#louis was never escaping lestat tbh

[emprcaesar]

will never get over the fact that louis told daniel dick was so good it was better than black tar heroin. jesus christ have some decorum louis.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I'm sorry but I can't believe sex in ep6 even topic of discussion.

1)Why would they go to such lengths and spend their time and resources on making floaty sex, if it didn't mean anything and didn't serve any purpose? What purpose did it serve? Well, the first and last time we also saw floaty sex in ep1 and it was clear representation of connection and pleasure that sends you flying to Saturn and back. So, logically, ep6 sex too supposed to show connection and pleasure.

2) Next point (i'm not sure about this one tbh): perhaps there's one more parallel to ep1 scene - Louis "didn't consider himself a homosexual at that time" and we see cut to him having enthusiastic sex. In ep6 he was telling Daniel about being numb and we have cut to him PARTICIPATING in sex and not just lying there like a corpse.

3) They literally included Lestat stopping and checking on Louis and not doing anything before Louis kissed him. He noticed that Louis wasn't mentally there and stopped. Clear indication that Lestat wanted CONSENSUAL sex, if he truly didn't care he would just proceed to fuck Louis because Louis wasn't stopping him.

4) Give Louis a little agency, would you?(general you, not you, Nalyra) As I said, we didn't have any indication that Louis wad pressured into it, that lestat didn't care about Louis' consent and pleasure. Just because you're depressed doesn't mean you're incapable of making decisions. Louis' kiss was him reassuring lestat that he's here with him. He KNEW that lestat needed reassurance to proceed. Lestat can't read Louis' mind, he can't be 100% if Louis wants it or not, so he has to rely on what Louis TELLS him with words and body language. Louis told lestat with his actions that he wants him to proceed. That's Louis' decision, like it or not

5) I know fandom likes to act like Claudia is mentally 14 forever, but for majority of story she's grown woman. I'm actually not sure if she truly thinks Louis wouldn't mind her being in his head while they're having sex or she's actively disregarding his boundaries (that he didn't establish) but there's fact: it's weird. Maybe she thinks she's helping Louis to "cope" with sex because she's projecting her trauma with Bruce on Loustat (which is understandable!) but for me Louis' sounds uncomfortable, and resigned, half-heartedly trying to deflect Claudia. "Anywhere sounds like nowhere" - for me it was clear that he doesn't really want to leave and doesn't want to have this conversation but he fails to say it outright and shut down Claudia. So he just makes up excuses not to leave, avoids telling NO, and blocks his mind when Lestat notices that something is wrong.

So, my point, that cut from Bruce to Lestat was Claudia's mind coming to comparison. She thinks Louis does it to appease lestat, she's probably tries to help telling Louis about her escape plan, she views Louis' reluctants as fear of Lestat and that's it, when probably main reason is Louis simply not wanting to leave.

I'm so sorry for long essay, hope you don't mind! Love your work and blog:)

:) Glad you like.

And yeah... I cannot believe we're at this point again/still either.

Exactly. This is a deliberate thing, a deliberate connection to the best sex Louis had. As said before, it carries meaning.

Well, I mean, there are a lot more instances of Louis saying something and the show showing us something else. Or vice versa. That is... exactly the point. Louis is telling the tale for an effect. And that effect was to lead to the justified "murder night". But the why will be part of season 2.

I know

Louis is (not just) depressed because of Lestat. He is deep in the rite of passage. He addresses that on the bench. And yeah.. for some reason Louis' never gets his agency in these discussions. Because he could have moved away. He could have left. But he did not want to. He stayed right there, in Rue Royale during those 6 years (for example). Where Lestat could find him. But I digress. Louis does have agency, indeed. And it is often dismissed for some reason -.-

Claudia's thinking is very black and white, pun not intended. It's stark contrast. She hates and loves with the full power of puberty, at all times, no matter her mental age. Her hatred for Lestat colors her perception of Louis' love for him - she just cannot imagine Louis loving him. Oh she understands it. But to her Lestat is like Bruce, the worst of the worst, and she cannot fathom that there are actually vampires out there... who are much, much worse. That is part of the horror, that she just cannot... imagine, because ultimately Lestat and Louis raised her as a child and then a loved family member - not as a coven member. She has no point of reference, unfortunately. And no, Louis neither wants to have that conversation (but he is too nice to shut it down), nor does he want to leave. And that just... flies right over her head.

Neither Claudia nor Louis actually fear Lestat, and definitely not even after the fight. The car scene made that quite clear, imho.

Oh, they are angry at him, and justified in that anger. But fear? Nope.

[starrylayle]

differences between amc's iwtv and the original novel

*spoilers obviously*

full disclosure here, I watched the series first and fell in love with it, so I decided to read the book. I'm about half way rn (so up to the part where lestat sets the house on fire and Louis & Claudia escape).

differences i noticed in the novel:

Set in the 1700s

Louis is a white slave owner :///

louis has long hair??? tbh this was the biggest shock

lestat turns louis for no apparant reason. like mans saw louis one night and decided to jump him. fair enough. louis is a pretty boy in any adaptation

Lestat's father is still alive?? and lestat is taking care for him and makes louis do so as well?? dang

i feel like in the show lestat is louis' sugar daddy whereas in the book louis' is lestats which is so funny to me (I’m exaggerating here coz ofc show!louis is a successful business owner I’m just referring to the time lestat helped him buy the club lol)

small point but i was surprised to see how much lestat wanted louis' plantation thing where as in the show lestat could not give less of a shit abt louis' business interests he just does so to make his princess happy :)))

I'm assuming that lestat has just been recently turned so he's nowhere near the experienced vampire that show!lestat is when he meets louis -> I've heard ppl say that it changes the dynamic but i'd say that in the novel louis realises that lestat is just Some Guy almost immediately, whereas in the show louis doesnt realise that till later on.

their romantic dynamic (i know its not explicit in the books but it is) is very different. Show!loustat feels like a meet cute leading to a toxic on/off again relationiship, wheres as book!loustat feels like a marriage of convenience and forced proximity that eventually leads to a slowburn romance. It's different but i enjoy it.

The character of antoinette must be genderbend Antoine,,, I wonder why they changed the gender in the show.

lestat never drops louis out of the sky....which was nice. he does set their house on fire tho but ya know

Anyways that's it for now but i'm absolutely loving it so far!! excited to meet armand and the theatre des vampires. Plan on watching the 1994 movie after i finish!

also i think i'm gonna make a seperate post about claudia and the different iterations because its so fascinating.

[quenthel]

ok since I started thinking back on my dragon age characters fondly lately I will talk about them at least just this once...

I didnt much develop my Hawke bc what the game gave me felt enough... just went ok yeah shes a bit more masc and tall... thatse it...

I made two wardens but the only one that matters is named Briell Surana. I originally made her an Amell bc I wanted her to be related to Hawke but then i scratched that idea but by then I got married to the blue eyes black hair look I specifically gave her so she kind of looks like default Hawke.

Her whole deal is that she thinks she is the best mage to ever live and she would never succumb to any temptation bc its all a skill issue. Gets mad at Jowan not bc he became a blood mage but bc he was a loser about it. I wanted her to escape the circle bc the Cullen thing creeped me out so badly i couldnt stop thinking abt it and all the implications of how templars treat mages... Tbh I didnt roleplay a lot back then w my choices so she was just making the cookie cutter "best" choices bc I didnt think too much abt the rp element of this game. But then Inqusition came out and I got obsessed w thinking abt what she would be up to and gave her this epic villain arc. Like she would become cruel after being a warden for so long and saving the world without much recognition... she is an elf and a mage and a warden so that probably weighed heavily on her esp since most of her friends either fucked off or forgot about her too... So I had this idea of ok maybe she shows up during that warden questline and she is like a bit out of it. Clearly she is an incredibly powerful mage and she uses blood magic to fight demons with demons but she has no regard for life and she is incredibly reckless. Only cares about Leliana (with whom she has a horrible strained relationship with... like think about what Louis and Lestat have in iwtv lol that type of shit but less intense). She hates Cullen tho and while he is still into her and remembers her fondly that image of her was never truly real and she never was as agreeable as he remembers etc... Her closest friend is like... Sten... and maybe some of the ppl from awakenings lol... ALSO bc I was mad that Morrigan was straight I imagined that she spend a lot of time helping to raise her son... and maybe something happens between them... And honestly I'm more invested in the Inquisiton era of her bc that was one of the first times while playing when i was really like okay... what would SHE do...

[bitter-limelight]

tbh people make too many excuses for armand. hes to blame for most of his own problems and never tried to heal himself. just looking for others to do the work for him

I mean. Yes? But also no? But also yes?

I think a lot of things were beyond Armand's control. The religious trauma and the...everything trauma of his early years, that sort of thing is hard to escape. During his theatre days I think he learned a new sense of direction. Then of course we know that he uhhhhh used Daniel to a frightening degree but man nobody ever taught him the care and keeping of mortals.

...but then AGAIN there's no fucking way to talk out of the fact that he murdered a vampire and lied about it to shack up with Louis. Like. That's FUCKED. There's no trauma excuse for that. He has such a lack of...idk forethought!?

And then modern day...modern day I feel like those screaming fits and stubborn fights are like his last holdout. He knows he's reached the end of his rope of excuses. Do Better or Bust, I guess?

Again, a parfait of fuckery!

Edit - falling for Lestat instead of going back and finding love and heaking with Marius is absolutely his fault Jesus Armand do better

[perladivenezia]

//Okay Blood Communion comes out tomorrow (?!) and I still have to finish PLROA, so I will give it a shot now. Here is a quick recap of what I remember that happened already from the top of my head bc no way I’m reading from the beginning again 

Last time in Prince Lestat and the Disappointment of Not Having Mermaids:

Part I

Riccardo is here!! He is ghost but its okay. He an Armand get together often, share long walks, converse all night and play fencing They laugh a lot. All of that is canon it’s right there in the book fight me

Amel is like a child but kinda a jerk too, a jerk kid basically

Lestat loves to be called a slut 👍

Dr Fareed is getting along with Gregory, his boyfriend Seth isn't jealous or anything, no sir

Despite the supporting evidence, there isn't any suspicious female doctor making illegal and groundbreaking experiments in Gregory company using Gregory money and resources without his knowledge, of course, there isn't

Rosh is mad, he only wants his babe back but his babe has new friends and his new friends don't like Rosh because of the kidnapping and murdering

we had diversity for like five seconds but I guess AR got tired of having to describe so much melanin every time Killer appeared so now he is dead (watch out Arion). And of course it had to happen in Armands territory and of course he had to be inside Killer’s mind when it happened and of course it’s up to him to neutralize the hazard because my sweet boy can't get a break

Eleni is here. Killer’s killer escaped from Armand super secure facilities leaving Eleni almost dead in my boys’ arms #GiveArmandABreakAlreadyI’mBeggingYou

Louis and Lestat go in a date. Louis even dressed nicely and everything. Amel likes Louis (such a surprise, it isn't as if every male character in this series likes Louis or anything)

I don't know why Rosh thinks that kidnapping people and cutting their arm is like, going to help his situation?? He lost Benedict and is like he lost his ability to think clearly or give a fuck. It’s super cute actually. And Alessandra is around but she isn't of much help tbh

you will never feel lonely if you can make friends out of your severed arms (see instructions)

Rosh was ready to burn it all and/or die trying but then got his boyfriend back and, like, that’s all he wanted so he is out, bye losers

I don’t care for/ like any of the non-human people, they are all super creepy. I totally second Armand in his motion to destroy them, or his revised plan to confine them. Armand’s and Gabrielle's commentary were the only interesting part of the conversation with those no-humans. 

And now into: Prince Lestat and the Realm of all the fucks I don't give

[monstersinthecosmos]

Ship ask meme... 2., 18., 23., and 14. :D

2. Is there a ship you didn’t like at first but ultimately started shipping?

PICKLES/OFDENSEN FROM METALOCALYPSE? I wouldn’t say I DISLIKED it per se but mainly that I didn’t see the need to ship ANYONE on Metalocalypse but I stumbled upon some fic one night in the internet rabbit hole and I was like “Wait what?” but then. It sank in and made a lot of sense to me and I DIG IT. I’m not one of those fangirl shippers that puts romantic/sexual context where there isn’t any LOL but once I thought about it I was like “….no wait, there are clues about this and I’m on board now.”

18. Is there a ship the writers have ruined for you?

LOUIS/LESTAT?!?!??!?! Like. I wanna be surfacey and enjoy them as much as the next guy but like, Lestat is seriously SUCH a dick all the time and LOUIS DESERVES BETTER HELLO! And it gets worse and worse with each book. So now even when they’re getting up to cute shit I’m always like “Oh Louis. Please escape.” on the inside. ALSO. LIKE. I have a cavernous and labyrinthian headcanon about Wesker/Birkin from Resident Evil that was developed in high school around the time of CODE: Veronica so like, past CVX the games diverged from all my ideas and Capcom was NOT headcanon compliant. I wouldn’t say it ruined the ship for me, though, it just meant that I never took another RE game seriously ever again cause I will sink with this fucking ship. 

23. Have you ever started shipping a ship because of the fans?

I suppose I could recite Pickles/Ofdensen again because it was fic writers that did it to me haha.

14. Is there a ship you feel gets undeserved hate in fandom?

I was gonna say Marius/Armand and go into yet another tirade about the Riceverse’s moral structure but like. It probably is deserved. LMAO. I will say that I take a multi-pronged approach to VC and to this relationship so I get both sides. I just think it’s not worth getting super angry or upset about because like DON’T PRETEND THESE BOOKS AREN’T CRACK and don’t  pretend you came here for like a fluffy healthy relationship cause you aren’t gonna find one. So to me like, anyone “hating” on anything in VC is a little silly and unnecessary. I will admit that my pop culture interests exist in a vacuum and I have suuuuuper rarely participated in fandoms so tbh like, anyone getting too riled up about fandom is a little ridiculous to me and if I see a hissyfit I’m gonna blink at the screen a few times and then close the tab. So to me, any hate on a ship is undeserved. Like, relax lol.

[nalyra-dreaming]

"Lestat the white abuser getting to frame himself as the victim of his abuse victims who escaped him" I am not looking forward to the post episode 7 discourse. Especially as insufferable as it already is leading up to it.

Tbh, I'm gonna block anyone who is going to sink to this ("easy") level, because at this point it just means they are unwilling to follow the narrative.

And totally apart from that the show has said that they would make sure that Louis would never not be a believable victim... but to "whom" was always part of the statement that was unsaid.

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/downstairsbar/707757426731057152/do-you-think-in-the-show-louis-actually-feels

this user has very good and thorough posts on race and patriarchy in the amc iwtv

tbh, I don't necessarily want you to argue for/against just a different perspective

pls don't block me (i usually don't engage but i enjoy reading all your commentary about the books) and this is meant in good faith. you can tell me it's rude if you find it so.

i think your analysis is very thoughtful and thorough especially wrt the books. i do think your analysis (especially where the show is concerned) could use a bit of engaging with patriarchy and race (which are two things the show is very insistent about)

anne wasn't good with race but her commentary on patriarchy in the books is very clear esp wrt to gender and sexuality

Thank you for your input! I have to say I find them very hard to read, there's almost no structure to their posts, but it is good if you like them and their content?! (No shade! Seriously.)

To be honest most of my commentary is based on asks, so a lot of what you criticize here might be a reflection of the direction these take.

I am very loathe labeling Louis as a woman tbh. Anne gave him feminine traits, and he is perceived as soft, and the most human, but he is also one of the most predatory of them. And he is not called arsonist for funsies. And as a gay man he is no woman. And I stand by the point that you cannot reduce them to top/bottom either.

Jacob took those feminine aspects and enhanced them even more (on purpose), and the show makes some very poignant observations about marriage, status, gender-conformity and the patriarchy, especially after Claudia's turning, because that is when it spirals into it, imho. Here is a post that I reblogged on this a while back. The meta level of it all is its own commentary (the books that Louis reads, the imagery they use), I can recommend the various meta posts in regards to this!

Season 1 is from Louis' point of view. As someone coming from the books I am very aware of how some of it will change. And of course that informs my own take on it all. The meta commentary of the show will stay of course... but Louis' POV will change. And the meta commentary will change with it. Now, of course they addressed these things on purpose. But what will they address when they get to a war-ravaged Europe? Or the theater (actually that meta level on the meta level I seriously cannot wait for)...

To be honest, I don't quite get what that anon ask wants to discuss there either. On one hand the question addresses the "thing" in the first few episodes, and then "his mental and emotional space with Claudia" as his last refuge, which... doesn't fit. We have three episodes without Claudia, four with. And you cannot analyze the behavior without defining the "thing" Lestat does either. What is that thing. The cheating? The way Lestat cannot see the way Louis cannot escape his own status because of his race? How vampirism cannot be the freedom he was promised?

And... I really cannot see where Louis' attempt as "claiming the marriage contract" would be seen as histrionics. What do they mean by that? The laughter before the "of course"? That has very different reasons, and interpreting that this way shows in turn a basic lack of understanding the characters imho. I mean Sam and Jacob have talked about that. At length. *shrugs*

I am happy to give you my views, but please give me a proper question, and not one that contradicts itself?^^ That is not meant mean in any way (and no, I would never block you for this, no worries, I've said it before, it's about the "tone" :)), but if you want my opinion you will need to accept that I do come from the books... which means I know why Lestat did some things.

Louis... doesn't. (So his POV cannot reflect that.)

Not yet.