#louis is evil! claudia is evil! and of course lestat is evil!

[fallingbyjuleecruise]

genuinely feel that the drama happening in the amc iwtv fandom is what happens when fans promote a show bc it’s gay first and do not mention the plot/genre at all

[duriens]

i know everybody has their opinions on why armand 'couldnt/could prevent it' and it is very interesting to read the various interpretations. the way i see it, there are three possibilities (and i'm for the third, spoiler alert):

one, armand couldnt prevent it because, even as a centuries-old vampire, he genuinely doesn't have the power to stop 13 vampires from eventually coming after him/him+louis if he didn't accept their ultimatum. he can make them faint, he can freeze time, he can sway the mind of the audience (with some difficulty...? true or false?) but how long can he keep these powers up and can he do it forever, for however long vampires' grudges last? he might have thought it was possible for him and louis to run away, but that eventually the coven would've found a way to manage to kill him. there's power in numbers? how powerful are centuries-old vampires, exactly? is the combined power of 13 angry vampires enough? armand himself says at some point 'they might've killed me' or smth along the line, meaning he at least believes them capable of trying to kill him. is he that afraid of confronting the coven, of doing battle with them, of failing and dying? (this is the blandest possibility)

second, armand couldnt prevent it because he didnt want to prevent it. armand is a master manipulator and he likes to manipulate others into destroying the things he's bored of/he's lost control over (the children of darkness, the theatre des vampires... his relationship with louis?) cause he doesn't want to take on the responsibilities that come with that destruction, and the eventual guilt/sorrow. armand is minimizing his role in deceiving louis and claudia and is portraying himself as helpless, a centuries-old vampire with limits to his powers, so much so that even the act of making the audience say one thing over the other takes a toll on him, cause it was so hard to just do that one thing, owwie, of course he saved it to when it came to louis' turn for the sentencing.

this is the armand we think of when we see the memes about his inaction, thinking he's smirking to himself bc he knows he could end it with a snap of his fingers.

now we all know that armand is manipulative and that he likes to be in control even when he cedes control, but is he always and in constant awareness of the degrees of his own manipulation and scheming? is he in control of all that, all the time?? does he do it purposefully, with evil intent, consciously selling out louis and claudia and agreeing to a plan involving lestat to get rid of the coven/santiago and consciously pretending to be weaker than he is to get rid of claudia? so this leads inevitably to

third, armand couldnt prevent it because he convinced himself long ago that he is completely helpless and no word or action of his could ever, ever, change a thing. this state of mind he's fallen into has obvious ties to his past, his slavery, his submissive tendencies, his inability to act and decide for himself. he's created this image of himself of someone weaker and powerless that he fully believes to be true, he manipulates others the same way he manipulates himself. his many expressions of grief, of sorrow, of guilt throughout the episodes are genuine because, at some level, he genuinely believes he 'could not prevent it', because he decided long ago he's the kind of person who simply can't on his own--that can't ever, ever be accused of serious stuff because in this narrative he created for himself he can never be a hundred percent at fault, he doesn't bear all the responsibilities. (he's still a manipulative and controlling individual here, just not as shrewd and consciously cunning as in option 2). in this light, the memes about armand doing nothing when he has the power to act become tragic in their own way, because it's tragic that he truly thinks of himself, a centuries-old vampire leader of the paris coven, as powerless and helpless as he had been when he was still alive.

[nativehueofresolution]

interview with the vampire 2x01 "what can the damned really say to the damned?"

thoughts under the cut

i've been thinking a lot about how the interconnected-ness that exists between all three of them and how that plays into the ending of 2x01. it's hard to say how much of louis's speech is purely for claudia's benefit, and how much he's saying it as a response to his lestat dream - who after all, was earlier taunting him over whether claudia was worth it and if he meant it, and repeated back louis's 'i do' answer over and over again... not unlike how louis keeps repeating 'you and me, me and you' to claudia. it's sort of an answer to that. (and of course, louis and lestat's 'i do's call to mind marriage, and louis is making a sort of familial equivalent with his promise, complete with a till death do us part clause.)

but! part of the reason louis is carrying lestat with him and that he can't let go is that louis feels bonded to lestat through claudia. she is at the center of their relationship. sam reid has spoken about how he played dream!lestat as echo of louis as much as of lestat, since it is louis's psyche made manifest and therefore his actions are a reflection of louis's mental state.

taking that into account, lestat's look at claudia becomes even more fascinating. is that a reflection of louis's love for claudia - him projecting onto lestat his feelings for claudia? and more broadly does lestat, as claudia's other father, become a way for louis to process his feelings about claudia in a way he can't consciously acknowledge - maybe he can never consciously ask if claudia was worth it, but he can respond to lestat as a devil on his shoulder giving voice to his doubts? or is it that he struggles with the good memories they had as a family, given that they had to kill lestat for their own survival? and these moments of affection creep in even while lestat is an evil ghost as a reflection of louis's conflicted feelings about still loving lestat?

claudia, meanwhile, isn't haunted by lestat in the same way, but she can't help but echo him in some ways, as his daughter. and that will always be part of her dynamic with louis too - she reminds louis of lestat, even as she's begging him to let lestat go. i could be wrong, given there's only one episode to go off of so far, but my impression is that claudia can't see dream!lestat in the same way louis can (either a limitation of the mind gift or just that she tries to stay out of his head during this time), but that she senses all the same when louis is thinking of lestat because of how well she knows both of them. and so maybe she doesn't see lestat there, but you can see the hesitancy she has to believe louis - that him saying these words to her might be something he means but might also be making him think of lestat.

the relationships have all become so tangled and mixed together, they can't be separated from one another. louis can't move on from lestat because of how wrapped up he is in his feelings for claudia, claudia can't fully trust louis because he can't let go of lestat, and lestat can never have louis all to himself because louis needs claudia in order to live. locked! together!

quotes from: tvinsider, tvguide, and the wrap

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hi, I'm the Anon that wrote to you a while ago desperately seeking assurance about the drop. Want to thank you again for your insights and patience. You are a gift to this fandom. I'm sorry to bother you again but this episode crushed my heart completely.

The added context ended up being the same out of character BS which did nothing to allay my fears over the direction of Lestat's character. And I felt the writer having him "break script" during the trial to make sure that viewers understood that "this asshole is the real Lestat who intentionally dropped his partner from the stratosphere for the crime of defending his daughter but wait he feels really bad about it but also don't forget he's still Domestic Abuser POS" seemed like an insidious choice. The decision to make that drop real and the vile speech about "wanting to break Louis" (wtf) is a total betrayal of who Lestat fundamentally is and for me was kind of an event horizon (because no matter what, that *isn't* Lestat in any universe) It's been 2 years of this and I'm so exhausted. 

Sadly, I'm not nearly as excited for Season 3 as I was before this episode. I no longer feel like I can trust these writers to write Lestat with care and do TVL justice- especially after they inexplicably endowed their version of Louis with several of canon Lestat's character traits and story beats( literally why?)- or anything that comes after. How can you tell Lestat's painful self loathing storylines in QotD and TotBT when you've already written him as the exact kind of shallow violent inherently evil brute that Akasha tried to groom him into believing he was? What would be the point? No one would believe him.

Right now, for me the only bright spot of show!Lestat, is Sam, who is truly doing the lord's work. Much like the character he is playing, he is mesmerizing as an actor and so full of light even as he's playing the part of a monster. He's so brilliant, constantly making lemonade out of lemons and trying valiantly to infuse this evil ooc shell of Lestat with the spirit of the canon character.

And maybe I'm a brat, but we've waited long enough. I want the real Lestat de Lioncourt: the eternally optimistic, impulsive, naive to a fault, enduring, brash, impatient, irreverent, airheaded, sometimes unstable, ridiculous,  traumatized, vicious, obstinate, wicked,  cocky, narcissistic, short tempered, endlessly forgiving, capricious ,vampire to the core, Brat Prince- full of too much love for everything and everyone, who can be an absolute pain in the ass, who is the emperor of really bad impulsive decisions, who is stupidly honest about the terrible things he's done but tries to downplay the terrible things done to him, who finds revenge boring, who would never ever maliciously hurt Louis or Claudia, who tries so hard to be a good father more than once, who fears that he is an evil thing because he thinks his innate light seems to hurt everyone he loves; and that innate light and goodness is so in conflict with the existence he was raped into but he decides "Fuck it. I'm gonna just be the best vampire I can be". And I really really want to see Sam play *that* Lestat.

Of course I completely understand that everything we are seeing is still not the full story and that we are deep in the middle of Armand's Wattpad fanfic. But with the choices made in this episode, I just don't see how we can *ever* have *that* Lestat- (even if or when next week, Armand's story falls apart spectacularly) and unfortunately no spoilers I've seen about the finale give me comfort or hope. It's all too much and it just hurts my heart and my head. I want off this ride. I'm so so tired 😢

Hmmm :)

While I... understand you, I don't quite agree, and... I think I would just like to redirect you to this interview with Sam here, which really lays a lot of it out:

And... it also confirms a lot of what I have been pointing out before, and what has been hinted at.

So. While I get where you are coming from I still think "Lestat" is in very good hands... we haven't had his POV yet. But we will.

And after that... we can judge.

[ca-suffit]

Some Lestans are so unsubtle about their racism, it's laughable. I find it hard to participate in certain fandom discussions, which is a shame since both Lestat and Armand have their share of toxic traits and flaws, which SHOULD be interesting to discuss. But then you have Lestans who are like "s1 gave you the worst version of Lestat, we've been saying he's not that evil, just wait till s3" "we've been telling you that Lestat has been unfairly characterized" when s1 was narrated by Louis because of course why should we trust the words of a black man who describes the domestic violence he endured?

And while Armand's horrible behavior and gaslighting are brought up too (and I appreciate when they are analyzed because people forget different types of abuse exist), it's often used by these stans to be like "well this is why Lestat isn't terrible etc etc" I'm like, you just love pointing out the abuse in another relationship mostly when it services your own abusive otp? As if you give a fuck about Louis ending up in one cage/prison/box or another. Fake ass people.

The consensual sex scene between Louis/Armand is even described by fans as "Louis forcing himself on Armand" or "Louis' feelings for Armand are actually only about Lestat" but somehow Louis disassociating from sex with Lestat while taking to Claudia is forgotten huh? I'm not going to forget the Lestans who made unoriginal jokes about brown MOC being undesirable, impotent and inferior stereotypes to their white blorbo all season long and are still doing it to this day. If people aren't seeing the racism bleeding through some of these shipping fueled discussions, they are ignorant.

.

[calipsan]

Okay Essay Coming:

I think one of the most central theses of Vampire Chronicles is that people (or vampires) destroy what the want in the (often selfish) pursuit of that desire. In IWTV, Lestat makes Louis because he wants companionship. Louis tells us that it’s because of his house and money, BUT from later context it’s clear that Lestat falls in love with Louis. Mortal Louis also falls in love with the IDEA of Lestat, and says that meeting him was the most significant moment of his mortal life. However, that infatuation pales in comparison to the world that is opened to him when he becomes a vampire. So, in turning Louis, Lestat destroys the love and fascination Louis had for Lestat in the first place.

Then we have Claudia who Lestat makes to keep Louis with him, to make them a family, and honestly this works out pretty well, but eventually Claudia’s hatred for Lestat leads to the family being destroyed. Again, what Lestat sought (family and companionship) was destroyed by the very person he made to accomplish that. 

Then we have Armand first persuading Louis with the mind gift to turn Madeleine and then killing Claudia in order to bring Louis to him because he loves him. Those acts push Louis further from him and destroy the passion Louis had. Armand loves the mortal aspect of Louis; Louis claims that dies when he makes Madeleine, and then Armand is unable to reawaken Louis’ passion and love even after they’re together for many, many years becauase he states that died with Claudia.

Finally at the end of the story, Louis hopes to have convinced Daniel about the evil nature of vampires but instead all he has done is make Daniel want to be a vampire. Daniel believes that if he were to become a vampire he could make it all work out. We’re led to believe, and indeed, it comes true, that Daniel would not be able to be happy as a vampire just as Louis isn’t happy. 

In TotBT, Lestat loves David, wants to make him a vampire, but David denies him. When Lestat becomes a mortal man, he wants to have sex with David, but David still denies him, saying that going to bed with Lestat mortal body would bring back too many painful memories of his own youth. Once Lestat turns David into a vampire, once he finally gets his wish, he finds that David is no longer the man he loved. The very act of turning him into a vampire makes him different. And though David says that he did in fact want Lestat to turn him and was glad that Lestat forced him so that the decision was taken out of his hands, Lestat still does not seem happy with David. He doesn’t like the fact that David is powerful and would challenge his authority in Rue Royale.

We have Gretchen who loves Lestat in part because of his unusual demeanor. He tells her all about himself and she seems to believe him and accept him. Then when he returns to her in his true vampire shape, she is terrified and pushes him away. 

This theme also comes up in Blood and Gold. In pursuing Pandora, Marius pushes away Bianca, the person with whom he’d had an admittedly happier relationship. Then, because of his grief over her leaving, he misses the letter that Pandora left for him which could have brought them back together for good. 

I haven’t reread the rest of the books so I can’t think of all the details of them, but of course we have Gabrielle and Claudia, both made by Lestat because he loves them, and he loses them both. We have Armand turning Daniel and that changing their relationship.

This message, I think, is that when we seek something blindly, we will often destroy our chance of ever reaching it, and when we are looking in on a life we think we want, once we have that life it will never be what we expected.

[savagewildnerness]

OK!  Thoughts on S2E2, Do you know what it means to be loved by death?

I love the gold (Pegasus?) statue Louis and Claudia sit upon at the start of the episode

“We’ve been together 77 years Daniel.” …”44 more than he did with Lestat.” LOL Armand (I agree with Daniel: “Keep selling it!” !!!!)

LOL @ Louis’ Parisian neck scarf

The fashion plates Claudia has cut out and stuck inside her bed… my heart

Louis looks so good in the red darkroom light, oh my!

Claudia asking Louis who he is reminded me of my thoughts the other day (a very brief summary):

Louis is afraid to look deeply within himself at who he is, in case he is not perfect, as he needs to believe he is.  But he does believe he deserves love.

Conversely, Lestat knows himself - for his evil especially, and despite it all, he still likes himself mainly. But he is afraid he is utterly unloveable.

Claudia talking about a new brain in her head and Armand a new body for her brain… are they *really* going to go there?  It is seeming like it?

I like Madeleine from the wee bit we saw, and I love Claudia’s dress

“It’s just Rashid” LOL

The first meeting of Armand and Louis:

Armand is like a poem made into the form of a being - the way Assad’s Armand speaks, how he looks, how he looks at Louis: he radiates a quiet peace, calm & poetic gentleness, which gave me shivers and goosebumps. Like the beautific gaze of an angel. All added to by Daniel Hart’s divine score, reflecting exactly the same emotions. This is how Armand is often described in the books (until he’s not), but because of the extremes Armand can go to, I don’t often think of this calm, angelic, almost innocent side to him so much… but oh how I felt it

I love how the lamp lights flicker.  It’s like a fairytale romance and everything about it: down to “I will not harm you” is exactly as Louis would wish to hear

SANTIAGO!  I love Ben Daniels.  I love Santiago’s outfit and his eyes and his theatricality and his evident cleverness.

Interesting how dilapidated the Theatre des Vampires is.  Seems like it hasn’t been updated since the ’20’s - half empty; broken bulbs… I am sure we have more to hear on this in the show…

Love how Armand brought cinema into the plays

The plays though have such a tawdry, distasteful feel.  I would agree with Louis’ and Lestat’s visceral dislike of them, even before the human sacrifice.  Though I do like the Brecht vibes.  But it is such a contrast to S1 Lestat and Louis at the Opera…

LOL @ Louis’ face seeing the portrait of Lestat!  And “They’ve got a shrine to him!” Hahaha

Whaaatttt @ Santiago and star charts!! Hahahahaha??!?!?!

Claudia on Loumand… I guess we have our answer now as to whether the vampires really are having actual sex and exactly how!  Cheers Claudia!!!

Roget knowing about Lestat potentially sleeping… interesting…

I’ll copy and paste from elsewhere my thoughts on the Loustat scene…

“Do not waist life…” - Oh Lestat, the illiterate boy & young man you were; so desperate to learn & be good, with a Mother for whom knowledge & escape through books was her only solace… who couldn’t even be bothered to teach you the alphabet.  Now, with your preternatural skills, you can read & write & do any thing you wish… but of course - it makes sense that you would never have entirely learned how to spell, or at least that there’d be the odd, common words you didn’t know. (Occurence, too.) Little details, breaking my heart even more. Thank you everyone for caring so much, you thought about the spelling of Lestat’s letter. I noticed. I care about every tiny detail like this & feel it, like love: deep in my soul.

Also: is Dreamstat *really* going to make me cry in every single episode of season 2, even when he’s barely in the episode for a breath?! (1 min 40 seconds to be precise!) He made me cry in episode 1, and here he made me cry too. 

Oh Louis: to read this letter & all your internal pain & shame & sorrow & guilt & love to deepen, I’m sure even more. Oh Sam, how you spoke the letter. Oh Lestat’s outfit, from their first “date”….

Another link to the episode title here -  Do you know what it means to be loved by death? too

For anyone who’s like the full text of the letter:

“My Louis

In the event you are reading this, something dreadful has occured, which is not my own death, but rather the fact that we now both exist (e?) in two different worlds.

Do not waist life seeking revenge on the person or persons responsible. Do not give them the satisfaction of the hunt. Let their treachery eat them from within and instead…”

(Continued as spoken…)

“And you… you go carry on with your living. Know only this, Mon Cher, you are the only being I trust and whom I love, above and beyond myself.

All my love belongs to you. You are its keeper. A veil will now forever separate our union. But it is a thin veil… and I am always on the other side, my face pressed up against your longing.

Lestat de Lioncourt”

Alice truly doesn’t exist, does she?  Armand: what *have* you done to Daniel!?!  Is all of his life a lie? Is Daniel's shaking here evidence that Armand's mind-altering has had physical impact on Daniel too?  And Louis clearly knows some of it too… though I presume not the love part…. And THEY MUST LOVE EACH OTHER like Devil’s Minion which always makes me sob. (Or maybe Alice does exist, but Armand is why she wouldn’t marry Daniel?)

Oh Claudia - your GLEE at Murder mansion

“I like how you withhold” - Armand providing your next chat up line - you’re welcome!

OMG we’re going to actually see Nicolas play violin!  I am SO SCARED!  I hope I’ll adore it and I have faith in the show makers. But, I have also seen so much terrible violin miming (it makes me wonder, when people play surgeons, is what they are doing this annoyingly unrealistic too and I just have no idea!?!) and it is particularly noticeable, as usually piano miming is very good!  Anyway, I know it is such a minor thing in the greater scheme of things, but I know I will be so irritated if it doesn’t look like Nicki is playing the violin.  And it’s only that telly violin miming is so notoriously bad.  Oh, please - let me believe in it!  I BEG!

[queer-is-future]

Curious if the show is going to address this diary entry of Claudia’s from the book Merrick. This was written in a diary Louis was not aware of. It completely calls into question Claudia’s actual motivations behind what she did.

“September 21, 1859

It has been so many decades since Louis presented me with this little book in which I might record my private thoughts. I have not been successful, having made only a few entries, and whether these have been written for my benefit I am unsure.

Tonight, I confide with pen and paper because I know which direction my hatred will take me. And I fear for those who have aroused my wrath.

By those I mean, of course, my evil parents, my splendid fathers, those who have led me from a long forgotten mortality into this questionable state of timeless ‘bliss.’

To do away with Louis would be foolish, as he is without question the more malleable of the pair.”

Louis will do as I wish, even unto the very destruction of Lestat, which I plan in every detail. Whereas Lestat would never cooperate with my designs upon Louis. So there my loyalty lies, under the guise of love even in my own heart.

What mysteries we are, human, vampire, monster, mortal, that we can love and hate simultaneously, and that emotions of all sorts might not parade for what they are not. I look at Louis and I despise him totally for the making of me, and yet I do love him. But then I love Lestat every bit as well.

Perhaps in the court of my heart, I hold Louis far more accountable for my present state than ever I could blame my impulsive and simple Lestat. The fact is, one must die for this or the pain in me will never be sealed off, and immortality is but a monstrous measurement of what I shall suffer till the world revolves to its ultimate end. One must die so that the other will become ever more dependent upon me, ever more completely my slave. I would travel the world afterwards; I would have my way; I cannot endure either one of them unless that one becomes my servant in thought, word, and deed.

Such a fate is simply unthinkable with Lestat’s ungovernable and irascible character. Such a fate seems made for my melancholy Louis, though the destroying of Lestat will open new passages for Louis into the labyrinthian Hell in which I already wander with every new thought that comes in my mind.

When I shall strike and how, I know not, only that it gives me supreme delight to watch Lestat in his unguarded gaiety, knowing that I shall humiliate him utterly in destroying him, and in so doing bring down the lofty useless conscience of my Louis, so that his soul, if not his body, is the same size at last as my own.”

Merrick

Anne Rice

[aryastark-valarmorghulis]

Reposting this on its own because I need to make sense re: Armand and what the hell was going on with him before and during the trial.

"I will not harm you" were the first words Armand said to Louis, and later, he reiterates "I will not harm you; and I never have".

Now, we know this isn’t quite true, because Armand hurt Louis - mostly by proxy but not exclusively - he lied, gaslighted him (very convenient to agree to erase Louis' memory in SF, right?) and ultimately betrayed him, causing Claudia's death.

On the other hand, when Armand had the chance to kill Louis with fire he didn’t, and not because he had some evil TM mastermind plan, but because he loved Louis (yes, in his own flawed, imperfect way, but he loved him). And most importantly, why does Armand set Louis free? He has nothing to gain from it and everything to lose: he could alienate the coven if discovered, he's aware Louis won't forgive him (he says it later!), and I'm pretty sure, if he knew Louis at all, he at least suspected Louis would try to go all Kill Bill. So why does Armand set Louis free? Because he loves him.

Oh, and he also had no guarantee at all that, after setting him free, Lestat wouldn’t run to Louis and reclaim his role as the big hero who saved him. In the tower scene, Armand is scared as hell that Lestat is going to expose him.

So. Armand loves Louis. He stayed with him for 70+ years fully knowing (at least, unconsciously) that he was a rebound. And if Armand loves him, why would he let him die on that stage? When he saved him before and rescued him after, at his own peril?

So, my opinion: Armand wasn’t going to let Louis die, but you cannot script a hurricane, so Lestat happened, and after, it was just so convenient to let Louis believe what suits both the most - that Lestat is an undeserving monster etc, etc.

Of course, there is always option 2: Armand knew Lestat wouldn't have let Louis die on that stage, so he allowed him to do the hard work and then stepped in to do his own little saving in secret.

But of course, now that all the stones (ha) have been turned, who will believe or trust Armand again? Louis? Not a chance. Lestat? Please. Daniel? We'll see. 

Maybe I'll add more later on Armand's opaqueness during S2 (to me, he was quite an enigma in the books, so, I'm not complaining too much. I loved him as a character in the books, love him now, my weird gremlin etc, etc), which of course includes the final twist of Daniel's turning; but I feel like we don't have enough on him. We only scratched the surface with S2 Armand and we have a lot of puzzle pieces that don't quite match and they're not enough to get the big picture, maybe only a reflection of it.

[danlous]

went to reddit (i know, first mistake) to see what's going on over there in terms of discussing 2x05 and oh boy, was it not a lie when people warned me about the rampant racism. of course they (rarely) say it out aloud, but all those quips about louis imagining what happened in 1x05, louis being boring without lestat, the goddamn slave catcher scene on the train with claudia just being about lestat having a bit of fun and scaring her, clamoring how this season is the worst because armand is ugly and deserved what was done to him as a child, and hoping the next season will exclusively focus on lestat... and then they get SO offended when someone calls them out on their views of the one white character, who is not featured much this season, compared to the poc 🙃

I don't go much to the iwtv subreddit anymore but i'm not surprised. I feel like 80% of users there think the abuse was fake, and i remember the thinly veiled racist comments like saying Delainey looks much older than Bailey and wishing that Armand was a redheaded twink. I did open one post yesterday and people were talking about Supervillain Armand keeping Louis under mindcontrol and hoping that in the finale Lestat will come guns blazing to save Louis from him. Like guys if you really think Lestat is any better and less abusive than Armand and Armand is one-dimensional pure evil i don't know what to tell you

[hismercytomyjustice]

Jesus CHRIST. Finally watched the latest episode of IWTV.

Good god these guys are acting like the rent is fucking due.

I cannot get over how intense their performances are and all the nuances they give to each of their characters. Especially Assad Zaman. I cannot get enough of his performance.

!AMC IWTV 2.05 SPOILERS BELOW!

I was in awe of Sam Reid the first season and how he could flip so effortlessly from the man of Louis’s dreams to his worst fucking nightmare at the drop of a hat.

And now Assad Zaman is here to show how he can be 99% the man of Louis’s dreams but don’t you dare forget that fucking 1%.

And of course Jacob Anderson is fucking PHENOMENAL. I am in awe of how masterfully he shows how Louis has changed over the years. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to play three different versions of yourself decades apart.

He goes from semi-reluctant pimp to grieving newly made vampire to Lestat’s victim to Claudia’s brother who is trying he is trying so fucking hard to a photographer trying to remember why life is worth living to Daniel Molloy’s suspicious adversary to his hesitant friend.

I just. UGH. They are all so TALENTED.

And of course Bailey Bass and Delainey Hayles as Claudia!!! I do miss Bailey Bass, but Delainey Hayles has stepped up to the plate SO HARD. I love her so much too. The scene with Claudia playing chess with Lestat in Season One will forever live rent-free in my head though. Seeing her play the newly turned vampire/daughter/sister to playing the overconfident Lestat like a fiddle was *chef’s kiss*. God they’re all just SO GOOD.

And Eric Bogosian!!! And Luke Brandon Field!!! And Ben Daniels!!!

They are all JUST SO GOOD. My brain struggles to find the words to describe how fucking phenomenal they all are!!!

┻━┻︵ \(°□°)/ ︵ ┻━┻

I gotta reiterate what I posted in response to angel-starbeam’s question around whether Dracula comes across as “less like a supernatural evil being and more like a real life monster” because IWTV hits that duality on the head so well too. The show does such a phenomenal job of delving into both aspects, digging into the human trauma/emotions of the vamps and the horrible things they do while also going all in on the supernatural horror front.

Episode 2.02 is a perfect example with how the Theatre des Vampires is introduced. Specifically the scene where Louis and Claudia go see the show for the first time and how the company delights in playing pretend while also literally murdering and devouring people on stage in front of their audience.

The scene where the young woman is brought out on stage and begging for someone to save her, but everyone just thinks it’s part of the play. And yet you see so many people in the audience growing uncomfortable. Especially the guy who she agreed could take her place. He looks downright terrified.

It’s so fucking haunting, seeing this woman crying out for her husband and child and for rescue while being heckled by audience members. But it’s still theater for the vampires. A show within a show, solely for their entertainment. They get to watch humanity in its basest form, the woman agreeing to let someone else take her place, the audience looking away, and the audience cheering the slaughter on.

They’re literally playing with their food because it’s fun for them. They don’t need to kidnap people and “convince” (heavy air quotes) them to die on stage. And OF COURSE Lestat is the one who came up with that whole idea, what with his flair for sadism and drama.

They do it because they’re fucking human. Or were, anyway. The Theatre des Vampires is such a sharp contrast from the vampires we meet in 2.01, the ones who are little more than feral, whittled down to their basest instincts. They don’t fucking play with their food, they just hunt and eat. And yet isn’t that somehow more civilized than whatever the fuck they’re doing in France? Convincing themselves they’re doing these people a favor by getting them to “agree” to die?

Because that’s what Claudia’s so fixated on isn’t it? What she asks Santiago?

“How do you make them want it?”

Because that makes the deaths more interesting and more meaningful, doesn’t it? Connecting with your victim, lulling them into submission, getting them to “let” you bring them the inevitable end you, as an immortal, can never have?

And the woman in that scene is so young too. She has a child and a husband. Her adult life is only just now taking shape and they rip her away from it. They could find older targets, ones whose sudden disappearances/deaths are more readily accepted by society because of their age.

But they don’t. Because they’re fucking obsessed with youth. With people who have their entire lives ahead of them and everything to live for while they’re trapped in unending night, desperate to find meaning in it.

It’s exactly what young Daniel accuses Louis of in the 70’s. What sets him off. Because he fucking nailed it. Louis has spent his entire undead life striving for connection and meaning, but he can’t fucking find it because none of the vampires around him understand he never wanted to be one of them and he fucking hates what he’s become.

Yes, he was hurting and grieving after his brother’s death. But he still had his sister and his mother. He still had his job. He still had a place in the community. His business was wildly successful. And we see him trying so fucking hard to hold onto all of that when he bursts into the church the night of his brother’s funeral, desperately trying to evade Lestat’s siren song as his world crumbles around him.

Lestat makes him beg for a different sort of death. An end solely to his living life that Louis doesn’t understand is just as final as if Lestat had just slit his throat. Because by becoming a vampire, Louis loses everything he’s ever cared about “by choice” and he’s forced to live in the ashes of his former life for all eternity while all he wants is for everything to go back to the way it was before his brother’s death. But he can’t have that, so he just stops fucking living.

All of the vampires are so desperate for connection. Lestat wants a companion, Louis wants a family, Claudia wants a community, Armand wants to be wanted, Santiago wants authority…

I’d argue younger Daniel’s raw desire to just fucking live even though his life is middling at best (lol sorry bro) is what Louis finds so fascinating about him. And it’s because he loves life so much that he asks Louis to turn him.

Have we seen any voluntary vampires at this point? Maybe Santiago? Vampirism is something that has happened to them and stolen their agency in the process. Louis never wanted it, he just wanted an escape from his pain. Claudia never asked for it. Neither did Lestat or Armand or any of the feral European vampires.

The show so perfectly balances the vampires’ humanity with their monstrousness so fucking well. Being turned into vampires didn’t magically fix what was wrong with them in their human lives, and now they’re forever trapped in the bodies they had at the worst fucking moment of their human lives, never able to move past it.

Claudia is the poster child for this, stuck forever at fourteen even as her mind “ages” into adulthood. As mentally grown up as she is at this point, she’s still trapped in the body of a teenager. She will never be able to physically mature beyond that and she constantly tries to escape that reality only to have it thrown back in her face time and time again. She thinks she’s finally found people who will accept her as a grown woman in the coven, but then she’s forced into the role of Baby Lulu. Tbh, I feel like if she hadn’t had that role forced on her, maybe she would have finally been able to find some genuine happiness.

I mean, probably not given the shows themes, but a person can dream, dammit!

I know IWTV was a book series before it became a show and I’ll be honest, I haven’t read the books. I’ve googled some stuff because I’ve been curious about the how it differs, but my interpretation is solely form the pov of the show.

I’m just really fuckin’ digging it and I can’t wait for more. (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ) I just love how passionate everyone involved in it is and how much that passion shines in their work.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Season 2 trial prediction/speculation

Claudia's diary entry (from Merrick) being read out loud on stage and used to judge her.

(That would put a very interesting spin on it all, and we know from episode 4 that one diary was in Paris.)

"It has been so many decades since Louis presented me with this little book in which I might record my private thoughts. I have not been successful, having made only a few entries, and whether these have been written for my benefit I am unsure. Tonight, I confide with pen and paper because I know which direction my hatred will take me. And I fear for those who have aroused my wrath. By those I mean, of course, my evil parents, my splendid fathers, those who have led me from a long forgotten mortality into this questionable state of timeless 'bliss.' To do away with Louis would be foolish, as he is without question the more malleable of the pair. [...] Louis will do as I wish, even unto the very destruction of Lestat, which I plan in every detail. Whereas Lestat would never cooperate with my designs upon Louis. So there my loyalty lies, under the guise of love even in my own heart. What mysteries we are, human, vampire, monster, mortal, that we can love and hate simultaneously, and that emotions of all sorts might not parade for what they are not. I look at Louis and I despise him totally for the making of me, and yet I do love him. But then I love Lestat every bit as well. Perhaps in the court of my heart, I hold Louis far more accountable for my present state than ever I could blame my impulsive and simple Lestat. The fact is, one must die for this or the pain in me will never be scaled off, and immortality is but a monstrous measurement of what I shall suffer till the world revolves to its ultimate end. One must die so that the other will become ever more dependent upon me, ever more completely my slave. I would travel the world afterwards; I would have my way; I cannot endure either one of them unless that one becomes my servant in thought, word, and deed. Such a fate is simply unthinkable with Lestat's ungovernable and irascible character. Such a fate seems made for my melancholy Louis, though the destroying of Lestat will open new passages for Louis into the labyrinthian Hell in which I already wander with every new thought that comes in my mind. When I shall strike and how, I know not, only that it gives me supreme delight to watch Lestat in his unguarded gaiety, knowing that I shall humiliate him utterly in destroying him, and in so doing bring down the lofty useless conscience of my Louis, so that his soul, if not his body, is the same size at last as my own."

I WANT IT

[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!

[showmey0urfangs]

Hypnotized by Armand, of course. Louis' story telling is heavily influenced by Armand.

Is it though? I think Armand lied to Louis about a lot of things, the same way he does in the book, namely about Claudia's death and the fact that Lestat is still alive. But I refuse to buy into this grand theory that he has literally altered Louis's memories like he's Professor X or something.

To my knowledge that's not even something Armand is capable of, even as the most powerful spell/mind gift user (but the show may very well change that like they did with the other vampire abilities of course).

Frankly, I don't even know why people want it so desperately to be the case (except, actually I do know why 🙄). It's an extremely lazy and cheap narrative trick, and as I've said before, it would turn Louis into an NPC in his own story and it would cheapen what happened in season 1.

It's far more interesting if Louis loves both of these men (Lestat and Armand) despite knowing full well all the evil they are capable of and enduring the worst cruelties at their hands. I want Louis to have to reckon with his OWN mistakes, to have to face up to his own bad choices and how they got him to where he is now rather than just having a convenient villain who is to blame for all of it and a hero who swoops in to save him.

Complex narratives and characters, internal conflict, that's what I want. Not some watered-down Rapunzel Disney fairytale.

[runningwithfangs]

Vampire Chronicles Book Review/Rant #2

The Vampire Lestat

I think we can all agree, what a turnaround! So completely different from IWTV. I’m not sure what I was expecting, probably something more like a Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edwards’ perspective) or a Slayer Chronicles (to the Vladimir Tod series) Turned out to be more of The Saga of Larten Crepsley (to the CIrque du Freak series)(I was raised by vampire books, apparently).

Anyway, what a ride! About halfway through I was feeling a little frustrated that we hadn’t gotten to when he met Louis yet, but I was also having so much fun reading about this Chaos BisexualTM. So much happens, so many dumb Lestat adventures, Nicki, Lestat’s turning, Gabrielle, Armand and his coven, Marius, Akasha and Enkil, Louis and Claudia, Rockstar music video films, vampires ablaze out of nowhere! 10/10 Romp, I had so much fun reading this.

Lestat is so many things, he’s cheery and determined to brighten the day of those he loves, he’s been beaten and abused by his own family, he hopes and dreams like any young person, yet also deeply fears the meaninglessness of life itself. I can for sure relate. 

I also enjoyed the way it was written, easy and lighthearted, even in darker parts Lestat describes things with humor to mask the pain.

Favorites:

I appreciate when Lestat takes the time to describe the wonders of the modern world, what stands out to him, what doesn’t. He’s blown away by film, excited by women in bare arms, that even poor people could eat meat. In later books he’s so excited by pens that can write forever. Super interesting to think about, and the though experiment of “what would a vampire think of world through the ages” is one of my favorite things about vampire media.

Lestat and Nicki’s relationship is so cute! Their drunken afternoons in “the conversation,” they take turns comforting each other from their familial demands and expectations. They go to Paris and live in a shitty apartment while they work their asses off in the theater trying to pay rent. It’s almost like a CBS sitcom, but like, in a good way. It’s so devastating to me that Vampire Nicki ended up like he did.

Gabrielle, my love! What a queer icon. She cuts her hair, wears men’s clothes, even Lestat gets in on it, trying to find her the manliest jewelry. I think about the freedom female vampires must experience in this series a lot. Gabrielle clearly hated being a mom and wife and living in a crumbling castle. And now she is finally free, freer than any of her wildest fantasies.

When Lestat asks her if she had become a vampire first, wouldn’t she also send money and gifts to the family and keep caring for them, and she’s just like, oh psssh yeah, of course 😂 

Armand/Lestat being worsties.

Marius spending eons hiding Those Who Must Be Kept only to pick up Lestat, go: I like ya kid, you got spunk, let me spill all the vampire secrets. Only for the Most Special BoyTM

When we FINALLY get the 3 whole paragraphs about Louis and Claudia at the end of the book, it’s not enough, but what is there is lovely. “Even in his crudest moments, Louis touched the tenderness in me” “But I loved him, plain and simple” UGH, Anne PLEASE. 

Least Favorites:

Why did Lestat slip his mom the tongue 😭

Not enough Louis 😡 (Little did I know there would only be crumbs of him from then on)

Vampire Nicki 😣 He hated Lestat in the end and then Armand cut his hands off! He deserved better. 

Smutt:

Nicki and Lestat getting drunk and making out at the tavern! Love that for them.

I am NOT counting Lestat/Gabrielle kisses.

If I missed something maybe y’all can let me know.

Nonsense Meter:

Medium nonsense, I think. Especially considering the books to come. 

Lestat flying and SCREAMING at the Theater. Lestat showing up to the catacombs to utterly destroy the cult with facts and logic and “New evil for a new era.” Lestat giving into the intrusive thoughts to kiss Akasha and play her the violin only to nearly get killed by Enkil, and OF COUSE, the whole Rockstar Lestat thing, with the music videos and the song lyrics and the Halloween concert. 

Misc:

It was Marius’s fault for sending Lestat to go live a human life! Thank you/goddamn you.

I am confused by how at the start of the book Lestat is interested in rock, he goes to jam with Satan’s Night out and loves the attention that would come with being a rockstar, but it’s only after he reads IWTV and gets all upset about it that he decides he’s going to get Louis’s attention by becoming a world-famous rockstar. “I ached for him, ached for his romantic illusions [...] his physical presence.” But once Louis does find Lestat, not much happens.

I was so excited for the reunion once Louis find’s Lestat and his band chilling before the concert, would they fight?! Would they make out?! And it was. . .ok, Louis tries to warn Lestat, and they dance around their feelings, and that’s kind of it. Lestat doesn’t even ask about the book!

Then I was excited that Gabrielle (post-concert disaster rescue) got to meet her shit son’s ex-husband! Was she going to be disapproving (no one is good enough for her boy), furious about the release of IWTV, or maybe try to convince them to give up mortal world shenanigans and go climb waterfalls with her? Nope, we got nothing, just wondering if it was Marius setting all the fledglings on fire. Anne . . . I don’t get it.

[leslutdepointedulac]

Happy Deathday to my main girl Claudia! (Deathday as in the day she was turned, not the day she actually died).

September 21st 1836

This is my birthday present from Louis. Use it as I like, he tells me. But perhaps I should like to copy into it those occasional poems which strike my fancy, and read these to him now and then?

I do not understand entirely what is meant by birthday. Was I born into this world on the 21st of September or was it on that day that I departed all things human to become this?

My gentlemen parents are forever reluctant to illuminate such simple matters. One would think it bad taste to dwell on such subjects. Louis looks puzzled, then miserable, before he returns to the evening paper. And Lestat, he smiles and plays a little Mozart for me, then answers with a shrug: 'It was the day you were born to us.'

~ Queen of the Damned

It's also the day she started plotting Lestat's murder and control over Louis.

September 21, 1859

...Tonight, I confide with pen and paper because I know which direction my hatred will take me. And I fear for those who have aroused my wrath.

By those I mean, of course, my evil parents, my splendid fathers, those who have led me from a long forgotten mortality into this questionable state of timeless 'bliss'.

To do away with Louis would be foolish, as he is without question the more malleable of the pair.

Louis will do as I wish, even unto the very destruction of Lestat, which I plan in every detail. Whereas Lestat would never cooperate with my designs upon Louis. So there my loyalty lies, under the guise of love even in my own heart.

What mysteries we are, human, vampire, monster, mortal, that we can love and hate simultaneously, and that emotions of all sorts might not parade for what they are not. I look at Louis and I despise him totally for the of making me, and yet I do love him. But then I love Lestat every bit as well.

Perhaps in the court of my heart, I hold Louis far more accountable for my present state than ever I could blame my impulsive and simple Lestat. The fact is, one must die for this or the pain in me will never be sealed off, and immortality is but a monstrous measurement of what I shall suffer till the world revolves to its ultimate end. One must die so that the other will become ever more dependent upon me, ever more completely my slave. I would travel the world afterwards; I would have my way; I cannot endure either one of them unless that one becomes my servant in thought, word and deed.

Such a fate is simply unthinkable with Lestat's ungovernable and irascible character. Such a fate seems made for my melancholy Louis, though the destroying of Lestat will open new passages for Louis into the labyrinthian Hell in which I already wander with every new thought that comes in my mind.

When I shall strike and how, I know not, only that it gives me supreme delight to watch Lestat in his unguarded gaiety, knowing that I shall humiliate him utterly in destroying him, and in so doing bring down the lofty useless conscience of my Louis, so that his soul, if not his body, is the same size at last as my own.

~ Merrick