#ldpdl → answered asks

[notfeelingthyaster]

you guys think that part of armand's boasting about being with louis longer is also boasting that he was with lestat longer than louis was?

[nicelytousled]

He clearly couldn‘t. This is gonna become like Titanic, like the people who say Rose should just scooch over lmao

Post being referred to:

I'm just built different see if I was on stage being forced to perform a mock-trial to sentence my family to death by a theatre troupe I hate, then past justifiable murder attempts be damned I'm grabbing them under my arms like three cats and I'm shooting us up through that theatre roof charlie-and-the-great-glass-elevator style and we're off to the wilderness to bother grand-maman until everything blows over

[str1ga]

tag drop dos

[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.

[showmey0urfangs]

I saw this tweet today and it is such a good observation because yes! The reason why Louis had never asked Lestat about his potential involvement in Paul's death and sat on that suspicion for 20+ years was that deep down, he knew it wouldn't make difference either way. He was going to stay with Lestat no matter what his answer was.

Louis sees Lestat murder his parish priest—a man Louis had known since childhood, who attended his sister's wedding and helped organize his brother's funeral, and he also heard Lestat confess to killing Miss Lily, his friend and close confidante, and STILL he said yes to Lestat's marriage proposal.

When Louis finds Lestat and Antoinette at the HO-tel and Claudia asks him if he's going to do anything about it he says, what difference would it make? Lestat's cheating will not stop Louis from being with him, nothing will really.

Louis is, of course, deeply ashamed about this, the fact that the darkness in Lestat is not a deterrent to him—quite the opposite, he can't help but be drawn to it. Lestat acts out all the impulses and desires that Louis himself feels he has to repress.

(sidenote, Benni makes the best LDPDL gifs in the fandom, I mean look at this!!!)

So is it really a surprise that Louis would, later on, stay with Armand, the guy who murdered his beloved daughter? Not really.

Not when he chooses to get back with Lestat after ep. 5 despite the fact that it condemned Claudia to a life of misery with no horizon. And when in the end, he fails to kill Lestat even though it meant Lestat could potentially come back to seek revenge against Claudia — which he does kinda, and it's part of what precipitates her death.

So yes, Louis is a terrible father, and he will always choose dick over the safety of his loved ones.

[slaygentford]

Do you think they’ll address the Claudia recast? I want them to. The whole memory is a monster thing coming back up when Louis loses his shit realizing he misremembered what Claudia looks like.

I think it would be suchhhhhhhhhh a missed opportunity not to, like this is the ONE PROGRAM where you can ADDRESS A RECAST and make it not just thematically interesting but like actually plot related. idk how they could do it off the top of my head but I think it could be so slick with a bit of thought. rolin jones answer your phone . bc I think the big thing actually is gonna be that he KNEW armand was involved in her death and then ASKED to be eternal sunshined. at least that's what I would do but my top priority is a Lucia di Lammermoor blood-soaked wedding gown: 2! moment for ldpdl as always. so I see a potential like path where the claudia in his memory looks different bc she isn't implanted but is like so heavily modified bc looking directly at her would snap his brain in half 👍 like if he literally can't look at her directly. it would be so slay if Daniel found a picture (CAN WE PLEASE TAKE ANOTHER DE LIONCOURT FAMILY PHOTO.) and was like describe her to me and Louis was like (high value woman scoff) what and daniels like no humor me describe what she looked like. oh actually wow that would fuck then they could do reshoots of select little bits of rue Royale with delainey and we could see his mind crack wait stop I literally said it'd be too complicated and was just a genius about it. anyway her murder is def gonna be completely the entire axis around which the whole season turns for sure/ldpdl not remembering it correctly so if they could figure out to do it in a way that isn't just muddying it too much that could be so good

[iwtvdramacd18]

top 5 ldpdl (amc) moments? and/or top 5 music albums?

Going with the louis moments only bc I'm gonna answer the album question kinda in another ask

I feel like there's just so much incredible in ep 1 especially the monologues in the last bit of it that the heartbeat pounding like a drum monologue is kinda under mentioned.... this is probably one of my top 10 scenes in the whole show. I knew my ass was in trouble bc you can see the pain and the fear and the love all in one not just in Rue Royale but it coming back to him as he's recalling it.

Catboy.

"IT WAS BOTH RANDOM AND UNFORTUNATE THE MAN PICKED THAT NIGHT TO DABBLE IN FUCKERY"

the draining the tenor scene when Louis is describing the memories he sees of the tenor and you can just feel even now as he's recalling it his aching connection to humanity... also a very nice touch in the scene is his pupils shrinking back to normal the more he sees Lestat tormenting the poor guy... incredible character moment.

[insert essay here]

and the automobile... was his pussy.

gonna stop here for now I literally cannot choose just 5 scenes I couldn't even choose 5 per ep

[saint-louisdulac]

Mon cher Louis,

I have really come to enjoy creole you interject. Il est admirable de vous entendre en français et en créole. Vôtre tendre Lestat doit bien apprécier.

Would you be happy sharing which colour is your favourite and what does it evocates to you?

I'm also quite amused by how so many others see you as a Saint or a kind man when you are a monster in a human suit, a monster that forgets or wants to forget, it is a monster...

What is your relationship to this monstruosité, both as a former human and as a vampire.

Que dieu vous garde, votre humble servant.

Mèsi, stranger ❤️

I wasn’t aware that I had a servant, especially one of the humble variety. Well humble servant would you be interested in visiting me and my companion so I can take a look at you? Would love to get to know you.

As for colors, I would have to say that I’m a fan of “earthy” tones. Dark reds, browns, greens. I think those kinds of colors look good on me and I suspect that the dark gift thought that as well when it gave me green eyes.

Im actually amused by the notion as well. Though I disagree that I’m merely just a monster in a human suit. I think a more accurate description of a being such as myself would be a creature who dances with its humanity. Iam a predator that feasts on humans such as a lion feats on a gazelle, there’s no doubt about that; but I don’t think my vampirism replaced my humanity right upon my turning and made me a monster on impact. I guess that leads to more philosophical answers such as what is a human? What is a monster? What is a vampire? There are vampires and monsters that are more human the. Some humans. Does being a vampire immediately remove your kindness? These are the kinds of questions that I ask myself, that lead the dance between my vampirism and my humanity.

~LDPDL

[str1ga]

tag drop one

[saint-louisdulac]

Hello everyone.

Sorry for the delay in answering questions and engaging with you all. I’m still getting used to the internet and sometimes the days pass me by, making me forget that I have a blog to come back to. I’ve realized that I may not be the best at keeping up with online recreation so I ask everyone to be patient with me. I may not post everyday but I will come back every now and again to respond and update everyone about my whereabouts. Unfortunately, I’m not like Lestat who seems to be glued to his phone screen 24/7.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

~LDPDL