#marius/armand community

[hekateinhell]

i’m so abnormal about lestat and armand communicating through the mind gift

[pandora-the-millenia]

Day 2 - The parade to the temple of Saturn

Armand in Marius Dream-Outfit…they love to play Master and Slave…

[sunnylunacy]

If "other", please comment who that other character is.

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

oh the irony

[armandyke]

the best part of reading tvl was when lestat met marius and described his voice as something along the lines of being "not as lovely as armands" and like armand wasn't even there. they hadn't even seen or communicated with each other in years he just lives entirely rent free in that frenchmans head at all times

[murfeelee]

IWTV INSP CC Dump - Simblreen 2024

This CC file dump includes 40 items and 1 lot (*gasp~!*) for your TS3 vampires with a penchant for being interviewed! I separated the CC into thematic zip files, in case y'all aren't interested in everything.

IWTV INSP Build Mode Dump:

EA Master Suites Fireplace REDONE (basegame)

Gold Chinoiserie Wallpaper Birds (found under Paint IIRC)

Herringbone Pattern 4 & 5 (found under Wood)

IWTV INSP Buy Mode Dump:

AikeaGuinea Sordid Cassette Tapes SEPARATED (Stackable)

Goblet Decor RECOLORABLE

IWTV S3 INSP Clapperboard Decor

TS4 to TS3 Dining Out Candle Table Light

Vinyl Record Decor (Stackable) V2

IWTV INSP Dubai Wall Art:

IWTV INSP Basquiat Painting

IWTV INSP Marius' Temptation of Amadeo Painting

IWTV INSP Rembrandt Painting

IWTV INSP Transformation Painting

IWTV INSP Lestat CAS Miniset:

Lorandia Rings Male Right REDONE (Only 4)

Simsimi Kimono ACC Unisex (SHEER)

TS4 to TS3 Gramsims Feathers as ACC (SMALLER)

TS4 to TS3 Akasha CAS Miniset:

TS4 to TS3 Akasha Crown ACC

TS4 to TS3 Akasha Dress

IWTV INSP Theatre des Vampires Ads:

IWTV INSP Baby Lulu (AMR Dollhouse Blocks) RETEX (Decor & End Table)

IWTV INSP Lestat Portrait

IWTV INSP Marquee Wall Light

IWTV INSP KHD Morris Column RETEXTURED

IWTV INSP Posters 2

IWTV INSP Posters

IWTV INSP Theatre des Vampires Wall Decal

EA Paving Fan Cobblestone GREY Terrain Paint

TS4 to TS3 Neon Letters VAMPIRES:

Neon Letter V, A, M, P, I, R, E, S (only!)

IWTV INSP Claudia CAS Miniset:

Grue SilkySunflower Mashup Hair

Peggyzone Bag ACC REDONE

IWTV INSP Mods Dump:

All Raw Fish Edible Tuning Mod (REQUIRES Nona's Custom Food Script at MTS)

EA Book Overrides for IWTV

EverlastingGarden_Books as a functional Bookshelf RETEX (IWTV INSP)

IWTV INSP Theatre des Vampires Lot:

IWTV INSP TdV Community Lot (No Visitors Allowed) for Sims 3 > Library folder

+ CC MERGED file (for Sims 3 > Mods > Packages folder)

+ Decor People MERGED file (for Sims 3 > Mods > Packages folder)

(Granthe's OMSP & Buhudain's OMSP Resizers NOT included, but still REQUIRED)

Enjoy, and Happy Simblreen!

Download (package files) : Mediafire | SimFileShare

Descriptions & preview pics under the cut:

IWTV INSP Build Mode Dump

I used these in my NOLA 1132 Rue Royale gameplay way back in 2022, and never got around to sharing them, oops.

IIRC the Chinoiserie Wallpapers are non-recolorable, but come in 2 variations of normal & albino peacocks.

I forgot what I changed about the Master Suites SP Fireplace. Probably the RGBY channels. Plus it's basegame compatible now.

And ofc you can see the Herringbone patterns, which I love using on floors. Has 3 RBG channels. Found under Wood.

IWTV INSP Buy Mode Dump & Lestat CAS Miniset

Random CC I've been using:

I separated & retextured AikeaGuinea's Sordid Cassette Tapes, and made them stackable. IDER which category they're in--use LazyDuchess' Search Mod like god intended!

"There's a GOBLET on the table!" No worries, it's only decorative & fully recolorable--the "blood" inside is fake. (In that gif you can obvs see the Gramsims Feathers as ACC--tuxedo not included, sorry. Found under Bracelets, Everyday - Outerwear, fully recolorable. And you can also see Lorandia's Rings Male Right, which I redid to only keep 4 of the 8 original rings.)

The Clapperboard comes in 2 non-recolorable variations.

The decor Vinyl Record is fully recolorable and stackable (variations come with and without the Vampire Lestat VL logo).

I made Simsimi's Kimono ACC sheer (& unisex). Found under Necklaces, fit/fat morphs, Everyday - Outerwear, fully recolorable.

The TS4 to TS3 Dining Out Candle Table Light is fully recolorable.

IWTV INSP Dubai Wall Art

Louis' Basquiat painting:

Marius' Temptation of Amadeo Painting:

Armand's (stolen) Rembrandt & Louis' Transformation paintings:

TS4 to TS3 Akasha CAS Miniset

Akasha Crown ACC found under Glasses, Hat Slider compatible, Everyday - Outerwear, fully recolorable. Akasha Dress YAF/AF, full/fat morphs, Everyday - Outerwear, fully recolorable.

IWTV INSP Theatre des Vampires Ads

I retextured the red EA Paving Fan Cobblestone Terrain Paint Grey. Found under Stone/Rock/whatever it's called.

Baby Lulu (AMR Dollhouse Blocks) RETEX (Decor & End Table). (IIRC I had to use OMSP resizers on these.)

"Who's that handsome man on the wall?" The Devil Brat Prince himself! Lestat's Portrait, found under Wall Art.

IWTV INSP KHD Morris Column RETEXTURED, Posters 1 & 2 all have the same variations, mixed with AMC's posters and the IRL posters from Grand Guignol Theatre AMC used as inspo.

Theatre des Vampires Wall Decal, recolorable.

IWTV INSP Marquee Wall Light, recolorable, comes in multiple variations. (IIRC I gave the bulbs the fullbright shader so they always glow, but I may just be sleep deprived, IDER.)

TS4 to TS3 Neon Letters VAMPIRES

Neon Letter V, A, M, P, I, R, E, S (only!)

Fully recolorable, found under Wall Lights. (IIRC I gave these the fullbright shader so they always glow, but I may just be sleep deprived, IDER.)

IWTV INSP Claudia CAS Miniset

The Grue SilkySunflower Mashup Hair is a frankenmesh of Grue's Sunflower hair and Grue's Silk hair. IIRC, uses the same recolor channels. Everyday - Outerwear, Teen - AF, etc etc. I redid the Peggyzone Bag ACC cuz the original wasn't showing up in my game. Recolorable, found under Bracelets, Everyday - Outerwear, blahblah.

IWTV INSP Mods Dump

I made the Edible Raw Fish tuning mod for 3 reasons:

Not ALL raw fish are edible for werewolves (inc. crocodiles)--thanks a lot, EA

I needed my loup-garou/Swamp!Lestat to be able to actually eat the crocodiles on my bayou lot

OF COURSE I needed a way for Saint Louis to gulp down fish instead of killing sims (especially in my IWTV Mersim AU)

Naturally, for raw fish to fill the Vampire Thirst need, my mod REQUIRES Nona's Custom Food Script at MTS.

I made yet another EA book texture default replacement, this time with EA Book Overrides for IWTV. Browse here for the in-game swatches.

There are A LOT of books in TS3, so I tried to match Anne Rice's books (including but not limited to just her vampire books), plus a couple non-Anne Rice vampire books, to TS3′s particular genres:

Academic, Generic: Daniel Molloy's Under the Burning Sky

Academic (Business): The Vampire Armand

Academic (Communications): DM's Hate & Ashbury

Academic (Fine): Blood & Gold

Athletic: Prince Lestat, The Vampire Lestat

Bar, Mixology: True Blood

Biography, Drama, Masterpiece, Non-Fiction: Interview with the Vampire

Butler: Lasher

Charisma, Fantasy: Memnoch the Devil

Cooking: Feast of All Saints

Egypt: The Mummy

English, Fiction: Dracula

Fishing: Blackwood Farm

France: The Vampire Lestat, Interview with the Vampire

Generic, China: Anne Rice's Alphabettery

Handiness: Servant of the Bones

Historical: Queen of the Damned

Horror, Masterpiece: The Vampire Chronicles (Collection)

Humor: The Vampire Lestat

Inventing: The Mummy

Logic: Daniel Molloy's A Shadow on the Skin, Hate and Ashbury, The Internet's Gavel

Martial Arts, Military: Queen of the Damned

Math, Medical, Robot, Science, SciFi, Future: Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

Music (generic): Violin

Music (Bass, Piano, Drums): Queen of the Damned

Music (Harp): Cry to Heaven

Mystery: The Witching Hour

Photography, Street Art: Blood & Gold

Poetry: Dead Brides - Vampire Tales

Prenatal: Blackwood Farm

Recipes: AR's Alphabettery (China), Queen of the Damned (Egypt), Feast of All Saints (France)

Riding: The Wolf Gift, Wolves of Midwinter, The Vampire Lestat (Wolfkiller cover)

Romance, Trashy: Sleeping Beauty

Social: Blood Communion

Spellcraft: Merrick, The Witching Hour, Lasher

Sports, Academic (Phys): Tale of the Body Thief

Toddler, Comics, Children: Claudia's Story

Vaudeville: The Vampire Armand

I retextured EverlastingGarden's Books as a functional Bookshelf to match some of the IWTV EA Book Overrides, so it could look like sims were really pulling those books off the shelf to read. Browse the 3 swatches here.

IWTV INSP Theatre des Vampires Lot

IWTV INSP TdV Community Lot (No Visitors Allowed) for LIBRARY folder (64x64 lot IIRC--maaaaybe 50x50?)

+ CC MERGED file (for PACKAGES folder)

+ Decor People MERGED file (for PACKAGES folder)

I've hit Tumblr's photo limit, so for in-game pics of the lot, see my posts here & here.

WARNING: I have all TS3 EPs installed, plus a few SPs, and I use A LOT of EA's Store CC, so I CANNOT guarantee that this lot will look the same in your gameplay as mine, if y'all don't have the same DLC. The list of Store CC that's NOT included is here.

As a rule, Granthe's OMSP and Buhudain's OMSP Resizers are REQUIRED. I didn't include them in the Merged CC file, just in case.

__________________________________________________________

"And that's the end of it. There's nothing else!"

Enjoy, and Happy Simblreen!

Download (package files) : Mediafire | SimFileShare

[divorceblogger]

skimming the vampire armand. the show seems to pull armand’s vampiric eye colour specifically from marius’s perception of them (the violence lives on in his body). this scene takes place soon after marius purchases him from the brothel and just before he rapes him, after going into lengthy detail about armand’s physical attributes that prompted him to develop an attraction to him. ‘the universal tongue’ in question also conveys rapacious intent - marius forcibly establishes a mental connection irrespective of armand’s capacity to participate in meaningful communication; armand is in a foreign land and is incapable of any reciprocation in thought and speech at this point, and marius metaphorically penetrates his mind to lay out the identifiers of his body that he finds appealing before he assaults him.

armand’s body and identity thereafter is modelled after the future marius envisions for him when he purchases him: to develop a companion who’s receptive to his teachings and takes up his philosophies without any resistance. this is also literalised by him renaming amadeo (‘beloved of god’). the show takes this a little further - it asks you to consider the degree of racialised violence flavouring marius’s treatment of armand when he consents to exchanging his body in return for depictions of him that are intentionally modelled to be inaccurate while simultaneously forcing him to participate in scenes that convey exploitation and subservience.

[gayboymolloy]

Stop calling Arun Armand’s “slave name”, I beg of you. His names track his loss of identity over the years. Arun is a cultural name, directly connected to the community he hails from, regardless of whether or not it’s the name he was born with.

Marius then replaces it with a white Christian name, and this is an act of erasure and violence for certain. But Amadeo still has the ability to lean into the culture of Venice and find comfort in the religion. He can come out of this with some sense of self.

But then he’s kidnapped by the Children of Darkness. They give him the name Armand, which literally means soldier: an occupation of where people are stripped of their freedoms and individuality. They send him to do a job that necessitates a “letting go of the self”, as he puts it. There is no comfort it in it, the cult tells him he is inherently evil and forever separated from God. For the centuries he runs the cult, he’s not really a part of Parisian society. He is just filling a role. One soldier of many in their army.

It’s not until he meets Louis, another man of color who understands the pain of being denied connection to his culture, that he gets the name Arun back. It’s not until he meets Louis that he returns to the area of the world where he was mortal. For all they do wrong and hurt each other, Arun is a gift, get rekt.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I love your post about Lestat's love for the arts. Do you remember if Lestat in the books could also draw? I know Marius and Armand were drawing and painting but I don't remember any mentions of Lestat. The drawings of mardi gras costumes were very beautiful. Was it suggested that Lestat was the one who designed them or was he just looking at them and admiring? Perhaps the show gave him some of Armand's talents.

I believe it was meant to be insinuated that this was Lestat's concept art for the Mardi Gras, yes.

Fitting for that are the costumes chosen, their style and design:

Because there is a historic difference and aspect to them that Carol Cutshall has not (yet) spoken about, as detailed in the above post.

And this historic difference, this choice, had to come - in-universe(!) - from Lestat.

Now as for his talents wrt art in the books...

Lestat canonically designs things. Like, he builds gates, lairs, sarcophagi... (and yes, when I say "build" I mean he also creates them. Builds them himself. He likely built the coffin room in show Rue Royale himself as well, or at least the closing mechanism/door would be my guess.)

For example in "Blood Communion", there's this little quote (another is in "The tale of the Body Thief"):

I knew the cell was lined with granite and faced with marble because I had designed it and all the other crypts as I’d designed my own. 

Now, it can probably be argued what exactly "designing" is... but "designing" does contain a certain... aptitude at drawing things, imho, laying out, or sketching at the very least, especially if you want to communicate it to (human) architects (who build his village in the last books), maybe.

So I personally think that Lestat is able to do those drawings, and did so.

Because he designed their costumes.

[platoapproved]

riptides

by: @platoapproved & @marbleflan ship: louis/armand rating: e ch: 8 of 13 | "Seattle, 2000"

“It’s all his. All of it. This house, this sanctuary. They finally brought us over on a boat for a tour this morning. It’s his.” Something is wrong about the way Armand is speaking. A shift in his accent, his tone? No…something else. But Louis can’t make his brain work well enough to put his finger on it. Whatever it is, Louis knows that, like the long silence, it doesn’t bode well. He should have insisted on coming to Greece with Armand. They could have found a way to make it work. Now they’re on opposite sides of the world, both falling apart. “How can you be sure, baby?” Armand laughs. He keeps laughing and laughing, hysteria creeping into the sound. “You think I can’t tell the second I walk into a room if it’s his? You think he didn’t instruct me exactly how he likes his things arranged? Which furnishings please him and which don’t? The proper way for his possessions to be stored or displayed? Which colors he prefers? Which scents he uses? The way he likes his bed to be dressed?” He feels a faint pressure in his mind—nudge of something trying to get in. Louis knows that vampires can communicate telepathically across huge distances, but he and Armand have never done it before. Louis makes a crack in the barrier around his thoughts: a gap just large enough to let in whatever Armand is trying to send. The images flood in, a torrent of them tumbling one over the other. Urns, statues, mummies, carvings, tapestries, fossils, all arranged neatly on pedestals and in niches. A spectacle of ownership. Look at my parade of precious treasures stolen from exotic lands. More images. A huge bed, red velvet hangings. A taxidermy tiger with glass eyes, its dead mouth manipulated into an ostentatious snarl. Murals covering every wall in vivid colors: a jungle filled with flowers and bright coiling snakes, a lovingly-rendered naked boy with a pitcher perched on his head; a sandy desert with a caravan of camels and merchants in turbans; a harem bath scene that Louis only gets a glimpse of before he cuts the connection, too nauseous to look any longer. “Of course. Shouldn’t have asked. But Armand, what–?” He doesn’t get a chance to finish the sentence. “The murals are by him. That is his style—how he paints. The poses he favors. The way he does the shadows. I recognize it.” Louis doesn’t need to know Marius’s specific style of brushstroke to guess he is responsible for all that trash. He doesn’t say that, though, because it has just occurred to him what is wrong with Armand’s words. He’s speaking in the present tense.

-

READ IT HERE

[nightcolorz]

You know what I need? For Marius to show up at the night island for an extended visit and two time Pulitzer winner reporter Fledgling who doesn't give a fuck about hierarchy or the supposed Authority of older vampires to tell him that this is his place and no, just because Armand is his maker it doesn't make it Armand's, it was a gift thank you very much, Armand has no authority here Daniel does and Daniel doesn't want him there so goodbye

What I would give to see Daniel unleash his inner boomer and tell Marius to get off his property

And Marius, being Marius would try to order his Amadeo to reel in his creation and haven't you taught this one anything? Only for Daniel to reply that there's no one in his island with that name and if Marius insists on staying under his roof he is going to have to learn to call Armand by his actual name, the name Armand chose to keep

Marius would insist about Daniel respecting his elders and Daniel hitting him with, well, by that Logic™ we should all listen to Akasha and she called you a useless disappointment good for nothing so...

Armand would probably never stand up for himself when it comes to Marius but this version of Daniel would soooo do it for him, even if he doesn't remember falling in love with Armand, his bullshit detector would go off the second Marius says something about always wanting a student to challenge him

I need Daniel to take advantage of the fact that he can communicate mentally with Marius and Armand can't, and tell Marius that sure, Armand is over there loudly apologising for his behaviour but don't be fooled by it, Armand is going to reward this very behaviour with his blood and praise the second Marius is out, Marius thinks he knows Armand but he refuses to see how much Armand has changed, he is blinded by the version he knew once and can't see what's right in front of him, which is an Armand who doesn't need Marius, an Armand who feels uneasy around Marius, an Armand who doesn't want Marius here either

The only thing more satisfying that Daniel digging at Marius self worth would be Armand killing Marius 😉

AHHH LOVE THIS!! I love the concept of Daniel using his telepathy advantage to start shit taking Marius into his brain that is iconic asf. Boomer Daniel get off my property-ing Marius is a necessity

[pandora-the-millenia]

Day 1 - Strene (Gift) - Daniel makes himself a Gift for Marius and Armand

[monstersinthecosmos]

Since you don't see Marius and Armand as having a lot to gain from a relationship with each other in the current era, I'm curious as to how you headcannon them with Daniel? And what do you think the best possible version of their relationship could be in the future for all three of them in their respective groups?

Dasdg I want to like, clarify that, I THINK NOT HAVING A LOT TO GAIN is not exactly what I mean. I know I’ve said things along those lines but fandom softened me a little bit. I think what I mean more is like, the thing they have to gain is the investment of time, and I wonder if this is something that will take years/decades/centuries to build and heal. The thing they have to gain is the baby steps, the clearing of the path!, so that they can get somewhere again!

I think the relationship is something like this:

The strange thing too is that like, we’re now getting like, seven years off of canon !! SO WHEN WE SAY CURRENT ERA PART OF ME THINKS “WHEN THE BOOK ENDS” but then I’m also wondering, how much do they get done in 7 years. This is interesting to think about. Because me thinking that they’re not in a great place by the end of canon doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t get there eventually! I wonder what those dingdongs are doing out there in the ether!  

I really think Daniel could be very useful for this, as well! Like as a mediator! NOT JUST AS A PERSON BETWEEN THEM WHO KNOWS THINGS ABOUT EACH THAT THEY MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER, BUT AS A MORE MODERN MAN WHO MIGHT HAVE A BETTER GRASP ON PSYCHOLOGY.

So like the short answer your question is that I think he’s maybe their marriage counselor LOL. He’s someone who can read people very well and spent a lot of time with Armand, even before the barrier was an issue, so I think he can read Armand very well even without it! And he can mimd gift with Marius to understand the subtext when Marius is being cagey about his true feelings, or when he’s speaking abrasively/condescendingly as a defense mechanism!

Since you’re asking about headcanons I’m gonna be indulgent here and talk strictly headcanons and how I personally imagine it so don’t take anything else I’m about to say as canon in anyway way, since we literally get ZERO information about the 3 of them together in the books—

I wonder like in what ways does Daniel being between them resembles a child and their parents, maybe even more accurately a child of divorced parents. And the family structure is abstract here obviously, but so is the polycule structure and the way it’s complicated by the Mind Gift barrier and how it puts Marius and Daniel at an advantage when it comes to communication. It kinda leaves Armand out in the cold to never be understood lol but Marius can be so contradictory sometimes that I wonder if it does them good for Daniel to able to translate when it’s needed.

AND LIKE THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO EACH OTHER ARE SO DEEP ??? As much as Daniel might help as a balm between the two of them, I think he and Marius can also ground the three of them in a nice way. NOT SURE HOW ELSE TO INTRODUCE THIS OTHER VISUAL AID SO HERE -

I have some headcanons about Daniel’s backstory and what his home life was like and so that kinda plays into headcanons about the current day, too. Like, I pictured him having unhappily married parents who were too squeamish for a divorce, partly because I’m projecting LMAO and partly because divorce was a little less common then. There WERE divorces, even Anne Rice’s parents were divorced!, but I wonder about what it does to you, when your parents stay together “for the kids” and wind up making it worse. (I say I wonder, but, I know very well how it feels lol.)

Like how much does Daniel as the mediator come out of a need to break a family cycle?

I think it’s a trap people fall into when we try to break cycles, or try not to be like our parents; sometimes you think you’re safe because you changed your situation drastically and yet we still always wind up confronted by things we need to unlearn. So Daniel might think he’s left the realm of the family cycle by removing himself completely from humanity, except now he’s in the center of this very fraught chasm and has to rely on his human experience again.

Daniel is such a very blank slate in canon that it’s so hard to know, like even after he’s better again we don’t see him interact with Armand, so honestly like it can be whatever you want it to be, but I like the idea of him being a mediator.

I think he has seen the best and worst of them both, and I think he can see the way they miscommunicate. Even with the barrier with Armand I just think like, he’s Armand’s ONLY fledgling like they know each other SO well. I think Daniel can just read him anyway, in a way that Marius can’t, because Marius knew Armand when he was so young and naïve and Marius was so stressed.

And even though Daniel is WAY younger than both of them, all three of them have been through some very life changing experiences since the 1980s when Daniel was turned! Like Marius needing to re-evaluate his entire life & purpose & identity without TWMBK to take care of, and Armand having such a massive religious relapse that he attempted suicide, and Daniel’s psychological overwhelmed and subsequent recovery! 

In some ways, all three of them are new people who are in the process of building their new lives and understand their new identities, so in a way it’s sort of a blank slate that they can work from. 

So the question, what does it look like ?

I’m not really sure!

I think there’s the sort of like vaguely polyamorous nature of VC vampires along with their patience for eternity — for example, the relationship we see between Lestat - Louis - Armand is that Louis is able to come and go from Trinity Gate as needed. We know that Daniel went back to New York with Armand in PLROA, but there no indiction that he’ll never come back to Marius again, or if it’s just a visit, or what it was. Like perhaps Daniel will also get in the habit of coming and going from Trinity Gate as needed, we can’t know. 

LIKE THANKS ANNE FOR FUCKING FORGETTING DANIEL EXISTED DURING BCTU LMAOOO cause like, does he comes to Marius’s side when Marius is in criss? Apparently not LMAO. Did he stay home in NY to babysit Benji & Sybelle while ARMAND came Marius’s side? Gosh idk man. 

I like that canon tells us that the vampires are sort of relaxed and secure in their relationships when it comes to stuff like this (it’s something I REALLY deeply fucking hate about the show sorry lol) so I think I kinda enjoy thinking that there’s a version where they can come and go and be there for each other without being codependent. I like to think that Marius & Daniel have a home in France for when they needed space away from Court, and we know that Marius has a lair in Trinity Gate. 

At the end of BCtu Armand is like freshly traumatized and probably need some comfort, and Marius wants to go talk to him, and I think that’s a great sign that they’re ready to start talking to each other again. It might take years or decades or centuries for them to get somewhere healthy because they have a LOT to talk about, but I like the idea that they can have an open line of communication! And I like that maybe Daniel can be there to mediate! And they don’t have to a always be around each other all the time, but don’t get jealous when the other two are spending time together, and maybe sometimes they hang out and hunt together or go catch a show or go to Carnival or go fuck off into the mountains to stargaze, who knows what all they get into! 

But I like thinking that when canon ends they’re in a place where they can start working towards that!!!!!

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

it is funny how Anne Rice constantly refers back to TVL via the text of TVA because she seems to have like. forgotten that she described Armand's recollection of his and Marius's first TVL meeting like this

as opposed to how she had him to describe it in TVA, like this

like I guess plot-wise it's not that big a difference because Armand ends up loving and trusting Marius regardless, but it feels pretty jarring to flip back from Andrei/Amadeo trusting Marius as a divine figure on sight to the older version of the story where he freaks out and begs not to be sold, begs to stay in the brothel, only to be more or less drained into submission.

like the most cynical version of what happened here is what I've seen described as Anne's push to make Marius a more palatable character, at least by her standards of palatable (kind of funny considering amc's full-steam-ahead push in the opposite direction twenty years later). there's also the significantly increased Christian element, which makes sense since Memnoch the Devil also deals a lot with her journey back to that faith and how she works it out in her writing. in-universe I guess you could just use the catch-all of "unreliable narrator," even theorize that TVL is less accurate because it's being conveyed by Lestat--but then again, all of TVA is being conveyed by David via transcription, so. the TVL version has the advantage of being more stream-of-consciousness, something that Armand's communicating in a mess of telepathic images instead of deliberately chosen words. Marius's return could be a factor here; Armand thought he was dead in TVL and has figured out he's alive by TVA, so his memories shift to a more positive light in response, perhaps out of fear (although he does talk shit about Marius plenty in this book) or his desire to reconnect, to present their relationship as fated and holy from the beginning. and he's committed enough to this reality that he doesn't even acknowledge the alternate version, if only to criticize it like he does with other parts of TVL elsewhere.

ntm that even if this is just because Anne forgot/retconned here, it's still an inadvertent foreshadow to the way show!Armand seems to have been deliberately written with difficulties in consistently remembering his backstory (the being sold/run down thing, as I've mentioned before). it'll be interesting (in a fucked up way) to see whether that instability extends to his memories of Marius and their relationship, especially in regards to the inevitable revelation that Marius is still alive.

[deromanuscoven]

The de Romanus coven has started a blog devoted exclusively to the Marius/Armand ship

And a Community, which is aimed at everyone who loves ship, but it is by invitation, so please contact us if you are interested in being a part of it. Thank you!

[adamnablelittledevil]

Only Blood Communion and Interview With the Vampire to go now. I'll make more elaborated posts about my thoughts once I'm done with everything, but here are some of my opinions:

TVA is absolutely my favorite (I've said it before and will say it again: the most purifying cry I had in my life, it destroyed and restored me in the best possible way), TVL, TQOTD and Prince Lestat are also on my top 4, though I don't know where to place the latter on my personal ranking. The others are sort of tied and the order changes according to specific aspects. Like, Blood and Gold covers a lot of eras and places of the world, has multiple interesting characters, so it's fun in the sense there's a lot of stuff to see, even if I'm not a Marius's fan and he isn't the best narrator imo. On the other hand, something like Merrick is more packed, just her, Louis and David (and some Lestat), but I just love her as a character and the whole story of her family. I can't really choose.

Memnoch would be the last because it was the one I struggled with (tho I loved Armand on it), I thought the concept was great and I could've loved it with a more active, intense and eventful execution. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis is second-to-last because most of the plot was dumb to me, the part that made sense was solved in an unconvincing way, I had to do a lot of suspending disbelief even for a supernatural/sci-fi story... But it was nice to have so many characters I love reunited, even if some didn't have lines, it's nice to know they're around and I enjoy the vampires having sort of a healthy little community.

Favorite character is definitely Armand, then Lestat, then Pandora, Maharet, Mekare, Flavius, Merrick, Bianca, Gabrielle, Mona, Benji, Avicus and Petronia (they didn't appear much and did awful brutal stuff, yes, but having an intersex/gender-fluid character was great and they had so much baggage I could empathize with them). Most after Armand and Lestat are tied. I don't know if I'd call Benedict a fave, but I'm somewhat attached to him (and I KNOW about those spoilers). I LOVE Vittorio and Ursula too and I hope they can appear in some shape or form on the show. I don't looooove Antoine, but he's alright to me. He just seems to be a poor/broke dude who wants to live, have friends and dedicate his existence to his hyperfixations and I can relate because same lol. I get him.

Favorite pairings (either as an OTP or brotp): Lesmand (👑👑👑), Pandora and Flavius (👑👑), Maharet and Mekare (👑, they just don't get more crowns because they don't appear as much as I wanted 😔), Armand and Benji and Sybelle (as duos and a trio), Armand and Riccardo, Armand and Bianca (pretty much Armand and everyone that isn't Marius lol), Lestat and Mona (their childish siblings-coded beef entertains me), Maharet and Jesse and Vittorio and Ursula (👑👑). I wish I had seen more of some characters/dynamics, tho.

MAYBE I could tolerate Marius and even love Magnus (he seems to have a sad and interesting story) if all I'd seen of them had been the content of the last trilogy, but given the previous books, I'm not sure I can enjoy Anne's decisions. I have a lot of mixed feelings about Magnus apologizing and Marius's behavior not even being seen as something to apologize for in the first place, but that's for another post.

Some of the books I would've been able to read and love with or without the show, some I only read to get information, but I'm mostly glad I'm equipped with so much of the lore now. That's not to say there aren't problematic things even for the genre that I need to compartmentalize and ignore (to some extent and not completely) for my enjoyment, because there is a lot of that, but it hasn't been a waste of time. And I'm glad I know what can happen in the future, make silly little fancasts and have events to look forward to seeing on the series. Obviously, opinions can change with the next books, when I re-read the novels or even with conversations and discussions... And that makes me excited as well.