and I am not here for it. I literally do not care what "romance" they might later have planned for them if this is how Daniel was turned.

Look. If you are someone who only ever cared about Daniel just being a vampire, then this is all likely fine for you. But not me. Because Daniel being a vampire never was, or has been, the important part of Armand and Daniel's relationship. It's not the important part. The actual love and romance before Daniel is turned is, because of the character development and growth both of them go through from it, but especially Armand, is the important part.

And Armand turning Daniel out of love was a huge step that showed Armand beginning to move forward heal from not only his time in the Children of Darkness cult, but begin his healing when it comes to his Marius issues as well. (And to the person I got an ask I still need to answer about that? Oh boy oh boy . . .)

Armand turning Daniel out of spite undercuts all of that. And flat-out guts some of the major depth of the relationship and Armand's character overall.

Not to mention it makes Daniel no better than someone like Claudia wrt Armand. Maybe even less than her since at least Claudia got turned out of love for someone else. Daniel doesn't even get that? The person who is supposed to be his eternal companion doesn't even get turned by him out of love, an important point to the bond between such Maker and Fledgling companions, but out of hate and spite instead?

Yeah, no thank you.

This is not what I've waited since 1995 to see with these two and the fact their relationship may have gotten treated like this -- if this is true -- utterly astounds me how they could get Loustat so right (and even upgrade them so beautifully in so many ways such as with Louis' turning) and utterly fail Devil's Minion so badly. Because yes, it's failing them. It's a terrible and, moreover, shallow, adaptation of Devil's Minion if this is how it really all goes down.

Because there is way more to Armand and Daniel than them just "getting together." Or at least there is supposed to be. And this ain't it.

(Pin!) Now, that all said? The fact that they flat out say that we'll never see that turning? Yeah okay, I'm sus on that one. Because really the only reason not to show Armand turning Daniel next season and visually confirm Armand did it is if because . . . Armand never actually turned Daniel in the first place.

Or, maybe not fully Daniel.

I mean, you're not going to ever actually show Armand turning his first-ever fledgling (who he's supposed to go on to have a romantic relationship with at some point) after making a big ass deal out of the fact that Armand has never turned anyone before? Ever?

See I know damn well that Armand is being framed as a villain right now. He very much has to be given how the end of the book IWTV and how the upcoming book The Vampire Lestat, goes. Armand is the main villain/antagonist in it. Even in the present day, he hasn't gone through the growth that he does from Queen of the Damned on. So he's still back in his villain-era mode right now. Which is fine.

And the very idea that Armand turned Daniel out of spite? Very much plays into that framing-him-as-a-villian state where Armand's character is right now. And will be for the majority of Season 3, which I've already before now suspected and said.

So here is where the speculation on my end of things comes in. Because yeah, not only can I not help myself but because -- until I see this play out with my own eyes -- I'm willing to be reasonable and look at the various ways this all could still play out that doesn't completely gut out the very heart of Armand and Daniel -- as characters and their relationship together.

So as @nalyra-dreaming can confirm, I gave her a few scenarios that could be behind Daniel's turning weeks ago, when I first suspected it was going to happen (before the screener leaks about it started). In one of the scenarios, I said that if Daniel's vampire eyes are any color other than violet, then that is NOT Daniel's spirit/soul/consciousness in Daniel's body that has been made a vampire.

As the saying goes, "The eyes are the window into the soul." And am I really supposed to think this show got Lestat and Louis' eye color dead on correct but just missed Daniel's iconic eye color? Really? (No, I do not find it "romantic" that Daniel has his Maker's eye color, or whatever. Besides, vampire eye color doesn't even work like that -- the show didn't even do that with Louis and Lestat who are the main, grand romantic couple of the damn show!)

I know some people really hate the idea of a body swap scenario wrt Daniel but I'm sorry. At this point, it really is the only scenario out of this mess that I can see right now, especially if Armand really did turn Daniel out of spite (even though we'll never see that turning to confirm that in full. Uh-huh, okay.).

And two things that I think do set up the possibility are:

1.) Louis says Daniel was turned after he left Armand alone with him. But Louis actually wouldn't know something like that unless he was told since he wasn't there. All we can really assume at the moment is that Daniel told Louis what happened after Louis left the room. And as RJ and Assad said, we'll never see the actual turning. So who knows when the hell it happened.

2.) Raglan James, via those direct messages asking Daniel for "reciprocation" for getting him a copy of the script, with Armand's handwritten notes, of the trial-play. Between that request and the Talamasca publishing Daniel's book, that loops Daniel into the James orbit very much. And ties Daniel very close to any Talamasca going on even more.

And honestly, I can much better deal with the fact that Armand may end up turning two versions of "Daniel" -- and therefore technically having two fledglings -- over what is being put forth about this right now. One turning -- in spite -- of Daniel's body without his true spirit/soul/consciousness in it, and the other turning -- out of love -- of Daniel's spirit/soul/consciousness inside a different body.

Because at least, in a weird way, Daniel being Armand's only fledgling would still hold. 🤷🏾‍♀️

But that is it. Because there is no way they can have Armand have turn Daniel out of "anger and spite" and actually keep the heart of the Devil's Minion story and romance now. Not even if the Devil's Minion relationship happened in the past IMO . . . another thing they are clearly avoiding talking about, btw. Which, at least right now, just tells me that, if we're lucky, we'll only -- once again -- get one episode that flashes back to that time in Season 3. Can't really be helped, since Season 3 primary focus will be regarding Lestat and Lestat's backstory.

And look. I very much recognize that Loustat shippers -- particularly book ones -- have gone through it these past two seasons, but now seem to be coming out of that darkness. Maybe now it's time for Devil's Minion shippers like me and others (*waves at the above anons*) to face the same damn thing now. Because of something Assad let slip a few weeks ago about not getting Armand's full story until Season 4, I think that is how long we're going to have to wait to see the full of this.

But I advise right now that if some think they can't handle that and would just rather quit the show and binge things later, I totally get it. Waiting two seasons -- basically 4 years minimum -- is going to be a pain in the ass. I already know right now that there are some things I'm not going to have the patience for during the hiatus, particularly this one. So if any of us OG fans like the above anons need to quit, I totally feel you too.

I'm not fully there yet. Because yes Rolin does like to troll. Plus Hannah's tweet. And given everything I've seen this show do wrt it's writing I can fully believe they would really make Devil's Minion this damn shallow and devoid of its depth and heart.

Not yet at any rate.

Jones confirms that, just like in Rice’s books, Armand is the one who turns Daniel into a vampire. “Will we see that moment of turning? No, but Armand finally made a vampire and clearly made him out of spite,” he says with a laugh. “It looks like it was really not a great moment [between him and Daniel], but that connects those two characters. They will have scenes going forward, obviously.”

This is from the latest Rollins interview. I feel like an idiot now, I was desperately hoping that we would see the turning next season - but while I think Rollins may not reveal everything I don’t think he would outright lie. So we won’t see the turning.

I walked into the finale open to an exclusively present-day DM that might(!) kick-off and I didn’t expect too much given what screeners had warned about. I never thought Daniel would be turned completely off-screen however… I know there’s rumours they might write DM into the past still, but I’m a fan of Daniel and Armand outside of the ship as well and knowing we won’t see Daniel’ turning, probably won’t see anything of his first time with becoming a vampire (because of the time skip) and seeing that Armand might(?) actually have turned someone out of spite makes me just sad.

I also feel a bit off-put by how Rollins is speaking about if, feels a bit like he’s trying to affirm to fans well see more of them together (maybe surprised that so many people are invested?) but also just gives off the vibe that the DM if it all wasn’t fully planned out in the moment of writing. Which sucks when you decide to have one turn the other! This frankly does not inspire confidence and make me feel like my favourite characters been reduced to plot devices (in good writing characters can be both character and plot tool but now this doesn’t feel like it).

F*ck I’m sorry, I realise this is not a fun post to read, I just feel really upset. Thank you for hearing me out!

Okay. So.

I let this simmer a bit (and I still have a lot of catching up to do with the interviews, since, well, vacation 😅, so thanks for the quotes).

BUT.

You know what I was chewing on? Armand and… spite.

When does Armand do something out of spite.

And… I came up only with one distinct event that I, personally, would call spite, namely when he goes and has that affair with that english guy - to spite Marius.

Marius. Not yet introduced as a character, but more than hinted at. The one Daniel has also a relationship with in the books.

And here we’re back to my theory that DM did happen in the past… and that Marius wiped Daniel‘s memories.

Eric let spill recently that there might be something between Raglan and Daniel and… well on one hand… but you know if Raglan, as I also theorized, is actually Marius… then that would make a lot of sense.

DM happened in the past. Marius intervened (like he likes to do). Standing order is to leave Daniel alone (maybe). But… Daniel gets sick. They redo the interview. The “surprise“ after dinner, that never comes to pass (Louis wanting to turn Daniel for Armand?!). Louis leaving Armand with Daniel, (utterly pissed at Armand and therefore retracting his promise to turn Daniel) forcing Armand’s hand… Armand… knowing that if Daniel leaves now he will die soon.

And Armand turns Daniel - out of spite.

But not to spite Louis, or Daniel. Nor are they enemies (that‘s BS and given how Assad has talked about Loumand and what it has been on the show I do call BS here).

No, he does it to spite Marius, who wants Daniel mortal (for whatever reason). He does it IN spite of Marius‘ standing order. THAT woukd make sense to me.

And it would also explain why Armand isn’t there after… Marius might have come by for a… chat.

I know this sounds wild.

But honestly - spite? Anger?!! No. That doesn’t make any sense to me. And, I‘m sorry Assad, but I‘m side-eying your statements there after the Loumand ones. *shrugs*

So.

It sucks that we maybe won’t get the turning.

But I BET - I bet they have a good reason for that. Because it would contradict what they’re trying to establish for now.

It will be a big twist for show-only fans after all when it will be made clear why Armand turned him truly.

So. These are my thoughts, after chewing on it for a bit. Knowing Rolin likes to troll a bit obviously plays into that as well. And Hannah‘s tweet.

We‘ll see how it will hold. :)