#like please learn to understand that Armand is complex and shouldn’t be treated like some child

[ladyodium]

Trigger warning: Abuse, Csa, Grooming

I feel like people in the IWTV fandom just cannot write or even try to make an accurate description of Armand.

We know that Armand was a slave, we know that he was a CSA survivor we know that Marius groomed, beat, and lent him out to his “other friends”. We also know that Armand has this unhealthy attachment to Marius because Armand was his “favorite”. Armand was different from the others Marius bought. He gifted Armand vampirism.

We also know that because Armand suffered through this abuse and never probably healed from it, he has a shattered point of view about love. All he knows is power dynamic in his relationships. I think he’s very insecure about himself and when he loves he’s just like Lestat. They give their EVERYTHING into that relationship. They love hard and strong, they pursue, they beg, and they manipulate. The only difference is that Armand does psychological manipulation, he’s not very physical (except for when he bounced Daniel like a damn basketball. We don’t talk about it tho….)

Anyway! I think one interesting thing that I’ve seen in fanfiction and discussed is that Armand might suffer from Multiply Identity Disorder or Distinctive identity Disorder. And I find this interesting because whenever he speaks about Arun or Armando they are never ‘I’ they are always ‘them’. He detaches himself from those names, those moments in his life. He never correlates them with Armand they are all separate identities to him. I think this is an interesting topic to write in fanfiction, IF you write it correct.

Armand is a complex character, he is probably the most complex character and that’s why it’s hard to flush him out or try to narrow down a personality for him. One thing that will forever make me irate it when people make him a victim even though he doesn’t see himself as a victim.

One thing about being a victim of any abuse or serious harm is understanding that the abuse you endured was wrong, you didn’t deserve that. Armand was never taught that, he was never told he was free. He was shackled to a coven, the. Lestat, then his Coven again, then he was with Louis, and he found a form of freedom through Daniel. This is also not to bash Louis or Lestat, but to say that he shackled himself to these relationships that were never going to work out.

To conclude this little rant, stop writing Armand like he’s a continuous victim and Daniel is his white savior. Don’t do that, that’s so disingenuous to not only Armand but Daniel and Louis. Armand was a victim and an abuser, these two can be true at the same time. I just needed to say this because I cannot stand the constant debates or even fanfictions where Armand is “suffering” in his relationships and Daniel is there to be his white savior, don’t do that.